Bill Markley - Geronimo and Sitting Bull: Leaders of the Legendary West

BILL MARKLEY is a member ofWestern Writers of America (WWA) and a staff writer for WWAs Roundup magazine. He also writes for True West, Wild West, and South Dakota magazines.

Bills first book in the Legendary West series, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson: Lawmen of the Legendary West, examines the lives of those two well-known Old West characters. His second book in the series, Billy the Kid and Jesse James: Outlaws of the Legendary West, delves into the lives of the two famous desperados. Both books were 2020 Will Rogers Medallion Award finalists in nonfiction.

His book, written with coauthor Kellen Cutsforth, Old West Showdown: Two Authors Wrangle over the Truth about the Mythic Old West, explores differing viewpoints on ten Old West characters and events, and was a 2019 Will Rogers Medallion Award finalist in nonfiction.

Bill has written three additional nonfiction books: Dakota Epic: Experiences of a Reenactor during the Filming of Dances with Wolves; Up the Missouri River with Lewis and Clark; and American Pilgrim: A PostSeptember 11th Bus Trip and Other Tales of the Road. His first historical novel, Deadwood Dead Men, was selected by Western Fictioneers as a finalist for its 2014 Peacemaker Award in the category Best First Western Novel. Bill also wrote the Military Establishment chapter and thirty entries for the Encyclopedia of Western Expansion.

Bill earned a bachelors degree in biology and a masters degree in environmental sciences and engineering at Virginia Tech. In 1972 and 1973, he participated in two Antarctic field teams in association with Virginia Tech. He worked as an engineer and administrator for forty years with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources and was a member of Toastmasters International for twenty years. Raised on a farm near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Bill has always loved history. He has reenacted Civil War infantry and frontier cavalry and has participated in the films Dances with Wolves, Son of the Morning Star, Far and Away, Gettysburg, and Crazy Horse. Bill and his wife Liz live in Pierre, South Dakota, where they raised two children and currently have two grandchildren.

JIM HATZELL is a graduate of the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois, with a degree in Advertising and Design and in Illustration. He has a strong background in acrylic painting, pen-and-ink illustrations, and photography, and from time to time volunteers to teach art. Jim was a photographer for Down Country Roads magazine, and Books In Motion has used his artwork for more than one hundred book covers. Jim has been in the motion picture business since 1989, when he and Bill Markley first met on the set of Dances with Wolves. Jim drew quick sketches during the filming, and some illustrate Bills book, Dakota Epic. Since Dances with Wolves, Jim has been involved in many films, including Far and Away, Gettysburg, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Rough Riders, Ride with the Devil, Skins, Comanche Warriors, National Treasure 2, and, recently, Black Wood. He is a stagehand, and member of International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 731. During two summer seasons, he worked as a park ranger and historic interpreter at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Jim created the illustrations for Bills books Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson: Lawmen of the Legendary West and Billy the Kid and Jesse James: Outlaws of the Legendary West. Jim and his wife Jacqui make their home in Rapid City, South Dakota.

FIRST, THANK YOU TO GERONIMO AND SITTING BULL FOR LIVING such extraordinary lives; its been an honor to explore and write about them. Thanks to all the folks who remembered and spoke about the lives of these two leaders, and to those who recorded those memories, as well as those who recorded and preserved the events that took place during Geronimo and Sitting Bulls lifetimes.

To Erin Turner, Lynn Zelem, Melissa Hayes, and the folks at TwoDot and Rowman & Littlefield, thank you for giving me the opportunity to write this book and working with me to make it a reality. Jim Hatzell, thank you for your outstanding illustrations; its always great to work with you. Donovin Sprague, thank you for your insight into the creation of several of those illustrations. Thank you to freelance wordsmith Barry Keith Williams for polishing the manuscript and fact checking.

To George Gilland, aka Tatanka Owichakuya (Brings Back Buffalo), and Sharon Rasmussen, thank you for your guidance and review of the Sitting Bull and Lakota portions of this book. Kellen Cutsforth, thanks for the Buffalo Bill Cody leads. Mike Pellerzi, as always, thanks for providing your cowboy point of view.

An extra special thanks to Doug Hocking, who has reviewed and provided insight on all the Apache portions of this book. Additional thanks to Doug for taking me on Arizona field trips to such places as Dragoon Springs, Sulphur Springs, the Chiricahua Mountains (with a hike to Fort Bowie), the John Slaughter Ranch, Cottonwood Canyon, Steins Peak, and the ruins of Old San Carlos. These trips were of extreme benefit to me as I told Geronimos story. Thanks to all the people who accompanied us on those field trips: Guy Brunt, Bernd Brand, Carol and Rick Markstrom, Gene Baker, and Ron Olson. Thank you, Carol Markstrom, for reviewing the Apache Sunrise Ceremony sidebar.

A big thank-you to my wife, Liz, for putting up with my long hours in the basement plunking away on the computer keyboard, helping with the occasional spelling of a word, and traveling with me to New Mexicos Silver City, Pinos Altos, and beyond, into the Gila National Forest, as well as obscure places on my research trips. Thanks to my entire family for their continued support. Most of all, thanks to the Lord for giving me this opportunity and for the ability to think and write.

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