Civil War and the Indian Wars

Many historians of the Indian wars seem tocredit the War Between the States as a significant factor in the uprising ofnumerous tribes during these same years. In fact, the continuous exposure towhite civilization, the incursion by whites with modern technology, and anambiguous government policy had caused frustration as far back as two decadesbefore the Civil War began.This account of some of the conflicts between American Indians and whitesfrom 1861-1865 depicts the struggles among disenfranchised native peoples on thefrontier and expansion of a predominantly white culture into the West. Whilewhites fought whites from the Atlantic seaboard to the prairies of Kansas, greatnations in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, the Dakotas, Colorado, Nebraska,Kansas, Texas, Missouri, and Minnesota struck back at the incursion of whiteintruders.The book neither condemns nor justifies the actions of either sideorather, itis a thorough, chronological examination of the events and incidents thatoccurred during these four years. Based on confrontations as they were recordedby contemporary writers and historians, the book is not separated intoindividual accounts of the conflicts as many historians have previously done.Instead, Birdis approach is to treat all the Indian wars fought between 1861 and1865 in order of their occurrence to examine the governmentis and the militaryispolicies toward the [read more]