The Sword of the Republic: United States Army on the Frontier, 1783-1846
In this careful and colorful history, the author illuminates the army's central role in the settlement of the frontier in the decades between the American Revolution and the Mexican War. He characterizes the soldiers as policemen, farmers, roadbuilders, scientists and lumbermen, but "first of all they where agents of the empire". In addition the book covers such key episodes as the Indian campaign in the Old Northwest; the explorations of Pike, Long, and Lewis and Clarke; the Seminole War; and the Black Hawk War.
Francis Paul Prucha
Softcover 442pp Bison Books 1986
Fine