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The Battle of Washita River (also called Battle of the Washita or the Washita Massacre) occurred on November 27, 1868, when Lt. Col.
By early November 1868, Black Kettle's camp joined other Southern Cheyenne and other tribal bands at the Washita River, which they called Lodgepole River, after local pine trees.Greene 2004, pp. 102. Black Kettle's village was the westernmost of a series of winter camps, of Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa-Apache bands, that ran ten to 15 miles along the Washita River.Hoig 1980, p. 93.
Black Kettle's village was several miles west of the rest of the camps and consisted of around 50 Cheyenne lodges, plus one or two lodges of visiting Arapaho and two of visiting Lakota, for a total of about 250 inhabitants.Greene 2004, pp. 103 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. It 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 River looped northward in a large oxbow. At its northern portion was the Arapaho camp of
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 22–23. Excerpted in Hoig 1980, pp. 89–92; Greene 2004, p. 107; Hatch 2004, p. 240; Hardorff 2006, pp. 55–57. Hardoff notes that by the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation had the Arkansas River as its northern boundary. In April 1868, the U.S. Army distributed food provisions due the Cheyenne and Arapaho at Fort Larned and Fort Dodge, both north of the Arkansas. On August 9, 1868, they had distributed treaty annuities in the form of arms and ammunition at Fort Larned rather than south of the Arkansas.Hardorff 2006, p. 56 note 2. Black Kettle continued, asking if he might move his people south to Fort Cobb:
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 24–25 Hazen reported that while the chiefs seemed sincere, the Kiowa and Comanche at Fort Cobb said the young warriors who accompanied the chiefs were pleased that peace had not been made. They boasted that the Lakota and other northern bands would come down the following spring to "clean out the entire country."Hoig 1980, p. 92. Hazen took the young warriors' boasts so seriously 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.Hoig 1980, p. 92-93.
Black Kettle and the other chiefs departed Fort Cobb on about November 21 with food supplied by Griffenstein, traveling through storm conditions. They reached their villages on the Washita on the evening of November 26.Greene 2004, pp. 108–109.
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. They had raided white settlements in the
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
's 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
camp on the Washita River
The Washita River () is a river in the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border.
Geography
The ...
(the present-day Washita Battlefield National Historic Site
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site protects and interprets the site of the Southern Cheyenne village of Chief Black Kettle where the Battle of Washita occurred. The site is located about west of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, near Cheyenn ...
near Cheyenne, Oklahoma
Cheyenne is a town in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 801 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Roger Mills County.
History
Cheyenne is the location of the Battle of Washita River (also called Battle of th ...
).
The Cheyenne camp was the most isolated band of a major winter encampment along the river of numerous Native American tribal bands, totaling thousands of people. Custer's forces attacked the village because scouts had found it by tracking the trail of an Indian party that had raided white settlers. Black Kettle and his people had been at peace and were seeking peace. Custer's soldiers killed women and children in addition to warriors, although they also took many captive to serve as hostages and human shields. The number of Cheyenne killed in the attack has been disputed since the first reports.
Background
After the Southern Cheyenne andArapaho
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the Federal government of the United States and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by re ...
, they wereaccording to the final treaty text as affirmed by Congressrequired to move south from present-day Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
and Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
to a new reservation in Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
(modern Oklahoma). The actual oral accord of the treaty negotiations, however, had guaranteed the Cheyennes their traditional hunting lands as long as there was sufficient buffalo to justify the chase, a crucial treaty stipulation which was tacitly dropped in the subsequent ratification process. This forced them to give up their traditional territory for one with little arable land and away from buffalo, their main source of meat and a center of their culture. Months of fragile peace survived raids between warring Kaw Indians and Southern Cheyennes.
But in summer 1868, war parties of Southern Cheyenne and allied Arapaho, Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
, Comanche, Northern Cheyenne, Brulé
The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte (in Lakȟóta) —Sicangu Oyate—, ''Sicangu Lakota, o''r "Burnt ...
, Oglala
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live o ...
, and Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska ...
warriors attacked white settlements in western Kansas, southeast Colorado, and northwest Texas. Among these raids were those along the Solomon and Saline rivers in Kansas, which began August 10, 1868. The warriors killed at least 15 white settlers, wounded others, and were reported to have raped some women, as well as taking others captive to be adopted into their tribes.
In 1897, Kansas Rep. Horace L. Moore remarked at a meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society that "The total of losses from September 12, 1868, to February 9, 1869, exclusive of casualties incident to military operations, was 158 men murdered, sixteen wounded and forty-one scalped. Three scouts were killed, fourteen women outraged, one man was captured, four women and twenty-four children were carried off. Nearly all of these losses occurred in what we then called western Kansas, although the Saline, Solomon and Republican do not seem so very far west now".Moore, January 19, 1897, p. 350.
On August 19, 1868, Colonel Edward W. Wynkoop, Indian Agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho at Fort Larned, Kansas, interviewed Little Rock, a chief in Black Kettle's Cheyenne village. Little Rock
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
told what he had learned about the raids along the Saline and Solomon rivers. According to Little Rock's account, a war party of about 200 Cheyenne from a camp above the forks of Walnut Creek departed camp intending to go out against the Pawnee. Instead, they raided white settlements along the Saline and Solomon rivers. Some of the warriors returned to Black Kettle's camp. Little Rock learned from them what took place. Little Rock identified the warriors most responsible for the raids and agreed to try to have them delivered to white authorities. "Report of an interview between E. W. Wynkoop, US Indian Agent, and Little Rock, a Cheyenne Chief Held at Fort Larned, Kansas, August 19, 1868.", Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. Published in U.S. Senate, ''Letter of the Secretary of the Interior, Communicating in Compliance with the Resolution of the Senate of the 14th ultimo, Information in Relation to the Late Battle of Washita River, ''. 40th Cong., 3d sess., 1869. S. Exec. Doc. 40. Available wholly or in part in Hoig (1980), pp. 47–50; Custer 1874, pp. 105–107; Greene 2004, pp. 52–53; Hardorff 2006, pp. 45–49.
Native Americans in November 1868
Winter camps on the Washita River
By early November 1868, Black Kettle's camp joined other Southern Cheyenne and other tribal bands at the Washita River, which they called Lodgepole River, after local pine trees.Greene 2004, pp. 102. Black Kettle's village was the westernmost of a series of winter camps, of Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Kiowa-Apache bands, that ran ten to 15 miles along the Washita River.Hoig 1980, p. 93.
Black Kettle's village was several miles west of the rest of the camps and consisted of around 50 Cheyenne lodges, plus one or two lodges of visiting Arapaho and two of visiting Lakota, for a total of about 250 inhabitants.Greene 2004, pp. 103 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. It 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 River looped northward in a large oxbow. At its northern portion was the Arapaho camp of Little Raven
The little raven (''Corvus mellori'') is a species of the family Corvidae that is native to southeastern Australia. An adult individual is about in length, with completely black plumage, beak, and legs; as with all Australian species of ''Corv ...
,Hoig 1980, p. 94.Hardorff 2006, p. 276 note 1. Big Mouth, Yellow Bear, and Spotted Wolf, a total of about 180 lodges. At the bottom of the loop was a large Southern Cheyenne camp under Medicine Arrows. 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
Kicking Bird, also known as Tene-angop'te, "The Kicking Bird", "Eagle Who Strikes with his Talons", or "Striking Eagle" (1835 - May 3, 1875) was a High Chief of the Kiowa in the 1870s. It is said that he was given his name for the way he fought h ...
.
The Kiowa leaders Satanta, Lone Wolf, and Black Eagle had moved their villages to the Fort Cobb
Fort Cobb was a United States Army post established in what is now Caddo County, Oklahoma in 1859 to protect relocated Native Americans from raids by the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. The fort was abandoned by Maj. William H. Emory at the beginn ...
area. Downriver were other camps of Comanche and Kiowa-Apache. Overall, a total of about 6,000 Native Americans 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 Cheyenne, and Big Mouth and Spotted Wolf of the Arapaho, arrived at Fort Cobb to visit the post trader, William "Dutch Bill" Griffenstein.Hoig 1980, p. 89. Griffenstein's wife Cheyenne Jennie, a Cheyenne originally of Black Kettle's camp, had died around October 10.Hardorff 2006, p. 289 note 1. Griffenstein had sent runners to inform her parents of her death, perhaps also sending a message to urge Black Kettle to come to talk with Colonel (Brevet Major General) William B. Hazen about making peace.Hardorff 2006, p. 307 note 9. The four chiefs met with Hazen on November 20, with Captain Henry Alvord of the Tenth Cavalry documenting the conversations. Black Kettle began by saying to Hazen, "The Cheyennes, when south of theArkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...
, 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."Hazen, W.B. (November 20, 1868). "Record of a conversation held between Colonel and Brevet Major General W. B. Hazen, U.S. Army, on special service, and chiefs of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Native Americans, at Fort Cobb, Indian Territory, November 20, 1868." IU.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 22–23. Excerpted in Hoig 1980, pp. 89–92; Greene 2004, p. 107; Hatch 2004, p. 240; Hardorff 2006, pp. 55–57. Hardoff notes that by the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation had the Arkansas River as its northern boundary. In April 1868, the U.S. Army distributed food provisions due the Cheyenne and Arapaho at Fort Larned and Fort Dodge, both north of the Arkansas. On August 9, 1868, they had distributed treaty annuities in the form of arms and ammunition at Fort Larned rather than south of the Arkansas.Hardorff 2006, p. 56 note 2. 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 Cheyenne north of the Arkansas.Big Mouth of the Arapaho spoke next, saying in part:
I never would have gone north of the Arkansas again, but my father there he agentsent 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
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
, commander of the Military Division of the Missouri, had charged Hazen with making provision for Native Americans who wanted to stay out of the war. The orders stated if General Philip Sheridan
General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...
had to invade the reservation to pursue hostile Native Americans, he needed to spare the "well-disposed". Sherman recommended that non-belligerent Native Americans camp near Fort Cobb. Hazen knew that Sheridan had already declared the Cheyenne and Arapaho to be "hostile", meaning they were subject to attack by the U.S. Army.Hoig 1980, p. 91.Greene 2004, pp. 106. Hazen told the four chiefs he could not make peace with them. He recommended against their coming to Fort Cobb, as their presence would jeopardize the peace of the Kiowa and Comanche already camped there.Greene 2004, pp. 107. He told them,
I am sent here as a peace chief; all here is to be peace, 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, "{T]o 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 Sand Creek Massacre, Chivington affair might occur, which I could not prevent."Hazen, W.B. (November 22, 1868). Letter to Lt. Gen. William T. Sherman, U.S. Army. I
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 24–25 Hazen reported that while the chiefs seemed sincere, the Kiowa and Comanche at Fort Cobb said the young warriors who accompanied the chiefs were pleased that peace had not been made. They boasted that the Lakota and other northern bands would come down the following spring to "clean out the entire country."Hoig 1980, p. 92. Hazen took the young warriors' boasts so seriously 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.Hoig 1980, p. 92-93.
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. They reached their villages on the Washita on the evening of November 26.Greene 2004, pp. 108–109.
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. They had raided white settlements in the Smoky Hill River
The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas.Smoky Hill River. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.br ...
country with the Dog Soldiers.
Major Joel Elliott of the Seventh Cavalry found the trail of the raiders on November 26, which drew Custer and his forces to the Washita.Greene 2004, pp. 109–110. On November 26, the same day that Black Kettle returned to the Washita, a party of Kiowa returning from raiding the Utes passed through Black Kettle's camp on their way to their own village. They told the Cheyenne that as they had passed near the Antelope Hills on the Canadian River
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Greene 2004, pp. 110.McCusker, Philip .S. interpreter for Kiowas and Comanches (December 3, 1868). Report to Col. Thomas Murphy, Superintendent for Indian Affairs. I
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 7–8
Also on November 26, Crow Neck, a returning warrior, 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 that day, he saw moving figures to the north who looked like soldiers. Fearful, he turned back without getting his horse. Bad Man doubted Crow Neck had seen soldiers; he said perhaps he had a guilty conscience from having 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 chastised by Black Kettle for having been part of the raid.Brill 2002, p. 137.Hardorff 2006, p. 15.Greene 2004, p. 238 note 24. On the evening of November 26, Black Kettle held a council in his lodge with the principal 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. They wanted to clear up misunderstandings and make it clear that Black Kettle's people wanted peace. Meanwhile, they decided to move camp the next day downriver to be closer to the other Indian camps.Greene 2004, pp. 109. According to Moving Behind Woman, who was about 14 at the time of the attack at the Washita camp,Hardorff 2006, p. 323. Black Kettle's wife Medicine Woman stood outside the lodge for a long time. She was 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."Ediger, Theodore A. and Vinnie Hoffman. (1955)
"Some Reminiscences of the Battle of the Washita: Moving Behind's Story of the Battle of the Washita"
, ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 33(2): 137–141. Reprinted in Hardorff 2006, pp. 323–328. 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. He tried to persuade Black Kettle to move camp immediately, but was unsuccessful. But five of Black Kettle's children (four daughters and a son) moved to the camp of Black Kettle's nephew Whirlwind,Riggs, Stacy. (November 18, 1936). "Account of Black Kettle's Daughter As Told To and Related by Her Son, Stacy Riggs." In Hardorff 2006, pp. 318–320. which was ten miles downriver (five miles straight-line distance).Hardorff 2006, p. 318 note 4.
On November 26, 1868, Custer's Osage scouts located the trail of an Indian war party. Custer's troops followed this trail all day without a break until nightfall, when they rested briefly until there was sufficient moonlight to continue. They followed the trail to Black Kettle's village, where Custer divided his force into four parts, moving each into position so that at first daylight they could simultaneously converge on the village.Hoig 1980, p. 124. At daybreak, as the columns attacked, Double Wolf awoke and fired his gun to alert the village; he was among the first to die in the charge.Greene 2004, p. 129. The cavalry musicians played " Garryowen" to signal the attack. The Cheyenne warriors hurriedly left their lodges to take cover behind trees and in deep ravines. Custer soon controlled the village, but it took longer to quell all remaining resistance.
The Osage, enemies to the Cheyenne, were at war with most of the Plains tribes. The Osage scouts led Custer toward the village, hearing sounds and smelling smoke from the camp long before the soldiers. The Osage did not participate in the initial attack, fearing that the soldiers would mistake them for Cheyenne and shoot them. Instead, they waited behind the color-bearer of the 7th US Cavalry on the north side of the river until the village was taken. The Osage rode into the village, where they took scalps and helped the soldiers round up fleeing Cheyenne women and children.
Black Kettle and his wife, Medicine Woman, were shot in the back and killed while fleeing on a pony.Lewis, 2004, p. 231 Following the capture of Black Kettle's village, Custer was in a precarious position. As the fighting began to subside, he saw large groups of mounted Indians gathering on nearby hilltops and learned that Black Kettle's village was only one of many Indian encampments along the river, where thousands of Indians had gathered. Fearing an attack, he ordered some of his men to take defensive positions while the others seized the Indians' property and horses. They destroyed what they did not want or could not carry, slaughtering about 675 ponies and horses. They spared 200 horses to carry prisoners.Greene 2004, p. 126.
Near nightfall, fearing the outlying Indians would find and attack his supply train, Custer began marching his forces toward the other encampments. The surrounding Indians retreated, at which point Custer turned around and returned to his supply train.Greene 2004, p. 128.
In his first report of the battle to Gen. Sheridan on November 28, 1868, Custer reported that by "actual and careful examination after the battle", his men had found the bodies of 103 warriorsCuster, George Armstrong. (November 28, 1868). Report to Maj. Gen. P.H. Sheridan. I
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 27–29
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 162–165. Reproduced in Cozzens 2003, pp. 394–397; Hardorff 2006, pp. 60–65.a figure repeated by Sheridan when he relayed news of the Washita fight to Bvt. Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols the following day.Sheridan, Philip H. (November 29, 1868). Report to Brevet Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri. I
U.S. Senate 1869
, p. 32
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 146–147. In fact, no count of the dead had been made.Hardorff 2006, pp. 78–79, note 15.Hoig 1980, p. 200. The reported number was based on Custer's reports from his officers the day after the attack, during their return to Camp Supply.Greene 2004, p. 136. Cheyenne and other Indian estimates of the Indian casualties at the Washita, as well as estimates by Custer's civilian scouts, are much lower. According to a modern account by the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the 7th Cavalry had 21 officers and men killed and 13 wounded at the Washita. They estimated the Indians had perhaps 50 killed and as many wounded. Twenty of the soldiers killed were part of a small detachment led by Major Joel Elliott,Wert 1996, p. 276. who was among the dead. Elliott had separated from the three companies he led, apparently without Custer's approval. Yelling "Here's for a brevet or a coffin!",Wert 1996, p. 275.Hatch 2002, p. 90. Elliott and his small band pursued a group of fleeing Cheyenne. Elliott's contingent ran into a mixed party of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho warriors who were rushing from villages up the river to aid Black Kettle's encampment.Wert 1996 p. 273. The warriors overwhelmed the small troop in a single charge. Custer's abrupt withdrawal without determining the fate of Elliott and the missing troopers darkened Custer's reputation among his peers. There was deep resentment within the 7th Cavalry that never healed. In particular, Frederick Benteen, Eliott's friend and H Company captain, never forgave Custer for "abandoning" Elliott and his troopers. Eight years later, when Benteen failed to race to Custer's aid at the
The Southern Cheyenne encampment on the Washita River comprised a key component in Custer's field strategyIndian noncombatants included many women, children, and the elderly or disabled.Fox, Richard Allan, Jr., ''Archeology, History and Custer's Last Battle''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press (1993) p. 297 Custer targeted them for capture to serve as hostages and human shields. Custer's battalions intended to "ride into the camp and secure noncombatant hostages" and "forc the warriors to surrender". Custer demonstrated the value at the Battle of the Washita of a strategy that used "capture women and children" to "neutralize" the Southern Cheyenne superiority in numbers over the US military.
Author James Donovan describes the 53 women and children seized at the Washita as "captives" or "prisoners." They were used by Custer to ensure the escape of his regiment as Cheyenne forces from nearby villages began "pressing his position". Historian Jerome Greene spelled out their function: "... fifty-three women and children taken captive at the Washita served as assurance against attack from the downriver ndiansduring Custer's extrication of his command from the scene late on November 27."Greene 2004, p. 136 As Custer advanced with his regiment in a mock assaultmounted women and children hostages riding among his troopsthe warriors dispersed, "afraid that shots directed against the column might hit the prisoners".Greene 2004, pp. 183–184
Larry Sklenar, in his narrative of the Washita battle, also describes the role of "hostages" as human shields:
according to contemporary sources , - ! width="150", Source ! width="80", Date of estimate ! width="80", Men ! width="78", Women ! width="50", Children ! width="50", Total , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Lt. Col. G.A. Custer, 7th Cavalry , align="center" , November 28, 1868 , align="center" , 103 , align="center" , some , align="center" , few , align="center" , 103+ , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Women captives, via interpreter Richard Curtis and ''New York Herald'' reporter DeB. Randolph KleimKeim, DeB. Randolph. (December 24, 1868). "The Indian War." ''New York Herald''. (Dispatch written from Camp Supply, December 1, 1868). Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 297–398. , align="center" , December 1, 1868 , align="center" , 13 Cheyenne
2 Sioux
1 Arapaho , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 16 , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Division of the MissouriSheridan, Philip H. (December 3, 1868). Report to Brevet Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri. I
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp.34–35. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 275–277. , align="center" , December 3, 1868 , align="center" , 13 Cheyenne
2 Sioux
1 Arapaho , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 16 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Black Eagle (Kiowa), via interpreter Philip McCusker , align="center" , December 3, 1868 , align="center" , 11 Cheyenne
3 Arapaho , align="center" , many , align="center" , many , align="center" , 14+ , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Capt. Henry E. Alvord, 10th CavalryAlvord, Henry E. (December 7, 1868). "Summary of Information Regarding Hostile Indians, Semi-Weekly Report No. 5." I
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 35–37
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 151–153. Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, p. 268.Alvord, Henry E. (April 4, 1874). Letter to W.B. Hazen
Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, p. 269. Here, Alvord added one warrior killed to those originally estimated killed in his December 1868 intelligence report. , align="center" , December 12, 1868
(rev. April 4, 1874) , align="center" , 80 Cheyenne
1 Comanche
1 Kiowa , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 81
(82) , - valign="top" style="background:#E6E6FA" , John Poisal and Jack Fitzpatrick, scouts attached to 7th Cavalry, via J.S. MorrisonMorrison, J.S. (December 14, 1868)
Reproduced in full in Brill 2002, pp. 313–314. Reproduced in part i
U.S. House of Representatives 1870, p. 11
and Hardorff 2006, pp. 283–284. , align="center" , December 14, 1868 , align="center" , 20 , align="center" colspan="2" , 40 women
and children , align="center" , 60 , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Lt. Col. G.A. Custer, 7th CavalryCuster, George Armstrong. (December 22, 1868). Report to Brevet Lt. Col. J. Schuyler Crosby. I
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 155–162. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 66–79. , align="center" , December 22, 1868 , align="center" , 140 , align="center" , some , align="center" , few , align="center" , 140+ , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Unidentified Cheyennes, via Col. Benjamin H. Grierson, 10th CavalryGrierson, Benjamin H. (April 6, 1869). Letter to John Kirk. Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, pp. 286–287. , align="center" , April 6, 1869 , align="center" , 18 , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 18 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Red Moon, Minimic, Gray Eyes, Little Robe (Cheyenne) via Vincent Colyer, Special Indian CommissionerColyer, Vincent. (April 9, 1869). Inspection report to Felix B. Brunot, Commissioner, April 9 entry. In ''Report of the Secretary of the Interior'', 41st Congress, 2nd session, Executive Document. Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, pp. 367–371. , align="center" , April 9, 1869 , align="center" , 13 , align="center" , 16 , align="center" , 9 , align="center" , 38 , - valign="top" style="background:#E6E6FA" , Benjamin H. Clark, chief of scouts attached to 7th CavalryClark, Ben. (May 14, 1899). "Custer's Washita Fight" (interview). ''New York Sun''. Reproduced in Hardoff 2006, pp. 204–215; casualty estimate on p. 208. , align="center" , 1899 , align="center" , 75 , align="center" colspan="2" , 75 women
and children , align="center" , 150 , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Dennis Lynch, private, 7th CavalryCamp, Walter M. (February 8, 1909). Interview of Dennis Lynch, private, 7th Cavalry. In Hardorff 2006, pp. 184–188. , align="center" , 1909 , align="center" , 106 , align="center" , some , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 106+ , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Med Elk Pipe, Red Shin (?) via George Bent/George HydeBent, George. (August 28, 1913). Letter to George Hyde. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 398–399. Also in Hyde's 1967 ''Life of George Bent, Written From His Letters'', p. 322. , align="center" , 1913 , align="center" , 11 , align="center" , 12 , align="center" , 6 , align="center" , 29 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Crow Neck (?), via George Bent/George Bird GrinnellGrinnell, George Bird. (October 3, 1916). Letter to W.M. Camp. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 399–400. Grinnell's letter states his information comes from a letter from George Bent "written two or three years ago." The Mexican, White Bear, "was a Mexican captive, purchased by William Bent" (George Bent's father). According to Hardorff, White Bear, also known as Pilan, was married to a Cheyenne woman and may have been a trader working for Fort Cobb post trader William Griffenstein. Hardorff 2006, p. 210 note 9. , align="center" , 1914 , align="center" , 11 Cheyenne
2 Arapaho
1 Mexican , align="center" , 10 Cheyenne
2 Sioux , align="center" , 5 , align="center" , 31 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Packer/She Wolf (Cheyenne), via George BentBent, George. (December 4, 1916). Letter to W.M. Camp. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 400–401. The name of the Mexican killed was here given as Pilan. According to Hardorff, Pilan, known to the Cheyenne as White Bear, was married to a Cheyenne woman and may have been a trader working for Fort Cobb post trader William Griffenstein. Hardorff 2006, p. 210 note 9. , align="center" , 1916 , align="center" , 10 Cheyenne
2 Arapaho
1 Mexican , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 13 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Magpie/Little Beaver (Cheyenne), via Charles BrillMagpie heyenne (November 23, 1930). Interview by Charles Brill et al., September 17. ''Daily Oklahoman''. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 302–311. Casualty estimate on p. 310. , align="center" , 1930 , align="center" , 15 , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 15 , - , colspan="6" style="font-size:90%" , Source: Appendix G table, "Aggregate Totals", Hardorff 2006, p. 403. Source table modified by arranging in chronological order, providing sources for each estimate, and color-coding to differentiate between type of source. , - , colspan="6" align="center" , {, style="font-size:90%" , - , Key: , style="background:#E0FFFF" width="33% , Military estimates , style="background:#E6E6FA" width="33% , Estimates of civilian scouts attached to 7th Cavalry , style="background:#FFEBCD" width="40% , Indian estimates
Following the event, a controversy arose as to whether the event was best described as a military victory or as a massacre. This discussion endures among historians to this day.
The
Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, Volume Three: Conquering the Southern Plains.
' Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. . * Custer, George Armstrong. (1874). '' My Life on the Plains: Or Personal Experiences With the Indians.'' New York: Sheldon and Company. Also available onlin
from Kansas Collection Books
* Greene, Jerome A. (2004). ''Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyenne, 1867–1869.'' Campaigns and Commanders Series, vol. 3. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Hardorff, Richard G., compiler & editor (2006). ''Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer's Attack on Black Kettle's Village''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Hatch, Thom. (2004). ''Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. . * Hatch, Thom. (2002). ''The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. . * Hazen, W.B. (1874)
St. Paul, MN: Ramaley & Cunningham. Reprinted with editorial introduction in ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 3(4): 295–318 (December 1925). * Hoig, Stan. (1980).
The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-Custer Indian Campaign of 1867–69.
' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. . Previously published in 1976 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday). . * Hyde, George E. (1968). ''Life of George Bent Written from His Letters''. Ed. by Savoie Lottinville. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Lewis, Jon E., ed. (2004). ''The Mammoth Book of Native Americans: The Story of America's Original Inhabitants in All Its Beauty, Magic, Truth, and Tragedy.'' New York: Carroll & Graf. . * Moore, Horace L. (January 19, 1897)
Address before the 21st annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society. Kansas Historical Collections, vol. VI. Reprinted in ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 2(4): 350–365 (December 1924). * National Park Service. (1999–11)
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, National Park Service. * National Park Service. (August 10, 2006)
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, National Park Service. * * ''New York Times'', November 27 – December 8, 1868. * Stewart, Richard W., editor. (2005)
Chapter 14 in
'', pp. 321–340. Washington, DC: United States Army, Center of Military History. CMH Pub 30–21. pp. 328–331 includes a brief account of the Army's campaigns in the southern plains, including the Battle of Washita River. *
"Named Campaigns — Indian Wars."
Washington, DC: United States Army, Center of Military History. Retrieved on July 6, 2007. * U.S. House of Representatives. (1870).
' 41st Congress, 2nd session, House Executive Document 240. * U.S. Senate. (1869a).
Letter of the Secretary of the Interior, Communicating, in Compliance with the Resolution of the Senate of the 14th ultimo, Information in Relation to the Late Battle of the Washita River.
' 40th Congress, 3rd Session, 1869, Senate Executive Document 13. * U.S. Senate. (1869b).
' 40th Congress, 3rd Session, 1869, Senate Executive Document 18. * Utley, Robert M. (2001). ''Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier,'' rev. ed. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Wert, Jeffry D. (1996). ''Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer,'' New York: Simon and Schuster. .
MMS 1646 mf. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, Center for Archival Collections. * Frost, Lawrence A. (1990). ''The Custer Album: A Pictorial Biography of General George A. Custer''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . Originally published 1964. * Garlington, E. A. (1896)
In Theophilus F. Rodenboguh and William L. Haskin, eds.
' New York: Maynard, Merrill, & Co., pp. 251–257. Online version dated October 30, 2002 through the
The Western American Indian: Case Studies in Tribal History.
' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. . * Grinnell, George Bird. (1983).
The Fighting Cheyennes
'. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. First published 1914. . * Michno, Gregory F. (2003). ''Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes 1850–1890''. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company. . * Michno, Gregory F. (2005–12)
''Wild West'' (magazine). Retrieved through Historynet.com on June 28, 2007. * Roenigk, Adolph. (1933).
Pioneer History of Kansas.
' (Lincoln, KS:) A. Roenigk. Throug
Kansas Collection Books
* Utley, Robert M. (1973). ''Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866–1891'', Macmillan Publishing. Bison Press 1984 edition: * White, Richard. (1991). '' "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West.'' Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Wilson, Hill P. (1904). "Black Kettle’s Last Raid." ''Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society'' 8: 110–117.
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, U.S. National Park Service
HistoryNet
Historical articles (including Michno's article on Black Kettle) {{DEFAULTSORT:Washita River Battle of Washita River Conflicts in 1868 November 1868 events Arapaho Cheyenne tribe George Armstrong Custer Battles involving the Cheyenne Battles involving the United States Comanche campaign Hostage taking Native American history of Oklahoma Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Battles in Oklahoma
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 7–8
Also on November 26, Crow Neck, a returning warrior, 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 that day, he saw moving figures to the north who looked like soldiers. Fearful, he turned back without getting his horse. Bad Man doubted Crow Neck had seen soldiers; he said perhaps he had a guilty conscience from having 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 chastised by Black Kettle for having been part of the raid.Brill 2002, p. 137.Hardorff 2006, p. 15.Greene 2004, p. 238 note 24. On the evening of November 26, Black Kettle held a council in his lodge with the principal 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. They wanted to clear up misunderstandings and make it clear that Black Kettle's people wanted peace. Meanwhile, they decided to move camp the next day downriver to be closer to the other Indian camps.Greene 2004, pp. 109. According to Moving Behind Woman, who was about 14 at the time of the attack at the Washita camp,Hardorff 2006, p. 323. Black Kettle's wife Medicine Woman stood outside the lodge for a long time. She was 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."Ediger, Theodore A. and Vinnie Hoffman. (1955)
"Some Reminiscences of the Battle of the Washita: Moving Behind's Story of the Battle of the Washita"
, ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 33(2): 137–141. Reprinted in Hardorff 2006, pp. 323–328. 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. He tried to persuade Black Kettle to move camp immediately, but was unsuccessful. But five of Black Kettle's children (four daughters and a son) moved to the camp of Black Kettle's nephew Whirlwind,Riggs, Stacy. (November 18, 1936). "Account of Black Kettle's Daughter As Told To and Related by Her Son, Stacy Riggs." In Hardorff 2006, pp. 318–320. which was ten miles downriver (five miles straight-line distance).Hardorff 2006, p. 318 note 4.
Sheridan's offensive
GeneralPhilip Sheridan
General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...
, in command of the U.S. Army's Department of the Missouri, decided upon a winter campaign against the Cheyenne. While difficult, a winter campaign offered chances for decisive results, since it was the only time of year the Plains Indians were immobilized. If their shelter, food, and livestock could be destroyed or captured, not only the warriors but their women and children would be at the mercy of both the Army and the elements. They would be forced to surrender.Stewart 2005, p. 330. Sheridan planned to have three columns converge on the Indian wintering grounds just east of the Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...
: one from Fort Lyon
Fort Lyon was composed of two 19th-century military fort complexes in southeastern Colorado. The initial fort, also called Fort Wise, operated from 1860 to 1867. After a flood in 1866, a new fort was built near Las Animas, Colorado, which opera ...
in Colorado, one from Fort Bascom
Fort Bascom, established in 1863 in New Mexico Territory, is located on the Canadian River in Quay County, New Mexico, slightly west of the Texas border, 10 miles north of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The fort was named in honor of Captain George Nic ...
in New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, and one from a supply camp to be established ( Camp Supply). There, Lt. Col. George A. Custer commanded the 7th Cavalry's 800 soldiers against the various bands on the Washita River. They set out on November 23, 1868, in the midst of heavy snow, and headed south.
Custer's attack
On November 26, 1868, Custer's Osage scouts located the trail of an Indian war party. Custer's troops followed this trail all day without a break until nightfall, when they rested briefly until there was sufficient moonlight to continue. They followed the trail to Black Kettle's village, where Custer divided his force into four parts, moving each into position so that at first daylight they could simultaneously converge on the village.Hoig 1980, p. 124. At daybreak, as the columns attacked, Double Wolf awoke and fired his gun to alert the village; he was among the first to die in the charge.Greene 2004, p. 129. The cavalry musicians played " Garryowen" to signal the attack. The Cheyenne warriors hurriedly left their lodges to take cover behind trees and in deep ravines. Custer soon controlled the village, but it took longer to quell all remaining resistance.
The Osage, enemies to the Cheyenne, were at war with most of the Plains tribes. The Osage scouts led Custer toward the village, hearing sounds and smelling smoke from the camp long before the soldiers. The Osage did not participate in the initial attack, fearing that the soldiers would mistake them for Cheyenne and shoot them. Instead, they waited behind the color-bearer of the 7th US Cavalry on the north side of the river until the village was taken. The Osage rode into the village, where they took scalps and helped the soldiers round up fleeing Cheyenne women and children.
Black Kettle and his wife, Medicine Woman, were shot in the back and killed while fleeing on a pony.Lewis, 2004, p. 231 Following the capture of Black Kettle's village, Custer was in a precarious position. As the fighting began to subside, he saw large groups of mounted Indians gathering on nearby hilltops and learned that Black Kettle's village was only one of many Indian encampments along the river, where thousands of Indians had gathered. Fearing an attack, he ordered some of his men to take defensive positions while the others seized the Indians' property and horses. They destroyed what they did not want or could not carry, slaughtering about 675 ponies and horses. They spared 200 horses to carry prisoners.Greene 2004, p. 126.
Near nightfall, fearing the outlying Indians would find and attack his supply train, Custer began marching his forces toward the other encampments. The surrounding Indians retreated, at which point Custer turned around and returned to his supply train.Greene 2004, p. 128.
In his first report of the battle to Gen. Sheridan on November 28, 1868, Custer reported that by "actual and careful examination after the battle", his men had found the bodies of 103 warriorsCuster, George Armstrong. (November 28, 1868). Report to Maj. Gen. P.H. Sheridan. IU.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 27–29
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 162–165. Reproduced in Cozzens 2003, pp. 394–397; Hardorff 2006, pp. 60–65.a figure repeated by Sheridan when he relayed news of the Washita fight to Bvt. Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols the following day.Sheridan, Philip H. (November 29, 1868). Report to Brevet Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri. I
U.S. Senate 1869
, p. 32
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 146–147. In fact, no count of the dead had been made.Hardorff 2006, pp. 78–79, note 15.Hoig 1980, p. 200. The reported number was based on Custer's reports from his officers the day after the attack, during their return to Camp Supply.Greene 2004, p. 136. Cheyenne and other Indian estimates of the Indian casualties at the Washita, as well as estimates by Custer's civilian scouts, are much lower. According to a modern account by the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the 7th Cavalry had 21 officers and men killed and 13 wounded at the Washita. They estimated the Indians had perhaps 50 killed and as many wounded. Twenty of the soldiers killed were part of a small detachment led by Major Joel Elliott,Wert 1996, p. 276. who was among the dead. Elliott had separated from the three companies he led, apparently without Custer's approval. Yelling "Here's for a brevet or a coffin!",Wert 1996, p. 275.Hatch 2002, p. 90. Elliott and his small band pursued a group of fleeing Cheyenne. Elliott's contingent ran into a mixed party of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho warriors who were rushing from villages up the river to aid Black Kettle's encampment.Wert 1996 p. 273. The warriors overwhelmed the small troop in a single charge. Custer's abrupt withdrawal without determining the fate of Elliott and the missing troopers darkened Custer's reputation among his peers. There was deep resentment within the 7th Cavalry that never healed. In particular, Frederick Benteen, Eliott's friend and H Company captain, never forgave Custer for "abandoning" Elliott and his troopers. Eight years later, when Benteen failed to race to Custer's aid at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...
, his actions were closely examined in light of his long-standing anger toward Custer for the events at the Washita River.
Role of Indian noncombatants in Custer's strategy
The Southern Cheyenne encampment on the Washita River comprised a key component in Custer's field strategyIndian noncombatants included many women, children, and the elderly or disabled.Fox, Richard Allan, Jr., ''Archeology, History and Custer's Last Battle''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press (1993) p. 297 Custer targeted them for capture to serve as hostages and human shields. Custer's battalions intended to "ride into the camp and secure noncombatant hostages" and "forc the warriors to surrender". Custer demonstrated the value at the Battle of the Washita of a strategy that used "capture women and children" to "neutralize" the Southern Cheyenne superiority in numbers over the US military.
Author James Donovan describes the 53 women and children seized at the Washita as "captives" or "prisoners." They were used by Custer to ensure the escape of his regiment as Cheyenne forces from nearby villages began "pressing his position". Historian Jerome Greene spelled out their function: "... fifty-three women and children taken captive at the Washita served as assurance against attack from the downriver ndiansduring Custer's extrication of his command from the scene late on November 27."Greene 2004, p. 136 As Custer advanced with his regiment in a mock assaultmounted women and children hostages riding among his troopsthe warriors dispersed, "afraid that shots directed against the column might hit the prisoners".Greene 2004, pp. 183–184
Larry Sklenar, in his narrative of the Washita battle, also describes the role of "hostages" as human shields:
Custer probably could not have pulled off this tactical coup t the Washitahad he not had in his possession the fifty-some women and children captives. Although not hostages in the narrowest meaning of the word, doubtlessly it occurred to Custer that the family-oriented heyennewarriors would not attack the Seventh avalrywith the women and children marching in he middle of his columnCuster provided the military logic for tactical use of human shields in his book ''My Life on the Plains'', published two years before the Battle of the Little Big Horn:
Indians contemplating a battle, either offensive or defensive, are always anxious to have their women and children removed from all danger…For this reason I decided to locate our ilitarycamp as close as convenient to hief Black Kettle's Cheyennevillage, knowing that the close proximity of their women and children, and their necessary exposure in case of conflict, would operate as a powerful argument in favor of peace, when the question of peace or war came to be discussed.General Phil Sheridan, commander of the Department of the Missouri, issued orders for the Washita River expedition, including the following: "to destroy
ndian
Ndian is a department of Southwest Region in Cameroon. It is located in the humid tropical rainforest zone about southeast of Yaoundé, the capital.
History
Ndian division was formed in 1975 from parts of Kumba and Victoria divisions and is ...
villages and ponies, to kill or hang all warriors, and to bring back all woman and children urvivors" The purpose of this "total war" strategy was to make "all segments of Indian society experience the horrors of war as fully as the warriors".
Benjamin "Ben" Clark, the highly regarded scout and guide attached to the Seventh Cavalry, recalled that women and children were not spared being killed at the Washita: " e regiment galloped through the tepees ... firing indiscriminately and killing men and women alike."Donovan, James, ''A Terrible Glory''. Little, Brown and Company (2008). p. 63 One cavalry unit was seen pursuing "a group of women and children," shooting at them and "killing them without mercy". Lieutenant Edward Godfrey observed that soldiers made no effort "to prevent hitting women" during the attack.
Ben Clark reported "the loss of seventy-five heyennewarriors dead, and fully as many women and children killed". Greene notes that "all warriors who lay wounded in the villagepresumably no matter the extent of their injuries" were (according to Clark's testimony) "promptly shot to death". This was consistent with Sheridan's orders to kill or summarily hang all apturedwarriors. The Seventh Cavalry tactical engagement of noncombatants contributed to the effective "destruction" of Black Kettle's villageit "ceased to exist".
Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, with elements of the Fourth Cavalry, emulated the successand methodsof the Battle of the Washita in the lead-up to the Red River War at the battle of North Fork, near McClellan Creek, Texas, in 1872. Applying similar tactics of taking captives, Mackenzie's command of 284 men attacked a Comanche village of 262 lodges and 500 warriors, capturing 130 women and children. The captives served both as human shields, as Mackenzie withdrew to his supply base, and as hostages, offered as a "bargaining tool to force the off-reservation Indians back to reservation, and to force them to free white captives".
Controversies
Indian casualties at the Washita
The number of Indian casualties at the Washita reported by Custer has been controversial. In his first report of the battle to Gen. Sheridan on November 28, 1868, Custer reported that by "actual and careful examination after the battle," the bodies of 103 warriors were founda figure echoed by Sheridan when from Camp Supply he relayed news of the Washita fight to Bvt. Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols the following day. In fact, no battlefield count of the dead was made. According to Lt. Edward S. Godfrey, no estimate of Indian warrior fatalities was made until the evening of the day following the battle, after the soldiers made camp during their march back to Camp Supply. "On hesecond night fter the battle" Godfrey told interviewer Walter M. Camp in 1917, "Custer interrogated the officers as to what Indians they had seen dead in the village, and it was from these reports that the official report of Indians killed was made up. The dead Indians on the field were not counted by the troops then, but guessed at later, as explained."Camp, Walter M. (March 3, 1917). Interview of Lt. Edward S. Godfrey. In Hardorff 2006, pp. 130–131. In his 1928 memoir, Godfrey related, "After supper in the evening, the officers were called together and each one questioned as to the casualties of enemy warriors, locations, etc. Every effort was made to avoid duplications. The total was found to be one hundred and three."Godfrey, Edward S. (1928). "Some Reminiscences, Including the Washita Battle", ''The Cavalry Journal'' 37(153): 481–500 (October). Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, p. 132-147. The quotation is found on p. 145. See also: Godfrey, Edward S. (1929). "The Washita Campaign", ''Winners of the West'' 6(5–8) (April–July), reproduced in Cozzens 2003, pp. 339–354; an almost identical statement appears on p. 352. Captain Benteen stated, in annotations to his personal copy of W.L. Holloway's ''Wild Life on the Plains and Horrors of Indian Warfare'', that "Custer assembled the officers to inquire of each how many dead Indians ''each'' had seen; then what each had seen were added. ''They had all seen the same dead Indians''." mphasis in original John Poisal and Jack Fitzpatrick, mixed-blood scouts attached to the Seventh Cavalry, reported a different number of Indian casualties to scout J.S. Morrison when they arrived atFort Dodge
Fort Dodge is a city in, and the county seat of, Webster County, Iowa, United States, along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, a decrease from 25,136 in 2000. Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Cen ...
with the Cheyenne prisoners.Hardorff 2006, p. 282. In a letter to Indian Agent Col. Edward W. Wynkoop on December 14, 1868, Morrison wrote,
John Smith, John Poysell oisal and Jack Fitzpatrick have got in today. John S. was not in the ashitafight, but John P. and Jack were. They all agree in stating that the official reports of the fight were very much exaggerated; that there were not over twenty bucks killed; the rest, about 40, were women and children.The Cheyenne prisoners, interviewed by Gen. Sheridan at Camp Supply, reported 13 Cheyenne men, two Sioux, and one Arapaho killed at the Washita, a figure which Sheridan subsequently reported to Bvt. Maj. Gen. Nichols. The journalist DeB. Randolph Keim interviewed the women prisoners with the help of interpreter Richard Curtis. He obtained the names of those killed and arrived at the same figure of 13 Cheyenne, two Sioux, and one Arapaho killed. Later information from various Cheyenne sources, most of them independent of each other, tended to confirm the figures given by the Cheyenne women prisoners. Few of the military reports noted casualties among the women and children. Custer acknowledged in his report, "In the excitement of the fight, as well as in self-defence, it so happened that some of the squaws and a few of the children were killed and wounded...." After Custer and Sheridan visited the battlefield in December, Custer revised his initial estimate of 103 warriors killed upward. He wrote from Fort Cobb,
The Indians admit a loss of 140 killed, besides a heavy loss of wounded. This, with the Indian prisoners we have in our possession, makes the entire loss of the Indian in killed, wounded, and missing not far from 300.Hoig points out that if true, the number would mean that virtually everyone in Black Kettle's village was killed or captured. Greene states, "Custer's figures were inflated, and the specific sources of his information remain unknown." Hardorff notes questions about this total.
This new number was based on information obtained from two imprisoned Kiowa chiefs at Fort Cobb who faced death by hanging. In view of their predicament, it seems likely that these men would have said anything to avoid the gallows. But such skepticism is not warranted in the case of the Washita prisoners. The Cheyenne women were allowed to mingle freely with the officers and knew many of them on an intimate basis. They were assured good treatment and had no apparent reason to distort their statements about dead kinsmen.Greene finds the Cheyenne and other Indian estimates most reliable. He writes, "As might be expected, the best estimates must come from the people who suffered the losses," though noting, "even these do not agree." Utley, however, writes, "Indian calculationsa dozen warriors and twice as many women and children killedare as improbably low as Custer's are high."Utley 2001, p. 70. Hoig writes, "Even though the number 103 was not arrived at by a precise battlefield count, it is a definite figure which has already been placed on historical markers of the battlefield. Since it will likely never be proved absolutely incorrect, the figure will undoubtedly remain accepted as the number of Indians killed by Custer at the Washita. History should make it clear, however, that the dead were by no means all warriors who were met in open battle and defeated."Hoig 1980, p. 201. Several of the Cheyenne accounts provide names of men killed at the Washita.Hyde 1968, p. 322. In his book on the Washita, Greene provides an appendix of "Known Village Fatalities at the Washita." He compiled a list of all unique names, for a total of 40 men, 12 women (of whom 11 are unidentified), and six unidentified children. Greene notes that some individuals might have more than one name, so some entries might be duplicates.Greene 2004, pp. 212–214. Using the same sources, Richard G. Hardorff has compiled a "Composite List of Names." It partially reconciles multiple names (or multiple translations of the same name) among the different sources; for example, the Mexican ''Pilan'', with Indian names White Bear and Tall White Man; or Bitter Man/Cranky Man, also known as Bad Man. Writes Hardorff, "Some of the dead may have been identified by their birth name by one informant and by their nickname by another. Variations in the translation of personal names add to the confusion in the identification...."Hardorff 2006, p. 402. {, style="border:10px solid white" , colspan="6" align="center" style="font-size:120%" , Estimates of Indian casualties in the Battle of the Washita
according to contemporary sources , - ! width="150", Source ! width="80", Date of estimate ! width="80", Men ! width="78", Women ! width="50", Children ! width="50", Total , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Lt. Col. G.A. Custer, 7th Cavalry , align="center" , November 28, 1868 , align="center" , 103 , align="center" , some , align="center" , few , align="center" , 103+ , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Women captives, via interpreter Richard Curtis and ''New York Herald'' reporter DeB. Randolph KleimKeim, DeB. Randolph. (December 24, 1868). "The Indian War." ''New York Herald''. (Dispatch written from Camp Supply, December 1, 1868). Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 297–398. , align="center" , December 1, 1868 , align="center" , 13 Cheyenne
2 Sioux
1 Arapaho , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 16 , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Division of the MissouriSheridan, Philip H. (December 3, 1868). Report to Brevet Maj. Gen. W.A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri. I
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp.34–35. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 275–277. , align="center" , December 3, 1868 , align="center" , 13 Cheyenne
2 Sioux
1 Arapaho , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 16 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Black Eagle (Kiowa), via interpreter Philip McCusker , align="center" , December 3, 1868 , align="center" , 11 Cheyenne
3 Arapaho , align="center" , many , align="center" , many , align="center" , 14+ , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Capt. Henry E. Alvord, 10th CavalryAlvord, Henry E. (December 7, 1868). "Summary of Information Regarding Hostile Indians, Semi-Weekly Report No. 5." I
U.S. Senate 1869
, pp. 35–37
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 151–153. Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, p. 268.Alvord, Henry E. (April 4, 1874). Letter to W.B. Hazen
Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, p. 269. Here, Alvord added one warrior killed to those originally estimated killed in his December 1868 intelligence report. , align="center" , December 12, 1868
(rev. April 4, 1874) , align="center" , 80 Cheyenne
1 Comanche
1 Kiowa , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 81
(82) , - valign="top" style="background:#E6E6FA" , John Poisal and Jack Fitzpatrick, scouts attached to 7th Cavalry, via J.S. MorrisonMorrison, J.S. (December 14, 1868)
Reproduced in full in Brill 2002, pp. 313–314. Reproduced in part i
U.S. House of Representatives 1870, p. 11
and Hardorff 2006, pp. 283–284. , align="center" , December 14, 1868 , align="center" , 20 , align="center" colspan="2" , 40 women
and children , align="center" , 60 , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Lt. Col. G.A. Custer, 7th CavalryCuster, George Armstrong. (December 22, 1868). Report to Brevet Lt. Col. J. Schuyler Crosby. I
U.S. House of Representatives 1870
, pp. 155–162. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 66–79. , align="center" , December 22, 1868 , align="center" , 140 , align="center" , some , align="center" , few , align="center" , 140+ , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Unidentified Cheyennes, via Col. Benjamin H. Grierson, 10th CavalryGrierson, Benjamin H. (April 6, 1869). Letter to John Kirk. Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, pp. 286–287. , align="center" , April 6, 1869 , align="center" , 18 , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 18 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Red Moon, Minimic, Gray Eyes, Little Robe (Cheyenne) via Vincent Colyer, Special Indian CommissionerColyer, Vincent. (April 9, 1869). Inspection report to Felix B. Brunot, Commissioner, April 9 entry. In ''Report of the Secretary of the Interior'', 41st Congress, 2nd session, Executive Document. Excerpted in Hardorff 2006, pp. 367–371. , align="center" , April 9, 1869 , align="center" , 13 , align="center" , 16 , align="center" , 9 , align="center" , 38 , - valign="top" style="background:#E6E6FA" , Benjamin H. Clark, chief of scouts attached to 7th CavalryClark, Ben. (May 14, 1899). "Custer's Washita Fight" (interview). ''New York Sun''. Reproduced in Hardoff 2006, pp. 204–215; casualty estimate on p. 208. , align="center" , 1899 , align="center" , 75 , align="center" colspan="2" , 75 women
and children , align="center" , 150 , - valign="top" style="background:#E0FFFF" , Dennis Lynch, private, 7th CavalryCamp, Walter M. (February 8, 1909). Interview of Dennis Lynch, private, 7th Cavalry. In Hardorff 2006, pp. 184–188. , align="center" , 1909 , align="center" , 106 , align="center" , some , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 106+ , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Med Elk Pipe, Red Shin (?) via George Bent/George HydeBent, George. (August 28, 1913). Letter to George Hyde. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 398–399. Also in Hyde's 1967 ''Life of George Bent, Written From His Letters'', p. 322. , align="center" , 1913 , align="center" , 11 , align="center" , 12 , align="center" , 6 , align="center" , 29 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Crow Neck (?), via George Bent/George Bird GrinnellGrinnell, George Bird. (October 3, 1916). Letter to W.M. Camp. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 399–400. Grinnell's letter states his information comes from a letter from George Bent "written two or three years ago." The Mexican, White Bear, "was a Mexican captive, purchased by William Bent" (George Bent's father). According to Hardorff, White Bear, also known as Pilan, was married to a Cheyenne woman and may have been a trader working for Fort Cobb post trader William Griffenstein. Hardorff 2006, p. 210 note 9. , align="center" , 1914 , align="center" , 11 Cheyenne
2 Arapaho
1 Mexican , align="center" , 10 Cheyenne
2 Sioux , align="center" , 5 , align="center" , 31 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Packer/She Wolf (Cheyenne), via George BentBent, George. (December 4, 1916). Letter to W.M. Camp. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 400–401. The name of the Mexican killed was here given as Pilan. According to Hardorff, Pilan, known to the Cheyenne as White Bear, was married to a Cheyenne woman and may have been a trader working for Fort Cobb post trader William Griffenstein. Hardorff 2006, p. 210 note 9. , align="center" , 1916 , align="center" , 10 Cheyenne
2 Arapaho
1 Mexican , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 13 , - valign="top" style="background:#FFEBCD" , Magpie/Little Beaver (Cheyenne), via Charles BrillMagpie heyenne (November 23, 1930). Interview by Charles Brill et al., September 17. ''Daily Oklahoman''. Reproduced in Hardorff 2006, pp. 302–311. Casualty estimate on p. 310. , align="center" , 1930 , align="center" , 15 , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , n/a , align="center" , 15 , - , colspan="6" style="font-size:90%" , Source: Appendix G table, "Aggregate Totals", Hardorff 2006, p. 403. Source table modified by arranging in chronological order, providing sources for each estimate, and color-coding to differentiate between type of source. , - , colspan="6" align="center" , {, style="font-size:90%" , - , Key: , style="background:#E0FFFF" width="33% , Military estimates , style="background:#E6E6FA" width="33% , Estimates of civilian scouts attached to 7th Cavalry , style="background:#FFEBCD" width="40% , Indian estimates
Battle or massacre?
Following the event, a controversy arose as to whether the event was best described as a military victory or as a massacre. This discussion endures among historians to this day.
The Indian Bureau
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and Al ...
described the event as a "massacre of innocent Indians", and humanitarian groups denounced it as "cold-blooded butchery". The Cheyenne survivors considered it a horrifying event that gravely impacted their lives and community; the loss of many tribal elders, in particular, was profoundly damaging to Cheyenne families and society. Modern Cheyenne consider the event a massacre and are campaigning to change the name of the historical site to reflect that view.
Custer himself did not consider Washita a massacre, stating that he did not kill every Indian in the village, though he said his forces could not avoid killing a few women in the middle of the hard fight. He said that some women took up weapons and were subsequently killed and that he took women and children prisoners.Greene 2004, page 189. In his book about the encounter, published in 2004 for the National Park Service, historian Jerome Greene concluded that "Soldiers evidently took measures to protect the women and children."
By early December 1868, the attack had provoked debate and criticism in the press. In the December 9 ''Leavenworth Evening Bulletin'', an article noted: "Gen. S. Sandford and Tappan, and Col. Taylor of the Indian Peace Commission, unite in the opinion that the late battle with the Indians was simply an attack upon peaceful bands, which were on the march to their new reservations". The December 14 '' New York Tribune'' reported, "Col. Wynkoop, agent for the Cheyenne and Arapahos Indians, has published his letter of resignation. He regards Gen. Custer's late fight as simply a massacre, and says that Black Kettle and his band, friendly Indians, were, when attacked, on their way to their reservation." The scout James S. Morrison wrote Indian Agent Col. Wynkoop that twice as many women and children as warriors had been killed during the attack.
In Custer's direct frontal assault on an armed and ostensibly hostile encampment, the only fatality in the 7th Cavalry in the fighting in the village itself was squadron commander Captain Louis McLane Hamilton, a grandson of American founding father
The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...
Alexander Hamilton. The rest of the dead were with the detached command of Maj. Joel Elliott, who (as noted above) were killed more than a mile from the fighting in the village.Hatch 2002, page 81 Companies A and D, composed of 120 officers and men, suffered only four wounded in the assault, and attacking Companies C and K, also totaling 120 officers and men, suffered no casualties.
Historian Paul Andrew Hutton
Paul Andrew Hutton (born October 23, 1949) is an American cultural historian, author, documentary writer, and television personality. He is also Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Mexico and the former executive directo ...
wrote, "Although the fight on the Washita was most assuredly one-sided, it was not a massacre. Black Kettle's Cheyennes were not unarmed innocents living under the impression that they were not at war. Several of Black Kettle's warriors had recently fought the soldiers, and the chief had been informed by Hazen that there could be no peace until he surrendered to Sheridan. The soldiers were not under orders to kill everyone, for Custer personally stopped the slaying of noncombatants, and fifty-three prisoners were taken by the troops."''The Custer Reader'', Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established ...
, p. 102
Historian Joseph B. Thoburn considers the destruction of Black Kettle's village too one-sided to be called a battle. He reasons that had a superior force of Indians attacked a white settlement containing no more people than were in Black Kettle's camp, with like results, the incident would doubtless have been heralded as "a massacre".Hardorff 2006, p. 29. Historian Stan Hoig argues that the conflict fit the definition of a massacre because a group of people, even one in possession of weapons as the Cheyenne were, were killed "indiscriminately, mercilessly and in large numbers".Hardorff 2006, p. 30.
In popular culture
During the late 20th century, a time of activism for Native American and minoritycivil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
, and protests about the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, film and other media reflected changes in historians' perspective on the Battle of Washita River. They also used the event to reflect on contemporary issues. In the 1970 film ''Little Big Man
Little Big Man ( Lakota: Wičháša Tȟáŋkala), or Charging Bear, was an Oglala Lakota, or Oglala Sioux, who was a fearless and respected warrior who fought under, and was distant cousin to, Crazy Horse ("His-Horse-Is-Crazy"). He opposed the 186 ...
'',''Little Big Man'' (film). Directed by Arthur Penn. Based on novel by Thomas Berger. Written by Calder Willingham. Produced by Stuart Millar. Performers Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan. Cinema Center Films, 1970. based on the 1964 novel by Thomas Berger, director Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn (September 27, 1922 – September 28, 2010)
was an American director and producer of film, television and theater. Closely associated with the American New Wave, Penn directed critically acclaimed films throughout the 19 ...
depicted the Seventh Cavalry's attack on Black Kettle's village on the Washita as a massacre resembling the 1968 My Lai massacre
My or MY may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* My (radio station), a Malaysian radio station
* Little My, a fictional character in the Moomins universe
* ''My'' (album), by Edyta Górniak
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Business
* Market ...
by U.S. troops in Vietnam.Fuller, Graham. (March 5, 2000). "Sending Out a Search Party for the Western", ''New York Times'', p. 2.13.Dancis, Bruce. (2003-5-02). "A shift to the rights: Sympathetic depiction of Indians in 'Little Big Man' is no small thing", ''The Sacramento Bee''.
The 1991 television film '' Son of the Morning Star'', based on Evan S. Connell's non-fiction book of the same name, presented the battle from the points of view of Kate Bighead (Cheyenne) and Elizabeth Custer
Elizabeth Bacon Custer (née Bacon; April 8, 1842 – April 4, 1933) was an American author and public speaker, and the wife of Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, United States Army. She spent most of their marriage in relative proxi ...
. It depicted Chief Black Kettle as being killed by Custer's troopers, and Custer's not waiting for word of Major Elliott. The fourth episode of the 2005 TV miniseries '' Into the West'' depicts Custer attacking and Black Kettle fleeing the village.
The television series ''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
''Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman'' is an American Western drama television series created and executive produced by Beth Sullivan and starring Jane Seymour, who plays Dr. Michaela Quinn, a physician who leaves Boston in search of adventure in the O ...
'' aired a special double-episode entitled "Washita" on April 29, 1995."Washita." ''Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman'' (television series). CBS Broadcasting, Inc. Original broadcast April 29, 1995. The episode set the scene of the Washita attack in Colorado instead of Oklahoma, the site of the battle. It fictionalized Custer as deliberately misleading Colorado settlers about the difference between Black Kettle and his band, depicted as peaceful, and the Dog Soldiers, who were attacking farms and railroad crews. Lead character Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn made futile attempts to argue with Custer and to warn Black Kettle of impending massacre.
In the 2003 film ''The Last Samurai
''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 epic period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Ken Watanabe in the ...
'',''The Last Samurai'' (film). Directed by Edward Zwick. Written by John Logan, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz. Produced by Tom Cruise. Performers Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe. Warner Brothers, 2003. Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Go ...
plays Captain Nathan Algren, a veteran of the 7th Cavalry of the 1860s. His participation in the Washita action, depicted as a massacre, leaves him haunted by nightmares.
In season 6, episode 2 of the television show '' Rawhide'', "Incident of the Iron Bull", James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Ac ...
plays a mythical colonel who commanded the US troopers at Washita. His participation leaves him mentally unbalanced.
See also
* Clara Blinn * Sand Creek Massacre * List of battles fought in OklahomaReferences
Sources
* Brill, Charles J. (2002). ''Conquest of the Southern Plains; Uncensored Narrative of the Battle of the Washita and Custer's Southern Campaign''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . Originally published in 1938 (Oklahoma City, OK: Golden Saga Publishers). * Connell, Evan S. (1984). ''Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn''. New York: North Point Press. . * Cozzens, Peter, ed. (2003).Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, Volume Three: Conquering the Southern Plains.
' Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. . * Custer, George Armstrong. (1874). '' My Life on the Plains: Or Personal Experiences With the Indians.'' New York: Sheldon and Company. Also available onlin
from Kansas Collection Books
* Greene, Jerome A. (2004). ''Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyenne, 1867–1869.'' Campaigns and Commanders Series, vol. 3. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Hardorff, Richard G., compiler & editor (2006). ''Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer's Attack on Black Kettle's Village''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Hatch, Thom. (2004). ''Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War''. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. . * Hatch, Thom. (2002). ''The Custer Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Life of George Armstrong''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. . * Hazen, W.B. (1874)
St. Paul, MN: Ramaley & Cunningham. Reprinted with editorial introduction in ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 3(4): 295–318 (December 1925). * Hoig, Stan. (1980).
The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-Custer Indian Campaign of 1867–69.
' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. . Previously published in 1976 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday). . * Hyde, George E. (1968). ''Life of George Bent Written from His Letters''. Ed. by Savoie Lottinville. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Lewis, Jon E., ed. (2004). ''The Mammoth Book of Native Americans: The Story of America's Original Inhabitants in All Its Beauty, Magic, Truth, and Tragedy.'' New York: Carroll & Graf. . * Moore, Horace L. (January 19, 1897)
Address before the 21st annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society. Kansas Historical Collections, vol. VI. Reprinted in ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 2(4): 350–365 (December 1924). * National Park Service. (1999–11)
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, National Park Service. * National Park Service. (August 10, 2006)
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, National Park Service. * * ''New York Times'', November 27 – December 8, 1868. * Stewart, Richard W., editor. (2005)
Chapter 14 in
'', pp. 321–340. Washington, DC: United States Army, Center of Military History. CMH Pub 30–21. pp. 328–331 includes a brief account of the Army's campaigns in the southern plains, including the Battle of Washita River. *
United States Army Center of Military History
The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...
. (October 3, 2003)"Named Campaigns — Indian Wars."
Washington, DC: United States Army, Center of Military History. Retrieved on July 6, 2007. * U.S. House of Representatives. (1870).
' 41st Congress, 2nd session, House Executive Document 240. * U.S. Senate. (1869a).
Letter of the Secretary of the Interior, Communicating, in Compliance with the Resolution of the Senate of the 14th ultimo, Information in Relation to the Late Battle of the Washita River.
' 40th Congress, 3rd Session, 1869, Senate Executive Document 13. * U.S. Senate. (1869b).
' 40th Congress, 3rd Session, 1869, Senate Executive Document 18. * Utley, Robert M. (2001). ''Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier,'' rev. ed. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Wert, Jeffry D. (1996). ''Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer,'' New York: Simon and Schuster. .
Further reading
* Blinn, Richard. (1868)MMS 1646 mf. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, Center for Archival Collections. * Frost, Lawrence A. (1990). ''The Custer Album: A Pictorial Biography of General George A. Custer''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . Originally published 1964. * Garlington, E. A. (1896)
In Theophilus F. Rodenboguh and William L. Haskin, eds.
' New York: Maynard, Merrill, & Co., pp. 251–257. Online version dated October 30, 2002 through the
United States Army Center of Military History
The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...
, retrieved on June 29, 2007.
* Godfrey, Edward S. (1928). "Extract of Narrative Account — 1928." Richard G. Hardorff, ed. ''Washita Memories: Eyewitness Views of Custer's Attack on Black Kettle's Village'' (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), 132–146. Originally published in ''The Cavalry Journal'', October 1928.
* Grinnell, George Bird. (1972). "The Battle of the Washita, 1868." pp. 37–49 in Richard Ellis, ed., The Western American Indian: Case Studies in Tribal History.
' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. . * Grinnell, George Bird. (1983).
The Fighting Cheyennes
'. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. First published 1914. . * Michno, Gregory F. (2003). ''Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes 1850–1890''. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company. . * Michno, Gregory F. (2005–12)
''Wild West'' (magazine). Retrieved through Historynet.com on June 28, 2007. * Roenigk, Adolph. (1933).
Pioneer History of Kansas.
' (Lincoln, KS:) A. Roenigk. Throug
Kansas Collection Books
* Utley, Robert M. (1973). ''Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866–1891'', Macmillan Publishing. Bison Press 1984 edition: * White, Richard. (1991). '' "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West.'' Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. . * Wilson, Hill P. (1904). "Black Kettle’s Last Raid." ''Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society'' 8: 110–117.
External links
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, U.S. National Park Service
HistoryNet
Historical articles (including Michno's article on Black Kettle) {{DEFAULTSORT:Washita River Battle of Washita River Conflicts in 1868 November 1868 events Arapaho Cheyenne tribe George Armstrong Custer Battles involving the Cheyenne Battles involving the United States Comanche campaign Hostage taking Native American history of Oklahoma Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Battles in Oklahoma