The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians

James Pierson Beckwourth

Harper & Brothers, 1856 - Crow Indians - 537 pages

What people are saying

User Review -

The famous quote about the Trappers Rendezvous by James Beckwourth is here on page 106:
"Mirth, songs, dancing, shouting, trading, running, jumping, singing, racing, target-shooting, yarns, frolic, with all sorts of extravagances that white men or Indians could invent, were freely indulged in."
On page 241 is a very detailed description of the use of signal mirrors by the Crow Indians:
" ... we arrived within three miles of the village. When within sight, we telegraphed with the aid of a small looking-glass, which the Crow scouts usually carry, and every motion of which is understood in the village. I made a signal that I had discovered the enemy, and a second that they were approaching." 

User Review -

This book really gives you an idea about what the dictator's life was like. It has helped me in my research, and given me several First Class pointers to use when doing my presentation.
The book is also well written, and it feels like Beckwourth is talking right to you!

Contents

• I: 13
• II: 21
• III: 28
• V: 37
• VII: 45
• IX: 62
• XI: 70
• XII: 90
• XIV: 98
• XVI: 108
• XVIII: 122
• XX: 142
• XXI: 153
• XXIII: 189
• XXV: 201
• XXVII: 220
• XXIX: 231
• XXXI: 259
• XXXIII: 274
• XXXV: 291
• XXXVII: 302
• XXXIX: 317
• XLI: 325
• XLII: 336
• XLIV: 346
• XLVI: 358
• XLVIII: 376
• L: 383
• LII: 404
• LIV: 422
• LVI: 438
• LVIII: 456
• LX: 466
• LXI: 483
• LXIII: 499
• LXV: 514
• LXVII: 529

Popular passages

Page 85 - I AM monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute ; From the centre all round to the sea I am lord of the fowl and the brute.

Page 111 - ... she desired them (says Mr. Reece) to be seated round her bed ; when, spending a few minutes in adjusting the bed-clothes with seeming attention, and placing before her a white handkerchief, she thus addressed them, as nearly as I can recollect, in the following words : ' My friends, some of you have known me nearly twenty-five years, and all of you not less than twenty ; when you have heard me speak of my prophecies, you have sometimes heard me say that I doubted my inspiration. But at the same...

Page 516 - I at once saw, would afford the best wagon-road into the American Valley approaching from the eastward, and I imparted my views to three of my companions in whose judgment I placed the most confidence. They thought highly of the discovery, and even proposed to associate with me in opening the road. We also found gold, but not in sufficient quantity to warrant our working it ; and, furthermore, the ground was too wet, to admit of our prospecting to any advantage. On my return to the American Valley,...

Page 314 - Why so slow ? — do you wait till I shrink from the pain ? No — the son of Alknomook will never complain. Remember the wood where in ambush we lay, And the scalps which we bore from your nation away : Now the flame rises fast, you exult in my pain; But the son of Alknomook can never complain.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians
• Author: James Pierson Beckwourth
• Editor: Thomas D. Bonner
• Illustrated by: Thomas D. Bonner
• Publisher: Harper & Brothers, 1856
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Apr 13, 2007
• Length: 537 pages