Beginning of Essay
There is perhaps a tendency to view the record of the military in terms of conflict, that may be why the U.S. Army’s operational experience in the quarter century following the Civil War became known as the Indian wars. Previous struggles with the In ....

Middle of Essay
.... These guerrilla wars were characterized by skirmishes, pursuits, raids, massacres, expeditions, battles, and campaigns of varying size and intensity. In 1865, there was a least 15 million buffalo, ten years later, fewer than a thousand remained. The army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs went along with and even encouraged the slaughter of the animals. By destroying the buffalo herds, the whites were destroying the Indian’s main source of food and supplies. The only thing the Indians could do was fight to preserve their way of life. There was constant fighting among the Indian and whites as the Indians fought to keep their civilization. Ind ....