Montana History both old and not so old
By John O’Connell, MontanaHistorian.com
My wife Kerry and I took a day trip last week to Virginia City to do a little research and relax a bit. After lunch, we went in different directions and I wandered up Wallace Street where I found the Hangman’s Building. This is where the Virginia City Vigilance Committee hanged five men from a large beam in the then unfinished building on January 14, 1864.
Continue reading “The Vigilantes of Virginia City, Montana: A Tale of Old West Justice”By John O’Connell, Montana Historian Magazine
“You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.” (Excerpt of a letter to the people of the United States by Congressman John Lewis. Published on the occasion of his death, July 30, 2020)
Continue reading “The Answer is in the Past”by John O’Connell, MontanaHistorian.com
When most of us think of Montana connections with our nation’s Civil War I would bet that nothing much comes to mind. After all, we didn’t even become an organized territory until 1864. The Confederate Army didn’t come within a thousand miles of Montana and what Federal troops that were here were preoccupied with chasing the Lakota along the Yellowstone River and in the Powder River country. That’s not to say the Civil War didn’t touch Montana.
Continue reading “Martin Maginnis: Civil War and Montana Connections”“The Wrong Man” is a story that comes from our friends at the Crazy Mountain Museum in Big Timber.
Red Morris Tries to Kill Henry Witten But Gets Killed Himself – Poor Shooting By Both
(as written in the Big Timber Pioneer on December 28, 1893)
Continue reading “The Wrong Man in Big Timber”The first Montana Historian Magazine was published in 2010.
The stories that have been printed in Montana Historian are as diverse as the people who populate our great state. Yellowstone Park has been featured more than once; stories on the changes in transportation over the years, how vigilantes proved to be such prominent sculptors of where we are today, the growth of the recreation and tourism industries, and biographical stories of prominent names in Montana’s history have all colored the pages of the magazine.
Over the years, we’ve moved Montana Historian from print to digital, as has been the trend in the publishing industry. We are also writing various articles on other platforms such as Substack. John writes stories about Montana in his publication, The Anvil’s Ring, with some overlap between Montana Historian and The Anvil’s Ring. Kerry writes informational articles for Equature, an information technology company that produces logging recorders for public safety agencies. She is also working on fiction on her Substack publication The Small Town Series. And lest us not forget Kerry’s Negligent Gardener website for some fun thoughts on gardening.
We’ve been on the road more often doing research, creating photos and videos, and enjoying the wonderful state of Montana. We are also inviting guest columns for the website and if you are interested you can read more about this opportunity here.
We look forward to adding some longer and more deeply researched stories than we have in the past two years. What we’ve found has surprised even us and made us a bit uncomfortable. But that’s the way history is supposed to be, isn’t it?
Thank you,
John and Kerry O’Connell, MontanaHistorian.com
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