Vanished Arizona: Recollections of the Army Life of a New England Woman

by Martha Summerhayes

Book Overview

In 1874, when Martha Summerhayes came as a bride to Fort Russell in Wyoming Territory, she "saw not much in those first few days besides bright buttons, blue uniforms, and shining swords," but soon enough the hard facts of army life began to intrude. Remonstrating with her husband, Jack, that she had only three rooms and a kitchen instead of "a whole house," she was informed that "women are not reckoned in at all in the War Department," which also...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803291051
• ISBN13: 9780803291058
• Release Date: April 1979
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 341 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Book on Frontier Arizone

The book is an excellent read on frontier Arizona, especially on Forts Whipple and Apache, Camp Verde, the General Crook Trail and travel on the Mogollin Rim.

First read it many years ago

I love this book and have re-read it on my Kindle, encourage you to read it if you love adventure,old military posts and forts and of course women who had the courage and stamina to survive them

Real History

Anyone that has traveled around Arizona (or most anywhere in the west)and wondered how the earlier travelers ever made it will enjoy Martha Summerhayes recollections. Her perspective and detail is fascinating and there are so many places (Ft. McDowell is now the name of the casino on the Ft. McDowell Indian Reservation, Ft. Apache can be visited in the White Mountains) that have immediate name recognition.

A rare and engaging perspective

This type of narrative is a relative rarity in the history of the American border, and Arizona in particular. This is not only a woman's perspective but the views and memories of an army wife. The only comparable books that come to mind are the trilogy of Cavalry life by Libbie Custer. Mrs. Custer's books are more polished but more suspect as the information is filtered by her desire to glorify her husband. Mrs. Summerhayes account does not have this weakness and she is more concerned with how the events affect her children and herself. Her description of the Arizona landscape and conditions of Army life stays with you. In particular the sequence in which she is being transported through hostile territory when she is possibly in more danger from her husband than the Indians. This book adds much to the history of the Southwest and is justifiably considered a classic.

History, adventure, travellog make for a good read

This is the story of a Nantucket woman who marries a cavalry officer and moves with him to various Army forts in the late 19th century. A very personal story of Army life in Indian country, raising children in very trying conditions, a travelog and adventure story. The tales of getting back and forth between Nantucket and Arizona is worth the reading alone.