In 1850, the United States was less than seventy-five years old. In the context of the long-established countries of Europe it was in its infancy. Yet the speed and development as a country was unprecedented. From the thirteen original colonies on the east coast, the country had now spread west all the way to the Pacific. The concept of manifest destiny had taken hold, and the millions of Indians living there were viewed as in the way of the nation’s progress. The discovery of gold in California created a boom of development on the west coast but between the east and west coasts lay the vastness of America, still wild, untamed and lawless. Between Independence, Missouri and California would be turbulent weather, unimagined hardship, disease, hostile Indians, bandits, and for many, death.
When Bo Avery’s parents decided to leave their home in the Ohio Valley in 1850, and head to California, Bo could never have predicted the changes that would take place in his life… some good and some bad. At only ten years old he and his younger sister would be captured by the Cheyenne. They would be forced out of necessity to adapt to the way of life amongst the Cheyenne people.
Bo’s toughness and bravery caught the eye of the Cheyenne Chief, Laughing Crow, who adopted Bo and his sister into his family. Laughing Crow gave him the name ‘White Badger’ because of tenaciousness and lack of fear. Laughing Crow and most of the tribe admired him except for Red Hand. Red Hand wanted to kill both Bo and his sister when they were captured but Laughing Crow stopped him. As he grew, Bo became respected and admired within the tribe and Red Hand resented him even more.
When Bo decides to leave the Cheyenne and return to the white man’s world, he will need to settle a score with Red Hand first. He will then find himself saving a group of emigrants before a chance encounter with the legendary Kit Carson at Fort Laramie. Kit will assist him in reentering the world of the white man by helping him get a job as a scout on a wagon trail going west. He will be tutored by an old friend of Kit’s, Charlie Bixby. He will fight bandits and Indians and suffer the hostile conditions on the way west.
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