ANDREW McBRIDE on how THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS by JOHN PREBBLE inspired his novel THE PEACEMAKER

I’ve been fortunate enough to receive wide acclaim already for my Sundown Press novel THE PEACEMAKER. Of 25 reviews and ratings 2 are 4 star, 23 5 star! This includes 5 star reviews from 2 of the most successful western authors. Spur award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author ROBERT VAUGHAN describes it as ‘a great book’. Meanwhile RALPH COTTON (also a Pulitzer-prize nominated novelist) writes: ‘For pure writing style, McBride’s gritty prose nails the time and place of his story with bold authority. …this relatively new author has thoroughly, and rightly so, claimed his place among the top Old West storytellers.’ I’m very grateful to both Robert and Ralph for their fantastic support.

One of the biggest influences on me, writing THE PEACEMAKER and my other western novels, was THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS by JOHN PREBBLE which I re-read recently.

John Prebble (1915-2001) was (like me) an Englishman who wrote westerns. His short story ‘My Great Aunt Appearing Day’ was turned into the 1955 movie ‘White Feather.’

Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter in ‘White Feather’

But he also wrote thrillers, some distinguished histories of Scotland, one of which was made into the acclaimed 1964 documentary ‘Culloden,’

and co-wrote the screenplay of the epic movie ‘Zulu,’ also 1964.

Michael Caine in ‘Zulu’

His novel ‘The Buffalo Soldiers’ is the story of Lt. Garrett Byrne, a white officer commanding a patrol of black troopers of the 10^th U.S. Cavalry – the so-called ‘buffalo soldiers’ - in Oklahoma c. 1869. He is tasked with escorting a party of Comanches living on the reservation on a buffalo hunt; then, when they turn renegade and flee into the wilderness of the Texas Staked Plains, of hunting them down.

This is the most un-western western I’ve ever read – as well as being one of the best. Although it deals with wildly familiar subject matter – the U.S. Cavalry versus the Indians, the Texas Rangers, Comancheros etc. – I’d defy anybody to find a cliché in the entire book. Prebble, as an outsider, seems to have no pre-conditioning about the Old West. All aspects are looked at with a fresh eye, particularly his startling depiction of the Texas Rangers. This is partly through absolutely authenticity, shown by small, convincing details, (down to using brandy to treat gum sores,) partly through complex characterisation.

These are flawed, ambiguous individuals. We can see heroism behind the cavalrymen, rangers and Comanches, but also obstinacy, cruelty and confusion. Byrne is no lantern-jawed idealist. He’s a middle-aged loner, unhandsome, socially awkward and makes mistakes – including some very bad ones. Born in Ireland, he’s struggled to escape the hatred that his father tried to instil in him – but then he finds himself hating the Comanches, something that drives and tortures him through the second half of the book.

This is a realistic – and therefore hard-hitting – novel, with elements of tragedy. There’s one chapter I find particularly tough to read. But the writing is superb. Prebble has the absolute knack (which he shares with the likes of A.B. Guthrie Jnr.) of capturing vast cinematic landscapes concisely and vividly. ‘The set of the sun revealed a long tableland in the far west, an indigo pencil-stroke between the red of the sky and the yellow grass.’ ‘The whole plain was miraculous, an ocean of grass moving against the far escarpments, and a wind rushing ceaselessly.’

‘The Buffalo Soldiers’ throws up a portrait of tragic racial conflict and issues, asking questions that the world is still trying to answer. Revisiting it, I realised the book was a tremendous influence on me. Stimulating, disturbing and powerful, it never loses its humanity even when showing humanity at its worst.

Some of the background to THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS:

Formed in 1866 the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry were the U.S. army units comprised of black enlisted men and white officers. Their nickname may have originated with Plains Indians - buffalo hunting tribes. ("We called them 'buffalo soldiers' because they had curly, kinky hair... like bisons.")

Buffalo soldiers, a 10th Cavalry chaplain observed, 'are possessed of the notion that the coloured people of the whole country are more or less affected by their performance in the Army.'

 
These regiments enjoyed high re-enlistment rates and - in contrast to much of the frontier army - low desertion rates. 

In 1874 General Sherman said of them: ‘They are good troops, they make first-rate sentinels, are faithful to their trust, and are as brave as the occasion calls for.’

Despite this, black regiments were the subject of what Robert M. Utley, in ‘Frontier Regulars’ calls ‘searing racial prejudice.’ Utley writes: ‘The black regiments endured discrimination in both the quantity and quality of supplies, equipment and horses, and for 25 years they remained without relief in the most disagreeable sectors of the frontier.’

Buffalo soldiers have featured in film westerns like John Ford’s ‘SERGEANT RUTLEDGE’ (1960.)

On TV they were featured in shows like ‘THE HIGH CHAPARRAL’ (‘The Buffalo Soldiers’, ‘Ride the Savage Land.’)

High Chaparral episode: ‘Ride the Savage Land.’

BLURB for THE PEACEMAKER:

Eighteen-year-old scout Calvin 'Choctaw' Taylor believes he can handle whatever life throws his way. He’s been on his own for several years, and he only wants to make his mark in the world. When he is asked to guide peace emissary Sean Brennan and his adopted Apache daughter, Nahlin, into a Chiricahua Apache stronghold, he agrees—but then has second thoughts. He’s heard plenty about the many ways the Apache can kill a man. But Mr. Brennan sways him, and they begin the long journey to find Cochise—and to try to forge a peace and an end to the Indian Wars that have raged for so long. During the journey, Choctaw begins to understand that there are some things about himself he doesn’t like—but he’s not sure what to do about it. Falling in love with Nahlin is something he never expected—and finds hard to live with. The death and violence, love for Nahlin and respect for both Cochise and Mr. Brennan, have a gradual effect on Choctaw that change him. But is that change for the better? Can he live with the things he’s done to survive in the name of peace?

EXTRACT:
Choctaw blinked sweat and sunspots out of his eyes and began to lower the field glasses; then he glimpsed movement.

He used the glasses again, scanning nearer ground, the white sands. He saw nothing.

And then two black specks were there suddenly, framed against the dazzling white. They might have dropped from the sky.

They grew bigger. Two horsebackers coming this way, walking their mounts. As he watched they spurted into rapid movement, whipping their ponies into a hard run towards him.

The specks swelled to the size of horses and men. Men in faded smocks maybe once of bright colour, their long hair bound by rags at the temple. They had rifles in their hands.

Breath caught in Choctaw’s throat. Fear made him dizzy. His arms started to tremble. He knew who was coming at him so fast.

Apaches.

And you killed them or they killed you.

**** 

To buy THE PEACEMAKER visit Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Peacemaker-Andrew-McBride-ebook/dp/B01GZFKAPI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Or Amazon.co.uk: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peacemaker-Andrew-McBride-ebook/dp/B01GZFKAPI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1473952196&sr=8-1