Autobiography of Red Cloud: War Leader of the Oglalas

by R. Eli Paul (Editor), Charles Wesley Allen

Overview

A brilliant military strategist, Red Cloud honed his skills against his tribe's traditional enemies -- the Pawnees, Shoshones, Arikaras, and Crows -- long before he fought to close the Bozeman Trail. Here, for the first time in print, is Red Cloud's "as-told-to" autobiography, where he shares the story of his early years. This manuscript -- which has rested ignored for decades at the Nebraska State Historical Society -- brings us closer than the historical record has yet allowed to understanding the life of one of the Sioux's greatest war leaders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780917298509
Publisher:	Montana Historical Society Press
Publication date:	01/01/1997
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	222
Sales rank:	679,353
Product dimensions:	5.56(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.59(d)

Editorial Reviews

The first biography in many years of Sioux chief Red Cloud was Robert Larson's Red Cloud (LJ 4/1/97). Now comes Red Cloud's autobiography. Editor Paul, the historian of the Nebraska State Historical Society, recounts the strange twists of fate that overtook this document. In 1893, Red Cloud was encouraged to give an account of his life, which was then recorded by others. The manuscript was given to Addison Sheldon, then director of the Nebraska State Historical Society, who did nothing with it except have it copied in 1932 by his assistant, Mari Sandoz. Because of its obscure background, its ending in the early 1860s, and the negative images of Red Cloud (Sandoz, for instance, cast him as a villain in her Crazy Horse, published in 1942), the manuscript continued to languish. The autobiography is an exciting glimpse of the life of the Plains Indians before their defeat and removal to reservation life. Worthy reading for both scholarly and lay readers.Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., Brockport, N.Y.

Library Journal