This is a wonderful book which records passed down oral history of various tribes primarily concerning the period of the Civil war. It covers those who participated in the war on either side in the East such as the Cherokee, Choctaw and other tribes as well as the massacres in the West and the forced removals largely ignored because of the war. Many of the stories have been passed down in oral traditions and are recorded for posteriety.

Overall a good, informative, well written read. ( )

An Official National Park Service Handbook, with an assortment of essays from Native and nonnative historians.


Theme number one (covered by essays on the Dakota War, the Bear River Massacre, the Sand Creek Massacre, and the Navajo Long Walk) is the withdrawal of Regular Army soldiers from the West generally was a bad thing for Native Americans. In 1862, the Dakotas were divided into “farmer” Indians who were more or less adopting settler ways, and “blanket” Indians, who were not. There was a murder, possibly provoked by a corrupt Indian agent; both the “blanket” and “farmer” factions had noted that a lot of troops had been withdrawn; and (likely independently; there’s no evidence of any sort of organized action) decided it was a good time to take back land they had lost. As usual, it ended poorly for both sides; lots of settlers were killed, lots of Dakotas were executed (38 in a mass hanging, far and away the largest mass execution ever on American soil). Only two of those executed had actually been convicted of rape, but according to essay author Janet Youngholm, Abraham Lincoln didn’t think only two executions would satisfy the people of Minnesota (who originally wanted to execute 303 Dakota) so the remaining 36 were hung for murdering civilians. Murdering civilians is, of course, a capital crime under both military and civil law whether it’s 1862 or 2015; however, it’s likely the Dakota didn’t receive due process.


I guiltily confess I had never heard of the Bear River Massacre. When Federal troops were withdrawn, local volunteer units took over. In this case a unit of California Volunteers under Colonel Patrick Connor had been sent to some dismal fort in the hinterland to replace departing Regulars. It’s safe to say the discipline of the men involved was probably less than perfect. On hearing a rumor that Northwestern Shoshone had killed a couple of express riders and ten miners (which the author of the essay, Mae Timbimboo Parry, great-granddaughter of a Northwestern Shoshone chief, says was an exaggeration), Connor marched his volunteers out in the dead of winter, came on the Northwestern Shoshone camp on Bear River in what is now Idaho (then part of Washington Territory), and killed an estimated 300 men, women and children. This remains the largest Indian massacre in US history.


You’ve all probably heard of Sand Creek; it’s hard not to here in Colorado. The situation was much the same as at Bear River; the Colorado Volunteers under Colonel Chivington wanted something to do in the war so went out and killed Indians. The Arapahoe and Cheyenne had been specifically told by the US military that they would be safe in their campsite.


The Navajo Long Walk again involved California Volunteers. Once again the Navajo probably had done some raiding of settlements (including, ironically, Pueblo Indian settlements; Indian on Indian violence occurs in several of these essays). General Carleton of the California Volunteers responded by ordering Colonel Christopher (Kit) Carson to round up the Navajo and march them to Bosque Redondo on the plains in eastern New Mexico. This was not to their liking, and having seen eastern New Mexico I can scarcely blame them (although if there were any Navajo geologists I bet they found interesting things on the trip). At any rate, the Navajo petitioned repeatedly to return to their homeland and eventually they sent a delegation to Washington DC to negotiate with none other than William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman acknowledged the Navajo were excellent bargainers. The Navajo kept scrupulously to the terms of the treaty. Interestingly, the Long Walk had some profound cultural influences on the Navajo – some of the tribe fled Carson’s round up and moved into places that were not part of the traditional homeland but which they then laid claim to– such as Black Mesa, which turned out to have extensive mineral resources. I gather this has caused some conflict with other native groups. Secondly, some of the things thought of as Navajo traditions – fry bread and the “broomstick” skirt – were actually acquired at Bosque Redondo.


Theme number two involves direct participation in the war as Union soldiers. A number of natives from Michigan, Wisconsin and New York signed up; notable were brevet Brigadier General and Seneca sachem Ely Parker, who was on Grant’s staff and present at the surrender ceremony at Appomattox; and the entire Company K, 1st Michigan Sharpshooters, including Anishnaabek Daniel Mwakewenaw who shot 32 Confederate soldiers at the Wilderness despite being shot and fatally wounded himself.


Theme number three is the war in Indian Territory, which involved both Union and Confederate Indians, sometimes split between tribes. Essayist Theda Perdue notes that the 1863 Battle of Honey Springs was a major battle with a minority of white soldiers, with Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw on the Confederate side and Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Delaware, Keechi, Caddo, Kickapoo and Osage on the Union side (plus the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry). She also notes that there was a another massacre I had never heard of; in October 1862 Union Cherokee, Delaware, Osage and Seminole attacked the Wichita Indian Agency and killed 150 Confederate Tonkawa Indian men, women, and children. The Confederate Indians had largely modeled themselves after Southern society and often owned slaves; after emancipation the Cherokee, Creek and Seminole adopted their freedmen into the tribes immediately; the Choctaw didn’t until 1885; the Chickasaw never did. Parry comments the rights of descendants of freedmen as members of Indian tribes is still contentious issue. On the flip side, the Confederate government recognized Indians as citizens and they were represented in Congress at Richmond. There were several Indian Colonels in the Confederate army and Cherokee Stand Watie finished the war as a Brigadier General.


In another guilty confession, I expected this book to be all political correctness. There is some of that, but I also learned quite a bit, most notably the Bear River Massacre and further details of the war in Indian Territory. Worthwhile. ( )