On March 4, 1869, a rather unlikely candidate took his oath of office as the eighteenth president of the United States. The image of Ulysses S....
From Frontier Soldier to Peacemaking President
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John Langellier
Sand Creek Complexity
Sand Creek, like Little Bighorn or Wounded Knee, serves as a lightning rod evoking polemic responses. Gregory F. Michno knew this well when he...
Modernization of Mexico’s Army
Stephen B. Neufeld’s The Blood Contingent: The Military and the Making of Modern Mexico, 1876-1911 (University of New Mexico Press, $29.95)...
Johnny Lingo: Tis the Season
Celebrating Christmas in today’s American West essentially follows similar trends found around the country. One notable exception is Las Posadas: a...
Johnny Lingo: Rot Gut, Sheep Wash, Chain Lightning
Belly up to the bar pards and bend an elbow. Any friendly barkeep at the local cantina or saloon, some of which became legendary like the Bird Cage...
Franciscan Trailblazers
For many, the mention of Spanish padres evokes images of bucolic missions stretching far and wide across the Borderlands. Indeed, priests from...
Johnny Lingo: Nothing That Glitters Is Gold
Pretty much everyone knows what “just joshing you” means, but how did this common substitute to “pulling a leg” or teasing someone found its way...
Trooper’s Tales on the Southwest Front
Typically, biographies related to the Army in Trans-Mississippi West feature officers. Soldiers in the Southwest Borderlands 1848-1886 (University...
“Up And Down This Road I Go”
The iron horse evokes images of smoke and cinders billowing from a steam locomotive stack as it sails down the trackless wastes of the frontier....
Johnny Lingo: In the Land of Pronunciation Legend Rules
“When the legend becomes fact... print the legend.” –Maxwell Scott (Carelton Young) The Man Who Shoot Liberty Valance, 1962 Ever wonder why locals...
The Western War Between the States
Among the thousands of volumes treating the American Civil War rare is the study venturing west of the Mississippi River. Andrew E. Masich’s Civil...
Johnny Lingo: Arbuckles’, Bean Masters & Boiled Strawberries
Arbuckles’, Bean Masters & Boiled Strawberries While beef may have been plentiful at times and in parts of the West, rounding up a decent meal...