What do you think?
Rate this book
The Vigilantes of Montana: Violence and Justice on the Frontier
On May 26, 1863, William Fairweather and a group of young men discovered gold in Alder Gulch, in the Ruby River valley, the U.S. state of Montana.
By late 1863 the remote gold fields and transportation links were rife with outlaws threatening and killing at will.
At the end of the year it was estimated that 102 travellers had been murdered.
As this became a more frequent occurrence locals began suspecting that these crimes were being carried out by a single group of outlaws, known as "road agents", under the control of Bannack sheriff Henry Plummer.
With law enforcement unable to cope or even actively joining the outlaw gang, citizens of this remote part of Montana took the law into their own hands and formed the Vigilance Committee.
Between January 4 and February 3, 1864, the vigilantes arrested and summarily executed at least 20 alleged members of Plummer's gang.
Thomas Dimsdale was there to witness it all.
Read here the gripping true account of popular justice in the Rocky Mountains.
His The Vigilantes of Montana first appeared as a series of articles in 1865 editions of the Montana Post , Virginia City's and Montana's first newspaper.
Thomas J. Dimsdale who died in 1866 was a member of the Alder Gulch Vigilance Committee and editor of the Montana Post . His early accounts of the Alder Gulch vigilante events are widely cited and the book version of his articles was published in Montana Territory in 1866.
By late 1863 the remote gold fields and transportation links were rife with outlaws threatening and killing at will.
At the end of the year it was estimated that 102 travellers had been murdered.
As this became a more frequent occurrence locals began suspecting that these crimes were being carried out by a single group of outlaws, known as "road agents", under the control of Bannack sheriff Henry Plummer.
With law enforcement unable to cope or even actively joining the outlaw gang, citizens of this remote part of Montana took the law into their own hands and formed the Vigilance Committee.
Between January 4 and February 3, 1864, the vigilantes arrested and summarily executed at least 20 alleged members of Plummer's gang.
Thomas Dimsdale was there to witness it all.
Read here the gripping true account of popular justice in the Rocky Mountains.
His The Vigilantes of Montana first appeared as a series of articles in 1865 editions of the Montana Post , Virginia City's and Montana's first newspaper.
Thomas J. Dimsdale who died in 1866 was a member of the Alder Gulch Vigilance Committee and editor of the Montana Post . His early accounts of the Alder Gulch vigilante events are widely cited and the book version of his articles was published in Montana Territory in 1866.
270 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1866
81 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 20, 2015
I learned about the vigilantes while reading another book. I figured that since this one was written by someone that was actually there, it would be the best book on the subject to read. The author is obviously NOT a writer and you can tell. The stories all pretty much sound the same and the book has almost a scratched record feel to it. The posse forms... gets the bad guy... repeat. I plan on reading another book on the subject from an actual author that did the research and got stories from other sources and actually knows how to write an interesting account. I gave the book 3 stars only because the subject is very interesting.... but the book itself is a little boring. I was ready to put it down and move on to another book before I finished, but I did finish it.
January 27, 2022
Rough justice on the margins of civilization.
Dimsdale's 1866 history of the citizens of Alder Gulch (Montana territory) forming a "Vigilance Committee" and their attempts to thwart/capture the notorious Plummer gang in 1864is a fascinating look into life on the frontier as people try to create ordered society out of nothing.
Living beyond formal law and order, citizens take it upon themselves to structure a free settlement, elect judges, prosecutors, and committee members all for the purpose of ensuring that brigands and "road agents" can't continue to prey on them or other travelers. When captured, many are summarily hanged, but not without at least the semblance of a "trial." Sometimes these trials occur back in town where, with only the common law to guide them, juries hear evidence and render judgement. Sometimes, these trials are more immediate affairs occurring out beyond the tree line where the victim's friend/witness is with the posse when the bandit is captured and that's all the evidence necessary. More often than not, the verdict is guilty, and the sentence is hanging, but not always, and Dimsdale does recount a couple of instances of people being acquitted.
While the writing is not the strongest (a bit too Victorian-lite), what comes through is the quintessential "Americanness" of everyone involved. Despite Alder Gulch being just another mining town/camp, there's a real attempt to form an ordered settlement with the principles of open debate, rule of law, and even due process around every corner. The repeated tales of a road agent gunning someone down, the posse being formed and riding out, and later capturing the desperado begins to get repetitive, but by the same token, this is how these people lived and operated. Western cliches existed for a reason, and "The Vigilantes of Montana" shine a fine little light on a slice of it.
Dimsdale's 1866 history of the citizens of Alder Gulch (Montana territory) forming a "Vigilance Committee" and their attempts to thwart/capture the notorious Plummer gang in 1864is a fascinating look into life on the frontier as people try to create ordered society out of nothing.
Living beyond formal law and order, citizens take it upon themselves to structure a free settlement, elect judges, prosecutors, and committee members all for the purpose of ensuring that brigands and "road agents" can't continue to prey on them or other travelers. When captured, many are summarily hanged, but not without at least the semblance of a "trial." Sometimes these trials occur back in town where, with only the common law to guide them, juries hear evidence and render judgement. Sometimes, these trials are more immediate affairs occurring out beyond the tree line where the victim's friend/witness is with the posse when the bandit is captured and that's all the evidence necessary. More often than not, the verdict is guilty, and the sentence is hanging, but not always, and Dimsdale does recount a couple of instances of people being acquitted.
While the writing is not the strongest (a bit too Victorian-lite), what comes through is the quintessential "Americanness" of everyone involved. Despite Alder Gulch being just another mining town/camp, there's a real attempt to form an ordered settlement with the principles of open debate, rule of law, and even due process around every corner. The repeated tales of a road agent gunning someone down, the posse being formed and riding out, and later capturing the desperado begins to get repetitive, but by the same token, this is how these people lived and operated. Western cliches existed for a reason, and "The Vigilantes of Montana" shine a fine little light on a slice of it.
February 5, 2023
This book is a straightforward reporting of bandit depredations in Montana during the civil war years, and the vigilance committees that rose in response. It tells the tale of a fairly large organized crime ring that perpetrated countless stagecoach robberies and murders, all while being shelter by one of their own who'd been elected sheriff. Predictably, after some time of this and the courts being corrupted, the locals took matters into their own hands. Vigilante groups were formed and sent out to take care of these criminals, usually in brutal (re: hangings) ways.
The book was written by an Englishman living in Montana at the time, so the language is not what you'd expect out of the old west. It's flowery and Victorian, and heavily influence by newspapers as the author was a newspaper man at the time. Think an old west true crime with Victorian-style language, and you get an idea. The tone of the writing does take a little getting used to, but moves along fairly quickly despite that. The author is also openly in favor of the vigilantes, and opines frequently on their necessity in a frontier setting. While it may seem strange to a modern audience to hear such blatant favoritism, I imagine seeing people die around you in a lawless setting with no recourse can do a lot to change how a man looks at questions of law and justice. The ruthlessness of the vigilantes may seem extreme by our standards, but given the people they were dealing with, you can understand why they had to resort to this. The book does have a few attitudes and words that aren't kosher today, but they are minimal and don't interrupt the telling. An all-together good read on real west history by someone who lived through it.
The book was written by an Englishman living in Montana at the time, so the language is not what you'd expect out of the old west. It's flowery and Victorian, and heavily influence by newspapers as the author was a newspaper man at the time. Think an old west true crime with Victorian-style language, and you get an idea. The tone of the writing does take a little getting used to, but moves along fairly quickly despite that. The author is also openly in favor of the vigilantes, and opines frequently on their necessity in a frontier setting. While it may seem strange to a modern audience to hear such blatant favoritism, I imagine seeing people die around you in a lawless setting with no recourse can do a lot to change how a man looks at questions of law and justice. The ruthlessness of the vigilantes may seem extreme by our standards, but given the people they were dealing with, you can understand why they had to resort to this. The book does have a few attitudes and words that aren't kosher today, but they are minimal and don't interrupt the telling. An all-together good read on real west history by someone who lived through it.
June 9, 2016
Suppose your neighborhood or town fell into complete lawlessness: people held up and murdered on their way to work; shoppers at the mall gunned down in random squabbles; the only police actually leading and profiting from the violence; nowhere safe; no effective courts; witnesses slaughtered; juries intimidated; and absolutely no help on the way. How long would you and your neighbors wait to hunt down and kill off the threat?
It’s hard for us to imagine this because law enforcement is still here and on our side. But if you really try to see what would happen if that was taken away, you can understand what brought the citizens of the gold mining towns of Montana in the 1860's to do what they did.
Between December 21, 1863, and February 3, 1864, they captured and hanged twenty three “road agents” and murderers. The stories of who was involved and how the investigations played out appeared at the time in newspaper accounts by Thomas Dimsdale. He later published the collection of them as this book.
The contemporaneous writing style is sometimes a little wearing. One example, “Six shot-guns constituted half a dozen weighty arguments against forcible attempts at departure, and the several minor and corroborative persuasions of a revolving class completed a clear case of ‘stand off,’ under all circumstances.” Translation: shotguns and revolvers stifled thoughts of escape.
It wasn’t so much a matter of taking the law into their own hands as it was putting their own hands to the law to save the people, and in the final sense, the law as well.
It’s hard for us to imagine this because law enforcement is still here and on our side. But if you really try to see what would happen if that was taken away, you can understand what brought the citizens of the gold mining towns of Montana in the 1860's to do what they did.
Between December 21, 1863, and February 3, 1864, they captured and hanged twenty three “road agents” and murderers. The stories of who was involved and how the investigations played out appeared at the time in newspaper accounts by Thomas Dimsdale. He later published the collection of them as this book.
The contemporaneous writing style is sometimes a little wearing. One example, “Six shot-guns constituted half a dozen weighty arguments against forcible attempts at departure, and the several minor and corroborative persuasions of a revolving class completed a clear case of ‘stand off,’ under all circumstances.” Translation: shotguns and revolvers stifled thoughts of escape.
It wasn’t so much a matter of taking the law into their own hands as it was putting their own hands to the law to save the people, and in the final sense, the law as well.
August 14, 2009
The Bible for Montana studies. Exhilarating and infuriating, moralizing and rabble-rousing, Dimsdale transforms the complexities of frontier life into a simplified vision of good and evil. It was a hit when first published in 1865 (serially, in the local newspaper) and continues to be so today. Dimsdale, the first collector of oral histories in MT, uses firsthand testimonials to narrate the rise and fall of Henry Plummer's fearsome robber band and the wave of vigilantism that ended their alleged crime spree. But controversy swirls around these events, with some historians denying the secret robber band's very existence. One often gets the sense that Dimsdale thought of himself as the Virgil of the frontier, carefully and deliberately crafting his modern Aenead, peppered throughout with classical and Shakespearean allusions.
Truthfully, no well edited version (one with a sound scholarly apparatus of footnotes, index, etc) of this book exists. The most recent, with a preface by R.E. Mather, attempts in a rather unprofessional manner to bias the reader by arguing only her own extreme postion on the matter, suppressing evidence to the contrary. The debate will continue, but it all begins with Dimsdale.
Truthfully, no well edited version (one with a sound scholarly apparatus of footnotes, index, etc) of this book exists. The most recent, with a preface by R.E. Mather, attempts in a rather unprofessional manner to bias the reader by arguing only her own extreme postion on the matter, suppressing evidence to the contrary. The debate will continue, but it all begins with Dimsdale.
July 8, 2021
So, who was Thomas J. Dimsdale besides being the author of "Vigilantes of Montana"? He claimed to have been Oxford educated despite the lack of any verifying documentation to support his assertion. The point needs to be made that the area, where the events in his book took place, was part of Idaho Territory at the time. That's significant because primary control of the narrative had been placed inside the newly formed territory of Montana which was created a few months later.
He was the editor of the Montana Post, a Republican triweekly, from which his newspaper articles were later collected into the book. When Dimsdale died of tuberculosis in 1866 his book was not yet published. Henry Blake, the young man from Boston who then became editor, assumed the chore of proofreading Dimsdale's yet to be published accounts. Within a couple of weeks of his arrival in Virginia City Blake had been notified that he had been "elected" to be a member of the Vigilantes apparently dispensing with any need for a campaign.
After the publication of Dimsdale's book Nathaniel Langford, Helen Sanders and others supported it's claims and Wilbur Sanders, the Vigilante prosecutor and later as president of the Montana Historical Society for twenty-five years, preserved the tale in state achives. Before his first article Territorial Governor Sidney Edgerton, Wilbur Sanders' uncle, appointed Dimsdale to be Montana Territory's first superintendent of public instruction. An ironic twist.
When Dimsdale died at the age of thirty-five his wife of four months and his close friend Wilbur Sanders were at his bedside. After a masonic funeral he was buried on Virginia City's cemetery hill. The national commission on violence pointed out that the link between vigilantism and Freemasonry was close.
The Vigilantes of Montana were opportunists fighting the Civil War in an area where there were no combatants, but plenty of prosouthern and antiwar sentiment, and for their efforts they were granted a large territory of their own that they then controlled with the aid of a rope.
He was the editor of the Montana Post, a Republican triweekly, from which his newspaper articles were later collected into the book. When Dimsdale died of tuberculosis in 1866 his book was not yet published. Henry Blake, the young man from Boston who then became editor, assumed the chore of proofreading Dimsdale's yet to be published accounts. Within a couple of weeks of his arrival in Virginia City Blake had been notified that he had been "elected" to be a member of the Vigilantes apparently dispensing with any need for a campaign.
After the publication of Dimsdale's book Nathaniel Langford, Helen Sanders and others supported it's claims and Wilbur Sanders, the Vigilante prosecutor and later as president of the Montana Historical Society for twenty-five years, preserved the tale in state achives. Before his first article Territorial Governor Sidney Edgerton, Wilbur Sanders' uncle, appointed Dimsdale to be Montana Territory's first superintendent of public instruction. An ironic twist.
When Dimsdale died at the age of thirty-five his wife of four months and his close friend Wilbur Sanders were at his bedside. After a masonic funeral he was buried on Virginia City's cemetery hill. The national commission on violence pointed out that the link between vigilantism and Freemasonry was close.
The Vigilantes of Montana were opportunists fighting the Civil War in an area where there were no combatants, but plenty of prosouthern and antiwar sentiment, and for their efforts they were granted a large territory of their own that they then controlled with the aid of a rope.
August 3, 2018
So hard to read.
I love to read about the lives of the new settlers in the west. This book was very hard to read and comprehend. I would have enjoyed it more if it was written as stories and not legal cases.
I love to read about the lives of the new settlers in the west. This book was very hard to read and comprehend. I would have enjoyed it more if it was written as stories and not legal cases.
September 25, 2024
An interesting look at territorial Montana during the Gold Rush and the vigilante system of justice and punishment. I reviewed it on my blog: https://wineandhistory.wordpress.com/...
April 15, 2024
This would make an excellent western movie or game. On account of its age, it’s kind of hard to follow, but the language makes it worth the listen.
February 23, 2020
Reading this book is like learning that Santa Claus isn't real: the cowboys and original settlers of the American west, as depicted by these witness testimonies, were a bunch of drunk, gun-toting, bigoted, criminal morons.
I love the language that the author uses - back then the English language was more akin to Shakespeare than the lazy colloquialisms and slang and shorthand we use today. It's like reading the script of HBO's Deadwood. It's a real pleasure in some ways. But it does drag on as a book detailing one outlaw after another without much narrative depth or attempt to draw any more than a rough sketch of each character and as such I can only justify giving it 3 stars.
But what is hard to read are the stories of white cowboys getting drunk and shooting randomly into Native American settlements and murdering women & children as they slept. I can well believe such stories, as can I believe the stories of idiots with guns who sought retribution for some petty wrong by murdering a neighbor and either blowing their own foot off or killing innocent bystanders by accident. As far as I can tell that part of American life hasn't changed one bit.
Some of the stories might be embellished, and the narrator might not be the most reliable historian, but you can't deny that this version of events seems a lot more likely than the romanticized, white-washed version of the early west that we often see in literature and film. As a nation we have a lot to be embarrassed and ashamed of and I'm glad Mr Dimsdale thought to record the undoing of some of these darker, more pathetic characters so that we might learn from their idiocy.
One thing is clear - the idea of the gunslinger outlaw or the responsible gun owner who can be trusted to carry a deadly tool even when he's drunk or angry is a total myth. We knew this back in the 1860's and we should know it now.
I love the language that the author uses - back then the English language was more akin to Shakespeare than the lazy colloquialisms and slang and shorthand we use today. It's like reading the script of HBO's Deadwood. It's a real pleasure in some ways. But it does drag on as a book detailing one outlaw after another without much narrative depth or attempt to draw any more than a rough sketch of each character and as such I can only justify giving it 3 stars.
But what is hard to read are the stories of white cowboys getting drunk and shooting randomly into Native American settlements and murdering women & children as they slept. I can well believe such stories, as can I believe the stories of idiots with guns who sought retribution for some petty wrong by murdering a neighbor and either blowing their own foot off or killing innocent bystanders by accident. As far as I can tell that part of American life hasn't changed one bit.
Some of the stories might be embellished, and the narrator might not be the most reliable historian, but you can't deny that this version of events seems a lot more likely than the romanticized, white-washed version of the early west that we often see in literature and film. As a nation we have a lot to be embarrassed and ashamed of and I'm glad Mr Dimsdale thought to record the undoing of some of these darker, more pathetic characters so that we might learn from their idiocy.
One thing is clear - the idea of the gunslinger outlaw or the responsible gun owner who can be trusted to carry a deadly tool even when he's drunk or angry is a total myth. We knew this back in the 1860's and we should know it now.
October 11, 2016
The majority of this book is about the winter of 1863-1864 in the Montana territory. It describes the illegal activity going on and the reason vigilante groups came into being. It is extremely interesting but it is difficult to read. It was written in the 1800's so the sentence structure and words used are not like we write or talk now. The author also has a very dry wit which contributes to a challenging read but if you can skip over the parts that are difficult to understand, it is well worth the effort.
Below is a sample of the text from the chapter describing the Capture and Execution of Jake Silvie:
"The candidate was placed in the center of a circle formed of desperadoes; one or two revolvers at full cock were presented at his head, and he was then informed that his taking the obligation was to be a purely voluntary act on his part; for that he was at perfect liberty to refuse to do so; only, in that case, that his brains would be blown out without any further ceremony. Though not a man of any education, Silvie could not afford to lose his brains, having only one set, and he therefore consented to proceed..."
Below is a sample of the text from the chapter describing the Capture and Execution of Jake Silvie:
"The candidate was placed in the center of a circle formed of desperadoes; one or two revolvers at full cock were presented at his head, and he was then informed that his taking the obligation was to be a purely voluntary act on his part; for that he was at perfect liberty to refuse to do so; only, in that case, that his brains would be blown out without any further ceremony. Though not a man of any education, Silvie could not afford to lose his brains, having only one set, and he therefore consented to proceed..."
August 4, 2010
The stories contained in "Vigilantes of Montana" sound as if they were written in Hollywood. The author published it in serial fashion in the Montana Post while the Vigilantes were still alive, and you can see that in his writing. The writer is biased and perhaps a little scared of the men who hung so many people, but it is a good account of the Vigilantes from their side and the ways he tries to set aside the moral ambiguity of vigilante justice. While journaling the events, he also provides a good look at western life, mob mentality, racism, and political leanings of early Montana settlers. This book accurately defines 'wild west."
November 23, 2008
After visiting Virginia City, Montana and taking a tour I decided to learn more. So I checked this book out from the Library. It was very interesting, especially since I had been there. I found the material very interesting, but the writing style wanting. Overall though, it was a good read.
February 17, 2011
This is a classic read if you are interested in in studying vigilantism, its origins, and stories of old west Montana. The book is challenging to read because the original text was written in the 1860s. But the subject matter is interesting if you enjoy Montana history.
April 15, 2016
Facts
The details are in the research in this well explained narrative, of life in the western territory much can be related today with the criminal element crossing the US southern border, perhaps it's high time for t vigilantes to ride again.
The details are in the research in this well explained narrative, of life in the western territory much can be related today with the criminal element crossing the US southern border, perhaps it's high time for t vigilantes to ride again.
June 26, 2016
OK for an anecdotal defense of community justice, but prose was hard to wade through. Best for the historian and those with prurient imaginations in need of grist.
September 16, 2016
Interesting history but difficult reading
The author obviously did a lot of research. But his style of writing, perhaps common at the time made this difficult reading.
The author obviously did a lot of research. But his style of writing, perhaps common at the time made this difficult reading.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews