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Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier
What was it really like to be a soldier in the nineteenth-century American West?
Their heads filled with images of glory and battle, most young men joined the frontier army only to endure a life of tedious drills, bad meals, uncomfortable quarters, and ill-fitting uniforms. Working hard seven days a week and in all weather, soldiers frequently found themselves lonely and bored, with little opportunity for advancement but many ways to be punished--�all for $13 a month.
Focusing on the Indian Wars period of the 1840s through the 1890s, Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier captures the daily challenges faced by the typical enlisted man and explores the role soldiers played in the conquering of the American frontier. In addition to describing the nitty-gritty details of a soldier�s daily life, this fascinating study explores the Indian Wars from the perspective of both the military and the Indians and examines all aspects of the post�Civil War army, including its organization, its weapons, and its personnel. The book also contains two appendices, one summarizing significant battles and the other listing selected western forts. Both include site locations and information for visitors. Dozens of photos and several maps add to the reader�s understanding and enjoyment. Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier is more than a convenient reference book�it�s also a gripping and affecting story.
Their heads filled with images of glory and battle, most young men joined the frontier army only to endure a life of tedious drills, bad meals, uncomfortable quarters, and ill-fitting uniforms. Working hard seven days a week and in all weather, soldiers frequently found themselves lonely and bored, with little opportunity for advancement but many ways to be punished--�all for $13 a month.
Focusing on the Indian Wars period of the 1840s through the 1890s, Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier captures the daily challenges faced by the typical enlisted man and explores the role soldiers played in the conquering of the American frontier. In addition to describing the nitty-gritty details of a soldier�s daily life, this fascinating study explores the Indian Wars from the perspective of both the military and the Indians and examines all aspects of the post�Civil War army, including its organization, its weapons, and its personnel. The book also contains two appendices, one summarizing significant battles and the other listing selected western forts. Both include site locations and information for visitors. Dozens of photos and several maps add to the reader�s understanding and enjoyment. Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier is more than a convenient reference book�it�s also a gripping and affecting story.
266 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2008
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 26, 2016
You have not yet read the Great American Novel. I know this, because it is still on my hard drive, unpublished. And also unfinished. Despite have written over 1,500 pages, I estimate I have completed only 25% of the entire book. Now, why would I write that much, you might ask. Only insane people in electricity-free cabins with long beards and longer grudges write that much. My answer: it’s in the details.
My novel – for the sake of argument, we’ll call it a novel; it is also American; it is not, however, great, except in the sense of prodigious length – attempts to encompass America’s epic western push, from 1854 (the start of the so-called First Sioux War) to 1890 (the massacre at Wounded Knee). There is a lot of ground to cover. And I am determined to cover all of it. History is best when you can feel it, smell it, touch it. I want to make history tactile, even if I have to club you with a 6,000 page manuscript that has only been spell-checked once.
Writing this thing (which, incidentally, I will never try to make you read or buy) has been my favorite hobby for the last ten years. It’s a thing I tinker with constantly, like my neighbor’s old-timey Corvette. Except my hobby has many more hidden costs.
I’ve read thousands of pages of books, diaries, letters, transcripts, and National Park Service pamphlets. I have purchased enough reading material to create something I like to call my wife’s Amazon Face (that is, the face she makes whenever a new box comes from Amazon.com). I have done things I would not otherwise do, like watch YouTube videos on how to field dress a deer; lay in the grass at the Little Big Horn - rattlesnakes be damned - so I knew what it felt like to hide in that hot dry grass; attempt to teach myself snippets of Lakota; and coerce a doctor friend into explaining how a Civil War-era doctor would amputate a leg, step-by-step. Then, there have been the road-trips. I almost proposed to my wife on a field trip to Fort Laramie, and the first trip we took after our wedding included a stop at the Washita Battlefield (in Oklahoma, in August). We slept in our car on the side of the road after an overnight trip to the Little Big Horn National Battlefield. I’ve been to the Little Big Horn three times. I’ve never been to Vienna. I have no regrets.
I was at Fort Snelling – doing some more research, naturally – when I came across Jeremy Agnew’s Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier. This was the kind of thing I was looking for – a way to bridge the gap between what history is (the best series of stories you’ve ever read) and how history is often presented (as a thing that is dead and gone). I might have done myself a favor and perused it a little more thoroughly, before purchasing it. But I am an impulsive person when it comes to buying things on credit.
Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier is a disappointment.
As soon as I started reading it, I knew I was doing to dislike it. The first three chapters burn over 50 pages – in a 200 page book – trying to give an overview of the military, the Indians, and the Indian Wars. Now, not every book should be 6,000 pages long, but there is no way that anyone can, in that space of time, coherently discuss those three subjects in such a small space. Those first three chapters were simply a waste of time. They were filled with generalities, simplifications, and banalities. Clearly, this is a book directed at Indian War students. That’s the target audience, right? Who else would be interested in the “life of a soldier on the western frontier”? If that’s the case, these introductory chapters, filled with such nuggets as “[t]he Army…had the clear advantage of modern weapons, as opposed to the Indians’ bows and arrows,” should have been excised.
(Side Note: At this point, I should mention that I briefly thought this might have been a children’s book. It doesn’t look like a children’s book. It does not say “this is a children’s book.” I doubt many children want to read about U.S. Army armaments in the 1800s. Parts of it, though, were written with the condescending simplicity that you find in kid's books. Having said that, I am going to proceed with this review as though the book was written for adults).
The substantive chapters following the unenlightening introduction is separated into two parts. The first covers armaments, organization, and garrison structure on the 19th century frontier. The second is dedicated to a more personal look at the soldier, including his clothing, pay, food, and free time.
Of these two sections, the first suffers from the same problems as the introductory chapter. The discussion on Army organization, armaments, and forts, is just too broad. This is not an overview of the subject, it is a view of the subject from Pluto. There are far more generalities than facts, and the timeline jumps about hopelessly. There is some good information here, plucked from other, worthier sources, but this book does not do a good job of channeling that information. Instead, you have to find it between needless asides about ancillary subjects.
The final section, which finally – despite the title – focuses on the western frontier soldier, is marginally better. Again, there are some worthwhile nuggets of information regarding mealtimes, daily drill schedules, and venereal diseases. The stuff I wanted to learn. These factoids can be found elsewhere, in frontier memoirs, in contemporary letters, but it’s nice to have them in one place. Unfortunately, there was not enough to satisfy me. Nothing feels more than skin deep, here, and the phrase “scratching the surface” occurred to me several times.
The writing, well, it’s not great. There is a passage, towards the end, that is emblematic of my concerns. Agnew excerpts a remembrance from a cavalryman named Major James Cremony, who found himself in hand-to-hand combat with an Apache warrior. After presenting the major’s own words, Agnew hastens to add:
Wait. What? This was a typical experience? First off, no. Just no. This kind of experience was never typical for any soldier. Second, Agnew has already stated – correctly – that the typical life of a soldier on the western frontier was BOREDOM. These were men who seldom saw their adversaries, who seldom fought with them, who spent most of their time drilling, drilling, and drilling, and in their free time, gambling, drinking, and going to hog ranches to sleep with prostitutes. Stabbing an Indian while engaged in single combat was not “typical.” This is a lazy, meaningless statement, and sort of embodies the loose, un-rigorous nature of this entire endeavor.
Look, I’m okay taking potshots at a guy like Ken Follett who is both (a) a terrible writer and (b) a billionaire who has sold millions of crappy books. Nothing I say is going to hurt him, or hurt his sales, or ever reach him, in his golden castle where he sleeps on a bed of uncut diamonds.
This is a different situation entirely. I hesitate to say anything at all about a book that is the product of a small press, written by an enthusiastic amateur historian (who, according to his author bio, seems very smart – a PhD! – and very interesting). Writing a book is hard. I know this, because I’m stuck at 1,500 pages, most of them probably terrible. (I asked my wife to read what I’ve written so far…And she keeps coming up with increasingly unlikely excuses. Excuses like “I forgot how to read,” and “I just became an astronaut”).
Alas, I paid cover price, and this is what I thought, however much I regret it.
My novel – for the sake of argument, we’ll call it a novel; it is also American; it is not, however, great, except in the sense of prodigious length – attempts to encompass America’s epic western push, from 1854 (the start of the so-called First Sioux War) to 1890 (the massacre at Wounded Knee). There is a lot of ground to cover. And I am determined to cover all of it. History is best when you can feel it, smell it, touch it. I want to make history tactile, even if I have to club you with a 6,000 page manuscript that has only been spell-checked once.
Writing this thing (which, incidentally, I will never try to make you read or buy) has been my favorite hobby for the last ten years. It’s a thing I tinker with constantly, like my neighbor’s old-timey Corvette. Except my hobby has many more hidden costs.
I’ve read thousands of pages of books, diaries, letters, transcripts, and National Park Service pamphlets. I have purchased enough reading material to create something I like to call my wife’s Amazon Face (that is, the face she makes whenever a new box comes from Amazon.com). I have done things I would not otherwise do, like watch YouTube videos on how to field dress a deer; lay in the grass at the Little Big Horn - rattlesnakes be damned - so I knew what it felt like to hide in that hot dry grass; attempt to teach myself snippets of Lakota; and coerce a doctor friend into explaining how a Civil War-era doctor would amputate a leg, step-by-step. Then, there have been the road-trips. I almost proposed to my wife on a field trip to Fort Laramie, and the first trip we took after our wedding included a stop at the Washita Battlefield (in Oklahoma, in August). We slept in our car on the side of the road after an overnight trip to the Little Big Horn National Battlefield. I’ve been to the Little Big Horn three times. I’ve never been to Vienna. I have no regrets.
I was at Fort Snelling – doing some more research, naturally – when I came across Jeremy Agnew’s Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier. This was the kind of thing I was looking for – a way to bridge the gap between what history is (the best series of stories you’ve ever read) and how history is often presented (as a thing that is dead and gone). I might have done myself a favor and perused it a little more thoroughly, before purchasing it. But I am an impulsive person when it comes to buying things on credit.
Life of a Soldier on the Western Frontier is a disappointment.
As soon as I started reading it, I knew I was doing to dislike it. The first three chapters burn over 50 pages – in a 200 page book – trying to give an overview of the military, the Indians, and the Indian Wars. Now, not every book should be 6,000 pages long, but there is no way that anyone can, in that space of time, coherently discuss those three subjects in such a small space. Those first three chapters were simply a waste of time. They were filled with generalities, simplifications, and banalities. Clearly, this is a book directed at Indian War students. That’s the target audience, right? Who else would be interested in the “life of a soldier on the western frontier”? If that’s the case, these introductory chapters, filled with such nuggets as “[t]he Army…had the clear advantage of modern weapons, as opposed to the Indians’ bows and arrows,” should have been excised.
(Side Note: At this point, I should mention that I briefly thought this might have been a children’s book. It doesn’t look like a children’s book. It does not say “this is a children’s book.” I doubt many children want to read about U.S. Army armaments in the 1800s. Parts of it, though, were written with the condescending simplicity that you find in kid's books. Having said that, I am going to proceed with this review as though the book was written for adults).
The substantive chapters following the unenlightening introduction is separated into two parts. The first covers armaments, organization, and garrison structure on the 19th century frontier. The second is dedicated to a more personal look at the soldier, including his clothing, pay, food, and free time.
Of these two sections, the first suffers from the same problems as the introductory chapter. The discussion on Army organization, armaments, and forts, is just too broad. This is not an overview of the subject, it is a view of the subject from Pluto. There are far more generalities than facts, and the timeline jumps about hopelessly. There is some good information here, plucked from other, worthier sources, but this book does not do a good job of channeling that information. Instead, you have to find it between needless asides about ancillary subjects.
The final section, which finally – despite the title – focuses on the western frontier soldier, is marginally better. Again, there are some worthwhile nuggets of information regarding mealtimes, daily drill schedules, and venereal diseases. The stuff I wanted to learn. These factoids can be found elsewhere, in frontier memoirs, in contemporary letters, but it’s nice to have them in one place. Unfortunately, there was not enough to satisfy me. Nothing feels more than skin deep, here, and the phrase “scratching the surface” occurred to me several times.
The writing, well, it’s not great. There is a passage, towards the end, that is emblematic of my concerns. Agnew excerpts a remembrance from a cavalryman named Major James Cremony, who found himself in hand-to-hand combat with an Apache warrior. After presenting the major’s own words, Agnew hastens to add:
In the ensuing struggle, Cremony managed to bite the Apache’s knife hand and hold it fast. While the Indian was reaching for his knife with his other hand, Cremony grabbed his own knife and plunged it into his adversary. Cremony’s close call was typical of the harrowing experiences of the frontier soldier.
Wait. What? This was a typical experience? First off, no. Just no. This kind of experience was never typical for any soldier. Second, Agnew has already stated – correctly – that the typical life of a soldier on the western frontier was BOREDOM. These were men who seldom saw their adversaries, who seldom fought with them, who spent most of their time drilling, drilling, and drilling, and in their free time, gambling, drinking, and going to hog ranches to sleep with prostitutes. Stabbing an Indian while engaged in single combat was not “typical.” This is a lazy, meaningless statement, and sort of embodies the loose, un-rigorous nature of this entire endeavor.
Look, I’m okay taking potshots at a guy like Ken Follett who is both (a) a terrible writer and (b) a billionaire who has sold millions of crappy books. Nothing I say is going to hurt him, or hurt his sales, or ever reach him, in his golden castle where he sleeps on a bed of uncut diamonds.
This is a different situation entirely. I hesitate to say anything at all about a book that is the product of a small press, written by an enthusiastic amateur historian (who, according to his author bio, seems very smart – a PhD! – and very interesting). Writing a book is hard. I know this, because I’m stuck at 1,500 pages, most of them probably terrible. (I asked my wife to read what I’ve written so far…And she keeps coming up with increasingly unlikely excuses. Excuses like “I forgot how to read,” and “I just became an astronaut”).
Alas, I paid cover price, and this is what I thought, however much I regret it.
July 11, 2023
A good review of the conditions prevalent during the Indian Wars
October 27, 2024
I read this in the process of researching my husband's family history. (One of his great- grandfathers worked in several of these forts.)
I need to note that I'm not happy with the fact that the US government actively conquered and colonized. So i really appreciate that in this book information is presented matter-of-factly, telling about the lives of the soldiers not as heroic figures, but as people dealing with difficult and often boring conditions.
By the way, although this is very readable, it's not really written for the casual reader. If you're somewhat interested in the topic, i recommend reading just the chapters of particular interest to you. Agnew clarifies (sometimes repeating) so it is not necessary to read all chapters. For example, you may be interested in the guns or you may not.
I need to note that I'm not happy with the fact that the US government actively conquered and colonized. So i really appreciate that in this book information is presented matter-of-factly, telling about the lives of the soldiers not as heroic figures, but as people dealing with difficult and often boring conditions.
By the way, although this is very readable, it's not really written for the casual reader. If you're somewhat interested in the topic, i recommend reading just the chapters of particular interest to you. Agnew clarifies (sometimes repeating) so it is not necessary to read all chapters. For example, you may be interested in the guns or you may not.
June 26, 2024
"A good primer" ***1/2
Literally. If you have any foreknowledge on the 19th century U.S. Army or its Indian Wars, this will be too slight, breezy & familiar. I am mesmerized by the map showing the geographical division of Indian tribes as much as I'm flipping through the 1847-1886 evolution of the musket-to-rifle...
Literally. If you have any foreknowledge on the 19th century U.S. Army or its Indian Wars, this will be too slight, breezy & familiar. I am mesmerized by the map showing the geographical division of Indian tribes as much as I'm flipping through the 1847-1886 evolution of the musket-to-rifle...
December 30, 2017
If you want to know what life for these soldiers was like, this is the book. It really tells that life was not this glamorous "fighting Indian wars" that we all think it was. Good book!
February 12, 2016
Just couldn't finish this one, which rarely happens. Didn't feel that there was any new information or even new interpretation and I kept reading statements that made me think, "Well, that's not exactly the whole story..."
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews