New book on Indian Wars could aid genealogy researchers

The numerous Indian Wars are part of our nation’s history.

Records produced from those encounters, if we know what to look for, can greatly aid us in gathering the biographical histories of our ancestors. Michael A. Ports’ new book, “Indian Wars of the American South, 1610-1858: A guide for Genealogists & Historians,” covers each war, its causes and resolution. The book also discusses the documentation of participation in the war by both military and civilians. For each war, he lists historic sites and markers of interest, followed by a bibliography of published sources related to the war, both old and new, books as well as articles. For historic sites, he gives contact information but no websites.

After the war chapters, he includes an extensive section about repositories and what records are there. Beginning with the National Archives, he has an extensive list of manuscript collections, as well as pension record references. He then lists books and records per Indian tribe. After covering other United States libraries and agencies, he proceeds on to state archives, with extensive lists of original records therein, as well as published materials. A section on “Native American Tribes and Archives” goes state by state, tribe by tribe, with contact information and websites.