INDIAN WAR. 



401 



IMiil Kearney was established on the 15th of 



d ( . I'. Smith mi the -_M of August. 



Hie Indiana notified the troops from i!u- :ir- f , 



that th.- occupation of this territory would be 

 1 heir \v:iniinu r wa-> disregarded, and 

 a .-harp \\arfare ra^ed all along this route 

 throiii.;h t!u- late summer and tin- aiitimni of 

 tliis year, culminating in tin- slaughter of a 

 Idlers at Fort Phil Kearney on 

 thr iMst of I.rember. A wagon-train had 

 a short distance from tlie fort, at- 

 tended iiy an escort, to procure lumber, \vh.-n 

 flay i upon by a party of Indians 



b- Lieutenant-Colonel W..J. l-Ytterman was 

 then ordered out with forty-nine men to t heres- 

 y-train, and the whole company, 

 including its commander, were killed. 



A-.oeiated with these hostile tribes engaged 

 in the Sioux war in the north, was a tribe of 

 Clicyemu -s related to the Cheyennes of the 

 south ; and no sooner did the news of the open 

 hostilities on the Powder River trail reach the 

 kindred tribes of Nebraska and Colorado, than 

 :vatcs't apprehension prevailed that war 

 would he kindled also on the lino of the Pacific 

 Railroad. When this excitement first began, 

 (ieneral St. George Cook, in command at Oma- 

 ha, forbade the sale of arms and ammunition to 

 the Indians within the limits under his com- 

 mand. This only increased the irritation of the 

 Cheyennes and Arrapahoes, for they depended 

 upon their regular supplies of ammunition for 

 the uses of the chase. 



Such was the state of things at the opening 

 of the year 1807. The Sioux and Cheyennes 

 of the north had exasperated and alarmed the 

 troops on the Po\vder River route, and offers 

 which had been made to treat with them, 

 they would not listen to, until the forces should 

 be withdrawn. In the south the Cheyennes 

 and Arrapahoes. and the kindred tribes of the 

 Kiowas, Camanches, and Apaches, had! not yet 

 forgotten the cruel massacre of Sand Creek. 

 They had been forced from the rich lands of 

 Colorado, they had been left with only the 

 poor privilege of ranging the plains for buffa- 

 lo and other game; and finally this privilege 

 was rendered worthless by the order forbid- 

 ding the sale of arras and ammunition, which 

 was made early in January at the Arkansas 

 posts also. There was a feeling of mutual 

 distrust, and threats were muttered by the 

 leading chiefs of the Indian tribes of a general 

 warfare at the opening of spring. 



The United States forces were under the 

 command of Lieutenant-General William T. 

 Sherman, of the Military Division of the Missou- 

 ri. This division was divided into three depart- 

 ments, that of Dakota to the north, commanded 

 by General A. II. Terry ; that of the Platte, in 

 the middle, commanded by General C. C. Augur ; 

 and that of the Missouri, to the south, command- 

 ed l>y General W. S. Hancock. 



The Indians engaged in the war were the 

 northern Cheyennes and Arrapahoes, about 

 800 warriors ; and various bands of the great 

 VOL. vn. 26 



Sionx tribe, numbering 1.200 or 1,300; the 



d ill the north, ill 



si hie for the l-'ort I'hil Kearney .slaughter. On 

 tin- plain> to the south were about />00 wurriora 

 of the --out hern. Cheyennes and Arrapahoeg. 

 Tin- Kiowas, Camanchcs, and Ap.n !,.-, hove 

 substantially observed the stipulations of the 

 treaty of 18C5. 



I Miring the winter, engineering parties on the 

 Union Pacific Railroad were warned to 

 from their operations. Numerous | , 

 dations had also occurred upon the lines of 

 stages and express trains, and several murders 

 and personal outrages were reported to the 

 military commanders. Early in the spring 

 General Hancock, of the Department of the 

 Missouri, determined upon an expedition among 

 the hostile tribes of the south, for the purpose 

 of holding councils with them and ascertaining 

 their purposes and their claims. He set out 

 with 1,500 men and reached Fort Lamed 

 on the 7th of April, at which point he 

 was informed by Colonel Wynkoop, agent for 

 the Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, and Apaches, that 

 he had sent out runners to the chiefs to arrange 

 for a conference at that post on the 10th. The 

 meeting was prevented by a violent storm, and 

 on the llth information was received that large 

 bands of Cheyennes, 1,000 or 1,500 in number, 

 were encamped at a village on the Pawnee 

 Fork. On the 13th General Hancock left Fort 

 Larned, and proceeded up the Pawnee Fork in 

 the direction of the village encampment of the 

 Indians. He was met by their chiefs, who en- 

 treated him not to come near their camp, for 

 their women were afraid of a repetition of the 

 scenes of Sand Creek. He continued, hov. 

 until within a mile of the village, and the 

 women abandoned it and fled. The warriors also 

 escaped, and were pursued, without being over- 

 taken. The fleeing Indians captured and de- 

 stroyed several stations, killing the guards and 

 taking away the property. When General 

 Hancock heard of these acts, he set fire to the 

 village, consisting of three hundred lodges, and 

 containing property to the amount of $100,000, 

 and totally destroyed it. From this point Gen- 

 eral Hancock continued westward, and hear- 

 ing of constant attacks by the Indians npon 

 the Smoky Hill route, on the line of the Pacific 

 Railroad, he sent General Custar with 400 men 

 in that direction. General Custar met the 

 leader of the hostile bands of that section, 

 Pawnee Killer, and endeavored to come to 

 some friendly understanding, but without suc- 

 cess. Depredations upon ranches and mail sta- 

 tions, and even occasional attacks on the forts, 

 were continued, and General Custar assumed 

 the offensive, when he could succeed in bring- 

 ing the Indians to an engagement. Several in- 

 significant skirmishes took place on the route 

 to Fort Wallace. Near that station a fierce at- 

 tack was made upon the wagon-train by about 

 600 Indians, which resulted in a fierce engage- 

 ment. The train and its escort, under the com- 

 mand of Lieutenant Robinson, however, got 



