A vast and desolate region, the Texas-New Mexico borderlands have long been an ideal setting for intrigue and illegal dealings-never more so than in the lawless early days of cattle trafficking and trade among the Plains tribes and Comancheros. This book takes us to the borderlands in the 1860s and 1870s for an in-depth look at Union-Confederate skullduggery amid the infamous Comanche-Comanchero trade in stolen Texas livestock. In 1862, the Confederates abandoned New Mexico Territory and Texas west of the Pecos River, fully expecting to return someday. Meanwhile, administered by Union troops under martial law, the region became a hotbed of Rebel exiles and spies, who gathered intelligence, disrupted federal supply lines, and plotted to retake the Southwest. Using a treasure trove of previously unexplored documents, authors James Bailey Blackshear and Glen Sample Ely trace the complicated network of relationships that drew both Texas cattlemen and Comancheros into these borderlands, revealing the urban elite who were heavily involved in both the legal and illegal transactions that fueled the region's economy. Confederates and Comancheros deftly weaves a complex tale of Texan overreach and New Mexican resistance, explores cattle drives and cattle rustling, and details shady government contracts and bloody frontier justice. Peopled with Rebels and bluecoats, Comanches and Comancheros, Texas cattlemen and New Mexican merchants, opportunistic Indian agents and Anglo arms dealers, this book illustrates how central these contested borderlands were to the history of the American West.

In 1835, a petition for land far from Santa Fe, New Mexico was awarded to "pobladores" (settlers) willing to relocate to the eastern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Founded along the Gallinas River, the settlement became the Las Vegas Land Grant. The history of this grant is the history of New Mexico. On this 496,000 acre community grant, beliefs about land and faith were intertwined within a system of shared sacredness. In the 1890s, Anglo-American merchants and cattlemen joined with Hispano elites in the first concerted effort to wrest control of this grant from its original owners and heirs. The heart of this book investigates how a rural "nuevo-mexicano" (New Mexican) movement on the Las Vegas Land Grant evolved from burning barns and cutting fences to political activism and success at the ballot box. It also examines the history of New Mexico land grants, Hispano mountain culture, the origination of the town footprint, the boom of Territorial Las Vegas, and the cultural diversity that existed within the two distinct towns that emerged when the railroad came to Las Vegas in 1879. "Honor and Defiance" details the impact of American expansion into a well-established Hispano urban center, and highlights the robust nature of "nuevo-mexicano" spirit, determination, and ingenuity on the Las Vegas Land Grant. The book also includes photographss of Las Vegas, leaders of the period, and the land the land they fought for. JAMES BAILEY BLACKSHEAR received his master's degree in history from Texas A&M and his PhD in history from the University of North Texas. He has won awards for his literary essays, and has been published by the "New Mexico Historical Review" and the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series. He has spoken about the Las Vegas Land Grant at history conferences in both Colorado and Texas.