Covered Wagon Women, Volume 9

Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1864-1868

Kenneth L Holmes editor Sherry L Smith editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of Nebraska Press

Published:1st Sep '99

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Covered Wagon Women, Volume 9 cover

Diaries and letters written by women on the Oregon Trail in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War

Presents a collection of accounts which demonstrate the passion and courage of the nineteenth-century pioneering women who led and followed their families into the West, pursuing dreams of better economic or social situations.In their simplicity is their poignancy. On August 7, 1865, Mary Louisa Black noted in her journal that they were “nooning on a nice stream in a valey in the mountains.” A day later she observed that one of the men in the overland expedition had “buried an infant here yesterday—still born.” One can only imagine her emotional turmoil—she had buried her own daughter three months earlier, just as she and her husband set out for Oregon. While each diarist and letter-writer had her personal joys and sorrows, collectively these invaluable accounts demonstrate the passion and courage of these nineteenth-century pioneering women who led and followed their families into the West, pursuing dreams of better economic or social situations. One can only marvel at their ability to persevere under conditions that sent many scurrying back home to the East.

“The diaries and letters . . . throb with excitement, pain, and mind-boggling determination.”—Kliatt
“An outstanding collection of primary sources written by women moving west.”—Wagon Tracks

ISBN: 9780803272989

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 295g

258 pages