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Award of Merit, American Association for State and Local History
“Essential reading for those who wish to learn about life on an important army post on the Northern Great Plains during a vital period in the nation’s development . . . highly recommended.”—South Dakota History
“Well-written and accessible to both scholars and the general reader, Fort Randall is interesting and informative. This is another coup for Jerome Greene.”—Roundup Magazine
“Meticulously researched. . .[Jerome Greene] has provided Fort Randall with the footnote in history that it so richly deserves.”—Little Big Horn Association Newsletter
“The book is well researched, contains an excellent bibliography as well as explanatory footnotes, and two appendices.”—Journal of the West
Strategically located along the Missouri River near the present South Dakota-Nebraska border, Fort Randall served as an important outpost on the western frontier, playing a key role in maintaining peace between American Indians and new settlers in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Its most famous residents included African American “Buffalo Soldiers” and the imprisoned Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull.
In Fort Randall on the Missouri, 1856–1892, Jerome A. Greene immerses the reader in the day-to-day life of a frontier garrison, using original maps, soldiers’ drawings, and excerpts from their letters. Stories of soldiers’ families, food, education, entertainment, and worship depict a self-sufficient community, weathering local conflicts as well as the Civil War.
The appendixes name the commanding officers and regiments stationed there as well as the imprisoned members of Sitting Bull’s band; twenty-four Bailey, Dix and Mead photographs of Sitting Bull’s people taken in 1882 are also featured.
Greene concludes his work by chronicling the demise of the post as thriving communities grew up around it.
More Praise:
“Fort Randall is a valuable addition for those interested in the Great Sioux War and regional history.”—The Journal of Military History
"This fine volume is recommended to anyone interested in frontier military history and the Indian wars.”—Kansas History
“Fort Randall is engaging and comprehensive.”—Nebraska History
“Anyone interested in frontier military-Indian relations will find Greene’s work valuable reading.”—Nebraska History
Fort Randall is a "heavily researched and meticulously accurate chronicle."—The Midwest Book Review