Massacres of the Mountains (1886) by J.P. Dunn

 Massacres of the Mountains:

A History of the Indian Wars 1815-1875 (1886)

By J.P. Dunn jr.

Archer House Press

  Near as I can tell this is a 1956 reprint edition of this 1886 classic, which I believe is the first "historical" effort to write about this series of events in something other than a histrionic, anti-Native fashion.  Author J.P. Dunn Jr. was not a professional historian- the very concept of history was in a primitive state in even the most advanced locales, and 19th century Ohio, where Dunn lived, was not one of those.  I found this title when I was reading Notes on Blood Meridian- McCarthy allegedly read about the group he called the Glanton in here, and there is indeed a page dedicated to the Gallantin gang in this book that fairly describes the plot of Blood Meridian from the point where the gang starts scalping Mexicans as Apaches and ends up getting into it with the Yuma's at the ferry crossing.  Mind you, that is one page in a nearly 700 page book.

  There are also some interesting descriptions of what you might call "savage Native American atrocities" on whites and other natives.  These descriptions have been written out American history by writers with a variety of motives.  I think the primary motive has been an attempt to sanitize historical content for the teaching of school children- you aren't going to tell a bunch of fourth graders that the Sioux would open a man up, set a fire in his insides and then stoke it to extract the maximum amount of pain from the still living, still conscious victim, or retell stories about white women being passed around like communal property after being kidnapped.  Of course, advocates for the Natives have all kinds of reasons to ignore these tales ranging from them being out right falsehoods to a desire to escape the vile stereotype of the savage indian.

  As you would expect from any American author writing in the 1880's, Dunn has a limited understanding of Native American civilization, though he does often sound sympathetic to Native Americans and frequently critiques government policy and individual government representatives.   All of his descriptions of the battles- massacres only apply when Native Americans kill whites, battles are when whites kill Native Americans, even if the murdered Natives are defenseless women and children- as happened in California in the 1850's- where 150 Native people were mass murdered for no reason whatsoever. 

    Mostly, this book made me wonder what was left out.