Paul H. Carlson
Encyclopedia
Paul Howard Carlson an historian
of Texas
, the American West, and Native Americans
, is a professor emeritus at Texas Tech University
in Lubbock
.
Carlson received his Ph.D.
in 1973 from Texas Tech, taught at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin
in Guadalupe County
, and returned to Tech in the early 1980s as a professor of history. He retired from the university in 2009. He has also been active throughout his career as a fellow of both the West Texas Historical Association
, based at Texas Tech, and the Texas State Historical Association
, headquartered at the University of North Texas
in Denton
. Carlson concentrates on ranching, frontier life, the military, and Indian affairs. He has through 2010 published 18 books and more than 200 articles, essays, and book reviews.
. Carlson wrote two chapters, "Myth and the Modern Cowboy" and "Cowboys and Sheepherders." In the preface, Carlson writes that the interest in the cowboys comes from:
Other chapters of The Cowboy Way are "Cowboy Humor" by Kenneth W. Davis, "Stockyards Cowboys" by J'Nell L. Pate, "English Cowboy: The Earl of Aylesford in the American West," by James Irving Fenton (1932-2011) of Lubbock, "Cowboy Songs" by Robert G. Weiner, and "Vaqueros in the Western Cattle Industry" by Jorge Iber.
, a creation of folklore. Carlson seeks to set the historical record straight in regard to General William Shafter, formerly considered a "fat, incompetent buffoon" who headed the American Expeditionary Force
to Cuba
in 1898. Much of the success of the AEF has been attributed to future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
and his friend, General Leonard Wood
.
After the American Civil War
, Shafter returned to his native Michigan
but found that he preferred military to civilian life. In 1867, he received a commission in the regular Army and was sent to Texas as a lieutenant colonel of the 41st Infantry, an African American regiment. Carlson describes Shafter's Texas sojourn as service "with distinction." Thereafter, Shafter fought in several Indian campaigns throughout the West. He was involved in peace restoration at Pine Ridge
, South Dakota
, in the wake of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee.
In the Spanish American War, Shafter transported a force of 16,000 men some 1,200 miles by water, and within ten days of landing drove back the enemy to his last line of defense at Santiago de Cuba
. Within another two weeks, the city surrendered, and a Spanish army of 24,000 laid down its arms. Carlson concludes that Shafter's work in Cuba was certainly not that of a "buffoon."
According to the reviewer Roger D. Launius, Carlson:
was the mother of Comanche
chief Quanah Parker
, and had been taken captive in 1836, when she was a young girl. In 1860, she was taken prisoner in a raid on the Pease River
by a contingent of Texas Rangers
, led by Sul Ross, and United States cavalry
. Carlson and Crum re-examine the plight of Parker and reveal a century of historical falsifications that have made the facts of the case a continuing mystery.
In 2006, Carlson also published Amarillo: The Story of a Western Town, a history of Amarillo
, largest city in the Texas Panhandle
.
In 2005, Texas Tech Press published Carlson's short volume of history and archaeology of the Llano Estacado
, entitled Deep Time and the Texas High Plains: History and Geology. A reviewer write that early inhabitants of the Plains who came to the Lubbock Lake Landmark
in the long Yellow House Draw, "camped, hunted game, and sought shelter from harsh winter weather." Carlson surveys the geologic past of the area, with emphasis on "human activity in the region . . . how early peoples adapted to shifting environmental conditions and changing animal resources. . . . Carlson places this significant national archaeological site in broad perspective, connecting it to geology and history in the larger upper Brazos River
drainage system and, by extension, the central Llano Estacado. . . . "
The Plains Indians (College Station
, Texas: Texas A&M University Press
) won the History Book Club selection of 1998 and was subsequently published in 2004 in a French language
translation in Paris. In 2005, The Plains Indians was named one of the 100 most outstanding books on the American West published in the 20th century.
Empire Builder in the Texas Panhandle: William Henry Bush (1849-1931), Texas A&M University Press, 1996, is the story of a versatile entrepreneur who made a fortune in many enterprises, including the Panhandle cattle industry.
Texas Woollybacks: The Range Sheep and Goat Industry (Texas A&M University Press, 1982) is a study of the sheep and goat industries in West Texas.
With the historians Donald R. Abbe (born 1949) and David J. Murrah (born 1941), Carlson co-authored "Lubbock and the South Plains.
, a creation of the Texas State Historical Association. He has worked on the Charles Goodnight
papers. In 1993, he received the Texas Tech "President's Excellence in Teaching Award." In 2005, he was named outstanding professor by the Residence Life students. He has been twice named the "outstanding faculty member" of the Texas Tech history department. He has also been a director of the Texas Tech Center for the Southwest. In 2006, Carlson was elected to membership in the Philosophical Society of Texas.
in Lubbock County. There are two Carlson sons, Steven Y. Carlson (born ca. 1966) of Schertz
, Texas,
and Kevin A. Carlson (born 1971) of Ransom Canyon, and one daughter, Diane K. McLaurin of Lubbock.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, the American West, and Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, is a professor emeritus at Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
.
Carlson received his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1973 from Texas Tech, taught at Texas Lutheran College in Seguin
Seguin, Texas
Seguin is a city in Guadalupe County, Texas, in the United States. It is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,011; the July 1, 2009 Census estimate, however, showed the population had increased to 26,842...
in Guadalupe County
Guadalupe County, Texas
Guadalupe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 89,023. It is named for the Guadalupe River. The seat of the county is Seguin. It was founded in 1846....
, and returned to Tech in the early 1980s as a professor of history. He retired from the university in 2009. He has also been active throughout his career as a fellow of both the West Texas Historical Association
West Texas Historical Association
The West Texas Historical Association is an organization of both academics and laypersons dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the total history of West Texas, defined geographically as all Texas counties and portions of counties located west of Interstate 35.-Formation of the...
, based at Texas Tech, and the Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association or abbreviated TSHA, is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the rich and unique history of Texas. It was founded on March 2, 1897. As of November 2008, TSHA moved from Austin to the University of North Texas in Denton.The executive...
, headquartered at the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
in Denton
Denton, Texas
The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
. Carlson concentrates on ranching, frontier life, the military, and Indian affairs. He has through 2010 published 18 books and more than 200 articles, essays, and book reviews.
Carlson's The Cowboy Way
In 2006, Carlson edited The Cowboy Way: An Explanation of History and Culture, published by the Texas Tech University PressTexas Tech University Press
Texas Tech University Press , founded in 1971, is the university press of Texas Tech University.-External links:*...
. Carlson wrote two chapters, "Myth and the Modern Cowboy" and "Cowboys and Sheepherders." In the preface, Carlson writes that the interest in the cowboys comes from:
dime novelDime novelDime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...
s and Buffalo BillBuffalo BillWilliam Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
's Wild West Exhibition, then in the enormous popularity of Owen WisterOwen WisterOwen Wister was an American writer and "father" of western fiction.-Early life:Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a well-known neighborhood in the northwestern part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician, one of a long line of...
's The VirginianThe Virginian (novel)This page is about the novel, for other uses see The Virginian .The Virginian is a pioneering 1902 novel set in the Wild West by the American author Owen Wister...
(1902), and subsequently in the success of popular western novels of the type by Zane GreyZane GreyZane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
and Max BrandMax BrandFrederick Faust, aka Max Brand|thumb|rightFrederick Schiller Faust was an American author known primarily for his thoughtful and literary Westerns. Faust wrote mostly under pen names, but today is primarily known by only one, Max Brand...
, in western films (made in ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Hollywood, and elsewhere), in television programs in public television documentaries, and in other formats, including the highly effective use of cowboys as advertising symbols. Serious scholars—including historians, sociologists, literary critics, and others—have studied cowboys and the symbols and myths that surround them.
In the popular view cowboys were men on horseback. In fact, most of the time they spent their days on foot working at such farm-related chores as repairing fences and cutting hay. Even in Wister’s defining cowboy novel, for example, the hero of the story—the prototypal cowboy—herded neither cows nor cattle of any kind.
Nonetheless, in both his actual and his imagined life the cowboy has become a popular hallmark for defining what it means to be a 'real' American male. Perceived as a tough, mobile, and independent outdoorsman, he has become a symbolic yardstick against which modern men might measure their own manhood.
Other chapters of The Cowboy Way are "Cowboy Humor" by Kenneth W. Davis, "Stockyards Cowboys" by J'Nell L. Pate, "English Cowboy: The Earl of Aylesford in the American West," by James Irving Fenton (1932-2011) of Lubbock, "Cowboy Songs" by Robert G. Weiner, and "Vaqueros in the Western Cattle Industry" by Jorge Iber.
Another Pecos Bill
"Pecos Bill," a Military Biography of William R. Shafter, (Texas A&M University Press, 1989), is a study of a controversial military officer who was stationed for a time in West Texas. The officer is of course unrelated to the western character Pecos BillPecos Bill
Pecos Bill is an American cowboy, apocryphally immortalized in numerous tall tales of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. Their stories were probably invented into short stories and book by Edward O'Reilly in the...
, a creation of folklore. Carlson seeks to set the historical record straight in regard to General William Shafter, formerly considered a "fat, incompetent buffoon" who headed the American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in 1898. Much of the success of the AEF has been attributed to future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and his friend, General Leonard Wood
Leonard Wood
Leonard Wood was a physician who served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba and Governor General of the Philippines. Early in his military career, he received the Medal of Honor. Wood also holds officer service #2 in the Regular Army...
.
After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Shafter returned to his native Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
but found that he preferred military to civilian life. In 1867, he received a commission in the regular Army and was sent to Texas as a lieutenant colonel of the 41st Infantry, an African American regiment. Carlson describes Shafter's Texas sojourn as service "with distinction." Thereafter, Shafter fought in several Indian campaigns throughout the West. He was involved in peace restoration at Pine Ridge
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Pine Ridge is a census-designated place in and the most populous community of Shannon County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,308 at the 2010 census. It is the tribal headquarters of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.-History:By 2011, a gang culture...
, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, in the wake of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee.
In the Spanish American War, Shafter transported a force of 16,000 men some 1,200 miles by water, and within ten days of landing drove back the enemy to his last line of defense at Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
. Within another two weeks, the city surrendered, and a Spanish army of 24,000 laid down its arms. Carlson concludes that Shafter's work in Cuba was certainly not that of a "buffoon."
According to the reviewer Roger D. Launius, Carlson:
corrects such misconceptions and rescues Shafter from ill consideration and obscurity. [His] portrait of William R. Shafter, therefore, is a refreshing revisionist analysis of an important nineteenth century military figure. Perhaps at times the author is too persistent in trying to rescue Shafter from his reputation as an incompetent, but the arguments he makes are compelling. Even so, Carlson, does not paper over flaws in his character. Shafter was obstinate, profane, a womanizer, a sometimes drunk, and single-mindedly hard-boiled. He was also, Carlson admits, energetic, ambitious, self-reliant, and hard-working. When one finishes this book, there is a sense that Shafter was a flawed but capable figure. 'Pecos Bill' is a fine book, well worth the reading.
Other Carlson works
With Tom Crum, Carlson published in 2010 Myth, Memory, and Massacre: The Pease River Capture of Cynthia Ann Parker. Cynthia Ann ParkerCynthia Ann Parker
Cynthia Ann Parker, or Naduah , was an American woman of old colonial stock of Scots-Irish descent who was captured and kidnapped at the age of nine by a American Indian band which massacred her family and...
was the mother of Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
chief Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker was a Comanche chief, a leader in the Native American Church, and the last leader of the powerful Quahadi band before they surrendered their battle of the Great Plains and went to a reservation in Indian Territory...
, and had been taken captive in 1836, when she was a young girl. In 1860, she was taken prisoner in a raid on the Pease River
Pease River
The Pease River is river in Texas in the United States; it is a tributary of the Red River that runs in an easterly direction through West Texas . It was discovered and mapped for the first time in 1856 by Jacob de Córdova, who found the river while surveying for the Galveston, Houston and...
by a contingent of Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, led by Sul Ross, and United States cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
. Carlson and Crum re-examine the plight of Parker and reveal a century of historical falsifications that have made the facts of the case a continuing mystery.
In 2006, Carlson also published Amarillo: The Story of a Western Town, a history of Amarillo
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
, largest city in the Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
.
In 2005, Texas Tech Press published Carlson's short volume of history and archaeology of the Llano Estacado
Llano Estacado
Llano Estacado , commonly known as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas, including the South Plains and parts of the Texas Panhandle...
, entitled Deep Time and the Texas High Plains: History and Geology. A reviewer write that early inhabitants of the Plains who came to the Lubbock Lake Landmark
Lubbock Lake Landmark
Lubbock Lake Landmark, also known as Lubbock Lake Site, is an important archeological site and natural history preserve in the city of Lubbock, Texas. The preserve is 336 acres and is a protected state and federal landmark. There is evidence of ancient people and extinct animals at Lubbock Lake...
in the long Yellow House Draw, "camped, hunted game, and sought shelter from harsh winter weather." Carlson surveys the geologic past of the area, with emphasis on "human activity in the region . . . how early peoples adapted to shifting environmental conditions and changing animal resources. . . . Carlson places this significant national archaeological site in broad perspective, connecting it to geology and history in the larger upper Brazos River
Brazos River
The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers , is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river in the United States at from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a drainage...
drainage system and, by extension, the central Llano Estacado. . . . "
The Plains Indians (College Station
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley. The city is located within the most populated region of Texas, near three of the 10 largest cities in the United States - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio...
, Texas: Texas A&M University Press
Texas A&M University Press
Texas A&M University Press is a scholarly publishing house associated with Texas A&M University. It was founded in 1974 and is located in College Station, Texas, in the United States.-Overview:...
) won the History Book Club selection of 1998 and was subsequently published in 2004 in a French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
translation in Paris. In 2005, The Plains Indians was named one of the 100 most outstanding books on the American West published in the 20th century.
Empire Builder in the Texas Panhandle: William Henry Bush (1849-1931), Texas A&M University Press, 1996, is the story of a versatile entrepreneur who made a fortune in many enterprises, including the Panhandle cattle industry.
Texas Woollybacks: The Range Sheep and Goat Industry (Texas A&M University Press, 1982) is a study of the sheep and goat industries in West Texas.
With the historians Donald R. Abbe (born 1949) and David J. Murrah (born 1941), Carlson co-authored "Lubbock and the South Plains.
Academic honors
In 2000, Carlson garnered the "Outstanding Researcher Award" from the Texas Tech College of Arts and Sciences. He served on the advisory committees for the Handbook of TexasHandbook of Texas
The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association .-History:...
, a creation of the Texas State Historical Association. He has worked on the Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...
papers. In 1993, he received the Texas Tech "President's Excellence in Teaching Award." In 2005, he was named outstanding professor by the Residence Life students. He has been twice named the "outstanding faculty member" of the Texas Tech history department. He has also been a director of the Texas Tech Center for the Southwest. In 2006, Carlson was elected to membership in the Philosophical Society of Texas.
Family
Carlson and his wife, the former Ellen J. Opperman (born ca. 1941), reside in scenic Ransom CanyonRansom Canyon, Texas
Ransom Canyon is a town in Lubbock County of West Texas, United States. The population was 1,011 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area....
in Lubbock County. There are two Carlson sons, Steven Y. Carlson (born ca. 1966) of Schertz
Schertz, Texas
Schertz is a city in Bexar, Comal, and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population was 31,465 at the 2010 census.On July 16, 2007 CNNMoney.com rated Schertz one of the best places to live in the United States...
, Texas,
and Kevin A. Carlson (born 1971) of Ransom Canyon, and one daughter, Diane K. McLaurin of Lubbock.