I had to read an adventure book for a book report. This was a good one. It started slow, but it got better when Celou was tracking her family. It got really exciting at the end -- I didn't know what was going to happen to Celou next! It was yukky to read how Celou fed and cleaned up her baby brother, but I guess that's how they did things back then. Neat book about a girl who was a heroine.

Celou's family has been taken captive by another tribe-except for her and she has to save them. She follows them to their camp and has to figure out a plan. But what can she possilbly do? She must also survive herself. But how? Very, very exciting!

Celou's father is a French fur trapper and her mother is a Shoshone Indian woman. Celou's father has gone away for a month to sell the year's pelts. Celou, her mother, and her two younger brothers are alone in their remote summer camp. All of a sudden, four Crow warriors arrive and take Celou's mother and brothers captive. Celou mannages to escape. She rides for help at the main Shoshone camp nearby, but finds that it has been attacked by the enemy. Now Celou is completely on her own. Can she save her family, or will she be captured as well?

While the premise of Rich Haney's book "Sacajawea" is interesting - he is concerned with proving that she died in 1884 on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and not in 1812 at Fort Mandan in South Dakota - this entire book of 128 pages could and should be condensed into an essay of much shorter length. The material is unbelievably badly organized and repetitive; one never knows where one is in the chronology of events, either the author's or Sacajawea's. A good editor would hopefully have made sense out of this chaos, done away with some of the jargon that seems so out of place (such as saying that Sacajawea "was not too bent out of shape whan a rival tribe mauled her village and took her captive" or "Ken Burns and Steven Ambrose consented to be interviewed only so the 'news' networks or the 'news'papers would pimp both their new projects") and straightened out the rough grammar. Mr. Haney is obviously an amateur historian with a cause, and I congratulate him for his loyalty to and admiration of his Indian subject. However, I wish I hadn't had to spend four hours reading what should have taken me one.

I've been enchanted with Sacajawea for forty years, all my adult life. I am now enchanted with Rich Haney's book SACAJAWEA: Her True Story, which I think is the definitive book regarding the very important questions of when she died and where she is buried. Most people, it seems, agree with me and with Mr. Haney's conclusions that she died in 1884 and is buried on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and that is was another Shoshoni, Otter Woman, that died in 1812 in South Dakota...[T]he very first two sentences of Mr. Haney's book, the Prologue, states very plainly: "This in not an attempt to tell Sacajawea's story in chronological order, because the basic facts have been enumerated many times across two centuries. Rather, I endeavor to elaborate on the reasons many white historians erroneously maintain that she died in 1812 at Fort Manuel in South Dakota, although her Shoshoni people rightfully claim she died in 1884 on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation, her final resting place." With that defining parameter, Mr. Haney successfully separates his book from all other Sacajawea books, most of which have merely added to the mystery as to when Sacajawea died and where she is buried. Mr. Haney, better than any other Sacajawea biographer, clears up that mystery by starkly corroborating the Oral/Traditional History of the Shoshones with a plethora of documentation from the white world, including the testimony of people such as the U. S. Government's investigator, Dr. Charles Eastman; John Roberts, the preacher who knew her and buried her; Mormons who interacted closely with the Shoshones; and a bevy of white people who lived and/or worked on the Wind River Reservation during the years Sacajawea lived and died there. At the same time, Mr. Haney minutely points out how and why many white historians, including Stephen Ambrose, mistook Otter Woman's death at Fort Manuel in 1812 as being the death of Sacajawea. To pull this off, Mr. Haney, as he outlined in the Prologue, reviewed various accounts of Sacajawea's life, explaining where those accounts were similar and where they differed and then discussing the nuances before proving that, essentially, the Shoshones themselves have been totally correct in unwaveringly mandating Sacajawea's life and death. The "repetitive" style, complete with an astute explanation of how the nuances agreed or disagreed with the Shoshones, is exactly what convinced me that Sacajawea's own people indeed know exactly when she died -- April 9th, 1884 -- and exactly where she is buried, on the Wind River Reservation. ...Mr. Haney vividly explains the cultures of the Plains Indians -- which included repeated raids by rival tribes to raid Shoshoni villages for the express purpose of capturing Shoshoni girls... Mr. Haney's version of Sacajawea's reaction to being captured precisely parallels the views of the Plains Indians, as he documents. ...I've read the book three times and ...discovered... only beautifully written, markedly lucid sentences. By contrast, any "editor" would find Anonymous's sentences replete with "rough grammar" and misspelled words. Anonymous, for example, spells "when" as "whan." Also, Anonymous obviously doesn't know much about Sacajawea. He/she, for example, confuses "Fort Mandan" with Fort Manuel concerning where Otter Woman died. Well, Mr. Haney obviously does know more than a little bit about Sacajawea, including when she died and where she is buried. I believe...Mr. Haney's refreshing and insightful biography of America's most memorialized female. ...I am not Anonymous in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Sunday, August 13th, 2000, Denver Post had a review of SACAJAWEA: Her True Story by its Nonfiction Editor Sandra Dallas. Ms. Dallas wrote: "Every now and then, a book comes along that challenges historical 'fact' and does it well enough to make you wonder. Did Butch Cassidy die in Bolivia, or did he wind up as a dentist in Seattle? Was Billy the Kid really shot by Sheriff Pat Garrett, or did he die an old man in a little town in New Mexico? Now comes Rich Haney who claims in SACAJAWEA: Her True Story that the Lewis and Clark guide did not die at Fort Manuel in 1812, as most historians claim, but married an Indian named Jirk Meat, lived until 1884 and is buried on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Haney makes a compelling case, citing a number of Indian sources. The 'Snake squaw' (as she was described) who died in 1812 was indeed the wife of Charbonneau, Sacajawea's husband. But he had several wives. The dead woman was Otter Woman, another wife, Haney says. That makes sense. A one-time Virginia television sportscaster, Haney is passionate about his subject. He has a credible argument...

Mostly unknown by the general public and historians, the story of the ill-fated Utter and Van Ornum parties in 1860 ranks high on the list of most moving struggles of the westward-bound emigrants along the Oregon Trail. This story, inaccurately recorded until now, rates as a must-read by any afficianado of Oregon Trail history. Mr. Shannon spent several years researching this book, and the quality of that reasearch shines through on almost every page. The names of all the players in the tragedy are there. Details of every conceivable facet of the story is included. There are many very rare photos and drawings included, and well-drawn maps of each part of the tale grace the pages of this invaluable resource. The story itself is compelling beyond measaure. There is heroism, cowardice, death, destruction, and intrigue at every turn. If only the story of 13 year-old Emmeline Trimble and her 10 year-old brother Christopher were included in this book, I would still recommend it highly. This slim volume, however, is easily read in one sitting and yet covers the subject of the "massacre" completely. The writing is energetic and entirely factual. This is easily one of the best books on Oregon Trail matters written in the last ten years. I recommend it highly. Anyone interested in how the west was REALLY won and lost should consider Donald Shannon's book an absolute must-have.

I grew up near the scenes in this book and I have received considerable information from local folks. I summarized the tragedy in a Malheur newsletter several years ago, but Don Shannon's book far exceeds my work. He has done a beautiful job of spicing his narrative with letters and quotes from survivors and pioneers of the time. Don's book is so moving I sort of wept at some passages. It has heroes, a particularly savage Indian group of renegades, and some blundering ordinary people. And it is all true!

A fascinating study of how land molds people and forges alliances between groups who should be enemies. My sisters and I grew up in the Weiser Valley, never knowing of the existence of this group. When we studied Idaho history, we never learned about this hardy band who walked where our parents settled dozens of years later. The steep, formidable mountains which rise from the Weiser Valley still provide remote shelter to hardy souls who can survive in a non-electronic world. It pleased me to read this story and know that the white settlers in the upper mountains made their own alliances with the Weiser Indians and helped them keep their whereabouts unknown for many years.

I was raised in Southwestern Idaho with an interest in the history of the Native Americans of my area. Finally, I have encountered all of the information that I always wanted but had never found: IN THIS BOOK. This book is not limited to the "Weiser" Indians, but includes all of the cultures that traded or traveled through this area. It tells of a gathering area where an annual regional rendezvous allowed peaceful cultural and material exchange from the West Coast to the Great Plains. And it tells of a band of Shoshoni who had the foresight to quietly embrace the forces of change and thus avoid the genocide that destroyed so many others. It brings together historical accounts which are carefully annotated, and it includes the lives of numerous important historical persons. Thank you, Hank Corless, for providing this delightful book. It is good, readable storytelling, organized by timelines. This book combines readability with academic research, and it avoids romanticizing. I hope it gets reprinted. At the time of this review, it is out of print and only available used, but still well worth buying.

Dances With Wolves tells the story of a white man's first encounter with Native Americans. In a stomach-knotting scene, Red Willow's Quest relates the opposite side of the coin when a Native American woman first encounters those paragons of virtue and culture--the white men who settled the West.

Red Willow is a terrific heroine, a study in paradox. She is larger than life with feet of clay, fearless in the face of nagging fears, and conservative even while she flauts convention. She surpases her human limitations when she dwells in the high worlds of Spirit. At once larger than life, Red Willow is genuinely human. She is what is best in all of us.

This enjoyable and highly readable book has a dream-like quality to it--at times brilliant and at times just short of the mark. It was as if the author had seen these lands only in dreams and some of the visceral and tactile quality I was looking for was missing. As a student of dreams, however, I feel that in spite of any historical inaccuracies, her representation of meeting her vision had a real "been there" feel to it. And it is that connection to the Inner World that sets this book apart. I look forward to the next chapter in Vision Woman's story.

Author of Shipmates

RED WILLOW'S QUEST takes its readers into the world of the Plains Indians of the early 1800's. Red Willow tells her story as she sets out on her spiritual journey. The descriptive narrative leads the reader through the many obstacles Red Willow must face to become a medicine woman.

Heidi Skarie does a beautiful job of conveying a culture whose spirituality graced every facet of life.

The world of the Plains Indians has always been a powerful draw for me. When the movie Dances with Wolves came out, I went to see it three times. So, when I found out Heidi Skarie's book, Red Willow's Quest, was set in the early 1800's in the Rocky Mountains I was eager to visit that world again. Red Willow's Quest is the story of a young Shoshoni woman beginning her spiritual journey to become a medicine woman. The descriptive narration reads much like the passages of her diary giving the reader an intimate look inside Red willow's mind, heart, and soul. Red willow struggles to step free of the confining boundaries society had, and still does, set for a woman. Everything, including the rugged landscape becomes an obstacle, attempting to stop her from achieving her goal. Red Willow's greatest obstacle, however, was her awakening feelings of love for a Koottenai warrior. That love interfered with the path she thought her life should take. Thank you, Heidi, for a chance to go back to that time and learn about a heroine whose spiritual culture graced every facet of life.

It was September 20, 1825, when seven year-old Matthew Brayton, with his older brother, William, started in search of some of their father's stray cattle near their home in northwestern Ohio. They traveled two or three miles, but could find none of the cattle. The boys met a neighbor, William Hart, who was in search of his own strays. Matthew, who was by this time very tired, was sent a short distance to another neighbor, a Mr. Baker, where he was told to remain until the two searchers returned for him. William and Mr. Hart continued to search for the lost cattle while young Matthew was left to fend for himself and find his own way to Mr. Baker's place by what was then a narrow and ill-defined path. When the search for the missing cattle was finished, William went to the Baker's, but discovered that Matthew had never arrived, nor had he gone home. This began an adventure of captivity that lasted for more than three decades.

In late August 1859, thirty-four years after Matthew's disappearance, word was received by the Brayton family that a former Indian captive, fresh from being released, had placed a notice in a newspaper asking for information regarding his parents and siblings. The released captive said he had been told that he was stolen from his family near Cleveland, Ohio by a band of unidentified Canadian Indians in revenge for some unknown wrong, then sold to a tribe in Michigan. He then listed a series of trades that eventually took him to the Snakes with whom he remained for much of his captivity.

The freed captive tells of traveling with his band of Snakes to Utah, then crossing the mountains into the San Francisco Bay area. He visited the settlement of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, and tells about a raging battle involving his band of Snakes against diggers and Mexican traders in which one hundred fifty individuals were killed. He tells of scalping and burning alive captured enemy warriors, and of a battle in which he was nearly killed.

He tells of later traveling north where they were joined by bands of Utes, Flatheads, and Cree, then traveling even farther north, crossing the mountains, and finally uniting in about 1843 with a tribe he called the "Copperheads." Contemporary newspaper accounts say the "Copperheads" lived about three hundred miles from the North Pacific Ocean, and two thousand two hundred miles from St. Paul, Minnesota -- suggesting that they lived somewhere in the vicinity of eastern Alaska or southeastern Yukon, possibly in Russian territory. The captive says that his tribe traded at "Russian forts," but moved east to be near a Hudson's Bay Company post after nearly starving to death in about 1850. He was eventually adopted into the tribe where he married and started a family in 1851.

The released captive then relates his attempts to find his natural family and eventually being identified as Matthew Brayton. The story ends where he is welcomed back into his family in Ohio.

This makes a good story, but is it true? Very little of his story can be confirmed in contemporary records. We have only Matthew's narrative and his details are sometimes sparse and confused. How much of Matthew's narrative is true and how much is blatant fabrication or embellishment by an overly enthusiastic newspaper reporter, who might have been the ghost writer, is open to question. Certainly, Matthew's sense of geography was weak at best, and the distances he claims his tribe traveled stagger the imagination. From Ohio to San Francisco; back to Salt Lake City and Oregon; from there to northwestern Canada and beyond; annual journeys to St. Paul, Minnesota by way of Winnipeg; from the Colville River on Alaska's North Slope to Ohio and, ultimately, New York State. These all represent tremendous distances that are almost impossible to comprehend. And Matthew says he did it on foot or horseback and frequently through sometimes hostile Indian territory.

The details of his life among his captors, although fascinating and historically important, are sometimes frustratingly brief. Some of the specific events cannot be confirmed through contemporary records. Even the name of the tribe with whom he lived and married is questionable. There was no tribe in Canada or the United States called the "Copperheads," and personal names in other tribes where copper was used do not fit the linguistic patterns for names used in the narrative. It's possible the name "Copperheads" was a "catch-all" name for several tribes, including the Kutchin, Tanana, and Han in Alaska, and a western band of Cree in northern Alberta, but this is yet to be confirmed.

Some cynics said that the released captive was a fake, that he only wanted charity. To his credit, Matthew never asked for money, but said continually that he only wanted to find his family. The story of this released captive was published in 1860, reprinted in 1896, and now reprinted by Ye Galleon Press. Unfortunately, none of these publications contain information about the Brayton family, or what happened to the released captive after his return to his natural family. Those details will be left for another day. Nevertheless, this is an interesting account of one person's captivity. It is left to the reader to decide whether the person found in 1859 was the seven year-old boy lost to his family in 1825. I think he was.

It was September 20, 1825, when seven year-old Matthew Brayton, with his older brother, William, started in search of some of their father's stray cattle near their home in northwestern Ohio. They traveled two or three miles, but could find none of the cattle. The boys met a neighbor, William Hart, who was in search of his own strays.

Matthew, who was by this time very tired, was sent a short distance to another neighbor, a Mr. Baker, where he was told to remain until the two searchers returned for him. William and Mr. Hart continued to search for the lost cattle while young Matthew was left to fend for himself and find his own way to Mr. Baker's place by what was then a narrow and ill-defined path. When the search for the missing cattle was finished, William went to the Baker's, but discovered that Matthew had never arrived, nor had he gone home. This began an adventure of captivity that lasted for more than three decades.

In late August 1859, thirty-four years after Matthew's disappearance, word was received by the Brayton family that a former Indian captive, fresh from being released, had placed a notice in a Cleveland newspaper asking for information regarding his parents and siblings. The released captive said he had been told that he was stolen from his family near Cleveland by a band of unidentified Canadian Indians in revenge for some unknown wrong, then sold to a tribe in Michigan. He then listed a series of trades that eventually took him to the Snakes with whom he remained for much of his captivity.

The freed captive tells of traveling with his band of Snakes to Utah, then crossing the mountains into the San Francisco Bay area. He visited the settlement of Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, and tells about a raging battle involving his band of Snakes against diggers and Mexican traders in which one hundred fifty individuals were killed. He tells of scalping and burning alive captured enemy warriors, and of a battle in which he was nearly killed.

He tells of later traveling north where they were joined by bands of Utes, Flatheads, and Cree, then traveling even farther north, crossing the mountains, and finally uniting in about 1843 with a tribe he called the "Copperheads." Contemporary newspaper accounts say the "Copperheads" lived about three hundred miles from the North Pacific Ocean, and two thousand two hundred miles from St. Paul, Minnesota -- suggesting that they lived somewhere in the vicinity of southeastern Yukon, southwestern Northwest Territories, or northern British Columbia, although one article says they lived in Russian territory. The captive says that his tribe traded at "Russian forts," but moved east to be near a Hudson's Bay Company post after nearly starving to death in about 1850. He was eventually adopted into the tribe where he married and started a family in 1851.

The released captive then relates his attempts to find his natural family in 1859 and eventually being identified as Matthew Brayton. The story ends where he is welcomed back into his family in Ohio.

This makes a good story, but is it true? Very little of his story can be confirmed in contemporary records. We have only Matthew's narrative, and his details are sometimes sparse and confused. How much of Matthew's narrative is true and how much is blatant fabrication or embellishment by an overly enthusiastic newspaper reporter, who might have been the ghost writer, is open to question. Certainly, Matthew's sense of geography was weak at best, and the distances he claims he traveled stagger the imagination. From Ohio to San Francisco; back to Salt Lake City and Oregon; from there to northwestern Canada and beyond; annual journeys to St. Paul, Minnesota by way of Winnipeg; from the Colville River on Alaska's North Slope to Ohio and, ultimately, New York State. These all represent tremendous distances that are almost impossible to comprehend. And Matthew says he did it on foot or horseback and frequently through sometimes hostile Indian territory.

The details of his life among his captors, although fascinating and historically important, are sometimes frustratingly brief. Some of the specific events cannot be confirmed through contemporary records. Even the name of the tribe with whom he lived and married is questionable. There was no tribe in Canada or the United States called the "Copperheads," and personal names in other tribes where copper was used do not fit the linguistic patterns for names used in the narrative. The tribe appearing closest to his "Copperheads" are the Yellowknives of the Northwest Territories of Canada, but the language is wrong and the number of tribal members was much too small to fit his 2,000 travelers on the trading trips to St. Paul. It's possible the "Copperheads" were a western band of Cree, but this is yet to be confirmed.

Some cynics said that the released captive was a fake, that he only wanted charity. To his credit, Matthew never asked for money, but said continually that he only wanted to find his family. The story of this released captive was published in 1860, reprinted in 1896, and now reprinted by Ye Galleon Press. Unfortunately, none of these publications contain information about the Brayton family, or what happened to the released captive after his return to his natural family. Those details must be left for another day. Nevertheless, this is an interesting account of one person's captivity. It is left to the reader to decide whether the person found in 1859 was the seven year-old boy lost to his family in 1825. I think he was.

Madsen(the foremost authority on the Shoshoni and Bannock Indians of Idaho and Utah) here gives us a portrait of the real Chief. According to Madsen, Pocatello was simply a Chief who was interested in feeding his people and making peace with the white man. While it is true that Pocatello led many raids on wagon trains most notable at Massacre Rock, Madsen says that he was credited with many more raids than he was actually involved in. Madsen also sets for the many fanciful tales that the anti-Pocatello media attributed to him. But the thing that Pocatello is most famous for is the small Idaho town that has his name.

I thought that this was an interesting story. I thought that it was great how even though he was attacked be a mountain lion and got his hand chewed off by the lion, he did not let it bring him down.

This book gave a different point of view of the Indian Shoshone woman who traveled with Lewis & Clark's expedition. I've read several books regarding Sacagawea and just returned from the Montana to Idaho historical tour on Lewis & Clark's trail. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Sacagawea.

Hi my name is Jill and I read the book Sacajawea; Her True story by Joyce Milton.. The book was great. It is geared toward first through third grade reading levels, but it is a good read aloud for up to fourth grade. The pictures are very colorful and vivid and the text is simple and easy to understand. The book chronicles the important events of Sacajawea's life, beginning with her childhood. The book also includes maps and symbols that are helpful for additional understanding. I would recommend this book to all primary students who are learning about Sacajawea and/or Lewis and Clark.