Last night, the wind howled under the eaves, and, as I write, a soaking rain is falling from a leaden sky. So, the thoughts naturally turn toward Scotland, and tales of cruel war, hauntings and a card game with the Devil... * General Sir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns was a hard and dangerous man, fit for the bloody mayhem that scourged the British … [Read more...] about Bloody Tam Cuts Cards With The Devil

Podcast #17 is up. This one tells the tale of the larger-than-life 18th Century Boer frontiersman Coenraad de Buys: Hunter, trekker, rebel, lover of multitudes of native women, founder of his own distinct tribe.  Coenraad de Buys really is an avatar for borderlands history  — a living example of the principles the great historian Pekka Hämäläinen … [Read more...] about Trekking With Coenraad de Buys

Sidetrails #6 is up at the Frontier Partisans Patreon page. On Patreon you can support the Frontier Partisans blog and podcast — and get exclusive content like Sidetrails. As most of you already know, I am easily diverted onto a sidetrail into the realm of folklore. All it took was a brief reference to Hogsback in the Eastern Cape of South … [Read more...] about Sidetrails #6 — Pukwudgies And Redcaps

My Cowboy Soap Opera (aka Yellowstone) is set to come roaring back right in time for my birthday. Ain’t that nice? I like to celebrate with a little Frontier Partisan mayhem. My Big Five-0 celebration entailed gathering a bunch of friends to feast at a Peruvian restaurant before adjourning to take in Spectre. Yes, Bond is a Frontier Partisan. This … [Read more...] about The Duttons Go To the Mattresses

We’re off on our trek into the wild frontiers of Southern Africa. Episode 16 of the Frontier Partisans Podcast is up at Podbean and most podcast streaming services. This first episode of a series of as yet indeterminate length gives folks the lay of the land in that contested country, and a little background on the Boer hunters who trekked … [Read more...] about Frontier Partisans Podcast Episode 16

  Don’t think I’ve ever mentioned a children'’s book on Frontier Partisans, but this one caught my eye from a post by Bob Boze Bell of True West Magazine. Deep in the woods of Glacier National Park, artist Charlie Russell struggles to create his latest painting. With fellow artist Joe De Yong, he hikes into the wilderness to clear the … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — Gnomes In The Lodge, Boone In The Beargrease And Ramblin’ With Emmylou

By Rick Schwertfeger Captain, Frontier Partisans Southern Command — On Extended Scout Duty in Montana Territory * On a quiet summer Sunday a Frontier Partisan and his wife walk along the path between the north bank of the Missouri River and the main street of Fort Benton, Montana. Place and Time being what they are, it’s curious to … [Read more...] about Fort Benton On The Missouri River: Gateway To Montana And The Northwest Frontiers

Trade took me to the old Pays d’en Haut* for a couple of days this week. The Mullen Newspapers rendezvoused in Leelenau County, Michigan, where the Leelenau Enterprise is located. My time to explore was limited, but I did get out for a ramble in the woods. Beautiful country. I would love to come back. We ate dinner outdoors on Thursday night at … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — In The Pays d’en Haut

He was a mighty mountain man She was his one true love — Prologue, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita * The things he could do with that rifle… Shoot the balls off a bat Reload and shoot it one more time — Ol’ Dood, Sturgill Simpson   This might well be as “Frontier Partisan” a set of songs as has ever been released. Sturgill … [Read more...] about The Ballad of Dood & Juanita

When we think of the tools of the early hunters on the southern African veld, we think first of firearms: the mighty muzzleloading roer, perhaps an English double; Frederick Courteney Selous’ Holland & Holland… A “salted” horse — one that had survived the sleeping sickness brought on by the bite of the tsetse fly and was immune to its bite — … [Read more...] about A Salute To The Humble Hunting Wagon