Indians, Infants, and Infantry

During the years of the Indian uprisings in the West, Elizabeth Burt followed her husband, Major Andrew Burt, from one lonely outpost to another, with their three small children, a crate of chickens, and a cow in tow.Indians, Infants, and Infantry, based largely on a 1912 manuscript Mrs. Burt derived from now-lost letters and diaries, provides an intimate glimpse of life at Forts Kearney, Bridger, Laramie, and C. F. Smith from the 1860s through the 1890s. Historical events do not dwarf but only heighten the half-century love affair of a remarkable woman and a soldier whose distinguished career stretched from the Civil to the Spanish-American war. In addition to Mrs. Burt's manuscripts, Merrill J. Mattes drew on army records and other primary sources.

A former historian for the National Park Service, Merrill J. Mattes is the author of The Great Platte River Road (1987).