it's the details that can pull you in

When doing research for historical books, there are a lot of things that can get complicated fast. One of them is currency or money and how the heck did people pay for what they wanted? Of course, there has always been barter but basically a culture that expects to grow needs a system of dependable currency.

Currency in Arizona 1880s 

For a long time, the dollars people accepted in payment were printed and stood behind by a multitude of banks-- which incidentally could fail. If you accepted dollars, you might want to know which bank had issued them. For years, the federal government did not issue money. It wasn't until 1862 that it set standards for paper and sizes.
 

During the Civil War, the South, in leaving the Union, needed its own currency. This was done through various states and of course, became worthless when the South lost the war (except someday to collectors, of course).

With the failure of banks, which happened again and again with various recessions, eventually there came a need for a consistent currency that the federal government stood behind and issued. That came in 1914. At first, it was backed by gold-- the gold standard. 

Then along came the Great Depression and a run on banks to get gold. In 1933, Roosevelt took the US off the gold standard. People could no longer redeem their notes for gold and money began to float. That takes us to today when money stays constant... other than inflation that is. Ever check out the price of a paperback book in 1950 something? Try 25¢. Yeah the government stands behind it... way behind it :).

Memorable moments, if not proud ones, in our nation's history

 "The Sand Creek Massacre" by Robert Lindneaux 

Anyone who has done any research about the American West and our history with the Native Americans, has heard of Sand Creek. Below is a good article as a refresher as to how such happened as Americans moved across this nation and needed to dispossess the ones already here. Sand Creek was not about a noble battle but a massacre.

Sand Creek

Should we learn from history?

The basics are, a surprise attack at dawn of November 29th, 1864, with 675 volunteer soldiers commanded by Col. Chivington, struck a village of about 700 Cheyenne and Arapaho, which was made up of warriors, women and children. Those in the village didn't stand a chance, and the barbarism that followed the attack still gives Chivington a name that goes down in ignominy. 

"Witnesses described Indians on their knees begging for mercy and children used for target practice. Victims' body parts were sliced off and taken to Denver as trophies. Two other military leaders refused to let their men participate and condemned the attack." Eric Gorski in Denver Post

Even reading of the brutality following the immediate attack makes a person wonder how someone can get to the point that they see other humans as less than human. Mobs do get that way though and even those under military command can reach that point.

It wasn't to be the last time the soldiers set out to massacre Indians by hitting their villages in a surprise attack. Sometimes it worked. Most spectacularly in June 1877 at the Little Big Horn, it did not. Some though believe Custer that day hoped to capture hostages, not slay women and children, and believed he could then make the warriors surrender as he had on the Battle of the Washita. As is well known, The Little Big Horn didn't work out so well for him or his men.  After Custer was killed at Little Big Horn, it set in motion certain events where the military felt entitled to kill without warning. 
  

It was later that same summer. Native Americans were being forced onto reservations by the military. The Nez Perce had decided to flee, women, children, warriors to avoid being incarcerated in one of those reservations where often food was inferior, they had poor shelter, and no ability to hunt as they always had done. Thinking they could get to Canada where life would be better, they had traveled peacefully some distance, even traded with some of the posts, and by August 9th, they camped at one of their favorite places to rest and dig Camas root. 

Being there today, it's easy to imagine how they felt. You can almost hear the children playing, the women chattering as they worked at setting up camp and digging the roots that were one of their staple foods. Sometimes if you are lucky you will see a moose or sandhill crane. Still it's not hard to hear other sounds if you are sensitive to vibrations.

What the Nimíipuu (the Nez Perce own name for themselves-- which means The People) didn't know is they were being chased by a military which had a desire for revenge over the defeat of the 7th Cavalry on the Little Big Horn. 

As they had done before, the military struck the camp at night. The warriors fought back, women and children hid in the water. The screams, cries and sound of guns went on for two days. But this battle ended differently as the warriors covered for the escape of the surviving women and children, and then escaped themselves. 90 Nez Perce and 31 soldiers and volunteers died those two days.

I incorporated these two battles into my own book, Diablo Canyon as events like these don't really die with the people. Their energy and lessons continue.

The Big Hole National Battlefield has been preserved to tell the story. The ones who worked to make this a park had fought in the battle and saw the need to not forget what happened there. The Nez Perce never got their homeland back, which was the Wallowas but they were settled in Idaho. 

Possibly the most memorable massacre of Native Americans, at least for those who study such events, would be Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890 and that because photography left a physical record for people to see the aftermath. This photo is the least horrifying of the historic images.

This massacre was brought on by fear regarding the Ghost Dance, which involved magic shirts that would protect the wearer from bullets. I think the dance was also intended to bring dead warriors back to life. The fear sounds like an excuse, but then I am looking at it from 2014. It started as coming there to disarm the Sioux, but ended up with the 7th Cavalry, still bitter over what had happened to Custer, firing on everyone they could see-- or was that what happened?

Wounded Knee

Eye Witness to history 

The people who insist on talking about American exceptionalism must also deal with historic reality. I know there is quite a movement out there to rewrite ourselves as constantly being heroes but how do you do that when you have so many stories that paint a very different picture? Well, one way is to get people to ignore what is not convenient.  

What makes these moments important today, not just for writers who might use them in a story, is how a culture can get to a point where they see other humans as less than human. The 'other' is a threat and must be subdued or killed. I am not sure if human nature ever gets beyond it. I do though believe we ought to try.

researching for writing and fun

 Montezuma's Castle, Arizona 1972

When I finish Rose's story for the Arizona historicals, then I will finally begin writing the fourth Arizona novel. When writing an historical, there is figuring out the characters but also getting the history right. Research, lots of research even if what I learn doesn't get used.

This heroine was introduced in the third Arizona historical. She is an anthropologist with an interest in doing an archaeological dig in the Southwest. This was before the Southwest was having so many digs. The big interest in 1900 was in Europe. The ruins had been seen, of course, but people didn't know what to make of them or the ones who had left them rather precipitously.

With a serious interest in finding ancient Pueblo settlements there were those who like Virginia McClurg, a journalist at Mesa Verde in '82-85. She found several of the dwellings and many artifacts.

A family of ranchers in southern Colorado, the Wetherhills, are credited with finding most of the big ruins at Mesa Verde. The Native Americans of the regions told them of the dwellings, which they said had been built by the ancient ones. It was December of 1888 when Richard Wetherhill and Charles Mason found Cliff Palace. If you have ever been there, you know what an impressive dwelling it is even today.

 Pueblo Grande 1976 Arizona

Across the southwest are these kinds of dwellings which have intrigued many with their beauty and mystery. Why build such elaborate and often graceful structures and then leave them with often their pots and tools as though they might return? These are the questions archaeologists try to answer by doing the kinds of digs that reveal the items and when they were put in place. They do this through soil analysis and detailed notations to leave the information for future scientists to take farther.

From the beginning of their being found, coming to these sites were the curious, artifact seekers, vandals, and gold hunters. Many didn't care what damage they did to the structures. Some archeologists had goals like Indiana Jones-- What can I take away. A good example of this was Gustaf Nordenskiöld, the son of a polar explorer.  Nordenskiöld was a trained mineralogist who did introduce scientific methods to his collecting, recorded locations, photographed, diagrammed, etc. but he took what he found and sent it to Sweden where the artifacts found their way to a museum in Finland. This inspired the United States to make Mesa Verde into a park to protect it.

I've been to many ruins across the Southwest and always find them fascinating. Even with a crowd of people, you can feel the energy in such sites. Mesa Verde is, of course, spectacular, but Chaco Canyon has the advantage of letting you go through the structures with no one around. I've hiked into ruins hidden away without names. Always, if I can sit long enough, I begin to feel the energy of those who had come before, can imagine living there in an ancient time. Between these sites and petroglyphs, I've had a life long interest in archaeology (my daughter is an archaeologist although currently she is not working in the field).

 Mesa Verde 1981

When I begin writing the fourth Arizona historical, I will set its dig in a little known site... actually an imaginary one because I like the freedom of that. My heroine will be ahead of the time archaeologists became interested in the Southwest. She is looking for artifacts, of course, but more it's the story she wants to prove or discover. For her though, there is an even more personal reason, which will be brought out in the story.

This book will also involve an outlaw family which led to more to research regarding the Outlaw , Hole in the Wall, and Robber's Roost in Utah. My hero has an outlaw father and his three predatory brothers (imaginary names, of course) who he has spent his life trying to get shed of. His skill with a gun has complicated his life time and again. Keeping most of the characters fiction makes it easier to write what I wish-- but I like to know the real stories of these outlaws and how the community regarded them-- often with great favor. Times don't change as much as we sometimes like to think!

So research has been a big deal for me lately. I've been sidetracked by my real life but also other things I came across in history which I can't use but will share as who knows maybe someone else reading this will be interested in creating their own historical. History was one of my minors in college and has been a lifelong interest. There just aren't enough hours in the day to cover all that fascinates me. Kind of neat to have it be that way as it means I am never bored-- well rarely.