The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944 Page: 197
456 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
Only the Valiant. By Charles Marquis Warren. New York (The
Macmillan Company), 1943. Pp. vi+327. $2.50.
Charles Marquis Warren in Only the Valiant presents the
reader with a stirring novel of life in the Southwest. It is,
however, mainly a study of human emotions, aggravated by
searing heat and the cramped confines of an army post in the
Apache country. The author shows the monotonous round of
daily life, reveille, retreat, guard duty, inspections, limited so-
cial activities, and consolations of the men in liquor, along
"soapsuds row," or even in furtive visits with Indian women.
Fighting is limited to one brief delaying action, but the vivid
pen pictures of the participants prepare the reader for the
climax of action.
The leading character is Captain Richard Lance, honor grad-
uate of West Point, who, weighted down with a sense of duty
and responsibility, laboring under shock of contact with Apache
cruelty, unmarried and fearful of treading the path of dalliance,
finds himself confronted with two former West Point colleagues,
both holding deep-seated grudges against him. Other interest-
ing characters in this strangely mixed group are: Joe Harmony,
civilian scout; Kebussyan, Armenian refugee; Onstot, ex-Con-
federate; Saxton, the trumpeter; Sergeant Murdock of profane
tongue and crushing fists; Cathy Winters, disillusioned so-
cialite, disturbed over her interest in Lance; and one of the
most interesting of all, Dr. Jennings, post surgeon and diag-
nostician (psychoanalyist would be his modern counterpart).
Tucsos, Apache leader, possessed of craft and cruelty com-
monly ascribed to Victorio and Geronimo, plans to destroy the
post. Captain Lance selects and leads a detail to block a
narrow pass through which Tucsos must come. The high point
in the story appears when Lance lines up the men after arrival
and tells them man by man why each was chosen. Lance, who
knew that each man, except Sergeant Tompkins, hated him,
fought so bravely and arranged the defenses so skillfully that
he overcame this hatred and regained some of his own lost hu-
manity. Tucsos was captured, the post was saved, other com-
plications were cleared, and love and light entered the lives
of many.
J. L. WALLER
College of Mines197
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, July 1943 - April, 1944, periodical, 1944; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146054/m1/215/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.