In 1849, the Corps of Topographical Engineers commissioned Lieutenant James H. Simpson to undertake the first survey of Navajo country in present-day New Mexico. Accompanying Simpson was a military force commanded by Colonel John M. Washington, sent to negotiate peace with the Navajo. A keen observer, Simpson kept a journal that provided valuable information on the party’s interactions with Indians and also about the land’s features, including important pueblo ruins at Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. His careful observations informed subsequent military expeditions, emigrant trains, the selection of Indian reservations, and the charting of a transcontinental railroad. Editor Frank McNitt discusses the expedition’s lasting importance to the development of the West, and his research is enriched by illustrations and maps by artists Richard and Edward Kern. Military historian Durwood Ball contributes a new foreword.

Henry Lafayette Dodge has long been a familiar name in 19th century American Southwestern history. As one of the earliest and most effective Indian agents to the Navajo, he has been portrayed as a congenial, sympathetic and compassionate advocate for the tribe—a veritable role model. The Navajo knew him as Red Shirt, a man they came to respect, appreciate and trust. Those who knew Dodge admitted, although often grudgingly, that he had unrivaled influence over the tribe. By today’s sensibilities, Henry L. Dodge was hardly a role model. In his youth, he was irresponsible, hot-headed and violent. As an adult, he was sued for assault and battery, land fraud, breach of promises and misuse of public funds. He apparently couldn’t be trusted with money, his own or others’. Finally brought down by scandal, he fled Wisconsin in the dead of night, abandoning his career, his wife and his children, leaving them nearly destitute. How then should history assess him? Honestly: precisely as he was, an ambitious and imperfect man. The honest telling gives a straightforward account of not only Henry L. Dodge, but what became the veritable mythology of the West, from the bawdy old French Missouri river towns to the raucous lead mining districts of southwest Wisconsin, through the slaughter of the Winnebago and Black Hawk wars to the invasion of New Mexico and the chaos of the Indian frontier; it is a gritty personal tale of the true West.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Ghost Soldiers comes an eye-opening history of the American conquest of the West—"a story full of authority and color, truth and prophecy" (The New York Times Book Review). In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.

In their efforts to convert the Navajo to Catholicism, the Franciscans at the St. Michael mission in Arizona, lived among the Navajo to study their language and culture. This sourcebook collects the friars' observations from the early period of the mission, 1898 to 1921, as recorded in their correspondence, journal entries and administrative reports.

A guide to the history and culture of the American Southwest, as told through early encounters with fifteen iconic sites This unique guide for literate travelers in the American Southwest tells the story of fifteen iconic sites across Arizona, New Mexico, southern Utah, and southern Colorado through the eyes of the explorers, missionaries, and travelers who were the first non-natives to describe them. Noted borderlands historians David J. Weber and William deBuys lead readers through centuries of political, cultural, and ecological change. The sites visited in this volume range from popular destinations within the National Park System—including Carlsbad Caverns, the Grand Canyon, and Mesa Verde—to the Spanish colonial towns of Santa Fe and Taos and the living Indian communities of Acoma, Zuni, and Taos. Lovers of the Southwest, residents and visitors alike, will delight in the authors’ skillful evocation of the region’s sweeping landscapes, its rich Hispanic and Indian heritage, and the sense of discovery that so enchanted its early explorers. Published in Cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University

A reassessment of the military's role in developing the Western territories moves beyond combat stories and stereotypes to focus on more non-martial accomplishments such as exploration, gathering scientific data, and building towns.

This life history of a Navajo leader, recorded in the 1960s and first published in 1977, is a classic work in the study of Navajo history and religious traditions. "A skillful, meticulous, and altogether praiseworthy contribution to Navajo studies. . . . Although the focus of Mitchell's autobiography is upon his role as a Blessingway singer, there is much material here on Navajo history and culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mitchell attended the government school at Fort Defiance, worked on the railroad in Arizona, served as a handyman and interpreter at several trading posts and the Franciscan missions, and later served as a tribal councilman in the 1930s and as a judge in the 1940s and 1950s. His observations on these experiences are relevant to our understanding of contemporary Navajo life."--Lawrence C. Kelly, Western Historical Quarterly "This book stands easily among the best of the 'native' autobiographies. Narrated by a thoughtful and articulate Navajo leader over a span of eighteen years, this life history is brought into English with none of the selective romanticizing that has spoiled some books. . . . (It is) a superb job of bringing one culture ever closer to another."--Barre Tolken, Western Folklore

Abstracts : p. 273-319.