Last of the Mohicans

[Snakebite]

I too think LOTM is a great movie, even if Hollywood didn't get it exactly right.  It's a lot better movie than most of the $#@* they turn out.

That was an interesting article on Lew Wetzel.  My father-in-law's middle name was Wetzel, I asked my wife where his family was originally from and she said Ohio.  Hhhmmm.    (She also had a great-great-great uncle who fought at the Battle of San Jacinto).  @!*% good native Texan gal from good stock.

[Mike R]

I too recommend talking to Mike Archer about Wetzel--there is a thread on Wetzel right now on the Frontier Folks site.  Many historians today class Wetzel as a sociopathic killer; however many movies have been made about such persons.   He was an anomaly even for his times, going beyond self defense and beyond revenge.  He was an Indian killer.  But so was Liver eating Johnson and they made a movie about him [Jeremiah Johnson by R Redford].  No doubt he was an amazing frontiersman, skilled and dangerous.  I think a great movie lies awaiting--if political correctness does not get in the way.  A man who hunted down and killed Indians for sport after the hostilities were "over" is a curious "hero".   

[Acer Saccharum]

Hmm, yes, I have seen this topic before.

Anachronisms aside, I like the move a lot, one of my favorites. Madeline Stowe is no anachronism. Were there rifles in that movie?

I doubt there were rifles in NY at that time, although every settler in the movie had one.  I would love to sink my teeth into an early NY rifle, but I suspect most of them came from PA.

Even though the movie is an historical faux-pas collection, one thing it does is bring the longrifle into the light again, a great inspiration for gun builders, old and young.

What got me started gunbuilding was Dan'l Boone and Fess Parker, Davey Crockett, etc, back in the sixties. Then I got holt of the Dixie Gun Works catalog, and I wuz histery.

Tom

[Dphariss]

Pardon my ignorance, but aside from the Lew on this board, which Lew Wetzel are we talking about.  Never heard of him in a historical reference.
Bill

He was a Virginian who scouted and killed indians. He was ahhh, "romanticised"  by Zane Grey in Betty Zane, Spirit of The Border and The Last Trail. Based in part on family stories (I thjnk) the history of the area around Ft. Henry (Wheeling W.VA.).
Zane Grey aged him about 20 years I think. He has had some magazine articles written about him. By 16-18 he was pretty well able to take care of himself in the woods. There is other information out there. But Zane Grey's three novels, such as they are, got me started into MLs in my mid-teens. So when I think of Wetzel these books come to mind. HE did not do well when the indian wars ended.

Dan

[Dphariss]

yes we live in a civilized society now and to make the movie you would have to go beyond the real history and hollywoodize it.they have made civil war movies but never one of custers last stand or the trail of tears.for some reason they just dont wanna make historically correct films because our past is pretty shady at the most.

I dunno.
Would things have been better if the Spanish had "civilized" North America like they did south and Central America and took ALL the wealth back the Europe? Would WW-II have ended as it did had this occurred? Who would have made the 300000 aircraft, the millions of trucks, jeeps and tanks. Who would have given Stalin his "second front"? Who would have stopped the invasion of Australia and India??
By todays standards EVERYONES past is shady. Maybe we should look at the other what ifs.
How about the Stalinists killing something like 100 MILLION of their OWN civilians since the Bolshevik Revolution? WE finally financially broke them. Not Britain or France or India WE did it.
America before WW-I was a far different place than America after. We have, for the most part been the defender of liberty and freedom world wide since Jefferson tool on the Barbary Pirates. We have given GROUPS of nations back their right is self-determination, at GREAT cost in lives and treasure then walked away to let them do as they pleased.

We forced Natives onto reservations. It was HORRIBLE in many cases, I cannot change that. But the tribes SURVIVED for the most part. Given the attitudes of many they might have been wiped out otherwise.
We had slavery. We paid a horrid price to end this. Some places STILL have it.
I just get tired of the dark lining of the silver cloud thing.

Dan

[LURCHWV@BJS]

lew, 

    I have often wondered about your name on the forum,  being from wetzel county lewis wetzel has been a name i've known all my life.  i fell in love with the style of a muzzleloader from looking at the lifesize statue of wetzel in new martinsville wv. i kind of hated the man for a while for the simple fact he killed a distant relative of mine. (cherokee indian) but after a while i relized hatred of a persn or a people should truly be a thing of the past.


     rich

[El Mac]

yes we live in a civilized society now and to make the movie you would have to go beyond the real history and hollywoodize it.they have made civil war movies but never one of custers last stand or the trail of tears.for some reason they just dont wanna make historically correct films because our past is pretty shady at the most.

I just get tired of the dark lining of the silver cloud thing.

Dan

Amen Dan.  Well said.

[lew wetzel]

lurch,alot of people have mixed emotions about lewis wetzel.we that live in this century can never truly know what it was like to live in the 1770's.i dont idolize lewis wetzel because he killed indians.i do it because he was the greatest woodsmen of all time and the most daring and couragious.he lived out of caves and under fallen trees and stayed away from the settlements.he was the ultimate woodsmen.grew his hair to the back of his knees so that the indian who did lift his scalp would have the greatest trophy ever.he was both feared and respected by his enemies....he had brothers and they were equally great woodsmen.martin is probably the second best known of the wetzels as he lived with the indians as a captive and eventually escaped,killed many also..alot of people overlook that native indians killed settlers for honor and prestige among thier tribes as well for their encroachment into thier lands.many indians killed whitemen and individual indians probably killed more than wetzel.but they dont go down in history as serial killers.chief logan acted his revenge and killed 10 whitemen for evry one of his family that was murdered by the greathouse party.that alone is over 50 people.
  nobody knows for sure how many lewis killed..but without him the settlement of the wheeling area wouldnt have happened as smoothly as it did.he should be honored for what he did for the settlements.once the indian wars came to an end he had a hard time passing his time.he still went off on his own and brought back trophys.he probably walked a thin line between sane and insane,but how do you just turn it off.you dont!!!i have taken some heat from natives on the trekking sites i go to and right now thier is a thread on frontierfolk about lewis wetzel and i am right in the middle of it.i have been historically trekking for over 10 years and that is how i got into rifle building.you are fortunate to live in the area you do.and that statue is thier for a reason..honor it and the memory of lewis wetzel...

[winemaker]

Lew, Have you ever gone to the cave that lewis wetzel Lived in on wheeling creek? It is still there with a plaque that tells a version of his life.

[lew wetzel]

not yet,but will make the trip before to long.have seen pics on the net though...

[winemaker]

its right by wheeling hospital. The bike trail will take you to it. If you need directions let me know. I go every year to pick red raspberries along the trail. 2 5 gal buckets every year, they make the best wine.

[lew wetzel]

winemaker,yes i would like some directions.and maybe a gallion of that rasberry wine.my wife loves wine..