WOMAN AS A PIONEER Every battle has its unnamed heroes. The common soldier enters the stormed fortress and, falling in the breach which his valor has made, sleeps in a nameless grave. The subaltern whose surname is scarcely heard beyond the roll-call on parade, bears the colors of his company where the fight is hottest. And the corporal who heads his file in the final charge, is forgotten in the "earthquake shout" of the victory which he has helped to win. The victory may be due as much, or more, to the patriot courage of him who is content to do his duty in the rank and file, as to the dashing colonel who heads the regiment, or even to the general who plans the campaign: and yet unobserved, unknown, and unrewarded the former passes into oblivion while the leader's name is on every tongue, and perhaps goes down in history as that of one who deserved well of his country.

Incredible true stories of the most amazing women in American history They were courageous, resourceful pioneers, enduring and adventurous. They made arduous journeys, carved careers out of the wilderness, defied conventions, and fought for their freedom. They were community leaders, artists, and entrepreneurs. These Outrageous Women of the American Frontier boldly faced the gritty realities of daily life?everything from starvation to shootouts?and made their mark in history! Among the outrageous women you?ll meet are: * Charlie Parkhurst?who disguised herself as a man, drove a stagecoach for twenty years, and was probably the first American woman to vote * Bridget "Biddy" Mason?a former slave who gained her freedom in the 1850s and made enough money to set up several homes for the homeless, sick, and old * Gertrudis Barcelo?Santa Fe?s "Gambling Queen" who kept her maiden name, owned her own casino, and helped the United States win the Mexican-American War * Libbie Custer?wife of the famous general and a talented writer who chronicled her frontier adventures in books that made her a wealthy woman Also available in the Outrageous Women series... * Outrageous Women of Ancient Times * Outrageous Women of Colonial America * Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages * Outrageous Women of the Renaissance

Reproduction of the original.

"Examines in rich detail the daily lives of pioneer women". -- Journal of American History. "Anyone interested in women's history and western history will want to read this". -- Pacific Historical Review. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Contains letters, journals, and reminiscences showing the impact of the frontier on women's lives and the role of women in the West.

The Joan Jensen-Darlis Miller Prize recognizes outstanding scholarship on gender and women's history in the West. The winning essays are collected here for the first time in one volume.

The first account of how and why pioneer women altered their self-images and their views of American Indians.

Life on the frontier in the decades before the Revolution was extremely difficult and uncertain. It was a world populated by Native Americans, merchants, fur traders, land speculators, soldiers and settlers—including women, slaves, and indentured servants. Each of these groups depended on the others in some way, and collectively they formed the patchwork that was life on the frontier. Using a wealth of material culled from primary sources, Dunn paints a vivid picture of a world caught up in the winds of change, a world poised on the edge of revolution. Life on the frontier in the decades before the Revolution was extremely difficult and uncertain. It was a world populated by Indians, merchants, fur traders, land speculators, soldiers and settlers—including women, slaves, and indentured servants. Each of these groups depended on the others in some way, and collectively they formed the patchwork that was life on the frontier. Using a wealth of material culled from primary sources, Dunn paints a vivid picture of a world caught up in the winds of change, a world poised on the edge of revolution. In the 15 years preceding the American Revolution, the existence of the frontier exerted a dominant influence on the colonial economy. The possibility of new territory in the West and the removal of the French army offered an enormous opportunity for economic expansion but such prospects were not without risk. Farmers worked endlessly to clear a few scant acres for production. Traders struggled to reach remote areas to bargain with local tribes. Merchants weighted the possibilities for enormous profit with huge risk. Native Americans faced increasing encroachment upon their traditional lands. Women and slaves played a greater role in opening the frontier than many sources have indicated.