Sifting Through and Hoping to Find Something

I don't know how on earth such an idea could quite get this confusing and in depth. Well, actually I do. I guess I should have known too. Starting on the plan - or the mission, it seems to be shaping out to be - to write a series of short stories based on the history of 19th century America, 1860s-1890 was, okay, never going to be a simple thing.
Okay, I knew that. But, being interested - no, obsessed - with the subject I thought it would be a good idea. It is - and I admit, I actually love doing the rather extensive research behind the ''short'' stories (''short'' being said loosely because I never like saying whether a story's going to be short, long, medium, or whatever) - but there sure is a lot of it.
I've written stories before - I love it, even though sometimes (okay, more than ''sometimes'') it drives me to the brink of insanity, and back - but never a real attempt at a historical story. I've read a load of novels and fiction on the topic and I've seen the lists of bibliography and research almost numbering the pages of the actual bulk of the book but that always seemed very, very far out of reach with the amount.
I guess I was wrong.
Though I can't, as of yet, say that I've reached that mammoth amount of research, even for just the first story I've delved into with what feels like my eyes closed, the information is coming in in torrents.
And I've been handed the long job of sifting through it all to find the similarities and differences from the testimonies, the letters, the novels, the reports, the newspapers... Fantastic.
I say that sarcastically but...no. Like I said, it's kind of relaxing almost. If it was on anything other than the history of the American West, I would be tearing my hair out in clumps but this is different.
Though I can't actually wait to start writing once it's all gathered together. Hopefully in one place.
So. The story. Well, the first one I've decided to have a go at is about the massacre at Fort Phil Kearney of Captain Fetterman and his 80 men, 21st December 1866. He was a rather arrogant, daredevil young Officer of the time and along with the Post Quartermaster and the Fort and another similar-minded Officer of Cavalry, Grummond, they were becoming increasingly irritated with the commander of the Fort, a Colonel Henry Carrington. In amongst themselves, they said he was weak and cowardly, having retreated from Indians beforehand, and also accusing him of having no experience of fighting these same Indians.
The Indians (namely the Oglala Sioux around the Fort, located on the Powder River), at that time being led by Young-Man-Afraid of His Horses, knew the Fort's weakness. They continously attacked the wood train leading to the pinery and did their best to cut off the supplies. When it got to winter, their 'campaign' if it could be called that was decided upon and resulted in what is now known as the Fetterman Massacre, via clever decoys tricks and ambushes.
From just the information of a few books by Dee Brown and Stephen Ambrose and a few websites, I started, only to find I didn't know half as much as I thought. Recently, a stalemate has come about and for now, all writing of the story is suspended until I get the research firmly and definitely sorted and accounted for.
How on earth that's going to happen I don't know though.
Well, okay, I've got some sort of idea.
How on earth it got this confusing though, again, I don't know. Probably because I have this obsession with getting everything down to details, to the point where it's annoyingly so.
Many questions still need to be answered, mostly over the tiny little details, but some not quite. Lots of information is disputed by the Officers, the surgeons, the Commanders and so on and via testimonies, reports and letters, like I said, I have to find the contradictions and comparisons.
This blog, though I have to say it probably will be sabotaged by other random ideas and thoughts, is, in theory, meant to keep all this in track, as suggested by my dad, who very luckily helps with a lot of information on the weapons and tactics.
I hope you enjoy your stay here.
Have fun.

Katie x