First published 1970
Winter grips Fort Phil Kearny in 1866 as soldiers prepare for Lakota warriors to strike. The garrison knows the odds work against them. They lack numbers and firepower to match their enemies. Wave after wave of attacks hammer the outpost. Inside the fort, men watch supplies dwindle and wonder who among them will break first. Some question orders while others cling to military discipline. The siege stretches on with no relief in sight. Each soldier must choose between personal survival and loyalty to his unit. Brown puts readers inside this desperate struggle where duty collides with the will to live. The story reveals how war strips away everything except the most basic human drives. These men face not just death but the knowledge that their sacrifice may mean nothing in the larger conflict consuming the frontier.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, military-fiction, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: duty-vs-survival, loyalty
Setting: Fort Phil Kearny
Period: 1866
276 pages · Paperback · Bison Books
Content warnings: death, violence, war