The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Author: Bob Drury | Language: English | ISBN:
B00BSAZ614 | Format: PDF
The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Description
An astonishing untold story of the American WestThe great Sioux warrior-statesman Red Cloud was the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army in a war, forcing the government to sue for peace on his terms. At the peak of Red Cloud’s powers the Sioux could claim control of one-fifth of the contiguous United States and the loyalty of thousands of fierce fighters. But the fog of history has left Red Cloud strangely obscured. Now, thanks to the rediscovery of a lost autobiography, and painstaking research by two award-winning authors, the story of our nation’s most powerful and successful Indian warrior can finally be told.
Born in 1821 near the Platte River in modern-day Nebraska, Red Cloud lived an epic life of courage, wisdom, and fortitude in the face of a relentless enemy—the soldiers and settlers who represented the “manifest destiny” of an expanding America. He grew up an orphan and had to overcome numerous social disadvantages to advance in Sioux culture. Red Cloud did that by being the best fighter, strategist, and leader of his fellow warriors. As the white man pushed farther and farther west, they stole the Indians’ land, slaughtered the venerated buffalo, and murdered with impunity anyone who resisted their intrusions. The final straw for Red Cloud and his warriors was the U.S. government’s frenzied spate of fort building throughout the pristine Powder River Country that abutted the Sioux’s sacred Black Hills—Paha Sapa to the Sioux, or “The Heart of Everything That Is.”
The result was a gathering of angry tribes under one powerful leader. “The white man lies and steals,” Red Cloud told his thousands of braves at council fire. “My lodges were many, now they are few. The white man wants all. They must fight for it.” What came to be known as Red Cloud’s War (1866–1868) culminated in a massacre of American cavalry troops that presaged the Little Bighorn and served warning to Washington that the Plains Indians would fight, and die, for their land and traditions. But many more American soldiers would die first.
In
The Heart of Everything That Is, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, the New York Times bestselling authors of
Halsey’s Typhoon and
The Last Stand of Fox Company, restore Red Cloud to his rightful place in American history in a sweeping and dramatic narrative based on years of primary research. As they trace the events leading to Red Cloud’s War they provide intimate portraits of the many and various men and women whose lives Red Cloud touched—mountain men such as the larger-than-life Jim Bridger; U.S. generals like William Tecumseh Sherman who were charged with annihilating the Sioux; fearless explorers such as the dashing John Bozeman; and the warriors whom Red Cloud groomed, the legendary Crazy Horse in particular. And residing at the heart of the story is Red Cloud, fighting for the very existence of the Indian way of life.
This fiery narrative, fueled by contemporary diaries and journals, newspaper reports, eyewitness accounts, and meticulous firsthand sourcing, is a stirring chronicle of the conflict between an expanding white civilization and the Plains Indians who stood in its way.
The Heart of Everything That Is not only places the reader at the center of this remarkable epoch, but finally gives Red Cloud the modern-day recognition he deserves.
- File Size: 34227 KB
- Print Length: 433 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1451654669
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (November 5, 2013)
- Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BSAZ614
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
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- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,787 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Americas > Native American - #4
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Native American - #7
in Books > History > Americas > Native American
- #4
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Americas > Native American - #4
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Native American - #7
in Books > History > Americas > Native American
I have previously read other books on what has become known as Red Cloud's War but this effort by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin is a masterpiece in old west history. I was puzzled by the title "The Heart of Everything That Is" but I learned that it refers to the Paha Sapa or Black Hills in western South Dakota.
There were several variations of the Sioux tribes and the authors go into detail regarding the time preceding Red Cloud with Old Man Afraid of His Horses as the leader of the Oglala Sioux tribe. We also get a portrait of Jim Bridger, known as Old Gabe, and the authors wonder why more hasn't been written about this influential man in western history. Pretty Owl and Pine Leaf were loves of Red Cloud and the tragic death of Pine Leaf by her own hand is dealt with.
The controversial building of forts along the hated Bozeman Trail through Wyoming and into Montana provides the reader with additional information regarding the building of Fort Phil Kearny which led to the infamous Fetterman Fight on December 21, 1866, in which William Judd Fetterman lost his life along with eighty others. Who was to blame for this fiasco? Was it Fetterman himself or the ill-suited commander of the fort Henry Carrington? Of what role in the defeat, if any, did Tenedore Ten Eyck play? Did his delay in going to Fetterman's defense doom Fetterman and his men or would his support have just added to the victims?
I learned that it was American Horse who killed Fetterman and John "Portugee" Phillips had two others who sent out word of the disaster at Fort Phil Kearny with Phillips being the only one who traveled all the way to Fort Laramie to bring word on the day after Christmas.
I enjoy reading about the Native Americans and their struggle for survival, and this book does not disappoint. I find it to be very well researched, nicely written, and full of facts, yet not at all just another a "boring" history book.
I had heard of Red Cloud, but did not know any of the details concerning his leadership. This book does a good job of telling the reader how the Sioux people came to be located in the West in the middle of the 1800s. It actually starts out a couple of centuries before, laying the foundation for their struggle. Red Cloud is an interesting person because he is the only Native American to actually beat the white man in a strategic battle. During the years between 1865 and 1868 he formulated and executed his plans to drive the usurper from the Sioux lands. Amazingly, he succeeded, and won a treaty in which the US Army was required to remove three forts from the area, and stop allowing wagon trains to move through. As it turned out, the completion of the railroad across the country in the early 1870's killed off the buffalo herds, and the days of the free Native American were doomed. But that does not undermine his strategic achievements. The tale centers around the events of 1866, when Red Cloud (after much learning and studying) opened his campaign against the army, culminating in the destruction of over 80 soldiers at Fetterman's Massacre in 1866. While reading, I was struck by the imbalance of tactical and strategic genius - Red Cloud had the best military mind in the region.
The book is very readable and chock full of facts. I was fascinated to discover that they were driven from their eastern (Minnesota) origins not by the white man, but by other tribes who had acquired weapons from the fur traders.
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