This historical fiction novel is inspired by real people and events that were shaped by the land, animals, and plants of the Central Plains and by the long sweep of Indigenous history in the grasslands. Major events are presented from a Pawnee perspective to capture the outlook of the Echo-Hawk ancestors. The oral tradition from ten generations of Echo-Hawk's family tell the stories of the spiritual side of Native life, and give voice to the rich culture and cosmology of the Pawnee Nation.

Between 1864 and 1877, during the height of the Plains Indian wars, Pawnee Indian scouts rendered invaluable service to the United States Army. They led missions deep into contested territory, tracked resisting bands, spearheaded attacks against enemy camps, and on more than one occasion saved American troops from disaster on the field of battle. In "War Party in Blue, " Mark van de Logt tells the story of the Pawnee scouts from their perspective, detailing the battles in which they served and recounting hitherto neglected episodes.

Employing military records, archival sources, and contemporary interviews with current Pawnee tribal members--some of them descendants of the scouts--Van de Logt presents the Pawnee scouts as central players in some of the army's most notable campaigns. He argues that military service allowed the Pawnees to fight their tribal enemies with weapons furnished by the United States as well as to resist pressures from the federal government to assimilate them into white society.

According to the author, it was the tribe's martial traditions, deeply embedded in their culture, that made them successful and allowed them to retain these time-honored traditions. The Pawnee style of warfare, based on stealth and surprise, was so effective that the scouts' commanding officers did little to discourage their methods. Although the scouts proudly wore the blue uniform of the U.S. Cavalry, they never ceased to be Pawnees. The Pawnee Battalion was truly a war party in blue.

An essential component of every culture, food offers up much more than mere sustenance. Food is also important in religion, ceremony, celebration, and cultural knowledge and transmission. Colonial governments were well aware of the cultural importance of food. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, governments manipulated rations in attempts to control indigenous movement, induce culture change and assimilation, decrease indigenous independence, and increase dependence on provided goods. However, indigenous peoples often frustrated these plans by taking rations for their own reasons and with their own cultural interpretations of the process. Tamara Levi uses four case studies to examine food rationing policies, practices, and results in the United States and South Australia. She looks at government rationing among the Pawnees and Osages in Nebraska and Indian Territory and among the Moorundie Aborigines and Ngarrindjeris at Point McLeay in South Australia during the mid and late nineteenth century. She highlights similarities in the use of food rations by two settler societies. She also explores how differences in environment, indigenous and colonial populations, and overall indigenous policies impacted the rationales for and implementation of food rationing as a tool for forced acculturation.

Between 1864 and 1877, during the height of the Plains Indian wars, Pawnee Indian scouts rendered invaluable service to the United States Army. They led missions deep into contested territory, tracked resisting bands, spearheaded attacks against enemy camps, and on more than one occasion saved American troops from disaster on the field of battle. In War Party in Blue, Mark van de Logt tells the story of the Pawnee scouts from their perspective, detailing the battles in which they served and recounting hitherto neglected episodes.Employing military records, archival sources, and contemporary interviews with current Pawnee tribal members-some of them descendants of the scouts-Van de Logt presents the Pawnee scouts as central players in some of the army's most notable campaigns. He argues that military service allowed the Pawnees to fight their tribal enemies with weapons furnished by the United States as well as to resist pressures from the federal government to assimilate them into white society. According to the author, it was the tribe's martial traditions, deeply embedded in their culture, that made them successful and allowed them to retain these time-honored traditions. The Pawnee style of warfare, based on stealth and surprise, was so effective that the scouts' commanding officers did little to discourage their methods. Although the scouts proudly wore the blue uniform of the U.S. Cavalry, they never ceased to be Pawnees. The Pawnee Battalion was truly a war party in blue.