And Now for Something Different?

Post (c) by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

We all encounter the unexpected. Usually fun, sometimes irritating, and occasionally an interesting blessing. This post is about the third, and, I think, interesting blessing.

Doctor Josephine Dunlop was born on December 3, 1875, in Colorado. Died September 15, 1970, at the age of 94 in Austin, Texas. She was the widow of William Dunlop and practiced medicine in Pueblo, Colorado.  One source has her as a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School in 1898 and receiving her Colorado license that same year. This same source lists her as president of the Pueblo County Medical Society in 1918 and as having retired from the practice of medicine in 1946.  From 1919 to 1920, she served as the second vice president of the Colorado State Medical Society.

Dr. Dunlop was one of the consulting pathologists for the Colorado State Hospital and the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, both in Pueblo, Colorado.

The accomplishments of Dr. Dunlop fascinated me. It was as I researched her background that I found myself on a path I did not expect. Enter- the Unexpected. There I found her father, Charles H. Nachtrieb, an early settler in Colorado. Born in Germany on April 20, 1833, Charles came to the United States with his siblings. After settling in Colorado, Mr. Nachtrieb was a candidate from Lake County at the 1866 convention to establish a constitution to admit Colorado to the Union. (Colorado was not admitted until 1876). He was to have built the first grist mill west of the Mississippi and was one of the leaders in the Lake County War. (Which, according to records, was a particularly bloody conflict.) In 1879, he, along with Otto Mears and Issac Gothelf, filed an article of incorporation for the Poncho, Marshall, and Gunnison toll road, the object of which was to build a twenty-five-thousand-dollar toll road from Poncho Creek in Chaffee County to the Gunnison River.

An old school in Nathrop.

Charles Nachtrieb was also a rancher, having a large ranch in Gunnison County, Colorado. He and his family lived in Nathrop, Colorado (named for him), where he had a shop and was the postmaster. It was in Nathrop that, according to the newspaper report from the time, a man by the name of Burt (Bert) Remington shot and killed Charles on October 3, 1881. He was forty-nine. After searching, I have found no record of the trial or whether Remington was caught. But I have much more research to do. I did find a proclamation printed in the Daily Register-Call ( a Central City newspaper) on Thursday, October 6, 1881, which read.

The Governor’s Proclamation: Governor Pitkin, yesterday morning, made the following proclamation, offering a reward:

Wheras, On or about the third (3d) day of October, A.D. 1881, one Charles Nachtrieb was murdered in the county of Chaffee, and state of Colorado, and Wheras, Burt Remington has been charged with said murder, and, Wheras, said Remington has not been arrested, the proper officers have been unable up to the present time to find said Remington, Now, therefore, In pursuance of the statute in such cases made and provided, I do hereby offer the sum of three hundred dollars ($300) as a reward for the arrest and delivery to the sheriff of Chaffee, county, Colorado, of the aforesaid Burt Remington, so charged with the said murder.                                                      FREDERICK W. PITKIN, Governor.”

There is so much more to find out and research about this family, especially Dr. Dunlop’s father. I know I will be writing a great deal about her in the future. Her father’s story is a beautiful one of hard work and success, but ultimately a very sad one as well. In addition to Josephine, there were the wife, Margaret, and the children, Jake, Charles II, and Chris.

So you see, I was off down the ‘rabbit hole’ when I ran across Josephine Dunlop’s family tree. There is much more for me to find, and, as always, I love the unexpected pieces of history my doctor research is uncovering.

More about the war in another post.

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West November 14

 This is not entirely Old West, but it’s interesting, nonetheless. On November 14, 1889, New York Worldjournalist Nellie Bly began a round-the-world trip, attempting to beat the fictional time from Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in 80 Days.

Nellie Bly, the pen name of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, was an investigative journalist and social activist, known for her bold reporting (including a “groundbreaking exposé” on conditions in mental institutions). She evidently first became interested in journalism when she wrote an angry reply to an article in her local Pittsburgh Dispatch, entitled “What Girls Are Good For.”  The paper hired her. She took her pen name from a character in a Stephen Foster song and was widely respected for her “innovative work in controversial areas.”

Nellie is best known, however, for her trip around the world. Her managing editor, John A. Cockerill, told her she could never do it. “You are a woman and would need a protector, and even if it were possible for you to travel alone you would need to carry so much baggage that it would detain you in making rapid changes… No one but a man can do this.” 

Nellie’s response was characteristically blunt: “Very well. Start the man and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.” Cockerill relented, and, within the year, Nellie left Hoboken, New Jersey, headed east across the Atlantic to London, England.

She took a single piece of baggage, measuring 41 by 18 centimeters, containing bare essentials – underwear, toiletries, writing materials, dressing gown, tennis blazer, flask and cup, two caps, three veils, slippers, needle and thread, handkerchiefs. But no gun. “I had such a strong belief in the world’s greeting me as I greeted it that I refused to arm myself,” she wrote.

Six days later, the first-time traveler arrived in Southampton, where the World’s London correspondent had exciting news. Author Jules Verne had heard of her journey, and wanted to meet her in his hometown of Amiens, France. 

This was both an honour and a gamble, necessitating a deviation from her meticulously planned route. Bly travelled non-stop for two days to make the appointment, by road, rail and boat via London to Boulogne, and then Amiens, where Verne and his wife were waiting at the station. Leaving Verne’s home in the middle of the night, Bly caught a 1.30am train across France and Italy to the port of Brindisi. Here she boarded the Victoria, a steamer that took her through the Mediterranean to Port Said in Egypt, at the new Suez Canal’s northern end.

When she had access to a telegraph office, Nellie sent in her updates to the World. In between, she mailed letters. Since these dispatches often took a long time to arrive in New York, the newspaper tried “inventive ways” to keep interest in her story alive. One such technique was a sweepstake where over half a million people sent in their guesses as to exactly how long Nellie’s trip would take. The grand prize was an expense-paid trip to Europe.

Once the Victoria had refueled in Port Said, it continued through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, stopping at the Port of Aden on the Arabian Peninsula, where Bly went exploring. Next stop was Colombo in Sri Lanka.

After “an agonizing five-day wait” in Colombo for a boat to take Nellie the 3,500 miles over the sea to Hong Kong, she finally set sail for China on the Oriental. On the way, the ship stopped at Singapore, where Nellie bought a companion: a small monkey she named McGinty.

Nelllie had another overnight delay in Singapore, and fretted about her connection in Hong Kong, but the Oriental made good progress once it set sail—unfortunately, through “a violent monsoon storm that created enormous seas.” The travelers arrived safely, and early, just before Christmas Day. However, Nellie “had an unwelcome surprise awaiting her.”

A rival publication, the Cosmopolitan, had hastily commissioned another female journalist to try and beat Nellie Bly’s time. 28-year-old Elizabeth Bisland was given only six hours’ notice before leaving New York on the same day Nellie had. However, she traveled west “while the World’s champion went east.” Nellie had been unaware of this now-real race until she arrived in Hong Kong, where she was informed that Bisland had passed through several days earlier.

Nellie was not impressed by the news. “I am not racing,” she claimed. “I promised to do the trip in 75 days, and I will do it.” However, comments made while she was trapped in a delay-causing storm during her trip from Hong Kong to Yokohama, Japan, suggested otherwise. “I’d rather go back to New York dead than not a winner,” she was heard to say.

Despite more heavy weather on the final boat ride from Japan to San Francisco on the White Str Line ship, Oceanic, Nellie arrived back in the United States on January 21, a day ahead of schedule. However, rail travel had been slowed due to snowstorms, and Nellie could feel Bisland on her trail.

Unbeknownst to Nellie, however, her rival’s luck had run out. In England, Bisland learned that the fast German steamer Ems, due to take her from Southampton to New York, had been cancelled. She was forced to divert via Ireland to catch the much slower ship, the Bothina. Meanwhile, the World’s owner, Joseph Pulitzer, had chartered a private train to bring Nelly Bly home in style. The “Miss Nellie Bly Special” set records of its own during that final leg, completing the 2,577-mile jouirney in only 69 hours to deliver Nellie to New Jersey on January 25, 1890, at 3:51 pm—72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, and 14 seconds after leaving. Nellie Bly had bested Phineas Fogg’s fictional journey time by over seven days.

Elizabeth Bisland arrived five days later.

Nellie Bly’s trip was a unqualified success, but upon arriving, she was heard to profess, “I took off my cap and wanted to yell with the crowd, not because I had gone around the world in seventy-two days, but because I was home again.”

 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks

Sir St. George Gore

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

What was the impact of Sir St. George Gore’s 1850s hunting expedition on the American West and Colorado’s early history?

When you look at a map of Colorado, you will find the Gore Range. It is located in the North Central part of the state. It is approximately 50 miles west of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. It takes its name from Sir St. George Gore, the 8th Baronet of Gore Manor in County Donegal, Ireland.

So, how does an Irishman get his name on a Colorado Mountain Range? Good question, and the answer is somewhere in his presence in the West.

I first became aware of Gore while researching characters for a murder-mystery script set in Vale for the murder-mystery company I worked for. I needed a 'villain' for the piece and came across Gore and his hunting trip throughout the West.

Image from Wikipedia

While there are various online versions, some information remains consistent:

He traversed the West, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas from 1854-1857. The cost was estimated at around $500,000. It was on this trip that Gore himself, an avid hunter, claimed to have killed 2,000 buffalo, 1,600 deer and elk, and 105 bears. (It is also said, he left the carcasses to rot.)

Additionally, he traveled in style. He had a large striped green-and-white linen tent, a brass bedstead, a rug, and a portable table for his personal use. He had twenty-seven vehicles, over one hundred horses, eighteen oxen, and three cows, along with pistols, shotguns, and rifles. Gore even had Jim Bridger to be his chief guide.  

Such a presence led to numerous incidents and left many unhappy. However, as far as I could tell, Gore faced no repercussions.

The name of the range itself appears to have come from William Byers, founder of the Rocky Mountain News. In 1868, Byers referred to it as Gore's Range, and the name stuck, according to an article in the Colorado Life Magazine. 

Some additional links: Wikipedia

Gore. Sir St. George

Colorado Life

Today, October 28, 2025, the ebook "Isabella" is available. It takes place in 1907 in the Rocky Mountain National Park area.

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West October 10

 On October 10, 1899, inventor Isaac R. Johnson lodged his patent for a folding bicycle. This was the first to have a recognizably modern diamond frame, which is the pattern still used in 21^st Century bikes. This design improved comfort and speed, as the chain drive was transferred to the non-steering rear wheel, allowing for “smooth, relaxed, and injury-free pedaling.” Earlier bicycle designs were difficult to pedal while turning due to “the misalignment of rotational plans of leg and pedal,” or, in other words, you were pedaling one way and trying to steer in another. Trousers and skirts frequently caught in the chains, and accidents were common. The first “safety bicycle” was created in 1865, by John Kemp Starley, though it was never patented.

The pneumatic tire and diamond frame improved rider comfort but are not necessarily a crucial design or safety feature. A hard rubber bicycle tire would be just as rideable, though bone-jarring. Johnson’s design allows for “a lighter weight and more simple construction and maintenance, hence a lower price.” This made the bicycle affordable to the public and created a craze in the 1890s.

Johnson was born in New York in 1812. He wasn’t the first inventor to create a bike frame, just the one to perfect it. He was the first African American to invent and patent the frame, which is most similar to the bikes we use today. What made this design so unique was that it could be easily taken apart or folded. Johnson marketed his bicycle as “convenient for travels and vacation.” He originally filed the patent in April, and that paperwork gives us most of our information about the inventor. At the time, he lived in Manhattan, and he classified his invention as an improved version of a bicycle frame, noting “its ability to be placed in small storage areas or a truck.”

The bicycle came with instructions, notating each of its parts. In the section where the reason for the patent is given, Johnson writes “a steering-head section and a frame having a slot-and-stud connection for detachably uniting,” and when asked what made his invention different, he said it was “a bicycle-frame having a front and rear sheath or tube-section, and a steering-post sleeve and seat-post tube to which the sheaths are removably connected.”

Bicycles were originally designed as velocipedes, pedal-less versions of the modern bicycle. Riders simply sat upon the bike and walked or ran along, using their feet to propel themselves. Inventor Matthew Cherry, creator of the tricycle, made the first improvements to the design. In 1899, Jerry Certain patented “various parcel carriers” that could be attached to a bicycle, followed shortly afterwards by Johnson’s frame design patent.

After the Civil War, bicycles were tested at length. The U.S. Military had the all-Black 25^th Infantry Bicycle Corps ride bikes 1,900 miles from Montana to Missouri. During this trek, the soldiers tested the bicycle’s cross-country suitability, cycling the Rocky Mountains and enduring extreme weather conditions. They often traveled off-road as well, making an average speed of 8 miles per hour and taking 41 days to finish their trip. 

Your characters may well have owned or at least ridden some sort of bicycle if they lived after 1817, when the velocipede was invented. The front-wheel driven bike was created in the 1860s and featured the enlarged front wheel device commonly called the “penny-farthing” or “boneshaker,” which is so often shown in old photos and illustrations. 

"Rocky Mountain Jim"

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

"‘Rocky Mountain Jim,’ the frontiersman made famous by Isabella Bird in her 1879 travel classic A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, remains one of Colorado’s most mysterious historical figures. Often remembered as a tragic figure, his true identity and life story have puzzled historians and readers alike for over a century. This article attempts to explore the facts that have been shared about Rocky Mountain Jim since the book’s publication.

Ancestry records indicate that James Author Nugent was born on July 4, 1836, in Pakenham, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. An 1861 Canadian census lists a James Nugent in the same county of his birth, working as a laborer and identifying as a Roman Catholic. Additional records show James Nugent, son of Arthur Nugent and Ann McDermet Nugent, was baptized on January 6, 1837, in Perth, Ontario, Canada.

Image (C) Doris McCraw

So far, the date of his arrival in the United States is tenuous. It may have been the late 1860s, as some records show he'd built a cabin near Estes Park around 1868.

It was here that Isabella Bird met Jim. He'd been guiding people through the Estes Park and what is now known as the Rocky Mountain National Park area. He also guided climbers to the summit of Long's Peak, of which Miss Bird was one.

It is through Isabella's writings that we have an idea of what Jim looked like. He was " a broad, thickset man, about the middle height, with an old cap on his head, and wearing a grey hunting-suit much the worse for weare...a revolver sticking our of the breaest-pocket fo his coat...Tawny hair in thin, uncared-for curls. fell from under his hunter's cap and over his collar. One eye was entirely gone, and the loss made one side of the face repulsive, while the other might have been modeled in marble,..Of his genius and chivalry to women, there does not appear to be any doubt; but he is a desperate character, and subject to 'ugly fits', when people think it best to avoid him."

The scarred face was the result of a grizzly attack that may have occurred sometime between 1869 and 1871. 

He died on September 7, 1874, after being shot in the head with a shotgun. He survived long enough to name Griffith Evans, an old rival, as his attacker. He was taken to Fort Collins, where he died and is supposed to be buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery there. Of Griff Evans, without a living witness, he was acquitted of murder. (Griff Evans is a story for another post.)

The Old West is full of stories and mysteries like "Rocky Mountain Jim's", and the joy of digging for the facts vs fiction is a major part of the reason I love history.

Below is a haiku I wrote when thinking of Jim:

Rain falls in the night

Wind, clouds vie for dominance's 

A lone star shines bright

And yes, I have a book coming out in October where the characters of Isabella Bird and Mountain Jim play a part.

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

On This Day in the Old West September 12

The SS South America, also known as “The Ship of Gold,” was a 280-foot (85 meter) sidewheel steamer that operated between Central America and the East Coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally called the SS George Law (after George Law of New York), and she met her end on September 12, 1857 off the coast of South Carolina.

On September 3, 1857, 477 passengers and 101 crewmembers left the city of Aspinwall (now the Panamanian city of Colón) bound for New York City, with Captain William Lewis Herndon commanding. The ship was laden with 10 short tons (9.1 tons) of gold prospected during the California Gold Rush.

On September 9, the ship was caught up in a Category 2 hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas. By September 11, 105 mph (170 kmph) winds and heavy seas had shredded her sails. She was taking on water, and her boiler was nearing failure. When a leak developed in a seal between a paddle wheel shaft and the ship’s side, her fate was sealed.

At noon that day, her boiler could no longer maintain fire. Steam pressure plummeted, shutting down both bilge pumps. The paddle wheels that had kept the ship pointed into the wind failed as the ship settled by the stern. Passengers and crew hoisted an inverted ship’s flag (a signal of distress in the United States), hoping to signal a passing ship, but there were no ships within sight.

A bucket brigade was formed, and everyone spent the night fighting a losing battle against rising water. During the calm eye of the hurricane, attempts were made to get the boiler running again, but these failed. Then, the second half of the storm struck. The ship was on the verge of foundering and the hurricane drove the powerless ship hither and yon. The strong winds would not abate.

The next morning, September 12, two other ships were spotted, including the brig Marine. Only 100 passengers, mostly women and children, were transferred off the Central America in lifeboats. The ship remained in an area of intense winds and heavy seas that pulled her and most of her company away from possible rescue. Central America sank at 8:00 that evening, with a loss of 425 lives. A Norwegian bark, Ellen, rescued an additional 50 souls from the water and another three were picked up over a week later in a lifeboat.

The loss of life in this disaster was described later as “appalling” and having “no parallel” among American navigation disasters. When she sank, the Central America carried approximately $8 million in gold, based on a gold price of $1,738.70 per troy ounce ($56.087 per kilogram). Commander William Lewis Herndon went down with the ship. He was a distinguished officer, serving during the Mexican-American War, and had explored the Amazon Valley.  Two US Navy ships were later named USS Herndon in his honor, as was the town of Herndon, Virginia. Two years after the sinking of Central America, Herndon’s daughter Ellen married Chester Alan Arthur, later the 21^st president of the United States.

On September 11, 1988, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) was sent down to the last known location of the Central America by the Columbus-America Discovery Group of Ohio, led by Tommy Gregory Thomson. They used Bayesian search theory, which has been used several times to find lost ships and locate flight recorders of downed airplanes. The ROV found significant amounts of gold and artifacts, which were recovered and brought to the surface by another ROV built specifically for this recovery.

The total value of the recovered gold was estimated at that time at $100 to $150 million. One gold ingot weighing 80 pounds sold for a record $8 million, and was the most valuable piece of currency in the world for a time.

Your characters, if they read the news at that time, would have certainly heard of the terrible disaster and the loss of all that money. They might even have been among the prospectors who’d originally located the gold itself.

 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks

A Western Perspective: The Greatest Genre Of All Time 🤠

The Western genre is as beautiful as it is complex. The vastness of the wilderness, the courage of its people, the sunset that blankets the horizon. People have tried to define it in a simple sentence, don't get me wrong, but the statement "Takes place West of the Mississippi" is not even scratching the surface of the dusty trail.

Westerns draw people of all ages in and it captivates their emotions and imaginations. It makes us want to watch more western movies and TV shows, read western stories and poems, hell we even want to get cowboy hats and boots to look the part. And this is not just an American fascination. The Western has taken over the world. From spaghetti westerns to reenactors in Germany, the old west takes its place in everyone's mind in some form or fashion. I think my favorite memory was when I saw someone walk into a Sheplers Western clothes store wearing baggy, droopy pants, hat backwards and a insane clown posse shirt on. Now this is not a judgment of what this guy was wearing but it didn't necessarily line up with the store itself. Now he walked around the store looking at cowboy hats, jeans, boots and button up shirts. What he ended up buying was the full outfit and he would surely fit in at a rodeo. I don't know what his reasons were to buying those clothes but I definitely came up with a few in my head. Had he seen a Western recently and something about that culture and what they wore struck a chord? Did he meet some lady who wanted to go line dancing with him? Whatever the story was he easily spent two hundred dollars on western clothes. 

But why? Why do we want to immerse ourselves in this genre? A lot of answers I have seen over the years is because it is a sense of freedom. To some extent I agree with that but what makes a great story according to Elmer Kelton was when characters have to deal with change. Whether they are open to it or dead set against it, a story can really take charge with those types of tropes. So in a lot of stories the freedom that is associated with the west is being challenged in some form or fashion. I think the idea of a simpler time is appealing for all, especially in a world that is dominated by technology. We all want to be riding out on God's open prairie, watching the sun dip down over the mountains. The atmosphere of an old west town is a big one for me with the false front buildings and dusty saloons. 

I think we can all have our things that we love about the western but I think the reason why the genre is able to bring us all in is due to the fact that it cannot be defined. You can have as many subgenres within the Western that literally anything could take place. Drama, comedy, horror, sci fi, coming of age, action, you name it and it has been done in the Western. 

I believe with all of those subgenres another important thing in westerns is that we are able to see ourselves in the characters. We all strive to make the best of our lives but run up against hard challenges that make us have to dig deep into ourselves to keep going. We all have bullies in our lives that we want to stand up to and nothing shows that better than a Western. For that I am not talking about shooting it out with a bully but instead finding the courage to stand your ground and fight for what is right. Westerns can also tackle social issues that we face today and deliver stories that are entertaining but thought provoking as well regarding change and standing up for your fellow neighbor. Another theme that westerns do so well is dealing with loss. This might be losing land, a business or someone. I think especially when it comes to losing someone, westerns can really speak to that. The biggest theme that probably covers the most for westerns is the human experience. Showing triumphs, tragedies and the cost of both. 

A statement that has been done to death is that the Western is dead. As long as people crave stories that reflect the human experience, the Western will never be dead. When there is a resurgence for the genre, young and old are always trying to get their hands on more. When the video games Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 came out, I heard from many people that they wanted to read stories in the west and watch more western movies. Then another resurgence came with TV westerns such as Hell on Wheels, Longmire, Justified and Yellowstone. These are not really bending the genre to fit a lot of different likes for people but are more closer to straight up westerns with deep, profound stories. The interest in westerns with these shows has been off the charts and has really shown how hungry people are for more. 

When ever I have heard that the Western is dead, I always imagined it in the lens of a story. The Western genre was shot, ran off a cliff and thought it be dead by the villain. Only to reappear later in the story not only alive but thriving. An epic return that is filled with a classic western music score. 

I hope this is a little encouraging for all who write westerns. We have an important role to keep the west alive by writing new stories but to also not forget those who came before us. I think reading stories from long ago not only helps keep our minds enriched with the west but to keep stories from authors who are long gone, alive. I think when we come across anyone looking for a new to them author, recommending the famous and not so well known authors is a must. For that I would recommend reading "The Gallows At Graneros" by Lewis B. Patten. 

Well that is the September's"A Western Perspective." Thank you all for what you do to keep the Western thriving and I hope you all have a great week. Until next time, I will see you all down the trail 🤠

Mosby, Higginson & Franklin?

Post (C) Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Image (C) Doris McCraw

For this month's post, I'm sharing a portion of my reading list for the research deep dives I've undertaken this year.

In 2024, the year was spent in Evergreen Cemetery documenting Civil War soldiers buried there, along with their wives when available. This was an eye-opening look into the past as I searched the cemetery, genealogy, and newspaper records. Each name revealed the story of people, their trials and triumphs, along with a sense of the sacrifice, heartache, and loss the conflict had on their lives. Some of these Civil War discoveries were shared on this blog.

One headstone mentioned that the person buried there had served in the 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion with John Singleton Mosby. This led me to the book, "The Unvanquished", by Patrick K. O'Donnell. The book was fascinating and devastating. It told the story of the 'shadow war' of units such as Mosby's Rangers, Jesse Scouts, and others, whose sole purpose was to infiltrate and disrupt the 'enemy'. Although I never read the name of the man who started me on the journey, the book deepened my understanding of the conflict in a way no other, including Ken Burns' brilliant documentary, "The Civil War," had. 

The short "Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" was read, and while the beginning of his story was enlightening, I found myself glad to finish the second half.

For those who know me, many are aware of the years of research and performing I have done on Helen (Hunt) Jackson. It will not surprise anyone to know that upon finding the biography of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, it would be next on my list. The name was familiar as the mentor of Helen and Emily Dickinson. 

Although "A Man on Fire: The Worlds of Thomas Wentworth Higginson" is a look at a man who was so much more than what many may believe. A student at Harvard at thirteen, an author, abolitionist, Unitarian Minister, strong advocate of Women's Suffrage, and commanded the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. This unit was composed of Black soldiers freed from slavery.

What seems to make Higginson's story so fascinating is his drive and intelligence. He seemed to push himself harder than anyone else.

For those who would like to learn or read more, here are links to additional reading:

"A Man on Fire" Amazon

"The Unvanquished" Amazon

NPS - Thomas Wentworth Higginson

NPS- John Singleton Mosby

Until Next Time,

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon

  

On This Day in the Old West August 8

 Not a whole lot going on in the history books on August 8, but I found an interesting patent. On August 8, 1854, Smith and Wesson received Patent No. 11,496 for “a self-contained metallic cartridge.”

Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson both came from old New England families. Horace learned about making firearms from working with the National Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. Daniel apprenticed with his brother Edwin, the leading creator of target rifles and pistols in the 1840s. The two met and formed their first partnership in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut. Their aim was to market a lever action repeating pistol that could utilize a fully self-contained cartridge.

Their first pistol venture did not sell well and by 1854 the company was facing financial difficulties. Smith and Wesson were forced to sell their company to a shirt manufacturer named Oliver Winchester. Using Smith and Wesson’s original lever action design, Oliver later created the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. After the sale of the company, Smith left and returned to his hometown, while Wesson stayed on as plant manager for Winchester.

In 1856, Samuel Colt’s patent on the revolver was set to expire. Wesson began developing the prototype for a cartridge revolver. His research led to the discovery that he would need a certain component for his invention—a component whose patent was held by a former Colt employee named Rollin White. Wesson reconnected with Smith, and the two partners approached White to create a newly designed revolver and cartridge combination. The two men reformed their partnership, calling their company the Smith and Wesson Revolver Company, later to be known simply as the Smith and Wesson Company. Rather than make White a partner in their company, they simply paid him 25 cents for every revolver they made, leaving him to defend his patent with his own money and later leading to his bankruptcy.

“The Volcanic” was the first successful fully self-contained cartridge revolver available in the world, utilizing the Rimfire cartridge patented on August 8, 1854. The men then secured patents for the revolver itself to prevent other manufacturers from producing a similar gun. Smith and Wesson was now a very lucrative business. However, the partners realized that, when their patents expired, they would need a new design to keep their market superiority. In 1869, the new gun was completed and Smith and Wesson began marketing it the following year. The Model 3 American, as it was known in the United States, was the first large caliber cartridge revolver and it established the company as a world leader in handgun manufacturing. 

J.E.S. Hays
www.jeshays.com
www.facebook.com/JESHaysBooks

A Western Perspective: 149 Years of Colorado

 Colorado just hit its 149th birthday on August 1st! Here are some some pictures from my travels around the centennial state. I hope you all enjoy 🤠