**One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd By: Jim Fergus**

[Little Star]

Please be very aware that there will be SPOILERS in this thread!!!!!!
Do not read any of the thread’s chapter sub-threads before you have read the actual chapter in your book if you wish to avoid spoilers.

We decided that it would be accommodating to more people to actually set up the whole book thread in one fell swoop. This set up will allow people to read and comment at their own pace. Many of us read fast and many others of us read more slowly.

Besides the chapter sub-threads I have also included Author’s Notes, The Introduction, The Prologue, The Codicil and The Epilogue for anyone who may want to make comments on those sections of the book.

Happy reading to you all! Now get cracking! Sorry about my one self delete mistake.

AUTHOR’S NOTE
In spite of efforts to convince the reader to the contrary, this book is entirely a work of fiction. However, the seed that grew into a novel was sown in the author’s imagination by an actual historical event: in 1854 at a peace conference at Fort Laramie, a prominent Northern Cheyenne chief requested of the U.S. Army authorities the gift of one thousand white women as brides for his young warriors. Because theirs is a matrilineal society in which all children born belong to their mother’s tribe, this seemed to the Cheyenne to be the perfect means of assimilation into the white man’s world ~ a terrifying new world that even as early as 1854, the Native Americans clearly recognized held no place for them. Needless to say, the Cheyenne’s’ request was not well received by the white authorities’ the peace conference collapsed, the Cheyenne went home, and, of course, the white women did not come. In this novel they do.
Certain other historical events are here rendered, but in an entirely fictitious manner. At the same time, the real names of certain actual historical figures are used in this novel, but the characters themselves are fictional creations. In all other respects this book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, dates, geographical descriptions are all either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Finally, while a genuine attempt was made to render the Cheyenne language as accurately as possible, certain mis-spellings and misuses inevitably occur in this book. For these errors, the author offers sincere apologies to the Cheyenne people.
http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-White-Women-Journals/dp/0312199430

[Little Star]

1. INTRODUCTION

[Little Star]

13. Wow! I’ve never bothered to read an introduction to a book before. This one was worth reading.

J. Will Dodd grew up in Chicago scaring his young brother Jimmy with stories about their “mad” great-grandmother, May Dodd, who, as the story went, had gone out west to live with the Indians.

I think she was actually in an insane asylum not really out west with the Indians.

[seabeyond]

24. so

at the end of introduction he is trying to suggest that he has documented evidence it is a true story. you are not buying it?

[seabeyond]

23. i have read the introduction. so i am going to do an introduction about me

in reading this book, lol. something a little different. but then, i am a little different. my feelings about the book may be fun, or it may be cumbersome, or we all may be surprised and i am blown away with positive.

i didn't think much about the book when we voted on it. i didn't think much about this book at all, until someone told me is was trading a 1000 women for a 1000 horses. already my family is gasping saying "no mama, no... don't read it."

then to find out it is a male author.

so, lets be clear. i already am coming to this book with less than an open mind. but that can be fun, too. we are having fun in this house with it. the other day there was a thread about Handmaid's Tale . we have talked about it in this forum. i have declared not a book i should read. well, in this other thread people insisted, really i should. i say, "you know what is good for du?" lol. doesn't phase anyone. still think i should read. so, i got to discuss these two books with my two sons and husband, and they all concur.... "no mama, no... don't read." lmao.

and all three of these people are huge readers and believe we should experience and read all things.

no mama.... don't do it.

there is my introduction to entering the reading of the book. i imagine since it is top of the list of best books, many are going to love. so, i feel i will not be a damper IF my closed minded attitude is a bit different. again, we may be surprised. already, the intro was a surprise. and was fun. and i am glad i read it. it gave me a better understanding the position of this book. being a family member that they used as story telling, generations later.

i was told this was fiction. in the introductory, it appears as if the author is suggesting it really happened.

now, i will read what little star has to say.

[seabeyond]

25. into the prologue now. i think my woes may be for naught. doing good. lol

[Little Star]

2. PROLOGUE

[Little Star]

14. 1874, Chief Little Wolf went to Washington DC to meet with President Ulysses S. Grant.

Little Wolf explains to Grant that it is the Cheyenne way that all Cheyenne children who enter this world are of their mothers tribe.

Little Wolf further explains that they are a small tribe and will soon disappear. He asks for a gift of one thousand white women, as wives, so that Cheyenne children can enter into the white man’s tribe before the buffalo are gone.

The white people were astonished. Grant’s wife Julia even fainted. Grant pointed his finger at the Cheyenne Chief yelling “Outrageous”! Needless to say the night didn’t end well.

In private the President and his advisors had to admit that Chief little Wolf’s plan for assimilation made some sense. Thus was born the “BFI”.

When the government delivered 1000 women the Cheyenne would deliver 1000 horses. Train loads of women, under the veil of secrecy, late at night, began departing New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago.
On March 23, 1875, a young woman by the name of May Dodd, age twenty five years to the day, formerly a patient in the Lake Forest Lunatic Asylum, a private facility thirty miles north of Chicago, boarded the Union Pacific train at Union Station, with forty-seven other volunteers and recruits from the Chicago region ~ their destination Camp Robinson, Nebraska Territory.

[seabeyond]

26. sigh..

lol. of course she fainted. but, again i will say, i am liking how the author did this. playing with it to take it past what i thought it would be. and i also liked how little wolf was thinking about the social norms not being met by whites as he kept his eye from meeting grants cause it is a social wrong, yet for whites not making eye contact would be wrong.

[Little Star]

27. Just keep reading....

It's fiction. lol

[Little Star]

3. NOTEBOOK I: The Train Bound for Glory

[Little Star]

15. I read this first chapter yesterday....

I really like this book so far! I just don't want to be the only one discussing each chapter. So, I await for some of you others.

[MerryBlooms]

16. Very good opening chapter

I almost broke into tears a couple of times... women locked in the asylum for whatever men deemed a 'worthy' excuse, was like a punch to the gut. Especially to be betrayed by your own father/family... so awful.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to digging in further, this is going to be a fab read and I already have two friends waiting for my copy.

[seabeyond]

29. what i appreciate about the author is that the woman is so strong

and smart and secure in self that when talking about this, it did not do that to me. and the author writes in a way that there is not like elbowing rib and snickering, like i have seen in other novels. he writes the story with a woman experiencing these things that i can place myself in the feel she has. i was thinking reading this first chapter. she feels so familiar. i go thru life like she does. so i am even more comfortable with this.

but it is interesting what it says the treatment. i was telling son before getting to that part about the book. and the asylum. and touched a little. but i really appreciated the info. to think.... for the silliness of what they pinned on women in the past.

[Little Star]

34. Ya know sea...

I was thinking the same things myself.

Can you imagine, even a writer of fiction, who would "ever" say to a man in an asylum, “you sir are here due to your promiscuous behavior."

For pete's sake, May was in love with the man, they had two children lived in their own home/apartment. Yet she was promiscuous.

I don't like her birth family very much and I like the asylum Doctor even less.

It's a good read tho!

[seabeyond]

35. very well written and into the second notebook. i have not read

a well written book in a while. i have been getting lots of freebies off kindle. hence my hesitation in so much of this. some just slaughter the story.

i am really enjoying it

[Little Star]

36. Glad your enjoying it....

I've been running my butt off for the last couple of days. Haven't had much time for reading or discussing. Gonna make time tomorrow, come hell or high water!

[seabeyond]

38. kicking for focus.....

[boston bean]

49. yeah and the mute character is probably his daughter

born of rape in the institution. The rumor is he signed the consent for her to be traded for horses.

[seabeyond]

51. ya. that is the most vulnerable.

i am hopin for a happy ending with her.

[Little Star]

17. Broke my heart to read the first page of May's first notebook....

I leave this record for my dear children, Hortense and William, in the event that they never see their loving mother again and so that they might one day know the truth of my unjust incarceration, my escape from Hell, and into what ever is to come in these pages...

Today, 23 March 1875, May's birthday and she has received the greatest gift, freedom on The Train Bound for Glory.....

What a beginning to this first chapter!

[seabeyond]

30. yes. writing the letter to the sister... and she was kinda nasty, but then to say

i wont be seeing my children, and this happened to me and as she went on. the letter was excellent. but to understand the mom will not see the babies again.

[Little Star]

18. While riding the train, May thinks back to when she asks the Doctor why she is in the lunatic asylum

He is surprised and says “Why, due to your promiscuous behavior."

She responds that she is in love with Harry Ames and my family placed me here because I lived out of wedlock with this man, they considered him beneath my station. May’s family was from old money and they had placed her in the asylum to keep her from Harry and their two babies. She tells the Doctor she is no more insane than the Doctor himself.

The Doctor mocks her saying “I see, you believe you were sent here as part of a conspiracy among your family.” The Doctor then rose and left.

May did not see him again for six months. But the good Doctor prescribed excruciating treatments to cure her. Daily injections of scalding water into her vagina to calm her deranged sexual desires. She was allowed no fraternizing, reading, writing or any other type of diversion. No nurses or attendants spoke with her, she quite simply did not exist!

[MadrasT]

19. When I read that part, I was wondering

Did they really do that?

Confine women to mental institutions for "promiscuity" based on such ridiculous charges? (Or any charges at all, for that matter.)

And the "treatment"?

DID THEY REALLY DO THAT??? Scalding water in the vagina?

[Little Star]

20. I don't know, but...

Back in those days I wouldn't put anything past those asylums.

They were so self righteous I wouldn't put anything past them.

I'm sorta glad this was a work of fiction though. Don't know if I want to know the real truth about what they actually did.

[MerryBlooms]

21. It was common for a family to place an obituary once a family member had been committed.

So basically, a person was as good as dead to the outside world of the asylum. Seems to me, that practice would lend itself very well to horrendous abuse of patients.

[seabeyond]

33. i have read some of this. i hadnt for promiscuity, but had for the other two reasons given.

as to treatments. again, not that particular one but doesnt surprise me at all. i googled and couldnt find anything. i am a poor googler though.

[seabeyond]

31. this was so very good. and what we see on du today. lol. not addressing what is actually said

but having the reply reshape to what the person wants said. that was very telling and right on. i love how this man writes these things in a way without a judgment, almost for me, emotionalless, but with pure meaning. the emotion to me does not take me down, and i get to loudly hear what is being said.

[Little Star]

22. Martha Atwood and others...

In the year and a half that May had been incarcerated she became friends with one of the Doctor’s assistants, Martha Atwood.

Martha knew May did not belong in the asylum and together she and May devised a plan to get May released into the Brides for Indians program. Martha knew that if this was found out she could possibly face criminal prosecution so she enlisted in the BFI program herself. May would not be taking this journey alone.

As they rode on the train, Martha in all her worldly innocence, asked May for advice on how would she satisfy a man’s cravings? May told her you wait on them hand and foot, cook for them, have sex whenever they want, don’t express any of your own opinions on any subject agree with whatever they say and one final thing, let him believe he is extremely endowed especially if he is not.

On the train May meets some of the other women all of whom are very interesting to say the least.

First, there’s Helen Elizabeth Flight a sketch artist who had run short of funds and is unable to have children, so she lied to be accepted into the BFI program so she could continue her research.

Second, there is a young girl who resided in the same asylum as May, her name is Sara Johnstone. May and Sara had very little contact in the asylum because the child is either unable or unwilling to speak. Martha speculates that perhaps Sara is the product of Doctor Kaiser’s affair with a former patient. The good Doctor himself is the one who volunteered Sara for the BFI program.

Third, Meggie and Susie Kelly, the Irish twins who had been sentenced to ten years in the penitentiary. (They are quite interesting)

Fourth, Daisy Lovelace, a southerner and her ancient dirty white French poodle, Fern Louise. Daisy is a drunk and a racist!

Fifth, The good natured Swiss Miss, Gretchen Fathauer. She makes everyone laugh.

Sixth, Phemie, May’s new found friend. Her full name is Euphemia Washington. She is about the same age as May, she stands over six feet tall, she has a striking appearance and she is Black. You need to read Phemie’s story for yourself. And what a story it is.

Seventh, Narcissa White an evangelical Episcopalian. She signed up for the BFI program so that she could save souls. Yuk!

[seabeyond]

32. i thought that was a wonderful surprise after martha helps, to hear she is going to.

Helen Elizabeth Flight: fun character and totally unique. i heard the accent (same with the others) as i read. he is so good at being descriptive of the characters to allow us to be experiencing them.

Sara Johnstone: this one concerns me and love that may is declared her protector. this one could be sad and hoping for not.

Meggie and Susie Kelly: loved 'em

Daisy Lovelace: i know he meant, but this one, blah. lol.

Gretchen Fathauer: i want the best for her, but predicting....

Phemie: my favorite. i am so glad the author took all that time on her whole story. she is my favorite.

the last i really dont care about, lol

[boston bean]

50. And then she quit, didn't she?

[seabeyond]

52. martha quit. she had little hope of finding a man,

and decided this was her way to have her family

again, a fun little surprise. i love the way the author throws in the surprises. they really make them .... fun... surprises, lol

[seabeyond]

28. spoiler....

i must mention the unmentionable: the sole reason i did not become with child by the repulsive attendant franz, the monster who visited me by night, is that the pathetic cretin sprayed his revolting discharge on my bedcovers, humping and moaning and weeping bitterly in his premature agonies.....




that was unexpected and got an lol. i am liking this woman

*hey all, i dont know how to do a book club. anyone need to pm me, just... do it.

[Little Star]

37. That was written pretty well, it gave me a chuckle too.

[Little Star]

39. Good morning sea. How about you & I agree that we will write...

about only one chapter a week?

This is harder than it looks, agree?

Real life keeps interfering on top of it all, at least it has been for me. Got call last night that my FIL was brought to the hospital and now I need to be around to help my MIL. He has Alzheimer's and is 90 years old or so and she is right behind him in age. He still lives at home with her and she is like a mother hen to him. She doesn't drive so will need rides and also will need us to take turns staying with him in the hospital. I'm just waiting for the call on what I need to do today.

Also got a call about my own 86 year old Alzheimer's ridden mother who is in a nursing home about an hour and a half away from me. My only other sibling is in Florida so I now am waiting for a call to go meet with the doctors about what to do about her treatment, they want to make changes and the last time they did that they almost killed her. I had her sent out to UMASS Med Center and they got her back on track because the nursing home dr's & staff are not too bright. So here I go again. My stepfather who lives close to the home is 93ish and I am the health proxy for my mom anyway. I leave her in that home because she is very happy there and my step-dad visits with her everyday. I normally just go down there about once a week.

Anyway, woe is me. lol

I will focus soon, I promise.

[seabeyond]

40. Good morning little star. that sounds like a deal

i dont even have excuses for being so busy, lol, but i am. i got like two more pages read in chapter two. that is so unlike me. i blow thru books. and this is a good one. i am with you on this. i was feeling a pressure to go at it. i like mellow better.

take care of all that is yours.....

[CrispyQ]

42. I'm still in chapter one & enjoying the book.

The descriptions of the prairie & the Platte River remind me of Centennial, by Michener. In Centennial 'hunters' would sit atop a hill & shoot the buffalo as they grazed, killing hundreds in one afternoon. So sad.

I loved Centennial, partly because I was born & raised in this area, but Michener was also very good at creating strong female characters. Woo Chow's Auntie is my favorite Michener character from Hawaii. I look forward to when May arrives & meets her Indian family & reading more descriptions of life on the prairie.

I think authors who create good strong characters, are not necessarily good at creating strong characters of both genders. I think that ability comes from a perspective, a point of view of the author, that both genders are equal, that both genders have complex emotional lives. Any thoughts on this?

[seabeyond]

43. he does seem to be doing an equally good job

in chapter two with the native american that meets grant and the army dude that escorts. especially the army dude. i dont have my kindle handy to pick up his name. some authors are just good at creating their characters. this writer seems to be one of them.

i stopped reading. in the middle of chapter two. i have another book i was in when i started this book. i am spending too much time on du and not reading books. i want to finish this one book, then get back to this story.

i will say though, it does seem like a lot of authors focus on one gender. enough so (i read a lot of fluff) that when i get an author that is good developing all characters, it is a real pleasure.

[sufrommich]

44. I absolutely loved Centennial, I haven't

read that book in decades and forgot about it until I saw your post.It's one of those books that you're sorry when you get to the end .

[CrispyQ]

45. Two books in one!

A lot of people didn't like the first part of the book where he goes into the geologic history of the area, but I loved it - the great Rocky Mt. ocean, the dinosaurs, the whole story about the beaver - it was all fascinating. I had to take a few days after reading that section before I could move on to the human part of the story. The rest of the story was just as good, though.

The mini-series was pretty good, too. Hmmm, I wonder if Netflix has it?

Centennial was my first Michener. I haven't read them all, but the ones I have read were all good. I wept through parts of Poland.

[sufrommich]

46. I loved the first half of the book too.

I forgot about that great beaver story.

That's it, I'm off to find my copy of Centennial.

[Little Star]

4. NOTEBOOK II: Passage to the Wilderness

[Little Star]

41. Well, the train has made it to Fort Laramie.

The women will spend a week here and then be army escorted to Camp Robinson, Nebraska Territory to meet their new Indian husbands.

While at Fort Laramie May Writes a note to Harry the father of her two children. It’s a sad note. She misses him and her children and wonders what has become of them all.

She also writes a much longer letter to her sister telling her about a flirtation she is having with Captain John G. Bourke. Capt. Bourke will be leading this group of women to meet up with their future Indian husbands. May tells her sister Hortense about how she is having yearnings for Captain Bourke and how they have been flirting.

(I think she is writing these letters in her journal. I don’t think they are actual letters?)

Finally they are in mule drawn wagons riding through the open prairie. It’s going to be a rough ride.

May prefers to ride up on the buck-board with her wagon’s teamster named Jimmy. It’s better up there out in the open instead of being in the dusty wagon. May likes to ride with Jimmy because he is educating her about this new to her country.

Helen Flight is pleased with all the bird life and periodically shoots the poor things. She first sketches them then skins them to keep as specimens for her work.

Captain Bourke has been avoiding May. May hopes it’s just because he is on official duty now.

[seabeyond]

47. thru notebook 2. ah... not feeling like it bodes well.

Last edited Tue Jun 26, 2012, 09:39 AM - Edit history (2)

will i be surprised?

i am finding may interesting. on the one hand proud of not doing the socially expected. feeling scorn and a superiority to those that do not live life as she does. yet, on the other hand envious of what she will never have, having made the choices she did. and really... which is the better way walking life. the easier, more fulfilling, meaningful. it is interesting.

the pretty young fiance waves a white hankerchief. he tips his hat gallantly. how i envy them, the life they will lead together. how drab she makes me feel

always the woman on woman.


Miss Flights shooting abilities and the mens admiration in what she is able to do. willing to stop often.


the captian discussing the trade. ah, our repug, lol.

give the damn heathens a thousand white woman and soon they'll want a thousand more. must first subdue by force

surprise... now wasnt it fun to find jimmy to really be dirty girtie. another strong woman going against the conventions of their time.

saloon girl, turned gambler, turned gunslinger, turned muleskinner, she's as rough and eccentric of a woman as ever i've encountered, but not at all a bad sort, i believe, just rough around the edges

meeting the NA for the first time, able to see them in an honoring manner. it was interesting bringing each woman out, expressing their reaction and how true it is to the character he is developing. the excitement, resignation. i felt, a pride at getting little wolf the chief and predictable, to see the sadness on the captians face.

the part with the captian talking the difference of the two cultures. stone age he says. they do not read and write. lack of civilization did not allow the artists, the music, the authors. Plato and Shakespeare.


now she sits in a tipis. with little light. saying goodbye to harry.

[MerryBlooms]

48. So much catching up to do- I'm starting with Book Club! :-)

There's a lot to cover in this chapter/book, and I'm grateful to Little Star and Seabeyond for laying this out so well.



This evening I'll kick off my shoes, pour a glass of wine and look forward to adding to the discussion!

[Little Star]

5. NOTEBOOK III: My Life as an Indian Squaw

[Little Star]

6. NOTEBOOK IV: The Devil Whiskey

[Little Star]

7. NOTEBOOK V: A Gypsy’s Life

[Little Star]

8. NOTEBOOK VI: The Bony Bosom of Civilization

[CrispyQ]

53. I have less than 100 pages to go in this book!

Last night I had to force myself to turn out the light & go to sleep. I will start posting after I've finished. So much to say. Such wonderful characters! Such an interesting culture.

More later!!

Sufrommich, if you loved Centennial, you will like this story too!

[Little Star]

9. NOTEBOOK VII: Winter

[Little Star]

11. Codicil

[Little Star]

12. Epilogue