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K Company
Harry Winston was too young to serve in the Civil War, so he enlists in the post-war cavalry, seeking glory and adventure. He is assigned to K Company, on the western edge of the Kansas frontier. What he finds there is brutal discipline combined with bad food, monotonous drill, and make-work details. Even worse, he makes an enemy of Link Hayward, toughest soldier in the company, who’s been broken in rank more times than he can count. Link thinks Harry is a coward and urges him to desert. Taunted by Link, not accepted by K Company’s veterans, Harry begins to doubt himself.
Then the company is ordered into the field, and in a battle with the Cheyenne, Harry learns what he’s really made of.
Then the company is ordered into the field, and in a battle with the Cheyenne, Harry learns what he’s really made of.
95 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 22, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 11, 2014
K Company was a pleasant surprise. It's the story of several people on the wild Kansas frontier on the heels of the US Civil War. There is Harry Winston, a young, eager recruit who joins the cavalry out of a mixture of youthful dreams and adolescent restlessness. Lieutenant Starke, a ranker who made officer during the War, Captain Bannerman, an snobbish West Pointer commanding the unit as a whole, and more.
The threads of these individual lives weave together just as the Cheyenne are forced to go on the warpath due to the treachery of the white man. Young Harry finds his place. Starke and Bannerman's conflict comes to a head. All during the course of a raging gun battle on the dusty plains.
The book is a 'new' Western. It does not portray the Indians as bloodthirsty savages, but rather as a people at the edge of a precipice. The great herds of buffalo are gone. The old way of life is rapidly disappearing under a never ending tide of white settlers. Storm, the Cheyenne chieftain wants to end the bloodshed and save his people. Only the greed of Eastern railroad magnates and the lust for advancement of Captain Bannerman drives the tribe to a final conflict. This is a nice touch, and likely reflects the reality. Demographics and technological change doomed the Cheyenne's way of life more than any gun battle - no matter how fierce.
For a short book, K Company had a nice cast of characters - even beyond the main characters. Everyone, it seemed, had a colorful nickname. There was Linc, the regimental bully who makes Harry's life miserable. There was Skull, Numb Nuts and more. Each of the soldiers had a colorful past that breathed life into the whole story.
Four stars out of five. By no stretch is it great literature, but it is a good, solid, fun read.
The threads of these individual lives weave together just as the Cheyenne are forced to go on the warpath due to the treachery of the white man. Young Harry finds his place. Starke and Bannerman's conflict comes to a head. All during the course of a raging gun battle on the dusty plains.
The book is a 'new' Western. It does not portray the Indians as bloodthirsty savages, but rather as a people at the edge of a precipice. The great herds of buffalo are gone. The old way of life is rapidly disappearing under a never ending tide of white settlers. Storm, the Cheyenne chieftain wants to end the bloodshed and save his people. Only the greed of Eastern railroad magnates and the lust for advancement of Captain Bannerman drives the tribe to a final conflict. This is a nice touch, and likely reflects the reality. Demographics and technological change doomed the Cheyenne's way of life more than any gun battle - no matter how fierce.
For a short book, K Company had a nice cast of characters - even beyond the main characters. Everyone, it seemed, had a colorful nickname. There was Linc, the regimental bully who makes Harry's life miserable. There was Skull, Numb Nuts and more. Each of the soldiers had a colorful past that breathed life into the whole story.
Four stars out of five. By no stretch is it great literature, but it is a good, solid, fun read.
February 7, 2022
A excellent historical fiction, an enjoyable story with great plot details.
March 16, 2018
A entertaining story
Not a page turner of antisipation, but one of light enjoyment. It has a lot of "old west" action as well.
Not a page turner of antisipation, but one of light enjoyment. It has a lot of "old west" action as well.
February 18, 2023
DEFINITELY DEPRESSING
This book is about the miserable life of the Calvary soldier in the western frontier and the brutal treatment of the Indian nations at the hands of greedy politicians, ambitious and incompetent military leaders with one goal in mind: extermination of all the tribes… Honestly, it’s a pretty depressing storyline, but one that probably has many elements of truth.
This book is about the miserable life of the Calvary soldier in the western frontier and the brutal treatment of the Indian nations at the hands of greedy politicians, ambitious and incompetent military leaders with one goal in mind: extermination of all the tribes… Honestly, it’s a pretty depressing storyline, but one that probably has many elements of truth.
January 22, 2020
Story about real people in a violent time
Not the romanticized version of heroes with holier than anybody characters. Soldiers dying in battles with native Indians. Story tells of hard life in the American west. How men become comrades in battle.
Not the romanticized version of heroes with holier than anybody characters. Soldiers dying in battles with native Indians. Story tells of hard life in the American west. How men become comrades in battle.
August 9, 2021
Good read
Excellent exciting read. Can't wait to start book 2of this series he u t s as realistic and authentic book 1
Excellent exciting read. Can't wait to start book 2of this series he u t s as realistic and authentic book 1
May 4, 2022
good old fashion blood and gut,s
Anyone who likes a good old style cowboy,s and Indian,s book I heartily recommend this one.great character.s good storyline ,plenty of action ,ready for the second .
Anyone who likes a good old style cowboy,s and Indian,s book I heartily recommend this one.great character.s good storyline ,plenty of action ,ready for the second .
September 20, 2020
Top Notch
I have a hard time putting this story down? It's difficult to imagine the hardships these troopers endured. My hat's off to this author for such a compelling story.
I have a hard time putting this story down? It's difficult to imagine the hardships these troopers endured. My hat's off to this author for such a compelling story.
January 18, 2023
Good old fashioned western
This was a wonderful read. I'm talking 2:30 AM, I'm just going to read one more page wonderful. I recommend it highly.
This was a wonderful read. I'm talking 2:30 AM, I'm just going to read one more page wonderful. I recommend it highly.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews