Juniata is a two-part novel. Loyalhanna, the second
book in the series will complete the tale. The sky is on
fire. All along the frontier, the flames are spreading
eastward, settlement by settlement, born on a western
wind and fanned by men clad in doeskin and daubed with
greasepaint. The blazing settlements and farmsteads
become a crimson reflection of the tumult transpiring
along the disputed colonial back country. The future of
North America is up for grabs. Two intrepid scouts,
called by most of their fellow colonists, rangers, have
been stalking a murderous Shawnee war party heading
west, deeper in the wilderness for several days. They
track the raiders over the Huntingdon Ridge and to
George’s Road, the only link between New Forge and
Juniata. One of the scouts, a Susquehannock, stays on
their trail, while the other Ranger, a former Jacobite,
moves silently to the remote village of New Forge. In
Europe, alliances and betrayals are the order of the
day. After their success in the War of Austrian
Succession, France is pushing against the English claims
in the New World. But here the rules are different; the
rugged terrain is hostile to the movements of large
armies. So the tactics of the locals are adopted by the
French military in Montreal. Small bands strike quickly,
and then with captives and loot in hand, the raiders
melt away into the mountains, as suddenly as they
appear. The French are using their cat’s paws of the
native tribes and Canadian colonists to strike the first
blows of the coming conflict. In the cities of the
Eastern Seaboard, the wall of the Appalachians is looked
as the end of the frontier. The lands beyond are looked
upon as a private hunting preserve for the last two
hundred years by the Six Nations. It is wilderness,
devoid of human habitation, that is until newcomers,
seeing its immense potential, begin to stake their
claims. The waning influence of the Iroquois tempts
wealth seekers from all directions to fill the power
vacuum. As well as the colonial governments, France and
England are looking to expand their New World domains.
The tribes of the western slopes, Shawnee, Ojibwa,
Delaware, Miami, Huron, Seneca, as well as explorers,
trappers, and settlers, Virginian and Pennsylvanian,
begin looking over the mountain fastness to the rich
country beyond; each of them intent on marking their
claim. The great rivers, Allegheny and Monongahela, flow
westward from the north and south. They meet to form a
great navigable river that will open the interior lands
to the Mississippi River. The mighty Ohio, the gateway
to the interior of North America. Its riches are worth
fighting for. And dying.
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