One of the towering yet forgotten heroes of Oklahoma and American history was the martyred Cherokee Elias Boudinot. (He should not be confused with his son, Boomer pioneer Elias C. Boudinot, nor his white mentor/namesake, Revolutionary War hero and first Continental Congress President Elias Boudinot.)

Elias and his beloved wife, the saintly and beautiful Harriet Gold Boudinot, comprise the "Cherokee Romeo and Puritan Juliet" feature in John's upcoming "The Oklahomans," Vol. 1 book. Here is his telling of their great and moving story, from the pages of the current "Saddlebag Dispatches" Western magazine (http://saddlebagdispatches.com), published by Oghma Creative Media.