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"I just read in an Indian depredation claim I copied from the National Archives last summer that Black Kettle was understood by everyone in 1868 as being a spy for the raiding Indians. He would profess peace and all the time he was gathering information he would later share with the Dog Soldiers to assist them in their raids, etc." Dr. Jeff Broome, author of the very important book "Dog Soldier Justice", the most accurate depiction of the Indian massacres of 1868 "Some of the raiders came from Black Kettle's camp. As was the case on numerous previous occasions, his...

THE BATTLE OF THE WASHITA (November 27, 1868, Indian territory - modern-day Oklahoma) Gregory F. Michno, ENCYCLOPEDIA of Indian Wars 1850-1890, pages 226-227 "On November 12, 1868 , 11 companies of the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George A. Custer, 3 companies of the 3rd Infantry, 1 of the 5th Infantry, 1 of the 38th Infantry, and about 450 wagons set out from Fort Dodgefor Indian territory to seek out hostile Indians. Across a snow-covered landscape Custer followed Indian trails to a 50-lodge Cheyenne village on the banks of the Washita River. Early on the frigid morning of 27 November,...

Governor Darrell Flyingman of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma put things in realistic perspective when he arose to speak. He talked about the thousands of acres of land either ceded or stolen by hook and crook from the people of his nation over the years (in Oklahoma). He said, "I consider this to be a site of a massacre (Washita battlefield, OH) and not a battlefield as it is named and I will do everything within my power to see that the site is renamed as the Washita Massacre rather than Battlefield. Gov. Flyingman said that he felt...

Frederick William Benteen Brigadier General, United States Army Born at Petersburg, Virginia, on August 24, 1834, he was a career Army officer who distinguished himself in the Civil War. He was with the Seventh United States Cavalry, under the command of Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, at the Battle of the Big Horn in June 1876. His was one of the columns that Custer split, his being sent on another route to the Indian encampment, thus sparing he and his command. After hard fighting with the Indians who had destroyed Custer, and after suffering many casualties, the Indians retreated...

The Battle of the Washita. BEFORE proceeding to narrate the incidents of the pursuit which led us to the battle of the Washita I will refer to the completion of our hasty preparations to detach ourselves from the encumbrance of our immense wagon train. In the last chapter it has been seen that the train was to be left behind under the protection of an officer and eighty cavalrymen, with orders to push after us, following our trail in the snow as rapidly as the teams could move. Where or when it would again join us no one could foretell;...

The following story is from the book, Carbine & Lance, The Story of Old Fort Sill, by Colonel W. S. Nye; Copyright © 1937 by the University of Oklahoma Press. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Early in November Custer's Seventh Cavalry was ready to march south against the hostile Indians. The Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, not being fully mobilized, was ordered to join Custer later, at the junction of Wolf Creek and Beaver Creek, in the northern part of Indian Territory. This was where General Sully's recent expedition had turned back from its pursuit of the Cheyennes. General Sheridan...