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WELCOME!

Thanks for visiting Notes from the Frontier! This blog is for history lovers fascinated by the American West
and pioneer and Indian life on the frontier. I started this new blog in 2019 and it grew very quickly
to more than 100,000 readers! Today it has nearly 400 posts.
I spent many years of researching my just-released debut historical novel, Blood to Rubies
about Chief Joseph and his heroic struggle to save his people in 1877. (It's already bestselling and award-winning! Press the blue button below for more info.) During my research, I discovered that so much of what we'd been taught in history books and by Hollywood was just plain wrong. So I decided to start a history blog. And it's been a pure joy and a life's passion project for me.
We'll cover many topics: from "soiled doves" to slavery, firearms to freak show, home brew to homosexuality, tough men and tougher women, cowboys and Indians, childbirth and death, dreams and desperation, myths and the truth. And, as they say, truth is stranger than fiction!
It's sure to be a wild ride! So hang on to your hat and let's GIDDYUP!

SPECIAL NOTE: Go to the Directory to view more specific categories .

Here's me, author-to-be, Deborah Hufford, at 16 and the Dayton Rodeo Queen in Iowa (which was the U.S. National Rodeo of the Year that year! My childhood horse was named Sundance, and was a celebrity among all the children in my small farming town. He even carried the Iowa governor in our rodeo parade one year.

When Sundance died at the ripe old age of 30, our town newspaper ran his obituary. I was so lucky to have the best horse in the world 💙

Take a wild ride into America’s past.

The Wounded Knee Massacre

132 Years ago one of the most horrific and shameful chapters in U.S. history took place December 29, 1890. The massacre at Wounded Knee....

4 min read

Sitting Bull: Immortal Native Icon

He is the most famous Native American in history. But the man was far more complicated than the legend. Sitting...

7 min read

The Real Jeremiah Johnson

An Original "Rugged Individualist" Mountain men. They were the quintessential Americans. The original “rugged individualists.” They were...

6 min read

Belle Starr

From Southern Belle to Belle of the Outlaws Belle Starr was a blazing star in the dark world of outlaws in the 1800s. And, in the...

5 min read

Gall, The Mightiest Warrior

Elizabeth Custer said of the great Hunkpapa Chief: "I never in my life dreamed there could be...so fine a specimen of warrior as Gall."

5 min read

Who Killed Custer? It might surprise you.

Female Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors fought at the Battle of the Little Bighorn-Custer's Last Stand-with distinction.

1 min read

How Log Cabins Were Built

The log cabin is an American icon. The rough-hewn, squat and humble house has long been lionized in our lore.

9 min read

Death Photography

In the 1800s, Victorians were intimately acquainted with death. The Civil War, the bloodiest war in America's history, touched every family.

7 min read

Native American Warshirts

War shirts are not only beautifully crafted garments. They are spectacular works of art and symbolized the very essence of a warrior.

7 min read

The Axe-idental Tourist: Part 1

Nearly everyone has heard of the sensational Lizzie Borden axe murder case of 1892 but, Iowa had a case that was far worse.

8 min read

What Pioneers Ate

Pioneer survival depended on harsh realities and there was little room for sentimentality in food production.

8 min read

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Today is the 138th anniversary of the gunfight at the OK corral on October 26, 1881. It was only 30 seconds of fury and flying lead.

10 min read

The Incredible Saga of Sacagawea

Sacagawea is one of the most famous figures in American history. Nearly all American school children and adults recognize her name.

9 min read

The Stunt King of Hollywood

For a century, American Westerns have captured the blood-and-thunder of the Wild West, cowboys and Indians, outlaws and outlanders.

7 min read

Hunting Arrowheads

For those who have found an arrowhead before, there are few thrills like it.

7 min read

Native Warrior Women

We all know the immortal names of Pocahontas and Sacagawea, native women who played important roles in the formation of our early nation.

7 min read

The True Story of Katie Elder

The truth about the real Katie Elder is far more spectacular than any Hollywood fiction.

9 min read

For the Love of Horses (& Mules!)

For those of us who grew up with horses, who know the touch of horses, who love horses, we understand how much we owe to the horse and mule.

5 min read

America's First Indian General

One Native man reached the very highest echelons of white power and, in 1865, penned the final surrender terms of the Civil War.

6 min read

Cardiff Giant: Clash of the [Fake] Titans

One of the greatest hoaxes in American history arose from a religious argument at a kitchen table on a farm in the middle of Iowa.

7 min read