Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier

Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier

by Jan Cleere
Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier

Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier

by Jan Cleere

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Overview

Winner of the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards (History, Arizona | 2021 Military Writers Society of America Silver Medal for History | 2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award Bronze Winner for Western Non-Fiction

When the U.S. Army ordered troops into Arizona Territory in the 19th century to protect and defend the new settlements established there, some of the military men brought their wives and families, particularly officers who might be stationed in the west for years. Most of the women were from refined, eastern-bred families with little knowledge of the territory they were entering. Their letters, diaries, and journals from their years on army posts reveal untold hardships and challenges faced by families on the frontier. These women were bold, brave, and compassionate. They were an integral part of military posts that peppered the West and played an important role in civilizing the Arizona frontier. Combining the words of these women with original research tracing their movements from camp to camp over the years they spent in the West, this collection explores the tragedies and triumphs they experienced.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781493052943
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: 03/22/2021
Pages: 216
Sales rank: 1,106,661
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jan Cleere is the author of five historical nonfiction books, four of them published by TwoDot Books, including More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Nevada Women, which landed her on the Roll of Honor of the Nevada Women’s History Project and a finalist for the Women Writing the West WILLA Award. Her lectures on early Arizona women who had an impact on the territory and the state, along with her monthly newspaper column, “Western Women,” have made her one of the foremost authorities on early Arizona women. She lives in Oro Valley, Arizona.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Reveille ix

Part I Arizona Bound 1

Chapter 1 Miles and Miles of White Burning, Blinding Sand: Alice Garrison Dryer 6

Chapter 2 I Resolved to Go!: Julia Edith Kirkham Davis 17

Chapter 3 I Make It a Point to See All Worth Seeing: Mary Henrietta Banks Stacey 32

Part II Post Life 56

Chapter 4 No Woman Could Be Induced to Go to Arizona: Frances Anne Mullen Boyd 62

Chapter 5 The Authority of a Riding Whip: Sarah Elvira Camp Upham 80

Part III The Family 94

Chapter 6 Cacti in Bloom-Red, Purple, Yellow, and White: Ellen McGowan Biddle 102

Chapter 7 A Calmness of Desperation: Katharine Sadler Madison Cochran 122

Part IV Enlisted Men's Wives, Servants, and Laundresses 136

Chapter 8 The Great Western: Sarah Bowman 145

Chapter 9 Boiling Cauldrons: Jane Earl Thorpy 156

Part V On Our Way Home 162

Chapter 10 The Indians Are Surrounding Us!: Mary Wildman Adams 168

Chapter 11 We Were Young and Life Was Sweet: Alice Carey Applegate Sargent 174

Epilogue: Taps 183

Bibliography 186

Index 192

About the Author 199

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