THE U.S. ARMY IN THE WEST, 1870-1880: UNIFORMS, WEAPONS, AND EQUIPMENT
The decade of the 1870s was an important period for the U.S. Army. In addition to making the transition from a huge Civil War army, swollen with volunteers, to a more modest cadre of regulars, it had also to contend with an Indian problem on the Western frontier.
As Douglas C. McChristian explains in his new study, The U.S. Army in the West, 1870-1880, the resourceful application of equipment in the field played a major role in shaping the Army’s view of how its troops should be equipped. One plus that this book offers is its reliance on photos, rather than drawings, to depict a particular piece of clothing or equipment, and to complement the author’s well-written text.Jerry Keenan
