Evening star., 1948-06-06

40-YeorFight
For Survival
wARPATH AND COUNCIL FIRE
BY Stanley Vestal. Random
House; $780,
= Reviewed by
CARTER BROOKE JONES.
Forty years of warfare on the
plains between Indians and white
men started ironically with peace
conference in 1851. Well, this was
in the tradition of the self styled
civilized nations, which so often
have conjured up future wars
around the conference table.
Mr.. Vestal, an authority on the
old West, moreover a colorful writer,
has told the whole story OF the
plains Indians, their struggle for
survival as the tide of the white
mans empire slowly engulfed them;
their councils and battles.
1t is not one of the nicer chap
tiers of American history. The In
dians had their renegades, their
thieves and killers, just as the
lighter skinned invaders had. But
most Indians were friendly or
wanted to be; all they asked was
to be let alone to roam and hunt
the great plains, as their fathers
had for generations uncounted. The
white men drove them from their
hunting grounds and finally de-
stroyed the herds of buffalo that
furnished them meat. clothing, even
tepees.
To Be Killed or Starved.
From the point Of view OF the
Indians" Mr.. Vestal says, 1T was
generally a tossup as to whether
the Army was to kill them or the
Indian Bureau was to roo and
starve them. However, an impartial
compromise was effected, so that
these enterprises were attempted
alternately and in rotation.
He never hesitates to blame Army
officers and commissioners from
washington when the record shows
them at fault, which was often.
At the same time, Mr.. Vestal is fair.
He points out that there were
hereditary enmities among the
tribes. and some of them were con-
stantly at war with one another.
Prowess in battle was the greatest
virtue, and the warrior society OF a
tribe. which really ruled 1.-THE
chief was more of diplomat, rep
resenting his people at parleys-
was ready to take the warpath at
the drop of a feather. Mr.. Vestal
realizes, too, that the conquest OF
the West was one of those move
ments of history which, however
unjust, cannot be stopped.
Terrific Fighters.
The Indians were terrific flgnters.
One military expert called them the
finest light cavalry in the world.
Generals who faced them, veterans
of the Mexican and Civil Wars,
spoke admiringly of their horse
msnship, their individual daring
and tricky strategy Rarely as well
armed as their white adversaries,
they often defeated crack outfits OF
Regulars.
Everybody knows of the Battle OF
Little Big Horn, where In 1870
Custer and his command were
wiped out by Sioux and Cheyennes'
Not so many are familiar with the
massacre of Sand Greek in 1864.
There a detachment OF Colorado
volunteers wiped out a camp OF
friendly Indians, killing the women
and children along with the braves.
But the Indians never forgot this
display of white ruthlessness, which
the later determination OF Custer
and mis- men could not begin to
match. Nor can the old men OF the
impoverished, often hungry, tribes
forget the so-called Battle OF
Wounded Knee. where in Decem-
Der. 1890, on a Sioux reservation 1856
Indians surrendered to eight troops
of Regular cavalry. There was
scuffie between two soldiers and an
Indian they were disarming. Some
one fired. The Indians were moved
down. Their women and children,
whom the Army commander had
separated from the men before the
search for arms, were raked with
soldiers volleys and many were
killed. The warriors fought back
and the casualties numbered some
200 Indians and so soldiers killed or
wounded. This affair, which closed
four decades of violence on the
plains, goes down in Mr.. Vestals
record as a massacre by white men.
Mr.. Vestal. whose real name is
Walter Stanley Campbell, Is pro-
fessor OF English at the University
of Oklahoma His research for this
book included not only study of
all the source material, but talks
with many old Indians and white
men who took part in the negotia-
tions and in the fighting. He has
written books on Sitting Bull, Kit
Carson. the Santa Fe Trail and
other Western subjects.
Every one in the least interested
in the history Of hts country should
read "Warpath and Council Fire"