Historical novelist of the frontier, James Alexander Thom, has gone up the trail. Thom was 89, and left a legacy of some 15 novels of frontier America behind.
The novel Long Knife, which recounted George Rogers Clark’s epic Illinois Campaign in the American Revolution (and Clark’s sad decline into penury and alcoholism) hit me like a rifle ball when it was release in 1979. It’s impossible to overstate the impact that book, in concert with The Frontiersmen, had on me. I was a frontier-obsessed kid, deeply enamored of Simon Kenton, who served as a scout and spy with Clark, and I read and re-read Long Knife in a state of intoxication. It truly transported me to the Illinois Frontier. I have a distinct memory of going out in the back yard and doing set after set of pull-ups and shooting my pellet gun, trying to touch the skills and stature of the heroes I was reading about. I was 13. Hell, I’m 57 now, and still inspired.
That’s a gift that James Alexander Thom contributed mightily to crafting. I’m grateful for it.
Man, that cover takes me back…
Thom’s big bestseller was Follow The River, a novel about Mary Draper Ingles and her escape from the Shawnee during the French and Indian War. I also devoured Panther In the Sky, a novelization of the life of Tecumseh.
He married a Shawnee woman named Dark Rain, and his work shifted more and more to the native perspective, including Warrior Woman: The Exceptional Life Story of Nonhelema, Shawnee Indian Woman Chief, co-written with Dark Rain, and Sign Talker, a life of the French-Shawnee badass George Drouillard.
Here’s a really fine obit from The Indianapolis Star.
Follow the River made the New York Times bestseller list and 40 years after its release, it had sold about 1.3 million copies, IndyStar reported in 2021.
“The basic thing is that this was a true story and people have found it utterly inspiring. I’ve had thousands of fan letters from people who have been encouraged to go on through tough situations because of the story,” Thom told IndyStar then.
As he continued in the genre, Thom became known for his commitment to historical accuracy. In all, he’s written about 15 published books, his wife said.
Once, he told Dark Rain, he stood in a pond for six days during the winter to experience what an army would have felt while traveling through a flooded area. He ate bugs, worms, bark and roots to understand how protagonist Mary Ingles from Follow the River survived.
“I said, ‘Well, at least you’ll never complain about my cooking,’”” Dark Rain said. “That became a favorite line of his when he would tell the story. And he didn’t complain.”
Matthew says
I haven’t read Thom but his work sounds interesting. It is always doubly sad when a beloved creator dies, though, because not only is their life ended but there will be no more new work from said creator. Every creator is unique and their uniqueness often dies with them. There will only have been one Jim Harrison (one of the many creators I only became interested in after they died), for example.
JimC says
You should read at least Long Knife, Follow the River and Panther in the Sky. Very worthy work.
Matthew says
Follow the River sounds particularly interesting to me.
David Wrolson says
Thom was probably the first real FP-approved (LOL) author that I found and devoured in my mid-to-late 20’s. (mid 90’s)I came to the canon a little late but I was well-read prior so I had a base. I read him with a vengeance. I suspect I read all or almost all his books.
I was struck by one cool thing about this campfire today. I had been feeling a little sorry for myself lately when I saw snowmobile tracks or thought about ice fisherman and so forth. I was musing about how if I had those as hobbies nobody would think it strange or anything.
In my defense, I was working outside in the cold so much in the early years of my farming career that outdoor winter activities don’t hold much interest(Maybe they wouldn’t anyway).
Then today, I talked with a friend about a mutual friend who is the hospital. He said, he is in a long-term group chat with him and two other sports fanatics to vent about their sports teams.
Anyway, it struck me-this is our Group Chat. The net swings a little wider but such is life. People here will understand that Thom wasn’t just an “Author” In GMF’s term he struck like lightning.
I do have to admit that a couple of teachers at our kids former school usually ask me what I am reading when I see them-so that is cool.
JimC says
Similar experience. And I am deeply gratified that FP has become a gathering place for like-minded souls. Means a lot to me.
Will says
I attended Radford University in Radford, Virginia, near where Mary Draper Ingles was taken captive. I had heard the local lore and knew there was an outdoor theater production every summer depicting her life but that was about it. I stumbled across Follow the River in a local bookstore and, after reading it, was hooked on Thom’s books. He told good frontier stories and he told them well. He will be missed.
Thanks for the post.
JimC says
Glad it resonated.
lane batot says
Dammit. Another great one gone. Yes, I, too, have loved his books forever–I think he inspired a lot of other authors to write similar ones–a great legacy! They did make a movie–a TV movie, if I’m remembering right, of “Follow The River”–not nearly as riveting as the book, of course, but it was…….okay. They pulled too many punches, and tried to be politically correct–always a sure way to be historically inaccurate!
David Wrolson says
An episode from Thom that sticks with me the most was the situation that the Clark’s parents were in. Might not be the most tasteful, but I assume it was fairly common up till modern birth control.
They had had all those kids over ending with maybe William as the youngest and they were still fairly young-but they figured the wife would die if she had more kids so that part of their marital life was over.
One night, the dad had a little whiskey and tried to get frisky but they resisted (tough for both of them) and went on. That anecdote (likely common at the time) really stuck with me.
Wierd way to remember Thom-but I think he would like it.