Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854–1856 (Volume 6) (Campaigns and Commanders Series)

In previous accounts the U.S. Armys first clashes with the powerful Sioux tribe appear as a set of irrational events with a cast of improbable charactersa Mormon cow a brash lieutenant a drunken interpreter an unfortunate Brul chief and an incorrigible army commander. R. Eli Paul shows instead that the events that precipitated General William Harneys attack on Chief Little Thunders Brul village foreshadowed the entire history of conflict between the United States and the Lakota people. Today Blue Water Creek is merely one of many modest streams coursing through Sioux country. The conflicts along its margins have been overshadowed by later more spectacular confrontations including the Great Sioux War and George Custers untimely demise along another modest stream. The Blue Water legacy has gone largely underappreciateduntil now. Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War 1854-1856 provides a thorough and objective narrative using a wealth of eyewitness accounts to reveal the significance of Blue Water Creek in Lakota and U.S. history.