Trammel's Trace
Subtitle: the first road to Texas from the north
By: Gary L. Pinkerton
Edition: First edition.
Series: Red river books -- number five; Red River Valley books -- no. 5.
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2016
Place of publication: College Station
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9781623494681; 9781623494698
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: History; Colonization
Description: "Trammel?s Trace, named for Nicholas Trammell, was the first route from the United States into the northern boundaries of Spanish Texas. From the Great Bend of the Red River it intersected with El Camino Real de los Tejas in Nacogdoches. By the early nineteenth century, Trammel?s Trace was largely a smuggler?s trail that delivered horses and contraband into the region. It was a microcosm of the migration, lawlessness, and conflict that defined the period. By the 1820s, as Mexico gained independence from Spain, smuggling declined as Anglo immigration became the primary use of the trail. Familiar names such as Sam Houston, David Crockett, and James Bowie joined throngs of immigrants making passage along Trammel?s Trace. Indeed, Nicholas Trammell opened trading posts on the Red River and near Nacogdoches, hoping to claim a piece of Austin?s new colony. Austin denied Trammell?s entry, however, fearing his poor reputation would usher in a new wave of smuggling and lawlessness. By 1826, Trammell was pushed out of Texas altogether and retreated back to Arkansas Even so, as author Gary L. Pinkerton concludes, Trammell was "more opportunist than outlaw and made the most of disorder"--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: From somewhere to nowhere; title: Through the wilds; title: The Trammells of Kentucky and Tennessee; title: 1800-1812: Boundaries under pressure; title: 1813-1819: Couriers of the forest; title: 1820-1826: Gone to Texas and back; title: 1826-1836: A great movement of many nations; title: 1836-1844: Another new nation for Texas; title: 1845-1856: The old smuggler retires; title: 1856-1880: The patriarch has passed.