“Best of all books dealing with life in early Texas.” J. Frank Dobie “In 1827 I started out from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, with all my worldly possessions, consisting of a few dollars in money, a change of clothes, and a gun, of course, to seek my fortune in this lazy man’s paradise.” Noah Smithwick would remain in Texas for the next thirty-four years of his life. His memoir of that time, The Evolution of a State, or, Recollections of Old Texas Days, is a fascinating account of the early history of the Lone Star State when life was extremely tough for these early pioneers. He records in brilliant detail his trials and tribulations, his conflicts with fellow pioneers, Mexicans and Native Americans, and how he carved out a life for himself in this frontier territory. From the Fall of the Alamo to the Battle of Brushy Creek, Smithwick chronicles some of the most iconic moments in early Texan history. This book, however, is not just a first-person account of life in the first-half of the nineteenth century, as Smithwick provides thorough details of the changes that he saw going on around him and how Texas was developing to become the state we know today. Noah Smithwick was born in Martin Co., N. C., on the 1st day of January 1808. He drifted with the tide of emigration to Texas in 1827, remaining with the state till 1861, when he moved on to California, settling first in Tulare Co., and later at Santa Anna, Orange Co., at which place he died Oct. 21, 1899, aged 91 years, 9 months and 21 days. His memoirs were first published the year after his death in 1900.

A blacksmith and a tobacco smuggler, Noah Smithwick made weapons for the Battle of Concepcion, and he fought in that battle. With Hensley’s company, he chased the Mexican army south of the Rio Grande after the Battle of San Jacinto. Twice he served with the Texas Rangers. In quieter times, he was a postmaster and justice of the peace in little Webber’s Prairie. Eyewitness to so much Texas history, Smithwick recounts his life and adventures in a simple, straightforward style, with a wry sense of humor. His keen memory for detail–what the people wore, what they ate, how they worked and played– vividly evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of the frontier.