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Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891 Editorial Review:
In
Frontier Regulars Robert M. Utley combines scholarship and drama to produce an impressive history of the final, massive drive by the Regular Army to subdue and control the American Indians and open the West during the twenty-five years following the Civil War.
Here are incisive accounts of the campaign directed by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman—from the first skirmishes with the Sioux over the Bozeman Trail defenses in 1866 to the final defeat and subjugation of the Northern Plains Indians in 1890. Utley's brilliant descriptions of military maneuvers and flaming battles are juxtaposed with a careful analysis of Sherman's army: its mode of operation, equipment, and recruitment; its lifestyle and relations with Congress and civilians.
Proud of the United States Army and often sympathetic toward the Indians, Utley presents a balanced overview of the long struggle. He concludes that the frontier army was not "the heroic vanguard of civilization" as sometimes claimed and still less "the barbaric band of butchers depicted in the humanitarian literature of the nineteenth century and the atonement literature of the twentieth." Rather, it was a group of ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) men doing the best they could.
Customer Reviews:
Western soldiers
I am a huge fan of Robert Utley and love his first person historical approach in his writings.(Lincoln County War) This book's approach is more "big picture" history rather than first person accounts. Not enough details
The Indian Wars 1866-91
Frontier Regulars--The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-91 is a companion volume to Frontiersmen in Blue--The United States Army and the Indian, 1848-65. In this second volume by Robert Utley we begin with the appointment of William T. Sherman to the post of Commanding General of the Army in the winter of 1865-66. Early chapters give us an overview of army structure after the Civil War, Military Doctrine, Congress vs. the Army, Uniforms and Equipment and an overview of life on the army post before beginning the story of situation at Ft. Phil Kearny in 1866, the various campaigns known as the Indian Wars, and ending with the Ghost Dance campaign of 90-91.
I first came across this volume while a graduate student and found it to be an excellent overview of the various operations of the United States Army on the frontier with excellent documentation. It is detailed without being excessive and a good primer for those students of military history first learning about events of this time period. It is not, however, for the uninitiated but can be a fairly easy read for the history major type. Explanations of events and campaigns are clear and easy to follow with multiple maps showing close-ups of operational areas that are well done, listing forts, rivers and minor streams in any given area.
It is not a book about a day in the life of the typical soldier or stories about army life in general. It strictly deals with plans and operations over the 25 year period and can serve as supplemental reading for any course centered on this time period. Utley does not make judgments about policy or campaigns. He is neither pro army nor pro Indian but simply lays out the facts in an interesting read. Coupled with the earlier volume (Frontiersmen in Blue) or as a stand alone it is an excellent work and should be apart of any history student's collection of works for the period following the Civil War.
Tremendous
If you are not a Robert Utley fan you soon will be. In this second of a two volume series, Utley shows once again why he is the king of Western US history. This is an excellent piece of scholarship and writing.
Recounting the final, massive push by the Regular Army to subdue the American Indians, this volume covers the 25 years after the Civil War when control of the Plaines was wrested from the Indians, from the first skirmishes with the Sioux over the Bozeman Trail to the final defeat and subjugation in 1880.
Proud of the Unites States Army and is accomplishments while simultaneously sympathetic toward the Indians, Utley traces the campaign directed by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman. The result is a very evenhanded account resting comfortably between the "the barbaric band of butchers depicted in the humanitarian literature of the nineteenth century and the atonement literature of the twentieth." The people we meet are simply a group of ordinary men doing the very best they could under remarkably trying circumstances that were often under equipped and ill supplied.
Soldiers out doing a job
Utley does an excellent job of showing what post-Civil War Indian fighters faced. First was the transition from the Union Army fighting Confederates to the U.S. Army fighting Indians.
Utley documents how that work was made much harder by the cheapness of the War Department and Congress. Downsizing the Army drastically to save money wasn't enough. Congress stuck most the infantry with leftover muzzleloaders rather than repeaters, meaning that their Indian foes usually (Winchester-armed themselves) could bring superior firepower to bear.
Meanwhile, the frontier Army had to go through the twists and turns of War Department, or Interior Department, twists and turns on Indian dealings, and in different high-level officers having different approaches not just to Indian fighting but to Indian truce and treaty negotiations.
Meanwhile, the grunt work, as typical, was to be done by the infantryman, not the cavalryman.
Read the whole story of his struggle to do his job in this book.
Objective, Unsympathetic, and Brilliantly Delivered
Robert M. Utley offers the sequel to his _Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian 1848-1865_. In this second installment, Utley attempts to eradicate the myth of the frontier Army as blazing a path of glory westward that has been portrayed in Hollywood movies. Rather, he argues the frontier regular Army was only one of several contributing factors to the subjugation of the Native Americans. Other determinants such as westward expansion by waves of immigrants, and professional buffalo hunters attributed as much, if not more, to the Indian demise as did the soldiers. In a sense, Utley offers the antithesis to Dee Brown's _Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee_. The author highlights the Army's role as a frontier police force carrying out civilian policy that lacked cohesive strategy against the Native Americans. Utley begins with a general survey of the United States Army in the post-Civil War years. The author outlines the relationship between the War Department, its near autonomous bureaus, Congress, and the Executive Branch, with brief discussions into the tenures of Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, command-staff functions, and logistics. Chapters on weapons & equipment, and outpost life round out the first half of the book. Utley remains objective and unsympathetic at times to Blue Coat and Indian alike. For example, in his discussion of General George Armstrong Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn, Utley, a noted Custer scholar, blames the boy general for the debacle. The author cites several reasons for the defeat of the 7th Cavalry. On the surrender of Geronimo in 1886, Utley credits both Generals George Crook and General Nelson Miles equally for their improvisations in overcoming logistical hardships in the harsh Sierra Madre Mountains. Acknowledging that the elimination of the Chiricahua Apache from Arizona was the prerequisite for re-establishing peace to the area, Utley does not sympathize with Geronimo's plight. It was only after the removal of the Chiricahuas, hostile and neutral alike, argues Utley, that peace was finally brought to the Southwest. In the final episode of the Indian wars: Wounded Knee, Utley engages in mere semantics. The author depicts Wounded Knee as a "tragedy" not a "massacre," the term generally preferred by the Indians. Utley feels the idiom inappropriate because "massacre," points to "deliberate and indiscriminate slaughter" which, he feels this occurrence was not. Utley believes, the soldiers tried to restrain from firing on women and children, however, in the melee, hitting innocent non-combatants was unavoidable. In the chapter titled "The Problem of Doctrine," Utley sees the Indian wars of the late nineteenth century through lensesmirroring the war in Vietnam (this book was first published in 1973). Utley observes the U.S. Army applied conventional tactics in an unconventional war. He illustrates how hostile Indians were oftentimes indistinguishable from peaceful reservation Indians. The hostiles utilized guerrilla tactics-hit and run raids and disappeared into the night. By day, the warrior factions would easily blend back into the general Indian population. If this be the case, it can be argued that the United States military had learned nothing from its own history. Robert M.Utley, often seen on the History Channel, and preeminent military historian of the period, has once again consulted a vast array of archival material. His evidence is equally balanced between primary and secondary sources, with endnotes after every chapter. The author consults an impressive collection of Government documents including a detailed list of Congressional and Senate papers in an impressive bibliography. Generous, easy to read maps, and a peppering of period photographs make this an essential addition to any library.
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