Staff Ride Handbook and Atlas Battle of White Bird Canyon 17 June 1877
Abstract
White Bird Canyon is the first of CSI s 12 staff ride handbooks to combine the traditional handbook format with the format of CSI s Atlas of the Sioux Wars (2006) and The Cheyenne Wars Atlas (2010). This new volume details the tragic road to war between the US Army and the Nez Perce Indians, and analyzes the Army s disastrous first engagement in the war. This staff ride focuses primarily on the tactical level of war. However, it also provides significant room for discussion of Army values, cultural awareness concerns, operational issues, and training requirements, making this staff ride a superb tool for developing Army leaders from platoon to division level. White Bird Canyon is also CSI s fifth work pertaining to the US Army s post-Civil War Indian campaign experience. Together with CSI s previous atlases, The Ute Campaign of 1879 (1993), and In Search of an Elusive Enemy: The Victorio Campaign (2004), CSI continues to offer historically-based analyses of discrete events during the latter part of the 19th Century that offer relevant insights to current and future Army leaders. Like their antecedents 135 years ago, today s Soldiers are immersed in a complex battlefield environment facing potential and actual enemies whose cultures, military capabilities, and methods of warfare differ greatly from their own. Our Army also faces resource constraints similar to those under which the Army suffered in the decades following 1865. A study of the Indian Wars offers an opportunity to compare, contrast, and discover the threads of continuity that link the US Army of the 19th Century with that of the 21st, expanding upon pertinent discussions of the Range of Military Operations and how the Army seeks to influence human behavior by the application of Strategic Landpower. Military professionals, for whom this handbook was written, will find a great deal to consider, analyze, and discuss when studying this first battle of the Nez Perce War of 1877.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA601247
Entities
People
- Charles D. Collins Jr.
Organizations
- Fort Leavenworth Combat Studies Institute Press