A "first" in A&M-Commerce’s membership in the Texas A&M Book Publishing Program has taken place. This "first" is the initial book in the Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life.

This book is "Brush Men and Vigilantes" by Judy Falls of Cooper and the late David Pickering who had lived in Corpus Christi. Both Falls and Pickering, who were cousins, graduated from A&M-Commerce.

Released in April, Brush Men and Vigilantes focuses on northeast Texas during the American Civil War and afterwards and the 13 men who were hanged in Hunt and Hopkins counties. Most of these men were "brush men" who were opposed to the Southern Confederacy and hid out in the brush thickets of the Sulphur Forks river watershed in Delta, Lamar, Hopkins, Fannin and Hunt counties. These men were captured by "vigilantes"—Texans who supported the Confederacy.

"We are excited about the publishing of this book—the first in the Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life. This work by two Texas A&M University-Commerce graduates sheds light on a significant period in the history of this region," A&M-Commerce President Keith McFarland said.

"Brush Men and Vigilantes" examines the questions—who were these men who died and why. "The violent Texas that James A. Michener portrayed in his epic novel, ‘Texas,’ finds ample support in Pickering and Falls’ work," said Dr. James A. Grimshaw Jr., Regents Professor at A&M-Commerce and general editor of the Rayburn Series on Rural Life.

"We were confronting legend in researching the Hemby/Howard hangings—that these men were hanged because they were deserters from the Civil War," Falls said.

An award-winning teacher at Cooper High School who earned a master’s degree from A&M-Commerce and who has done doctoral work and also taken other courses at the University, Falls asked some of her students to do some of the initial research on this topic.

Interestingly, some of the 10 high school students who helped were descendants of the men hanged and the vigilantes. Their research findings were the basis of an award-winning play and a video for Texas History Day in the 1996 Spring Semester.

Falls then began trying to contact relatives of the 13 hanged men. Relatives of 12 of the 13 men, which Falls and Pickering were successful in locating, contributed significant information, much of it drawn from family stories, she said.

During a two-year period, Falls did the "leg work" and compiled much of the research for the book which included visits to numerous libraries and many contacts with numerous genealogists. "It was like a jigsaw puzzle," Falls says of doing the research.

A journalist at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Pickering wrote the book. A 1964 graduate of A&M-Commerce with a bachelor’s degree in English, Pickering did the work while battling skin cancer.

Motivated by an "obligation" to tell what had really happened, Pickering and Falls reached the conclusion that the men hanged were Unionists.

The two A&M-Commerce graduate’s interest in the subject began as a genealogical project for Pickering who was seeking information on his great-grandparents.

With the encouragement of A&M-Commerce archivist Dr. James Conrad, Pickering and Falls submitted their manuscript to Grimshaw for publishing by the A&M University Press. Pickering died at the age of 59 in November 1998, the day after finding out the book had been accepted for publication.

Falls says she is excited that "Brush Men and Vigilantes" is the first book in the Sam Rayburn Series. She had the opportunity to meet Rayburn in the 1950s when she was a child about eight years old during a visit the congressman made to her family’s home. Falls remembers Rayburn as a man who liked children.

"It is especially meaningful to me for the book to be in the Rayburn Series because I had the opportunity to meet Rayburn about six years before he died," Falls said.

Falls said she was helped by many, including numerous descendants of the men hanged; Conrad, who assisted with the editing of the manuscript; John Sellers, Hopkins County historian; Skipper Steely, who helped with research on Lamar County; and others too numerous to mention.

"Brush Men and Vigilantes" can be purchased by writing the A&M Press Consortium, 4354 TAMUS, College Station, TX 77843-4354. The book costs $24.95 plus $4.50 for shipping.

The book can also be purchased at the Delta County Public Library in Cooper. The library, at 300 W. Dallas, is selling the book for $29.

Additional books in the Rayburn Series are in the process of being prepared for publication, Grimshaw said. The literature and languages professor encourages writers to discuss ideas for manuscripts with him.

The series may include material from a variety of disciplines such as banking, public education, literary figures, cotton, oil and gas, sports, higher education, politics, social work, history, art, agriculture, and theatre. Fiction, poetry, or drama will not be accepted.

For an author’s manuscript to be published in the series, the author is not required to live in Texas, but his or her work must be appropriate for the series’ topic, Grimshaw has said.

Grimshaw can be reached at (903) 886-5909.