War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War (The Lamar Series in Western History)

In the early 1830s, after decades of relative peace, northern Mexicans and the Indians whom they called “the barbarians” descended into a terrifying cycle of violence. For the next fifteen years, owing in part to changes unleashed by American expansion, Indian warriors launched devastating attacks across ten Mexican states. Raids and counter-raids claimed thousands of lives, ruined much of northern Mexico’s economy, depopulated its countryside, and left man-made “deserts” in place of thriving settlements. Just as important, this vast interethnic war informed and emboldened U.S. arguments in favor of seizing Mexican territory while leaving northern Mexicans too divided, exhausted, and distracted to resist the American invasion and subsequent occupation. Exploring Mexican, American, and Indian sources ranging from diplomatic correspondence and congressional debates to captivity narratives and plains Indians’ pictorial calendars, War of a Thousand Deserts recovers the surprising and previously unrecognized ways in which economic, cultural, and political developments within native communities affected nineteenth-century nation-states. In the process this ambitious book offers a rich and often harrowing new narrative of the era when the United States seized half of Mexico’s national territory. (20091201)

In the early 1830s, after decades of relative peace, northern Mexicans and the Indians whom they called “the barbarians” descended into a terrifying cycle of violence. For the next fifteen years, owing in part to changes unleashed by American expansion, Indian warriors launched devastating attacks across ten Mexican states. Raids and counter-raids claimed thousands of lives, ruined much of northern Mexico’s economy, depopulated its countryside, and left man-made “deserts” in place of thriving settlements. Just as important, this vast interethnic war informed and emboldened U.S. arguments in favor of seizing Mexican territory while leaving northern Mexicans too divided, exhausted, and distracted to resist the American invasion and subsequent occupation.

         

Exploring Mexican, American, and Indian sources ranging from diplomatic correspondence and congressional debates to captivity narratives and plains Indians’ pictorial calendars, War of a Thousand Deserts recovers the surprising and previously unrecognized ways in which economic, cultural, and political developments within native communities affected nineteenth-century nation-states. In the process this ambitious book offers a rich and often harrowing new narrative of the era when the United States seized half of Mexico’s national territory.

 

In the early 1830s, after decades of relative peace, northern Mexicans and the Indians whom they called “the barbarians” descended into a terrifying cycle of violence. For the next fifteen years, owing in part to changes unleashed by American expansion, Indian warriors launched devastating attacks across ten Mexican states. Raids and counter-raids claimed thousands of lives, ruined much of northern Mexico’s economy, depopulated its countryside, and left man-made “deserts” in place of thriving settlements. Just as important, this vast interethnic war informed and emboldened U.S. arguments in favor of seizing Mexican territory while leaving northern Mexicans too divided, exhausted, and distracted to resist the American invasion and subsequent occupation. Exploring Mexican, American, and Indian sources ranging from diplomatic correspondence and congressional debates to captivity narratives and plains Indians’ pictorial calendars, __War of a Thousand Deserts__ recovers the surprising and previously unrecognized ways in which economic, cultural, and political developments within native communities affected nineteenth-century nation-states. In the process this ambitious book offers a rich and often harrowing new narrative of the era when the United States seized half of Mexico’s national territory. In the early 1830s, after decades of relative peace, northern Mexicans and the Indians whom they called "the barbarians" descended into a terrifying cycle of violence. For the next fifteen years, owing in part to changes unleashed by American expansion, Indian warriors launched devastating attacks across ten Mexican states. Raids and counter-raids claimed thousands of lives, ruined much of northern Mexico's economy, depopulated its countryside, and left man-made "deserts" in place of thriving settlements. Just as important, this vast interethnic war informed and emboldened U. S. arguments in favor of seizing Mexican territory while leaving northern Mexicans too divided, exhausted, and distracted to resist the American invasion and subsequent occupation. Exploring Mexican, American, and Indian sources ranging from diplomatic correspondence and congressional debates to captivity narratives and plains Indians' pictorial calendars, War of a Thousand Deserts recovers the surprising and previously unrecognized ways in which economic, cultural, and political developments within native communities affected nineteenth-century nation-states. In the process this ambitious book offers a rich and often harrowing new narrative of the era when the United States seized half of Mexico's national territory. Contents......Page 10 A Note on Names......Page 12 Introduction. A Little Door......Page 14 Prologue. Easy Stories......Page 24 Part One. Neighbors......Page 56 ONE Danger and Community......Page 58 TWO Buffalo-Hide Quiver......Page 84 THREE Plunder and Partners......Page 109 FOUR The Politics of Vengeance......Page 137 Part Two. Nations......Page 162 FIVE Indians Don’t Unmake Presidents......Page 164 SIX Barbarians and Dearer Enemies......Page 188 SEVEN An Eminently National War?......Page 217 EIGHT How to Make a Desert Smile......Page 249 Part Three. Convergence......Page 274 NINE A Trophy of a New Kind in War......Page 276 TEN Polk’s Blessing......Page 297 Epilogue. Article 11......Page 320 Appendix. Data on Comanche–Mexican Violence, 1831–48......Page 334 Introduction to the Data......Page 336 Table and Figures......Page 340 Data......Page 343 Notes......Page 364 Bibliography......Page 448 Acknowledgments......Page 480 A......Page 484 C......Page 485 G......Page 488 K......Page 489 M......Page 490 N......Page 491 P......Page 492 S......Page 493 T......Page 494 W......Page 495 Z......Page 496 Contents 10 A Note on Names 12 Introduction. A Little Door 14 Prologue. Easy Stories 24 Part One. Neighbors 56 ONE Danger and Community 58 TWO Buffalo-Hide Quiver 84 THREE Plunder and Partners 109 FOUR The Politics of Vengeance 137 Part Two. Nations 162 FIVE Indians Don’t Unmake Presidents 164 SIX Barbarians and Dearer Enemies 188 SEVEN An Eminently National War? 217 EIGHT How to Make a Desert Smile 249 Part Three. Convergence 274 NINE A Trophy of a New Kind in War 276 TEN Polk’s Blessing 297 Epilogue. Article 11 320 Appendix. Data on Comanche–Mexican Violence, 1831–48 334 Introduction to the Data 336 Table and Figures 340 Data 343 Notes 364 Bibliography 448 Acknowledgments 480 Index 484 A 484 B 485 C 485 D 488 E 488 F 488 G 488 H 489 I 489 J 489 K 489 L 490 M 490 N 491 O 492 P 492 R 493 S 493 T 494 U 495 V 495 W 495 Y 496 Z 496 "Exploring Mexican, American, and Indian sources ranging from diplomatic correspondence and congressional debates to captivity narratives and plains Indians' pictorial calendars, War of a Thousand Deserts recovers the surprising and previously unrecognized ways in which economic, cultural, and political developments within native communities affected nineteenth-century nation-states. In the process this ambitious book offers a rich and often harrowing new narrative of the era when the United States seized half of Mexico's national territory."--Jacket A narrative of the era when the United States seized half of Mexico's national territory explores Mexican, American, and Indian sources and recovers the surprising and previously unrecognized ways in which developments within native communities affected nineteenth-century nation-states.