The Border Watch: A Story of the Great Chief's Last Stand Read online

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  _The_ BORDER WATCH

  BOOKS BY JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER

  THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIES

  The Hunters of the HillsThe Rulers of the LakesThe Lords of the WildThe Shadow of the NorthThe Masters of the PeaksThe Sun of Quebec

  THE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIES

  The Young TrailersThe Forest RunnersThe Keepers of the TrailThe Eyes of the WoodsThe Free RangersThe Riflemen of the OhioThe Scouts of the ValleyThe Border Watch

  THE TEXAN SERIES

  The Texan ScoutsThe Texan StarThe Texan Triumph

  THE CIVIL WAR SERIES

  The Guns of Bull RunThe Guns of ShilohThe Scouts of StonewallThe Sword of AntietamThe Star of GettysburgThe Rock of ChickamaugaThe Shades of the WildernessThe Tree of Appomattox

  THE GREAT WEST SERIES

  The Lost HuntersThe Great Sioux Trail

  THE WORLD WAR SERIES

  The Forest of SwordsThe Guns of EuropeThe Hosts of the Air

  BOOKS NOT IN SERIES

  Apache GoldThe Quest of the FourThe Last of the ChiefsIn Circling CampsThe Last RebelA Soldier of ManhattanThe Sun of SaratogaA Herald of the WestThe Wilderness RoadMy CaptiveThe Candidate

  "He saw two warriors, and he lay in the bush while theypassed only twenty yards away." Page 214.]

  _The_ BORDER WATCH

  A STORY OF THE GREATCHIEF'S LAST STAND

  BY

  JOSEPH A. ALTSHELER

  AUTHOR OF

  "THE YOUNG TRAILERS," "THE FREE RANGERS,""THE SCOUTS OF THE VALLEY," ETC.

  D. APPLETON-CENTURY COMPANYINCORPORATEDNEW YORK LONDON1941

  COPYRIGHT, 1912, BYD. APPLETON AND COMPANY

  Printed in the United States of America

  PREFACE

  "The Border Watch" closes the series which began with "The YoungTrailers," and which was continued successively in "The Forest Runners,""The Keepers of the Trail," "The Eyes of the Woods," "The Free Rangers,""The Riflemen of the Ohio," and "The Scouts of the Valley." All theeight volumes deal with the fortunes and adventures of two boys, HenryWare and Paul Cotter, and their friends Shif'less Sol Hyde, Silent TomRoss and Long Jim Hart, in the early days of Kentucky. The action movesover a wide area, from New Orleans in the South to Lake Superior in theNorth, and from the Great Plains in the West to the land of the Iroquoisin the East.

  It has been the aim of the author to present a picture of frontier life,and to show the immense hardships and dangers endured by our people, asthey passed through the wilderness from ocean to ocean. So much of itoccurred in the shadow of the forest, and so much more of it was takenas a matter of course that we, their descendants, are likely to forgetthe magnitude of their achievement. The conquest of the North Americancontinent at a vast expense of life and suffering is in reality one ofthe world's great epics.

  The author has sought to verify every statement that touches uponhistorical events. He has read or examined nearly all the books andpamphlets and many of the magazine articles formerly in the Astor andLenox, now in the New York Public Library, dealing with Indian wars andcustoms. In numerous cases, narratives written by observers andparticipants have been available. He believes that all the borderbattles are described correctly, and the Indian songs, dances andcustoms are taken from the relations of witnesses.

  But the great mass of material dealing with the frontier furnishesanother striking illustration of the old saying that truth is strangerthan fiction. No Indian story has ever told of danger and escape moremarvelous than those that happened hundreds of times. The Indiancharacter, as revealed in numerous accounts, is also a complex andinteresting study. The same Indian was capable of noble actions and ofunparalleled cruelty. As a forest warrior he has never been excelled. Inthe woods, fighting according to his ancient methods, he was the equalalike of Frenchman, Englishman and American, and often their superior.Many of the Indian chiefs were great men. They had the minds ofstatesmen and generals, and they prolonged, for generations, a fightthat was doomed, from the beginning.

  We lost more people in our Indian wars than in all the others combined,except the Civil War. More American soldiers fell at St. Clair's defeatby the Northwestern Indians than in any other battle we had ever foughtuntil Bull Run. The British dead at Braddock's disaster in the Americanwilderness outnumbered the British dead at Trafalgar nearly two to one.So valiant a race has always appealed to youth, at least, as a fitsubject of romance.

  The long struggle with the brave and wary red men bred a type of whiteforesters who became fully their equals in the craft and lore of thewilderness. Such as these stood as a shield between the infantsettlements and the fierce tribes, and, in this class, the author hasplaced his heroes.