This history concerns the wars with the Native Americans, as the United States expanded westward and sought to exert its control over greater portions of North America.

The hostilities narrated include some of the most famous actions such as the campaign of Little Big Horn, and some of the most famous figures in the conflicts such as Sitting Bull, a Lakota Sioux chieftain whose famous resistance stalled efforts of the USA. Some of the principle skirmishes, such as The Battle of the Rosebud, are expertly narrated with the use of sources from both sides. The famous General Custer, whose untimely death - in an event often called Custer's Last Stand - is treated incisively, with comment upon the tactics that prefaced the General's demise.

First published in 1904, this book has the benefit of close proximity to the events described. Among other sources Cyrus Townsend Brady contacted many soldiers, most of whom were in retirement, to ensure his accounts were factual and exact. The author wanted not simply to summarize a vast, decades-long series of warring conflicts, but also to make a meaningful addition to the existing body of work on the subject. A total of twenty-seven diagrams of battlefields, and photographs of those relevant to the wars, serve to guide the reader.