Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters (Hyde, 1868)
Feb 18, 2024 19:02:46 GMT -5
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Post by Californian on Feb 18, 2024 19:02:46 GMT -5
Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters by George E. Hyde, edited by Savoie Lottinville, 1968 University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 389 p., 8°
A vivid narrative recounting the events of the Indian Wars of the 1860's and 1870's from the vantage of the Indian's experience by an eyewitness. George Bent's unique situation of being bi-cultural and well educated, a son of the pioneer trader William Bent, one of the founders of Bent's Fort in Colorado and of Owl Woman of the southern Cheyenne, gives him the ability to relay eloquently his experiences while living with his mother's tribe during this volatile era of American history. George Bent and a brother and sister were with Black Kettle's band during the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, getting shot in the hip. Upon recovery he remained with the Cheyenne and participated in numerous engagements against the U.S. military and the invading whites. Between 1905 and 1918 Bent corresponded with historian and author George E. Hyde of Omaha concerning life at Bent's Fort, his experiences with his Cheyenne kinsmen, and the events which finally led to the military suppression of the Indians on the southern Great Plains. This correspondence is the source of the narrative in this book, the narrator being Bent himself. In 1930 Hyde attempted unsuccessfully to find a publisher for his manuscript and resorted to selling a portion of it to the Denver Public Library but retaining his working copy. It was not until towards the end of Hyde's life, by then in an Omaha, Nebraska old folk's home, that the University of Oklahoma Press, with considerable help of its director, Savoie Lottinville, agreed to publish this book. The book came into print posthumously several months after Hyde's death.
The text includes countless footnotes offering further insights and explanations, complete with a detailed bibliography and index. Some of the original letters that George Bent wrote to George E. Hyde are now archived at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, accessible online in high resolution
collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2067549
collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2067550
collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2067551
about the author and the editor:
George E(lmer) Hyde was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1882. As a boy he became interested in Indians and began writing about them in 1910. He has produced some of the most important books on the American Indian ever written, including Indians of the High Plains, Indians of the Woodlands, Red Cloud's Folk, Spotted Tail's Folk, and Life of George Bent, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Hyde died in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1968 at the age of 86.
Savoie L(oftus) Lottinville, editor of four series of books published by the University of Oklahoma Press during his tenure as director from 1938 to 1967, was Regents Professor of History in the University and Director Emeritus of the Press. He was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and of the University of Oxford, England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Lottinville died in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1997 at the age of 90.
click onto image to enlarge
A vivid narrative recounting the events of the Indian Wars of the 1860's and 1870's from the vantage of the Indian's experience by an eyewitness. George Bent's unique situation of being bi-cultural and well educated, a son of the pioneer trader William Bent, one of the founders of Bent's Fort in Colorado and of Owl Woman of the southern Cheyenne, gives him the ability to relay eloquently his experiences while living with his mother's tribe during this volatile era of American history. George Bent and a brother and sister were with Black Kettle's band during the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, getting shot in the hip. Upon recovery he remained with the Cheyenne and participated in numerous engagements against the U.S. military and the invading whites. Between 1905 and 1918 Bent corresponded with historian and author George E. Hyde of Omaha concerning life at Bent's Fort, his experiences with his Cheyenne kinsmen, and the events which finally led to the military suppression of the Indians on the southern Great Plains. This correspondence is the source of the narrative in this book, the narrator being Bent himself. In 1930 Hyde attempted unsuccessfully to find a publisher for his manuscript and resorted to selling a portion of it to the Denver Public Library but retaining his working copy. It was not until towards the end of Hyde's life, by then in an Omaha, Nebraska old folk's home, that the University of Oklahoma Press, with considerable help of its director, Savoie Lottinville, agreed to publish this book. The book came into print posthumously several months after Hyde's death.
The text includes countless footnotes offering further insights and explanations, complete with a detailed bibliography and index. Some of the original letters that George Bent wrote to George E. Hyde are now archived at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, accessible online in high resolution
collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2067549
collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2067550
collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2067551
about the author and the editor:
George E(lmer) Hyde was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1882. As a boy he became interested in Indians and began writing about them in 1910. He has produced some of the most important books on the American Indian ever written, including Indians of the High Plains, Indians of the Woodlands, Red Cloud's Folk, Spotted Tail's Folk, and Life of George Bent, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Hyde died in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1968 at the age of 86.
Savoie L(oftus) Lottinville, editor of four series of books published by the University of Oklahoma Press during his tenure as director from 1938 to 1967, was Regents Professor of History in the University and Director Emeritus of the Press. He was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and of the University of Oxford, England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. Lottinville died in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1997 at the age of 90.
click onto image to enlarge
