A Soldier's Trial: An Episode of the Canteen Crusade

King, Charles, 1844-1933Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1

Word count: 473K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. A Soldier's Trial: An Episode of the Canteen Crusade by Charles King. Author: King, Charles, 1844-1933. Language: English. Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature. Release Date: May 9, 2010

Editor's review

This novel by Charles King is set against army life and revolves around a trial sparked by the temperance movement within the military (the "canteen crusade"). King drew on extensive military experience, giving his portrayals of soldiers' psychology, court-martial procedure, and camp routine a vivid immediacy; the characters' struggles among discipline, honor, and personal desire are drawn with real substance. The book's value lies not in thrilling plot but in preserving a cross-section of late nineteenth-century American military life and the social currents of the temperance era, showing how army management, moral reform, and individual fate intertwined. The Project Gutenberg edition is the original English e-book, suitable as supplementary material for studying American military fiction, the history of the temperance movement, or reading English originals. Read it as popular fiction in historical context, focusing on the trial process and shifts in characters' positions rather than expecting intense dramatic conflict.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English-language readers interested in American military fiction
Students of the temperance movement and the history of army management
Readers who want to learn about nineteenth-century American army life through an original novel
Intermediate to advanced English learners seeking public-domain English texts for reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers hoping for fast-paced suspense or combat action
Beginners whose English is not yet sufficient to read a full-length original novel
General readers with little interest in courts-martial or moral reform

Reading tips

Start with the preface or opening background paragraphs to understand what the "canteen crusade" refers to before entering the main trial narrative.
Treat the trial as the central thread, noting differences in testimony and characters' positions as you read.
Skip over military jargon or rank titles at first to keep your reading rhythm, and look them up after finishing a chapter.
For historical research, read alongside background material on the temperance era to deepen understanding.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What does this book have to do with the temperance movement?

The novel is set against the army's internal "canteen crusade," a reform related to the era's broader temperance and moderation currents. Through a trial, the story shows conflicts over drinking and discipline in camp, making it a literary sample for understanding how the temperance era affected army management.

Can I understand it without a military background?

Yes. Although the novel involves courts-martial and camp life, its core is the conflict between discipline and personal choice, which general readers can follow through the trial. A few rank and procedural terms do not affect overall comprehension and can be looked up as needed.

What language is this edition in, and how is it best read?

This is the original English e-book released by Project Gutenberg, suitable for reading on electronic devices. Proceed chapter by chapter and use notes to track characters and testimony; this makes the trial threads easier to grasp than a single straight read-through.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

King, Charles, 1844-1933 Author

Charles King (1844–1933) was an American author. Public information about him is limited, and few systematic records of his life details are available. The library holds twenty-eight of his works, commonly classified under inspirational growth. Representative titles include Campaigning with Crook, and Stories of Army Life; Starlight Ranch, and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier; A Wounded Name; Warrior Gap: A Story of the Sioux Outbreak of '68; From the Ranks; Sunset Pass or, Running the Gauntlet Through Apache Land; Lanier of the Cavalry or, A Week's Arrest; and An Apache Princess: A Tale of the Indian Frontier. As the titles suggest, his writing draws largely on American frontier and military life, centering on Indian frontier conflicts, cavalry experience, and everyday camp life. The works combine adventure narrative with elements of personal growth, emphasizing plot momentum and the recreation of period atmosphere, and offer some reference value for understanding nineteenth-century American popular literature on Western military themes.