The Winter War of Terror

Taking advantage of the Indian's temporary immobility in the winter months, U.S. soldiers moved across the plains in snow, mounting surprise attacks on unsuspecting tribes, not even allowing them the opportunity to surrender.  If the women and children weren't deliberately killed, they were left to starve or freeze after their men, their village and their horses were destroyed. 

The aim of this terror was not only to kill the Indian, but to destroy the entire culture of the nomadic lifestyle.  Some were prompted by conscience to condemn the military as a bunch of butchers, but no one was able to devise a more effective mean of accomplishing the goal of what had become known as the "winning of the West."

Among those U.S. Army soldiers were the black soldiers who had been recently freed after the Civil War from slavery.  They were called "blacks in blue" by the military and "buffalo soldiers" by the Indians.  The regimental crest of the black cavalry, organized in 1866, was the buffalo.  The were commanded by white officers but won praise from some such as William T. Sherman who said they are  "trustworthy and as brave as the occasion calls for."

The artist Frederic Remington, who was with the black troops in Arizona, reported that "they may be tired and they may be hungry, but they do not see fit to augment their misery by finding fault with everybody and everything.  They are charming men with whom to serve is an honor."  The black soldier fought many battles with the Indians, and unlike the white soldier, did so with low desertion rates.  They made a career of being a soldier, often bearing a heavy burden of racial discrimination.  Their supplies were inferior quality, their assignments, the least desirable.  Yet like the Indian, the black soldier proved a stronger and better fighter than the U.S. Army had ever thought possible.

Next time...A Red Cloud over Dakota
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Today in Pioneer History: "On January 11., 1908, Theodore Roosevelt designated more than 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon area into a national monument. “Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is,” he declared. “You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is keep it for your children, your children’s children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.”