BETWEEN TWO FIRES: American Indians in the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: Worthy goal, but hindered by weak writing.
Review: "Between Two Fires" reveals little new and signficant material on the Native American's role in the Civil War, but it does attempt to cover both sides of the War. Hauptman should be commended on making Indian involvment on both the sides the focus of his book, but his clumsy narrative dilutes the subject's impact.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting subject usually overlooked.
Review: A rich and infinitely interesting subject -- a sad, mistreated people join in a war to help the very ones responsible for their wretched condition in a last, desperate effort to secure a happier existence for their tribes by proving their worth to their oppressors. I did not find this book particularly well written and often felt its lack of narrative interest getting in the way of my enjoyment of and attention to the subject. There were many points that made the book well worth reading however, and if it did nothing else, it gave me a deeper understanding of the "Native American ordeal" leading up to and following the ACW. It also did a good job of pointing out how the story of the African American's emancipation has overshadowed many other stories of the Civil War and while their (the African Americans') situation was well improved by war's end, the Native American's problems were just beginning and that theirs is perhaps one of the "real" tragedi! es of the Civil War. Although I don't feel the book lives up to its potential given its rich subject, I would recommend it to anyone looking for an entirely different slant on Civil War history.

Rating:
Summary: Well-researched and thorough
Review: As the title clearly tells us, this is a book (primarily) about the contributions of the American Indian to the American Civil War. It starts the reader with some of the early atrocities and misunderstandings that have characterized Indian and White interactions throughout American history. Some are the same things you will read about in any decent high school history text, and some are new for those that are not Indian history "buffs", such as myself. For example, I was not aware of the cruel and deliberate destruction of the Indian populations in California during the Gold Rush of 1849 until I read about it here.

The book discusses Indian participation on both sides of the war and their various motivations for joining in the fight. These motivations range from genuine patriotism to wanting to suck up to the government (be it Union or Confederate) for favors to wanting a steady, if small income to just wanting to get involved in the biggest thing that was going to happen to this generation of Americans.

Among the more interesting vignettes are the story of how the Eastern Band of the Cherokees (if you have been to the Smoky Mountain Nat'l Park you've heard of them) earned their land through service to the CSA, the biography of Colonel Ely Parker, the Indian who drafted Lee's surrender for his friend U.S. Grant and the Battle of the Crater. This Battle in the Petersburg siege had 3 different groups of Indians fighting (one on the side of the CSA, two on the USA) along with Blacks and Whites. It was probably the most integrated battle the U.S. fought until the Korean War, when Truman desegegrated the armed forces.

This is one of the most heavily referenced books I've ever read. There are 53 pages of end notes and 42 pages of bibliography for a 192 page book! If you are ever looking for a great source of information for a paper or research project on the Civil War, I'd recommend starting with this list.

Final Grade: B+ (good writing style, ocassionally too in-depth and bordering on trivia)


Rating:
Summary: I was hoping for more
Review: In this book Hauptman tells about a little known part of Civil War/American Indian history-the Native Americans who fought on both sides of the conflict. Before reading this I generally thought of the Civil War as a period when the Plains Indians got a brief respite from their battle for freedom and the tribes of the East-well, I didn't really know.

While Hauptman gives us some interesting facts, however, he never really treats the obvious question. Why? Why did so many American Indians put their lives on the line for a battle between two factions of whites? Unfortunately Hauptman devotes little time to this part of the issue, simply stating over and over that the Indians saw this as a way to ward off even further dislocation and perhaps as "a bargaining chip" with their conquerors. I would have liked him to go into more detail. For example, was it individual Indians who chose to fight, or were they encouraged by tribal leaders? Were there any negotiations going on between Indians and whites? Were the whites making promises to the Indians in order to recruit them? In his last chapter, Hauptman tells us what we already know. Whatever the Indians hoped to gain pretty much came to nothing. But he doesn't tell us what, if anything the Indians did to fight this outcome.

This was worth reading because I learned some interesting things. For example how Indians were seen in the South vis a vis Blacks; how different tribes viewed slavery, etc. However, I was hoping for more.

Rating:
Summary: I was hoping for more
Review: In this book Hauptman tells about a little known part of Civil War/American Indian history-the Native Americans who fought on both sides of the conflict. Before reading this I generally thought of the Civil War as a period when the Plains Indians got a brief respite from their battle for freedom and the tribes of the East-well, I didn't really know.

While Hauptman gives us some interesting facts, however, he never really treats the obvious question. Why? Why did so many American Indians put their lives on the line for a battle between two factions of whites? Unfortunately Hauptman devotes little time to this part of the issue, simply stating over and over that the Indians saw this as a way to ward off even further dislocation and perhaps as "a bargaining chip" with their conquerors. I would have liked him to go into more detail. For example, was it individual Indians who chose to fight, or were they encouraged by tribal leaders? Were there any negotiations going on between Indians and whites? Were the whites making promises to the Indians in order to recruit them? In his last chapter, Hauptman tells us what we already know. Whatever the Indians hoped to gain pretty much came to nothing. But he doesn't tell us what, if anything the Indians did to fight this outcome.

This was worth reading because I learned some interesting things. For example how Indians were seen in the South vis a vis Blacks; how different tribes viewed slavery, etc. However, I was hoping for more.