Texas Sunrise

From a seven-time Spur Award–winning author: Two brothers experience the action of Texas's revolution against Mexico in this collection of two classic Westerns.
Texas Sunrise brings together two of Elmer Kelton's acclaimed novels novels and tells the story of the Texas Revolution as experienced by brothers Thomas and Joshua Buckalew of Tennessee.


In Massacre at Goliad, inevitable tensions mount between Mexican authorities and the American newcomers to Mexican lands north of the Rio Grande. Revolution is in the air—something Thomas Buckalew welcomes but Joshua fears. Joshua, who has Mexican friends and is in love with a Mexican girl, pledges to take up arms with his brother if necessary.


The story touches on the immortal battle of the Alamo, but centers on the infamous Goliad massacre of March 1836. The massacre led ultimately to Sam Houston's decisive battle of San Jacinto, where Texas became an independent republic.

After the Bugles continues where Goliad ends—on the battlefield at San Jacinto. Along with other settlers whose lives have been disrupted by the revolution, Joshua Buckalew tries to put the pieces back together, but finds that starting over in the aftermath of war can be as challenging as the war itself. The racial differences that helped foment the conflict have not disappeared, and being an independent republic can be far more difficult than being a colony of Mexico.

Praise for Texas Sunrise

"As with all of Kelton's westerns, characters are colorful and well drawn, the action is fast and bloody, and the plotting carefully thought out, making this another supercharged yarn." —Publishers Weekly