Indian War Veterans: Memories of Army Life and Campaigns in the West, 1864-1898

by Jerome A. Greene

Overview

The decades-long military campaign for the American West is an endlessly fascinating topic, and award-winning author Jerome A. Greene adds substantially to this genre with Indian War Veterans: Memories of Army Life and Campaigns in the West, 1864-1898. Greene’s study presents the first comprehensive collection of veteran (primarily former enlisted soldiers’) reminiscences. The vast majority of these writings have never before seen wide circulation. Indian War Veterans addresses soldiers’ experiences throughout the area of the trans-Mississippi West. As readers will quickly discover, the depth and breadth of coverage is truly monumental. Topics include recollections of fighting with Custer and the mutilation of the dead at Little Bighorn, the Fetterman fight, the Yellowstone Expedition of 1873, battles at Powder River and Rosebud Creek, fighting Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountains, Geronimo and the Apache wars, the Ute and Modoc wars, Wounded Knee, and much more. The remembrances also include selections as diverse as “Christmas at Fort Robinson,” “Service with the Eighteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry,” and “Chasing the Apache Kid.” These carefully drawn recollections derive from a wide array of sources, including manuscript and private collections, veterans’ scrapbooks, obscure newspapers, and private veterans’ statements. A special introductory essay about Indian war veterans contains new material about their post-service organizations all the way into the 1960s. Complimenting the riveting entries are dozens of previously unpublished photographs. Readers will additionally find a gallery of never-before-seen full-color plates displaying a wide variety of Indian War Veterans’ badges, medals, and associated materials. No other book discusses the post-army lives of these men or presents their recollections of army life as thoroughly as Greene’s Indian War Veterans. This groundbreaking study will appeal to lay readers, historians, site visitors and interpreters, Civil War and Indian wars enthusiasts, collectors, museum curators, and archeologists. "A treasure-trove of original sources on the Indian wars, an essential addition to every library on the subject." --Paul A. Hutton, University of New Mexico, and the author of "Phil Sheridan and his Army and "The Custer Reader." About the Author: Jerome A. Greene is an award-winning author and historian with the National Park Service. His books include The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781, Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877, Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyenne, 1876, and Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869. He resides in Colorado.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611210224
Publisher:	Savas Beatie
Publication date:	05/20/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	624
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Jerome A. Greene is a retired historian with the National Park Service. He is the author or editor of many books, including Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877, Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876, and his most recent effort, Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments     xiii
Introduction: The Indian War Veterans, 1880s-1960s     xv
Army Life in the West     1
Press Interview with Five Veterans     2
A Typical Entry in Winners of the West     9
Finding the Right Drum Major, 1872   John Cox     11
Ten Years a Buffalo Soldier   Perry A. Hayman     15
Cavalry Duty in the Southwest in the 1870s   George S. Raper     18
Wyoming Service in the 1870s   George F. Tinkham     21
Relocating with the Sixth U. S. Infantry   William Fetter     22
Battling in the Little Bighorn   Alonzo Stringham     24
Fourteen Years in the Army, 1881-1895   Ernst A. Selander     26
Fifth Cavalry Service   Charles M. Hildreth     29
An Incident at Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1884   Archibald Dickson     31
Reminiscences of an Eighth U. S. Cavalryman, 1883-1888   Frederick C. Kurz     32
Twelve Years in the Eighteenth Infantry   Phillip Schreiber     42
Cemeteries at Fort Laramie   Michael M. O'Sullivan     45
Life as a Rookie   John T. Stokes     47
A Boyhood at TongueRiver Cantonment and Fort Keogh, 1877-1882   Dominick J. O'Malley     48
The Border-to-Border March of the Eighth Cavalry, 1888   William G. Wilkinson     59
Sidelights of the Eighth Cavalry's Historic March   Soren P. Jepson     70
Memories of Old Fort Cummings, New Mexico Territory   Wolsey A. Sloan     72
The Fort Custer Dance   Maurice J. O'Leary     75
Christmas at Fort Robinson, 1882   Martin J. Weber     78
Incidents of Army Life at Fort Wingate, 1892-1893   Frederick H. Krause     80
Battles and Campaigns     85
Northern Plains and Prairies     85
The Fetterman Tragedy, 1866   Timothy O'Brien     86
Note on the Fetterman Fight   Alexander Brown     88
The Relief of Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C. F. Smith, 1866   Bartholomew Fitzpatrick     89
Guarding the Union Pacific   Laurence W. Aldrich     90
A Reality of Warfare   Samuel H. Bently     91
A Skirmish at Heart River, Dakota, 1872   John W. Jenkins     92
The Yellowstone Expedition of 1873   William Foster Norris     94
Notes on the Yellowstone Expedition   John Walsh      99
A Buffalo Stampede during the Northern Pacific Survey Expedition, 1873   William D. Nugent     99
Bates's Fight in the Owl Range, 1874   James H. Rhymer     101
Service at Red Cloud Agency, Nebraska, 1874-1875   Lines P. Wasson     103
With the Third Cavalry in 1876   Oliver C.C. Pollock     103
Fighting at Powder River and Rosebud Creek, 1876   Phineas S. Towne     107
Attacking the Cheyennes at Powder River in 1876   John Lang     108
A Sioux War Diary   George S. Howard     109
Combatting Cheyennes at Powder River and the Red Fork, 1876   James N. Connely     116
Campaigning with the Seventh Infantry in 1876   George C. Berry     119
Memories of the Little Bighorn, 1876   Jacob Hetler     128
Some Thoughts about the Battle of the Little Bighorn   Theodore W. Goldin     131
With the Water Carriers at the Little Bighorn   William D. Nugent     133
Fought with Reno on the Bluffs   Henry M. Brinkerhoff     135
Mutilation of Custer's Dead   William D. Nugent     135
News of the Custer Battle Reaches Fort Randall, Dakota   John E. Cox      136
The Skirmish at Warbonnet Creek, 1870   Chris Madsen     137
Witness to Cody at Warbonnet Creek, Diary entries   James B. Frew     144
Surrounding Red Cloud and Red Leaf   Luther North     145
Battle of the Red Fork, 1876   James S. McClellan     146
Dismounting and Disarming the Agency Sioux along the Missouri River   Theodore W. Goldin     147
Scouting with Lieutenant Baldwin in Montana, 1876   Joseph Culbertson     154
Fighting Crazy Horse in the Wolf Mountains, 1877   Luther Barker     157
Surrender of Chief Dull Knife (Morning Star), 1878   Louis De Witt     161
An Incident of the Fort Robinson Outbreak, 1879   James E. Snepp     163
An Encounter with the Cree Indians near the Canadian Line, 1881   Lawrence Lea     164
On Patrol in Montana and Sitting Bull's Surrender in 1881   John C. Delemont     166
The Killing of Sitting Bull, 1890, Account of James Connelly     169
Arrest and Death of Sitting Bull   Matthew F. Steele     171
Two Letters Regarding Fort Yates and Sitting Bull's Death, 1890   George B. DuBois     172
Scouting for Sioux in 1890   John Rovinsky      177
Time at Wounded Knee   William J. Slaughter     179
An Army Medic at Wounded Knee   Andrew M. Flynn     184
A Memory of the Pine Ridge Campaign   Henry B. Becker     193
A Trooper's Vignette   Frank Sturr     193
On the Pine Ridge Campaign   Grant C. Topping     195
Infantry Operations at Pine Ridge   Richard T. Burns     196
Recollections of the Pine Ridge Campaign and Wounded Knee   August Hettinger     199
Incidents of Wounded Knee   Joseph Monnett     214
Maneuvers in Montana during the Ghost Dance Crisis   James E. Wilson     215
The Leech Lake Uprising of 1898   Harry V. Wurdemann     220
Central and Southern Plains     227
Supplies for Colorado in 1864   Elias J. Quick     228
Campaigning in Colorado and New Mexico, 1860s   Luke Cahill     229
Service with the Eighteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry in 1867   Henderson Lafayette Burgess     233
On the Kansas Plains during Hancock's Campaign, 1867   James P. Russell     236
A Skirmish with Kiowas in Colorado Territory, 1868   Edward Mayers     237
Combat near Fort Hays, Kansas, 1867   George W. Ford     239
A Memory of Beecher Island, 1868   Reuben Waller     241
Sully's Campaign in the Autumn of 1868   A. C. Rallya     241
The Fight at Beaver Creek, 1868   Edward M. Hayes     244
A Buffalo Soldier Recalls Beaver Creek   Reuben Waller     246
Kansas Troops and the 1868 Campaign   W. R. Smith     247
Trials of the Southern Plains Campaign, 1868-1869   Henry Pearson     249
With Custer at the Washita, 1868   Henry Langley     253
The Battle at Palo Dero Canyon, 1871   John B. Charlton     255
The Battle of Punished Woman's Fork, 1878   Albert Fensch     261
Mountain West     263
The Fight at White Bird Canyon, 1877   Frank Fenn     263
Reminiscences of White Bird Canyon   John P. Schorr     265
The Nez Perce War and the Battle of the Big Hole, 1877   Charles N. Loynes     266
The Bear's Paw Campaign and the Surrender of Chief Joseph   Luther Barker     277
Bannock War Service, 1878   Ernest F. Albrecht     287
Fighting the Bannocks   George Buzan     290
Action in the Ute War of 1879   Eugene Patterson     291
Merritt's Relief Column to Milk River   Jacob Blaut     292
Reminiscences of the Ute Uprising   Jacob Blaut     293
The Fifth Cavalry Comes Through   Arthur S. Wallace     291
A Sidelight of the Ute Campaign   Earl Hall     297
Occupation Duty in Utah, 1879-1880   George K. Lisk     299
West Coast     300
A Close Call in Oregon, 1868   John M. Smith     301
Scouting during the Modoc War, 1873   Oliver C. Applegate     302
Murder of the Peace Commissioners   Oliver C. Applegate     306
Incident in the Charge on the Modocs, January 17, 1873   Jasper N. Terwilliger     309
Southwest     310
Pursuing Indians during Utah's Black Hawk War, 1865   Joseph S. McFate     312
An Apache Fight near Camp Bowie, Arizona, 1871   John F. Farley     313
Combat at Salt River Canyon, 1872$d"Old Non-Com"     316
Memories of Lieutenants Hudson and Tyler   Peter Lacher     319
A Personal Bout with Apaches   George O. Eaton     321
The Fight at Cibicu, 1881   Anton Mazzanovich      326
Notes on the Cibicu Creek Fight and the Fight at Fort Apache   William Baird     330
Campaigning in Arizona in the 1880s   John E. Murphy     331
The Fight at Black Mesa, 1882   Earl S. Hall     332
Certificate of Merit for Combat in New Mexico, 1885   Sylvester Grover     334
The Campaign against Geronimo   Henry W. Daly     335
The Fight in Guadaloupe Canyon, 1885   Emil Pauly     343
After the Apaches, 1885-1886   Clarence B. Chrisman     344
Service in Arizona, 1885   John P. Gardner     351
Trailing Geronimo by Heliograph, 1886   William W. Neifert     353
Remembrance of the Apache Campaign   Samuel D. Gilpin     360
To and from Mexico, 1886   Albert Willis     364
Present at the Surrender, 1886   Arnold Schoeni     365
Chasing the Apache Kid, 1892-1894   Richard F. Watson     365
Suggested Reading     367
Index     369

Editorial Reviews

"A groundbreaking study that will appeal to those interested in the Plains Indian wars, the history of the central and western plains, and late nineteenth century America. It is a superb piece of scholarship and writing."

Kansas History

"A treasure-trove of original sources on the Indian wars, an essential addition to every library on the subject."

Paul A. Hutton