Historian, Author. Born as Stanley Vestal in Kansas, he took the surname of his stepfather, Campbell. At age twelve his family removed to Oklahoma. He became a graduate of what is now Southwestern Oklahoma State University and was a Rhodes Scholar from Oklahoma earning a B.A. and M.A. in English literature at Oxford. Professor of English at the University of Oklahoma. Using his pen name Stanley Vestal, he was the author of twenty-four books, numerous articles and was a noted authority on the 19th century west. Some of his better known works include, “Dodge City, Queen of the Cowtowns”, and “The Old Sante Fe Trail”. During World War I he commanded a battery of artillery with the rank of captain. He died of a heart attack on Christmas Day, 1957.Billings Gazette – Billings, MTSunday – 29 December 1957Page 8 – Column 4 Western Author Rites Are Set Funeral services for a western author, Walter S. Campbell, who wrote about 20 books on western history under the pseudonym, Stanley Vestal, will be conducted at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Custer Battlefield National Monument Cemetery near Crow Agency. Mr. Campbell died Wednesday in Norman, Okla. The Rev. J. H. Hill of Billings, pastor of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Chapel, will conduct the service. Mr. Campbell was a professor of journalism and creative writing at the University of Oklahoma in Norman at the time of his death. He had planned to retire after the current school year. Among his best known works are “Jim Bridger, Mountain Man,” “Joe Meek,” “Sitting Bull” and “War Drums and Camp Fires.” He also wrote the book on the Missouri River for the “Rivers of America” series. He was born in Kansas in 1887 and moved at an early age to the Cheyenne Indian country in western Oklahoma. He was a Rhodes scholar and during World War I was a captain of artillery. Mr. Campbell also was a judge of the Miss Indian America contest during All-American Indian Days in Sheridan, Wyo. He visited Don Rickey, Custer Battlefield historian, in August. After touring the cemetery and studying its historical significance, he asked that he be buried there. Surviving is a daughter in Washington, D.C. (bio by: Steve Dunn)