Forts, Fights, and Frontier Sites: Wyoming Historic Sites
by Candy Moulton, High Plains Press, Glendo,Wyo., 2010, $17.95.
Candy Moulton is the perfect writer to highlight the historical places in her native state. From Almond Station, a stagecoach stopover on the Overland Trail in southwest Wyoming, to Yellowstone National Park, Moulton describes not only the historic sites but the events that made them historic. Readers will find extended descriptions of Forts Laramie and Bridger—anchoring the Oregon-California-Mormon Trail —as well as the Bozeman Trail and its significance in Red Cloud’s War. The author colorfully describes the overland portion of the Astorians’ march to the Columbia River in 1811; the Crook and Custer expeditions of 1876; the Grattan Massacre of 1854, which occurred in present-day Goshen County; Forts Bonneville, Fetterman, Washakie, Phil Kearny and Reno; Independence Rock; the Mormon and Nez Percé trails; and the Overland Mail and Pony Express stations.
Nothing has escaped Moulton’s eye for a good story, such as the incredible 235-mile winter ride of John “Portugee” Phillips from Fort Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie after the 1866 Fetterman Fight.
Originally published in the December 2010 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
