Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-330) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: History and heritage -- After Appomattox: The Army in Decline -- Fetterman's Chance: The fight on Lodge Trail Ridge -- Joining up: enlisting in the Army -- Against the odds: The Hayfield and Wagon Box Fights -- Drill and marksmanship: learning the soldier's trade -- Soldiering on the frontier: "Bring enough money to pay your own funeral expenses" -- Shoulder straps and chevrons: privates, NCOs and officers -- Books and baseball: soldiers' entertainments -- Bacon, bread and coffee: Army rations -- "The curse of the Army": alcohol and the soldier -- Hard, horse-killing marches: campaigning on the frontier -- Crime and punishment: "A 24-pound ball on a six-foot chain" -- Patrol, Pursuit and skirmish: The nature of combat in the Indian Wars -- The desertion problem: "Giving the Army the grand bounce" The color line: The Army and race -- "Mr. Lo": The soldier and the Indian -- Politics and a massacre: The Army's quest for control of the Indian Bureau -- "A damned big fight": The 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn -- The end of an era: The Pine Ridge Campaign and Wounded Knee -- The War with Spain: A different Army for a different war -- Waiting in the wings: The Spanish-American War in the training camps -- Scandal and reform: The Aftermath of the Spanish-American War -- "A diabolical threat": The anti-canteen campaign -- Soldiers of empire: The Army in the Philippines -- The War in the Philippines: "Battles we never enlisted for ..." -- Into Mexico: The 1916 Punitive Expedition -- Conclusion: The gathering storm -- Appendix: Major campaigns and combat engagements of the Indian Wars, 1866/1890.
Summary:
"Following the Civil War, the U.S. Army underwent a decline. Soldiers served at remote posts with harsh weather, bad food and poor living conditions. Drawing on soldiers' narratives, personal letters and official records, the author explores the common soldier's experience during the Reconstruction Era, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War and more"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.