Celebrated as one of America's frontier heroes, Daniel Boone left a legacy that made the Boone name almost synonymous with frontier settlement. Nathan Boone, the youngest of Daniel's sons, played a vital role in American pioneering, following in much the same steps as his famous father. In Nathan Boone and the American Frontier, R. Douglas Hurt presents for the first time the life of this important frontiersman. Based on primary collections, newspaper articles, government documents, and secondary sources, this well-crafted biography begins with Nathan's childhood in present-day Kentucky and Virginia and then follows his family's move to Missouri. Hurt traces Boone's early activities as a hunter, trapper, and surveyor, as well as his leadership of a company of rangers during the War of 1812. After the war, Boone returned to survey work. In 1831, he organized another company of rangers for the Black Hawk War and returned to military life, making it his career. The remainder of the book recounts Boone's activities with the army in Iowa and the Indian Territory, where he was the first Boone to gain notice outside Missouri or Kentucky. Even today his work is recognized in the form of state parks, buildings, and place-names. Although Nathan Boone was an important figure, he lived much of his life in the shadow of his father. R. Douglas Hurt, however, makes a strong case for Nathan's contribution to the larger context of life in the American backcountry, especially the execution of military and Indian policy and the settlement of the frontier. By recognizing the significant role that Nathan Boone played, Nathan Boone and the American Frontier also provides the recognition due the many unheralded frontiersmen who helped settle the West. Anyone with an interest in the history of Missouri, the frontier, or the Boone name will find this book informative and compelling.

While there are many accessible biographies of important Missouri men, there are few such biographies of Missouri women, which might suggest that they did not count in history. This book, written by a mother-and-daughter team, helps to correct that misconception by tracing the lives of four women who played important roles in their eras. These women were exceptional because they had the courage to make the best of their abilities, forging trails and breaking the barriers that separated women's spheres from those of men. Using Missouri and Illinois archives, Margot Ford McMillen and Heather Roberson describe the lives of both women and men, showing how roles changed as Missouri and America matured. This book will be welcomed by anyone interested in women's history or Missouri history. Book jacket.

From the first account of “Colter’s Run,” published in 1810, fascination with John Colter, one of America’s most famous and yet least known frontiersmen and discoverer of Yellowstone Park, has never waned. Unlike other legends of the era like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson, Colter has remained elusive because he left not a single letter, diary, or reminiscence. Gathering the available evidence and guiding readers through a labyrinth of hearsay, rumor, and myth, two Colter experts for the first time tell the whole story of Colter and his legend.

From 1810, when a newspaper published the first account of “Colter’s Run,” to 2012, when one hundred and fourscore participants in Montana’s annual John Colter Run charged up and down rugged trails—even across the waist-deep Gallatin River—interest in Colter, the alleged discoverer of Yellowstone Park, has never waned. Drawing on this endless fascination with an individual often called the first American mountain man, this book offers an innovative, comprehensive study of a unique figure in American history. Despite his prominent role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the early exploration of the West, Colter is distinctly different from Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and the other legends of the era because they all left documents behind that allow access to the men themselves. Colter, by contrast, left nothing, not a single letter, diary, or reminiscence, so that second-, third-, or fourth-hand accounts of his adventures are all we have. Guiding readers through this labyrinth of hearsay, rumor, and myth, this is the first book to tell the whole story of Colter and his legend, examining everything that is known—or supposedly known—about Colter and showing how historians and history buffs alike have tried in vain to get back to Colter the man, know what he said and feel what he felt, but have ended up never seeing him clearly, finding instead an enigma they cannot unravel.

As a woman living on the Missouri frontier in the early 1800s, Olive Boone faced many challenges we cannot imagine today. While her husband was away on hunting and trading trips, she raised their fourteen children alone while also maintaining her family's farm. At the time, many people thought women were not as strong or as talented as men. But Olive Boone showed she was as good as any man. She helped her family survive and prosper on the dangerous American frontier.

A bold new history of Missouri--the region where the American West begins.

From the War of 1812 to the end of the nineteenth century, U.S. Army officers were instrumental in shaping the American West. They helped explore uncharted places and survey and engineer its far-flung transportation arteries. Many also served in the ferocious campaigns that drove American Indians onto reservations. Soldiers West views the turbulent history of the West from the perspective of fifteen senior army officers—including Philip H. Sheridan, George Armstrong Custer, and Nelson A. Miles—who were assigned to bring order to the region. This revised edition of Paul Andrew Hutton’s popular work adds five new biographies, and essays from the first edition have been updated to incorporate recent scholarship. New portraits of Stephen W. Kearny, Philip St. George Cooke, and James H. Carleton expand the volume’s coverage of the army on the antebellum frontier. Other new pieces focus on the controversial John M. Chivington, who commanded the Colorado volunteers at the Sand Creek Massacre in 1863, and Oliver O. Howard, who participated in federal and private initiatives to reform Indian policy in the West. An introduction by Durwood Ball discusses the vigorous growth of frontier military history since the original publication of Soldiers West.