The March of the Mounted Riflemen

The March of the Mounted Riflemen

Author: Raymond W. Settle

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1989-01-01

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 9780803291966

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It was an awesome sight, that regiment of Mounted Riflemen slowly marching up the Oregon Trail, already crowded with gold seekers and their animals in 1849. In May of that year five companies of men and 171 supply wagons started from Fort Leavenworth on a five-month, two-thousand-mile march that would take them to Fort Vancouver. After distinguished service in the Mexican War, the rifle regiment had mustered out and then reorganized for the purpose of establishing and garrisoning forts along the Oregon Trail. The March of the Mounted Riflemen, first published in 1940, is important as the only complete record of one of the longest marches ever made. Most of the book is devoted to the journal of the quartermaster, Major Osborne Cross, which describes the experience of recruits unprepared for such an undertaking. There were numerous desertions among the soldiers and teamsters, who were faced with a cholera epidemic and the heavy loss of horses and mules in poor grazing country, but for those who finally crossed the Cascades there was pleasure in spectacular scenery and interest in dealing with friendly Indians. Included is the journal of George Gibbs, a civilian artist and naturalist who accompanied the marchers, and a report by Colonel William Wing Loring, the commanding officer Together, these primary documents offer valuable information about the Oregon Trail and the great emigration of 1849.


The Confederate Cherokees

The Confederate Cherokees

Author: W. Craig Gaines

Publisher: LSU Press

Published: 1992-04-01

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780807127957

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Although many Indian nations fought in the Civil War, historians have given little attention to the role Native Americans played in the conflict. Indian nations did, in fact, suffer a higher percentage of casualties than any Union or Confederate state, and the war almost destroyed the Cherokee Nation. In The Confederate Cherokees, W. Craig Gaines provides an absorbing account of the Cherokees' involvement in the early years of the Civil War, focusing in particular on the actions of one group, John Drew's Regiment of Mounted Rifles.As the war began, The Cherokees were torn by internal political dissension and a simmering thirty-year-old blood feud. Entry into the war on the Confederate side did little to resolve these intratribal tensions. One faction, loyal to Chief John Ross, formed a regiment led by John Drew, Ross's nephew by marriage. Another regiment was formed by Ross's rival, Stand Watie. The Watie regiment was largely por-Confederate, whereas many of Drew's soldiers, though fighting for the Confederate cause, were secretly members of a pro-Union, antislavery society known as the Keetoowahs. They had little sympathy for the southern whites, who had driven them from their ancestral homelands in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Drew's regiment nonetheless earned a degree of infamy during the Battle of Pea Ridge, in Arkansas, for scalping Union soldiers.Gaines writes not only about the actions of Drew's regiment but about military events in the Indian Territory in general. United action was almost impossible because of continuing factionalism within the tribes and the desertion of many Indians to the Union forces. Desertion was so high that Drew's regiment was effectively disbanded by mid-1862, and the soldiers did not complete their one-year enlistment. Drew's regiment bears the distinction of being the only Confederate regiment to lose almost its entire membership through desertion to the Union ranks.Gaines's solidly researched, ground-breaking history of this ill-fated band of Cherokees will be of interest to Civil War buffs and students of Native American history alike.


New York in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1865

New York in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1865

Author: Frederick Phisterer

Publisher: Legare Street Press

Published: 2022-10-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781017090154

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


Armor-Cavalry Part I

Armor-Cavalry Part I

Author: Mary Lee Stubbs

Publisher: Wildside Press

Published: 2012-08-01

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 9781434458124

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Mary Lee Stubbs (Chief of the Organizational History Branch of the O.S. Office of the Chief of Military History) and Stanley Russell Connor (Deputy Chief of the U.S. Organizational History Branch, OCMH) wrote the 1968 Armor-Cavalry Part I: Regular Army and Army Reserve, part of the Army Lineage Series, which was "designed to foster the esprit de corps of United States Army units."


Pea Ridge

Pea Ridge

Author: William L. Shea

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2011-06-08

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 0807869767

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The 1862 battle of Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas was one of the largest Civil War engagements fought on the western frontier, and it dramatically altered the balance of power in the Trans-Mississippi. This study of the battle is based on research in archives from Connecticut to California and includes a pioneering study of the terrain of the sprawling battlefield, as well as an examination of soldiers' personal experiences, the use of Native American troops, and the role of Pea Ridge in regional folklore. "A model campaign history that merits recognition as a major contribution to the literature on Civil War military operations.--Journal of Military History "Shines welcome light on the war's largest battle west of the Mississippi.--USA Today "With its exhaustive research and lively prose style, this military study is virtually a model work of its kind.--Publishers Weekly "A thoroughly researched and well-told account of an important but often neglected Civil War encounter.--Kirkus Reviews "Offers the rich tactical detail, maps, and order of battle that military scholars love but retains a very readable style combined with liberal use of recollections of the troops and leaders involved.--Library Journal "This book is assured of a place among the best of all studies that have been published on Civil War campaigns.--American Historical Review "Destined to become a Civil War classic and a model for writing military history.--Civil War History "A campaign study of a caliber that all should strive for and few will equal.--Journal of American History "An excellent and detailed book in all accounts, scholarly and readable, with both clear writing and excellent analysis. . . . Utterly essential . . . for any serious student of the Civil War.--Civil War News