Douglas C. Jones (1924–1998)

When The Southern Literary Trail (a terrific group here at Goodreads) read Elkhorn Tavern in 2018, I purchased the book with intent to join the read. Something happened (heaven knows what, because I cannot remember) and I wasn’t able to read it...so, I put it on the shelf and thought I would get to it someday. Well, someday is here, and I am riddled with regret that I missed reading this with the brilliant people in the group, because there is much I would love to say to a fellow reader about this story.

Ora Hasford, her daughter Calpurnia, and her teenage son, Roman, are trying to survive life alone on a farm in the midst of the Civil War and in the absence of husband and father, Martin. Douglas Jones must have known some strong women in his life, because his characters, Ora and Calpurnia, are exactly that, strong and determined and capable. In many ways they dwarf the men around them, not because they are not feminine but exactly because they are. Where less is expected, much more is forthcoming. They take care of themselves, and often of the men they encounter as well. For Roman, this is almost a coming-of-age story, and I liked that aspect as well.

The cruelty of war is blazoned across the pages in the battle that is fought at Elkhorn Tavern, a North Arkansas town that never expects to be the center of the conflict. The Hasford’s live in the borderland between the North and the South, and the sentiments and loyalties are equally divided. Often neighbors cannot be trusted, and marauding gangs of bushwhackers and jayhawkers sweep down on the population and decimate the farmlands, stealing and killing with impunity. A dangerous time to live, and one that would stretch the reason and resources of most of us.

Douglas Jones does a remarkable job of capturing both the times, the conflict, and his characters. They are full-bodied and real from the beginning, and the fear for them begins almost immediately and never subsides throughout the course of the book. I am now aware that Jones wrote a series of books about these characters over the years, and I will, of course, be hunting them down.

Late to the feast, but thankful to The Trail once more for introducing me to another fantastic Southern writer. My only fear is that I will not have the time left to me to read all the great books that spring from my association with this group, but by-golly, I am going to try.
… (altro)

This historical novel takes place in 1890 in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory and in Fort Smith, Arkansas, a town on the Arkansas/IT border. The Federal Court with jurisdiction over nontribal people in The Nations was located in Fort Smith and the Marshals Service worked from there.

When word of a murder in Indian Territory is received by the Marshal he assigns Deputy Oscar Schiller to investigate. Schiller is in Fort Smith and he and his posse, two Osage trackers, quickly prepare to board the night train to travel into the territory. A fourth person, Eben Pay, a naïve young lawyer from St. Louis temporarily assigned as an assistant to the prosecuting attorney, comes along as well. It was Pay's father, a judge in St. Louis, that thought Eben needed to experience law enforcement to understand all facets of law. When the four disembark from the train at Hatchet Hill IT, they are joined by the chief of the Choctaw police and some of his men. They take Oscar and his posse to the murder scene of Mrs. Eagle John, a Choctaw woman who was traveling in her wagon with a small black boy she was raising. She has been murdered and raped. The boy was able to escape and hide. This turns out to be only the beginning of Schiller's work. A man named Thrasher is found dead in his farmyard along with the two men that worked for him. When Schiller and the posse arrive, they bury the dead and begin to work on a puzzle Schiller would like not to have discovered. Mrs. Thrasher and their teenage daughter are missing.

Published in 1979, Winding Stair is well written with interesting and diverse characters indicative of the time and place.
Doug Jones was very knowledgeable about the history of Indian Territory, the Thrid Districct Federal Court in Fort Smith , and of the law of the time.… (altro)

They were called lords of the South Plains. And that's what the Comanches were. Their men were hunters and warriors, feared by other tribes as they were by the whites - Spaniard, Mexican, or Texan. Down through the years of their free life, they waged war against a multitude of enemies and in many instances raided with the specific purpose of taking captives to be reared as Comanches, to become a part of the band, to assure the tribe's increase.

That's what Season of Yellow Leaf is all about. In the late 1830s a ten-year-old white girl is captured on a raid along the Edwards Plateau. This is the story of that girl growing up in a strange place. At first resentful, "Chosen," as she is named by the Comanches, little by little not only learns their ways but becomes one with them, suffering as the white man increasingly encroaches on their lands and decimates their ranks.

Published in 1983, I read this the first time about 1990 and this is now my third reading. Douglas C. Jones was a popular historical novelist, winning the Spur award for the best historical novel twice and the best novel once. An alternative history, The Court Martial of General George Armstrong Custer became a successful TV mini-series. Jones is credited with being accurate historically and although his books tend to be narrative in nature, he creates memorable characters.

By reading Chosen's story we can understand the day to day, year to year life of the Comanche people during the numbered days of their traditional culture. The term Yellow Leaf refers to the third of four seasons the traditional culture will survive.… (altro)