| Soldiering in the Shadow of Wounded Knee, Volume 35: The 1891 Diary of Private Hartford G. Clark, Sixth U.S. Cavalry Contributor(s): Clark, Hartford G. (Author), Greene, Jerome a. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0870624407 ISBN-13: 9780870624407 Publisher: Arthur H. Clark Company OUR PRICE: $32.62 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: October 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Military - History | Military - United States - History | Native American |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2016005820 |
| Series: Frontier Military |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.3" W x 9.5" (1.20 lbs) 216 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - Native American - Geographic Orientation - South Dakota - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In the aftermath of the December 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, U.S. Army troops braced for retaliation from Lakota Sioux Indians, who had just suffered the devastating loss of at least two hundred men, women, and children. Among the soldiers sent to guard the area around Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota, was twenty-two-year-old Private Hartford Geddings Clark (1869-1920) of the Sixth U.S. Cavalry. Within three days of the massacre, he began keeping a diary that he continued through 1891. Clark's account--published here for the first time--offers a rare and intimate view of a soldier's daily life set against the backdrop of a rapidly vanishing American frontier. According to editor Jerome A. Greene, Private Clark was a perceptive young man with wide-ranging interests. Although his diary begins in South Dakota, most of its entries reflect Clark's service at Fort Niobrara, located amid the sand hills of north-central Nebraska. There, beginning in February 1891, five troops of the Sixth Cavalry sought to protect area citizens from potential Indian disturbances. Among his hard-drinking fellow soldiers, "Harry," as Clark was called, stood out as a teetotaler. He was also an avid horse racer, huntsman, and the leading pitcher on Fort Niobrara's baseball team. Beyond its descriptions of a grueling training regimen and off-duty entertainment, the diary reveals Clark's evolving perception of Native peoples. Although he initially viewed them as savage enemies, Private Clark's attitude softened when the army began enlisting Indian men and he befriended a Lakota soldier named Yellow Hand, who shared Clark's love of sports. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of nineteenth-century military history, Greene offers a richly annotated version of Private Clark's remarkable original text, replete with information on the U.S. Army's final occupation of the American West. |
Contributor Bio(s): Greene, Jerome A.: - Jerome A. Greene is retired as Research Historian for the National Park Service. He is the author of numerous books, including Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn since 1876, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877: The Military View; Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877; and Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press. |