457 research outputs found

    Review of \u3ci\u3eCavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier\u3c/i\u3e

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    More than a century has elapsed since George Armstrong Custer led his command into a military disaster on the hills above the Little Big Horn River. Yet public fascination with this man and his immortalized Last Stand has never waned as each new generation hungers for definitive explanations of his enigmatic life

    The New Warriors: Native American Leaders Since 1900

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    Review of: The New Warriors: Native American Leaders since 1900. Edmunds, R. David, ed

    Forgotten Fights: Little-Known Raids and Skirmishes on the Frontier, 1823 to 1890

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    Review of: "Forgotten Fights: Little-Known Raids and Skirmishes on the Frontier, 1823 to 1890," by Gregory F. Michno and Susan J. Michno

    Review of \u3ci\u3eSentinel of the Southern Plains: Fort Richardson and the Northwest Texas Frontier, 1866-1878\u3c/i\u3e

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    Slightly more than a century ago the dreaded Comanche Moon of each month virtually assured devastating Indian raids upon the isolated ranches of Texas\u27 northwestern frontier. No issue raised more ire in the state legislature or produced more animosity between state and federal officials than did this. To protect these exposed settlements, the War Department established a thin line of military posts from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Anchoring the northern zone was Fort Richardson, established in 1866 with a garrison to patrol the upper Brazos River country and to turn back raiding parties of Comanches and Kiowas from the Fort Sill Agency in southwestern Indian Territory. Initial plans for the construction of a well-ordered stone compound gave way to the economic realities of the moment. Instead of emerging from the prairie soil as an invincible fortress, the military post was a collection of stone, picket, and lumber buildings, scattered over a rectangular area almost a mile long and one-quarter mile wide, that more resembled a small village than a fort (p. 28). Initial desertion rates averaged 12 percent, a figure that edged even higher during the 1870s as harsh discipline, low pay, and monotony of duty drove soldiers to desperate measures

    Review of Eyewitness at Wounded Knee by Richard E. Jensen, R. Eli Paul, and John E. Carter

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    In Native American history, no event is more pregnant with symbolism than the confrontation which occurred four days after Christmas in a remote part of western South Dakota. American Indians have since referred to it as the Massacre at Wounded Knee where more than 250 men, women and children were wantonly killed by vengeance-seeking troops of the 7th Cavalry. Other commentators, especially white observers of 1890, called it the Last Battle of the Indian Wars, implying that two armies met in one final conflict to decide the fate of the Northern Plains. Today, most scholars follow the interpretations of Robert Utley\u27s masterful The Last Days of the Sioux Nation (1963), which stresses cultural misunderstandings and rampant fears as the real sparks that ignited this senseless tragedy

    Review of \u3ci\u3eThe Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell Mackenzie\u3c/i\u3e By Michael D. Pierce

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    Michael D. Pierce has produced a credible and nicely written interpretation of Ranald Mackenzie\u27s life. By focusing on the frontier years and placing this officer\u27s experiences within the broader context of military events, he provides the reader a good sense of time and place. Pierce also successfully utilizes the standard source materials and moves well beyond Robert G. Carter\u27s somewhat unreliable On the Border with Mackenzie (1935). Unfortunately, the personal dimensions of Mackenzie\u27s thoughts and deeds will never be fully known because he was an intensely private man who left little documentation about himself. Even his official reports tend to be cryptic and matter-of-fact, rather than literary and reflective. Persons interested in frontier military life and the Indian wars will be rewarded by this book, and they should likewise consult a second new work for comparison-Charles M. Robinson\u27s Bad Hand: A Biography of Ranald S. Mackenzie (1993)
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