The words Indian fighter recall Custer. Indian fighter politician brings to mind Andrew Jackson or William Henry Harrison. Yet politicians who rose to prominence by exploiting their participation in bloody campaigns against Native America were much more common than most Americans realize. This book will bring to light important facts and highlight controversial issues regarding well-known figures from American history and folklore, while situating the questionable actions of these politicians within their historical and political times. While most people know that Davy Crockett went to Congress and died at the Alamo, few realize that his only previous combat experience was in one conflict during the Creek War, which was more massacre than battle. Daniel Boone was a hunter and frontiersman who waged war against the Indians, but he was also a state legislator. Both Abe Lincoln and Jeff Davis were involved in pre-Civil War battles against Native Americans. How and why did the era of the Indian fighter turned politician begin? Which party was the party of the Indian fighters? Why did the era end just before the Civil War? Mitchell explores this American political phenomenon and reveals how it influenced politics in other nations around the world.

This edition is abridged and annotated with updated information.A judge from Prussia. A French Texas Ranger. Emigrants from all over the U.S.Their names and stories are mostly now forgotten but were recorded in this 1900 volume by Andrew Jackson Sowell. They were mostly young, hardy, and looking for new opportunities in land they felt was wide open but, in fact, was inhabited by Native Americans. The lives of these early pioneers is part of the history of the American West.The original bound edition of this book ran over 1100 pages and most of that content is here. It's the story of an incredibly violent and adventurous time that was lived by the people whose stories you find here. Sowell talked to them all and created one of the most interesting collections of personal histories of the wild West.

In 'Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas' by A. J. Sowell, readers are provided with a comprehensive account of the early history of Southwest Texas, focusing on the interactions between settlers and Native American tribes. Sowell's writing style is both informative and engaging, weaving together historical facts with personal accounts to give readers a vivid picture of the turbulent times. This book is a valuable resource for understanding the challenges faced by the early settlers in the region and the conflicts that arose with the indigenous populations. Sowell's attention to detail and in-depth research make this a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Texas and the American frontier. His clear writing style and ability to bring history to life make this book a compelling read for both scholars and general readers alike.

A native Georgian, James Hughes Callahan (1812–1856) migrated to Texas to serve in the Texas Revolution in exchange for land. In Seguin, Texas, where he settled, he met and married a divorcée, Sarah Medissa Day (1822–1856). The lives of these two Texas pioneers and their extended family would become so entwined in the events and experiences of the nascent nation and state that their story represents a social history of nineteenth-century Texas. From his arrival as a sergeant with the Georgia Battalion, through the ill-fated 1855 expedition that bears his name, to his shooting death in a feud with a neighbor, Callahan was a soldier, a Texas Ranger, a rancher, and a land developer, at every turn making his mark on the evolving Guadalupe River Basin. Separately, Sarah’s family’s journey reflected the experience of many immigrants to Texas after its war of independence. Thomas O. McDonald traces the pair’s respective paths to their meeting, then follows as, together, they contend with conflict, troublesome social mores, the emergence of new industries, and the taming of the land, along the way helping to shape the Texas culture we know today. With a sharp eye for character and detail, and with a wealth of material at his command, author Thomas O. McDonald tells a story as crackling with life as it is steeped in scholarly research. In these pages the lives of the Callahan and Day families become a canvas on which the history of Texas—from revolution, frontier defense, and Indian wars to Anglo settlement and emerging legal and social systems—dramatically, inexorably unfolds.

Soldier, Indian Fighter, Texas Ranger, Mayor of San Antonio, City Marshal, Justice of the Peace, Federal Interpreter, Spanish-speaking scholar - P. L.. Buquor was all of these and more. As a young man out for adventure, he answered the call to "Save Texas" and found himself on an exciting and wondrous journey that brought him into contact with some of the most famous names in history: Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Robert E. Lee, Santa Anna, John Coffee Hays, Juan Seguin, Winfield Scott, Zachary Taylor, and many others. This story introduces his family, his travels, what life was like for a young man in the 1800's, traveling by horse, stagecoach, sleeping on the ground, and the exciting battles in which he participated. This book takes him from a young man of fifteen in 1836 to his death in 1901. If you want Texas History as lived by one of the unsung heroes of Texas, this is the book for you.

A balanced account of the skirmishes along Texas’ borderland during the years between the Battle of San Jacinto and the Mexican seizure of San Antonio. The stage was set for conflict: The First Congress of the Republic of Texas had arbitrarily designated the Rio Grande as the boundary of the new nation. Yet the historic boundaries of Texas, under Spain and Mexico, had never extended beyond the Nueces River. Mexico, unwilling to acknowledge Texas independence, was even more unwilling to allow this further encroachment upon her territory. But neither country was in a strong position to substantiate claims; so the conflict developed as a war of futile threats, border raids, and counterraids. Nevertheless, men died—often heroically—and this is the first full story of their bitter struggle. Based on original sources, it is an unbiased account of Texas-Mexican relations in a crucial period. “Solid regional history.” —The Journal of Southern History

In the nineteenth century, Texas’s advancing western frontier was the site of one of America’s longest conflicts between white settlers and native peoples. The Texas Hill Country functioned as a kind of borderland within the larger borderland of Texas itself, a vast and fluid area where, during the Civil War, the slaveholding South and the nominally free-labor West collided. As in many borderlands, Nicholas Roland argues, the Hill Country was marked by violence, as one set of peoples, states, and systems eventually displaced others. In this painstakingly researched book, Roland analyzes patterns of violence in the Texas Hill Country to examine the cultural and political priorities of white settlers and their interaction with the century-defining process of national integration and state-building in the Civil War era. He traces the role of violence in the region from the eve of the Civil War, through secession and the Indian wars, and into Reconstruction. Revealing a bitter history of warfare, criminality, divided communities, political violence, vengeance killings, and economic struggle, Roland positions the Texas Hill Country as emblematic of the Southwest of its time.

“[A] firsthand account by one who measured up to the demands of danger and hardships and lived to write about it . . . Invaluable . . . Well documented.” —Library Journal As a teenager in the 1950s, John Holmes Jenkins set to work on collecting and editing his great-great-grandfather’s writings about his experiences on the Texas frontier. John Holland Jenkins joined General Sam Houston’s army at age thirteen after losing his stepfather at the Alamo. In addition to fighting the Mexicans, he faced peril from Indian warriors as well as the everyday difficulties of pioneer life. His reports on the events of the time were included in newspapers with very small readerships—and, his descendant would discover, were sometimes used word-for-word in respected history textbooks without any credit given to the source. This volume includes these memoirs of the Texas Republic and early statehood, along with illustrations, notes, biographical sketches, a bibliography, and an index. “Fascinating . . . A commendable job.” —The New York Times “[These reminiscences] light up for whoever will read the earliest days of early English-speaking Texas.” —J. Frank Dobie, from the foreword

From 1832 to 1891 the states from the Great Lakes west to Oregon and south to Mexico saw scenes of massacre, bloody rout, amabush, fire, and pillage as the great Indian tribes--Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Modoc, and Apache--fought desperately to turn back the invading white men. Recreated in this volume are twenty-odd battles crucial in the opening of the American West to white settlement. Among the battles included here are the Pierre's Hole fight, the battle of Bandera Pass, the battle of Pyramid Lake, the battle of Wood Lake, the Canyon de Chelly rout, the battles of Adobe Walls, the Fetterman, Hayfield, and Wagon Box fights, the fight at Beecher Island, the battle of the Washita, the battles of Massacre Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon, the battle of the Rosebud, the battle of the Little Bighorn, the Dull Knife massacre, and the final, tragic battle at Wounded Knee. "A fine guide to the conflict that transpired across the wide Missouri."--San Francisco Sunday Chronicle "An excellent account of most of the major fights between the white man and the Indian in. . .the western part of the United States."--Library Journal "Two dozen of the most celebrated and hair-raising Indian fights on record. Good, solid reading, and a whole peck of it."--New York Times Book Review

On June 3, 1513, ships commanded by Juan Ponce de Leon were attacked by a group of Calusa Indians in one of the first hostile encounters recorded between Europeans and American Indians. Over the next four centuries, fundamental differences would cause these two disparate cultures to clash numerous times with untold loss of life and property. From the 1500s through 1901, this comprehensive reference book details individual armed conflicts between Native Americans and Europeans. Chronologically arranged entries include information such as origin of the European party, Indian tribe involved (if known), location of the skirmish and number of casualties. The establishments of various forts are also given within the chronology. An appendix provides a brief summary of related events after 1901.