Buckskin Joe: A Memoir

By Edward Jonathan Hoyt

Book Overview

In his lifetime Edward Jonathan Hoyt, better known as Buckskin Joe, staged more excitement than Buffalo Bill, Fairbanks and Flynn, Karl Wallenda, and Batman put together. Born in Canada in 1840, he fought in the Civil War, homesteaded in southern Kansas, chased outlaws as a U.S. marshal in the Cherokee Outlet, prospected for gold from Nova Scotia to Central America, and served as a troubleshooter for "Haw" Tabor, the Silver King of Leadville. But essentially he was an entertainer, specializing in f tes of music and feats of strength and agility. The master of sixteen musical instruments, he played in frontier bands. An acrobat and aerialist, he toured in circuses, once walking a tightrope two thousand feet above the Royal Gorge. His last hurrah, before pursuing his fortune in the jungles of Honduras, was a tour in Pawnee Bill's Wild West show.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803272391
• ISBN13: 9780803272392
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Buckskin Joe

Editor Glenn Shirley says that he got to know Buckskin Joe's grandson, Dr. Vance Hoyt, while working on another book. One day Dr. Hoyt presented him with a box filled with diary entries, letters, and other memorabilia written by his grandfather. Upon examining the material Shirley decided to edit and arrange it for publication. This book is the result of that work. Buckskin Joe (r.n. Edward Jonathan Hoyt) was born in Canada in 1840. He learned how to hunt and trap from the Canadian Indians (they also gave him his nickname), and also learned how to play 16 musical instruments. He came to America and enlisted in the Union Army. Quite a bit of the memoir concerns his time in the war, and it first appeared in diary form (Shirley gives us some of the diary but not all of it). After the war he headed west, did some prospecting around Leadville, hunted buffalo, and began to become proficient as an aerialist (in a town in Arkansas he strung a rope between the two tallest buildings and walked across it; he also walked across the Royal Gorge in Colorado on a tightrope). He participated in the Indian war of 1874 on the Plains and the Ute uprising in 1879. Always interested in circuses and circus acts, he joined Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. He also organized a brass band in Arkansas City. More circus adventures came in the 1890s, and in 1897 he went to Honduras to mine gold. The memoir ends with his return to the US in 1902. He mentions moving to California and that's where he died in 1918. Shirley does an excellent job in editing Hoyt's exploits. He corrects and clarifies many of his assertions. My only complaint is that they appear in the text between brackets rather than at the bottom of the page in footnotes where I think they would be better served. The book is an interesting account of a frontier character trying to make a go of it in the old west. Except for a couple of experiences (the time in Honduras, for example, which he calls "purgatory"), Buckskin Joe seems to have had a pretty good life and a lot of fun, too.

Fun-filled packed adventure!!! You'll want to read it again!

Glenn Shirley does an excellent job of organizing Edward Jonathan Hoyt's (a.k.a. Buckskin Joe's) memoirs. The historical content along with the incredible adventures of this Wild West Showman leave you breathless and wanting more! Batman move over, PT Barnum eat your heart out. I absolutely loved the book. I am buying it for my friends! An easy read. Appropriate for children.