In the winter of 1861-62, nine thousand Native Americans in Indian Territory took a chance. Drawing on little else but wits, raw courage, and unshakable faith in the old gods, and their aging leader, Opothleyahola, they made a desperate escape from Confederate troops that were closing in. Seeking to reach the protection of federal forces in Kansas, their dramatic journey, recounted here from a unique Creek/Muskogee perspective, was filled with hazards; their destination, with disillusion and despair.
The fleeing tribes suffered on the trek from blizzards, disease, and starvation. Constant...

Fountain Goodlet Oxsheer--like "Slaughter" or "Goodnight"--was an unusual and appealing name for one of Texas' most dynamic cattle ranchers. Once the baron of an intricate network of ranches that stretched from Oklahoma and the Texas Staked Plains down to northern Mexico, Oxsheer prospered, endured, and sought to run his empire and live by his own code of ethics. But the great ranching era ended, and twentieth-century phenomena such as world war and materialistic lifestyles joined the Dust Bowl tempest to obscure his renown and obliterate his fortune.
The forgotten cattle king is brought...