Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888

On the Western Frontier with the U. S Army

Some of the most valuable and endearing accounts of life on the nineteenth century American Western frontier have come from the pens of women authors. Among those several have been the wives of military men posted to the furthest reaches of the nation to protect settlers, assist in the Westward expansion that was 'Manifest Destiny' and to deal with wars against the indigenous Indian tribes who fought to maintain their own way of life. This book by Frances Roe is one such account. She married her husband, a young infantry officer newly graduated from West Point, Fayette Roe in 1871 and shortly after found herself turning her back on the cosseted Eastern life she had known and heading out to the Wild West. Her life with the colours took her to Montana Territory, to the Colorado lands of the Cheyenne and to Indian Territory. Frances Roe has left us a graphic view of army life in garrison, on campaign and in camp, in all its detail, as well as wonderfully described accounts of her adventures in the untamed and beautiful wilderness.