Give Me Eighty Men

Shannon D. Smith is the executive director for the Wyoming Humanities Council and an author focusing on women in the West. She taught at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for seven years.

• 1. Introduction 2. Prelude to Disaster 3. To the Frontier 4. Officers and Gentlemen 5. Ladies of the Regiment 6. Lessons Learned 7. The Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands 8. Blazing a Paper Trail 9. Women's Work 10. Conclusion Bibliography

"Well-written and thoroughly documented, Give Me Eighty Men offers important new interpretations of the Fetterman Fight and how the myth developed. It is a significant contribution to the literature on the fight and the first months at beleaguered Fort Phil Kearny."—Susan Badger Doyle, South Dakota History "Thoroughly researched and very well written, Shannon D. Smith's book joins the works of other recent writers, such as Sherry L. Smith, who have found in the writings of officers' wives not only important chronicles of the post-Civil War West, but the testimony to the growing importance of women in the American public sphere."—Ronald Schultz, Great Plains Quarterly "Smith's depth of research and her ability to present clear and concise information will add significant resources for historians of nineteenth-century women."—Michele Nacy, Western Historical Quarterly "[Smith] updates our understanding of [the Fetterman Fight] by applying the fresh perspective offered by women's and gender scholarship. . . . Readers who might not necessarily pick up a book on gender history will see the value and importance of applying it to all avenues of scholarship, even—perhaps especially—military history."—Journal of Military History "Give Me Eighty Men is essential for anyone interested in the Fetterman event. . . . More broadly, Give Me Eighty Men offers valuable insight into how historical narratives are constructed and maintained and reminds historians of the importance of questioning conventional wisdom."—Jeffrey Ostler, Annals of Wyoming