My Army Life and the Fort Phil. Kearney Massacre

A classic memoir of life on the western frontier



The author of this well known and well regarded work begins her story of army life as a young officer's wife on the western frontier with all the naivety and trepidation one might expect. She was married to an army officer of the 18th U. S Infantry, George Washington Grummond and their post was to be the far flung outpost of Fort Phil Kearney, Wyoming, which was soon to be the centre of the maelstrom which was 'Red Cloud's War.' Grummond was one of the ill-fated detachment who rode out of the fort to the 'Fetterman Massacre' of 1866 and thus, by disobeying orders, put himself into the history books as a participant in the worst disaster suffered by the U. S Army at the hands of the Plains Indian tribes until George Armstrong Custer-together with elements of the 7th Cavalry-was eradicated at Little Big Horn some 10 years later. Frances Grummond, as the author was at the time, was widowed and understandably distraught. She was comforted by the post commander's wife, Margaret Carrington who wrote, Ab-sa-ra-ka-Home of the Crows. Margaret Carrington died in 1870 and Mrs Grummond subsequently became the second wife of Colonel Henry B. Carrington. This book is an essential work on the Indian Wars of the mid-nineteenth century in America, it provides valuable insights into army life and also recounts a notable incident in American frontier history. An essential component of any library of the subject as well as being an engrossing and fascinating view of how women of the time dealt with extraordinary danger and adversity.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.