My Friend the Indian

by James McLaughlin

"If his sense of justice had led him to fine discrimination in these matters, the red man would long ago have made an attack on the national Capitol."

So wrote Indian Inspector and former agent for the Sioux, James McLaughlin, in 1910.

Long used as a source for scholarship on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, McLaughlin's classic memoir is a fascinating read. Acquainted with all of the major Native American personalities of the late 19th century, McLaughlin had opportunities to question them at length about their involvement in Custer's last battle.

Though more recent research has brought into question some of the Indian accounts in this book, many of them stand and the first-person perspectives are invaluable.

In addition, McLaughlin's many years of contact with the Sioux made him an admiring and honest friend. He advocated for policies that were fair to the Indians and, like many others of the period, saw westward expansion as an irreconcilable force that was overwhelming the Native Americans while not supporting their extraordinarily difficult transition to a new way of life.

If you buy this book only for the Custer material, it's worth the price of admission. But the work is much richer than that.

For less than you'd spend on gas going to the library, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers and smartphones.

Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

303 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2014

About the author

James McLaughlin (1842–1923) was a Canadian-American United States Indian agent and inspector, best known for having ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull in December 1890, which resulted in the chief's death. Before this event, he was known for his positive relations with several tribes. His memoir, published in 1910, was entitled, My Friend the Indian.

McLaughlin emigrated to the United States at the age of 21, living briefly in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he married a Mdewakanton woman of mixed-blood descent. He soon became a citizen. While working as a blacksmith at Fort Totten, he studied to become a U.S. Indian agent, and was selected to supervise the Devils Lake Agency in 1876. He was promoted and transferred in 1881 to the larger Standing Rock Sioux Agency in the Dakotas, working there for many years, in an era of short-term political appointments. In 1895 he was promoted to a position as Inspector of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Department of Interior, working until his death in 1923 in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Clay Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author of this work gives a unique perspective of individuals, peoples and events in the Old West.

[Edward L · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Review

I really enjoyed this book because much it is from the point of view of the Indian. The descriptions of the Chief Joseph battles and the battle of the Little Big Horn were particularly enlightening.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book recounts some fascinating history, it needs to be noted that the author, regardless of whatever affection he possesses for those he sees as his charges (or theirs for him), still writes from the perspective of a White person implementing policies that seek to effectively destroy Native American culture and ways of life. I believe he sees himself as a kind of White saviour who is working to save Native Americans from themselves. He writes of the "civilized Indian" and the "blanket Indian", and of his efforts to turn the latter into the former by working to eliminate their traditional way of life and bringing them to permanent residence on the reservation and the adoption of the White man's ways. By way of example: "Two things I conceived to be necessary for their betterment and ultimate civilization. I was convinced that they should be led to become farmers if the reservation was adapted to agriculture; that stock-raising would permit too much roaming and confirm them in their nomadic habits. The other essential feature to the civilization of the Sioux was the schooling of the children under conditions that would lead them into the habits of the whites" (quoted from page 27). The author does take time to lay the blame for the suffering of the Native American where it belongs, by the hand of the White man. He openly cites numerous treaty violations and the deplorable way Native American nations were dealt with, yet in other places says that White takeover of the country was a manifestation of some "natural law" and was inevitable from the moment the first settler set foot upon North America. All in all it is an interesting book, not only for the history it shares but equally for the glimpse it reveals of period attitudes towards Native Americans, peoples who were not even recognised as American citizens until 1924; and whose children suffered greatly, in some cases fatally, under the so called residential “schools” which sought force them into becoming the equivalent of good white folks. Just don't let this be the only book you read on Native American, and especially Lakota, history.

[BIG BOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

McLaughlin was one of the most sympathetic and knowledgeable men of his day in regards to Native Americans. His book has long been a source document for Custer battle scholars and historians of westward expansion.