USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 32
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At Platte Bridge, where the City of Casper now stands, was a small military post called "Camp Dodge," which was garrisoned by two companies of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry. This post seemed to be the one most hated by the Indians. About the middle of July a large party of Sioux and Cheyenne, under the leader- ship of Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horse, struck the river some thirty miles below the post and moved up the stream, finally going into camp on a small creek behind the hills, where they could not be seen from the fort. No hostile demonstrations were made until July 25th, when the Indians undertook to stam- pede some horses that were grazing below the bridge. A detail of troops went out and succeeded in driving the horses within the stockade. The Indians started to follow, when the chief High Backed Wolf was sent to bring them back. Instead of obeying orders, he joined with the others, crossed the river and led the attack against the post. The howitzer was brought into action and a number of the savages were killed, among them High Backed Wolf. After his death the Indians withdrew and the fighting was over for the time.
Before daylight the next morning one-half of the Indians concealed them- selves below the bridge and the other half above. They then tried the old trick of sending out a small party as a decoy, hoping the soldiers would pursue and
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be caught in the ambush. It so happened that Sergt, Amos J. Custard was con- ducting a wagon train from Sweetwater to Camp Dodge. This train came in sight early on the morning of the 26th, on the hills some two miles west of the fort, and the howitzer was fired to warn the escort that Indians were in the neighborhood. Custard ordered a corporal to take five men and go forward to see what the firing meant. These six men were soon cut off, though two of them hid in the bushes along the river and managed to reach the fort that after- noon. The nineteen men of the train escort were surrounded, but fought vali- antly until 3 o'clock in the aftenoon before they were all killed.
It was not quite 7 o'clock when the train was first seen coming over the hills, and Major Howard, commandant at Camp Dodge, ordered Sergeant Hank- hammer to take twenty-five men and go to its relief. Lieut. Caspar W. Collins of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, who had just arrived at the post the day before, begged permission to command the relief party, although some of his friends tried to persuade him to remain in the fort. Major Howard granted his request, however, and at the head of his little troop he rode out of the fort, crossed the bridge and moved up the road to meet the train. The Indians knew nothing of the train up to this time, and supposed that Collins and his little squad of cavalry were following the decoy that had been sent forward for the purpose of leading the troops into an ambush. When about half a mile from the bridge, Collins found himself surrounded by five hundred or more yelling Indians, and upon looking toward the hills saw seven or eight hundred more coming down from the bluffs. Major Howard at the fort also saw the perilous situation of the relief party and ordered Captain Greer, Company I, Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, to take his company and try to open a retreat for Collins. Captain Greer charged across the bridge and poured a deadly fire into the Indians, which caused them to fall back, and Collins gave the order to make for the bridge. The one howitzer at the fort also opened fire upon the Indians, but it was too late. Of the twenty- five men who went out with Collins, eight were killed and seven wounded, Collins himself being among the former.
There are two stories as to the manner in which Lieutenant Collins met his death. One is that he stopped to aid a wounded trooper, who begged his com- rades not to leave him behind, and the other is that his horse became unmanage- able and carried him into the ranks of the enemy. There is probably some truth in both of these accounts. He may have halted to assist a wounded comrade, but it is quite certain that his horse ran away. His body was found on the 29th, about a mile and a half from the fort, on the bank of the creek which still bears his name. On November 21, 1865, Maj .- Gen. John Pope issued the following order :
"The military post situated at Platte Bridge, between Deer and Rock creeks, on the Platte River, will hereafter be known as Fort Casper, in honor of Lieut. Casper Collins, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, who lost his life while gallantly attack- ing a superior force of Indians at that place."
THE BOZEMAN ROAD
In the spring of 1863, John M. Bozeman, a citizen of Montana, assisted by J. M. Jacobs, selected a route for a wagon road from the Red Buttes on the
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Platte River to the three forks of the Missouri River in Western Montana. This road ran through the country of the Crow and Sioux Indians and was the shortest route from Fort Laramie to the Montana mines. It was not originally intended for a military road, and, in fact, was opened without the sanction of the Government. The Indians objected to emigrants passing through their terri- tory, but the road soon became a thoroughfare almost as well known as the cele- brated Oregon Trail and the United States authorities were forced to recognize it. Late in the year 1865 the Government tried to induce the Indians to consent to a right of way through their country to Montana. Several of the Sioux bands gave their consent, but the Cheyenne and Ogallala Sioux refused to sign the agreement. On June 1, 1865, Col. H. E. Maynadier, commandant at Fort Laramie, E. B. Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs, Thomas Wistar of Philadelphia, and R. N. McLaren of Minnesota, acting as commissioners for the United States, met the principal chiefs at Fort Laramie and concluded a treaty of peace. The immigration to the Montana mines was then at its height and one thing demanded by the commissioners was a right of way for the Bozeman Road from the Platte River to Bozeman, Mont. To this all the tribes agreed except the Ogallala Sioux. Red Cloud, the head chief of the Ogallala, made a speech, in which he accused the commissioners of acting in bad faith in asking the Indians to give their consent, when the white men had already taken what they wanted, after which he withdrew from the council.
In one sense of the word Red Cloud was right, for on March 10, 1866, nearly three months before the council was held at Fort Laramie, General Pope organized the Mountain District and ordered the establishment of two military posts for the protection of the Bozeman Road. This order was addressed to Col. H. B. Car- rington of the Eighteenth United States Infantry, then stationed at Fort Kearney, Nebraska. Colonel Carrington left Fort Kearney on May 19, 1866, and arrived at Fort Laramie before the conclusion of. the council above mentioned. While there he received instructions from General Pope to name the two new posts Fort Philip Kearny and Fort C. F. Smith. Early in July, with 700 men, Carrington left Fort Laramie. Red Cloud warned him not to enter the Indian country for the purpose of establishing new forts, and with some three hundred warriors hung on the heels of the expedition. Several slight skirmishes occurred, and as Carrington was hampered with over two hundred mule teams transporting supplies for the new posts it required all his skill to protect the teams and wagons.
Upon reaching Camp Connor ( Fort Reno) part of the force was left to garri- son that post and the remainder moved on up to the Bozeman Road to Big Piney Creek, near the northern boundary of the present Johnson County, where on July 15. 1866, Fort Philip Kearny was staked off. Early in August Fort C. F. Smith was located on the Big Horn River, about ninety miles northwest of Fort Philip Kearny, and the remainder of Carrington's force was used to garrison the two new posts. Thus his force of 700 men was divided into three parts and Carring- ton established his headquarters at Fort Philip Kearny, which was completed on the 21st of October. While it was under construction the trains sent out to bring timber to the fort were constantly annoyed by Indians and pickets were maintained on the Sullivant Hills to watch their movements. Scarcely was the fort finished when some of Red Cloud's band attempted to stampede the horses grazing near. A party sent out to recover the horses was attacked and several
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troopers were killed or wounded. During the two weeks following the com- pletion of the fort, eight attacks were made on emigrant and supply trains between Fort Reno and Fort Philip Kearny.
THE FETTERMAN MASSACRE
Never was the old adage, "Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty," better verified than in the early days of Fort Philip Kearny. Almost daily attacks were made upon the trains bringing wood to the post, and the pickets stationed upon the Sullivant Hills were never relaxed when any of the garrison was outside the stockade. Early in December Capt. W. J. Fetterman was sent out with forty men to protect the wood train and followed the attacking party of Indians into a place where he was almost surrounded. Prompt action on the part of Colonel Carrington, in coming to the rescue was all that saved the detachment from utter annihilation. As it was only one man was killed and two were wounded.
On December 21, 1866, the pickets on Sullivant Hills signaled the fort that the wood train was again attacked. Carrington selected forty-nine men from his own regiment (the Eighteenth Infantry) and twenty-seven men from the Ninth Cavalry to go to the relief of the train. He first gave the command to Capt. James Powell, with Lieutenant Grummond to command the cavalry, but Captain Fetterman, who was probably anxious to redeem himself from his mis- take of a few weeks before, begged to be given the command, and claimed the right on account of seniority. Carrington granted his request, but warned him not to follow the Indians beyond Lodge Trail Ridge, an elevation a short dis- tance southwest of the fort. Just why this warning was ignored will never be known. but Fetterman moved back of the Sullivant Hills, probably with the in- tention of cutting off the attacking party from the main body of the Indians. In a short time firing was heard on the other side of Lodge Trail Ridge and Carrington ordered Captain Ten Eyck to reinforce Fetterman. Says Grinnell : "When the relief party looked down from the top of Lodge Trail Ridge no soldiers were to be seen, but all over the valley, and above all along the ridge running down to Clear Creek, were Indians riding about and shouting their war cries, evidently celebrating a triumph."
Captain Ten Eyck sent a messenger to report to Carrington and then descended to the scene of the slaughter. That evening wagons brought in the bodies of forty-nine of the victims of the massacre and the others were recovered the next day. Not a man of Fetterman's command lived to tell the tale, but from the Indians it was learned that a small party mounted on fast horses was used as a decoy to draw the soldiers into an ambush-an old trick, and one that it might be supposed the soldiers would learn in time, but it seldom failed to work.
Through the efforts of Hon. Frank Mondell, member of Congress from Wyoming, the site of Fetterman's defeat is marked by a monument erected by the Government on "Massacre Hill," about five miles from the site of Fort Philip Kearny. The monument, built of bowlders, was dedicated on July 4. 1908. Among those present were General Carrington and a few of the survivors of his command in 1866. Fastened to the monument is a bronze shield, which bears the following inscription : "On this field on the 21st day of December, 1866, three commissioned officers and seventy-six privates of the Eighteenth
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United States Infantry and the Ninth United States Cavalry, and four civilians, under the command of Captain and Brevet Lieut .- Col. William J. Fetterman, were killed by an overwhelming force of Sioux under command of Red Cloud. There were no survivors."
RED CLOUD'S DEFEAT
In the spring of 1867 reinforcements were sent into Wyoming for the pur- pose of organizing an expedition against Red Cloud. For some reason the original design was not carried into effect, the troops remaining quartered at the military posts and in summer camps along the Platte River. Red Cloud lingered in the vicinity of Fort Philip Kearny, against which post he seemed to hold a vindictive hatred. By the middle of July he had collected a force of about three thousand warriors, intending to take the fort by assault. On the last day of July, Capt. James Powell, of the Eighteenth Infantry, with fifty-one men, went to the timber along Piney Creek, about five miles from the fort, as an escort and guard to the workmen employed by the contractor, J. R. Porter. Indian spies were watching every movement made by the garrison, and Red Cloud determined to cut off the escort, which would lessen the resistance of the garri- son when he attacked the fort. The attempt was not made, however, until the 2d of August. On that day another small party was sent out to guard the live stock while grazing. Some of Powell's men had returned to the fort, but thirty- two still remained on guard at the wood-cutters' camp. This gave Red Cloud an opportunity, as he thought, to cut off two parties at the same time.
Some two hundred Indians were sent to attack the herders and a force of about five hundred was thrown against the wood camp. Most of the former managed to reach the fort in safety, and Captain Powell received warning of the approach of the Indians in time to prepare for defense. The wagon beds used by the contractor were made of iron, or were wooden boxes shod with iron of sufficient thickness to resist an ordinary bullet. (This has been denied by some of the soldiers who took part in the affair, but Captain Powell's official report is responsible for the statement.) These wagon beds were hurriedly arranged in a circle, inside of which the thirty-two men took their stand. They were armed with the new breech-loading rifles, and Captain Powell, aware of the fact that their only hope was "a cool head and a steady aim," ordered that the poor marksmen should keep the rifles loaded for those more expert. They had not long to wait until the yelling hordes appeared, evidently expecting an easy victory. On they came until near enough to make the aim of the little band behind the wagon beds certain, when the breech-loading rifles began their deadly work. Not a bullet went wild and the savages recoiled before that withering fire.
When Red Cloud saw the wholesale slaughter of his best warriors he decided to change his tactics. Dismounting his men, they crawled forward through the grass and shrubbery, hoping to get near enough to rush upon the defenders and carry their position by storm. But the attempt was a failure. Every time an Indian exposed himself his earthly career was cut short by a bullet "from a rifle that was never empty," while the balls fired by the assailants flattened them- selves against the iron wagon bodies and were thus rendered harmless. More Indians were brought up, but Red Cloud's entire force proved unable to conquer
FORT KEARNY MONUMENT Site of the Fetterman massacre, 1866.
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the thirty-two brave men, who remembered the fate of Fetterman's men and fought with the fury of desperation. After more than three hours, during which repeated attacks were made, the Indians withdrew, leaving hundreds of their number dead upon the field. Powell's loss was insignificant. His brave stand, with its unexpected results, had a crushing effect upon Red Cloud, and Fort Philip Kearny was allowed to remain unmolested until it was abandoned about a year later.
Among Powell's men was on old frontiersman, who was an expert marksman and was one of those selected to do the shooting. Some time later he met General Dodge, who asked him how many Indians were in the attacking party. To this the old trapper replied :
"Wall, General, I reckon there was about three thousand."
"And how many were killed?" asked Dodge.
"I can't say for sartin, but I've heard about a thousand."
"How many did you kill?"
"I don't know, General, but I kept eight guns pretty well het up for more'n three hours."
THE TROOPS WITHDRAWN
In the meantime, when the news of the Fetterman Massacre reached the East, it caused much excitement. Colonel Carrington was severely criticized, and he in turn complained that Gen. P. St. George Cooke, the department commander, had refused reinforcements and that 700 men were not sufficient to garrison three posts in the heart of the hostile Indian country. President Johnson ordered an investigation, the result of which was the withdrawal of the troops from the Powder River country, in accordance with the treaties then in existence. Forts Reno, Philip Kearny and C. F. Smith were therefore abandoned in August, 1868. The buildings at Fort Philip Kearny were afterward burned by Little Wolf.
SIOUX RAIDS ON WIND RIVER
The territorial government of Wyoming was organized in the spring of 1869. In his message to the first Legislature the following October. Governor Camp- bell mentioned the Sioux raid in the Wind River valley, about the time he came into office, when four white men were killed and a number of horses and mules were stolen by the Indians. The raid was reported to the governor by the com- missioners of Carter County. Governor Campbell asked the commander of the military department for troops for the protection of the settlers in that section. Two companies-one of infantry and one of cavalry-were ordered to the valley, and one still remained on duty there at the time of the meeting of the Legislature.
On July 3, 1869, another raid was made by the Sioux and again four white men were killed, but the Indians were driven off by the two companies above mentioned before they could do any further mischief. On the 28th of the same month a raid was made upon the mining settlements and three men engaged in mining near Atlantic City were killed. At the request of Governor Campbell, the department commander sent a supply of arms and ammunition to the com-
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missioners of Carter County to be distributed among the citizens. When the Sioux discovered that the people were being armed they withdrew and no further hostile demonstrations were made, though the settlers remained watchful until the Sioux were quartered on their reservations.
CAMPAIGN OF 1876
For several years after the organization of the Territory of Wyoming the Indians continued to commit depredations upon the frontier settlements. During the years 1874 and 1875 General Crook, whose headquarters were at Omaha, made some incursions into the Indian country, but no permanent benefit was derived from such movements. At that time the hostile Indians about the Black Hills and the region of the Powder River numbered several thousands and the outlook for the settlers was anything but encouraging. President Grant, Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and other military commanders held a consultation and decided to send a force of troops large enough to bring the Indians to terms.
Early in 1876 General Crook started against the Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho and other tribes in the vicinity of the Black Hills. Near the head of the Rosebud Creek the Indians met with such a positive check at the hands of Crook that it amounted almost to a defeat. Crook then took up a strong position and waited for reinforcements, which he knew were on the way. On May 29th Gen. A. H. Terry reached the Little Missouri River and opened communication with Crook. General Gibbon came up from the west, and on June 8th joined Terry near the mouth of the Powder River. It was known that the main body of the Indians were then near the mouth of the Little Big Horn. With Terry was Gen. George A. Custer, one of the most dashing cavalry commanders in the United States army. The plan proposed by Terry, and adopted, was for Custer to take a position on the east, to cut off escape in that direction, after which Gibbon was to close in on the Indian village and drive the Indians either upon Custer or upon Crook, whose position was farther to the south.
The story of "Custer's Last Fight," when he and his command were all killed on June 25, 1876, on the Little Big Horn, has been written so many times that it is deemed unnecessary to repeat the story in all its details here. It has been charged that Custer acted without orders and attacked the camp, instead of waiting to cut off the escape of the Indians after Gibbon opened the engage- ment. This charge is sustained in a letter written by General Gibbon to Terry under date of November 6, 1876, in which the writer says :
"So great was my fear that Custer's zeal would carry him forward too rapidly, that the last thing I said to him when bidding him good-by, after his regiment had filed past you when starting on his march, was, 'Now, Custer, don't be greedy, but wait for us.' He replied gaily, as with a wave of his hand he dashed off to follow his regiment, 'No, I will not.' * Except so far as to draw profit from past experience, it is perhaps useless to speculate as to what would have been the result had your plan, as originally agreed upon, been carried out. But I cannot help reflecting that in case my column, supposing the Indian camp to have remained where it was when Custer struck it, would have been the first to reach it; that with our infantry and Gatling guns we should have been able to take care of ourselves, even though numbering about two-thirds of Custer's
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force, and that with six hundred cavalry in the neighborhood, led as only Custer could lead it, the result to the Indians would have been very different from what it was."
After the defeat of Custer the Indians broke up into small bands and occupied different camps, which changed the whole plan of the campaign. Several small fights occurred during the months of August and September, but none was of sufficient importance to render the Indians tractable. General Crook then decided upon a winter campaign. He collected a force of 1,600 soldiers and about four hundred Indians (mostly Pawnee), and after the capture of Red Cloud's and Swift Bear's camps organized his Big Horn expedition at Fort Fetterman. Leav- ing there on November 14, 1876, he moved northward into the Indian country. On the 20th some of his scouts brought in a young Cheyenne, who said Crazy Horse was located on the Rosebud and that there was a small Indian village on the upper Powder River. Two days later, while camped on the Crazy Woman Fork of the Powder, scouts brought the information that a large village, under Dull Knife and Wild Hog, was located farther up the Crazy Woman Fork in the Big Horn Mountains.
Gen. R. S. Mackenzie, with 1,100 troops and 300 Indians, was despatched to capture the village. On the 25th some Arapaho scouts definitely located the vil- lage and by making a night march it was surrounded without arousing the inmates. At dawn on the 26th the order was given to charge. Mackenzie's men advanced from all sides and the Indians were thrown into a panic. A few gained the moun- tains west of the village and attempted to put up a defense, but the village was completely destroyed. Dull Knife and Wild Hog both managed to escape, and spent the winter with Crazy Horse (Sioux) on the lower Powder River. In the spring of 1877 they surrendered and joined in the agreements made the preceding year, by which all the country between the Platte and Powder rivers had been ceded to the white men. From this time on the settlers of Wyoming enjoyed greater security.
CHAPTER XIX
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
SPAIN'S OPPRESSION OF CUBA-THE TEN YEARS' WAR-REVOLUTION OF 1895- WEYLER'S CRUELTY-PROTESTS OF THE UNITED STATES-DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE-CONGRESS DECLARES WAR-PRESIDENT MC KINLEY'S CALL FOR VOLUN- TEERS-WYOMING'S RESPONSE-THE INFANTRY BATTALION-ROSTER OF EACH OF THE COMPANIES-IN THE PHILIPPINES-THE WYOMING BATTERY-TORREY'S ROUGH RIDERS-CAMP CUBA LIBRE-SOLDIERS' MONUMENT.
For four centuries after the discovery of America, the Island of Cuba was one of the colonial possessions of Spain. While Spain was losing her other American provinces, one by one, the inhabitants of Cuba remained steadfast in their allegiance to the mother country. In 1808, when Napoleon overthrew the Spanish dynasty, the Cubans declared war against "the man of destiny." Their loyalty during all these years received a poor recompense, however, for in 1825 King Ferdinand issued a decree placing the lives and fortunes of the Cubans at the absolute disposal of the captains-general, or governors of the island. The "con- quistadores" were slow in coming, but they had at last arrived.
With the decree of 1825, Spain's policy of inhumanity to her colonial subjects commenced. Some excuse for this policy may be found in the unsettled condition of the Spanish Government and the internal dissensions which rendered the authorities powerless as against the will of certain classes of citizens. With the death of Ferdinand in 1833, his daughter, Isabella, was proclaimed Queen. Don Carlos, Ferdinand's brother, claimed that this was a violation of the Salic law, which forbids the succession of women, and insisted that he should have ascended to the throne. He was not without followers in this claim, and for many years the "Carlist Party" was a menace to the Spanish Government.
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