Chapter 2: When the Frontier Fights Back

After the Civil War unified the nation, each new generation of leaders found themselves in the same bind: no matter how many times they fought, new groups of "outlaws" or "renegades" kept popping up on the frontier.

It was as American as apple pie—pacify one wild frontier, and another would flare up overnight. Every administration, from carpetbaggers to prairie populists, played endless whack-a-mole, trying to keep restless communities from slipping through their fingers.

These groups didn’t fit in with the mainstream. They had weak institutions, low productivity, but an iron will to survive. The federal government had to turn peaceful farm towns into makeshift armies to beat back these uncoordinated but fierce local regimes.

You’d see farm boys from Kansas suddenly handed rifles, their hands more used to plowshares than gunpowder, marching out to places they’d only heard about in tall tales. Some gripped their rifles like they might splinter, hearts pounding at the thought of what waited beyond the horizon. For many, it was their first taste of the wider world—and it was often a brutal one.

But the price was steep. America’s vast territory meant there were simply too many hotbeds for these frontier peoples. Not only was there a major, fixed source in the Great Plains, but new groups would pop up in the east, south, and west—forcing Washington to stretch itself thin, always on edge.

A map from those days looked like a patchwork quilt, trouble stitched into every seam. For folks in D.C., it was like being a hockey goalie facing five pucks at once—tiring, thankless, never-ending.

Despite everything, the government just couldn’t shake the threat of these frontier groups, especially during the Indian Wars and the era of westward expansion.

Local newspapers—like the Des Moines Register or the Cheyenne Daily Sun—carried stories of skirmishes at the edge of settlement. Headlines screamed of skirmishes, and every barbershop buzzed with rumors. Peace was always provisional, never promised.