Telling The Story of Slavery in America

The magnificent oaks of Oak Alley. Image: Jim Lesses

During my 2012 American trip, I spent five nights in New Orleans and among the numerous activities I engaged in during my stay in the Crescent City, were tours that included the Laura, and Oak Alley plantations. Being the political animal that I am, I was very much aware of what seemed to be the ‘whitewashing’ of history associated with both these beautifully preserved sites, and the part they must have played in supporting one of the worst stains in human history—the institution and maintenance of organised slavery on a massive scale.

It is not as if the history of slavery was completely ignored at these former plantations, and others like them, but more that the legacy of slavery was left to the imagination of the visitor rather than bringing it front and centre. The beautifully maintained plantation homes, and the well manicured lawns and gardens, might leave visitors with the impression that life on a pre-American Civil War plantation wasn’t all that unpleasant. In fact, the Oak Alley Plantation can be hired for weddings, corporate events, and overnight stays—“A tranquil retreat in the heart of Plantation Country”—proclaims one caption to a series of images on the site. While life may have been very pleasant for the plantation owners, it was far from pleasant for the slaves.

John J. Cummings III; Screen shot from the New Yorker video.

Since my 2012 trip, I am delighted to see that at least one former property—the Whitney Plantation—has now been set up as the first memorial of its type in America. The New Yorker magazine, under the byline of Kalim Armstrong ran an item and video in February 2016, Telling The Story of Slavery from which the following quote is taken:

John Cummings, a lawyer who founded the [Whitney Plantation] museum, spent sixteen years planning and over eight million dollars of his own money to restore this site, which honors the memory of those who were enslaved on plantations and whose labor helped build this country. The Whitney Plantation is not a place designed to make people feel guilt, or to make people feel shame. It is a site of memory, a place that that exists to further the necessary dialogue about race in America.

The Whitney Plantation was founded in 1752, and is located in Louisiana along the historic River Road, which winds down the Mississippi toward New Orleans. Here is the New Yorker video:

It wasn’t hard to find other videos detailing various aspects of slavery and the plantation system online, and the following 28-minute video is from what appears to be a made-for-television series called Weekends With Whitney. Independently produced by Whitney Vann, the program focuses on the story behind the Whitney Plantation and supplements the New Yorker video very nicely. Note: This show has three advertising breaks built into the video, but thankfully they are short and almost unobtrusive.

If You Go

The Whitney Plantation

5099, Highway 18, Wallace, Louisiana.

Open 9:30am to 4:30pm every day except Tuesday

(The museum is also closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Years Day, Mardi Gras, Easter Sunday, and July 4th.)

Note: the website states that, “There are no self guided tours at The Whitney Plantation.” And further that, “The only way to visit The Whitney Plantation is through a guided tour.” Tours are given every hour between 10:00am and 3:00pm.

Prices range from $10.00 to $22.00 (see website for full schedule)

Online at: www.whitneyplantation.com/

My 52-Book-Year #11: The Coming

In The Coming, Daniel Black recounts the horror surrounding the capture of hundreds of native Africans, the weeks-long sea journey to America, and the subsequent sale into slavery of those few hardy native men and women who survived the brutality meted out to them at every step along the way.

In his Dedication to the book, Black writes:

“This book is dedicated to the memory and celebration of African souls lost in the Atlantic Ocean. We have not forgotten you. You are our strength. We, your children, exalt you and sing of your glory forever. This is also for those who reached land but never made it home. Your struggle was not in vain. We remember you. We name our children after you. We travel to Mother Africa and take you with us. You are home again.”

This is not any easy book to read. There are no snappy one-liners, no jokes, and little to ameliorate the constant horror that unfolds across some 280 pages. The book's narrator, recalls in unrelenting detail the almost constant abuse (beatings, whippings, rapes, and murders), experienced by the hundreds of captives from the moment of their captivity, to the moment they either died during the voyage or were sold into a life of bondage and slavery.

Lest readers of The Coming think that the author is overstating the events he describes in his novel, let me quote in full from The Irish Penny Journal, dated Saturday, November 28, 1840 (#22, Vol.1):

HORRORS OF THE SLAVE TRADE.—Commander Castle, R.N., while on service with the preventive squadron in 1828, in command of H.M.S. Medina, captured the Spanish brig El Juan, with 407 slaves on board. It appeared that, owing to a press of sail during the chase, the El Juan had heeled so much as to alarm the negroes, who made a rush to the grating. The crew thought they were attempting to rise, and getting out their arms, they fired upon the wretched slaves through the grating, till all was quiet in the hold. When Captain Castle went on board, the negroes were brought up, one living and one dead shackled together; it was an awful scene of carnage and blood; one mass of human gore. Captain Castle said he never saw anything so horrible in his life.

In the year 1831, the Black Joke and Fair Rosamond fell in with the Rapido and Regulo, two slave vessels, off the Bonny river. On perceiving the cruisers they attempted to make their escape up the river; but finding it impracticable, they ran into a creek, and commenced pitching the negroes overboard. The Fair Rosamond came up in time to save 212 slaves out of the Regulo, but before she could secure the other, she had discharged her whole human cargo into the sea. Captain Huntley, who was then in command of the Rosamond, in a letter, remarks—“The scene occasioned by the horrid conduct of the Rapido I am unable to describe; but the dreadful extent to which the human mind is capable of falling was never shown in a more painfully humiliating manner than on this occasion, when, for the mere chance of averting condemnation of property amounting to perhaps 3000l., not less than 250 human beings were hurled into eternity with utter remorselessness.”

Note: A Google Maps search suggests that the Bonny River mentioned in the above quote is in the region of Port Harcourt/Bonny Island, Nigeria.


Despite the horrors he writes about, Daniel Black's writing is remarkable beautiful, even to the point of being poetic. The following excerpts will give readers a sense of the overall mood and feel of the book and Daniel’s writing.

We wailed to remind ourselves we still existed. We wailed the names of our women above, whose screeches and pleadings drove us mad. We wailed for those who’d be dead by morning. We wailed for sons without fathers. Fathers without families. Families without communities. Communities without elders. Elders without children.

Writing about the impending birth of a child conceived as a result of rape and abuse during the sea voyage from Africa to the New World, Black writes:

Crewmen had used her body as a plaything, and now she carried someone’s offspring. She wanted to love the child, at least the part that was hers, but how do you divide a living thing? How do you love one part and seek the destruction of the other? And which part belongs to you? This was a mystery with no answer.

In her book, Where The Twain Meet, published in 1922, the Australian author Mary Gaunt writes about her travels through the Caribbean and in particular Jamaica. In successive chapters, Gaunt traces some of the history of slavery and the introduction of slaves into the Caribbean and Jamaica.

There are far too many horrific examples of abuse to select from in Gaunt’s book, but these few quotes from just one chapter, The Castles On The Guinea Coast, should more than suffice to support the research that Daniel Black put into writing The Coming. Unfortunately, Mary Gaunt neglects to provide details for the books or reports she quotes from throughout Where The Twain Meet, which makes it impossible to know more about a man called Spear, who she quotes from often.

Spear, in his book on the American slave trade, tells how, in the days when the trade was being suppressed, the British warship Medina, on boarding a slaver off the Gallinas River, found no slaves on board. “The officers learned afterwards, however, that her captain really had had a mulatto girl in the cabin … but seeing that he was to be boarded, and knowing that the presence of one slave was enough to condemn the ship, he tied her to a kedge anchor and dropped her into the sea. And so, as is believed, he drowned his own unborn flesh and blood, as well as the slave girl.”

In another passage, Mary Gaunt quotes a man called, Phillips, who I assume is the captain of a slave ship.

“We had about twelve negroes did wilfully drown themselves, and others starved themselves to death, for ‘tis their belief that when they die they return home to their own country and friends again. I have been informed that some commanders have cut off the legs of the most wilful to terrify the rest, for they believe if they lose a member they cannot return home again. I was advised by some of my officers to do the same, but I could not be persuaded to entertain the least thoughts of it, much less to put in practice such barbarous cruelty to poor creatures who, excepting their want of Christianity, true religion (their misfortune, more than fault) are as much the works of God’s Hands and no doubt as dear to Him as ourselves.” Surprising words from a slaver!

Surprising words from a slaver, indeed! How Phillips, Spear and the many other captains of slave ships could rationalise the hypocrisy between their so-called Christianity and the truly awful brutality they inflicted on their captives is beyond comprehension.

In several extended passages, Black seems to be writing about the world and society as it is today, while at the same time offering a commentary about a life of excess and indulgence before capture:

The allure of things caught our eye and made many of us desire what none of us needed. We began to throw away food simply because we didn’t want it. We crafted so much garb we couldn’t wear it all. We made huts large enough for ten when there were only five. This was not everyone, but it was enough of us to plant the seeds of excess among a people who generally valued simplicity. We had invited this plague of materialism and it had come.

As much as I marvelled at Daniel Black’s skill as a writer, I became emotionally exhausted by the constant descriptions of physical, mental and sexual abuse that filled the pages of The Coming. Add to these the regular descriptions of degradation (men and women lying and living in their own excreta and urine, vomit, and menstrual blood, et cetera), and I found myself wishing the book would end so that I, and the narrator of this sorry tale could finally get some peace.

But then maybe that is Black's intention. There is no way to pretend that the history of slavery was anything but savage and barbaric. The capture and removal of millions of Africans to the so-called New World, deserves to be exposed in all its many abhorrent ways. Especially since the legacy of this hideous trade still resonates around the world today, especially in the United States.

Daniel Black has written numerous books including, Perfect Peace, They Tell Me of a Home, The Sacred Place, Listen To The Lambs, and Twelve Gates to The City.

Daniel Black's writing is eminently suitable for quoting, as the following two quotes pulled from the book illustrate:

Silence is the enemy of history, and history is all we have.

— Daniel Black, The Coming

Greed cares not who carries it. It simply longs to live. And it can live in the heart of any man.

— Daniel Black, The Coming

Despite the graphic nature of The Crossing, I commend Daniel Black for writing about this import subject, and highly recommend the book to my readers, who may wish to purchase the book from Amazon in either print or eBook format via the link below.

- o0o -

UPDATED: MARCH 26, 2017

Since first publishing this review on February 19, I have read more about the slave trade and the awful abuses that took place during one of the worst periods of Western history. As a result I have updated the initial review with quotes from The Irish Penny Journal, dated Saturday, November 28, 1840 (#22, Vol.1), and from Mary Gaunt's 1922 book, Where The Twain Meet. Both of these publications can be found on Gutenberg.Org.

Nat Love: “See America”

Nat 'Deadwood Dick' Love

In my review of Nat Love’s autobiography, The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, I mention a section of the book in which Nat Love (a former slave, cowboy and Pullman porter) urges his fellow Americans to “see America”. It is such an exciting piece of inspired writing that I thought it worth quoting in full on this blog.

It has always seemed strange to me that so many Americans rush off to Europe and foreign countries every year in search of health and pleasure, or to climb the Alps in Switzerland, and to view the scenery of the old world, when our own North America, the new world, offers so many better opportunities to study Dame Nature in all her phases, and I always say to the traveling American, "See America." How many of you have done so? Only those who have seen this grand country of ours can justly appreciate the grandeur of our mountains and rivers, valley and plain, canyon and gorge, lakes and springs, cities and towns, the grand evidences of God's handiwork scattered all over this fair land over which waves the stars and stripes.

Go to New York and view the tall buildings, the Brooklyn bridge, the subway, study the works of art to be found there, both in statuary and painting, ponder on the vast volume of commerce carried on with the outside world. Note the many different styles of architecture displayed in the palace of the millionaire and the house of the humble tradesman, view the magnificent Hudson river and the country homes along its grassy, tree-lined shores, note the ships from every clime riding at anchor in the East river. Then speculate on the changes that have been wrought in the course of the short time since Manhattan Island was purchased from the Indians by Pete Minuts [sic] for a few blankets and beads amounting in value to $24.00. Then board the Pennsylvania Limited, whose trains are the acme of modern railroading and go to Washington, the nation's capital city. Walk along Pennsylvania avenue and note its beauty. Visit the capitol and let your chest swell out with pride that you are an American.

Visit the tomb of General Grant and the thousand and one magnificent statues scattered throughout the city. Visit Annapolis and West Point, where the leaders of the nation's navy and army are trained. Walk over the battlefields of Fredricksburg, Gettysburg and Lexington, and let your mind speculate on the events that made modern history.

Note the majestic Potomac and the Washington monument. Take a short trip north and see the great Niagara Falls, listen to what they tell you in their mighty roaring voice. Go to Pittsburgh where the great steel works are located, and see how the steel pen and the steel cannon are made. Go to Chicago, that western hive of commerce. See the Great Lakes, or better still take a cruise on them. Note the great lumber industry of Michigan, and the traffic of the lakes. Go to Kansas City and Omaha and see the transformation of the Texas steer into the corned beef you ate at your last picnic, or was it chipped beef? See the immense stock yards with their thousands of cattle, hogs and sheep, and think of the thousands of people that they feed.



The proud Pullman porter

Cross the Missouri river and enter on the plains of the great and recently unknown west. Think of the pioneer who in 1849 traversed these once barren stretches of prairie, walking beside his slow-moving ox team, seeking the promised land, breaking a trail for the generations that were to come after him as you are coming now in a Pullman car. Think of the dangers that beset him on every hand, then wonder at the nerve he had, then again let your chest swell with pride that you are an American, sprung from the same stock that men were composed of in those days.

Note the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains as they rise from the plains, their peaks snow-capped, glistening in clear blue sky, breathe the pure essence of life, drink of the crystal streams twinkling down their sides, then scorn the wine made by man. Listen to the salute of the bells and the whistles as the trains approach and pass that strange monument of nature's handiwork, the Mount of the Holy Cross.

Go to the Yellowstone National Park and revel in the wonders thereof, walk in the garden of the Gods and listen to the voice of the Giant Geyser as it sends forth its torrents of boiling water. Bathe in the life-giving springs and mud baths. Note the fantastic forms of the rocks and trees, carved by the hand of nature, then go to Colorado Springs and climb Pikes Peak and behold the world stretch out before you in valley, mountain and plain. Visit the mines of Leadville and Cripple Creek, the store houses of a part of the nation's wealth.

Nat Love and family

Visit Denver and see the strides made in the improvement of the west in a short time. Board the Denver & Rio Grande train and note the magnificent scenery of mountain, canyons, gorges and the beautiful mountain lakes and streams, note the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the royal gorge. Now note the great white expanse of the great Salt Lake, as it lies glistening in the rays of the setting sun, and think of the stories you have heard of it until the conductor brings you back to earth with the cry of "Ogden."

Note this bustling railroad center in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and acknowledge our country's greatness. Visit Salt Lake City, the "City of Zion," the Canaan of the new world. See the beautiful city nestling within the protection of the Warsatch and Oquirrh range of mountains. Walk its wide tree-lined streets, visit the tabernacle and hear the sweet strains of the world's greatest organs. See the Mormon temple. Visit Saltair and sport in the waves of the briny sea. Board the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake westbound train and cross the end of this same lake, one of nature's wonders.



Cross the desert of Nevada, which was only a short time ago a desert waste, on and on until you smell the orange blossoms of sunny California, and the train emerges from the mountains and brings into view the grand Pacific Ocean. See the big trees of California, the seals and the scenery of the Yosemite Valley. Visit the orange groves and the vineyards, and partake of the orange and the grape.

Visit Catalina Island in the Pacific Ocean, and try a couple of hours fishing in its waters. Then take the Southern Pacific and return to New York by way of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, New Orleans, Florida and other southern states. Then again let your chest swell with pride that you are an American.

I think you will agree with me that this grand country of ours is the peer of any in the world, and that volumes cannot begin to tell of the wonders of it. Then after taking such a trip you will say with me, "See America." I have seen a large part of America, and am still seeing it, but the life of a hundred years would be all too short to see our country.

Quoted from: The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, better known in the cattle country as  "Deadwood Dick" — by himself. A true history of slavery days, life on the great cattle ranges and on the plains of the "wild and woolly" west, based on facts, and personal experiences of the author.

-o0o-

Whew! Now there was a man who, despite being born into slavery, was able to carve out for himself and his family, a place in post-Civil War America, and who did so on his own terms – growing to love and embrace the United States.

If you are looking for something to download onto your computer, smart phone, Kindle, iPad or whatever your preferred electronic reading device may be, I highly recommend The Life and Adventures of Nat Love.

Visit the Gutenberg.Org download page for Nat Love’s book…

-o0o-

In Review – The Life and Adventures of Nat Love

Over the past couple of years I have reviewed quite a number of books for this blog, but this is the first time I have reviewed a book acquired as a digital download.

The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, is a remarkable tale by any measure. The full title of the book – as can be seen in the illustration on the left – includes the additional words: better known in the cattle country as Dead Wood Dick.

Nat (pron: Nate) Love (1854–1921), was an African American cowboy following the American Civil War. In The Life and Adventures of Nat Love, his 1907 autobiography, Nat reveals that he was born into slavery during the month of June, 1854 (exact date unknown), on the Tennessee plantation of Robert Love, an “…owner of many slaves”.

Following the common practise at that time, Nat was given the surname of his owner, as were his two older siblings, sister Sally and brother Jordan. Nat Love’s father was a slave foreman in the fields, and his mother managed the kitchen.

Following the Civil War, Nat’s father, Sampson, rented 20 acres of land from Robert Love, and the family began to farm their own piece of ground cultivating corn, tobacco and vegetables. Nat learnt the basics of reading and writing from his father, whose untimely death a year or so after gaining his freedom, forced Nat to assume the role of head of the family, despite the fact that he was younger than his two siblings.

The family struggled on for several more years, until one day Nat’s luck finally changed for the better when – with a fifty-cent stake – he won a horse in a raffle. The former owner immediately bought the nag back from Nat for $50, and proceeded to raffle the horse for a second time. Incredibly, Nat, who had bought a ticket in this new raffle again won the horse. Once more the owner offered to buy the horse back for another $50, to which Nat agreed. Now armed with one hundred dollars in cash, Nat headed home and giving half to his mother, he used the other half to “…go out in the world and try and better my condition.”

Although he was only 15 or 16 years of age at this time, Nat went west to Dodge City, Kansas, and found work as a cowboy. Because of his excellent horse riding skills, he was soon given the nickname, "Red River Dick."

Nat Love goes on to recount his many adventures involving cattle rustlers, wild storms, marauding Indians, buffalo and cattle stampedes, gun fights, and long months on the trail, and life in general as a cowboy. His many years of experience made him an expert marksman and horse rider, and when, at the age of 22, he entered a rodeo in Deadwood, South Dakota on the 4th of July in 1876 – winning the rope, throw, tie, bridle, saddle and bronco riding contests – he was given the nickname "Deadwood Dick."

In 1890, Nat Love – who had recently married – gave up the life of the cowboy to begin his second career as a Pullman porter on the vast new rail networks that were then criss-crossing their way over the old cattle trails. For 15 years he rode the ‘iron horse’ the length and breadth of the continental United States, and his book contains a paeon to America that is so beautifully written that I will quote it in full in a forthcoming entry.

I was particularly taken with this passage too: “At the present time there are in the United States upwards of two hundred and sixty thousand miles of railroad open and in operation, not to mention several thousand miles now building and projected … while in 1851 there were only…9000 miles.” Later, he adds, “They carry somewhat more than 800,000,000 passengers every twelve months.”

The heyday of rail travel in the United States has of course, long since come and gone. The Wikipedia entry for Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), states that today Amtrak “…operates passenger service on 21,000 miles of track,” compared to the 260,000+ miles and growing in Nat Love’s day. Further, Wikipedia states, “In fiscal year 2008, Amtrak served 28.7 million passengers,” as compared with the 800 million annual passengers when Nat Love worked across the rail network.

Nat Love died in Los Angeles at age 67 in 1921. He lived an extraordinary life that took him from slavery, to the heyday of the American West, to the rise of the railways, and many places in between. He personally knew William ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody, Frank and Jesse James, Kit Carson as well as Billie The Kid – all of whom he writes about in his book. If ever there was a story crying out to be turned into a great Hollywood movie, the story of Nat Love is it, and why it has yet to be done is beyond me.

Maybe it is because truth really is stranger than fiction.

I only have one major reservation about the autobiography: Nat Love refers to Native Americans and Mexican nationals in quite derogatory terms in his book, where he refers to Mexicans as ‘greasers,’ and when he repeats the widespread cry of the day that ‘the only good Indian is a dead one,’ etc. In his defence, one could argue that he was simply reflecting commonly held sentiments of his era, but to my mind it does detract from the full esteem he surely deserves.

Also, one obvious omission came to mind as I finished this remarkable story: once Nat gives his mother half his winnings from the horse raffles, and heads off to better his “condition,” he never mentions his mother or two siblings again, and I was left wondering if he ever saw them or kept in contact with them over the remainder of his life.

The Life and Adventures of Nat Love is available as a free digital download from that amazing repository of free public domain books, Gutenberg.Org, where along with Nat Love’s autobiography you will find more than thirty thousand other titles that can be downloaded gratis to your iPhone, iPad, Kindle, PC, Mac or any number of other electronic devices.

Highly recommended.

More information

Gutenberg.Org...
EBook: The Life and Adventures of Nat Love…

In Review – The Texas Cowboy Cookbook

~ As a child growing up in the 1950s and 60s, my world was filled in part with stories and movies depicting the exciting life of the American cowboy.

From Hopalong Cassidy and the Lone Ranger, to Saturday afternoon cowboy serials at my local cinema, and television series such as Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, and even The Cisco Kid, the American west was as much a part of my suburban Adelaide upbringing as it was for a child in New York City. And yes, I too played ‘Cowboys and Indians’ after school, and had to take my turn as one of the Indians who invariably ended up getting shot by my best friend whose turn it was to be “the fastest gun in the west”.

Which brings me to Robb Walsh’s wonderful 2007 publication, The Texas Cowboy Cookbook, and which, despite its title, is more than just a book filled with western recipes.

I think it is fair to say that I’ve learnt more about the history and the life of cowboys from this cookbook, than anything else I’ve read so far on the topic, which may seem strange when you think about it – but then I haven’t read too many histories of the American West, and anyway, this is no ordinary cookbook. Not when the cover proclaims that The Texas Cowboy Cookbook, is “A History in Recipes and Photos.” And what a history it is.

The boom years of the American West occurred after the American Civil War – from 1866 to 1886, a period of just 20 short years. Almost everything we think we know about the West: the myths and legends, the Indian wars and the cattle trails, the gunfights and the outlaws, stems from this period.

The Texas Cowboy Cookbook is divided into ten chapters, each beginning with historical information examining the chapter’s theme. For example, The Texas Cowboy Myth, examines the background to the myths surrounding the American West, and the methods used to transform what was a tough, hard, dangerous life on the American frontier into the stuff of legends.

One of the greatest myth makers was Colonel William Cody, more popularly known as “Buffalo Bill”. Cody, who was in fact an army scout and real life Indian fighter, caused a sensation whenever his ‘Wild West Shows’ toured the big cities along the Eastern seaboard, and brought some of the flavour of the west to well-healed city slickers. It was “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows” that apparently invented the ‘circling the wagons’ myth that became a staple scene in many early Hollywood Westerns.

In Los Vaqueros, we learn more about the influence of the Spanish on the American West. In fact, throughout the book, Robb Walsh constantly explodes another great Western myth – the one that almost universally depicts Mexicans as greasers, bandits and outlaws, and relegates their contribution to the periphery of cowboy mythology, or as mere footnotes (if that).

For me, chapter 6, Black Cowboys, was the most surprising section of the book. Again, Walsh explodes the myth that the American West and the cowboys that rode it were always tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed and white. There were plenty of Anglo cowboys of course, but as the book points out: “…Texas cattle-raisers also included Spanish vaqueros, black slaves, former slaves and free people of color, Cajuns, Creoles, and immigrants freshly arrived from Mexico, England, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as other parts of the United States.”

While the exact number of African American cowboys will never be known: “The contention has been made that as many as 40 percent of all Texas cowboys were black.” Walsh writes that this claim depends on who is doing the counting. However, Walsh also writes that “By 1860 there were 180,000 slaves in Texas, 30 percent of the state’s population.”

It should come as no surprise then, that when the Civil War ended, many of the freed slaves continued to work as cowboys throughout the South and in Texas in particular.

And so to the diet of the American Cowboy.

If you thought the typical cowboy diet consisted of not much more than beans and beef, you would of course be wrong. Again The Texas Cowboy Cookbook illustrates, in more ways than one, that the western diet was influenced by a wide range of cultures and ingredients. From “…the wild game and goats preferred by the Spanish herders of the late 1700s, to the black Southern cooking of slaves and free people of color who worked as cowboys on East Texas ranches beginning in the early 1800s.”

The end of the Civil War also saw the arrival of bulk supplies of foodstuffs into the West. Now staples such as flour, coffee and lard were easy to come by. The advent of canning also saw a wide variety of foods (especially canned fruits) become available to cooks for use in recipes along the various routes used for extended cattle drives.

The Texas Cowboy Cookbook presents over 100 “genuine” cowboy recipes, as well as a selection of newer Western recipes created by modern cooks in what Walsh (in his final chapter) refers to as “The New Cowboy Cuisine”.

Starting with a look at the different types of chiles (including Anaheim, Poblano, Jalapeño, Serrano and Pequin – and their variants), Walsh takes the reader through ways to roast, grind, and make various chili sauces and salsas for year round use. In West of The Pecos we learn how to make a sourdough starter that can be used to make a continuous supply of sourdough pancakes, biscuits, hamburger buns, and more.

Having got the seasonings and the sourdoughs out of the way, the cookbook tackles the recipes proper. Everything you expected and a whole lot more is presented to the aspiring cowboy chef.

From Chili con Carne, to Chili con Queso; from Cinnamon Chicken to Green Gumbo with Fish; from Fried Green Tomatoes to Mexican Pot Roast. There are meat recipes aplenty: chicken, venison, pork and beef spare ribs, tenderloin steaks, and patties. You get soups and stews; corn bread, okra, and fatback; desserts like buttermilk-lemon pie, peach cobbler, and butter pecan ice-cream. There are noodle, rice, tomato, and onion dishes. And there are salads, sausages and sweet potato recipes. If you can’t find something to satisfy the hunger inside, you are not looking hard enough.

To end this review I will include just one recipe - for Cowboy Coffee. I look forward to the day when I’m watching a Western in my local cinema, and see the ‘cowboys’ make coffee this way – with water, coffee and a raw egg.

Wayne Walker’s Cowboy Coffee (makes 8 cups)
Wayne Walker’s technique for settling the grounds of coffee is to drop a whole raw egg into the coffee and stir it gently. It’s actually similar to the technique used by French chefs to clarify stock. Just don’t eat the egg.

8 heaping tablespoons medium-ground 100 percent Arabica coffee
8 cups spring water
1 raw egg

METHOD: In a metal coffeepot over medium heat, add the coffee to the water. Bring just to a boil and then reduce to a simmer (or move the pot to the side of the campfire) for a few minutes, or until strong enough. Break the egg into the pot and stir gently, being careful not to break the yolk. Wait at least 5 minutes without disturbing the pot. Pour carefully.

The Texas Cowboy Cookbook is generously illustrated with period black and white photographs and drawings, and includes a useful Resource Guide for readers wanting to find out more via the Internet. There is also a good Bibliography and a comprehensive Index.

The Texas Cowboy Cookbook, is worth reading for the historical information alone, but of course, if you want to try your hand at genuine old west recipes, the cookbook is the perfect place to start. So strap on your chaps, clear some space in the kitchen – or dig a fire pit in the back yard – and start cookin’. Yee-haa!

Title: The Texas Cowboy Cookbook
Author: Robb Walsh
Publisher: Broadway (April 10, 2007)
Language: English
Paperback: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0767921496
ISBN-13: 978-0767921497

Click link to purchase The Texas Cowboy Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos or click link below to purchase book direct from Amazon.Com…



You can also purchase Robb Walsh’s The Tex-Mex Cookbook: A History in Recipes and Photos and Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses

Image courtesy of Amazon.Com