"An Unborn Empire" - Robert E. Howard's Texas

[linefacedscrivener]

"Its merely a bit of transplanted Germany; German architecture, German food, German language - even German laws."
        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, September 1930

In this case, Howard is talking about the Texas town New Braunfels, home to the original Schlitterbahn, but he really could be talking about so many of the little towns throughout Texas. There is plenty of evidence for German culture in a number of Texas towns, and out of all the culture aspects of Germany, my favorite is the food and the beer. 

The following video talks about the influence of German food on Texas today. I like the analogy to Tex-Mex; it really is Texan-German. 

Warning: Don't watch this video if you are hungry!

[linefacedscrivener]

"Its merely a bit of transplanted Germany; German architecture, German food, German language - even German laws."

        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, September 1930

There is a self-guiding walking tour in Fredericksburg, Texas, and many of the homes on that tour convey the German architectural heritage--homes that Robert E. Howard would have seen on his visits to that German-rooted town. The following video from the Texas Historical Commission packs a lot of information on German Texas architecture in this four minute video, explaining a lot of what I saw on that tour.

[charleshelm]

Dec 15, 2020 9:43:39 GMT -5 linefacedscrivener said:

Still, why did "Bohemian" come to mean someone who was artsy, or "Beatnik"? Words are strange. 

Wikipedia to the rescue:  The term bohemianism emerged in France in the early 19th century, when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class, Romani neighborhoods. Bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who were mistakenly thought to have reached France in the 15th century via Bohemia (the western part of modern Czech Republic). The term 'bohemianism' and the description 'bohemian' in this specific context may not be connected to the ethnic or geographic term 'Bohemian' as it pertains to the historically indigenous people from the western part of the present day Czech Republic, although it may suggest something. [4]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemianism

[keith]

Oct 29, 2019 13:38:17 GMT -5 linefacedscrivener said:

“But the traditions of the Palo Pinto hills: there it was that Bigfoot Wallace slew his first Indian. Have you heard of Bigfoot Wallace? When you come to the Southwest you will hear much of him, and I’ll show you his picture, painted full length, hanging on the south wall of the Alamo - a tall, rangy man in buckskins, with rifle and bowie, and with the features of an early American statesman or general. Direct descendent of William Wallace of Scot- land, he was Virginia-born and came to Texas in 1836 to avenge his cousin and his brother, who fell at La Bahia with Fannin. He was at the Salado, he marched on the Mier Expedition and drew a white bean; he was at Monterey. He is perhaps the greatest figure in Southwestern legendry.”

        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, mid-October 1931

View Attachment

Continuing the Texas Ranger podcast from Black Barrel Media's "Legends of the Old West" episode 2, "Fight Like the Devil," we have Captain Jack Hays and Samuel Walker fighting the Comanches and becoming involved in the United States war with Mexico. Texas Rangers were  served under General Zachary Taylor in the war and they were instrumental in Taylor's success.  One of the Rangers involved in the Battle of Monterey was the one Howard mentions above in his letter to Lovecraft:William "Bigfoot" Wallace.  So, enjoy episode 2 of the podcast on the Texas Rangers:  "FIGHT LIKE THE DEVIL"

[keith]

Oct 29, 2019 13:38:17 GMT -5 linefacedscrivener said:

“But the traditions of the Palo Pinto hills: there it was that Bigfoot Wallace slew his first Indian. Have you heard of Bigfoot Wallace? When you come to the Southwest you will hear much of him, and I’ll show you his picture, painted full length, hanging on the south wall of the Alamo - a tall, rangy man in buckskins, with rifle and bowie, and with the features of an early American statesman or general. Direct descendent of William Wallace of Scot- land, he was Virginia-born and came to Texas in 1836 to avenge his cousin and his brother, who fell at La Bahia with Fannin. He was at the Salado, he marched on the Mier Expedition and drew a white bean; he was at Monterey. He is perhaps the greatest figure in Southwestern legendry.”

        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, mid-October 1931

View Attachment

Continuing the Texas Ranger podcast from Black Barrel Media's "Legends of the Old West" episode 2, "Fight Like the Devil," we have Captain Jack Hays and Samuel Walker fighting the Comanches and becoming involved in the United States war with Mexico. Texas Rangers were  served under General Zachary Taylor in the war and they were instrumental in Taylor's success.  One of the Rangers involved in the Battle of Monterey was the one Howard mentions above in his letter to Lovecraft:William "Bigfoot" Wallace.  So, enjoy episode 2 of the podcast on the Texas Rangers:  "FIGHT LIKE THE DEVIL"

[keith]

I first saw the name Bigfoot Wallace when I read that letter of Howard's. His actual Christian name was William, and he was (I've read) a descendant of the famous Braveheart. Even the redoubtable Indian fighter could be given pause at times, though. I read this in BIgfoot's own memoirs, which i was inspired to find online by REH's letter. Once, with friendly intentions, Wallace was approaching a cabin when a woman came out and grimly challenged him, with a firearm trained on his brisket. She told him that Indians disguised as white men had recently used the trick in those parts to get close enough to settlers to surprise and kill them. She ordered him to stand where he was until she was sure of him.
Wallace commented dryly in his memoirs, "She was a tall, hard-favoured woman - and I stood!"

[linefacedscrivener]

Dec 17, 2020 4:48:05 GMT -5 keith said:

I first saw the name Bigfoot Wallace when I read that letter of Howard's. His actual Christian name was William, and he was (I've read) a descendant of the famous Braveheart. Even the redoubtable Indian fighter could be given pause at times, though. I read this in BIgfoot's own memoirs, which i was inspired to find online by REH's letter. Once, with friendly intentions, Wallace was approaching a cabin when a woman came out and grimly challenged him, with a firearm trained on his brisket. She told him that Indians disguised as white men had recently used the trick in those parts to get close enough to settlers to surprise and kill them. She ordered him to stand where he was until she was sure of him.
Wallace commented dryly in his memoirs, "She was a tall, hard-favoured woman - and I stood!"

Yep! The memoirs of William "Bigfoot" Wallace are a lot of fun. Howard mentions him multiple times in his letters and he read one of the chapters in the Frontier Times in which his article "The Ghost of Camp Colorado" appeared. The magazine serialized Wallace's book. 

If anyone else is looking to read a copy, there is a free one on the Internet Archive. Link here: archive.org/details/adventuresofbigf00duva/page/n5/mode/2up

[linefacedscrivener]

"Its merely a bit of transplanted Germany; German architecture, German food, German language - even German laws."

        -Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, September 1930

The picture above is taken from an article about German-Texans and their German-Texan language (okay, it sounded like a good excuse): www.thelocal.de/20180927/texas-german-the-last-days-of-a-dying-dialect

The German immigrants who moved to Texas and continued to speak their language is not all that surprising, but what is interesting is that generations later, Germans visiting places like Fredericksburg and hearing the language were surprised to hear words that had not been used for several generations. It was as if German-Texan remained rooted in the late 1800s. 

Language--like food--is an interesting aspect of culture.

Here is a Texas Historical Commission video that talks about the German-Texas language:

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"But pardon me; I’m prone to wander off the subject and meander around quite aimlessly. I was speaking of the foreign influence in America. There is, for instance, a town not many miles from San Antonio called New Braunfels - a German settlement. The only non-German inhabitants are a small colony of factory workers who are looked on with much resentment by the townsmen. Its merely a bit of transplanted Germany; Germans architecture, German food, German language - even German laws. Its a beautiful little town, the cleanest as to appearance, of any town in Texas. You’ll see portly, bearded gentlemen strolling down the streets sedately puffing at gigantic pipes, just as they must do in Potsdam, Dresden or Düsseldorf. Just a little bit of Germany, that keeps itself apart from the rest of America."
        Robert E. Howard to H.P. Lovecraft, September 1930

In this early letter of his exchange with Lovecraft, Howard talks about the German immigrants and particularly highlights New Braunfels. The city has certainly grown since Howard visited, but it still retains evidence of its German roots. The first of the Schlitterbahn waterparks (and the best) is located in the city and there are still a number of German restaurants and bakeries. 

Here is a Texas Historical Commission video about the Germans in New Braunfels.

[linefacedscrivener]

[linefacedscrivener]

"Written in Mission, Texas, February 1932; suggested by the memory of the hill-country above Fredericksburg seen in a mist of winter rain."
    -Robert E. Howard

A fair number of Robert E. Howard's poems are about his native state of Texas. Many of his Conan tales are rooted in Texas geography and lore (e.g., "Beyond the Black River," "Red Nails"), including one of his most popular poems about Conan's Cimmeria, the poem by the same name. Part of what makes the poem so haunting is the opening words, "I remember," but the description of the land, which Howard attributes to the hill country about Fredericksburg, Texas, adds to the mystery. North of Fredericksburg is the state park, Enchanted Rock, named for the rock formation pictured above. Though the poem describes the hills of Cimmeria, it is based on the hills of Texas

Cimmeria


I remember

The dark woods, masking slopes of sombre hills;

The grey clouds' leaden everlasting arch;

The dusky streams that flowed without a sound,

And the lone winds that whispered down the passes.





Vista on vista marching, hills on hills,

Slope beyond slope, each dark with sullen trees,

Our gaunt land lay. So when a man climbed up

A rugged peak and gazed, his shaded eye

Saw but the endless vista - hill on hill,

Slope beyond slope, each hooded like its brothers.





It was a gloomy land that seemed to hold

All winds and clouds and dreams that shun the sun,

With bare boughs rattling in the lonesome winds,

And the dark woodlands brooding over all,

Not even lightened by the rare dim sun

Which made squat shadows out of men; they called it

Cimmeria, land of Darkness and deep Night.





It was so long ago and far away

I have forgot the very name men called me.

The axe and flint-tipped spear are like a dream,

And hunts and wars are shadows. I recall

Only the stillness of that sombre land;

The clouds that piled forever on the hills,

The dimness of the everlasting woods.

Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.





Oh, soul of mine, born out of shadowed hills,

To clouds and winds and ghosts that shun the sun,

How many deaths shall serve to break at last

This heritage which wraps me in the grey

Apparel of ghosts? I search my heart and find

Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.

[linefacedscrivener]

"Although ungainly looking, hard kicking and as stubborn as itself, the mule proved indispensable, if not heroic, to many prospectors, emigrants, soldiers and farmers on the wild frontier."
        -Charles M. Robinson III

The mule was important to the Spanish and their movement north into what is now Texas. Robinson writes, "The Spanish introduced mules as well as horses to the New World. In Spanish America, the mule was the primary draft animal, bearing everything from gold to grain on its back. It was bred in North America, often by missionaries, and became the riding animal of choice in old Santa Fe." One of Robert E. Howard's poems about his native land speaks to the Spanish mule trains coming north . . .

But the Hills Were Ancient Then

Now is a summer come out of the sea
And the hills that were bare are green.
They shower the petals and the bee
On the valleys that laze between

So it was in the dreaming past,
And life is a shifting maze,
Summer on summer fading fast,
In a mist of yesterdays.

Out of the East, the tang of smoke,
The flight of a startled deer,
A ringing axe the silence broke,
The tread of a pioneer.

Saxon eyes in a weathered face,
Cabins where trees had been,
Hard on the heels of a fading race,
But the hills were ancient then.

Up from the South a haze of dust,
The pack mules' steady pace,
Armor tarnished and red with rust,
Stern eyes in a sun-bronzed face.

The mesquite mocked the flag of Spain,
That the wind flung out again,
The grass bent under the pack mule train--
But the hills were ancient then. 


For a history of the Mule and its influence on the West, see Robinson's article here: www.historynet.com/hybrid-beast-built-west.htm

[linefacedscrivener]

The Alamo
by Robert E. Howard

For days they ringed us with their flame
For days their swarming soldiers came
  The battle wrack was gory.
We perished in the smoke and flame,
To give the world their traitor shame
  And our undying glory.

[linefacedscrivener]

"Of course, I haven't tried it all, but that's been my experience so far. I’ve drunk only Prima, Budweiser, Pearl, Old Heidelberg, Schlitz, Rheingold, Savoy, Sterling, Blue Ribbon, Fox, Country Club, Atlas Special, Jax, and Superior. None of it was as good as the Sabinas I used to drink in Old Mexico. I understand that company is going to move their brewery to San Antonio, and I hope they do. That was mighty good stuff."
        -Robert E. Howard to August Derleth, December 1933

Robert E. Howard loved his beer and many of the beers he rattled off to August Derleth in the letter above can be found in the picture above. A number of these beers were or became Texas beers, such as Pearl and Sabinas. 

When I was young, my dad bought and sold antiques and at one point beer can collecting became popular. He bought some, but never got into dealing in the old beer cans. However, I caught the bug and began collecting beer cans for a number of years. My favorites were the 007 beer cans from England. It may have been because I was a fan of James Bond, though more than likely it was the Bond girls on the front of the cans. 

Some of my oldest cans in my collection were the flat tops, like those shown above. These were some of the earliest beer cans and you needed a good old fashion can opener to pop them. The larger opener for drinking and the smaller side for the air flow. I think they should bring these back.

The collection above is actually that belonging to an archaeologist who has the coolest wife - she suggested he display the cans throughout their house!

The link to the article is here: www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beer-can-archaeologist

[linefacedscrivener]

"Dining room was furnished with traditional oak, round oak table and chairs with a buffet on which was displayed Hester’s cut-glass blown and vases. A cut-glass fruit bowl sat in the middle of the dining room table, which caught the sun’s rays in the afternoon."
        -L. Sprague de Camp Interview notes from Leroy Butler Interview


I have come across the mention of Hester Howard's cut-glass, particularly her fruit bowl, several times. I have noticed that everyone remarks how fancy it was, insinuating that this was part of what made them members of Cross Plains' upper class. I was visiting my son at Stephen F. Austin University this past fall and we sent to visit the Old Nacogdoches University Building, which has served many purposes over the years, but is now a museum. There, I discovered a room filled with many examples of cut glass from the same time period in which Dr. Howard and Hester must have acquired theirs. 

According to the handout on cut glass: "At one time, the finest cut glass in the world was made in the United States. The time period was 1876 to 1917 and that period was known as the 'Brilliant Period'  . . . the Brilliant Period was possible because deposits of high grade silica were found in out country and because there was an influx of artisans from England and Ireland." It continued to explain that "the end of the Brilliant Period came with WWI when lead was needed for military purposes." 

The following is an interesting video about the history of cut glass, focusing on a rather ornate punch bowl that was made for the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904.