"Most accounts of the Civil War's New Mexico campaign have focused on the Confederate effort, but Distant Bugles, Distant Drums brings to life the epic march of 1,000 men recruited from Colorado's towns, farms, and mining camps to fight 3,000 Confederate soldiers in New Mexico."

"Drawing on a host of previously overlooked diaries, letters, and contemporary newspaper accounts, military historian Flint Whitlock tells the stories of Union heroes such as Colorado governor William Gilpin and Colonels John Slough, John Chivington, Kit Carson, and Edward Canby, along with average soldiers - men on both sides who marched, fought, and overcame immense distances and privations. Distant Bugles, Distant Drums looks into the soldiers' lives, providing a detailed look at life on the Western frontier missing from other books on the Civil War."--Jacket.