Vanished Arizona. Recollections of My Army Life

The seventh day after the birth of the baby, a delegation of several squaws, wives of chiefs, came to pay me a formal visit. They brought me some finely woven baskets, and a beautiful papoose-basket or cradle, such as they carry their own babies in.... I t was their best work. I admired it, and tried to express to them my thanks...-from& 34;Chapter 13: A New Recruit& 34;Martha Summerhayes was a respectable Victorian lady when she left civilized society behind, in 1874, to follow her cavalry-officer husband West, to the Wyoming Territory and then to unknown and inaccessible Arizona. Written& 34;at the urgent and ceaseless request& 34; of her children and first published in 1908, this compulsively readable account of her life on the frontier is a unique document of the American exploration and settling of the West, offering a little-heard woman& 39;s perspective on an historical era that continues to echo in contemporary American society. From the deprivations of her kitchen-where she has no choice but to make do with army pots and pans designed for cooking for dozens-to terrifying encounters with wildlife, attacks by Indians, and the challenge of giving birth alone, Summerhayes& 39; indomitable spirit and sense of adventure shines through.American writer MARTHA SUMMERHAYES (1846-1911) was born in Massachusetts and spent two years studying in Germany before her life on the American frontier.