But the one I started just last night in the casita is called "The Conquest of the Missouri." Stirs your blood, doesn't it? I know, I know. It could have gone either way, but it grabbed me and here is why. The following is copied from ONLY page Viii in the introduction.
Slowly and with compassion, the wounded 7th cavalrymen were borne by comrades from Custer's field to the Far West. Forewarned, Marsh bedecked his boat with fresh cut grass covered with tarpaulins and soon fifty-two men were carefully laid out on the main deck under the watchful care of the expeditions doctors. One, Henry Porter himself a heroic participant in the Little Bighorn affair and it's only surviving doctor, was designated to accompany the victims to Fort Abraham Lincoln. Aboard, too was the badly wounded horse Comanche, Capt. Myles Keogh's mount and the only surviving horse having any prospects of recovery.
I am still in the introduction, mind you, and already my mind is blown.
As you know, Comanche recovered and no one was ever allowed to ride him ever again. How did you know that?
Captain Grant Marsh was the captain of the steam ship "Far West." He went to work on the river when he was twelve years old. This book is about his life. He kept at it until he was in his eighties. It was written by Joseph Mills Stanton. I know you are falling asleep, but listen to this. Stanton's last employ was at Manassas National Battlefield Park, as the parks supervisor, until they forced him to retire at age seventy four.
Stanton interviewed many people for this book including Nelson Miles, Samuel Clemens and even Buffalo Bill Cody. Then he went and married a women from Seekonk, Massachusetts. YCMTSU
OK, OK enough already. I know.
This month alone I have finished two books on walking the camino in Spain, as well as a book that I bought Sandy for her birthday called "My Two Polish Grandfathers." If you read a book on Francis Sinatra, you will no longer like the man. I tried Errol Flynn's book but put it on hold for now.
I order my books from a company in Connecticut. Right now I have the order form filled out for thirty-one more books. I was going to wait, but at this rate I think I'd better place the order now.
Tom Egan is chomping at the bit, trying to hold off sending me my Christmas book. He felt the same way about the last two, which were spectacular. They were "Mayflower" and "In the Heart of the Sea." The latter being about the famous voyage of the ship Essex. Have you ever heard the tale of Moby Dick? Both books from Tom were written by Nathaniel Philbrick.
I am heading for the casita with book in hand. Good night.
How did I forget Empire of the Summer Moon? Also a find by Dr. Tee Pee Egan. It is about Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comaches. The most powerful tribe in American history.
No comments:
Post a Comment