By John Crittenden Duval
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press [1986]
Edited by Mabel Major and Rebecca W. Smith.
Illustrated by Jerry Bywaters.
Full Title:
EARLY TIMES IN TEXAS, OR THE ADVENTURES OF JACK DOBELL
“This is,” John H. Jenkins insisted, “the most literate of all 19th century Texas memoirs.” Folklorist and bibliophile J. Frank Dobie lauded it as “a Texas classic. Of all personal adventures of old-time Texans it is perhaps the best written and the most interesting.” Only twenty years of age in 1836, Duval presents a vivid account of his capture and astounding escape from the Goliad Massacre. As a pure adventure story, Duval’s Early Times in Texas is at least the equal of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. A rollicking great read.