On July 17, 1876, three weeks after the defeat of Custer at the Little Big Horn, the Fifth Cavalry Regiment skirmished with Cheyenne Indians at Warbonnet Creek in Northwestern Nebraska. The warrior Yellow Hair was killed at the outset by regimental scout "Buffalo Bill" Cody. this action was a great psychological boost for the army after months of disappointing action. Well illustrated with clear, helpful maps. 112 pp; tactical maps, photos; appendix; bibliog; index.

This shows Libbie Custer shutting between summer camp near Fort Hays, Kansas, and winter quarters in Fort Leavenworth. She observes frontier army life up close; the discipline and frivolity, ten housekeeping, the resourceful open-air cuisine, regimental quarrels and romances, the wildness of Ellsworth and Hays city, the presence of California Joe and Wild Bill Hickok. Libbie accompanies the men on their hunting expeditions, relates the stories of scouts and teamsters, and always gives a human aspect to a difficult juncture in Custer’s career. 382 pp; illus.

This history focuses on the enlisted man of the regular army during the Indian wars of the West from 1865 to the 1890’s and allows the common soldier to emerge as an individual and not as a stereotype. Rickey has authored a good history about the everyday life of those enlisted soldiers, having been able to consult over 300 living veterans of the Indian Wars.394 pp; photos; maps, bibliog;

Utley combines scholarship and drama in this impressive history of the final, massive drive by the Regular Army to subdue and control the American Indian and open the West during the twenty-five years following the Civil War. His brilliant descriptions of military equipment, recruitment; its life-style and relations with Congress and civilians. 478 pp; maps; photos; notes; bibliog; index.

Crook’s autobiography covers the period from his graduation from West Point in 1852 to June 18, 1876, the day after the famous Battle of the Rosebud. Editor Schmitt has supplemented Crook’s life story with other material from the general’s diaries and letters and from contemporary newspapers. Crook is known as the greatest Indian fighter in the history of the United States. 356 pp; maps; photos; bibliog; index.

Well documented and an exceptionally good coverage of the war that broke the will of the Plains Indians. 448 pp; photos; maps; notes; bibliog; index.

It was the greatest of all Indian wars and it involved more than the annihilation of Custer’s command in June 1876. It was a confrontation of two flowering cultures and involved not one, but more than a dozen battles, played out over the vast northern plains. The stakes were high: gold in the Black Hills, rights to the great Yellowstone Basin, and two ways of life, for the Sioux and Cheyenne it was, as Black Elk later put it, "all our own country," and we defended it fiercely. This collection brings together for the first time fifteen classic articles many difficult to obtain on the Great Sioux war. 312 pp; photos; illus; index.

Sgt. Charles Windolph was the last survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He fought in Capt. Benteen’s troop on that fatal Sunday and recalls in vivid detail the battle that wiped out Custer’s command. 264 pp; map; photos; illus; bibliog; index.

Indian Fights and Fighters
By Cyrus T. Brady

This history not only contains clear, fast-paced accounts of the Plains wars, but also a number of eyewitness accounts, most of which were written especially for Brady and which are almost impossible to find elsewhere. The Powder River Expedition, tragedy at Fort Phil Kearny, Fetterman Massacre, battles of Washita and Summit Springs, Wagon Box Fight, defense of Beecher’s Island, and the campaign of Crook, Custer, and Miles against the Sioux are all fully covered. 442 pp; photos; maps; index.

Welch relates the pride and desperation of a people systematically stripped of their treaty rights, hounded from their ancestral hunting grounds, herded into wretched reservations. Welch here bestows humanity and tragic stature to a people once though fit only for a exploitation and extermination. This restores a critical missing piece of the American mosaic and rethinks the meaningof the Little Bighorn for a multicultural society. 320 pp; maps; photos; illus; notes; index.

As the media spotlight continues to play on General Custer and the battle of the Little Big Horn, here is a truly outstanding contribution to knowledge and understanding. In a superbly organized symposium held in Billings, Montana in 1994, an array of talented specialists offered new findings and fresh perspectives. Their presentations are here assembled in a book that shed new light on both history and legend. 330 pp; photos; illus; map; index.

Dr. Kuhlman analyzed the information from the Little Big Horn Battle. Very interesting.

Albert Barnitz served with Custer’s famed Seventh Cavalry for four years, 1867-70. In 1867 Albert and Jennie (Platt), both of Ohio, married and headed for the Kansas frontier. Four months later the growing perils of Indian clashes forced her to return east. Their letters and diaries, dated from January 17, 1967, to February 10, 1869, are vivid and accurate. They provide a keen picture of life in the Seventh Cavalry, both in garrison and field, immediately after the Civil War. 320 pp; photos; illus; maps; appendices; bibliog, index.

This journal on the actions of Gibbon’s command from 17 March to the finding of the remains of the 7th Cavalry is of great historical importance, for it illuminates little-known facts of the Sioux campaign. Bradley commanded Gibbon’s scouts and was an authentic American hero, later killed at the Battle of the Big Hole by the Nez Perce Indians in August, 1877.

The men of Company F rode big gray horses that stood out amidst the confusion during the afternoon of June 25, 1876. The Indians later recalled seeing the horses by the river, on the bluffs, and eventually on Last Stand Hill. Their riders lay dead in a ravine after the fighting ceased. But which ravine? Why couldn’t the Army find their bones a few years later? Why didn’t archaeological excavations uncover any remains? The answers, finally, are at hand. 368 pp; maps; photos; appendix, notes.

Sullivan focuses on Custer’s bravery, conduct in the field, the way he conducted battle, and his belief of absolute invincibility in the face of overwhelming odds; final mistakes made going into the Battle of the Little Big Horn. 136 pp; photos plates; maps; notes; bibliog.