Beschreibung:

DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE]. A bound collection of 370 general orders and circulars from the Headquarters of the Department of the Platte, 1 April 1866-31 December 1879. Omaha, Nebraska: 1866-1879. 12 o (180 x 116 mm). Various paginations. Modern antique quarter calf, marbled boards, morocco labels. Provenance : Library of Congress (inkstamp and "LC" perforation stamps, both unobtrusive). A REMARKABLE COLLECTION OF MILITARY ORDERS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE. In total, they cover a myriad of army activities in the West during the crucial years following the Civil War when Indian fighting, railroad construction, and the establishment and supplying of military posts and Indian reservations in the Platte region occupied the attention of the nation. Most of the General Orders are signed in manuscript by the officials involved, including commanding generals Philip St. G. Gooke, George Crook, Augur, Placido Ord, and Howard. Other officers whose signatures are located on the documents include George D. Ruggles, John Bourke, H.G. Litchfield, William J. Broatch and A.H. Nicholson. This collection was assembled soon after the documents were issued, and includes printed titles and indexes for each year covered. The Department of the Platte was established in 1866 as a network of Army posts in the Plains to deal with the problems arising from Indian-white relations, which stemmed largely from the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota. The vast region comprising this jurisdiction is described in the first General Order, dated 1 April 1866 and signed by General Philip St. George Cooke "the States of Minnesota and Iowa, the Territory of Montana, and as much of the territories of Dacotah and Nebraska as lie north of the Platte and Sweetwater rivers..." The influx of white emigrants put pressure on the government and thus on the U.S. Army to confront the question of what to do about the Indians inhabiting this broad region. "After Appamatox the nation faced west. Emigrants crowded the transcontinental trails, streaming not only westward from the Missouri River, but eastward from the Pacific shore, seeking wealth in gold or silver, cattle, timber, agriculture, commerce or politics" (Utley). The present collection of orders offers a rare first-hand view of the actions of the military leaders during this important expansion of the American West. A small selection of representative documents includes: G.O. No. 10. July 31, 1866, Prohibiting traders from selling arms and ammunition to Indians, by order of Brig. Gen. Cooke, signed by Brevet Major H.G. Litchfield; G.O. No. 14. March 2, 1867, Regulations affecting trains and travellers crossing the plains during the upcoming season; G.O. No. 15. March 18, 1867, Ordering officers to be courteous to emigrants; G.O. No. 18, April 29, 1867, Ordering the army to protect the property of the Union Pacific Railroad; Circular for August 29, 1868, Ordering troops not to interfere with Indians who have permission to roam and hunt over all lands ceded by them, by command of Gen. Augur, signed by Asst. Adj. Gen. Ruggles. "In the present state of indian affairs, all parties of indians will be regarded with the greatest suspicion, and precautions taken accordingly..."; G.O. No. 34, June 3, 1869, Announcing and naming of military reservations ar Fort Laramie, Fort Sanders, Fort Sedgwick, Fort Fetterman and others; G.O. No. 35, August 20, 1870, Name of Fort Rawlins given to recently established military post near Provo, Utah; G.O. No. 5, May 5, 1873, Establishing the district of the Black Hills; Circular of February 3, 1879, Indian Bureau's directions on the subject of passes to the Indians. A similar collection of General Orders from the Department of the Platte, covering the years 1867-1882, is in the Graff collection at the Newberry Library. See Graff 4360; Utley, The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846-1890 , passim.