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The Bloody Bozeman: The Perilous Trail to Montana's Gold

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In the annals of American western history the Bozeman Trail through the Wyoming and Montana has a special notoriety for violence and peril. The Bozeman traveler faced hostile Native Americans, outlaws, hard climates, and wilderness solitude. Yet it was the trail favored by prospectors seeking their fortunes in Montana's gold fields, as well as the gamblers, highwaymen, "professional women", and merchants who sought to capitalize on the miner's needs and vices. Dorothy Johnson's classic history begins with the creation of the Bozeman Trail in 1862 and follows the events of 1863 through 1868. The Bloody Bozeman showcases some of the most colorful personalities and memorable events to ever grace the annals of the American West, and Dorothy Johnson is a born storyteller making the days of the Bozeman Trail fairly leap to life off the printed page.

Possibly the finest work in the early "Trail" series, the Bloody Bozeman clearly proves the utter senselessness of the early war with the Sioux Nation. Prior to the early hostilities, the area through which the Bozeman Trail was constructed was formally ceded to the Sioux by treaty by none other than General Harney. After the discovery of gold in Montana the population in the Bozeman area went from a few trappers and residual mountain men in 1862 to over 18,000 by 1864. So no truly new travel routes were needed. Even if one was, none other than Jim Bridger has established an alternate route west of the Big Horn Mountains, making the trail totally unnecessary. Last, an additional alternative route farther east of the Bozeman was concurrently developed which proved materially safer but for some reason known only to the Army was never allowed to fully develop.

So one is left to wonder why, with three different alternative routes into the gold fields, the Army forced the development of this trail by establishing the series of forts which Red Cloud fought so viciously against and ultimately forces the abandonment of. This trail was only open for 6 years and thousands died. Red Cloud's war was the only instance of a true US Army defeat in the West.

This is an amazing story, exceptionally well written and crafted. It doesn't so much seek answers as to why the Fetterman disaster occurred as it just simply describes how the trail developed, why it was used, who utilized it and why the Army ultimately withdrew.

Don't miss this one. It is truly a remarkable history of the settling and development of present day Western Montana. This is historical writing that will introduce you to more unforgettable characters than you can imagine and give you a sense of what it was like to carve a State from true wilderness

It's always a pleasure to read a book by an author who knows how to put a paragraph together. Dorothy Johnson comes through. Her sentences flow like water pouring out of a pitcher, and the chapters fly by. You're finished with the book before you know it.

The book is loaded with personal stories of the men and women who emigrated over the Bozeman Trail and those who went to Montana over other routes as well. The book is not strictly about the Bozeman Trail alone. It is also a history of the gold fields of early Montana, the Plummer gang, the vigilantes, etc.

The book covers the important Indian fights at Forts Phil Kearny and C.F. Smith, but is limited in that only one map of any kind is provided, and that is a regional one.

Reading this book will probably make you want to go out to beautiful Wyoming to see where it happened.

One of the strangest parts of the book for me was the description of Col. Carrington and his wife (the widow of one of his officers), years later, renting a car and driving up to some of the old forts.

Johnson M. Dorothy. The Bloody Bozeman. Mountain Press Publishing Company Missoula, COPYWRITE 1983
In the story TheBloody Bozeman many settlers head west on the Oregano Trial in search of the gold that they had been hearing about back east. The trail was long and slow if you were headed to the northwest area of Montana and Idaho. Then a small party consisting of John Bozeman, John Jacobs and his daughter decided to find a shorter trail to get there. When they discovered the path they called it the Bozeman Trail. Many people took it but died because of the Indians. They were all over in that country. People had to gamble on which trail to take.

This story had a lot of interesting things about what they had to go through and how they got there. I really like stories that tell you things like that. It didn't have much of a story line but it was a good book. I would recommend it to a person who likes to learn about the 1860's gold fields.