Red was the blood of our forefathers

The author endeavors to show both sides of each battle he describes by including oral historical accounts of the enemy tribes as well as other sources, such as winter counts, which recorded both the most important battles and the number of dead. The book includes short descriptions of many of the great warriors who took part in each described confrontation, as well as accounts of the behavior of the winners and the fate of captives. The stories are illustrative of life when the Indians roamed free across the northern plains and are typical examples of the military environment in which the Crows and their neighbors existed at the time. They battled the numerous enemy tribes around them with resolute determination often performing exceptional deeds of valor before intertribal warfare finally came to an end. This book contains a selection of stories pertaining to what might be termed "the heroic age of the Absaroka Nation". They are composite accounts, having been collected from both oral and archival sources as well as other published and unpublished resources including Sioux winter counts. Many of the following stories are of lesser known battles and exist only in Joe Medicine Crow's memory. The book was created to record them for posterity in the written word.