Native American Wars

The region known as Apacheria had been fought over for centuries, firstly with the arrival of the Apache from the north, then later with the arrival of the Spanish, and, finally, the United States. Events came to a bloody climax in the 1800s in a series of conflicts, which became known as the Apache Wars.

Apart from The Last of the Mohicans, most Americans know little of the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War, and yet it remains one of the most fascinating periods in our history. In January 2006, PBS will air The War That Made America, a four-part documentary about this epic conflict. Fred Anderson, the award-winning and critically acclaimed historian, has written the official tie-in to this exciting television event.

The Great Sioux War was the bloodiest of all of the conflicts in the 300 years of American Indian Wars and would effectively close that tragic chapter of American history. The war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of US soldiers, countless Indian warriors, women and children, and the end of a way of life. This book tells the story of the Great Sioux War in full....

In the 18th century, when Europeans first came upon the giant mounds and earthworks dotting the North American landscape, they couldn't imagine that the Native Americans they came into contact with were capable of producing such advanced technology and masterful engineering. In fact, when President George Washington sent Rufus Putnam to survey land in southeastern Ohio, Putnam reported that he'd discovered an impressive walled earthwork complex, which was obviously the work of some long-forgotten ancient civilization.

The American Indian Wars, a series of conflicts between white settlers and Native Americans which took place in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, were complex, brutal, and many. An official United States Census report published in 1898 noted at least 40 wars which had taken place in the previous 100 years. The total number of individual wars probably numbers well over 100, though many were localized and on a very small scale.

This national best-seller vividly reconstructs one of the most unbelievable and controversial battles in American military history—General Custer’s Last Stand in 1876. Why would a seasoned leader like Custer lead 200 U.S. Army soldiers into battle against 2,000 Native American warriors? The answer lies in this book, which captures in stunning detail the heroism, foolishness, and brutality that led to this legendary battle.

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels “If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr. ""The most powerful American novel to...

King Philip’s War was a conflict fought between English colonists and indigenous peoples in North America toward the end of the 17th century. Primarily, the clash occurred because the European migrants were encroaching on native land. But more than that, it was also a struggle for survival: The fledgling colonies were fighting to establish a semblance of European society against the Native Americans, who saw their cultures evaporating with the tremendous loss of land and life.

The short war between a confederation of Native American tribes under Little Turtle’s leadership has been referred to by many names, including the Northwest Indian War, the Ohio War, and the Miami War, but it is probably best known as Little Turtle’s War. Before Little Turtle’s War, it was believed that the U.S. did not need a professional army, that ordinary citizens would take up arms in times of threat and serve in militias as they had done in the fight against the British.

In this new installment in his acclaimed series of novels examining the collisions between Native Americans and European colonizers, William T. Vollmann tells the story of the Nez Perce War, with flashbacks to the Civil War. Defrauded and intimidated at every turn, the Nez Perces finally went on the warpath in 1877, subjecting the US Army to its greatest defeat since Little Big Horn as they fled from Northeast Oregon across Montana to the Canadian border.

The history of the Sioux is replete with constant reminders of the consequences of both their accommodation of and resistance to American incursions into their territory by pioneering white settlers pushing further westward during the 19th century. Some Sioux leaders and their bands resisted incoming whites, while others tried to accommodate them, but the choice often had little impact on the ultimate outcome. Crazy Horse, who was never defeated in battle by U.S. troops, surrendered to them in 1877, only to be bayoneted to death by soldiers attempting to imprison him.

Sitting Bull’s name is still the best known of any American Indian leader, but his life and legacy remain shrouded with misinformation and half-truths. Sitting Bull’s life spanned the entire clash of cultures and ultimate destruction of the Plains Indian way of life. The reality of his life, as Bill Yenne reveals in his absorbing new portrait, Sitting Bull, is far more intricate and compelling. In Sitting Bull we find a man who, in the face of an uncertain future, helped ensure the survival of his people.

This acclaimed New York Times bestselling biography of the legendary Sioux warrior Red Cloud, is “a page-turner with remarkable immediacy…and the narrative sweep of a great Western” (The Boston Globe). Red Cloud was the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army in a...

Little Turtle’s War: The History and Legacy of the 18th Century Conflict Between the United States and Native Americans in the Northwest Territory examines the life of one of the most famous Native American leaders, the events that brought about the war, and the results.

The compelling account of how two heritages united in their struggle to gain freedom and equality in America. The first paths to freedom taken by runaway slaves led to Native American villages. There, black men and women found acceptance and friendship among our country's original inhabitants. Though they seldom appear in textbooks and movies, the children of Native and African American marriages helped shape the early days of the fur trade, added a new dimension to frontier diplomacy, and made a daring contribution to the fight for American liberty.

Blood Moon is the story of the century-long blood feud between two rival Cherokee chiefs from the early years of the United States through the infamous Trail of Tears and into the Civil War. While little remembered today, their mutual hatred shaped the tragic history of the tribe far more than anyone, even the reviled President Andrew Jackson, ever did.

Men from more than two dozen tribal peoples actively participated in the Civil War by fighting for one side or the other. Recent estimates are that more than 28,000 Indians served as Civil War soldiers. Native Americans in the Civil War: The History and Legacy of Various Indian Tribes’ Participation in the War Between the States explains the various roles played by Native Americans in America’s deadliest war.

On the North American continent, Native American tribes carried out abductions against the new European settlers from the time they first set foot on eastern shores. Some of the women taken in the colonial to early American period went on to become respected figures in their new environments, while others lived out their lives as slaves.

The French and Indian War was the world's first truly global conflict. When the French lost to the British in 1763, they lost their North American empire along with most of their colonies in the Caribbean, India, and West Africa. In The French and Indian War and the Conquest of New France, the only comprehensive account from the French perspective, William R. Nester explains how and why the French were defeated.

Kate Lundy, owner of the Tumbling B, and Conn Dury, her foreman, told Tom the rules: men from the cattle drives are forbidden on the north side of town. People appreciated the money the cowboys spent but thought them too coarse to be near their homes. Enticed to come calling by Linda McDonald...