Cassie Edwards: "Savage Obsession", "Swift Horse"

[wombat1138]

SMTB already has some entries for Obsession, but since Google Books had some pages available, I figured I might as well see if I could find anything else. (I have no good reason for doing this right now considering how teeth-pullingly sloooow my net connection has been acting, but hey, it's a hobby.)

You know it's going to be bad when almost all of the Author's Note has been plagiarized.

S. Obsession, p 5:

The Chippewa, especially the Lake Superior bands, have been neglected by historians, perhaps because they fought no bloody wars of resistance against the westward-driving white pioneers who overwhelmed them in the nineteenth century.

Yet, historically, the Chippewa were one of the most important Indian groups north of Mexico. Their expansive north woods contained valuable resources, forcing them to play important roles in regional enterprises. They have remained on their native lands, still a proud people, and continue to develop their interests in lumbering, fishing, farming, and mining.

I found my study of the Chippewa a most rewarding and heartwarming experience. It was a pleasure to write about them!

A search on the phrase "expansive north woods" pulled up part of a blurb in an eBay listing for The Chippewas of Lake Superior by Edmund Jefferson Danziger, University of Oklahoma Press, January 1990. Amazon has the complete text of this book searchable online. Preface, page ix:

The Chippewa tribe, especially the Lake Superior bands, has been neglected by historians, perhaps because they fought no bloody wars of resistance against the westward-driving white pioneers who overwhelmed them in the nineteenth century. But, historically, the Chippewa were one of the most important Indian groups north of Mexico. Their expansive north woods contained valuable resources, compelling them to play important roles in regional enterprises such as the French, British, and American fur trade. Neither exterminated nor removed to the semiarid Great Plains, the Lake Superior bands have remained on their native lands and for the past century have continued to develop their interests in lumbering, fishing, farming, mining, shipping, and tourism.

-----

Addenda: swung by the library to check their Cassie Edwards stash, and brought home Swift Horse, which is about the Creek Indians but also has a bonus escaped slave whose dialogue is written... quaintly.

After browsing through the entire book and sowing little post-it tags along the way, I've been working my way back through the tags from the beginning. I'm only up to page 67 of Swift Horse so far, and I'm already feeling exhausted :b

-----

Swift Horse, p. 40: "I have heard that one captured runaway is worth a gun and three blankets to Indians who take runaways back to those who enslaved them. That is the equivalent of forty pounds of dressed deerskin."

A general Google search on "a gun and three blankets" brings up Deerskin and Duffels: Creek Indian Trade with Anglo-America, 1685-1815 by Kathryn E. Holland Braund, U of Nebraska Press, 1993:

"By the 1770s, every captured runaway was officially worth a gun and three blankets—- the equivalent of approximately forty pounds of dressed deerskins."

The context of this passage isn't available via the main Google Books entry or Amazon, although the former seems to indicate that the passage is from page 74. There's also a JSTOR match to a precursor work by the same author: "The Creek Indians, Blacks, and Slavery" by Kathryn E. Holland Braund, The Journal of Southern History Vol. 57, No. 4 (Nov., 1991), pp. 601-636.

-----

Swift Horse, p 63:

Marsha had watched the white traders coming into the village and noticed that the packhorses were small, but Edward James had told her that they were capable of sustaining heavy loads and enduring great fatigue.

Her brother said that the load usually consisted of three bundles, weighing about sixty pounds. The whole pack was covered with a skin to keep off the rain, and poultry was carried in cages made of reeds strapped upon the horses' backs.

History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, From the Earliest Period by Albert James Pickett, Walker and James, 1851, p. 131 (also quoted and cited by Braund on pp 91-92 of her book):

The pack-horses in this trade were small ones, raised in the nation, but were capable of sustaining heavy loads and enduring great fatigue. A saddle of a peculiar shape was first placed upon the pony. The load consisted of three bundles, weighing about sixty pounds. Two of these bundles were suspended across the saddle, and came down by the sides of the pony, while the third was deposited on top of the saddle. The whole pack was covered with a skin to keep off the rain. Thus the pony sustained a load of one hundred and eighty pounds. Even liquids were conveyed in the same manner. Taffai[*], a mean runm, was carried on these horses in small kegs. Indeed, these hardy animal transported everything for sale; and even poultry was carried in cages made of reeds strapped upon their backs.

[*: Braund adds the alternate(?) spelling "tafia" here]

-----

SH pp. 63-64:

Martha had seen that in addition to freshly hunted venison, the Creek had also brought with them honey and beeswax, hickory nut oil, medicinal roots, and herbs to trade with.

Beautiful Creek baskets were among those things being brought in today, as well as pottery and finely dyed and decorated deerskins, and other articles that were sought by white settlers and travelers.

Marsha had quickly learned that an Indian could trade nine ears of corn for a single used Cherokee stroud blanket. This was a tremendous bargain for the Creeks, for the price of a new blanket was approximately eight dressed deerskins.

Google search previews from Braund's book (surrounding contexts unavailable)--

p. 74?: "[...]found ready markets for honey and beeswax, hickory nut oil, medicinal roots and herbs, and other produce in West Florida and Georgia. Creek baskets, pottery, finely dyed and decorated deerskins,[...]

p. 75?: "And at least on one occasion, in 1759 during the Anglo-Cherokee war, Lower Creeks traded nine ears of corn in return for a single used Cherokee stroud blanket. [...?] This was a tremendous bargain for the Creeks—- the price of a new blanket was approximately eight dressed deerskins."

-----

SH p 65:

She constantly went through it in her head-- cloth was measured by the yard, or was traded in pre-cut pieces.

Beads were sold by the strand, and vermilion was measured by the amount that covered the tip of a knife.

Braund p. 90:

Trade goods were parceled out in a variety of ways. Cloth was measured by the yard or was traded in precut pieces. Beads were sold by the strand, powder was meaured in handfuls or pints, and balls of shot were counted individually. Vermilion was often measured by the amount that would cover the tip of a knife. [Braund footnotes the vermilion info to another source]

-----

SH pp 65-66, color-coded to track textual rearrangement:

The skin of a mature buck usually weighed about two pounds, whereas dressed skins from younger bucks and does might weigh only one pound. A dressed skin that weighed one pound was called a chalk, and larger skins, depending on weight, were worth two or three chalks.

Raw skins weighed three pounds, and were bought by tally, reflecting their lower value. She was stunned to know that white traders lopped the snouts, ears, horns, and hooves off the deerskins. This was a tactic that offended the Indians' sensibilities in addition to reducing the weight of the skin, but traders claimed that good, well-dressed and trimmed skins reduced the weight of carriage, and better preserved the hides.

She had been surprised the first time she discovered a practice at her brother's trading post-- that sometimes tallies were kept there by the use of vertical and diagonal lines so that the Creek customers that frequented his trading post could clearly see their credits and debits.

Braund p. 89, color-coded as above and retaining original footnote numbers:

The skin of a mature buck weighed about two pounds, whereas dressed skins from younger bucks and does weighed only one pound.[39] Raw skins, on average, weighed three pounds and were bought by tally, reflecting their lower value. Traders lopped the snouts, ears, horns, and hooves off deerskins, a tactic that offended Indian sensibilities in addition to reducing the weight of the skin. Nonetheless, traders claimed that good, well-dressed and trimmed skins reduced the weight of carriage and better preserved the hides.[40]

A dressed skin that weighed one pound was called a chalk, and tallies were kept by the use of vertical and diagonal lines so Creek customers could clearly see their credits and debits. Larger skins, depending on weight, were worth two or three chalks.[41]

-----

SH pp 66-67:

For one pound of half-dressed leather, a Creek could buy twenty strands of common beads, forty bullets, one dozen pea buttons, a small knife, ten to twelve flints, one half pint of gunpowder, about one yard of ribbon, one pair of scissors, or one ounce of vermilion. A duffel blanket, at eight pounds of leather, and trade guns, at sixteen pounds of leather or more, were among the more expensive goods.

Saddles, priced from thirty to sixty pounds of leather, were seldom purchased. More often, they were acquired as presents or given as rewards for service. Horse bridles cost four pounds of leather. Indians paid from six to ten pounds of leather for horse blankets called housing, depending on quality.

Fabric prices ranged from one pound of leather for three or four yards of caddis to eight pounds of leather for two yards of heavier wool cloth. The prices of ready-to-wear shirts ranged from three pounds of leather for a plain white shirt to eight pounds of leather for a fine-checked or ruffled shirt.

Braund p. 127? (reassembled from Google preview fragments):

Generally, for one pound of half-dressed leather, a Creek could buy twenty strands of common beads, forty bullets, one dozen pea buttons, a small knife, ten to twelve flints, one-half pint of gunpowder, about one yard of ribbon, one pair of scissors, or one ounce of vermilion. A duffel blanket, at eight pounds of leather, and trade guns, at sixteen pounds of leather or more, were among the most expensive goods.

[...?] Saddles, priced from thirty to sixty pounds of leather, were seldom purchased. More often, they were acquired as presents or given as rewards for service. [...?] Horse bridles cost four pounds of leather. Indians paid from six to ten pounds of leather for horse blankets called housing, depending on quality.

Braund p. 122? (reassembled):

Fabric prices ranged from one pound of leather for three or four yards of caddis to eight pounds of leather for two yards of heavier wool cloth (strouds). [...?] The prices of ready-to-wear shirts ranged from three pounds of leather for a plain white shirt to eight pounds of leather for a fine checked or ruffled shirt.

Comments

[angelan-sama.livejournal.com]

O.O

That's sad.

It's one thing to research and reference but another to simply copy and paste, changing or omitting a word or two here and there.

And this being an Author's Note makes it that much worse.

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

SRSLY.

At the very least, imho Kathryn Braund deserves a non-trivial percentage of Edwards' royalties from Swift Horse.

[randomsome1.livejournal.com]

Hi, linking to you at my Ij. :)

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

Enjoy :)

There's another nearly continuous four-page stretch of stuff here (http://wombat1138.livejournal.com/100474.html) :b