I am teaching about the colonial period in US History and have recently covered the Proclamation of 1763 which defined the Appalachian Mountains as the westernmost area in which English colonists were allowed to settle. That didn't last for long. The westward expansion continued until the self-fulfilling prophecy of Manifest Destiny was achieved. Achieved at unknowable cost.
Last night the moon was as bright as I remember seeing it in years. It was a Dead Settlers Moon.
There’s a dead settlers moon tonight
When the sky is full of piercing light
Forcing the world into noticing the depth of shadows
Sparked in white not yellow
These were the nights
When crossing no man’s lands
Led to rampant success for the bow strung warriors of the Lakota Sioux
While the cavalries of gunpowder and smallpox blankets
Never seemed to arrive in time
© Gayle Force Press 2006
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