Whose “our”? Aren’t the Native Americans also Americans? Aren’t they also “our” people?
The US Army was engaged in genocidal wars of aggression against the Plains Indians. They often showed no mercy and did not hesitate to massacre women and children and the elderly. Their generals openly sanctioned these war crimes.
What did anybody expect when the Indians got the upper hand in a battle after the US Army had acted like that? How would you react in their place?
“Aren’t the Native Americans also Americans? Aren’t they also “our” people?”
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on June 2, 1924, granted U.S. citizenship to all Native American Indians. Up until that law was passed by Congress the Native American nations were legally foreign powers within the borders of the USA.
This is amazing stuff, I feel like I’m on a leftwing college campus.
Gen Grant was responding to his electorate. He was not keen on killing Indians—but relented to force them to mostly worthless reservations. Rather than being angry, I am sympathetic to all participants. Corrupt US Indian reps had as much to do with this as the broken agreements repeated over and over. Sometimes the natives were just savage, as were the people in the army that sometimes massacred the innocent.
The 7th was, from my reading, rather unprepared. Little training, many unable to speak english. A hodgepodge of participants.
Many lessons, mostly unlearned that reappear frequently. Just this life that is our curse from time to time.