The Colonel's Lady on the Western Frontier: The Correspondence of Alice Kirk Grierson (Women in the West Series) [Paperback]

Shirley A. Leckie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1989 | Series: Women in the West

The modern woman who tries to juggle private and public roles with equilibrium will discover a spiritual ancestor in Alice Kirk Grierson. The colonel's lady spent most of her life at army outposts on the nineteenth-century western frontier, where she faced the problems of raising a large family while fulfilling the duties of a commanding officer's wife. Fortunately for history, she left a large and extraordinarily candid correspondence, which has now been edited by Shirley Anne Leckie.

Alice was the wife of Benjamin B. Grierson, a major general in the Civil War who won fame for a raid that contributed to the fall of Vicksburg. Her letters begin in 1866, when her husband reentered the army as colonel of the legendary "buffalo soldiers" of the Tenth Cavalry, and end with her death in 1888. During these years she chronicles the criticism experienced by her husband in commanding one of the army's two black mounted regiments and the frustration when he is repeatedly passed over for promotion, in part because he advocated a more humane Indian policy. All the while her position requires her to assume heavy responsibilities as a hostess. Her letters are just as unflinching in describing the daily hard-ships of raising a family at frontier posts like Forts Riley, Gibson, Sill, Concho, Davis, and Grant, where two of her seven children died young and two suffered from manic-depressive psychosis. They are extraordinary for their insight into nineteenth-century attitudes toward birth control, childbearing, marital roles, race relations, and mental illness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The remarkably resilient wife of a commanding officer in the U.S. Army, Grierson spent some 20 years (1866-1888) in remote military outposts on the western frontier. She writes frankly and intelligently, with minimal complaints, about hardships she experiences as an Army dependent--moving from one makeshift dwelling to the next; making 22-hour journeys by stagecoach to visit relatives; coping on her own while her husband fights against the Plains Indians; and raising seven children, three of whom die in their youth. Though she seems satisfied with her role as a wife and mother, the letters to her husband express support for equal rights for women, particularly at home. She emphasizes that she wants to exercise greater control over the frequency of marital relations and conception. Leckie's well-researched commentary provides an engrossing, detailed look at aspects of American social history, including the maltreatment of black enlisted men by white officers and their wives. Leckie is the co-author of Unlikely Warriors: General Benjamin H. Grierson and His Family. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

In her introduction Shirley Anne Leckie adds to the portrait of a forthright woman who stood up to unremitting demands without sacrificing her own identity. An associate professor of history at the University of Central Florida, she is coauthor, with William H. Leckie, of Unlikely Warriors: General Benjamin H. Grierson and His Family (1984).

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; First Edition edition (August 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803279299
• ISBN-13: 978-0803279292
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #809,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, April 6, 2007

By 

Dick Stanley (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Colonel's Lady on the Western Frontier: The Correspondence of Alice Kirk Grierson (Women in the West Series) (Paperback)

Through her letters to her husband, her sons and others, Alice Grierson becomes a friend you won't forget--not her hardy life nor her excruciating death. Her candor on intimate subjects, such as contraception and depression, make her seem modern. Her word pictures of soldier and family life in isolated places such as Fort Concho, Texas--where her child, Edith, died of typhoid fever and was buried with military honors--pull you into a vanished time whose routine hazards helped shape the American character.