Established in 1864, the Bozeman Trail was an overland route connecting Fort Laramie to Virginia City and the gold fields of Bannack, Montana. There was, however, a problem with the route that had been scouted by John Bozeman and John Jacobs: it went through the hunting territories of the Lakota Sioux and the Cheyenne. In 1886, a council was called at Fort Laramie between the Sioux and US government representatives who wanted to obtain right of way through the Powder River Country, the precious hunting grounds. During the conference, Colonel Henry Carrington arrived at the fort with the Second Battalion of the 18th US Infantry with orders to establish more forts along the trail. Red Cloud, war chief of the Oglala Sioux, was furious and promised to resist any attempts to use the trail or occupy the area. Red Shadow on the Moon is based on the events that followed. Red Cloud, in the run-up to what came to be known as the Fetterman Massacre, comes across an injured white boy one night on the outskirts of his village. But who is he and what can his arrival in Red Cloud`s village mean?