An Army Doctor on the Western Frontier

Assigned to the District of Utah during the Civil War, physician John Vance Lauderdale spent the next twenty-five years on army posts in the American West, serving in California, Arizona, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Texas. Throughout his career he kept a detailed journal and sent long letters home to his sister in upstate New York. This selection of Lauderdale's writings offers an insightful account of army life that will teach readers much about the growth of the West in a time of rapid change.