Continuing from Book I (Hessian John, 19th Century Military Surgeon that ended in 1849), 32-year-old Captain Johann is an assistant surgeon who has recently returned from the Mexican War. After being chastised by Army Surgeon General Tom Lawson for criticizing poor camp-sanitation practices, he was sent on an inspection trip to camps along the Oregon Trail where cholera and other diseases were spread by Forty-Niners. In the early '50s, his 4th Infantry Regiment was sent via Panama to Fort Vancouver where he served with Lieutenant U.S. Grant and Captain George McClellan. Still later, he roamed the gold fields to find a missing brother-in-law and to practice proper medicine among gold seekers who were poorly served by medical charlatans. In the mid-'50s, he returned to Europe, serving with the U.S. Observer Team at the Crimean War where he learned more about sanitation from Florence Nightingale. Finally, he returned to his Hessian hometown where he was again captured by his pursuers who served the Baron Horst von Biebertal. In this second of a four-book series, frontier doctor John continues on a pre-Civil War journey through mid-19th century Western America, participating in historical events that further changed his life.