Wild West Photo Friday: Apache Scouts

The Apache gave the U.S. government no end of headaches with their raids and defiance of American expansion. Some Apache, however, joined forces with the government to fight against their own and other tribes.

The Apache scouts were some of the most valuable Native American scouts in the U.S. Army. The first all-Apache units were formed in 1871 by Lt-Col George Crook. He mostly recruited Apache who had peacefully settled on the reservation, but would also accept captured "renegades". As he put it, "the wilder the Apache was, the more he was likely to know the wiles and stratagems of those still out in the mountains."

The scouts soon proved their mettle, and in his annual report for 1876, Crook's successor, Col Augustus Kautz wrote,

"These scouts, supported by a small force of cavalry, are exceedingly efficient, and have succeeded, with one or two exceptions, in finding every party of Indians they have gone in pursuit of. They are a great terror to the runaways from the Reservations, and for such work are much more efficient than double the number of soldiers."

Jump the cut to see a closeup of these guys.

Military History Photo Friday: Crystal Radio in the Trenches

I'm hard at work on my National Novel Writing Project--Radio Hope, a post-apocalyptic tale. I'm proud to say that I've passed the 20,000 word mark in just a week. December will be National Typo Correcting Month!

My story revolves around the residents of New City, the only large settlement in a toxic wasteland filled with bandits, scavengers, insane chemical sniffers, and bloodthirsty cultists. One of the few sources of information is Radio Hope, a mysterious station broadcasting programs about medicine, agriculture, food gathering, and other survival tips.

No one knows where this station transmits from or who's behind it. Since you need electricity to operate a radio, only a lucky few can receive its transmissions, until a mysterious trader emerges from the wildlands with a supply of crystal radios.

Crystal radios were the first popular radios. They rely on a crystal detector to pick up radio signals. The crystal uses the energy from the radio waves themselves to power the radio, so no electricity supply is necessary. In the 1920s store-bought radios were expensive and many rural homes still lacked electricity. It was cheap and simple to build a crystal set, though, and soon most homes had one, leading to the boom in radio.

In this image you can see a French soldier in the trenches during World War One listening to a handmade set. I wonder what he was listening to? An opera from back in Paris?

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Civil War Photo Friday: Union troops participate in National Novel Writing Month!

Well, it's here. I and thousands of other writers around the world are hunched over our computers or notebooks writing the first chapters of our books. We need to get through 50,000 words to be a National Novel Writing Month winner. I'm planning on winning.

The Library of Congress says these are men from the Army of the Potomac writing letters to friends and family. Actually this is the only known image of the first National Novel Writing Month, which took place in 1861. The war stopped for the entire month of November while men on both sides sharpened their pencils and wrote novels for the folks back home. You can see them all hard at work here, except for the fellow in front who is sewing his shirt. He had been writing so hard the sleeve wore out!

. . .or not. :-)

All I'm going to do today is focus on my novel and write, write, write! I wrote this blog post on Wednesday just to clear the decks. :-)

Civil War Photo Friday: John Wilson Vermillion, CSA

This is John Wilson Vermillion of Virginia, long thought to be Texas Jack Vermillion, a supporter of Wyatt Earp during the Tombstone fights. Actually that was a different man, as is thoroughly proven in an excellent new book I reviewed here.

While John Wilson Vermillion wasn't the famous Western gunslinger, he still had an interesting life. Here he is posing for a photo during his time serving in the Confederate army. He enlisted on August 12, 1861 in the 5th Battalion of Tennessee cavalry. He spent the war mostly in Tennessee and Kentucky and saw a great deal of combat. His service records are incomplete, but we know he was sent home at least once after being wounded.

Here he is with a cavalry saber and a rather unimpressive little pistol. This photo was probably taken when he enlisted. Men would often have their photos taken to mark that important event, and often posed with weapons supplied by the studio. So while he certainly carried a saber during the war, that little popgun may have been a studo prop!

On the other hand, many soldiers brought weapons and other equipment from home. Vermillion's war records show he was paid extra because he brought his own horse, so maybe he carried that pistol as a backup weapon to the saber, pistol, and possibly carbine that the army issued him.

Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Wild West Photo Friday: Hotel in Contention, Arizona Territory, 1880

When I started working for Gadling, the editor interviewed me as a way of introducing me to the readers. One of his questions was what was my worst hotel experience. I answered, "Oooo, tough one. The Peruvian hotel with sand in the halls and no working bathrooms? The British bed and breakfast where the owner walked into our room without knocking? The Pakistani flophouse with the junkie staggering around the courtyard at all hours? I really can't decide."

At least I didn't have to stay in this place. This was the one hotel in the dusty mining town of Contention, Arizona Territory, which sprang to life in 1879 when silver was discovered there. It became one of the Wild West's many boomtowns until an earthquake a few years later made the mines flood. Now all that's left of Contention are a few weathered foundations and an overgrown cemetery.

During those few years of life, Contention had its share of shootouts and craziness. I wonder what it was like to stay in this little adobe hotel, hearing the drunken miners carousing outside your window after a long day underground? Did you have to contend with fleas and bedbugs, or just the usual Arizona problems such a cockroaches, scorpions, black widow spiders, and rattlesnakes?

Ah, the good old days, when going to Arizona was still considered adventure travel!

Military History Photo Friday: the A7V, Germany's only tank in World War One

This cumbersome beast is the A7V, a German tank from World War One. It looks like something my seven-year-old son would design. "Look Papa, it's got a cannon on the front and machine guns sticking out the windows here and I made it from a cardboard box!"

While the Germans had the most advanced tanks in the world during WWII, this was not the case in WWI. They got into tank building in 1917, well after the UK and France already had large numbers of tanks. By then German industry was starved of raw material and only twenty ever got made.

The A7V had 30mm thick armor at the front and thinner armor on the sides and top. It weighed 33 tons and had a low undercarriage. It was so unwieldy it often lagged so far behind the infantry that it never got into the fighting. It also had the bad habit of getting stuck in trenches and shell holes.

Despite these shortcomings, its cannon and six machine guns made it effective in a fight. The few times these tanks were deployed they often took Allied forces by surprise. The Allies weren't expecting the Germans to have tanks. An even nastier surprise was when the Germans used captured British Mark IVs, like the one shown below with German markings!

Hitler on a sled

Here's something you don't see every day, the evil Nazi leader enjoying a bit of wintertime fun. This is from an article over at Cracked called 14 Photographs That Shatter Your Image Of Famous People. Martin Luther King as a pool hustler, Mister Rogers flipping you off, Eminem wearing an Alf shirt. . .it just keeps getting weirder.

Mountains were part of the mystical image of the German people cultivated during the Third Reich. They were considered primeval, mysterious, a land where a rugged and pure people could breath clean air. The Alps were often contrasted with the steppes of Russia, where the "inferior Slavic hordes" dwelled. So it's not so surprising to have Hitler do a photo shoot on a sled. But couldn't they have found him an adult sized one?

And couldn't he have crashed into a tree?

Military History Photo Friday: Hemingway at the front

Hello from Gorizia, where I'm a guest speaker at the èStoria annual history festival. Today Gorizia is on the Italian-Slovenian border, but during World War One it was on the border between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

Just east of Gorizia flows the Isonzo River, and to the east of the river rise steep mountains. Go a little north of here and there are mountains on both sides of the river. Both armies wanted to advance, but that meant crossing an exposed valley to storm entrenched positions on usually steep terrain. Mostly it was the Italians trying to push east, again and again. There wasn't just one Battle of Isonzo, there were twelve.

Most were utter failures leading to heavy loss of life. Only during the sixth Battle of Isonzo did the Italians actually make any significant gains, and then they lost it all and more in battle #12, also known as the Battle of Caporetto. It was this battle that Ernest Hemingway immortalized in A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway was an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. Here he is, young and unknown.

This painting by R.A. Höger (1873-1930) shows some of the fierce fighting between the Austro-Hungarians and the Italians on a front that is rarely discussed in the English speaking world. Tomorrow I'm touring the battlefield. Stay tuned for a full article!

Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Civil War Photo Friday: Unidentified Confederate soldier from the 11th Virginia

I love these old portraits. Most of the ones I've featured here have names. This one, however, has been lost to history. From the uniform we can tell this fellow was in the 11th Virginia, but that's all we know.

One interesting detail that you don't often get with these studio portraits is the knapsack and bedroll. Perhaps he was about to go on a big march? You can also see a knife and what looks like a pistol holster stuck into his belt, so he was ready for action once he got where he was going.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Military History Photo Friday: Bicycle Soldiers

Here's a part of the Blitzkrieg you generally don't see. These World War Two German soldiers are part of a bicycle regiment. While most histories emphasize the quick motorized movements of the so-called "lightning war", the German army made extensive use of horses and bicycles.

Bicycle soldiers have been around almost as long as there have been usable bicycles. Since bikes are cheap, portable, and don't need to be fed, they provided a viable alternative to horses. They were first used in warfare in South Africa in 1895. This photo shows British bicycle troops in the Boer War in 1902. They also saw common use in World War One.

Wild West Photo Friday: A Mexican Caballero in San Antonio

Now that the A to Z Challenge is over, I can get back to my regular Photo Friday series, whether it's Civil War, Wild West, or Military History. This week it's the Wild West, with this fine Mexican horseman photographed in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1870s.

Before there were cowboys, there were vaqueros. The Spanish made it to the Southwest first and set up extensive ranches. The process continued after Mexican independence from Spain. When white settlers started streaming in, they learned the trade from the Mexicans. Sadly, most Western films and books forget the vaqueros, just like they forget the black cowboys.

Photo courtesy New York Public Library.

Reader News for April 20, 2013

My friends in the blogosphere have been busy lately! For today's Reader News we have two exciting new books and a Kickstarter campaign.

Jack Badelaire over at the Post Modern Pulp blog has just released COMMANDO: Operation Bedlam. This is the second in his action series about a crack British Commando team in WWII. I loved the first book (read my review here) and was lucky enough to be a beta reader for the second. Both are fast-moving books with lots of action, a huge body count, and an eye for historical accuracy.

David Lee Summers and I go way back. For some two decades now he's written a steady output of quality stories and novels ranging from horror to science fiction to steampunk. His latest is Dragon's Fall: Rise Of The Scarlet Order, a vampire novel that came out last month and I somehow missed. (Sorry David!)

Last but not least, Eric over at the Civil War Daily Gazette is getting married and his honeymoon will be a drive along the entire length of Route 66! He and his bride-to-be have launched a Kickstarter campaign called the Route 66 Polaroid Project. They'll be taking Polaroid shots of the sights along The Mother Road. Supporters can get unique old-fashioned print photos sent to them, complete with description of the view. This is a project worth supporting!

Wild West Photo Friday: Four Forgotten Cowboys

Many of the historic photos that have come down to us lack information. Looking at these two images, I have to wonder--who were they? Where were they? And are they really cowboys?

The reason for this last question is that by the turn of the century, the West was already becoming a tourist attaction. People went to see the sights and as a memento would have their picture taken in Western gear. In some posed images they didn't even leave the big city, they just went to a photographic studio and picked out a costume!

The top photo looks real to me, but the bottom image rings a bit false. Maybe it's the contrast between the ties and the heavy weaponry. Maybe they don't look as hard-bitten as the guy in the top photo. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. What do you think?

Indie Life: Free photos for your book cover!

Welcome to the second month of the Indie Life bloghop, where we indie authors talk about the trials and rewards of going independent in the tough world of publishing.

As I mentioned in my previous post asking How can I help you? I want to do what I can to help my fellow indies. I just realized that in addition to hosting guest posts and announcing reader news, there's another thing I can do.

As many of you know, I travel a lot. In fact, one of my day jobs is as a travel blogger for Gadling. I've accumulated thousands of photos from more than two dozen countries and while I've published many of them, many more are just sitting on my hard drive. Let's put them to work.


Some subjects include:

Castles
Medieval weapons and armor
Medieval manuscripts
African markets
Mosques
Churches
Hyenas
Scottish countryside
Old English buildings
military hardware
graveyards
graffiti art
Rome
Iraq
Ghost towns
The Orkney Islands
. . .and much more

I've even done some rather silly experiments with horror photography and haunted graveyards.  

If you're looking for a photo for your book, I'd be happy to help. All photos were taken in the highest resolution and can be used for print as well as ebooks. All I ask in return is credit and a copy of the book.

I'm in Estonia this week adding to my photo collection so I may be a bit slow in replying to email at the moment.

Wild West Photo Friday: Pinal, Arizona, a lost boom town

I've been working on the maps for a book on Wyatt Earp and the Arizona War for Osprey Publishing. One place I couldn't put on the map with any exactitude was this town--Pinal, Arizona.

Pinal was established in the 1870s to mill the ore for the nearby Silver King mine. Pinal's post office opened in April 10, 1878. The mine was a rich one and the town quickly grew to about 2,000 residents. It even had its own newspaper called the Pinal Drill. The town benefited from its good location about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix, making it more accessible than some other mining towns.

The town had all the usual miners, prospectors, gamblers, and ladies of the evening. One of them was Mattie Blaylock, Wyatt Earp's common-law wife. In Tombstone, Wyatt had fallen in love with the beautiful actress Sadie Marcus and left her. The jilted Mattie moved to Pinal and --> went into a quick spiral of decline as a drug-addicted prostitute. She killed herself on July 3, 1888.

Unfortunately, silver prices slumped and by 1890 there were only ten people left in Pinal. The post office closed November 28, 1891. Now nothing remains of this old boom town. Even the exact location is in dispute. Imagine that--an entire town that nobody alive remembers. Probably there's nobody alive who even once met someone who remembers it. It's gone.

The top photo shows ore wagons from the Silver King mine at the Pinal mills, circa 1885. The bottom shot is a southeast view of the mill and town of Pinal, circa 1880.

For another shot of Pinal, check out my post on creative foraging in the Civil War. That blacksmith shop is in Pinal.


Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

A faked Civil War photo

Yesterday I posted a cropped version of the above photograph. It was titled "Confederate and Union dead side by side" and was taken on April 3, 1865 at Fort Mahone, during the waning days of the siege of Petersburg.

The body in the foreground is a real corpse of a fallen soldier. While the ammo pouch he's carrying says US, he could be a Confederate since many rebels, short on gear, used whatever Union gear they could get their hands on. It's hard to tell from this photo, but the uniform could either be gray or a faded blue.

The fellow in the background is supposed to be the "Confederate" but has two things wrong with him. 1) He's black, an unlikely skin tone for a Confederate soldier, 2) He's not wearing a uniform, and 3) He's alive.

The guy was the photographer's teamster. There's another photo showing him alive if you follow this link. The Civil War Times published an article on this photo in their December 2010 issue titled "Substitute for a Corpse."

Yep, a little Election Day chicanery for you!

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

Why you need to vote

This is a photo of a dead Union soldier at Fort Mahone, taken on April 3, 1865. More than 350,000 soldiers in blue died to preserve the Union. If they had not fought for their country, the United States would have become two nations, and in all likelihood neither would have been strong enough to become a global superpower. The effects that this would have had on later events (WWII, the Cold War, the global economy, culture, etc.) are mind boggling.

Have you done as much for your country as this guy? No you haven't, because you're alive and reading this.

Go vote. Now.

This image is from the Library of Congress. There's an interesting story about this photograph that I'll tell you about tomorrow.

Civil War Photo Friday: Private Hiram M. Kersey, 44th Iowa Infantry

I post a lot of photos of individual soldiers here on Civil War Photo Friday. I never tire of looking at them.

The 44th Iowa was a short-term regiment created on 1 June 1864 for a hundred days service. These "Hundred Days Men" generally served in guard posts in the rear to free up more veteran troops for combat duty. The 44th was mustered into service in Davenport, Iowa and served in the Memphis area. The were mustered out of service on 15 September 1864.

While they didn't share in the glory of the front-line regiments, they made their share of sacrifices. Two died in combat and 15 died of disease.

Often I crop the frames of these images so that you can get a closer look at the person. This time I left it. Ornate frames are quite common in Civil War photos. Their families obviously treasured these images.

Guest blogging about Spiritualism in the American Civil War over at Black Gate

I'm guest blogging today over at the Black Gate blog about Spiritualism in the American Civil War. It's a nice chunky article so head on over, settle down with a cup of coffee, and learn what freakiness our ancestors got up to.

Black Gate will be publishing my historical fantasy novella, The Quintessence of Absence, next month. It will be free online so you'll have a chance to sample some of my writing.

This is my second guest post for them. A little while back I blogged about Byzantine and Early Modern Greek Magic. I'll be doing more posts for them in the future, so stay tuned!

Another photo of cowboys with a pterodactyl

While this blog is mostly dedicated to Civil War and Old West history, my most popular post is the one I did on the Thunderbird photo and False Memory Syndrome. It's about the enduring mystery over an alleged photo of a giant lizardy bird shot down by some cowboys near Tombstone and reported in the 26 April 1890 edition of the Tombstone, Arizona, Epitaph. Check out the link for more. It includes some fun shots of various cowboys and Civil War soldiers who have downed pterodactyl-like critters.

Now another photo has emerged on the Internet. It's the best quality I've seen so far but with all the Photoshopping going on these days, excuse me if it doesn't turn me into a True Believer. I found this on Reddit from a thread that links to my Thunderbird article. Thanks buddy, hope this post gets you some traffic back! All is connected on the Internet.