Stanley Vestal (born Walter Stanley Vestal; August 15, 1887 – December 25, 1957) was an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

, and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, perhaps best known for his books on the

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

, including ''Sitting Bull, Champion of the Sioux''.

Biography

Vestal was born to Walter Mallory Vestal and the former Isabella "Daisy" Wood near Severy in Greenwood County in southeastern

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Vestal's father died when he was young. His mother remarried, and Vestal took the legal surname Campbell from his stepfather, James Robert Campbell. About 1889, the Campbell family relocated to Guthrie in the newly established

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

, where he learned Native American customs from his boyhood playmates, knowledge which would later be useful in his writing career. In 1903, Vestal graduated from the new institution, Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. His stepfather was the first president of the college. Vestal was Oklahoma's first

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in English from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in England. Vestal taught for three years at Male High School in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, before he became a professor of English at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

at Norman, where he became known for his courses in creative writing. He temporarily left the university on three occasions, as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in an artillery regiment during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, as a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

from 1930 to 1931, and under a

Rockefeller Fellowship The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller ("Seni ...

in 1946. Between 1927 and his death on Christmas Day 1957 from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, Vestal wrote more than twenty books, some

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

s, and as many as one hundred articles about the Old West. He is interred as Walter S. Campbell at the Custer National Cemetery in Big Horn County,

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Partial bibliography

*''Fandango: Ballads of the Old West'',

Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Boston Financial District. It was formerly known as the Houghto ...

, Boston, 1927 *''Mountain Men, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1927 *"Happy Hunting Grounds"' Lyons and Carnahan, Chicago, IL, 1928 *''Kit Carson, the Happy Warrior of the West'', Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1928 *''Dobe Walls a Story of Kit Carson's Southwest'', Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1929 *''Sitting Bull-Champion of the Sioux-a Biography'', Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1932 *''New Sources of Indian History 1850–1891. The Ghost Dance. The Prairie Sioux . A Miscellany.

University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...

, Norman, 1934 *''The Wine Room Murder'', Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1935 *''Revolt On The Border'', Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1938 *''The Old Santa Fe Trail'', Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1939 *''King of the Fur Traders: The Deeds and Deviltry of Pierre Esprit Radisson'', Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1940 *''Big Foot Wallace, A Biography, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1942 *''Jim Bridger Mountain Man'', William Morrow, New York, 1946 *''Joe Meek, The Merry Mountain Man'', Caxton, Caldwell,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, 1952 *''Short Grass Country,

Duell, Sloan and Pearce Duell, Sloan and Pearce was a publishing company located in New York City. It was founded in 1939 by C. Halliwell Duell, Samuel Sloan and Charles A. Pearce. It initially published general fiction and non-fiction, but not westerns, light romances or ...

, New York City, 1941 *''The Missouri'', Farrar & Rinehart, New York, 1945 (Volume 26 of the Rivers of America Series) *"Wagons Southwest: Story of Old Trail to Santa Fe," American Pioneer trails Association, New York, 1946 *''Warpath and Council Fire: The Plains Indians' Struggle for Survival in War and in Diplomacy, 1851–1891'',

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, New York, 1948 *''Dodge City, Queen of Cowtowns: "The wickedest little city in America", 1872–1886'', Harper Brothers, New York, 1952 *''The Book Lover's Southwest: A guide to good reading'',

, Norman, 1955 *''The Indian Tipi: Its History, Construction, and Use'', (with Reginald Laubin & Gladys Laubin), University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1957 *''Warpath: The True Story of the Fighting Sioux Told in a Biography of Chief White Bull'',

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press (UNP) was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the University of Ne ...

, Lincoln, 1984 (copyrighted 1934 as Walter Stanley Campbell)

References

American Book Exchange
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vestal, Stanley 1887 births 1957 deaths People from Greenwood County, Kansas People from Guthrie, Oklahoma People from Weatherford, Oklahoma 20th-century American historians Historians of the United States Southwestern Oklahoma State University alumni Writers from Louisville, Kentucky University of Oklahoma faculty 20th-century American novelists People from Norman, Oklahoma 20th-century American poets American male novelists American male poets 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Kentucky Novelists from Oklahoma American male non-fiction writers Alumni of Merton College, Oxford