by John Finerty, edited by Paul L. Hedren
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020. Pp. xviii, 302+.
Illus., map, append., notes, biblio., index. $34.95. ISBN: 0806165057
Reporting from the Saddle
Irish immigrant John Finerty (1846-1908), landed in the United States in time to see some service in the Civil War. Postwar, he became a newspaper reporter, and in 1876 he covered the “Great Sioux War” for the Chicago Times. Accompanying Brig. Gen. George Crook’s main column, he was often involved in fire fights, though missing the Little Big Horn.
In 1890 Finerty published War-Path and Bivouac: The Conquest of the Sioux. A rather stirring account of the war, the book was long thought to have included all of Finerty’s numerous dispatches to the Times, but in fact there was much more. This new volume consists of nearly thirty of Finerty’s dispatches, organized, edited, annotated, and with bridging text by veteran National Park historian Paul Hedren, himself the author of a dozen books on the “Old Army” and the Indian wars.
In these dispatches, we get Finerty’s first hand account of weeks in the saddle, and a number of notable and often desperate fights, during which he had several close calls. These dispatches convey the feel of campaigning in the Black Hills and little insights into military life on the frontier, noting, for example, that many of the Regulars were virtually raw recruits, some of whom deserted. He also gives us comments on many soldiers and their commanders, a goodly number of Native Americans, individual settlers, and others.
John Finerty Reports the Sioux War is a great read for anyone interested in the Army on the frontier or the Plains Indian wars.
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Note: John Finerty Reports the Sioux War is also available in several e-editions.
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