James T. DeShields

author

James T. DeShields

1861–1948

A Texas historian and collector who turned frontier stories into popular books, he spent decades gathering manuscripts, newspaper accounts, and local memories about the state's past. His work helped preserve colorful legends and source material that later historians continued to study and debate.

1 Audiobook

Cynthia Ann Parker The Story of Her Capture at the Massacre of the Inmates of Parker's Fort; of Her Quarter of a Century Spent Among the Comanches, as the Wife of the War Chief, Peta Nocona; and of Her Recapture at the Battle of Pease River, by Captain L. S. Ross, of the Texian Rangers

Cynthia Ann Parker The Story of Her Capture at the Massacre of the Inmates of Parker's Fort; of Her Quarter of a Century Spent Among the Comanches, as the Wife of the War Chief, Peta Nocona; and of Her Recapture at the Battle of Pease River, by Captain L. S. Ross, of the Texian Rangers

by James T. DeShields

About the author

Born in Louisiana on May 3, 1861, he moved with his family to Bell County, Texas, around the end of the Civil War. He later worked as a merchant and book agent, but he became best known for his lifelong interest in Texas history and for writing books and articles about the frontier past.

He gathered manuscripts, books, pictures, and reminiscences related to Texas, building collections that were important enough to be preserved in archives. Among the works associated with him are Border Wars of Texas, Tall Men with Long Rifles, and his well-known book on Cynthia Ann Parker.

His writing helped keep dramatic episodes of Texas history in public memory, even though some of his accounts have also been questioned by later scholars. He died in 1948, leaving behind both published works and research collections that still matter to readers interested in early Texas history.