The Woman Who Tried to Save Sitting Bull

Nothing about Susanna Faesch’s life seemed to fit in with the proper society of the late 1800s. As an adult, she moved to New York from Switzerland with her recently-divorced mother. Before long, she married a Swiss doctor and started a new life in Brooklyn. But Susanna was unhappy with her husband and left him for another man, with whom she had a son. Her hope for a happy life didn’t last long, because her new love left her.

Caroline Weldon in on the right

She was now an outcast among her peers. The era’s strict gender roles meant it was nearly unthinkable for a woman to get a divorce, much less publicly raise an illegitimate child without a husband.

Susanna had always been interested in the lives and rights of Native Americans in the United States’ western territories. At the time, a debate raged over how to treat the nation’s Native Americans as white people flooded into the west. The United States created the first Indian reservations in 1851 with the Indian Appropriates Act, acknowledging tribal rights but driving Native Americans onto reservations where they governed themselves.

Chief Sitting Bull, 1890, public domain image

Most white Americans, who believed that tribal loyalties could endanger American values, saw this as a threat. They felt that Native Americans should become more “civilized” and adopt their habits and customs, including adopting an agricultural lifestyle and speaking the English language.

As this viewpoint grew in popularity, a small opposition was born. Susanna joined the National Indian Defense Organization, which aimed to use U.S. laws to protect Native Americans and uphold their tribal sovereignty and land rights. The group opposed the Dawes Act’s proposed legislation which would break up tribal lands into individual plots and distribute them among tribe members.

In 1887, the Dawes Act was passed, and residents of the Dakota Territory tried to pressure the Sioux people who lived on land they wanted to occupy to move to a reservation. When Susanna heard that Sitting Bull, leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, was opposed to the plan, she began to write him letters. Then, in 1889, she decided to walk away from New York life to help him and live among the Sioux people. She felt she had nothing to lose. There was nobody left to shame, and she didn’t really care. It was then that she took on a new identity: Caroline Weldon.

Sitting Bull, public domain image

Caroline arrived at Standing Rock Reservation in 1889 with her son. Being one of the few white women in the area, she became a figure of wonder and mockery. She informed Sitting Bull she wanted to be his secretary/representative and began to try to organize his supporters in the area to oppose the Sioux Bill. An artist, Caroline also painted his portrait four times, using oil paints to capture the solemn face of the beleaguered chief.

Local newspapers vilified Weldon as a harpy who was in love with Sitting Bull and called her his “white squaw.” They couldn’t accept that a white woman wanted to be associated with Native Americans, much less try to help them.

"The Ghost Dance by the Ogallala Sioux at Pine Ridge-Drawn by
Frederic Remington from sketches taken on the spot."
(Harper's Weekly, December 6, 1890, p. 960-961)"

During the time Weldon was with Sitting Bull, a religious movement called the Ghost Dance (to learn more click here: http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.rel.023 ) swept through the area. The Sioux believed if Native people performed certain songs and dances, white people would disappear and their dead ancestors would join them. The movement was popular among the Lakota Sioux, whose tribal holdings and unity were directly threatened by the Sioux Bill, but it was viewed as a threat by white settlers. Caroline warned Sitting Bull that siding with the Ghost Dancers would turn him into a target, but he ignored her. She began to advocate against the dance, causing a rift with Sitting Bull. Finally, she left the reservation.

Weldon’s instinct was right, for just a year later, U.S. officials arrested and killed Sitting Bull after he refused to stop Ghost Dance ceremonies on the reservation. After Susanna’s son died, she returned to Brooklyn, a social pariah because of her association with the “savages” most white Americans loathed. She lived in poverty and died in obscurity two decades later after a fire sparked by a candle burned up her apartment.

Caroline Weldon, public domain

Caroline Weldon and her fellow activists were not able to stop federal policy that threatened Sitting Bull and the Lakota Sioux. The Sioux Bill devastated the Sioux people, reducing their land holdings and decimating their finances. Caroline may be gone, but her amazing paintings live on.

Learn more about Caroline Weldon:

Book: Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull by Eileen Pollack.

Movie on Prime: She Walks Ahead

Julia Scott is traveling to New Mexico with her father and younger brother. Her pa fought for the North in the war where her two older brothers lost their lives. Pa is looking for a fresh start in a new place, but Julia just wants him to be happy again.

Taylor Marshall, a Southerner who fought for the Confederates, is on his way to Colorado to raise horses. He’s attracted to Julia, but her father adamantly forbids them to talk to one another. Circumstances continually throw Julia and Taylor together, and their attraction grows. Will a forbidden romance bloom? Or will they go their separate ways when the trail splits?

On sale for $1.99/ Free on KU.

Purchase here: https://www.amazon.com/Julia-Prairie-Roses-Collection-5-ebook/dp/B07RHGRMHL

Vickie McDonough is the best-selling author of 50 books and novellas. 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. Vickie’s books have won numerous awards including the Booksellers Best and the Inspirational Readers’ Choice awards. When she’s not writing, Vickie enjoys reading, doing stained-glass projects, gardening, watching movies, and traveling. To learn more about Vickie’s books or to sign up for her newsletter, visit her website: www.vickiemcdonough.com

HHH Book Day

Welcome to Book Day where we highlight book by our bloggers. Enjoy!

The Richest Knight

She wants the security of riches. He’s turned his back on the demands of wealth.

Lillian Robinson is determined to marry a man of means. As a Harvey Girl at the Grand Canyon, opportunities to meet the man of her dreams should be plentiful. So, why does the lead mule skinner make her heart race every time he comes around? Franklin Knight turned his back on his family. He refused to fall in line and bow to their need for money and power. He chose to work at the Grand Canyon as a muleskinner, a place where he can live out his faith in God. When Lillian catches Franklin’s attention with her beauty and bright smile, he doesn’t count on her clumsiness, or on her desire to marry into the very society he spurned. Still, he can’t forget her. Will Franklin be able to show her the true meaning of love? Will Lillian recognize the value of a heart of God before she makes the worst mistake of her life?

Pre-0rder 99 Cents

Sword of Forgiveness

After the death of her cruel father, Brithwin is determined never again to live under the harsh rule of any man. Independent and resourceful, she longs to be left alone to manage her father’s estate. But she soon discovers a woman has few choices when the king decrees she is to marry Royce, the Lord of Rosencraig. As if the unwelcome marriage isn’t enough, her new husband accuses her of murdering his family, and she is faced with a challenge of either proving her innocence or facing possible execution. Royce of Hawkwood returns home after setting down a rebellion to find his family brutally murdered. When all fingers point to his betrothed and attempts are made on his life, Royce must wade through murky waters to uncover the truth. Yet Brithwin’s wise and kind nature begin to break down the walls of his heart, and he soon finds himself in a race to discover who is behind the evil plot before Brithwin is the next victim.

Julia

Julia Scott is traveling to New Mexico with her father and younger brother. Her pa fought for the North in the war where her two older brothers lost their lives. Pa is looking for a fresh start in a new place, but Julia just wants him to be happy again. Taylor Marshall, a Southerner who fought for the Confederates, is on his way to Colorado to raise horses. He’s attracted to Julia, but her father adamantly forbids them to talk to one another. Circumstances continually throw Julia and Taylor together, and their attraction grows. Will a forbidden romance bloom? Or will they go their separate ways when the trail splits?

The Mechanic & the MD

High school and college were difficult for Doris Strealer. Adulthood is no better. Men don’t understand her desire to repair car engines, and no one will hire a female mechanic. She joins the Red Cross Motor Corps, finally feeling at home. Until she comes face to face with her past in the form of Van Toppel. Van’s plans crumble when he’s drafted and assigned to a hospital in England, the last place he expects to see a former schoolmate. The gangly tomboy he knew has transformed into a statuesque beauty, but a broken engagement in college leaves him with no desire to risk his heart ever again.

The Damsel's Intent

Can Nicole learn to be enough of a lady to snag the handsome rancher?

Nicole Waterby heads down the mountain to fetch herself a husband, not realizing women don’t wear trousers or carry a gun. She has a lot to learn. Rancher Shane Keegan has drifted from one location to another to find a place to belong. When Nicole crosses his path, he wonders if he can have love, but he soon realizes she’s destined for someone better than a saddle tramp. Will love stand a chance while both Nicole and Shane try to be people they’re not?

Kate

A prostitute’s daughter, an outlaw’s brother, and a stagecoach robbery—can anything good come out of Deadwood?

 Kate Benton, daughter of a saloon floozy, runs away, straight into the arms of Tom McBride, fleeing from his outlaw brother’s past. Can these two, damaged by life experiences, tear down the walls that separate them with God’s help? Or are they destined to remain alone forever?

12 Sisters Who Changed History

Historians paint pictures of amazing men and women who influenced the world, but seldom do we hear about sister duos that forever altered the course of history. Whether fighting together—or against each other—these twelve women transformed countries and religious systems. Join us on an inspirational journey through time as we explore the extraordinary lives of Sisters Who Changed History.

Charity's Cross

Suspected of killing her husband, Charity Westcott flees on the first ship out of Portsmouth, England heading for the colonies. where she hopes to reunite with her family in Charles Towne. Elias Dutton, missionary and son of the famous pirate, Rowan Dutton, must get to Barbados as soon as possible to rescue his sister, who is in danger. But after rescuing a madcap woman from the sea, he now finds himself tricked into masquerading as her husband so they both can procure passage to Barbados. Pirates, storms, shipwreck, and betrayal threaten to delay the couple in their journey even as sparks fly between them. Elias believes he has finally found in Charity a Godly woman to be his wife. Until he discovers she is a murderer. Now he is faced with two choices: let her go or turn her in to the authorities.

Love's Mountain Quest

After losing her husband in the Rocky Mountain wilderness, young widow Joanna Watson is struggling to make a new home for her five-year-old son, Samuel, in the little mountain town of Settler's Fort. When she returns home from work to find Samuel and the woman watching him missing--and the sheriff dead--she enlists the help of mountain man Isaac Bowen.

An Impossible Price

With no husband of her own, midwife Sophie Price lives to keep others calm in their hour of need. But when a handsome horse handler steps off the train with a fiery stallion, he brings anything but calm as he looks her dead in the eye and clear through to her soul. Clay Ferguson returns to the place he once called home, hunting a fresh start and the one woman who could draw him back. If he can hide his battered heart and the brutality of his past, maybe she’ll take another look and give him a second chance.

Destiny of Heart

Unforeseeable circumstance plunges the country and the McConnells into a battle for survival.

Collina battles insurmountable odds to rescue Shushan—. Ruby McConnell Meir leaves for the prairies of Colorado hoping the climate might cure her husband’s mysterious illness. The Roaring Twenties dive like a wounded eagle into the Great Depression. Franklin lost what money couldn’t buy. Is it too late to make right his failings?

Love is in the Air

Love is in the Air

All you have to do is look up.

This collection of five brand new romances is sure to send your heart soaring. Journey from Canada to Georgia and Colorado to Paris by way of Michigan as these couples find love is in the air. All they had to do was look up.

Flying into Love by Kathleen Rouser

Unable to say no when others need her, Talia Sampson took on her deceased aunt’s advice column and the care of her special needs niece. Then new veteran, Ben Tanner, shows up unexpected on her doorstep. Hurt many times, he wonders where home is. Talia isn’t happy finding a hot-air balloon with him, but she treasures the old journal with it. Ben hopes restoring her family’s antique will please her, until he discovers a secret that shatters his trust. And Talia hates flying. Will she trust God—and Ben—enough to go airborne?

Under the Tulip Tree

Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena. As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured—especially because Rena’s ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?  

Kentucky Bride

In this world, you will have tribulation. In 1861, a tragic war fell upon America’s United States, dividing them North against South. Some might say a young woman can't be too fussy when almost every unattached young man is off fighting, but that shouldn't mean the daughter of a Union man has any excuse for canoodling with a Rebel. Still, eighteen-year-old Gigi longed for true love, and the dashing Texas Ranger turned Confederate vies for her heart. How will they overcome the odds and a war to be together? A Civil War indeed, such an oxymoron!

Colonial Meetinghouse

Elaine Marie Cooper

Colonial Americans had the perfect name for a place to meet for church: The Meetinghouse. It was a simple name that belied its community importance, for colonials placed high regard for their centrally located places of worship.

At a time in our current day amidst a pandemic, when church-goers long to return to a place to congregate in unison and worship God, it seems an appropriate topic to reflect upon. While quarantines were certainly declared during severe illnesses in early America, a high priority was placed on meeting as a congregation. After all, there were no online services to bring comfort and hear God’s Word, nor communication by phones that so readily keep us connected with eachother. Letters were helpful communication, but less than perfect. The most meaningful fellowship was always together and in person. 

Every community meetinghouse became the site for a community’s social and spiritual lives, drawing crowds from the surrounding village each Sabbath to listen to sermons preached virtually all day long. The buildings also doubled as a place for governmental and political discussions. 

Double church doors with sturdy lock

Before 1820, most of the meetinghouses were unheated, due to concerns about fire erupting. Worshippers often brought portable, metal foot stoves filled with heated coals to help them withstand the below zero temperatures. It was so cold in New England winters that the communion bread was known to freeze occasionally! 

The bell at the meetinghouse became the “town crier” of sorts, ringing for births and deaths, wars and fires. According to Eric Sloane in American Yesterday, “After a death, the bell greeted the morning with ‘three times three for a man, and three times two for a woman.’ Then after a short silence, the bell pealed out the number of years the dead person had lived.” It was a practical solution to communicate prior to telephones and the availability of daily newspapers.

While the style and structure of meetinghouses varied around the colonies, they were found throughout the states, both northern and southern. 

Salisbury Union Meetinghouse

One of the beautifully maintained meetinghouses from the early 1800’s is the Salisbury Union Meetinghouse now located at Storrowton Village museum in West Springfield, Massachusetts. It was moved to its present location in 1929 from its original site in Salisbury, New Hampshire. The designation of “Union” simply refers to the fact that it was a building paid for by multiple Protestant congregations, which combined their resources to share the same building on a rotating basis. 

Prior to 1818, meetinghouses in most of New England (save Rhode Island) were state supported through taxes. This ended in 1818 in Connecticut and 1834 in Massachusetts. Around this time more denominations began to increase in New England, following many years of predominantly Congregationalist groups—thus the birth of the “union” meetinghouses.

Pew door

When I visited the Salisbury Meetinghouse at Storrowton several years ago, it thrilled my historical sensibilities from the moment I entered the locked double doors. The pine-framed structure built in 1834 can hold 175 worshippers in richly-stained cedar pews. The pews were sold to families for around $20 for their lifetime use. The limited seating in each row would require multiple purchases for larger families.

Entering the large hall, I noticed the latched doors on the end of each pew. I asked historian Dennis Picard if the doors were used to confine wandering children. Not just children, he explained, but the mischievous dogs as well that accompanied their families. 

It’s difficult to picture the chaos bringing canines to church must have caused, but there are accounts of parsons chasing pooches out of meetinghouses. 

My favorite gem in the old meetinghouse was the sounding board, a hexagonal wooden structure placed over the pulpit to help resonate the preacher’s words throughout the spacious room. It took some extra help to get the sermon clear to the back of the balcony. The sounding board was one more practical solution, in a day without microphones or electricity.

Old meetinghouses are a reflection of our history’s heritage, rich in Christian beliefs—silent reminders of the foundations of our country.

Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that released in 2019: War’s Respite(Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling is available in both e-book and paperback and is a Finalist for the Selah Awards. They are the first two books in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and HomeLife magazine. She also penned the three-book historical series, Deer Run Saga. Her upcoming release, Scarred Vessels,” is about the black soldiers in the American Revolution. Look for it in October 2020. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com

Shipbuilding in the 1880s in America By Donna Schlachter

Shipbuilding and design hasn’t changed much throughout history. From the time of the first large water craft until now, a ship must be stable in the water, able to carry cargo, and cost-efficient to build and operate.

Earliest designs of flat-bottomed boats, suitable for calm waters and short trips on inland lakes,

Essex Ship yard

soon proved unstable on the ocean. Thus began the search for the best wood—surprisingly, the sturdy oak is too heavy and can’t bear sufficient cargo weight or endure rough oceans.

Perhaps not surprisingly, at least to those who study and follow Biblical teaching, is that cypress or gopher wood is much stronger and more flexible for open waters and heavy loads.

Next, realizing the need for stability on the ocean, keels were developed and redesigned according to the purpose of the ship. For those transporting passengers and perishable cargo, speed was of the essence, so sleek deep-v hulls for a faster and more smooth ride and large coal-fired engines were included in the new designs. With the advent of increased international trade, larger cargo ships had broader hulls, while racing schooners continued to employ sail power, medium-v hulls for more stability in open waters, augmented by backup gasoline motors.

USS Suzanne

Massachusetts was a well-known shipbuilding area for several reasons, including its protected harbors and bays, as well as the trees required to build the ships. Not only were shipbuilders and designers employed, but also those other trades such as sail makers, rope makers, and suppliers known as chandlers.

Although not strictly a ship, the quintessential dory was first designed and built in Massachusetts. The renowned Gloucester fishing fleet also supplied and empowered the merchant and naval fleets that made the United States a world power.

By the late 1880s, an experienced shipbuilder would make use of his time and effort by employing his ship during the summer fishing season, then he would sell his boat in the fall. This served two purposes: he earned income then sold a seasoned ship with “the bugs worked out” to another fisherman, who would use the downtime of the winter season to get the boat into tip-top shape for the coming year.

Often, a captain in need of a ship would travel to the town of Essex and contract for a new

Captain's Chair

vessel, because the Essex shipbuilders were famous for unsurpassed skill and craftsmanship. Most shipbuilders learned how to build a boat through on-the-job training, including fishing and transport. However, by the late 1880s, universities were training in naval architecture, including theory, which enabled new ideas to flourish. However, many shipbuilders came from a long line of builders, and learned through apprenticeship.

While racing, passenger, and transport schooners were the mainstay of the economy, other types of everyday boats were also required, including tugboats and lightships.

The Navy was also a marketplace for ships, and by the 1880s, were placing orders not only for iron-enforced hulls, but also for steel hulled ships. In 1883, the US Congress approved $1.3 million to build three cruisers and a dispatch ship steel-hulled ships. This group of ships was called the ABCD ships—cruisers Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago, and the dispatch ship Dolphin—and were the beginnings of a steel Navy. The building of these ships proved that steel was easier to work with than iron, making it the material of choice for future Naval orders.

While my most recent release, Kate, doesn’t take place on the ocean, she does travel westward in a Prairie Schooner—a covered wagon so called because of its rounded sides which reminded folks of a ship.

About Kate:

A prostitute’s daughter, an outlaw’s brother, and a stagecoach robbery—can anything good come out of Deadwood?

Kate Benton, daughter of a saloon floozy, runs away, straight into the arms of Tom McBride, fleeing from his outlaw brother’s past. Can these two, damaged by life experiences, tear down the walls that separate them with God’s help? Or are they destined to remain alone forever?

Kate  is available at https://www.amazon.com/Kate-Prairie-Roses-Collection-Book-ebook/dp/B084VTBGF2 in print and digital, and at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1016576 in digital

About Donna:

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick. As a hybrid author, she writes historical suspense under Donna is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas and full-length novels. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Sisters In Crime, Pikes Peak Writers, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; and teaches writing classes online and in person. Donna also ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both.

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