Earlier today, I attended
a reenactment of the battle of Honey Springs near Checotah, Oklahoma. One of
the sutlers had a table set up with a display of a book that is “hot off the
press.” Mary Jane Warde’s When the Wolf
Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory (University of Arkansas Press)
is a book that I have been eagerly anticipating, and when she arrived later in
the day, I purchased a signed copy from her.
In the preface, T. Michael
Parrish and Daniel E. Sutherland wrote “Mary Jane Warde has
devoted many years
to researching and preserving the history of the old Indian Territory. Built on
a solid foundation of published and unpublished sources, including such rich
archival collections as the records of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek
Nations, the present work demonstrates the impressive scope of her knowledge. From
the removal acts of the 1830s to the post-Civil War readjustment of the western
tribes, her sweeping narrative explores both the signal public events that
marked the tumultuous era and the consequences for the territory’s tens of
thousands of native peoples.” Weighing in at 404 pages, the book also includes
a ten page bibliographical essay. I’m looking forward to digging into this
book!
Jane,
ReplyDeleteIs it almost entirely social history in content (like we both predicted)?
Drew
I haven't had the time to look through the book very much, but it appears to be a well-rounded book. There is more of a military emphasis in it than I expected, but the main focus appears to be the impact of the war on the peoples of the Indian Territory. There is also a substantial section on the aftermath of the war. Looks like it will be a good read!
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