Frontier soldier and explorer extraordinaire,
Gustavus Cheyney Doane was no stranger to historical events. Between
1863 and 1892, he fought in the Civil War, participated in every major
Indian battle in Montana Territory, and led the first scientific
reconnaissance into the Yellowstone country—his report on
that expedition even contributed to the establishment of Yellowstone
National Park. Doane was always close to being at the right place at
the right time to secure lasting fame, yet that fame always eluded him,
even after his death. Kim Allen Scott rescues Doane from obscurity to
tell the tale of an educated and inventive man who strove in vain for
recognition throughout his life.
Yellowstone
Denied is a psychological portrait of frontier soldier and
explorer extraordinaire, Gustavus Cheyney Doane complex and intriguing
individual. During his thirty years in uniform, Doane nearly achieved
the celebrity he sought, but twists of fate and, at times, his own
questionable behavior denied it in the end. Scott’s critical
biography now examines the man’s accomplishments and failures
alike, and traces the frustrated efforts of Doane’s widow to
see her husband properly enshrined in history.
Yellowstone
Denied is also a revealing look at military culture,
scientific discovery, and western expansion, and it gives Doane the
credit long denied him.
|
Yellowstone Denied
The
Life of Gustavus Cheyney Doane
by Kim Allen Scott
University of Oklahoma Press,
2007
Order
a copy |
