Silbernagel casts new light on the story of the Meeker Affair by using details from historical interview transcripts and newspaper articles and revealing the personalities of the major characters--both Indian and non-Indian.

In Colorado, in 1879, a complex of troubles between red men and white erupted in sudden violence - murder, pillage, rape and the "Ute war". Here is the dramatic story of those terrible days.

Colorado Collection

Two boys, one Indian and one white, become involved in the growing conflict between an inflexible Indian agent and a Ute tribe.

"National attention was riveted to isolated northwestern Colorado in the fall of 1879, when U.S. troops of the White River Expedition fought a pitched battle with Ute Indians. The troops had marched over 150 miles in nine days before meeting armed resistance just inside the northern border of the reservation, and a quiet mountain valley unexpectedly erupted in a prolonged and bloody conflict." "Fought by former allies, the battle became one of the...