Stones, Bullets and Blood

by Robert Wilhelm

Overview

In the early fall of 1867, on the plains of Western Kansas, a little-known but important fight took place between a large number of experienced Southern Cheyenne warriors and a small detachment of inexperienced 10th Cavalry troopers. It was the Battle of the Saline River and it was the first major engagement of a group of soldiers who came to be called “The Buffalo Soldiers.” Follow the desperate battle through the eyes of both the cavalry troopers and the Cheyenne warriors. But not all battles were between soldiers and Indians. Soldiers often fought among themselves. Fort Hays was established in 1865 to protect white settlers, stagecoaches and freight wagons, and to ensure that the Kansas Pacific railroad was completed from Kansas City to Denver, across the contested plains. The Army had specific rules for how these western forts were to be built but two officers at Fort Hays had different ways of interpreting those rules. This battle of wills and authority resulted in both serious and comical results. Sometimes battles were waged between man and beast. Doctors were the early naturalists of America and you will follow one young military physician as he sets out alone to document the flora and fauna of western Kansas, only to abruptly cross paths with a hungry mountain lion. He is injured and is left alone on the prairie, defending himself from not only several ferocious predators but Mother Nature as well. These stories, based on actual events, are chronicled in the second installment of the “Tales of the Sergeant Major” and continue to tell the stories of Fort Hays, Kansas, in the late 1800s. They are stories of action, intrigue and adventure made up of “Stones, Bullets and Blood.”

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165756375
Publisher:	Robert Wilhelm
Publication date:	02/10/2022
Series:	Tales of the Sergeant Major , #2
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	667 KB

About the Author

Bob Wilhelm was born in 1950. His father was a school teacher and administrator in several small towns in Kansas where Bob, his two older brothers, and two younger sisters grew up, living the “Mayberry” experience. Bob has had a life-long interest in the “wild west” and grew up watching Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, and Gene Autry on Saturday mornings. Following a stint in the U.S. Air Force, where he attained the rank of sergeant, he attended Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, where his primary field of study was biology (another keen interest). After graduating with a Master’s Degree in biology, he sought work as a museum director. As fate would have it, Natural History Museum jobs were practically non-existent. People get into those jobs because they have a passion for the job, not for the money, so jobs only open up when someone retires or dies!. However, a position at Fort Hays Historic Site became available, and he decided to take it while continuing to seek employment in natural history. Twenty-nine years later, Bob retired from the Fort Hays history museum. He had always wanted to write fiction, and so, immediately upon his retirement, he began writing his series “Tales of the Sergeant Major.” This is his first historical novel set in the military world of Fort Hays in the late 1800s. He plans to write a tetralogy following the exploits of Sergeant Major Barrett, and the five troublesome privates of the 18th Infantry, but, as he is fond of saying, “You never know where the characters will take you.” Bob lives in Hays, Kansas, with his wife, Joan.