Night the Stars Fell on Bents Fort
I'm thrilled that Night the Stars Fell on Bents Fort will be for sale in March 20-22, 2014 The Russell: Sale to benefit C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. In addition I'm honored to be accepted to exhibit in the prestigious Western Masters Art Show at the Best Western Heritage Inn, Great Falls, Montana during Western Art Week, March 19-22, 2014. You're invited to visit Room 185, where I am featuring oil paintings around the theme of Old West Relics & Memories. Join my free newsletter list to receive previews of new works, private invitations to events, and special offers.
William Bent (1809-1869) was a fur trader and rancher in the early 1830’s who built the Old Bents Fort along with his brothers near present day La Junta, Colorado. The fort was on the Santa Fe Trail and just north of the Arkansas River which divided the American West from Mexico. During fall and winter as many as 20,000 Cheyenne would camp outside the fort while trading with Mexican and American settlers. Beaver pelts, buffalo pelts, and horses were traded for food, liquor, and household goods.
On the night of November 13, 1833 a magnificent celestial event called “The Night the Stars Fell” would be reported across much of North America. In Bloomington, Illinois the heavens lit up like a Fourth of July sparkler as tens of thousands of meteors streaked through the darkened sky. In Baltimore, Maryland the event was said to be one of the most grand and alarming spectacles which ever beamed upon the eye of man.
Historian Anne Hyde wrote that Cheyenne chief White Thunder suddenly realized a common interest with William Bent and interpreted the meteor shower as a sign of a new beginning. White Thunder arranged a truce with the Pawnee during a solo, unarmed visit to the Pawnee village. White Thunder also arranged a formal marital alliance between Bent and his daughter Owl Woman. He believed that their children would represent another element of the new beginning, of peace for the Cheyenne and the region. By this time Bent had learned the language of the Cheyenne, and he was known as Little White Man by the native tribes.
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