John Gregory Bourke

General George Crook's aide de camp recounts the pursuit of Geronimo and other Apache Indians across southern Arizona and New Mexico to Mexico's Sierra Madre in 1883. An Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre is a crackling, swift-moving narrative of General George Crook's pursuit of Geronimo and other Apache Indians across southern Arizona and New Mexico to the Sierra Madre in Mexico in 1883. The Chiricahua Apaches and their culture, the towns and landscapes, the progress of the military expedition--all are observed at first hand by General Crook's aide-de-camp, Captain John G. Bourke.

From 1870 until 1886 Captain John G. Bourke served on the staff of General George Crook, who Sherman described as the greatest Indian fighter the army ever had, a man whose prowess was demonstrated "from British America to Mexico, from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean." But On the Border with Crook is far more than a first-hand account of Crook's campaigns during the Plains Indian wars and in the Southwest. Alert, curious, and perceptive, Bourke brings to life the whole frontier scene. In crisp descriptions and telling anecdotes he recreates the events and landscapes through which he moved; he sketches sharp action-pictures not only of Crook and his fellow cavalrymen but also of great leaders as Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Geronimo. Perhaps most important, Bourke shows us how General Crook was able to achieve his most remarkable victory -- how this man of war won and deserved the trust of the tribes he had subjugated. - Back cover.