The Second Colorado Cavalry: A Civil War Regiment on the Great Plains
- ISBN-10
- 0806166681
- ISBN-13
- 9780806166681
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 288
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2020-02-13
- Publisher
- University of Oklahoma Press
- Author
- Christopher M. Rein
Description
During the Civil War, the Second Colorado Volunteer Regiment played a vital and often decisive role in the fight for the Union on the Great Plains—and in the westward expansion of the American empire. Christopher M. Rein’s The Second Colorado Cavalry is the first in-depth history of this regiment operating at the nexus of the Civil War and the settlement of the American West. Composed largely of footloose ’59ers who raced west to participate in the gold rush in Colorado, the troopers of the Second Colorado repelled Confederate invasions in New Mexico and Indian Territory before wading into the Burned District along the Kansas border, the bloodiest region of the guerilla war in Missouri. In 1865, the regiment moved back out onto the plains, applying what it had learned to peacekeeping operations along the Santa Fe Trail, thus definitively linking the Civil War and the military conquest of the American West in a single act of continental expansion. Emphasizing the cavalry units, whose mobility proved critical in suppressing both Confederate bushwhackers and Indian raiders, Rein tells the neglected tale of the “fire brigade” of the Trans-Mississippi Theater—a group of men, and a few women, who enabled the most significant environmental shift in the Great Plains’ history: the displacement of Native Americans by Euro-American settlers, the swapping of bison herds for fenced cattle ranges, and the substitution of iron horses for those of flesh and bone. The Second Colorado Cavalry offers us a much-needed history of the “guerilla hunters” who helped suppress violence and keep the peace in contested border regions; it adds nuance and complexity to our understanding of the unlikely “agents of empire” who successfully transformed the Central Plains.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2020-02-13
- 288 pages
- Paperback
- University of Oklahoma Press
Similar books
-
Three Years and a Half in the Army: Or History of the Second Colorados
By Ellen WilliamsOriginally published in 1885, this is the recounting of the history of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry during the Civil War.
-
Three Years and a Half in the Army Or, History of the Second Colorados-Union Volunteer Cavalry at War Against Indians...
By Ellen WilliamsThis remarkable camp follower recounts the activities of the Colorados in combination with her own first hand experiences which illuminate the text with a unique female perspective.
-
The Pike's Peakers and the Rocky Mountain Rangers: A History of Colorado in the Civil War
By Kenneth E. DraperA Morton, James Murphy (Murphey), Harvey Aiin New Mexico Myers (Myres, Myre), Michael—in New Mexico Noland, Peter—former Cpl, Co. A in New Mexico Nye, Alfred—former Pvt, Co. K OBrien (OBrian), James Oglesby, William W.—former Pvt, Co.
-
Historical Sketch and Roster of the Colorado 2nd Cavalry Regiment
By John RigdonThe Colorado 2nd Cavalry Regiment was organized at St. Louis, Missouri in October, 1863 by consolidation of the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments.In January 1863, Companies F, G, H, and K were on duty in the Colorado Territory at Fort Lyon and ...
-
Muskets and Bayonets: The Story of James B. Wasson, Company "B" and the Second Colorado Volunteer Cavalry in the Civil...
By Don M. Mahan, Carole M. Wilcox"The historic marches and battles that Wasson and Colorado's first volunteer company had in the War of the Rebellion is exciting to read and appreciate.
-
Action Before Westport, 1864
By Howard N. MonnettThe military events surrounding the frontier village of Westport, Missouri, during the autumn of 1864 were part of a Confederate raid that exceeded any Civil War cavalry raid. The climax...
-
Mobilizing the South: The Thirty-First Infantry Division, Race, and World War II
By Christopher M. ReinThis work is a case study of the strength and weaknesses of units with a regional identity and explores the connections with the home front once that identity erodes.
-
The Sand Creek Massacre
By Stan HoigWhen the news was first brought to Chivington of the death of these persons, and of the manner of their death, he sneeringly remarked to the bystanders: “I told the guard when they left that if they did not kill those fellows, ...
-
On the Plains in ’65: The 6th West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry in the West
By George H. Holliday... Ben Holladay: The Stagecoach King (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1968), 301. 13. Pole Creek Station, also known as Pole Creek Station No. 3 and Lodge Pole Station, was a Pony Express Station situated on the north side of Pole ...
-
The North African Air Campaign: U.S. Army Air Forces from El Alamein to Salerno
By Christopher M. ReinThis book examines how American fighter planes and heavy bombers played a pivotal role in the Allies' successful ground campaigns in North Africa during World War II.