This book is the most factual, historical accounts of all of the wars
and conflicts between the white man, U.S Army, colonization and
Indigenous tribes, as well as the wars and conflicts within Indigenous
tribes. It is the ultimate book on Indian Wars for the American West,
occurring after the Civil War.
Peter Cozzens, a fine historian
and author, managed to take the most integral parts of Native Indian
history and become a storyteller in the process. He objectively tells
the truth. When we think of war, we often think of Vietnam, Afghanistan,
WWII, however, the wars fought on this land often go unreported and
neglected.
The uninterrupted armed conflicts between the U.S.
Army and Indigenous tribes of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains from
the 1860’s - 1890’s were Americas longest and most tragic wars.
Wars/Conflicts/Murders covered:
1862 - Dakota Sioux Uprising: Minnesota.
1864 - Sand Creek Massacre: Colorado.
1865 - Military command of Missouri, Little Arkansas River Treaties with Southern Plains tribes.
1866 - Red Cloud’s War: Montana Territory, Fetterman fight: Montana Territory.
1867 - Pawnee Fork Village burning: Kansas, Kidder Massacre: Kansas, Hayfield fight: Montana Territory, Wagon Box Fight: Montana Territory.
1868 - Military command of Missouri, Battle of Beecher Island: Colorado, Chief Red Cloud: Fort Laramie Treaty, Battle of Washita: Indian Territory.
1869 - Battle of Summit Springs: Kansas, Sitting Bull elected head chief Lakotas.
1870 - Massacre of Piegan Village: Montana.
1871 - Camp Grant Massacre: Arizona Territory, Staked Plain: Texas campaign.
1872 - Battle of North Fork, Red River: Texas, Clash on Lost River: Oregon, Modoc War, Battle of Salt River Canyon: Arizona Territory.
1873 - Assassination of General Canby, Sitting Bull: Lakota and Custer battles, Captain Jack hanged.
1874 - Death of Cochise, Apache Battle of Adobe Walls: Indian Territory, Black Hills, Custer: Gold Rush, Battle of Palo Duro Canyon: Texas, Battle of McClellan Creek: Texas.
1875 - Slaughter of Southern Cheyennes, Sappa Creek: Texas, President Grant's war with Lakotas.
1876 - Battle of Powder River: Montana Territory, Lakota/Northern Cheyenne Sun Dance, Deer Medicine Rocks: Montana Territory, Battle of the Rosebud: Montana Territory, Battle of Little Bighorn: Montana Territory, Battle of Slim Buttes: Dakota Territory, Lakota Reservation relinquish unceded Indian Territory, Battle of Cedar Creek: Montana Territory, Destruction of Dull Knife’s Northern Cheyenne Village, Red Fork of the Powder River: Wyoming Territory.
1877 - Battle of Wolf Mountain: Montana Territory, Crazy Horse surrenders, Fort Robinson: Nebraska, Sitting Bull enters Canada, Battle of White Bird Canyon: Idaho Territory, Nez Perce War, Battle of the Clearwater: Idaho Territory, Battle of the Big Hole: Montana Territory, Crazy Horse killed, Fort Robinson, Battle of Bear Paw Mountain: Montana, Territory, surrender of Chief Joseph, Nez Perce.
1878 - Northern Cheyenne Exodus.
1879 - Northern Cheyenne Outbreak: Fort Robinson, Chief Little Wolf surrenders, Battle of Milk Creek: Colorado.
1880 - Battle of Rattlesnake Springs: Texas, Apache Chief Victorio killed: Tres Castillos, Chihuahua, New Mexico.
1881 - Sitting Bull surrenders, Fort Buford: Texas, Battle of Cibecue Creek: Arizona Territory.
1882 - Battle of Big Dry Wash: Arizona Territory.
1883 - Crook’s Sierra Madre Campaign: New Mexico, Sitting Bull “agency Indian” Great Sioux Reservation.
1885 - Geronimo breaks out of White Mountain Reservation: Arizona Territory.
1886 - Crook & Geronimo, Sonora: New Mexico, Geronimo surrenders, Skeleton Canyon: Arizona Territory, Chiricahua Apaches removed from Arizona Territory.
1889 - Sioux Land Commission breaks up Great Sioux Reservation.
1890 - Sitting Bull killed on Standing Rock Reservation: North Dakota, Wounded Knee Creek Massacre, Pine Ridge Reservation: South Dakota.
1891 - Brule & Oglala Lakota surrender, Pine Ridge Agency: South Dakota.
The
reason I list the battles, massacres, and murders, is this book allows
you to read of one or several at a time. Harrowing. Not for the light
hearted.
This book will break your heart and enlighten you,
simultaneous. Extremely difficult to read without feeling like your own
heart has been ripped out of your chest.
The start of the book
recounts President Lincoln and peace treaties with Lean Bear, to the
immediate slaughter of Lean Bear by U.S. Army. It ends with Wounded
Knee. The most horrible inhumane massacre that aligns with Standing Rock
Water Protectors today.
This book strengthened an already known
fact, that the U.S Government has and continues to use these same
tactics they did with the Indigenous during all war. While Indigenous
history is a class unto itself, the actions of this government are
universal and nothing new.
Nay-weh.
Based on twenty-seven
years of original archival research, including the discovery of
previously unknown documents, this day-by-day narrative of the hysteria
that swept through Salem Village in 1692 and 1693 reveals new
connections behind the events, and shows how rapidly a community can
descend into madness.
Marilynne Roach opens her work with chapters on
the history of the Puritan colonies of New England, and explains how
these people regarded the metaphysical and the supernatural.
It is crucial to recall that during the years 1692-97, there were
numerous political issues. The Puritans distanced themselves from
England, not yet having recognition as a “church” forming their own
society away from Britain, the war with France was occurring that
included the aid of the Indigenous, later left to survive and/or die
when the war ended and after that, the Treaty of Ryswick obliged King
Louis to finally acknowledge England’s Protestant succession.
The Puritans, who left England due to "religious persecution", feared
their religion was under attack again and worried they were losing
control of their colony. The political instability and threat to their
religion created a feeling of uneasiness and discontent in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
During these years, this small village
started an anxiety ridden hysterical hunt after mostly women, and
several men, based upon their dealings with the “devil” claiming
innocent people were “witches” responsible for the antics of villagers
coerced by their minister, Parris and other villagers.
Since the
“accused witches” were considered dangerous prisoners, they were kept in
a dungeon chained to the walls because jail officials believed this
would prevent their spirits from fleeing jail and tormenting their
victims.
English law at the time dictated that anyone who refused
to enter a plea could be tortured in an attempt to force a plea out of
them. This legal tactic was known as “peine forte et dure” which means
“strong and harsh punishment.”
The torture consisted of laying
the prisoner on the ground, naked, with a board placed on top of him.
Heavy stones were loaded onto the board and the weight was gradually
increased until the person either entered a plea or died.
Many
modern theories suggest the accusers, starting with the young girls [who
were apparently being attacked by “witches” and partly responsible for
the witch hunts, along with adults that coerced, threatened and beat
others into believing this rubbish] were suffering from epilepsy,
boredom, child abuse, and/or mental illness.
This book is fantastic
if one seeks a day to day account of what life was like during this
time. It is not a book to be picked up and simply read, rather, studied.
The author, Roach, is a historian and this book is an exemplary example
of her work. This is THE “go to” book on all you ever need to know
about the Salem Witch Trials.
The interesting aspects of this
era and village is that divinatory methods, herbal healing, healers,
folk medicine and “psychic” abilities and practices were commonplace.
That alone is proof enough that mass hysteria and mental illness were
responsible for the trials and deaths.
This historical account
blatantly shows that this village and the people living in it, were
beyond naive and filled with fear, hence, the horrid slaughter of
innocent people based upon collective fear, judgment and the absolute
insane mindsets of people where common sense, sense of self and self
respect was never present.
Everyday illnesses, deaths, random
occurrences, noises, visions, marks on the body like moles, were all
blamed on “witchcraft” and in todays world, the things that occurred are
able to be explained medically, scientifically and spiritually.
This
account has taught me that most, if not all of the people living in
this village were beyond mentally deranged. Instead of needing a
“religious” leader and community, perhaps psychiatrists,
psychotherapists and trained mental health professionals would have
recognized mass hysteria and prevented the sweeping fear that overtook
Salem Village.
Sadly, the accused had their land, livestock and all
possessions taken from them. It points to a larger motive, not just fear
and control, but land grabbing and greed.
As for why these
victims were targeted in the first place, historians have noted that
many of the accused were wealthy and held different religious beliefs
than their accusers.
This, coupled with the fact that the accused
also had their estates confiscated if they were convicted has led many
historians to believe that religious feuds and property disputes played a
big part in the witch trials.
To date, 120 people [88 women, 32
men] were suspected of “witchcraft” between 1638-91, most on trial
repeatedly concluding in 121 trials involving 85 women and 36 men. 38
cases were slander suits brought against accusers.
Of the 83
witch trials, not the slander trials, which includes “spotty” record
keeping, there were roughly 11-17 executions [all women, two men]
occurring in Connecticut and Massachusetts, where the majority of the
English population lived.
Others who were not hanged, but
tortured to death, including suspected animals, evaded punishment,
escaped jail, found not guilty, were pardoned, or died while jailed,
added to the above numbers.
There was never “burning at the stake” as
most people assume.
In 1703, families, 21 people, of the accused
and murdered started legal petitions to the General Courts. The Courts
found all evidence against the murdered and accused to be weak and
insufficient.
It was not until 1712 that the names of the
executed and accused were cleared and their families given reparation
based on testimony from living accusers and the financial gains of
Reverend Parris, now made public. The Courts decided that “original
charges came from people influenced by evil spirits then, and [some of
them] “of profligate and vicious” lives now.
Legally, it was not until
2001, that the state of Massachusetts amended a 1957 "apology" in addition to the initial 1712 reparations, and
legally cleared the names of the remaining unnamed victims.
The
true evil existed only within the people that lied, allowing the
innocent to be brutally killed. True evil exists only within those
that lead the naive into the dark.
You can find this book at your local library or HERE
