Under Fire

by Charles King

"Under Fire" likely follows the adventures and challenges faced by soldiers in combat situations. Charles King, who served in the United States Army, often drew upon his military experiences to create realistic and compelling narratives set in various historical periods.

As the title suggests, "Under Fire" may depict soldiers facing the dangers and chaos of battle, grappling with fear, courage, and camaraderie amidst the turmoil of war. The novel may explore themes such as honor, sacrifice, and the human experience in times of conflict.

Charles King's writing is known for its vivid descriptions, authentic military detail, and engaging storytelling. "Under Fire" is likely to offer readers an immersive and gripping portrayal of the realities of warfare, drawing them into the lives and struggles of its characters.

Genres: Westerns

449 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1894

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Charles King was a United States soldier and a distinguished writer. He graduated from West Point in 1866 and served in the Army during the Indian Wars under George Crook. He was wounded in the arm forcing his retirement from the regular army. During this time he became acquainted with Buffalo Bill Cody. King would later write scripts for several of Cody's silents films. In 1898, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and sailed to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War; he also led a brigade during the ensuing Philippine-American War. He returned to the United States and was active in the Wisconsin National Guard and in training troops for World War I. He wrote and edited over 60 books and novels.

Reviews

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've wished for a while that I could find some good older Western books centering around the frontier cavalry, since I've always enjoyed cavalry movies. And at last I found one! I'd had this novel on my Kindle for a little while and had only browsed a few pages, which gave me the impression that the writing style was a little dry and old-fashioned. However, once I settled down and began to read it in earnest, I was quickly pulled into the story and couldn't put it down. The plot is engrossing and some of the combat scenes are downright thrilling.

The central figure of a multi-faceted plot is cavalry lieutenant Percy Davies, a serious, devout young man who moves to active duty on the frontier after graduating from West Point, and wins the respect of officers and men alike by his coolness and courage and his care for the troopers under his command. Alas, his good judgement fails him in only one area, one which is destined to bring him much difficulty and heartache: his choice of a wife.

Davies is also unfortunate in falling afoul of the book's antagonist, Captain Devers, who in an attempt to shift the blame for a disastrous incident in the field onto the unwitting Davies's shoulders, takes every opportunity to discredit and disparage him. Devers is a totally infuriating antagonist and yet a masterful achievement on the part of the author, a near-perfect portrayal of a narcissist and master manipulator. I can only assume that King knew someone of this type in real life, for he nails all the tactics of the manipulator with devastating accuracy: shifting blame, twisting the meaning of other people's words, deliberately interpreting instructions the wrong way and then complaining the result isn't his fault, finding it necessary to express a contrary opinion in every situation, rewriting history (in Devers' case, literally)—and always managing to work it so that he can't be called to account for any specific wrongdoing. In Mira Davies, too, we see another style of narcissism: the kind that lives off admiration and flattery, and uses tears and hysterics as self-defense, flinging accusations of unkindness against anyone who attempts to remonstrate with her for wrongdoing.

Fortunately, there are plenty of thoroughly upstanding and likable characters to balance out the antagonists—the happily married Captain Cranston and his wife, the stalwartly just adjutant Leonard, plucky lieutenants Boynton and Sanders, the troubled but determined young trooper Brannan, and others. Another thing that I appreciated about the book is that its Christian characters are all portrayed in a very warm and positive light. The plot encompasses a large cast of characters and spans territory from West Point to Chicago and the plains of the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming, with the main threads of the story—Lieutenant Davies' domestic sorrows, Devers' machinations against him, and the endeavors of Davies' friends to stand by him in both circumstances—playing out against the larger backdrop of the frontier army's campaigns against hostile Indians.

It's easy to detect the influence of King's army background in the novel. He gives us a glimpse at life for officers' wives and families on a frontier post in the 1870s, shows how crucially the character and personality of the officer in command can affect the outcome of a battle, and reveals many little practical details about Indian fighting and survival on the plains. He also shows the frustration of army men at being forced to act at the dictation of policy-makers in Washington, and reservation agents appointed because of political connections, who are totally ignorant of how to negotiate with Indians or how to fight them—consequently putting the army in the field (along with innocent settlers and army families) into unnecessarily difficult and disadvantaged situations.

Under Fire completely satisfied my hankering for a good cavalry story, and coming from the 19th century and from an author acquainted with his subject, provided that good solid feeling of authenticity that I've come to appreciate in older Westerns. I'm looking forward to seeing if King's other cavalry novels (he apparently wrote quite a few) live up to its standard.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story about the frontier in the 1870s and how the Army lived during the Indian Wars just after Custer’s death. The author, a veteran of the wars himself, gave an interesting perspective on the wars of the time; he posits that the government and military were both too lenient and too hard (punishing the innocent and letting the guilty go free) rather than dealing fairly across the board...letting government red tape and capricious military commanders dictate rather than putting the matters in the hand of ambassadors who knew the culture and could deal by punishing only the guilty. Fascinating and sad at the same time.

Content: a few swears