Long Knives; The Story of How They Won the West, by George Cary Eggleston. Author of "Jack Shelby," "The Bale Marked Circle X," "Camp Venture," ''The Last of the Flat-Boats," etc. Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., [1907.] 393p.

A romance based loosely on the exploits of George Rogers Clark in the Kentucky and Illinois territories Long Knives focuses on Tom Harrod and his friends, Ike Todd, Sim Crane, and Hawk Camden, who join Clark in his history-making battles for control of the west. With the odds stacked against them, Clark and his men depend heavily on the elements of speed, surprise, and fear in conquering Kaskaskia and Vincennes and in making peace with the Indians. The four friends join Clark at Corn Island in the Ohio River before the march on Kaskaskia, and serve faithfully as scouts, hunters, envoys, and soldiers until the fate of the Illinois territory is secure. Eggleston devotes little energy to the development of his characters, choosing instead to go into great detail describing and interpreting actions and historic events. Hence, Long Knives becomes an action novel generously interspersed with tedious explanations of motives and alternatives.

The Trail Blazers; Pioneers of the Northwest, by Lawton B. Evans. Illustrated by Oliver Kemp. Springfield, Mass[achusetts:] Milton Bradley Company, [1925.] 282p.

The story of George Rogers Clark is faithfully retold, departing from fact only in scattered instances when adequate records do not exist to enable the author to piece together the true story or when the author feels the need for human interest and local color. Much of the story is available in other sources both fiction and non-fiction where it is more interestingly told. However, Evans includes a chapter on the conquest of Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, St. Philips, and the outlying territories, which most novelists have disregarded as anticlimactic. His treatment of the British commander Henry Hamilton, called the Hair-Buyer for his practice of buying scalps from the Indians to encourage them to kill French and American settlers, is more detailed than that of most novelists in writing of Clark s most serious adversary.

The Life and Adventures of Arthur Clenning, by the author of "Recollections of Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi," "Francis Berrian," &c. In Two Volumes. Philadelphia: Towar & Hogan; No. 255, Market Street, 1828. 2v.

The first portion of The Life and Adventures of Arthur Clenning is a variation on the Robinson Crusoe theme. Being one of several Clenning children, Arthur is forced to seek employment at an early age. His first job takes him to sea where he is shipwrecked on a tropical island. It is the shipwreck and Arthur's knowledge and manner afterward that win him the heart of Augusta Wellman, a young lady of considerable wealth and position, who is sailing on the fateful cruise. When the adventure is over, neither Arthur nor Augusta wishes to return to sea, so they settle in Illinois to farm and live happily ever after. This title is of special interest since it is one of the first novels ever published dealing with Illinois. It is highly romanticized in the style of James F. Cooper and other writers of the time, but the story has substance, which places it a cut above most Cooper imitations.

Ambush at Fort Dearborn, by Mary Virginia Fox. Illustrated by Lorence Bjorklund. New York: St. Martin's Press, [1962.] 173p.

The Malen family migrate to Illinois prior to the War of 1812, and stake a claim in the Checagou area near Fort Dearborn. When Indian tribes, incited by the British, begin to terrorize the settlers, young Tom Malen is taken prisoner by the Senecas and lives with them for a period of time, learning their life style and customs--knowledge which saves his life when, in August of 1812, many of the inhabitants of Fort Dearborn are massacred. Ambush at Fort Dearborn tells a story that has frequently been told by other writers, but the insight the author provides into Indian life gives new emphasis and interest to an old tale.

Elkswatawa; or, The Prophet of the West. A Tale of the Frontier ... In Two Volumes ... New York: Published by Harper & Brothers; No. 82 Cliff Street, 1836. 2v.

The Treaty of Greenville, signed in 1795, ceded a large section of Indian lands to the United States, and was intended to settle for all time the question of white encroachment on Indian territory. It was not long, however, until hunters and settlers were again venturing beyond legal bounds into the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, rekindling the enmity between white and red men. James S. French has captured well the timbre of the times, narrating the adventures of three people whose interrelated lives present contrasting views of frontier America. A family of settlers traveling down the Ohio River by flatboat are attacked by Indians near Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, and all are killed, save one girl who is taken prisoner. Two hunters, Richard Rolfe and his friend Earthquake, witness the massacre and follow the Indians north to the camp of Elkswatawa, the Shawnee Prophet and brother of Tecumseh, hoping to rescue the girl. This action leads them into adventure and presents the opportunity to tell their story, the story of the girl, and that of the Shawnee Prophet. Chapters devoted to the captive are typical of other romances of the time, displaying little practical understanding of either Indians or women. A larger portion of the novel devoted to Elkswatawa is an accurate historical account of the life of the Shawnee Prophet, telling in gruesome detail of his rise to power through treachery and deceit, and enumerating the events which made his rise possible. The adventures of Rolfe and Earthquake provide a proper link between the two other stories, adding a touch of humor, bits of folklore, considerable social commentary, some local color, and lots of interest to a tale that might otherwise become tedious.

Red and White; A Christmas Story, by Edward E. Hale. A Christmas Present to the Ten Times One Is Ten Clubs. Boston: J. Stilman Smith & Co. Office of "Lend A Hand"; 3 Hamilton Place, [1887.] 41p.

In his youth, Ezekiel Beers befriends a young Indian and helps him through a trying period. Forty years later, Ezekiel is commander of an exploratory expedition on the upper Mississippi River when an early winter catches the group unaware, and they are stranded in the forest with no shelter, little food, and virtually no hope. In a desperate attempt to get help, Ezekiel, with two other men, strikes out downstream for Kaskaskia. Many are the hardships that the three men suffer, but their final misfortune is their capture by a band of Illinois Indians who are known to be hostile to white men. Fortunately, the chief of the tribe is Ezekiel's friend from forty years earlier, who remembers the kindness of a white youth, and repays the debt in full. Red and White is a sentimental tale more concerned with mood than with time and place. It is pleasant, light reading; but this is a privately printed edition and very difficult to obtain.

Legends of the West, by James Hall. Author of Letters from the West, Etc. Philadelphia: Published by Harrison Hall; 133 Chesnut Street, 1832. 265p.

Ten short stories and two narrative poems set, for the most part, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and southern Illinois, are attempts by the author to accurately depict life in the wilderness as it actually existed. Three of the twelve are set in southern Illinois: "Michel de Coucy," "The Emigrants," and "The Indian Hater."

CONTENTS: The Backwoodsman.--The Divining Rod.--The Seventh Son.--The Missionaries.--The Indian Wife's Lament.--A Legend of Carondelet.--The Intestate.--Michel de Coucy.--The Emigrants.--The Barrack-Master's Daughter.--The Indian Hater.--The Isle of the Yellow Sands.

Tales of the Border, by James Hall. Author of "Legends of the West,'' &c., &c. Philadelphia: Harrison Hall; No. 47 South Third Street, 1835. 276p.

Six short stories and a narrative poem written by a long-time resident of Kentucky and the frontier middle west authentically portray segments of life and history of the area as observed or heard by the author. Most of the stories concern Indians in some manner, and generally stress their friendliness and hospitality before the onslaught of white plunderers began to encroach on their hunting grounds. Three stories, "The Pioneer," "The French Village," and "The Dark Maid of Illinois," are set in the territory which now constitutes Illinois.

CONTENTS: The Pioneer.--The French Village.--The Spy.--The Capuchin.--The Silver Mine.--The Dark Maid of Illinois.--The New Moon.

American Monthly Magazine (NY), 3/1835, p. 9-15.

The Wilderness and the War Path, by James Hall. Author of Legends of the West, Border Tales, Sketches of the West, Notes on the Western States, Etc., Etc. New York: Wiley and Putnam; 161 Broadway, 1846. 174p.

Basically composed of stories reprinted from Hall's earlier publications, The Wilderness and the War Path contains only two Illinois stories, "The Dark Maid of Illinois" and "The Indian Hater," both of which appear elsewhere as well.

CONTENTS: The Black Steed of the Prairies.--The War Belt, A Legend of North Bend.--The New Moon, A Tradition of the Omawhaws.--The Red Sky of the Morning.--The Capuchin.--The Dark Maid of Illinois.--The Indian Hater.--Pete Featherton.

Thunder in the Wilderness, by Harry Hamilton. Indianapolis [and] New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., Publishers, [1949.] 304p.

Michel, bastard son of the Frenchman Paul Duclos and the Indian Wiama, is a source of embarrassment to the Duclos family and an outcast among the Indians, for he fits into neither social order. Set in Kaskaskia and Detroit during the 1760s, Thunder in the Wilderness is another rendition of the Pontiac Conspiracy, centering around the half-breed Michel, who feels no compulsion to side with either faction in the war between Indian and white man. Hamilton's novel has a broad historical base, but little fact to substantiate any actual claim to truth. Nor are the characters vibrant and real. All but two are fictitious and even they are one-dimensional.

Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 387.

Old 'Kaskia Days, A Novel by Elizabeth Holbrook. Kaskaskia: Jesuit mission. Founded 1680-86. Under British rule, 1763. A county of Virginia, 1778. Northwestern Territory, 1787. Territory of Indiana, 1802. Territory of Illinois, 1809. State of Illinois, 1818. Chicago: The Schulte Publishing Company, 1893. 295p.

Although greatly romanticized, life in Kaskaskia from 1812 to 1844 is presented factually through the lives of Antoine and Annette Beauvail, children of a French plantation owner who settled in Kaskaskia in the 1790s. Old 'Kaskia Days tells of a trip by flatboat down the Mississippi River to New Orleans; details the struggle for Illinois statehood made by a small but determined group of far-sighted men; relates the events surrounding Lafayette's visit to Kaskaskia; and ends with the devastating flood of 1844 which virtually destroys the town. Two love stories and a murder provide romance and suspense, while several legends concerning Indian fights, the exploits of George Rogers Clark, and early white settlement add humor and excitement to the tale.

Chautauquan, 4/1894, p. 127. Independent, 10/26/1893, p. 1453.

The Mississippi Bubble; How the Star of Good Fortune Rose and Set and Rose Again, by a Woman's Grace, for One John Law of Lauriston, A Novel by Emerson Hough. The Illustrations by Henry Hutt. Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, Publishers. [1902.] 452p.

Emerson Hough captures well the color and excitement of John Law's life as he relates the fantastic economic scheming, the chaotic state of personal affairs, and the bold voyage of discovery which characterize one of the world's early financial wizards. A life of extravagance and a duel for the love of Elizabeth Villiers result in Law's imprisonment in England. Following his escape from prison, he spends a period of time as a voyageur on the prairies around Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River Valley, where he devises a plan for an unprecedented business venture. Returning to Europe, he establishes a bank with the help of Philippe II, Duc d'Orleans, and a year later lays the ground work for a gargantuan trade development company in the Mississippi Valley. The failure of the Mississippi Scheme, an affair still unequaled in the world of finance, is attributed by Hough to the unstable economic state of the French government and to Law's economic theories advanced beyond the comprehension of the economists of his time.

Bookman (NY), 6/1902, p. 374-6. Dial, 6/1/1902, p. 386. Independent, 7/3/1902, p. 1611. N.Y. Times Book Review, 5/17/1902, p. 334.

Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago. August 15,1812, and of Some Preceding Events. Chicago. Ill[inois: ] Printed by Ellis & Fergus, Book and Job Printers; Saloon Buildings, Clarke Street, 1844. 34p.

In 1812, Chicago is little more than a trading post near old Fort Dearborn, where some seventy-five American soldiers are garrisoned. With the outbreak of hostilities between England and America and the fall of Mackinac Island to the British, Fort Dearborn is ordered abandoned and the soldiers moved to Fort Wayne. Arrangements for the transfer are made, all unneeded provisions are distributed among the neighboring Indians, and on August 15, 1812, the soldiers, their wives and children, and several neighboring families start the long trek across northern Indiana to Fort Wayne. Hardly out of sight of Fort Dearborn, Indians of the Potawatomie tribe who have received provisions from the fort only days before fall upon the small caravan, killing or wounding nearly everyone in the group. Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago is a small pamphlet which gives an eye-witness account of the Fort Dearborn massacre. Although it is generally considered non-fiction, it has been included, with only minor revisions, as chapters 18 and 19 of Mrs. Kinzie's longer narrative, Wau-Bun, which is considered a fictionalized autobiography.

Wau-Bun; The "Early Day" in the North-West, by Mrs. John H. Kinzie, of Chicago. With Illustrations. New York: Published by Derby & Jackson, 119 Nassau Street; Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co., 1856. 498p.

A classic of the middle west, Wau-Bun is the story of Juliette and John Kinzie's life from 1830, when they enter the Northwest Territory as newlyweds, to 1833, when they depart their Wisconsin home to take up temporary residence in Detroit. Juliette, an easterner, is totally unaware of the hardships she is destined to encounter on the frontier, but meets each peril bravely, attempting feats which no other white woman had dared to imagine. Soon after settling into their quarters at Fort Winnebago near the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, Juliette and John venture to Chicago. a community of less than fifty inhabitants, to visit John's relatives and friends. It is during this visit that Juliette first hears of the Fort Dearborn massacre, and she records the tale as it is told by her sister-in-law, Margaret Helm, an eyewitness. The Kinzies return to their home in the fall of 1831, about the time of the Black Hawk uprising which causes considerable confusion and uncertainty among their Indian neighbors and eventually leads to the removal of the Wisconsin Indians to the west. Wau-Bun was for years considered a truthful and accurate historical account of life in early Illinois and Wisconsin. However, some seventy-five years following its publication, Milo M. Quaife, a historian of considerable renown, proclaimed it romanticized, prejudiced, and a semi-historical work of fiction. No matter what its historical or literary status, Wau-Bun is a useful, informative, and entertaining work, particularly valuable in the areas of Indian customs, military history, and early pioneer life.

Zury; The Meanest Man in Spring County, A Novel of Western Life by Joseph Kirkland. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1887. 538p.

The Prouder family settles on a tract of land in Spring County, Illinois, soon after the War of 1812, paying for it in part by a land-warrant for military service, and making up the difference from their life savings. It is soon apparent that only Zury, the older child, is equal to the rigors of pioneer life, and it is he who builds the farm into a thriving, profitable business. But Zury is far more than a dirt farmer. Civic responsibility compels him to seek a seat on the local board of education, and integrity, dedication, and courage help him to advance to the State Legislature. Three marriages bring him money, land, and finally love. But the most memorable of his characteristics is his crude, expressive speech pattern, which Kirkland reproduces from his acquaintance with backwoods folk of Illinois and Michigan. Zury is a far-from-perfect novel, but it is a milestone in literary history, for it is the first major literary work to break tradition and present the farmer realistically--a feat which earns its author a place in literary annals with other realists of the nineteenth century such as Stephen Crane, Hamlin Garland, and William Dean Howells.

Critic, 5/21/1887, p. 254. Dial, 7/1887, p. 67. Epoch, 9/9/1887, p. 97. Harper's, 6/1888, p. 152-3. Independent, 9/8/1887, p. 1134. Literary World, 5/28/1887, p. 169. Nation, 7/21/1887, p 57.

Thunder on the River, by Charlton Laird. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1949. 310p. (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book)

In 1813, at nineteen years of age, Mark Eldridge arrives in Goshen, Illinois, in search of the adventure about which he had heard back home in Vermont. As a fur trader and Indian fighter, Mark finds the adventure he desires. As a captive of Black Hawk, Mark learns the meaning of love, understanding, and loyalty. Thunder on the River is an unbiased and credible account of life with the Sauk Nation prior to the Black Hawk War.

Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 520.

The Big Knives, [by] Bruce Lancaster. With a Historical Epilogue by Edward P. Hamilton. Boston [and] Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, [1964.] 371p. (An Atlantic Monthly Press Book)

When George Rogers Clark and his small band of ragged and weary soldiers capture Kaskaskia and Cahokia in 1778, then march across Illinois, through miles of brambles, woods, and freezing floodwaters to capture the well-armed fort at Vincennes, in February of 1779, the feat seems little less than miraculous. The story of Clark and his men, called Long Knives by the Indians, is well told in this fictionalized account which features a young adventurer who is pressed into Clark's service. Valuable descriptions of such young towns as New Orleans, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher, St. Genevieve, St. Louis, and Vincennes are included.

Book Review Digest, 1964, p. 695.

Tales and Sketches, by A Country Schoolmaster... New York: Printed by J. & J. Harper, 82 Cliff St[reet; ] Sold by Collins and Hannay, Collins and Co., G. and C. and H. Carvill, W. B. Gilley, E. Bliss, and O. A. Roorbach; Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, and Carey, J. Grigg, Towar and Hogan, U. Hunt, H. Cowperthwaite, E. Littell and Brother, and M'Carty and Davis; Albany: O. Steele, 1829. 248p.

Of the ten short stories contained in this volume of early Americana, two, "The Squatter" and "The Rifle," describe the perils of life and the haphazard efforts at law enforcement in pre-statehood southern Illinois.

CONTENTS: The Squatter.--A Burial at Sea.--The Stanton Ghost; or, Mistake of the Press.--The Steel Clasp.--The Lie of Benevolence.--The Rifle.--Near-Sighted.--A Watch in the Main-Top.--White Hands; or, Not Quite in Character.--The Mistake.

Down the Ohio with Clark , by Charles Franklin Lender. Illustrated by Oscar J. Ogg, Jr. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, Publishers, [1937.] 278p.

Another version of the George Rogers Clark saga, Down the Ohio with Clark offers no information that cannot be found elsewhere, but the author has done an excellent job of reestablishing Clark as a man rather than a legend, and an equally impressive job of re-creating the Kentucky and Illinois frontier of the eighteenth century. Two of Virginia's finest youths, Peyton and Brian Todhunter, choose Clark's wilderness wars over Washington's skirmishes with the British at Valley Forge, so they march off in company with a handful of men to defend America's uncharted west during the Revolution. With little money, few provisions, and half the number of men needed for the expedition, the small band, under the strong leadership of Colonel Clark, ventures down the Ohio River, establishes a new settlement in Kentucky, captures Kaskaskia and Cahokia for the Colonies, marches across southern Illinois in the dead of winter to attack the British at Vincennes, makes peace with the Indians who have been incited by Henry Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, and plans to march to Detroit if necessary. Especially apparent throughout the book is Lender's knowledge of folklore, folk medicine, charms, superstitions, tools, guns--every detail necessary to make Down the Ohio with Clark ring true.

Book Review Digest, 1938, p. 573.

The Gilded Torch, [by] Iola Fuller. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, [1957.] 343p.

Victor and Marc, twin sons of the aging Marquis de Lorennes, become favorites at the court of Louis XIV of France, until Victor offends Mme. de Montespan, the king's current mistress and a powerful influence behind the throne. Victor's hopes for a career in the royal Blue Guards is shattered overnight when Louis decrees that Victor shall accompany Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, in his return voyage to New France. The Gilded Torch is a faithful chronicle of the years 1678 to 1682, in which LaSalle returns to Quebec after his successful entreaty for permission and financial support from the king of France to explore the uncharted areas of the west, travels up the St. Lawrence River to Niagara, and constructs a ship above the falls which carries him and his followers through the Great Lakes to the heart of the New World. Iola Fuller is a master novelist, vividly re-creating all of the splendor of the French court, the intrigue of Versailles and Quebec, the hardships of the cruel winter in northern Illinois, the hostility of the natives, and the beauty of forest and prairie, as LaSalle and his small band of followers attempt and eventually succeed in crossing the Illinois territory and traversing the Mississippi River to its mouth.

Book Review Digest, 1957, p. 333.

Tonty of the Iron Hand, Being an Account of My Great Adventure and the Remarkable Happenings That Brought About My Going with M. De La Salle and M. Henri De Tonty When They Explored the Mississippy River from the Mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico, Together with All that Befell Us During That Long and Hazardous Journey. From an old French manuscript recently discovered translated and edited, by Everett McNeil. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., [1925.] 357p.

Adhering to the basic historical facts concerning the adventures of Robert de la Salle and Henri de Tonty, this tale focuses on Edmond de Leon, who is kidnapped at age ten, shipped to the New World as a cabin boy aboard the Lily of France, placed in a monastery in Montreal to be prepared for missionary work, escapes, lives with Indians for a time, and finally joins LaSalle and Tonty in their attempts to explore the Mississippi River. The author deals with the life of Tonty, thereby omitting the political intrigue, the personal injustices, and the misfortunes that hound LaSalle during his life in the New World. Instead, there are bold descriptions of life among the Indians, hunting on the prairies, winters in Illinois, and the long journey by canoe down the Mississippi River to its mouth. Tonty of the Iron Hand is fascinating adventure, but the author skips lightly over many pertinent facts to dwell overlong on the excitement of fight or chase, while relying too often on chance to rescue his hero from danger and explain away unlikely situations.

Book Review Digest, 1925, p. 443.

Down the Big River, by Stephen W. Meader. Author of "The Black Buccaneer." Illustrations by The Author. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1924.] 270p.

A journey down the Ohio River from Pennsylvania to Missouri in 1805, was a journey to be avoided by all but the most valiant. When Tom Lockwood, with his Quaker aunt and uncle, braves the natural perils of river travel, trusting in faith and a strong right arm to see him through, he soon learns that there is more to fear than the river itself. One of the major obstacles of the journey is an encounter with river pirates who attack the Lockwood's keelboat and hold the family captive at Cave-In-Rock, until Tom escapes and maneuvers to gain their freedom. The novel is fast paced and a creditable interpretation of fact.

Book Review Digest, 1924, p. 394-5.

Black Forest, by Meade Minnigerode . . . New York [and] Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., [1937.] 360p.

The elopement and frontier marriage of Angus Drumlin, a Scottish fur trader, and Solange Monvel, of Kaskaskia, set into motion an expansive novel of Colonial America covering the years 1754 to 1788. Minnigerode successfully mixes a fictional account of the fate of Angus and Solange with a factual account of the history of the great Northwest, including Braddock's defeat, the Pontiac Conspiracy, George Rogers Clark's march on Kaskaskia and Vincennes during the American Revolution, and the Ordinance of 1787 which opens up the Northwest Territory for colonization. Although much of the action takes place in areas other than the Illinois Territory, Minnigerode has successfully captured the mood of old Kaskaskia; the opposing temperaments of French, British, and Indian as each vies in his own way for possession of America's heartland; and the determination of George Rogers Clark and his followers as they claim the territory for the Colonies.

Book Review Digest, 1937, p. 698.

Long Meadows, by Minnie Hite Moody. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941. 657p.

A novel taking its title from the author's family estate in Virginia, Long Meadows is a colorful chronicle of the Hite family from 1705, when Baron Joist Heydt abandons his ancestral home in Strassburg, to a time 150 years later, when two of his descendants choose to fight and die in opposing armies during the Civil War. Of special interest is the interlude concerning Major Joseph Bowman, a grandson of Baron Heydt, who accompanies George Rogers Clark on his march on Kaskaskia and Vincennes.

Book Review Digest, 1941, p. 638.