User:Yksin/BWR

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The Battle of Washita River (or Battle of the Washita) occurred on November 27, 1868 when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle’s Cheyenne village on the Washita River (near present day Cheyenne, Oklahoma).

"This battle was yet another instance of hitting the Indians in the winter months when the destruction of their villages and stored food killed or weakened more than did the initial military attack."

Background
''Brief summary of Black Elk, Sand Creek Massacre & Indian reaction to it. Treaties. Hancock's 1867 expedition which culminated in his burning of a combined Sioux/Cheyenne village at Pawnee Fork, leading to increased warmaking by the tribes. Medicine Lodge Treaty signed in October 1867 but not ratified until July 1868 and not announced until August. Delays in distribution of annuities, including arms and ammunition for buffalo hunting, led to hardship including starvation among the tribes.''

Other factors to integrate: militancy of Dog Soldiers, which also influenced young warriors of other bands; advance of Kansas Pacific Railroad; fewer buffalo.

Sand Creek Massacre
The Sand Creek Massacre resulted in a heavy loss of life and material possessions by the Cheyenne and Arapaho bands camped at Sand Creek on November 29, 1864. It also devastated the Cheyenne's traditional government, due to the deaths at Sand Creek of eight of 44 members of the Council of Forty-Four as well as headmen of some of the Cheyenne's military societies. Among the chiefs killed were most of those who had advocated peace with white settlers and the U.S. government. The effect was to exacerbate the social and political rift between the traditional council chiefs and their followers and the militaristic Dog Soldiers. Beginning in the 1830s, the Dog Soldiers had evolved from the Cheyenne military society of the same name into a separate band of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors that took as its territory the headwaters country of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers in southern Nebraska, northern Kansas, and the northeast of Colorado Territory. By the 1860s, as conflict between Indians and encroaching whites intensified, the influence wielded by the militaristic Dog Soldiers, together with that of the military societies within other Cheyenne bands, had become a significant counter to the influence of the traditional Council of Forty-Four chiefs, who were more likely to favor peace with the whites. To the Dog Soldiers, the Sand Creek Massacre illustrated the folly of the peace chiefs' policy of accommodating the whites through the signing of treaties such as the first Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) in 1851 and the Treaty of Fort Wise in 1861 and vindicated the Dog Soldiers' own militant posture towards the whites.

Other
Members of the Native tribes were expressing concern about the Kansas Pacific Railroad advancing through their country, frightening the buffalo - their source of food, clothing, and shelter — and attracting white settlement. The Cheyennes were still smoldering over the massacre of 200 of Black Kettle's peaceful band, including women and children, by Col. John M. Chivington and his Colorado volunteers on Sand Creek in 1864 and had demonstrated their mistrust of the whites when Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock penetrated their area with a large expedition in 1867, clashing in the Battle of Beecher Island. '''Note: this is inaccurate: Hancock's expedition had nothing to do with the Battle of Beecher Island, which took place in 1868 involving a different group of men. So correction is needed here. However, both Hancock's idiot expedition, which involved the burning of a large Sioux/Cheyenne camp, & the Beecher Island battle should be briefly mentioned in the background section, IMHO.'''

"By the late 1860s the government's policy of removing Indians from desirable areas, graphically represented by the earlier transfer of the Five Civilized Tribes from the Southeast to Oklahoma (the Cherokees called it the Trail of Tears), had run its course and was succeeded by one of concentrating them on Indian reservations. The practice of locating tribes in other than native or salubrious surroundings and of joining uncongenial bands led to more than one Indian war. Some bands found it convenient to accept reservation status and government rations during the winter months, returning to the warpath and hunting trail in the milder seasons. Many bands of many tribes refused to accept the treaties offered by a peace commission and resisted the government’s attempt to confine them to specific geographical limits; it fell to the Army to force compliance. In his area, General Sheridan now planned to hit the Indians in their permanent winter camps."

Indian raids in Kansas, Colorado, and Texas
''Delay in annuities. Indian raids in Kansas, Colorado, Texas. Large band of warriors originally intending to raid Pawnees ends up conducting raids of white settlements in Kansas along the Solomon and Saline rivers in Kansas. (incl. Little Rock info, but also info about other bands involved). Settlers killed, raped; captive taking; destruction or theft of property. Some raids also on military -- theft of mules, horses, etc.''

''Army response includes Battle of Beecher Island and death of prominent warrior Roman Nose (note: Roman Nose was a warrior, but not a chief). I think Sully's expedition took place around then too.''

U.S. Army policy of "total war"
''Sheridan, as well as his superior Sherman, determined on a policy of total war involving winter campaigning. Custer court-martialed in 1867, but Sheridan got him out early because he trusted Custer.''

"While a winter campaign presented serious logistical problems, it offered opportunities for decisive results. If the Indians’ shelter, food, and livestock could be destroyed or captured, not only the warriors but their women and children were at the mercy of the Army and the elements, and there was little left but surrender. These tactics, amounting to the total destruction of the Indian culture, raised certain moral questions for many officers and men that were never satisfactorily resolved." "Sheridan devised a plan whereby three columns would converge on the Indian wintering grounds just east of the Texas Panhandle: one from Fort Lyon in Colorado, one from Fort Bascom in New Mexico, and one from Camp Supply in the Indian Territory later to be called Oklahoma. The 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George A. Custer... found the Indians on the Washita River."

The winter campaign begins
''Camp Supply founded. Authority issue between Sully & Custer; Sheridan ruled in Custer's favor, & Sully sent back. Volunteer Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry was supposed to come along with the 7th Cavalry but got lost in the snow & couldn't find Camp Supply. The 7th Cavalry under Custer sets out on its own. Strength of 7th Cavalry. Scouts, including chief of scouts Ben Clark, some half-blood scouts (white/Cheyenne), several Osage scouts.''

Winter camps on the Washita River
By early November 1868, Black Kettle's camp joined other Indian camps at the Washita River, which they knew as Lodgepole River. Black Kettle's village was the westernmost of a series of camps of Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, Comanches, and Apache that ran ten to fifteen miles along the Washita River.

Black Kettle's village was several miles west of the rest of the camps and consisted of around fifty Cheyenne lodges plus one or two lodges of visiting Arapahos and two of visiting Lakotas, for a total of about 250 inhabitants. Little Rock, the only council chief who had remained with Black Kettle since the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864, lived with his family in the village, which also included the families of Big Man, Wolf Looking Back, Clown, Cranky Man, Scabby Man, Half Leg, Bear Tongue, and Roll Down. Downriver from Black Kettle's camp the Washita looped northward in a large oxbow, at the northern portion of which was Little Raven's Arapaho camp. At the bottom of the loop a large Cheyenne camp under Medicine Arrow and including also the followers of Little Robe, Sand Hill, Stone Calf, Old Little Wolf (Big Jake), and Black White Man made up one large village, and nearby was a smaller Cheyenne village consisting of the followers of Old Whirlwind. These two Cheyenne villages, together comprising about 129 lodges, were situated along the oxbow southeast of Little Raven's Arapaho camp and west of a small Kiowa camp headed by Kicking Bird. (The Kiowa leaders Satanta, Lone Wolf, and Black Eagle had moved their villages to the Fort Cobb area.) Downriver from there were other camps of Comanches and Kiowa-Apaches. Overall, a total of about six thousand Indians were in winter camp along the upper Washita River.

November 20 meeting at Fort Cobb
In mid-November, a party headed by Black Kettle and Little Robe of the Cheyennes and Big Mouth and Spotted Wolf of the Arapahos arrived at Fort Cobb to visit the post trader, William "Dutch Bill" Griffenstein. Griffenstein's wife Cheyenne Jennie, a Cheyenne originally of Black Kettle's camp, had died around October 10, and Griffenstein had sent runners to inform her parents of her passing, perhaps also sending a message to urge Black Kettle to come and talk with Colonel (Brevet Major General) William B. Hazen about making peace. The four chiefs met with Hazen on November 20, with Captain Henry Alvord of the Tenth Cavalry also present and certifying a true record of the conversations.

Black Kettle began by saying to Hazen, "The Cheyennes, when south of the Arkansas, do not wish to return to the north side because they feared trouble there, but were continually told that they had better go there, as they would be rewarded for so doing." Hardoff notes that by the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation had the Arkansas River as its northern boundary, but that in April 1868 food provisions due the Cheyennes and Arapahos had been distributed at Fort Larned and Fort Dodge, both north of the Arkansas; on August 9, 1868, treaty annuities in the form of arms and ammunition had been distributed at Fort Larned.

Black Kettle continued, asking if he might move his people south to Fort Cobb:

"The Cheyennes do not fight at all this side of the Arkansas; they do not trouble Texas, but north of the Arkansas they are almost always at war. When lately north of the Arkansas, some young Cheyennes were fired upon and then the fight began. I have always done my best to keep my young men quiet, but some will not listen, and since the fighting began I have not been able to keep them all at home.  But we all want peace, and I would be glad to move all my people down this way; I could then keep them all quietly near camp.  My camp is now on the Washita, 40 miles east of the Antelope Hills, and I have there about 180 lodges. I speak only for my own people; I cannot speak nor control the Cheyennes north of the Arkansas."

Big Mouth of the Arapahoes spoke next, saying in part:

"I never would have gone north of the Arkansas again, but my father there [the agent] sent for me time after time, saying it was the place for my people, and finally I went. No sooner had we got there than there was trouble. I do not want war, and my people do not, but although we have come back south of the Arkansas, the soldiers follow us and continue fighting, and we want you to send out and stop these soldiers from coming against us."

Hazen's October 13 orders from General Sherman, commander of the Military Division of the Missouri, had charged Hazen with making provision for Indians who wanted to stay out of the war, stating also that if General Sheridan was forced to invade the reservation to pursue hostile Indians, he would be under Sherman's orders to spare the "well-disposed", but the best safety for non-belligerent Indians was to camp near Fort Cobb. Hazen knew that Sheridan had declared the Cheyennes and Arapahos to be hostile. In consequence, he told the four chiefs that he couldn't make peace with them and that they must not come to Fort Cobb, which would jeopardize the peace of the Kiowas and Comanches already camped there. "I am sent here as a peace chief; all here is to be peace," he told them, "but north of the Arkansas is General Sheridan, the great war chief, and I do not control him; and he has all the soldiers who are fighting the Arapahoes and Cheyennes. Therefore, you must go back to your country, and if the soldiers come to fight, you must remember they are not from me, but from that great war chief, and with him you must make peace." Reporting to Sherman on November 22, Hazen said that "to have made peace with them would have brought to my camp most of those now on the war path south of the Arkansas; and as General Sheridan is to punish those at war and might follow them in afterwards, a second Chivington affair might occur, which I could not prevent." Hazen reported that while the chiefs seemed sincere, the Kiowas and Comanches at Fort Cobb said the young warriors who accompanied the chiefs were pleased that peace had not been made and had boasted that the Sioux and other northern bands would come down the following spring and to "clean out the entire country." Hazen took the young warriors' attitude seriously enough that he requested two more companies of the 10th Cavalry from Fort Arbuckle and two howitzers to remain for a week or two at Fort Cobb.

Black Kettle's return to the Washita
Black Kettle and the other chiefs departed Fort Cobb on about November 21 with food supplied by Griffenstein, traveling through storm conditions and reaching their villages on the Washita on the evening of November 26.

Meanwhile, the evening before, on November 25, a war party of as many as 150 warriors which included young men of the camps of Black Kettle, Medicine Arrows, Little Robe, and Old Whirlwind, had returned to the Washita encampments from raiding with the Dog Soldiers in the Smoky Hill country. It was their trail that Major Elliott of the Seventh Cavalry found on November 26, which ultimately led Custer's command to the Washita. On November 26, the same day that Black Kettle arrived back at the Washita, a party of Kiowas returning from raiding on the Utes passed through Black Kettle's camp on their way to their own village. They told the Cheyennes that as they had passed near the Antelope Hills on the Canadian River, they saw a large trail leading southward toward the Washita camps, but the Cheyennes discounted the information, not believing that soldiers would be operating that far south in such wintery conditions. The Kiowas proceeded to their own village, but one Kiowa, Trails the Enemy, decided to stay overnight with friends in Black Kettle's camp.

Also on November 26, Crow Neck, one of the warriors who had been part of the party that returned along the trail discovered by Elliott, told Bad Man (also known as Cranky Man) that he had left an exhausted horse along the trail to rest. When he went back to retrieve the horse on the 26th, he saw moving figures to the north which looked to him like soldiers, and in fear he turned back without getting his horse. Bad Man doubted Crow Neck had seen soldiers and told him perhaps his conscience was bothering him because he'd gone against the chiefs' wishes by joining the war party. Crow Neck told no one else what he had seen, fearing that he might be laughed at or that he would be chastised by Black Kettle for having been part of a raiding party.

On the evening of November 26, after Black Kettle's return, he held a council in his lodge with the principle men of his village to convey what he had learned at Fort Cobb about Sheridan's war plans. Discussion lasted into the early morning hours of November 27. The council decided that after the foot-deep snow cleared they would send out runners to talk with the soldiers to try to clear up misunderstandings and make it clear that Black Kettle's people wanted peace. Meanwhile, they decided that on the following day (November 27) they would move camp further downriver closer to the other Indian camps.

According to Moving Behind Woman, who was about 14 at the time of the Washita attack, Black Kettle's wife Medicine Woman Later stood outside the lodge for a long time, angry that the camp was not moving that night, saying, "I don't like this delay, we could have moved long ago. The Agent sent word for us to leave at once.  It seems we are crazy and deaf, and cannot hear." Black Hawk's brother White Shield (also known as Gentle Horse) had a vision of a wolf wounded on the right side of its head mourning its little ones which had been scattered and killed by a powerful enemy. On the basis of this vision he attempted to persuade Black Kettle to leave camp immediately, but was unsuccessful. However, five of Black Kettle's children (four daughters and a son) moved to the camp of Black Kettle's nephew Whirlwind, which was ten miles downriver (five miles straight line distance) from Black Kettle's camp.

The battle


''Indications noted by Indians (e.g., Kiowa party returning from raiding on Utes) that soldiers might be near. Other activities in Black Kettle's camp that night. Discovery by 7th of war party's trail, leading to discovery of Black Kettle's camp. Custer forms strategy & forces prepare for attack. Account of battle. Death of Black Kettle & his wife. Major Elliott's command following fleeing Cheyenne's downstream, protected by Little Rock, Packer (She Wolf), & a Kiowa who had stayed overnight. Little Rock's death. Major Elliott & his command killed by Indians reinforcing from downriver camps, seemingly mostly Arapahos & Cheyennes. Destruction of Elliott's command. Cheyenne women & children taken prisoner. Black Kettle's camp destroyed. Inventory of destroyed items. Horses & ponies selected by 7th for their own use, possibly for use by prisoners; the rest of the herd destroyed, while Indians from downriver camps look on, refraining from attack for fear of captive women & children being killed. Custer & 7th make move toward downriver camps, then turn around & withdraw. Fate of Elliott's command not known to Custer & 7th.''

On November 27, 1868 Custer’s Osage Nation scouts located the trail of an Indian war party. Custer followed this trail all day without break until nightfall. Upon nightfall there was a short period of rest until there was sufficient moonlight to continue. Eventually they reached Black Kettle’s village. Custer divided his force into four parts, each moving into position so that at first daylight they could all simultaneously converge on the village. At daybreak the four columns attacked. The Indian warriors quickly left their lodges to take cover behind trees and in deep ravines. Custer was able to take control of the village quickly, but it took longer to quell all remaining resistance.

Following the capture of Black Kettle's village Custer was soon to find himself in a precarious position.As the fighting was beginning to subside Custer began to notice large groups of mounted Indians gathering on nearby hilltops. He quickly learned that Black Kettle's village was only one of the many Indian villages encamped along the river. Fearing an attack he ordered some of his men to take defensive positions while the others were to gather the Indian belongings and horses. What the Americans did not want or could not carry, they destroyed (including about 875 ponies and horses).

Custer feared the outlying Indians would find and attack his supply train so near nightfall he began marching toward the other Indian encampments. Seeing that Custer was approaching their villages the surrounding Indians retreated to protect their families from a fate similar to that of Black Kettle's village. At this point Custer turned around and began heading back towards his supply train, which he eventually reached. Thus the Battle of Washita was concluded.

Rewrite. The last common point of interest was the loss of the cavalry's great coats. Custer had his men set their coats aside prior to the battle, which allowed the Indians to capture them. Custer admits to this in his account. He had ordered the men to take off their coats so they would have greater maneuverability. Not mentioned in the modern accounts was that Custer's men also had left their rations behind. Custer left a small guard with the coats and rations but the Indian attackers were too numerous and the guard fled.

Washita prisoners (53 women and children) reportedly testified that as many as 11 warchiefs and headmen were killed that day. Custer wrote that Indian losses were probably 130 warriors killed. According to the modern official account by the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the 7th Cavalry lost 21 officers and men killed and 13 wounded in the Battle of the Washita; the Indians lost perhaps 50 killed and as many wounded. Between 19 and 25 civilians had been killed according to Washita prisoners and Kiowa witnesses. Osage scouts left Washita with Black Kettle's scalp.

Aftermath
''Cheyenne survivors return to Black Kettle's camp to take care of the dead. Magpie, then a youth but later a chief, was among those who found Black Kettle's body. 7th returns to Camp Supply. Custer reports on battle. Report of casualties. Nineteenth Kansas had finally arrived by the time Custer & the 7th arrived. Disposition of Cheyenne prisoners. Two weeks after the battle, the 7th commanded by Custer, but also w/ Gen. Sheridan & accompanied by the Nineteenth Kansas, returned to Washita in an effort to determine what had happened to Major Elliott & his command. Signs that Cheyenne survivors had removed some bodies. Discovery of bodies of Elliott's command; disposition of body. Discovery of bodies of Clara & Willie Blinn in a camp downriver from Black Kettle's camp. Disputes about where the Blinn bodies were really found. Disposition of their bodies. Sheridan & Sherman believe Blinns were found in Kiowa camp of Satanta & that Satanta participated in battle. Movement down to Ft. Cobb. Custer's second report gives a higher estimate of Indian casualties.''

Reaction & controversies
''Contemporary reaction in newspapers (some of the stuff recently to the article added may be useful here). Indian reactions. Custer/Sheridan/Sherman justifying attack. Etc.''

Kiowa involvement
''Custer & Sheridan both believed that the Kiowa band led by Satanta took part in the battle. Hazen wrote a lengthy rebuttal to this claim.''

White captives
Allegations of several white captives in Black Kettle's camp, beginning with claims in Custer's first report of the battle & continuing particularly after the discovery of Clara & Willie Blinn when the cavalry returned to the Washita two weeks after the battle.

Black Kettle's responsibility for Kansas raids
''Seems like a funny question to ask in the article. A reader should be able to decide for themselves, based on the information provided. It's an inherently POV question''. Murderbike 20:52, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

''I agree, it's a lousy title... best I came up with yesterday. But one of the controversies (not just originating with CW) is: was Black Kettle in anyway responsible for the Kansas raids. So it will need to be discussed, I think.'' Maybe we should move discussions over to the talk page... --Yksin 21:05, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

"Battle" or "massacre"?
The modern accounts of the Battle of Washita, and Richard White's work, It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own, tend to lose their neutrality while describing the battle. Richard White illustrates this trend by describing the battle as "Once more American soldiers attacked a Cheyenne village that consisted largely of women and children." This is further demonstrated when Custer was described as being lucky to survive the battle. Since Custer’s own account of the battle contained the most information regarding the battle itself, the battle is described from his viewpoint. But there are contrasts between the historical and modern accounts.

The greatest difference between the modern and historical accounts is whether Washita is described as a battle or a massacre. Modern historians tend to lean towards the massacre side as White illustrates by writing "...American soldiers attacked, and...slaughtered a camp...of women and children." White, however, provides no evidence to support this claim.

Custer certainly did not consider Washita a massacre. He does mention that some women took weapons and were subsequently killed. This seems logical since it was four years earlier when Chivington stormed through Sand Creek slaughtering many men and women. With this thought in their minds, women would certainly have felt uneasy with American soldiers in their midst. Custer did leave Washita with women and children prisoners; he did not simply kill every Indian in the village, though he admittedly couldn't avoid killing women in the middle of the hard fight.

Historian Jerome Greene wrote a book about the encounter in 2004, for the National Park Service. He concluded: "Soldiers evidently took measures to protect the women and children."

Accusations that Major Elliott was abandoned
Another area of comparison between modern and historic accounts is the story of Major Elliot. Elliot, who died in the battle, commanded one of the four columns that attacked the village. Neither the modern nor historic account of the battle can precisely describe the circumstances of his death. One version is that he ventured too far east and was killed while encountering other tribes of Indians. Historic accounts of Elliot's story are similar, as Custer briefly describes in his autobiography. Apparently one of Custer's scouts saw Elliot chase some of the Cheyenne Indians west that were escaping from Black Kettle's village. A difference between the two accounts of the battle is whether Custer searched for Elliot after his disappearance. Custer says he did. "Parties were sent in the direction indicated by the scout, he accompanying them; but after a search extending nearly two miles all the parties returned, reporting their efforts to discover some trace of Elliot and his men fruitless."

Should this gunk even be kept?
Historical accounts make no mention of Black Kettle’s request to camp as a friendly tribe or of the free fire zone enacted in Kansas. In this sense the historical documents seem biased toward the Americans. While the historical documents tend to lean towards the American perspective, modern accounts, in describing the events prior to the battle, seem to remain largely objective and neutral. This seems like original research.

From both the historic and modern accounts we can determine that the cause of the Battle of Washita was either a breakdown in Indian to agent communications which resulted in Indian massacres of settlers, or it was the common result of Chiefs being forced into poor treaties, which were then broken by the American side, and followed by hostile activities by the younger disaffected warriors, which were in turn followed by American reprisals targeted at the whole village, because the natives had broken the treaty. The ultimate cause being that the treaties seldom had any means by which the grievances of the weaker party, could be addressed. '''This para contains a lot of original research. Or needs to be sourced to the extent its kept.' In addition, I would say that the word "either" needs to be taken out. It implies that there is one single cause of the situation, when the reality is that it was much more complex, with many factors being to blame.'' Murderbike 20:51, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Depiction in fiction
In the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, this battle is portrayed as a massacre in the double-episode titled Washita, aired on April 29, 1995.

In the film The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise's character Captain Nathan Algren had nightmares from his participation at the battle.

In the film Little Big Man the battle has a significant role. It is depicted as a massacre.