The Powder River Country, northeast of the Bighorn Mountains and south of the Yellowstone River, is shown in red in the western United States

'Red Cloud's War' (also referred to as the Bozeman War or the Powder River War) was an armed conflict between the Lakota and the United States in the Wyoming Territory and the Montana Territory from 1866 to 1868. Lakota or Lakotah may refer to Lakota people, a Native American tribe Lakota language, the language of the Lakota The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Territory of Wyoming was an organized territory of the United States that existed from 1868 until its admission to the Union as the State of Wyoming The The war was fought over control of the Powder River Country in north central Wyoming, which lay along the Bozeman Trail, a primary access route to the Montana gold fields. The Powder River Country refers to an area of the Great Plains in northeastern Wyoming in the United States. The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. The Bozeman Trail was an overland route connecting the Oregon Trail to the gold rush territory of Montana. Montana ( is a state in the Western United States. One-third of the state in the western part contains numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named of the northern Gold (ˈɡoʊld is a Chemical element with the symbol Au (from its Latin name aurum) and Atomic number 79

The war is named after Red Cloud, a prominent chief of Oglala Lakota Sioux who led the war against the United States following encroachment into the area by the U.S. military. Red Cloud ( Lakota: Makhpiya Luta) (1822? &ndash December 10, 1909) was a war leader of the Oglala Lakota ( Sioux The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. The war, which ended with the Treaty of Fort Laramie, resulted in a complete victory for the Lakota and the temporary preservation of their control of the Powder River country. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (also called the Sioux Treaty of 1868) was an agreement between the United States and the Lakota nation Yanktonai ^[1]

Background

The discovery of gold in 1863 in the area of Bannack, Montana, created an incentive for white settlers to find an economical route to reach the gold fields. Bannack is a Ghost town in Beaverhead County, Montana, United States. While some emigrants went to Salt Lake City and then north to Montana, pioneer John Bozeman is credited with discovering the Bozeman Trail from Fort Laramie north through the Powder River country east of the Bighorn Mountains to the Yellowstone, then westward over what is now Bozeman Pass. Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U John M Bozeman (1835&ndashApril 20 1867 was born in Pickens County Georgia. Fort Laramie National Historic Site, located in present-day Goshen County, Wyoming The Big Horn Mountains are a Mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a northwest-trending Bozeman Pass (el 1743 m/5819 ft is a Mountain pass situated approximately 13 miles east of the town of Bozeman Montana and just west of the The trail passed through the Powder River hunting grounds of the Lakota or Western Sioux. The Lakota (laˈkˣota (also Teton, Tetonwan) are a Native American tribe Sioux (pronounced SUE are a Native American and First Nations people A second trail, the Bridger Trail, passed west of the Bighorns but was longer and therefore less favored. The Bridger Trail was an overland route connecting the Oregon Trail to the gold fields of Montana.

The Powder River country encompasses the numerous rivers (the Bighorn, Rosebud, Tongue and Powder) that flow northeastward from the Bighorn Mountains to the Yellowstone. The Bighorn River is a Tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 mi (742 km long in the western United States in the states of Wyoming The Tongue River is a Tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 265 mi (426 km long in the U The Powder River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long in the southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming in the United As more of the northern plains was occupied by white settlement, this region became the last unspoiled hunting ground of the various bands of the Lakota.

In 1865, Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge ordered the Powder River Expedition against the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho. Major General or Major-General is a Military rank used in many countries Grenville Mellen Dodge ( April 12 1831 &ndash January 3 1916) was a Union army officer on the Frontier and during the The Powder River Expedition may refer to either of two 19th Century military expeditions by the U Lakota or Lakotah may refer to Lakota people, a Native American tribe Lakota language, the language of the Lakota Cheyenne are a Native American nation of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taa'e (more commonly The Arapaho (in French: Gens de Vache) tribe of Native Americans historically living on the eastern plains of Colorado and Wyoming Troops commanded by Patrick E. Connor defeated the Arapaho at the Battle of the Tongue River. Patrick Edward Connor ( March 17, 1820 &ndash December 17, 1891) was a Union General during the American Civil War The Battle of the Tongue River sometimes referred to as the Connor Battle was the major engagement of the Powder River Expedition which destroyed the Arapaho The battle wrecked the Arapaho ability to wage war on the Bozeman Trail, but the expedition was unable to bring the Lakota to battle, and served as a forerunner for further conflicts.

Council at Fort Laramie

In late spring 1866, a council between the Lakota and the U. Lakota or Lakotah may refer to Lakota people, a Native American tribe Lakota language, the language of the Lakota S. government was called at Fort Laramie to discuss a treaty to obtain a right of way through the Powder River country and the establishment of military posts to protect the road. While the conference was in session, Col. Henry B. Carrington, commanding the 18th Infantry, arrived at Laramie with the two battalions of that regiment (approximately 1,300 men in 16 companies) and construction supplies. Colonel ( RP ˈkɜnəl GA ˈkɜrnəl is a Military rank of a Commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country Henry Beebee Carrington ( March 2, 1824 &ndash October 26, 1912) was a lawyer professor prolific author and an officer in the United The 18th Infantry Regiment is a Mechanized infantry Regiment assigned to the 1st Infantry Division. He had orders to establish forts in the Powder River country using the 2nd Battalion of the 18th Infantry, while the 3rd Battalion garrisoned posts along the old Oregon Trail, now the Platte road. Pioneers traveled across the Oregon Trail, one of the main overland migration routes on the North American Continent, in wagons in order to settle new parts of the Carrington chose the 2nd Battalion because, during its reconstitution after the Civil War, all of its veteran soldiers (numbering 220) had been consolidated into that battalion.

The U. S. peace commission had bargained in bad faith with the Lakota by offering them annuities to alleviate near-starvation but deliberately keeping from them the plan to build forts along the Bozeman Trail. Red Cloud, who was present at the council, was outraged that the army was bringing in troops before the Lakota had agreed to a military road through the area. Eventually, Red Cloud and his followers left the council promising resistance to any whites who sought to use the trail or occupy the Powder River country.

War

Despite these warnings, Colonel Carrington marched into the Powder River country with 750 men (500 of them untrained recruits) and approximately 200 cavalry mounts he received from the 7th Iowa Cavalry and 13th Nebraska Cavalry, both newly mustered out of service. He restored Fort Reno, leaving two companies there to relieve the two companies of the 5th U. Fort Reno (also known as Fort Connor or Old Fort Reno) was a wooden Fort constructed in 1865 by the United States Army on the S. Volunteers ("Galvanized Yankees") that had garrisoned the fort over the winter. Galvanized Yankees was a term from the American Civil War used to refer to former Confederate prisoners of war who had sworn allegiance to the Union He then proceeded north and founded Fort Phil Kearny on Piney Creek in what is now northwest Wyoming. Fort Phil Kearny was an outpost of the United States Army that existed in the late 1860s in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail From there two companies of the 18th advanced 91 miles to the northwest to establish a third post, Fort C. F. Smith, on the Bighorn River on August 13. For the installation which served as part of the defense of Washington D

A coalition of various bands of Lakota, Northern Cheyennes and Arapahos under the leadership of Red Cloud invested the troops at both Forts Phil Kearny and C. F. Smith. The Indians effectively closed travel on the Bozeman Trail. Wood parties, mail carriers, emigrants and traders became the regular targets of Indian resistance. Although 175 troops were assigned at both Forts Reno and C. F. Smith, and 400 at Fort Phil Kearny, they were largely untrained. Carrington had only sufficient manpower to protect his posts and supply trains, and was unable to provide escorts on the trail or to engage in aggressive operations.

Carrington was an engineer and political appointee, not experienced in combat. He spent a great deal of energy building his fortifications rather than fighting Indians. This was due in part to his arrival in the region in mid-July. Given the severity of the Wyoming winters, this strategy was not unreasonable, but it infuriated many of his junior officers. Most of these officers were Civil War veterans unfamiliar with Indian fighting who believed the Lakota could be easily defeated and viewed Carrington's apparent unwillingness to fight Indians as a form of cowardice. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South On the other hand, Carrington respected the fighting capacity of his foe, their better knowledge of the terrain, and their vastly superior numbers.

Attacks on the wood train

In November 1866, Captains William J. Fetterman and James Powell arrived at Fort Phil Kearny from the 18th Infantry's headquarters garrison at Fort Laramie to replace several officers recently relieved of duty. William Judd Fetterman ( 1833? &ndash December 21, 1866) was an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War and Unlike Carrington, Fetterman had extensive combat experience during the Civil War, but no experience fighting Indians. Fetterman disagreed with Colonel Carrington's strategy; it is said that he considered it "passive" and allegedly boasted that, given "80 men," he "would ride through the Sioux nation," although the veracity of this statement is apparently more anecdotal than actual. Victory disease afflicts Military commanders and armies who after victories become weak and susceptible to defeat.

On December 6, Second Lieutenant Horace S. Events 1060 - Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev Second Lieutenant is the lowest commissioned officer Military rank in many Armed forces. Bingham, commanding Company C, 2nd Cavalry, was killed by Indians while driving off a force that had attacked a wood train, then fled over Lodge Trail Ridge. The 2nd Cavalry Regiment ( 2CR) is a military unit within the United States Army. Carrington worried about the propensity of his officers to blindly follow Indian decoy parties; Fetterman was further outraged by what he considered the ineffectiveness of Carrington's leadership, especially in light of orders from the commander of the Department of the Platte, Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, to mount an aggressive winter campaign. Philip St George Cooke ( June 13, 1809 &ndash March 20, 1895) was a career United States Army Cavalry officer who served

The battle near Fort Philip Kearney, Dakota Territory, December 21, 1866.

On December 21, 1866, the wood train was attacked again at approximately 11:00 a. Events 69 - The end of the Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common m. A relief party composed of 49 infantrymen of the 18th Infantry and 27 mounted troopers of the 2nd Cavalry was ordered to relieve the wood train. Captain James Powell, who had led a similar effort two days earlier and declined to pursue over the ridge, was according to Carrington's report, directed to command the force, but Fetterman, claiming seniority by being a brevet lieutenant colonel to Powell's brevet major, asked for and was given command of the relief party. Powell remained behind. Another officer of the 18th and a vocal critic of Carrington, Lt. George W. Grummond, led the cavalry, leaderless after the death of Lt. Bingham.

Colonel Carrington also stated he ordered Fetterman not to cross Lodge Trail Ridge, where relief from the fort would be difficult. Fetterman was joined by Captain Frederick Brown, until recently the post quartermaster and another of Carrington's critics. Carrington stated he told Grummond (the cavalry had to retrieve its mounts before it could follow the infantrymen) to remind Fetterman of his order not to cross over Lodge Trail Ridge. The relief party numbered 79 officers and men. Two civilians, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, joined Fetterman and brought the total force up to 81 men. Instead of marching down the wood road to the relief of the wood train, Fetterman turned north and crossed the Sullivant Hills toward Lodge Trail Ridge.

Fetterman massacre (Battle of the Hundred Slain)

Within a few minutes of their departure, a Lakota decoy party which included the Oglala warrior Crazy Horse, appeared on Lodge Trail Ridge. Crazy Horse ( Lakota: Thašuŋka Witko, literally "His-Horse-is-Crazy" (ca This bait was too tempting to Fetterman, especially since several of the decoys stood upon their ponies and insultingly waggled their bare buttocks at the troopers. Fetterman and his company were joined by Grummond at the crossing of the creek, deployed in skirmish line and marched over the Ridge in pursuit, and down into the Peno Valley where an estimated 1,000-3,000 Indians were concealed in the location where they had fought the soldiers on December 6.

At approximately noon, gunfire broke out, beginning with a few shots followed immediately by sustained firing. The ambush was not observed, but evidence indicated that the cavalry likely charged the Indians, since their most advanced group was nearly a mile down the ridge beyond the infantry. When the trap was sprung, there was no avenue of escape and no survivors.

Evidence from the burial party sent to collect the remains showed that the soldiers had died in three groups. The most advanced and probably the most effective were the two civilians, armed with 16-shot Henry repeating rifles, and a small number of cavalrymen who had dismounted and taken cover in the rocks. The Henry repeating rifle is a Lever-action, Tubular magazine Breech-loading Rifle. Up slope from them were the bodies of most of the retreating cavalrymen, armed with new 7-shot Spencer carbines, but encumbered by their horses and without cover. The Spencer repeating rifle was a manually operated Lever-action, Repeating rifle fed from a tube magazine with cartridges Further up slope were Fetterman, Brown and the infantrymen, armed with obsolete Civil War muzzle-loading rifled-muskets. A muzzleloader is any Firearm into which the projectile and usually the Propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the Gun (i These soldiers fought from cover for a short while, until their ammunition ran out and they were overrun.

Carrington heard the commencement of gunfire and immediately sent out a 40-man support force on foot under Captain Ten Eyck. Shortly after, the 30 remaining cavalrymen of Company C were sent dismounted to reinforce Ten Eyck, followed by two wagons, the first loaded with hastily-loaded ammunition and escorted by another 40 men. (Carrington called for an immediate muster of troops to defend the post; including the wood train detail, all the detachments had left only 119 troops remaining in the fort. ) However, Ten Eyck took a roundabout route and reached the ridgetop just as the firing ceased at about 12:45 p. m. He sent back a message reporting that he could not see Fetterman's force, but that the valley was filled with groups of Indians taunting him to come down. Ten Eyck suffered severe criticism for not marching straight to the sound of the battle. His force reached and recovered the bodies of Fetterman's troops, but because of the continuing threat of annihilation, those of the cavalry were not recovered for two days.

Carrington's official report claimed that Fetterman and Brown shot each other to avoid capture, though Army autopsies recorded Fetterman's death wound as a knife slash, with no gunshot wounds. It remains a subject of debate. Severe mutilations were committed upon the bodies of nearly all the soldiers and were widely publicized by the newspapers. The only body left untouched was that of a young bugler, Adolph Metzler, who was believed to have fought several Indians with only his bugle. "Bugler" redirects here For the tobacco brand see Bugler (tobacco. His body was left untouched and covered in a buffalo robe by the Indians. The American bison ( Bison bison) is a Bovine Mammal, also commonly known as the American buffalo. The reason for this act remains unknown, though it could have been a tribute to his bravery. The battle, named the Battle of the Hundred Slain by the Indians and the Fetterman Massacre by the soldiers, was the worst army defeat on the Great Plains until the disaster on the Little Big Horn ten years later. The Great Plains are the broad expanse of Prairie and Steppe which lie east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada The Battle of the Little Bighorn &mdashalso known as Custer's Last Stand, and in the parlance of the relevant Native Americans, the Battle of the Greasy Grass

Fort Phil Kearny prepared for a last stand that never came. Colonel Carrington was unfairly held solely responsible for the defeat and was relieved of his command on December 26, 1866, (the relief had been planned anyway with the conversion of the 2nd Battalion to the 27th Infantry, but Cooke ordered it immediately to make the point). Events 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht. Year 1866 ( MDCCCLXVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common General Ulysses S. Grant, commanding the U. Ulysses S Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant (April 27 1822 &ndash July 23 1885 was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States S. Army, was not inclined to place sole blame on Carrington and in turn relieved Cooke on January 9, 1867. Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. Year 1867 ( MDCCCLXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting

Two investigations, an Army court of inquiry and one by the Secretary of the Interior, were conducted. The Army's reached no official conclusion and the Interior's exonerated Carrington. After a severe hip injury, Carrington resigned his commission in 1870. He spent the rest of his life defending his actions and condemning Fetterman's alleged disobediance. The shock of the Fetterman defeat resulted in calls for a reassessment of the government's Indian policy. Ultimately Carrington's views came to be the most widely accepted, placing most of the culpability on recklessness by Fetterman. However, Carrington, a political appointee without combat experience, could have recalled Fetterman before the ambush took place, able to observe from the fort that the attack on the wood train broke off around 11:30. Also in mitigation, Fetterman may have felt he had no choice but to support Grummond if in fact it was the cavalry that violated Carrington's orders, as Grummond's record during the Civil War indicates was likely.

It is believed that Red Cloud was not present during the Fetterman battle, but he certainly was the inspirational leader in the same way that Sitting Bull would be for the Great Sioux War in 1876. Sitting Bull ( Lakota: Tȟatȟaŋka Iyotȟaŋka or Ta-Tanka I-Yotank, also nicknamed Slon-he or "Slow" Ca The Black Hills War (also known as the Great Sioux War or Little Big Horn Campaign) was a series of conflicts between the Lakota ( Sioux) He was possibly present on August 2, 1867, for the Wagon Box Fight near Fort Phil Kearny, where a small army detachment held off more than a thousand Lakota for five hours with new breech-loading rifles. The Wagon Box Fight was an engagement on August 2, 1867, during Red Cloud's War between the U The Army experienced a similar success in the Hayfield Fight the previous day. The Hayfield Fight was an engagement of Red Cloud's War on August 1 1867 between troops of the U

Treaty of Fort Laramie

While the army had been constantly demanding that Colonel Carrington take offensive action against the Indians, his successor at Fort Kearny, General Wessels, never launched a major offensive against the Indians. By late summer 1867, despite successes against the Sioux in the Hayfield Fight and the Wagon Box Fight, the government decided that the transcontinental railroad then pushing through southwestern Wyoming toward Salt Lake City, and the use of the Bridger Trail, were better alternatives than trying to maintain an expensive and unproductive military presence in the Powder River country. The Hayfield Fight was an engagement of Red Cloud's War on August 1 1867 between troops of the U The Wagon Box Fight was an engagement on August 2, 1867, during Red Cloud's War between the U Transcontinental Railroad is a Railroad that crosses a Continent from "coast-to-coast" Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U

Peace commissioners were sent to Fort Laramie in the spring of 1868. Red Cloud refused to meet with these individuals until the Powder River strongholds, Forts Phil Kearny and C. F. Smith, were abandoned. In August 1868, Federal soldiers abandoned these forts and proceeded on toward Fort Laramie.

Red Cloud did not arrive at Fort Laramie until November. He signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868 which created the Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills. The Great Sioux Reservation was established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and includes all of modern Western South Dakota (commonly known as "West The Black Hills ( Pahá Sápa in Lakota, Moˀȯhta-voˀhonáaeva in Cheyenne) are a small isolated Mountain range rising from the The reservation covered what is now all of western South Dakota. South Dakota ( is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. In addition, the Powder River country was declared to be Unceded territory as a reserve for Lakota who chose not to live on the new reservation and as a hunting reserve for all the Lakota. Unceded territory refers to land in North America that was never ceded to a government entity by the Indigenous peoples ( Aboriginal peoples in Canada and

Aftermath

Red Cloud became the only Indian leader to win a major war against the United States. But he was more than merely a great war leader - when the inevitable happened, and the limitless numbers and technology of the United States overwhelmed the Sioux, Red Cloud adapted to fighting the Indian Bureau for fair treatment for his people. His famous statement about treaties best sums up his attitude towards the word of the people negotiating with him: "I have listened patiently to the promises of the Great Father, but his memory is short. I am now done with him. This is all I have to say. "

After 1868, he lived on the reservation and became an important leader of the Lakota as they transitioned from the freedom of the plains to the confinement of the reservation system. He outlived all the major Sioux leaders of the Indian wars and died in 1909 on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where he is buried. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( Oglala Oyanke in Lakota, also called Pine Ridge Agency) is an

Fetterman, Brown and the rest of the soldiers killed in 1866 are buried in the U.S. National Cemetery at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, near Crow Agency, Montana. 4 Fort Snelling Looking SouthwestJPG|thumb|200px| Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis Minnesota]]" United States National Cemetery " is a designation for 139 Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the site of the June 25, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn, near Crow Agency Montana Crow Agency is a Census-designated place (CDP in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little

References

1. ^ *Brown, Dee (1970). Dee Brown may refer to;Basketball Dee Brown (basketball born 1968, American basketball player coach & commentator played at Jacksonville University and Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, ch. This article is about the 1970 book by Dee Brown For the 2007 film of the same name see Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film. 6. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-5531-1979-6.  

External links

• National Park Service: War Shirt worn by Red Cloud
• Treaty of Fort Laramie