Ridgeline

Punke (The Revenant) again brings the Old West to life in this engrossing account of the violence and horror of a Wyoming massacre that presaged the Battle of Little Big Horn. On Dec. 21, 1866, Lakota war leader Crazy Horse lured 80 U.S. soldiers into a trap, slaughtering all of them. A prologue set on the fateful day teases what’s to come, with Crazy Horse’s advance unit of decoys surprised by the cavalry soldiers’ new rapid-fire rifles. Punke then shifts back five months, as Crazy Horse becomes aware of an ominous development. The American military has decided to establish a new outpost, Fort Phil Kearney, to deter Native American attacks on those traveling to and from Montana’s gold fields. Gen. William Sherman believes construction of the fort is permitted under a treaty, despite scout Jim Bridger’s explanation that the agreement had been entered into with chiefs who didn’t represent the affected Native American bands. Once Crazy Horse spots white women and children at the fort, he realizes the soldiers are not there simply for defensive purposes, and that settlement of the area is in the works. The tensions build, culminating in Crazy Horse’s plan to take advantage of the American military’s discounting of the alliance of tribes and their ability to strategize. Punke makes the battle vivid, and draws deep characterizations of individuals on both sides, exploring Crazy Horse’s fear of impending change, U.S. soldiers’ indifference to fighting, and a captain’s lament of the breakdown of discipline and reason within the battalion’s leadership. This is historical fiction at its best. (June)