Washita Memories by Hardorff

[markland]

I only discovered and picked this up Monday so I haven't begun reading it yet but if up to the usual Hardorff standards it should be excellent. Here is a blurb from the cover description.

"In this documentary history, Richard G. Hardorff presents a broad range of views of the Washita battle. Eyewitnesses to the destruction of the Southern Cheyenne village included soldiers, officers, tribal members, Indian and white scouts, and government officials. Many of these witnesses recorded their memories of the event. With Washita Memories, Hardorff has collected the surviving documents into a one-of-a-kind primary resource."

Of course the publisher's hyperbole sometimes stretches things as I notice that there is something by Gen. Hazen in the book and by any stretch, he was not a witness to the battle but only to the events leading up to it. Others not witnesses who have sections included in the book are Thomas Murphy, Vincent Colyer, Grierson and a few others including Hugh Scott.

Still, it appears to be a darned good reference book. There are articles contained within it by, to name only a few: GAC, Godfrey, Benteen, Barnitz, Ben Clark and Ryan.

Claw

[gary]

I've just finished reading this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Cheyennes in general or the Washita in particular. Stan Hoig and Jerome Greene's books on the attack are also recommended. Hardorff's book is particularly valuable for the first hand accounts, the maps and the information concerning the exact site of the events described. I found his Black Kettle genealogy particularly interesting.

Gary

[yksin]

markland said:

Of course the publisher's hyperbole sometimes stretches things as I notice that there is something by Gen. Hazen in the book and by any stretch, he was not a witness to the battle but only to the events leading up to it.

Hardorff's book about not just the battle itself, but also the events surrounding it. Although Hazen wasn't a witness of the battle, he played an important role in surrounding events, particularly in his refusal on November 20, 1868 (7 days before the battle) to permit Black Kettle or the other Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs who came with him to come in to Fort Cobb as "peaceful" Indians, because Hazen knew that Sheridan considered all the Cheyennes & Arapahos to be "hostile." Hazen was also the ultimate recipient of Clara Blinn's November 7 letter from captivity, so he had firsthand knowledge of where she actually was being held captive -- with Arapahos, according to him (whereas Custer/Sheridan thought it was Kiowas, and others think Cheyennes). And his witness about where the various Kiowas were at the time of the battle is also important.

Overall, this is an excellent, well-documented book -- heavily annotated, with brief biographies of numerous figures.

-- Yksin

[yksin]

gary said:

Stan Hoig and Jerome Greene's books on the attack are also recommended. Hardorff's book is particularly valuable for the first hand accounts, the maps and the information concerning the exact site of the events described. I found his Black Kettle genealogy particularly interesting.

Ditto on Hoig & Greene. Hardorff also has an excellent appendix on the various estimates of Indian casualties -- there's a huge range, with Cheyenne & other Indian estimates uniformly far lower for warriors killed than military estimates.

-- Yksin