Perhaps no period of Native American warfare is as familiar as the Powhatan tribe's fight against British settlers in the early seventeenth century. The stories of Pocahontas, John Rolfe, and Chief Powhatan have been told and retold since that time. However, there are many more key figures from East Coast tribes, including the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek, who shaped history through battle. This book highlights major conflicts and the warriors who fought to preserve their way of life.

Perhaps no period of Native American warfare is as familiar as the Powhatan tribe's fight against British settlers in the early seventeenth century. The stories of Pocahontas, John Rolfe, and Chief Powhatan have been told and retold since that time. However, there are many more key figures from East Coast tribes, including the Cherokee, Seminole, and Creek, who shaped history through battle. This book highlights major conflicts and the warriors who fought to preserve their way of life.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the tribes written by whites and tribesmen *Includes a bibliography for further reading From the "Trail of Tears" to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, the narrative of American history is incomplete without the inclusion of the Native Americans that lived on the continent before European settlers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. Among all the Native American tribes, the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans learned the hard way that the warriors of the Apache were perhaps the fiercest in North America. Based in the Southwest, the Apache fought all three in Mexico and the American Southwest, engaging in seasonal raids for so many centuries that the Apache struck fear into the hearts of all their neighbors. Given the group's reputation, it's fitting that they are inextricably associated with one of their most famous leaders, Geronimo. Descendants of people killed by "hostile" Apache certainly considered warriors like Geronimo to be murderers and thieves whose cultures and societies held no redeeming values, and even today, many Americans associate the name Geronimo with a war cry. The name Geronimo actually came about because of a battle he fought against the Mexicans. Over time, however, the historical perception of the relationship between America and Native tribes changed drastically. With that, Geronimo was viewed in a far different light, as one of a number of Native American leaders who resisted the U.S. and Mexican governments when settlers began to push onto their traditional homelands. Like the majority of Native American groups, the Apache were eventually vanquished and displaced by America's westward push, and Geronimo became an icon for eluding capture for so long. On the north side of San Antonio, Texas, a stone tower sits atop a hill in a city park. Originally, the tower was manned and served to warn the residents of San Antonio of the approach of Comanche raiding parties. In Texas, the Comanche are vilified and serve as a convenient reminder of the difficulties and hardships faced and overcome by brave white settlers. In reality, the Comanche provided settlers in Texas what William S. Burroughs called "a modicum of challenge and danger." For many Texans, the word "Comanche" is still akin to a curse word. For centuries, the Comanche thrived in a territory called Comancheria, which comprised parts of eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, Oklahoma, and some of northwest Texas. Before conflicts with white settlers began in earnest, it's been estimated that the tribe consisted of more than 40,000 members. While the Comanche are still a federally recognized nation today and live on a reservation in part of Oklahoma, they have remained a well-known tribe due to their 19th century notoriety. Indeed, the conflict between the Comanche and white settlers in the Southwest was particularly barbaric compared to other native tribes. During Comanche raids, all adult males would be killed outright, and sometimes women and children met the same fate. On many occasions, older children were taken captive and gradually adopted into the tribe, until they gradually forgot life among their white families and accepted their roles in Comanche society. Popular accounts written by whites who were captured and lived among the Comanche only brought the terror and the tribe closer to home among all Americans back east as well. The Apache and Comanche: The History and Legacy of the Southwest's Most Famous Warrior Tribes comprehensively covers the cultures and histories of the two tribes, profiling their origins and their lasting legacy. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Apache and Comanche like never before.

Surveys the training, tools, and strategies of Native American warriors from both large and remote tribes, examining their equipment, disparate combat techniques, and influence on European and American technology.

Learn how Native American tribes across North America waged war during European colonization, and how they adapted with things like horses, firearms, and stealth.

A study that uncovers the lost history of the Comanches shows in detail how the Comanches built their unique empire and resisted European colonization, and why they were defeated in 1875.

From the creator of the popular blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing comes a compilation of villainous battle plans for Dungeon Masters. In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away. In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat. Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They're Doing is essential reading for every DM.