The Three-Cornered War

The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West

By: Megan Kate Nelson

Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History

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).

Critic reviews

"Cynthia Farrell gives a solid narration of this fascinating and well-written account of the American Civil War in the West. While the main action of the Civil War took place between Richmond and Washington, there was a war west of the Mississippi, and this work looks at the war far west of that—in what is now New Mexico and Arizona. Through the lives of nine people who were in the midst of this drama, we see how the Confederate, Federal, and Native American antagonists interacted and had many divergent, and similar, goals. Farrell's alto voice is pleasant, and her enunciation good. . . . this fascinating account of a relatively unknown theater in the War Between the States is time well spent."

A story well told.

Compelling blend of military history and personal struggle. My compliments to the author and narrator.

A Story Most Have Never Heard

This book tells the story of the American West during and after the Civil War and the people’s of the various tribes of the American Indigenous dwellers. A good read!

An important civil war history

Part of the Civil War that we are not familiar with. the impact on the native peoples is astounding and very sad. Maybe we have corrected some of our attitudes, but I am not so sure.

This book is part of a book club I belong to with a friend. if you are into history thi s is a good book about the Civil War.

I found it interesting that the rebels felt the need to lie about their defeat. And fabricate a whole different scenario to the battle.

As a Native Santa Fean…

Familiar with the sites, personalities and cultures, I really enjoyed the story..… and as a native Santa Fean Familiar with the sites, personalities and cultures, I really hated the reader. If I heard “Pecos” pronounced. “Pee-Cose” just one more time, I believe I would have declared war myself. More mystifying was the fact her accent seemed to resonate rather well for all other Spanish words, so how in the world does she consistently and so egregiously mess up the one name the rankest gringo can’t mispronounce. Hasn’t Cynthia Farrell seen even one Western Movie? Isn’t she familiar with any western lore and therefore know that there is no “Pee-Cose” River. I know it sounds like nitpicking, but imagine a native Londoner, having to endure the River Thames pronounced with a hard “A” for 12 straight hours.

Crucial history of the Southwest

This book fleshes out and describes key developments in New Mexico and surrounding territory in a formative period of mid-nineteenth century around the time of the Civil War. I’ve loved this land since a tour at Ft Bliss and reading Tony Hillerman’s stories, but I’ve now learned so much more. The author did much laudable research and told the story in a pleasing and sympathetic way.