The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West
Written by Megan Kate Nelson
Narrated by Cynthia Farrell
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
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).
Editor's Note
Overlooked yet pivotal…
“The Three-Cornered War” is told through the diverse experiences of some of the people who lived it. Nelson weaves together the stories of an Apache chief, a Union army wife, a Texas Confederate, a gold miner, a Navajo weaver, and even the famous frontiersman Kit Carson. She also describes battles fought by the first multiracial forces. Their stories make for an eye-opening account of an overlooked yet pivotal moment in our country’s history.
Megan Kate Nelson
Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, and Smithsonian Magazine. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth.
Related to The Three-Cornered War
Related audiobooks
Blood Moon: An American Epic of War and Splendor in the Cherokee Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Earth is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter that Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comanche Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pueblo Revolt: The Secret Rebellion That Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War: 1848-1861 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mohawk Valley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lions of the West: Heroes and Villains of the Westward Expansion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bloody Mohawk: The French and Indian War & American Revolution on New York's Frontier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5West Like Lightning: The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Hallowed Ground: A History of the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ride the Devil's Herd: Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Earth Is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
United States History For You
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Three-Cornered War
20 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Three Cornered War was an easy and interesting listen/read, where the author Megan Kate Nelson, illustrated the US Civil War in the Arizona and New Mexico territories by focusing on key figures of the the conflict. I thought her approach was thoughtful, illuminating and useful for one to understand the region during this period. However, I also felt the book lacked a certain historical depth that could have made understanding the topic better. It was not until the conclusion that the author really laid out the raison d’etre of the book and thus, the story sometimes plodded along in an unclear manner. If you liked this, I would also highly recommend Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides, which focuses on Kit Carson and the Navajo nation in this period.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extremely well researched. Momentous part of American history well told. The author keenly discusses cause and effect relationships between actions and non-actions. I appreciate the author’s giving detailed voice to essential players such as women and Native Americans, not properly covered in history lessons. This is one of the best history lessons I’ve ever received.