When the Ninth Legislature convened in November, 1861, representatives gave little thought to the somber days that lay ahead, instead making exultant predictions of a quick victory over the enemy to the north. Houston's warning was forgotten.

The Texas Senate, Volume II, picks up where the first volume left off, covering the story of this sometimes venerable, sometimes raucous, and sometimes unsavory body from the onset of the war until another eve, that of the period sometimes called the Era of Reform.

Written by members of the Senate Engrossing and Enrolling Department and edited by Engrossing and Enrolling Clerk Patsy McDonald Spaw, this volume comprises the years of the war itself, Reconstruction and Republican dominance, Redeemer politics and the return of the Democrats, ...