Frontiersman
Abner Blackburn's Narrative
Edited by WILL BAGLEY
Will Bagley's excellent work is
a "must have" book for those
seeking to understand the trials
and tribulations of our ancestors.
American history on a personal note!
University of Utah Press review:
In 1889, retired farmer, seafarer, and pioneer, Abner
Blackburn (1827-1904) began an account of his youthful wandering across the North American
continent.
Referring to his memoir as "account of my past
misdeeds," Blackburn describes his experiences with Mormon pioneers, an astounding
assortment of Western tribes, and the last fur traders. After working on steamboats on the
Mississippi and Missouri rivers, Blackburn was a teamster for Brigham Young, marched with
the Mormon Battalion to Santa Fe, crossed the Great Basin seven times in four years, and
prospected for gold in California. Blackburn knew Joseph Smith, Jim Bridger, John Sutter,
Sam Brannan, and a host of lesser-known but equally colorful characters.
Editor Blackburn's narrative has a voice that is dry,
salty, and western. This tale evokes a campfire on the high desert and an old frontiersman
recollecting the seizing and settling of the American West. Historian Dale Morgan wrote
that Blackburn's story is a "jewel beyond price....This is not merely history; it is
literature of high order."
Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn's Narrative is the
first publication of the complete memoir. Editor Will Bagley includes a careful annotation
Blackburn's life and times, plus an account of the strange fate of the manuscript,
suppressed since its composition a century ago.
From the book:
At El Pueblo [Colorado]:
"This place was surrounded with wild Indian tribes, the Utas, Arappihoes, Aricahoes,
Crows, Syoux, Chamanches, Pawnees, and others. There was about 20 American familys and
about one hundred and fifty soldiers wintering here. Which made it appear home like.
Wild Indians on the war path was a common sight going
to fight their neighbors. Sometime in the winter a war party of Arappihoes campt. On their
way to fight the Utas, [they were] tall, fine appearing warriors armed and equipt for the
fray drest in fighting custom and painted to look like old Nick. They said they were
agoing to mash the Utas. In about two weeks they come sneaking back. They had found more
Utas than they wanted and had lost most of their wariers."
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Blackburn and Allied Descendants
of John Blackburn, Sr., who came from Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1736.
By the late Evelyn Gibson
Published in 1978.
Price $40.00
Available via downloadable 60MB PDF file by
clicking here.
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