The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory ed. by Bradley R. Clampitt (review)

the eight engaging essays in this edited volume discuss the impact of the Civil War from relatively underexplored angles. The collection includes work from notable historians of the borderlands, plains, U.S. Civil War, Native American, and American social history whose work integrates recent scholarship on the Trans-Mississippian and western theater of the war to incorporate a broad range of experiences from the heart of Indian Territory. The chapters provide a general chronological framework that covers military, political, and social history of the Five Nations and other tribes from Removal to Reconstruction and the creation of historical memory. It was edited to appeal to student readers and would make a good addition to the reading list of an undergraduate history course.

Recent research in the field, especially Between Two Fires and When the Wolf Came have gone far in filling in the gaps since Annie Able, and these essays make good use of that material. Two essays concerning Reconstruction incorporate recent scholarship on the experiences of freedpeople. Several branch out into even lesser known areas beyond the Five Nations or focus on the experiences of civilians and women.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Indian Territory was claimed by several nations that had arrived approximately a generation prior. The majority of the territory was home to the Five Nations: the Cherokee and Choctaws in the east, the Seminoles in the west-central region, the Creeks in the east-central lands, and the Chickasaws in the west. Brad Agnew’s chapter challenges the common assertion that the period between Removal and the Civil War was a “golden age” for the Five Nations by highlighting ongoing internal and external tensions that would expand with the onset of war. Most scholarly work in this field focuses on the Five Nations, but recent work by the historian F. Todd Smith concentrates on the tribes settled at Wichita agency just two years before the war. This region is considered peripheral to the main conflict, but in his essay Smith shows how the Civil War’s destruction was central to the inhabitants of these communities as they were forced to become refugees once again.

To set the context for this anthology, the Civil War historian Richard McCaslin describes the events of the battlefront in carefully researched detail. In parallel, Clarissa Confer crafts an analysis of the hardships faced by civilians throughout the Five Nations as waves of Union and Confederate armies, bushwhackers, and refugees disrupted every aspect of existence. Christopher Bean’s essay investigates the Reconstruction of Indian Territory after the war. He argues that although Reconstruction was a “national process” of redress and reconciliation for the northern and southern states, in Indian Territory the government sought to undermine sovereignty and place the nations under “complete congressional control” (110). All tribes, regardless of alliances during the war, were forced to sign new treaties that included stipulations for freeing slaves and incorporating them as full citizens of their previous owner’s tribe. Linda Reese’s essay offers a concise overview of the various strategies each tribe negotiated to handle this contentious issue and the environment this created for former slaves. Reese claims that this process created a “second civil war” for freedpeople as acceptance on paper did not reflect reality and many were met with violence and discrimination as they sought to build new lives.

Two essays complete this anthology by developing the theme of public memory. Amanda Cobb-Greetham’s original and beautifully wrought chapter incorporates oral history through interviews of Creek and Cherokee women conducted by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s with recent scholarship on historical memory. Whit Edwards discusses the complexities of presenting the Civil War in Indian Territory to the public and the benefits of historical reenactments.

The whole of this anthology provides enough information for the average student to gain a solid comprehension of this complex subject. Its greatest feature, beyond readability, is the balance it strikes between...