Cheyenne War: Indian Raids On The Roads To Denver 1864-1869

In this volume, Jeff Broome has done a marvelous job of mining documents filed under the Indian depredation claims system a federal Indian policy intending to preserve peace on the frontiers by allowing white settlers and Indians, alike, to file claims for the wrongs done by each other. The policy, the federal government hoped, would prevent frontier retaliations and violence. It failed miserably, but the resulting claims reveal nearly a century s worth of previously unheard white voices describing the horrors of Indian-white conflict. Broome focuses on the roads to Denver, 1864 1869. His engaging reconstruction of this era and place, as seen through the lens of white frontiersmen and women, will inspire other researchers to don miner s helmets and descend into this mother lode of heretofore-neglected historical evidence.