i Texian: the name given to an Anglo-U.S.-born settler in Texas, the ‘i’ being dropped from usage after the Mexican War of 1846-48.
ii An explanation of why the Texians were driven to rebel is given in YOUNG OLE DEVIL.
iii Playing ‘possum’: the opossum, Didelphis Marsupialis, was famous for its habit of pretending to be dead when frightened or captured.
iv Attaching the twenty-seven and a half inch long sword-bayonet, twenty-three inches of which was a single edged, spear-pointed blade, added an extra two pounds to the Baker Model of 1801’s overall weight. It was not fixed when the rifle was required for accurate shooting at long range.
v Patched lead ball: a bullet which is wrapped in a small ‘patch’ made from cloth or very thin hide to ensure a tight fit in the rifling grooves of the barrel. The .70 caliber Baker fired a patched ball weighing twenty to the pound.
vi Brio escondido: stamina and endurance of a high order.
vii Hessian boots: riding boots originally designed for light cavalrymen such as Hussars. The legs came to just below the knee and had a ‘V’ notch in front.
viii James Bowie was one of the defenders of the Alamo Mission. What happened to his knife, which was made by the Arkansas blacksmith and master cutler, James Black, is told in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
ix On December 11, 1835, General Martin Perfecto Cos and eleven hundred Mexican soldiers were defeated and compelled to surrender at San Antonio de Bexar by Colonels Milam and Burleson’s much smaller force. On giving his parole that he and his men would not participate in any further military activity against the Texians, they were all released and allowed to return to Mexico. Cos did not keep his word and subsequently returned to take part in the siege of the Alamo Mission.
x Another reason for the sobriquet was his reputation for being a ‘lil ole devil’ in a fight.
xi A more detailed description of the Japanese techniques and an explanation of how Tommy Okasi arrived in the United States is given in YOUNG OLE DEVIL.
xii There was no large-scale contact between Japan and the Western World until the visits made by a flotilla of the United States’ Navy under the command of Commodore Perry in 1853-54.
xiii The off-set position of the handle was to allow men of small stature to wield such lengthy bows.
xiv Two occidental styles of handling a bow are described in BUNDUKI.
xv For all the Browning Slide Repeating rifle’s advantages, it never achieved the fame it deserved. During the period when he was manufacturing it, between 1834 and 1842, he lacked the facilities for large-scale production. In later years when he would have been able to do so, the development of metallic cartridges and more compact, if less simple, repeating arms had made it obsolete.
xvi Recent research suggests that one of the defenders, Brigido Guerrero, escaped death by convincing his captors that he was a loyal Mexican who had been held prisoner by the Texians.
xvii One such occasion is recorded in THE DEVIL GUN.
xviii Napoleon leg boot: one of knee length, the top higher at the front than the back, as frequently worn by Napoleon Bonaparte.
xix Fannin had not intended to mention the ransom, but was compelled to do so as the other officers were suspicious of Urrea’s motives in offering to accept their parole.
xx Joseph ‘Old Joe’ Manton, a gunsmith of London, England, who was an early maker of top quality pistols and rifles employing the percussion fired mechanism.
xxi Lieutenant Dimmock was later killed while helping to raid Santa Anna’s column as it followed the retreating Republic of Texas’s Army.
xxii What the assignment was is told in OLE DEVIL AND THE CAPLOCKS.
xxiii Tommy gave the formula for making the stain to the Confederate States’ Secret Service during the War Between the States, 1861-65. Belle Boyd, the Rebel Spy—who plays a prominent part in several of the author s Civil War and Floating Outfit stories—made use of it during her assignment told in THE BLOODY BORDER.
xxiv Details of Dusty Fog’s career and abilities as a fighting man are given in the author’s Civil War and Floating Outfit stories.
xxv A more detailed account of the events leading up to and the battle itself are given in OLE DEVIL AND THE CAPLOCKS.
xxvi At ‘Deaf’ Smith’s instigation, the post sutlers kept an eye on the ‘North Texas bunch’ and slipped knockout drops into their drinks when they attempted to stir up bad feelings against General Houston.
xxvii Clip point: one where the back of the blade curves to meet the main cutting edge in a concave arc. As in the case of the modern Randall Model 12 ‘Smithsonian’ bowie knife, James Black made his blade with the arc of the ‘false’ or ‘top’ cutting edge five and a quarter inches in length and as sharp as the main cutting surface.
xxviii A detailed examination of Fannin’s failure to support the Alamo and of other events in Texas at that period is given in Walter Lord’s A TIME TO STAND.
xxix Rio Bravo: the Mexicans’ name for the Rio Grande.
xxxi Presidente Santa Anna later signed the Treaty of Velasco, which admitted the independence of the Republic of Texas and agreed to its territorial boundaries.
xxxii As Serrano had no reason to speak English after leaving Texas, he had forgotten the little he had learned at the time of the events recorded in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
xxxiii Chicano: a Mexican settler in Texas, particularly one who supported the rebellion.
xxxiv The use of a saddle boot for carrying a rifle had not yet come into general practice.
xxxv A detailed description of the ‘high cavalry twist’ draw is given in SLIP GUN.
xxxvi The daisho, particularly the shorter wakizashi, was traditionally carried thrust through the warrior’s girdle. Tommy Okasi had had his fitted with belt slings since arriving in the United States, as that made them more easy to carry when riding a horse.
xxxvii How Ole Devil requested repayment for the debt is told in THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.
xxxviii Pastel de cabrito: a pie made of small pieces cut from a kid too fat to be roasted, a little sweet oil and a sauce of chopped perejil, parsley, flavored by eggs beaten in vinegar—or orange juice according to taste—being poured through the holes made in the crust to let the steam escape.
xxxix The majority of ‘Kentucky’ rifles were, in fact, made in Pennsylvania.
xl Badillo’s troop had carried their lances during the ambush as being more suited to their task.
xli Creole: in this context, a Mexican of pure, upper class Spanish bloodline.
xlii Coup des deux veuves: freely translated, the attack which causes two widows.