INDEPENDENCE DAY IN SMALL-TOWN AMERICA, 1800s by Marisa Masterson

 Would I celebrate Independence Day if I was a settler who had claimed land in the Dakotas? How about back in the East? Would the 4th of July be as important to someone there?

Independence Hall, Signing of Declaration

Before the 1860s, Independence Day meant artillery shots, a parade, and a speaker who would inspire patriotism in the hearts of the townspeople. It was reverent, a sort of combination ofThanksgiving Day and Veterans Day.

4th of July, Philadelphia, 1812

After the American Civil War, people turned to something much different. After the brutal war, it was little wonder that they craved escapism. The day became one filled with picnics, games, and drinking. This is when the day began to resemble our modern 4th of July in the United States.

In the West, settlers truly embraced the day. Farmers and ranchers used it as an excuse to come to town and celebrate with people that they rarely saw during their isolated days and weeks. Rather than celebrating in small groups within a town as had become common in the East by then, whites in the West continued to come together as a town to enjoy the day.

Photo from Missouri History Museum, 1894

 People enjoyed picnics and games such as a tug of war or foot races. Bands played, and choirs sang. These were people who celebrated the freedom to follow their consciences as well as opportunities opened to them by democracy. They had no need to follow a king, such as Laura Ingles Wilder wrote about in her book Little Town on the Prairie.

If you would like to read more about this kind of celebration, recorded through memories and photos, I encourage you to go to https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-17-2/the-old-fashioned-fourth-of-july-a-photographic-essay-on-small-town-celebrations-prior-to-1930/vol-17-no-2-the-old-fashioned-fourth-of-july.pdf. 

If you enjoy reading about times past, check out my latest release.

Chicken thieves, rustlers, and a corrupt town marshal! What a time for a rancher to take on a bride he doesn’t know.

Ike Davis struggles to understand the meaning of people's expressions. He recognizes that about himself. It's his main reason for avoiding the town and its residents.Will marrying really change that?
Mae Williams arrives in Montana to claim what is owed her father. He saved Davis during the war. Now marrying Mae becomes Davis's way of paying back the debt.
But marriage?
Can anything good come when the man is forced by honor to marry a woman who's not like he expected?

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