Colorado Frontiersmen: Forts, Fights and Legacies - Paperback

by Linda Wommack (Author)

Early Icons and Landmarks

As western migration came to the Colorado frontier, forts were established to protect the settlers. These forts were intertwined with the lives of the frontiersmen. Scout Thomas Tate Tobin oversaw the workers who built the adobe fortress known as Fort Garland. Here, Tobin delivered the heads of the murderous Espinosas gang to Colonel Sam Tappan. Fort Sedgwick, originally known as Camp Rankin, was attacked by the Cheyenne Dog soldiers, including George Bent. Fort Lyon, an expanded fortress of William Bent's third fort, became the staging point for Colonel John M. Chivington's march to Sand Creek where peaceful Cheyenne were murdered. Later, Christopher "Kit" Carson died in the fort's chapel. Legendary Jim Beckwourth was associated with both Fort Vasquez and Fort Pueblo. Author Linda Wommack revisits the glory and the mistakes of the frontiersmen who defined Colorado and the forts that dotted the wild landscape.

Author Biography

Linda Wommack is a Colorado historian and historical consultant. She has written ten books on Colorado history and has contributed to two anthologies on western Americana. Linda has been a contributing editor for True West magazine since 1995 and a staff writer contributing a monthly article for Wild West magazine since 2004. She has also written for several publications throughout her state, including the Tombstone Epitaph, the nation's oldest continuously published newspaper.