Publisher's Synopsis
As the Civil War closed, the flow of emigrants turned into a flood, angering the Native Americans over this intrusion into their nomadic lands. The Lakota chief Red Cloud declared war.
Even before the American Revolution, Americans traveled west. From the narrow strip of the 13 colonies, across the Appalachians, ever westward they journeyed, and by the end of the 19th century, the United States of America stretched from sea to shining sea. Of course, just because the names on the borders changed, it did not tame the land or its previous residents. Americans desired California and Oregon, going to war for one and nearly going to war for the other. Once acquired, it now fell to the salt of the earth to settle these claimed lands and everything in between. To do this meant crossing terrain unused to the heavy traffic of Westerners on the move.
