The Rogue River Indian War and its aftermath, 1850-1980

Title:

Author:

Schwartz, E. A., 1942-

ISBN:

9780806129068

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

xiv, 354 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Contents:

1. Original Inhabitants -- 2. Expeditions -- 3. Invasion in Force -- 4. Motivation for War -- 5. The War Within a War -- 6. Undefeated -- 7. The War Ends -- 8. Unsatisfactory Results -- 9. The Coast Reservation -- 10. Dancers, Dissenters, Refugees, and Methodists -- 11. Achievements of Allotment -- 12. Claims, Termination, Salmon, and Restoration.

Abstract:

This history of the native peoples of western Oregon is a systematic study of the formation, application and effects of United States Indian policy. Historian E.A. Schwartz tells how contacts with whites early in the nineteenth century culminated in the pork-barrel Rogue River War of 1855-56, in which the Rogue River peoples demonstrated superior tactics and repeatedly drove off more-numerous opponents. Schwartz narrates how the Indian peoples known today as the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation survived American expansion and coped with each federal Indian-policy initiative, from the new western reservation policy of the 1850s through termination and restoration in the 1970s.

Subject Term:

Rogue River Indian War, 1855-1856.

Indians of North America -- Oregon -- Government relations.

Indians of North America -- Government relations. (OCoLC)fst00969761

Geographic Term:

Siletz Indian Reservation (Or.) -- History.

Oregon.

Oregon -- Siletz Indian Reservation.

Genre:

History.

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Material Type	Status
Searching... State Library of Oregon	973.66 Schwa	In-Library Use Only (Not For Loan)	Searching... Unknown
Searching... State Library of Oregon	973.66 Schwa	4-Week Loan	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

From 1855 to 1856 in western Oregon, the Native peoples along the Rogue River outmaneuvered and repeatedly drove off white opponents. In The Rogue River Indian War and Its Aftermath, 1850-1980 , historian E. A. Schwartz explores the tribal groups' resilience not only during this war but also in every period of federal Indian policy that followed.

Schwartz's work examines Oregon Indian people's survival during American expansion as they coped with each federal initiative, from reservation policies in the nineteenth century through termination and restoration in the twentieth. While their resilience facilitated their success in adjusting to white society, it also made the people known today as the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians susceptible to federal termination programs in the 1970s--efforts that would have dissolved their communities and given their resources to non-Indians.

Drawing on a range of federal documents and anthropological sources, Schwartz explores both the history of Native peoples of western Oregon and U.S. Indian policy and its effects.

Summary:

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

Schwartz focuses on the intrusion of miners, politicians, and opportunists into the Rogue River country in the middle decades of the 19th century. Admittedly not a tribal history of the peoples resident in southwestern Oregon, Schwartz's study examines how party politics and economic exploitation enabled by federal policies shaped not only the formation of reservations in the area but also the fate of the native peoples living there. This is primarily a political reconstruction portraying the ways in which local officials saw Indian policy and Indian wars as means to obtain funding from the federal government. Whether any real profiteering took place is open to question, but it is clear that native peoples were the sufferers, losing their lands and their lives in the process. Schwartz argues that the native survivors exploited the exploiters and may have achieved minimum success. Unfortunately, the story is told in such a way that readers will not "see" tribal groups or charismatic leaders. Helpful maps and photographs with informative captions. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. H. O'Donnell III; Marietta College