Bill Hamilton on the Western Frontier

My Sixty Years on the Plains, A Trapping Expedition, 1848-9 & A Trading Expedition among the Indians in 1858

Three essential and riveting first-hand accounts by a renowned frontiersman

William (Bill) Hamilton was born in the Cheviot Hills on the English/Scottish border. His parents emigrated to America, eventually settling in St Louis, Missouri. At just twenty years of age, he accompanied a trading expedition among the Indians. They first traded with the Cheyennes, near the present site of Denver, then with the Shoshones on the Sweetwater and afterwards upon Green River and at the mouth of the Little Snake. This period of his life, which includes many fierce encounters with hostile tribes, occupies much of the content of the principal text. When he heard of the gold discoveries in California, Hamilton travelled with a party down the Humboldt River, reaching California in 1840. It is from this period forward that the rare second piece in this edition is drawn. Local Indian outrages motivated him to join the 'Buck-skin Rangers' with other trappers as an Indian fighter, seeing action against the Tar- head and other tribes. In 1858 Hamilton also fought in the Yakima and Spokane War serving as a scout. At that war's conclusion, the army despatched him on a trading and intelligence gathering mission to the tribes east of Walla Walla and beyond the Rocky Mountains. It is the author's account of that period which forms the third and also rarely published work in this edition. This additional material contributes an approximately further 40% of invaluable narrative to this version of Hamilton's book. After another period of trading Hamilton became a sheriff and a deputy United States Marshal. He then joined Crook in the Sioux War of 1876 as a scout and was conspicuous in the fight at the Middle Fork of Powder River. Hamilton retired to the Yellowstone Valley, Montana.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.