Beadle's New Dime Novels: The Five Champions

# Catalog Note: The Five Champions; or, The Backwoods Belle

This serial adventure by Edward Willett depicts frontier life in Simms' Settlement, a fortified Kentucky community near the Cumberland River, established by Virginia emigrants. The narrative opens with a festive May day featuring a shooting match, barbecue, and dance—celebrations triggered by a recent peace treaty with a formerly hostile Indian tribe. The settlement is governed by an elected Board of Judges, including founder Martin Simms, and defended by a stockaded block-house armed with cannon.

Despite initial optimism about the treaty, cautious colonists fear Indian treachery and maintain armed vigilance. The settlement's young men gather for marksmanship competition where marksmen fire from rest positions and off-hand, with the victor to be crowned by Lucy Simms, the acknowledged belle. William Simms and Henry Denton emerge as leading marksmen. The narrative establishes themes of frontier defense, community governance, courtship, and underlying tension regarding Indian relations.