Warpath and Bivouac: Or the Conquest of the Sioux

by John F. Finerty

Book by Finerty, John F.

Genres: History, Military History

468 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1876

About the author

John Frederick Finerty was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1864. During the Civil War he fought with the Union Army. Later he was a war correspondent for the Chicago Times.
In 1882, he founded the Citizen, a Chicago weekly newspaper.
From 1883 to 1885 he served as as an Independent Democrat in the Forty-eighth Congress.

Reviews

[Greg Flakus]

This is a rip-roaring adventure tale told by a first-hand witness and sometimes participant in the action. Finerty was a newspaper reporter who went with General Crook and his army into Sioux territory in June, 1876. Of course, modern readers might be put off by the attitude towards Indians at that time. But when you read a primary source like this you have to realize that you are going back in time to see things from the perspective of those who were there.

Finerty was with Crook when he was driven back by Crazy Horse at the Rosebud in northern Wyoming and also after the demise of Custer and his immediate command at the Little Big Horn. Crook's troops were supposed to have coordinated with Custer and other troops in the field closing in on the Sioux and Cheyenne camps in the tributaries of the Yellowstone River that summer. In September Crook's troops came upon a camp of Sioux in what is now northwest South Dakota at a place called Slim Butted and engaged in a fierce fight. Later, warriors believed to have been led by Crazy Horse attacked the troops and Finerty was once again in the fight.

For a glimpse at events in the Wild West of the 1870s you can't do better than this.

[Joshua Horn]

This book is by a newspaper reporter who traveled with some of the US Army expeditions against the Sioux. Some parts of it drag a bit, but a lot of it was quite fascinating. Despite being a civilian, coming on these expeditions meant that you had to be prepared to fight, and he did so in some pretty dramatic ways. In the most exciting episode is fighting a huge band of natives, and long escape by abandoning their horses and trying to make it cross country on foot. Along the way Finerty meets some famous western characters, such as Buffalo Bill and Sitting Bull. In an interesting anecdote of how western media intersected with western reality, Buffalo Bill had to leave the expedition to go back east to meet commitments to hold his Wild West Show. Finerty was certainly a man of his time - he despised the Indians and looked forward to the day where they would be cleared from the land and civilized Americans take their place. While not everything the US Army did was wrong, this attitude was pervasive and corrosive.

[Ebook Reader]

Great book, the e-book version can be found at:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warp...

[Persephone Abbott]

This edition is a reprint of a late 19th century eye witness account of the battles between the American Indians and the USA government troups in 1876. Earlier in the decade the government ceded land to the Indians, but then decided to go win it back from the tribes who were patrolling the territory and in control. The US cavalry troups out to what is now Wyoming, looking for their foe, who don't decide to come out and challenge the soldiers, but spent their time observing the situation and watching for bad decisions to arrise from which they could easily benefit. It's when the cavalry enlists the help of "friendly Indian" tribes willing to fight alongside them against the warrior Sioux that the Sioux finally come out and meet the challenge because, unlike the white guys nosing around, if another Indian tribe is out on their trail, they'll certainly be found. The author, an Irishman, had requested his editor to be assigned to General Custer's expedition, but was instead, luckily for him, attached to General Crook's division.(I love the names so much I keep wanting to change Custer into Custard.) Brave Finerty is rather witty and gives an excellent account of the challenges of the climate and situation. Upon the company of pack mules: "They therefore stand stock still. This irritates the packers, who swear in a most artistic and perfectly inexhaustible fashion." I enjoyed the book, a topic I am already familiar with, but I prefer modern history books simply because the greater distance in hindsight potentially gives more depth to the story. One thing for certain, though, I'm just glad I wasn't a member of the US cavalry in 1876 out in Wyoming waiting for the Indians to show up and fight. Sounds like a terrible job.

[Jenny]

It's hard to say that I liked this book, but i didn't dislike it either. I dislike the events from which this book sprung into existence. But I was born and raised in the very location where the majority of this was written. It's an incredibly sad historical catastrophe just like nearly all the tribes of Native Americans who suffered unjustly so these silly United States Of America could eventually render some fat assed, weak minded ill fated sheep of our population today! ---Sorry, I don't mean to sound crude or blunt or vicious but I am so that's the way it comes out--Thanks Bill ;-)