Harold Keith

Biography

Harold Keith grew up near the Cherokee country he describes in Rifles for Watie.A native Oklahoman, he was edu-cated at Northwestern State Teachers College at Alva and at the University of Oklahoma.While traveling in eastern Oklahoma doing research on his master’s thesis in history, Mr. Keith found a great deal of fresh material about the Civil War in the Indian country. Deciding he might someday write a historical novel, he interviewed twenty–two Civil War veterans then living in Oklahoma and Arkansas; much of the background of Rifles for Watiecame from the note-books he filled at that time. The actual writing of this book took five years.Since 1930, the author has been sports publicity director at the University of Oklahoma. He is married and has a son and daughter.