Vitae

Education:
Ph.D., Texas Christian University, August 1989.
M.A., Southwest Texas State University, June 1985.
B.A., Southwest Texas State University, June 1976.

Major Research Areas:
Military History, Texas, Old South, Spanish Borderlands

Positions Held:

Teaching Assistant, Texas Christian University, 1986-1988.
Senior Research Fellow, Texas State Historical Association, 1988-1990.
Chief Historian, Old San Antonio Road Project, State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, 1990-1991.
Instructor, The Victoria College, 1991-2009.
Paid Consultant for Prentice Hall Publishing Company on the textbook American Journey: The Quest for Liberty, Texas Edition, forthcoming. Developed a number of Texas topics for the Texas Edition.
Photo Researcher for America:Then & Now, ed. by David Cohen (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1992.)
Paid Consultant for the San Jacinto Museum of History Association.
Paid Consultant for “The Battle of the Alamo” segment of The Real West, a documentary for the Arts & Entertainment network.
Paid Consultant for “The Texas Rangers” segment of The Real West documentary series.
Paid Consultant for “The Fathers of Texas” segment of The Real West documentary series.
Paid Consultant for “The Mexican War” segment of The Real West documentary series.
Paid historical consultant and writer for Archimedia Interactive for the CD-ROM The Alamo: Victory or Death.
Paid Consultant for “The Alamo,” a two-hour documentary special co-produced by American Heritage Magazine and the Arts and Entertainment Network. Scheduled to air in 1996.
Book Review Editor, South Texas Studies, 1995-1998.

Teaching Experience:

American History Survey, TCU, 1986-1988.
American History Survey, The Victoria College, Summer, 1991, 1992; full-time, academic year 1992-2009.
Texas, Early National Period, Contemporary U.S., Spanish Texas, Texas Revolution and Republic, Historical Methods, Senior Seminar, McMurry University, full-time, academic year 2009-present.

Major Professors:

At SWT – James W. Pohl military
William C. Pool Texas
James A. Wilson Spanish Borderlands
At TCU – Grady McWhiney military
Ben H. Procter Texas
Donald C. Worcester Spanish Borderlands

Professional Organizations:

Life Member, Texas State Historical Association
Phi Alpha Theta, International History Honor Society
Western History Association
American Military Institute
Company of Military Historians
Alamo Battlefield Association, President
Texas Institute of Letters
Western Writers of America

Publications | Books:

The Texas Rangers. London: Osprey Publishing Company, 1991.
Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.
Lone Star: The Republic of Texas. Carlisle, Massachusetts: Discovery Enterprises, Ltd., 1998.
The Alamo 1836: Santa Anna’s Texas Campaign. London: Osprey Publishing Company, 2001.
Texian Macabre: The Melancholy Tale of a Hanging in Early Houston. Abilene: State House Press, 2007.
[Robert M. Coleman], Houston Displayed; Or, Who Won the Battle of San Jacinto. Annotated with a scholarly introduction by Stephen L. Hardin. Submitted to publisher.
Lust for Glory: An Epic Story of Early Texas and the Sacrifice That Defined a Nation. Abilene: State House Press, 2018.

Publications | Chapters in Books:

“Line in the Sand; Lines on the Soul: The Battle of the Alamo in Myth, Memory, and History’ in Texas Identities: Moving Beyond Myth, Memory, and Fallacy in Texas History. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2016.
“Valor, Wisdom and Experience”: Early Texas Rangers and the Nature of Frontier Leadership,” in Bruce A Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss, Jr., eds., Tracking the Texas Rangers: The Nineteenth Century. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2012.
“The Gift,” an essay in Phil Collins, The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector’s Journey. Buffalo Gap, Texas: State House Press, 2012.
“Plácido Benavides: Fighting Tejano Federalist,” in Jesús F. de la Teja, ed., Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2010.
“Robert Hall: Texas Citizen Soldier,” in Jesús F. de la Teja and Ty Cashion, eds., The Human Tradition in Texas. New York: Scholastic Press, 2001.
“Efficient in the Cause,” in Gerald E. Poyo, ed., Tejano Journey, 1770-1850. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.
“‘The Fleet Steed Our Pride’: Horses of the Texas Rangers,” in Donald Worchester, ed., Western Horse Tales. Plano.: Republic of Texas Press, 1993.
“The Old San Antonio Road in the Texas Revolution,” in A Texas Legacy: The Old San Antonio Road and the Camino Reales, A Tricentennial History, 1691-1991. Austin: State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, 1991.
With A. Joachim McGraw, “The Evolution of the Old San Antonio Road and the Caminos Reales,” in ibid.
“People and Events Along the Old San Antonio Road,” in ibid.

Publications | Introductions to Books:

Foreword to The Battle of the Alamo: A 3D Interactive Adventure in Augmented Reality. San Antonio: Experience Real History, 2018.
Foreword to Blood of Noble Men: The Alamo Siege & Battle, an Illustrated Chronology. Austin: Eakin Press, 1999.
“Introduction” to A Texas Ranger. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
“Introduction” to Life of Robert Hall. Austin: State House Press, 1992.

Publications | Articles:

“‘A Vatir y Perseguir’: Tejano Deployment in the War for Texas Independence, 1835-1836.” Essays in History: E. C. Barksdale Lectures, 1984-1986, (vol. 9).
With James W. Pohl, “The Military History of the Texas Revolution: An Overview.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, LXXIX, no. 3 (January, 1986).
“Concepción: The Forgotten Battle of the Texas Revolution.” Heritage of the Great Plains, XX (Spring, 1987) no. 2.
“A Volley From the Darkness: Sources Regarding the Death of William Barret Travis.” The Alamo Journal, 59 (December, 1987).
“‘We Flogged Them Like Hell’: The Capitulation of Lipantitlan and the Battle of Nueces Crossing.” The Journal of South Texas, I, no. 1 (1988).
“J. C. Neill: The Forgotten Alamo Commander.” The Alamo Journal, 66 (May, 1989).
“Gallery: David Crockett.” Military Illustrated 23 (February/March, 1990).
“The Texas Revolution in South Texas: A Reassessment.” South Texas Studies, I (1990).
Ed., “The Félix Nuñez Account and the Siege of the Alamo: A Critical Appraisal.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XCIV (July, 1990).
“‘A Hard Lot’: Texas Women in the Runaway Scrape.” East Texas Historical Journal (Spring, 1991).
“Gallery: Audie Murphy.” Military Illustrated 37 (June, 1991).
“Gallery: Ben McCulloch.” Military Illustrated 49 (June, 1992).
“Valor, Wisdom and Experience: Texas Rangers and the Nature of Frontier Leadership.” Osprey Military Journal (Vol. 4, Issue 2, 2002).
“Thunderstruck Under the Tailbone: Sexual Life in the Texas Republic.” Published in two installments, True West (April, 2002 and May, 2002).
“The Real Sam Houston: Good Reason to Question His Exploits.” Houston Chronicle, Outlook, Section C, April 14, 2002.
“What We Learned From The Alamo.” Military History (April, 2007).

Film Work:

Historical Consultant for the John Lee Hancock film, “The Alamo” (2004).
Provided voice-over historian’s commentary for the DVD of John Lee Hancock’s film, “The Alamo” (2004).

Television Appearances:

On-screen commentator for “The Battle of the Alamo” segment of The Real West documentary series, the Arts and Entertainment Network, aired September 24, 1992.
On-screen commentator for “The Texas Rangers” segment of The Real West documentary series, the Arts and Entertainment Network, aired April 15, 1993.
On-screen commentator for “The Fathers of Texas” segment of The Real West documentary series, the Arts and Entertainment Network, aired September 22, 1993.
On-screen commentator for “The Mexican War” segment of The Real West documentary series, the History Channel, July 28, 1994.
On-screen commentator for “The Alamo.” Aired February 25, 1996.
Guest appearance on NBC’s Today. Aired October 5, 1998.
On-screen commentator for PBS Series American Experience, “Remember the Alamo,” first aired January 2004.
On-screen presenter, “What Was Houston Thinking?: Understanding Houston’s Bizarre Behavior During the San Jacinto Campaign,” a presentation aired on the C-SPAN network, January 2012.
Host and on-screen commentator for “Spanish Texas,” part of The Birth of Texas Series, first aired on Houston PBS, March 2013.
Host and on-screen commentator for “San Felipe and American Settlement,” part of The Birth of Texas Series, first aired on Houston PBS, April 2014.
Host and on—screen commentator for “Washington-on-the-Brazos: The Politics of Revolution,” part of The Birth of Texas Series, premiered in Gonzales, Texas, October 2014.
Host and on-screen commentator for Houston: A Nation’s Capitol,” part of The Birth of Texas Series, first aired on Houston PBs, March 2013.