The subject of my Texas history column for the week of Wednesday, December 25 through Tuesday, December 31 is “affairs of honor” in early Texas.

Dueling was a nasty business southerners brought with them, and any real or imagined insult could result in crack-of-dawn combat.  Sam Houston refused to take dueling seriously and on a written invitation once jotted a note to his secretary:  “This is number twenty-four.  The angry gentleman must wait his turn.”