Attack on Washita
The Washita attack, also known as the Washita Massacre , was a raid by the US 7th Cavalry Regiment on a Southern Cheyenne village on November 27, 1868 near present-day Cheyenne , Oklahoma .
course
The Cheyenne under their chief Black Kettle , who were staying in a camp on the Washita River in the winter of 1868, suffered from hunger because the food deliveries promised by the government failed to materialize. Many young warriors no longer wanted to accept this condition and hunted in the former tribal areas on Smokey Hill. Indian agent Wynkoop asked Black Kettle to hold back the young warriors. He agreed: "Our white brothers withdraw the hand they gave us at the Medicine Lodge , but we will try to hold on to them." But time and again young warriors set out to get food and to take revenge for broken promises . General Sheridan wanted to stop this by setting an example and showing the Indians what would happen to them if they rebelled.
In early November 1868, Black Kettle learned that parts of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer were on the way, and he asked to have his tribe camped near Fort Cobb. The fort's commander refused, but gave assurances that Black Kettle would not be attacked if he and his warriors remained calm.
On November 26th, however, scouts from the allied Osage had identified some Indian warriors, whom they followed on a day's march to Black Kettle's camp. Thereupon Custer decided to evaluate the village as hostile and to attack.
On the night of November 27th, Custer divided the regiment into four groups and let them swarm around the camp. Snowfall and morning mist favored the attackers, who went unnoticed by the Indians. At dawn the bugler gave the signal to attack, and the cavalrymen began their attack to the sound of the regimental band playing Garry Owen's march . Most of the Indians were surprised in their sleep, they tried to escape in panic and almost naked. The warriors in the camp tried to resist until the women and children had fled, but were all killed.
Before the attack, Custer had given specific orders that women and children be spared.
According to Custer's report, 103 warriors were killed in the massacre , including Chief Black Kettle, and 53 women and children were taken prisoner. The scalp of Black Kettle was from a scout of Osage captured.
However, the number of those killed is very controversial. It was not until the next day that Custer discussed with his officers, and each one described the dead Indians he had seen. The number of dead was then calculated from these descriptions. Immediately after the battle there was no counting, among other things because the regimental sergeant was missing along with Major Elliot.
The exact number of people killed in combat could not be determined from the Indians either, since the camps consisted of often changing family groups.
Today it is assumed that around 20 warriors and 30 to 40 women are killed.
After capturing the village, however, Custer realized that the Indians had other camps nearby. Numerous warriors began to gather on the surrounding mountains, so that a counterattack was constantly to be expected. Custer therefore ordered the pillage of the village and the shooting of several hundred ponies and mules that the soldiers could not carry with them. In the evening he finally ordered the regiment to march back. The losses of the cavalry regiment amounted to 21 men, but only one soldier fell in the actual attack on the village. The other 20 dead belonged to a group of soldiers who, led by Major Elliot, followed a group of warriors (Cheyenne, Arapaho and Kiowa ) who wanted to come to the aid of the village, and were destroyed by them. Custer, apparently unaware of the Major's actions, started the withdrawal from the village, although the absence of Elliot and his men had been noticed at this point. He had achieved his personal goal and was received as a great victor by General Sheridan at Fort Supply.
Reactions
The attack on the Cheyenne Indian camp on the Washita River triggered a heated press debate in the USA from December 1868. The December 9th issue of Leavenworth Evening Bulletin mentioned that John B. Sanborn (member of the Indian Peace Commission), Samuel F. Tappan (journalist and North American Indian rights advocate) and Nathaniel G. Taylor (chairman Indian Peace Commission), agreed that the battle with the Indians was in fact an attack on peaceful tribes marching to their new reservations. The New York Tribune mentioned on December 14th that “Col. Edward S. Wynkoop, Delegate for the Cheyenne and Arapahos Indians, submitted his resignation. He regards General Custer's recent skirmish as simply a massacre, and says that Chief Black Kettle and his tribe were peaceful Indians who were on their way to their reservation at the time of the attack. "The New York Times published a letter describing, that Custer took a sadistic pleasure in slaughtering Indian ponies and Indian dogs. The newspaper also made a reference to the killing of innocent women and children.
US cavalry scout James S. Morrison wrote to delegate Colonel Wynkoop that twice as many women and children as warriors were killed during the attack. William Griffenstein (born in 1829 as Wilhelm Greiffenstein in Groß-Gerau , Hesse ) from Fort Cobb, who traded with the Indians , informed General Sheridan that the 7th US Cavalry Regiment had attacked peaceful Indians on Washita. In reply, Sheridan, Custer's superior, accused Griffenstein of having supplied the Indians with weapons and ammunition, revoked his trading license and threatened Griffenstein that he would be hanged if he did not leave the reservation immediately.
The attack on Washita in the film
- Director Arthur Penn portrays the attack on Cheyenne village in the 1970 film Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman in the lead role as a massacre.
- In the 2003 movie Last Samurai with Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren , the attack on Washita is also portrayed as a massacre. The memories of his guilt haunt Algren in his nightmares.
See also
Web links
Sources and Notes
- ↑ A Cheyenne Legacy at the Washita River ( Memento June 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Comanche: The Horse that Survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn
- ↑ a b c d James Horsley on dickshovel.com: WASHITA: Genocide on the Great Plains
- ↑ Indian friend "Dutch Bill" from Groß-Gerau in FAZ from February 1, 2018, page 46.
- ↑ Larry O'Dell: UF Ranch. Oklahoma Historical Society, 2009, accessed February 7, 2018 (The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture).