The Military and United States Indian Policy 1865-1903

by Robert Wooster

'A model of analytical history. In...spare, cogent prose, Wooster delineates military strategy against the western tribes, places the political influence of the Gilded Age military establishment in solid perspective, gives an able survey of the institutional structure of the postwar army, briefly describes key Indian campaigns, and presents pithy characterizations of leading western military personalities...Wooster's book places events in a national, and in military terms international, context. In so doing he has made a major contribution to frontier and military scholarship' - Paul Andrew Hutton, "American Historical Review".'A superior and important book...Wooster succinctly identifies and illumines significant truths about the military establishment and its role in the final stages of confrontation and conflict along the western Indian frontier' - Robert M. Utley, "Journal of American History". 'A provocative example of the new historiography...Students of the Indian wars have frequently suffered from a form of myopia...until now, no one has undertaken so comprehensive or critical a look at the army's role in formulating and implementing Indian policy' - Bruce Dinges, "New Mexico Historical Review". Robert Wooster, an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, is the author of "Nelson A. Miles" and the "Twilight of the Frontier Army" (Nebraska 1993).

Genres: History

268 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1988

Reviews

[Sam Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid study based on a remarkable grasp of archival and primary sources. Wooster’s book suffers from poor organization, much repetition, and a failure to develop penetrating insights, but it is a work of true scholarship and taught me alot.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Analizes the role of the military when the US goverment dealth with the Indians. Included is the fact that the US never kept a treaty that it signed with native Americans.