The character of Samuel Hammond is in no way a portrait of the remarkable Lawrie Tatum but is an exploration of Tatum’s dilemma; a Quaker sent as agent to warlike tribes of the south plains. Colonel Grierson was a real person, the first commander of Fort Sill. With one exception, the names of the captives are genuine, including Elizabeth Fitzgerald, who led a charmed life, and all of those taken in the Elm Creek raid of 1864.
