144-473: Martha Jane Canary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane , was an American frontierswoman , sharpshooter , and storyteller. In addition to many exploits, she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok . Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition . She is said to have exhibited compassion to others, especially to
288-460: A Chiricahua Apache renegade chief / guerrilla fighter leader, in the military's Department of Arizona in the old Arizona Territory in the Southwest . General Crook had relied heavily on Apache scouts in his efforts to capture Geronimo. Instead, Miles relied instead on white regular cavalry troops, who eventually traveled 3,000 miles (4,800 km) without success as they tracked Geronimo through
432-516: A Florida reservation far to the east. Geronimo agreed on these terms, being unaware of the real plot behind the negotiations (that there was no real intent to let them go back to their native lands in Arizona and New Mexico). The exile included even the Chiricahuas Apache scouts who had worked for the army, in violation of Miles' original agreement with them. Miles denied Lt. Gatewood any credit for
576-453: A Jean Hickok Burkhardt McCormick who claimed to be the legal offspring of Martha Jane Canary and James Butler Hickok . She presented evidence that Calamity Jane and Wild Bill had married at Benson's Landing, Montana Territory (now Livingston, Montana ) on September 25, 1873. The documentation was written in a Bible and presumably signed by two ministers and numerous witnesses. However, McCormick's claim has been vigorously challenged because of
720-494: A crucial role in national expansion. It facilitated expansion into the West by creating an inexpensive, fast, convenient communication system. Letters from early settlers provided information and boosterism to encourage increased migration to the West, helped scattered families stay in touch and provide neutral help, assisted entrepreneurs to find business opportunities, and made possible regular commercial relationships between merchants and
864-534: A dishwasher, cook, waitress, dance hall girl, nurse, and ox team driver. Finally, in 1874, she claimed she found work as a scout at Fort Russell . During this time, she also reportedly began her occasional employment as a prostitute at the Fort Laramie Three-Mile Hog Ranch . She moved to a rougher, mostly outdoor and adventurous life on the Great Plains . Jane was involved in several campaigns in
1008-534: A few thousand French migrated to Canada; these habitants settled in villages along the St. Lawrence River , building communities that remained stable for long stretches. Although French fur traders ranged widely through the Great Lakes and midwest region, they seldom settled down. French settlement was limited to a few very small villages such as Kaskaskia, Illinois as well as a larger settlement around New Orleans . In what
1152-506: A few weeks recuperating. She then rode to Fort Laramie in Wyoming and joined a wagon train headed north in July 1876. The second part of her story is verified. She was at Fort Laramie in July 1876, and she did join a wagon train that included Wild Bill Hickok. That was where she first met Hickok, contrary to her later claims, and that was how she happened to come to Deadwood. Calamity Jane accompanied
1296-444: A few years, the pioneer added hogs, sheep, and cattle, and perhaps acquired a horse. Homespun clothing replaced the animal skins. The more restless pioneers grew dissatisfied with over civilized life and uprooted themselves again to move 50 or a hundred miles (80 or 160 km) further west. The land policy of the new nation was conservative, paying special attention to the needs of the settled East. The goals sought by both parties in
1440-550: A gambling problem, and little is known about her mother Charlotte M. Canary. Jane was the eldest of six children, with two brothers and three sisters. In 1865, the family moved by wagon train from Missouri to Virginia City, Montana . In 1866, Charlotte died of pneumonia along the way, in Blackfoot, Montana . After arriving in Virginia City in the spring of 1866, Robert took his six children to Salt Lake City , Utah. They arrived in
1584-427: A lynching and never was in an Indian fight. She was simply a notorious character, dissolute and devilish, but possessed a generous streak which made her popular." A popular belief is that she instead acquired the nickname as a result of her warnings to men that to offend her was to "court calamity". It is possible that "Jane" was not part of her name until the nickname was coined for her. It is certain, however, that she
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#17328582236521728-451: A nearby Catholic boarding school. The benefit raised a large sum; Jane got drunk and spent a considerable portion of the money that same night and left with the child the next day. Estelline Bennett was living in Deadwood at that time and had spoken briefly with Jane a few days before the benefit. She thought that Jane honestly wanted her daughter to have an education and that the drunken binge
1872-468: A one-room log cabin. The main food supply at first came from hunting deer, turkeys, and other abundant game. Clad in typical frontier garb, leather breeches, moccasins, fur cap, and hunting shirt, and girded by a belt from which hung a hunting knife and a shot pouch—all homemade—the pioneer presented a unique appearance. In a short time he opened in the woods a patch, or clearing, on which he grew corn, wheat, flax, tobacco, and other products, even fruit. In
2016-727: A party of 20 soldiers to find the headwaters of the Mississippi. He later explored the Red and Arkansas Rivers in Spanish territory, eventually reaching the Rio Grande . On his return, Pike sighted the peak in Colorado named after him . Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784–1864) led the Yellowstone and Missouri expeditions of 1819–1820, but his categorizing in 1823 of the Great Plains as arid and useless led to
2160-426: A place in the census reports." Despite this, the later 1900 U.S. census continued to show the westward frontier line, and his successors continued the practice. By the 1910 U.S. census however, the frontier had shrunk into divided areas without a singular westward line of settlement. An influx of agricultural homesteaders in the first two decades of the 20th century, taking up more acreage than homestead grants in
2304-470: A principal trading center for Mississippi River traffic and inland commerce but remained under Spanish control until 1803. Thomas Jefferson thought of himself as a man of the frontier and was keenly interested in expanding and exploring the West. Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the size of the nation at the cost of $ 15 million, or about $ 0.04 per acre ($ 305 million in 2023 dollars, less than 42 cents per acre). Federalists opposed
2448-529: A profitable monopoly; he left the business as a multi-millionaire in 1834. As the frontier moved west, trappers and hunters moved ahead of settlers, searching out new supplies of beaver and other skins for shipment to Europe. The hunters were the first Europeans in much of the Old West and they formed the first working relationships with the Native Americans in the West. They added extensive knowledge of
2592-464: A reputation as a Wild West heroine and probably did more to enhance her familiarity to the public than any of her real life exploits. There is no evidence that she was consulted by Wheeler or approved the Deadwood Dick stories, so the character in the stories was entirely fictitious—as were the events described—but the fictional adventures were muddled in the public mind with the real Jane. Calamity Jane
2736-522: A romantic interest of the character Mark Counter (in The Wildcats , The Bad Bunch , Guns In The Night and others). An alternative universe version of Jane is a character in the short story "Deadwood" in Corsets and Clockwork (2011), a steampunk anthology. The story also features Jesse James . In Calamity's Wake (2013), a novel of historical fiction written by Natalee Caple , Martha, or Calamity Jane,
2880-402: A salutary restraint upon the tribes, who would feel that any foray by their warriors upon the white settlements would meet with prompt retaliation upon their own homes. There was a debate at the time about the best size for the forts with Jefferson Davis , Winfield Scott , and Thomas Jesup supporting forts that were larger but fewer in number than Floyd. Floyd's plan was more expensive but had
3024-710: A side character in the computer RPG Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams (1991). In the KingsIsle Entertainment game Pirate101 , Calamity Jane is one of the Magnificent 7. A character named after Calamity Jane appeared as a side character in the videogame Wild Arms (1996). In the RPG Fallout 3 , the Lone Wanderer references Calamity Jane in a dialogue option when first talking to Megaton sheriff and mayor, Lucas Simms. A character named Calamity Janet appears in
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#17328582236523168-564: A spirit of nationalism and providing a necessary infrastructure. The army early on assumed the mission of protecting settlers along with the Westward Expansion Trails , a policy that was described by U.S. Secretary of War John B. Floyd in 1857: A line of posts running parallel without frontier, but near to the Indians' usual habitations, placed at convenient distances and suitable positions, and occupied by infantry, would exercise
3312-675: A storekeeper, a minister, and perhaps a doctor; and there were several landless laborers. All the rest were farmers. In the South, frontier areas that lacked transportation, such as the Appalachian Mountains region, remained based on subsistence farming and resembled the egalitarianism of their northern counterparts, although they had a larger upper-class of slaveowners. North Carolina was representative. However, frontier areas of 1700 that had good river connections were increasingly transformed into plantation agriculture. Rich men came in, bought up
3456-487: A storyteller. She also participated in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition . Her addiction to liquor was evident even in her younger years. For example, on June 10, 1876, she rented a horse and buggy in Cheyenne for a one-mile joy ride to Fort Russell and back, but she was so drunk that she passed right by her destination without noticing it and finally ended up about 90 miles (140 km) away at Fort Laramie. Jane returned to
3600-672: A tour she was about to begin, in which she appeared in dime museums around the United States. Some of the information in the pamphlet is exaggerated or even completely inaccurate. Calamity Jane was born on May 1, 1852, as Martha Jane Canary (or Cannary) in Princeton , within Mercer County , Missouri. Her parents were listed in the 1860 census as living about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Princeton in Ravanna . Her father Robert Wilson Canary had
3744-456: A variety of discrepancies. McCormick later published a book with letters purported to be from Calamity Jane to her daughter. In them, Calamity Jane says she had been married to Hickok and that Hickok was the father of McCormick, who was born September 25, 1873, and was placed for adoption with a Captain Jim O'Neil and his wife. During this period, Calamity Jane was allegedly working as a scout for
3888-463: Is a song by Czech rock band Kabát . "Calamity Jane" is a song by Chris Anderson on his album "The Crown" (2004). The 1953 movie Calamity Jane with Doris Day and Howard Keel features the song "My Secret Love", which won the 1954 Academy Award for "Best Music Original Song". Calamity Jane is mentioned in the 2016 song "The Lighter" by the French pop-rock band Superbus from the album "Sixtape". Calamity Jane
4032-576: Is a tale of conquest, but also one of survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures that gave birth and continuing life to America." Turner himself repeatedly emphasized how the availability of "free land" to start new farms attracted pioneering Americans: "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development." Through treaties with foreign nations and native tribes , political compromise, military conquest,
4176-500: Is available on the Biography website. The name "Calamity" is given to the children's character played by Nancy Gilbert in the 1955–1956 television series Buffalo Bill, Jr. , with Dick Jones as the fictitious Buffalo Bill, Jr. and Harry Cheshire as Judge Ben "Fair and Square" Wiley. In the episode "Calamity" (December 13, 1959) of the series Colt .45 , Dody Heath is cast as Calamity Jane and Joan Taylor as Dr. Ellen McGraw. In
4320-720: Is depicted in Thomas Berger 's novel Little Big Man (1964). Jane is the central character in Larry McMurtry 's book Buffalo Girls: A Novel (1990). Jane is a central character in Pete Dexter 's novel Deadwood (1986). J. T. Edson features Calamity Jane as a character in a number of his books, as a stand-alone character (in Cold Deck, Hot Lead , Calamity Spells Trouble , Trouble Trail , The Bull Whip Breed , The Cow Thieves , The Whip And The War Lance and The Big Hunt ) and as
4464-510: Is famous for classifying and painting in minute details 500 species of birds, published in Birds of America . The most famous of the explorers was John Charles Frémont (1813–1890), an Army officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. He displayed a talent for exploration and a genius at self-promotion that gave him the sobriquet of "Pathmarker of the West" and led him to the presidential nomination of
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4608-586: Is mentioned in the song "Two Characters in Search of a Country Song" by The Magnetic Fields . Frontier Gentleman is a short-lived radio Western series originally broadcast on the CBS radio network. In the episode "Aces & Eights" broadcast 12 October 1958, the main character encounters Calamity Jane while seeking information for a story on Wild Bill Hickok, and subsequently witnesses Hickok's murder. The long-running series Biography featured Calamity Jane. The episode
4752-523: Is now New York state the Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River valley, followed by large grants of land to rich landowning patroons who brought in tenant farmers who created compact, permanent villages. They created a dense rural settlement in upstate New York, but they did not push westward. Areas in the north that were in the frontier stage by 1700 generally had poor transportation facilities, so
4896-562: Is one of two main narrators; the other is Jane's daughter Miette. Calamity Jane, légende de l'Ouest , written by Gregory Monro (2010), is the only French biography to this day. Calamity Jane appears in Michael Crichton 's novel Dragon Teeth (2017). Calamity Jane figures as a main character in an album of the same name of the Franco-Belgian comics series Lucky Luke , created by Morris and René Goscinny . Also, she features in
5040-413: Is rescued by Little Joe , who at first thinks she is a male. She becomes infatuated with him, and he receives threats from Doc, who covets Jane for himself. At her urging (and threat), Doc demurs from facing down Joe, and Jane and Doc exit town. No official or unofficial documentation exists suggesting that Doc Holliday and Jane ever met during their lifetimes. It is highly unlikely that they met considering
5184-465: Is the central character in Larry McMurtry 's book Buffalo Girls: A Novel (1990), and in the 1995 TV adaptation of the same name , Jane is played by Anjelica Huston , with Sam Elliott as Wild Bill Hickok. In 1997, the cartoon series The Legend of Calamity Jane depicted a young Jane (voiced by Barbara Weber Scaff). Robin Weigert played Calamity Jane in the series Deadwood (2004–2006) and in
5328-450: The 5th U.S. Infantry Regiment , a position he held for 11 years until 1880. Miles played a leading role in nearly all of the U.S. Army 's campaigns of the later American Indian Wars against the native American Indian tribes of the Great Plains , of the Mid-West , among whom he was known as "Bearcoat" (for his characteristic bearskin fur coat). In 1874–1875, he was a field commander in
5472-701: The Mississippi River , in what is now the Midwest , Texas , the Great Plains , the Rocky Mountains , the Southwest , and the West Coast . Enormous popular attention was focused on the Western United States (especially the Southwest ) in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century, from the 1850s to the 1910s. Such media typically exaggerated the romance, anarchy, and chaotic violence of
5616-528: The Newton–Jenney Party into Rapid City in 1875, along with California Joe and Valentine McGillycuddy . In 1876, Calamity Jane settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota , in the Black Hills. There she became friends with Dora DuFran , the Black Hills' leading madam , and was occasionally employed by her. On September 6, 1941, the U.S. Department of Public Welfare granted old age assistance to
5760-630: The Union League Club of New York , where his portrait hung in the main bar area for many years. Miles City, Montana is named in his honor, as is Miles Street and the Miles Neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona . Miles Canyon on the Yukon River near Whitehorse , Yukon , was named after him in 1883 by Lt. Frederick Schwatka during his exploration of the river system. A steamship , General Miles ,
5904-421: The West Coast and the deep interior, with settlements such as Los Angeles and Salt Lake City respectively. The " West " was the recently settled area near that boundary. Thus, parts of the Midwest and American South , though no longer considered "western", have a frontier heritage along with the modern western states. Richard W. Slatta, in his view of the frontier, writes that "historians sometimes define
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6048-469: The frontier myth , have embedded themselves into United States culture so much so that the Old West, and the Western genre of media specifically, has become one of the defining features of American national identity. Historians have debated at length as to when the frontier era began, when it ended, and which were its key sub-periods. For example, the Old West subperiod is sometimes used by historians regarding
6192-485: The regular army in recognition of his earlier wartime actions of 1863 at Chancellorsville. He was again brevetted, this time to the rank of major general , for his documented actions at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House in 1864. Three decades later, he received the congressional Medal of Honor on July 23, 1892, for his gallantry at Chancellorsville. He was appointed brigadier general of volunteers as of May 12, 1864, for
6336-462: The 1790–1820 era were to grow the economy, avoid draining away the skilled workers needed in the East, distribute the land wisely, sell it at prices that were reasonable to settlers yet high enough to pay off the national debt, clear legal titles, and create a diversified Western economy that would be closely interconnected with the settled areas with minimal risk of a breakaway movement. By the 1830s, however,
6480-564: The 1840s called for low-cost land for free white farmers, a position enacted into law by the new Republican Party in 1862, offering free 160 acres (65 ha) homesteads to all adults, male and female, black and white, native-born or immigrant. After winning the Revolutionary War (1783), American settlers in large numbers poured into the west. In 1788, American pioneers to the Northwest Territory established Marietta, Ohio , as
6624-456: The American West as lands west of the 98th meridian or 98° west longitude ," and that other definitions of the region "include all lands west of the Mississippi or Missouri rivers." Key: States Territories Disputed areas Other countries In the colonial era , before 1776,
6768-581: The Americans, whose values focused on equality, democracy, and optimism, as well as individualism , self-reliance, and even violence. The frontier is the margin of undeveloped territory that would comprise the United States beyond the established frontier line. The U.S. Census Bureau designated frontier territory as generally unoccupied land with a population density of fewer than 2 people per square mile (0.77 people per square kilometer). The frontier line
6912-596: The Appalachian Mountains included the Connecticut River valley, and northern New England (which was a move to the north, not the west). Settlers on the frontier often connected isolated incidents to indicate Indian conspiracies to attack them, but these lacked a French diplomatic dimension after 1763, or a Spanish connection after 1820. Most of the frontiers experienced numerous conflicts. The French and Indian War broke out between Britain and France, with
7056-680: The Army a decade later, he fought for compensation payments to the Lakota Sioux survivors of the massacre. Overall however, he believed that the United States federal government should have authority over the native Indians, with the Lakota under military control. In his capacity as commander of the Department of the East from 1894 to 1895, Miles commanded the troops mobilized to put down the Pullman strike riots. He
7200-707: The Battles of the Wilderness and Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Six months after the end of the Civil War, on October 21, 1865, he was appointed a major general of volunteers at the young age of 26. After the war, he was commandant of Fort Monroe, Virginia at the mouth of the Hampton Roads harbor and the southern end of Chesapeake Bay and the James River , where former Confederate President , Jefferson Davis (1808-1889),
7344-463: The Black Hills in the spring (April/May) of 1903, where brothel owner Madame Dora DuFran was still running her business. For the next few months, Jane earned her keep by cooking and doing the laundry for Dora's girls in Belle Fourche . In late July, Jane traveled by ore train to Terry, South Dakota , a small mining village near Deadwood. It was reported that she had been drinking heavily while on board
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#17328582236527488-470: The British plan to set up a Native state in U.S. territory south of the Great Lakes. They explained the American policy toward the acquisition of Native lands: The United States, while intending never to acquire lands from the Indians otherwise than peaceably, and with their free consent, are fully determined, in that manner, progressively, and in proportion as their growing population may require, to reclaim from
7632-495: The French making up for their small colonial population base by enlisting Native war parties as allies. The series of large wars spilling over from European wars ended in a complete victory for the British in the worldwide Seven Years' War . In the peace treaty of 1763 , France ceded practically everything, as the lands west of the Mississippi River, in addition to Florida and New Orleans, went to Spain. Otherwise, lands east of
7776-550: The HBO sequel Deadwood: The Movie (2019). American frontier The American frontier , also known as the Old West , and popularly known as the Wild West , encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial settlements in the early 17th century and ended with
7920-621: The Homestead Law of 1862, with a moderated pace that gave settlers 160 acres free after they worked on it for five years. The private profit motive dominated the movement westward, but the federal government played a supporting role in securing the land through treaties and setting up territorial governments, with governors appointed by the President. The federal government first acquired western territory through treaties with other nations or native tribes. Then it sent surveyors to map and document
8064-671: The Mississippi River and what is now Canada went to Britain. Regardless of wars, Americans were moving across the Appalachians into western Pennsylvania, what is now West Virginia, and areas of the Ohio Country , Kentucky, and Tennessee. In the southern settlements via the Cumberland Gap , their most famous leader was Daniel Boone . Young George Washington promoted settlements in West Virginia on lands awarded to him and his soldiers by
8208-703: The Missouri River, and such principal stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean; whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river may offer the most direct and practicable communication across the continent for commerce". Jefferson also instructed the expedition to study the region's native tribes (including their morals, language, and culture), weather, soil, rivers, commercial trading, and animal and plant life. Entrepreneurs, most notably John Jacob Astor quickly seized
8352-546: The Montana Territory in 1878 . The heliographs were supplied by Brig. Gen. Albert J. Myer (1828-1880), of the U.S. Army 's Signal Corps . In December 1880 , Miles was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army. He was then assigned to command the military Department of the Columbia (1881–1885) in Oregon and the Washington Territory , and subsequently the Department of Missouri (1885–1886). In 1886, Miles replaced General George R. Crook (1828-1890), as commander of forces fighting against Geronimo (1829-1909),
8496-541: The Musical by Catherine Ann Jones : South Jersey Regional Theatre, Somers Point, New Jersey; Ojai Arts Theatre, Ojai, CA; Camino Real Theatre, San Juan Capistrano, CA; One Eyed Man Productions, a touring production (2017–18), Various Cities, Australia, with Virginia Gay. Calamity Jane was an important fictional character in the Deadwood Dick series of dime novels, beginning with the first appearance of Deadwood Dick in Beadle's Half-Dime Library issue #1 in 1877. This series, written by Edward Wheeler , established her with
8640-434: The Northeast, there was little competition on the western frontier for Transylvania University , founded in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1780. It boasted of a law school in addition to its undergraduate and medical programs. Transylvania attracted politically ambitious young men from across the Southwest, including 50 who became United States senators, 101 representatives, 36 governors, and 34 ambassadors, as well as Jefferson Davis,
8784-404: The Northwest terrain, including the important South Pass through the central Rocky Mountains. Discovered about 1812, it later became a major route for settlers to Oregon and Washington. By 1820, however, a new "brigade-rendezvous" system sent company men in "brigades" cross-country on long expeditions, bypassing many tribes. It also encouraged "free trappers" to explore new regions on their own. At
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#17328582236528928-464: The Royal government in payment for their wartime service in Virginia's militia. Settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains were curtailed briefly by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , forbidding settlement in this area. The Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) re-opened most of the western lands for frontiersmen to settle. The nation was at peace after 1783. The states gave Congress control of the western lands and an effective system for population expansion
9072-437: The Saber Wars 2 event. Calamity Jane (A Musical Western) , an adaptation of the 1953 Doris Day film with additional songs, premiered in May 1961. Productions: Calamity Jane: The Play by Catherine Ann Jones : Empire State Theatre, Albany, New York; Promenade Theatre, New York, NY, with Estelle Parsons; Santa Paula Theatre, Santa Paula, CA; Wimberley Players, Wimberley, Texas; Plaza Playhouse, Carpenteria, CA. Calamity Jane
9216-478: The Society of Black Hills Pioneers took charge of her funeral and burial in Mount Moriah Cemetery beside Wild Bill. Not just old friends, but the morbidly curious and many who would not have acknowledged Calamity Jane when she was alive, overflowed the First Methodist Church for the funeral services on August 4 and followed the hearse up the steep winding road to Deadwood's boot hill". Calamity Jane: Wild West Legend directed by Gregory Monro in 2014 She appears as
9360-457: The United States Army was abolished by an Act of Congress and the Army Chief of Staff system was introduced. A year later, standing as a presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention , he received a handful of votes. The Prohibition Party was going to give him their nomination, but an hour before balloting he sent a telegram to the convention stating that he did not want the nomination which went to Silas C. Swallow instead. When
9504-408: The United States entered World War I in 1917, the 77-year-old general offered to serve, but President Woodrow Wilson turned him down. Miles died in 1925 at the age of 85 from a heart attack while attending the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Washington, D.C., with his grandchildren. First Lady Grace Coolidge was also in attendance at the circus that day, and upon arriving at
9648-407: The West and wholesalers and factories back east. The postal service likewise assisted the Army in expanding control over the vast western territories. The widespread circulation of important newspapers by mail, such as the New York Weekly Tribune , facilitated coordination among politicians in different states. The postal service helped to integrate already established areas with the frontier, creating
9792-517: The West was filling up with squatters who had no legal deed, although they may have paid money to previous settlers. The Jacksonian Democrats favored the squatters by promising rapid access to cheap land. By contrast, Henry Clay was alarmed at the "lawless rabble" heading West who were undermining the utopian concept of a law-abiding, stable middle-class republican community. Rich southerners, meanwhile, looked for opportunities to buy high-quality land to set up slave plantations. The Free Soil movement of
9936-411: The Wilderness Road. Kentucky at this time had been depopulated—it was "empty of Indian villages." However raiding parties sometimes came through. One of those intercepted was Abraham Lincoln 's grandfather, who was scalped in 1784 near Louisville. The War of 1812 marked the final confrontation involving major British and Native forces fighting to stop American expansion. The British war goal included
10080-409: The admission of the last few contiguous western territories as states in 1912. This era of massive migration and settlement was particularly encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson following the Louisiana Purchase , giving rise to the expansionist attitude known as " manifest destiny " and historians' " Frontier Thesis ". The legends, historical events and folklore of the American frontier, known as
10224-635: The album Ghosthunt , created by Morris and Lo Hartog van Banda . Graphic novel Calamity Jane—The Calamitous Life of Martha Jane Cannary, 1852–1903 ( IDW Publishing , 2017) by Christian Perrissin and Matthieu Blanchin is a biography of Calamity Jane, mostly based on Calamity Jane's Letters to Her Daughter. Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are featured in the song "Deadwood Mountain" by the country duo Big & Rich . Some of her purported letters were set to music in an art-song cycle by 20th-century composer Libby Larsen , titled "Songs from Letters". Soprano Dora Ohrenstein commissioned five pieces compiled under
10368-484: The army, and at the time of Hickok's death, he had recently married Agnes Lake Thatcher. Calamity Jane does seem to have had two or four daughters, although the father's identity is unknown. In the late 1880s, Jane returned to Deadwood with a child who she said was her daughter. At Jane's request, a benefit was held in one of the theaters to raise money for her daughter's education in St. Martin's Academy at Sturgis, South Dakota ,
10512-543: The attempted enforcement of laws upon outlaws. In 1890, the Superintendent of the Census, William Rush Merriam stated: "Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line. In the discussion of its extent, its westward movement, etc., it can not, therefore, any longer have
10656-480: The card board game BANG! Calamity: The Natural World , a line of educational games made in the 1990s for the PlayStation by Lightspan Adventures, stars Calamity Jane. In the first-person shooter Hunt: Showdown , she died during a Wild West show from a mysterious accident. Also, there is a legendary rifle named after her. She appears in the mobile game Fate/Grand Order as a limited Archer class servant during
10800-673: The coalition of hostile Native tribes. Meanwhile, General Andrew Jackson ended the Native military threat in the Southeast at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 in Alabama. In general, the frontiersmen battled the Natives with little help from the U.S. Army or the federal government. To end the war, American diplomats negotiated the Treaty of Ghent , signed towards the end of 1814, with Britain. They rejected
10944-739: The creation of an Indian barrier state under British auspices in the Midwest which would halt American expansion westward. American frontier militiamen under General Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks and opened the Southwest, while militia under Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the Native-British alliance at the Battle of the Thames in Canada in 1813. The death in battle of the Native leader Tecumseh dissolved
11088-408: The crime, Jane continued living in the Deadwood area for some time, and at one point, she helped save numerous passengers in an overland stagecoach by diverting several Plains Indians who were in pursuit of the vehicle. Stagecoach driver John Slaughter was killed during the pursuit, and Jane took over the reins and drove the stage on to its destination at Deadwood. In late 1876 or 1878, Jane nursed
11232-512: The daughter of Jane and Hickok, but their authenticity is not accepted by some, largely because there is ample evidence that Jane was functionally illiterate. Calamity Jane was buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery , South Dakota, next to Bill Hickok. Four of the men who planned her funeral later stated that Hickok had "absolutely no use" for Jane while he was alive, so they decided to play a posthumous joke on him by burying her by his side. Another account states: "in compliance with Jane's dying requests,
11376-488: The early 1900s; typically within the first two decades before American entry into World War I . A period known as "The Western Civil War of Incorporation" lasted from the 1850s to 1919. This period includes historical events synonymous with the archetypical Old West or "Wild West" such as violent conflict arising from encroaching settlement into frontier land, the removal and assimilation of natives, consolidation of property to large corporations and government, vigilantism, and
11520-678: The end of the gathering season, the trappers would "rendezvous" and turn in their goods for pay at river ports along the Green River , Upper Missouri, and the Upper Mississippi. St. Louis was the largest of the rendezvous towns. By 1830, however, fashions changed and beaver hats were replaced by silk hats, ending the demand for expensive American furs. Thus ended the era of the mountain men , trappers, and scouts such as Jedediah Smith , Hugh Glass , Davy Crockett , Jack Omohundro , and others. The trade in beaver fur virtually ceased by 1845. There
11664-418: The entirety of the 19th century, is cited to have significantly reduced open land. A frontier is a zone of contact at the edge of a line of settlement. Theorist Frederick Jackson Turner went deeper, arguing that the frontier was the scene of a defining process of American civilization: "The frontier," he asserted, "promoted the formation of a composite nationality for the American people." He theorized it
11808-412: The establishment of law and order, the building of farms, ranches, and towns, the marking of trails and digging of mines, combined with successive waves of immigrants moving into the region, the United States expanded from coast to coast, fulfilling the ideology of Manifest Destiny. In his "Frontier Thesis" (1893), Turner theorized that the frontier was a process that transformed Europeans into a new people,
11952-400: The expansion, but Jeffersonians hailed the opportunity to create millions of new farms to expand the domain of land-owning yeomen ; the ownership would strengthen the ideal republican society, based on agriculture (not commerce), governed lightly, and promoting self-reliance and virtue, as well as form the political base for Jeffersonian Democracy . France was paid for its sovereignty over
12096-769: The first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory . In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened to reach the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville . The Wilderness Road was steep and rough, and it could only be traversed on foot or horseback, but it was the best route for thousands of settlers moving into Kentucky . In some areas they had to face Native attacks. In 1784 alone, Natives killed over 100 travelers on
12240-526: The first time. One of the largest and most famous camp meetings took place at Cane Ridge, Kentucky , in 1801. Nelson A. Miles Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was a United States Army officer who served in the American Civil War (1861-1865), the later American Indian Wars (1840-1890), and the Spanish–American War , (1898). From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as
12384-862: The force that defeated the Kiowa , Comanche , and the Southern Cheyenne along the upper Red River of the South . Between 1876 and 1877, he participated in the campaign that scoured the Northern Plains after 5 companies of the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment under the command of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer were massacred at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876, and forced the Lakota Sioux tribe under chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and their native allies onto designated federal Indian reservations . In
12528-431: The geographical distances between them during their lives. In an episode of the television show Death Valley Days , "A Calamity Named Jane", Fay Spain plays Calamity Jane as she joins Wild Bill Hickok's (Rhodes Reasons) show. Her uncouth behavior causes Bill to think he made a mistake, and when Bill tells her she should "act like a lady", he soon realizes he made a bigger mistake. In the 1966 Batman series, one of
12672-560: The good land, and worked it with slaves. The area was no longer "frontier". It had a stratified society comprising a powerful upper-class white landowning gentry, a small middle-class, a fairly large group of landless or tenant white farmers, and a growing slave population at the bottom of the social pyramid. Unlike the North, where small towns and even cities were common, the South was overwhelmingly rural. The seaboard colonial settlements gave priority to land ownership for individual farmers, and as
12816-471: The island, acting as both heads of the army of occupation and administrator of civil affairs. Upon returning to the United States, Miles was a vocal critic of the Army's quartermaster general, Brigadier General Charles P. Eagan , for providing rancid canned meat to troops in the field during what was known as the Army beef scandal . He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 1900 based on his performance in
12960-745: The land. By the 20th century, Washington bureaucracies managed the federal lands such as the United States General Land Office in the Interior Department, and after 1891, the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture. After 1900, dam building and flood control became major concerns. Transportation was a key issue and the Army (especially the Army Corps of Engineers) was given full responsibility for facilitating navigation on
13104-724: The last Commanding General of the United States Army (General-in-Chief), before the office was transformed into the current Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army in 1903 . Miles was born in Westminster, Massachusetts , on his family's farm. He worked in Boston , read military history, and mastered military principles and techniques, including battle drills. He attended the Fort Wayne College (now Taylor University in Upland, Indiana ). Miles
13248-454: The long-running military conflicts with Native Americans. Her claim was that: It was during this campaign [in 1872–73] that I was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming where the town of Sheridan is now located. Capt. Egan was in command of the Post. We were ordered out to quell an uprising of the Indians, and were out for several days, had numerous skirmishes during which six of
13392-465: The mountains for the proposed transcontinental railroad, but his expedition ended in near-disaster when it became lost and was trapped by heavy snow. His reports mixed narrative of exciting adventure with scientific data and detailed practical information for travelers. It caught the public imagination and inspired many to head west. Goetzman says it was "monumental in its breadth, a classic of exploring literature". While colleges were springing up across
13536-698: The negotiations and had him transferred far north to the Dakota Territory . During this campaign, Miles' special signals unit used the heliograph extensively, proving its worth in the field. The special signals unit was under the command of Captain W. A. Glassford . In 1888 , Miles became the commander of the Army's Military Division of the Pacific and the Department of California , headquartered at The Presidio in San Francisco . Two years later in April 1890 , Miles
13680-460: The new Republican Party in 1856. He led a series of expeditions in the 1840s which answered many of the outstanding geographic questions about the little-known region. He crossed through the Rocky Mountains by five different routes and mapped parts of Oregon and California. In 1846–1847, he played a role in conquering California. In 1848–1849, Frémont was assigned to locate a central route through
13824-500: The new state of South Dakota and hoped that Lakota chief Sitting Bull could be peacefully removed from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation . However, on December 15, 1890, Chief Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police attempting to arrest him, and 14 days later on December 29th, American cavalry troops surrounded and massacred hundreds of Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee . Miles was not directly involved in
13968-679: The opportunity and expanded fur trading operations into the Pacific Northwest . Astor's " Fort Astoria " (later Fort George), at the mouth of the Columbia River, became the first permanent white settlement in that area, although it was not profitable for Astor. He set up the American Fur Company in an attempt to break the hold that the Hudson's Bay Company monopoly had over the region. By 1820, Astor had taken over independent traders to create
14112-432: The opportunity for commercial agriculture was low. These areas remained primarily in subsistence agriculture, and as a result, by the 1760s these societies were highly egalitarian , as explained by historian Jackson Turner Main: The typical frontier society, therefore, was one in which class distinctions were minimized. The wealthy speculator, if one was involved, usually remained at home, so that ordinarily no one of wealth
14256-452: The period for greater dramatic effect. This inspired the Western genre of film, along with television shows , novels , comic books , video games , children's toys, and costumes. As defined by Hine and Faragher, "frontier history tells the story of the creation and defense of communities, the use of the land, the development of crops and hotels, and the formation of states." They explain, "It
14400-548: The population grew they pushed westward for fresh farmland. Unlike Britain, where a small number of landlords owned most of the land, ownership in America was cheap, easy and widespread. Land ownership brought a degree of independence as well as a vote for local and provincial offices. The typical New England settlements were quite compact and small, under a square mile. Conflict with the Native Americans arose out of political issues, namely who would rule. Early frontier areas east of
14544-414: The possession of lands more than they can cultivate, and more than adequate to their subsistence, comfort, and enjoyment, by cultivation. If this is a spirit of aggrandizement, the undersigned are prepared to admit, in that sense, its existence; but they must deny that it affords the slightest proof of an intention not to respect the boundaries between them and European nations, or of a desire to encroach upon
14688-571: The president of the Confederacy. Most frontiersmen showed little commitment to religion until traveling evangelists began to appear and to produce "revivals". The local pioneers responded enthusiastically to these events and, in effect, evolved their populist religions, especially during the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), which featured outdoor camp meetings lasting a week or more and which introduced many people to organized religion for
14832-431: The president. Then when the population reached 100,000 the territory applied for statehood. Frontiersmen typically dropped the legalistic formalities and restrictive franchise favored by eastern upper classes and adopting more democracy and more egalitarianism. In 1810, the western frontier had reached the Mississippi River . St. Louis, Missouri , was the largest town on the frontier, the gateway for travel westward, and
14976-479: The pursuing expedition over taking credit for Chief Joseph's capture. Later while on the Yellowstone River , he developed expertise with the use of the heliograph for sending long-distance communications signals utilizing ancient principles of sunlight and mirrors, establishing a 140-mile-long (230 km) line of stations with heliographs connecting far-flung military posts of Fort Keogh and Fort Custer , in
15120-487: The region getting a bad reputation as the "Great American Desert", which discouraged settlement in that area for several decades. In 1811, naturalists Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859) and John Bradbury (1768–1823) traveled up the Missouri River documenting and drawing plant and animal life. Artist George Catlin (1796–1872) painted accurate paintings of Native American culture. Swiss artist Karl Bodmer made compelling landscapes and portraits. John James Audubon (1785–1851)
15264-603: The rivers. The steamboat, first used on the Ohio River in 1811, made possible inexpensive travel using the river systems, especially the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. Army expeditions up the Missouri River in 1818–1825 allowed engineers to improve the technology. For example, the Army's steamboat " Western Engineer " of 1819 combined a very shallow draft with one of the earliest stern wheels. In 1819–1825, Colonel Henry Atkinson developed keelboats with hand-powered paddle wheels. The federal postal system played
15408-501: The showgrounds the general told circus owner John Ringling that he never missed a circus. Nelson was one of the last surviving general officers who served during the Civil War on either side. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in the Miles Mausoleum. It is one of only two mausoleums within the confines of the cemetery. George Burroughs Torrey painted his portrait. Rank and Organization: Citation: General Miles
15552-403: The sick and needy. This facet of her character contrasted with her daredevil ways and helped to make her a noted frontier figure. She was also known for her habit of wearing men's attire. Much of the information about the early years of Calamity Jane's life comes from an autobiographical booklet that she dictated in 1896, written for publicity purposes. It was intended to help attract audiences to
15696-476: The soldiers were killed and several severely wounded. When on returning to the Post we were ambushed about a mile and a half from our destination. When fired upon, Capt. Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he
15840-421: The state of nature, and to bring into cultivation every portion of the territory contained within their acknowledged boundaries. In thus providing for the support of millions of civilized beings, they will not violate any dictate of justice or humanity; for they will not only give to the few thousand savages scattered over that territory an ample equivalent for any right they may surrender, but will always leave them
15984-562: The story, series character Christopher Colt, played by Wayde Preston , hires Calamity Jane to drive the stagecoach containing Dr. McGraw and the vaccine needed for the smallpox outbreak in Deadwood. Colt is unsure if Calamity can handle the job because miners and Indians seek to steal the valuable medication. In an episode of Bonanza , "Calamity Over the Comstock" (1963), Stefanie Powers plays Calamity Jane, who visits Virginia City along with Doc Holliday . In this primarily comedic episode, she
16128-686: The summer, and Robert supposedly started farming on 40 acres (16 ha) of land. The family had been in Salt Lake City for only a year when he died in 1867. At age 14, Martha Jane took charge of her five younger siblings, loaded their wagon, and took the family to Fort Bridger , Wyoming Territory , where they arrived in May 1868. From there, they traveled on the Union Pacific Railroad to Piedmont, Wyoming . In Piedmont, Jane took whatever jobs she could find to provide for her large family. She worked as
16272-400: The support of settlers and the general public who preferred that the military remain as close as possible. The frontier area was vast and even Davis conceded that "concentration would have exposed portions of the frontier to Native hostilities without any protection." Government and private enterprise sent many explorers to the West. In 1805–1806, Army lieutenant Zebulon Pike (1779–1813) led
16416-406: The territories of Great Britain. [...] They will not suppose that that Government will avow, as the basis of their policy towards the United States a system of arresting their natural growth within their territories, for the sake of preserving a perpetual desert for savages. As settlers poured in, the frontier districts first became territories, with an elected legislature and a governor appointed by
16560-407: The territory in terms of international law. Between 1803 and the 1870s, the federal government purchased the land from the Native tribes then in possession of it. 20th-century accountants and courts have calculated the value of the payments made to the Natives, which included future payments of cash, food, horses, cattle, supplies, buildings, schooling, and medical care. In cash terms, the total paid to
16704-508: The time from the end of the American Civil War in 1865 to when the Superintendent of the Census, William Rush Merriam , stated the U.S. Census Bureau would stop recording western frontier settlement as part of its census categories after the 1890 U.S. Census . His successors however continued the practice until the 1920 Census . Others, including the Library of Congress and University of Oxford , often cite differing points reaching into
16848-512: The title Urban Diva , the second piece, Ben Johnston's Calamity Jane to Her Daughter is a theatrical setting of selected letters. "Calamity Jane" is a song by Grant-Lee Phillips on "Virginia Creeper" (2004). "Calamity Jane" is a song by Kiya Heartwood on Wishing Chair 's Underdog CD (2005). Alain Bashung, Chloé Mons, Rodolphe Burger released the album La Ballade de Calamity Jane (2006) based on Jane's letters to her daughter. "Kalamity Jane"
16992-428: The tortuous Sierra Madre Mountains of neighboring northern Mexico . Finally, young First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood (1853-1896), who had studied Apache culture and ways, succeeded in meeting with and negotiating a surrender of the war chief at a subsequent meeting arranged and held with General Miles, under the terms of which Geronimo and his few remaining followers agreed to temporarily spend two years in exile on
17136-399: The tragic massacre, and was critical of the Army's commanding officer of the reconstituted / reorganized and ill-fated 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment in the field, Colonel James W. Forsyth (1833-1906). Just two days after the massacre, Miles wrote to his wife, describing it as "the most abominable criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children". After his retirement from
17280-661: The train and had fallen ill. The conductor, S. G. Tillett, carried her off the train, a bartender secured a room for her at the Calloway Hotel, and a physician was summoned. Jane's condition deteriorated quickly, and she died at the hotel on Saturday, August 1, 1903, from inflammation of the bowels and pneumonia . A bundle of unsent letters to her daughter were allegedly found among Jane's few belongings. Composer Libby Larsen set some of these letters to music in an art song cycle called Songs from Letters (1989). The letters were made public by Jean McCormick as part of her claim to be
17424-504: The tribes in the area of the Louisiana Purchase amounted to about $ 2.6 billion, or nearly $ 9 billion in 2016 dollars. Additional sums were paid to the Natives living east of the Mississippi for their lands, as well as payments to Natives living in parts of the west outside the Louisiana Purchase. Even before the purchase, Jefferson was planning expeditions to explore and map the lands. He charged Lewis and Clark to "explore
17568-419: The use of torture was widespread and was undertaken with the knowledge of some senior officers. To show that he was still physically able to command, on July 14, 1903, less than a month before his 64th birthday, General Miles rode the 90 miles from Fort Sill to Fort Reno , Oklahoma, in eight hours' riding time (10 hrs 20 mins total), in temperatures between 90 and 100 °F (32 and 38 °C). The distance
17712-473: The victims of a smallpox epidemic in the Deadwood area. In 1881, Jane bought a ranch west of Miles City, Montana , along the Yellowstone River , where she kept an inn. According to one version of her life, she later married Clinton Burke from Texas and moved to Boulder , where she once again made an attempt in the inn business. In 1893, Calamity Jane started to appear in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show as
17856-502: The villains in season three was named "Calamity Jan" (played by Dina Merrill ). The television movie Calamity Jane (1984) featured her life story, including her alleged marriage to Wild Bill Hickok and the daughter she purportedly gave for adoption. Actress Jane Alexander portrayed Calamity and was nominated for an Emmy in 1985 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special. The show featured an early performance of Sara Gilbert as Calamity's daughter Jean at age 7. Jane
18000-587: The war. Miles was an opponent of the Philippine–American War and supported an inquiry into the brutality of American troops in the Philippines. In response, President Roosevelt called Miles a hypocrite and reminded him of his complicity in the Wounded Knee massacre. Miles would release his own report on US atrocities in the Philippines to the public. He condemned the use of concentration camps and said that
18144-588: The west was of high priority for settlers and politicians. The American frontier began when Jamestown , Virginia, was settled by the English in 1607. In the earliest days of European settlement on the Atlantic coast, until about 1680, the frontier was essentially any part of the interior of the continent beyond the fringe of existing settlements along the Atlantic coast. English , French , Spanish , and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different. Only
18288-506: The winter of 1877 , he drove his bluecoat mounted troops on a forced march across the eastern Montana Territory to intercept and stop the Nez Perce tribal band led by Chief Joseph (1840-1904), after the Nez Perce War , heading north to cross the border into British Canada . For the rest of his career, General Miles would quarrel with General Oliver O. Howard (1830-1909), who also led
18432-797: Was a member of several hereditary and military societies, including the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), serving as Commander-in-Chief from 1919 to 1925, the Grand Army of the Republic , Sons of the American Revolution and the Military Order of Foreign Wars . He was also an honorary member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati . He was also a member of
18576-408: Was a process of development: "This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward...furnish[es] the forces dominating American character." Turner's ideas since 1893 have inspired generations of historians (and critics) to explore multiple individual American frontiers, but the popular folk frontier concentrates on the conquest and settlement of Native American lands west of
18720-432: Was a resident. The class of landless poor was small. The great majority were landowners, most of whom were also poor because they were starting with little property and had not yet cleared much land nor had they acquired the farm tools and animals which would one day make them prosperous. Few artisans settled on the frontier except for those who practiced a trade to supplement their primary occupation of farming. There might be
18864-424: Was covered on a relay of horses stationed at 10-mile intervals; the first 30 miles were covered in 2 hours, 25 minutes. This was the longest horseback ride ever made by a commanding general of the army. Called a "brave peacock" by President Theodore Roosevelt , Miles nevertheless retired from the army in 1903 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 64. Upon his retirement, the office of Commanding General of
19008-533: Was developed. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 abolished slavery in the area north of the Ohio River and promised statehood when a territory reached a threshold population, as Ohio did in 1803 . The first major movement west of the Appalachian mountains originated in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina as soon as the Revolutionary War ended in 1781. Pioneers housed themselves in a rough lean-to or at most
19152-686: Was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt. Egan, on recovering, laughingly said: "I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains." I have borne that name up to the present time. "Captain Jack" Crawford served under Generals Wesley Merritt and George Crook . According to the Montana Anaconda Standard of April 19, 1904, he stated that Calamity Jane "never saw service in any capacity under either General Crook or General Miles . She never saw
19296-1034: Was held prisoner. During his tenure at Fortress Monroe, General Miles was forced to defend himself against charges that Davis was being mistreated. Fifteen months after the end of the war, in July 1866, Miles was appointed a colonel in the Regular Army, confirmed by the U.S. Senate . The next year, in April 1867, he was appointed assistant commissioner of the North Carolina branch of the United States War Department 's Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, ( Freedmen's Bureau ), serving under Bureau Commissioner, Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard (1830-1909). On June 30, 1868, he married Mary Hoyt Sherman (daughter of Charles Taylor Sherman , niece of fellow Union Army General William T. Sherman and U.S. Senator John Sherman , and granddaughter of Charles R. Sherman ). In March 1869, he became commander of
19440-432: Was just an example of her inability to curb her impulses and carry through long-range plans (which Bennett saw as typical of Jane's class). Bennett later heard that Jane's daughter did "get an education, and grew up and married well". Jane also claimed that, following Hickok's death, she went after his murderer Jack McCall with a meat cleaver because she had left her guns at her residence. Following McCall's execution for
19584-748: Was known by that nickname by 1876, because the arrival of the Hickok wagon train was reported in Deadwood's newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer , on July 15, 1876, with the headline: "Calamity Jane has arrived!" Another account in her autobiographical pamphlet is that her detachment was ordered to the Big Horn River under General Crook in 1875. She swam the Platte River and travelled 90 miles (140 km) at top speed while wet and cold in order to deliver important dispatches. She became ill afterwards and spent
19728-460: Was likely named for him. Nelson M. Holderman , himself a Medal of Honor recipient, was also named after Miles. Fort Miles at Cape Henlopen near Lewes, Delaware, was named for Miles on 3 June, 1941. Miles' legacy as an Indian fighter has seen him portrayed by Kevin Tighe in the film Geronimo: An American Legend , by Hugh O'Brian in the film Gunsmoke: The Last Apache , and by Shaun Johnston in
19872-579: Was named Commanding General of the United States Army in 1895, a post he held during the Spanish–American War . Miles commanded forces at Cuban sites such as Siboney . After the surrender of Santiago de Cuba by the Spaniards, he led the invasion of Puerto Rico , landing in Guánica in what is known as the Puerto Rican Campaign . He served as the first head of the military government established on
20016-599: Was promoted to major general in the Regular Army and became the commander of the Military Division of the Missouri . The Ghost Dance movement of the Lakota Sioux people , which started in 1889, led to the Pine Ridge Campaign of the so-called Ghost Dance War and General Miles being brought back into the field. During the campaign, he commanded U.S. Army troops stationed near the several federal Indian reservations in
20160-416: Was promoted to the rank of colonel after the Battle of Antietam of September 1862. Other battles he participated in include Fredericksburg , Chancellorsville (during which he was shot in the neck and abdomen), the Overland Campaign , and the final Appomattox Campaign , and Wounded four times in battle. Following the war, two years later, on March 2, 1867, Miles was brevetted a brigadier general in
20304-438: Was the outer boundary of European-American settlement into this land. Beginning with the first permanent European settlements on the East Coast , it has moved steadily westward from the 1600s to the 1900s (decades) with occasional movements north into Maine and New Hampshire, south into Florida, and east from California into Nevada. Pockets of settlements would also appear far past the established frontier line, particularly on
20448-435: Was the title character in a serial published in New York's Street & Smith's Weekly (1882) under the title, Calamity Jane: Queen of the Plains , by the author "Reckless Ralph". The science fiction writer A. Bertram Chandler included a character named Calamity Jane Arlen in his far future novels set on the frontier Rim Worlds, a space analogue of the Old West . A fictitious fight between Calamity Jane and an impostor
20592-425: Was wide agreement on the need to settle the new territories quickly, but the debate polarized over the price the government should charge. The conservatives and Whigs, typified by the president John Quincy Adams , wanted a moderated pace that charged the newcomers enough to pay the costs of the federal government. The Democrats, however, tolerated a wild scramble for land at very low prices. The final resolution came in
20736-448: Was working as a crockery store clerk in Boston when the American Civil War (1861-1865) began. He joined the Union Army / United States Army as a volunteer soldier on September 9, 1861, and fought in many crucial battles in the Eastern Theatre . He became a lieutenant in the 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and was commissioned a lieutenant colonel of the 61st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on May 31, 1862. He
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