General George Crook

General George Crook PDF

Author: Gen. George Crook

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2017-04-07

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1787204421

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General George Crook spent his entire military career, with the exception of the Civil War years, on the frontier. Fighting the Indians, he earned the distinction of being the lowest-ranking West Point cadet ever to rise to the rank of major-general. Crook’s autobiography covers the period from his graduation from West Point in 1852 to June 18, 1876, the day after the famous Battle of the Rosebud. Editor Martin F. Schmitt has supplemented Crook’s life story with other material from the general’s diaries and letters and from contemporary newspapers. “When Red Cloud, the Sioux chief, heard of the death of his old antagonist, the Army officer they called Three Stars, he told a missionary, ‘He, at least, never lied to us.’ General Sherman called Crook the greatest Indian fighter and manager the Army ever had. Yet this man who was the most effective campaigner against the Indians had won their respect and trust. To understand why, you ought to read General George Crook: His Autobiography, edited and annotated by Martin F. Schmitt.”—Los Angeles Times “A story straightforward, accurate, and interesting, packed with detail and saturated with a strong western flavor....The importance of this book lies not merely in its considerable contribution to our knowledge of military history and to the intimate and sometimes trenchant remarks made by Crook about his colleagues, but more particularly in the revelation of the character and aims of the general himself.”—Chicago Tribune

General Crook and the Western Frontier

General Crook and the Western Frontier PDF

Author: Charles M. Robinson

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 9780806133584

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General George Crook was one of the most prominent soldiers in the frontier West. General William T. Sherman called him the greatest Indian fighter and manager the army ever had. General Crook and the Western Frontier, the first full-scale biography of Crook, uses contemporary manuscripts and primary sources to illuminate the general's personal life and military career.

George Crook

George Crook PDF

Author: Paul Magid

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2013-07-10

Total Pages: 524

ISBN-13: 0806150114

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Renowned for his prominent role in the Apache and Sioux wars, General George Crook (1828–90) was considered by William Tecumseh Sherman to be his greatest Indian-fighting general. Although Crook was feared by Indian opponents on the battlefield, in defeat the tribes found him a true friend and advocate who earned their trust and friendship when he spoke out in their defense against political corruption and greed. Paul Magid’s detailed and engaging narrative focuses on Crook’s early years through the end of the Civil War. Magid begins with Crook’s boyhood on the Ohio frontier and his education at West Point, then recounts his nine years’ military service in California during the height of the Gold Rush. It was in the Far West that Crook acquired the experience and skills essential to his success as an Indian fighter. This is primarily an account of Crook’s dramatic and sometimes controversial role in the Civil War, in which he was involved on three fronts, in West Virginia, Tennessee, and Virginia. Crook saw action during the battle of Antietam and played important roles in two major offensives in the Shenandoah Valley and in the Chattanooga and Appomattox campaigns. His courage, leadership, and tactical skills won him the respect and admiration of his commanding officers, including Generals Grant and Sheridan. He soon rose to the rank of major general and received four brevet promotions for bravery and meritorious service. Along the way, he led both infantry and cavalry, pioneered innovations in guerrilla warfare, conducted raids deep into enemy territory, and endured a kidnapping by Confederate partisans. George Crook offers insight into the influences that later would make this general both a nemesis of the Indian tribes and their ardent advocate, and it illuminates the personality of this most enigmatic and eccentric of army officers.

On the Border with Crook

On the Border with Crook PDF

Author: John Gregory Bourke

Publisher:

Published: 1891

Total Pages: 542

ISBN-13:

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A firsthand account of General George Crook's campaigns against the Indians, by a member of his staff.

An Honest Enemy

An Honest Enemy PDF

Author: Paul Magid

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2020-04-23

Total Pages: 729

ISBN-13: 0806166819

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Over the course of his military career, George Crook developed empathy and admiration for American Indians both as foes and as allies. As Paul Magid has demonstrated in the previous two volumes of his groundbreaking biography, this experience prepared Crook well for his metamorphosis from Indian fighter to outspoken advocate of Indian rights. An Honest Enemy is the third and final volume of Magid’s account of George Crook’s life and involvement in the Indian wars. Using rarely tapped information, including Crook’s own diaries, the work documents in dramatic detail the general’s arduous and dangerous campaigns against the Chiricahua Apaches and their leader Geronimo, action that forms a backdrop to the transformation in the general’s role vis-à-vis Native Americans. In a story by turns harrowing and tragic, Magid details the plight of Indians who, in the aftermath of their defeat, were consigned to reservations too barren to sustain them, where they were subjected to impoverishment, indifference, and in many cases, outright corruption. With growing anger, Crook watched as many tribes faced death from starvation and disease and, unwilling to passively accept their fate, desperately sought to flee their reservations and return to their homelands. Charged with the grim task of returning the Indians to such conditions, Crook was forced to choose between fulfilling his duties as a soldier and his humanitarian values. Magid describes Crook’s struggle to reconcile these conflicting concerns while promoting policies he regarded as essential to the welfare of the Indians in the face of a hostile public, jealous fellow officers, and an unsympathetic government that regarded his efforts as quixotic and misguided. Here is a tale that readers will not soon forget.

The Gray Fox

The Gray Fox PDF

Author: Paul Magid

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2015-04-23

Total Pages: 644

ISBN-13: 0806149507

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George Crook was one of the most prominent military figures of the late-nineteenth-century Indian Wars. Yet today his name is largely unrecognized despite the important role he played in such pivotal events in western history as the Custer fight at the Little Big Horn, the death of Crazy Horse, and the Geronimo campaigns. As Paul Magid portrays Crook in this highly readable second volume of a projected three-volume biography, the general was an innovative and eccentric soldier, with a complex and often contradictory personality, whose activities often generated intense controversy. Though known for his uncompromising ferocity in battle, he nevertheless respected his enemies and grew to know and feel compassion for them. Describing campaigns against the Paiutes, Apaches, Sioux, and Cheyennes, Magid’s vivid narrative explores Crook’s abilities as an Indian fighter. The Apaches, among the fiercest peoples in the West, called Crook the Gray Fox after an animal viewed in their culture as a herald of impending death. Generals Grant and Sherman both regarded him as indispensable to their efforts to subjugate the western tribes. Though noted for his aggressiveness in combat, Crook was a reticent officer who rarely raised his voice, habitually dressed in shabby civilian attire, and often rode a mule in the field. He was also self-confident to the point of arrogance, harbored fierce grudges, and because he marched to his own beat, got along poorly with his superiors. He had many enduring friendships both in- and outside the army, though he divulged little of his inner self to others and some of his closest comrades knew he could be cold and insensitive. As Magid relates these crucial episodes of Crook’s life, a dominant contradiction emerges: while he was an unforgiving warrior in the field, he not infrequently risked his career to do battle with his military superiors and with politicians in Washington to obtain fair treatment for the very people against whom he fought. Upon hearing of the general’s death in 1890, Chief Red Cloud spoke for his Sioux people: “He, at least, never lied to us. His words gave the people hope.”

The Fox and the Whirlwind

The Fox and the Whirlwind PDF

Author: Peter Aleshire

Publisher:

Published: 2000-02-22

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13:

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"And they did - the perfect enemies, perfectly embodying the tragic strengths and weaknesses of their respective cultures. No confrontation more powerfully captures the relentless, irreconcilable struggle between Native Americans and whites than the Apache Wars - the final and longest running of the North American Indian wars.

Giant of the West

Giant of the West PDF

Author: George Crook

Publisher:

Published: 2016-11-03

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781519041920

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"No student of the Civil War or of the West can afford to ignore it."--New York Times Book Review "A story straightforward, readable, accurate, and interesting, packed with detail and saturated with a strong western flavor.... The importance of this book lies not merely in its considerable contribution to our knowledge of military history and to the intimate and sometimes trenchant remarks made by Crook about his colleagues, but more particularly in the revelation of the character and aims of the general himself."--Chicago Tribune One of the most important books in American military history, the autobiography of General George Crook is the account of his participation in the Civil War and Indian Wars. A fierce fighter, highly respected commander, and intelligent leader of men, Crook attempted to deal fairly with Native Americans despite duplicitous policy coming out of Washington. The autobiography covers Crook's time in the army before, during, and after the Civil War. It ends abruptly at the conclusion of the Battle of the Rosebud, just eight days before Custer's disaster at the Little Bighorn. Though Crook was never able to finish it, you'll read his accounts of some of the most important events of his day. After laying on a shelf for fifty years, Crook's great work on his military career was discovered and edited by Martin Schmitt. Not even Crook's friend and biographer, John Bourke, knew of its existence. For the first time, this important and fascinating work is available for e-readers, tablets, and smartphones. Read about Crook's dealings with Geronimo, Cochise, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and other famous chiefs. See how he didn't pull any punches when writing about Civil War greats like Sheridan, Thomas, Pope, Miles, and others. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample. REVIEWS"When Red Cloud, the Sioux chief, heard of the death of his old antagonist, the Army officer the called Three Stars, he told a missionary, '...He, at least, never lied to us.' ...General Sherman called Crook the greatest Indian fighter and manager the Army ever had. Yet this man who was the most effective campaigner against the Indians had won their respect and trust. To understand why, you ought to read General George Crook: His Autobiography, edited by Martin F. Schmitt."--Los Angeles Times "The frank analysis of situations and blunt, occasionally caustic, judgments of men and situations make interesting reading. Students of this period will find much material in this objective and lively book."--Cavalry Journal "A valuable book for the serious student of history...it also should prove stimulating to the casual reader who has a liking for adventure."--Western Folklore