Irish-born Americana artist Danny Burns cut Steve Earle’s yarn about a trio of American mercenaries headed South of the Border to join Pancho Villa. The man himself takes the second verse. Steve released this on his 1995 acoustic masterpiece Train A-Comin’, which marked his comeback from his extended vacation in the ghetto. This version cranks up … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — A Maxim, A Movie, A Mercenary Song
Working The Trapline — Roman Frontier, Wild West & Old Montana
I am a History Hitter — a subscriber to Dan Snow’s online streaming service History Hit, touted as “Netflix for history buffs.” It’s a cheap subscription for a lot of quality content, from documentaries to podcasts. I find them a fine way to wind down a day. They just dropped a solid half-hour doco titled Buffalo Bill: The Man Behind the … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Roman Frontier, Wild West & Old Montana
Working The Trapline — Historical Sagas & Tales Of Terrorism
John Jakes has gone up the trail. Jakes was a journeyman writer when he hit HUGE with The Kent Family Chronicles in the mid-1970s, timed fortuitously to take advantage of a spike in interest in heritage around the 1976 Bicentennial. The runaway bestseller status of the chunky, pulpy novels created a 20-year vogue for multi-generational … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Historical Sagas & Tales Of Terrorism
Memo From Turner
Episode 5 of King Philip’s War is finally up. You can access it here or on most podcasting platforms, including Spotify. Sheesh. Hate to get delayed like that, but I couldn’t record for several days because my voice sounded like a croaking seal. I’m mostly back in fettle. This episode touches on a couple of the major actions in King Philip’s … [Read more...] about Memo From Turner
Snowshoes, Skis & Gunpowder
It wasn’t a Battle on Snowshoes, but it did involve tromping in the snowy woods and burning gunpowder. I’d been hoping all winter to have a chance to snowshoe in to our range at Zimmerman Butte. While the Cascade Crest has received a pretty fair snowfall this winter, we just haven’t gotten any sustained build-up lower down. A bum knee means Lady … [Read more...] about Snowshoes, Skis & Gunpowder
Battle On Snowshoes
March 13, 2023, marks the 265th anniversary of one of the most desperate — and bloodiest — firefights in Frontier Partisan history. It is a tale of Rangers and Partisans, of ambush and counter-ambush — all conducted in heavy snow on the dark and bloody ground around Lake George on the New York Frontier during the French & Indian … [Read more...] about Battle On Snowshoes
Working The Trapline — Destiny Is All
Wyrd bið ful aræd One of the great Frontier Partisans epics of all time will roll across our screens next month. Uthred unsheaths Serpent’s Breath for the final time in Seven Kings Must Die, a movie that will tie up the saga of The Last Kingdom. This tale, based on a series of novels by Bernard Cornwell, is as FP as it gets. The protagonist is … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Destiny Is All
‘Rogers Rangers’ & Victory At Bushy Run
Thanks to a heads up from FP reader Brian Mack, I got an order in at the Fort Plain Museum for Tim Todish and Gary Zaboly’s new magnum opus on Rogers’ Rangers. By ordering through Fort Plain you can get a small discount and a portion of proceeds supports the museum. This book is magnificent — the culmination of a lifetime of scholarship and … [Read more...] about ‘Rogers Rangers’ & Victory At Bushy Run
Working The Trapline — Terror, Suspense & The Guns Of 1923
Spent a couple of days laid up with some unpleasant non-COVID crud that both Lady Marilyn and I picked up traveling. Felt bad enough to miss a day of work on Tuesday, which is a rare occurrence for me. Made use of the down time, though. Several readers have recounted tales of strange sleep encounters with a “Night Hag.” (See comments on Working … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Terror, Suspense & The Guns Of 1923
Working The Trapline — Wood Elves & Highlanders
A dispatch from Fennario: MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president posted a photo on his social media accounts Saturday showing what he said appeared to be a mythological woodland spirit similar to an elf. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not seem to be joking when he posted the photo of an “Aluxe,” a mischievous woodland spirit in Mayan … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Wood Elves & Highlanders
