Native American Languages
November 30, 2021
There may have been as many as 300 Native American languages with only 175 remaining. They were complex and there was a tremendous variety among tribes. Navajo is the most difficult to learn and the most commonly spoken in the U.S. and was used in World War II.
Great Plains Indians
November 23, 2021
They had a rich culture and organization. Some were nomadic, others were farmers who traded between tribes. Many cooperated to maintain peace. Marriage and raising children involved the whole family. Men and women had their roles. They believed in a spirit world.
Yellow Wolf
November 16, 2021
A first cousin to Chief Joseph, he followed the famous chief and the Nez Perce. He fought at White Bird Canyon, the Clearwater River and in the Battle at the Big Hole. They nearly made it to join Sitting Bull in Canada but surrendered and ended up on the Colville Reservation.
Bloody Island
November 9, 2021
Dueling was considered the gentlemen's code of honor. Dueling was illegal, so a small island in the Mississippi became the ideal site . The challenged party chose weapons, distance and volleys. One of the most famous was Abraham Lincoln, he chose the cavalry broadsword.
Private Charlie Windolph
November 2, 2021
Windolph gives his first person account at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. At age 97 he was the last survivor of the troopers who fought there.
Wyatt Earp in San Diego
October 26, 2021
After the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Wyatt and his wife moved to San Diego. He invested in real estate, had three saloons, owned race horses, harness horses and refereed boxing matches. Wyatt acquired a small fortune while living in San Diego, he died January 13, 1929 in Los Angeles.
Sooners and Boomers
October 19, 2021
Thousands waited for the starting gun to begin the race to stake their claim on 160 acres or townsite lots in several million acres. Each lot had been surveyed and the coordinates left on a pile of rocks they then rushed to town to file their claim.
Captain Joseph La Barge and Captain Grant Marsh
October 12, 2021
Both were successful Missouri Riverboat Captains, fighting Indians, ever-changing river conditions. The river was different going upstream compared with downstream. Marsh captained the Far West to the Little Bighorn river to rescue survivors of the Custer Battle.
Steamers on the Big Muddy
October 5, 2021
In 1819 the Independence was the first of hundreds of steamers on the Missouri River. Three hundred steamers were destroyed by snags, fire, crushed by ice, violent winds or boiler explosions. The Saluda was the worst disaster on the Missouri, the boiler exploded killing 200 crew and passengers.
A Cattle Drive
September 28, 2021
Young Baylis Fletcher hired on to drive cattle from Texas to Wyoming. He faced a stampede, quicksand in the Red River, hail storms, Indians and endless miles of brown grass prairies. The boy Fletcher passed the test, he became a cowboy.