Blacksnake’s Path

by William Heath

This splendid novel about an unsung hero of American history carries its prodigious learning lightly in order to tell vividly the authentic story of William Wells’s remarkable life. Blacksnake’s Path recreates an entire period (1770-1812), showing how the Indians lived, fought for their homeland, and dealt with defeat. Because Wells was always the man in the middle, moving between two clashing cultures, the novel also dramatizes the lives of the pioneers who settled the territory north of the Ohio River. In 1784, when he was thirteen, Wells was captured in Kentucky by the Miami and taken to Indiana, where he was adopted by the village chief and named Blacksnake. He experienced a vision quest, learned to hunt, went on the warpath, married, and fathered a son. On 4 November 1791 he fought by the side of the great Miami war chief Little Turtle at St. Clair’s Defeat, the biggest victory the Indians ever won against the U. S. Army. His second wife was the chief’s daughter Sweet Breeze. A year later Wells switched sides and became head scout for General Mad Anthony Wayne at the decisive battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and was the interpreter between Wayne and Little Turtle at the Treaty of Greenville. For the remainder of his life, Wells served as Indian Agent for the Miami, taking Little Turtle and other chiefs to visit presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson in Philadelphia and Washington. In the early nineteenth century he was at the center of the conflict between Governor William Henry Harrison’s land greed and Tecumseh’s militant resistance. Wells died a martyr at the Fort Dearborn Massacre in 1812. Thus Blacksnake’s Path tells the astonishing story of Wells’s true adventures in an exciting narrative that provides a memorable and moving picture of the old Northwest frontier.

"Born white, raised red, William Wells was a sometimes warrior, soldier, spy and agent provocateur who played on, worked both sides in the bloody, thirty year struggle between the allied Indian nations and the United States for control of the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes Country. Seemingly he was a complex character and had more picaresque adventures than Boone or Crockett. But in his own times he never encountered the sort of publicists who eventually turned Dan’l and Davy into semi-mythic figures. And so Wells has all but disappeared in the mists of the past. In Blacksnake’s Path, William Heath retrieves for the moment this gaudy, always-on-the-make frontiersman." Bill Gilbert, author of God Gave Us This Country

"William Heath respects readers. In Blacksnake’s Path, he doesn’t tell us what to think of his remarkable story and allows its moral implications to fall where they may. This admirable reticence of both language and tone sets off, by contrast, the violent beauty of his subject matter, the series of conflicts between Native Americans and European-Americans in Ohio and Indiana after the Revolution. Heath uses this war to explore the cultural differences between white and Indian society and the psychological tension of a man who belonged to both cultures and therefore wasn’t always certain where his loyalties lay. The result is a great read, an accurate and vivid fictional biography, and a sobering reminder of the tragedy at the root of America’s westward expansion." John Vernon, author of The Last Canyon

"Blacksnake’s Path is one of the best books, perhaps the best book that describes the earliest, wild and bloody days of the American Midwest. William Heath portrays this area superbly from the point of views of the Indians as well as of the whites through telling the life of William Wells. The amazing Wells lived on both sides of the conflict from the first American settlement of Kentucky in 1770s through the Fort Dearborn Massacre in Chicago in 1812." Jerry Crimmins, author of Fort Dearborn

406 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

1737-1814

Reviews

[Rosor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a picky reader and for some time I've been not interested in the books that are making the best-seller list. Until a friend recommended Blacksnake's Path: The True Adventures of William Wells. I thought I knew a few things about this period of American history but this novel opened up a whole new perspective on it. Few historical novels have been as engrossing and entertaining as this one, perhaps because Heath writes with a style and pace that grip your attention since page 1. I highly recommend it.

[Humbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really is history made alive. No doubt the best novel about eighteeenth century Indian wars and frontier life there is. The characters, both natives and colonials, the background, nature, battles, everything is described so dramatically and convincingly I couldn't put it down. A MUST.

[Ricky Orr · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting historical account, only lightly fictionalized, of the life and times of William Wells in the old northwest territory.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting bio of William Wells

Nice historical book covering the life of Wells, taking place in a very volatile period in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

[Tacitus · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever wondered what actually happened in the early history of the Old Northwest,i.e., the area above the Ohio River, then William Heath's Blacksnake's Path: the True Adventures of William Wells, a well-researched and eloquent novel, is the one to read. Based on the life of William Wells, who as a boy was captured in 1784 by the Indians, grew up to be a Miami warrior, fighting under his father-in-law Little Turtle at St. Clair's Defeat in 1791 (the biggest victory the Indians ever won against the U. S. army), the he switched sides and became the head scout for Mad Anthony Wayne at the decisive American victory at Fallen Timbers in 1794. For much of the rest of his life Wells was Indian agent for the Miami at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and died in the Fort Dearborn massacre in 1812. In short, during his period he was everywhere that mattered, including trips to Philadelphia and Washington to meet presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, and his life presents the frontier world from both the Miami and American point of view. Heath is a more accomplished craftsman than popular writers in the genre like Alan Eckert; he does solid research but more importantly he writes a gripping narrative that includes sharp dialogue and vividly evocative descriptions of the natural world. This is not a novel to skim-read, but it is certainly one to savor. It is wonderfully written, fully dramatized, and richly informative. I recommend it very strongly to all serious readers of good historical fiction.

[Humbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like other novels by William Heath, I thought it was an oustanding work of historical research put into an entertaining, lively narrative. Having some family roots in Ohio, I had read another novel on Wells called Heart of a Warrior, by Joe Krom. Heath's is much better. He's a more accurate historian and also a better writer. The descriptions of Indian life, courtship, nature, in contrast to the sequences in Washington and Philadelphia are very strong. I've given the book as a present to several friends and have always gotten positive comments. Highly recommended.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating times, person and book. I wish more people would read this one --maybe get it on college syllabi.

[Jason Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good idea, not a great execution.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great historical story.