Changing of the Guard is the third book in the story of the MacKendrick Army family; who live by West Point's motto of Duty, Honor, Country. With the Indian Wars tapering down, the attention of the young nation turns to flexing its muscles. The MacKendricks are involved thoroughly with the changes facing their country and their vivid family.Randolph follows his father to West Point but finds the Academy much changed from its early days. Instead of producing the brilliant engineers, soldiers, and statesmen of previous decades, West Point has become an iron-bound institution that seems content to churn out little tin soldiers. Philip, a maverick like his mother, has little interest in pursuing a military career but turns to a path that will take him to the depths of a collapsing coal mine and the heights of San Juan. Young Jackson Lee and Fitzjames yearn to follow in the footsteps of their fathers and yield to the call of the bugle when it sounds for Cuba long before they are old enough to even enter West Point.In Changing of the Guard, the MacKendricks eagerly embrace destiny as their country spreads its arms beyond the continental shelves. From the political games of Washington to the jungles of Cuba with 'Fighting' Joe Wheeler and Theodore Roosevelt, the MacKendrick men and women turn their faces to the wind and endure tragedy and triumph with all flags flying.