Grigsby S Cowboys

For more than 140 years, the Hash Knife brand has intrigued Western history lovers. From its rough-and-ready-sounding name to its travels throughout Texas, Montana, and Arizona, the Hash Knife sports a romance like few others in the cattle industry. Several outfits have been proud to call the brand their own, and the stories behind the men who worked for these companies are the epitome of Western lore and truth combined. Beginning in 1884, the Hash Knife—owned by the Aztec Land and Cattle Company—came to Arizona. The brand left a lasting impression on places like Holbrook, Joseph City, Winslow, and the famed OW Ranch while shaping Northern Arizona. From its historic roots to the famed Hash Knife Pony Express Ride that takes place each January, the Hash Knife has left its mark as a beloved mainstay of the American West.

Also contained in each volume, Family line profiles, a representative list of different family lines, based on research information sent by interested and informed family members.

Among the thousands who answered President McKinley's call for volunteers to fight in the Spanish-American War, there were three patriotic men who conceived, almost simultaneously, the idea of creating cowboy volunteer cavalry regiments to lead the United States forces against the enemy. Who Rush to Glory recounts the story of these three men--Theodore Roosevelt, Jay L. Torrey, and Melvin Grigsby, leaders, respectively, of the First, Second, and Third United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiments--and of the three reputedly cowboy regiments. New concerning the regiments immediately captured the fancy of the press. In the ensuing months of this short war--only 115 days--journalists followed in detail the recruiting, training, travels, trials, successes, tragedies, and even the mustering out of these three army units, and it is upon their newspaper reports that Mr. Westermeier relies for material for his account of the Cowboy Volunteers of 1898 and their leaders. Clifford P. Westermeier has translated the newspaper dispatches into a lively yet homey and human account of the day-by-day events surrounding the leaders, the regiments, and the cowboy volunteers who served their country in the Spanish-American War. The carefree, unsuspecting attitude and the boyish naïveté of the volunteers is contrasted sharply with the serious but unimaginative efforts and, sometimes, the pomposity of their leaders. Of the three regiments, only Roosevelt's Rough Riders actually met the enemy, but the other two faced foes almost as real. Grigsby's Cowboys fought their sickening battle in foul-smelling encampments against disease and boredom; tragedy and death plagued Torrey's Terrors, and their hopes and tenacity shattered amid scenes of disappointment and inactivity. Who Rush to Glory presents the dramatic story of the staunch horsemen from mountain and plain who served their country well--a cavalcade that marched briefly across the horizon but left and indelible imprint.--Jacket flap

Rattlesnakes and ornery horses, the dreaded Texas Itch, midnight rambles in graveyards, trips to Mexico, and hard riding on the last open range: George Philip recounts all these adventures and more with wit and humour. George Phillip arrived in South Dakota from Scotland in 1899. For the next four years, he rode as a cowboy for his uncle's L-7 cattle outfit during the heyday of the last open range. But the cowboy era was a brief one, and in 1903 Philip turned in his string of horses and hung up his saddle to enter law school in Michigan. In these candid letters, Philip provides fascinating insights into the development of the West and of South Dakota. His writing details the cowboy's day-to-day work, from branding and roping to navigating across the palins by stars and buttes, as the great open ranges slowly closed up.