Library Journal Review
With this work, military historian McDermott provides his seasoned analysis of the causes and circumstances of the Plains Indian War of 1865. Extensively researched, his detailed account traces battles between the U.S. Army and Native Americans that surrounded the establishment of the Bozeman Trail upon the northern plains. Beginning with hostilities in Colorado in 1864 that culminated in the vicious attack of Col. John Chivington at Sand Creek upon a camp of southern Cheyenne and Arapaho, McDermott traces the war of vengeance that followed in 1865. A united campaign of northern and southern Cheyenne, northern Arapaho, and various groups of western Sioux, joined by trader George Bent and his sons, entered into a conflict against American settlers and the army that extended from the Missouri River in Kansas and Nebraska to the eastern front range of Colorado and north to the Powder River country of Wyoming. This book is a welcome companion to McDermott's 1998 A Travel Guide to the Indian Wars of the West. Recommended for academic and public libraries.-Nathan E. Bender, Buffalo Bill Historical Ctr., Cody, WY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.