Plains Women

The accounts of two women of the West in the 1850s

The Great Plains evoke the very essence of the wild American frontier. In reality, beyond the 'settled and civilised' eastern seaboard lay a great wilderness-a barrier to be traversed if the 'Manifest Destiny' of the American people to populate the entire North American continent was to come to fruition. During the nineteenth century many men and women embarked upon this perilous endeavour. All had to brave every element that Nature could throw against them, within terrain as varied as any on Earth and often harassed by outlaws and Indian tribes who sought to maintain control of their own ancestral lands. Some who came were pioneers, settlers whose aim was to carve a new life for themselves and some were those whose task it was to protect them-soldiers and peace keepers-so that a new nation would be born. Whilst history tends to concentrate on men, women had no less of a vital role in this great task, for without them none of it would have been possible. This book contains the accounts of two of these resolute ladies and their struggles during the early years of westward expansion. Lydia Spencer became the wife of young Lieutenant William Lane of the U. S Mounted Rifles and she recounts her story from the perspective of an army wife. Lodisa Frizzell, another early traveller across the Plains, was a pioneer in company with her husband and children setting out for a new start in California from their old home in Illinois. These two memorable accounts are joined together here for value and this book is available in softcover or hardback with dust jacket.