Powder River Odyssey
Nelson Cole's Western Campaign of 1865
The Journals of Lyman G. Bennett and Other Eyewitness Accounts
By David E. Wagner
Frontier Military Series Volume 27
A detailed recounting of the difficult campaign that presaged the post–Civil War Indian wars of the western plains
The entry for September 8, 1865, is terse: “We marched and fought over 15 miles today.” With these few words civilian military engineer Lyman G. Bennett characterized the experience of the 1,400 men of the Powder River Expedition’s Eastern Division as they trudged through largely unexplored territory and faced off with American Indians determined to keep their hunting grounds. David E. Wagner’s Powder River Odyssey: Nelson Cole’s Western Campaign of 1865 tells the story of a largely forgotten campaign at the pivotal moment when the Civil War ended and the Indian wars captured national attention.
The expedition’s mission seemed simple: punish the bands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho that had attacked white emigrants and commercial traffic moving west along the Oregon Trail. But the army’s western command failed to appreciate either the resolve of their enemies or the difficulties of the terrain. Cole’s men, ill-provisioned from the outset, began to die of scurvy two months into the campaign and contemplated mutiny.
Bennett’s previously unpublished journal and other primary sources clarify and correct previous accounts of the expedition.
Fifteen detailed maps reflect the author’s intimate knowledge of the topography along the expedition’s route. Wagner’s documentary account reveals in stark detail the difficulties inherent in the army’s attempt to pacify the American West.
About the Author
The late David E. Wagner was a serious student of the Indian wars in the West for almost 40 years. After a 38-year career in sales and management with Pitney Bowes, Inc., he retired and moved to Wyoming, the scene of the events related in this work.
Review
"Powder River Odyssey is a skillfully written and compiled history of the eastern division of the Powder River Expedition. Documenting the military's transitional period from a Civil War volunteer force back to the professional army that finally conquered the plains, Wagner's study is also a significant contribution to the literature of the U.S. army's role in the rapid western frontier expansion of the mid to late nineteenth century. Recommended." Civil War Books and Authors, blogspot.
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