Posted on 11/30/2004 10:21:16 PM PST by SAMWolf
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![]() are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Called a massacre at the time, the December 1866 clash near Fort Phil Kearny was, in fact, a military triumph by the Plains Indians and the Army's greatest blunder in the West until the Battle of the Little Bighorn 10 years later. ![]() Capt. William J. Fetterman The Fetterman Fight occurred in Powder River country, on the lonely, monotonous plains of what would become northern Wyoming (at the time, it was part of Dakota Territory). Today, the grasses, tall and dry but still supple enough to bend, genuflect in waves moving from west to east across the prairie. Overhead, a blue bowl of sky holds only a distant sun. Certainly, there are landscapes more desolate--deep deserts, steep mountains or abrupt canyons. But few places seem more empty. The emptiness is a misconception. The Indians knew better. The area around the Powder River and the other southern tributaries of the Yellowstone River contained desirable lands. Game abounded--deer, rabbits, buffalo, birds. Down by the creeks, berries and greens grew. Nature had opened her bountiful hand and strewed a multitude of blessings. The Crows, or Absarokas ("children of the big-beaked bird"), called this area their homeland. But it had been the home of the Snake (Shoshone) Indians until they were driven out by the Crows in the early 1800s, and since about midcentury, the Crows had been struggling with the Teton Sioux, who had moved in to escape encroaching white civilization. By 1866, the Teton Sioux--mostly Oglala, Minneconjou and Sans Arc--had taken the Powder River country away from the Crows and were the dominant force in the area. ![]() For the white men, this land was not considered valuable in 1866, but not far to the west lay highly desirable land--the gold fields of Montana Territory. A federal government nearly bankrupt from the Civil War urgently needed gold to liquidate the interest accruing on the national debt. Men desperate to escape poverty were willing to risk all. To travel from the East to the gold fields, the shortest route was to take the Platte Road (the old Oregon Trail) to Fort Laramie (in present-day southeastern Wyoming) and then pick up the Bozeman Trail, which had been pioneered by John Bozeman in the spring of 1863. The Bozeman Trail, or Road, ran northwest on the east side of the Big Horn Mountains into Montana Territory and then mostly west to Virginia City. When gold seekers used the trail in 1864, Sioux leaders such as Man-Afraid-of-His-Horse and Red Cloud became upset, because the route passed right through their buffalo ranges. To a lesser degree, the trail also annoyed the Northern Cheyennes and the Arapahos, who were friends of the Sioux. And soon, these Indians had even more reason to be angry. In late August 1865, Brig. Gen. Patrick E. Connor began to build Camp Connor (later renamed Fort Reno, the site is 30 miles east of present-day Kaycee, Wyo.) on the Powder River to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail. That outpost, however, would not be garrisoned until the next year. Indian attacks made travel on the trail extremely risky. Treaties were signed by various "friendly" northern Plains chiefs in the fall of 1865, but other chiefs were determined to keep the Bozeman Trail closed. ![]() Red Cloud, a chief of the Oglala Lakota and leader of the 1866 attack on Fort Phil Kearny that ended in the Fetterman Massacre. Red Cloud's successful campaign against United States troops in Montana led to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Into this sensitive situation marched American soldiers in 1866, with orders to guard the Bozeman Trail. They were the 700 men of the 2nd Battalion, 18th U.S. Infantry Regiment. The troops left Fort Kearny (near present-day Kearney, Neb.) on May 13, along with the 3rd Battalion, which would be manning posts along the Platte Road. The regimental commander was Connecticut-born Colonel Henry Bebee Carrington, and he would be sticking with the 2nd Battalion. Major General John Pope, commander of the Department of the Missouri, had ordered the 42-year-old colonel to staff Fort Reno and to build two additional forts farther north. The 25-piece regimental band provided some musical entertainment on the march west, and a dozen officers' wives and 11 children provided some good company. One of the wives was Margaret Irvin Carrington, an educated woman passionately dedicated to life, justice and her husband, Henry. She kept a journal of her travels and travails in the West. She recorded that the 2nd Battalion's baggage included "mowing machines, and shingle and brick machines, doors, sash, glass, nails, locks, rocking chairs and sewing machines, churns and washing machines, with a bountiful supply of canned goods." Hardly the stuff of a simple military maneuver. Although they would be far from civilization, the officers' wives were set on creating homes. ![]() Fort Phil Kearny A stop at Fort Laramie in mid-June brought the ladies an opportunity to shop but carried ominous portents for the future. A government commission was conducting peace negotiations with the Indians, including some of the chiefs who had foiled General Connor's three-pronged campaign on the northern Plains the previous year; the negotiators were hoping to secure an agreement to a "right of way" through the Powder River country. The whites, as usual, brought food and other presents. Brulé Sioux Chief Spotted Tail, whose people didn't even venture into the region, was one of the Indians who agreed to terms. Red Cloud--not actually a chief, but a head warrior who was highly influential in matters of war--and others did not. The arrival of Carrington and company did not sit well with Red Cloud. The white men were asking for permission to use a road but had already brought soldiers to build forts along that road. Red Cloud and his Sioux delegation stormed off from the Fort Laramie negotiations; they vowed to fight any white man who used the Bozeman Trail. Still, the commission returned to Washington, D.C., and declared the Bozeman Trail safe for travel. The government negotiators had grossly underestimated the determination of certain Sioux to save their hunting grounds. ![]() At Fort Laramie, some friendly Indians alerted Carrington to the possibility of trouble from hostile Indians in the Powder River country. And the colonel soon learned of other problems. The ammunition, horses and wagon drivers that were supposed to be made available to him at Fort Laramie were missing. But Carrington remained cautiously optimistic. On June 16, he wrote to Brevet Major H.G. Litchfield, the acting assistant adjutant general of the Department of the Platte, that he anticipated no serious difficulty: "Patience, forbearing, and common sense in dealing with the Sioux and Cheyennes will do much with all who really desire peace, but it is indispensable that ample supplies of ammunition come promptly." The next day, Carrington and the 2nd Battalion marched out of Fort Laramie with 226 wagons. First, he stopped off 176 miles to the northwest at Fort Reno, leaving behind one of his eight companies to garrison it; he then proceeded to a spot that appealed to him some 60 miles farther up the Bozeman Trail. In mid-July, work began there on what would become Fort Phil Kearny, named for Civil War Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, who died in 1862 at the Battle of Chantilly (Virginia). ![]() The fort would be stockaded and would sit on a natural plateau between Big and Little Piney creeks. The soldiers required only one morning to plot out the parade ground and building sites. Almost immediately, various Cheyennes began to visit; they said that Red Cloud was insisting they join forces with his Sioux to drive the white men away. Openly hostile Indians, no doubt inspired by Red Cloud, also began to visit, with unpleasant consequences. Two men died in the first raid on July 16. Attacks upon military and civilian targets in the region became commonplace. Stock was lost. Timber parties, sent out in wagons to secure lumber for building the fort and wood for fuel and cooking, had to travel five or six miles to reach the pine trees in the Big Horn Mountains. These wood trains were often harassed by Indians. From Pilot Hill, a lookout post Carrington established just south of the fort site, men could watch the wagons move and signal when there was danger. "Alarms were constant; attacks upon the trains were frequent, and this kind of visitation continued during the whole season," Margaret Carrington wrote. "The ladies all came to the conclusion, no less than the officers affirmed it, that the Laramie treaty was Wau-nee-chee, no good!" ![]() Nevertheless, work on the fort progressed steadily, because there was no full-scale Indian attack. The fort, 600 feet by 800 feet, would eventually contain everything needed for independent existence--warehouses, hospital, sutler's store, officers' quarters, barracks, stables, laundry, battery park for the howitzers, guardhouse and bandstand. The daily routine for the women confined within its high walls differed radically from their lives in the East. Only a few servants had come along, and many of them left for the more lucrative professions of baker and washerwoman for the troops. So the wives baked, cooked, cleaned, scrubbed and sewed clothing. Sometimes they found time during the day for croquet. Evening entertainment included readings, games, quadrilles and music. Chapel came on Sunday. But there was never a sense of real peace. "Every day brought its probabilities of some Indian adventures--every night had its special dangers which unanticipated might involve great loss," Margaret Carrington wrote. Her husband kept looking for the promised support. On July 30, he sent a long report to his boss, Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, who headed the Department of the Platte: "My ammunition has not arrived; neither has my Leavenworth supply train--I am equal to any attack they may make, but have to build quarters and prepare for winter, escort trains, and guaranty the whole road."
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Fort Phil Kearny newcomers Fetterman and Powell, along with Lieutenant George Washington Grummond, pushed for Carrington to seize the offensive. Fetterman advised the colonel to break the Indians' virtual siege and exterminate them. Fetterman had little respect for the fighting ability of Indians, openly arguing that "a company of regulars could whip a thousand, and a regiment could whip the whole array of hostile tribes." Carrington felt pressure from his own officers and also from his commanding officer. General Cooke not only wanted Carrington to strike the Indians in their camps but also threatened a general court-martial over reports missing due to delayed mail delivery. That there was a strong faction against Carrington is evident in a letter Fetterman wrote to a Dr. Charles Terry on November 26, 1866 (and which was published in 1991 in The Annals of Wyoming, edited by historian John D. McDermott): "We are afflicted with an incompetent commanding officer viz. Carrington, but shall be relieved of him in the re-organization, he going to the 18th and we becoming the 27th Infantry."
Things went well at first. Fetterman took the cavalrymen straight to the wood train, "forced" the attacking Indians to withdraw, and drove the attackers toward Carrington and the mounted infantrymen. But Carrington and Grummond had not yet arrived at Peno Creek. Bingham's cavalrymen became strung out during the pursuit, and then many of them panicked when the Indians turned on them. Bingham galloped off for some reason--either to rally his troops or to chase a few warriors who were actually being used as decoys. In any case, the senior cavalry officer was soon cut off from the other cavalrymen and Fetterman and was then felled by arrows. Carrington became engaged in a separate skirmish north of Lodge Trail Ridge before finally meeting Fetterman on the Bozeman Trail in the Peno Valley. Grummond, like Bingham, had apparently gone his own way during the skirmishing, but he was able to return in one piece after slashing his way through the Indians with his saber. Only Bingham and a sergeant died in the December 6 action; five soldiers were wounded.
The Indians tried the old decoy trick again on December 19. They attacked the wood train, and when a relief force headed by Captain Powell rode out from the fort, they withdrew, hoping to lure the soldiers into an ambush on the other side of Lodge Trail Ridge. Powell, however, followed orders and did not pursue the attackers beyond the ridge. The warriors shrugged off the failure and tried once more just two days later. A medicine man had made them especially confident. Called upon to foretell the results of the upcoming battle, he had had four visions of increasing numbers of dead soldiers. The fourth vision had satisfied the warriors--100 soldiers would die.
As many as 2,000 Indians (mostly Sioux, but some Cheyennes and Arapahos as well) were waiting in ambush on the far side of Lodge Trail Ridge, not far from where Fetterman and friends had skirmished with warriors back on December 6. Red Cloud was most likely among the ambush force, but the man behind the plan was said to be High-Back-Bone of the Minneconjou Sioux. Crazy Horse, a young warrior who 10 years later would participate in the Battles of the Rosebud and the Little Bighorn, led a second decoy party. Crazy Horse and his men rode close enough to the fort to draw artillery fire after Fetterman had left with the infantrymen to rescue the wood train. A short time later, Grummond and the cavalrymen rode out to join Fetterman.
Grummond and the cavalrymen caught up with Fetterman, and the whole command followed the Bozeman Trail up Lodge Trail Ridge. Once on the ridge top, the soldiers saw only a handful of Indians below, near Peno Creek. One of them may have been Crazy Horse, on foot and pretending to have a lame horse in an attempt to entice the soldiers down a long, narrow slope (this northern spur of Lodge Trail Ridge would become known as Massacre Ridge) and into the Indians' trap. It was about noon, and the command was some four miles from the fort. Whether Fetterman gave the order or Grummond was acting on his own will never be known, but the cavalrymen charged down the slope ahead of the foot soldiers, who then followed. Carrington's order had been disobeyed, and a heavy price would be paid.
www.philkearny.vcn.com
www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com
www.pbs.org
gallery.unl.edu
www.csulb.edu/projects
www.scsc.k12.ar.us
www.stringofbeads.com
community.webshots.com
www.wygisc.uwyo.edu
www.americanindian.net
www-cgsc.army.mil
www.smithsonianmag.si.edu
www.philkearny.vcn.com
www.neweraworld.com
'With eighty men, I can ride through the entire Sioux nation' Captain William Fetterman |
Good Night, Snippy.
Maybe in one of the magazines?
Days of the Wild West Bump for the Freeper Foxhole.
Work day 3 out of 8 is under way, yippeee
Hi manna
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Today is Norton update day. Be sure to download them when they arrive.
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This possible, but I have a lot of problems with the idea of the two officers each shooting each other in the temple. That would take some pretty good timing.
You don't think the Indians were confused and thought they were fighting the Japanese by any chance do you. (Just had to say that).
Read: Romans 7:14-25
What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Romans 7:15
Bible In One Year: Ezekiel 40-41; 2 Peter 3
Many years ago, a wealthy man went duck hunting with a hired hand named Sam. They took a horse and carriage, and along the way a rim came off one of the wheels. As Sam hammered it back on, he accidentally hit his finger. Instantly he let go with some bad words. He quickly fell to his knees, asking God's forgiveness. "Lord, it's so difficult at times to live the Christian life," he prayed.
"Sam," said the man, "I know you're a Christian, but tell me why you struggle so. I'm an atheist, and I don't have problems like that."
Sam didn't know what to say. Just then two ducks flew overhead. The man raised his gun and two shots rang out. "Leave the dead one and go after that wounded bird!" he shouted. Sam pointed at the duck that was fluttering desperately to escape and said, "I've got an answer for you now, Boss. You said that my Christianity isn't any good because I have to struggle so. Well, I'm the wounded duck, and I struggle to get away from the devil. But Boss, you're the dead duck!"
That insight fits Paul's description of his Christian experience in Romans 7:14-25. Struggle is one evidence of God's work in our lives. Forgiveness of sin is available, so don't despair. Remember, dead ducks don't flutter. Dennis De Haan
There is a book named "The Last Scalp Dance", after reading it, yes, I would shoot myself instead of being captured by the Indians. They were just as busy killing each other as we were killing them. They were a very cruel culture and the whole thing was just basically a clash of cultures. If they had had superior weapons and a superior military society, things would have gone the other way. It always happens regardless of what is right or wrong.
C-46 at Point Magu NAS
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on December 01:
1566 Philip earl of Nassau-Dillenburg, Governor of Fort Gorinchem/Nijmegen
1634 John-Erasmus Quellinus [Quellien] Flemish painter
1671 Francesco Stradivari Italian violin maker/son of Antonius
1671 John Keill mathematician
1726 Eggert Olafsson Icelandic writer
1726 Oliver Wolcott US judge/signer (Declaration of Independence)
1729 Giuseppe Sarti composer
1743 Martin H Klaproth German chemist (uranium)
1779 Pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov composer
1823 Ernest Reyer composer
1826 William Mahone Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1895
1832 Archibald Gracie Jr Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1835 Micah Jenkins Brigadier-General (Led Hoods Division at Chickamauga), died in 1864
1844 Alexandra Danish princess/Queen of Great Britain/Ireland
1850 Peter Erasmus Lange-Muller composer
1873 Charles JM Ruys de Beerenbrouck premier of Netherlands (1918-25, 29-33)
1878 Arthur B Spingarn US NAACP-chairman (1940-65)
1886 Rex Stout mystery writer (Nero Wolf)
1898 Cyril Ritchard Sydney Australia, actor (Peter Pan, Hans Brinker)
1899 Robert Welch found John Birch Society
1902 Morris "Red" Badgro Washington, NFL hall of famer (Yankees, Giants, Dodgers)
1904 W A "Tony" Boyle United Mine Workers president
1905 Charles Finney US, author (Circus of Dr Lao)
1911 Walter Alston baseball manager (Dodgers)
1911 Wim van Nuland [Willem C Möhlmann] Dutch priest/writer (Doorstep)
1912 Minoru Yamasaki architect (World Trade Center, New York)
1912 Terence Beckles pianist/teacher
1913 Mary Martin Weatherford TX, actress (Peter Pan) Larry Hagman's mom
1917 William Tracy Pittsburgh PA, actor (To the Shores of Tripoli)
1918 Kirby Laing English contractor/multi-millionaire
1919 Anne Cox Chambers Dayton OH, US ambassador to Belgium (1977-81)
1919 Ike Isaacs guitarist
1921 Ralph Manza San Francisco CA, actor (Banacek, Mama Malone, Newhart)
1922 Paul Picerni New York NY, actor (Agent Lee Hobson-Untouchables)
1923 Stansfield Turner CIA director
1926 Keith Michell Adelaide Australia, actor (6 Wives of Henry VIII)
1926 Robert Symonds Bristow OK, actor (Robert E Lee-Blue & Gray)
1929 Dick Shawn Buffalo NY, actor (Producers, Maid to Order, Angel)
1932 Robert T Herres Denver CO, USAF/astronaut
1934 Billy Paul Philadelphia PA, singer (Me & Mrs Jones)
1935 Woody Allen [Allen Stuart Konigsberg] Brooklyn (Zelig Annie Hall)
1935 Lou Rawls Chicago IL, vocalist (Dean Martin's Golddigers, Natural Man)
1938 Sandy Nelson Santa Monica CA, 50s rocker (Teen Beat, All Night Long)
1939 Lee [Buck] Trevino Dallas TX, PGA golfer (US Open 1968, 71)
1940 Richard Pryor Illinois, comedian/actor (Lady Sings the Blues, Stir Crazy)
1942 Peter Kalikow Queens NY, real estate developer/publisher (New York Post)
1942 John Crowley US, sci-fi author (Deep, Beasts, Novelty)
1944 John Densmore Los Angeles CA, drummer (Doors-Light My Fire)
1945 Bette Midler Aiea HI, singer (Wind Beneath My Wings, Do You Want to Dance?)/actress (Beaches, First Wives Club)
1946 Gilbert O'Sullivan Ireland, singer (Alone Again Naturally)
1946 Ho-Jun Li Korea People's Republic, rifle (Olympics-gold-1972)
1949 Pablo Escobar Gaviria Colombian drug baron
1950 Richard Keith Lafayette LA, actor (Little Ricky-I Love Lucy)
1951 Alexander Panayotov Aleksandrov Bulgaria, cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-5)
1951 Eric Bloom rock vocalist/guitarist (Blue Oyster Cult)
1951 Jaco Pastorius US jazz guitarist (Weather Report-Word of Mouth)
1958 Charlene Tilton San Diego CA, actress (Lucy Ewing-Dallas)
1966 Steve Walsh NFL quarterback (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints)
1967 Reggie Sanders Florence SC, outfielder (Cincinnati Reds)
1968 Anders Holmertz Swedendish free style swimmer (world record 400 meter)
1970 Todd Steussie NFL guard/tackle (Minnesota Vikings)
1972 Andre Royal linebacker (Carolina Panthers)
1975 Alya Rohali Miss Universe-Indonesia (1996)
1976 Konerak Sinthasomphone Milwaukee WI, Jeffrey Dahmer's victim
bmp
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