Border Reminiscences (ePub)

"Full of adventure, startling." -Princeton Review, 1872

" The characters depicted in this volume are the most uncouth and original specimens of humanity." - Theological Review, 1872

""It will be even more interesting a hundred years hence." The Nation, 1872

"Valuable as a reliable picture of scenes, and circumstances, and characters which are rapidly passing away." - The Eclectic Magazine, 1872

General Marcy evidently made the best of the hardships to which the duties of his profession called him and finds a natural delight in recalling adventures which had some grotesque or ludicrous phases.

General Marcy's 1859 book "Border Reminiscences" is a portfolio filled with sketches of life upon the frontier. His "Reminiscences" are mostly of the humorous order, and depict the odd characters of remote army stations. Here are described the major of the old régime, the braggadocio, the eccentric cadet, the army belle, and the practical jokes and drolleries which make up so large a part of station life during times of peace.

This volume is mainly composed of lively and well-told narratives of personal experiences and adventures in the service, in which the varied and oftentimes picturesque and absurd characters with whom the author was brought in contact are admirably delineated with his pen. Some of the stories are exceedingly amusing, and others have a serious tone and possess peculiar interest.

Some of the stories which he tells have a serious interest, as, for example, the story of the woman on the Texas border, whose capture by the Comanches, her escape and recapture, and second escape, seem almost incredible if they were not so well vouched for.

About the author:

Randolph Barnes Marcy (1812-1887) was an officer in the United States Army, chiefly noted for his frontier guidebook, the Prairie Traveler (1859), based on his own extensive experience of pioneering in the west. This publication became a key handbook for the thousands of Americans wanting to cross the continent. In the Civil War, Marcy became chief of staff to his son-in-law George B. McClellan, and was later appointed Inspector General of the U.S. Army.