The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke. Volume 3: June 1, 1878-June 22, 1880

Description

John Gregory Bourke kept a monumental set of diaries as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General George Crook. This third volume (of a projected set of eight) begins in 1878 with a discussion of the Bannock Uprising and a retrospective on Crazy Horse, whose death Bourke called "an event of such importance, and with its attendant circumstances pregnant with so much of good or evil for the settlement between the Union Pacific Rail Road and the Yellowstone River." Three other key events during this period were the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878-79, the Ponca Affair, and the White River Ute Uprising, the latter two in 1879. He comments on issues in the military during his day, such as the quirks and foibles of the Irish soldiers who made up a large part of the frontier army, and also on the problems of Johnson Whittaker, who became West Point's only black cadet following the graduation of Henry Flipper in 1878. Each volume in the series is extensively annotated and contains a biographical appendix on Indians, civilians, and military personnel named in the volume.