The Light in the Forest
Encyclopedia
The Light in the Forest is a novel
first published in 1953 by U.S. author Conrad Richter
. Though it is a work of fiction and primarily features fictional characters, the novel incorporates several real people with facts from U.S. history.
A 1958
feature film adaptation of the same name
was produced by Walt Disney Productions and starred Fess Parker
, Joanne Dru
, James MacArthur
and Wendell Corey
.
The film's song title was written by Lawrence Edward Watkin
, Paul J. Smith
and Hazel "Gil" George.
His family tries to reconnect with their lost son, but he refuses to have any part in the English colony. His Aunt Kate remarks upon the objects that seem to be randomly missing from their places. Later, we find out True Son has been stealing various items for his journey back to the Indians. Little Crane was killed the previous night by his white racist Uncle Wilse, and he and Half Arrow go to scalp his uncle. His uncle fights back and calls for help, and True Son and Half Arrow forget their attempt and begin their trek back. True Son and Half Arrow return home, and inform Cuyloga of the murder. Little Crane's family rallies a group to go raid the settlement to avenge Little Crane. All the men of the tribe go, as do True Son and Half Arrow. The tribe makes plans to ambush a boat. True Son was to tell them when to ambush the boat. True Son, instead, told the people on the boat that they were to be ambushed, thus betraying his Indian family and tribe. The tribe then forces him to go back to his white family. In the end it is Cuyloga who brings him back to the territory line and tells him that from that point on they will separate and become enemies, if they happen to see each other again they will treat each other like enemies and not like father and son.
, a group notorious for having massacred the Susquehannock
Indians, also known as Conestoga or Conestogo. True Son hates Wilse for his involvement in the massacre, while Wilse believes that True Son has been brainwashed by the Lenape and cannot be trusted.
The Tuscarawas River
, along which lay True Son’s Lenape village, runs through northeastern Ohio
. It meets the Walhonding River to form the Muskingum River near Coshocton
. (“The Forks of the Muskingum” are mentioned frequently in the novel.) The Muskingum in turn meets the Ohio River
near Marietta, Ohio
. Fort Pitt
stood at the confluence of the Allegheny
and Monongahela River
s. A British post, it replaced the French Fort Duquesne
in 1758.
The ferry that takes True Son, Harry Butler, and Del Hardy across the Susquehanna River
is likely Harris’ Ferry, which later gave rise to the city of Harrisburg
. Fort Hunter is now operated as a period museum north of the city. In one portion of the novel a Black slave tells True Son and Gordie about Kittatinny, Second, and Stony (or Short) Mountain. These are easily recognizable as Blue, Second and Third Mountains, north of present-day Harrisburg. The narrative provides an accurate description of the craggy crest of the latter.
The Native American place name “Peshtank or Paxton” remains in the names of Dauphin County’s
Upper
, Middle
, and Lower Paxton Township
s, as well as in the borough of Paxtang
. However, the “Paxton Township” referenced in the novel once included all but the southernmost portion of present-day Dauphin County, as well as part of present-day Lebanon County
. When the narrative speaks of “the two townships” the second is almost certainly Derry Township
, to the south of Paxton.
John Elder (1706–1792), known as "the Fighting Parson," became the pastor of Paxton Presbyterian Church, located in present-day Paxtang, in 1738. The church was founded in 1732; the present structure, built in 1740, is the oldest Presbyterian church still in use in Pennsylvania and would have been standing at the time of the events portrayed in ‘’The Light in the Forest’’. Elder’s family was from County Antrim
, Ireland
, and he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh
, Scotland
. John followed his father, Robert, to America in about 1735. The novel mentions Elder as being pastor of the “Derry Church.” While the unincorporated town of Hershey
, in Derry Township, was previously known as Derry Church, Elder’s pastorate at the church in Paxtang is unquestioned.
Elder was in fact a leader of the Paxton Boys
, a vigilante group formed to protect White settlers from Indian attack. The Paxton Boys are perhaps best known for having massacred a group of Susquehannock Indians who had been placed in protective custody in a jail in Lancaster
. The massacre was carried out as vengeance for an attack on White settlers by an entirely different group of Indians.
Henry Bouquet
(1719–1765) was a prominent British Army
officer in the French and Indian War
and Pontiac's War. In autumn 1764 he became commander of Fort Pitt. In October of that year his army reached the Tuscarawas, the site of True Son’s fictional village, and representatives of several Native groups game to him to sue for peace. The return of White captives described in ‘’The Light in the Forest’’ was a traumatic experience for many captives, particularly those who had been “adopted” while very young and who remembered no other way of live than with the Native Americans. Many captives managed to return to their Indian families and many others were never exchanged at all. However, Bouquet managed to return approximately 200 former captives to settlements back east. Bouquet died suddenly, shortly after the events depicted in the novel.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
first published in 1953 by U.S. author Conrad Richter
Conrad Richter
Conrad Michael Richter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist whose lyrical work focuses on life along the American frontier.-Biography:...
. Though it is a work of fiction and primarily features fictional characters, the novel incorporates several real people with facts from U.S. history.
A 1958
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
feature film adaptation of the same name
The Light in the Forest (film)
The Light in the Forest is a 1958 film based on a novel of the same name first published in 1953 by U.S. author Conrad Richter. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and starred Fess Parker, Joanne Dru, James MacArthur and Wendell Corey. Though it is a work of fiction and primarily...
was produced by Walt Disney Productions and starred Fess Parker
Fess Parker
Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone from 1964-70...
, Joanne Dru
Joanne Dru
Joanne Dru was an American film and television actress, known for such films as Red River and All the King's Men.-Career:...
, James MacArthur
James MacArthur
James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O.-Early life:...
and Wendell Corey
Wendell Corey
Wendell Reid Corey was an American actor and politician.He was born in Dracut, Massachusetts, the son of Milton Rothwell Corey and Julia Etta McKenney . His father was a Congregationalist clergyman...
.
The film's song title was written by Lawrence Edward Watkin
Lawrence Edward Watkin
Lawrence Edward Watkin was an American author and scriptwriter. He has become known especially as a scriptwriter for a series of Walt Disney films of the 1950s....
, Paul J. Smith
Paul Smith (composer)
Paul J. Smith was an Academy Award-winning American music composer. He was born in Calumet, Michigan. Smith spent much of his life working at Disney as composer for many of its films' scores, animated and live-action alike, movie and television alike...
and Hazel "Gil" George.
Synopsis
A young boy, from a Pennsylvanian Colony in America is taken hostage during a raid by a Lenni Lenape tribe during territorial wars. None of the Pennsylvanian men rescue him, and he is adopted by tribesman Cuyloga into the Indian society and rechristened "True Son". Believing himself to be of Indian blood, he hates the colonists, and eleven years later American military men come to return him to his colonial home. His Indian father reluctantly gives him back to the colonists, in exchange for the return of some Indian lands. His cousin and his friend (Half Arrow and Little Crane) accompany him on his journey to the new settlement, but soon they must leave him before they venture too far out of Indian territory. True Son returns to his colony of origin and finds it hard to communicate with his English speaking family.His family tries to reconnect with their lost son, but he refuses to have any part in the English colony. His Aunt Kate remarks upon the objects that seem to be randomly missing from their places. Later, we find out True Son has been stealing various items for his journey back to the Indians. Little Crane was killed the previous night by his white racist Uncle Wilse, and he and Half Arrow go to scalp his uncle. His uncle fights back and calls for help, and True Son and Half Arrow forget their attempt and begin their trek back. True Son and Half Arrow return home, and inform Cuyloga of the murder. Little Crane's family rallies a group to go raid the settlement to avenge Little Crane. All the men of the tribe go, as do True Son and Half Arrow. The tribe makes plans to ambush a boat. True Son was to tell them when to ambush the boat. True Son, instead, told the people on the boat that they were to be ambushed, thus betraying his Indian family and tribe. The tribe then forces him to go back to his white family. In the end it is Cuyloga who brings him back to the territory line and tells him that from that point on they will separate and become enemies, if they happen to see each other again they will treat each other like enemies and not like father and son.
True Son
True Son (John Cameron Butler) was kidnapped by the Lenape from his home in Pennsylvania when he was four. He was then raised by his adopted Indian father, Cuyloga. Cuyloga trained True Son for 11 years with lessons of strength and patience, with fire and freezing water tactics.Cuyloga
Cuyloga is True Son’s adoptive father and firmly believed that he had transformed True Son into an Indian. Cuyloga is described as a wise and strong father figure. He is the one who took True Son away from his white family.Del Hardy
Del Hardy is a young soldier charged with ensuring True Son’s return to his blood family’s home. He is also a translator. Like True Son, Del spent part of his youth living among the Lenape. While he is distrustful of Indians as a group he is empathetic toward True Son and allows his Indian companions to accompany him on part of the journey to his white familyHalf Arrow
Half Arrow is True Son's favorite Indian cousin. He accompanies him to Fort Pitt. He later comes to Paxton in search of True Son and together they return to the Lenape village in Ohio.Uncle Wilse
Uncle Wilse (Wilson Owens) is True Son's White uncle. An unapologetic white supremacist, he is well known as a member of the Paxton BoysPaxton Boys
The Paxton Boys were a vigilante group who murdered 20 Susquehannock in events collectively called the Conestoga Massacre. Scots-Irish frontiersmen from central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River formed a vigilante group to retaliate against local American Indians in the aftermath of the...
, a group notorious for having massacred the Susquehannock
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
Indians, also known as Conestoga or Conestogo. True Son hates Wilse for his involvement in the massacre, while Wilse believes that True Son has been brainwashed by the Lenape and cannot be trusted.
Historical context
While The Light in the Forest is a work of fiction it references several historical persons, places, situations and events.The Tuscarawas River
Tuscarawas River
The Tuscarawas River is a principal tributary of the Muskingum River, 129.9 miles long, in northeastern Ohio in the United States...
, along which lay True Son’s Lenape village, runs through northeastern Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. It meets the Walhonding River to form the Muskingum River near Coshocton
Coshocton, Ohio
Coshocton is a city in and the county seat of Coshocton County, Ohio, United States. The population of the city was 11,682 at the 2000 census. The Walhonding River and the Tuscarawas River meet in Coshocton to form the Muskingum River....
. (“The Forks of the Muskingum” are mentioned frequently in the novel.) The Muskingum in turn meets the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
near Marietta, Ohio
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
. Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
Fort Pitt was a fort built at the location of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.-French and Indian War:The fort was built from 1759 to 1761 during the French and Indian War , next to the site of former Fort Duquesne, at the confluence the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River...
stood at the confluence of the Allegheny
Allegheny River
The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
and Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
s. A British post, it replaced the French Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
in 1758.
The ferry that takes True Son, Harry Butler, and Del Hardy across the Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
is likely Harris’ Ferry, which later gave rise to the city of Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
. Fort Hunter is now operated as a period museum north of the city. In one portion of the novel a Black slave tells True Son and Gordie about Kittatinny, Second, and Stony (or Short) Mountain. These are easily recognizable as Blue, Second and Third Mountains, north of present-day Harrisburg. The narrative provides an accurate description of the craggy crest of the latter.
The Native American place name “Peshtank or Paxton” remains in the names of Dauphin County’s
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Dauphin County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is one of the three counties comprising the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 census, the population was 268,100. The county includes the city of Harrisburg, which has served as the state capital...
Upper
Upper Paxton Township, Pennsylvania
Upper Paxton Township is a township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,930 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 31.1 square miles , of which, 26.0 square miles of it is land and...
, Middle
Middle Paxton Township, Pennsylvania
Middle Paxton Township is a township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,823 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, and Lower Paxton Township
Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania
Lower Paxton Township is a township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The township was incorporated in 1767 from Paxton Township...
s, as well as in the borough of Paxtang
Paxtang, Pennsylvania
Paxtang is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is a suburb of Harrisburg and is one of the earliest colonial settlements in South Central Pennsylvania.-History:...
. However, the “Paxton Township” referenced in the novel once included all but the southernmost portion of present-day Dauphin County, as well as part of present-day Lebanon County
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
As of the census of 2000, there were 120,327 people and 32,771 families residing in the county. The population density was 332 people per square mile . There were 49,320 housing units at an average density of 136 per square mile...
. When the narrative speaks of “the two townships” the second is almost certainly Derry Township
Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Derry Township is a township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 21,273 at the 2000 census. Hershey, Pennsylvania, the site of the well-known Hershey's chocolate factory and its affiliated amusement park, are also located within the township...
, to the south of Paxton.
John Elder (1706–1792), known as "the Fighting Parson," became the pastor of Paxton Presbyterian Church, located in present-day Paxtang, in 1738. The church was founded in 1732; the present structure, built in 1740, is the oldest Presbyterian church still in use in Pennsylvania and would have been standing at the time of the events portrayed in ‘’The Light in the Forest’’. Elder’s family was from County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. John followed his father, Robert, to America in about 1735. The novel mentions Elder as being pastor of the “Derry Church.” While the unincorporated town of Hershey
Hershey, Pennsylvania
Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality...
, in Derry Township, was previously known as Derry Church, Elder’s pastorate at the church in Paxtang is unquestioned.
Elder was in fact a leader of the Paxton Boys
Paxton Boys
The Paxton Boys were a vigilante group who murdered 20 Susquehannock in events collectively called the Conestoga Massacre. Scots-Irish frontiersmen from central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River formed a vigilante group to retaliate against local American Indians in the aftermath of the...
, a vigilante group formed to protect White settlers from Indian attack. The Paxton Boys are perhaps best known for having massacred a group of Susquehannock Indians who had been placed in protective custody in a jail in Lancaster
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
. The massacre was carried out as vengeance for an attack on White settlers by an entirely different group of Indians.
Henry Bouquet
Henry Bouquet
Henry Bouquet was a prominent British Army officer in the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. Bouquet is best known for his victory over Native Americans at the Battle of Bushy Run, lifting the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's War.-Early life:Bouquet was born into a moderately wealthy...
(1719–1765) was a prominent British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
and Pontiac's War. In autumn 1764 he became commander of Fort Pitt. In October of that year his army reached the Tuscarawas, the site of True Son’s fictional village, and representatives of several Native groups game to him to sue for peace. The return of White captives described in ‘’The Light in the Forest’’ was a traumatic experience for many captives, particularly those who had been “adopted” while very young and who remembered no other way of live than with the Native Americans. Many captives managed to return to their Indian families and many others were never exchanged at all. However, Bouquet managed to return approximately 200 former captives to settlements back east. Bouquet died suddenly, shortly after the events depicted in the novel.
External links
- http://bookstove.com/drama/light-in-the-forest/ (An essay about this book)