When first published in 1935, On the Border with Mackenzie, or 
Winning West Texas from the Comanches, by Capt. Robert G. 
Carter, quickly became known as the most complete account of 
the Indian Wars on the Texas frontier during the 1870s. And even 
today it still stands as one of the most exhaustive histories ever 
written by an actual participant in the Texas Indian Wars. Carter, a 
Union Army veteran and West Point graduate, was appointed in 
1870 to serve as second lieutenant in the Fourth United States 
Cavalry stationed at Fort Concho, Texas. He was awarded the 
Medal of Honor in 1900 for his gallantry in action against the 
Indians occurring on October 10, 1871, during the battle of Blanco 
Canyon.

    Led by Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, the Fourth Cavalry 
moved its headquarters to Fort Richardson, Texas, in 1871 where 
they soon became one of the most effective units on the western 
frontier. Among the battles and skirmishes they participated in 
were the Warren wagon train raid of 1871; the Kicking Bird 
pursuit of 1871; the Remolino fight of 1873; the Red River War of 
1874–75; and the Black Hills War of 1876.

    L. F. Sheffy refers to On the Border with Mackenzie as "a 
splendid contribution to the early frontier history of West Texas 
. . . a story filled with humor and pathos, tragedies and triumphs, 
hunger and thirst, war and adventure." And in the words of John H. 
Jenkins in Texas Basic Books, Carter "pulls no punches in this 
outspoken narrative, and the reader always knows where he stands."

    Long out of print, this definitive history of the Indian Wars will 
now have the accessibility that it deserves. It is as Charles 
Robinson states in the foreword "essential to any study of the 
Indian Wars of the Southern Plains."

_________________________________________________________

CHARLES M. ROBINSON III is a history instructor at South 
Texas Community College in McAllen. He is the author of many 
books, primarily on the American West, including Bad Hand: 
A Biography of General Ranald S. Mackenzie, which won the 
Texas Historical Commission's T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award, 
and TSHA's Texas and the Mexican War: A History and a 
Guide.


Number Twenty-three: Fred H. and Ella Mae Moore Texas History 
Reprint Series