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The Snake War (1864–1868) was an irregular war fought by the United States of America against the " Snake Indians ," the settlers' term for Northern Paiute , Bannock and Western Shoshone bands who lived along the Snake River . Fighting took place in the states of Oregon , Nevada , and California , and in Idaho Territory . Total casualties from both sides of the conflict numbered 1,762 dead, wounded, or captured.

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62-577: The conflict was a result of increasing tension over several years between the Native tribes and the settlers who were encroaching on their lands, and competing for game and water. Explorers passing through had minimal effect. In October 1851, Shoshone Indians killed eight men in Fort Hall Idaho. From the time of the Clark Massacre , in 1851 the regional Native Americans, commonly called

124-513: A guerrillera ( [geriˈʎeɾa] ) if female. Arthur Wellesley adopted the term "guerrilla" into English from Spanish usage in 1809, to refer to the individual fighters (e.g., "I have recommended to set the Guerrillas to work"), and also (as in Spanish) to denote a group or band of such fighters. However, in most languages guerrilla still denotes a specific style of warfare. The use of

186-599: A Native American tribe that originated in the western Great Basin and spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains . After 1750, warfare and pressure from the Blackfoot , Crow , Lakota , Cheyenne , and Arapaho pushed Eastern Shoshone south and westward. Some of them moved as far south as Texas, emerging as

248-623: A Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: They traditionally speak the Shoshoni language , part of the Numic languages branch of the large Uto-Aztecan language family. The Shoshone were sometimes called the Snake Indians by neighboring tribes and early American explorers. Their peoples have become members of federally recognized tribes throughout their traditional areas of settlement, often co-located with

310-609: A rebellion , in a violent conflict , in a war or in a civil war to fight against regular military , police or rival insurgent forces. Although the term "guerrilla warfare" was coined in the context of the Peninsular War in the 19th century, the tactical methods of guerrilla warfare have long been in use. In the 6th century BC , Sun Tzu proposed the use of guerrilla-style tactics in The Art of War . The 3rd century BC Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus

372-628: A band of approximately 300 Eastern Shoshone (known as " Sheepeaters ") became involved in the Sheepeater Indian War . It was the last Indian war fought in the Pacific Northwest region of the present-day United States. In 1911 a small group of Bannock under a leader named Mike Daggett , also known as "Shoshone Mike," killed four ranchers in Washoe County, Nevada . The settlers formed a posse and went out after

434-614: A few miles northwest of Preston, marked by Bear River and Battle Creek (then Beaver Creek), both pivotal features during the clash between the United States Army's California Volunteers and the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. The topography encompasses Bear River and the meadows lining its banks, with Battle Creek flowing north-south, partially channeled by US Route 91. Above this channeled area,

496-522: A target and then disappeared into civilian crowds frustrated the British enemy. The best example of this occurred on Bloody Sunday (21 November 1920), when Collins's assassination unit, known as "The Squad" , wiped out a group of British intelligence agents ("the Cairo Gang ") early in the morning (14 were killed, six were wounded) – some regular officers were also killed in the purge. That afternoon,

558-574: A vast area and divided into many bands, therefore many estimates of their population did not cover the entire tribe. In 1820 Jedidiah Morse estimated the Shoshone population at 60,000 and 20,000 Eastern Shoshone . According to Alexander Ross the Shoshone were on the west side of the Rocky Mountains what the Sioux were on the east side - the most powerful tribe - and he estimated that in 1855

620-576: Is also a type of irregular warfare : that is, it aims not simply to defeat an invading enemy, but to win popular support and political influence, to the enemy's cost. Accordingly, guerrilla strategy aims to magnify the impact of a small, mobile force on a larger, more cumbersome one. If successful, guerrillas weaken their enemy by attrition , eventually forcing them to withdraw. Tactically, guerrillas usually avoid confrontation with large units and formations of enemy troops but seek and attack small groups of enemy personnel and resources to gradually deplete

682-686: Is also credited with inventing many of the tactics of guerrilla warfare through what is today called the Fabian strategy , and in China Peng Yue is also often regarded as the inventor of guerilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare has been used by various factions throughout history and is particularly associated with revolutionary movements and popular resistance against invading or occupying armies. Guerrilla tactics focus on avoiding head-on confrontations with enemy armies, typically due to inferior arms or forces, and instead engage in limited skirmishes with

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744-634: Is spoken by approximately 1,000 people today. It belongs to the Central Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Speakers are scattered from central Nevada to central Wyoming. The largest numbers of Shoshoni speakers live on the federally recognized Duck Valley Indian Reservation , located on the border of Nevada and Idaho; and Goshute Reservation in Utah. Idaho State University also offers Shoshoni-language classes. The Shoshone are

806-454: Is that vanguardism by cadres of small, fast-moving paramilitary groups can provide a focus for popular discontent against a sitting regime, and thereby lead a general insurrection . Although the original approach was to mobilize and launch attacks from rural areas, many foco ideas were adapted into urban guerrilla warfare movements. Guerrilla warfare is a type of asymmetric warfare : competition between opponents of unequal strength. It

868-603: The 1st Washington Territory Infantry Regiment and the 1st Oregon Cavalry replaced Army escorts on the emigrant trails. As gold mining declined in California in the later 1850s, miners searching for gold started to move north and eastward into the upper Great Basin , and Snake River valley, they competed more for resources with the Native Americans. They lived on the land longer and consumed more game and water. Many isolated occurrences resulted in violence, with

930-774: The 2000 U.S. census , some 12,000 persons identified as Shoshone. As of 2020 there were in the USA 17,918 Shoshone including 3,638 in Nevada and 3,491 in Wyoming. Shoshone people are divided into traditional bands based both on their homelands and primary food sources. These include: Guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military , such as rebels, partisans , paramilitary personnel or armed civilians including recruited children , use ambushes , sabotage , terrorism , raids , petty warfare or hit-and-run tactics in

992-540: The Comanche by 1700. As more European American settlers migrated west, tensions rose with the indigenous people over competition for territory and resources. Wars occurred throughout the second half of the 19th century. The Northern Shoshone, led by Chief Pocatello , fought during the 1860s against settlers in Idaho (where the city Pocatello was named for him). As more settlers encroached on Shoshone hunting territory,

1054-597: The Crossbarry Ambush in March 1921 are the most famous examples of Barry's flying columns causing large casualties to enemy forces. The Algerian Revolution of 1954 started with a handful of Algerian guerrillas. Primitively armed, the guerrillas fought the French for over eight years. This remains a prototype for modern insurgency and counterinsurgency, terrorism, torture, and asymmetric warfare prevalent throughout

1116-853: The Maratha Kingdom , pioneered the Shiva sutra or Ganimi Kava (Guerrilla Tactics) to defeat the many times larger and more powerful armies of the Mughal Empire . Kerala Varma (Pazhassi Raja) (1753–1805) used guerrilla techniques chiefly centred in mountain forests in the Cotiote War against the British East India Company in India between 1793 and 1806. Arthur Wellesley (in India 1797–1805) had commanded forces assigned to defeat Pazhassi's techniques but failed. It

1178-539: The Northern Paiute people of the Great Basin. The name "Shoshone" comes from Sosoni , a Shoshone word for high-growing grasses. Some neighboring tribes call the Shoshone "Grass House People," based on their traditional homes made from sosoni . Shoshones call themselves Newe , meaning "People". Meriwether Lewis recorded the tribe as the "Sosonees or snake Indians" in 1805. The Shoshoni language

1240-797: The Rif War in 1920. For the first time in history, tunnel warfare was used alongside modern guerrilla tactics, which caused considerable damage to both the colonial armies in Morocco. In the early 20th century Michael Collins and Tom Barry both developed many tactical features of guerrilla warfare during the guerrilla phase of the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence . Collins developed mainly urban guerrilla warfare tactics in Dublin City (the Irish capital). Operations in which small Irish Republican Army (IRA) units (3 to 6 guerrillas) quickly attacked

1302-959: The Royal Irish Constabulary force consisting of both regular RIC personnel and the Auxiliary Division took revenge, shooting into a crowd at a football match in Croke Park , killing fourteen civilians and injuring 60 others. In West County Cork , Tom Barry was the commander of the IRA West Cork brigade . Fighting in west Cork was rural, and the IRA fought in much larger units than their fellows in urban areas. These units, called " flying columns ", engaged British forces in large battles, usually for between 10 – 30 minutes. The Kilmichael Ambush in November 1920 and

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1364-425: The diminutive evokes the differences in number, scale, and scope between the guerrilla army and the formal, professional army of the state. Prehistoric tribal warriors presumably employed guerrilla-style tactics against enemy tribes: Primitive (and guerrilla) warfare consists of war stripped to its essentials: the murder of enemies; the theft or destruction of their sustenance, wealth, and essential resources; and

1426-617: The first transcontinental railroad in 1869 was followed by European-American immigrants arriving in unprecedented numbers in the territory. Indian Affairs 1875 gave the Shoshone as 1,740 in Idaho and Montana, 1,945 in Nevada, 700 in Wyoming and 244 (besides those intermixed with the Bannock) in Oregon. The census of 1910 returned 3,840 Shoshone. In 1937, the Bureau of Indian Affairs counted 3,650 Northern Shoshone and 1,201 Western Shoshone. As of

1488-533: The "Snakes" by the white settlers, harassed and sometimes attacked emigrant parties crossing the Snake River Valley. European-American settlers retaliated by attacking Native American villages. In September 1852, Ben Wright and a group of miners responded to an Indian attack by attacking the Modoc village near Black Bluff in Oregon, killing about 41 Modoc. Similar attacks and retaliations took place in

1550-536: The 19th century: ...our troops should...fight while protected by the terrain...using small, mobile guerrilla units to exhaust the enemy...denying them rest so that they only control the terrain under their feet. More recently, Mao Zedong's On Guerrilla Warfare , Che Guevara 's Guerrilla Warfare , and Lenin's Guerrilla warfare , were all written after the successful revolutions carried out by them in China, Cuba and Russia, respectively. Those texts characterized

1612-711: The Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary and civilians during the Bangladesh Liberation War that transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. An earlier name Mukti Fauj was also used. The growth of guerrilla warfare was inspired in part by theoretical works on guerrilla warfare, starting with the Manual de Guerra de Guerrillas by Matías Ramón Mella written in

1674-500: The California Volunteers retrieving their fallen comrades but leaving the deceased Shoshone where they fell. In subsequent years, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation acquired parts of the site and announced plans to erect a memorial at the burial site. Additional efforts included the purchase of approximately 600 more acres in 2018, with intentions to develop a cultural interpretive center and memorial, honoring

1736-578: The Fabian choice. The Roman general Quintus Sertorius is also noted for his skillful use of guerrilla warfare during his revolt against the Roman Senate . In China, Han dynasty general Peng Yue is often regarded as the inventor of guerrilla warfare due to his use of irregular warfare in the Chu-Han contention to attack Chu convoys and supplies. In the medieval Roman Empire , guerrilla warfare

1798-599: The Myers party, killed in the Salmon Falls Massacre of September 13, 1860. This Massacre lead to the capture of death of 29 emigrants. One historian Henry Charles Carey described the attack as "more atrocious than any that had preceded it". As Federal troops withdrew in 1861 to return east for engagements of the American Civil War , California Volunteers provided protection to the emigrants. Later

1860-513: The Native Americans. They caught up with the Bannock band on February 25, 1911, and in a gun battle killed Mike Daggett and seven members of his band. They lost one man of the posse, Ed Hogle in the Battle of Kelley Creek . The posse captured a baby, two children and a young woman. (The three older captives died of diseases within a year; the baby, Mary Jo Estep , died in 1992). A rancher donated

1922-597: The Shoshone numbered 36,000 people. They were much reduced in number after they had suffered infectious disease epidemics and warfare. According to Joseph Lane the Shoshone were divided into many bands and it was almost impossible to ascertain their exact numbers. According to Indian Affairs 1859 in Utah there were 4,500 Shoshones. Indian Affairs 1866 reported in Utah 4,500 eastern Bannock and Shoshone intermingled and 3,800 western and northwestern Shoshone as well as 2,000 Shoshone in Nevada and 2,500 Shoshone in Idaho, as well as an unspecified number in Oregon. The completion of

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1984-531: The area. In January 1863 there was the most deadly massacre of Indians in American history, the Bear River Massacre , over 250 men women and children were killed. Today near Preston, Idaho there is a monument to the lives lost during this massacre, and in 1990 the site was declared a National Historic Landmark. Western Shoshone, Paiute and other local Indians resisted the encroachment, fighting what

2046-624: The assault of several women, both deceased and living. The Union soldiers suffered approximately 25 casualties, while the Shoshone losses amounted to over 250 individuals, including Chief Bear Hunter. This violent event is remembered as the Bear River Massacre or the Massacre at Boa Ogoi and is regarded as one of the most devastating episodes of Native American massacre in the history of the American West. The battleground lies

2108-570: The battle "...ended any more depredations from that band". The Snake War wound down after peace talks between George Crook and Snake chief Weahwewa had taken place. The Snake War has been widely forgotten in United States history. One reason was that the Paiute and Western Shoshone did not have notable reputations as warriors, unlike the Apache . Few reporters covered the war, and Joe Wasson

2170-716: The best-known Indian leader was Pahninee aka Chief Paulina and the most well-known U.S. Army commander of the Snake War was George Crook . He had played a significant role for the Union in the Civil War and following his success in ending the Snake War, would lead operations in the Apache Wars . Many of the U.S. troops fighting in the beginning of the war were volunteer regiments from the states of Oregon and California and from Washington Territory . The regular US Army called

2232-499: The creek emerges from a southwest-northeast escarpment. The Shoshone village, about 70 lodges on either side of Battle Creek, sat below this escarpment, using the ravine created by the creek as a natural defense during the conflict. The ravine became a significant battleground, offering protection for defending Shoshone warriors and shelter for unarmed Natives seeking refuge. Many Native individuals attempting to escape were shot, some even while trying to cross Bear River. The aftermath saw

2294-553: The defeat of their regular armies, the Spanish and Portuguese people successfully rose against the Napoleonic troops and defeated a highly superior army using the guerrilla strategy in combination with a scorched earth policy and people's war (see also attrition warfare against Napoleon ). In correct Spanish usage, a person who is a member of a guerrilla unit is a guerrillero ( [geriˈʎeɾo] ) if male, or

2356-543: The earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare. This inspired developments in modern guerrilla warfare. In the 3rd century BC, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , used elements of guerrilla warfare, such as the evasion of battle, the attempt to wear down the enemy, to attack small detachments in an ambush and devised the Fabian strategy , which the Roman Republic used to great effect against Hannibal 's army, see also His Excellency : George Washington :

2418-613: The enemy retreats, we pursue." At least one author credits the ancient Chinese work The Art of War with inspiring Mao's tactics. In the 20th century, other communist leaders, including North Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh , often used and developed guerrilla warfare tactics, which provided a model for their use elsewhere, leading to the Cuban " foco " theory and the anti- Soviet Mujahadeen in Afghanistan . Guerrilla groups may use improvised explosive devices and logistical support by

2480-618: The future. The Normans often made many forays into Wales, where the Welsh used the mountainous region, which the Normans were unfamiliar with, to spring surprise attacks upon them. Since the Enlightenment , ideologies such as nationalism , liberalism , socialism , and religious fundamentalism have played an important role in shaping insurgencies and guerrilla warfare. In the 17th century, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj , founder of

2542-437: The goal of exhausting adversaries and forcing them to withdraw (see also attrition warfare ). Organized guerrilla groups often depend on the support of either the local population or foreign backers who sympathize with the guerrilla group's efforts. The Spanish word guerrilla is the diminutive form of guerra ("war"); hence, "little war". The term became popular during the early-19th century Peninsular War , when, after

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2604-464: The heritage and history of the Shoshone people at the tragic site of the Bear River Massacre. The Snake War was not defined by one large battle but was a series of guerrilla skirmishes between the Indians and American patrols from many small camps, taking place across California, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho. Unlike other Indian Wars, the Snake War had few notable leaders on either side. Probably

2666-533: The highest number of deaths which the Shoshone suffered at the hands of United States forces. 21 US soldiers were also killed. During the American Civil War travelers continued to migrate westward along the Westward Expansion Trails . When the Shoshone, along with the Utes participated in attacks on the mail route that ran west out of Fort Laramie , the mail route had to be relocated south of

2728-528: The inducement in them of insecurity and terror. It conducts the basic business of war without recourse to ponderous formations or equipment, complicated maneuvers, strict chains of command, calculated strategies, timetables, or other civilized embellishments. Evidence of conventional warfare , on the other hand, did not emerge until 3100 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu , in his The Art of War (6th century BC), became one of

2790-409: The latter of which had recolonized the country 17 years after its independence. The war resulted in the withdrawal of Spanish forces and the establishment of a second republic in the Dominican Republic. The Moroccan military leader Abd el-Krim ( c.  1883 – 1963) and his father unified the Moroccan tribes under their control and took up arms against the Spanish and French occupiers during

2852-593: The local population. The opposing army may come at last to suspect all civilians as potential guerrilla backers. The guerrillas might get political support from foreign backers and many guerrilla groups are adept at public persuasion through propaganda and use of force. Some guerrilla movements today also rely heavily on children as combatants, scouts, porters, spies, informants, and in other roles. Many governments and states also recruit children within their armed forces. No commonly accepted definition of "terrorism" has attained clear consensus. The term "terrorism"

2914-399: The natives raided farms and ranches for food and attacked immigrants. The warfare resulted in the Bear River Massacre (1863) when U.S. forces attacked and killed an estimated 250 Northwestern Shoshone , who were at their winter encampment in present-day Franklin County, Idaho . A large number of the dead were non-combatants, including children, deliberately killed by the soldiers. This was

2976-409: The opposing force while minimizing their own losses. The guerrilla prizes mobility, secrecy, and surprise, organizing in small units and taking advantage of terrain that is difficult for larger units to use. For example, Mao Zedong summarized basic guerrilla tactics at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War as: "The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack;

3038-412: The partial remains of three adult males, two adult females, two adolescent males, and three children (believed to be Mike Daggett and his family, according to contemporary accounts) to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for study. In 1994, the institution repatriated the remains to the Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe . In 2008 the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation acquired

3100-463: The people against their oppressors, and that he fights in order to change the social system that keeps all his unarmed brothers in ignominy and misery. In the 1960s, the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara developed the foco (Spanish: foquismo ) theory of revolution in his book Guerrilla Warfare , based on his experiences during the 1959 Cuban Revolution . This theory was later formalized as "focal-ism" by Régis Debray . Its central principle

3162-485: The period of their involvement in the Snake War, the Campaign against Indians, Oregon, Idaho, and California (1865–1868) . In 1866, amidst the Snake War, the Battle of Owyhee River occurred following Paiute assaults along the Owyhee River earlier in the same year. At daybreak on December 26, Crook's forces surprised the sleeping Paiutes at their camp. Once the initial shots rang out, Chief Howluck decided to stand his ground and engage in battle. The indigenous warriors mocked

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3224-412: The result that both sides were taking to arms. The influx of miners into the Nez Perce reservation during the Clearwater Gold Rush raised tensions among all the tribes. The Nez Perce were divided when some chiefs agreed to a new treaty that permitted the intrusion. As miners developed new locations near Boise in 1862 and in the Owyhee Canyonlands in 1863, an influx of white settlers descended on

3286-498: The site of the Bear River Massacre and some surrounding land. They wanted to protect the holy land and to build a memorial to the massacre, the largest their nation had suffered. "In partnership with the American West Heritage Center and state leaders in Idaho and Utah, the tribe has developed public/private partnerships to advance tribal cultural preservation and economic development goals." They have become leaders in developing tribal renewable energy. The Shoshone were scattered over

3348-431: The soldiers, but faced a precise and lethal retaliation. In the swift exchange, nearly all of the mounted warriors were swiftly incapacitated by gunfire. The remaining few sought shelter behind rocks and remained there until noon when they eventually withdrew. Crook had caused considerable damage to Howluck's warriors. 30 were killed and another 7 captured. Crook lost 1 man wounded and another mortally wounded. Crook commented

3410-406: The tactic of guerrilla warfare as, according to Che Guevara 's text, being "used by the side which is supported by a majority but which possesses a much smaller number of arms for use in defense against oppression". Why does the guerrilla fighter fight? We must come to the inevitable conclusion that the guerrilla fighter is a social reformer, that he takes up arms responding to the angry protest of

3472-405: The trail through Wyoming . Allied with the Bannock , to whom they were related, the Shoshone fought against the United States in the Snake War from 1864 to 1868. They fought U.S. forces together in 1878 in the Bannock War . In 1876, by contrast, the Shoshone fought alongside the U.S. Army in the Battle of the Rosebud against their traditional enemies, the Lakota and Cheyenne . In 1879

3534-443: The world today. In South Africa , African National Congress (ANC) members studied the Algerian War, prior to the release and apotheosis of Nelson Mandela ; in their intifada against Israel, Palestinian fighters have sought to emulate it. Additionally, the tactics of Al-Qaeda closely resemble those of the Algerians. The Mukti Bahini (Bengali: মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as "freedom fighters", or liberation army), also known as

3596-516: The years leading up to the Snake War. In August 1854, Native attacks on several pioneer trains along the Snake River culminated in the Ward Massacre on August 20, 1854, in which Native Americans killed 21 people. The following year, the US Army mounted the punitive Winnas Expedition . From 1858 at the end of the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War , the US Army protected the migration to Oregon by sending out escorts each spring. Natives continued to attack migrant trains, especially stragglers such as

3658-446: Was called the Snake War from 1864 to 1868. At daybreak on January 29, 1863, Colonel Patrick Edward Connor led approximately 200 Union volunteer soldiers in an assault on a village inhabited by around 500 Shoshone individuals, encompassing men, women, and children. In response to previous assaults on the United States Postal Service, the soldiers proceeded to pillage the village, resulting in the killing of numerous Shoshone individuals and

3720-515: Was frequently practiced between the eighth through tenth centuries along the eastern frontier with the Umayyad and then Abbasid caliphates. Tactics involved a heavy emphasis on reconnaissance and intelligence, shadowing the enemy, evacuating threatened population centres, and attacking when the enemy dispersed to raid. In the later tenth century this form of warfare was codified in a military manual known by its later Latin name as De velitatione bellica ('On Skirmishing') so it would not be forgotten in

3782-631: Was one of the first. More significantly, much of the nation was concentrating on the American Civil War and its aftermath. Despite its being overlooked, the Snake War was statistically the deadliest of the Indian Wars in the West in terms of casualties. By the end, a total of 1,762 men were known to have been killed, wounded, and captured on both sides. By comparison, the Battle of the Little Bighorn produced about 847 casualties. Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( / ʃ oʊ ˈ ʃ oʊ n i / shoh- SHOH -nee or / ʃ ə ˈ ʃ oʊ n i / shə- SHOH -nee ) are

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3844-432: Was the longest war waged by East India Company during their military campaigns on the Indian subcontinent. It was one of the bloodiest and hardest wars waged by East India Company in India with Presidency army regiments that suffered losses as high as eighty percent in 10 years of warfare. The Dominican Restoration War was a guerrilla war between 1863 and 1865 in the Dominican Republic between nationalists and Spain ,

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