Here You Have My Story: Eyewitness Accounts of the Nineteenth-Century Central Plains

Here You Have My Story vividly describes life on the early Plains in the words of those who came to settle in the rugged region. Originally published by the Nebraska State Historical Society between 1885 and 1919, these stories provide surprisingly accurate recollections of events and life on the Great Plains, with a focus on Nebraska. Many are filled with interactions with Native Americans, from Samuel Allis’s experiences as a missionary to the Pawnees, to Henry Fontenelle’s history of the Omaha Indians, to an account of the Powder River Expedition. Early freighters and cattle drovers share their personal experiences, including the dangers and difficulties of travel, and Nebraska’s state-builders describe the early days of Omaha and the construction of the first state capitol building in Lincoln.

Here You Have My Story, edited by Richard E. Jensen, brings to life the struggles and triumphs of early Plains settlement and a time when Nebraska was young.

Richard E. Jensen is the editor of several books, including Happy as a Big Sunflower: Adventures in the West, 1876–1880 (available in a Bison Books edition); Voices of the American West, Volume 1: The Indian Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903–1919 (Nebraska 2005); and Voices of the American West, Volume 2: The Settler and Soldier Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903–1919 (Nebraska 2005).