Scarlet Plume

In 1862 the largest Indian uprising in American history occurred in southern Minnesota. Enraged Sioux attempted to throw off the broken treaties that still bound them and to avenge the insults and depredations they had been forced to bear. Hundreds of whites were killed. Women were taken captive.Told from the point of view of Judith Raveling, a young woman widowed by the uprising, Scarlet Plume draws on the brutal history of the conflict from beginning to end. Taken captive by the Sioux, Judith is given to Scarlet Plume, one of the many warriors who know their cause is lost. Caught between the men who would wage war ruthlessly and his own judgment, which tells him how dearly the Sioux will pay for every white person killed, Scarlet Plume tries to save as many as he can. Defying the dangers of a pitiless war, he returns Judith to the safety of her people. Soon she must try to save him. Scarlet Plume is the third of Frederick Manfred’s five-volume series, The Buckskin Man Tales.

“Scarlet Plume will remain in one’s mind for a long time because his character is so indelibly fixed. This is a compelling story, powerfully written by an experienced craftsman familiar with Indian customs.”—Library Journal, “[Manfred’s] novel stands with Hal Borland’s When the Legends Die, Mari Sandoz’s Cheyenne Autumn, and Oliver La Farge’s Laughing Boy.”—New York Times Book Review

Frederick Manfred (1912–94) is the author of twenty-four novels, including the five-volume series The Buckskin Man Tales, of which Lord Grizzly (available in a Bison Books edition) was a finalist for the 1954 National Book Award. Arthur R. Huseboe (1931–2010) was the executive director of the Center for Western Studies and is the author and editor of several books, including The Letters of Frederick Manfred. John Calvin Rezmerski is a professor emeritus of English at Gustavus Adolphus College and the author of several books, including The Frederick Manfred Reader.