The War Chief by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs has created some of the finest adventuring heroes in all of literature, including house-hold names like Tarzan, John Carter, David Innes, and more.  But many readers are surprised to learn ERB also wrote several fine westerns, including the “Apache novels” which consist of only two books. As a young man, Burroughs enlisted in the 7th Cavalry and saw active service in southern Arizona so he had some first-hand experience with the setting of the Apache Indians. First published in 1927, “The War Chief” is the first of the two books and is centered around the character Shoz-Dijiji or “The Black Bear”.

The novel opens swiftly with a pioneer family getting ambushed and slaughtered by a band of Apaches.  All, that is, except for a young baby boy who doesn’t even cry when dangled by the ankle for all to see.  Go-yat-thlay, the leader of the band of Apaches (and who will go down in history as “Geronimo”) thinks the young babe is unusually brave so decides to raise him as his adopted son. The first half of the book is a coming of age story as young Shoz-Dijiji learns the ways of the Apache, including hunting and tracking skills, extreme patience, religious beliefs and especially, their hatred for the Pindah-lickoyee (“White Eyes”).  He grows to young adulthood, becomes an accepted warrior and eventually War Chief, still operating under the ultimate leadership of Geronimo. A central theme of the book revolves around the Apache way of bringing maximum fierceness through mutilation of their foes even after death and the purposeful slaughter of women and children, all for the purpose of becoming so feared that the white men will leave. Shoz-Dijiji, however sees no honor in doing this, choosing to define bravery by his actions against enemies that can fight back. The resulting strife combined with his white origins lead to all sorts of misadventure.

The novel is written in Burroughs’s unmistakable style and includes quite a few of his typical plot devices.  In fact, for the first couple of chapters I thought I was reading “Tarzan among the Apaches” with very similar origin stories, (including earning his name by killing a black bear at the age of 10).  Just substitute Apaches for the Great Apes.  But soon, it became its own story and I was fully absorbed in its complexities. Reading through the various skirmishes from the Apache point-of-view was absolutely riveting.

Burroughs, I think was ahead of his time when it comes to describing the plight of these indigenous peoples and how both sides reacted to the other.  Written in the 1920’s it is, of course, not entirely politically correct by today’s standards.  But as long as readers can adjust to complex names like “Nakay-do-klunni”, “Be-don-ko-he” and “Chi-e-a-hen”, this one is definitely worth reading.