Civil War in the Northwest

THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST 34,000 volumes written on the Civil War, and the approaching centennial of that awesome event will insure the outpouring of many more.

In this most explored facet of American history, it is curious that there still remain areas to examine, and people and events to reconsider, re-evaluate, and reinterpret.

One of the neglected areas is the northwestern frontier.

The problem is unusual, for there two turbulent streams of history, the frontier and the rebellion, converge and flow together until the newer ends in a muddy backwash as the older flows on.

It is far too arbitrary to paddle one stream without the other, yet most often this has been done.

The Civil War has been forgotten as historians probed the Indian massacre, or vice versa.