Historic battle, Colt revolver focus of June 8 symposium

THE BOOKWORM

Immerse yourself in area history by attending The Battle of Walker’s Creek 180th anniversary Symposium at 10 a.m. June 8 at the Heath Public Library.

If you are not familiar with this piece of history that took place near Sisterdale, you will learn much at the symposium. The engagement between Texas Rangers and Native Americans was remarkable in many ways.

Bryden Moon of the Kendall County Historical Commission and Paul Barwick with the Old Jail Museum will be on hand to discuss different aspects of the conflict, including biographical information on Ranger John Coffee Hays and written accounts of the engagement.

Integral to this event in history was the use of Sam Colt’s revolver. The Battle of Walker’s Creek was the first time all the Texas Rangers used Colt revolvers in a conflict.

As a special addition to this program, we will play a recorded interview with historian Jim Rasenberger, author of “Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter that Changed America.”

During the interview, Rasenberger gives background on Sam Colt and his development of the revolver.

Weapons expert and collector Frank Graves will discuss Colt’s early years and share images and replicas of Colt’s weapons. If you have any questions about this program, please contact Bryden Moon at [email protected]. This symposium is free and open to the public.

If you are looking for other books within the library to learn about area history, here are two that are very good: “The Captured: A True Story of Abductions by Indians on the Texas Frontier” by Scott Zesch, and “The Second Battle of the Alamo: How Two Women Saved Texas’s Most Famous Landmark,” by Judy Alter. We will be discussing Alter’s book at our Reality Readers Book Group on May 20.