"A well-written, superbly documented work that fills a void in the history of the American West. . . . Fort Gibson's easy-flowing narrative makes it an attractive addition to anyone's library." Western Historical Quarterly Established on Grand River in 1824, Fort Gibson was the first and perhaps the most important military outpost in the Indian Territory. The army's principal mission was to maintain order and expedite the policy of Indian Removal. Executing a policy many Indians bitterly opposed, the troops at Fort Gibson became the natural adversaries of tribes already residing in the territory. Conflict was anticipated, and war hysteria swept the region. Yet, during the emotionally charged years of Indian Removal there were no clashes between the Indians and soldiers from Fort Gibson. Brad Agnew reveals that military policy at Fort Gibson was designed to ease the clash of cultures, and many of the officers and soldiers who served there were truly concerned about the welfare of American Indians. Agnew traces the relocation of the Eastern tribes to Indian Territory, and the resulting turbulence, through the letters, official reports, newspapers, and personal accounts of those who served at or lived near the post. Marked by no dramatic battles or massacres, the history of Fort Gibson recites repeated attempts to arrange truces between feuding tribes, to pressure Plains Indians to abandon their warlike ways, and to resolve intertribal conflicts. Although peacekeeping activities have received scant attention in Removal histories, efforts at Fort Gibson restrained the anger of fifty thousand immigrant Indians-preventing an uprising that could have set the frontier aflame. Brad Agnew, Professor of History at Northeastern Oklahoma State University, received the Ph.D. degree in history from the University of Oklahoma. The author of several books and many historical articles, Agnew focuses his research on Oklahoma and its people.

This is the story of Stand Watie, the only Indian to attain the rank of general in the Confederate Army. An aristocratic, prosperous slaveholding planter and leader of the Cherokee mixed bloods, Watie was recruited in Indian Territory by Albert Pike to fight the Union forces on the western front. He organized the First Cherokee Rifles on July 29, 1861, and was commissioned a colonel. In 1864, after battling at Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge, he became brigadier general. Watie was the last Confederate general to lay down his arms in surrender, two months after Appomattox. In his foreword, Brad Agnew discusses Watie's role in the Civil War and his reception by later historians.