Booknotes: They Fought Like Veterans

New Arrival:

• They Fought Like Veterans: The Military History of the Civil War in the Indian Territory by Michael J. Manning (Prairie Star Music & Pub, 2025).

From the description: "The Civil War within the Indian Territory represented a peripheral aspect of the broader conflict, situated in a less prominent region of the Trans-Mississippi West. The area did not witness significant battles or the emergence of notable military leaders; indeed, many senior officers from both Union and Confederate armies were assigned to this region following unsuccessful campaigns further east. However, the intensity of animosity and violence in the Indian Territory was unparalleled compared to other Civil War regions."

Currently, the most comprehensive, up-to-date scholarly history of the Civil War in Indian Territory is Mary Jane Warde's impressive 2013 study When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory. That is a huge subject to try to cram into a single volume, and, while Warde was very successful in taking on that tall task, it was only possible to provide very limited overviews of the many campaigns and battles fought inside and directly adjacent to the territory. Those topics, many of which continue to be neglected in the literature at large, are the primary focus of Michael Manning's They Fought Like Veterans: The Military History of the Civil War in the Indian Territory.

According to Manning's introduction, the book can be divided into three parts. The first three chapters "describe the origins of the Five Civilized Tribes, their "Trails of Tears" to their new homes in today's Oklahoma, and the effects of the Southern secession movement upon these Indian nations" (pg. 5). More from the description: "Most of the Five Civilized Tribes-Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole-had resided in the territory for less than a quarter-century. While initial support among these nations leaned toward the Southern Confederacy, consensus was lacking, leading to internal divisions. These splits closely mirrored earlier fractures between pro-treaty members (predominantly of mixed ancestry) and anti-removal members (primarily full-blooded), divisions that originated during the 1820s and 1830s after implementation of the Indian Removal Acts. Relocation moved these nations into what became known as Indian Territory, now largely comprising the State of Oklahoma. Many tribal members, having assimilated aspects of Southern culture prior to removal, had become slaveholders."

The second part, comprising the bulk of the nearly 600-page study, "describes the military actions that occurred in an around the Indian Territory, the troops involved, and the battles they fought" (pg. 5). The text, formatted in a double-column narrative that extensively incorporates quoted passages from primary sources, is supplemented by a multitude of photographic images and supported by numerous maps of all scales.

The final, and shortest, part of the book addresses the Reconstruction period and the negotiations of new treaties between the various tribes and the US government.