My Name is Lisa

About the Book

Lisa Derkins, an Irish Colleen came to America in 1860 as an indentured servant. She was bound to a wealthy merchant in Richmond Virginia, but near the end of the Civil War her patron died. The court appointed an attorney, Malcolm Daley, to adjudicate her master´s affairs. As part of his fee in the process he became the owner of her bond of indebtedness and constantly pressed her for payment.

Due to the depression of 1867 that followed the war, Lisa couldn´t find work. Malcolm used a forged letter offering her a high paying job to lure her into moving to Santa Fe with him. In Virginia she had ignored his lewd comments and innuendoes, but she needed that job. Against her better judgment, she followed him west traveling with a wagon train to Santa Fe. In Virginia he´d not made advances, but once on the prairie and away from civilization, Malcolm forced himself on her and made her endure his terrible abuse until he became separated from the wagon train as they neared Santa Fe. There her path crossed Dave Martins.

Dave rushed home to Fort Benton. The Indian uprising taking place on the plains would soon include the settlers that far north, and in his absence, his widowed mother ran the ranch. He was desperate to get home, and nothing was going to stop him, until he came upon Lisa. When Dave first saw her, Malcolm again whipped her. Dave made him stop. Then at the point of a gun, ran off with her, and took her to the nearby Mexican village of San Miguel. There he asked that the marshal see that Malcolm be punished and be forced to insure that Lisa got safely to her job in Santa Fe.

Malcolm didn´t make it to San Miguel. Soon after Dave had left him, a small band of renegade Indians killed Malcolm, then ran off with his goods and horses, and burned his wagon. When the marshal learned of the attack, he asked to read Lisa´s letter and exposed it as a forgery.

Lisa had endured Malcolm´s abuse because it was her only chance for a good job. The terrible news of Malcolm´s deception left her shattered. The marshal refused to assist Lisa and convinced her that since she was penniless her only chance now was to make Dave take her to his home in Fort Benton. She had to make him take her along. He went to Dave and said, "There is nothing here for her, and as far as Santa Fe, you know the only kind of work that an unemployed young attractive white woman can expect to find. According to the code of the West, you saved her life and since she has no one to take care of her, she´s your responsibility. You can´t leave her in this village with no means of support. You go to your big ranch in Montana. Take her with you."

The frontier was a brutal place in 1867. The Plains Indians had united under the great Sioux chief, Red Cloud. His warriors decimated a post-war cavalry short on ammunition and manpower. They went after the settlers on the plains and killed anyone foolish enough to stay. Dave´s trail home took him through Red Cloud´s domain, and even traveling alone it would take all of his skill and a great deal of luck to make it home safely. With Lisa to take care of, Dave knew he´d never make it. He couldn´t take her. Lisa was iron willed, but a city girl and she didn´t realize the danger or the hardship she faced. She had never ridden horseback before and only because of a horse named Beauty, a horse that she came to love, and a horse willing to run her heart out for her, would Lisa ever survive on the frontier.

About the Author

Manuel Borges was born in the Azores Islands of Portugal in1925 and came to America when five years old. He eventually earned a Ph.D. in Animal Science, and retired professor emeritus of agriculture from California State University, Chico. His love for horses traces to the fifth grade when his father gave him a horse all his own, an old mare no longer able to work but one his father didn’t want to send to the bone yard. He named her Beauty, rode her to school, and sixty years later gave her back her youth, and put her in this story.