Survival in the Cold Old West

Survival in the Cold Old West

A combination of history and legend tells us that near midnight, on the eve of Christmas day 1866, a man appeared on horseback outside the gently-lit windows of the officers’ quarters at Fort Laramie in Dakota Territory. Seemingly immune from the frigid, hostile land...
Mark Lemon

Mark Lemon

Don’t get me started on respected Alamo artists who pompously sit on their laurels, let their research stagnate and then come unglued after viewing my work. My message: Grow up, stop crying, get current with your data and then maybe we can all get along …...
Lawton, Oklahoma

Lawton, Oklahoma

Fort Sill is the first place that comes to mind when I think of Lawton, Oklahoma. Especially during the month of May, which is when, in 1871, a wagon train loaded with corn was attacked by Kiowa chiefs on the road between Montana’s Fort Belknap and Texas’s Fort...
Cowboys in Combat

Cowboys in Combat

Most movie cowboys were not real cowboys. The idea of people such as Dean Martin or John Candy playing rough, tough cowboy heroes borders on the ludicrous. But many cowboy stars were heroes in real life and proved it on the battlefield. After World WarII, these heroes...
The Road to Mangas

The Road to Mangas

The dirt road to Mangas almost loses itself amid low hills as it winds through the windswept plains of New Mexico’s high desert. It isn’t a drive for the faint of heart. Or the directionally challenged. Just when getting lost in this time-forgotten patch of nowhere...