The Rose of Cimmaron, Female Outlaw

I'm sure you've heard of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Butch Cassidy, but how many female outlaws came you name? Belle Starr might come to mind, but what about Rose Dunn?

Rose Dunn aka the Rose of Cimmaron

Rose Dunn was born in 1879 near Ingalls, in the Oklahoma Territory. Although her family was poor, she received a formal education at a convent in Wichita, Kansas. By the time she was 12, Dunn's two older brothers had become small-time outlaws. They taught her to ride, rope and shoot. Through them, she met George "Bittercreek" Newcomb, when she was just 14 or 15 years of age, and they became romantically involved.

Rose was totally infatuated with Newcomb and began supporting the man's outlaw life. She would make supply runs into town since he couldn't because he was a wanted man. At the time, Newcomb was riding with the Wild Bunch gang led by famous outlaw Bill Doolin.

On September 1, 1893, a posse of U.S. Marshals cornered the Wild Bunch gang in Ingalls in what became known as the Battle of Ingalls, The resulting battle was in an intense shootout. Western legend says that Newcomb was badly wounded, and while he lay in the street, Rose Dunn is alleged to have run from the "Pierce Hotel" to his location with two belts of ammunition and a Winchester rifle. She shot the rifle at the marshals while Newcomb reloaded his revolvers. Newcomb and Rose were lucky to have escaped.

Three deputy marshals were killed during the shootout. Two gang members were wounded but escaped. Another gang member "Arkansas Tom" Jones was wounded and captured by Deputy Marshal Jim Masterson. Rose Dunn hid out with the wounded gang members for at least two months, nursing the men back to health.

By 1895, Newcomb had a $5,000 bounty placed on him, dead or alive. Newcomb and another outlaw began hiding out near Norman, Oklahoma after both had been wounded in another gunbattle with US Marshals. On May 2, 1895, Rose's brothers, now bounty hunters, shot and killed both men as they dismounted in front of the Dunn house to visit Rose. The brothers collected the bounty, believed to have been $5,000 each.

After the killing of "Bittercreek" Newcomb, Rose Dunn was often accused of having set him up by revealing to her brothers the outlaws' whereabouts. She adamantly denied this, and her brothers later defended her, stating that she had no knowledge of their intentions. She was never prosecuted for her involvement with the gang. 

Thanks to her short outlaw life, Rose Dunn rose to western legend status. She later married a local politician named Charles Albert Noble and lived the remainder of her life as a respectable citizen. She died at the age of 76 in Washington.

OUT OF THEIR ELEMENT

Four mismatched couples find unexpected romance

in four full-length novels by four best-selling authors

A Wagonload of Trouble
, included in OUT OF THEIR ELEMENT

(Finalist in Heartsong Presents Favorite Novel Award - previously published in Wyoming Weddings)

by Vickie McDonough


A computer geek is completely out of his element in the wilds of Wyoming. While his sister stays home with her sick son, Evan reluctantly accompanies his niece on a two-week wagon train tour with her history class, despite a pressing business deadline. The pretty gal heading up the tour thinks he's a total greenhorn, but he can't help being attracted to the competent woman who seems to have it all together. When the tour is sabotaged, will Evan's unique skills help solve the mystery?

 

Vickie McDonough is an award-winning author of nearly 50 published books and novellas, with over 1.5 million copies sold. A bestselling author, Vickie grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead, she married a computer geek who is scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams penning romance stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Her novels include End of the Trail, winner of the OWFI 2013 Booksellers Best Fiction Novel Award. Song of the Prairie won the 2015 Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Gabriel’s Atonement, book 1 in the Land Rush Dreams series, placed second in the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Award.

HHH Book Day

Rosalinda knows she will never escape her past--the choices forced on her and mistakes she’s made. She longs to live in peace with her children where Lucio Armenta won’t be a constant reminder of the love she can’t have. Lucio wants to marry. However, Rosalinda, the only woman he’s ever been attracted to, doesn’t meet his ideals for his future wife. When he discovers she, and her adorable brood, are accompanying him to his sister’s, he objects. An objection that is overruled. But secrets from Lucio’s past are exposed, and Rosalinda faces choices no woman should have to make. 

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The Charleston earthquake has left destruction like nothing Doctor Andrew Warwick has ever seen. On a desperate mission to find the lady who owns his heart, he frantically searches through the rubble, where he finds her injured and lifeless. After she regains consciousness, the doctor’s hopes are quickly dashed as he realizes she doesn’t remember him. Things only get worse when he discovers she believes she’s still engaged to the abusive scoundrel, Lloyd Pratt. Now Drew is on a race with the wedding clock to either help her remember or win her heart again before she marries the wrong man. Waking in a makeshift hospital, Olivia Macqueen finds herself recovering from a head injury. With amnesia stealing a year of her memories, she has trouble discerning between lies and truth. When her memories start returning in bits and pieces, she must keep up the charade of amnesia until she can find out the truth behind the embezzlement of her family’s business while evading the danger lurking around her.

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Four mismatched couples find unexpected romance.


A Wagonload of Trouble
, included in Out of Their Element
by Vickie McDonough


A computer geek is completely out of his element in the wilds of Wyoming. While his sister stays home with her sick son, Evan reluctantly accompanies his niece on a two-week wagon train tour with her history class, despite a pressing business deadline. The pretty gal heading up the tour thinks he's a total greenhorn, but he can't help being attracted to the competent woman who seems to have it all together. When the tour is sabotaged, will Evan's unique skills help solve the mystery?


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A preacher, a rancher, and a Colorado Ranger find and fight for the courageous women who make life in the West worth the struggle. Read their three-generation story spanning nearly thirty years in the complete collection of The Cañon City Chronicles.

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The crusading daughter of a Washington politician intervenes at a slave auction. Twin horsemen from Virginia would defend their livelihood from her meddling kind. When love ignites, and war erupts, friends become enemies. Only one force can overcome hate, but will love come too late?

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Widowed during the war, Natalie Ellis finds herself solely responsible for Rose Hill plantation. When Union troops arrive with a proclamation freeing the slaves, all seems lost. How can she run the plantation without slaves? In order to save her son’s inheritance, she strikes a deal with the arrogant, albeit handsome, Colonel Maish. In exchange for use of her family’s property, the army will provide workers to bring in her cotton crop. But as her admiration for the colonel grows, a shocking secret is uncovered. Can she trust him with her heart and her young, fatherless son?

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Wealthy socialite Florence Middleton admired Joel Fowler when she was a senior student at Oak Dale Bible College and he was a teaching assistant. Now that he’s a full professor and she’s worked with him for several years on various projects for the college, she has fallen in love with him. Joe loves her, but her wealth and standing in the community keep him from declaring that love. When they work together at the orphanage to present a children’s Christmas play, they grow closer, but Joel squelches his feelings for her. Will the magic of the Christmas season and the children’s play be the spark that nurtures the seeds of their love and brings them to full bloom at Christmas?

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Sally Rose McFarlane follows her dream of being a teacher when she becomes a governess in post-Reconstruction, Florida. A misunderstanding of her previous experience forces her to keep a secret to retain her job. But new Jim Crow laws force her to keep another secret, her bi-racial ancestry. Former Pinkerton agent Bryce Hernandez becomes a law partner to Sally Rose’s employer, and the two must work together to stop a smuggling operation. What happens when Sally Rose’s employers find out the truth about her past? How will Bryce react? Will anyone come to her rescue when she’s captured by smugglers, or will it be too late?

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     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future? Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother. Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?

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In two days, wealthy Chicagoan, Anna Hartwell, will wed a man she loathes. She would refuse this arranged marriage to Lyman Millard, but the Bible clearly says she is to honor her parents, and Anna would do most anything to please her father--even leaving her teaching job at a mission school and marrying a man she doesn't love. The Great Chicago Fire erupts, and Anna and her family escape with only the clothes on their backs and the wedding postponed. Father moves the family to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where Anna reconnects with Rory Quinn, a handsome immigrant who worked at the mission school. Realizing she is in love with Rory, Anna prepares to break the marriage arrangement with Lyman until she learns a dark family secret that changes her life forever. 

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     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future? Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother. Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?

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How the First Great Awakening Started the American Revolution

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

In the 1730s and 1740s, a spiritual fervency swept the American colonies. It was called the First Great Awakening. Fiery ministers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield preached about having a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a standard of personal holiness. Many cast off the religious traditions of relying on the religious leaders to tell people what God wanted and started searching the Scriptures and seeking their own relationship with Jesus. Even many church goers had salvation experiences. This caused a revolution in the church, but that was only the beginning of more than one revolution.

Whitefield preached at both Harvard and Yale. At Harvard, it was reported, “The entire college has changed. The students are full of God.” Whitefield became so popular that he drew daily crowds of 8,000 people. In Boston, he drew a crowd of 23,000, larger than the entire population of Boston at the time. Even Benjamin Franklin wrote about the impact of his preaching. He was the cultural hero of the day.

The impact was huge. In New England alone, 25,000 to 50,000 people joined the church and claimed to have salvation experiences. When Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, people held on to the posts of the church for hear they would go to Hell before they had a chance to repent. Many universities sprang up for the purpose of training ministers. The colonies united under the umbrella of revival.

It affected the political thought in the colonies as well. People became more democratic believing that the church should be self-governed, not governed by the state. It also welcome people from every walk of life. The church became a melting pot elevating all members of society as equals. As the colonies united in democratic thought, the Church of England – the Anglican Church, sought to crush this awakening causing a divide between England and the colonies.

Founding fathers were also influenced by the Great Awakening:

• John Adams studied at Harvard and considered becoming a minister.
• Samuel Adams was deeply impacted and sought a political revolution to separate the church from England’s influence.
• Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield were friends. Some believe Franklin might have become a Christian in latter life.
• James Madison was very devout and fought for freedom of religion and checks and balances in government because of the depravity of man.
• John Witherspoon published several books on the Gospel.
• Although there’s no direct connection between George Washington and the Great Awakening, we know that Washington was a devout Christian who even wrote a prayer book.
• 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were devout Christians. Only Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were not.
• The first act of the Continental Congress was to pray. They prayed at the beginning of every session, and they prayed before voting to declare independence and signing the Declaration of Independence.

The Great Awakening started a spiritual revival that led to the American Revolution and the birth of modern democracy.

Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because there are so many stories in American history. There are strong elements of faith, romance, suspense and adventure in her stories. She is managing editor of Mt Zion Ridge Press. Her novel, Red Sky over America is due to be released September 1st.

How Alaska Airlines Helped Avert a Holocaust (Part Two: Iraq) PLUS A GIVEAWAY

The continued story of how Alaska Airlines helped avert a holocaust in the Middle East. This month: Iraq. 

"Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders…." (Is 49:22)

This is a follow-on to the post I did last month about the role scrappy little Alaska Airlines played in rescuing tens of thousands of nomadic Jews from Yemen in 1949. Alaska partnered with the brand-new Jewish state to airlift an entire ancient people group of Jewish nomads to Israel in its steel "eagles" (a.k.a., WWII surplus aircraft). Tens of thousands of nomads who had never seen an airplane were induced to board one, after their rabbis reminded them of God's promises that they would be carried home by Gentiles (Is 49:22, above), and mount up on wings like eagles (Is 40:31). 

But the Jewish population threatened by pogroms wasn't limited to Yemen. The next group facing a potential holocaust resided in Iraq, where Jews had lived comfortably since the Babylonians conquered Judah more than 2500 years earlier. 

Displaced Iraqi Jewish family, 1951

But during WWII, Hitler’s Nazism was eagerly adopted by Iraqi Muslims. In May 1941, in the aftermath of a failed coup by pro-Nazi militarists, the Iraqi Jewish community was the target of a vicious pogrom which became known as the Farhud (“violent dispossession”).

I'll let New York Times bestselling author Edwin Black carry the story.

Hundreds of Jews were cut down by sword and rifle, some decapitated. Babies were sliced in half and thrown into the Tigris river. Girls were raped in front of their parents. Parents were mercilessly killed in front of their children. Hundreds of Jewish homes and businesses were looted, then burned. The carnage continued unabated for almost two days… Throughout the last years of the war, the murder spree was celebrated across the Arab world and in German ceremonies.

- Edwin Black, The Times of Israel, 5/31/16

Like their European brethren a decade earlier, the Iraqi Jews told themselves these difficulties would pass. But after Germany’s defeat, Iraq and other Arab nations became havens for escaped Nazis. A German newspaper estimated that 2,000 German Nazis lived happily under state protection in Egypt alone. Nazis also attained positions of power and influence in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran. 

Once the UN vote [that established Israel] registered, a new anti-Jewish campaign exploded in Iraq. This time, it was not just pogroms but systematic pauperization, taking a cue from the confiscatory techniques developed by the Nazis. Jews were charged with trumped-up offenses and fined exorbitant amounts. All the while, mob chants of “death to the Jews” became ever more commonplace.

- Edwin Black

With the Arab coalition’s resounding defeat in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, antisemitic fervor continued to escalate.

Zionism itself now became a crime, punishable by up to seven years in prison. As every Jew was thought to be a Zionist, every Jew was thereby criminalized.

In urban sweeps, thousands of Jewish homes were searched…. Hundreds of Jews were now arrested, forced to confess under torture, punished financially, and sentenced to long jail terms….

Executions and confiscations followed. In October, all Jews — an estimated 1,500 — were summarily dismissed from their government positions…. Many purged Jewish government employees, highly skilled and formerly well paid, were now destitute and reduced to selling matches on the streets….

- Edwin Black

The Iraqi government ultimately decided to expel its Jewish populace. And it did so with malice. The window of opportunity to emigrate to Israel opened for just a year. Jews had to register to emigrate. Once registered, their assets were effectively forfeit. And if Jews who registered failed to leave within fifteen days? There would be “concentration camps.” Germany all over again.

Rather than the 10,000 emigrants Iraq had anticipated, Israel planned for 100,000. And with newly-destitute Jews* sleeping on Baghdad streets, selling their blankets for food, and threatened with concentration camps, the land route wasn't expeditious enough. An emergency airlift was needed once more.

* Estimates of the value of Jewish assets seized by the Iraqi government range up to $300 million in today’s money.

Iraqi Jews arrive in Israel. Near East Air Transport plane stands in the background.

Israel turned again to Alaska Airlines’ Wooten and Maguire, who played such prominent roles in rescuing the Yemeni Jews.

The Mossad called in its most reliable partner for airlifting Jews: Alaska Airlines…. El Al, Wooten, and Alaska formed a new airline with a new identity called Near East Air Transport (NEAT). Israeli ownership was hidden, so NEAT appeared to be strictly an Alaska Airlines venture….

On May 19, 1950, the first 175 Jews were airlifted out of Iraq in two C-54 Skymasters…. [The operation] became known by the original code name, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, for the prophets who had led the Jews of Babylon out of exile back to Israel millennia before….

- Edwin Black

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Said sensed a new opportunity. Israel’s nascent infrastructure seemed ready to collapse under the weight of absorbing holocaust survivors from Europe, as well as refugees from Eastern Europe and from the Arab world. There weren't enough dwellings to house them. Were there even enough tents?

“Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left..." (Is 54:1-3)

Said reasoned that if he could force Iraq’s destitute Jewish population down Israel’s throat, he could cripple or even bankrupt the tiny nation.

Said demanded that Israel absorb 10,000 refugees per month, every month… As of May 31, 1951, no more exit visas would be issued. If Israel would not accept these stateless enemies now, the concentration camps would be readied.

The flights increased, day and night, using twin engines, four engines, any craft available, through Nicosia or direct to Tel Aviv — as many as possible, as fast as possible…. The crowds gleefully stoned the trucks that delivered the refugees to the airport. The Jews were mocked every step of the way….

Between January 1950 and December 1951, Israel airlifted, bused, or otherwise smuggled out 119,788 Iraqi Jews — all but a few thousand.

- Edwin Black

An immigration camp in Israel, 1951

This scenario that played out in Yemen and in Iraq would soon be repeated across Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco and Libya. During its first years, the infant Jewish state, with a total population of only one million in 1949, absorbed some 850,000 Arab Jews from the surrounding nations. 

“I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—" (Is 43:5-6)

I'm hosting a drawing for a copy of Kristy Cambron's split-time historical novel, The Lost Castle, for new subscribers to my newsletter. You'll also receive updates on my novel, including an opportunity to gain complementary pre-launch access. To enter, please REGISTER HERE by Thursday, August 30. (I'm also giving away a second copy to a current subscriber, so those of you who registered in previous months will have another chance to win. :) )

I stepped away from a marketing career that spanned continents to write what I love: stories of reckless faith that showcase God's hand in history. I'm so excited to work with the all-star team at Mountain Brook Ink to launch my debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, this December! Inspired by a remarkable true story from World War II's pivotal Doolittle Raid, The Plum Blooms in Winter is an American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest winner. The novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese prostitute who targets him for ritual revenge. Please also feel free to check out my blog, Five Stones and a Sling, which hovers in the region where history meets Bible prophecy meets current events. It's rich ground--we live in a day when prophecies are leaping from the Bible's pages into the headlines!

I live outside Phoenix with my husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as my Chief Military Research Officer. We share our home with two mostly-grown-up kids and a small platoon of housecats.

Enduring the Great Depression

Hard times are a part of life. We endure family difficulties, financial hardships, emotional and spiritual dry times—we all have rough periods in life. But from 1929 to 1939, a particularly hard era fell over the United States that effected almost all Americans. This was the time of the Great Depression.

During the 1920’s, leading up to the Great Depression, the economy in the United States more than doubled. The U.S. went through a time of abundant expansion and prosperity, thus the term “the roaring twenties”. During this period, the stock market became the “gold rush” of the new century as everyone from the super-rich to the average working Joe invested in the market with the hope of multiplying their money without lifting a finger to do so. Unfortunately, it was too much too fast and the foundation of the economy—our working class, began to slow down. Eventually, an unbalanced economy led to the great stock market crash of 1929.

Unemployment line. (commons.wikimedia.org) 

Following the market crash, the average American spiraled into economic hardship, and by 1932 over twenty percent of the U.S. population was unemployed. Many lost their homes and were forced to live in shantytowns, each cynically named Hooverville after the hugely unpopular president (President Herbert Hoover) blamed for the depression. Others became masters of frugality. Learning to save on electricity, food, fuel, and living expenses in general.     

One way the typical, non-working 

Depression family (en.wikipedia.org)

housewife could help save a few dollars for her family was to create new recipes using common, less expensive items. These new dishes had fewer ingredients and were filling and nutritious. Even the 1932, newly elected President Roosevelt’s Whitehouse participated in frugal meals.

Though my parents were born long after the depression, many of the meals they prepare for us had roots in the depression era. One is a simple but favorite meal in my youth.


Fried potatoes and hotdogs. Also called The Poor Man’s Meal

Peel and slice thin, four russet potatoes.
Peel and slice thin, one yellow onion.
Slice six hotdogs into coin style pieces.
Fry potatoes and onions in oil until browned. Add hot dogs and cook until desired doneness. Serves four. (My dad would add a couple eggs to this mixture for a breakfast treat.)

Hotdogs were a cheap meat product and widely used in the 1930’s. This meal would feed a family for pennies.
 

We also often ate creamed peas. I’ve learned that during the depression this dish was served over toast for a lunchtime meal.


Creamed Peas

Heat one can of peas (including liquid) until hot but not boiling. Add two to four tablespoons of flour and stir until thick. Serves over toast or as a side dish. Serves four.

Plum pudding was served in the Whitehouse during FDR’s terms. Here is a recipe from my Grandma Whitham.

Plum Pudding

Pit and chop about a half pound of prunes. Place them in a sauce pan and cover (about an inch over) with water. Cover and bring prunes and water to a boil. Add about a half cup of sugar and a half teaspoon of cinnamon. Then gently simmer the mixture for about thirty minutes or until prunes are soft. Remove from heat. Lastly, mix three tablespoons of cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water and add to slightly cooled prune mixture. Return to low heat for five minutes or until desired thickness is obtained. Eat warm or refrigerate to cool. Serves four.

People have a way for making due when times get tough and some of those habits die hard. In my case, the recipes shared here survived three generations and will probably go on to the fourth.

Do you have any family meals that have been handed down from generation to generation? Would you share them in the comments?

Thank you for joining me here at Heroes, Heroines and History today. Have a wonderful blessed month until we meet again.


 

Multi award-winning author, Michele K. Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan. Married to her high school sweetheart, they are living happily-ever-after with their six children, three in-loves, and ten grandchildren in Florida, the sunshine state. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and here through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com.
Michele is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Native American War of Independence

By J. M. Hochstetler

Pontiac Calls for War

We celebrate the American Revolution as the seminal event in which we Americans won our independence from Britain. It’s ironic that throughout our history we’ve largely remained blind to the fact that Native Americans fought us for exactly the same reason: to preserve their liberty, rights, and way of life from an oppressive power. I’ve been deeply impressed by this fact while doing research for my American Patriot Series. In delving into how the war affected women as well as men, blacks as well as whites, I couldn’t avoid the question of what impact our Revolution had on the native peoples who inhabited this continent long before white people showed up. How did they view the colonists’ claim that England denied their lawful rights while at the same time denying Indians the freedom to live unmolested on their own lands, feed and protect their families, and maintain their long-held traditions?

This struggle goes all the way back to the arrival of the first Europeans on the shores of North America. In treaty after treaty, Indian lands and freedoms were whittled away. The loss of land accelerated in the late 1760s and 1770s as settlers increasingly pushed their way into the fertile western territories where land could be had for the taking. And the taking was often bloody, with atrocities committed on both sides.

Sketch of Stockbridge Mahican warrior
in Continental Army, by Von Ewald

Long before the Revolution the Ohio Valley became a fiercely contested war zone. The Lenape, Shawnee, Mingo, and other tribes made Ohio Territory their homeland due to its rich hunting grounds; fertile cropland; expanding trade opportunities, first with the French, then with the English; and the ever increasing pressure of white settlers’ westward expansion. When the British won the French and Indian War and took control of the trans-Appalachian country, the opposition of the native peoples stiffened. Between 1763 and 1764 a coalition of tribes led by the Ottawa chief Pontiac and Guyasuta, a Seneca-Mingo chief, unsuccessfully tried to push British soldiers and settlers out of Ohio Territory. Then in 1774, in what became known as Lord Dunmore’s War, the Shawnee went to war to keep white settlers out of their Kentucky hunting grounds. Their towns and crops were put to the torch, forcing them to give up claim to the land and agree to recognize the Ohio River as the boundary between Indian lands and the British colonies.

Cornstalk by Sherman

When the Americans went to war with England the following year, it came as no surprise to the Indians that their lands were once again up for grabs. At the beginning of the conflict, the majority of the tribes tried to remain neutral, but that was not a viable option for long. The Stockbridge, or Mahican, Indians of western Massachusetts were one of the first to join forces with the Americans. Later some Lenape, along with the Oneida and the Tuscarora, did the same. But in the end most of the tribes came to see the Americans as the greater threat to their liberty and way of life than a distant English king.

In 1776 the Cherokee independently attacked frontier settlements to drive trespassers off, only to have their communities devastated. Other native nations formally allied with the British and suffered the same result. Among the Shawnee, the great chief Cornstalk tried to cultivate peaceful relations with the Americans, only to be murdered along with several companions by militia soldiers in 1777. Even so, his sister, Nonhelema, continued to assist the Americans and work for peace. But as Kentucky militia crossed the Ohio River almost every year to raid Shawnee villages, about half of the nation migrated across the Mississippi to Spanish-held lands, while others moved farther and farther west to put space between them and the Americans, and increasing numbers joined the war of resistance. By the end of the Revolution most of the Ohio Indians were concentrated in the region’s northwestern area.

Sullivan's Campaign Against the Iroquois

The Iroquois Confederacy, or Haudenosaunee, was shattered by the war, with the Oneida and Tuscarora fighting on the side of the Americans, while the Mohawk and Seneca allied with the British, tearing apart clan and kinship ties. Like the Cherokee, many Iroquois lost their homes during the Revolution. In 1779 George Washington dispatched General John Sullivan to conduct a scorched-earth campaign in Iroquois country. During Sullivan’s Expedition, his troops burned forty Iroquois towns, cut down orchards, and destroyed millions of bushels of corn. Thousands of Iroquois fled to the British fort at Niagara, where they endured exposure, starvation, and sickness during one of the coldest winters on record. In desperation their warriors attacked American frontier settlements as much for food as for scalps. At the end of the Revolution many Iroquois relocated in Canada to avoid American reprisals.

Gnadenhutten Massacre

The Lenape were also initially reluctant to take up arms or support the British. Their chief White Eyes led his people in concluding the Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778, the first treaty Congress made with Indians,  in which the two nations agreed to a defensive alliance. But American militiamen murdered White Eyes, America’s best friend in Ohio Territory, and claimed he died of smallpox. Then in 1782 a detachment of American militia marched into a community of Moravian Lenape named Gnadenhütten, or “Tents of Grace.” That these Indians were Christian pacifists made no difference to the soldiers. They separated the men, women, and children, and with their victims kneeling in front of them singing hymns, used butchers’ mallets to beat 96 people to death. Outraged, the Lenape allied with the British and exacted brutal retribution whenever American soldiers fell into their hands.

David Zeisberger

As the Revolution began, in spite of American assurances, Indian nations feared that the Americans’ ultimate goal was to steal their lands. Those fears turned out to be well founded. In April 1783 Britain recognized the United States’ independence at the Peace of Paris and transferred to America all her claims to the territory between the Atlantic and the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes to Florida. No Indians were invited, nor did they receive any mention in the treaty. When they learned that their British allies had sold them out and given away their lands, they understandably felt betrayed.

The United States won its Revolution, but in the west the Indians continued their war for independence for many years afterward. Once subdued, they were confined to reservations and were denied their culture and even their language. You’ll find accurate and heartrending accounts of what the native peoples suffered in their struggle against white expansion in Black Coats Among the Delaware by Earl P. Olmstead, based on the diaries and letters of the Moravian missionary David Zeisberger, who lived and ministered among his beloved Lenape until his death.

They say that history is written by the victors. If you're like me, you learned very little in school about the true history of the Native Americans. Please share what was taught when you were a student and whether learning more about their experience during the Revolution and beyond changes your views.

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.

DeKalb: My Hometown's Claims to Fame

I was born in Illinois and spent the first seven years of my life in that state. We eventually moved from there—spent a few years in a neighboring state before we finally landed in Florida, where I’ve been ever since.

The bulk of my Illinois years was spent in DeKalb. I don’t know what got me thinking about “home” in the last week, but I found myself pondering DeKalb. Interestingly, my musings weren’t directly about my time there and the specific memories I had of the place (although I had a lovely childhood with great recollections of those years). No, instead, I found myself pondering a symbol. A picture. One that, the moment I see it, has the power to make me miss a place I haven’t been since I was a small girl.

The DeKalb Flying Corn. (Caveat: I realize that today, this is a symbol for a Monsanto company, and there are a jillion different feelings on Monsanto and GMO’s—but that’s not what this post is about. Let’s keep any and all comments classy, please!)

I occasionally see this sign adorning the walls of a Cracker Barrel restaurant. I’ve seen it in a museum in St. Augustine, Florida. And I have watched it flash past my car window a million of times as we drove past miles and mile (and miles!) of cornfields between the airport in Omaha, Nebraska, and my mother-in-law’s home in Iowa. And not once in those “in the wild” sightings has this symbol failed to wash me in nostalgia. It is the symbol of my childhood, and attached to it are so many memories. Days spent wearing cut-off jean shorts with the strings tickling my legs, playing in the sprinkler in my backyard on a warm summer day, visits to the bookmobile when it stopped outside my home, swimming at the community pool at Hopkins Park, and the time I got lost in a store and feared I’d never see my mom again (yeah…maybe that memory isn’t the best, but it turned out well! LOL) This symbol draws me back across the years to times when we walked miles to the park for Fourth of July concerts and fireworks displays, of friends gathered around our patio for summer parties, of my best friend and her mom walking down the street for play dates, and going to town for the annual corn festival. For me, this sign evokes memories of old friends and carefree days like no other symbol can.

So…where did the sign come from? What inspired it? The logo came about in 1935 when a group from the DeKalb Agricultural Association set out to promote their hybrid corn variety. Hybrid corn was a new concept in that era, so they knew they needed to get the word out. What developed was an ear of corn with the town’s name written across it. But they wanted something that would set it apart. As the gentlemen pondered, they looked out the window and saw another famous sign. The Mobil Pegasus logo. They all agreed that the wings were an interesting image, and so they began playing with versions until they settled on what became known as DeKalb’s Flying Ear. It evolved across the years into the version you see above. But it has become an enduring image known to farmers around the world.

My Hometown’s second claim to fame is even older than the first—and it had a direct effect on the Old West that I love so much. Do you know what it is? 

Barbed Wire!

While barbed wire (also known as “barb wire”…or even “bob wire”) was initially conceptualized by Leonce Eugene Grassin-Beledans of France in 1860, the father of modern barbed wire was a DeKalb resident, Mr. Joseph Glidden.

Glidden was a farmer in the area in the 1870s, and in 1873, he attended a fair held in town. There, he saw an earlier version of the product. Picture a long strip of wood with metallic spikes protruding from it, and you’ll have a good idea of what Mr. Glidden saw. But the “Wooden Strip with Metallic Points,” which was patented in 1873, wasn’t very practical. Glidden set out to make a more durable, more cost-effect version of the livestock-deterring fence and began experimenting with twisting two separate wires into one, with metal barbs interspersed every few inches.

Original Patent Request for "The Winner"
style barbed wire by Joseph Glidden.

Isaac L. Ellwood, an acquaintance of Glidden’s and a hardware store owner in the area, was also experimenting with his own versions of the wire fencing but knew that Glidden’s ideas were superior to his. So the two teamed up. Also working on his own versions of barbed wire was Mr. Jacob Haisch, a lumber dealer from that part of Illinois. Haisch and Glidden butted heads when Haisch accused Glidden of interfering with his “S-Barb” design. The conflict ended up delaying the patent of Glidden’s wire version affectionately called “The Winner.” The Winner’s patent finally came through in late November of 1874, and with the success of the new style of wire, Glidden and Ellwood formed the Barb Fence Company there in DeKalb. It wasn’t long before larger manufacturers got wind of the new invention and bought Glidden out.

Of course, barbed wire became a point of contention in the Old West. Some put it up to keep their livestock in and protected. Others cut it down in order to keep the natural migration patterns of the animals available. Men were shot for putting it up, and men died in the attempt to tear it down. No matter “which side of the fence” you were on, that invention was one that changed the west for sure. And to think…it got its start in my hometown.

It’s Your Turn: What is your hometown famous for? Is there a logo, symbol, or picture that has a similar effect on you to what the DeKalb Flying Corn logo has on me? What memories or feelings does it evoke and why?

Jennifer Uhlarikdiscovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children. 

Available Now:

The Mail-Order Brides Collection

What kind of woman would answer an advertisement and marry a stranger?

Escape into the history of the American West along with nine couples whose relationships begin with advertisements for mail-order brides. Placing their dreams for new beginnings in the hands of a stranger, will each bride be disappointed, or will some find true love?