Editing Nathaniel Lyon (section)

==Military career==
Upon graduating from West Point, Lyon was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and assigned to the [[2nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|2nd U.S. Infantry]] Regiment after graduation and served with them in the [[Seminole Wars]] and the [[Mexican–American War]]. Despite denouncing American involvement in the Mexican War,<ref name=Warner>Warner, pp. 286–87.</ref> he was promoted to [[first lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]] for "conspicuous bravery in capturing enemy artillery" at the [[Battle for Mexico City]] and received a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] promotion to captain for the battles of [[Battle of Contreras|Contreras]] and [[Battle of Churubusco|Churubusco]]. Although he was eligible for membership, Lyon did not join the [[Aztec Club of 1847]] when it was formed in Mexico City in 1847.

After the Mexican War, Lyon was then posted to the frontier, where forces under his command perpetrated the massacre of [[Pomo people|Pomo]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] at [[Clear Lake (California)|Clear Lake]], [[California]], the 1850 "[[Bloody Island Massacre]]";<ref name="Bloody Island Massacre">{{Cite web|url=http://www.chrisanddavid.com/clearlakemassacre/index.shtml|title=Clear Lake Massacre - Lyon attacks the Pomo|website=www.chrisanddavid.com}}</ref> in which as many as 200 old men, women and children were killed. Several days later, Lyon was responsible for another massacre in Cokadjal, killing 75 to 100 people, albeit the number was likely double.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Madley |first=Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sycVDAAAQBAJ |title=An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 |date=2016-01-01 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18136-4 |pages=141–142 |language=en}}</ref>

After being reassigned to [[Fort Riley, Kansas]], Lyon became staunchly antislavery. He did not support the radicalism of the abolitionists,<ref>Warner, p. 286, and Phillips, pp. 105, 120, 127, provide contrary views. Warner states that Lyon was "far from being an abolitionist and was not even in favor of disturbing slavery where he existed."</ref> and came to support the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] while serving in the border wars known as "[[Bleeding Kansas]]." In January 1861, he wrote about the secession crisis, "It is no longer useful to appeal to reason, but to the sword."<ref name=Downhour>Downhour, pp. 1233–34.</ref>