Lost Cause in Montana

[nicholls]

This article highlights Montana's connection to the Confederacy:

‘Yellowstone’ highlights Montana’s long-forgotten connection to the Confederacy

The themes in the hit television series echo the social and political issues that the state has grappled with for decades.

getpocket.com

 

[5fish]

This article highlights Montana's connection to the Confederacy:

‘Yellowstone’ highlights Montana’s long-forgotten connection to the Confederacy

The themes in the hit television series echo the social and political issues that the state has grappled with for decades.

getpocket.com

A good article...

 

[diane]

If any scholar of the Civil War wants something fresh to write a book about, the West during the Civil War and Reconstruction is an excellent topic! Everything from John Brown's daughter living in the obscure little town of Red Bluff, Ca and getting heckled by Confederate sympathizers to the curious City of the Dead (Colma, Ca). Cattle drives, railroads, farming colonies in Southern California. Gold in South Dakota, Colorado where there is a Dixie Land. (Farm colony who found out cotton is really picky about where it grows.) Many Southerners found it impossible to start over in the South but possible to finish up life in the West. Children born during and just after the Civil War made colorful the country! Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday come to mind...

 

[5fish]

Here is a tale...

Great Falls Tribune

Was he, or was he not, the son of Col William Bent of Bent's Fort fame?

www.greatfallstribune.com

Ken Robison is a local historian and author of "Montana Territory and the Civil War: A Frontier Forged on the Battlefield" and the forthcoming "Confederates in Montana Territory: In the Shadow of Price's Army."

 

[5fish]

You got me looking up stories...

https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/dailyfeatures/civil-war-shaped-montana-and-bozeman/article_3b53907c-a523-11e0-8c4b-001cc4c03286.html

The 1870 census found that Montana's 20,500 inhabitants were roughly one-third from Northern states and one-third from other countries. The rest came from the West, border states like Missouri or the South. Fewer than 1,000 people came from Confederate states, Malone and his colleagues wrote in "Montana: A History of Two Centuries."

"The Confederate sympathizers never came near gaining a majority of the Montana vote," they concluded, "but they sometimes raised enough hell to give observers that impression."

In Virginia City, Confederates reportedly celebrated Lincoln's assassination, Strahn wrote, by dancing in the streets.

 

[diane]

The Civil War in Idaho Territory would be a good start! In 1863, Lincoln recognized the territory, which included Idaho, Montana, and part of Wyoming. This formation was because of political problems between Confederate Democrats and Radical Republicans - even needed to call in help from Ft Boise. The Confederates had arrived, as they had done in Kansas and other spots, to vote even though they couldn't. But - it shaped politics in the territory for over 100 years. (And the effect these foreign politics had on Native tribes - say, the Nez Perce - wasn't minor.)

 

[5fish]

I going to put this ladies story here... Doc Holiday's lady...

Who Was Big Nose Kate - Big Nose Kate's Saloon

Mary Catherine Elder Haroney, a.k.a. Big Nose Kate Though she was born to a prominent family, Kate would grow up to be just one of…

bignosekatestombstone.com

By 1874 Kate was said to have been in Wichita, Kansas and later she was working in a sporting house for Nellie Bessie Earp the wife of James Earp. Though Kate always stated that she did not meet Wyatt Earp until she was in Fort Griffin, Texas, she and Wyatt Earp were in Wichita at the same time, and it has been speculated that she had a relationship with Wyatt at that time

 

[diane]

I going to put this ladies story here... Doc Holiday's lady...

Who Was Big Nose Kate - Big Nose Kate's Saloon

Mary Catherine Elder Haroney, a.k.a. Big Nose Kate Though she was born to a prominent family, Kate would grow up to be just one of…

bignosekatestombstone.com

By 1874 Kate was said to have been in Wichita, Kansas and later she was working in a sporting house for Nellie Bessie Earp the wife of James Earp. Though Kate always stated that she did not meet Wyatt Earp until she was in Fort Griffin, Texas, she and Wyatt Earp were in Wichita at the same time, and it has been speculated that she had a relationship with Wyatt at that time

Wyatt got around! Virgil Earp was in the Union army and was commander of artillery when N B Forrest attempted to retake Dover, TN. Virgil's battery was parked around a corner when Forrest's troops came charging down the street - they got blown away quite literally. Forrest was in the lead, of course, and went down horse and all - his men reported him killed. However, he found a stick for his shot leg and hobbled back to Wheeler's headquarters. Virgil Earp was one of the few guys who won a fight with Forrest. Years later, during the Yukon Gold Rush, Forrest's son Willie met Wyatt Earp in Nome, Alaska. Willie and his son had gone looking for gold and Wyatt just wanted to see what was going on. They got along great! Wyatt left a pistol there - the law was no guns allowed so he parked his with the local constabulary and forgot to pick it up.