Dale L. Walker

Award-winning historian Dale L. Walker uncovers the truth about some of the American West's most famous and infamous figures. He delves deep into some of the most enduring myths and legends of the Old West to unveil the real stories beneath them, including: *Who was the first American to make a transcontinental journey across the Western United States to the Pacific Ocean? Lewis and Clark or a Yazoo Indian who preceded them by more than sixty years*What was the true relationship between Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane? And who was the woman who claimed to have proof she was their daughter?Asking these and many more questions, "The Calamity Papers" sheds some necessary light on our nation's history by taking a closer look at some of its heroes.

For twenty years, grassroots historian C. L. Sonnichsen went door to door through the backcountry of east and south-central Texas to coax tales from reluctant informants and peruse county documents on the colorful feuds that bloodied the state's early history. From these human explosions emerged legendary gangs such as the Regulators, Moderators, Hoodoos, Heel Flies, and Boots. Personal vengeance righted intolerable wrongs and settled unbearable grievances. Sonnichsen notes, "The men who fought these battles were mostly pretty good people," but they harshly stamped their otherwise normal lives with bloody vengeance. Dale L. Walker, Sonnichsen's biographer, sketches the author's life, historical craft, and publishing and teaching career.

Buckey O'Neill was famous in Arizona Territory as a gambler, lawyer, newspaperman, miner, sheriff, and politician. This fast-moving narrative takes him from the streets of Tombstone all the way to Cuba, where he won Theodore Roosevelt's admiration as the wildest and bravest of the Rough Riders.