The Chisholm Trail: A History of the World's Greatest Cattle Trail($19.99Value)

Description

This frontier classic is one of the best books written about the world’s greatest cattle trail, the Chisholm Trail, a trail that was approximately eight hundred miles long, running from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene, Kansas. It is a comprehensive book about the cattle drives of our western frontier and the interesting characters associated with them. Such characters include Charles Goodnight, Charles A. Siringo, Joseph G. McCoy and various Indian Chiefs and gunslingers. After the Civil War, many cattlemen saw that there was money to be made in moving cattle northward. Joseph G. McCoy built shipping pens at Abilene, which became known as the terminating point of the Chisholm Trail. When the trial was most active, millions of cattle and mustang accompanied their drivers on the two to three month journey that it took to travel across. This book is the story of those cattle and their drivers, who fought through Indian ambushes, stampedes and cattle rustlers. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. Sam P. Ridings was a prominent Kansas attorney who spent six years studying the Chisholm Trail. He lived in Kansas. The Chisholm Trail A History Of The World's Greatest Cattle Trail By Sam P. Ridings Skyhorse Publishing Copyright © 2012 Palladium Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-63220-266-6 CHAPTER 1 NECESSITY FOR THE TRAIL At the time of the breaking out of the war between the states in 1861, the Indians who remained in the Northern portion of the United States, east of the Mississippi River, and who had not been killed by the white invaders, had settled down on quiet reservations. The remaining portion of the Northern Indians had, prior to this time, retreated westward before the white man's rifle as it cleared the way for the white man's plow. These retreating Indians had made their last stand either in or at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and on the plains to the east of the same. The white man's cottages of logs, rock, and the sod of the prairie dotted the eastern portion of these plains, while the steel rails of the transcontinental railways were being extended further west and were preparing to reach out onto these plains. In the Congress of the United States, at this time, the different factions were staging a battle incessant to determine whether the states which were to be carved out of this northern plains country were to be free or slave states. Both the Oregon and the Santa Fe trails extended westward from the Missouri River, the eastern boundary of Kansas. Each of these trails wound its way to the west, as devious as the trail of a serpent, and each crossed these northern plains. The Santa Fe trail terminated in the heart of the continent at Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Oregon trail found its way to various points on the Pacific coast. The foregoing describes the situation generally in the North. In the Southern portion of the United States, in the, years preceding the war between the states, the fearless Davy Crockett had gone forth from his home in Tennessee to fight for the independence of Texas, and with his companion, Thimblerig, had cut loose from civilization at Nacogdoches, and, threading the forest wilderness, and swimming the rivers, had reached the old Alamo Mission, where now stands the beautiful City of San Antonio, Texas. There, fighting a forlorn hope, these soldiers of the frontier had died, together with Bowie, Bonham, Travis, and their other Texas companions. These brave defenders of Texas liberty had fallen when massacred by the ruthless invading Mexican Army, led by the more ruthless Santa Anna. The hardy and fearless pioneers of Texas had rallied under the battle cry of, "Remember the Alamo"; and under the leadership of the rugged, intrepid, and sagacious Sam Houston had conquered Santa Anna and his Mexican Horde at San Jacinto. This conquest had been made in one of the most remarkable and decisive battles that the world has ever known. The flower of the Mexican Army had been driven back across the Rio Grande, and the power and control of the Mexican Government completely torn down and annihilated for all time in the country to the east of that river. Thenceforth the flag bearing the lone star floated over the great empire of Texas, and soon above it waved the Stars and Stripes. Also, prior to this national conflict, the Indians in the Southern portion of the United States, living east of the Mississippi River, who belon