For a period of about week in February 1865, as the Civil War was winding down and Plains Indian communities were reeling in the wake of the Sand Creek massacre, combat swept across the Nebraska panhandle, especially along the Platte River. The fighting that marked this event barely compares to the massive campaigns and terrible carnage that marked the conflict that was taking place in the eastern states but it was a significant event at the opening on the ensuing Indian Wars. Operating on terrain they knew well, Cheyenne warriors and other Native forces encountered the US Cavalry who operated within a modern network of long distance migration and pony express trails and military stations. The North Platte Campaign offers a good basis for the application of landscape approaches to conflict archaeology if only because of its scale. This fighting is both easily approached and fascinatingly encompassed. There were probably far fewer than 1000 fighters involved in those skirmishes, but before, after, and between them, they involved substantial movements of people and of equipment that was similar to the arms and gear in service to other Civil War era combatants. They also seem to have used approaches that were typical of America’s western warfare. Like many of the conflicts of interest to modern observers, the North Platte fights were between cultural different opponents. Archaeological consideration of battlefields such as Rush Creek and Mud Springs, bases, and landscapes associated with this fighting expose how the combat developed and how the opposing forces dealt with the challenges they encountered. This study draws on techniques of battlefield archaeology, focusing on the concept of ‘battlespace’ and the recovery, distribution and analysis of artifacts and weaponry, as well as historical accounts of the participants, LiDAR-informed terrain assessment, and theoretical consideration of the strategic thinking of the combatants. It applies a landscape approach to the archaeological study of war and reveals an overlooked phase of the American Civil War and the opening of the Indian Wars.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1. Introduction
  • Conflict archaeology and the North Platte Campaign
• Chapter 2. Landscapes and dynamics of the Platte Valley in 1864 and 1865
  • Forms and features of the Platte Valley landscape
    • The river course
    • North Platte valley-side slopes
    • North Platte bluffs
    • Plains
  • Trails and traffic patterns of the Platte Valley
    • Euro-American trails
    • Native American trails
    • Army facilities along the trails
    • Native American camps
    • Euro-American civilian facilities
  • Relations between the United States Government and Platte Valley Native Communities 1851–1865
  • Combat along the Platte Rivers, 1864–1865
    • The Sand Creek Massacre
    • Indian reactions to Sand Creek – the move to the North Platte Valley
    • Army reactions to Sand Creek
• Chapter 3. Conceptual tools for the consideration of conflicted landscapes
  • Levels of war
    • The strategic level
    • The operational level
    • The tactical level
  • Conflicted landscapes as “battlespace”
• Chapter 4. Levels of war and battlespace in the North Platte Valley, 1865
  • Levels of war and battlespace among the Cheyenne and allied tribes
  • Levels of war and battlespace of the Civil War frontier army
  • The essential elements of North Platte battlespace – trails and battlefields
• Chapter 5. Conflict begins – the battle of Mud Springs
  • Mud Springs as battlespace
  • Strategy and tactics of the Mud Springs operation
• Chapter 6. The archaeology of the Mud Springs battle
  • The archaeological assemblage
  • Firearms artifact distribution
  • The “rifle pit” feature
  • Interpreting the actions and evidence of Mud Springs
• Chapter 7. The road to Rush Creek
  • Cheyenne movements away from the camp on Rush Creek
  • The army’s pursuit
  • Discovery of the Rush Creek camp
• Chapter 8. The forces collide at Rush Creek
  • Beginning of the battle
  • Tactical operations of Rush Creek combat
  • Artillery at Rush Creek
  • Cavalry action at Rush Creek
• Chapter 9. Firing line landscapes: archaeology of the Rush Creek battle
  • Archaeological expression of the battlefield
  • Small arms evidence
  • Artillery evidence
  • Rush Creek: a battlespace adjusted to surprise
• Chapter 10. Fighting on the North Platte as military operations
  • The landscape of conflict
• Appendix 1: transcriptions of enlisted men’s accounts of the fights
• Appendix 2: sites open to the public
• Bibliography