The Red Mustang (Illustrated Edition)

The story begins: Early one bright June morning, not long ago, a high knoll of a prairie in southern New Mexico was occupied as it had never been before. Rattlesnakes had coiled there; prairie-dog sentinels and wolves and antelopes, and even grim old buffalo bulls, had used that swelling mound for a lookout station. Mountains in the distance and a great sweep of the plains could be seen from it. Never until that hour, however, since the grass began to grow, had precisely such a horse pawed and fretted there, while precisely such a boy sat in the saddle and looked around.

This edition of the book contains the four original illustrations, rejuvenated, and six additional western illustrations that are unique to this edition of the book.

William Osborn Stoddard (Courtland County, 1835–1925) was an American author, inventor, and assistant secretary to Abraham Lincoln during his first term.

Stoddard was born at Homer, Courtland Co., New York. His parents were Prentice S. and Sarah (Osborn) Stoddard. Stoddard attended the University of Rochester, where he graduated cum laude. On 25 Jul 1870 Stoddard married Susan Eagleson Cooper; they had five children. Stoddard died in Madison, New Jersey.

Stoddard's father was a bookseller, and Stoddard worked in his bookshop while growing up. After graduation, Stoddard was employed in an “editorial position” in 1857 at the Daily Ledger (Chicago); by 1858 he had become editor and proprietor of the Central Illinois Gazette, in Champaign, Illinois.

Stoddard first published work in 1869. He wrote both poetry and fiction, ultimately producing over a hundred books, including 76 books for boys.