Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877: The Military View

by Jerome A. Greene (Editor)

This volume offers accounts of the many battles and skirmishes in the Great Sioux War as they were observed by participating officers, enlisted men, scouts, surgeons, and newspaper correspondents. The selections-some rendered immediately after the encounters and some set down in reminiscences years later - are important and little-known sources of information about the war. By their personal nature, they give a compelling sense of immediacy to the actions. The editor’s introduction and commentary on each of the accounts help readers understand the interrelationship of events and appreciate the entire spectrum of the conflict.

228 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Todd Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of first person accounts on the 15 separate military engagements during the war on the northern Plains between the United States Army and a coalition of Native American tribes(primarily Lakota and Cheyenne) continuing to oppose restriction to established reservations and in hope of maintaining their lands and nomadic lifestyle of hunting and following bison herds.

Greene selected various accounts, including soldiers, newspaper reporters and correspondents, military scouts, and medical personnel. While hearing their firsthand accounts of these battles is interesting, they lack perspective from the other side. While I haven’t looked to determine, in his preface, Greene stated he was compiling a list of Native American accounts of the conflict. I imagine reading those side by side with the US military accounts would be far more engaging.

This does provide some great personal insight into what would normally be somewhat dry battlefield reports, so for anyone interested in Western American history of the 19th Century, this would be helpful and interesting.

[Brad Butturff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I consider this book nearly essential for any library on the Great Sioux War of 1876. It often amazes me how misunderstood this conflict is today. All that is often remembered of it is Custer's disaster at the Little Big Horn. Jerome Greene, one of my favorite authors on this era, pulls together fifteen different military accounts on the various actions of this war. Greene also supplies his own excellent analysis of the events.

This was the war that ultimately decided how quickly the eastern expansion into the Black Hills would take place. To be honest I think the expansion was inevitable after the discovery of gold on the 1874 Custer expedition but the question of the Sioux claims always remained. The gold prospectors were still willing to risk entering the Black Hills but the threat of 'depredations' always remained. Some of the military actions described in this book, such the "Starvation March" and the battle of Slim Butte, were as much about securing the mining communities as defeating the Sioux.

I also like Greene's commentary, he is able to view the events of the time in both their historical context and with our current day hindsight. He appreciates that sometimes the military officers who wrote these various accounts operated with the perspectives of men given a difficult task with limited resources.

If you're interested in finding out the full account of how the Black Hills were settled then this book should be in your library.