Patrick Connor's war: the 1865 Powder River Indian Expedition. .: (Series: Frontier military series; 29

Americana 101 (Plains Indians/Connor, Patrick Edward, 1820-1891). Wagner, David E., 1939- Patrick Connor's war: the 1865 Powder River Indian Expedition. (Series: Frontier military series; 29). Norman, Oklahoma: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2010, 296p, bib, index, illus. Fine copy with collector's bookplate (in Gaelic) on front lining paper.. $17.50

The author draws on journals, letters, and reports—especially the James H. Kidd Papers, a copy of Connor's expedition report previously believed burned, and the newly discovered C. M. Lee diary. Also included is a detailed account of the civilian road-building expedition of James Sawyers, whose fate became intertwined with the Powder River expedition.

The Powder River Expedition of 1865 was a large and far-flung punitive military operation of the United States Army against the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians in Montana Territory and Dakota Territory, land that had been confirmed as Indian territory in the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.

Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor, chosen by General Dodge to lead the expedition, who was ordered to "make vigorous war upon the Indians and punish them so that they will be forced to keep the peace." Connor's chilling orders to his commanders were as follows, "You will not receive overtures of peace or submission from Indians, but will attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age." Connor's superiors, Generals John Pope and Dodge attempted to countermand this order, but it was too late, as the three columns had already departed and were out of contact.