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Overview
An epic novel by an award-winning author chronicles the settling of the Ohio River Valley, home to the defiant Shawnee Indians, who vow to defend their land against the seemingly unstoppable.
The epic tale of a towering Native American hero by the award-winning author of The Frontiersmen. Published to rave reviews, this extraordinary book tells the story of Shawnee leader Tecumseh, a military genius whose vision was to unite the North American tribes into one powerful Indian nation, capable of forcing back the encroaching white settlers.
Synopsis
They had defeated the French and now the English possessed the vast North American Empire. Soldiers, traders, settlers—all began the trek across the wilderness to claim the land and its riches. Against this relentless tide Indian warriors rose up in bitter fury exploded in the bloody battle for the conquest of the Northwest territory.
'Reading Eckert is like listening to a master storyteller: he presents his material in vivid detail, using the novelist's technique to enhance dramatic events.'— Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
The Ohio River, a principal route for pioneers pushing westward along its 981-mile course from Pennsylvania through Kentucky and Indiana to Illinois, was the scene of fierce battles among warring Indian tribes-Shawnee, Miami, Cherokee, Iroquois, etc.-and between Native Americans and white settlers. Tapping journals, letters, diaries and government memoranda from 1768 to 1799, and fleshing out his panoramic chronicle with reconstructed dialogue adapted from primary sources, historian-novelist Eckert has fashioned an epic narrative history of the struggle for dominance of the Ohio River Valley that makes compelling reading. The lives of notable pioneer families (Zanes, Bradys, Wetzels), incursions of traders, explorers, colonists, adventurers and the historic exploits of George Washington, Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark and others intersect. A biographer of Shawnee chief Tecumseh (A Sorrow in Our Heart), Eckert emphasizes the sudden, overwhelming movement of whites into Native American lands and the Indians' initial restraint and tolerance, followed by furious raids, wars and expulsions. Maps. (Nov.)