Collins Charles D. Jr. Staff Ride Handbook and Atlas: Battle of White Bird Canyon, 17 June 1877

Combat Studies Institute Press, 2019. — 144 p.A staff ride to a battlefield is an excellent tool for the historical education of members of the Armed Forces. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has been conducting staff rides since the 1900s. Captain Arthur L. Wagner was an instructor at Fort Leavenworth in the 1890s, and he believed an officer’s education had become too far removed from the reality of war. He pondered how to get the experience of combat to officers who had only experienced peace. His answer was the staff ride, a program in which students studied a major battle and then went to the actual field to complete the study. Wagner did not live to see staff rides added to the curriculum at Fort Leavenworth but in 1906, the first staff ride was added to the Fort Leavenworth “experience.” Major Eben Swift led 12 students on a study of the Atlanta Campaign of 1864. On and off, staff rides have been a part of the curriculum for over the last 100 years.
The Staff Ride Handbook and Atlas for the Battle of White Bird Canyon, 17 June 1877 provides a systematic approach to the analysis of this opening battle of the Nez Perce War. A staff ride consists of three phases including the Preliminary Study Phase, the Field Study Phase, and the Integration Phase. Accordingly this staff ride handbook is divided into three parts. Part I provides instructions on how to conduct the “Preliminary Study Phase.” This phase is conducted before the visit to the battlefield and prepares the students for the visit. Part II covers the “Field Study Phase.” This phase is conducted on the battlefield and enables students to understand historical events through analysis of the actual terrain. Part III provides instruction on the “Integration Phase.” No staff ride is complete without an integration phase because it is critical for the students to understand what happened, why it happened, and most importantly, what can be learned from the study of the battle or campaign.