Focusing on the Indian Wars period of the 1840s through the 1890s, Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier captures the daily challenges faced by the typical enlisted man and explores the role soldiers played in the conquering of the American frontier.

“The drums they roll, upon my soul, for that’s the way we go,” runs the chorus in a Harrigan and Hart song from 1874. “Forty miles a day on beans and hay in the Regular Army O!” The last three words of that lyric aptly title Douglas C. McChristian’s remarkable work capturing the lot of soldiers posted to the West after the Civil War. At once panoramic and intimate, Regular Army O! uses the testimony of enlisted soldiers—drawn from more than 350 diaries, letters, and memoirs—to create a vivid picture of life in an evolving army on the western frontier. After the volunteer troops that had garrisoned western forts and camps during the Civil War were withdrawn in 1865, the regular army replaced them. In actions involving American Indians between 1866 and 1891, 875 of these soldiers were killed, mainly in minor skirmishes, while many more died of disease, accident, or effects of the natural environment. What induced these men to enlist for five years and to embrace the grim prospect of combat is one of the enduring questions this book explores. Going well beyond Don Rickey Jr.’s classic work Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay (1963), McChristian plumbs the regulars’ accounts for frank descriptions of their training to be soldiers; their daily routines, including what they ate, how they kept clean, and what they did for amusement; the reasons a disproportionate number occasionally deserted, while black soldiers did so only rarely; how the men prepared for field service; and how the majority who survived mustered out. In this richly drawn, uniquely authentic view, men black and white, veteran and tenderfoot, fill in the details of the frontier soldier’s experience, giving voice to history in the making.

Unlike previous histories, this book argues that the politics of slavery profoundly influenced the western mission of the regular army - affecting the hearts and minds of officers and enlisted men both as the nation plummented toward civil war."--BOOK JACKET.

Leftover Soldiers tells the story of the Western Frontier after the last battle of the Civil War was fought near Brownsville, Texas. When the blood stopped flowing and the rifles were stacked for the last time, Texas became home to thousands of ex-soldiers from both sides, most with few prospects for their future. The story follows three ex-Union soldiers and one Confederate soldier, thrown together by circumstance, trying to move forward with their life on the ragged edges of the frontier. In the winter they find work as buffalo runners on the wide-open prairies of the Texas panhandle. In the spring they sign on as cowboys driving thousands of longhorn cattle north from San Antonio to the newly formed Wyoming Territory. Life on the prairie proves to be another battle against the weather, Indian attacks, displaced men turned outlaws and often against each other. The never-ending strain of the dangerous, back-breaking work helps to dull the horrors of war as each man comes to terms with his own past demons and begins to find his own path to the future on the prairies of the rapidly expanding country.

Personal narrative of army life from approximately 1867-1871. Includes appendices: The cowboy's verdict, by R.G. Carter (pages 301-306) and Cattle-thieving in Texas, by WWW (pages 307-313).

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Starlight Ranch, and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier" by Charles King. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.