American Indian Wars (Military History)

Introduction

Reflecting the society and culture in which they lived, early writers tended to portray the American Indian wars—defined here as military contests between indigenous peoples and Europeans and their descendants in the present United States from the founding of Jamestown to the end of the 19th century—as pitting “civilized” whites against “savage” Indians. Thus, many older works, which viewed those conflicts almost solely from the perspective of the invaders, appear biased and incomplete to the modern eye. Recent studies strive for better balance and grant Indians the agency to seek to determine their own destinies. Essentially, modern scholarship on these wars falls into several categories. Traditional operational histories, which offer detailed examinations of leaders, troop movements, battles, and logistics, remain a significant part of the literature. A second approach, different in emphasis but similar in its familiarity to military historians, focuses on questions of doctrine, tactics, and methods of making war. Still others place less weight on politics and more on culture, seeing wars and military institutions as reflecting a society’s values. Notions of identity, state-building, and colonialism feature prominently in such scholarship. Finally, research on the American Indian wars encompasses much multidisciplinary work, with archaeology and cultural anthropology offering important insights into how and why different peoples made war. The very best studies, of course, strive to blend each approach into a more compelling whole.

General Overviews

Because the wars between Indians and non-Indians in the present United States spanned nearly three centuries and encompassed an area two and one-half times the size of the European Union, historians have not viewed the totality of these conflicts in a comprehensive fashion. Rather, they have focused on more specific eras or themes. Steele 1994 surveys the colonial period, whereas Utley 2003 examines the latter half of the 19th century. Nichols 2013 suggests the inevitability of conflicts between Indians and the United States, while Vandervort 2006 compares the conflicts in the United States with those in Mexico and Canada. Hämäläinen 2008 and Secoy 1992 address the conflicts from the perspective of Plains Indians, with the former describing the rise and fall of perhaps the most feared tribal group in all of North America. In discussing the wars of the United States Army against the Indians, Wooster 2009 also emphasizes the institution’s nation-building activities.

Hämäläinen, Pekka. The Comanche Empire. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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An ambitious narrative that posits the military and economic power of the Comanches within the purview of imperialism more commonly attributed to larger, more populous states.
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Nichols, Roger L. Warrior Nations: The United States and Indian Peoples. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.
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Through eight case studies, Nicols highlights the impact of local conditions and cultural differences in leading to conflicts.
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Secoy, Frank Raymond. Changing Military Patterns of the Great Plains Indians 17th Century through Early 19th Century. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
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Originally published in 1953, this pioneering monograph argues that the introduction of horses and guns in intertribal warfare hastened the decline of Apache military power but renewed Sioux expansion.
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Steele, Ian K. Warpaths: Invasions of North America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
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Stressing the mutual adaptations of technology, tactics, and strategy by all sides, Steele’s sweeping survey examines Indian, Spanish, Dutch, French, and British military efforts from the Spanish occupation of Saint Augustine, Florida, through the French and Indian War.
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Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846–1890. 2d ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
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A classic blend of military and political history by the most acclaimed scholar of the wars against the Indians. The best single source for the latter half of the 19th century, slightly revised from the original 1984 edition.
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Vandervort, Bruce. Indian Wars of Mexico, Canada, and the United States, 1812–1900. New York: Routledge, 2006.
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Much-welcomed comparative study that addresses the Indian wars of North America in a global context.
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Wooster, Robert. The American Military Frontiers: The United States Army in the West, 1783–1900. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2009.
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In the most recent one-volume assessment of the army’s role in the American West, Wooster contends that military affairs were an essential ingredient of western development.
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Reference Works

The long timespan and enormous geographic scope of the wars against the Indians make general reference works particularly useful, especially for those seeking a brief introduction to some particular aspect of these conflicts. Kessel and Wooster 2005, which focuses specifically on things military, comes closest to being a comprehensive introduction. Thrapp 1988 provides short biographical sketches that also span the entire period. Waldman 1985 combines good maps with crisp text, largely from the Indian perspective, and Prucha 1990 includes even more maps, which set military affairs within the larger context of the Indian experience. Adjutant General’s Office 1979 provides a handy list of the regular army’s fights with Indians for much of the 19th century. Smith 2000 offers a comprehensive guide to sources relating to Texas. As forts played a key role throughout the 300 years of conflicts between Europeans, Americans, and Indians, Frazer 1965 and Hannings 2006 are also essential reference tools.

Adjutant General’s Office. Chronological List of Actions, &c., with Indians: From January 15, 1837 to January, 1891. Ft. Collins, CO: Old Army Press, 1979.
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Compilation of the name, date, troops engaged, commanding officer, and reported casualties in each of the army’s military engagements with Indians. Originally published in 1891.
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Frazer, Robert W. Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios and Posts Commonly Called Forts West of the Mississippi River to 1898. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
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Organized by state and featuring clear maps, provides handy capsule histories of positions in the trans-Mississippi region.
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Hannings, Bud. Forts of the United States: An Historical Dictionary, 16th through 19th Centuries. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006.
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Broader in geographic scope than Frazer 1965, the roughly 6,000 entries are organized by state.
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Kessel, William B., and Robert Wooster, eds. Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare. New York: Facts On File, 2005.
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Co-edited by specialists in Indian (Kessel) and military (Wooster) affairs, features more than 600 extensively cross-referenced entries on wars, battles, tribes, individuals, and weapons.
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Prucha, Francis Paul. Atlas of American Indian Affairs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
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The best single source for maps of the wars of the United States against the Indians.
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Smith, Thomas T. The Old Army in Texas: A Research Guide to the U.S. Army in Nineteenth Century Texas. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 2000.
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The best reference guide to the army’s activities in any state, Smith’s compilation includes maps, a list of army sites and garrisons, a thorough bibliography, and a reprint of his statistical analysis of combat operations.
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Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography. 3 vols. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark, 1988.
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Scanning four centuries and featuring nearly 4,500 entries, each accompanied by a brief list of references, this superb work is built upon the author’s extensive research and writing on frontier life.
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Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indian. New York: Facts On File, 1985.
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Wars comprise a significant element of this introductory survey, which includes brief descriptions of major conflicts as well as key Native American culture groups.
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Biographies

Biographical studies comprise a major element of Indian-wars historiography, especially that covering the 19th century. Perhaps this is a natural result of the continuing popularity of these long struggles among a broad general readership, whose taste for the genre remains unsated. Happily, most modern scholars, rather than attempting to glorify or vilify their subjects, are more interested in explaining their activities within the social, cultural, and political worlds in which they lived. Those writing about American Indians have the more difficult task, as they enjoy access to fewer written documents, a problem especially notable in Sugden 1997, an otherwise laudable account of the charismatic leader who attempted to rally a latent pan-Indian movement. Utley 1993, Utley 2012, and Bray 2006 use a close reading of primary texts as well as a more nuanced understanding of oral traditions and Indian cultures to tease out useful information and insights. Massive collections of government documents, military records, and personal letters have enabled Hutton 1985 and Utley 2001 to craft outstanding accounts of key army personnel. Cutrer 1993 offers an important reminder that many military activities on the frontiers were initiated and implemented by nonregulars. The best collection of biographical essays is Etulain and Riley 2004.

Bray, Kingsley M. Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
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Emphasizes the efforts of this talented military, religious, and political leader to deal with not only the external threats, but also the internal divisions faced by the Lakotas in a time of change.
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Cutrer, Thomas W. Ben McCulloch and the Frontier Military Tradition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
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Countering recent trends that have placed the regular army at the forefront of the wars of the United States against the Indians, Cutrer emphasizes the significance of nonprofessionals like McCulloch.
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Etulain, Richard B., and Glenda Riley, eds. Chiefs & Generals: Nine Men Who Shaped the American West. Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 2004.
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Features an eclectic group of scholars and late-19th-century subjects: Red Cloud, Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Victorio, O. O. Howard, George Custer, George Crook, Ranald Mackenzie, and Nelson Miles.
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Hutton, Paul A. Phil Sheridan and His Army. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.
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Gracefully written and balanced account of the general who, more than any other officer, implemented the government’s policies following the Civil War.
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Sugden, John. Tecumseh: A Life. New York: Henry Holt, 1997.
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Generally recognized as the definitive biography of Tecumseh, who sought to use a British alliance and the united military power of the tribes of the Ohio country, Tennessee, and Kentucky to check US expansion.
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Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Henry Holt, 1993.
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In this balanced account, Utley portrays Sitting Bull as a Hunkpapa patriot who attempted to employ his tribe’s principles and institutions in preserving their independence.
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Utley, Robert M. Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier. Rev. ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
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Acknowledging Custer’s personal and professional faults, Utley nonetheless attributes the defeat at the Little Bighorn to bad luck (the unprecedented size of the Indian camp, their unusual decision to stand firm, and the failures of subordinates) rather than Custer’s bad judgment. Slightly revised from the 1988 original.
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Utley, Robert M. Geronimo. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.
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Uses alternating perspectives of whites and Apaches to craft a nuanced sketch of the skilled war leader, who seemed motivated more by personal ambitions than loyalty to his Apache culture.
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Early Colonial Wars

Modern students of the early clashes between Europeans, European colonists, and Indians have tended to shy away from traditional campaign or battle studies, instead adopting a more multidisciplinary approach. In analyzing the importance of war and military affairs to Indian culture, for example, Milner 1999 uses archaeological studies, and Richter 1983 relies heavily on ethnology. Lepore 1998 and Ramsey 2008 argue that these conflicts profoundly affected the way colonists perceived their own identities, whereas Grandjean 2011 studies the lingering impact of conflict on both societies. Hirsch 1988 and Malone 1991 focus more directly on military policy and tactics, respectively, and Grenier 2010 offers a wide-ranging historiographical survey, extending the author’s scope through the end of the 18th century.

Grandjean, Katherine R. “The Long Wake of the Pequot War.” Early American Studies 9.2 (2011): 379–411.
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Emphasizes the long-term costs of war and conquests to both Indians and New Englanders.
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Grenier, John. “Recent Trends in the Historiography on Warfare in the Colonial Period, 1607–1765.” History Compass 8 (2010): 358–367.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00657.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Invaluable survey of modern scholarship.
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Hirsch, Adam J. “The Collision of Military Cultures in Seventeenth-Century New England.” Journal of American History 74.4 (1988): 1187–1212.
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Argues that the clash of English and Indian cultures in the Pequot War produced a military acculturation that sowed the seeds for harsher, more devastating wars in the future.
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Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.
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Contends that portrayals of King Philip’s War (1675–1678) confirmed white notions of civilization and savagery and thus intensified the colonists’ notions of their own separate Anglo-American identity.
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Malone, Patrick M. The Skulking Way of War: Technology and Tactics among the New England Indians. Baltimore: Madison House, 1991.
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Concludes that larger numbers, advanced technology, logistical superiority, and eventually the adaptation of native methods allowed New Englanders to overcome the hit-and-run tactics employed by Indians.
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Milner, George R. “Warfare in Prehistoric and Early Historic Eastern North America.” Journal of Archaeological Research 7.2 (1999): 105–151.
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This survey of archaeological studies suggests that prehistoric warfare in the Eastern Woodlands varied over time and place, with some early conflicts approaching levels of casualties and intensity found among later societies.
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Ramsey, William L. The Yamasee War: A Study of Culture, Economy, and Conflict in the Colonial South. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
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Representative of many recent studies of the South, Ramsey suggests that by exposing South Carolinians to the threat posed by a potential black-Indian alliance, the Yamasee conflict (1715–1718) hardened racial attitudes.
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Richter, Daniel K. “War and Culture: The Iroquois Experience.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser. 40 (1983): 528–559.
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Demonstrates the centrality of military affairs, especially in one’s ability to demonstrate personal prowess, secure captives, and minimize friendly casualties, to Iroquois culture.
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Indians and the Wars for Empire

Both France and Britain relied on Indian alliances throughout their long struggle for control of North America. Scholarship on these contests (King William’s War, 1690–1697; Queen Anne’s War, 1702–1714; King George’s War, 1744–1748; and the French and Indian War, 1754–1763), like that of the Early Colonial Wars, features more emphasis on broad matters of culture, identity, and policy than detailed examinations of individual campaigns or battles. A notable exception is a thought-provoking assessment of Indian tactics in Lee 2004. Reflecting shifts in the discipline as a whole, recent works have also rejected the Eurocentric approach of older studies in favor of a more nuanced understanding of what the imperial challenge really meant to all of the peoples of North America, Indian as well as non-Indian. Silver 2008 (cited under the Revolutionary Era) contends that the savagery of frontier warfare against Indians unified previously disparate colonists into a more cohesive group of “whites.” As Baker and Reid 2004 and Kelton 2012 demonstrate, many Indian peoples protected their interests for many years through a skillful combination of diplomacy and military power. Dowd 1992 finds that efforts to forge some type of pan-Indian alliance against white expansion were the norm rather than the exception. Anderson 2000 offers the best study of any single war. Chet 2003 insists that traditional British regulars were more effective than most recent scholars admit. Perhaps the liveliest debate remains whether or not these experiences stimulated broader changes in military thought: Grenier 2005 finds that Americans adopted frontier lessons into their concepts of warmaking, whereas Starkey 1998 finds that the centuries saw relatively little change apart from that demanded by new technologies.

Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Knopf, 2000.
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Sweeping, vividly written narrative that insists on the primacy of the French and Indian War, and the British and colonial differences emerging in its aftermath, in shaping 18th-century North America.
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Baker, Emerson W., and John G. Reid. “Amerindian Power in the Early Modern Northeast: A Reappraisal.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser. 61 (2004): 77–106.
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Revisionist work that argues the Wabanakis and associated groups used diplomatic alliances and their tactical military advantages to form a coherent strategy to stem the tide of New England expansion between 1675 and 1725.
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Chet, Guy. Conquering the American Wilderness: The Triumph of European Warfare in the Colonial Northeast. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003.
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Sharply critical of the military efforts of English colonials, this work, which stresses the effectiveness of traditional British regulars when adequately supported and intelligently deployed, challenges the consensus view.
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Dowd, Gregory Evans. A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.
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Enormously influential study that emphasizes the long, but ultimately unsuccessful, efforts by Indians to offer a unified challenge to British (and later United States) imperial growth.
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Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American Warmaking on the Frontier, 1607–1814. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511817847Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Argues that Americans used their frontier experiences, which featured irregular warfare and a savagery rarely found along the Atlantic coast, to forge a unique approach to conflict, one that dominated their early warmaking.
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Kelton, Paul. “The British and Indian War: Cherokee Power and the Fate of Empire in North America.” William and Mary Quarterly 69.4 (2012): 763–792.
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Emphasizes the strategic importance of the Cherokees in assuring British control over the Ohio River valley and Fort Duquesne.
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Lee, Wayne E. “Fortify, Fight, or Flee: Tuscarora and Cherokee Defensive Warfare and Military Culture Adaptation.” Journal of Military History 68 (2004): 713–770.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.2004.0124Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Traces the Cherokees’ gradual shift from fixed fortifications to looser, more mobile ambuscades and dispersals in fighting European-style forces.
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Starkey, Armstrong. European and Native American Warfare, 1675–1815. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
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Argues for the essential continuity of warmaking, by Indians as well as Europeans, throughout the 18th century.
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The Revolutionary Era

The war for American independence was a multisided contest, with Indians, Americans, British, French, and Spanish engaged in a war for supremacy in Europe and America. For those interested in the Indian wars, especially notable are recent investigations of how native peoples sought to preserve their own interests amidst the turmoil. For Indians, the contest often represented not simply an imperial grab for more territory, but a potential threat to their very existence, as Calloway 1995 demonstrates vividly. To American revolutionaries, independence would not be fully realized without the removal of frontier security threats posed by groups allied with Britain. Thus, the military history of the period—at least as it relates to conflicts between Indians and non-Indians—has moved away from the traditional “drums and trumpets” approach to a greater emphasis on tribal diplomacy (Glatthaar and Martin 2006) and concepts of nationhood (Griffin 2007, Silver 2008). Lee 2007 also contends that these Revolutionary-era conflicts marked the culmination of the trend toward harsher attitudes about the conduct of warfare.

Calloway, Colin G. The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511816437Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Adopting the Indian perspective, Calloway uses eight case studies to explore the impact—almost invariably negative—of the American Revolution on native life.
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Glatthaar, Joseph T., and James Kirby Martin. Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution. New York: Hill & Wang, 2006.
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Traces the complex efforts of the Oneida Indians to maintain their tribal independence; after initially attempting to remain neutral, they threw in their lot with the Americans, with disastrous results.
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Griffin, Patrick. American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier. New York: Hill & Wang, 2007.
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Particularly strong in describing the bitter, personal nature of the racial conflicts between emigrants and Indians, this book seeks to restore the primary of frontier affairs to the Revolution.
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Lee, Wayne E. “Peace Chiefs and Blood Revenge: Patterns of Restraint in Native American Warfare, 1500–1800.” Journal of Military History 71 (2007): 701–741.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.2007.0216Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
In this systematic analysis of Indian efforts to limit the totality of conflict, Lee concludes that the failure by either side to acknowledge their opponents’ attempts to restrain warfare ultimately resulted in the escalation of their conflicts.
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Silver, Peter. Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008.
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Focusing on Pennsylvania, Silver argues that colonial and Revolutionary wars against the Indians, and the anti-Indian rhetoric so prevalent in contemporary writing, tended to inspire an American nationalism that, ironically, featured a reasonable degree of toleration toward other Europeans.
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Wars for the Ohio Valley

Although Britain officially granted a huge western empire in the Treaty of Paris (1783), effective US authority over the region was by no means a sure thing. Assisted by British supplies and promises, Indians of the Old Northwest posed a genuine challenge to the new nation’s expansion, a matter many Americans believed would be central to their ability to form a government that would command the respect of other powers. As Cayton 1992 demonstrates, the federal government made an important choice in deploying the regular army into the Ohio Valley, rather than elsewhere. It was, in effect, staking its resources and reputation in the Old Northwest. Thus, these conflicts take on enormous importance. Sword 1985 remains the best comprehensive study, with Eid 1993 concluding that the defeats of columns commanded by Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair were attributable to Indian prowess, rather than to a lack of American competence. Birtle 2003 investigates the origins of the Legion, which eventually secured control of the region, while Gaff 2004 provides the most detailed examination of the campaign itself. Nelson 1986 reminds us that volunteer assistance always remained a key element of the government’s strategy.

Birtle, Andrew J. “The Origins of the Legion of the United States.” Journal of Military History 67 (2003): 1249–1262.
DOI: 10.1353/jmh.2003.0277Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed examination of Anthony Wayne’s Legion, the first (and only) military organization created by the federal government specifically tailored to meet the demands of frontier conflicts.
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Cayton, Andrew R. L. “‘Separate Interests’ and the Nation-State: The Washington Administration and the Origins of Regionalism in the Trans-Appalachian West.” Journal of American History 79 (1992): 39–67.
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The army long represented the central government’s most important deployable resource. By deploying the army in the Old Northwest, Federalists helped to tie that region to the United States.
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Eid, Leroy V. “American Indian Military Leadership: St. Clair’s Defeat.” Journal of Military History 57 (1993): 71–88.
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Credits the Indian victory to the confederated peoples’ having adhered to a consensually accepted plan.
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Gaff, Alan D. Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne’s Legion in the Old Northwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
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Well-researched overview of the campaign that ensured US sovereignty over the Ohio River valley.
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Nelson, Paul D. “General Charles Scott, the Kentucky Mounted Volunteers, and the Northwest Indian Wars, 1784–1794.” Journal of the Early Republic 6.3 (1986): 219–251.
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In a useful counter to the recent emphasis on the regular army, stresses the military contributions of Scott and his mounted volunteers.
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Sword, Wiley. President Washington’s Indian War: The Struggle for the Old Northwest, 1790–1795. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.
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Gracefully written survey of the Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne offensives into the Miami River region.
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The War of 1812

Although the War of 1812 resulted in a stalemate between Britain and the United States, it cemented the fundamental shifts in the balance of power between the Indians of the Eastern Woodlands and the United States. Taylor 2010 and Bowes 2012 demonstrate that the complexity of Indian actions during the war can be understood only through enduring intertribal relations. Benn 1998 assesses the Iroquois search for an ally best suited for their people’s interests. While Black 2009 places the contest in its rightful imperial context, Latimer 2007 studies it from the British perspective. In discussing William Henry Harrison’s successful use of volunteers, Skaggs 2014 highlights the sharp divisions between Harrison and the War Department. The conflict also made possible the military mobilization that fueled Andrew Jackson’s campaign against the Creek Indians, which resulted in his shattering victory at Horseshoe Bend, the subject of Kanon 1999.

Benn, Carl. The Iroquois in the War of 1812. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
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Especially good explanation of the cultural and social forces pressuring adult Iroquois males to fight, and of how they were integrated (or, in the case of the Americans, not so integrated) into the British and United States armies.
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Black, Jeremy. The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
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One of the world’s most acclaimed military historians places the conflict in a global context.
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Bowes, John P. “Transformation and Transition: American Indians and the War of 1812 in the Lower Great Lakes.” Journal of Military History 76.4 (2012): 1129–1146.
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Argues that the War of 1812 should be seen as a transition, rather than conclusion, in understanding the lives of Wyandot communities in the Old Northwest.
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Kanon, Thomas. “‘A Slow, Laborious Slaughter’: The Battle of Horseshoe Bend.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 58.1 (1999): 2–15.
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Detailed examination of the battle that broke Creek Indian military power in the Southeast.
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Latimer, Jon. 1812: War with America. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.
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In the most recent comprehensive survey of the conflict, Latimer emphasizes the successful British defense of Canada against US invasion.
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Skaggs, David Curtis. William Henry Harrison and the Conquest of the Ohio Country. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.
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In contrast to most recent studies, Skaggs provides a detailed analysis of military tactics and logistics.
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Taylor, Alan. The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
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Focusing on the contested Detroit-Montreal borderlands, this social history portrays the War of 1812 as a civil war between loyalists and republicans over the future of the American empire.
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Wars of Indian Removal

During the 1820s and 1830s, the United States accelerated its efforts to remove eastern Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River. Whereas the theme of Indian removal has inspired acrimonious debate, the wars that sometimes accompanied this process have not produced grand overviews or syntheses, as scholars have instead focused on particular episodes. Prucha 1977, Watson 2012, and Watson 2013 provide insightful views of the regular army tasked with responding to military challenges on the frontiers. Remini 2001 considers Andrew Jackson’s battles and policies, and Belko 2011 links the contested Florida borderlands to broader foreign and domestic concerns. Other conflicts often revolved around economic issues. Nester 2001 examines the trading controversies along the upper Missouri River that led to an unsuccessful American effort to assert its military hegemony over the region. Meanwhile, faced with the growing economic and environmental pressures resulting from new Indian emigration into present-day Oklahoma, Comanche and Kiowa raids reached farther south into Mexico, as explained in DeLay 2008.

Belko, William S., ed. America’s Hundred Years’ War: U. S. Expansion to the Gulf Coast and the Fate of the Seminole, 1763–1858. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2011.
DOI: 10.5744/florida/9780813035253.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Features essays on the international context for the Florida conflicts, the efforts by Alabama Seminoles to maintain neutrality, the causes of the First Seminole War, US operations in the Second Seminole War, Seminole strategy, and slavery and sectional politics.
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DeLay, Brian. War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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Brilliantly demonstrates that the devastating Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, and Comanche raids into northern Mexico had the unintended consequences of opening the southwestern borderlands to US expansion and occupation.
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Jung, Patrick J. The Black Hawk War of 1832. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
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Emphasizing the destructive impact of inter- and intratribal rivalries on the Sauk and Fox military effort to resist American expansion, Jung paints a sympathetic portrait of Black Hawk’s leadership.
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Nester, William R. The Arikara War: The First Plains Indian War, 1823. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press, 2001.
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An often overlooked but well-researched and clearly written narrative of the campaign that saw the nation’s first significant skirmishing against Indians of the Plains.
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Prucha, Francis Paul. The Sword of the Republic: The United States Army on the Frontier, 1783–1846. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1977.
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First published in 1969. Prucha blends military history with a deep understanding of Indian policy to craft an excellent introduction to the frontier army’s role in the early republic.
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Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars. New York: Viking, 2001.
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Written by Jackson’s most acclaimed biographer, offers a sympathetic treatment of his subject’s Indian policies.
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Watson, Samuel J. Jackson’s Sword: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1810–1821. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2012.
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First of an exhaustively researched two-volume work, emphasizes the institutional instability, competing loyalties, and international belligerence of US Army officers that often led to actions which defied civilian authority.
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Watson, Samuel J. Peacekeepers and Conquerors: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1821–1846. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2013.
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Argues that the increasing professionalization of American officers allowed the army to serve national interests through peacekeeping, mediation, and coercive diplomacy.
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Conflicts of the 1850s

The territorial expansion of the United States following the war against Mexico brought the nation into direct conflict with a range of new military challenges. Utley 1981 offers a splendid overview, emphasizing not only the army’s struggles to adapt to the mobile peoples of the Great Plains, but also the logistical difficulties posed by the sprawling new empire. Most military histories of the wars of this decade, however, tend to focus on specific campaigns. Chalfant 1989, Chalfant 1991, and Paul 2004 are all well-researched, well-written studies, typically covering the first major armed clashes between regulars and Indian groups. Kiser 2012 focuses on the conflicts between Apaches and the federal government for control of southern New Mexico. Collins 2008 deals with the complex situation along the Rio Grande, where Indians, Mexicans, United States regulars, and Texas Rangers each sought to assert their authority. Watson 2011 provides a historiographical assessment of the army during the period. Viewing matters from a broader perspective, West 1998, while less interested in strictly military matters, provides outstanding insights into the economic considerations that affected the ability of Plains tribes to challenge westward migrations.

Chalfant, William Y. Cheyennes and Horse Soldiers: The 1857 Expedition and the Battle of Solomon’s Fork. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
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Narrative history at its best, the first of Chalfant’s operational histories offers a balanced description of a long overlooked chapter in the wars against the Indians, during which a furious mounted charge by Colonel Edwin V. Sumner’s saber-wielding First Cavalry routed nearly 300 Cheyennes.
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Chalfant, William Y. Without Quarter: The Wichita Expedition and the Fight on Crooked Creek. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
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Well-written description of the confrontation between six companies of the newly raised Second Cavalry Regiment, led by Brevet Major Earl van Dorn, and a camp of Kotsoteka Comanches.
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Collins, Michael L. Texas Devils: Rangers and Regulars on the Lower Rio Grande, 1846–1861. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.
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Sharply critical of the Texas Rangers, Collins argues that their heavy-handed violence exacerbated animosities with Indians, Mexicans, and Tejanos.
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Kiser, William S. Dragoons in Apacheland: Conquest and Resistance in Southern New Mexico, 1846–1861. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2012.
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Balanced, detailed account of the ferocious military struggle between Apaches and the army before the Civil War.
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Paul, R. Eli. Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854–1856. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
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Points out that the First Sioux War established patterns for subsequent conflicts on the Northern Plains, which featured Indian hit-and-run tactics and army attacks against Indian villages.
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Utley, Robert M. Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848–1865. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
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Well-researched and gracefully written, Utley’s classic, first published in 1967, remains the best overview of the antebellum conflicts.
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Watson, Samuel. “Continuity in Civil-Military Relations and Expertise: The U. S. Army during the Decade before the Civil War.” Journal of Military History 75.1 (2011): 221–250.
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Sophisticated discussion of recent scholarship on the army and “nation-building” in the West, as well as civil-military relations during the mid-19th century.
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West, Elliott. The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1998.
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A splendid narrative, in which West demonstrates better than anyone else that army forts, by denying strategic points to Plains Indians, played a crucial role in weakening tribal economies.
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The Civil War

Violence between Indians and non-Indians escalated during the American Civil War. The withdrawal of regular forces, which had often served as something of a moderating presence, certainly proved a factor. The conflict over the Union also made possible the mobilization of massive numbers of state troops, which meant that the columns mustering several hundred regulars of the previous decade would be replaced by those of thousands of volunteers. Utley 1981 continues the author’s fine survey through the war years. Josephy 1991 provides an outstanding assessment of the wars between Indians and non-Indians as well as the struggles between Federal and Confederate troops in the trans-Mississippi West. Hauptman 1995, Confer 2007, and Warde 2013 focus more specifically on the American Indian experience. Clodfelter 1998 describes the major conflicts with the Dakota and Lakota Sioux. Smith 1992 defends the effectiveness of Texas state troops in limiting Indian attacks. For the massacre at Sand Creek, during which Colonel John M. Chivington’s Colorado volunteers slaughtered nearly 200 Cheyennes and Arapahos, see Greene and Scott 2004.

Clodfelter, Michael. The Dakota War: The United States Army versus the Sioux, 1862–1865. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998.
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Thorough retelling, largely from the army’s perspective, of the bloody conflicts in Minnesota and the Dakotas, from Little Crow’s initial raids against white settlers through the punishing campaigns of Henry H. Sibley and Alfred Sully.
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Confer, Clarissa W. The Cherokee Nation in the Civil War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
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Poignant examination of the internal divisions that tore apart the Cherokees, one-third of whom may have perished.
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Greene, Jerome A., and Douglas D. Scott. Finding Sand Creek: History, Archeology, and the 1864 Massacre Site. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
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Expansion of a National Park Service report that combines the analysis of historian Greene and archaeologist Scott on the history and site of one of the worst massacres in American history.
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Hauptman, Laurence M. Between Two Fires: American Indians in the Civil War. New York: Free Press, 1995.
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Those seeking insights into the American Indian experience in the Civil War should begin with this lucid narrative.
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Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Civil War in the American West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
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Organizing his work geographically, Josephy sets conflicts against Indians in the larger context of western campaigns between Union and Confederate soldiers.
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Smith, David Paul. Frontier Defense in the Civil War: Texas’ Rangers and Rebels. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1992.
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In the wake of the withdrawal of the regulars during the Civil War, Smith argues that Texas Ranger and volunteer forces did a better job of providing frontier defense than historians have acknowledged.
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Utley, Robert M. Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848–1865. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
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Originally published in 1967, Utley’s balanced account remains the best place to begin for those interested in army operations.
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Warde, Mary Jane. When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2013.
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Moving account of the catastrophic effects of the Civil War on the divided peoples of the Indian Territory.
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The Defeat of the Indians

In a series of ferocious campaigns that often resulted in a high percentage of noncombatant casualties, the army crushed remaining Indian military resistance following the Civil War. Utley 1984 offers the most comprehensive account of the postbellum warfare. Supplementing this narrative, Dunlay 1982 provides an in-depth discussion of the army’s Indian scouts. Military historians have been particularly interested in assessing the impact these wars had on larger army policy. In its thematic overview of American military policy, Weigley 1977 sees the army’s offensives against the Indians largely as an outgrowth of the harsh campaigns of the latter years of the Civil War. Wooster 1988 challenges this conclusion, arguing that military officials saw little connection between the conflicts. Waghelstein 1990 and Smith 1994 address the army’s lack of official doctrine applicable to the wars against the Indians. Birtle 2001, however, shows that a handful of thoughtful officers did think seriously—albeit at an individual, unofficial level—about counterinsurgency operations. McGinnis 2012 attributes the defeat of the Plains Indians to cultural and demographic factors.

Birtle, Andrew J. U.S. Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine, 1860–1941. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2001.
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Thorough survey of the patchwork of reminiscences, official and nonofficial correspondence, and (especially in the 20th century) government reports that revealed the thinking of contemporary officers about nontraditional wars.
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Dunlay, Thomas W. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860–90. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
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Examines the often overlooked activities of the army’s Indian auxiliaries, whose support was invaluable in most field campaigns.
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McGinnis, Anthony R. “When Courage Was Not Enough: Plains Indians at War with the United States Army.” Journal of Military History 76.2 (2012): 455–473.
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Argues that the limited warfare traditionally practiced by Plains tribes, which valued individual feats of honor over decisive military victory, was doomed in the face of the larger resources of the United States.
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Smith, Thomas T. “West Point and the Indian Wars, 1802–1891.” Military History of the West 24 (1994): 24–56.
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Demonstrates that although West Point curricula paid little attention to preparing graduates for frontier conditions, alumni often used informal channels to pass along lessons learned.
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Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
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A classic blend of “old” and “new” military history, this work, first published in 1973, remains the most celebrated analysis of the late-19th-century wars against the Indians.
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Waghelstein, John David. “Preparing for the Wrong War: The United States Army and Low Intensity Conflict, 1755–1890.” PhD diss., Temple University, 1990.
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Methodical indictment of the army’s failure to take counterinsurgency as seriously as its long experience in dealing with such situations warranted.
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Weigley, Russell. The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1977.
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Originally published in 1973, this influential overview argues that a distinctly “American” way of war, which featured the complete annihilation of the enemy, characterized American national strategy. Campaigns against Indians, Weigley maintains, reflected this policy.
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Wooster, Robert. The Military and United States Indian Policy, 1865–1903. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.
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Revisionist work that argues the army followed no systematic strategic or operational doctrine for defeating the Indians, relying instead on experience, word of mouth, and its overwhelming logistical, demographic, and economic superiority.
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Conflicts in the Southwest

Modern scholarship on America’s Indian wars in western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona has tended toward the production of carefully researched, detailed examinations of individual campaigns and personalities, rather than crafting some overarching analysis. Collins 1999 and Faulk 1969 are excellent reflections of this tradition. Similarly, Altshuler 1981 offers a useful volume documenting army organization, and McChristian 2005 constitutes a model history of an individual army post. Those seeking a gripping narrative that strives to assume the Indian perspective should consult Roberts 1993. Lahti 2012 offers an ambitious exception in the author’s effort to capture the impact of the army’s perceptions of the region and its inhabitants on larger policy. Watt 2015 features an unusually detailed operational and tactical analysis of military tactics.

Altshuler, Constance Wynn. Chains of Command: Arizona and the Army, 1856–1875. Tucson: Arizona Historical Society, 1981.
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Especially valuable for its documentation of the army’s complex administrative structure in the Southwest. Brief biographical sketches of officers stationed in the region supplement this work.
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Collins, Charles. Apache Nightmare: The Battle at Cibecue Creek. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
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Exploiting Indian and federal sources to the fullest, this well-researched narrative examines the only wholesale mutiny by the army’s Indian auxiliaries in the 19th century.
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Faulk, Odie B. The Geronimo Campaign. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.
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This well-written account blames the grueling conflict squarely on civilians, especially the notorious “Tucson Ring” of corrupt merchants.
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Lahti, Janne. Cultural Construction of Empire: The U. S. Army in Arizona and New Mexico. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.
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Applying a postcolonialist approach to the army’s occupation of the Southwest, Lahti examines how Victorian notions of race, class, and gender influenced the army’s constructed understanding of the region.
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McChristian, Doug. Fort Bowie, Arizona: Combat Post of the Southwest, 1858–1894. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.
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In this detailed examination of strategic Fort Bowie (situated at Apache Pass), McChristian connects military operations to broader themes of national expansion, the quest for a transcontinental railroad, and regional economic development.
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Roberts, David. Once They Moved like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
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Directed at a general audience, this well-written narrative provides a Chiricahua perspective on the final major military campaigns in the Southwest.
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Watt, Robert N. “A Reevaluation of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson’s Trans-Pecos Campaign against Victorio, July–August 1880.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 118.3 (2015): 241–261.
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Praises Grierson’s understanding of his opponent and decision to block strategic passes and river crossings rather than attempting a futile pursuit of Victorio’s raiders.
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Wars for the Southern Plains

The best scholarship on the post–Civil War conflicts in the Texas Panhandle, the Indian Territory, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas reflects an impressive variety of approaches and perspectives. Most controversial is Anderson 2005; although criticized by some for extending the author’s argument with too much vehemence, it nonetheless demonstrates a troubling resemblance between the wars against the Indians and modern conflicts in the Balkans. Greene 2004 takes a more measured approach in its careful examination of the Washita, the most controversial battle of the wars of 1868 and 1869. An accessible compilation of primary sources on the battle may be found in Hardorff 2006. The region’s final major campaign came in the Red River War (1874–1875). Haley 1976 offers a traditional overview of the campaign, with Cruse, et al. 2008 combining historical and archaeological research to provide a detailed account of movements and battles. Chalfant 1997 presents a splendid investigation of the campaign’s final engagement.

Anderson, Gary Clayton. The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land, 1820–1875. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.
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Reflecting the title’s assertion of “ethnic cleansing,” a noted scholar’s searing indictment of the Indian policies pursued by Anglos in Texas.
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Chalfant, William Y. Cheyennes at Dark Water Creek: The Last Fight of the Red River War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.
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In this carefully researched account of the fierce and confusing firefight at Sappa Creek, Chalfant, while discounting later claims of atrocities, concludes that soldiers of the Sixth Cavalry indiscriminately slaughtered twenty-seven Cheyennes.
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Cruse, J. Brett, Martha Doty Freeman, and Douglas D. Scott. Battles of the Red River War: Archeological Perspectives on the Indian Campaign of 1874. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2008.
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This handsomely illustrated volume also boasts significant revisionist scholarship: both sides were less well armed than previously claimed, the army’s field commanders enjoyed more frequent communications, and fewer Indians were involved.
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Greene, Jerome A. Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867–1869. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
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Balanced operational history of conflicts on the Southern Plains, which culminated in George Custer’s attack on Black Kettle’s village at the Washita.
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Haley, James L. The Buffalo War: The History of the Red River Indian Uprising of 1874. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1976.
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Written from a grand narrative tradition, Haley’s work, intended for a nonscholarly audience, includes a fine mixture of research, drama, and balanced perspective.
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Hardorff, Richard G. Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer’s Attack on Black Kettle’s Village. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
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An excellent introduction as well as a balanced collection of forty-five primary source documents regarding the controversial battle.
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Wars for the Northern Plains

Conflicts on the Northern Plains between 1865 and 1878 have received the attention of an impressive array of historians. For an overview of the fighting against the Lakotas and Northern Cheyennes, the best account, useful for specialists as well as nonspecialists, remains Robinson 1996. Gump 1994 examines the campaigns against the Sioux from an international perspective, and Hedren 1998 provides a detailed survey of the activities of one post and its garrison. For an enlisted man’s viewpoint, see Smith 1989. Greene 2003 offers an excellent operational history of one of the army’s largest offensives. Not surprisingly, the unsuccessful flight of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces has also attracted much interest. Greene 2000 offers the best traditional survey of the military aspects of the long march. West 2009 connects the conflict to broader national themes of expansion, Civil War, and Reconstruction, and Hedren 2011 assesses the consequences of the Great Sioux War. For detailed studies of George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry, see the Little Bighorn.

Greene, Jerome A.. Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The U. S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2000.
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Meticulously researched, Greene’s weighty volume represents the most complete and authoritative account of the campaign.
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Greene, Jerome A. Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.
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Well-researched narrative of George Crook’s campaign that, along with Nelson Miles’s simultaneous attacks, struck devastating physical and psychological blows against the Northern Cheyennes and the Lakotas, respectively.
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Gump, James O. The Dust Rose like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
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Compares and contrasts the Zulu-Britain and Lakota-US conflicts, both of which featured important but short-lived victories by preindustrial cultures against imperial powers, followed by a relatively quick collapse of that military resistance.
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Hedren, Paul L. Fort Laramie and the Great Sioux War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
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Shows that the garrison at Fort Laramie protected non-Indian inroads into the Black Hills, advanced regional communication and transportation, and participated in various field operations against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. First published in 1988.
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Hedren, Paul L. After Custer: Loss and Transformation in Sioux Country. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.
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Describes the army’s occupation of Sioux country, its support of the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the near-extermination of buffalo and development of the open cattle range, and the reactions by Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne to their military defeat.
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Robinson, Charles M., III. A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.
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Originally published a year earlier, this solidly researched volume captures the brutal realities of the post–Civil War conflicts between the United States and the Sioux.
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Smith, Sherry L. Sagebrush Soldier: Private William Earl Smith’s View of the Sioux War of 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
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In this extraordinarily well-told account of the Powder River Expedition from the perspective of an enlisted orderly to Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, Smith captures the gritty details of day-to-day life in the field better than any other modern scholar.
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West, Elliott. The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
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Skillfully explains the causes of the rupture between the United States and the Nez Perces, the dramatic efforts of 800 Nez Perces to elude some 3,000 regulars, and the subsequent manipulation of American public opinion by Chief Joseph.
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The Little Bighorn

On June 25, 1876, Sioux and Northern Cheyenne fighters annihilated Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and five troops of the Seventh Cavalry along the banks of the Little Bighorn River. For decades, too many writers seemed anxious only to lionize or demonize Custer, or to make astounding claims regarding numbers of personnel engaged and casualties. Fortunately, recent scholars have approached the battle in a more sober fashion. Gray 1991 and Sklenar 2000 examine the fighting in meticulous detail. In the most important (and most appropriate for general readers) volume stemming from intensive battlefield surveys of the early 1980s, Fox 1993 argues that army resistance to the Indian onslaught was rather feeble. Mueller 2013 assesses contemporary newspaper accounts of the battle. Hutton 1992 and Hardorff 2004 include valuable collections of essays and primary documents. Utley 1980 scrutinizes early works on the subject, whereas Elliott 2007 assesses its impact on American culture and popular memory.

Elliott, Michael A. Custerology: The Enduring Legacy of the Indian Wars and George Armstrong Custer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226201481.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Brings the growing scholarly analysis of collective memory to the wars against the Indians.
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Fox, Richard Allan, Jr. Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle: The Little Big Horn Reexamined. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
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Based on archaeological digs made possible by a 1983 grass fire, Fox concludes that organized army resistance collapsed rather quickly in the face of a determined Indian assault.
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Gray, John S. Custer’s Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
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In intricate detail, skillfully uses accounts by Indians (especially from scouts serving with the army) to construct a meticulous “time motion” pattern and to reconstruct the movements of Custer’s command.
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Hardorff, Richard G., ed. Indian Views of the Custer Fight: A Source Book. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
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The third of the editor’s three volumes of Indian accounts (earlier works focused on the Lakota and Cheyenne perspective, respectively), this collection of statements, interviews, newspaper accounts, and official reports is a gold mine of primary source materials.
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Hutton, Paul Andrew, ed. The Custer Reader. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
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This well-conceived anthology brings together outstanding primary and secondary essays on Custer and the Civil War, the Indian wars, the Little Bighorn, and the Custer myth.
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Mueller, James E. Shooting Arrows & Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013.
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Argues that contemporary press reports of the Indian victory, while often hyperbolic and partisan, did a reasonably good job of acknowledging rumors, correcting errors, and describing events.
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Sklenar, Larry. To Hell with Honor: Custer and the Little Bighorn. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.
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Argues that Custer had good reason to believe that his plan, which called for a two-pronged surprise attack on the enormous Lakota-Cheyenne encampment, could have succeeded had he been better served by Marcus Reno and Frederick Benteen.
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Utley, Robert M. Custer and the Great Controversy: The Origin and Development of a Legend. Pasadena, CA: Westernlore, 1980.
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Though now a bit dated (it was first published in 1962), this remains a superb assessment of the first ninety years of the debate regarding the leadership of George Custer at the Little Bighorn.
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Wounded Knee

On December 29, 1890, Colonel James W. Forsyth sent out a detachment of soldiers to disarm several hundred Minneconjous camped along Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. They botched the job, and a restless young warrior fired his gun. Troopers from the nearby ridges immediately opened fire. In the ensuing meleé, perhaps 250 Sioux men, women, and children were killed or wounded; army casualties numbered twenty-five dead and thirty-nine wounded. Given the bitterness resulting from such horrors, it is perhaps inevitable that much scholarship on Wounded Knee contains heavy doses of moral judgment. Utley 1963 labels the incident a regrettable, though accidental, tragedy; Ostler 2004 and Richardson 2010 both denounce it as an inexcusable massacre. In a more recent account, Greene 2014 acknowledges that the army did not intend to destroy Big Foot’s band, but that the engagement devolved into a massacre. Andersson 2008 provides an important new assessment of the Ghost Dance, which precipitated the tragedy.

Andersson, Rani-Henrik. The Lakota Ghost Dance of 1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.
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Asserts that the Ghost Dance remained essentially nonviolent until challenged by whites, and that non-Indian portrayals of the movement were more varied than previously believed.
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Greene, Jerome A. American Carnage: Wounded Knee, 1890. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.
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In a balanced, comprehensive account, Greene discusses the causes of the outbreak, the horrific details of the slaughter, and the subsequent events that have left a permanent imprint on the American memory.
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Ostler, Jeffrey. The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
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Ostler views Wounded Knee as a bloody culmination of a century of US colonial policy, and contends that the army had before the slaughter deliberately exaggerated the dangers of Indian resistance in order to promote itself as a viable national institution.
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Richardson, Heather Cox. Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre. New York: Basic Books, 2010.
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Attributes the disaster to the Republican Party’s economic policies and partisan manipulation of federal Indian policy.
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Utley, Robert M. The Last Days of the Sioux Nation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1963.
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Of all authors who have written on Wounded Knee, Utley best understands the regular army’s strengths and weaknesses.
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The United States Army and the West

Among the most striking recent trends in the field has been the increased emphasis on the army’s noncombat activities in the American West. In an era of small federal government, the army represented a major source of contracts, patronage, engineering assistance, and communications infrastructure. In so doing, the institution served an important role in state-building. Tate 1999 offers a superb overview of these activities. As Ball 2001 and Prucha 1995 emphasize, the federal government repeatedly used the army as a frontier constabulary to establish order in what could be a very disorderly region. Miller 1989 and Smith 1999 demonstrate the army’s significance to regional western economies. Adams 2009 emphasizes the class resentments that divided officers and enlisted men. Smith 1990 joins Dobak and Phillips 2001 in examining army affairs from a broader social and cultural context.

Adams, Kevin. Class and Race in the Frontier Army: Military Life in the West, 1870–1890. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.
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Using the army as a social laboratory, Adams finds that officers, in their zeal for conspicuous consumption and celebration of leisure, were unsympathetic to the more communal, egalitarian habits of enlisted men.
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Ball, Durwood. Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848–1861. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
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Emphasizes the sectional partisanship and lack of professionalism that often marred the army’s western activities.
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Dobak, William A., and Thomas D. Phillips. The Black Regulars, 1866–1898. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.
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Challenging previous assumptions, the authors of this thoroughly researched book conclude that the army, as an institution, treated African American soldiers no differently from whites.
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Miller, Darlis A. Soldiers and Settlers: Military Supply in the Southwest, 1861–1885. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989.
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Argues that the economic benefits of the army’s presence were, in general, widely distributed throughout local and regional communities.
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Prucha, Francis Paul. Broadax and Bayonet: The Role of the United States Army in the Development of the Northwest, 1815–1860. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
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Originally published in 1953, this pioneering work paved the way for more focused studies on the army’s nation-building role by subsequent generations of scholars.
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Smith, Sherry L. The View from Officers’ Row: Army Perceptions of Western Indians. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1990.
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Focusing on the years 1848–1890, concludes that army officers and their wives maintained complex, contradictory, and fiercely individualistic views of American Indians.
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Smith, Thomas T. The U.S. Army and the Texas Frontier Economy, 1845–1900. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999.
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The most systematic examination of the army’s economic impact on a single region; concludes that the army distributed $58 million in the Lone Star State between 1849 and 1889, a figure equivalent to 8 percent of the growth in the state’s total property valuation.
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Tate, Michael L. The Frontier Army in the Settlement of the West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
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The most comprehensive survey of the army’s “nation-building” efforts in the American West.