Brothers of the Buffalo: A Novel of the Red River War

By Joseph Bruchac

A captivating and historical story of two young men on opposing sides of war.  In 1874, the U.S. Army sent troops to subdue and move the Native Americans of the southern plains to reservations. Brothers of the Buffalo follows Private Washington Vance Jr., an African-American calvaryman, and Wolf, a Cheyenne warrior, during the brief and brutal war that followed. Filled with action and suspense from both sides of the battle, this is a tale of conflict and unlikely friendship in the Wild West.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing
• Release date: Mar 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781682750070

Joseph Bruchac

Joseph Bruchac is the author of Skeleton Man, The Return of Skeleton Man, Bearwalker, The Dark Pond, and Whisper in the Dark, as well as numerous other critically acclaimed novels, poems, and stories, many drawing on his Abenaki heritage. Mr. Bruchac and his wife, Carol, live in upstate New York, in the same house where he was raised by his grandparents. You can visit him online at www.josephbruchac.com.

Reviews for Brothers of the Buffalo

[junipersun · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

We see US Cavalry relations with Plains Indians just after the Civil War from both the Native American view and that of a soldier. This seems to have been a time when US policy toward the tribes was in flux, when they were trying to "domesticate" the tribes rather than kill them all. Washington ("Wash") was a former slave who enlists as a way to support his family. Follows the Wolf was a Cheyenne who is trying to find food for his family since the US never provides the promised food for those tribes who come to a reservation, and never meets it promise to keep whites off the reservation lands.Chapters open with either a brief Native American or African tale.Just as in his previous book, Bruchac use letter writing as a method for introducing background in his main characters life. It didn't work quite as well here, perhaps because he had 2 main characters to maintain, perhaps because Wash became conflicted about the news he received from home.I was reading this aloud to a blind young adult, but had some very young listeners as I got toward the end of the book & that was too violent/distressing for them.I will be looking for more of Bruchac's fictionalized histories, as there isn't much of worth available for this age group.