There are a couple of young men doing some really stellar work in recreating 18th Century frontier lifeways. The Deerskin Diary and Flintlock Operator consistently post videos that are worth the time — whether you are similarly involved in living history or not. My own path veered away from that, for reasons I’ve laid out previously. Nevertheless, I have benefitted from the works of folks like these men, and I appreciate them.
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Flintlock Operator has connected with the music of Hawken Horse, who just dropped the next single from the forthcoming Fringes of Freedom album, which explores the story of the American Revolution on the frontier.
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SandRhoman History has added to their series on the French & Indian War. This long doc on the (Staggering) Siege of Quebec is not merely a recounting of General James Wolfe’s famous scaling of the cliffs and the battle on the Plains of Abraham. It’s a fine overview of the decisive 1759 campaign, which was set up in part by the Treaty of Easton the year previous, where many of France’s native allies withdrew from the conflict.
The conquest of New France was one of the most significant hinge points in history. It placed Great Britain in a position of imperial ascendancy — but also set them up to lose the Colonies the empire had fought so hard to secure. France never really recovered from its loss in the Seven Years War; the expense of the war, and the effort at revenge through supporting the American Colonies in their rebellion, crippled the monarchy and helped bring on the French Revolution in 1789.
So… yeah… 1759 was a really big deal…
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The wonderful Siobhan Fallon contacted me to give me a heads up on her latest exploration of the Great Sioux War of 1876. Her focus in this edition is on one of those lesser-known yet remarkable Frontier Partisans whose song seldom gets sung. Fred Gerard was a scout and trader who was very close with the Arikara — which made him an enemy of the Lakota — and he went out with Lt. Col. Custer as an interpreter. He was on hand when the Crow and Arikara scouts spotted the great Sioux encampment. Gerard fed Custer’s natural aggressiveness when he spotted horsemen riding through the grass. He called out…
“Here are your Indians, running like devils!”
And the rest is history…
This is the first of two parts, recounting Gerard’s background and the inter-tribal conflict between the Lakota and the Arikara (and pretty much everybody else) leading up to the Grant Administration’s ultimatum to Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse that they must come in to the agencies by January 31, 1876, or be declared hostile. Of course the free Lakota ignored this ultimatum, and that led to the campaign against them in the summer of 1876 that climaxed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
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An enthusiastic fan of Jack Carr’s James Reese novels is diving into backstory around various elements of the series — including the Selous Scouts. This unit, regarded as among the top tier of elite modern special operation forces, underwent advanced bush survival training at a legendary encampment known as Wafa Wafa. The name is based on the Shona phrase Wafa Wasara which loosely translates as: Those who die, die — those who stay behind, stay behind. So Wafa Wafa basically means, if you die, you die — or just… you die, you die.
The Real True Believers: Inside the Shadow War of the Selous Scouts
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For a variety of reasons, I ended up watching more of the Olympics than I usually get, including the back-to-back gold medal victories of Team USA Hockey. Jack Hughes gave us the most hockey thing to ever happen in history: teeth smashed up by a high stick and a beautiful overtime goal to seal the gold. Hot damn.
It was great to see Italy’s Dorothea Wierer cap her fantastic biathlon career with a strong fifth-place finish in the Mass Start — and she got an appropriate send-off from the home crowd.
Quixotic Mainer says
Great haul from the trapline! I’ve tried to make moc’s a few times as a bushcraft exercise, the Sackett boys always keep them in their saddlebags for sneaking around, and “The Backwoodsman” provided the know how. They are workable, but none of mine have ever lasted very long.
I’ll give the Gerard tale a listen during my paperwork indenture later!
Everyone here will likely enjoy this yarn on Jack Weaver, there’s many links from the frontier to how modern competitive handgun shooting eventually developed because of a Sheriff’s Deputy at a western fast draw match.
https://americanhandgunner.com/handguns/jack-weaver-the-real-weaver-stance/?
JimC says
Thx QM.
Hammer says
USA hockey made me so proud at the Olympics this year, both men’s and women’s. Absolutely phenomenal, tough as nails performance by both. And that interview Jack gave, just shorting after getting a couple teef knocked out and scoring the gold medal goal was just another level. God bless the USA – we continue to be like no other.
San Gabriel Scout says
Jim do you have any good book recommendations for further reading on the Selous Scouts? Its seems like some of the best material is now out of print, but any recommendations would be welcome.
JimC says
Ron Reid-Daly’s Selous Scouts: top Secret War is THE book on the subject.
Chas Clifton says
The “Deerskin Diary” presenter is right on, but what’s funny is that I saw a video that matched it in major ways — from a Europeam medieval re-enactor about learning to walk in medieval (or Roman, for that matter) shoes that lacked thick soles and built-up heels.