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hist_text-digest         Friday, June 12 1998         Volume 01 : Number 084




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 08:34:52 -0700
From: Longtrail <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: hardtack

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I believe that salt was commonly ommited as it
draws moisture from the air.
When I used to attend the Fort Vancouver Re-enactment, we were given all
the hard tack that we wanted, made fresh in the forts brick ovens, I don't
recall them being the least bit salty, infact very bland and kept for
years.          Longtrail
Ps.  Can anyone tell me how to contact the man mentioned a while back, Gary
Smith, aka Sour Dough?

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 11:15:50 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Henry B. Crawford)
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Re:Southwest supplies and clothes..

>The best part is that all of the research says that they were "ill
>fitting." . . .
>Mike

I guarantee that making it myself, it *will* be ill fitting.  :-)

HBC

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 12:46:30 -0400
From: Randal Bublitz <[e-mail]>
Subject: MtMan-List: Hardtack

This is my Hardtack recipe, from the New Ulm Militia(1863)  Mix 3 cups
milk, 2 tblspoons sugar, 1 tblspoon salt, 8 cups flour, 4 tblspoons
shortening- Roll out 1/2" thick- cut 3" x 3" squares- punch holes (wooden=

spoon handle) like a soda cracker- Bake at 400 dg for 35 minutes (to
taste).  I use raw ,or butter milk, raw sugar, 3cups whole wheat/5 cups
white flour.  Bake it less for ease of eating, but it won't last as long.=
  =

      Enjoy, Hardtack  #1424

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 14:29:37 -0400
From: Ron Valley <[e-mail]>
Subject: MtMan-List: hard tack recipie

>From the web:


Hardtack Recipe


5 Cups Flour (unbleached)
     1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
     1 Tablespoon Salt
     1-1 1/4 cups Water
     Preheated Oven to 450

In a bowl, combine the ingredients to form a stiff, but not dry dough. The
dough should be pliable, but not stick a lot to your
hands.

Take this mound of dough, and flatten it out onto a greased cookie sheet
(the ones with a small lip around the edge...like a real
shallow pan...), and roll the dough into a flat sheet aprx. 1/2 inch thick.

Using a breadknife, divide the dough into 3x3 squares. taking a 10-penny
nail, put a 3x3 matrix of holes into the surface of the
dough, all the way thru, at even intervals

Bake in the oven for aprx 20 Min., till lightly browned. Take out and let
cool.

Do this the day before your go on the field, and your will have enough tack
to fill your haversack. It will be somewhat soft on
Saturday morning, but, by Sunday, you should soak it in your coffee before
eating, else you will have a hard time chewing.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 15:02:51 -0700
From: Dale Nelson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: hardtack

Longtrail wrote:
>
> Perhaps I am mistaken, but I believe that salt was commonly ommited as > it draws moisture from the air.

You aren't mistaken.  Some was made with salt and some without.  The
recipie I got at Ft. Vancouver was whole wheat flour, add water to make
a paste, roll out, cut into squares, poke some holes in it, and bake
until hard.  I have some that I cooked without salt 3 or 4 years ago.
It's stored in a cloth bag in wet Oregon, and it's still fine and hasn't
wicked any moisture.
            D. N.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 16:57:16 -0500
From: Jim Colburn <[e-mail]>
Subject: MtMan-List: Sign Language book

Washtahay-
    I just picked up a copy of "The Indian Sign Language" by W. P. Clark .
Bison Books edition, paperback.  New, cost me $10 american.  If anyone
needs it they can have it for the same, I just grabbed it due to the recent
topic.
    Contact me off list.
LongWalker c. du B

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 20:29:01 -0500
From: Barry Powell <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: [e-mail] (kent klein): Tan/alum

   Don't spend any money learning to tan with alum, I'll tell you right now.
I used to tan alot with alum and learned how from a book called "Back to
basics" published by reader's digest back during the big "fireside" book
craze, when everyone wanted to do things the "traditional" way.

1. Flesh the hide very well, removing all of the inner membrane.

2. Remove the hair at this time with lye or any of the many methods
available.(I used hardwood ashes myself)

3. In a large container, mix 10 gallons of water, 10 pounds of salt, and 2
pounds of alum.

4. Throw in the hide, turning it and stirring it at least twice a day until
all parts are  coated. Do this for about 5 days for a deer hide, less time
for smaller hides.

5. Dry the hide by hanging it, then comes the fun part. Rub the hide with
warm vegatable oil, then begin to soften it by pulling it around a post or
beam, ( or have your wife chew it for you ) Softening the hide is
accomplished by just manipulating the hide until it is flexable, you just
have to find a method that works for you. Repeat the oiling several times
during this process ( and anytime during the life of the hide) to help
soften the hide.

I have used this method for hair on and hair off methods with good luck on
both. The hide will be a light color but can be smoked to make it waterproof
and change the color. The alum bath can be used several times until it
begins to get rancid.

I hope this helps
B.Powell




At 07:36 PM 6/9/98 -0700, you wrote:
>--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
>From: [e-mail] (kent klein)
>To: [e-mail]
>Subject: Tan/alum
>Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 19:26:02 EDT
>Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
>
>
>Hello the camp.....
>
>I have been in contact with Kent Klein regarding his tanning with alum.
>Below (I hope)  is a reply to my inquiry about his book.  Hope you find
>it of use.
>
>John Funk

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 20:39:26 -0700
From: Chris Sega <[e-mail]>
Subject: MtMan-List: Prairie forge

I have had an interesting string of chat about a primitive or mountain
man forge on the ABANA mail group.  Lots of good Ideas but no historical
facts on the types of equipment used by Smith and others who used
blacksmithing on the frontier. The bare minimum needed is a set of
bellows hammer and tongs.  But I'm curious about what they brought, what
they omitted and any special, packable tools a brigade might carry.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 21:20:26 -0700
From: Chris Sega <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: hard tack recipie

Ron Valley wrote:

> >From the web:
>
> Hardtack Recipe
>
> 5 Cups Flour (unbleached)
>      1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

Just a note, I have heard that Baking powder and Soda were not commercially
available until around 1850. Although if it improves flavor, no one else will
know.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 21:30:52 -0700
From: Chris Sega <[e-mail]>
Subject: MtMan-List: Re: Southwest supplies and clothing

Does somebody have an address, phone or organization for James Horsefly
Halter?
Thanks
Chris Sega

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:05:52 -0400
From: seanbear <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Priming Horns

Go the the www search engine, adn type in BUCKSKINNING, RONNYVOUS, etc....
you'd be surprized the number of sites and links to suppliers ;)

Sean
- -----Original Message-----
From: Matt Despain <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Date: Wednesday, June 10, 1998 3:03 PM
Subject: MtMan-List: Priming Horns


>Just bought my first flinter and been looking for a priming horn. But I
>can't find anyone in my region (Oklahoma) who deals in any kind of
>buckskinning matter.  So I thought I'd put out a message here and see if
>anyone had a priming horn that was just collecting dust and would like
>to give it a new home (for a reasonable price that is). Anyone
>interested drop me a note here or at my own e-mail.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Matt Despain
>[e-mail]
>

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 06:50:30 -0500 (CDT)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Re: Southwest supplies and clothing

>Does somebody have an address, phone or organization for James Horsefly
>Halter?
>Thanks
>Chris Sega
>
James Halter
Red River Trading Company
107 South Bridge Street
Henrietta, Texas 76365
940 538-5301  Fax [phone]
Paul W. Jones
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 06:51:25 -0500
From: "Lanney Ratcliff" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Priming Horns

You will have precious little luck with "ronnyvous" or "ronnyvoo" or "rondy"
or "rondyvoo" et al.  You will have more luck with "rendezvous".
Big Zwey
- -----Original Message-----
From: seanbear <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Date: Wednesday, June 10, 1998 11:23 PM
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Priming Horns


>Go the the www search engine, adn type in BUCKSKINNING, RONNYVOUS, etc....
>you'd be surprized the number of sites and links to suppliers ;)
>
>Sean
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Matt Despain <[e-mail]>
>To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
>Date: Wednesday, June 10, 1998 3:03 PM
>Subject: MtMan-List: Priming Horns
>
>
>>Just bought my first flinter and been looking for a priming horn. But I
>>can't find anyone in my region (Oklahoma) who deals in any kind of
>>buckskinning matter.  So I thought I'd put out a message here and see if
>>anyone had a priming horn that was just collecting dust and would like
>>to give it a new home (for a reasonable price that is). Anyone
>>interested drop me a note here or at my own e-mail.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Matt Despain
>>[e-mail]
>>
>

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 08:30:44 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Henry B. Crawford)
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Prairie forge

>I have had an interesting string of chat about a primitive or mountain
>man forge on the ABANA mail group.  Lots of good Ideas but no historical
>facts on the types of equipment used by Smith and others who used
>blacksmithing on the frontier. The bare minimum needed is a set of
>bellows hammer and tongs.  But I'm curious about what they brought, what
>they omitted and any special, packable tools a brigade might carry.



Stump anvils would have been carried.  They are small anvils, and can be
held in one hand.  They have an integrated spike on the bottom for driving
into a stump to hold it in place. Stump anvils were common since the Am.
Revolution (see Neumann and Kravic, _Collector's Encycl. of the Am
Revolution, p. 41)  I have one which a friend who makes them gave me just
last week.  For field blacksmithing, or just cold shaping of metal gear, it
was and is an essential tool.

HBC

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 09:43:22 -0500
From: Glenn Darilek <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: hard tack recipie

Chris Sega wrote:

> Just a note, I have heard that Baking powder and Soda were not commercially
> available until around 1850.

Good point, but I think they were known by different names.  Webster's
Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary dates the earliest use of the terms
"baking powder" to 1850 and "baking soda" to 1881, and "bicarbonate of
soda" to 1887.  I was surprised that "baking powder" predated "baking
soda" because baking powder contains baking soda.

However the term "soda" which means sodium carbonate or sodium
bicarbonate dates back to 1558.  Also the term "soda biscuit" dates back
to 1830 and soda cracker also to 1830. Furthermore, a soda cracker is a
cracker leavened with bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar, which are
the active ingredients of baking powder.  "Cream of tartar" dates back
to 1662.  So they used soda and cream of tartar.

The purpose of both baking soda and baking powder are for leavening - to
cause the dough to rise, making it lighter and porous.  Baking soda is
used in recepies that have some other acid-bearing ingredient such as
buttermilk.  Baking powder has the acid chemical cream of tartar
included with baking soda.  I think the soda would add a little
saltiness, but it is not intended for flavoring.

My impression of the purpose of hard tack was that it was a convenient
way to carry flour.  The hard product was more difficult for weevils and
moisture to get.  If that is true, it wouldn't need soda.  To be eaten,
it was put into soup or stew rather than chewed.

Iron Burner

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 11:32:09 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Henry B. Crawford)
Subject: MtMan-List: New $1 coin

The US Treasury Dept. just announced that a new gold-colored dollar coin
will be minted for circulation beginning in 2000.  The image of Sacagjawea
will adorn the face of the coin.

Sounds like good news to me.

HBC

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 13:17:41 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Angela Gottfred)
Subject: MtMan-List: BP Guns & Getting Kids Started in Buckskinning (not re: NMLRA)

I haven't been following this thread really closely, so excuse me if I'm
wrong, but it seems that the responses have been focussed on getting the
right gun, & starting the kids shooting.  I don't have a gun (for now). I
still have fun, but I see a lot of non-shooters (mostly women, like me)
sitting around the campfire just waiting for the shooters to come back. You
_can_ be a buckskinner/fur trade reeenactor & have fun _without_ a gun!! And
there's so much more to it than shooting-- we're almost doing a disservice
to the kids & womenfolk if we give them the impression this great hobby is
mostly about muzzleloading.

Tell the kids the great stories of the fur trade, the fascinating
adventures, the stuff that's far more interesting (& incredible!) than
television. Tell them short stories, like how an Orkney girl worked for the
HBC for almost a year, disguised as a man, until she 'blew her cover' by
giving birth. Tell them long stories, like how David Thompson was recruited
by the HBC when he graduated from a school for paupers because he'd been
taught to use a sextant, how he tried to be a famous explorer with the HBC,
and finally joined the North West Company and solved their thorniest problem.

Get the kids started on period skills, like fire-lighting, beadwork (even
3-year-olds can string beads), and fingerweaving. Give them period toys,
like stick horses, tops, and tin whistles. Teach them historic games, like
checkers, dominoes, & the 'stick game'. There's so much more to this than
shooting! Shooting's fun too, of course, but it's not everyone's cup of
tea-- it's a pity that so many non-shooters feel excluded when there's no
need for them to be.

Believe it or not, not everyone in the fur trade knew how to shoot! At the
North West Company's Rocky Mountain House in April, 1811, Alexander Henry
the Younger was getting prepared for a possible attack by the Fall Indians.
He had 24 men; before he began trading, 18 were armed with guns, and placed
in various strategic positions, and 6 were "armed with Clubs, knives,
Pokers, &c. to them I gave no guns, as I well knew they were ignorant how to
handle them and the Indians might wrench them from them, with the greatest
ease, upon the first disturbance." (Gough, 558) In 1793, Nor'wester John
Macdonnell noted that "The crews of the canoes seldom have any arms [i.e.
guns] of their own." (Gates, 90). William Tomison left 8 men at the HBC's
Buckingham House post in the spring of 1795, and only 2 of them could fire a
gun (Johnson, xxvii). There are also many examples of every man in a fort or
in a brigade being armed in preparation for attack, but I chose these
examples to show that the non-shooter can be historically accurate too!
(BTW, I can count the number of historic examples I've found of _women_
shooting guns on the fingers of one hand.)

Your humble & obedient servant,
Angela Gottfred

[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 18:09:03 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Prairie forge-Stump Anvils

In a message dated 98-06-11 10:03:48 EDT, you write:

<< I have one which a friend who makes them ...>>

Is your friend interested in selling any stump anvils. I'm sure there are
others on the list besides me who may be interested in them.

Ghosting Wolf

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 17:37:26 -0600
From: "Ron" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Prairie forge-Stump Anvils

Jas Townsend & Sons sells some stump anvils. You can find them at:
www.jastown.com




Ron's Idaho Pages
<http://www.ida.net/users/cstmzd/>
Email <[e-mail]>

     \|/
     / \
   /     \
 /    0   \ Lonewolf

- ----------
> From: [e-mail]
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Prairie forge-Stump Anvils
> Date: Thursday, June 11, 1998 4:09 PM
>
> In a message dated 98-06-11 10:03:48 EDT, you write:
>
> << I have one which a friend who makes them ...>>
>
> Is your friend interested in selling any stump anvils. I'm sure there are
> others on the list besides me who may be interested in them.
>
> Ghosting Wolf
>

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 18:50:30 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Henry B. Crawford)
Subject: MtMan-List: (fwd) review of Gardner and Simmons. _The Mexican War Correspondence of Richard Smith Elliott_

I think the book reviewed below, which I forwarded from the H-WEST
listserv, should be of interest to those of us interested in Fur Trade
history.  Although the book deals with the post rendezvous period, it is
still of interest to many or most people who read this list.  Mark Gardner
is a long-time fur trade era historian as well as an expert on Mexican War
era personalities.  Of course, Marc Simmons is the foremost expert on the
Santa Fe Trade, which during its early years operated concurrently with the
Rendezvous era.  Indeed, many names associated with the RM fur trade also
led wagon trains to Santa Fe during the freighting season.  Carson,
Beckwourth, the Bents, Fitzpatrick, Young, and many others worked the Santa
Fe Trail as hunters, merchants, and guides.  Carson's first foray into the
west was as a runaway with a wagon caravan out of Franklin, MO bound for
Santa Fe.  This book should be part of any fur trade library as it
addresses the kind of life that attracted trappers after 1840.  I don't
want to brag, but I do have an autographed copy.  Gardner and Simmons are
both good friends of mine.  Enjoy the review.

HBC
>
>
>H-NET BOOK REVIEW
>Published by [e-mail] (June, 1998)
>
>Richard Smith Elliott.  _The Mexican War Correspondence of Richard
>Smith Elliott_.  Edited and annotated by Mark L. Gardner and Marc
>Simmons; American Exploration and Travel Series Volume 76.  Norman
>and London:  University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.  xi + 292 pp.
>Illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, and index.  $29.95
>(cloth), ISBN 0-8061-2951-4.
>
>Reviewed for H-LatAm by Hans Vogel <[e-mail]>,
>Leiden University
>
>                    "Our Man in Santa Fe"
>
>One of the most pleasant and interesting ways to study the past is
>the reading of so-called ego documents:  letters, memoirs, diaries
>and other writings left by the very witnesses of events.  When
>history became an academic discipline in the nineteenth century,
>students were taught quite extensively how to edit documents, since
>the editing of manuscript sources was then considered to be a vital
>public task of the historian.  Though today at many universities the
>editing of sources is still taught at some point in the curriculum,
>it is quite seldom a required course.  The modern historian often
>believes his field is a "social science," where the methods,
>techniques and terminology of our anthropologist and sociologist
>cousins play a crucial role.  Hence the daily bombardment in
>conferences, corridors, learned articles and monographs, with the
>depressing ordnance of representation, subalternness, otherness,
>identity, ethnicity, engendering, construction and so on and so
>forth.  It would seem that, in their urge to interpret and to be
>"scientific," many academic historians have strayed quite far from
>what their discipline once was, which is only natural because things
>change over time.  The average consumer of history, the reader,
>however, retains a preference for simple, straightforward, artisanal
>historical work.
>
>Every so now and then, one encounters a sample of "old-fashioned"
>history, and the term is not meant to imply any kind of
>condescension.  At any rate, this old-fashioned history today seems
>to be concentrated at the local level, especially in what is
>sometimes called in centralized European countries, the provinces.
>The phenomenon is a universal one:  today, there are so many history
>graduates, and their ranks swell year by year with so many thousands
>of newcomers, that there is simply not enough room for them in
>education.  Yet while living away from the academic centers and
>while mostly making a living in any field but history, these
>highly-trained individuals often retain a deep interest in history,
>for such is the nature of historians.  The many regional and local
>historical associations (in the United States and in many Western
>European Countries) would never be able to survive if it were not
>for the participation of countless history graduates.  As a matter
>of fact, local history is a booming industry, and thank God it
>exists, for without it, we would all be suffocating in the
>terrifying straitjacket of "academic correctness!"
>
>Such is in broad strokes the context in which Gardner and
>Simmons--both independent historians--have collected, edited and
>annotated the letters written by lieutenant Richard Smith Elliott
>and printed in the _Reveille_, a St. Louis paper published from 1844
>to 1850.  The _Reveille_ presented itself as a "light and agreeable
>news sheet," and was published in both a daily and a weekly edition,
>the latter containing a selection of the "week's news, gossip, verse
>and light fiction."  Elliott was one of about a thousand Missouri
>volunteers who enlisted for the war with Mexico in the Spring of
>1846.  Elliott's unit, the Laclede Rangers (named in honor of the
>founder of St. Louis), was one of a hundred mounted riflemen--or
>light cavalry, in generic terms.  After having elected its officers,
>the Laclede Rangers left for Fort Leavenworth, from where they were
>to depart for New Mexico under the command of General Kearny, of
>whose Army of the West they formed a part.  After some six weeks,
>the expedition had reached and occupied Santa Fe.  Lt.  Elliott was
>to stay there for the rest of his one-year enlistment, until June of
>1847.  During this year, he kept a diary -- which, unfortunately,
>has been lost--and wrote letters for the _Reveille_.  The latter
>were published under the pseudonym of John Brown.  It has never been
>easy, even for an officer, to pursue interests beyond the strictly
>military, especially when on campaign.  As Elliott put it, "every
>man in the company, from Captain down, is kept busily employed--so
>much so, that I find the keeping of a diary, even with brief notes,
>quite an interference with other calls"  (p. 50).  Even so, the
>letters are lively and give an interesting perspective on campaign
>and garrison life.  If anything, the overall conclusion to be drawn
>is that the daily life of a soldier was pretty similar everywhere in
>the nineteenth century.  Elliott's letters are not that different
>from what European colleagues of his have written.
>
>Like soldiers everywhere and in all ages, Elliott was especially
>proud of his own unit, noting with satisfaction that "not one of our
>men has been drunk, or deserved a reprimand, since we have been on
>the move" (p. 23).  After all, cooks and mechanics are often as
>proud of their company as the men in guard regiments.  Like his
>colleagues everywhere and in all ages, at the beginning of the
>campaign, before any shot had been fired in anger, and before
>disease and fatigue had done their nasty work, Elliott was
>enthralled by the "poetry of war" while being on guard at Fort
>Leavenworth (p. 29).  A few months later he exclaimed " oh! the
>romance, the poetry of war!  whither have ye fled!" (p. 94).  At
>that time, scurvy, military fevers, diarrhea and other scourges were
>taking a heavy toll among the soldiers.  Food was monotonous and
>generally inferior, payments were months in arrears, prices were
>high, and diversions few and far between.  Small wonder that at
>Santa Fe, most men devoted themselves to liquor and cards:  "the
>gambling 'hells' are quite numerous here now, and some of them open
>the live-long night" (p.  187), bringing Elliott to the sad
>conclusion that "we have actually, as to morals and manners, become
>contemptible in the eyes of this most contemptible of all
>people--the Mexicans!" (p. 188).  The American soldiers looked
>filthy, they lived in awful quarters, often not much better than
>pigsties:  "in truth, the most wretchedly dirty and filthy men I
>have ever seen are among the Missouri 'free and independent'
>volunteers!" (pp.  173-74).  Discipline was so lax that officers
>could not do very much to improve this condition.
>
>For the Latin Americanist, this volume holds an occasional
>interesting surprise.  It is, of course, widely known that the
>military in Latin American countries have long had a marked
>propensity for organizing secret groups either for their own
>advancement or with the purpose of reforming society.  Most officers
>of the Independence armies were freemasons.  One is also reminded of
>the positivist groups in the late nineteenth-century Brazilian army
>and of the GOU, led by Peron in the1940s.  Apparently, something
>similar was afoot in the Army of the West, where Elliott was among
>the founders of a "Brotherhood of the E.S.T.D., a secret association
>for the promotion of morals and social intercourse ... with a
>promise of indefinite extension" (p. 192).  Elliott was clearly
>hoping this old boy network of soon-to-be veterans could be
>beneficial both to himself and to his state:  the E.S.T.D. society
>in St. Louis would doubtless soon "be the heart of a brotherhood
>whose ramifications will extend to all parts of the State of
>Missouri" (p. 194).  Apparently, there was less of a difference
>between nineteenth-century U.S. soldiers and their Latin American
>counterparts than many North Americans would today be prepared to
>believe.
>
>Elliott and his colleagues had ample opportunity to engage in
>extracurricular activity, for there was actually hardly any fighting
>to be done.  Apart from a few actions, such as the punishment of the
>village of Taos for murdering some Americans and some skirmishes
>with Indians, and apart from a few forays into Mexican territory,
>the Army of the West did comparatively little fighting.  Of course,
>the numbers involved and the distance from the centers of population
>in Mexico and the United States--given the nineteenth-century nature
>of war--were the determining factor.  The real action was going on
>elsewhere.
>
>The letters by Elliott are a good read and provide an insight into
>the mind of a nineteenth-century American living in the expanding
>frontier region.  No doubt there is little here that was not already
>known, nor is our appreciation of mid-nineteenth-century military
>affairs greatly altered by this volume of war correspondence.  Yet
>the book is attractive for several reasons, not the least of which
>is the meticulous care the editors have taken to provide relevant
>and sober notes.  The publisher has put out an attractive volume
>with slightly off-white paper and a pleasant type-face.  As I
>suggested at the beginning, this volume is a fine example of good,
>old-fashioned, solid, artisanal work, and all the more refreshing
>for the candid limits of its pretensions.  I enjoyed it.
>
>     Copyright (c) 1998 by H-Net, all rights reserved.  This work
>     may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit
>     is given to the author and the list.  For other permission,
>     please contact [e-mail].
>

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 18:18:33 +0000
From: David Mullen <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: New $1 coin

Henry,

Actually it will carry the likeness of an Indian woman, as there is no
known likeness of Sacagjawea.

David

Henry B. Crawford wrote:
>
> The US Treasury Dept. just announced that a new gold-colored dollar coin
> will be minted for circulation beginning in 2000.  The image of Sacagjawea
> will adorn the face of the coin.
>
> Sounds like good news to me.
>
> HBC
>
> *****************************************
> Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
> [e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
> 806/742-2442           Box 43191
> FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
>                WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
> ******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

- --
David Mullen
202 Mesa Verde
Jemez Springs, NM 87025
505.829.3212
email:[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 11 Jun 98 18:12:44 +0000
From: Phyllis and Don Keas <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Re:Southwest supplies and clothes..

I'm guessing you can do a pretty good job.  Maybe it won't look like
Brooks Brothers, but it isn't supposed to.  But, you can make a nice looking
one that won't look like a sack coat.  I know, cause I just finished a knee
length one without a pattern and I don't think it looks all that bad.
I'll be proud to wear it any way it looks.

DON AND PHYLLIS KEAS --- PROPRIETORS OF THE NADA TRADING COMPANY

mxhbc wrote:
>>The best part is that all of the research says that they were "ill
>>fitting." . . .
>>Mike
>
>I guarantee that making it myself, it *will* be ill fitting.  :-)
>
>HBC
>
>*****************************************
>Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
>[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
>806/742-2442           Box 43191
>FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
>               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
>******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******
>
>
>
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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 07:03:19 -0700
From: [e-mail] (john c funk,jr)
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Hardtack

Randy makes GOOD hard tack.  I've had some of it.  Goes well with stew,
coffee, or whatever.

Randy,  Hope alls well,  John Funk

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 22:23:37 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: BP Guns & Getting Kids Started in Buckskinning (not re: NMLRA)

In a message dated 98-06-11 18:48:22 EDT, you write:

<< [e-mail] >>
thanks for the input theres nothin better than comind back to a fire and a
worm meal much apreciated by a shooter. im into weaving and shooting and
cooking and just plaine being there. i have yet to fire a shot at a rondevous
im so busy making stuff forged sundries that i dont have time. men if your out
there dont sell these camp followers short. they were as important as gun
powder maby more. we men me included need to get humble. ive injoyed the hard
tak  that i made for the first time in my 54yrs having heard about all my life
didnt know from beans how to make it. 40 miles a day on backon an beans. a
book i read when i was a kid had  the resapy cant remember it or how to spell
it. keep them resapys coming camp.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 11 Jun 1998 18:34:29 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Henry B. Crawford)
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: BP Guns & Getting Kids Started in Buckskinning (not re:     NMLRA)

>I don't have a gun (for now). I
>still have fun, but I see a lot of non-shooters (mostly women, like me)
>sitting around the campfire just waiting for the shooters to come back. You
>_can_ be a buckskinner/fur trade reeenactor & have fun _without_ a gun!! And
>there's so much more to it than shooting-- we're almost doing a disservice
>to the kids & womenfolk if we give them the impression this great hobby is
>mostly about muzzleloading.  .  .

Well said, and right on the mark, as usual.

HBC

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 04:10:31 EDT
From: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: Prairie forge-Stump Anvils

In a message dated 98-06-11 18:48:34 EDT, you write:

<< Is your friend interested in selling any stump anvils. I'm sure there are
 others on the list besides me who may be interested in them.
  >>

I understand Jas. Townsend has them  -- 8 lbs, $80.  The report I had on them
is they're cast iron.
NM

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 08:34:53 -0600 (CST)
From: [e-mail] (Henry B. Crawford)
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: New $1 coin

>Henry,
>
>Actually it will carry the likeness of an Indian woman, as there is no
>known likeness of Sacagjawea.
>
>David

Yeah, that sounds 'bout right.

HBC

*****************************************
Henry B. Crawford        Curator of History
[e-mail]     Museum of Texas Tech University
806/742-2442           Box 43191
FAX [phone]             Lubbock, TX  79409-3191
               WEBSITE: http://www.ttu.edu/~museum
******  Living History . . . Because it's there!  *******

------------------------------

End of hist_text-digest V1 #84
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