Red Cloud's War: The Bozeman Trail, 1866-1868

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. McDermotts masterful retelling of the Fetterman Disaster is just one episode of Red Clouds War, the most comprehensive history of the Bozeman Trail yet written.