Blair, Thanks for the links.

In reviewing the content of the site I ran across the Resource page at

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/schs/ritchie/education/resources.htm

I would recommend to those interested in Ritchie, there is what appears to be (as I haven't finished it yet) a very well researched and sourced account of Ritchie's service including the lengthy text of numerous contemporaneous sources in an 83 page PDF file. When you read it, you will understand why Col. Wm. A. Phillips described him simply as "crazy".

The article is "JOHN RITCHIE’S CIVIL WAR: A Documentary History. by Bryce Benedict" at

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/schs/ritchie/education/resources/jritchiecivilwar.pdf

Oddly, the same page begins with a very disappointing book on Ritchie. I read the chapter titled "Civil War Service, Volunteer and Regular Armies" at
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/orgs/schs/ritchie/education/resources/ritchiebookparts/JR-CivilWarService.pdf

I found this chapter to be sanitized far beyond reason and contained what are at best misleading "facts" about the war in the Indian Territory. I was disappointed in the bibliography of sources for this chapter, only one of which, as I recall, could be considered a primary source -- one of Wiley Britton's books.

I highly recommend the first article and, in particular, the contemporaneous sources that make up the last half of the document.