In 1868, Gen. Philip Sheridan was determined to end the Native American raids on American settlements on the Great Plains. He decided a winter campaign would catch the Indians hunkered down in their camps. He decided George Custer was the right man for the job. Unfortunately, the “Boy General” was under suspension for mistreatment of his men and deserting his unit (to rush home to the loving arms of his wife). Sheridan lifted the one-year suspension so Custer could resume command of the 7th Cavalry. The target was Indian villages along the Washita River in Oklahoma. Those villages harbored young warriors who had been doing the raiding. This was despite the effort of the chiefs to maintain peace. Fearing army retaliation, Black Kettle of the Southern Cheyenne came in to Fort Cobb to ask to be allowed to camp near the fort. Undoubtedly he was hoping to avoid another Sand Creek Massacre. Gen. William Hazen refused, despite Gen. Sherman’s policy of allowing peaceful Indians to camp in safe areas. Hazen did promise that nothing would happen to Black Kettle’s village. When Custer’s command was reported to be approaching the village, Black Kettle and the other elders disregarded the warning. After all, they had a white flag flying, so they were in no danger, right? Osage Indian scouts found the village for the whites. Custer planned a four-pronged attack. In the early morning of Nov. 27, 1868 the cavalry came charging at the village. The unit’s band took up their song “Garry Owens” but soon the instruments froze up due to the freezing temperature. Contrary to myth, Indians were not good with security and the village was taken completely by surprise. The soldiers rode into the camp and there was little resistance. Although there was no wanton shooting (like at Sand Creek), some women and children were killed, as well as a number of warriors. Black Kettle and his wife were shot in the back trying to flee. Black Kettle, whose village had been the victim of the infamous Sand Creek Massacre, did not survive this time. The attack was not a total success because one of the prongs was wiped out. 20 men under Maj. Joel Elliott rode upriver and ran into warriors from other villages coming to the aid of Black Kettle. Elliott had led with the cry “Here’s for a brevet (promotion) or a coffin!” He and his men got the coffins. Except they didn’t get a decent burial because Custer decided it was too dangerous to try to find out what happened to the missing men. (This decision caused a lot of bad blood in the unit, especially with Capt. Frederick Benteen. Benteen never forgave Custer for not searching for his friend Elliott and it may have affected his performance at the Little Big Horn.) It was time to vamoose before the Indians counterattacked. The 7th took with them 53 captives (partly to be human shields to discourage attacks) and destroyed the village. This included shooting over 600 horses. Custer got away clean, except for the loss of Elliott’s twenty and one death in the village – Capt. Louis McLane Hamilton, a grandson of Alexander. The number of Indians killed is disputed. Custer reported the clearly inflated figure of 103 warriors. Most likely about 16 warriors were killed and somewhere over 20 women and children. Was it a battle or a massacre? Let’s just call it a one-sided battle. There were definitely hostile Indians in the village, although the village itself was peaceful. Can you see the reason why the Indian Wars were marked by confusion?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Washita_River
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/custer-massacres-cheyenne-on-washita-river
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