The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America, Brands - B+

                      Geronimo was born into the Apache tribe in 1829 around the headwaters of the Gila River. William Tecumseh  Sherman was born in Ohio in 1820. Geronimo's first experiences of battle were against Mexicans. The Apache and the Mexicans lived in a state of constant warfare. Indeed, Mexicans killed Geronimo's mother, wife, and children. He vowed revenge. A year later, in 1859, Geronimo led a raid deep into Mexico. He later recalled, "Still covered with the  blood of my enemies, still holding my conquering weapon, still hot with the joy of battle, victory, and vengeance, I was surrounded by the Apache braves and made war chief of all the Apaches." Sherman attended West Point, was in California during the Mexican-American War, but resigned in 1850. He returned to the army in 1861 and was attached to the command of Ulysses Grant. After Vicksburg, he was made commander in the west, and marched through Tennessee and Georgia.

                    "In 1865 the odds against the Indians were greater than they had ever been." Approximately 400,000 were arrayed against a country with 30 million, and a victorious army. Sherman was put in charge of the trans-Mississippi armed forces. His mission was to protect the soon to be completed trans continental railroad. He decided to patrol the lands north and south of the railway allowing migrants to travel between the Platte and the Arkansas. He would leave the Indians to the north and south alone. Sherman spent an extensive amount of time in 1867 and 1868 working on a commission consisting of senior members of the US government trying to ascertain what the Indians wanted, and trying to reach a peace agreement with the tribes of the plains. An agreement known as the Ft. Laramie Treaty was agreed to and signed by the US and almost all of the Plains Indians in 1868. Indian sovereignty over parts of Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota was assured. Sherman was made general-in-chief when Grant was elected. He despised Washington politics so much that he moved the army HQ's to St. Louis.

                     There was no peace on the southern plains where the Comanche and Kiowas fought in western Texas, Kansas and the New Mexico Territory. Notwithstanding the advice of all knowledgeable plainsmen, Phil Sheridan determined to fight them in the winter when they were batting the weather as well. He succeeded, and by the middle of the 1870's, the southern Indians were on reservations. The peace in the north held until gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse joined with the Cheyenne to protect their world from the white influx. In June of 1876, the Indians destroyed Custer's command at the Greasy Grass River, known to the army as the Little Big Horn. Nelson Miles, an accomplished officer sympathetic to the plight of the Indians, pursued the Sioux into the winter. He skirmished with Sitting Bull who retreated into Canada. He was able to convince Crazy Horse to accept terms. Sitting Bull eventually did as well. The fighting in the north was over. All that remained was convincing Geronimo's warriors to stay on their reservation in the Department of Arizona. Three times between 1878 and 1886, Geronimo led breakouts from the reservation to return to their nomadic and raiding lifestyle. They avoided the army by fleeing to Mexico. The Mexicans were happy for help and allowed the US to pursue the Apaches over the border. Nelson Miles, the man who eventually succeeded Sherman, said that Geronimo was "one of the most remarkable men, red or white, that he had ever met." Nonetheless, the constant pressure led to Geronimo's final surrender in September of 1886. The Indian wars were over.

                     "The invaders from across the eastern ocean had taken four centuries to establish their dominion, but the deed was done. The invaders' diseases, their technology, and their numbers...had been too much for the indigenes to withstand." This is a superb book that covers all of the Indian campaigns, not just the one against the Apaches.