I think QUEST FOR FIRE did it better.
I’m reading a book ON THE BORDER WITH CROOK about Arizona in the 1880s. One Apache was constantly begging matches from the troops, then they found he could make fire almost as fast without a match. So they quit giving them to him.
Meanwhile, If I can get wood to just smoke I’ve almost succeeded without a match. Now I use a propane lighter.
Read an account of the troops in Arizona going in the field wearing their rattiest clothes and looking like a bunch of ragamuffins.
Is that in Bourke’s book?