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Post by Hiram on Jul 1, 2012 18:18:41 GMT -5
For those who read Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West, you will enjoy Kit Carson: The Life of an American Border Man; written by David Remley and published by University of Oklahoma Press. It's a balanced and objective look at a true frontier icon.
BTW, Carson was born in the year 1809; as was A. Lincoln, C. Darwin, F. Mendelssohn, L. Braille, A. Tennyson, O.W. Holmes, W.E. Gladstone, N. Gogol, H. Hamlin, and somebody else...oh yes. W.B. Travis.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Jul 1, 2012 22:35:08 GMT -5
Carson certainly was an anomaly among noted frontiersmen. A soft-spoken, modest man.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jul 2, 2012 8:42:32 GMT -5
I read this book as a review assignment for "Wild West History Association Journal." I liked it and thought the author did a good job, but I think "Blood and Thunder" is a better book, if less kind to Carson for the Canyon de Chelly operation. I think Remley lets him off the hook too easily for his responsibility for that, especially destroying the Navaho peach orchards. I think Carson was a very complex man and difficult to get a handle on. I came away thinking he was a product of the unique, multicultural environment he lived in, drifiting and living among varied populations of whites, Indians and Mexicans. He was probably a very rare individual in that he mixed equally with all of these groups and seemed to treat them all the same; as people, sometimes enemies, sometimes friends. Although he commanded the Canyon de Chelly operation, he also shelled out money from his own pocket to help feed the Navahos who were confined at Bosque Redondo, which, from what I gather, was a real hell hole, when the government failed to deliver what it had promised.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jul 2, 2012 11:22:42 GMT -5
Hiram -- You left Edgar Allan Poe off that list of the class of 1809!! He was born only a few weeks before Lincoln was.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Jul 6, 2012 9:43:16 GMT -5
I haven't seen either of these Carson books. Is there any mention of his less-than-modest adopted son, Capt. Louis Schilling?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jul 6, 2012 10:59:40 GMT -5
Don't recall seeing that mentioned.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Jul 6, 2012 11:17:12 GMT -5
Hmmmm! You would think they'd mention this famed Fremont scout and last living survivor of the Alamo.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Jul 9, 2012 14:05:23 GMT -5
Of course Capt. Schilling was known to strectch the blanket a little. While he had numerous bullet holes in his body, his stories also had holes.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Dec 20, 2012 21:27:09 GMT -5
Schilling also claimed that as a child he survived the Alamo's fall by concealing himself. I first learned about Schilling in 2010 from a little book called Alamo Survivors by Lee Spencer White and Ron Jackson. Gary Zaboly did the color illustration for the cover with a fair-haired (I believe his hair was actually black) Schilling hiding under a bacon box. I've been researching Schilling for a couple of years and he was a pretty interesting fellow.
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Post by historybuff on Apr 3, 2014 5:49:29 GMT -5
Being of limited financial and intellectual means, I thought I'd ask the members a question; I see De La Pena's narrative is available in English on Amazon. Obviously, it contains the Crockett surrender and execution which makes it interesting from that pov. Worthwhile to purchase?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 3, 2014 10:53:14 GMT -5
De la Pena's manuscript is essential Alamo reading, but like any historical source it has to be read with your critical thinking skills engaged and considered in relation to other sources. I'm convinced that de la Pena picked up the Crockett execution story second or third hand from various sources, possibly from the United States, where the execution stories first appeared in print. Aside from the one page dealing with Crockett's death, the book is a valuable account of the campaign, including the long, soggy retreat of the Mexican army after San Jacinto. Much of de la Pena's account has been confirmed through archeological work. You might also want to read "Sea of Mud" by Gregg Dimmick.
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