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T
INGALLS, KANSAS SEPTEMBER, 1893
HIS TIME AROUND I’M doing something a little different. Perhaps it can be called “Questioning the Validity of History.” Today we’re investigating Rose of Cimarron. Was she a real, flesh-and-blood woman? Or was she a fictional character invented to humor the press of the day? In this examination into the story of Rose Dunn, a player—or not— in what has become known as “The Ingalls, Kansas Battle,” I will question if she existed, and if she did, how was she involved between the remnants of the Wild Bunch and a huge posse of U.S. Marshals and Lighthorsemen from the Cherokee Nation? Ever wonder where and how historians obtain their information? Often there’s nothing left of an event but stories here and there that disagree with each other. How do we pick the winner, the correct version? Good question. This is what we’re trying to figure out. We’ll see who agrees with
what and who has a ripsnorting fit that I’m doing nothing but making it up. That could be true, too, since my favorite form of nonfiction is creative... which means I’m allowed to create the dialog and internalization, sometimes the clothing, abode, and weather. I’m supposed to get the names, dates, places, and appearances in those places all correct. And then there are all those tales “based on fact or the truth.” Oh, how they wander. This story is one that has been argued about for over a century now—if anyone cared a hoot about it in the first place. Others just read and enjoy without trying to guess the truth. For what in history can be sworn to as the absolute truth? Not a whole lot. For everyone sees and reports even their own experiences in a wide range of exaggeration. Even some written records contain misspellings, incorrect dates, and names that are only marked with an X.
