I enjoyed this book for the wealth and detail of information it conveyed. However, the author's writing style didn't make this book very "readable". It was something of a labor to wade though the pages of extraordinary detail. Additional efforts could have made this book flow better. Hence I recommend it to those with specific interest in the topic, rather than those seeking entertainment or just a good read.

This book really enlightens the reader with interesting personal narratives. The book also dispells the myth of a "John Wayne, She wore a Yellow Ribbon" frontier Army. It picks up from the end of the Civil War and leads you straight into the Spanish American War. A wonderful book for those interested in in the daily lives of the soldiers form typical daily lives to military justice. This book also helped with my summer Interpretation job at Fort Mackinac. Michigan were we portray 1880's U.S. Army.

As I cast about for research material for an upcoming book, several American Indian War experts recommended Don Rickey's book as the "Bible" on the frontier soldier's life. I am not an Indian War buff, but I can tell you this book is chocked full of details and insights that are not likely to be found collected in any other single volume.

The book is broken down into logical chapters, from a description of the Western troubles to the typical routines of the soldiers' discharges. We are treated to what might be some of the last in-depth interviews with Indian War veterans and, as has been pointed out, we begin to get a feel of the frontier soldier's daily life as 99 percent boredom and physical labor and 1 percent terror.

Many books have been written around the edges of this subject, and several were awful in their historical value. But this is a solid history, well-researched and full of interesting anecdotes to boot!