Springtime in Texas

History of the Bluebonnet

by Martha Rogers

You know it's Springtime in Texas when the wildflowers bloom all over the countryside. One thing we're still able to do during this don't mingle and social distancing mode is to drive the country roads to view the bluebonnets. It's an excellent way to relieve boredom and being stir-crazy.

Bluebonnets are not only the state flower of Texas, but also one of the most loved and most often photographed flowers in our

state. Bluebonnets grow wild and re-seed themselves each year along the highways and bi-ways giving the countryside a wonderful light blue to an almost purple hue.

Native American Folklore is woven around the flower that has five different species and grows more profusely in Texas than anywhere else. Bluebonnets have a unique history built around a myth from the early days of the state when Indians roamed the prairies and the hillsides.

As the legend goes, after a devastating flood, an extremely hot summer and then a cold, dry winter, water became scarce and crops died. The tribal chief gathered his council and figured the Great Spirit was angry with them as disease spread through the tribe. As the tribe met one night, a little girl overheard them and became quite distraught. That night after everyone was asleep, she took her little corn husk doll with blue feathers and offered it for sacrifice on a hillside to the Great Spirit. She piled up coals and started a fire to burn her doll. After the doll burned and the ashes cooled, the little girl gathered up the ashes and swirled around on the hillside to toss them into the wind to the north, to the south, to the west and to the east. The next morning the hillsides were covered with beautiful blue flowers. When the tribal fathers find out, they renamed her One Who Dearly Loves Her People. They believed the Great Spirit had forgiven them, and the land once again flourished.

Several books have been written about the legend and are read in elementary classrooms across the state with special worksheets for the students to enjoy.

Historian Jack Maguire wrote, "It's not only the state flower but also a kind of floral trademark almost as well known to outsiders as cowboy boots and the Stetson hat." He affirmed that "The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England, and the tulip to Holland.

The five species are:
1. Lupinus subcarnosus: the original champion grows in sandy lands and reaches a peak in late March.
2. Lupinus texensis: the favorite of tourists and artists is the one which provides the blue spring carpet in Central Texas and is THE Texas bluebonnet. It's also the easiest to grow.
3. Lupinus Havardii: the Bin Ben or lChisos Bluebonnet and is most majestic with flowering spikes up to three feet tall.
4. Lupinus concinnus: an inconspicuous lupine only two to seven inches tall and is found in the Trans-Pecos region with its white, rosy purple and lavender blooms.
5. Lupinus plattensis: the only perennial species grows to about two feet tall and is also known as the dune bluebonnet and the Nebraska Lupine

In 1901, Texas Legislature designated the Lupus Subcarnosus bluebonnet to be the state flower over the cotton boll and cactus. It remained that way until 1977 when the Legislature included all five species.

For us Texans, the bluebonnet is much more than a simple state flower. We have an official bluebonnet tartan, a song, a city Ennis, a festival in Chappell Hill and a bluebonnet trail also in Ennis.

While Lyndon Johnson served as President of the United States, his wife Lady Bird, encouraged the planting of native plants along Texas highways and presented a bill to the Texas Senate  that would clean up and beautify highways. The bill passed in 1965 and through her efforts and the bill, the flowers are now abundant along most major highways throughout the state.

What is your state flower?

My latest novel is set in the Houston area of Texas along a highway were bluebonnets grow in abundance. 

When Christina Barton awakens in a San Francisco hospital with amnesia after a hit and run accident, she is mistakenly identified as Caroline Russell, a model and daughter of a wealthy rancher. The real Caroline Russell has left California and returned to Texas under an assumed name and new identity of Carrie Richards in order to undercover a plot against her father and grandmother Kate Russell that will force them to sell the ranch. As Carrie works to find evidence of the plot against her grandmother, Kate  Russell tries to help her granddaughter Caroline regain her memory. What they discover in the process will turn their world upside down and expose a long time deception that will change their lives forever. 

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Since receiving her first novel contract at age 73, Martha has written and published over 50 books. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to five. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Texas Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com, www.hhhistory.com                    

Twitter:  @martharogers2                   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarthaRogersAuthor

Cattle Trails from Texas

Loving and Goodnight: Texas Legends
by Martha Rogers

Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving became partners to drive cattle from Texas to western markets with hopes of selling beef to military outposts along the route as well as to settlers. In 1886, tey started out with eighteen cowpunchers and two-thousand head of cattle. They arrived at Fort Sumter in New Mexico where about eight thousand Navajo were interned at a reservation under control of the fort.

Due to poor conditions for agriculture, there was a high demand for food supplies. The officers at the fort purchased the steer for eight cents a pound. Goodnight returned to Texas with $12,000 in gold to buy more cattle.

His partner, Loving, continued north with the remaining stock to Denver, Colorado. There he sold the rest of the herd.

The next year, 1867, they set out again. They were delayed by a thunderstorm and a band of Comanche attacked and scattered the herd. While Goodnight rounded them up, Loving set out with Bill Wilson to let the fort commander know of the delay. Loving and Wilson were attacked in New Mexico by a band of Comanche. Loving was severely wounded, but Wilson managed to escape and made it to a place where he waited for Goodnight to arrive.

Together they found Loving and brought him to the fort, but a few weeks later, he died from his wounds after gangrene set in. Loving lamented the fact he was going to die and be buried in “foreign country.” Goodnight promised that he would somehow get him back to Texas where he could rest in peace in his native land. Goodnight kept that promise and the trip is the stuff of which legends are made.

Goodnight and his men collected empty oil cans and flattened them and then welded them in a tin coffin in which they placed Loving’s wooden coffin packed with charcoal and then placed in another wooden box. It was then carted by wagon back to Weatherford, Texas where his grave lies today.

If this sounds familiar, you may have read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. He says he didn’t use

anyone as models for his characters, but the similarities between the novel’s Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are too real to be a coincidence. The death of Loving and Goodnight’s return of his body to Texas is one of the major events of the novel with Call promising to return Gus to Texas for burial after he died from a wound inflicted in an Indian attack. Both Call and Goodnight made good on their promises.

Historical Marker for the Trail:

After Loving’s death, Goodnight scouted a new route with a plan to sell cattle in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For the next ten years he drove cattle up the trail and eventually Cheyenne became a hub for the cattle business and then shipped the cattle on the Union Pacific railroad to Chicago.

In 1876, Goodnight partnered with John Adair to found what was to become the JA ranch in Palo Duro Canyon in Texas. That ranch covered nearly a million acres and maintained a herd of close to 100,000 head. Goodnight's Home:

During the days of his cattle drives he is said to have invented or created the chuck wagon used on the trails to feed the cowpunchers.

Here is a map showing the Loving Goodnight Trail along with others used at that time.

Next month we’ll continue the saga of Charles Goodnight, a true Texas legend.

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and multi-published author from Realms Fiction of Charisma Media and Winged Publications. She was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009. She is a member of ACFW and writes the weekly Verse of the Week for the ACFW Loop. ACFW awarded her the Volunteer of the Year in 2014. Her first electronic series from Winged Publications, Love in the Bayou City of Texas, debuted in the spring of 2015.  Martha is a frequent speaker for writing workshops and the Texas Christian Writers Conference. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex. Their favorite pastime is spending time with their eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. 

A Texas Legend

Jim Bowie: Hero of the Alamo
Plus Give Away
by Martha Rogers

James “Jim” Bowie was a hero of the Alamo in the battle for Texas’ freedom from Mexico. Jim, a 19th-century pioneer, played a prominent role in Texas Revolution and gave his life for the cause at the Alamo. Tales about his heroism and exploits in the battle and as a man of the frontier have made him a legendary figure and folk hero in Texas history. Some of the stories are true, but some are from the imagination of people who knew him or about him and expanded on his heroics.

Born in Kentucky in 1796, Bowie spent most of his life in Louisiana until he moved to Texas. Some of his exploits in Louisiana involved land speculation and the purchase of a plantation in Alexandria where he and his brother established the first steam mill for grinding sugar cane. They sold that in 1831.

 Many of Bowie’s exploits involved defending himself with a large knife which led to stories of his prowess with the knife. This in turn led to the widespread popularity of the knife which became known as the Bowie knife. One of those battles was known as the “Sandbar Fight” and furthered the popularity of his knife. It became so popular that British manufacturers produced the knives and shipped them to the United States. The design evolved over the years, but

generally remained like the one Bowie used and is pictured here.

While recuperating from his wounds in the Sandbar Fight, Bowie moved to Texas and became a Mexican citizen and married Maria Ursala Veramendi, the daughter of the Mexican vice-governor of the province. In 1830, Texas then became his permanent residence. He and Maria had two children, but unfortunately, Maria and the children died of cholera in 1833.

He became well-known in Mexican politics for his land speculation, his expeditions for the Mexican government, and Indian battles. Bowie never boasted of his exploits despite his growing reputation and fame. He was described as a humble man who never used profanity or vulgarities.

In 1835, the president of Mexico ordered the arrests of all Texans doing business in the area of Monclova. This forced Bowie to flee the province and return to the Anglo areas of Texas.

Bowie then joined the Texas Militia when Stephen F. Austin formed the “Texian Army.” Before the Alamo, Bowie was involved in other battles along with William B. Travis and James Fannin. When Sam Houston became chief of the Texas army, he offered Bowie a commission as an officer on his staff, but Bowie declined. He said he’d rather be in the midst of the fighting.

After several battles with the Mexicans in which they were defeated, the Texans believed the war was over and many returned to their families. Bowie didn’t and instead went to San Felipe to ask the Texas council to allow him to recruit his own regiment but was denied.

When Sam Houston learned that Santa Anna was leading a large force to attack San Antonio, Bowie offered to lead the volunteers to defend the Alamo Mission from attack. He arrived in late January, 1836, with thirty men and found one hundred and four men there to defend it. 

In February, Davy Crockett arrived with thirty Tennesseans. Then Bowie commanded the volunteers and Travis commanded the regular army and the volunteer cavalry.

On  February 24, 1836, the siege of the Alamo began. Although Bowie was too ill to join in much of the active battle, he gave a valiant effort. One story goes that when it became evident the Mexican army would prevail, Travis drew a line in the sand and asked those willing to die for Texas to cross the line. At Bowie’s request, Crockett and several others carried Bowie’s cot across the line. There were no survivors to authenticate the account, and it believed to have been known to embellish his articles. Even so, it became a famous scene in the John Wayne movie about the Alamo.

Accounts of his death are as varied as the reputation of the man himself. Some say he died fighting on his cot with his guns blazing and wielding his knife. Others say his tongue was cut out while he was alive because he cursed a Mexican soldier. Other stories claim Bowie shot himself or was killed by Mexican soldiers because he was too weak to defend himself. Texans like their heroes and believe the first story of his going out with a fight to be the most accurate one.

Bowie’s body, along with Travis and Crockett’s were burned. One year after the battle, Juan Seguin returned to the Alamo, retrieved the remaining ashes from the pyre and placed them in a coffin. The coffin with the ashes was interred at the Cathedral of San Fernando. This is a replica of the Bowie knife and is on display at the Alamo today.

Bowie has been immortalized in both movies and TV shows. For two years, Bowie was the subject of a series, The Adventures of Jim Bowie.

All movies about the Alamo include the heroics of Jim Bowie. A county in Texas is named for him as are many elementary schools in the state. To Texans, he is hero right along with the likes of Davy Crockett and Sam Houston. The Bowie Knife remains as another part of his legacy.  


Because there were not enough posts to have a good drawing, I've extended it to include this month. So, leave a comment below and tell me who is a great  or legend in your state. You will have a choice of the gift of an e-book version or a hard copy of Bride on the Run or the paperback copy of Christmas at Stony Creek.

Kelly Morgan looks forward to her marriage to Darrell, but something isn't right and her childhood friend, Tyler, sees it. When a domineering soon to be mother-in-law takes over, changes honeymoon plans and dashes all hopes of Kelly decorating her own home, she falls apart and runs away from the ceremony. Who will be there to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and bring her home?

News reporter Tom Whiteman befriends a homeless man, Joe, and brings him home to Stoney Creek. Tom’s journalistic instincts suggest there’s more to the old man than appearances tell. A carpenter by trade, Joe works at odd jobs around town and makes many new friends including Faith Delmont, a girl who grew up with Tom. Contradictions in the man’s manners and way of speaking whet Tom’s nose for news and raises even more questions. As he and Faith seek the truth, they learn that God’s love can turn tragedy and loss to triumph and true love comes to those who seek it.     

Martha Rogers is a multi-published author and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston, Texas where they are active members of First Baptist Church. They are the parents of three sons and grandparents to eleven grandchildren and great-grandparents to four. Martha is a retired teacher with twenty-eight years teaching Home Economics and English at the secondary level and eight years at the college level supervising student teachers and teaching freshman English. She is the Director of the Houston Christian Writers Conference held in Houston in August each year, a member of ACFW, ACFW WOTS chapter in Houston, and a member of the writers’ group, Inspirational Writers Alive.

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com

Law West of the Pecos

Judge Roy Bean 

 By Martha Rogers

The town of Langtry sits on the western side of Texas and has a colorful past with an interesting history on the supposed origin of its name. The most prominent and well known citizen of the town was one self-appointed Judge Roy Bean.

Now Judge Bean was a colorful character who hauled supplies for the Confederates near San Antonio during the Civil War. He did marry, but it ended in divorce in 1880 and he settled in a railroad construction camp near the Pecos River where the Sothern Pacific Railroad men worked hard to complete a bridge over the Pecos River and thus continue on with the transcontinental route. The community formed served as a temporary home for thousands of railroad workers and Roy Bean quickly established a saloon in the tent city of Vinegarroon.

When it became known that a Justice of the Peace was needed for the area, Roy Bean was quick to volunteer and on August 2, 1882, he became the only legal authority in the area. In no time he became the self-proclaimed “Only Law West of the Pecos.”

In 1882, constructed on the bridge ended and the town of Vinegarroon abandoned. So, Bean headed northwest and established another little town. He set up a tent saloon at the camp of Eagle Nest and later built a wooden structure for his saloon. The town then became Langtry, named after George Langtry.

Because he admired Lillie Langtry, a well-known British stage actress born in Jersey, England, Bean named his saloon the Jersey Lilly and boasted of his personal acquaintance with Lillie although they’d never met. Her name fit the saloon as its reputation was as disreputable as hers.

Bean was a notorious lawman who liked to make up his own rules in his judgments. One such case concerned the law forbidding the carrying of a concealed weapon. When a young man was arrested and accused of carrying such a weapon. Bean released him with the following logic.

"That charge won't stick," pronounced the judge. "If he was standing still when he was arrested he wasn't carrying weapons because he wasn't going no place. And, if he was not standing still, he was traveling, and it's legal for travelers to carry weapons. Case dismissed."

Although known as a “hanging judge,” Bean actually sentenced only two men to hang and one of them escaped. Horse thieves were usually hanged, but if they returned the horses and paid a fine, Bean let them go.

In addition to the saloon, Bean later built a home for himself behind it and called it the “Opera House” in anticipation of a visit by the famous actress Lilly Langtry. He claimed that he often wrote to her and allegedly she wrote back and even sent him two pistols. He also took credit for naming the town after her even though he hadn't.

He died in his saloon in 1903 with heart ailments without ever meeting his Lilly. Ironically, a year after his death, Lilly visited the town on her way from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The townspeople told her numerous stories of Judge Roy Bean, and she appeared to enjoy them.  

Although he was buried in Westlawn Cemetery in Del Rio, Texas, the number of visitors to the site prompted the removal from there to a re-burial behind the Whitehead Memorial Museum in the same town. 

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009 and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.  A former English and Home Economics teacher, Martha loves to cook and experimenting with recipes and loves scrapbooking when she has time. She has written two series, Winds Across the Prairie and Seasons of the Heart as well as several novellas. Love Stays True and Love Finds Faith, the first two books in her new series, The Homeward Journey, are available now with book number three being released this month.