Born To The Saddle

Seven days before Lee s surrender, Lieutenant Otho McManus was killed leading a battle charge in Alabama. During the previous thirty months, the young Midwestern schoolteacher wrote more than a hundred letters. His polished writing reflects his hopes, ambitions, fears, war experience and domestic concerns. The letters describe his capture while rescuing a wounded cousin, a deadly case of friendly fire, opinions of officers and war prospects, and strong feelings about anti-war dissent. McManus served in the 123rd Illinois Mounted Infantry. This regiment was an integral component of the elite Wilder s Lightning Brigade. Wilder s Brigade played pivotal roles in battles and campaigns in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. McManus letters include extended accounts of the battles of Chickamauga, Hoover s Gap and Perryville and the Atlanta Campaign, among other campaigns, battles and skirmishes. The editors have supplemented the letters with a detailed chronology of the regiment s movements, with an account of explosive political developments in McManus home country, and with post-war sketches of people mentioned in the letters. The editors have also included statistical analyses of the regiment s demographics, mortality and desertion rates. The commentary is based on hundreds of commanders reports from the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, from dozens of pension and compiles service records, from more than a dozen court-martial transcripts, and from other soldiers diaries and letters.

As the United States expanded west in the 1800s, and cattle became big business, the figure of the young brash cattleman who rode with the herds quickly emerged as a cultural icon. Victorian Americans went crazy for cowboys, snapping up dime-store novels and sheet music, and turning out in droves for Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. It was only a matter of time before someone brought together these three facets-entertainer, singer, and cowboy. And when Carl T. Sprague recorded the first hit cowboy record ("When the Work's All Done This Fall") in 1925, the singing cowboy as we know him was born. A singing cowboy himself, Douglas B. Green (better known as Ranger Doug from the Grammy-award-winning group Riders In The Sky) is uniquely suited to write the story of the singing cowboy. He has been collecting information and interviews on western music, films, and performers for nearly thirty years. In this volume, he traces this history from the early days of vaudeville and radio, through the heyday of movie westerns before World War II, to the current revival. He provides rich and careful analysis of the studio system that made men such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers famous, and he documents the role that country music and regional television stations played in carrying on the singing cowboy tradition after World War II. This book, lavishly illustrated with over 140 photos, is a wealth of information that comes out of decades of research. Green has unearthed never-before-published photos and rare movie posters-including one from an all-Black western, Harlem on the Prairie (1938). Through his close friendships with other singing cowboys and their families, Green is able to provide rare insights into the ways that some like Autry became stars and others like Raoul Walsh (who lost his eye in a shooting accident and later became a famous director) did not. Green also traces the history of cowboy music, from popular songs such as "Sweet Betsy from Pike" to the instantly recognizable harmonies of the Sons of the Pioneers. Green even speculates about just when the famous yodel became a ubiquitous part of the singing cowboy's repertoire. More important, Green reveals how the imagery of the singing cowboy has become such a potent force that even now country musicians don cowboy hats so as to symbolically take part in the legend. Nowhere has the recorded history of the singing cowboy and the film history been collected in one volume, and this book is sure to become the resource for students of the style. Co-published with the Country Music Foundation Press

Hurst shows how Grant and Forrest brought to the battlefield the fabled virtues of the American working-class: hard work, ingenuity, and intense determination. Each man's background contributed to his triumphs on the battlefield, but the open-mindedness of his fellow commanders proved just as important. When the North embraced Grant, it won a stalwart defender. When the South rejected Forrest, by contrast, it sealed its fate.

Incandescence, a son of Just Groovy, is taken under the care of Victor and the hands of Adrenaline Stables. Under the proper care and training, the bay colt improves tremendously. When a series of crimes is committed and Incandescence is the subject of many tragedies, everything changes. Will Victor and his colt beat the odds?

What would you be or do if you knew you could not fail? How would you live if time and money were no object? What are you so passionate about that sleep escapes you? Rollan A. Roberts II dynamically conveys what dreams are, what they are not, and how to achieve yours in Born to Dream. In this powerful, hard-hitting read, Rollan helps you to define your dream, achieve it, and keep it alive. Learn why people give up on their dreams and the attributes of successful dreamers.Born to Dreamwill bring clarity to your life's purpose and the dreams within you like no other book you've read.Born to Dreamwill inspire you to pursue your dreams with everything you are, have, and hope to be. This thrilling book is for champions-you wereBorn to Dream. You will discover: bull; 10 questions you can ask to define your dreams bull; 7 step play-by-play for achieving your dreams bull; 10 ways to keep your dream alive bull; 27 reasons people quit pursuing their dreams bull; 5 attributes of a champion 'Dreams are a form of goal setting. Without our dreams, we have no reason to move forward.Born to Dreammotivates its readers to dream big and follow through to reach success.' Shannon Miller Olympic Gymnast This is an eLIVE book. Each printed copy contains a special code redeemable for the free download of the audio version of the book.

After finding traces of Yellowstone Chips writing at the historic OTO Dude Ranch north of Yellowstone National Park, Nan Weber tracked Chips history. In the course of her research, she found Chips memoirs, his music, his cartooning, and his family. Chips story follows his travels from his Illinois childhood home to the majesty of the Western United States. His lively journey encompasses music, cowboy life, and, most of all, people. His is the story of a true singing cowboy.

I always loved to hunt, and the title to my book came from my wife. When hunting season came around every year, I would simply put a sign in the window of the office: Gone Hunting, with a date on which I would be back in the office. My wife said that all of our patients knew that I loved to hunt and would be closed during hunting season every year. One year at Christmas, my wife gave me a placard that read “Born To Hunt Forced to Work.” So that became the title that I used for the book. All the stories in the book are completely true, and I hope you find pleasure and some laughter in reading it.