The Indian Wars

of Nebraska Press, 1971. (originally published 1891.)

America's nineteenth-century Indian Wars are out of fashion today. The contemporary popular-culture version of these wars, in the movie "Dances with Wolves," is a cartoon image that simply stands old "B" western stereotypes on their heads, with noble Indians and brutalized soldiers. The only battles in the Indian Wars that remain household names today are an Indian victory, Little Big Horn, and the late episode at Wounded Knee, remembered now as a massacre rather than a battle. The only American military man now remembered as an "Indian fighter" is General George Custer (Other famous Americans were Indian fighters, notably President Andrew Jackson and many Civil War generals. But only Custer is now remembered for his exploits against Indians -- or rather, for Sitting Bull's exploit against him).

Yet the Indian Wars and the pacification of the frontier were important chapters in the history of the U.S. Army and of the nation itself. A vivid sense of this process, as seen by an observant and well-positioned eyewitness, is given by Captain John G. Bourke's account of his years as chief of staff to General George Crook, a period that spanned the crucial years from 1870 to 1886. General Sherman once called Crook the greatest Indian fighter the Army ever had; just one week before Little Big Horn, he fought and won one of the most decisive -- and now for

. . .
enerated. The Americans have had twenty years in which to corrupt them, and the intimacy can hardly have been to the advantage of the red man. (p- 65) This remark is characteristic of Bourke's view of Indians, and it seems to have been Crook's view as well. But there was little sentimentality in their view. They saw Indians not as noble environmentalists and victims but as brave and dangerous enemies, and above all they respected the Indians for their military skills and qualities. After describing an Apache ambush that took place less than a mile from an Army post, Bourke tells us that It was this peculiarity of the Apaches that made them such a terror to all who came in contact with them ... [they] would not fight when pursued, but scattered like their own crested mountain quail, and then hovered on the flanks of the whites, and were far more formidable when dispersed than when they were moving in compact bodies. This was simply the best military policy for the Apaches to adopt -- wear out the enemy by vexatious tactics, and by having the pursuit degenerate into a will-o'-th'-wisp chase . . . The Apache was in no sense a coward. He knew his business, and played his cards to suit himself. He never lost a shot, a
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Approximate Word count = 1560
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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