Which Way to the Wild West?

by Steve Sheinkin

  Seymour, Silas. Incidents of a Trip Through the Great Platte Valley. New York: D. Van Norstrant, 1867.

  Williams, John Hoyt. A Great and Shining Road: The Epic Story of the Transcontinental Railroad. New York: Times Books, 1988.

  Books and articles about pioneers and cowboys

  What do you think was harder, being a cowboy or a homesteader? Both seem pretty tiring. Maybe women pioneers had it the toughest. Anyway, the books below give thousands of incredible details about just how challenging life was for cowboys and pioneers—way more good stuff than I could cram into one book.

  Conrad, Pam. Prairie Visions: The Life and Times of Solomon Butcher. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

  Dick, Everett. The Sod-House Frontier: 1854–1890. Lincoln, Neb.: Johnsen Publishing Co., 1954.

  Forbis, William H. The Old West: The Cowboys. New York: Time Life Books, 1973.

  Horn, Hurston. The Old West: The Pioneers. New York: Time-Life Books, 1974.

  Katz, William Loren. The Black West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

  McNeal, Thomas Allen. When Kansas Was Young. New York: Macmillan Co., 1922.

  Miller, Nyle H. “An English Runnymede in Kansas.” Kansas Historical Quarterly 41 (1975): PP. Nos.

  Nebraska Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Torch Press, 1916.

  Painter, Nell Irving. Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction. New York: Knopf, 1977.

  Stratton, Joanna L. Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981.

  Books about Native Americans and the Indian wars

  These books tell some of the most interesting, exciting—and depressing—stories in American history. What’s great about these sources is that they include the Indian point of view of key events, as well as direct quotes, memories, and stories from Native American participants.

  Andrist, Ralph K. The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians. N.Y.: Collier Books, 1964.

  Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970.

  Coutant, C. G. The History of Wyoming, vol. 1. Laramie, Wyo.: Chaplin, Spafford & Mathison, 1899.

  Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

  Goodrich, Thomas. Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865–1879. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2002.

  Grinnell, George Bird. The Fighting Cheyennes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.

  Hoig, Stan. The Sand Creek Massacre. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.

  Hyde, George E. Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.

  Nerburn, Kent. Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce. San Francisco: Harper-SanFrancisco, 2005.

  Olson, James C. Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965.

  “Red Cloud, Sioux Chief, Dead.” New York Times, December 11, 1909.

  Stefoff, Rebecca. American Voices from the Wild West. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, 2006.

  Biographies of key figures in the history of the West

  This book features a huge and diverse cast of characters. I tried pretty hard to search out quotes and stories to make key characters come alive. Here are some of the sources that I found most helpful.

  Ambrose, Stephen. Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors. New York: Doubleday, 1975.

  Anderson, Irving. W. A Charbonneau Family Portrait. NPS booklet.

  Bankes, James. “Wild Bill Hickok.” Wild West Magazine, August 1996.

  De Bruhl, Marshall. Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston. New York: Random House, 1993.

  Fellman, Michael. Citizen Sherman: A Life of William Tecumseh Sherman. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1995.

  Fleming, Walter L. “Pap Singleton, The Moses of the Colored Exodus.” American Journal of Sociology 15 (July 1909): PP Nos.

  Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative, vol. 3. New York: Random House, 1974.

  Graham, W. A. The Custer Myth: A Source Book of Custeriana. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1995.

  Leckie, Shirley A. Elizabeth Bacon Custer and the Making of a Myth. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.

  Rosa, Joseph G. Wild Bill Hickok: The Man & His Myth. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1996.

  Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years, 1-vol. ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1954.

  Seigenthaler, John. James K. Polk, 1845–1849. The American Presidents. New York: Times Books, 2003.

  Thomasma, Kenneth. The Truth About Sacagawea. Jackson, Wyo.: Grandview Publishing Co., 1997.

  Utley, Robert. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993.

  “Virginia Reed Elopes.” Illinois Journal, April 16, 1850.

  Williams, Jean Kinney. Bridget “Biddy” Mason. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2006.

  Memoirs and other firsthand accounts by participants

  These sources were by far the most important to me in writing this book—which explains why the list is so long. And you don’t always have to go to libraries to search for this stuff. These days you can find many of these texts online at the Library of Congress site (www.loc.gov) or at the websites of universities. Though sometimes I read a book online and loved it so much I just had to order a real copy, like with Preuss’s Exploring with Frémont and James Beckwourth’s Adventures . Hey, I said I was a history nerd. I mean, story detective.

  Abbott, E. C. We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.

  Beckwourth, James P. The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1856.

  Black Elk. Black Elk Speaks: The Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, as told to John G. Neihardt. New York: MJF Books, 1932.

  Brown, James S. California Gold: An Authentic History of the First Find with the Names of Those Interested in the Discovery. Salt Lake City: Pacific Press Publishing Co., 1894.

  Carson, J. H. Early Recollections of the Mines. Pamphlet published in San Joaquin Republican, 1852.

  Chivington, John M. “Reports of Col. John M. Chivington,” in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, vol. 41. Washington, D.C.: United States War Department, 1893.

  ———. “Testimony of Colonel J. M. Chivington.” Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Massacre of Cheyenne Indians, 38th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington, 1865), pp. 4–12, 56–59, 101–8.

  Christman, Enos. One Man’s Gold: The Letters and Journal of a Forty-niner. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1930.

  Clark, William, and Meriwether Lewis. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition . Edited by Gary E. Moulton. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.

  Clyman, James. “Narrative by James Clyman,” original manuscript owned by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, CITY.

  Custer, Elizabeth B. Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1885.

  ———. Following the Guidon. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890. Donner, Elizabeth. The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate. Los Angeles: Grafton Publishing Co., 1920.

  Ebutt, Percy G. Emigrant Life in Kansas. London: S. Sonnenschein and Co., 1886.

  Howard, Oliver O. My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians. Hartford, Conn.: A. D. Worthington & Co., 1907.

  Howard, William Willard. “The Rush to Oklahoma.” Harper’s Weekly, May 18, 1889.

  Jackson, Donald, ed. Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with Related Documents, vol. 1. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978.

  Jefferson, Thomas. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 6. Washington, D.C.: Taylor and Maury, 1854.

  Chief Joseph. “An Indian’s View of Indian Aff
airs.” North American Review, April 1879.

  Kip, Leonard. California Sketches, with Recollections of the Gold Mines. Albany, N.Y.: E.H. Pease & Co., 1850.

  Knapp, Louise Amelia. The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851–52. San Francisco: Printed by T. C. Russell, 1922.

  Knower, Daniel. The Adventures of a Forty-niner: An Historic Description of California, with Events and Ideas of San Francisco and Its people in Those Early Days. Published by the author, 1894.

  Leeper, David Rohrer. The Argonauts of Forty-nine: Some Recollections of the Plains and the Diggings. South Bend, Ind.: J. B. Stoll & Co., 1894.

  Lincoln, Abraham. Speeches and Writings, 1832–1858. New York: Library of America, 1989.

  Love, Nat. The Life and Adventures of Nat Love. Published by the author, Los Angeles, 1907.

  Luther Standing Bear. My People the Sioux. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1928.

  Marryat, Frank. Mountains and Molehills, or Recollections of a Burnt Journal. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855.

  Mayer, Frank H. The Buffalo Harvest. Denver: Sage Books, 1958.

  Meriwether, David. My Life in the Mountains and on the Plains. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.

  Megquier, Mary Jane. Apron Full of Gold: The Letters of Mary Jane Megquier from San Francisco, 1849–1856. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1949.

  Polk, James K. The Diary of a President, 1845–1849. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1929.

  Preuss, Charles. Exploring with Frémont: The Private Diaries of Charles Preuss. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958.

  Pringle, Catherine Sager. Across the Plains in 1844. Pamphlet, 1860.

  Reed, Virginia. Across the Plains in the Donner Party: A Personal Narrative of the Overland Trip to California. Published by the author, 1891.

  Ruede, Howard. Sod-house Days: Letters from a Kansas Homesteader, 1877–78. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1937.

  Ryan, William Redmond. Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California, in 1848–49. London: W. Shoberl, 1850.

  Sanford, Mollie Dorsey. Mollie: The Journal of Mollie Dorsey Sanford in Nebraska and Colorado Territories. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1959.

  Seymour, Silas. Incidents of a Trip Through the Great Platte Valley. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1867.

  Singleton, Benjamin. Testimony of Benjamin Singleton before the Senate Select Committee Investigating the “Negro Exodus from the Southern States.” Washington, D.C., April 17, 1880.

  Siringo, Charles A. A Texas Cowboy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1950; reprint of 1886 edition.

  Stanley, Henry M. My Early Travels and Adventures, vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895.

  Summerhayes, Martha. Vanished Arizona: Recollections of My Army Life. Salem, MA: The Salem Press, 1911.

  Sutter, John. The Diary of Joann August Sutter. San Francisco: Grabhorn Press, 1932.

  ———. “The Discovery of Gold in California.” Hutchings’ California Magazine, November 1857.

  Svendsen, Gro. Frontier Mother: The Letters of Gro Svendsen. Translated and edited by Pauline Farseth and Theodore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1950.

  Taylor, Creed. Tall Men with Long Rifles. Set Down and Written out by James T. DeShields as told to him by Creed Taylor. San Antonio: Naylor Co., 1971.

  Toponce, Alexander. Reminiscences of Alexander Toponce: Pioneer, 1839–1923. Published by Mrs. Katie Toponce, Ogden, Utah, 1923.

  Twain, Mark. Roughing It. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1871.

  Vallejo, Guadalupe. “Ranch and Mission Days in Atla California.” Century Magazine , December 1890.

  Vallejo, Mariano Guadalupe. Historical and Personal Memoirs Relating to Alta, California. Translated by Earl R. Hewitt, 5 Vols. Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, 1875.

  Whitman, Narcissa, and Eliza Spalding. Where Wagons Could Go. Edited by Clifford Merrill Drury. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

  Wilson, Elijah Nicholas. Among the Shoshones. Salt Lake City: Skelton Publishing Co., 1910.

  ———. The White Indian Boy. Yonkers, NY: World Book Company, 1926.

  Wilson, Luzena Stanley. Luzena Stanley Wilson, ’49er: Memories Recalled Years Later for Her Daughter Correnah Wilson Wright. Mills College, Calif.: Eucalyptus Press, 1937.

  Yellow Wolf. Yellow Wolf: His Own Story. Caldwell, Idaho.: Caxton Printers, 1940.

  Quotation Notes

  I used a lot of quotes in my books King George: What Was His Problem? and Two Miserable Presidents, which were about the American Revolution and the Civil War (and which I highly recommend, by the way—I’m trying to make a living). But for this book I really used a lot of quotes. I wanted to try to tell this complicated story from the point of view of the people who were there, and there were so many people, with so many different points of view! The following list shows you where I found all these great quotes. For more information about the sources, look in the Source Notes.

  How the West Moved West

  “Every eye in the United States” Jefferson, The Writings.

  “Would you Americans wish to have” Cerami, Jefferson’s Great Gamble.

  “No. Our wishes extend only” Tucker and Henderson, Empire of Liberty.

  “I should like to know what” Cerami, Jefferson’s Great Gamble.

  “All France’s lands west of the Mississippi” Cerami, Jefferson’s Great Gamble.

  “Make it fifty million then” Cerami, Jefferson’s Great Gamble.

  “Doesn’t that look like Barbé-Marbois” Cerami, Jefferson’s Great Gamble.

  “The Great Chief of the seventeen great” Jackson, Letters of Lewis and Clark

  “We feel much at a loss” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “I felt myself warm” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “Most of the warriors appeared” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “a man of no particular merit” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “The Indian woman recognized” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “I now called to him” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “She jumped up and ran” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “Ocian in View! O! the joy” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “You have shot me” Lewis and Clark, Journals.

  “Being possessed with a strong desire” Beckwourth, Life and Adventures.

  “If you have a needle” Clyman, Narrative

  “be-has-i-pe-hish-a” Beckwourth, Life and Adventures.

  “Gentlemen, that Indian wants” Beckwourth, Life and Adventures.

  “I had learned from the Indians” Meriwether, My Life.

  “This was the most miserable” Meriwether, My Life

  “About night my jailor came” Meriwether, My Life

  “Every man in Texas is called” Leckie, From Sea to Shining Sea.

  “The great problem I had” Brands, Lone Star Nation.

  “FELLOW CITIZENS AND COMPATRIOTS” Leckie, From Sea to Shining

  Sea.

  “Colonel Travis! The Mexicans” Leckie, From Sea to Shining Sea.

  Did Someone Say “Manifest Destiny”?

  “It was so dark that we couldn’t” Matovina, The Alamo Remembered.

  “We could hear the Mexican” Matovina, The Alamo Remembered.

  “The struggle lasted more” Hansen, Alamo Reader.

  “Great God, Sue” Hansen, Alamo Reader.

  “The boys were continually” Taylor, Tall Men.

  “Let us fight fast and hard” Taylor, Tall Men.

  “I was in a deep sleep” Brands, Lone Star Nation.

  “I saw His Excellency” Brands, Lone Star Nation.

  “an unheard of journey for females” Whitman and Spalding, Where Wagons.

  “Our fuel for cooking” Whitman and Spalding, Where Wagons.

  “I thought of Mother’s bread” Whitman and Spalding, Where Wagons.

  “Yesterda
y my horse became” Whitman and Spalding, Where Wagons.

  “The American claim” O’Sullivan, “Annexation.”

  “Weather good. Food bad” Preuss, Exploring.

  “Some of the men tried” Preuss, Exploring.

  “That fellow knows nothing” Preuss, Exploring.

  “They immediately served” Preuss, Exploring.

  “The Oregon fever” Utley, Life Wild.

  “They do say, gentlemen” Schlissel, Women’s Diaries.

  “Dr. Wilson has determined” Schlissel, Women’s Diaries.

  “During the entire trip” Schlissel, Women’s Diaries.

  “The stench is sometimes” McLynn, Wagons West.

  “The motion of the wagon” Pringle, Across the Plains.

  “When performing this feat” Pringle, Across the Plains.

  “So in twenty-six days” Pringle, Across the Plains.

  “She spoke kindly” Pringle, Across the Plains.

  “She would point to one” Ward, The West.

  “Our ignorance of the route” McLynn, Wagons West.

  “Every one seemed to live” Vallejo, “Ranch and Mission Days.”

  “We were the pioneers” Vallejo, “Ranch and Mission Days.”

  “The young Spanish gentlemen” Vallejo, “Ranch and Mission Days.”

  “I was a child when we started” Reed, Across the Plains.

  “When we learned of this” Reed, Across the Plains.

  “The farther we went up” Reed, Across the Plains.

  “Even the wind seemed” Donner, The Expedition.

  “We saw a woman emerge” Stewart, Ordeal.

  “Are you men from California” Stewart, Ordeal.

  “We are all very well pleased” Reed, Across the Plains.

  “If you insist on remaining” Eisenhower, So Far from God.

  War, Land, Gold, Trouble

  “Hostilities have commenced” Eisenhower, So Far from God.

  “Mexico has passed the boundary” Leckie, From Sea to Shining Sea.

  “That soil was not ours” Lincoln, Writings.