OLD FORTS OF THE FAR WEST by Hart, Herbert M

Bonanza Books, New York, 1965. reprint of Superior publ. edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 8 1/2 x 10 1/2, VG/Good + ( dj shows medium chipping & edge wear, and some sunning of spine), glossy page stock, 192 pages, massively illustrated with photos and maps, index.----------------------------------Third in a series about historical Western military posts. Which was the worst menace—soldiers of the enemy, marauding Comanches, desperate ranchers or the long hot days with nothing to do? The cavalry and infantry troops had 'all these with a host of other troubles and became the unsung heroes of the Western push.Picking up landmarks half-buried in the desert sands, author Hart takes you back to Civil War times when the flimsy forts were thrown together as settlers and armies moved West and the Indians moved in. With fascinating photographs of the remnants today and tales told in barrack-room fashion, he makes it crystal clear why some soldiers took to gold mining and others took off for Mexico. It's all an authentic phase of U.S. military history presented by a military man with entertaining gestures.And there is stirring action here too... tragedy and comedy, in rifle smoke and desert dust with Indians "as thick as hops," looting and burning.. Kit Carson and the Battle of Adobe Walls ... "Death March" of the Navajos , Volunteer Captain Paddy Graydon and his "dynamiting mules" ... and how the head of bandit Joaquin Murietta came to be pickled in whiskey.