Coming in October!
This collection of short stories of the women who entertained the West in makeshift theaters and palaces built to showcase the divas who were beloved by emigrants to the “uncivilized” West will feature well-known and lesser known dancers, singers, and actresses and their exploits. Author Chris Enss will bring her comedic timing and long experience writing about the time and culture of the West to this collection.
An exquisitely framed photograph of George Custer rested on an easel next to a lectern. Elizabeth Bacon Custer, George’s devoted wife, studied her husband’s image as she sat in the meeting hall at John Street Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, on January 31, 1894. Hundreds of flowers surrounded the enlarged picture-the last one taken of Custer, in late April 1876. Adorned in a blue uniform decorated with rows of brass buttons, medals, and intricately woven golden shoulder braids, he was the model of strength and confidence. His short hair was neatly combed, and his thick mustache was smoothed down over his lips.
The room was filled with ladies dressed in their finest Sunday clothes, sitting at numerous tables arrayed around the large hall. They were giddy with excitement and chatted briskly while sipping coffee and tea. Elizabeth’s seat was at a long table for ten placed upon a dais. She was the guest of honor, flanked on either side by overly attentive women continuously thanking her for being with them.
Within a few moments Elizabeth was introduced as the keynote speaker, and as she rose from her chair, radiant and poised, the entire room was galvanized into sudden and tumultuous applause. She stood in simple, dignified response to the ovation and smiled sweetly to her left, then to her right. After everyone had taken their seats. Elizabeth expressed her appreciation for the kind reception and then began her story.
“My husband was killed more than seventeen years ago at the Battle of the Little Bighorn,” she said in a crisp, cultured voice. “I believe he had many enemies there, and none of them were Indians. His rivals sent him on a suicide mission, with to few troops and ammunition.”
One of the most charming and controversial soldiers the country ever produced, George Armstrong Custer and his equally delightful and charming bride were devoted to one another. They valued the time they spent together in the field and at their never-permanent homes at various army posts. Many times, Elizabeth lived in a tent alongside members of the 7th Cavalry.
Over the twelve years the Custers were together, Elizabeth had lived history. She and George had honeymooned in war zones during the waning years of the Civil War, and she had witnessed the surrender of Robert E. Lee at the Appomattox Court House. (She was later given the table at which the terms of surrender were signed.) Elizabeth embarked upon her frontier life following the Civil War, when George’s regiment was sent to Texas to facilitate Reconstruction, and later, to the Great Plains states as an “Indian fighter.” Her life was a series of thrilling adventures that lasted until the memorable day when Custer and his troops made their immortal last stand against the Sioux Indians.
Advance Review of Mochi’s War from Library Journal
Historian Enss and Kanzanjian (coauthors, None Wounded, None Missing, All Dead) succeed in personalizing one of America’s most troubling memories, the brutal and unprovoked massacre of a sleeping village of Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples at Sand Creek (present-day Colorado) by troops of the Colorado Volunteers in November 1864. This still controversial military engagement (see Ari Kelman’s A Misplaced Massacre) sets the background in which Mochi, a Cheyenne woman, lost her entire family and barely survived herself, by killing a soldier and then fleeing her camp. She reinvented herself as a Dog Soldier and member of the Bowstring Society, one of the few females to claim association in these elite Cheyenne warrior groups. She remarried, to Medicine Water, himself a military leader, and they in turn brutally raided and avenged themselves on American soldiers and settlers alike for over a decade. The authors have again collaborated to write Western history in an accurate yet accessible manner for mainstream readers. They provide a graphic account of the Plains Indian Wars from 1864 to 1875. VERDICT Highly recommended for adult readers of Western and Native American history, this biographical account provides a counterpoint to the many works that have mythologized such women as Pocahontas and Sacajawea .
—Nathan Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY
And the winner is…
I’m pleased and proud to announce the winner of this month’s book giveaway. Angie McDowell will be receiving a copy of She Wore A Yellow Ribbon: Women Soldiers and Patriots of the Western Frontier.
Next month’s giveaway promises to be the biggest giveaway yet. Those that register will get the chance to win a library of books about women of the Old West. Such titles will include Hearts West, Frontier Teachers, Love Untamed, and The Doctor Wore Petticoats.
Visit www.chrisenss.com for more information.
Thick, damp, and cold fog pressed against the windows of the small house at Point Knox, condensed in a muted bronze gleam on the huge bell, and slipped clammy fingers inside the cloak of the woman shivering on the small platform. Waves splashed and foamed against the rocks far below the wet planks where Juliet Fish Nichols listened tensely for the creak of rigging or the dull thunder of a steamship’s engine. She hoped she heard something before the she saw it, because any ship close enough to see was doomed.
Automatically, her throbbing arm lifted and she rapped the small hammer twice against the side of the 3,000-pound bell. Fifteen seconds later she struck the bell again. Then, after counting off another fifteen seconds, she elevated the hammer and banged twice more on the great bell. Again and again, four times each minute, Juliet lifted her aching arm and rang the bell, warning ships away from Angel Island in fogbound San Francisco Bay.
At least four ships were due in port that first week of July 1906: the Capac, City of Topeka, and Sea Foam, all of which plied the California coast, as well as the transpacific steamer Mongolia loaded with passengers from the Far East. Unfortunately, the crystal-clear atmosphere of July 1 had deteriorated rapidly in the following few days. Visibility was often no more than a few yards. Impenetrable fog concealed every landmark.
To learn more about Juliet Fish Nichols and other women soldiers and patriots of the Western Frontier read
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.
A slim shadow darted toward the old church at the ruined fortress of Goliad. The smell of smoke stained the night air as the figure picked a careful path through the rubble inside the fortress walls. Moonlight starkly displayed the damage caused by the retreating forces of Col. James Fannin’s command. Hundreds of Fannin’s men now lay on the hard ground, prisoners of Gen. Jose de Urrea, one of Supreme Commandment Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s best commanders.
Pausing in a dark corner, Francita Alavez gazed toward the southwest gate and the dull gleam of a cannon positioned to fire on anyone who might attempt a rescue of the American. She shivered in the warm night as the knowledge of their fate bowed her shoulders. She knew what the captives did not. They believed they would be returned to the United States as prisoners of war. Francita had seen the order sent by Santa Anna to execute them all.
To learn more about Francita Alavez and other women soldiers and patriots of the Western Frontier read She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Richard Fike
(970) 240-3400
“SIXTH ANNUAL TRIBUTE TO WESTERN MOVIES DAY”
The Museum of the Mountain West announced the Sixth Annual Tribute to Western Movies Day event for Saturday, June 13, 2015, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The theme of “Women of the Old West & in Western Film” will feature New York Times best selling author, scriptwriter and comedienne Chris Enss. Her passion for telling the stories of the men and women who shaped the history and mythology of the American West is sure to entertain and delight attendees of all ages.
Gunfights, souvenirs, strollers in period dress, food, a working blacksmith, numerous musical entertainers, and many more attractions too numerous to list, will be on hand to entertain, excite and educate. These are all in addition to the Museum’s regular displays of 25 original buildings, over 500,000 original relics, artifacts, and items of historical significance. Housed in the 10,000 square foot main building is an historic post office, doctor’s and dentist’s offices, drug store, saloon, dry goods store and many more fascinating displays from the past. From the 1913 German Lutheran Church to the 1890 school to the 1882 Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Section House, you will be captivated at life as it was over a century ago.
Come and spend a fun-filled leisurely day learning more about this wonderful area in beautiful southwestern Colorado. Admission is only $10 for the entire day for adults, $5 for school age children and $25 for an immediate family. Better than a television documentary, it is real live history in our own backyard.
Step back in time into the real history of the “Old West” and Western Colorado with a visit to the Museum of the Mountain West in Montrose, Colorado. Food and craft vendor applications available AND volunteers needed. Major sponsors include Montrose County, City of Montrose Office of Business and Tourism, and Alpine Bank.
For additional details, visit www.museumofthemountainwest.org or call 970-240-3400.
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Midwest Book Review by D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer
Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West isn’t about your usual Western woman’s pilgrimage across the plains: it’s a randy, rowdy survey of less-well-behaved female outlaws, gamblers, and other wicked women, and it provides a lively alternative to the usual focus on pioneer homemakers.
During the late nineteenth century, while men were settling the frontier, such women led ‘wicked’ lives when they followed fortune seekers. Their stories have been widely scattered under various headings, so it’s refreshing to find a collection of short, action-packed stories of the Old West here, offering biographical sketches paired with Western history and spiced with insights on purposes and people.
Speaking of ‘spice’, fun black and white vintage photos and illustrations from the author’s own historic collection of images and historical libraries enhances the value and appeal of her coverage, making it a recommendation for collections ranging from women’s history and issues to Western frontier sagas.
Enter to win a copy ofA cold sunrise greeted the soldiers stationed at Fort Cummings, New Mexico, on the first day of 1868. An eager bugler sounded a call to arms, and members of the Thirty-eighth Infantry hurried out of their barracks to line up in formation, their rifles perched over their shoulders. The enlisted African-American men who made up the regiment pulled their army-issued jackets tight around their necks in an effort to protect themselves from a bitter winter wind. Among the troops falling into place was Pvt. William Cathay. Cathay proudly stood at attention, willing and ready to do battle with the Apache who were raiding villages and wagon trains heading west. The determined expression the private wore was not unlike the look the other members of the outfit possessed.
The Thirty-eighth Infantry was just one of many black units known as the Buffalo Soldiers, a dedicated division of the U.S. Army that seemed to consistently wear a determined expression. Cathay was not unique in that manner. By all appearances Private Cathay was like the other 134 men who made up Company A. What set this soldier apart from the others, however, was her gender. Cathay was a woman disguised as a man-anxious to follow orders to overtake the Chiricahua Apache warriors.
