I made some changes to the actual events of the Owyhee Expedition. For example, the theft of Indian horses that led to Burton’s death took place away from the cavalry’s herd, but I wanted Will’s horse stolen as well. Also, Humboldt Jim was a real visitor to the expedition’s camp, but he did not tell Drew that Chief Paulina was following the cavalry. Paulina’s Paiutes really did follow the expedition and Paulina decided not to attack because of the howitzer, but Drew did not learn this until after he returned to Fort Klamath.
In addition to Lt. Col. Charles S. Drew, other historical characters in his reconnaissance force who found their way into this novel include Captain Kelly and Sergeants Crockett, Geisy, and Moore. However, I do not know the specific roles these men played in the reconnaissance force, nor do I know anything about their characters. When Drew reported that men left the unit or stayed behind at certain points, I tried to be true to those events.
Captain George Curry (or Currey) commanded another company of the First Oregon Cavalry Militia in 1864, and Drew’s company met Curry’s at Camp Alvord.
Even though no battles were fought in Oregon between North and South, the Civil War had an impact on the state. Both Northern and Southern sympathizers argued their positions vociferously. All the regular Army units in Oregon were called to the East to fight. As a result, Oregon raised its own local militia, of which Drew’s cavalry unit was a part. But the Oregon militia was understaffed, and in the summer of 1864, all units were on field assignments managing the Native American population, which did in fact cause Byron Pengra’s road survey to be delayed until 1865.
Many deserters from both the North and South did drift west during and after the Civil War.
With respect to the age of enlistment, boys under the age of eighteen could not enlist in the Army without a parent’s consent. Younger boys could enlist with consent. Of course, a lot of lying went on by boys eager to participate in the War.
The businessmen Mac encountered—William S. Ladd, Byron Pengra, and the steamship company owners—were real Oregon pioneers engaged in the enterprises I described.
Abigail Scott Duniway was an early suffragette in the West. When I discovered her, I decided to include her in these pages, and I hope to feature her in a future novel as well. Duniway was a pioneer on the Oregon Trail, a farmer’s wife, a teacher, a businesswoman, a newspaper publisher, and an author of fiction and nonfiction, as well as an advocate of voting rights for women in several Western states. Her autobiography can be found in Path Breaking: An Autobiographical History of the Equal Suffrage Movement in Pacific Coast States, by Abigail Scott Duniway (1914), available at
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Path_Breaking/LYtJAAAAIAAJ. But although she did run a girl’s boarding school in Lafayette in Yamhill County, Oregon, in 1864, there is no indication that she hired anyone to help her with the school.
Some of the weather described came from a diary by James Virtue, a prospector who made a trip to Boise in the summer of 1864. His diary depicts a miner’s life in the 1860s, and can be found at “‘May Live and Die a Miner’: The 1864 Clarksville Diary of James W. Virtue, by Gary Dielman, Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 105, No. 1 (Spring 2004).
As always, any errors or deviations from history in this novel are my own, and I take full responsibility.
Discussion Guide
These questions are to help book clubs and other reading groups discuss Safe Thus Far. They might also make good essay topics for students reading this novel for the classroom.
What did you know about the involvement of West Coast states in the Civil War before reading Safe Thus Far?
How did the arrival of the telegraph in Oregon make life easier for residents in the West? Did it make life harder in any respects?
Was it realistic that in 1864 at age sixteen, Will and Jonah could join a militia unit? Why or why not?
What did you think of the depiction of militia life in this novel? How does it mesh with other Civil War novels you have read?
What attitudes did different characters in Safe Thus Far have toward Native Americans? Which attitudes do you think were realistic for the times?
How would Native Americans tell the story of Drew’s expedition? Would their stories be different in 1864 and today?
How did Will and Jonah resemble sixteen-year-olds today? How did they seem different?
What did you think of Will’s reaction to learning that Mac was not his father?
When did Will run away from something or someone, and when did he run to something or someone?
If you were Mac, would you have gone East to Boston to see your family or stayed in Oregon? Why did you choose the way you did?
What would you have done to Johnson—kill him or let him live? Why did you choose as you did?
Which character was your favorite in Safe Thus Far? How did this person change and develop through the story?
If you have read earlier books in this series (particularly Lead Me Home and Now I’m Found), did Mac and Jenny and their friends mature as you thought they would?
