The German imperial coat of arms.
Source: Wikipedia

Despite having just begun another series, I am going to be embarking on a second multi-part series which has to do with nineteenth century German history. The goal of the project will be to give a survey of nineteenth century German history.

You may ask why I am going to be pursuing such a project on a blog about American history, but the answer is two-fold. First of all, I enjoy German history quite a bit and so I find this project to be different and extremely interesting all at the same time. Secondly, I will be undertaking this project for a history class which I am currently taking.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this project and can learn something about German history. You will be able to find all of the entries either on the Nineteenth Century German History project page or in the category of the same name to the right.

Bannack: First Capital of Montana.
Source: Distinctly Montana

One of my biggest fascinations with the Old West is with what life in a Rocky Mountain mining town in nineteenth century would have been like. It would have been a life full of filth, rough characters and hard work combined with drinking, fighting and gambling as pastimes. Of course these are stereotypes of any old Wild West town, but were they really true? What was it that these brave, tough and rough souls did when they weren't working in the mines?

These and other questions will be answered in a new series I am beginning here at History Rhymes. I will be exploring several different mining towns throughout the Rocky Mountains in the coming weeks. Some are still active towns, but many are nothing but ghost towns now. I will explore how people lived, what life was generally like in the towns and I will also give a brief history of how each town came to be and, in the case of some of them, came to pass.

This will be a multi-part series. You will be able to see all of the entries in this series in the Rocky Mountain Mining Towns category which can also be found in the sidebar.

Aside from fixed problems, I've also added a new header image with the blog name and a cowboy hat. The other new item I've added today is a new featured article page. This page contains the posts that I think are the most informative and best written. If you hover over the 'Featured' button on the menu above, you'll see that it also lists the multi-part series I've done. This new page is a great place to start reading this blog if you are unsure, overwhelmed or just want the good stuff.

You can check out the featured page here: http://www.historyrhymes.info/featured.

Roughing It by Mark Twain

I have a new featured book for you this week. This one is an American classic called Roughing It by Mark Twain. It is one of Mark Twain's travel books which made him famous as an author. In this book he writes about his travels throughout the Old American West, his adventures with mining, newspaper editing and with the rough folk of the Old West. Of course, he fictionalizes it quite a bit, but that adds to the entertainment value.

What I find most interesting about this book is the way in which Twain portrays the Old West. He was a contemporary who actually did spend several years in the Old 'Wild' West and, although his account is fictionalized to some degree, it still shows us how people who lived during that era saw the west or at least wanted to see the west as compared to today's highly romanticized image of it.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Source: Wikipedia

According to The Times, the British Library is currently undertaking a project to digitize their collection of more than 65,000 nineteenth century books in an effort to preserve them and make them available for free for public consumption.

The only catch is that you must own an Amazon Kindle which is something I find incredibly disappointing. I do not like the Kindle or eBook readers. I suppose the best part about it is that I can still buy regular paper copies that mimic the original books.

Here is part of the article:

MORE than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from the British Library’s collection are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring.

Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as works by thousands of less famous authors.

[...]

While the British Library books — which will include Dickens’s Bleak House, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge — will be available free online, the public will also be able to order printed copies from Amazon.

Like the onscreen versions, the paperbacks, costing £15-£20, will look like the frequently rare 19th-century editions in the library’s collection — including their typeface and illustrations. Originals of works by Austen and Dickens typically cost at least £250.

You can read the full article on The Times.

TA Ranch Stable - Where the final shootout took place.
Source: Wikipedia

The Johnson County War has gone down in history as one of many Wild West legends about range wars. Some accounts claim various famous gun slingers like Jesse James were involved, however, this was certainly not the case. The real range war occurred in April 1892 and was the result of tensions, brewing between small and large ranchers in Wyoming, finally reaching a critical point.

In the western territories and states of the late nineteenth century, conflicts over land and cattle were not an uncommon occurrence. In Wyoming, the biggest concern of many large ranching operations was the issue of cattle rustling. To prevent this, they took several different preventative measures. Some of the commons ones included forbidding employees from owning their own cattle and harsh punishment of suspected cattle rustlers -- many of whom were small ranchers.

Although already bitter, relations between the large ranchers and small ranchers took a turn for the worst after the harsh winter of 1887-1888. Many cattle died with temperatures of -40 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit common during that season. This harsh winter was preceded by a very hot and dry summer. The larger ranchers took action in their own interests and began to control water flow and forcefully remove small ranchers from their properties.

In retaliation, the small ranchers formed an association to counter the Wyoming Stock Growers' Association (WSGA), which was an organization comprising many different large ranchers and which had quite a bit of political sway in the state. This new association formed by the small ranchers was called the Northern Wyoming Farmers and Stock Growers' Association (NWFSGA).

In 1892, the WSGA took extreme action against the smaller ranchers and their association. They hired a group of twenty-three gunmen from Paris, Texas led by Frank Wolcott and four cattle detectives from the WSGA. This group of men was supposed to serve a dual purpose: killing suspected cattle rustlers and eliminating the NWFSGA. Others associated with the WSGA also joined, eventually making a total 50 men who were to perform these tasks. They were led by Frank Canton, a former sheriff of Johnson County.

The group of men who invaded Johnson County.
Source: Wikipedia

The first target by the gunmen was a small rancher by the name of Nate Champion who was very active in the organization of an association of small ranchers to compete with the WSGA. His ranch, the KC Ranch, became the first battleground of the Johnson County War. On the night of April 8, 1982, the group traveled to Nate's ranch and waited until daybreak. Two travelers who were staying overnight at the KC Ranch were the first victims when emerged from the house to get water. They were promptly shot. A third traveler, Nick Ray, was shot while standing in the door of the cabin and he died a few hours later.

Nate Champion remained inside the cabin for some time, all the while keeping a detailed journal. Eventually the group set fire to the cabin, forcing Nate out. They immediately gunned him down, pinning a note to him which said "Cattle Thieves Beware." Two passer-byers noticed the commotion and a local rancher, Jack Flagg, rode to Buffalo, Wyoming to report it. There the sheriff and a posse of 200 men were gathered set out the next day on the trail of the WSGA group.

TA Ranch -- Where the final standoff took place.
Source: Wikipedia

The sheriff and his posse finally caught up to the WSGA group at the TA Ranch on April 11, 1982 -- two days after Nate Champion was murdered. The WSGA group took shelter in a stable (see image at the top). Three of the WSGA men were killed when trying to escape while another was successful and contacted the acting Governor of Wyoming the next day. After attempts to save the WSGA group, the acting Governor telegraphed President Benjamin Harrison for help on April 12, 1892. The telegraph, which was published in The New York Times on April 14th, read as follows:

About sixty-one owners of live stock are reported to have made an armed expedition into Johnson County for the purpose of protecting their live stock and preventing unlawful roundups by rustlers. They are at ‘T.A.’ Ranch, thirteen miles from Fort McKinney, and are besieged by Sheriff and posse and by rustlers from that section of the country, said to be two or three hundred in number. The wagons of stockmen were captured and taken away from them and it is reported a battle took place yesterday, during which a number of men were killed. Great excitement prevails. Both parties are very determined and it is feared that if successful will show no mercy to the persons captured. The civil authorities are unable to prevent violence. The situation is serious and immediate assistance will probably prevent great loss of life.

President Harrison responded by ordering the United States Secretary of War Stephen B. Elkins to address the situation. Elkins sent out the Sixth Calvary who were stated at Fort McKinney, a short distance from Buffalo, to intervene. The Sixth Calvary reached the TA Ranch on April 13th and both the sheriff's posse and the WSGA group surrendered to the calvary detachment.

Although the situation was resolved, tensions continued to run high for many years. A good description of some of the chaos which ensued can be read in this New York Times article which was published on April 23, 1892. The WSGA group was imprisoned after the standoff at TA Ranch, but the members were never tried and all of them were released shortly after their arrest.

A piece of Nathaniel Bryceson's journal

The other day I stumbled upon a very interesting website put together by the City of Westminster, London. It is a digitalization of the journal of Nathaniel Bryceson, an early Victorian clerk. The journal was written in 1846 when Nathaniel was nineteen years old. The online version as posted on the website for the City of Westminster, London is updated everyday 164 years after the entries were written.

The introduction to the journal explains it all:

The diary of Nathaniel Bryceson is a rare survival. It gives a fascinating insight into the daily life of a Victorian clerk, including details of his job at the coal wharf and the diverse places he visits across London as well as numerous mentions of family ailments and his assessment of the weather. Local events, especially murders, sudden deaths of famous people and the execution of criminals, feature alongside references to major London landmarks. National politics are mentioned in the context of the Parliamentary debates on the Corn Laws and the replacement of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel by Lord John Russell. There is even an international dimension to the diary with references to the war between the British and the Sikhs in India.

The diary

The diary runs from 1 January to 12 December 1846, and contains entries for 260 days. It was obviously not the only venture of its kind because Nathaniel refers to his ‘log book’ of the previous year, and on 12 December he purchased one for the following year. However, the 1846 diary seems to be the sole survivor. All the pages have suffered some water damage at the edges. The book was purchased by the Westminster City Archives and was formally accessioned on 20 August 1974 (reference Accession 730).

The text of the diary is written in longhand, interspersed with Pitman’s shorthand entries embracing private matters such as his financial affairs, his observations on the proprietor, colleagues and activities at Eccleston Wharf, and most of all his relationship with Ann Fox, his only regular companion. Some of the references to his sexual behaviour with her are written in surprisingly explicit language.

You can read more about the journal, a short biography of Nathaniel Bryceson and the journal itself on the website for the City of Westminster, London.

Europe in the High Middle Ages by William Chester Jordan

This week I have a new featured book called Europe in the High Middle Ages by William Chester Jordan. It is a very well-written book which details the Europe in the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It covers a range of topics from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, the Crusades to monasteries, the Catholic Church to the Holy Roman Emperor, and so on.

The book is written in a manner which is easy for the casual reader to understand and follow, but academic and detailed enough to be of value to the medieval field.

I will keep this theme up for a while and see how I like it while working out the kinks. The Links and Archives pages do not work quite right yet, but I will look into those soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the new theme and let me know what you think or if you think I ought to go back to the old theme.