Crimsoned prairie : the Indian wars

Summary: Here is the story of the Indian wars on the Great Plains told by America's foremost writer on military affairs. The long war between America's slapdash and neglected post Civil War army and the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other Plains Indians has been covered in many books; but this is the first book to provide a thorough-going analysis of military tactics. In all the literature on the Plains Wars, there is almost no agreement about statistics, relative losses, or even troop numbers. Keeping accurate records in the field has never been one of the strengths of the United States Army, and the commands that fought the Plains Indians were particularly careless. General Marshall has visited the sites of the principal battlefields of the twenty-five-year -long war, and has pieced together from the geography and the often-conflicting battle reports a realistic account of what probably did happen. He tells the story of the wars with the Nez Perce and of Chief Joseph's battle against federal troops; provides a new analysis of Custer's last stand from a military point of view, showing what Custer did wrong; reconstructs the battle of Wounded Knee, reminding us that an actual battle took place there - - it was not just an unprovoked massacre. While today's vogue is to lament the wars against the Plains Indians, and all wars, as monstrous crimes, Marshall reminds us that this is a vogue: Not all Indians were virtuous and trustworthy; not all white men were greedy and unscrupulous.