Twilight of Empire - Softcover

Eckert, Allan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553280597 ISBN 13: 9780553280593

Publisher: Domain, 1989

Synopsis

One of the premier chroniclers of our nation's turbulent frontier history, Allan W. Ecker now presents another spellbinding chapter in the conquest of the American wilderness.  Here is the powerful, compellingly human story of the white man's struggle to claim the rich land of the Northern Mississippi--ancestral home of the Fox and Sac tribes--from the legendary war chief Black Hawk.  Having killed his first enemy at sixteen.  This proud, brooding warrior extends a hand in friendship to the Spanish and the British, but harbors a lifelong hatred for the Americans, who once burned his home village.  Now charged by the president himself, the ambitious governor of Illinois Territory leads a brave and illustrious group of settlers and soldiers to wrest the beautiful land from a nation of destiny and a noble chieftain fated to be betrayed by his own kind.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"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

From Publishers Weekly:

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. Sixth in the author's Winning of America series, the book focuses on how the whites took North America from the Indians. Eckert chronicles the Black Hawk War of 1832, fought for possession of the rich farmland of the upper Mississippi Valley. Most of the action took place in Illinois and Wisconsin, where both the U.S. Army and local militias were involved in scattered skirmishes for four months. Gen. Winfield Scott was delayed because of an outbreak of cholera, but Col. Zachary Taylor and Lt. Jefferson Davis were present, as was Pvt. Abraham Lincoln of the Illinois militia. We meet the Sac leaders, Black Hawk and Keokuk (loyal to the U.S.), and the treacherous Winnebago chief, White Crow, who played both sides. Eckert has used primary sourcespersonal letters, military correspondence, tribal historiesfor a memorable excursion into a dark chapter of our history. In the final battle, at Bad Axe, 21 soldiers and 350 Indians were killed. Among previous volumes in this series are The Conqueror and The Wilderness War.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Domain
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0553280597
• ISBN 13: 9780553280593
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 752