Covered Wagon Women, Volume 9: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1864-1868

Bys: Kenneth L. Holmes, David Duniway, Frances H. Simson

Book Overview

In their simplicity is their poignancy. On August 7, 1865, Mary Louisa Black noted in her journal that they were "nooning on a nice stream in a valey in the mountains." A day later she observed that one of the men in the overland expedition had "buried an infant here yesterday--still born." One can only imagine her emotional turmoil--she had buried her own daughter three months earlier, just as she and her husband set out for Oregon. While each diarist...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803272987
• ISBN13: 9780803272989
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Trials of the trails

Perseverance and hope once again take the form of westbound emigrants. Some turned back but many made it to their destinations. We taste the dust, thirst for the next water hole, anticipate grass availability for livestock, put up with wagon breakdowns and river crossings, fear Indian insurrections and above all lament the deaths of fellow travelers. A few of these diaries contain basic day to day routine occurrences across the now well traveled road to the west, but nonetheless still admirable journals of endurance. Others like Ruth Shackleford and Mary Louisa Black are much detailed and articulate in what they observed and how they felt while crossing the plains. Signs of Indian depredations, horrendous Platte River storms, sickness and death amongst companion emigrants, stampedes, geographical descriptions, conditions of roads, encounters with the `Buffalo Soldiers' and others along the trail all make for colorful and regarded reading. Another fine volume in this series.