Second Lieutenant Brad Pepperdine, a recent graduate of West Point, is assigned to a regiment of African-American soldiers participating in the brutal war against the fierce Comanches. His commanding officer is hard-drinking and embittered by years of service without recognition or promotion. When a renegade band of Comanches begins raiding farms and ranches, the regiment is sent to run them down. As the unit moves into combat, however, Pepperdine begins to understand the black soldiers as well as their Indian enemies. But most of all he learns a lot about himself. He can only hope he masters what he must know before the unit is wiped out. Patrick E. Andrews was born in Oklahoma in 1936 into a family of pioneers who participated in its growth from the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory to statehood. His father's family were homesteaders and his mother's cattle ranchers. Consequently, he is among the last generation of American writers who had contacts with those people from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Patrick's wife Julie says he both speaks and writes with an Oklahoma accent.He is an ex-paratrooper, having served in the 82nd Airborne Division in the active army and the 12th Special Forces Group in the army reserves. Patrick began his writing career after leaving the army. He and his better half presently reside in southern California. He has a son Bill, who is an ex-paratrooper and a probation officer, and two grandchildren. Risking their lives to make the frontier a safer place for settlers, the cavalry became heroic figures to many, and the promise of action and excitement generated by the sight of army blue still continues today. Patrick E. Andrews captures the hardships of life on the frontier for ... The Long-Knives.
