History has its heroes and its villains, but most of all it has its witnesses. As post chaplain at Fort D. A. Russell in Wyoming Territory from 1867 to 1870, the Reverend Edmund B. Tuttle was an eyewitness to the evolving relationship between the U.S. Army and American Indians on the northern high plains, particularly the Lakota (Sioux), the Northern Cheyennes, and the Northern Arapahos. In 1873, he wrote about his experiences, along with events derived from other sources.

Tuttle knew many of the individuals involved in the various Indian-Anglo conflicts during the 1860s. His writings...