Beadle's Dime Novels No. 248: Red Lightning

About this issue

This issue of Beadle's Dime Novels (No. 249, issued February 14) contains two serialized adventure tales set in colonial America. "The Squaw Sachem: The Earl's Half-breed Daughter" by Frederick Whittaker features King Philip's War, with historical figures including Captain Church and the Squaw Sachem Weetamora. The narrative centers on a young English nobleman (Lord Arundel) who encounters a beautiful woman in the forest—the Squaw Sachem's daughter—during the climactic Native American uprising against New England colonists. Mystery and romance intertwine as the young lord discovers his fate and title are mysteriously involved. "Red Lightning; or, The Black League" by W. J. Hamilton is set among the trading posts around Detroit in 1700. The story follows Edward Gresham ("the Trailer"), a frontier scout, and his Delaware ally Ketadin as they navigate colonial intrigue and impending Native American revolt. They capture the Little Prophet, a dwarf spy, while traveling the Detroit River. The narrative establishes tensions between French and English forces and features Pontiac's conspiracy against the English garrison, with romantic elements emerging through Gresham's connection to Rose St. Aubin, a French settler's daughter.