Sentinels in Bronze

Linda Burton posting from Cheyenne, Wyoming – Esther Hobart Morris and Shoshone Chief Washakie have several things in common. Bronze statues of the two flank the entry to the Wyoming State Capitol, that’s the first thing; and replicas of those statues represent the state in National Statuary Hall in Washington, DC. The stories told about them have elevated them to the status of legends; larger-than-life icons that changed the world in a flash. But these two were simply orphans who were dealt some hard knocks, and who faced them in the best way they could. I find no record that their paths ever crossed, but they shared the same space in time, living through most of the turbulent 1800’s, and they shared minority status as the law and the social climate related to them. A woman, and an American Indian; exactly what did these two people face, and how did they respond? » read more