Robert Lee Murphy Livres

"Fighting to defend their favorite buffalo hunting grounds following the Civil War, Lakota Chief Red Cloud's coalition of Sioux, Northern Cheyennes, and Arapahos drove the military forces out of the Powder River country of modern-day Wyoming. On a bone-chilling day in December 1866, Captain William Fetterman led eighty men into the army's worst defeat at the hands of the Indians until Custer's Last Stand a decade later. Despite the turmoil of virtually constant Indian attacks at Fort Phil Kearny, a youthful paymaster clerk and a beautiful young schoolteacher fall in love. Their future is torn asunder when in the aftermath of the Fetterman Massacre the United States abandons the forts protecting the Bozeman Trail, closing the shortest route used by immigrants to reach Montana's goldfields. Red Cloud's War was the only war the American Indians won fighting the U.S. Army"--

Fifteen-year-old Will Braddock works as a hunter for his uncle’s survey team, as the transcontinental railroad extends across Wyoming in 1868. Paddy O’Hannigan is determined to get even with those who caused the death of his father—whichmeans Will, his uncle, and former slave Homer Garcon. And Paddy has other nefarious designs: he intends to blow up presidential candidate Ulysses S. Grant’s train on the general’s campaign trip into Wyoming. After saving a German count from a bear attack, in which he himself is badly mauled, Will must immediately turn his attention to his human opponent, the deadly and ruthless Paddy O’Hannigan.

The driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Utah on May 10, 1869, almost didn't happen. None of the history books mention this crucial event. Only five people were aware of the incident. Will Braddock knew. He was one of those five. It all started when Paddy O'Hannigan attacked Will; his uncle, Sean Corcoran; and Homer Garcon, in Echo City, Utah, four months earlier. When Will chases after Paddy, the Irish thug traps Will into a bigger mess. Fortunately, Jenny McNabb is around to help Will recover. Paddy, desperate for money, creates more trouble by kidnapping Jenny. Will coerces Mort Kavanagh, Paddy's godfather, into providing the ransom money. Jenny tries to escape, but Paddy throws her shoes away and forces her to walk shoeless to the ransom rendezvous point. After getting his hands on the money, Paddy unwittingly brags that he is rich. Kavanagh forces Paddy to return the funds, and Paddy is broke again. Jenny accepts employment as a chef for the Central Pacific Railroad's president, Leland Stanford, who is bringing the Golden Spike to the ceremony in Utah that will commemorate the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. Paddy sneaks aboard Stanford's train, stabs Homer, grabs the Golden Spike, steals Will's horse, and races away. Will must pursue Paddy again and regain the spike before the railroad officials discover it's missing. If he fails, Jenny, Homer, and Will stand to be accused of being the thieves. (B & N.)