Customer Reviews

Dog Soldier Justice: The Ordeal of Susanna Alderdice in the Kansas Indian War

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Broome at the Little Big Horn Battlefield this year, 2005. I have found this book to be outstanding in the discription of just how ruthless and savage the Bog Soldiers were to the settelers of the Kansas plains. The research is outstanding and well documented. This book will move you in the hardships the settelers of the West went through and their courage and bravery of them all. The brutality that the Dog Soldier Indians put upon the woman of Kansas is heart braking and it's amazing anyone who survived could have endured. I highly recommend this book, regardless of how you might feel concerning the Indians of Kansas as this book presents the moving story of the will to live and survive and settle Kansas.

Paul Posey
Grovetown, GA

Jeff Bloome has produced an outstanding narrative concerning a little known period of history in 19th Century Kansas. I was attracted to it because my own grandparents were captured by Indians on a Kansas farm near Marysville, one of my family members was burned at the stake by Indians in the 1700's, and many of my ancestors had to protect their homes and lives from warring tribes in New York and Kansas. This book is the epitome of research on the subject of the Indian raids that terrorized and killed so many settlers in Kansas in the 1860's, and none of it is fiction. Dr. Broome tells the facts in a way that is spellbinding, and in a manner that makes the people of the time, both Settler and Indian alike, very real. Dr. Bloome has the ability to capture their time and the way they felt and reacted to these tragedies. The American settler comes alive, particuarly in the person of Susanna Alderdice and her family. Five stars is the most I am permitted to rate Dog Soldier Justice, but it deserves more than that and anyone whose ancestors were a part of the early history of America should be particularly grateful to Dr. Bloome for his detailed research and the sincere empathy he shows in his writing about these real people on the prairie who eventually succeeded,in making the wild terrority home despite its many dangers. This is not a derogatory piece designed deliberately to make Indians look bad, there were many good Indians, it is simply historical fact about the Dog Soldier Indians who did a great amount of harm to their own cause, and the story needs to be told as it happened, not as some would like it told. The extent of his research and his care in the presentation coupled with a captivating style of writing and complete footnotes to back up this writing makes this a must reading for those interested in the history of the Plains in the 19th Century.

I had the honor of meeting Dr. Broome at the 2007 Little Bighorn Association conference in North Platte Nebraska. I would like to think that his scholarship helps to set a standard for historical research. When I consider what I see being produced today by many of our universitys I don't hold out a lot of hope for this though.

Dog Soldier Justice is an amazing piece of research in that it covers ground often ignored today. It looks at the dangers and horrors that often faced pioneers in the form of indian depradations. Today we frequently forget the innocent victims caught up in the plains indian wars. We also forget that evil acts were committed by the indians as much as the white man. Dr. Broome manages to correct some of this by the tragic story of this one woman and her family. He also reminds the reader that this sort of treatment was not the exception and more common than many historians are willing to admit. There is some justice in relating the truth and Dr. Broome's book is a step towards this.

Dr. Broome paints a very interesting history of the settlement of the American West in the late 19th century. He pulls no punches in his history which is extensively researched and referenced. No "New Western Historian", is he. He tells what happened in detail and in unvarnished truth. Among the history lurks the soul of a mystery novel except this is true. The reader knows in advance what happens, but even today we don't know the details of what really happened to Susanna Alderdice. She is the centerpiece of the book. Her experiences are as bad as any atrocity known to man.

Anybody interested in the Kansas and Colorado early settlers and their experiences with the renegade Dog Soldiers should read this book. Life was not bread and circuses as many would have you believe back then. It was a struggle against the elements, a struggle against disease and the ever present danger of being attacked just for living.