Publication date:
01 November 2018Length of book:
248 pagesPublisher
Lyons PressISBN-13: 9781493036592
The dramatic story of outlaws and vigilantes on the American frontier invariably calls to mind the Wild West of the latter nineteenth century. Yet, there was an earlier frontier, Illinois, that was every bit as wild and lawless as Dodge City or Tombstone.
Between 1835 and 1850 several hundred outlaws and desperadoes descended on the prairie state, holding up stagecoaches, robbing homes and individuals, rustling cattle and horses, counterfeiting, murdering, and terrorizing residents with virtual impunity. In a state that was mostly wilderness, outlaws went undetected for years, often masquerading as law-abiding farmers and merchants while preying on isolated settlers and passing emigrants.
If it was hard to detect the pirates, it was harder still to capture them and bring them to justice. With law enforcement incapable of checking outlaws, frustrated citizens eventually took matters into their own hands, administering frontier justice—vigilantism. Posses were formed; outlaws were swept from their lairs and whipped, shot, or hanged. Sometimes the miscreants got their just desserts; other times, the use of public tribunals to enact personal vendettas led to abuses, even chaos. Pirates of the Prairie brings the story of these wild times to life.
Between 1835 and 1850 several hundred outlaws and desperadoes descended on the prairie state, holding up stagecoaches, robbing homes and individuals, rustling cattle and horses, counterfeiting, murdering, and terrorizing residents with virtual impunity. In a state that was mostly wilderness, outlaws went undetected for years, often masquerading as law-abiding farmers and merchants while preying on isolated settlers and passing emigrants.
If it was hard to detect the pirates, it was harder still to capture them and bring them to justice. With law enforcement incapable of checking outlaws, frustrated citizens eventually took matters into their own hands, administering frontier justice—vigilantism. Posses were formed; outlaws were swept from their lairs and whipped, shot, or hanged. Sometimes the miscreants got their just desserts; other times, the use of public tribunals to enact personal vendettas led to abuses, even chaos. Pirates of the Prairie brings the story of these wild times to life.
"This detailed narrative has not just pirates but scalawags, cads, mountebanks, and all sorts of rogues who made the early American frontier both dangerous and entertaining. The stories of 'regulators' taking the law into their own hands--and getting away with it--are alone worth the price of admission."
--Tom Clancy, author of Dodge City
"Ken Lizzio has a wonderful talent for finding overlooked pieces of American history. Here he has redefined the idea of the wild and lawless West, one that existed long before Tombstone and Dodge City. Pirates of the Prairie is an original and highly entertaining look at villainy on the old frontier."
--S. C. Gwynne, author, New York Times bestsellers Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell
--Tom Clancy, author of Dodge City
"Ken Lizzio has a wonderful talent for finding overlooked pieces of American history. Here he has redefined the idea of the wild and lawless West, one that existed long before Tombstone and Dodge City. Pirates of the Prairie is an original and highly entertaining look at villainy on the old frontier."
--S. C. Gwynne, author, New York Times bestsellers Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell