Texans faced two foes as the Civil War began in 1861: the Union armed forces and the Plains Indians. In this breakthrough volume, David Paul Smith demonstrates that through the efforts of the Home Guard and the Texas Rangers, the Texas frontier held its own during the eventful war years, in spite of a number of factors that could easily have overwhelmed it. David Paul Smith is a history teacher at Highland Park High School in Dallas; his special interests include the American Civil War, the antebellum South, and the Texas frontier.