Customer Reviews

Rifles for Watie

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read this delightful novel in 1968 or 1969. It continues to be one of my favorite books. Historian and former OU sports information director Harold Keith actually makes history "fun" for teenagers with this award-winning tale, as RIFLES FOR WAITIE gives readers a full account of the brutal Civil War campaign in the Indian Territories of the frontier.

At the heart of Keith's story is young Jeff Bussey, who joins a regiment of Kansas volunteers as a 16-year-old, idealistic adventure seeker. Jeff's idealism is short-lived once he confronts the horrors and barbarism of war; it is replaced by disillusionment, bitterness, fear. Although written in the Fifties, Keith cuts no corners in portraying the brutality of the Civil War in Oklahoma Territory; the reader can smell the smoke, hear the deafening roar of cannon, feel the bullets whistle past. And as young Jeff matures. . .becomes a battle-hardened survivor. . .he is sent on an assignment behind enemy lines--only to discover the men he is fighting are just like him: cold, tired, hungry, and ready to go home.

Wonderfully written and flawlessly paced, RIFLES FOR WAITIE is an absorbing read. Highly recommended for teenagers or history buffs wanting to learn more about the Civil War in Oklahoma.
--D. Mikels

Jeff, a 16 year-old Kansas farmer, is drawn into the Civil War when a group of Bushwackers attacks his farm. Along the way and path of war, he picks up new friends, good values, and many challenges. We liked this book because it really showed what the Civil War was all about (besides slavary) from a first hand detailed view.

I actually went back and re-read "Rifles for Watie" several months ago, more than 40 years after I had first encountered it. (It won the 1958 Newberry Award for children's literature and was a hot item in my elementary school library.) In reading the book as an adult, I was disappointed in the episodic construction of Harold Keith's narrative. He makes some big leaps as he jumps along through the Civil War; in some cases, several months pass between one chapter and the next. This weakens the development of the characters, in particular the youthful focus of the book, Jeff Bussey. At the end of the novel, despite his four years of experience as a combat soldier, spy, and lover, there is little sense that this teenager matures or changes. Even without war, and even sequestered in college, most kids do a fair amount of growing up between ages 18 and 22. At the end of a terrible war, Jeff seems to be as callow and even innocent as he was in his recruit days.

This failing, however, probably won't matter to the young audience for whom Keith was writing back in the 1950s. The book reflects the sensibilities of that era, especially in the equal regard in which Keith holds the supporters of both the Union and the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis Bussey, a Union soldier (named by his father after a respected Mexican War comrade from Mississippi!), learns to like and respect his Confederate adversaries, and he falls in love with a Rebel girl. The only real villain in the story is a Union officer. Even in the 21st century, younger readers (ages 8-14) will likely identify with Jeff and his perspective on the events of the 1860s. They also will enjoy Keith's colorful description of battles and soldiering, as well as the more sober scenes of the war's cruelty and destruction.

When "Rifles for Watie" was first published, it revealed to many Americans, including a lot of Civil War scholars, that the conflict had been irrepressible west of the Mississippi as well as in the East. Keith doesn't really deal with all the causes and ramifications of the war in the Indian Territory, and a search of the amazon.com website reveals many more recent scholarly books about the subject. But for readers young and old, "Rifles for Watie" still can be a painless introduction to the topic -- for all of that episodic narrative, it's still a Good Read.

I really enjoy this book but, I'm not leaving it at that.I think this book should and could be made into a film.It's got all the ingredients.A young man called Jeff in his teens(I'm about his age actually)who goes off to war to fight for his homeland for the Union.(same old story right?)EXCEPT about halfway through the book he joins the Rebel side.Which ideals are best for fighting a war? Help keep the union together and get rid of slavery or fight to help save the cherokee indians lands fighting under conel Watie of the confederete army? Sounds pretty good doesn't it? Heroic battles where Jeff is pitted agains't Rebels in pitched battles including a time where he gets a medal for bravery.Deadly skirmishes(that really give the story it's excitment)often by suprise from the enemy.Jeff meets and loses friends on both sides that are each nice in their own way.Both sides have very different ways they fight the war.A captivating cherokee girl(totally a rebel) named Lucy meet and come to love each other utterly despite their differances.
I have given only a few of the points that would make this book a good movie.I don't have room to write more.I guess it could be rated PG-13 for battle sequences but not for other lewd content thats not in the book.I hope in to it in theaters in a few years!(I think Peter Jackson could do a good job seeing how he did Lord of the Rings so well.

Rifles for Watie is about Jeff Bussey a sixteen year old farm boy from Kansas. This story takes place in the Ozarks region(Kansas, Missouri, Olkahoma, and Arkansas). Jeff's family gets "bushwacked" by Confederate bushwackers and because of it Jeff joins the Union Army. Jeff thinks war would be fun so he's excited to be in his first battle. But when friends die in the battle Jeff changes his thoughts about war. He finds out that war means destruction and killing. I think Rifles for Watie deserves a five because I think it was well written, took place in a very important American historical event, and it has a wonderful plot. I compare this book to War in the Ozarks. It takes place in the same region as Rifles for Watie, and it has about the same plot. Rifles for Watie was a extremely exciting and excellent book.

Keith presents the Civil War from a different viewpoint: that of a Kansas farm boy who joins the Union Army to protect the family farm from rebel Bushwackers across the Missouri border. Like Michael Shaara's THE KILLER ANGELS (Pulitzer Prize winner about the Battle of Gettysburg), this book presents a fair portrayal of conditions and mindsets on both sides of the Mason/Dixon line. There are no clearcut military antagonists--just men in opposing uniforms. Keith's detailed research offers a variety of reasons for enlisting with one side or another, plus the tragic case of displaced Native Americans who were caught in the political crossfire of a nation undergoing rebirth.

Sixteen-year-old Jeff (Jefferson Davis Bussey, if you please) serves his country first in the Infantry then in the Cavalry. While on a dangerous scouting expedition (Spy mission), he is tricked into enlisting with Col. Watie's Mounted Cherokee Rifles. Poor Jeff endures more than the normal risks of battle though: he falls for a Rebel gal--part Indian too. Befriended by kind and generous Southerners, he experiences increasing guilt as he grows to respect his erstwhile enemies. He develops true bonds with the common soldiers who become his new messmates.

Yet Jeff privately realizes that time is relentlessly drawing him to the brink of a fateful decision: when he must choose which ideal (Union or division) to champion. Whichever way he goes, he will be branded a traitor by former friends--either his sweetheart or his family! How can the youth maintain his honor, especially when his heart is set on his sleeve? Even worse: he knows a dangerous secret about a sadistic Union officer who might well shoot or stab him during battle--just to assure his silence.

Toward the end of the war the 7-shot Spencer Repeating Rifles were phasing out the older, one-shot Springfield rifles, but if both sides possess these new weapons of destruction, will the war be strung out even longer? Can Jeff prove his loyalty by ferreting out the identity of the traitor who is selling repeating rifles to the South? Excellent details of the dilemma of the border states and the regrettable suffering endured by many Indians, who were tragically divided in their loyalties--just like countless white border families. This is a very good read (based on research for a Master's Thesis), but too long and detailed to appeal to most high school students. The plot and supense eventually capture the reader's imagination.

As a Civil War historian, I found this book fascinating! I knew little about the war in the very far west, or about Indians fighting for the Confederates! This book brought it all alive for me! But this book also deals with the issues of the war for both sides! If you enjoy serious Civil War stories, then this book is for you! Grade: A+

I only have a couple things to say. One, this is the best book I have ever read. I will probally read it 10 more times it is so good. Kieth describes his characters so fantasticly that it seems as if they were actual people. It is about a 16-year old named Jefferson Davis Bussey or Jeff who's family gets buswhacked. After that Jeff had had enough, wich sends him and his buddies to Fort Leavenworth to enlist in the Kansas Volunteers. First Jeff is in the Infrantry then the Calvary and then a general makes him and a comrade spies in the Confederate Army. He has to survive the war then pick, will he go back to his family or stay with his crush?

Rifles for Watie is about a boy named Jeff who lives on a farm in Kansas. At the start of the Civil War, he joins the Union Volunteers. After about two years he is a sentry. One night, he is sent out to scout Rebel positions. By mistake he ends up in Watie's Cavalry (An Indian onfederate unit)and likes it. Will he go back to the Yankees, or will he become a "Johnny Reb" as some called them.

I first discovered this book when my school librarian aunt brought home a copy one summer to preview. It become probably my favorite library book from 4th to 12th grade. I probably checked it out 20+ times.

"Rifles.." recounts the adventures of Jeff Bussey during the western campaigns of the Civil War in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri. It tells of friendships on both sides of the war. His love of the rebel girl Lucy, his friend Noah the tramp printer and the life of a common Union soldier and a Rebel Cavalryman. The book recounts battles and the small world within them that a soldier plays, often missing the large results that are defined with the outcome. It tells of courage, and fear and determination as Jeff is pursued for miles in his daring escape from the Confederate army.

This book you must include in your home library. I still pick up my copy and read it again, still as enjoyable as the first time back in Idaho.