If you want to look at the issues faced by the Army both before and after the Civil War, Robert Utley's books "Frontiersmen in Blue" and "Frontier Regulars" should be at the top of the list. Both will help put some of those cavalry paintings in context...something that is sorely lacking from most discussions about the period.
Utley's books show both the organizational challenges the army faced during the major Indian Wars, as well as the governmental issues (relations with the Indian Bureau, competing goals and objectives for field operations, and a host of problems with personalities and institutions both inside and outside the Army) they confronted on a regular basis. And contrary to what one might think, some of these challenges seem almost familiar when placed against contemporary operations.
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