When the Civil War started in 1860, the US government called into combat the regular troops that had been protecting the routes west to California gold and Oregon beaver. Soon authorities worried about native restlessness, and sent a newly minted battalion to Fort Laramie, now in Wyoming, to guard the Oregon Trail and its mail and telegraph links with the Pacific. Having written several books of US history, most focusing on the Civil War, Huhn here recounts its battles with tribes east of the Rocky Mountains and their non-combat duties. Annotation 2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
