American Epistles

“…She gave him a dose of morphine and whiskey.” (Elinore Rupert, Part 11)

I had forgotten that Elinore was born and raised in the antebellum South, but she reminded me with her Christmas letter and racist party “game.”...

“The old sorrow is not so keen now.” (Elinore Rupert, Part 10)

Elinore shares some of the personal joys and sorrows that she has experienced since moving to Wyoming.

“They told us the Indian ways were bad.” (US Indian Policy: Violence, Displacement, and Assimilation)

For decades, before they were forced onto reservations, Native Americans had friendly and even intimate contact with non-natives. But as settlements...

“Horse-thieves and desperate men seemed too remote…” (Elinore Rupert, Part 9)

Elinore continues her awe-inspiring descriptions of the Wyoming frontier.  Her signature humor is also alive and well.  This time, Elinore gets a...

“See that shack over yonder?” (Women Homesteaders)

“Miss Mary Longfellow holding down a claim west of Broken Bow, Nebraska”
(image credit: nps.gov)

“In about a week we had a cabin...