The Odds Were Not in Their Favor

Farmers, townspeople, miners, and ranchers expected the end of the Civil War would mean the Army would return to subdue the unruly tribes of Indians in the West.  Instead the Army's budget was reduced drastically and only a fraction of the remaining troops served a hundred or more forts scattered from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

There were at least 300,000 Indians, at least half of them with hostile intentions, and all with superior fighting ability compared to a garrison of maybe 40 indifferent Army men at each fort.  Logistical support complicated the Amy's tasks.  Indian ponies lived off the grassland while the cavalry's  horses needed feed that had to be carried along into battles, slowing down progress.  Wagon trains supplied most of the troops, and the wagons limited operations to well-traveled roads and open countryside.  The Indians could retreat through rugged country, mountains and woods where the Army just couldn't go.  In addition, the infantry spent most of their time defending the supply lines.  It didn't go well for the Army against the Indian.

Then in the 1870s, General George Crook corrected the Army's lack of mobility by the use of pack mule trains who were sure-fitted in rugged country.  Mules may have been good on rugged terrain but they were not popular with the troops.  One soldier wrote, "the animal is unapproachable in devilment, fathomless in cunning, born old in crime, of disreputable paternity and incapable of learning."
The mule might have been unlovely to look at and hard to handle, but they kept the army supplies moving in country where horses could never go.

Could the Army, so outnumbered and hampered by logistics, subdue the more agile, free-moving Indian who was obviously more adept at fighting in the West? 

Next time...An Unwitting Ally
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On January 1, 1863, a farmer named Daniel Freeman submits the first claim under the new Homestead Act for a property near Beatrice, Nebraska. 

Happy New Year!

Sand Creek

There was one possible way to avoid an all out Indian war in Colorado.  In September 1864, a prominent Cheyenne chief named Black Kettle appeared in Denver to negotiate for peace with the territorial governor.  Black Kettle conceded that he could not control many of his young braves.  Black Kettle agreed to settle at Fort Lyon, in eastern Colorado, with those of his Cheyenne and Arapaho followers who opposed war.  The new commander at Fort Lyon insisted that Black Kettle camp on Sand Creek, some 40 miles from the fort since he had no orders from General Curtis.  Surprisingly, Black Kettle agreed.

At dawn on November 29, 1864, when Black Kettle's band of about 500, including more than 300 women and children, were settled beside the stream, a detachment of 700 of Chivington's (see previous posts) volunteers suddenly appeared.  With no warning or discussion, they went through the camp in a murderous spree.  The Indian leader tried to comprehend what was happening, raising the US flag, then a white flag of surrender. 

Chivington's orders were to "Kill and scalp all, big and little, nits and lice."  The troops killed every Indian who moved and then mutilated the bodies, saving parts as souvenirs of  their "bravery".  One group of squaws and children were cut down in the middle of surrender.  When a toddler was lost amid the chaos, he was made the object of target practice by the soldiers.  Flight was the only possible escape, and some did get away to spread the word that peace with the US was just not possible.

Denver celebrated Sand Creek as a great and noble victory until the truth slowly came out..."A cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter", said a shocked army judge.  But by then the damage was done and the West was being torn by a new and bitter round of Indian wars.

Again I ask you, who was the civilized culture?

Next time...Blood on the Grasslands
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Today in Pioneer History: "On December 18, 1843, Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol".
A Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!