Campaigning With King

Book Notes

Richard Griswold del Castillo, Book Review Editor

Campaigning With King: Charles King, Chronicler of the Old Army.

Paul L. Hedren, ed. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. 187 pages.

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Charles King was a prolific author of history and fiction of the American West who has been relatively unknown since his death in 1933. He was an active soldier whose seventy-year career included service in five wars: the Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, Philippine Insurrection and World War I. His writings were based on his experiences. This book is a biography of King, written by Don Russell, a young journalist who King befriended in the 1920s. Russell's biography is presented here in an edited fashion by Paul Hedren. The bibliographic work involved in bringing this book to press is noteworthy, involving lots of detective work to track down Russell's biographical details as well as assemble photographs. The final result is a contemporary book that is fun to read and informative about Army life in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.