James Beckwourth: The Black Mountain Man, The Gaudy Liar - Perk Series

OSHR 3065

James Pierson Beckwourth (1798-1866) was born a slave in Frederick County, VA. At an early age he trapped throughout the frontier for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. He was adopted by a Crow Indian tribe in 1833, was made a war chief, and fought the Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Sioux. He was widely known and respected for his tall tales about himself, which people assumed were lies, but later turned out to be true; nonetheless, he was deemed the "Gaudy Liar."