battlefields of Nebraska

[franksolich]

I just got done reading Battlefields of Nebraska (Thomas Phillips, 2009, Caxton Press), and while it's a good read, Mari Sandoz of course did a more in-depth coverage in her own books sixty years ago.

I suspect Battlefields was meant more for the casual reader, than for the reader interested in the history of Nebraska.

I wasn't aware that at one time, Fort Atkinson in Nebraska, near present-day Omaha, was the largest American military facility.

I also wasn't aware that the presence of Native Americans in Nebraska was so scant and so transient.  I always knew Native Americans were rare in this part of America, but wasn't aware they were that rare, a few thousand, and at times only a few hundred.

In 77,000 square miles.

Apparently the biggest internecine warfare occurred between the peace-loving Pawnees and the war-loving Sioux, the latter nearly wiping out, entirely, the former.

And that was before the white man came along.

[The Village Idiot]

History is pretty cool. A lot more interesting than anything on TV.

[franksolich]

History is pretty cool. A lot more interesting than anything on TV.

Well, here's what got me about the estimated Native American population in Nebraska (Nebraska became a state in 1867, when it had less than 10,000 white inhabitants, nearly all of them in the area around present-day Omaha):

Arapahoe, 3,000 in 1780
Cheyenne, 4,000 in 1875
Comanche, 6,000 in 1816
Crow, 4,000 in 1780
Kiowa, 2,000 in 1780
Omaha, 3,000 in 1802
Otoe, 500 in 1895
Pawnee, 1,440 in 1879
Ponca, 800 in 1780
Sioux, 40,000 in 1870
Ute, 4,500 in 1845

That's just not a whole lot of people in 77,000 square miles.

It's no wonder those U.S. Army forts here usually needed only 40 or 50 soldiers.

[MrsSmith]

I just got done reading Battlefields of Nebraska (Thomas Phillips, 2009, Caxton Press), and while it's a good read, Mari Sandoz of course did a more in-depth coverage in her own books sixty years ago.

I suspect Battlefields was meant more for the casual reader, than for the reader interested in the history of Nebraska.

I wasn't aware that at one time, Fort Atkinson in Nebraska, near present-day Omaha, was the largest American military facility.

I also wasn't aware that the presence of Native Americans in Nebraska was so scant and so transient.  I always knew Native Americans were rare in this part of America, but wasn't aware they were that rare, a few thousand, and at times only a few hundred.

In 77,000 square miles.

Apparently the biggest internecine warfare occurred between the peace-loving Pawnees and the war-loving Sioux, the latter nearly wiping out, entirely, the former.

And that was before the white man came along.

No way...that's not possible.  We've been told for years now that Native Americans were peaceful, fun-loving, hard working and environmentally conscientious.  If it weren't for the evil white man, they'd still be handing out feathers to all comers and trading wives...or whatever mates they had.  


 

[The Village Idiot]

s.

That is quite sparse. 100 years before I was born they were just about finished building a bridge across the Red River from the Indian Territory when some men from around the country went on a mineral expedition, looking for copper in particular. It was doomed to failure and the author of the diary lost his illustrations on separate pages, a few small ones survived in the diary. The town called Dallas was a small German colony in those days, its newspaper (Dallas Herald?) was in German I think. Other towns are mentioned as mere outposts. 100 miles from the border and Indian raids were actually quite common, they came across some abandoned farms and even an abandoned fort.

Reading first hand accounts of those times is fascinating.

M.K. Kellogg's Texas Journal

It is a slim volume, if you can find it, and copies I have seen online run $20-70 or so. I read it at the Dallas Heritage Village before they dismantled its history-devoted library last year.

http://www.abaa.org/books/148145131.html

Its listed at $20 there, but its probably a really old page.

[The Village Idiot]

No way...that's not possible.  We've been told for years now that Native Americans were peaceful, fun-loving, hard working and environmentally conscientious.  If it weren't for the evil white man, they'd still be handing out feathers to all comers and trading wives...or whatever mates they had.  

Indian raids are mentioned in the book I mentioned in the above post, the author also got to see some injuns, but these were non-violent apparently although described as shiftless and wanting free stuff.

[Chris]

Indian raids are mentioned in the book I mentioned in the above post, the author also got to see some injuns, but these were non-violent apparently although described as shiftless and wanting free stuff.

They were liberals!  That explains the moon-eyed "native American" worship, then.

[The Village Idiot]

They were liberals!  That explains the moon-eyed "native American" worship, then.

It was actually quite an interesting book. I would highly recommend it, but I wonder of there are enough copies around for everyone.