Now You Hear My Horn: The Journal of James Wilson Nichols, 1820–1887

by James Wilson Nichols, Catherine W. McDowell (Editor)

Jim Nichols was a lively, vigorous frontiersman who came to Texas about the time of its Revolution. As with many men of that day, Nichols' formal education was lacking, but he was a born writer with a vivid way of saying things. He had an abundance of exciting events to write about: fighting against Mexicans and Indians, Ranger activities, an attack by wolves, a buffalo stampede, and many other colorful episodes. Nichols' account is fast-moving, fascinating frontier history by a man who was really there.

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Charles Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting piece of first-person history. The ante-bellum Texas frontier was a wild and dangerous place, and James Wilson Nichols was quite the adventurer. He didn't travel far and wide to find his adventures. He found them just outside his front door. He recounts battles with Native Americans, Mexican raiders, and his activities in the US-Mexico War, during the Civil War, and after the war. The book is a bit heavy on tales of derring-do, which I have little doubt were accurate. But, one gets little sense of culture and daily life from the diary. He was an adventurer, and he wrote about his adventures.

One enormously interesting aspect of the book Nichols' discussion of how Union sympathizers were treated in Texas during the Civil War. Nichols was in the counties where the infamous Capt Duff was tasked with having everyone take an oath of allegiance to the CSA. He was the commander of a company of Texas Partisan Rangers who harassed Unionists in central Texas, and his men were involved in the Nueces Massacre of German-Americans trying to flee to Mexico. Nichols twice refused to take the oath, but finally did so because failure to do so could have meant exile or vigilante "justice." Unfortunately, this issue receives only a few pages of attention.

For those who want a picture of the dangers and courage involved in living on the Texas frontier, this book is a great read.

[Walter Danley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put this book into my research section in order to get a taste of late 19th century Texas dialog. I'll use some of what I've gleaned for the sequel to "Blasted Past: A Time-Traveler's Tale of the Old West."
"Now You Hear My Horn" is a diary of the daily events recorded by the author, a recent settler in Texas. Nichols tells of his winners and losers in the battles to settle an unsettled land in letters to and from his family and friends. It is not an Elmer Kelton narrative nor a publication worthy of TR Fehrenbach's academic excellence. It is a concurrent chronicle that has just what I was looking for.

[Jodiann RN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting history written with all the misspellings of that era