Old West History

LAND OF STARS, from Amazon bestselling author Dorothy Wiley, continues the highly-acclaimed Wyllie family frontier saga. It’s now 1824, and the Province of Texas, an exceedingly dangerous and volatile place, is the leading edge of the West and is seized by Mexico from Spain. Blending action and romance with vigilant research, Wiley brings to life the generations of driven men and women who shaped Texas—all of them a part of the creation of a place that became not just a nation, not just a state, but an enduring dream. Steve Wyllie, a young man with the courage and grit to confront the ...

A young woman finds her loyalties tested beyond limit and her desires torn beyond measure in 1846 California. After sailing around Cape Horn, and barely surviving the perilous journey, devout Protestant Rachel Tyler, arrives in California just in time for her father’s wedding and the unfolding of the Bear Flag Revolt. Though already engaged to marry a minister in Massachusetts, Rachel’s ambitious father arranges her betrothal to Roman Vasquez, a blue-blooded Catholic son of the gente de razón, the ruling class of California. Roman, a proud, Spanish soldier is ready to fight and die for...

Discover the remarkable life of Buffalo Bill... Buffalo Bill was one part renegade, one part folk hero, and all parts showman. He was a phenomenon back in his heyday, and his legend looms large even now. From his days making deliveries for the Pony Express to his time serving in the American Civil War and on into his run as a scout on the Western frontier, Buffalo Bill was a force to be reckoned with. Yet it was his shows that captivated audiences with thrilling tales of the Wild West that made him one of the first true American celebrities and cemented his status as a legend.

WESTERN WRITERS OF AMERICA FINALIST 2022 KINDLE BOOK REVIEW AWARDS SEMI-FINALISTCan sparks of the heart ignite amid the battle that flamed the epic struggle for Texas? In 1824, ten years before the Texas Revolution, the province of Texas belonged to Mexico—but not for long. Texians would soon rebel against the oppression of the Mexican commandant. In a land that grew heroes from those with courageous and daring hearts, this heart-jolting historical romance is the fourth novel in the Wilderness Dawning Series and features Wiley’s popular and well-loved characters, the Wyllies and MacKays...

Ten-year-old Daniel Waterford and his family join a wagon train heading for Oregon, a grueling experience for the hardiest of people and a boring one for a young boy. The journey is fraught with peril for Daniel, but by the time they arrived in Trinity, their new home, Daniel has aged far beyond his years. Travel with Daniel as he faces unimaginable challenges, and experience the Wild West as it really way, not the way movies and popular TV has led us to believe.

In the 1850s, the United States was a nation divided. In the North, industrialization and urbanization were both significant drivers of change. In the South, a largely agrarian economy was supported by the institution of slavery. The East and West of the country were also divided, not by social or political differences but by a vast tract of largely untouched, rugged, and often hostile territory. There were just two ways to travel from the East Coast to the Pacific Coast or vice versa.

This collection of short, action-filled stories of the Old West's most egregiously badly behaved female outlaws, gamblers, soiled doves, and other wicked women offers a glimpse into the Western women's experience that's less sunbonnets and more six-shooters. During the late 1800s, while men were settling the new frontier and rushing off to the latest boomtowns, women of easy virtue found wicked lives west of the Mississippi when they followed fortune hunters seeking gold and land in an unsettled territory.

“American Cowboy Poetry: Yarns and Tales of the Old West” is a collection of poems and images based on Kevin Lee McIver’s book, “Scouts, Cowboys, Indians, and Soldiers: A Collection of Short Stories.” In this innovative poetry book, Kevin uses artificial intelligence to create poems and images that were originally created based on family history and newspaper stories from before 1900. Like the original book, these poems reflect the history, love, war, and the peace of the American west.

In old age, Charlie Siringo was called "Ulysses of the Wild West" for the long journey he took across the western frontier. Son of the Old West brings him and his legendary world vividly to life.

Need a room for the night in the Old West? No problem. Hotels had sprung up everywhere, from forgotten cow towns to the bustling city of San Francisco. Hotels of the Old West reveals the fascinating story of the hotels and hospitality houses - the grand, the deplorable, and the just plain dependable - that flourished and failed in the 19th century.

Love and happiness -- The only thing Blanche Tyler has ever wanted is to marry the man of her dreams. It finally has happened. Almost immediately, her world is shattered when her husband, Rye Tyler, is captured by his most hated enemy - the Sioux. Rye Tyler knew this could be the end once he rode into the Powder River country. Isabelle was dying and he wasn’t sure if Blanche would love him anymore. Their last parting ended on a sour note. The only two people that he cared about in his life he had disappointed once more. Rye Tyler knew he was on the road to hell. Will Rye survive or will ...

The culmination of a lifetime of hound-dogging and hunting of the big cats in an action packed year of adventure on the famous Vermejo Park Ranch in northern New Mexico. The pages of When the Dogs Bark "Treed" vividly reflect the author’s love for wildlife and for wild places. It is a portrayal of a conservationist and administrator of wildlife resources who came up the hard way. It, incidentally, presents a vast store of information about game and predators and their environment which the author has gleaned from long years of firsthand contacts. Only the pioneer who helped blaze the ...

WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARD FINALIST 2021 Part action-adventure, part suspense, part heartfelt romance—and always a page-turner—Wiley’s newest addition to the Wilderness Dawning Series, BUCKSKIN ANGEL, is an intense journey back to the thrilling birth of the West. It’s 1824, and Captain Sam Wyllie and Bear MacKay, well-loved characters from the American Wilderness Series, agree they need one last adventure—a thrilling 800-mile journey through the American frontier to see their brother Stephen in the Province of Texas. Knowing that predators of all kinds lurk in the wilderness, ...

Leitha Watson presents "Love and Loyalty", a captivating Western Romance Fiction novel that will transport you to a world filled with passion, danger, and unwavering devotion. Prepare to be swept away on a thrilling journey where love and loyalty are put to the ultimate test. Get ready to immerse yourself in a tale that will keep you turning the pages, eager to uncover the secrets that lie within. Set against the backdrop of the Untamed Wild West, "Love and Loyalty" takes place during a time of great turmoil and change. As the sun sets on the American frontier, an extraordinary love story ...

Settlers in the frontier West were often easy prey for criminals. Policing efforts were scattered at best and often amounted to vigilante retaliation. To create a semblance of order, freelance enforcers of the law known as man-hunters undertook the search for fugitives. These pursuers have often been portrayed as ruthless bounty hunters, no better than the felons they pursued. Robert K. DeArment's detailed account of their careers redeems their reputations and reveals the truth behind their fascinating legends.

Some of the greatest hounds in the southwest match wits, courage, and endurance with the elusive cougar, bear, and wildcat. New Mexico and Arizona have produced some truly exceptional hounds and houndsmen over the years, and the Slash Ranch hounds were among the best. Over much of the first half of the 1900’s these hounds with Dub Evans were making a name for themselves all over the southwest. People coming from far and wide to witness them in action as well as for the chance to harvest bear and lion. The Black Range and Gila Wilderness of New Mexico where much of this book takes place, ...

The slaughter of 183 Texas heroes at an old mission fort in San Antonio in the spring of 1836 sparked a series of events that changed Texas and Texans forever. Upon his victory at the Alamo, General Santa Anna ordered his army to drive all Anglos from the northern Mexican territory and torch their farms and ranches. Almost thirty thousand people, mostly women, children and the elderly fled their homes for safety beyond Texas' border just hours ahead of an army bent on their annihilation. But there were some left behind. A thirteen-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister suddenly find ...

Within this audiobook, the listener will meet a 19-year-old Texas Ranger figuratively dying to shoot his gun. He does get to shoot at people, but soon realizes what he thought was a bargain, exacted a steep price. Another tale is of an old-school cowman who shut down illicit traffic in stolen livestock that had existed for years on the Llano Estacado. He was tough, salty, and had no quarter for cow thieves, or sympathy for any mealy-mouthed politicians. He cleaned house, maybe not too nicely, but he was unarguably successful.

The task for those in charge of professionalizing the military in the first half of the nineteenth century and transforming it from a militia-led army to a highly disciplined standing army was a difficult job. Americans had long supported a tradition of militia and distrusted professional soldiers.

Popular culture has taught us to picture the Old West as a land of men, whether it's the lone hero on horseback or crowds of card players in a rough-and-tumble saloon. But the taming of the frontier involved plenty of women, too - and this book tells their stories. At first, female pioneers were indeed rare - when the town of Denver was founded in 1859, there were only five women among a population of almost a thousand. But the adventurers arrived, slowly but surely.