Harold Keith was born in 1903 in Lambert, Oklahoma. He went to Northwestern State Teachers College and University of Oklahoma. He was the University of Oklahoma Sports Publicity Director from 1930-1969. He died in Norman, Oklahoma of heart failure on the 24th of February, 1998.

Rifles for Watie is about a boy named Jefferson Davis Bussey and his adventure in the army during the Civil War. He learns that there’s more to war than honor and glory. He knows that each move that he makes could be his last.