I recently read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, and I'm interested in opinions regarding the historical accuracy of the novel's depiction of the Glanton gang and general circumstances of mid-19th century life.
I understand McCarthy based the novel largely on Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue. I'd love to read it, but available copies are currently out of my price range.
I'd appreciate any recommendations for books or resources describing mid- to late 19th century life in the American Southwest. I'd also be interested in books other than Chamberlain's detailing the exploits of the Glanton gang.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fgl02
According to the Texas Historical Association, Glanton and his gang did contract with authorities in Chihuahua to hunt Indians, and Glanton did kill Mexicans for extra scalps. He also eventually seized the ferry crossing and was attacked by the Yuma Indians.
I own a copy of Chamberlain's book published by the Texas Historical Society, a great massive hardback which includes water color paintings by Chamberlain as well. Very entertaining, but Chamberlain is a known liar as a few claims involving his presence at various battles have proven false.
Many of his stories such as the Mad Priests massacre of young women came second hand, and another encounter with a ghost was likely fueled by mescaline.
McCarthy likely used Chamberlain's memoir primarily as a source for Judge Holden, as it is the only historical account of the Judge existing.
One interesting account from the memoir is Judge Holden lecturing the Glanton Gang on geology. The scientific knowledge of Judge Holden seems advanced to me, and the Glanton Gang disregards the Judges views on the age of the Earth because it differs from the Bible.
"I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to pieces, worse mutilated than any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces ... With knives; scalped; their brains knocked out; children two or three months old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors ... By whom were they mutilated? By the United States troops."
—John S. Smith, Congressional Testimony of Mr. John S. Smith, 1865
"Fingers and ears were cut off the bodies for the jewelry they carried. The body of White Antelope, lying solitarily in the creek bed, was a prime target. Besides scalping him the soldiers cut off his nose, ears, and testicles-the last for a tobacco pouch."
—Stan Hoig
These passages seem like they could have been pulled out from Blood Meridian, but they were actually the vivid descriptions of the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 during the Civil War.
Your question stuck with me for some reason. I'm a big Cormac McCarthy fan and also read a lot about the US Civil War. There were a few instances that came into my mind when you originally asked your question, but none of the things that I've read about the Civil War would have contributed to answering the question until I read about the Sand Creek Massacre.
McCarthy had to have used this as his inspiration for writing the scene where the Glanton gang massacres the Indian tribe. I looked online and there is surprisingly no mention of McCarthy doing this but even a cursory look at the battle makes it seem like he almost lifted it verbatim.
The men, led by Col Chivington a veteran of the New Mexico campaign, who participated in the massacre were all American soldiers. This group of about 700 men attacked an Indian tribe who was trying to make peace with the United States--they were flying an American flag at their campsite and flew up a white flag as soon as the attack started--and believed they were under the protection of the US.
Most of the Indian men of the tribe were off hunting buffalo but Chivington's men slaughtered the remaining men, women and children who were there. The attack happened before dawn, "The Indians lay sleeping in their lodges pitched in a bend of the creek at their back." The soldiers cut off their scalps, genitalia, and fingers to display on their horses and the tops of their hats. After the battle was over the soldiers prowled amongst the wounded Indians taking more scalps and battle trophies. This reminded me of Blood Meridian to a tee.
Many of the men got drunk before the massacre and some of them even refused to fire on the Indian tribe.
I pulled all of this from Shelby Foote's Civil War Narrative Vol. 3 pgs. 725-726. It shocked me to read this and I immediately thought of your post. I also read about this on Wikipedia which corroborated all the things Foote wrote. It made me sad to think that American soldiers did this during the Civil War. There were problems with a certain group of Indians; the Indians that were massacred weren't the issue, and this event caused much of the problems that would follow in later years. The indiscriminate killing of infants and children by American soldiers was quite shocking. With the Glanton gang I always thought, "These are outlaw men and fiction; not real people or American soldiers."
I can only imagine what happened in the lawlessness of the west in the 1840's and 1850's if this was happening during the Civil War. I guess I found out McCarthy's Blood Meridian was more truthful than I ever thought.
I can't quite speak to the accuracy of the story itself, but I do know the historical impact the episode had. In response to the massacre by the Yuma indians at the Gila ferry, the US Army sent SP Heintzelman of later Civil War fame to pacify the tribe. Fort Yuma, which had been abandoned, was now reoccupied and would eventually become a major proving ground for military ordnance.