example of rewriting H. S. Turner

In Scenes Beyond the Western Border, Cooke's ghostwriter is taking material from multiple eyewitness narratives of the 1845 dragoon expedition to the Rocky Mountains. The previous post observed the evident debt to J. Henry Carleton's journal. 

Looking again at the entry by H. S. Turner, I noticed a bit that would be expropriated in the August 1852 installment of Scenes Beyond the Western Border.  Here is the original, from Turner's entry for June 22, 1845:

"Our guide had promised us good grazing at this point, but on arriving at it we found it grazed to the roots by the Buffalo: a large herd moved off as we approached it..."  fold3

Below, the rewrite.  It maintains the pose of an eyewitness report, but really is more of a comment on the original:

"We had to dispute possession with buffalo of the small well-cropped oasis where we encamped..."  (August 1852)

Turner observed the herd of buffalo leaving; the rewrite makes it a contest, a "dispute" between men and beasts for "possession." The term "well-cropped" substitutes for "grazed to the roots" in the original version.  While we're at it, we may as well note, too, how the rewrite takes liberties with the historical facts. While borrowing from primary sources, the ghostwriter on occasion is taking hints without worrying about precisely adhering to the actual chronology or locale of events.  Turner was describing a rest stop for meager grazing, midway along the day's route on June 22nd, 1845.  Turner only reports actually seeing the buffalo herd leaving there, at 11:00 a.m., but the rewrite in Scenes Beyond the Western Border makes the "dispute" happen at the evening camp--of the previous day!