The River Ran Red: A Story of Kentuckians in the Texas Revolution Against Mexico

It is the summer of 1835 when William Pope DuVal returns to Bardstown, Kentucky, after serving twelve years as governor of the Florida territory. His offspring are spread throughout the state and country, each pursuing their passions. But when México sends a general and hundreds of troops to Béxar to arrest Texian leaders, DuVal and others in his family are left to contemplate whether the American colonists can stand up to the threat.

A desire to help soon leads two of William DuVal's sons to join a group of young men, known as the Kentucky Mustangs. They leave Bardstown a short time later to join the American colonists in Texas in their resistance against the Mexican dictator, Santa Anna. The adventurous men, enticed by the excitement of war and free land, travel from Louisville to the Texas coast where they join the forces of James Fannin. As the intense fighting begins, all the volunteers pay a high price for securing the independence of Texas a year later and its annexation into the United States in 1845.

In this historical novel, a group of young, adventurous men known as the Mustangs leave Kentucky for Texas in 1835 to join colonists in their revolution against México.

John E. Swindells retired at the rank of colonel after a thirty-year active duty career in the US Army. He served two tours in Vietnam and several in Germany, as well as in the Defense Intelligence Agency. John lives with his wife, Jean, and a houseful of dogs and wild animals in a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse in Bardstown, Kentucky. He has a bachlor of arts in zoology from the University of Texas, a masters in anthropology from the American University and a masters in science education from George Washington University.