The Border Riflemen

This 1872 Beadle and Adams dime novel by Lieut. Lewis W. Carson follows The Border Riflemen; or, The Forest Fiend, a romance set during the Black Hawk Uprising. The narrative opens at a frontier cabin occupied by the genteel Wescott family. Sadie Wescott encounters William Jackwood ("Black Will"), a dangerous half-Indian suitor, in the woods, where he makes violent threats when she rejects him. The scout Cooney Joe rescues her and fights Jackwood, who departs swearing vengeance. Joe reveals Indians are growing hostile due to agent corruption and that Jackwood has been seen conspiring with the Sac warrior Napope. At the cabin, Minneoba, a beautiful half-white Sac chief's daughter, arrives seeking refuge. Her arrival initiates a plot entangling romance, frontier conflict, and impending Indian warfare.