The Buffalo Trace to Tippecanoe: Purty Old Tom Montgomery and the Settlement of Southern Indiana

The Buffalo Trace to Tippecanoe: Purty Tom Montgomery & the Settlement of Southern Indiana is an absorbing historical novel. Author Hugo C. Songer has shined a light on the history of early Indiana frontier that readers will be fascinated to read. History buffs will delight in the appearances of historical figures in this book. Songer does not burden the reader with a dry rendering of these historical figures. He writes in such a natural, seamless way, that we see them mainly in context of the lives and experiences of the main character, Montgomery, his family, and his acquaintances. This book is a great contribution to the historical literature of the American frontier. It treats the problems between settlers and Native Americans in a balanced way. We come to understand that neither side was all good or all bad. We see that some settlers struggled with their consciences when seeing that they were displacing a noble race of people. The issue of slavery is also illuminated.