From 1832 to 1891 the states from the Great Lakes west to Oregon and south to Mexico saw scenes of massacre, bloody rout, ambush, fire, and pillage as the great Indian tribes—Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Modoc, and Apache—fought desperately to turn back the invading white men. Recreated in this volume are twenty-odd battles crucial in the opening of the American West to white settlement.

Among the battles included here are the Pierre's Hole fight, the battle of Bandera Pass, the battle of Pyramid Lake, the battle of Wood Lake, the Canyon de Chelly rout, the battles of Adobe Walls, the Fetterman, Hayfield, and Wagon Box fights, the fight at Beecher Island, the battle of the Washita, the battles of Massacre Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon, the battle of the Rosebud, the battle of the Little Bighorn, the Dull Knife massacre, and the final, tragic battle at Wounded Knee.