Andrew García
Andrew García was a prominent figure in frontier Montana, known for his experiences as a trapper and trader during the Old West. Born in 1854 near El Paso, Texas, he grew up in a culturally rich environment influenced by the Apache tribe. After moving to Montana in 1876, García spent time working for the U.S. Army before embarking on a perilous journey into the wilderness. His adventures included encounters with criminals, surviving life-threatening situations, and immersing himself in Native American cultures, particularly through his marriages to Nez Perce and Pend d'Oreille women.
García's life earned him the nickname "Squaw Kid," reflecting his deep connections with Native American communities. In the 1880s, he returned to white society, marrying Barbara Voll and raising four sons on a ranch near Missoula. As a member of the Society of Montana Pioneers in the 1930s, he became recognized for his insights into Native American history and the Battle of Big Hole. His memoirs, published posthumously in 1967 as *A Tough Trip Through Paradise, 1878-1879*, offer a candid perspective on his life, aiming to correct historical inaccuracies and challenge romanticized narratives of the West. Through his storytelling, García presents himself with humility and humor, portraying a nuanced view of Native Americans as deserving of respect and fairness—a perspective that was progressive for his time.
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Andrew García
Author
- Born: 1854
- Birthplace: El Paso, Texas
- Died: 1943
Biography
Andrew García was a trapper and trader in frontier Montana whose frank memoirs record the hardships, perils, and beauties of the Old West. García was born near El Paso, Texas, in 1854, and he grew up in the Rio Grande area and in Arizona among the Apaches. He journeyed to Montana in 1876 on a cattle drive and never returned. For nearly two years he worked as a herder and packer for the U.S. Army at Fort Ellis, near Bozeman. Intrigued by the free life of the trapper, García took up with a reprobate alcoholic, Beaver Tom, who was an expert trapper, and in 1878 they started off on a trip into the Musselshell and Yellowstone areas of central Montana. His adventures during the trip were astonishing. He inadvertently fell in with a band of thieves and murderers, barely escaping with his life. He drove off Beaver Tom, who could not stay sober, and lived among the Pend d’Oreille tribe. He married a Nez Perce woman, survivor of the massacre at Big Hole, Idaho, and after she died in a battle with Blackfoot warriors, he married two Pend d’Oreille women. His life among the Montana tribes earned him the nickname the “Squaw Kid.” Nevertheless, he returned to white society in the 1880’s, married Barbara Voll, and had four sons. The family lived on a ranch near Missoula. In the 1930’s García became a member of the Society of Montana Pioneers and was considered an expert on Native Americans in the region and on the Battle of Big Hole. His contact with historians convinced him to write down the adventures of his youth. García died in 1943 leaving an long, unedited manuscript.
Five years later, Bennett H. Stein discovered the manuscript, which consisted of thousands of penciled and typed pages stored in dynamite boxes. Stein edited it, regularizing García’s quirky spelling and punctuation, and ordered some of the sections into a coherent narrative. This version was published in 1967 as A Tough Trip Through Paradise, 1878-1879. Although the book was constructed by an editor, the tone and spirit are all García’s.
In addition to telling his story, García plainly had two purposes in writing. The first was to correct historical inaccuracies. For example, he credits Chief Looking Glass, rather than Joseph, for masterminding the Nez Perce retreat from the U.S. Army, and he reports on the atrocities committed by General Otis Howard’s troops. The second purpose was to debunk the romantic fiction about the west in the popular “penny dreadful” novels. Yet his memoirs depends upon novelistic literary devices, such as third-person narration, switching viewpoints, and romance. Above all, García speaks of himself with self-deprecating humor in the rough parlance of cowboys and mountain men. Yet his remarkable narrative reveals a man of probity and daring who overcame temptations that led other “white men” to crime and who considered Native Americans as “God’s creatures and. . . entitled to live and have a square deal,” an atypical view for his times.