Frontier Partisans

The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought the Battles of Empire

Working The Trapline — August 2019 — Mausers And Mayans

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  This just keeps happening. I am NOT a gun crank. A firearms enthusiast, yes. A shooter, definitely. I don’t obsess over ballistics tables and firearms specs. So I’m not just being a fussbudget when I run across egregious errors and bellow out cusswords to make Al Swearengen blush. Clay Risen, in his new book The Crowded Hour: … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — August 2019 — Mausers And Mayans

The Bozeman Trail War — Part IV — Weapons And Combatants

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“The guerrilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog's disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous and agile an enemy to come to grips with.” — Robert Taber Through the fall of 1866, the Lakota/Cheyenne/Arapaho insurgents in the Powder River Country made life miserable for the garrison of Fort Phil … [Read more...] about The Bozeman Trail War — Part IV — Weapons And Combatants

The Bozeman Trail War — Part III — Fort Phil Kearny

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A three-pronged summer 1865 expedition led by General Patrick Connor to punish the perpetrators of the Platte Bridge Station brawl and other attacks managed to smash up an Arapaho village at Tongue River, but the main militant force under the leadership of Red Cloud and Roman Nose generally evaded contact — except on their own terms. They harassed … [Read more...] about The Bozeman Trail War — Part III — Fort Phil Kearny

The Bozeman Trail War — Part II — Opening Gambit

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“If you go into our hunting country, our people will wipe you out.” — Lakota warning to trailblazer John Bozeman Like most trouble, it started over gold. More precisely, it started over a route to the gold. The Bozeman Trail, scouted in 1863 by Georgia prospector John Bozeman and mountain man John Jacobs, was an offshoot of the  Overland … [Read more...] about The Bozeman Trail War — Part II — Opening Gambit

The Bozeman Trail War — Part I — Spoils Of Conquest

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Blame it on climate change. In the mid-19th century, the Little Ice Age receded, and the ecology of the Great Plains began to change. The rich, buffalo-supporting grasslands grew dry and the herds, already disrupted by the mass emigration of American wagon trains, migrated out of their usual haunts. The Lakota felt the change in their very … [Read more...] about The Bozeman Trail War — Part I — Spoils Of Conquest

The Savage, Sexy West Of Sanjulian

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In the heart of downtown Bend is a wonderful “pop culture” store called Pegasus Books. Owner Duncan McGeary is an author and a friend who has managed to make a living and a career out of his youthful enthusiasms. Pegasus Books is something of an anomaly and an anachronism in the hipster heart of 21st Century Central Oregon. He was there long … [Read more...] about The Savage, Sexy West Of Sanjulian

Working The Trapline — July 2019 Part II — Legends; A Mighty Orq; Words From A Bear

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* Summer plews don’t shine. This is supposed to be the season when we pull up our traps and head for Rendezvous, there to blow in a season’s labor on a couple of weeks of debauchery. But the trapline keeps delivering prime doings. What can an old Frontier Partisan do but deliver another Working The Trapline? But, please, don’t put off your … [Read more...] about Working The Trapline — July 2019 Part II — Legends; A Mighty Orq; Words From A Bear

The Outside Of A Horse

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“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” That statement is usually attributed to Winston Churchill. He never really said it. He’d have endorsed the sentiment, though — because it’s true. Things have been pretty intense here in the Oregon Territory — just life-is-in-session stuff, but a LOT of it. … [Read more...] about The Outside Of A Horse

Karamojo Bell Rigby

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Oh, the glory… My hand and heart yearn for this piece, which is entirely out of my league. Ah, well. I am glad it exists. Here is the Karamojo Bell tribute Rigby Highland Stalker, presented beautifully. Class of the field. From John Rigby & Co. The African big game hunter is celebrated worldwide as an advocate for accurate shot placement … [Read more...] about Karamojo Bell Rigby