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Caught in the Maelstrom: The Indian Nations in the Civil War, 1861-1865 Kindle Edition

by Clint Crowe (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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“Incredibly detailed and well-documented” (San Francisco Book Review), a revelatory history of the actions of five Indian Nations during the Civil War.

The sad plight of the Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole—during America’s Civil War is both fascinating and often overlooked in the literature. From 1861–1865, the Indians fought their own bloody civil war on lands surrounded by the Kansas Territory, Arkansas, and Texas. Clint Crowe’s magisterial Caught in the Maelstrom: The Indian Nations in the Civil War reveals the complexity and the importance of this war within a war, and explains how it affected the surrounding states in the Trans-Mississippi West and the course of the broader war engulfing the country.

The onset of the Civil War exacerbated the divergent politics of the five tribes and resulted in the Choctaw and Chickasaw contributing men for the Confederacy and the Seminoles contributing men for the Union. The Creeks were divided between the Union and the Confederacy, while the internal war split apart the Cherokee nation mostly between those who followed Stand Watie, a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, and John Ross, who threw his majority support behind the Union cause. Throughout, Union and Confederate authorities played on divisions within the tribes to further their own strategic goals by enlisting men, signing treaties, encouraging bloodshed, and even using the hard hand of war to turn a profit.

Crowe’s study is grounded upon a plethora of archival resources, newspapers, diaries, letter collections, and other accounts. Caught in the Maelstrom examines every facet of this complex and fascinating story in a manner sure to please the most demanding reader.
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  1. Print length
    276 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Savas Publishing
  5. Publication date
    July 19, 2017
  6. File size
    27679 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The narrative thread of the work holds together, the actors are vivid, and it highlights just how important the Native Nations were in the plans of both the Confederacy and the Union."
On Point: The Journal of Army History

"Accessible to a wide audience with thorough military coverage."
Civil War Books and Authors

"This book helped fill a gap in my own knowledge of the Civil War and it will undoubtedly do the same for other readers."
Midwest Book Review

"This book is a fascinating account of a neglected aspect of the war. It is incredibly detailed and well-documented. . . . It is worth the effort for those who want to better understand the Civil War in general, as well as better understand the history of these tribes during this time."
San Francisco Book Review

“This is an excellent study of the intense conflict among Indian tribes and resulting military actions by Confederate and Union armies during the Civil War in Indian Territory. It is an important and complex story presented, explained, and analyzed with remarkable precision by Clint Crowe. Anyone seeking a true understanding of the war in the trans-Mississippi West must pay close attention to this book.”
T. Michael Parrish, Baylor University

"A detailed and well researched battle history of the Civil War in Indian Territory."
The Civil War Monitor

“Clint Crowe joins the ranks of scholars who are bringing the conflict west of the Mississippi to the forefront of Civil War scholarship. His fine study of the war in the Indian Territory emphasizes continuity between inter-tribal divisions over removal from the East and decisions to support either the North or South. Crowe demonstrates how Native American secret societies, spawned by these divisions, shaped the course of the war, provides a full narrative of military operations and chronicles the tribulations of a people caught up in a larger struggle not of their making, who nevertheless proportionately suffered more than any other group in the Civil War. This is entertaining reading on an important topic.”
William Garrett Piston, co-author of Wilson’s Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It

"[The author's] reinterpretation of several key battles—such as Cherokee involvement at Pea Ridge—constitutes welcome additions to historical understanding of the choices Native Americans made during this tumultuous period."
Choice

About the Author

Dr. Clint Crowe is Assistant Professor of History and Political Science at Tulsa Community College. He was Dr. Daniel Sutherland’s student at the University of Arkansas. This book is based on his dissertation. He began this study with a Master’s thesis under Dr. Brad Agnew at Northeastern State University at Tahlequah, OK.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0816X42CF
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Savas Publishing (July 19, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 19, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 27679 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 276 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 13 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Arthur Foley
5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on the Civil War in Indian Territory that I’ve read!
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
The Savas Beatie publication “ Caught in the Maelstrom” by Clint Crowe, is a tour de force account of the Civil War in the Indian Territory. It is well written, well researched , and illuminates many issues from this corner of the war. I have been acquiring books on the Trans Mississippi from over twenty years and this provided answers that the majority of the other texts never came close to adequately providing explanations. If you are interested in the actions that occurred in what is now Oklahoma buy this book! Bravo Mr. Crowe.
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Regina L. Mc Lemore
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Research Source
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2020
Verified Purchase
I found this to be a valuable source for my research about Native American history.
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David Marshall
5.0 out of 5 stars Important title that discusses a seldom discussed topic
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2020
The start of the Civil War saw that the five tribes lining up with the Confederacy. The Cherokee Nation separated into two groups initially. That of the full bloods known as the Keetoowah Society, which maintained traditional values, with a relationship to abolitionist Baptist missionaries and mixed blood English speakers with ties to the Knights of the Golden Society. Cherokee Chief John Ross and Rebel Stand Waite disagreed with each other’s ultimate alliance with the South but both eventually had their own convoluted relationship that caused many issues throughout the conflict with both the Confederacy and the Union.

The Cherokee regiments participated in several battles during the Civil War including Pea Ridge on March of 1862 in Arkansas and Honey Springs on July 17, 1863 in Oklahoma. Pea Ridge was the first major engagement between the Confederate Cherokees and the Union army, and there could have been no question of retaliation for a previous wrong. Their participation has been misconstrued by some historians. Clint Crowe shows key insight in pointing out that the mixed blood Cherokee regiment eagerly reinforced Southern forces. However, he points out that the full-blooded Keetoowah troops were not inspired to fight for the Rebels but when they switched their allegiance to the North, they fought valiantly. The Battle of Honey Springs (also known as the Affair at Elk Creek) on July 17, 1863, was an American Civil War engagement and an important victory for Union forces in their efforts to gain control of the Indian Territory. The Battle of Honey Springs was the most significant conflict of the American Civil War in Indian Territory.

This wonderful story and well written new title ends with the collapse of the Confederate military organization of the Trans-Mississippi and the start of Reconstruction. With the end of the conflict, the Indian soldiers and tribes lost land to the United States, division between the full bloods and mixed bloods. The land was administered by the interior Department and the land the Five Tribes settled in was disorganized and lay in ruins.

Using an extensive list of original primary and secondary sources, this writer draws his research from―diaries, newspapers and letter collections. Crowe uses the words of those who were witnesses to the events, who had direct knowledge of what happened, to forge a convincing argument that the Cherokee soldiers made a difference mainly for the Southern armies but fought hard and had difficulty uniting all of their soldiers and nations under one flag. While the Confederates lost the war and the Western theater, these brave individuals became a scapegoat concerning their bravery, effort, their style of fighting and humanity. By using eyewitness’s testimony, the author dispels some of the long-held views of native Americans during the Civil War. Clearly written and based on sound research, “Caught in the Maelstrom: The Indian Nations in the Civil War, 1861-1865” should be read by any serious students of battles, the Western Theater or this under studied genre.

Caught in the Maelstrom: The Indian Nations in the Civil War, 1861-1865 tells a lively, highly readable account of the Five Civilized Tribes, people, battles, events involved―and threats to these native Americans. This tome is packed with information and telling insights. A magisterial analysis not only of the efforts of these participants in this great conflict but of the context in which it was given An excellent argument that Crowe makes throughout this enlightening title is that the five nations were dysfunctional and had serious issues with their leadership, with the North and South and ultimately with the United States. Savas Beatie has included 12 outstanding and helpful maps and images to this volume. This reviewer recommends the purchase of this new volume.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars American War inside the American War
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2020
Caught in the Maelstrom, The Indian Nations in the Civil War 1861-1865, by Clint Crowe, Savas Beatie, 2019. A Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table review by Arley McCormick

Dr. Clint Crow captures the essence of a civil war within the Civil War by explaining tribal conflicts that began long before 1861. The Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek (Muscogee), and Seminole—were divided internally between a faction that resisted signing treaties with the United States government that gave up land for settlement by the expanding population of the United States and those that supported signing treaties as a means of preserving the tribe and avoiding further confrontations.
He adeptly develops the character of leaders representing all factions and particularly Cherokee’s Stand Watie (the only native American promoted to general in the Confederate Army and the last general to surrender his command upon the conclusion of hostilities) and John Ross, and the Creek, Opothleyahola.
The Civil War west of the Mississippi River, the area designated as the Trans Mississippi Theater, has not generated as much interest by scholars of the Civil War as the Western Theater, the area from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River, or the portion of the country east of the Appalachian Mountains, the Eastern Theater. But, the Trans Mississippi, as Dr. Clint Crowe illustrates, is conflicted with political intrigue, both National and Tribal, personal vendettas, and all the challenges military operations present to a population caught in the path.
Dr. Crowe describes the military and political decisions that impacted upon the ebb and flow, and the losses and success on the battlefield that impacted the population long after the War Between the States ended. The maps and illustrations provide ample support to the battle narratives and leadership assessments. Caught in the Maelstrom is an excellent narrative that may entice further study regarding the area of operation known as the Trans Mississippi Theater.
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