Reading Order
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Start with Sioux Dawn and continue through all 16 books in the listed reading order.
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Start with Sioux Dawn
Book 1 by Terry C Johnston • Published 1990
At the close of the Civil War, Seamus Donegan scouts along the Bozeman Trail as soldiers and settlers push into sacred Sioux hunting grounds. When Red Cloud strikes back in the Fetterman fight of 1866, he witnesses a...
Complete List
Plainsmen reading order
Ends with Turn the Stars Upside Down
- 1
Book 1:Sioux Dawn
Terry C Johnston • 1990
At the close of the Civil War, Seamus Donegan scouts along the Bozeman Trail as soldiers and settlers push into sacred Sioux hunting grounds. When Red Cloud strikes back in the Fetterman fight of 1866, he witnesses a...
- 2
Book 2:The Stalkers
Terry C Johnston • 1990
After years of skirmishing on the plains, Seamus Donegan joins fifty scouts under Colonel Forsyth hunting Cheyenne raiders along the Republican River. When hundreds of warriors pin them on a sandbar, he must help a sh...
- 3
Book 3:Red Cloud's Revenge
Terry C Johnston • 1990
Seven months after the Fetterman disaster, Seamus Donegan rides back into Dakota Territory as tension hardens on both sides. When the Hayfield and Wagon Box fights erupt, he watches Red Cloud's warriors and the U.S. A...
- 4
Book 4:Black Sun
Terry C Johnston • 1991 • 1 recommendation
Working with the Kansas Pacific Railway and scout Buffalo Bill Cody, Seamus Donegan helps protect track crews from relentless Cheyenne Dog Soldier raids. The campaign drives both sides toward the surprise attack at Su...
- 5
Book 5:Devil's Backbone
Terry C Johnston • 1991
Following rumors of a long-lost uncle, Seamus Donegan rides into northern California just as the Modoc War explodes. Amid volcanic crags and lava beds, he joins a hard campaign against Captain Jack's small band fighti...
- 6
Book 6:Shadow Riders
Terry C Johnston • 1991
When Chief White Bear leads his Kiowa followers off their reservation and back into ancestral Texas homelands, raids flare across the frontier. Seamus Donegan rides with Sheridan's columns into the Southern Plains upr...
- 7
Book 7:Dying Thunder
Terry C Johnston • 1992
Newly freed from cavalry service, Seamus Donegan signs on with buffalo hunters heading into Kiowa and Comanche country. Their presence sparks the siege of Adobe Walls and a later campaign to Palo Duro Canyon, where th...
- 8
Book 8:Blood Song
Terry C Johnston • 1993
In the bitter winter of 1876, Seamus Donegan scouts for General George Crook on a strike into Powder River country. Their surprise attack on a Northern Cheyenne village ignites the Great Sioux War, binding him to a lo...
- 9
Book 9:Reap the Whirlwind
Terry C Johnston • 1994
As Sioux and Cheyenne warriors gather in the north, Seamus Donegan leaves his pregnant wife to scout for General Crook. On Rosebud Creek he rides into a drawn out fight with Crazy Horse's fighters, where shifting tact...
- 10
Book 10:Trumpet on the Land
Terry C Johnston • 1995
After Custer falls at Little Bighorn, the Army unleashes a relentless 1876 campaign against Sioux and Cheyenne bands. Scout Seamus Donegan rides beside figures like Buffalo Bill as hunger, storms, ambush, and despair...
- 11
Book 11:A Cold Day in Hell
Terry C Johnston • 1996
With winter closing in, Seamus Donegan joins a harsh pursuit of Crazy Horse and Dull Knife across the northern plains. Ordered to strike village camps in snow and darkness, he wrestles with loyalty and survival during...
- 12
Book 12:Wolf Mountain Moon
Terry C Johnston • 1997
Under Colonel Nelson Miles, Seamus Donegan pushes up the Tongue River into snow choked butte country. As Crazy Horse gathers a thousand Lakota warriors around Wolf Mountain, Donegan rides into the last great battle th...
- 13
Book 13:Ashes of Heaven
Terry C Johnston • 1998
Colonel Miles hopes one last peace mission will end the Great Sioux War, sending a Cheyenne woman and pony scout Johnny Bruguier to talk surrender along the Rosebud. When grudges inside the Army explode, the campaign...
- 14
Book 14:Cries from the Earth
Terry C Johnston • 1999
When tensions in Idaho's Wallowa country erupt into the Nez Perce War, soldiers and settlers are caught unprepared. Johnston follows officers, scouts, and Nez Perce families through the opening clash at White Bird Can...
- 15
Book 15:Lay the Mountains Low
Terry C Johnston • 2000
Fleeing General Howard's columns, non-treaty Nez Perce bands lead their families and herds over the Lolo Trail toward Montana. At the "Place of the Ground Squirrels" they pause to rest, unaware that Colonel Gibbon's i...
- 16
Book 16:Turn the Stars Upside Down
Terry C Johnston • 2001
This novel follows Crazy Horse after his surrender, as he struggles to live on a reservation under watchful officers and jealous rivals. Misunderstandings and betrayal close in until his fatal arrest, tracing the quie...
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Plainsmen FAQ
What is the best order to read the Plainsmen series?
The recommended reading order is the numbered order shown on this page, starting with Sioux Dawn.
How many books are in the Plainsmen series?
There are 16 books currently listed in the Plainsmen series on GurusReads.
Where should I start with the Plainsmen series?
New readers should start with Sioux Dawn, the first book in the reading order.
Is the Plainsmen series complete?
Based on the publication years we have, the series appears likely complete and spans releases from 1990 to 2001.