Terry C. Johnston (1947-2001) was an American Western fiction author born in Kansas. As a young man, he traveled and worked various jobs, all the while becoming a student of the Old West. Johnston published his first novel, Carry the Wind, in 1982. Johnston settled near Billings, Montana, and began to write a series of novels about the "Indian wars" of the West, the Plainsmen Series.
Johnston's most famous books were a series of nine historical novels spanning the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade era and its eventual demise told through the eyes of the protagonist, Titus "Scratch" Bass. He also wrote a series following the U.S. Army struggle with the Native American Indians with protagonist Sergeant Seamus Donegan. One such book is "Sioux Dawn". Terry wrote Carry The Wind ( his first novel) while he worked as a lease manager for Northwest Auto in Thornton CO using the companies word processor after work to write and some times did not go home, working thru the night. Terry said to many that he felt when he killed off Scratch or when Scratch died he wouldn't last too long afterwards. And that is just what happened.