Log Cabin Online

Edited with notes, introduction, index, etc. by Rueben Gold Thwaites. Softbound, 322 pages, 5" x 8". If stories of westward exploration stir up your imagination, you will enjoy these accounts of the travels of naturalist John Bradbury and others. Bradbury traveled from St. Louis to the Arikara Indian villages, some eighteen hundred miles above the mouth of the Missouri. From there he accompanied Ramsay Crooks to the fur-trading station among the Mandan, two hundred miles farther up river. His observations and experiences among the Native American tribes are colorful and informative, as are his wondrous descriptions of rivers and natural features, settlements, fortifications, Canadian boatmen, war parties, narrow escapes from wild animals, buffalo herds and the buffalo hunts, fossil bones, a medicine man, a tremendous thunderstorm, and much more, including an amazing recounting of the massive New Madrid earthquake. Appendices include a glossary of common works in the Osage language, an oration delivered by Big Elk (chief of the Maha nation) over the grave of Black Buffalo (chief of the Teton), the narrative of Mr. Hunt's expedition from the Arikaras to the Pacific, a description of the Missouri Territory, remarks on emigration to the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, and the Illinois and Western Territories, and a catalogue of some of the more rare or valuable plants discovered in the neighborhood of St. Louis and on the Missouri. An important component of the collective history  of western exploration.

Francis Parkman. Softbound, 758 pages, 5" x 8". Parkman was twenty-three years old when he set out from Westport, Missouri in 1846 to learn firsthand about the Plains and the Indians of Western America. From this trip emerged one of the seminal books of American literature . . . The Oregon Trail. Originally serial published in Knickerbocker Magazine in 1846-1848, it stands today as a vital text in the study of American history.

by Eliza P. Donner Houghton.  Softbound, 425 pages, 5" x 8".  The Donner family joined emigrants headed to California in the spring of 1846.  Beyond Fort Bridger, Captain Donner led a large party through a much-advertised shortcut.  Delays and difficulties caused them to be snowbound in the High Sierras, facing the grim spectre of starvation and extreme suffering.  Though only four years old at the time of the expedition, the captain's youngest daughter, Eliza Donner, would never forget the excitement of crossing the prairies-of the horror of that winter.

Timothy J. Todish, illustrated by Gary S. Zaboly.  Softbound, 344 pages, 8" x 11".  Major Robert Rogers of the Rangers is not only one of the most famous men to come out of Colonial America, he is also one of the most fascinating.  This book,reprinted from the rare 1769 Dublin edition of his Journals, allows the major to tell portions of his life in his own words.  To supplement his accounts, numerous annotations have been added by Todish to give a broader picture of the events described.  Most are from eyewitnesses, or at least contemporaries of Rogers.  Later secondary sources are used sparingly.  Zaboly’s wonderful original illustrations, along with his well-written captions add an invaluable dimension to this edition.

by Robert Garfield Loescher.  Hardbound, 300 pages, 5" x 9". The long-awaited chronicle of this tragic and infamous event. This "commando" attack, initially successful, would be forever scarred by the violent deaths and starvation suffered by the Rangers during their return journey. Many legends have grown around the story of the St. Francis Raid, most of them centering around the valuable silver and gold treasures stolen from the mission chapel by the Rangers and buried along the return routes. Exhaustive appendixes, detailed maps, and splendid color illustrations make this study a complete source of reference for the historian, the treasure hunter, the Rogers' Ranger enthusiast, as well as the lover of exciting early Americana.

by Don Troiani. Hardbound, 264 pages, 9" x 12". In this panoramic tour of America's military past, acclaimed artist Don Troiani once again turns his brush to the wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. From the French & Indian War through the Civil War, Troiani brings his flair for detail and high drama to such famous battle scenes as Bushy Run, Bunker Hill, Cowpens, Antietam, Gettysburg and Chickamauga. Lavishly illustrated with full-color artwork. 172 paintings, 53 color photographs, 11 black & white photos.

by Edwin A. Kramb. Softbound, 183 pages, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". Tragic Expeditions describes 26 of the lesser known or mostly forgotten expeditions in American history that ended in misfortune. This book provides background into these stories and some much deserved attention and recognition. Covers everything from the Penobscot Expedition in 1779 thru the Disaster in Mogadishu in 1991.

by Joseph Ruckman.  Softbound, 63 pages, 5” x 8”.  This small volume encompasses a wide range of valuable information in an easily readable format, and serves as a great primer for “brushing up” on frontier America.  The book opens with a broad overview of the 18th century environment in which the longhunters lived, and then moves on to the clothing, weapons, and equipment that they relied on during their sojourns through the trackless forests of the 18th century.  The author’s use of either primary or well-researched secondary sources provides a firm foundation for his work.  His personal experience recreating the life of a mid-1700’s woodsman is evident throughout the book and adds much to its character for those who read between the lines.  In short, there is no doubt that Ruckman’s collaboration with Cathy Johnson’s Graphics/Fine Arts Press has produced a great little reference book which deserves a place on the bookshelf of every serious student of the 18th century longhunter.

by Harry S. Laver. Hardbound, 336 pages, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". The militia of the nineteenth century was not the atrophied remnant of the Revolution's minutemen, but an ongoing organization that maintained an important presence in American society. Citizen-soldiers participated in their communities by establishing local, regional, and national identies, reinforcing the social hierachy, advancing democratization and party politics, keeping the public peace, encouraging economic activity, and defining concepts of masculinity. The story of their contribution to the transformation of American society in the 19th century.

by Lar Hothem. Softbound, 51 pages, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". Many of the most important and violent conflicts between Indian and Whites took place on the water and banks of the Ohio River, especially in the period 1770-1795. This quarter-century of conflict began with a trickle, then a flood, of emigrants heading for new, inexpensive lands in Kentucky, then a county of Virginia. The Ohio was a great transportation artery in the heartland of North America. Countless skirmishes large and small took place. Some were written down, to be reported in the history books.

Lucullus Virgil McWhorter.  Softbound, 536 pages, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2".  In the contest for land Jesse Hughes bore a part far beyond that of the average settler.  Hewas one of those woodsmen in whom was concentrated the hardiness, daring, and fierce and uncontrollable spirit of his barbarous ancestors in the fens and on the swamp shores of Northwestern Europe.  It was war, danger, adventure.  On the trail of the wildIndian his soul hardened to iron and his nature grew more savage than that of the man he hunted.  He was grim, cruel, relentless, and bloodthirsty . . . a product of the age in which he lived.

S. P. Heldreth. Hardbound, 500 pages, 6" x 8". A reprint of an 1848 edition which was an account of the first examination of the Ohio Valley and the early settlement of the Northwest Territory. Includes extensive extracts from the journals of Christopher Gist, George Croghan, George Washington, Henry Bouquet and others.

compiled by Henry Shoemaker.  Softbound, 60 pages, 5” x 8”.  First printed in 1915, this little booklet gives us a first hand look at buffalo in the east and the story of their passing. 

by Robert M. Dunkerly. Softbound, 160 pages, 6" x 9". In October, 1780, American Patriot and Loyalist soldiers battled each other at Kings Mountain, near the border of North and South Carolina. Eyewitness accounts taken from pension applications, letters, statements and other sources from actual witnesses to the battle makes this an important resource. Broken into three sections, the first dealing with only the american accounts, that is those who were sympathetic to the "Rebels"; the second section is about the "Shelby-Campbell Controversy"; and the third section contains Loyalist accounts. Previous unpublished details of an historic turning point in the Revolution. Over 20 black and white photographs.

by Mark Lemon. hardbound, 176 pages, 12" x 9-1/4". Remarkable photo illustrations and paintings that bring to life America's most famous mission-fortress. The author has produced the single most comprehensive volume on the Alamo as it was at the time of its rendezvous with history. Through old sketches, plates, diagrams,and later archeological digs, he creates the most accurate rendering on the true appearance of the Alamo in 1836.

by Paula Robbins. Softbound, 213 pages, 7" x 10". Kalm was sent to North America to botanize the continent; and is remembered today, not only for the specimines he brought back to Europe, but also for his journal, a rich sorce for information about colonial life, religion, politics, Native Americans, and architecture. Our mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia is named after Kalm.

by Peter Silver. Hardbound, 352 pages, 6" x 9". The colonial communities of 18th century America were perhaps the most racially, ethnically and religiously mixed socities on earth. Lutherans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Catholics, and Convenentors, the Irish, the German, the French, the Welsh- groups that rarely intermingled in Europe - were thrown together in the American countryside. The settler communities had their very existence threatened by tensions and fears among their own groups. Only through "Indian-hating", both military and rhetorical forms, could the splintered colonists find a common ground. An astonishingly vivid picture of 18th century America.

Softbound, 365 pages, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". The story of William Well's remarkable life, a man in the middle moving between two cultures. Captured from his Louisville home at the age of thirteen, he was raised by the Miami under the name of Blacksnake. He learned to hunt, went on the warpath, married and fathered a son. He fought with Little Turtle at St. Clair's defeat, only to change sides several years later to scout for General Mad Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This book recreates an entire period (1779-1812) showing how the Indians lived, fought for their homeland and dealt with defeat; and captures the lives of the men and women who settled the territory north of the Ohio River.

by Ryan R. Gale. Softbound, 169 pages, 11" x 8-1/2". The rich history of the Northwest fur trade is brought to life through written words of people who took part in it, the vast amounts of relics they left behind and the work of period artists. Using these resources, the material cultures of the natives, traders, and voyageurs become much clearer. Taken from official company records and journals. Loaded with color pictures and illustrations from collections all around the country.

by Barbara Alice Mann. Softbound, 295 pages, 6" x 9". Throughout the war, the unwavering goal of the Revolutionary Army, under George Washington, and its associated settler militias was to break the power of the Iroquois League, which had successfully held off invasion for the previious two centuries, and the newly formed Ohio Union. To destroy the Natives who stood in the way of land seizure Washington organized a series of rampages intended to destroy the League and the Union by starvation. Barbara Alice Mann tells how, in the wake of massive assults, Native America won the war in the West and managed to maintain control of the land west and north of the Allegheny-Ohio River systems.