In War-Path and Bivouac, published in 1890, John Finerty (1846–1908) recalled the summer he spent following George Crook’s infamous campaign against the Sioux in 1876. Historians have long surmised that Finerty’s correspondence covering the campaign for the Chicago Times reappeared in its entirety in Finerty’s celebrated book. But that turns out not to be the case, as readers will discover in this remarkable volume. In print at last, this collection of Finerty’s letters and telegrams to his hometown newspaper, written from the field during Crook’s campaign, conveys the full extent of the reporter’s experience and observations during this time of great excitement and upheaval in the West. An introduction and annotations by Paul L. Hedren, a lifelong historian of the period, provide ample biographical and historical background for Finerty’s account. Four times under fire, giving as well as he got, Finerty reported on the action with the immediacy of an unfolding wartime story. To his riveting dispatches on the Rosebud and Slim Buttes battles, this collection adds accounts of the lesser-known Sibley scout and the tortures of the campaign trail, penned by a keen-eyed newsman who rode at the front through virtually all of the action. Here, too, is an intimate look at the Black Hills gold rush and at principal towns like Deadwood and Custer City, captured in the earliest moments of their colorful history. Hedren’s introduction places Finerty not only on the scene in Wyoming, Montana, and Dakota during the Indian campaign, but also in the context of battlefield journalism at a critical time in its evolution. Publication of this volume confirms John Finerty’s outsize role in that historical moment.
In War-Path and Bivouac, published in 1890, John Finerty (1846–1908) recalled the summer he spent following George Crook’s infamous campaign against the Sioux in 1876. Historians have long surmised that Finerty’s correspondence covering the campaign for the Chicago Times reappeared in its entirety in Finerty’s celebrated book. But that turns out not to be the case, as readers will discover in this remarkable volume. In print at last, this collection of Finerty’s letters and telegrams to his hometown newspaper, written from the field during Crook’s campaign, conveys the full extent of the reporter’s experience and observations during this time of great excitement and upheaval in the West. An introduction and annotations by Paul L. Hedren, a lifelong historian of the period, provide ample biographical and historical background for Finerty’s account. Four times under fire, giving as well as he got, Finerty reported on the action with the immediacy of an unfolding wartime story. To his riveting dispatches on the Rosebud and Slim Buttes battles, this collection adds accounts of the lesser-known Sibley scout and the tortures of the campaign trail, penned by a keen-eyed newsman who rode at the front through virtually all of the action. Here, too, is an intimate look at the Black Hills gold rush and at principal towns like Deadwood and Custer City, captured in the earliest moments of their colorful history. Hedren’s introduction places Finerty not only on the scene in Wyoming, Montana, and Dakota during the Indian campaign, but also in the context of battlefield journalism at a critical time in its evolution. Publication of this volume confirms John Finerty’s outsize role in that historical moment.
War-Path and Bivouac Or the Conquest of the Sioux is a fascinating account of the Indian Wars in the West. John Finnerty describes his experiences in the Big Horn and Yellowstone expedition of 1876.
A first hand account of the Indian Wars in the West Those interested in the history of the Plains Indians Wars of the United States of America may well have heard of this book by John F. Finnerty, for it is an acknowledged classic of the period. Finnerty was one of that dauntless breed of newspaper correspondents who joined the army in the field to report these exciting episodes in the winning of the West at first hand. These courageous, professional writers, who of course exist to the present day, combine eye-witness experience with the ability to translate what they have seen expertly into words. In the old West-as today-the task cost some of them their lives. Finnerty reported for the Chicago Times newspaper and in 1876 he was dispatched to the western plains to witness the subjugation of the Sioux Indian tribe and their allies. He was to find himself present at some of the most notable events in the history of the period and within these pages the reader will be transported to the Battle of the Rosebud and the Sibley Scout. Finnerty's words give an immediacy to the Battle of the Little Big Horn, to Merritt's fight on the War Bonnet and the fight at Slim Buttes. Finnerty joined the army on campaign again in 1879 for the actions that finally broke the Sioux and brought Sitting Bull to captivity. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.
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