For centuries the Great Plains were a battleground where Indian nations fought one another for their own survival and then stood bravely against the irrepressible forces of white civilization. Whereas Plains Indian conflicts have been seen largely in terms of American conquest, the author tells how the native peoples of the southern plains have struggled continually to retain their homelands and their way of life. This is an account of Indian conflicts in the area between the Platte River and the Rio Grande, from the first written reports of the Spaniards in the 16th century through the United States-Cheyenne Battle of the Sand Hills in 1875. The reader follows the exploits and defeats of such chiefs as Lone Wolf, Satanta, Black Kettle and Dull Knife as they signed treaties, led attacks, battled for land, and defended their villages in the huge region that was home to the Wichitas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, Osages, Pawnees and other Indian nations. This volume chronicles not only the Indian-white wars but also the Indian-Indian conflicts. Of central importance are the intertribal wars that preceded the arrival of the Spaniards and continued during the next three centuries, particularly as white incursions on the north and east forced tribes from those regions onto the Great Plains. The author details the numerous battles and the major treaties. He also explains the warrior ethic that persists among Plains Indian veterans today; the dual societal structure of peace and war chiefs within the tribes, in which both sometimes acted at cross-purposes, much the same as the US government and frontier whites; techniques and tactics of Plains Indian warfare; and the role of medicine men, the Sun Dance, and spirituality in Plains warfare.