A classic historical novel which takes place during the early part of the Civil War.

The Hunters of the Hills is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

PAUL Paul stopped in a little open space, and looked around all the circle of the forest. Everywhere it was the same—just the curving wall of red and brown, and beyond, the blue sky, flecked with tiny clouds of white. The wilderness was full of beauty, charged with the glory of peace and silence, and there was naught to indicate that man had ever come. The leaves rippled a little in the gentle west wind, and the crisping grass bowed before it; but Paul saw no living being, save himself, in the vast, empty world. The boy was troubled and, despite his life in the woods, he had full right to be. This was the great haunted forest of Kain-tuck-ee, where the red man made his most desperate stand, and none ever knew when or whence danger would come. Moreover, he was lost, and the forest told him nothing; he was not like his friend, Henry Ware, born to the forest, the heir to all the primeval instincts, alive to every sight and sound, and able to read the slightest warning the wilderness might give. Paul Cotter was a student, a lover of books, and a coming statesman. Fate, it seemed, had chosen that he and Henry Ware should go hand in hand, but for different tasks. Paul gazed once more around the circle of the glowing forest, and the shadow in his eyes deepened. Henry and the horses, loaded with powder for the needy settlement, must be somewhere near, but whether to right or left he could not tell. He had gone to look for water, and when he undertook to return he merely went deeper and deeper into the forest. Now the boughs, as they nodded before the gentle breeze, seemed to nod to him in derision. He felt shame as well as alarm. Henry would not laugh at him, but the born scholar would be worth, for the time, at least, far less than the born trailer. Yet no observer, had there been any, would have condemned Paul as he condemned himself. He stood there, a tall, slender boy, with a broad, high brow, white like a girl\'s above the line of his cap, blue eyes, dark and full, with the width between that indicates the mind behind, and the firm, pointed chin that belongs so often to people of intellect. Paul and Henry were on their way from Wareville, their home, with horses hearing powder for Marlowe, the nearest settlement, nearly a hundred miles away. The secret of making powder from the nitre dust on the floors of the great caves of Kentucky had been discovered by the people of Wareville, and now they wished to share their unfailing supply with others, in order that the infant colony might be able to withstand Indian attacks. Henry Ware, once a captive in a far Northwestern tribe, and noted for his great strength and skill, had been chosen, with Paul Cotter, his comrade, to carry it. Both rejoiced in the great task, which to them meant the saving of Kentucky. Paul\'s eyes were apt at times to have a dreamy look, as if he were thinking of things far away, whether of time or place; but now they were alive to the present, and to the forest about him. He listened intently....

The Last of the Chiefs: A Story of the Great Sioux War By Joseph A. Altsheler

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR SERIESThe Hunters of the HillsThe Rulers of the LakesThe Lords of the WildThe Shadow of the NorthThe Masters of the PeaksThe Sun of QuebecTHE YOUNG TRAILERS SERIESThe Young TrailersThe Forest RunnersThe Keepers of the TrailThe Eyes of the WoodsThe Free RangersThe Riflemen of the OhioThe Scouts of the ValleyThe Border WatchTHE TEXAN SERIESThe Texan ScoutsThe Texan StarThe Texan TriumphTHE CIVIL WAR SERIESThe 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 AppomattoxTHE GREAT WEST SERIESThe Lost HuntersThe Great Sioux TrailTHE WORLD WAR SERIESThe Forest of SwordsThe Guns of EuropeThe Hosts of the AirBOOKS NOT IN SERIESApache 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 they passed only twenty yards away." [] TheBORDER WATCHA STORY OF THE GREATCHIEF\'S LAST STAND BYJOSEPH A. ALTSHELERAUTHOR 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 Young Trailers," 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 the eight volumes deal with the fortunes and adventures of two boys, Henry Ware and Paul Cotter, and their friends Shif\'less Sol Hyde, Silent Tom Ross and Long Jim Hart, in the early days of Kentucky. The action moves over a wide area, from New Orleans in the South to Lake Superior in the North, and from the Great Plains in the West to the land of the Iroquois in 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, as they passed through the wilderness from ocean to ocean. So much of it occurred in the shadow of the forest, and so much more of it was taken as a matter of course that we, their descendants, are likely to forget the magnitude of their achievement. The conquest of the North American continent at a vast expense of life and suffering is in reality one of the world\'s great epics. The author has sought to verify every statement that touches upon historical events. He has read or examined nearly all the books and pamphlets and many of the magazine articles formerly in the Astor and Lenox, now in the New York Public Library, dealing with Indian wars and customs. In numerous cases, narratives written by observers and participants have been available. He believes that all the border battles are described correctly, and the Indian songs, dances and customs are taken from the relations of witnesses. But the great mass of material dealing with the frontier furnishes another striking illustration of the old saying that truth is stranger than fiction. No Indian story has ever told of danger and escape more marvelous than those that happened hundreds of times. The Indian character, as revealed in numerous accounts, is also a complex and interesting study. The same Indian was capable of noble actions and of unparalleled cruelty. As a forest warrior he has never been excelled. In the woods, fighting according to his ancient methods, he was the equal alike of Frenchman, Englishman and American, and often their superior. Many of the Indian chiefs were great men. They had the minds of statesmen and generals, and they prolonged, for generations, a fight that was doomed, from the beginning. We lost more people in our Indian wars than in all the others combined, except the Civil War....

THE CALL The wilderness rolled away to north and to south, and also it rolled away to east and to west, an unbroken sweep of dark, glossy green. Straight up stood the mighty trunks, but the leaves rippled and sang low when a gentle south wind breathed upon them. It was the forest as God made it, the magnificent valley of North America, upon whose edges the white man had just begun to nibble. A young man, stepping lightly, came into a little glade. He was white, but he brought with him no alien air. He was in full harmony with the primeval woods, a part of them, one in whose ears the soft song of the leaves was a familiar and loved tune. He was lean, but tall, and he walked with a wonderful swinging gait that betokened a frame wrought to the strength of steel by exercise, wind, weather, and life always in the open. Though his face was browned by sun and storm his hair was yellow and his eyes blue. He was dressed wholly in deerskin and he carried over his shoulder the long slender rifle of the border. At his belt swung hatchet and knife. There was a touch to the young man that separated him from the ordinary woods rover. He held himself erect with a certain pride of manner. The stock of his rifle, an unusually fine piece, was carved in an ornate and beautiful way. The deerskin of his attire had been tanned with uncommon care, and his moccasins were sewn thickly with little beads of yellow and blue and red and green. Every piece of clothing was scrupulously clean, and his arms were polished and bright. The shiftless one—who so little deserved his name—paused a moment in the glade and, dropping the stock of his rifle to the ground, leaned upon the muzzle. He listened, although he expected to hear nothing save the song of the leaves, and that alone he heard. A faint smile passed over the face of Shif\'less Sol. He was satisfied. All was happening as he had planned. Then he swung the rifle back to his shoulder, and walked to the crest of a hill near by. The summit was bare and the shiftless one saw far. It was a splendid rolling country, covered with forests of oak and elm, beech, hickory and maple. Here and there faint threads of silver showed where rivers or brooks flowed, and he drew a long deep breath. The measure of line and verse he knew not, but deep in his being Nature had kindled the true fire of poetry, and now his pleasure was so keen and sharp that a throb of emotion stirred in his throat. It was a grand country and, if reserved for any one, it must be reserved for his race and his people. Shif\'less Sol was resolved upon that purpose and to it he was ready to devote body and life. Yet the wilderness seemed to tell only of peace. The low song of the leaves was soothing and all innocence. The shiftless one was far beyond the farthest outpost of his kind, beyond the broad yellow current of the Mississippi, deep in the heart of the primeval forest. He might travel full three hundred miles to the eastward and find no white cabin, while to westward his own kind were almost a world away....

Joseph Alexander Altsheler (April 29, 1862 – June 5, 1919) was an American newspaper reporter, editor and author of popular juvenile historical fiction. He was a prolific writer, and produced fifty-one novels and (at least) fifty-one short stories. A Story of the Old New York Border. The Shades of the Wilderness, a story of Lee\'s great stand (1916) The Civil War Series Book #7 Harry left the wagon at midnight and overtook the staff, an orderly providing him with a good horse. Dalton, who had also been sleeping in a wagon, came an hour or two later, and the two, as became modest young officers, rode in the rear of the group that surrounded General Lee. Although the darkness had come fully, the Army of Northern Virginia had not yet stopped. The infantry flanked by cavalry, and, having no fear of the enemy, marched steadily on. Harry closely observed General Lee, and although he was well into his fifties he could discern no weakness, either physical or mental, in the man who had directed the fortunes of the South in the terrific and unsuccessful three days at Gettysburg and who had now led his army for nearly a week in a retreat, threatened, at any moment, with an attack by a veteran force superior in numbers. All the other generals looked worn and weary, but he alone sat erect, his hair and beard trimmed neatly, his grave eye showing no sign of apprehension.

The Quest of the Four

Joseph A. Altsheler wrote several volumes of fiction that cover the service of Confederate soldier Harry Kenton and his friends as they take part in various battles of the Civil War. Altsheler’s books have been historically popular amoung young readers and adults alike. This volume covers the Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest battle of the war and the biggest battle in the Western hemisphere. Considered the high tide of the Confederacy, the Union victory pushed Robert E. Lee’s army out of Pennsylvania, and he would never again be able to invade the North.

In Joseph Altsheler’s "The Guns of Shiloh," Kentuckian Dick Mason and a cadre of friends make their way from defeat at Bull Run to a victory of sorts at Shiloh, avoiding ambush along the way and capture on the battlefield. This historical Civil War novel follows standard juvenile formulas of the early 20th century, as its heroes cycle from adventure to respite to new adventure. They are for the most part as blithe and chipper as heroes of baseball stories or scouting tales. At one point Dick goes AWOL briefly to visit his mother, a desertion much-commended by his CO. The juvenile stuff is woven into a fairly straightforward narrative of various campaigns, including the battle of Mill Springs (January 1862, in Kentucky), and the taking of Forts Henry and Donelson.

Dick Mason is now firmly entrenched in the conflict in the West, under the command of Colonel Winchester. He and his comrades are amazed at the unfamiliar terrain and the impressive plantations in which they are occasionally housed. Will this lifestyle cease to exist when the North conquers the South? Sent on numerous scouting escapades, Dick encounters southerners who both repulse and appeal to him. The cruel guerilla, Slade, who pursues him relentlessly and is bent on his destruction, seems impossible to conquer, and Dick would dearly love to dispose of such an evil fellow. The brave, yet irascible, Charles Woodville, is another matter. While Colonel Woodville despises Dick at first, he finds, upon repeated contacts, that this young, Northern officer is polite, brave, and likeable. In fact, the two are able to help each other on a number of occasions throughout this campaign, while fighting on opposite sides! When Vicksburg finally falls to the North, Dick believes that his side might win. When he hears that the south is retreating with heavy losses from Gettysburg, he is even more confident. And the impressive stand of General Thomas at Chickamauga confirms in Dick\'s mind the North\'s ultimate victory. But nothing can stop the horrors of war in the meantime, and Dick can only persevere and hope that those he loves, on both sides, will make it out alive. This eight-book set tells the story of America\'s greatest conflict through the lives and experiences of Kentucky cousins Harry Kenton and Dick Mason. Torn between family ties and political beliefs, father and son Kenton serve in the Confederate army, while Dick Mason leaves his widowed mother and fights to preserve the Union. Unlike many contemporary historical fiction accounts of the Civil War, this series brings to life the human drama of the war without resorting to foul language and gratuitous violence. Our editing team updated the punctuation and footnoted less familiar words making these classic books more understandable for the modern reader.

The Scouts of the Valley is a historical fiction novel which depicts the Battle of Wyoming in rural Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War. In this fast-paced novel, we hear the tale of how British forces fought the American revolutionary army alongside the Native American tribe known as the Iroquois. The vivid battle scenes are inspired from eyewitness accounts and narratives, with the rugged natural topography of the countryside forming an idyllic backdrop to the frenzy of the War of Independence. Altsheler displays his characteristic descriptions of the natural world here, portraying rural Pennsylvania as a beautiful and unsettled land. The characters, British, American and Iroquois alike are described vividly, as we hear of the gradual run up to the battle wherein British scouts attempted to recruit warriors from many tribes to the cause of suppressing the colonial rebellion. Despite the beauty and tranquillity of the rivers, hills and valleys, the tension rises as the fateful day of the battle approaches. Joseph A. Altsheler was a prolific author, spending much of his working life researching centuries of established historical accounts for his books. He was particularly focused upon the 18th and 19th centuries, producing several series of novels which describe pivotal events in history often through the eyes of ordinary people who happened to play a part.

"The horseman rode slowly toward the west, stopping once or twice to examine the wide circle of the horizon with eyes that were trained to note every aspect of the wilderness. On his right the plains melted away in gentle swell after swell, until they met the horizon. Their brown surface was broken only by the spiked and thorny cactus and stray bits of chaparral. On his left was the wide bed of a river which flowed through the sand, breaking here and there into several streams, and then reuniting, only to scatter its volume a hundred yards further into three or four channels. A bird of prey flew on strong wing over the water, dipped and then rose again, but there was no other sign of life. Beyond, the country southward rolled away, gray and bare, sterile and desolate." This book has a beautiful glossy cover and a blank page for the dedication.

The Young Trailers: A Story of Early Kentucky By Joseph A. Altsheler

The Scouts of Stonewall - The Story of the Great Valley Campaign is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander) Altsheler then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.