The Buffalo Hunters: The Story of the Hide Men

by Mari Sandoz

In 1867 the total number of buffaloes in the trans-Missouri region was conservatively estimated at fifteen million. By the end of the 1880s that figure had dwindled to a few hundred. The destruction of the great herds is the theme of this book. Mari Sandoz's canvas is vast, but it is charged with color and excitement—accounts of Indian ambushes, hairbreadth escapes, gambling and gunfights, military expeditions, famous frontier characters (Wild Bill Hickok, Lonesome Charlie Reynolds, Buffalo Bill, Sheridan, Custer, and Indian Chiefs Whistler, Yellow Wolf, Spotted Tail, and Sitting Bull).

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction

372 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Mari Susette Sandoz (May 11, 1896 – March 10, 1966) was a novelist, biographer, lecturer, and teacher. She was one of Nebraska's foremost writers, and wrote extensively about pioneer life and the Plains Indians.

Reviews

[Candace Simar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing is exquisite. Though nonfiction, this book reads like a good novel.

[Paul Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read this book 40 years ago and really enjoyed it then. Re-reading it now it is very different than I remember, which probably says more about my memory than the book. It is a well researched and very interesting book that not only describes the details of the buffalo hunt by both whites and Natives but also very interesting little known details of prominent western figures of the time.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hb, Good condition.

[Lance Mellon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pros and cons- cons: fairly dated, Pros: This book is very gripping in its matter of fact portrayal of the way it was in 1865-1888. In those approximate years began and ended the reign of the massive herds of buffalos and the equally impressive reign of the American Indian. They were both grossly and methodically murdered close to extinction. This book closely outlines the correlation of the two and how each was dependent on the other and how without the other the species was doomed to die out. And we are talking about a race of humans here. And we are talking about the most massive, impressive land animals ever to roam the earth in numbers up to 50 million or more. (The numbers of Indians mentioned was actually much lower than is regarded by today's anthropologists (see the book 1491-Charles C Mann for one example)).
There is a correlation to today's history being written and the lessons not being learned on a global scale. But this was a raw example of the greed and cruelty and lack of compassion shown by mankind. At least the white race anyway. There was no regard for saving the buffalo even after it became obvious that their numbers were dramatically reduced. Even when there was less than a thousand left in the world it was still thought that they would never be exterminated and so the killing continued much in part that if you wanted to take care of the Indian problem kill off their food, their clothing, and their complete and only means of existence for without the buffalo the American Indian was resigned to being put onto the reservation to live in a shallow shell of its former existence.
The broken promises and outright lies of the whites that encroached their lands and the huge machine that brought thousands and thousands of hunters from back east to the midwest plains to shoot the buffalo with their Big 50's rifles spelled the end of thousands of years of a natural pattern of Indians following the buffalo herds in only a very short couple of decades. Along with the railroads, the end happened very quickly.
This book written by Mari Sandoz is somewhat dated but here you get a history written closer to the actual fact and with that more closely relates to the actual facts since it is so close to that time.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mari Sandoz' history of buffalo hunting focuses on a short span of years: 1867 to 1888. This reinforces the incredible decimation of the North American herds of bison, but it also contributes to the elegiac tone here. The book, which of necessity describes how the Plains Indians were defeated as much by the decimation of the buffalo as by military action, ends appropriately with the Wounded Knee Massacre.