History, its uses and joys for the author

http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org

     As a trained historian, I get a kick out of using history in my novels to point up truths. One of my main "causes" is to paint with words the truth of the past. Here, to the left, is an artist who "paints" as a sculptor. His truth about the fate of the American Indian is in every line of this huge sculpture in Oklahoma City's National Cowboy Museum. This picture really does it no justice. The magnificence of it can be breath-taking. Not only in the Indian's posture but his face, and of course, the horse is a perfect complement to his despair. I have never written an American historical western, but living in Texas where the very air vibrates with cowboy culture and a rich past, I now embark on writing one.This will be a history of the families that settled my fictitious town of Bravado, which I populate in present day for my KNIGHTS IN BLACK LEATHER series for EC. The first of those is ROPE ME IN and the second, in edits as we speak, is TIE ME DOWN. In this historical, I will focus on the Comanche, a tribe that lived in south Texas and is known even today as wild, ruthless toward the Anglos and Tejanos who took their land and their livelihood.When you hear about Indians who were merciless to their Anglo captives, usually it is the Comanche who set the standard for that.Texans were so determined to wipe out the Comanche that today, few Indians live in the Lone Star State. In fact, only the Kickapoo have a reservation near Eagle Pass along the Rio Grande. They do run a casino there and it is profitable. Not too far from the bridge to Mexico, this casino is one of the must see stops on any tour of the Rio Grande border with Texas.
The link to the casino is here:
http://www.kickapooluckyeaglecasino.com/