Lt. Charles B. Gatewood (1853-96), an educated Virginian, served in the Sixth U.S. Cavalry as the commander of Indian scouts. Gatewood was largely accepted by the Native peoples with whom he worked because of his efforts to understand their cultures. It was precisely this connection between Gatewood and the Indians, and with Geronimo and Naiche in particular, that led to his involvement in the last Apache war and his work for Indian rights.

Realizing that he had more experience dealing with Native peoples than other lieutenants serving on the frontier, Gatewood decided to record his experiences. Although he died before he completed his project, Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache Wars Memoir is an important firsthand account of Gatewood's life as a commander of Apache scouts and as a military commandant of the White Mountain Indian Reservation. Louis Kraft presents Gatewood's previously unpublished account, complementing it with an introduction, additional text that fills in the gaps in Gatewood's narrative, detailed notes, and an epilogue. Kraft's work offers new background information on Gatewood and throws the manuscript into new relief as a fresh account of how Gatewood viewed the events in which he took part.