author

Lawrence Kip

1836–1899

A West Point graduate, Civil War officer, and keen observer of frontier life, he turned his military experience into vivid firsthand writing. His best-known book, Army Life on the Pacific, offers a direct glimpse into nineteenth-century campaigning in the American West.

1 Audiobook

The Indian Council in the Valley of the Walla-Walla. 1855

The Indian Council in the Valley of the Walla-Walla. 1855

by Lawrence Kip

About the author

Born in Morristown, New Jersey, on September 17, 1836, Lawrence Kip came from a prominent family and studied at West Point, where he was appointed in 1853. After graduating, he was commissioned in the 3rd Artillery and took part in General Wright's expedition against Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest.

That campaign gave him the material for Army Life on the Pacific (1859), the book for which he is best remembered. During the Civil War, he served with the Army of the Potomac and worked on the staff of General Edwin V. Sumner, seeing action in major battles including Yorktown, Williamsburg, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.

Later accounts describe him not only as a soldier and author but also as a sportsman and a figure in New York's Gilded Age society. He died in New York City on November 17, 1899.