Promise: Bozeman's Trail to Destiny

Promise: Bozeman s Trail to Destiny examines if the Bozeman Trail - that last great western trail through Wyoming and Montana that initiated the "Indian Wars" on the Northern Plains - was actually a route of invasion that lead to cultural devastation, displacement, physical and spiritual oppression; or whether the trail was a passage through the wilderness that lead to settlement, individual liberty, prosperity, territorial recognition and statehood. To help answer those questions, author Serle Chapman employs his extraordinary artistic ability with both pen and camera, writing sections from the opposing perspectives of an emigrant woman, and a young Cheyenne warrior, incorporating the prose, native language, and expressions of the day. Chapman s Cheyenne account of the infamous "Fetterman Massacre" is believed to be the definitive Native American interpretation of that engagement.