Zane Grey's First Novel
Battle and survival on the frontier
during the American Revolution

Inspired by the life and adventures of own great-great-grandmother, Betty Zane was Zane Grey's first novel and launched career as a master writer of rousing frontier and Western adventures.

Betty
Zane

is the story of the events culminating in the last battle of the American Revolution, when two hundred Redcoats from British-controlled Detroit along with four hundred Shawnee Indians attacked the small, wood-palisaded Ford Henry on the western frontier.  The heroine of the battle - a young, spunky, and beautiful frontier girl - was Betty Zane.

From librivox.org:

This is an early novel by the phenomenally successful author of frontier, western and sports stories. It deals with historical characters and incidents in the Ohio Valley in the late 18th century, especially with the foundation of Gnaddenhutten, a missionary village intended to bring Christianity to the Indians of Ohio, despite the violent opposition of both Indians and white renegades. This turbulent adventure romance features the heroics of a semi-legendary frontiersman, Lewis Wetzel, who attempts to protect the settlers from hostile Native Americans and the vicious white outlaws the Girty brothers. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson)

From librivox.org:

Return with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear as Mike Vendetti narrates this early Zane Grey novel of hardy pioneers taming the wild west. Yes, despite the difficult times, romance flourishes and the bad guys are eliminated almost single handedly as our heroes Jonathan Zane and his sidekick Lew “Deathwind” Wetzel fight their way through mud, blood, gore, savage Indians, and despicable outlaws, to make the land safe for pioneer families as they settle the wild west. Summary by Mike Vendetti.