Indian Chronicles Book Series by Rick Beck   
Indian Chronicles - An Introduction
 A Five Book Series
 by Rick Beck
 For David


Teen & Young Adult
Native American
Adventure
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An Introduction
      Neither American or Indian, the indigenous people who lived in the Americas before Columbus, before the Vikings, before the French and English were engaged in a constant state of war that lasted for five hundred years, indigenous people lived across the Atlantic in what is now known as the Americas side by side with the buffalo before the first white man came.
     When the Pilgrims landed in Cape Cod, they were far north of their intended destination. Making an effort to sail south, they were forced back by harsh conditions. The decision was made to land at Cape Cod on November 21, 1620.
     Of one hundred two Pilgrims, fifty-three survived the winter. Pneumonia, scurvy, and the lack of adequate shelter and poor nutrition were causes for the dying.
     In 1621 the Wampanoag came to the aid of the starving Pilgrims. They furnished them with food and taught them what to grow and where to hunt. It was vital to the Pilgrim's survival.
     In 1637 an attack on the Pequot by the Plymouth settlement, killed, enslaved, and scattered what was left of the Pequot. The western expansion had started in earnest.
     The Indian Wars had begun. The wars went on for two hundred and fifty years. They didn't end until the Massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota where approximately three hundred starving and freezing Sioux were massacred by the 7th Cavalry.
     Immigrants came and were encouraged to settle in the west by the 1800s. There were less than twenty million people in the United States. The estimate of buffalo range from thirty to sixty million. The ground trembled under one of three major herds that might be moving on the great plains at the time.
     The indigenous people and buffalo lived on the plains for thousands of years. Between 1860 and 1880 the buffalo all but disappeared from the plains, after the government policy to destroy the source of food for indigenous people went into effect.
     "Kill the buffalo and starve the Indian."
     During the western expansion, a boy in eastern Colorado Territory, goes to the nearby mountain to get him a grizzly bear. At fourteen, armed with a Hawkin 50 Caliber, he had the rifle that would bring down a griz.
     A simple hunting trip turns into a life threatening expedition. Gregory gets his griz and a lot more, and after falling off the mountain, while being chased by a grizzly bear, Gregory finds himself with a broken leg, and an Indian boy is staring down at him.
     This can't be good.
     Saying, "Warrior don't scalp little boys," Lit'l Fox saves Gregory's life and takes him home.
     So begins a true adventure for Gregory Kelly. He finds himself in a Pawnee village, under the care of Medicine Woman, who takes him into her lodge while his broken leg heals.
     Gregory, who will become Tall Willow, left home to prove he was a man to his paw. In the Pawnee village he learns to be a boy, while he grows into one of the villages best hunters.
     His acceptance in the village runs deeper than helping a boy with a broken leg to heal. No one objects to having a white boy in their midst. Gregory is left wondering why. They treat him so kindly, as he and the other Pawnee boys roam the pastures and hills.
     Lit'l Fox's best friend, a boy who will be chief, becomes close to Gregory in a way that no one has been close to him before. While he is learning to use a bow, and play Pawnee games, Running Horse always seems to be close, and it's a closeness that warms the innards that once longed for more, and his longing for Running Horse has given him a pleasure he never knew before. Feelings for the future chief run deep and they run true.
     Gregory's great adventure comes to be as the western expansion is well underway. No Pawnee will tell him they don't know what their fate will be. The Indians are being pushed about as far as they can be pushed, and soon, they'll need to give way to settlers.
     These Pawnee won't go to one of the prison camps the cavalry has waiting for them. They have lived as free Pawnee. They will die free Pawnee. These are friends and allies to Gregory, who is now Tall Willow of the Pawnee, and he knows what lies ahead for his people. He has lived with them. He plans to fight in the final battle side by side with them.
     We know the rest of the story. The Indian Wars will end at Wounded Knee in December 1890. The savages will be contained, and civilized people can live lives without fear.
     Will Tall Willow die with the Pawnee, or will they find a way to survive and remain free?
     Lit'l Fox sums up his feelings for Gregory, tapping his chest saying, "We brothers here."
     Indian Chronicles tells a tale of the Pawnee who adopt Gregory. Lit'l Fox saves his life, and they become the best of friends. This new life is filled with adventure and friendship.
     Tall Willow is picked to sit at the right hand of Chief Running Horse. It's an honor a great bow hunter doesn't expect, but his place has always been beside Running Horse, and he doesn't want it to change.
     Will it change? Will Tall Willow fight the final battle with the Pawnee? Indian Chronicles holds the answers to all the questions about Tall Willow and his Pawnee.



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This work may not be duplicated in any form (physical, electronic, audio, or otherwise) without the
author's written permission. All applicable copyright laws apply. All individuals depicted
are fictional with any resemblance to real persons being purely coincidental.


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