The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West

Product Description
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History
A dramatic, riveting, and “fresh look
at a region typically obscured in accounts of the Civil War. American history buffs will relish this entertaining and eye-opening portrait” (Publishers Weekly).
Megan Kate Nelson “expands our understanding of how the Civil War affected Indigenous peoples and helped to shape the nation” (
Library Journal, starred review), reframing the era as one of national conflict—involving not just the North and South, but also the West.
Against the backdrop of this larger series of battles, Nelson introduces nine individuals: John R. Baylor, a Texas legislator who established the Confederate Territory of Arizona; Louisa Hawkins Canby, a Union Army wife who nursed Confederate soldiers back to health in Santa Fe; James Carleton, a professional soldier who engineered campaigns against Navajos and Apaches; Kit Carson, a famous frontiersman who led a regiment of volunteers against the Texans, Navajos, Kiowas, and Comanches; Juanita, a Navajo weaver who resisted Union campaigns against her people; Bill Davidson, a soldier who fought in all of the Confederacy’s major battles in New Mexico; Alonzo Ickis, an Iowa-born gold miner who fought on the side of the Union; John Clark, a friend of Abraham Lincoln’s who embraced the Republican vision for the West as New Mexico’s surveyor-general; and Mangas Coloradas, a revered Chiricahua Apache chief who worked to expand Apache territory in Arizona.
As we learn how these nine charismatic individuals fought for self-determination and control of the region, we also see the importance of individual actions in the midst of a larger military conflict. Based on letters and diaries, military records and oral histories, and photographs and maps from the time, “this history of invasions, battles, and forced migration shapes the United States to this day—and has never been told so well” (Pulitzer Prize–winning author T.J. Stiles).
Review
One of Newsweek's 40 Must-Read Fiction and Nonfiction Books to Savor this Spring!
"Megan Kate Nelson has made an invaluable contribution to broadening our understanding of the Civil War in her riveting new book... [It] is also a timely reminder that the Civil War in the Southwest was not just an interesting tidbit in the history of the American West -- it was part and parcel of the confederate objective of creating an 'empire of slavery' that expanded to the west... The book should be read not only by Civil War buffs and students of the American West, but by anyone who wishes to gain a deeper appreciation of American history that goes beyond the traditional lens. It is a masterful synthesis of military and social history in one of the overlooked chapters of the American Civil War."
—LA Review of Books
“Based on extensive archival research, Nelson’s work expands our understanding of how the Civil War affected Indigenous peoples and helped to shape the nation. Readers interested in the Civil War and Western history will enjoy this nuanced portrait of the era.”
—Library Journal, starred
“Brisk and well-sourced… Nelson effectively blends military history with a fresh look at a region typically obscured in accounts of the Civil War. American history buffs will relish this entertaining and eye-opening portrait.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[A] useful survey for readers interested in the Civil War in its short-lived southwestern theater.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Both engaging and unsparing… [Nelson] balances the stories of individuals from all four groups with deft discussion of the big-picture issues… The result is a gripping history that integrates the Southwest into broader histories of American expansion.”
—Booklist
"Nelson's book sheds light on New Mexico's importance during the war."
—Albuquerque Journal, review
"Subtly argued and richly documented."
—Civil War Times
"A terrific read... this is a very good telling of a story that is unknown to most America