Tag: history
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The Fort: Part 6 (Conclusion)
Corporal Scott led the troop up the slope of the bluff, firing at warriors who darted from ridge to ridge below. The Indians seemed to appear and disappear like ghosts, using every fold in the terrain for cover. Uriah worked the lever of his Spencer carbine and fired whenever he caught sight of a rider,…
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The Fort: Part 4
This week’s post is inspired by the historical Battle of Mud Springs. Soldiers from Fort Mitchell were sent to defend the telegraph station at Mud Springs in the Nebraska Territory when it came under attack by a coalition of Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. Reinforcements from both Fort Mitchell and Fort Laramie were quickly…
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The Fort: Part 3
You might recall a while back I had a short entry in my blog regarding an exit sign along Interstate 80 in Iowa that read, Home of Harold “Pie” Keller near the exit sign to Brooklyn, Iowa. Well as we continue to travel across Interstate 80 to visit friends and family, another exit sign at…
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The Fort: Part 2
Please note, two major historical resources for this story are: “Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier”, 2008, Jermey Agnew, Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana. “40 Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, The Enlisted Soldier Fighting the Indian Wars”, 1963, Don Rickey, Junior; University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK. The men formed…
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The Fort: Part 1
I decided to try something different with this series of posts. Instead of writing about my own adventures growing up in a small town, I’ve begun creating a short historical fiction story. I’ve always loved history—especially the history of the American western frontier from the 1820s through the 1880s. This story follows a young man…
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A Tangent into American History
I’ll wrap up the story called “The Route” in my next post. This week, though, I felt like taking another tangent—this time into one of my lifelong passions: American history. I’ve been reading history books for as long as I can remember. Back in sixth grade, Mr. Anderson was our reading teacher. His class was…
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Viet Nam Turns 50
April marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Viet Nam War. I was born in 1958 and graduated high school in 1976. United States involvement in Viet Nam began in 1955 and the war officially ended for the US in in 1973 when the last US combat troops left. The war did not…
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Ralph’s Peach Schnaps
My dad delivered fuel to many farmers in the surrounding area for about 65 years. His first worked for COOP, then started his own business with the DX brand. He drove a fuel truck that would hold, I would guess, 1,500 to 1,800 gallons of diesel fuel or gas for tractors, combines, grain trucks etc.…
My View from 1958 