From Sam Maverick's arrival in Texas to his death in 1870, he participated in many of the most momentous events of the state's early history, including the Siege of Bexar and the defense of the Alamo. He accumulated a fabled land empire and inspired the term "maverick" to denote an unbranded calf or an independent person. Sam's wife, Mary--by some accounts the first AngloAmerican woman to settle in San Antonio--lived through the stresses and tragedies of pioneer family life, chronicling them with emotional intensity and immediacy of detail. Together Sam and Mary founded a Texas family dynasty and contributed immeasurably to the cultural development of San Antonio.

Using a profusion of letters, journals, and business materials as well as Mary Maverick's published Memoirs, the author culls the dramatic story of these two Texas forebears, whose public and private lives were played out against the backdrop of the Mexican nation, the Republic, and early statehood.