Walt Staley is a drifter, a man who works only long enough so he can get enough money to be traveling again. He rides for Fort Laramie, where he successfully enlists as an Army scout under General Crook.
Before Staley arrives at the fort, he is forced by roving Indians to stop at an Army hay camp, where he meets Dave Allison. The two become friends, especially after Allison is transferred to active service under General Crook.
Finally, there is Patrick OâHara, who considers himself the ace reporter at the Chicago Herald. He wants most of all to be attached to Custerâs regiment, believing that Custer alone will be able to subdue the wild Indian tribes. He is disappointed when his editor instead sends him to be attached to General Crookâs expeditionary force.
The events that follow will change the lives of these three men forever.
Wayne D. Overholser (1906â1996) was an American Western writer from Pomeroy, Washington. He won the 1953 Spur Award for Best Novel for Lawman, written under the pseudonym Lee Leighton, and the 1954 Spur Award for The Violent Land.