The War Chief
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The War Chief is a Western novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, published in serial form in the Argosy All-Story Weekly in April and May 1927. The book version was first published by A. C. McClurg on September 15, 1927.[1]
The novel is one of four Westerns that Burroughs wrote.
Plot Summary[edit]
In 1863, Jerry MacDuff and his wife Annie, who is part Cherokee, are headed west along the Santa Fe Trail when they are ambushed by an Apache band led by Go-yat-thlay, also known as Geronimo. Jerry and Annie are killed but when their child Andy is discovered in the wagon, Geronimo keeps fellow raider Juh from killing the baby, whose resemblance to his mother prompts Geronimo to think of him an Indian.
Andy grows to manhood as an adopted son of Geronimo and his wife Morning Star. As a youth he earns the name Shoz-Dijiji (Black Bear) after killing such an animal in single combat. He also grows to hate the enemies of his Apache tribe, the Be-don-ko-he, particularly Mexicans and American settlers. Geronimo is elected chief of the Be-don-ko-he after the previous chief, Mangas Colorado, is treacherously slain by white soldiers. Juh becomes chief of another Apache tribe, the Ned-ni. On several occasions, Juh insists that Shoz-Dijiji is a white, not an Apache, and should have been killed. After the great chief Cochise embraces Shoz-Dijiji as a true Apache, Juh stalks into his hogan one night with a knife to do the deed himself. But Shoz-Dijiji slips past him in the darkness and threatens Juh with a bow and arrow until the older man agrees to give him three ponies and promise never to come after Shoz-Dijiji again.
Cochise dies of cancer, Geronimo takes his place as war chief of all the Apaches. Under his leadership, Shoz-Dijiji earns renown as a warrior but declines to torture captives as Geronimo and some of the other Apaches do. He also grows increasingly attracted to a young Apache woman, Ish-kay-nay, whom Juh also wishes to marry. Like Mangas Colorado before him, Geronimo is captured by soldiers after having been invited to the nearby American fort for a conference. Over the next three months, as Geronimo languishes in prison, Shoz-Dijiji enrolls in the local school to learn the English language, leading the Americans to believe he wishes to assimilate. His real purpose is to gather more accurate intelligence to help the Apaches defeat the Americans. Shoz-Dijiji breaks Geronimo free and the two return to their tribe.
Shoz-Dijiji achieves warrior rank by slaying three white prospectors, and thus feels ready to claim Ish-kay-nay as his mate. But when American soldiers come looking for the prospectors’ killer, the Apaches hurriedly decamp to Mexico while Geronimo, Shoz-Dijiji, and other warriors remain behind to harry any pursuers. During this assignment, Shoz-Dijiji happens upon the attempted abduction and rape of a white girl, Wichita Billings, by three cowboys. He kills two of the men and wounds a third. Then he surreptitiously follows Wichita to make sure she returns safely to her father’s ranch.
After more ferocious fighting in Mexico, Shoz-Dijiji is named a war chief of the Be-don-ko-he. But the father of Ish-kay-nay prefers Juh as a mate for his daughter, so he demands that Shoz-Dijiji give him fifty ponies as a bride price. The young Apache slips into Mexico to try to steal the ponies. His own pony gets away from him and is found by Juh, who brings it back to the Be-don-ko-he and proclaims Shoz-Dijiji to be dead. Grief-stricken and empty inside, Ish-kay-nay becomes the mate of Juh.
Still trying to assemble the bride price for his beloved, Shoz-Dijiji successfully steals a hundred horses from a Mexico ranger, only to lose them to an American cavalry patrol. He follows them toward Fort Apache, where Juh and other chiefs are gathering to attack. He again encounters Wichita Billings, who brings him a fresh horse in gratitude for previously rescuing her. Shoz-Dijiji finds the remains of an Apache camp destroyed by American soldiers. Ish-kay-nay lies there mortally wounded. She tells him of Juh’s treachery, then dies. During a subsequent battle, Shoz-Dijiji captures an American lieutenant, Samuel Adams King, who is romantically interested in Wichita. When another warrior attempts to kill the prisoner, Shoz-Dijiji kills the Apache instead and sends King back to the Billings ranch. Then Shoz-Dijiji stalks Juh, discovers the man made no attempt to defend Ish-kay-nay from the American attack, and kills him in a knife fight.
The death of his beloved drives Shoz-Dijiji to spend months alone the wild, hunting and raiding, during which he earns the nickname “the Apache Devil.” Eventually he rejoins Geronimo’s tribe. During an attack on an American settlement, he discovers an Apache chief about to kill Wichita. To save her life, Shoz-Dijiji claims her as his prize and kills the chief. He brings her back to the Be-don-ko-he and introduces her to Geronimo. After Shoz-Dijiji conducts her safely to the outskirts of her home, they share their first kiss — after which a confused Billings pushes him away. Although she soon changes her mind, he rides away, ignoring her pleas to come back.
Production[edit]
In his youth, Burroughs served briefly in the 7th Cavalry. Stationed at Fort Grant, Arizona, he was involved in a fruitless search for Apache outlaws.[2] He later drew from these experiences when researching The War Chief.[3] Burroughs originally pitched the story to a magazine, The Country Gentleman, for which he had never written before. The editor ultimately rejected it as deviating too much from what his readers wanted, arguing that “the most effective use of savage peoples in fiction is where the red or brown or black man is shown as the staunchly loyal follower of the white leader, and where there is opportunity for the striking contrast between characters of different races.” Unwilling to change his approach to the tale, Burroughs instead sold it to Argosy All-Story Weekly.[4]
Copyright[edit]
The copyright for this story expired in Australia before the American copyright did and it thus entered the public domain earlier there; the text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia.[5]
Reception[edit]
Richard Lupoff, a writer and literary biographer of Burroughs, ranked The War Chief as the author’s third-best novel.[6] In The War Chief, Burroughs was “one of the first novelists to portray the Apaches in particular and Indians in general with sympathy and understanding,” wrote Robert Morsberger in the Journal of Popular Culture.[7]
Adaptation[edit]
In 2013, Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. began distributing an online comic adaptation of The War Chief, written by Martin Powell and illustrated by Nik Poliwko.[8]
Sequel[edit]
The second book of the series, Apache Devil, was published in Argosy All-Story Weekly in May and June 1928, and was first published in novel form by Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. on February 15, 1933.[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ "ERBzine 0773: War Chief C.H.A.S.E.R." www.erbzine.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ↑ Porges, Irwin (1975). Edgar Rice Burroughs : the man who created Tarzan (1st ed.). Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press. p. 59. ISBN 0-8425-0079-0. OCLC 1365304. Search this book on
- ↑ Puncer, Frank W. (2019-06-03). "Edgar Rice Burroughs Hunted the Apache Kid". True West Magazine. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ Porges. Edgar Rice Burroughs: the man who invented Tarzan. pp. 422–424. Search this book on
- ↑ "The War Chief". gutenberg.net.au. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
- ↑ Lupoff, Richard A. (2005). Master of adventure : the worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8030-0. OCLC 56834611. Search this book on
- ↑ Morsberger, Robert E. (1973). "Edgar Rice Burroughs' Apache Epic". The Journal of Popular Culture. 7 (2): 280–287. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1973.0702_280.x.
- ↑ "The War Chief Premiers! – ComicMix". www.comicmix.com. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
- ↑ "ERBzine 0775: Apache Devil C.H.A.S.E.R." www.erbzine.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
External Links[edit]
• ERBzine.com C.H.A.S.E.R Encyclopedia entry for The War Chief
• Text of the novel at Project Gutenberg Australia
• Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. listing for The War Chief
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