Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Rifles for Watie
Book Review: A terrific civil war tale of finding your true self.
Summary: 4 Stars
Jeff, a 16 year-old Kansas farmer, is drawn into the Civil War when a group of Bushwackers attacks his farm. Along the way and path of war, he picks up new friends, good values, and many challenges. We liked this book because it really showed what the Civil War was all about (besides slavary) from a first hand detailed view.Book Review: AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a Civil War historian, I found this book fascinating! I knew little about the war in the very far west, or about Indians fighting for the Confederates! This book brought it all alive for me! But this book also deals with the issues of the war for both sides! If you enjoy serious Civil War stories, then this book is for you! Grade: A+Book Review: Among American Civil War novels, there is none greater.
Summary: 5 Stars
332 pages long- it was in 1957, anyway- and first published in hardback in 1957 by the Thomas Y. Crowell Company, Harold Keith's "Rifles For Watie" is a kind of novel rarely ever seen. In fact, I have never seen another quite like it, before or since. I can't quite say it to be the greatest novel I've ever read- Pat Conroy's "The Lords of Discipline" retains that title with me- but it is a close second, and most of all it is the all-around best novel focusing on the American Civil War that I have ever seen.
I first picked up a copy of "Rifles For Watie" when I was in elementary school. I don't recall which edition or printing it was- the copy I have now is a 1957 hardcover, second printing- but I recall that I enjoyed reading it immensely and to this day I credit "Rifles For Watie" with greatly increasing my interest in reading. It wasn't even a book we were required to read in class, which was a real shame. The Henrico County K-12 public school system ignored "Rifles For Watie" but simply couldn't get enough of rubbish like "The Pearl" and "Brave New World", both of which I loathe to this day for the mediocre-at-best works of literature that they are. I do recall being required to read one Civil War novel at one point- the lamentably bland "Across Five Aprils"- but that isn't much next to the honest, simple brilliance of Harold Keith's novel.
This book's honest, simple, yet deep and complex nature is the very essence of why it's so good. It is the result of five years' work by the author, and if you know about him before reading, or learn about him after, you'll realize that Keith really knew what he was writing about. The Western front of the Civil War, much neglected by most authors, happened in the exact area of the US that Harold Keith lived, Oklahoma.
Jefferson Davis Bussey, in the wake of a pro-slavery bushwhackers' attack on his family's farm, decides to head to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and join up. Several friends living nearby follow him, and they do not return for more than three years. The storyline sees Jeff, honest, stubborn, and brave, stand up to the cruel injustice of the cowardly, self-serving Captain Asa Clardy, go from infantryman to cavalryman to scout, earn a Medal of Honor at the Battle of Prarie Grove, serve in both armies and fall completely in love with a girl whose fiery patriotism and stubborn, hard-headed manner are a perfect match for Jeff's. He survives when so many around him fall, and is lucky from beginning to end. Jeff is even luckier in that when he finally returns home, having travelled over 100 miles on foot in escaping Stand Watie's army and convinced the bloodhound sent after him to switch sides, he is not cynical, not bitter or in any lasting way mentally or spiritually harmed by war. He has learned to keep faith when nothing else remains, and to keep going when many would see no point. He single-handedly ends the illicit shipping and sale of Spencer repeating rifles to Stand Watie's troops, done by no other than the treacherous Captain Clardy. It is true justice that both Jeff and Clardy both meet the fates each of them deserves. Jeff goes home alive, while the many dark deeds Clardy has committed throughout his life finally return to visit him.
Jeff is the kind of young man America and the world will never have enough of- simple, honest, and fierecely dedicated to his chosen causes and ideals. In my mind, he earned the Medal of Honor many more times than the one he was given it.
I'll always wonder why books like this are not more common reading in American schools, public and private. And by the way- since I have begun reading over reviews of this book that others have posted, I feel compelled to comment on the idea of making this book into a movie. I am if anything opposed to the idea. Because "Rifles For Watie" is a brilliant, truly great work of literature. Of literature. Not of film. I have seen many books adapted to film over my 19 years, and while I've seen a few done very well I've seen more done very badly. I think "Rifles For Watie" should always be kept in printed form, where the imagination reigns supreme and nobody conjures up the images for you.
Book Review: An Old Friend
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm certain many of you have the habit of returning to certain books again and again over the years; sort of like renewing acquaintances with an old friend you haven't seen for years. RFW is one such book for me. I first read it when I was 11; again when I was 14 or so (falling in love with Lucy Washbourne that time!); then a few years later, and several years after that... now I'm 43. I guess it's about time for me to read this classic story again.Book Review: An excellent story!!!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this book when I was ten years old, I have read it fourteen times since then. It is an incredible story that revolves around young Jefferson Davis Bussey, a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. It gives great detail to Army life, and an accurate historical account of how things were. The story involves Jeff's enemy Captain Asa Clardy and Jeff's love for a beautiful young rebel girl named Lucy Washbourne and his many roles in the infantry, the calvary and even as a spy. It should be required reading in elementary schools, especially for young boys.