Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick

Mary Maverick’s memoirs are a Texas classic. They chronicle a strong, brave woman shepherding her family through tumultuous times on the raw Texas frontier. First settling in a rustic home in 1838 San Antonio with her husband, the legendary Samuel Maverick, the family was forced to flee invading Mexican forces during the famed Runaway Scrape. They settled again in Gonzales, but Sam was in San Antonio when Mexican General Woll captured the town, taking Sam prisoner and confining him in the notorious Perote Prison. After Sam was released, the Mavericks moved to the windswept Matagorda Peninsula-with Mary so sick on the journey that they laid boards in the wagon to make a bed-before returning to San Antonio two years later. Sam and Mary had ten children; four died before they reached the age of eight. During the Civil War, four of Mary’s sons served in the Confederate Army. Though Sam had been in the center of the storm during the Texas Revolution, he was approaching 60 years of age when the Civil War broke out; he spent the war with Mary, serving as a judge and mayor of San Antonio. Notable characters pepper the narrative, including Alexander Somervell, Jack Hays, Dr. George Cupples, Deaf Smith, Cherokee Chief Bowles, Matilda Lockhart, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, Mirabeau Lamar, Juan Seguin, and too many others to mention. This is not a typical frontier wife’s memoir-it is a first-hand account of the founding of Texas.