The Thirty-ninth Man is a historical novel culminating with the mass execution of thirty-eight men--the largest mass execution in the history of the United States. History tells us little of the thirty-ninth man--Tatemina-Round Wind--sentenced to die with the others. This story places fictional Anton McAllister in the center of real events, many uncovered during painstaking research.
In 1862 with the beginnings of the Sioux Wars in the Minnesota River Valley, mixed blood, Anton, balances on the razor thin line separating corrupt Indian agents, unscrupulous fur traders, the U.S. Army and powerful chiefs from the Chippewa and Dakota nations. When his best friend, Tatemina, is falsely accused of war crimes and sentenced to die, Anton begins a race to save him from the gallows.
The story begins in 1804 and concludes on December 26, 1862.