Plains Cavalry

Doing research for the third book in my spirit trilogy, Spirit of the Sky, I had to do research on the plains cavalry. This was the mounted army used to curtail Indian uprisings and make sure there was safe passage for the people populating the west.

After the Civil War, southern cavalry officers were demoted to privates. There was a feeling that if they were allowed to remain officers they could become in control of the military.  So many left the service rather than be demoted. After the war many of the soldiers went back to civilian life, leaving the cavalry shorthanded.

The years following the war most recruits were either illiterate or spoke a foreign language, causing problems when it came to training. Officers, who were graduates of West Point or promoted during the Civil War, and had sufficient training and experience in fighting, found themselves teaching ragtag groups how to ride horses and fire a rifle.

The plains cavalry weren't the sophisticated and well-oiled machine the movies make them out to be. A good part of the enlisted men were criminals who chose enlisting to going to jail.

Not all forts were as large and accommodating as we see in movies either. Most were small complexes of buildings for housing, cooking and eating, and a supply or trade shop along with a stable and farrier. When the soldiers weren't working on their fighting, they were the upkeep and builders of the forts.

During most of the Indian Wars period, the basic enlisted man's salary was $13 a month. Low pay, combined with boredom, and the fact many were their due to paying a debt to society for crimes they committed, there was a high desertion rate.

Food at the frontier forts wasn't of good quality. The enlisted man's menu consisted of hash, stew, hardtack, salt, vinegar and molasses. Scurvy was a common disease among the men due to the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables.

I discovered with my research the cavalry life was not glamorous and you had to have either wanted to stay away from your family really bad or had no other place to go to want to stay in the mundane life that could kill you just as easy from fraternizing with the local women as it could from a bullet or arrow. 

Sources:  

US Cavalry on the Plains 1850-90 Philip Katcher and Ron Volstad

The United States Cavalry: An Illustrated History 1776-1944 Gregory J.W. Urwin

Reprinted blog.

Jazz and Mystery the Perfect Combination (SinC-up Blog Hop)#SinC-up

When I responded to a fellow Sisters in Crime member to partner with her for a “SinC-up blog hop", I didn’t realize we would have a writing trait in common other than we both write mysteries. It turns out we also like to listen to music when we write. You can read H.A. Somerled’s blog on writing with music here. And learn about her books here.

I’ve talked about how music has helped me get in character and dropped me into a deeper POV while writing. I listen to Native American drum and flute music as well as music by Karen Therese while writing the Spirit trilogy—three historical books set among the Nez Perce. 

While writing the Action Adventure books, I listened to first Guatemalan music while Isabella Mumphrey, the heroine, was in Guatemala, then Mexican music when she was in Mexico City, and Native American music when she found adventure in Arizona while tracking down a Hopi ceremonial kiva.

Now that I’m working on a mystery, I listen to jazz. My amateur sleuth is half Nez Perce, so why don’t I listen to Native American music, you might ask. Simply because Jazz lends itself to mysteries.

 

As a junior in high school I attended a Jazz music summer camp. At that camp we learned that you not only have to learn the song’s melody and rhythm, but you have to make up your own rendition of the melody when it’s your instruments turn to solo.

So, like a mystery story that starts out with the standard structure: someone is killed, sleuths-amateur or professional or both try to solve the murder, and there is a twist at the end, a jazz song also has the fundamentals of the song that everyone knows and adheres to. But then, like a jazz song has improvisation by several different instruments, the author gets to improvise by leading readers into what if’s and red herrings to take them on a ride of suspense, just like the instruments in a jazz song take the listener on a journey with their unique spins on the melody.

Jazz songs have emotion and melody. They have soft and hard. All the aspects that need to be hit in a mystery as it is being written and read.

And that’s why I listen to jazz while writing mystery.

Have you ever connected a song or artist with a book you read? 

Re-launching Spirit Trilogy

I first published my Spirit Trilogy with Wild Rose Press starting in 2009. Since I've started this new journey of self-publishing, I asked for the rights back to all three books and they are being re-released this month with new covers designed by one of my talented daughters.

These books started out as books of my heart and continue to be as I re-release them. I grew up in Wallowa County where the books are set and the area the Lake Nimipuu (Wallowa Nez Perce) called home.

Here are a few reviews the books have received:

SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN(1^st place Paranormal Lories Award): “This trip into the paranormal certainly takes readers away from the usual and lures them into a world that pulsates with passion and possibilities of “what-if”. Spirit of the Mountain is captivating.”

~Long and Short Reviews

SPIRIT OF THE LAKE(Finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence):  “This was an awesome book. I loved the history that was woven expertly into the story...The many facets in this tale take the reader on an unforgettable journey. ” 

~Night Owl Reviews

SPIRIT OF THE SKY: “Captivating reading from the opening sentence, with characters that will nestle inside your heart and remain for eternity, Jager paints a spiritually nourishing tale with her striking prose. An intense depiction of American history, a brilliant illustration of contrasting cultures and a believable dollop of paranormal events propel the story effortlessly. Spirit of the Sky affirms Jager is an ingenious wordsmith and a skillful researcher.” 

~RT Book Reviews

 Spirit of the Mountain

Evil spirits, star-crossed lovers, and duty…which will prevail?

Wren, the daughter of a Nimiipuu chief, loves the mountain and her people—the Lake Nimmipuu.  When a warrior from the enemy Blackleg tribe asks for her hand in marriage to bring peace between the tribes, she knows it is how she must fulfill her vision quest. But she is torn between duty and her breaking heart.

Himiin, as spirit of the mountain, watches over all the creatures on his mountain, including the Nimiipuu. When Wren shows no fear of him as a white wolf, he listens to her secret fears and loses his heart to the mortal maiden. Respecting her people’s beliefs, he must watch her leave the mountain with the Blackleg warrior.

When an evil spirit threatens Wren’s life, Himiin rushes to save her. But to leave the mountain means he’ll turn to smoke…

Buy links:

 Windtree Press / Amazon / Nook / Apple / Kobo

Spirit of the Lake

Can a spirit set upon this earth to see to the good of the Nimiipuu stay true to justice when revenge burns in his heart?

Wewukiye, the lake spirit, saves a Nimiipuu maiden from drowning and bringing shame to herself and her family. Learning her people ignored her accusations against a White man who took her body, leaving her pregnant,Wewukiye vows to help her through the birth and to prove the White man’s deceit.

Dove slowly heals her heart and her distrust as Wewukiye, the warrior with hair the color of the sun, believes in her and helps her restore her faith in her people and herself.  

On their quest for justice, Dove reveals spiritual abilities, ensnaring Wewukiye’s respect and awe. But will these abilities seal their future or tear them apart?

Buy links: 
Windtree Press / Amazon / Nook / Apple 

Spirit of the Sky

Can enemies not only work for peace but find love?

Sa-qan, a Nimiipuu eagle spirit, must take a human form to save her mortal niece when the Nimiipuu are forced from their land by the U.S. Army. Sa-qan strives to remain true to her spirit world and her people, but finding an ally in a Cavalry Officer has unraveled her beliefs.

During battle with the Nimiipuu, Lt. Wade Watts finds a blonde woman hiding a Nez Perce child.  He believes she is a captive when her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language. Yet she refuses his help. Their paths cross several times during the skirmishes, and she becomes his savior when renegade warriors wound him. 

Buy Links:  
Amazon  / Nook /  Apple

If you want to read excerpts from the books, you can find them on my website: http://www.patyjager.net

Wednesday Western- Books of my Heart

I’ve told many that my paranormal historical trilogy, Spirit of the Mountain, Spirit of the Lake, and Spirit of the Sky were the books of my heart.  I just didn’t realize how long my interest and admiration for the Wallowa Nez Perce has been inside of me. While helping clean up my dad’s house this past weekend I found paintings I did when I was in my early teens. I floored me to see that I had been invested in the first inhabitants of the valley where I lived back then.

The trilogy is about a trio of siblings the Creator made spirits to oversee the Lake Nimiipuu or the band of Nez Perce who lived in the NE corner of Oregon in the Wallowa country. The area where I grew up.

To write the books I did a lot of research. Here is some of what I dug up to help me write the

second book in the trilogy. This story has a pregnant heroine, which led me to devote hours reading books about the Nez Perce customs and social living aspects to learn all I could about pregnancy and child birth.

The Nez Perce women had specific jobs. They gathered roots, berries and herbs as well as the firewood. It was their job to keep the fire going all night during the winter months. They were the cooks, the ones who dried and stored the meat, fish, berries and roots. Tanned the hides, made the clothing, wove baskets and constructed the dwellings. They did everything needed to sustain a family other than hunt, prepare weapons, and fight. If need be, they could hunt for smaller animals, fight, and take care of weapons though it was not one of their jobs.

During battles women provided fresh horses, food, and water for the warriors, tended the wounded, warned others of danger, directed children and the old people where to hide and how to leave when their encampments were attacked. If a husband was shot they could pick up his gun and fight.  They also cooked and gathered wood during attacks, keeping the children, old people, and warriors fed during the attacks and battles.

Pregnant women still did most of the chores right up until the moment they started labor. Some would have miscarriages from long periods of riding horses in the last months of pregnancy-usually during campaigns of fighting.

If a woman was pregnant they believed their man would have bad luck hunting. She was also not allowed to see any part of a kill—blood, skinning. They feared her child would be born deformed. They also didn't touch, view, or ridicule any deformed animals or humans, fearing it would cause their child the same misfortune. They didn't tie knots or do things symbolic of obstructing the birth.

A wide strip of buckskin was tied around their bellies. This was believed to protect the child. After the birth, this strip was burned or buried, giving the child a healthy, strong body. They did everything to keep the baby safe. The Nez Perce wanted to build a large strong tribe.

When a woman started labor she was isolated in a small dwelling with either an older family member or a mid-wife. If there were complications the Ti-wet (medicine man) was called in. The dwelling had a hole dug in the middle of the structure. The blood and after birth were put in this hole and buried.  The umbilical cord was kept in a small leather pouch attached to the cradleboard. It is believed to be bad luck to destroy such an intimate part of the baby.

The cradle board is made by a relative. The baby is transported and tended in the board until he is ready to walk. Children were breast fed for several years.  This was one of their ways to contribute to birth control. Other ways were with herbs.

You can click on the books on the side bar and it will take you to my website and excerpts to the books as well as buy links.

Sources: Nez Perce Women in Transition, 1877-1990- Caroline James; NeeMePoo – Allen P. Slickpoo Sr. and Deward E. Walker Jr.

Release Day! Spirit of the Sky

All my friends, writer and non-writers, know that I have put my heart and soul into the what I loving call the "Spirit" trilogy. This is a set of three books that chronicles the Wallowa Valley Nez Perce or Lake Nimiipuu as they call themselves over a period of one hundred years.

Spirit of the Mountain starts before the White man encroached upon the Wallowa Valley and disturbed the Lake Nimiipuus summer and winter homes. Spirit of the Lake is when the Whites arrive and cause problems and Spirit of the Sky follows the nontreaty Nez Perce on their flight to freedom.

It's sad to know I've finished these books but invigorating to have the three out for readers to hopefully enjoy reading and learn a bit about a people I've come to admire and hold much empathy for. To be stripped of their heritage as they were makes my heart ache for what all they've lost. But I find it gratifying to know they are working to learn and get that knowledge back.

I pride myself on doing extensive research and these books were even more research intensive. But I loved every minute of the research and getting to know more about a group of people I have been fascinated with since I was old enough to realize I grew up in their valley.

To give this trilogy and the last book a splash, I have a two week a twenty blog tour for readers to follow.


From May 5^th to May 18^th I’ll be on a blog tour promoting the third book of my Spirit Trilogy, Spirit of the Sky. At each stop I’ll give away a  $5 Amazon gift certificate to a lucky commenter. Each stop will have a picture of an eagle in the post. Follow the tour and send me the number of different pictures you saw at each stop. If there is more than one correct entry I’ll draw a winner on May 21^st  to receive a $25 gift certificate to either Barnes and Nobles or Amazon, a handmade custom ereader cover, and chocolate.

Blurb

     To save her from oppression, he must save her whole tribe. To give her his heart, he must desert his career…

     When the US Army forces the Nimiipuu from their land, Sa-qan, the eagle spirit entrusted with watching over her tribe, steps in to save her mortal niece. Challenging the restrictions of the spirit world, Sa-qan assumes human form and finds an unexpected ally in a handsome cavalry officer.

     Certain she is a captive, Lt. Wade Watts, a Civil War veteran, tries to help the blonde woman he finds sheltering a Nez Perce child. While her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language, she refuses his help. But when Wade is wounded, it is the beautiful Sa-qan who tends him. Wade wishes to stop the killing—Sa-qan will do anything to save her people.

     Can their differences save her tribe? Or will their love spell the end of the Nimiipuu?

Excerpt

     She smiled and his heart leapt into his throat. He thought her beautiful from the first moment he saw her standing in the river fiercely protecting the child, but watching her tense face relax and smile, he was smitten. A light and pleasing calm washed over him for the first time in a very long time. He could only bask in the moment briefly. They were enemies.

    “I am from the sky, and I watch over the Nimiipuu.” She nodded her head and flashed him with yet another smile. “You may call me Angel.”

    “Only if you call me Wade.”

     She nodded. “Let me check your wounds. You have moved around.”

     “Why are you taking such good care of me when your warriors left me for dead?”

     Her sunshine gaze peered straight into his eyes. “You saved my niece at the village and the wounded from the Bannock scout. You do not have the thirst to kill like the other soldiers.” She bowed her head and removed the blood encrusted bandage from his shoulder. “The Nimiipuu need you.”

     Her touch warmed his body, tingling the areas around his wounds. He glanced at her small, delicate hands hovering over his injuries. He shut his eyes, and then opened them. Her hands shimmered as if in a fog. His pain subsided, in fact, his body felt well rested.

     A soft lyrical chant rose from her lips as she continued to hover her hands over his wounds. Her eyes remained closed, her light lashes resting on her sun-kissed cheeks. He’d never seen a woman as beautiful as this. He had to learn her true origins and return her to her family.

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191&products_id=4850

Friday Fact

The fact today is I received my release date for Spirit of the Sky! Mark your calendars the third and final book of the Nimiipuu Spirit trilogy will be available May 4, 2012.

This third book follows the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) when they are fleeing to freedom. As nontreaty Indians(having not signed the treaty to put them on a reservation) they believe they should be allowed to be free. When the army is sent to physically place them on the reservation several bands of Nez Perce and other tribes band together and make a desperate run for freedom.  This book is told from Sa-qan the Nimiipuu spirit's point of view and a Lieutenant in the army who is following orders.

I used multiple books written from both sides to make this book ring as true to their feelings and the battles that ensued during the Nimiipuu's dash for freedom.

Blurb:

To save her from oppression, he must save her whole tribe. To give her his heart, he must desert his career…

When the US Army forces the Nimiipuu from their land, Sa-qan, the eagle spirit entrusted with watching over her tribe, steps in to save her mortal niece. Challenging the restrictions of the spirit world, Sa-qan assumes human form and finds an unexpected ally in a handsome cavalry officer.

Certain she is a captive, Lt. Wade Watts, a Civil War veteran, tries to help the blonde woman he finds sheltering a Nez Perce child. While her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language, she refuses his help. But when Wade is wounded, it is the beautiful Sa-qan who tends him. Wade wishes to stop the killing—Sa-qan will do anything to save her people.

Can their differences save her tribe? Or will their love spell the end of the Nimiipuu?

Friday Facts- Nez Perce

When the soldiers decided the nontreaty Nez Perce must go to the reservation it was June 1877. The Wallowa Nez Perce started the 4 month 1,100 mile flight to freedom.

During the skirmishes and travel 111 whites lost their lives and 96 Nez Perce were killed. Thirty-six of those women and children.

When the Nez Perce finally surrendered they believed they would be sent back to their beloved home but they would not see Idaho or Oregon for seven years.

My third book in the Spirit trilogy, Spirit of the Sky will be out in 2012. It is set during the flight of the Nez Perce looking for freedom.

Blurb:

Sa-qan, the eagle spirit entrusted with watching the Nimiipuu from above, must show herself in human form to save her mortal niece. As the Nimiipuu are being forced from their land by the U.S. Army, Sa-qan challenges the restrictions of her spirit world and finds an unexpected ally in a handsome Cavalry officer.

Lt. Wade Watts, a veteran of the Civil War, offers to help the blonde woman he encounters hiding a Nez Perce child, certain the woman is a captive. While her intelligent eyes reveal she understands his language, she refuses his help. To save her from oppression, he must save her whole tribe. To give her his heart, he must desert his career.