ON THE BORDER WITH MACKENZIE OR WINNING WEST TEXAS FROM THE COMANCHES. by Carter, Robert G

Wash., 1935. [2],xviii,418,[2],419-542pp. Illus. Original cloth. First edition. One of the great rarities of western Americana printed in the 20th century, issued in a small edition in the midst of the depression by an obscure Washington publisher. Carter's book is one of the primary sources for the Indian wars on the South Plains. "This is one of the best sources on the Federal cavalry campaigns against the Indians in the 1870's. "- Jenkins. "The most complete account of the Indian wars on the Texas frontier in the Seventies." - Dykes. After service in the ranks in the Civil War, than graduating from West Point in 1870, Carter was stationed at Fort Concho, and spent the next five years in the midst of some of the most ferocious Indian fighting int he West, until a wound forced him to retire in 1876. His commanding officer, Gen. Ranald Mackenzie, was one of the legendary cavalry commanders of the time, and Carter's stories, told in an outspoken narrative, are extraordinarily interesting, despite his somewhat hackneyed style and large basket of prejudices, which are distributed freely over the narrative (he was especially bitter over his treatment by the War Office after being disabled.) Carter published several sections of this book as pamphlets in very small editions for distribution to friends, evidently prior to deciding to undertake the larger book. All of those pamphlets are extremely rare, and together constitute only part of the present book. Carter died the year after the book's publication, and the unsold edition may have been disposed of by the publisher. In any case, it is both important and very rare. Jenkins: Basic Texas Books 25. Howes C 195.