Large Image
Share This
Description
John C. Cremony was the first white man to become fluent in the Apache language.
This gave him unrivalled access and understanding of the Apache culture and society.
Cremony had first entered the world of the Old West in 1846 when he left Massachusetts to serve in the Mexican-American War as a Spanish-language interpreter, rising to the rank of lieutenant.
After a brief hiatus away from the West he returned in 1849 to serve as interpreter for the U.S. Boundary Commission which was at that time creating the border between Mexico and the United States.
It was during this time that Cremony developed relationships with some Apache tribespeople, including two chiefs, Mangas Colorados and Cochise.
Although it was often peaceful between the United States and the Apaches, relations sometimes broke down and Cremony records a number of incidents when violence erupted.
Cremony's Life Among the Apaches is a fascinating book that takes the reader into the heart of the old west when American troops and settlers, Apache Native Americans and Mexicans, fought, survived and co-operated in these wild lands.
"Like most frontiersmen of the mid-nineteenth century, John C. Cremony looked on Indians as unredeemable savages. But he knew Apaches first hand and was a keen and highly literate observer. For all its ethnocentrism, his narrative remains unsurpassed for accuracy and vivid detail among contemporary views of the Apaches. In the literature of the American West Life among the Apaches endures as a classic." -- Robert M. Utley
John C. Cremony was an American soldier who wrote the first dictionary of the Apache language and later became a newspaperman in San Francisco. Cremony authored Life Among the Apaches, published in 1869, in which he described his experiences with the tribe. He passed away in 1879.
Tag This Book
This Book Has Been Tagged
Our Recommendation
Notify Me When The Price...
Log In to track this book on eReaderIQ.
Track These Authors
Log In to track John Carey Cremony on eReaderIQ.