Preview of Bugles in the Afternoon Summary:

The characters in Bugles in the Afternoon are both historical and fictional. Haycox manages to balance his treatment of both so well that neither upstages the other. The historical figures — Custer, Mrs. Custer, Capt.

Frederick Benteen, Major Marcus Reno, and others — are well drawn and interplay with the fictional characters: Kern Shafter, Josephine Russell, and Edward Garnett. Haycox's fictional protagonist, Kern Shafter, seems to be troubled by an experience during the Civil War and after the war can only find a sense of satisfaction back in the Army. He is a competent man whose actions and bearing hint of his having attained some sort of command station in the past. With the 7th Cavalry he appears satisfied to be a sergeant. Edward Garnett, who knew Kern in the past, is now an officer with the 7th and makes no attempt to conceal his hatred for Shafter...