Showing posts with label Indian Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Wars. Show all posts

Monday, 29 August 2016

My Latest Military History Book Has Just Been Released!



Osprey Publishing has just released the seventh book I've written for them. Apache Warrior vs US Cavalryman: 1846-86 is the latest in their Combat series, which gives a soldier's eye view from both sides of a conflict. It was nice to get back to my old stomping grounds of the American Southwest, where I lived for many years. A blurb is below. You can see all my Osprey titles here.

From the 1840s onward, United States military forces clashed with the Apache, a group of Native Americans associated with North America's southwestern region. U.S. territorial expansion and conflict--first with Mexico and then during the Civil War--led to an escalation of hostilities that culminated in the defeat of the Apache leader Geronimo in 1886, although fighting continued into the twentieth century. In this study, the clashes at Cieneguilla (1854), First Adobe Walls (1864), and Cibecue Creek (1881) are assessed in detail.

Fully illustrated and featuring contemporary accounts and specially commissioned artwork, this history examines exactly how the Apache were able to pose such a grave threat to U.S. forces and how their initial advantages were gradually negated by the cavalry. Examining the tactics, equipment, and training available to each side over four decades of evolving conflict, this is an eye-opening combatant's-eye view of one of history's most intriguing campaigns.

Friday, 4 July 2014

Old West Photo Friday: Apache Family


I've been thinking about my old home of Arizona lately and figured it was time to give you another Old West Photo Friday. This is an Apache band, probably an extended family, in 1873. They're in front of their wickiups, near Camp Apache, Arizona.
When this photograph was taken, the Apaches and U.S. Army were engaged in fierce fighting, with various Apache warrior bands fighting a guerrilla campaign against the thinly stretched U.S. forces. Reservations were one technique for breaking the Apache's independence.
Camp Apache had been founded as a reservation the year before. It was consolidated into the San Carlos Agency in 1876 when that agency assumed responsibility for the entire White Mountain Reservation. Camp Apache was renamed Fort Apache in 1879. The land is still a reservation today.
Here's a closeup of the two young people in the center.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.


Looking for more from Sean McLachlan? He also hangs out on the Civil War Horror blog, where he focuses on Civil War and Wild West history.

You can also find him on his Twitter feed and Facebook page.