Tales Behind the Tombstones tells the stories behind the deaths (or supposed deaths) and burials of the Old West's most nefarious outlaws, notorious women, and celebrated lawmen. Readers will learn the story behind Calamity Jane's wish to be buried next to Wild Bill Hickok, discover how and where the Earp brothers came to be buried, and visit the sites of tombs long forgotten while legends have lived on.

More Tales Behind the Tombstones tells the stories behind the deaths (or supposed deaths) and burials of even more of the Old West's most nefarious outlaws, notorious women, and celebrated lawmen. Readers will learn the stories behind these legendary characters and visit the sites of tombs long forgotten while legends have lived on. Read about the lives (and deaths) of fearless, famous lawmen such as Bass Reeves, Chalk Beeson, Bill Tilghman, and Pat Garrett; learn about the dauntless women who blazed new paths for their sex in medicine, journalism, entertainment, and voting rights; and discover the intriguing facts and myths that continue to circulate about these and other infamous characters long after their grave markers have become worn down or simply lost to time.

This book relates the stories and describes the memorials of the people buried in Shelby, North Carolina's historic Sunset Cemetery, a microcosm of the Southeastern United States. The authors, an academic and a journalist, detail the lives and memories of people who are buried here, from Civil War soldiers to those who created the Jim Crow South and promoted the narrative of the Lost Cause. Featured are authors W.J. Cash and Thomas Dixon, whose racist novel was the basis for The Birth of a Nation. Drawn from historical research and local memory, it includes the tales of musicians Don Gibson and Bobby "Pepper Head" London, as well as a paratrooper who died in the Battle of the Bulge and other ordinary folks who rest in the cemetery. A bigger responsibility is to give a voice to the silenced, enslaved people of color buried in unmarked graves. Cemeteries are sacred places where artistry and memory meet--to understand, we need both the tales and the tombstones.

Early dawn, on June 1950, the North Korean army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded South Korea. The ten-division North Korean army, spearheaded by 150 Russian-made T-34 tanks advanced, capturing Seoul, the capital of South Korea, in four days and continued advancing to the southeastern corner of the peninsula by August 1st. As the casualties mounted, the U.N. Allied Headquarters sent a landing operation to Inchon in the Yellow Sea to cut off enemy supply lines and take Seoul back from the North Korean Occupation. It shortened the war and saved many lives. In preparation for the successful landing operation, the Allied Headquarters deployed the Under Water Demolition Team of the U.S. Navy and a platoon of Korean Marines. They cleared mines along the shipping lanes, swept the enemy off adjacent islands and reconnoitered the landing sites. At dawn on September 15, 1950, UDT's and Marines led the armada of the landing operation, OPERATION CHROMITE, to the landing site. Under heavy enemy fire, they arrived at the beachhead in the first wave of the landing crafts, spearheaded the fierce firefight against tremendous odds, and finally crushed the enemy. At the summit of Mount Ungbong, they raised the U.N. flag to declare the liberation of Inchon.

On May 17, 1876, Elizabeth Bacon Custer kissed her husband George goodbye and wished him good fortune in his efforts to fulfill the Army’s orders to drive in the Native Americans who would not willingly relocate to a reservation. Adorned in a black taffeta dress and a velvet riding cap with a red peacock feather that matched George’s red scarf, she watched the proud regiment ride off. It was a splendid picture. This new biography of Elizabeth Bacon Custer relates the story of the famous and dashing couple's romance, reveals their life of adventure throughout the west during the days of the Indian Wars, and recounts the tragic end of the 7th cavalry and the aftermath for the wives. Libbie Custer was an unusual woman who followed her itinerant army husband's career to its end--but she was also an amazing master of propaganda who tried to recreate George Armstrong Custer's image after Little Bighorn. The author of many books about her own life (some of which are still in print) she was one of the most famous women of her time and remains a fascinating character in American history.

**2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award Gold Winner for Western Biographies and Memoirs** The love they shared for an untamed land brought them together. Isabella Bird was a proper Victorian lady, a minster’s daughter, a writer who traveled the globe. She was expected to marry a man of means and position instead she was drawn to a gruff mountain man, a desperado named Jim Nugent. The unlikely pair met in Estes Park, Colorado in 1873. Jim was enchanted by Isabella and she was infatuated with him. In a published version of Isabella’s letter to her sister, she said of Jim that “he was a man any woman might love but no sane woman would marry.” On a climb to the top of Longs Peak their friendship blossomed into more than expected. This book reveals the true story of Bird’s relationship with Nugent as they traveled through the dramatic wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.