192. TALLENT, Annie D[onna]. The Black Hills ; or, The Last Hunting Ground of the Dakotahs. A Complete History of the Black Hills of Dakota From Their First Invasion in 1874 to the Present Time, Comprising a Comprehensive Account of How They Lost Them; of Numerous Adventures of the Early Settlers; Their Heroic Struggles for Supremacy Against the Hostile Dakotah Tribes, and Their Final Victory; the Opening of the Country to White Settlement, and Its Subsequent Development.  St. Louis : Nixon-Jones Printing Co., 1899. xxii, 713 [1 blank] pp., 50 plates (photographic portraits, a few scenes), many text illustrations (portraits and scenes), vignettes.  8vo, original light blue cloth stamped in gilt and blind, spine gilt lettered, floral endpapers.  Binding lightly rubbed, front hinge starting, otherwise fine, fresh, and bright.

     First edition. Adams , Guns 2180: “Contains some information on Wild Bill Hickok, Jack McCall, Dunc Blackburn, and other outlaws.” Adams , Herd 2232: “Scarce.”Eberstadt 138:197: “A valuable record of the white invasion and conquest of the Dakota-Wyoming country, by a participant.” Graff 4061. Howes T14. Jennewein, Black Hills Booktrails 124 (one of his five standards for the post-Gold Rush period): “Formal reporting of historical information assembled in a somewhat antiquarian manner.” Luther, High Spots of Custer 130:“Reviews the campaign briefly, but contains some accounts of hostilities in the Black Hills .” McCracken, 101, pp. 46-47. Rosenstock 393.

     A massive history of the Black Hills , with an emphasis on “the unwritten chapters” of pioneer experiences.  Tallent (1827-1901) entered the Black Hills in December of 1874 (the first Anglo female to do so) with the Gordon-Russell party seeking gold, in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. She did not remain there long, however, because the army removed the settlers in spring of the following year. She later returned to the Dakotas and eventually settled in Rapid City . There is a monument to her in the Black Hills region. Her presence may have infuriated the Sioux, and it has been conjectured that resentment over the permanent settlement of an Anglo woman in the area contributed to the Sioux anger leading to the Custer massacre, which Tallent here decries in the most strident, brutal terms. ($150-300)

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