On This Day in History ... 1853

May 17



 
The site of Fort Riley was chosen by surveyors in the fall of 1852 and was first called Camp Center, due to its proximity to the geographical center of the United States. The following spring, three companies of the 6th infantry began the construction of temporary quarters at the camp.

Fort Riley was established by Captain Charles S. Lovell, 6th U.S. Infantry, on a site recommended by Colonel Thomas T. Flauntleroy, 1st U. S. Dragoons.

The fort's initial purpose was to protect the many pioneers and traders who were moving along the Oregon-California and Santa Fe Trails.

 

In the years after the Civil War, Fort Riley served as a major United States Cavalry post and school for cavalry tactics and practice. The post was a base for skirmishes with Native Americans after the Civil War ended in 1865, during which time George Custer was stationed at the fort.

THE DRAGOONS by PATRICK E. ANDREWS



This series consists of four novels of the early U.S. Cavalry and features the adventures, trials and tribulations of the brave men of the U.S. Dragoons. In a land as savage as the Indians who lived on its vast prairies and burning deserts, the U.S. Dragoons were the only law. Short on rations but long on courage, they were the first cavalry soldiers to ride the great western frontier and fight to keep the peace.

The cover art is by Don Stiver who was was an American artist, known for his portrayal of historical and military subjects.

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On This Day in History .... 1870

1870, May 13

Colorado Territory- around 9 a.m. an Indian attack on a Kansas Pacific Railroad crew near the town of Kit Carson kills eleven and wounds nineteen 500 head of livestock are driven away.

Patrick E. Andrews' COLORADO CROSSFIRE, Number 15 in the Piccadilly Publishing Western series is an exciting story that tells of a vicious robbery, if there ever was one. A bunch of scummy gunsels had ambushed a Northwest and Canadian Railroad car, and left a pile of bodies in their wake. Detective Jim Bigelow figured it had to be Milo Paxton’s Gang; no other pack of pistoleros was so downright mean – or so dang slippery-footed. The Pinkerton man needed a pair of crack frontiersmen to capture the outlaws – or kill ’em – and bring back the loot. So he hired two hell-raisin’ whippersnappers names of Lefty McNally and the Kiowa Kid ...
Lefty was a U.S. cavalryman’s son and the Kid was half-injun, yet they were closer than natural brothers. Together, they’d set out to find adventure. But hunting down twelve of the meanest men in the west not only put Lefty and the Kid on the deadly trail of hidden treasure, but plunged them into a six-gun war that’d leave gunsmoke and splattered blood on every one-horse town and mining camp from Kansas clear to Colorado!

 

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Announcing a new series from PP!

 

 

The publishing business seems to be all doom and gloom lately. We're told that book sales are down, the number of people who read for pleasure is shrinking by the day etc etc., But I'm delighted to tell you that here at Piccadilly Towers, things are going from strength to strength.

To prove it, we launch YET ANOTHER NEW and ALL-ORIGINAL, NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED series in May - CROSSED ARROWS, by Patrick E. Andrews!

The fact is, we enjoyed Patrick's first LONG-KNIVES book, CROSSED ARROWS, so much that we asked him to make it into a series.

As if that wasn't enough, it also has covers by Tony Masero.

Watch out for CROSSED ARROWS 1: ROCKY MOUNTAIN WARPATH, coming MAY 01, 2016:

Captain Mack Hawkins, Lieutenant Ludlow Dooley and the Kiowa-Comanche Detachment of Indian Scouts are sent on a hazardous assignment up into the Rocky Mountains of Montana. Their orders are to protect railroad surveyors coming under fire from hidden snipers. But when the detachment arrives, they find themselves caught up in a deadly crossfire. Mysterious threats and baffling situations abound that are intertwined with gun battles and ambushes in the mountainous crags and forests of the Rockies. To further complicate matters, a revolution by the Métis—a people of mixed French and Indian blood—against the Canadian government unexpectedly involves Hawkins and his men.