THE RAID

by John Brick ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 1951

A fragment of history is here brought to life in the story of an Indian raid on the settlement of Cedar Bush, in the Catskills in 1779. The central figures are Tom Currie, who had given up woods running when he married, and Jessica, his bride of a few months, but there's lively interest in the families of Cedar Bush and their immediate enemy, Joseph Brant, the Mohawk who had been educated by Eleazar Wheelock, traveled to London, and remained the friend and ally of the British. Tom is alerted to the possibility of a raid, discovers the preparations, has an accident and does not return until too late. Jessica is captured by one of Butler's Raiders, and taken with other women, and children, with the Indians and their white companions, after the town has been burned and pillaged. With the coming of the militia, the settlers pursue, withstand one attack after another until they are forced to flee; Jessica escapes but Tom finds her and brings her back to safety, only to return to regular military duty. It's a good yarn, in which the Dunnings, Quicks, Pol-hamuses, Jacksons, their families and all their other friends play a lively and interest-holding part; which shows Brant as a loyal friend, even to an enemy; which makes real the settlers willingness to fight along with their determination to muster out when home matters call. A good companion to his previous Troubled Spring (1950), this is again laid in the Highland Landing (Newburgh) area.

Pub Date: March 20, 1951

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Young

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1951

Categories: FICTION