Includes Index and Bibliography

The Eleventh Kansas Cavalry -- Preface --
Guidons on the Oregon Trail -- Ch. I.
The wagon train -- Ch. II.
The Indians declare war -- Ch. III.
Prelude at Platte Station -- Ch. IV.
Lieutenant Caspar Collins' fight -- Ch. V.
Lieutenant Walker's skirmish -- Ch. VI.
Sergeant Custard's wagon train fight -- Ch. VII.
Death in the sand hills -- Ch. VIII.
Search and research. Ch. IX.
Ch. X.

Preface --
Ch. I. The Eleventh Kansas Cavalry --
Ch. II. Guidons on the Oregon Trail --
Ch. III. The wagon train --
Ch. IV. The Indians declare war --
Ch. V. Prelude at Platte Station --
Ch. VI. Lieutenant Caspar Collins' fight --
Ch. VII. Lieutenant Walker's skirmish --
Ch. VIII. Sergeant Custard's wagon train fight --
Ch. IX. Death in the sand hills --
Ch. X. Search and research.

This is the story of a little-known encounter between U.S. troops and a combined force of Cheyennes, Sioux, and Arapahoes which ranks in historical interest with the battles of the Little Big Horn and the Alamo.; In retaliation for the slaughter of Indians in 1864 at Killdeer Mountain, Dakota Territory, and Sand Creek, Colorado, the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoes united their forces and attacked Platte Bridge Station, a key point on the Oregon Trail, in July, 1865. Despite internecine strife, a severe shortage of ammunition, and a dearth of serviceable horses, members of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry and the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, along with a few "galvanized troops," put up a heroic fight against overwhelming numbers of the enemy and inflicted upon them such serious losses that most of them abandoned their concerted attacks upon Oregon Trail posts and returned to their homes along the Powder River.; Mr. Vaughn presents a detailed day-to-day account of the episodes in which a young lieutenant from Ohio, Caspar Collins (in whose honor the present-day city of Casper, Wyoming, was named), lost his life in an attempt to go to the aid of a small army wagon train. Ultimately all but three of the twenty-five men in the five wagons died in a valiant but futile effort to defend themselves.; In his research the author not only has utilized many written and oral sources but has also surveyed the area with a metal detector to locate the exact battle sites. The result is a thoroughly satisfying book in a fine succession of research undertakings by a devoted student of the nineteenth-century battle grounds in the Trans-Mississippi West.