Description:"[Carriker] has done a commendable job of describing the military challenge in a land ’teeming with discontented and only temporarily pacified Indians.’ But his crucial point is that Indian Territory during the last three decades of the nineteenth century was a nether world of whiskey merchants, cattle and timber thieves, speculators, tribal opportunists, and various other frontier thugs who operated on the rational assumption that it was difficult, if not virtually impossible, for the government to establish justice and order."--Montana"Fort Supply remained active until February 26, 1895, when notification from army headquarters turned it over to the Department of the Interior. Carriker chronicles all those years with the skill of a military strategist--his writing style sharp and lean, his lavish footnotes and bibliographical references enough to satisfy the most demanding historical researcher."--American West"Carriker has done his task well. The research is thorough, and the presentation is clear, concise, and readable. Fleshing out a significant phase of southern plains history, Fort Supply will be welcomed by students of the American West."--Southwestern Historical Quarterly"The research is thorough, and is based primarily on abundany unpublished official records and other contemporary sources. The narrative is supported by extensive documentation, a lengthy bibliography, four maps, and several photographs and drawings. The book is generally well written, unusually interesting, and unquestionably definitive."--Arizona and the WestRobert C. Carriker, who holds the Ph.D. degree from the University of Oklahoma, is Professor of History at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, and a specialist in the history of the American West.