Blood Meridian Exhibit

John Joel Glanton: the man who would become the notorious leader of the Glanton gang was born in 1819 along side his twin brother Julian in Edgefield Country, South Carolina. His parents were Charles William and Margaret Hill Glanton. His father Charles Glanton would pass away in 1826, and the mother with her children would relocate to Louisiana, eventually ending up in Jackson County, Arkansas. She would remarry a wealthy war veteran and Walnut Woods Plantation owner, Major John Roddy. John Glanton at a young age had a violent attitude and explosive temper. As his childhood is largely…

In 1848, Glanton left the front line as a well known fighter. He would join a new regiment that fought Native American tribes on the Texan frontier. Eventually, after moving around multiple units, and into more trouble with the law, he left the army in mid-1849, leaving for California. He was traveling with around 30 armed men seeking gold. He and his group traveled through the Chihuahua route in Mexico. Along the route they ran out of supplies, so the expedition stopped in Chihuahua City, in the city, to make money, they collected bounty contracts against native American tribes, due to…

Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian is considered to be one of the most notorious works of historical fiction in the American western genera, having intense descriptions of violence and mature themes, as well as biblical references, even taking inspiration from Dante’s Inferno and other classical works. The story of the book is largely based on the writings (potentially glorified accounts) of Samuel Chamberlain, a member of the historic Glanton Gang who wrote about their travels and crimes (including a member being the inspiration for Judge Holden) in his autobiography called My…