Bartee will speak at the Montgomery County campus of Lone Star College on Monday, October 7 and again on Thursday, October 24.  The title of the first two-hour class is “Texas Before and After Spindletop” and is based upon his book “Texas Boomtowns: A History of Blood and Oil.”  The title of the second is “Texas Depression Outlaws” and is based upon the book “Texas Depression-Era Desperadoes.”  Both classes start at one o’clock in room 310 of the University Center and are free to attend.

In November 1831, Jim Bowie went hunting for a “lost” silver mine but found instead a bunch of angry Indians.  He left empty-handed but considered himself fortunate to still have his life and his scalp.

After keeping Texas waiting for seven long years, the U.S. secretary of state informed the Republic’s minister on November 10, 1843  that Washington was finally ready to reopen annexation talks.  But Texans were again left out in the cold, when the Senate slammed the door in their faces.

Contrary to popular belief, the office of lieutenant governor is not an automatic short-cut to the top in Texas politics.  Of the forty-four men who have held the number-two post, only a baker’s dozen won a promotion to the governor’s mansion.

Never heard of Fort Lipantitlan?  It was a mud fortress on the Nueces River manned by a Mexican government garrison in the early days of the Texas Revolution.  A small company of rebels was ordered to take the out-of-the-way objective, but the mission did not quite go as planned.