Stuart Brannon in Hard Winter at Broken Arrow Crossing
Western Heroes – Stuart Brannon Factoids & Quotes
Stuart Brannon, one of the fiction western heroes in the Stephen Bly western book series, was a western philosopher of sorts. Before he adopted 12-year-old Littlefoot Brannon in 1888, he lost his wife on Christmas Day 1875 in childbirth. The baby boy died too. A year later he endured the hard winter at Broken Arrow Crossing, the Christmas of 1876.
He trailed several cattle drives to Kansas, scouted for the U.S. Army, prospected for gold in Colorado. He served as marshal in New Mexico and Colorado. He battled phony Spanish land grants and drove one of the earliest large herds of Mexican cattle north into Arizona Territory.
Not Violent
Though he had become one of many western heroes, he twice refused appointment as Territorial Governor because “men with violent pasts make inferior lawmakers.” Yet, he often tells himself, I am not a violent man.
He was “the toughest sober man” who never flinched, even in a fierce gunfight.
In 1905, the year of Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot, he has a full head of gray hair. Still a formidable man to tackle, though he suffers the effects of many injuries. He enters the group of few still-alive aging western heroes. He tried to learn the strange game of golf on behalf of an orphan farm charity tournament played by celebrities, by request of long-time friend, Lady Harriet Reed-Fletcher.
Stuart Brannon rancher & cattleman
Part of the problem is his age and the hard life.
“The crook of my arms, the way they work after all these years. I aim straight and the ball hooks right. If I shoot to the right, the ball flies down the middle. I guess that’s part of my handicap.”
Stuart Brannon’s life verse: Isaiah 54:17 …
“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
Western heroes have creeds. Here’s Stuart Brannon’s: duty to decency, mankind and God. That’s why he gets involved. Law, decency, the will of God and future generations demand this country be safe for women, children and families.
Not all western heroes have faith. But Stuart Brannon does. “I talked to God before I knew his name and long before we were properly introduced.”
Arizona desert cactus near Stuart Brannon’s ranch
His home: “Arizona bears my camp. My ranch. My outfit. And its citizens, my brothers and sisters. They’re my tribe.”
His legacy: “The west of the future belongs to my descendants, my offspring, my legacy. I find myself almost possessive about the west that is yet to come.”
His view of himself: “I’m not one of the western heroes. When they take the great photograph of mankind’s family reunion, I’ll be the one in the tenth row from the back, fifth from the end, who is partially blocked by the lady in the big hat. I’m the one staring down at my scuffed dirt brown boots. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t had a shining moment or two.”
His daily philosophy: “You and I have the opportunity to saddle up this day and ride it into our memories. But that means staying awake.”
As an older man, his life assessment: “By the time a man figures out what he is missing, it’s already gone.”
Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot, a western hero’s kind of journey along the frontier of his soul.
Janet Chester Bly
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YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Stuart Brannon character interview HERE STUART BRANNON INTERVIEW
“The Ticking Clock & A Novel Timeline” HERE THE TICKING CLOCK
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