In Ho! For the Black Hills: Captain Jack Crawford Reports the Black Hills Gold Rush and Great Sioux War, esteemed historian Paul L. Hedren has collected all of Crawford’s newspaper dispatches to the Omaha Daily Bee from June 1875
through October 1876 (along with several of his accounts sent to other newspapers). More than an idle eyewitness, Crawford, a.k.a. the “Poet Scout,” was an active participant in the Black Hills gold rush excitement and Great Sioux War activities (he joined Gen. George Crook’s command in early August 1876). His dispatches—and amusing poems—are an important window into these tumultuous and memorable times. Hedren’s introductory essays and closing chapter are equally engaging and informative.
—Marc H. Abrams, author of Sioux War Dispatches: Reports from the Field, 1876-1877
Related Articles
-
The government guaranteed Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, to the Lakota people through the 1868…
-
Set in the decade following the Civil War, Joe R. Lansdale’s latest novel, Paradise Sky,…
-
The Sioux considered the Black Hills to be sacred, the center of the earth and…
