Lakota Moon by Robyn Jackson

I recently discovered that my childhood friend, Robyn Jackson, is the author of a wonderful novel set in the 1800s.  Her book, Lakota Moon, dramatically portrays the romantic adventure of Mary Eliza McElroy, a young pioneer girl who is captured by a Lakota warrior during her family’s wagon train journey to Oregon.

Robyn has enjoyed a successful career writing for newspapers and magazines, and has accumulated many awards over the years.  She is also the new owner of “Accent South Mississippi” magazine.  Her real passion, though, is for writing fiction.  In 2003, her lifetime dream of having a published novel was fulfilled when her eight-year project, Lakota Moon, finally hit bookstores across the country.

Robyn’s attention to detail and authentic descriptions of tribal traditions and artifacts are the direct result of her intense research of Lakota history and culture.  Beyond her in-depth literary study, she also traveled to South Dakota to see the Black Hills, Fort Laramie, and portions of the Oregon Trail–all significant scenic landmarks that provide the setting for Robyn’s wild west adventure.  “I’ve been to South Dakota three times now,” Robyn says.  “It’s an incredibly beautiful place, very different from Mississippi in appearance, but I feel very at home there, and I can’t wait to go back.”

Cynthia Ann Parker, the inspiration for Mary Eliza McElroy, nursing her daughter, Toh-Tsee-Ah, 1861

The fictional character, Mary Eliza McElroy (known as “Goes Alone” after embracing the Lakota culture) was inspired by the true account of Cynthia Ann Parker who, at the tender age of nine, was captured by Comanches in 1836.  Cynthia became thoroughly ensconced in the ways of the Comanche, marrying Peta Nacoma, a young chief famous for a series of violent raids on white outposts and settlements in the pioneer territory.  Although it was common for warriors of Nacoma’s caliber to have more than one wife, the great chief remained monogamous, a tribute to the strong affection he held for Cynthia Ann.

When a group of Native Americans were captured after the Battle of Pease River, General Lawrence Sullivan Ross discovered one of the female captives had blue eyes.  It was determined that Cynthia Ann, called “Nadua” by the Comanche, must be reunited with her closest surviving relatives.

All attempts to restore Cynthia Ann to white civilization failed.  She was shuffled among various white family members and fled several times.  Her desire to be reunited with her Comanche family were never realized as she was repeatedly recaptured.  Frequently locked in her room to prevent escape, Cynthia Ann spent her last years heartbroken and alone.  A few months after learning that her son, Pecos, had died of smallpox, her young daughter, Toh-Tsee-Ah, died of influenza.  She, too, died of influenza a few years later at the age of 43.

“My first thought when I read that was ‘God, that’s the most tragic story I’ve ever heard,” Robyn says.  “My second thought was…’but what a great novel it would make.’”

And, indeed, it is.  Robyn has taken the skeletal details of Cynthia Ann’s short, poignant life and transformed it into a Lakota love story packed with emotional conflicts and rugged adventure.  If all goes well, Robyn hopes to release the sequel, Lakota War Cry, within the year.

[Robyn is pictured with me in this 2nd grade group photo from 1968.]

Tags: Accent South Mississippi, Cynthia Ann Parker, Lakota Moon, Robyn Jackson