HISTORY OF TEXAS FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1685 TO ITS ANNEXATION TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1846.

New York: Redfield, 1855. 2 volumes. Rare First Edition. Most of the 1855 First Edition copies perished in a warehouse fire. Illustrated with four engraved portrait plates, an engraved plate of the Museum of San Jose as frontispiece, three single page maps, a folding facsimile and a large folding map of Texas. Thick 8vo, handsomely bound in three-quarter dark olive-green morocco over marbled paper covered boards, the spines with raised bands gilt ruled, the compartments with gilt panels incorporating gilt tooled corner pieces and gilt stops, tow compartments paneled and lettered in gilt, marbled end-leaves and edges to match, a very pleasing binding. 482; 576 pp. A very well preserved and pleasing copy, the bindings in excellent condition, very handsome, strong and tight, the text-block of Vol. I somewhat mellowed or lightly browned as is typical, some old marginal evidence of dampstains towards the front of Vol. I, but generally not obtrusive and quite acceptable, the text-block of Vol. II quite bright and clean and without the mellowing generally associated with the first volume, the plates in good order, the plate of Stephen Austin repeated in Vol.I, an fine example of the very elusive first edition. VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST SUBSTANTIAL HISTORY OF TEXAS AND THE FIRST SCHOLARLY HISTORY WRITTEN AFTER ANNEXATION. A HIGHLY IMPORTANT SOURCE BOOK BY ONE OF THE MAJOR HISTORICAL ACTORS IN THE HISTORY OF THE STATE. Henderson King Yoakum was an accomplished soldier, attorney, and politician. Born in 1810 in Claiborne County, Tennessee, Yoakum graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He resigned his commission as lieutenant in 1833 to practice law in Murfreesboro,Tennessee, where he was later elected mayor. He then returned to military service, taking up arms in 1836 as a captain of the mounted militia near the Sabine River, and as a colonel in the Tennessee infantry during the Cherokee War in 1838. The following year, he won a post in the Tennessee Senate, where he served until 1845. During his time in the legislature, he supported the annexation of Texas.
A close friend of General Sam Houston’s, Yoakum migrated to Texas in 1845 and settled about three miles outside Huntsville....At the outbreak of the Mexican War he volunteered as a private under John C. (Jack) Hays and served at Monterrey as a lieutenant under James Gillaspie. With the expiration of his enlistment on October 2, 1846, he returned to his law practice at Huntsville, where Sam Houston was his close friend and client. In Huntsville, Yoakum played a vital role in every facet of community life. In 1846 he was instrumental in making Huntsville the county seat of Walker County.
In 1849, he wrote the charter for Austin College and then served as the school’s first librarian. He also taught law there and sat on the board of trustees. In addition, Yoakum helped to found Andrew Female College.
In July, 1853 he moved to his country home, Shepherd's Valley, seven miles from Huntsville, where in 1855 he completed his two-volume History of Texas from Its First Settlement in 1685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846, for which Houston was said to have given him much of the information.
The work is the first scholarly history of Texas written after annexation. The author "...collected with great care all the existing material, with much that has never yet appeared in print. All contemporary accounts, personal narratives, private correspondence, individual reminiscences, newspaper statements, and official documents are called into requisition. The work...is still of very great interest and value, and is deserving of general study. The author was...an enthusiastic admirer of Gen. Houston" - Raines. A number of unpublished letters of Sam Houston's appear in print for the first time here. Jenkins wrote of Yoakum's history that it was a "...necessary source."