Robert Goldthwaite Carter was an American military officer and author whose literary contributions offer a firsthand perspective on the late nineteenth-century American frontier. Born in 1845, Carter served in the Union Army during the American Civil War before joining the United States Cavalry. His subsequent military career was defined by his active service in the Indian Wars, particularly his campaigns against the Comanche in Texas. For his conspicuous gallantry during a battle at the Brazos River in 1871, he was awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.\n\nFollowing his retirement from active duty, Carter transitioned to a successful writing career in his later years, drawing extensively on his personal military experiences to document the history of the American West. His most significant work, On the Border with Mackenzie (1935), remains a vital historical account of the Texas frontier campaigns and cavalry life. He also authored a series of highly rare, privately distributed booklets detailing his years as an Indian fighter, which today survive primarily through excerpts preserved in his larger published volumes. Carter's writings are highly valued by historians for their detailed, eyewitness accounts of military life and conflict during a transitional era in American history.
