Wyoming History News reviewed Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two in its June 2016 issue. The News is published ten times a year for members of the Wyoming State Historical Society. Distribution is to members only, and no copies are sold or made available for sale.
It was gratifying to read the positive review of Bear Claws. Since most of the readers of this blog will not have access to the Wyoming History News, I am providing a copy of their review here.
Bear Claws has been accepted by the Wyoming State Historical Society for a possible award this year, Notifications to winners will be made the end of July. Here’s hoping!
So read an 1860 poster advertising for riders for the Pony Express. As many of the readers of this blog are aware, every few weeks I contribute a blog posting to Mad About MG History. On May 26, 2016, I wrote about the Pony Express. This thrilling episode in our country’s history only lasted a few months, but it continues to fascinate all of us.
The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators has released the SCBWI Summer Reading List 2016. Eagle Talons, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book One is included. The following link will take you to the reading list organized by Divisions, or geographical regions, where the authors reside. To find Eagle Talons, scroll down and select the Southwest Division, which includes Nevada. The list will open as a PDF document. 
Listed right about Eagle Talons on page 104 is Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams. Suzanne and I are both regular bloggers on Mad About MG History. Suzanne’s book is a multiple award winner, and it is a book that adults as well as middle-grade readers will enjoy.
Railroad History, the journal of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, reviewed Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two, in its Spring-Summer 2016 issue, Number 214. In my post of November 9, 2015, I wrote about Railroad History’s review of Eagle Talons, the first book in the trilogy. You can access that post by clicking on the Archives section in the sidebar. The review of Bear Claws was written by Robert Butler of Shaker Heights, Ohio. He also wrote the review of Eagle Talons. Because many of the readers of my blog will not have access to Railroad History, I will copy his review here. I am grateful to Mr. Butler for both fine reviews.
I am now a proud member of the Wyoming State Historical Society. WSHS is a non-profit membership driven organization that encourages the study of Wyoming history. The Wyoming State Historical Society was founded in 1953 and has members across Wyoming and the United States. WSHS membership is open to any individual interested in history of Wyoming and the West. WSHS has an excellent website: 
The Wyoming State Historical Society recognizes individuals and organizations in the field of Wyoming History through an awards program. These awards are presented each year at the annual meeting of the Society on the Saturday following Labor Day. I have submitted Bear Claws, The Iron Horse Chronicles–Book Two, for consideration. To be eligible, the book must be “published during the award year and written by an author or group of authors age eighteen or over.” Since Bear Claws was published in November 2015 and the subject is based on historical events in Wyoming, I feel the book qualifies for the 2015 awards program. Keep checking my blog posts to learn if Bear Claws is fortunate enough to win recognition.
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Currently, I am researching a new novel set at the time of the events that involved the Fetterman Massacre near Fort Phil Kearny. When the massacre occurred in 1866 it was the largest defeat afflicted upon the United States Army by the “savage” Indians until Custer’s Last Stand a decade later. Its aftermath played a significant role in how the Army and the Indian Bureau struggled to accommodate the demands of Manifest Destiny and the westward expansion that ultimately forced the Plains Indians onto reservations and terminated their traditional way of life.
I visited the site of the massacre in 2010 and experienced snow and bitter cold not unlike what happened the day 3 officers, 76 soldiers, and 2 civilians died. The monument erected in 1905 proclaims there were “no survivors.” It fails to account for perhaps as many as 2,000 Indians who did survive. Perceptions change with time and a more thorough study and evaluation of history.
When I wrote Eagle Talons I followed the traditional version of the story proclaiming Captain William Judd Fetterman was a boastful, rash officer with no respect for the fighting ability of the Sioux, Northern Cheyennes, and Arapahos. My primary reference source was The Fetterman Massacre by Dee Brown, more famously known for his book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. The oft repeated quotation by Fetterman that “with eighty men I could ride through the entire Sioux nation” I borrowed from Brown’s work. Brown’s book provides detailed information about the events surrounding the affair and is obviously well researched.
Subsequent research by John H. Monnett in his book Where A Hundred
Soldiers Were Killed and by Shannon D. Smith in her book Give Me Eighty Men provides new insight into the Fetterman affair. They point out that no solid evidence exists that the frequently repeated quotation by Fetterman actually occurred. It may very well have been a literary invention of Cyrus Townsend Brady who wrote Indian Fights and Fighters years after the fact. The statement does neatly account for the number of men under Fetterman’s command.
In addition to several verbal accounts recorded by participating Indians, we are fortunate to have two first-hand written accounts about the events leading up to and following the affair. Still, no white man or woman actually witnessed the “massacre.” Margaret Irvin Carrington, the first wife of Fetterman’s commanding officer, Colonel Henry Carrington, resided at Fort Phil Kearny when the indicent occurred. She published her memoir Absaraka, Home of the Crows, in 1868.
Francis C. Carrington, Henry’s second wife, published her memoir, My Army Life and the Fort Phil Kearney Massacre, in 1910, years after the affair. (Note her different spelling of Fort Kearney, which is used in some documents.) She too was present at the time of the affair; but then she was married to Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, one of the three officers killed in the massacre. How she became Colonel Carrington’s wife is an interesting tale in itself.
The story is a wonderful example of how bizarre true history can be. While I am enjoying the research that draws me deeper into the mystery, I am also struggling to discern the “truth” in diverse accounts of the affair. It will take time before I complete my novel. In the meantime, you might enjoy reading a great telling of the story by the masterful western writer Terry C. Johnston in Sioux Dawn. He fell victim to the traditional assessment of Fetterman’s nature. That does not diminish his great novel.
I describe Virginia Dale Station and the surrounding countryside in Eagle Talons. This photo, taken from the current highway, shows the old trail (now a dirt road) passing through the rocky, hilly terrain of northern Colorado at an elevation of over 7,000 feet. Standing at this spot, one gets a feeling that Jenny McNabb’s wagon, pulled by its team of oxen, might lumber along at any moment.
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