Halfbreed: The Remarkable True Story of George Bent - Caught Between the Worlds of the Indian and the White Man

by David F. Halaas and Andrew E. Masich

Book Overview

The uncommon life of George Bent-"halfbreed"-spanned one of the most eventful epochs in American history. Caught uneasily between two cultures in constant conflict, it is a life mirrored in the fictional character Jack Crabb in Thomas Berger's classic novel Little Big Man.Born in 1843 to the prominent white trader Colonel William Bent and his Indian wife, Owl Woman, George Bent was raised as a Cheyenne. After receiving an education in white schools,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306813203
• ISBN13: 9780306813207
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Unique and Important Life

George Bent was truly one-of-a-kind. Born the son of a wealthy and prominent White trader and a beautiful Cheyenne woman in 1843, he was raised half-White and half-Cheyenne. He was educated in the White man's world and served in the Confederate Army, but became a Cheyenne warrior when his tribe went to war with the United States, participating in 27 war parties. He later worked as an interpreter and a broker -- not always a good one -- between the Whites and the Cheyennes. Perhaps his more important role came late in life when he served as an informant to the historians and ethnologists studying the Cheyennes. That they are among the best documented, most admired and studied of all Indian tribes is largely attributable to Bent. The authors have done an outstanding job in compiling the story of George Bent. This is a scholarly, well-researched, well-documented, book that is complex but reads easily and tells a fascinating tale of a man between two worlds and comfortable in neither. The characters of Western legend appear in the book: Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickock, George Custer, Phil Sheridan, and Buffalo Bill. Desperate forgotten battles between the Cheyennes and their White enemies are recalled and described. Perhaps the most interesting chapters of all describe the relationship between Bent and the scholars -- Hyde, Mooney, and Grinnell -- who used him as a resource to write their books. Bent had a burning interest in assuring that the story of the Cheyenne was recorded and remembered. He succeeded. "Halfbreed" is a sad book as it describes the destruction by disease and war and massacre of a people and of Bent's own efforts to survive in a world that collapses around him. I don't know of any other book that delves so deeply and movingly into the world of the halfbreed. Bent deserves the recognition this book accords him almost a century after his death on the Cheyenne Reservation in Oklahoma. Smallchief

Quest for balance

An imbibing read of George Bent's life as a halfbreed White/Cheyenne Indian from the mid-1800's to the early 1900's. Bent was the son of famed trader William Bent and his Cheyenne Indian wife Owl Woman. In later years he wanted to tell his story from the Indian point of view which makes this a captivating read. For years we have been exposed to thrashings of the Native Americans from the slanted and one-sided views of Hollywood, dime novels, etc. that we oftentimes forget that there was another side to the story. George was raised among the Cheyenne Indians at Bent's Fort in Colorado, later schooled in Westport and St. Louis, fought as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, rode with the renegade Cheyenne Dog Soldiers in retaliation for the horrific Sand Creek Massacre, hired as a government interpreter to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, knew and met with the many Indian chiefs to promote peace and acted as an intermediary between both worlds. Throughout his entire life he was confused and frustrated as to which side of the heritage line to choose. The authors are to be commended on the manner in which they incorporate this struggle for identity along with critical historical events that shaped and incurred during his lifetime.

Unique Biography

I was pleasantly surprised to see this biography on George Bent, up until now, the only other writing I have is from the University of Oklahoma. And that volume was put together from his letters and writings. The reviews listed here pretty much agree with my take on this book. Again I feel that almost anything factual on George Bent is to be received with 'thanks'. For there is so little on the man out there. And he was a key individual living in both white and Indian worlds. So if you have interest in the Bent family, Bent's Fort, or the Southern Cheyennes, this book can hardly fail to hold your attention. I read it as soon as I could, and will read it again, and again. Semper Fi.

Halfbreed is history at its best

The story of George Bent is riveting. Halfbreed is history at its best. It is exceptionally well written and, at the same time, superbly researched and footnoted. Many historians and writers have incorporated bits and pieces of the Bent story into their work, but Halfbreed is the first attempt to tell the whole story. Halaas and Masich have pieced together a rich tapestry as Bent's life weaves in and out of Indian and white worlds. Following the Sand Creek massacre of 1864 Bent chose the Cheyenne path, in war and peace, until his death in 1918. I recommend Halfbreed for everyone interested in the American West, the Civil War, Indian culture, and great storytelling. P.S. I'm not sure if it's still in print, but these are the same authors who wrote Cheyenne Dog Soldiers--now the standard source on that subject.

Halfbreed has it all

Halfbreed reads like fiction, but this story is for real: George Bent is born (1843) in a Cheyenne tipi near Bent's Fort on the Santa Fe Trail during the heyday of the fur trade. His mother is a Cheyenne princess and his father the king of the mountain men. He is sent off to St. Louis to be educated in white schools and suffers the indignities of a mixed blood in a white world. Still he fights for the Rebels during the Civil War, is caught up in the Sand Creek Massacre, and then rides with the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers as they fight the US Army to a standstill on the high plains in 1865. The authors discovered hundreds of letters, written by Bent between 1864 and 1918, providing amazing and intimate details of love, war, and the Cheyenne struggle for survival. Bent knows everyone who's anyone in the American West-Custer, Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, Red Cloud, Tall Bull, and Black Kettle. Caught between white and Indian worlds at a pivotal time in history-Bent's story is one of adaptation, courage, survival, and, in the end, triumph. He saves the history of the Cheyenne people. I'm not usually a footnote fancier, but some of the tidbits buried in the notes are even juicier than the narrative. This is great history--very readable. Highly recommended.