Comanche Captives

by Fred Grove

Lt. William Forrest Baldwin was flaming mad: he had been dragged back from sick leave on urgent call only to be told that it was not for 'active' duty that he was wanted. No indeed. The Army wanted him to nursemaid 300 Comanche prisoners up to Fort Sill. This was a distance of only 400 miles through the heart of Indian territory where hundreds of Comanches, still free, could be counted on to conduct a running fight every inch of the way. For this simple shepherding job the Lieutenant had been assigned, naturally, only one platoon - and, naturally, like himself, they were all defectives, barred from 'active' duty.

Genres: Westerns

144 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Fred Grove (born Frederick Herridge (July 4, 1913 – September 2008) was a Native American author and winner of five prestigious "Spur Awards" from Western Writers of America for his western novels.

Reviews

[Michael Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

It saddens me that this author has, on Goodreads, so few followers, and that this book has so few ratings and reviews.
He and it deserve more.
"Comanche Captives" is really a good book. It is well written, has plenty of interesting characters, and presents a plausible and encouraging story that should keep a reader hooked to the end.
Author Grove does make -- with the connivance of an editor who should be fired, or at least gently horse-whipped -- an ignorant, and by me unforgivable, error: He has his Quaker character constantly saying "thee" when she meant "thou."
"Thou" is the nominative, or objective, form, and "thee" is the subjective: "Thou will perform an action and I will return to thee a favor." "Thou are the one I love. I love thee."
(That character's being Quaker is why I say "gently horse-whipped.")
That constant mis-use grates on me, an editor myself, but also a reader. But while lamenting the apparent lack of competent editors (who appear to be totally absent in the "news" paper business), I continued to enjoy "Comanche Captives."
Author Grove has other Westerns and I intend to find them all. I deeply regret that he died 13 years ago and that I hadn't discovered his work a lot sooner. For now all I can do is urge others to discover this very enjoyable author.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by the author FG. He has researched the Comanche Indians until he begins to look like one. The stories arrogant the raids the Comanche conducted in ranches and killed all adults and took the children with then. Months later different hunters begin the hunt to find and identity the up missing people who are still alive. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book...great characters, great writing, real emotion. A work of art.