Terry Mort

That I picked up this book was mostly due to a desire to learn a bit more about the Cheyenne tribe in their prime, before I tackled something more academic, and I suppose that objective was achieved. However, the author writes much of this work in a voice that can be best described as "get off my front lawn," and I really have to wonder if Mort had any other objective but to spout rhetoric. A particular low point is, when writing about the U.S. Army at this moment in time, Mort snarls that matters might have gone better had Congress not "spent money on an army of bureaucrats and cronies." I'm not going to dispute the prevalence of corrupt behavior in the U.S. Congress of the late 1860s but, speaking as a recently retired federal archivist, who had reason to work with the period records of the Indian Bureau, Mort can just back off on anachronistically projecting back in time his apparent contempt for the current federal work force. If you take a few minutes to examine the 1869 "Registry of the U.S. Government (readily available on-line)," you'll see that barely 500 individuals worked for the Indian Bureau in that year; hardly an "army." Just another over-worked cadre of people trying to implement federal policy while keeping their heads above water.

I will note that Mort's retelling of the fight at Beecher Island is actually pretty good, but it's only about twenty percent of the book; another example of a strong magazine article trying to escape from a pot-boiler.… (más)

In Cheyenne Summer, Terry Mort takes a close look at one battle in eastern Colorado during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s. In the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors fought US Army scouts, including two battalions of Black "Buffalo Soldiers."

Although Mort describes the battle as not strategically significant, he concludes that it was culturally and historically important. He uses the battle to frame a discussion about one of the most transformative periods in America's history -- including a discussion of what motivated the white settlers, the Cheyenne, and the US soldiers, both white and Black.

Having grown up at both ends of the Oregon Trail -- Nebraska as a child and Oregon from a teenager on -- I've picked up some of the sad history of how our country treated the Native Americans during the settlement of the Western frontier. But there is a lot to learn. Terry Mort’s new book was a fine place for me to start.… (más)

Rambling discourse about the West and general and the Indian wars in particular, with a core story featuring the Chiricahua Apache chief Cochise, who went on the warpath for 10 years against the whites after a young lieutenant abducted his family to bargain for the return of an abducted boy. The book contains lengthy scene-setting detailing the history of contact between the whites and Apaches, as well as detailed information on related topics including mining, the stagecoach industry, the Mormons, the building of army forts and the Mexican-American war. Its is not a pretty story, this was a brutal conflict, with the Apache torture of captives matched with the summary hanging of Indians by the whites. Buts its a fascinating story which gives a good picture of what the the West was really like, far removed from the glamour of Hollywood depictions.… (más)

Mort gives the outline of the Bascom incident at Apache Springs, in which Cochise escaped an attempt to take him hostage. The incident lead to years of warfare, which only ended when the Apache leaders were captured and exiled to Florida. Mort then fills in the background with chapters about the life and training of Lt. Bascom, the role of the US Army on the frontier, the settlement of the Southwest and the lifestyle of the Apache. While one can sympathize heartily with the Apache hatred of the mining and settlements in their land, Mort makes it clear that they were not Noble Savages--killing cruelly and indiscriminately in their constant raids on travelers and ranchers.… (más)