Dead Man's Journey, The

DESCRIPTION: It was in the spring of (?) Just a little before the war was o'er, That 'twas mine the mail bags to transport." The singer and Josh Murphy set out from Stevenson's Post; Murphy is killed by Indians. The path comes to be called Deadman's Journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt-AmericanMurderBallads)
KEYWORDS: travel Indians(Am.) homicide
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 140-141, "(The Dead Man's Journey)" (1 excerpted text)
NOTES [106 words]: The dating on this piece is curious and difficult. Burt-AmericanMurderBallads's text dates it to (18)54, but the next line says "Just a little before the war was o'er," which implies 1864. And the destination was "Totten Fort," which -- if Burt-AmericanMurderBallads is correct in assuming this is Fort Totten -- was not established until 1867.
There is also the problem of the Indian tribes listed. The event took place in North Dakota (the supposed singer, Carlie Reynolds, was a historical person who died at the Little Bighorn), but the piece mentions Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Sioux (Dakota) -- and that territory was entirely Sioux. - RBW
File: Burt140

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