Author: Charles G. Worman
Publisher: UNIVERSITY NEW MEXICO PRESS, Nov 2005
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 0-8263-3593-4
Synopsis
The gun was an essential tool in the exploration & settlement of the trans-Mississippi West, providing food & protection & recreation. 559 halftones; 9x10 inches, 360 pgs.
More Information
The gun, like the axe & the plow, was an essential tool in the exploration and settlement of the trans-Mississippi West. It provided food for the cooking pot as well as protection against two- or four-legged marouders. As the century progressed, firearms also provided various forms of recreation for both men & women, primarily target and competition shooting.
Of course, the employment of the gun, whether for good or evil, depended upon the user. The men & women who lived the 19th century western experience sometimes described in detail the role firearms played in their lives. Such accounts included a trapper in 1830s, a woman crossing the plains by wagon in the 1850s, a drover ('cowboy" in modern terminology) enduring the dangers of a long cattle drive, a professional hunter engaged in the slaughter of the once seemingly endless herds of bison, or a soldier campaigning against American Indians.
Each account adds to our knowledge of firearms and our awareness of the struggle faced by those who were a part of the western experience. Gunsmoke & Saddle Leather describes the gun's impact on the lives of those in the West--men and women, whites & American Indians--using their own words to tell that story wherever possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Charles G. Worman spent more than 30 years with the Nat'l Museum of the U.S. Airt Force, retiring as deputy director. He has written extensively on antique guns, is a fellow of the Company of Military Historians, and has served as a firearms consultant to museums.
