Wallace Stegner
Born in Iowa and raised in Saskatchewan, Wallace Stegner (1909-1993) was director of the creative writing program at Stanford University. He is the author of numerous books including the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner, Angle of Repose, The Spectacular Bird, a National Book Award winner, and Beyond the Hundreth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West. Stegner passed away at age 84 in 1993, and Stanford has honored him with a two-year creative writing fellowship called the Stegner Fellowship.
Articles by this Contributor
June 1957
The old frontier began to die as the “medicine line” of the 49th Parallel was drawn
December 1969
Wise men like Thomas Jefferson have always known how to live with the earth instead of against it. We need to develop a land ethic, with wise stewardship and a respect for the earth.
February/March 1979
One hundred years ago, Congress created two agencies—the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Ethnology. Both, according to the author, have since “given direction, form, and stimulation to the science of earth and the science of man, and in so doing have touched millions of lives.”
February/march 1981
An exploration into the exploration of America
June/july 1981
Saltair, the stately pleasure dome that used to rise out of the waters of Great Salt Lake, was the Coney Island of the West.
August/september 1985
Much has changed in Utah since World War ll, but outside of the metropolitan center in the Salt Lake Valley, the addiction to rural simplicity and the idea of home is still strong.
December 1987
“Why hasn ‘t the stereotype faded away as real cowboys become less and less typical of Western life? Because we can Y or won Y do without it, obviously. ”
October 1955
How the Saskatchewan-Montana prairie country looked a generation ago, and what it meant to a youngster who lived there

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March 12, 1862
JACKSONVILLE, FL—Union forces from the USS Ottawa, led by Lieutenant Thomas Stevens, land and seize Jacksonville unopposed.
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March 9, 1862
HAMPTON ROADS, VA—The USS Monitor and CSS Virginia clash for nearly four hours in the first naval battle between ironclads. Neither ship could claim victory, but the battle revolutionized naval warfare.
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March 8, 1862
BENTON COUNTY, AR—Union Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis leads an outnumbered Union army to victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge. This victory ended the Confederate threat to Missouri and Federal soldiers secured northern Arkansas.
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March 6, 1862
NEW YORK, NY—The USS Monitor leaves New York Harbor, accompanied by the USS Currituck and USS Sachem, headed for Hampton Roads, Virginia.
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March 2, 1862
COLUMBUS, KY—Confederate General Leonidas Polk leaves Columbus, ending the Confederate defensive line of Kentucky. Polk initially violated Kentucky's neutrality by occupying Kentucky in September 1861.
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February 24, 1862
NASHVILLE, TN—Following the Confederate defeat at Fort Donelson, Union forces under General Don Carlos Buell arrive in Nashville. Nashville was the first Confederate state capital to be captured, and would remain in Union hands for the remainder of the Civil War.
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February 18, 1862
RICHMOND, VA—The Confederate Congress meets for the first time, where it hears about the surrender of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.
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February 12, 1862
FORT DONELSON, TN—General Ulyssess S. Grant moves his Union forces overland from Fort Henry on the Tennessee River to the outer defenses of Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote would move his flotilla downstream to support Grant's advance.
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February 6, 1862
FT HENRY, TN—A joint Union Army and Navy expedition captures Fort Henry along the Tennessee River, as Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman surrenders to Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote. The rising waters of the Tennessee condemned several of the defensive batteries, leaving it vulnerable to enemy fire.
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February 5, 1862
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM—Queen Victoria ends all export restrictions on munitions from Great Britain, opening up the market for both sides to import British gunpowder and firearms.




