"Col. Henry Inman's new book 'Stories of the Old Santa Fe Trail'...thrilling adventures...so long locked up in the tenacious memory of Mountain Men and Old Trappers...Colonel Inman of Kansas fame...knew personally all the men of the border." -Saturday News, July 1, 1881
"Stories of the Old Santa Fe Trail, by Col. H. Inman...perhaps no man living is so well qualified to give the world a reliable history of...thrilling adventures connected with the Old Santa Fe Trail." -Ellsworth Reporter, May 5, 1881
"Col. Henry Inman...presented us with a copy of his latest work entitled 'Stories of the Santa Fe Trail,' one of the most fascinating publications of the kind we have ever read." -Lincoln Beacon, Aug. 4, 1881
How closely are many of the most interesting stories of the Old West in some way connected to the Santa Fe Trail?
In 1881, Indian Wars veteran Col. Henry Inman of Kansas, who personally knew all of the major personalities of the Santa Fe Trail, published some of the most interesting stories ever related of the Old West in his book titled, "Stories of the Old Santa Fe Trail."
In introducing his book, Inman writes:
"The reader is reminded that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad practically follows the old Santa Fe Trail, or wagon road, across the Plains, through Kansas and New Mexico. No other scope of country on the continent, perhaps, is so rich in history and tradition. The advent of the railroad, with its disturbing and disclosing influences, has made this land a new one to every day eyes; but, in fact, it was already old when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. It is not possible, of course, in the brief space of such a book as this, to give a symmetrical or connected account of the many strange, stirring and important scenes enacted here in such a prolonged and confused period of time. The author has contested himself, therefore, with merely gathering up a few separate and characteristic fragments of its wonderful story, which it is hoped will interest the general reader, and stimulate further research in this vast field of shadow and mystery."
About the author:
Henry Inman was born July 30, 1837, and died November 13, 1899. He was an American soldier, frontiersman, and author. He served the military during the Indian campaigns and the American Civil War, having earned distinction for gallantry on the battlefield. He was commissioned lieutenant general during the Indian wars. He settled in Kansas and worked as a journalist and author of short stories and books of the plains and western frontier. He was a friend and associate of Buffalo Bill and served under General Custer.
