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Centennial Campaign
The Sioux War of 1876
by John S. Gray
Foreword by Robert M. Utley
Published by: University of Oklahoma Press
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
412 Pages | 6 x 9 | 14 figures, 8 maps
$26.95
“A fine book…In the twenty-two chapters that comprise the background and the campaign narrative, the author is at his best when he moves away from the Washington scene to detail the field operations. But it is the second part of the book—seven chapters labeled “Facets”—that moves Centennial Campaign into the realm of the exceptional. Here Dr. Gray combines impressive research, careful analysis, and sound deduction to reconstruct Indian movements, locations, and concentrations.”—Western Historical Quarterly
John S. Gray was a medical doctor and professor of physiology who became interested in American frontier history as a respite from university administrative duties.
Robert M. Utley (1929–2022) served in the National Park Service for 25 years in various capacities, including Chief Historian from 1964 to 1972. Since his retirement from the federal government in 1980, he has devoted himself full-time to historical research and writing with a specialty in the American West. He is author, among many articles and books he has published, of Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier, Revised Edition; Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life; Lone Star Lawmen: The Second Century of the Texas Rangers; and The Commanders: Civil War Generals Who Shaped the American West. A founder of the Western History Association, Utley has served on its governing council and as its president.
"I have no hesitation in labeling this the best single volume ever published on the Custer Battle and the Sioux War of 1876." –Robert M. Utley
"In his soundly documented and absorbing book John Gray manages with cumulative power what few have attempted: a total view of the U.S. Army campaign against the Sioux in 1976 - that strange wilderness war whose centerpiece was the Custer 'massacre.' There's no nonsense here, no romantic pseudo-history. Gray uses authentic sources with critical insight, calls his shots clearly and bluntly." –Publishers Weekly
"A fine book . . .. Gray gives us the whole story in an integrated package . . .. In the twenty-two chapters that comprise the background and the campaign narrative, the author is at his best when he moves away from the Washington scene to detail the field operations. But it is the second part of the book - seven chapters labeled "facets" - that moves Centennial Campaign into the realm of the exceptional. Here Dr. Gray combines impressive research, careful analysis, and sound deduction to reconstruct Indian movements, locations, and concentrations." –Western Historical Quarterly
"[Gray's] views are occasionally controversial, but are based on a careful consideration of the primary material. By avoiding the many garbled secondary accounts, he brings some fresh insights to the issues. A series of good maps helps the reader follow campaign activity. This is a thoughtful study of a tragic, unnecessary war." –Roger L. Nichols, Journal of American History
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