The vital history of New Mexico and Arizona during the formative years between the American Occupation and the coming of the railroad has been compressed by the author into one volume with hundreds of footnotes and many profiles that make this book of vital importance to teachers, students, and researchers. The book is broken into four parts: "General Kearny Comes to Santa Fe," "The Confederates Invade New Mexico," "Carleton's California Column," and "The Long Walk." Many famous men walk and talk through these pages, including Kearny, Doniphan, Baylor, Canby, Carleton, Sibley, and a host of others. In addition, the story of the impact of the Civil War in New Mexico on the Indians, and the tragic results, is told here in detail for the first time. Long out of print, the book is available once again with a new foreword by Marc Simmons and preface by Michael L. Keleher, William A. Keleher's son. It also includes brief biographies of Ernest L. Blumenschein and Oscar E. Berninghaus who provided the original illustrations.