On a cold December day in 1866, Captain William J. Fetterman
disobeyed orders and spurred his men across Lodge Trail Ridge in
pursuit of a group of retreating Lakota Sioux, Arapahos, and
Cheyennes. He saw a perfect opportunity to punish the tribes for
harassing travelers on the Bozeman Trail and attacking wood trains
sent out from nearby Fort Phil Kearny. In a sudden turn of events,
his command was, within moments, annihilated. John D. McDermott's
masterful retelling of the Fetterman Disaster is just one episode
of" Red Cloud's War," the most comprehensive history of the Bozeman
Trail yet written.
In vivid detail, McDermott recounts how the discovery of gold in
Montana in 1863 led to the opening of the 250-mile route from Fort
Laramie to the goldfields near Virginia City, and the fortification
of this route with three military posts. The road crossed the
Powder River Basin, the last, best hunting grounds of the Northern
Plains tribes. Oglala chief Red Cloud and his allies mounted a
campaign of armed resistance against the army and Montana-bound
settlers. Among a host of small but bloody clashes were such major
battles as the Fetterman Disaster, the Wagon Box Fight, and the
Hayfield Fight, all of them famous in the annals of the Indian
Wars.
McDermott's spellbinding narrative offers a cautionary tale of
hubris and mis-calculation. The United States Army suffered one
setback after another; what reputation for effectiveness it had
gained during the Civil War dissipated in the skirmishing in
faraway Big Horn country.
In a thoughtful conclusion, McDermott reflects on the tribes'
victories and the consequences of the Treaty of 1868. By
successfully defending their hunting grounds, the Northern Plains
tribes delayed an ultimate reckoning that would come a decade later
on the Little Bighorn, on the Red Forks of the Powder River, at
Slim Buttes, at Wolf Mountain, and in a dozen other places where
warrior and trooper met in the final clashes on the western
plains.
The leather-bound collector's edition is limited to fifty-five
numbered and signed copies in a handsome slipcase, of which fifty
are offered for sale.
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