INDIAN FIGHTER: The Story of Nelson A. Miles

Between the Civil War and the turn of the century, Nelson A. Miles turned in an amazing record as an Indian fighter. He was one of the Civil War's volunteer officers who had managed to stay on in the Army, which was his first love, and he had abandoned the thought of West Point in his boyhood to please his father. His natural bent and the school of experience were his guides. From U.S. Grant, he adapted the attacker's theory of victory--he kept his quarry running or attempted to starve them out. Miles conquered Sitting Bull, subdued Crazy Horse and received the surrenders of Chief Joseph and Geronimo. Mr. Bailey concentrates on the Indian battles and Miles' inventive strategies on a frontier that required imagination as well as courage from its soldiers. His subject emerges as a relentless, but not ruthless, soldier whose victories over the Indians allowed the settling of the West; he also had to fight Washington, D.C. at the same time as he engaged the Indians. The author has provided an extensive bibliography which includes Miles' own memoirs as well as the outstanding adult biography of 1962 by Virginia Johnson.