USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 74
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 74
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 74
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The single company left at Fort Laramie was in 1852 reduced to twenty-five able men. An attempt was made by Lieutenant Fleming with twenty-three men to arrest an Indian who had fired on a sergeant in charge of the ferry over Laramie river.4 He went to the village of the band, halted his command and sent an interpreter to inform the chief of the nature of his errand, who being absent, the young braves declared for war, sooner than submit to arrest. Flaming advanced with five men, leaving the rest in reserve. Shots were exchanged, four Indians killed, and two captured. This ended the encounter for this occasion.
The following year brought matters to a crisis. A Mormon emigrant complained at the fort that one of the band of Wahsahshe Sioux, who sustained but a bad character, had killed, and caused to be eaten, one of his cows. Fleming sent Lieutenant Grattan, a young Vermonter, late from West Point, to take the offender in charge, an errand of so delicate a nature that only a mature and discreet officer should have been entrusted with it. There had been no attempt
3 Cochran, Hist. Fort Laramie, MS., 34-5.
4The first bridge over the Laramie was built in 1849 by private persons who collected toll. It was used only during the season of high water, which lasted three months. In 1850 more than 40,000 head of cattle crossed it. In 1853 it was swept away, and a flatboat ferry substituted for 4 or 5 years. A new bridge was erected in 1857, and removed in 1870 half a mile up stream. This was afterward swept away.
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on the part of the Indians to conceal the act, which Bear, the head chief, had himself reported at the post, but apologized for the rascal, saying he had shot the cow in a fit of anger at his lack of success in hunt- ing, and after it was killed it might as well be eaten.
It would not do, however, to establish such a prece- dent, and Grattan was ordered to take twenty-eight men and two howitzers, the Indians being numerous and well armed, and bring this Indian to the fort. He proceeded to the camp of Bear, nine miles away, and finding strenuous objections offered to the arrest, and that the Indians were attempting with sullen and angry demeanor to surround him, ordered a volley to be fired. The chief fell mortally wounded, and one of his braves was killed. Immediately the Indians returned the fire Grattan ordered the cannon dis- charged, but being too elevated they inflicted no injury on the enemy. In another moment the com- mand was closely hemmed in by enraged savages, and soon all lay dead and mutilated, except one man, who escaped in a dying condition to the fort, unable to give an intelligent account of the battle.5
Thus perished the greater part of the garrison of Fort Laramie in the summer of 1854, which was the commencement of a long and costly war with the Sioux.
Having achieved this victory over the soldiers the Indians proceeded to the trading-houses of James Bordeaux and P. Chateau, Jr, and Co., both of which they robbed, the inmates with difficulty escaping from their fury. On the following day, however, the Indians moved off toward the Black hills, and going east put themselves in communication with the Yanc- tonnais and other bands of Sioux in that direction, which they stirred up to make war on the white peo- ple, it being their openly avowed intention to let no white man escape.
5 Carlin, Experiences in Wyoming, MS., 2-3; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1854, 88; Cochran's Hist. Fort Laramie, MS., 36.
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Measures were taken at the war department to punish the participators in the Grattan defeat, but owing to the lateness of the season nothing more was done that year than to strengthen the garrison at Laramie with three companies of the 6th infantry under Major William Hoffman, who assumed the command. In the spring of 1856, it was further reënforced, but there being no cavalry at the post little could be done except to defend certain fixed points. During the spring the Sioux captured all the mules belonging to the quartermaster's department, which the infantry did not and could not recover. At the same time the Sioux were carrying out their threats, murdering mail carriers,6 and continuing hos- tilities, and General Harney with 1,500 troops marched up the Platte, striking a village of Brulé Sioux under Little Thunder at Ash Hollow, 100 miles southeast of Laramie, September 3d, killing many women and children and a few warriors." Harney marched to Fort Laramie, and then to Fort Pierre, where in the spring of 1856 he held a peace council with all the Sioux bands, in which various promises were made on both sides, which were afterward forgotten or repu- diated. They served only to secure a temporary truce during which the belligerents became somewhat bet- ter acquainted with each other. Fort Randall was also established this year by order of General Harney in the Yankton country to watch the movements of the Sioux.
6 Cochran's Hist. Fort Laramic, MS., 41. It became necessary to send escorts with them, who met midway between Kearny and Laramie. In 1856 this guard consisted of an officer and 20 men, who were from 15 to 20 days en route. The mail contractors sometimes failed in the winter to go through from Independence to Salt Lake, and if there was news of any im- portance a military express carried it. Prices for transportation were so high that army pay could hardly be made to meet expenses. Commissary whisky was among the indispensables. The government limited the amount issued to an officer monthly to 2 gallons. Soldiers suffered with scurvy. An attempt at gardening was made in 1851, which failed through lack of water. A hospital was erected in 1856, which was enlarged in 1868, and served until 1872, when the fort was rebuilt. There was a sawmill at Lara- mie peak belonging to the post quarter-master in 1856.
7 Carlin's Experiences in Wyoming, MS., 4.
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WYOMING.
Meantime the Cheyennes were giving employment to the garrisons of the only two posts between the Missouri and the Rocky mountains. They were bad enough, no doubt, before they were furnished with an incentive to worse things by an indiscreet military power. At the upper Platte bridge, 126 miles north of Laramie, was stationed a company of infantry to prevent the natives from burning it. The officer in command, now a brevet major-general, ordered the arrest of three Cheyennes whom he suspected of wrongfully retaining one of four American horses which they had in their possession, three of which had been given up. The Indians attempted to escape, and being shot at by the guard, one was killed, one ran away, and the third remained a prisoner in irons for many months. The second night after, a white man was killed near Fort Laramie, and soon the Cheyennes of the North Platte left that agency and joined the southern Cheyennes, who were committing depredations on the travelled routes across the plains.
A residence at Fort Laramie in 1856-7 was the opposite of agreeable. To tramp along the roads in summer, and be cut off from all communication with the world through the winter months in poor quarters was the sum of it. A reward was offered for sharp- shooting which gave the men something to do, and improved the efficiency of the riflemen. The offi- cers discussed the presidential campaign, the result of which was not known to them until April follow- ing the election. They read, played cards, and con- sumed their allowance of liquor. Think of the excitement of receiving the first mail after nearly six months of imprisonment in midcontinent, and thank God and nature for steam and electricity.
In the summer of 1857 an expedition against the Cheyennes was organized partly from Leavenworth and partly from Laramie, under Colonel E. V. Sum- ner, of the 1st dragoons, who had his camp near old Fort St Vrain on the south Platte. In July he
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INDIAN WARS.
marched to the Smoky Hill branch of Kansas river, where he met the Cheyennes near a small lake which they deemed enchanted, so that if they dipped their hands in the water they became invulnerable. Under this belief they met the troops with the firmness of faith, advancing steadily and in order, chanting their war song, and looking for divine interposition as much as ever did the heroes of Homer. But when the order was given to the dragoons to charge with sabres, their confidence deserted them, and they fled in the utmost terror. They lost nine of their principal warriors on the field, and a number died of their wounds in flight. Sumner then marched to Bent's fort on the Arkansas, to the relief of Indian-agent Miller, who was at that place with the annuity goods and no protection. He ordered the ammunition destroyed, the arms and goods packed in wagons to be carried out of the Cheyenne country, and the subsistence stores turned over to the commissary, that nothing might be left which could be of use to the enemy. This was accomplished only in time to prevent the killing of the few persons at Fort Bent, and the spoliation of its contents, as the Arapahoes informed the agent would have been effected the night following, but for Sumner's arrival.
The effect of Sumner's expedition was to intimidate the Cheyennes, who did not at once recover from the stroke. Late in September Major Lynde arrived at Fort Laramie with two companies of the seventh in- fantry en route to Utah, but which, owing to the belief that the troops could not get through the moun- tain passes before they were closed by snows, went into winter quarters at this post, Hoffman leaving for Leavenworth with three hundred men of the sixth, and Lynde taking the command. In the summer of 1858 he was joined by four companies of his regiment, with headquarters, staff, and band, all leaving Laramie in August for Utah.8 Different companies were pre-
8 Major John Sedgwick was in command. The Mormon difficulty had been settled before he reached Pacific springs, where he was turned back to
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WYOMING.
viously encamped, some at Muddy springs, and some on the South Platte, this display of force being not without its influence in keeping the Indians quiet. The garrison at Laramie was now composed of a por- tion of the tenth infantry, and two companies of the second dragoons, whose principal duty was to furnish escorts.
The immigration to Colorado which began in 1858 was a new element in the problem of peaceful relations with the Indians. The uneasiness occasioned by this unexpected migration to territory claimed by the Arapahoes and Cheyennes led to the resumption of hostilities on the plains. In 1860 Sedgwick was in the field pursuing these savages, and Bent's fort on the Arkansas was occupied by a garrison of United States troops, as I have already related in my account of the Indian wars of Colorado. When the regular troops were called away to fight in the struggle of the government against disunion, volunteers were sent to garrison forts and protect travel. The first volun- teers at Laramie were two troops of the 4th Iowa cavalry, one of the 6th Ohio cavalry, and one of the 8th Kansas infantry. Changes were frequent in gar- risons. The 1st Ohio cavalry, independent battalion, commanded by Thomas L. Mackey, the 11th Ohio cavalry, under Colonel Collins, the 7th Iowa, and the 6th Michigan cavalry were at different times stationed at Fort Laramie.
The Indians were not slow to perceive that the government was embarrassed by the civil war, nor loath to take advantage of its temporary disablement; hence the onslaught of 1862 in Minnesota, and the general uprising which followed, extending to the Rocky mountains, and even to the shores of the Co- lumbia. Wyoming being still unsettled suffered only
Fort Riley. This post, located at the junction of the two forks of the Kansas river, in 1852, was first called Camp Centre, from its geographical position, but afterward named in honor of Gen. B. C. Riley.
ilation, attacks opon travel-
Ders, the cobbe lw trains and occasional mur-
ders, the war being che carried on east of the forks
of the Planta where bootr was richest. being
Deri trams and merchant supplies for Colo- rado and New Mexico. In 1863 Fort Halleck was established a Emle west of the Medicine Bow moun- taime, co the route of the overland mail. The year
1854 was one of the bloodiest of that period. General
Alfred Sully bad made an expedition into the Sioux commiry vis the Missouri with three thousand troops. Laving to Eghi the entire Sioux native of 15,000 at
Deer Stand, where their loss was 585 in one day. Sully's loss being slight. In the Bad lands he bad another baande. killing twelve of the Indians at the crossing of the Limle Missouri. For three days enfer be bod a marching fight. the Indians en- Lim so botly to prevent bis coming on their principal camp, which was in his route. At the end of the three dars ther disappeared, and went south toward the Black bila and when Sally came upon ir viage be found in desemed. He burned it. and ashed co to For Unire, returning to Sioux City to
Meantime the Arapaboes were doing deadly work in the terrikey west of Fort Laramie. Surveyor- general Burr of Utah. Peter Dodson. Boswell, and tem others set out in 1864 to explore the Bighorn cocaur. but were driven back. being attacked by the an Medicine Bow. In the battle seven Indians were killed Their band retreated, but com- : upon an immigrant train killed two men by burn- my them abre, bound to their magon wheels. On the Planta abore Font Laramie, they attacked a large train killing Eve men, and of every company that passer over the route they took toll in cattle and boeses amounting during a season to many times a congressional appropriation,' besides the glory of it.
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E
WYOMING
In Angust of this year Fort Sedgwick abl ished. at the junction of Lodge Pole cre
fork of the Platte.
The Siour having moved in large to the
region of the Black Hills and Powder ri ra the
ready allies of the Cheyennes their depredations. In January 1865 they advance the new post,
which was commanded by Nicholas J. O'Brim. a
Young off in the 7th Iowa cavalry.
of thirty-se The Siour were led by Maz-
afraid-of-his-bo es.
Spott d Tal and Two-face.
the Cheyennes by White O'Brien charged
a division of the savages part of his command.
while his subordinate
right and left. The Indi
or five hundred strong. st
them and into their midst.
almost half their numb
brought to bear on th segers.
being made, the mati
On the 2d of Febras ed
attack, and succeeded
tion of the overland mall I
and the headquarters of t
for the plains, established in 1861
at the same time Eftv-five miles
On the 13th ther attacked a detackmes 1
under Lieutenant-colonel Collins at
Booout of the battle at Li
indicated of ome mam's
w OBrien was bours
DE Tear to Larams &
Em. P. E. C
Ele has held the (Fres nf
1
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INDIAN WARS.
eighty-five miles north of Julesburg, with a force of 2,500. Collins had one twenty-four-pound brass gun, with which, and with constant fighting, he held them off for twenty-two hours, losing but three men killed and eight wounded.11
In April they again attacked 125 troops, under Collins, stationed at Mud springs, to the number of 1,500 Sioux and Cheyennes. The troops defended themselves for twenty-four hours, when, reënforce- ments arriving with artillery, the Indians retreated. They lost a considerable number, and the troops eleven wounded and two killed.
The hostilities of 1864 were repeated in 1865. In four weeks of July and August the Sioux and Chey- ennes killed and captured forty-five white persons between Sage creek and Virginia Dale.13 An expedi-
11 There was some very brave fighting in this engagement. Acting-lieut Robert F. Patton, with 7 men from his co. B., 11th Ohio cav., and 8 vol from the other companies made a charge to drive a detachment of 50 Indians which had stolen up to within 350 yards of camp. The squad was armed only with revolvers, and charged through all right, but were cut off by 300 Indians. The men in charge of the gun were afraid of using it on the enemy lest they should hit their comrades; but by firing to the right and left, made a diversion which enabled Patton to charge back. The last shot, by George W. Hoover, saved Patton's life. With empty revolvers the little command returned, minus two of their number, who were killed. The inci- dents of this battle and some others are related in a dictation of Hermann Haas, who participated. Haas was born in Prussia in 1840, emigrating to America in 1849. He served in the union army nearly 4 years as a member of the 1st Ohio, co. B. He arrived at Laramie in 1862, and was discharged at Omaha in 1865. The service was guarding the road and telegraph line from South pass to Julesburg, carrying the weekly mail for the government, and scouting in the Powder river country. He took the brass gun and 40 men from Laramie to Mud Springs station to reënforce Collins previous to the attack above referred to. In July 1862, while going with a command to Devilgate to remove the stages to a more southern route, via Bridger pass, at Seminole gap, two soldiers were found to be drunk, whereupon the officer in command ordered all the whiskey poured out on the ground, from which incident the pass of these mountains took its name of Whiskey gap. After being mustered out of service Haas located himself at Fort Laramie in charge of the government wagon and blacksmith shops, removing afterwards to Cheyenne and engaging in the same business for himself. He has taken an active part in the history of that city; was elected to the first territorial legislature, and reelected in 1873, 1875, and 1877. Was delegate at large in 1875.
12 John H. Finfrock, born in Ohio in 1836, was educated in Richland co., afterwards studied medicine at the university of Mich., Ohio Medical col- lege, and Long Island hospital. He entered the union army as hospital steward, and was afterward captain of Ohio volunteers; also serving as asst surgeon from 1863 to 1865. He was sent to Fort Halleck in the latter capac- ity in 1863, being one of those who rescued one of the Collett family. He
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tion was organized under General P. E. Conner, to go against these Indians in their own country on Pow- der river. It was hoped that Conner, who had a great reputation amongst the Indians as a fighting general, would be able to clear the road to Montana, via Powder and Bighorn rivers. He had with him parts of the 6th and 7th Michigan cavalry, and 200 Pawnee and Omaha scouts, the ordinance being under Colonel Cole of the 2d Missouri artillery. Proceed- ing to the head of Tongue river with Bridger and other mountain men for guides, the officers seemed to have forgotten their errand, and to have imagined themselves upon a summer hunt on the plains. Con- gress had appropriated $20,000 for the purpose of holding peace negotiations with the Sioux and their allies, and General Sully was marching across the northern part of Dakota, anxious to gain the consent of Indians to a treaty looking to the relinquishment of the valley of the Platte, and of all that country where contact with the white people seemed inevita- ble. But Pope was averse to peace, advocating slaughter.
In October General Wheaton decided to send mes- sengers to the Sioux, to inform them that other tribes were making peace, and should they desire to do so the opportunity would be offered them. Having made this decision he left Laramie for Omaha,13 leav- ing Colonel Henry E. Maynadier to carry out his designs. No white man could be found who would undertake to deliver the message, the proposition being finally conveyed to them by friendly Indians, who after three months returned, bringing with them Swift Bear's band. This chief professed pleasure in being able to make peace and to come to the fort for
had a son, William Edwin Finfrock, born at Fort Halleck, Oct. 16, 1865, whom he thinks is the first white person born in Wyoming. He settled at Laramie City in 1868. He was coroner, probate judge, and county physician. He was member of the city council in 1872-3, county supt of public schools in 1880, and was appointed in 1880 one of the board of penitentiary commis- sioners, of which board he was president for two years.
13 Hist. Colorado, 420, this series.
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INDIAN WARS.
provisions and clothing for their families, and reported that Red Cloud, chief of the Ogalallas, was also on his way to Laramie. On the 1st of June the com- missioners appointed assembled at Fort Laramie, namely E. B. Taylor superintendent, Henry E. May- nadier commandant at Fort Laramie, R. N. McLaren of Minnesota, Thomas Wistar of Philadelphia, and two secretaries, Charles E. Bowles and Frank Leh- mer. After the hesitancy and delay always affected by Indians on similar occasions, the Brulé and Ogalalla Sioux collected a majority of their people, although Red Cloud declined to be present, and agreed to the terms of a treaty.
One of the most important of the conditions im- posed upon the Sioux was that the route commonly known as the Bozeman road, leading from Platte bridge to Bozeman in Montana, should be secure from hostilities. Into this arrangement the northern Chey- enne and the Arapahoes expressed their willingness to enter. But a loop-hole of escape from responsibil- ity was left open by the defection of Red Cloud, who had a numerous following, and who was still at liberty to commit depredations, while the greater number were clothed and fed as wards of the gov- ernment.
While the council was in progress the migration to Montana was at its height. Red Cloud had made this a cause of disaffection. Why had they, the com- missioners, asked for what they had already taken ? Before the commission closed came a military expedi- tion of magnitude-700 troops with over 200 mule- teams, besides ambulances for officers and their fami- lies, a band, and everything necessary to a complete establishment in a new country, under Colonel H. B. Carrington, 18th infantry, commander of a new dis- trict. This is said to have been the drop too much to Red Cloud, who with 300 warriors sallied forth on the heels of the expedition to prevent the treaty having effect.
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WYOMING.
Efforts had been made in the early part of the sea- son by the military authorities to keep prospecting parties out of the Bighorn country, and with toler- able success. 14 But immigrant and freight trains could not be turned back, and must be guarded. As Car- rington advanced into the Powder River country he began to learn what he had to encounter. At Fort Reno, which was garrisoned by two companies of the 5th United States volunteers only, were found three immigrant trains waiting instructions as to their fur- ther advance under the escort of the military expe- dition. Notwithstanding this large number of people, civil and military, all the horses and mules belonging to the fort settlers were run off in open daylight, and although the troops pursued as quickly as possible for thirty-five miles, not a hoof was recovered. The only reward of their exertion was the capture of an Ind- ian pony so heavily laden with presents received at the late treaty council that it could not keep up with the herd.
Relieving the companies at Fort Reno, where Cap- 'tain Proctor remained with one company to guard the stores until they could be removed, Carrington pro- ceeded north to select the site of a post in the Big- horn country, which was to be district headquarters, finding on the second day's march, at Rock creek, notices left by trains which had been attacked at this place, within the previous week, losing considerable stock. Arriving at Piney fork the position was taken on that stream and the dimensions of Fort Philip Kearny staked off July 15th.
While on the road Red Cloud's adherents had sent
14 A company of 116 men was raised in Colorado and Wyoming to pros- pect the Bighorn mountains for gold, but they were met near Gray Bull creek by troops from Reno who forbade then further progress, when the majority of the company turned back. W. L. Kuykendall, however, who was the leader of the expedition, evaded the troops and with about 20 men pushed on and reached Bozeman. He was the means of rescuing a party which had been robbed of its stock and had two men killed. Uniting their forces they finished their journey without any further serious losses. Her- man G. Nickerson, since probate judge of Fremont county, was one of the rescued travellers. I shall have more to say of him by and by.
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INDIAN WARS.
Carrington a command to leave the country, saying that Fort Reno in that case should not be disturbed, but that no other post should be established in the country. Carrington responded by inviting them to meet him, which the Cheyennes did on the 16th, but no Sioux were present, Red Cloud having already turned back to intercept travel. The Cheyennes accepted some presents of food and clothing and promised to remain at peace, which for a time they appeared to do.
However, on the next morning the herds belonging to Major Hammond's command, which was destined for the upper Yellowstone, in the vicinity of Boze- man, were stampeded, and in the effort to rescue them two soldiers were killed and three wounded. On the return of the detachment they came upon six muti- lated bodies of a trading party killed within a few miles of the post, though the wife of a principal trader was a Sioux. 15
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