Many of the American Indian tribes that participated in the Ghost Dances in the late 1800s created special shirts and dresses for that purpose and infused them with meaning and power. In “Identity by Design: Tradition, Change, and Celebration in Native Women’s Dresses,” Colleen Cutschall wrote: “Both buckskin and cloth Ghost Dance dresses were painted… Continue reading The Beauty and Meaning of Ghost Dance Shirts
Category: Women in the West
Standing Rock Sioux and the Whitestone Massacre of 1863
The effort by the Standing Rock Sioux to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline is the largest gathering of Indian tribes in decades. As Mark Sundeen so eloquently put it on Outside Online: “Two of our country’s biggest issues, racism and climate change, have collided on a North Dakota reservation.” It’s also about history.… Continue reading Standing Rock Sioux and the Whitestone Massacre of 1863
Blizzards in the Old West
My driveway in the early stages of clearing after a winter storm. We've been using a combination of snow blowing, shoveling and salting. It has been a battle keeping our long, curving, sloping driveway free of snow and ice this winter, and the experience made me wonder how people used to clear snow. After doing… Continue reading Blizzards in the Old West
Minnie the Moocher and Opium Use in the Old West
It’s tough to research people and life in the Old West without stumbling over references to opium use. Opiates in various forms were widely prescribed and used, and legal at the time. I’ve read numerous books and articles on the topic of opium, and one day when I’d been delving deep, I happened to listen… Continue reading Minnie the Moocher and Opium Use in the Old West
Thanksgiving without the Pilgrims
Sarah Josepha Hale. Portrait by James Reid Lambdin. Americans owe the modern-day celebration of Thanksgiving to Abraham Lincoln and Sarah Josepha Hale. However, I fear we owe our warm, fuzzy image of Pilgrims and Indians living in harmony to a lazy attitude toward history. Hale promoted women’s issues through the American Ladies Magazine, which she… Continue reading Thanksgiving without the Pilgrims
Why I Haven’t Been Blogging: Part 1
It’s been a while since my last post, but I haven’t been idle. I’ve been busy in unexpected ways. I was making some good progress on restructuring my novel when I got an offer to teach intro composition at the local community college. I had some concerns about maintaining my writing schedule, but I naively… Continue reading Why I Haven’t Been Blogging: Part 1
In her own words: Civil War soldier Sarah Rosetta Wakeman
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman I went looking for some of the source material for "They Fought Like Demons" and found "An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman," edited by Lauren Cook. It is rare to come across an account written in an everyday woman’s… Continue reading In her own words: Civil War soldier Sarah Rosetta Wakeman
How we lost sight of women soldiers
Women soldiers were not a secret during the Civil War. Men wrote letters home about the women discovered in their ranks, most often with surprise and admiration, and newspapers also carried the stories. The knowledge naturally worked its way up to the highest level of both armies, with evidence that Sherman, Sheridan, Burnside, Forrest and… Continue reading How we lost sight of women soldiers
How women soldiers avoided detection
Women soldiers in the Civil War had an easier time hiding their identities than you might think, according to DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook’s fascinating book, “They Fought Like Demons.” Soldiers spent the majority of the war outdoors — in tents or on the march. They rarely had an opportunity to bathe or even… Continue reading How women soldiers avoided detection
Best-kept secret of the Civil War
I don’t profess to know everything about the Civil War by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I have a pretty good grasp of the basics. However, “They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War” by DeAnne Blanton and Lauren M. Cook blew me away. Until I read the book,… Continue reading Best-kept secret of the Civil War
Mattie Blaylock Earp: Hidden from history
The recent Wild West auction in Harrisburg, Pa., included a trunk owned by Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock, Wyatt Earp’s second wife. I couldn’t verify its origins, but I wonder if it was the one that surfaced in the 1950s when her nephew read an article about the opening of a new museum in Dodge City,… Continue reading Mattie Blaylock Earp: Hidden from history
Of dental chairs, frock coats and the hearts of women
Harrisburg, Pa., recently auctioned off about 8,000 historical artifacts that former Mayor Stephen Reed had collected for a Wild West museum that never happened. The auction netted the city $2.7 million, which sounds good except that Reed reportedly spent $8.3 million buying the stuff. Allen Barra, writing in the October issue of True West magazine,… Continue reading Of dental chairs, frock coats and the hearts of women
Terri J. Huck 