Tennessee!

This is definitely one of the better books in the series. The story of Stalking Horse's sister being forced out of her farm due to an upstart militia, with Toby and Stalking Horse coming to her rescue, is the focus of the book. The best books of the Wagons West series have always been ones that were more heavily focused. Even excerpts of Hank Blake at West Point are cleverly tied in, especially when Hank gets put on the same mission as Toby. Toby and Martha's relation is at its pinnacle.If one ignore's the fact that Hank is not supposed to have graduated from West Point until 1872, yet this book and the next, Illinois, clearly happens in 1871, with Blake's graduation by then, then this may well be one's favorite book in the series.

It's wierd to say that about a historical novel--maybe author Dana Fuller Ross knew something back in the 'Eighties that most of us didn't have a clue about (or weren't paying attnention to) back then. Published in 1986, this volume of Ross's "Wagons West" series has Ross' hero Toby Holt (sort of a 19th century equivalent to Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) dealing with (would you believe?) an anti-government militia situation. It all starts when his Oregon ranch foreman's sister is crowded off her Tennessee farm by an crooked local official so that it can be used as a paramilitary base for disgruntled Civil War vets brought together by a power-hungry Cabinet official. Ross has only recently completed another prequel trilogy to this very series--the "West Empire" trilogy--with the last book out soon. So we know he's still in business. Since "Tennessee" deals with an issue all too familiar nowadays, Ross should consider suggesting a re-release to his publisher.