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Sioux Dawn: The Fetterman Massacre, 1866
by Terry C. Johnston
I had the great pleasure of spending a week with author (and storyteller extraordinare) Terry C. Johnston back in 1995.
At the time, Terry was leading a History America Tour, and our route covered the major hot spots of the Plains Indian Wars, including Fort Phil Kearney, site of the Fetterman Massacre.
Terry’s novel, Sioux Dawn, follows the footsteps of fictional Sergeant Seamus Donegan as he trods through the historically accurate tale of the tragic opening of the Plains Indian Wars that took place at Wyoming’s Fort Kearney.
The time was 1866. The Civil War had just ended and a great westward march had begun. As settlers and soldiers poured out of the East along the Bozeman Trail, they ventured deep into Sioux hunting grounds. In response, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and their warriors devised a plan to draw soldiers out of the fort and into an inescapable trap.
Terry Johnston is a master storyteller whose passion and empathy lie equally with the soldiers and the Indians; his novels are well-researched enough to be textbooks, yet the stories are anything but dry.
In Sioux Dawn, the reader is drawn into the conflict between races, while maintaining a connection to both the fictional and real characters who made the mistake of riding down into the hell awaiting them at Peno Creek.
Like all of Terry’s books, Sioux Dawn rates 5 stars; if you want a true look at one of the earliest conflicts on the Northern Plains, this is the book to purchase.
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