American Indians at War (Hardback)

American Indians – diverse in many cultures, but some with common traits – fought each other for land and honour and fought invaders for survival. This book examines the earliest known conflicts involving Indians through the ages and into the modern era, their methods of warfare and the weaponry they employed.

Before the Spaniards re-introduced the horse to the Americas, all American Indian warfare was waged on foot, with the well-known North American plains Indians not developing their distinctive mounted warfare – until the 1500s. Some American Indians also waged war from canoes – particularly those in what was to become the north-western United States – Indian nations that also gave the world their iconic totem poles as a symbol of American Indian culture and traditions.

This book explores the internecine warfare between the tribes, from ocean-going canoeing Pacific Coast nations and tribes to the Pueblo and other cliff-dwelling and rock-hewing cultures of the southwestern United States. It was the common threat to these differing Indian nations of the European settlers, which brought many of them together to fight the invaders, and which is most widely known, and which forms the central theme of this book. The inspirational stories of such famous warriors as Geronimo and Sitting Bull, who defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, are explored, but it is often not appreciated that Indians played an important role in the Seven Years War in North America, in the Revolutionary War against Britain, and in the American Civil War, which saw Indians fighting for both the Union and the Confederacy – Indians even sided with the United States in the ‘Indian Wars’.

As the Indians and Americans integrated during the twentieth century, Indians served their country in both the First and the Second world wars. Among these individuals were the famous code talkers. American Indians at War is a comprehensive study of this intriguing subject.