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Chief Joseph - Speech, Significance & Family

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Chief Joseph was a Nez Perce chief who, faced with settlement by whites of tribal lands in Oregon, led his followers in a dramatic effort to escape to Canada.

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Battle of the Little Bighorn - Wikipedia

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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, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army.

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-Man who did not want to fight,  and made efforts to lead his people to Canada

-Leader if the Nez Perce People

-Considered one of the most amazing retreats in all of military

-His forces defeated American Attacks on Many occasions

-In the end gave up and gave a remarkabke peace speech saying he was simply tired of fighting and wanted to prevent more death

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The Red River War was a military campaign launched by the U.S. Army in 1874; the objective was to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indian tribes from the Southern Plains and force their relocation to reservations in Indian Territory. The campaign began in June 1874 after numerous attacks on settlers by the Southern Plains Indians. However, these attacks were spawned by the government's default of its obligations under the 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge.

The treaty called for two reservations to be set aside in Indian Territory - one for the Comanche and Kiowa and one for the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho. It also provided training, housing, food, and supplies, including guns and ammunition for hunting. In exchange, the Indians agreed to stop their attacks and raids upon white settlers.

Though the reservations were established, the other provisions fell far short of what the tribes were told to expect. Food and supplies were consistently limited or failed. Commercial buffalo hunters ignored the treaty's terms as they moved into the area promised to the Southern Plains Indians and began slaughtering the beasts by the thousands. Outlaws and profiteers, also trespassing on the land given to the tribes, stole cattle from the Indians and trafficked illegal guns and liquor. Though the Quaker Missionaries, established as Federal Indian Agents, repeatedly tried to get the government to address these issues, they received no cooperation from the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington or the military. As conditions continued to worsen, many of the Indians on the reservations began to leave, joining up with renegade bands who had returned to the Texas plains.

Without sufficient rations and their mainstay - the buffalo, being wiped out by hunters, the tribes were in a desperate situation. A Comanche medicine man named Isa-tai called for a Sun Dance in the spring of 1874, even though the ritual had never been part of the Comanche tradition. At the gathering, Isa-tai foretold a victory to the warriors who participated in a battle to rid the buffalo hunters.

He and Comanche Chief Quanah Parker then formed a plan to attack the buffalo hunters. After recruiting several warriors, they headed to the Texas Panhandle with a plan to destroy the settlement at Adobe Walls. Known as the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, a combined force of about 700 Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho warriors, led by Chief Quanah Parker and Isa-tai, attacked the buffalo camp early in the morning of June 27, 1874. Though the post held only 28 men, including Old West characters Bat Masterson and Billy Dixon, Isa-tai's prophecy proved to be an illusion.

Despite being dramatically outnumbered, the hunters' superior weapons repelled the Indian assault. After four days of continuous battle, about 100 men arrived to reinforce the post, and the Indians soon retreated. While estimates vary regarding the losses, as many as 70 Indians were killed, and many others, including Parker, were wounded.

The result of Adobe Walls was not only a crushing spiritual defeat for the Indians but also led to the Red River War of 1874-75 that would eventually end in the final relocation of the Southern Plains Indians to reservations.

After the battle, the U.S. Army quickly made plans to subdue the Southern Plains tribes permanently. Thousands of troops were sent to the Texas Panhandle within no time, encircling the region where the Indian bands were situated. The plan called for the troops to maintain a continuous offensive against the tribes. As many as 20 engagements between the U.S. Army and the Southern Plains Indians took place over the next year in the Texas Panhandle region, Indian Territory, and southern Kansas.

Wearing down the Indians, who were constantly on the run, the well-equipped Army cornered many of them in the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon on September 28, 1874.

The remaining Indians still at large fought in numerous minor skirmishes throughout the autumn and winter of 1874-75. However, the dedicated army was replenished with more soldiers from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Forts Griffin and Richardson, Texas. The Indians continued to surrender until the last holdouts, Quanah Parker and his warriors, surrendered at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, on June 2, 1875.

On that day, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie, at the head of the Fourth U.S. Cavalry, attacked and destroyed a large Indian encampment in Palo Duro Canyon. Mackenzie's scouts followed the Indian trail to the edge of Palo Duro Canyon before the soldiers descended the steep slopes to the valley floor 700 feet below.

Taken by surprise, the Indians abandoned their villages, allowing Mackenzie to capture more than 1,100 horses that were later slaughtered to prevent recapture. Although few Indians or soldiers were killed, the unrelenting pursuit of the troopers and the cold weather ultimately led to the end of the Indian resistance. Without horses and supplies, the warriors began drifting back to their reservations.

©Kathy Alexander/ Legends of America, updated March 2023.
Also See: Indian War Timeline Indian Wars, Battles & Massacres Military Campaigns of the Indian Wars Palo Duro Canyon, Texas Texas Indian Battles

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Red River War - Subduing the Southern Indians

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A military campaign launched by the Army in 1874 to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indian tribes from the Southern Plains.

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Part Two of the Twelve Tribes Series... The Story of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce tribe's struggle against oppression and the loss of their home...

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The Buffalo Wallow Fight was one of the most unusual engagements in the Red River War.  www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/btb03

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This video is about Red River War - INED

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Diary of our trip to Wyoming and Montana
(Polly and Jon's EXCELLENT Adventure-Now Read On!)

This is my journal of our trip; it describes what I saw and what I felt about it plus whatever else came to mind. I have included some photographs that can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate places. When you've seen the picture, just click the "back" icon on your browser and return to your place in the narrative. I will begin with a map of the route we took. Later on you can return to it by clicking where necessary, to refresh your memory of where the heck we are when I say whatever it is I'm saying. I have put numbers on it to help find key places more quickly. Click on Back to return to your place in the narrative.

To get oriented, view this overall map of the trip.
Wed May 20, 1998.
We get up at the insane hour of 4 AM and fly to Denver's new airport. We have to ride a train from where we land to the "baggage terminal". Then we take a bus ride to the rent-a-car land. We rent a Toyota Corolla and drive into Denver where we have lunch with Polly's brother Matt. He gives us a tour of his apartment and much of downtown Denver - on foot. It is clearly a happening place, although smog is noticeable. Part is due to fires in Mexico which also brought a smoke plume to Austin. The climate is mild and 16" of rain annually keeps the humidity low. That night we have dinner with Polly's step-mother Ann, her sisters M.E. and Jane, and brothers Matt and John at John and his wife Peg's home. Exhausted, we drive north to our hotel and collapse.

Thursday 21.

We drive north on IH-25 past Ft. Collins through the north end of Colorado. The landscape initially is agricultural but gets more dramatically severe as we approach Wyoming. At the visitor center just inside the Wyoming State line, we pick up brochures and marvel at the strength of the wind. The Rockies are visible to the west. We shoot past Cheyenne and continue north. The Laramie range is visible to the west and the land is quite dramatic. Big bald hills and thin grass and sage. Big vistas. As we climb one hill, signs warn of high winds, and a wind sock, bulging and taut, confirms this is a VERY windy place indeed!.

We can see Mt. Laramie as we head north. This was the first of the Rockies visible to the explorers and pioneers who came this way. Some of the valleys have nice little creeks or "rivers" in them with cottonwoods and cattle. It looks idyllic but a bit lonely out here. At highway 26 we go east toward old Ft. Laramie. On the way we stop to see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts carved into stone near the town of Guernsey. This is very impressive because in some places the ruts are several feet deep. This is near the place marked 1 on the trip map. To see a picture of the ruts, click here.

We stop, too, at Registry Cliff, where immigrants carved their names. Cliffs flank the south side of the North Platte River and form about as beautiful a little valley as you could hope to see. An old trading post was here and the place later served as a pony express station. This watered valley must have been a great camping spot for the immigrants, who I'm sure spent a few days here if they could. (The trip took 5 months and if you left in summer you had to hustle to clear the western mountains before snow set in.) To see a picture of the valley with a small monument to the Pony Express in front, click here.

A few miles further east, Ft. Laramie proves quite wonderful. The fort is about 600 miles from St. Joseph, MO, the main starting point of the Oregon Trail. The ParkService folks have done their usual superb job redoing the place authentically. The fort lies at confluence of the North Platte and Laramie rivers and was one of the biggest supply depots for the US military and for the tens of thousands of immigrants who took the Oregon Trail. Unstockaded, it never faced any serious threats from Indians. The temperature is in mid-80's and wind is gentle. Towards late afternoon the sky threatens to storm -- quite breath taking! To see Fort Larmie against a stormy evening sky, click here.

We leave the fort about 5 PM and head to Casper. The landscape remains intriguing: no giant mountains but cliffs, bluffs, hills ravines and draws. A few pines growing from rocky outcrops, etc. A few miles east of Casper we see some magnificent vistas-I can't guess how far you could see from some of those ridges but maybe 50 miles. Lots of cattle grazing on the open range. The land was surprisingly green (more than Polly remembers having lived there from 1958-1961) and the cattle looked happy, though this is not grass but mainly sagebrush and pretty rough stuff. From the sand peeking through ruts in various little draws, it is clear this is not farming land. Seeing it, though, is well worth the trip. When we get to Casper the state track meet is in session and we can't find a room in any of the big hotels and motels along the highway. Forced into town by chance we find a motel, old but nice (and run by a Hindu couple!). Amazingly enough it turns out this where Polly had spent her last night in Casper before she and her family left for San Diego in December of 1961. We drive around town, passing her elementary school and the two houses she lived in (including the "haunted" one); she has no trouble finding them. Casper is at site 2 on the map; to view the trip map, click here.

To see Polly standing before her childhood home, click here.

The morning of Friday the 22 nd is cool, clear and clean. Lots of mourning doves cooing away. We eat at the diner attached to the motel - walls covered with movie posters and movie star photos - and then drive west along highway 20/26 out towards Shoshoni. About half way there we come to "Hell's Half Acre," an impressive little badland canyon with lots of colors and exotic rock formations. This is near 3 on the map. To see this natural wonder, click here. The weather gets cold and windy enough for us to change into long pants. Leaving this dramatic setting, we find the general lay of the land a bit boring by Wyoming standards. Big vistas, though, with the Big Horn mountains to the north. The land is rough and only a few cattle graze the rugged hills and gullies. To see this local landscape, click here.

We reach the town of Shoshoni; the mighty Wind River Mountains are ahead and to the left. In town we go north toward Thermopolis. We can see both the Big Horn and Wind Rivers. The Big Horn river has been backed up behind a dam in this arid landscape and the color is surreal. It is the bluest blue I've ever seen. Clearly the mountain sky is weaving its magic. Shortly thereafter we enter the 30-mile-long Wind River Canyon. The cliffs rise at least 1,000 feet over the narrow river valley. These ancient rocks, some over 600 million years old, are exposed in layers. The river moves at a clip through here and drops from about 5,600 feet at Shoshoni to about 4,300 in Thermopolis. We take a load of pictures but feel they will never catch the feeling of being in this magnificent natural wonder. The canyon is at 4 on the map. To review the trip map, click here. Are you all oriented? We took some photos with a double wide camera; you may need to scan some of these with the scroll bar. To see one shot of the canyon along the Bighorn River, click here. Pretty deep hole 'eh?

Thermopolis is a lovely little town (its 5 on the map), not all prettied up for tourists, in a spectacular setting. We see signs for the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, which doesn't appear in our guidebooks. This turns out to be a private institution just outside town, with wonderful exhibits. Some rich German dude bought a 75,000 acre ranch east of town, on the expectation that he would find dinosaur remains in the rock formations (he is an amateur archeologist). They've found dino's and lots of them -- over 50 have been discovered as they've worked their way toward the site he originally aimed for! The mother-lode rock layer is Triassic and the big finding so far is an apparent allosuarous feeding ground. Those bad boys apparently dragged big pieces of their kills into this area, where they became chunky fossils. The bones have been gnawed by both adult and baby dinos suggesting it was a kind of dino day-care center. For fossil dino bones, click here.

Polly and I take a trip up to the dig itself, on a ridge maybe 500 feet up. The road switch-backs up and scares me a tad. There's a wonderful view from there, though, and the dino site is interesting and well-presented by the guide, who explains more than we can take in about rocks. We decide to buy a rock book to remedy our ignorance.

Back in town, we visit the hot spring, gurgling up thousand of gallons of 170 F water per day. It flows toward the Big Horn River and, as it cools, various minerals precipitate out. Also, the temperature gradient supports different algae with an astonishing range of colors. (As usual I take pictures.) The terms of the treaty with the Indians that procured the springs required that some of the water be used for a free pool-and there it is!. Polly and I soak in 105 F water for just less than the maximum 20 minutes allowed for health considerations. A bit too relaxing - and very smelly! Hydrogen sulfide is a major component of the mineral rich waters. To see the source spring, click here.

After a picnic lunch, and recovery, in a nice park under clear skies and 75 temperatures, we drive back up through the valley through Shoshoni to the town of Riverton. It is. a most unprepossessing place, but in a nice sitting below the Wind River range. The evening is cooling, and it is only 59 when we leave the restaurant after supper. I feel like I may be catching a little cold. I wonder if the exhaustion of not sleeping Tuesday night precipitated a bug. The air is thin and dry of late and it tires me out too. I hope an early night will pick me up.

Saturday May 23

We leave Riverton early and drive down to Lander along highway 20. Lander is a pretty little town with lots of genuine charm and we wish we'd pushed on to it last night. The Wind Rivers are in front of you and the view of these stately giants is magnificent. They really rise up fast and in places the layering of rocks shows the nature of the uplift that formed them. Clearly some colossal force drove up under this area, peeling the rock layers upward. Glaciers and subsequent erosion have cut valleys through the uplift so you can easily see the mountains layered guts. It is mild, maybe 55 or so, but the mountains are snow-capped a long way down their sides.

At Lander we turn and head northwest along the spectacular mountains. To the north we can see other mountains, the Owl Creeks I believe. In that direction, the land is pretty harsh with lots of buttes and gullies but also with some nice valleys and crazing cattle. About 40 miles along we see Crowheart Butte where Indian legend says two chiefs, a Shoshoni and Crow, fought to the death in single combat. The Shoshoni chief, Washakie, emerged victorious and ate the other guy's heart. To each his own. A little further along, and again to the north, impressive red rock badlands appear. We note a lot of oil-pumping along here, and a town of Red Rock which I'm sure inspired the movie "Red Rock West."

It is hard to describe the nonstop vistas along here. I take oodles of photos that I'm sure will suggest a mere fraction of the scenes and non of the wrap-around grandeur of the whole 100-mile stint. Anyway, outside of Dubois, we start to climb over the Wind Rivers where that spur of mountains joins the main Rocky chain-called the Absarokas-along here. Togwotee Pass maxes out at over 9000 feet; this is near 6 on the map. To review the trip map, click here. The road is wide and good but as we climb, we hit rain, and then snow. Deep snow stands in the valleys and ravines near the summit and this storm just adds to it. The heavy snowfall is too beautiful for words, the trees decorated -- a fairy land to us Austinites. I am very happy and so is Polly. To see me standing in the snow near the top of Togwotee Pass, click here.

We cross the Continental Divide and start down into the town of Moran, the snow turning back to rain. When we get into Grand Teton National Park the rain is sporadic, but heavy clouds hide the big mountains and we can only see the Tetons' knees, as it were. We drive through the park into the gingerbread town of Jackson and have a late lunch, then on to the Spring Creek Resort for a three-night stay. This is near 7 on the map. To review the trip map, click here

This is a fantastic place! It is built on the edge of east Gros Ventre Butte, which runs roughly parallel to the main line of the Tetons. From just south of Jackson, at 6239 feet, a switchback road climbs to the to the top of the butte, which is at about 7000 feet. The elevation does make for a fabulous view. Over one side is the town of Jackson and over the other are the mighty Teton mountains rising sharply from the valley floor. Our room is one of four in a cabin on the Teton side, right at the edge of the resort so there are no buildings between us and the view of the valley and the Tetons. You walk out on the balcony and for 180 degrees or more-there they are! Snow-capped and broodingly beautiful. The valley between us and the mountains is deep green. The clouds are trying to lift and bright sun alternates with cloud and little sprinkles. It is a bit chilly to me and I walk the grounds with a light jacket on, but some folks are out in short sleeves. "Be prepared for anything" seems a safe bet in the mountains because the weather can change very quickly. To see the outside of our cabin, click here. Pretty fine 'eh? To see Polly standing on our porch, with those big Tetons, click here.

About 5 PM we decided to drive to Idaho, where I had never been. We took Highway 22 out of Jackson, up over the Tetons, then down into Victor, Idaho. The pass is about 8378 feet, not for the faint-hearted. Near the summit, the view down into Jackson Hole takes your breath away. Driving in as we did, we didn't get the sense of its "holeness" but from up on the pass it is easy to see the valley surrounded by peaks of the various ranges. Coming down the Idaho side, we noted that the Tetons block some rain clouds coming in from the west because that side is more lush. The aspens were out in fine light spring greens on both sides but more strongly on the west slope. Idaho, what little I saw of it, has plenty of impressive peaks. I drive back east, up over the pass. This time the car is in the lane near the edge of the cliffs. It is mostly a good road, but there are some stretches, mostly around curves, with no guard rails or shoulders and some spectacular 1000-foot-plus drops. I conquer my fears, though I drive slowly and let people pass when turnouts are available. I get down in good shape and am able to enjoy many of the vistas like a normal human would. Tonight we have reservations for the Granary restaurant in the resort, which is rumored to be very fine indeed.

The rumors are true! The Grannery rocks out. I had elk in a wild berry sauce and it is certainly in the half dozen most memorable meals I have ever eaten.

Sunday May 24

A rather slow day. After breakfast in the Grannery we go into the Park (number 8 on the map), entering at the Moose station and driving along the Teton Park road. We find the visitor's center full of interesting information that makes us feel more ignorant than ever about rocks. We drive on to the trailhead for a hike to Taggert Lake. The Tetons are America's youngest mountains and are still rising (the valley floor drops about four times as fast as the mountains rise but fills with rubble from the mountains). These upthrust mountains have no foothills, so they are spectacular. They are so rugged because they are new and have been scoured hard by glaciers. (Glaciers are different from snow fields in that they move downhill under their own weight). The glaciers carve huge valleys between peaks and carry rubble downhill. At the leading edge, where melting equals speed, the glacier acts like a conveyer belt, building a "moraine" (like a dike) from the rubble. The valley funnels rivers into these, creating lakes at the foot of the mountains. Eventually these lakes will fill in to create a flat meadow but for now they are beautiful blue lakes. There are several of these "lupine meadows" beyond the modern lakes.

We have to climb the moraine to get to the lake and cross its fast-flowing outlet streams. Taggert is a lovely lake and we see marmots and a moose there. Polly slips into a puddle on the trail back and we return to the resort for a lovely soak in the hot tub. After that we go into Jackson and look around Gingerbread-ville, have a bite to eat, and take in the movie "Bullworth."

Monday, May 25

A big day today. The sky is very clear allowing fantastic views; all the peaks are clear of clouds. I think this is a great time of the year to be here. The weather can be dicey in the spring and, indeed, people we met at the resort tell us it rained the four days before we arrived. However, the new spring growth is especially lovely in its fresh light greens. The presence of snow makes the mountains and the forests more interesting to look at then when it has all melted. The temperatures can be cool but the days are moderate to warm (in the sun). Best of all, there are not a lot of other tourists. I understand that in high summer not only are the parks less colorful but traffic is nearly bumper to bumper.

After a wonderful breakfast at Spring Creek, we drive back into the Park and visit String and Jenny Lakes. String Lake still has snow in large patches on the ground and the shore lined with pine trees. The lake is calm and folks are canoeing gracefully across the lake with the Tetons as a backdrop. We take the scenic loop drive to Jenny Lake. This is bigger and rougher with more wind. The water is clear and, not surprisingly, very cold. As always we record matters on film. The valley feeding into Jenny is large and a massive glacier is visible. A guide tells me these glaciers have been cored and are about 400 feet deep. To see a picture of Jenny Lake, looking toward the Tetons, click here.

Next we head to Moose and catch a float trip down the Snake River. It was a good experience, seeing aspects of the park not so obvious from the roads, though we don't see any wildlife other than birds. We see lots of Beaver work though with knawed trees down along the river. To see our boat getting unloaded, click here. The float takes about an hour and after we land, Polly and I drive back into the park, stopping at the very large Jackson Lake for a picnic lunch. The we decide to drive up into Yellowstone. To review the trip map, click here

As we round Jackson Lake and cross the dam at the north end, the Tetons form an UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous line spread out behind the pure blue of the lake. Words are inadequate to describe the view. The blue of the lake, the dark of the mountains, patterned with snow, and the massive clouds starting to form above simply awes us. This view persists until the road turns north to climb the Rockefeller Parkway toward Yellowstone. To see a fine, but still understated, photo of this scene, click here.

Approaching Yellowstone (number 9 on the map), we start to climb. Snow in patches is obvious even at road level. Soon the surrounding forest floors are covered in snow, not patches but fields of it. Lewis Lake is still largely covered in ice. A lot of the park is very high-for example the Old Faithful area is up around 8200 feet, nearly 2000 feet higher than the Jackson Hole. No doubt this accounts for the snow and ice. Anyway, along this stretch the road skirts the edge of a tremendous valley with cliffs, I don't know, 600 to 1000 feet deep. Time to concentrate. I had not appreciated that a huge fraction of Yellowstone is the caldera of an enormous ancient volcano roughly 40 miles across! It blew out about 600,000 years ago and must have been something for whatever lived then to see. The ground here is still very active and there is evidence everywhere.

The Snake River is born here and it and the Lewis are creating this gorge. We shoot past a turnout to the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake and carry on toward the Old Faithful Geyser Basin. Along the way we see a buffalo ambling along the road. The basin has many more geysers than I had imagined and one is blowing as we get there. The sky is clear and it is comfortable in shirtsleeves although we see patches of snow in the area. I would guess the temperature is around 60 . In the shade or when the wind picks up I slip on my windbreaker, though. We only wait about 10 minutes to see Old Faithful spout, and it was a kick! We wander around the area inspecting a number of hot springs and hot mud spouts. To see our picture of Old Faithful erupting, click here.

After a cafeteria dinner at the lodge we drive down to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is a true wonder, more impressive than Old Faithful. The land is thin here, over molten rock, and there are numerous boiling fountains and pools. The so-called "Black Pool" used to be black from algae, but recently has been heating up, and even erupted in 1991, which sterilized it. The water is now blue and so clear it is spooky. The rocks and ridges deep in this hole, maybe 30 feet across, are easy to see. It reminds you of a clear blue-green tropical lagoon, but the water is nearly boiling! Steam rises from the surface and you can feel waves of heat hit you as you lean over to see into the pool. This basin is right on the bay of the lake called the West Thumb. In fact, the bay itself is a caldera of a volcano (within the bigger, more ancient volcano) that blew out about 125,000 years ago. Spouting pots steam right out in the lake. Polly and I are both truly moved by the beauty and mystery of this enchanting place. To see a photo of the Geyser Basin as dusk settles in, click here.

In addition to this, as evening descends a herd of elk comes right down to graze among the steaming holes. I could whack 'em with a stick! We also see several ravens so big they make crows look like hummingbirds. One big old boy walking near the parking lot had a body the size of a cat. He strutted and rolled as walked around, cock-o-the walk, and projected real attitude. Yo mamma!

On the way home we see a moose grazing in the wetlands of the Lewis River just below the lake. I get out of the car, scramble down the river bank and out onto a snowfield to take a picture. The view down this valley may be the most breathtaking I have ever seen: mountains flanking the river, a storm to the south that has turned the sky a deep blue, and the setting sun behind the distant Tetons mixing in a subtle light. And the moose in the foreground! I hope this photo comes out, but I don't think anything but being there could capture the moment. I have since learned this shot did not turn out, but one of Lewis Lake, still mostly frozen, can be seen at dusk by clicking here.

Once we get back to the north end of Teton Park we swing east to take highway 191 back to Jackson. Along the road we see another moose grazing. Later on we see several herds of elk on both sides of 191. We arrive home tired but content after a wonderfully full day.

Tuesday May 26

Another BIG day. We check out of the Spring Creek Resort, drive through Teton Park and back into the south end of Yellowstone. At West Thumb we take the road around that bay of lovely Yellowstone Lake, lined with pine forests, the Absaroka Mountains snow-capped across the water. The Yellowstone River flows out of the north end of the lake and moves pretty fast. We stop at LeHardy Rapids. This is an example of how to become immortal: the rapids are named for a guy who lost his buckskin jacket crossing the rapids, which I guess amused his colleagues immensely. For ever after its his rapids.

Later on we come to an area of thermal activity (surprise) with several interesting sites. The Mud Volcano emits sulfurous gases to stir buckets of mud and make a most unpleasant looking hole. Dragon's Mouth cave, nearby, pours out near boiling water, belches hydrogen sulfide gas, and slams water against the inner cave walls to make an impressive roaring sound.

After passing this site, the Yellowstone River flows through a serenely beautiful valley called Hayden Valley after the leader of the expedition that triggered acquisition of the park land. Although you can see mountains in the distance and forests too, this large valley is mostly grass and hills. It is mysterious looking, at least given its surroundings, but very moving.

The river looks good all along here, moving swiftly through valleys of varying drama, but soon it starts to cut the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The colored walls are due largely to the effects of thermal action that bring a range of minerals to stain the rocks. Yellow is predominant, though, and suggests the name of the park.

The canyon begins with the "Upper Falls," maybe 100 feet high, and quite impressive. Downstream a mile or so the Lower Falls, 385 feet high, move a truly impressive amount of water. At Artists Point we photograph Lower Falls and the spectacular canyon (24 miles long). To see the Lower Falls looking up the canyon, click here.

Next we inspect the Upper Falls, then take "Uncle Tom's Trail." This switches back down the wall of the south face of the cliff just below the Lower Falls, dropping 600 feet or more - and giving me some queasy moments on the mesh stairway! At the bottom the view is worth the trip. To see Polly and I on the lowest deck before the Falls, click here. Other minor falls splash down the canyon walls and rainbows form in the spray. The walk up is an effort, 600 feet, including 392 steps, at an altitude of around 8000 feet! A nice photo across the canyon, catching a bit of the rainbow can be seen by clicking here.

Driving around to the north face of the canyon, we saw a grizzly bear in a field about 100 yards off the road! Our photo won't compare to watching him through the binoculars as he digs away at the side of a rise. We also see numerous bison sauntering around.

As evening begins, we drive south to the Fishing Bridge area and turn east to leave the park. As we cross the Yellowstone River, the valley is very lovely. Next we drive along the north end of the lake which looks great with the mountains in the background, and see more bison grazing. The east road is under construction and causes some delay, but eventually starts to climb toward Sylvan Pass (about 8400 feet). This beautiful road proves very exciting because it's narrow, in poor shape, and often without rails or other protection. Some of the wire guard rails are slanted out over the cliff because the road is too darn narrow to put them in the shoulder! Also, some have broken which is unsettling. Once over the pass the road, still narrow and windy, starts to drop. The cliff is still deep even after miles of winding road, but eventually we hit the floor and leave the park at the east entrance (exit) which is at about 6900 feet.

At the bottom we become aware of a fast-flowing river draining the east side of the mountains. This is the Shoshone, and it becomes my favorite river as it accompanies us the 60 miles to Cody. Cody is number 10 on the map, to review the map click here. After leaving the park we are in the adjoining Shoshone National Forest and this area, called the Wapiti Valley, is so beautiful it makes you want to weep. It is every bit as striking as anything in the park. To see the landscape just east of Yellowstone Park, click here.

The river starts to cut some impressive canyons and also splashes through some heavily forested mountain areas. The idyllic area around the town of Wapiti is lush with forests. Howver, as we move east it is evident that the rainfall is much less on the east side of the Absaroka -- because the vegetation changes. It is still green, but there is more sagebrush on the lower hills and valley floor.

Then the road enters the most astonishing valley, which the potent little Shoshone River must have carved. The ancient red rock walls are cut into amazing shapes. Many resemble cathedrals and spires, including the magnificent "Holy City" formation. Intricate, monumental spires run along rocky ridges hundreds of feet over the floor of the valley. Furthermore, this goes on for tens of miles while the river keeps boiling along. To review the trip map, click here. To see this area at dusk as we head to Cody, click here.

Within 10 -15 miles of Cody the landscape becomes very dry, although snow-capped mountains are visible on the horizon. The Shoshone has been dammed by the Buffalo Bill Cody Dam to make a huge deep blue lake that sits very strangely in this moonscape. A view of the semi arid landscape, together with the lake, is seen by clicking here. Those are the Carter Mountains on the sky line. The dam itself sits in an amazing location where the Shoshone has cut a deep narrow canyon through ancient (two BILLION year old!) rocks. The road runs through one very long and two little tunnels where you can get an appreciation of what the river did on a parallel path about 30 feet to the right! Both Polly and I are amazed that so little in the guide books had been made about the Shoshone River basin. This stretch of country from the edge of the park to Cody is scenery as fine as anything we saw in Yellowstone or Tetons. The Tetons viewed over Lake Jackson are pretty special, I must admit, but the Shoshone basin is every bit as interesting and as moving as even the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

In Cody, we check into a lovely old hotel called the Irma, built by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902 and named for his youngest daughter. The old cherrywood bar is still there - a gift from Queen Victoria for Cody's making a command performance. The dining room also has a tin ceiling, many mounted animal heads, and the booths have small cast buffalo heads. Our room, suite really, is named after a local friend of Bill Cody's called Agnes Chamberlin. Like all of the old hotel it has 10-foot ceilings and oodles of ornaments.

Wednesday May 27

A slower day in Cody. We decide to go to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which has four museums together in the "Smithsonian of the West". These include the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Whitney Museum of Western Art, a firearms museum, and a marvelous Museum of Plains Indians. We end up staying all day and loving the place. It enhances my appreciation of the Old West myth and certainly of old Bill who I didn't really know about until now. He really was a hero in his youth, fighting for the Union and scouting for the Army, rescuing captive ladies, riding for the Pony Express, guiding royalty on Buffalo hunts and establishing the Wild West show, which increased interest in the West. He was politically quite progressive and championed women's right to vote and conservation of the the wilderness. I also reconfirm my feeling that, as Western artists go, Remington had ten times the talent of Russell in his wildest dreams. The Indian Museum exhibited artifacts from a cave near the Shoshone River that had been used for 9500 years. Hunters dropped stuff and layers formed, probably aided by flooding that created a new floor from time to time -- and then a new group arrived, etc. The arrowheads uncovered from the differing layers were particularly interesting as they became more sophisticated.

I spend a fair bit of time in the firearms museum because I find these things fascinating and because firearms played a big role in the taming of the west. I learn a lot about the development of "fire" in the fire arms. The first guns were "match locks" which had a fuse to ignite the main propellant charge. Clearly this was not a rapid-fire weapon. Later flintlocks had a flint hammer to strike steel, creating a spark that fell into gun powder in the primer pan which then ignited the main charge. Again real slow. Later shock-sensitive charges in the form of mercury fulminates were placed in primer buttons. This sped things up and improved reliability. The hammer hit this thing which ignited the main charge. Many Civil War rifles were of this form; the bullet and powder rammed down the barrel and the primer placed in the breech for the hammer to strike. Later this system was altered to loading the bullet and main charge through the breech, which speeded the rate of fire a bit but it was still slow. Finally, the fulminate primer was incorporated into a full-metal-jacketed bullet. This self-contained, stable unit made repeating guns possible. The revolver had been put into operation back at the primer stage in the form of the Colt Walker 44, but it was improved with the jacketed bullet. Repeating rifles with tube magazines like the Henry and Winchester greatly enhanced fire power; for example the Henry held sixteen .44 bullets and clearly could sweep a field more effectively than the single shot Spencers initially used by the Cavalry. More on this later.

Thursday May 28

Big day here. After breakfast the drive back west into Yellowstone is as beautiful as when we came in. We stop at the Buffalo Bill dam and photograph the spectacular canyon cut through granite by the Shoshone. This can be seen by clicking here. The rock formations along the road, the Holy City, etc., still amaze us by morning light. They can be seen by clicking here.

We re-enter Yellowstone Park ( back to 9 on the map) and drive back over the Sylvan pass; Sylvan Lake is still frozen over although the air is a pleasant 55-60 . At Canyon we head north around the top loop of the park. This is spectacular country but some of the roads are mighty scary. In particular, the Dunraven pass (8859 feet) has a breathtaking view over the Yellowstone Canyon, but could be a lot wider and better protected. To see a view of the Canyon in this area of the Park, click here. A roadside turnout plaque describes that the north end of this ridge is part of the ancient caldera of the big Yellowstone blowout of 650,000 years ago. As we come down, the valleys are lovely in the morning light, with a long, long view from that height.

Tower Junction is where the Tower River joins the Yellowstone, and that, too, is marvelous. Eventually we get to Mammoth Hot Springs near the north entrance to the park. It is lower here, about 5400 feet (quite a drop from Dunraven!), and it is about 70 degrees or so - shorts weather. Here a series of hot springs have been depositing minerals in terraced layers of truly impressive size. The Minerva Terrace is the best. Its actively flowing water over stepped terraces creates lots of steam and lovely colors. To see a photo of Minera Terrace, click here.

After finishing our viewing of the park we head out the north entrance to the town of Gardiner. The Gardiner River is fast-flowing and impressive before it joins the Yellowstone. The area on the extreme north of the park is pretty dry and has lots of sagebrush along with some pines. We pick up Highway 89 and head toward Livingston, through the Paradise Valley. At first the land is dry and harsh, like the interior basins of Wyoming and I can't see why everyone said it was so beautiful. After a few miles though, the road parallels the Yellowstone River, which is surprisingly broad by now. Irrigation begins in the valley floor. The mountains to the west are low, dry and barren, but across the river valley to the east loom the snow capped and VERY impressive peaks of the Absaroka range (number 11 on the map). To review the trip map, click here. To see the Absaroka range across the Yellowstone River, click here. After Chico Hot Springs, the area called Paradise Valley exhibits some development. I gather a number of movie stars, etc., live here for privacy. It is a wonderful place, impressive mountains, the broad green valley, and lots of cattle grazing contentedly. I gather Robert Redford has a house here and shot lots of the "Horse Wisper" near by. Also "A River Runs Through It " was partly shot here.

We hit I-90 at Livingston and head 23 miles west to Bozeman. The road side is initially not so impressive - a bit sparse and the strong head wind adds to a sense of desolation. After 10 miles or so, it greens up, the mountains to the south are rugged and a few are snow-capped. The freeway winds down some lovely hills into town. We are impressed with Bozeman (population about 25,000). It is a college town and there seems to be a lot to do. We drive all over its lovely old neighborhoods. There are a few big and distinguished houses but most are modest, but well-kept. The grass is green and most streets are tree-lined. MSU itself is prosaic in its architecture but still looks like a school where students can learn about life and perhaps a few academic subjects as well. It seems a town of this size, at least one with a good-sized college, could supply most of the necessities of life as I see it. (You need access to a range of movies, book stores, and indoor activities as well as the obvious outdoor opportunities of a place like this.) Later we actually check out real-estate prices. However, these lovely mountain places suffer from a couple of things, in my opinion. One is a lack of air; I find myself huffing and puffing around. The other is the dryness. I can hardly get a decent night's sleep any place up here because my nose and throat are so crispy I can hardly breath. I love to get in the steamy shower until my tissues plump back up.

Friday May 29

This morning we visit the Museum of the Rockies on the campus of MSU. This is a wonderful institution, set up to be very interactive and informative without being at all condescending. A number of school groups are present and it was easy to tell that they are having a good time, learning a lot, and getting positive feedback about themselves. The museum is world-famous for its paleontology group. A lady who owns a ranch up on the Peck Reservoir discovered a bone, took it to the curator at the Museum and he instantly recognized it as the arm of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. They excavated the thing around 1990 and discovered the most complete skeleton of T Rex in the world. (In fact, I saw a Nova program about this very dig.) In any case, they have several dinosaur casts (the real stuff is in the basement lockup) and they are wonderfully displayed with clear and informative narratives. There is also a room with many fine exhibits about the formation of the earth and geology. A number are set up to teach the viewer how to "read" the kind of rocks they are likely to see on their very own highway road cuts. In the museum planetarium we saw a very professional and quite moving show they produced themselves about the formation of planets and then of continents, etc. It began with a sympathetic description of several mythologies as efforts to understand the universe, and then fit science into that persective. The show had a very heroic message about the striving of man to understand the universe and made an excellent case for the nobility and practicality of continuing to try to understand the universe. Finally, we take in a pretty good exhibit of Montana history and another about Plains Indian life and culture. We stay until about 1:30 and then hit the road eastward down I-90.

As I drive I wonder how a resource like the Museum might effect educational battles in the area. I don't know how religiously conservative this area is; certainly there is a lot of conservative political action in the Mountain states. Our river guide down in Jackson gave us a very intelligent narrative of the river and mountains and gave the scientific data about the age of the Teton uplift and so forth. Then he confessed to being a creationist who believes the world is about 4400 years old! The meteorologist and I sitting beside one another in the raft rolled our eyes but kept our peace. Anyway, it seems to me that the lure of the geology and especially the dinosaur finds must work its influence on the kids taking these tours. It seems to me that no matter what your minister says, the logic and elegance of the exhibits must make a strong statement that you better temper your faith with reason. I think the kids come to believe T Rex did live 65 million yeas ago and they now understand how his bones got buried so deep in the rocks around their very own homes.

As we approach Livingston, the land had gotten more dry but was still nice. It is interesting that even where it is getting dry you don't see sagebrush as was common in the semi arid regions of Wyoming. Here there is short grass and low shrub trees (Russian Olive?) At higher elevation there are pines. The Absarokas are still strong to the south and a range called the Crazy Mountains, with a few 10-11,000 foot peaks, is off to the north. To see a photo of this range, looking north across I90, click here.

Further along, the country takes on a rugged yet gentle appearance. The Yellowstone River valley follows the highway and the ranches in these valley are lovely. They have a lot of irrigated land with lots of agricultural green, grazing cattle, and mountains in the distance. With the miles passing, the land, especially to the north, get more arid. About 30 miles out of Billings, the Beartooth Mountains make a strong appearance. These bad boys run northeast out of the Absarokas and are just as mighty. They face north and show snow fields of colossal size, even this late in May.

As we approach Billings, the land dries out. This is not mountain country per se, but we see lots of rugged hills and buttes all along the horizon, especially to the north. Billings is the largest city in the state, with about 85,000 people. We cross the Yellowstone for the last time here; it is a pretty big river now and flows on up to join the Missouri in North Dakota, just across the state line with Montana near Williston. Just outside Billings, I90 spawns I94. The latter continues on eastward and goes to Minneapolis.

I-90 turns southeast and we take it down to the Custer Battlefield about 90 miles away. Initially the land seems more lush, with rolling hills and some buttes. The Beartooths can be seen off to the right and though distant, still look good. The hills look like lumpy pool tables, lovely smooth and green. Needless to say, if you inspect them at close range the pool table analogy breaks down quickly. Some of the hills are pretty high and put quite a strain on the Toyota. As the miles fall away though, it gets more and more arid. At last sagebrush joins with the buffalo grass near the road. The distant bluffs and mesas look harsh. In the Crow reservation we turn into the National monument and drive off the freeway into the hinterlands of the Little Bighorn country. This place (around number 12 on the map) is strangely beautiful. To review the trip map, click here. It is harsh, no doubt about it, but the rolling hills and bluffs have a stark and compelling beauty. It is just plain fascinating and you want to suck this strange landscape up with your eyes. To see the landscape around the battlefield, click here.

We listen to the ranger give an interesting and spirited narrative of the battle and then tour the battlefield. The bodies are, generally speaking, buried where they fell. A picture of the graves at the main battle site can be seen clicking here. Custer's grave is the special black one in the middle. The five-mile drive up and up along the bluff overlooking the Little Big Horn valley induces a trancelike state with its strange beauty in the late afternoon light. The story of the battle and various acts of heroism and lunacy is itself quite interesting, but frankly I am more moved by the land. We took a picture from a bluff successfully defended by Reno. It shows the Little Bighorn and the wooded area the Sioux and Cheyenne were camped in. To see the view, click here. Custer ate it about five miles north of here.

We finish up and drive south to Sheridan, Wyoming. On the way we pass the last Montana mile marker along I-90-it read 554 miles within the Big Sky state. That is a lot of miles and most of them, especially those we missed in the west part of the state, are likely to be extravagantly beautiful. I-90 seems to hug bluffs or high ridges over much of the trip and we see lovely valleys off to the west. To add to the splendor and drama, we see a distant thunderstorm develop and dump over the hills. As we move south the Big Horn Mountains loom to the southwest. They are not as high as the Absarokas or the Beartooth, but there is some snow up there and they do look nice. I-90 rolls through here like a ribbon. The views are spectacular and the road just sails over hills and down valleys. It is wide and handsome, so even when the views are elevated, they are not unnerving like some of those swithchbacks in Yellowstone Park! We are traveling in the late evening with the sun behind us. This is a wonderful time of day. The light is low and soft but it makes wonderful shadows off the landscape features and the contrast strengthens their impression. We had a similar situation when driving from Yellowstone to Cody and I remember driving east in the evening in Colorado and New Mexico and thinking how beautiful and mellow it was. I think driving east through rugged land in the evening is pure driving heaven. West might seem OK too but the sun is in your eyes.

Saturday May 30

We spent the night in Sheridan, Wyoming, a pretty town in a valley alongside the Big Horn Mountains. It turns out this is the lowest city in elevation in the entire state, at 3725 feet! We head out down I-90 again; these roads are so fine and you can really make time but the bad thing is, when you see a beautiful view to photograph, you can't stop. We did pull off once though and took a shot toward the Bighorns, click here to see it. Anyway, between Sheridan and Kaycee about 60 miles south is an area of immense importance to the Western myth.

Just south of town we come to the reconstructed site of Fort Phil Kearny. The fort was destroyed by fire (more later) and has only recently been rediscovered and excaveted. To see the landscape as viewed from what was the southwest corner of the fort, click here. This place reinforces the central position of Wyoming in shaping the myth of the American West. A large part of what we believe about the West, as seen in movies, took place here.

Recall several key dates. In 1849 gold was discovered in California ('49'ers) and triggered a huge migration west. Then in 1859 (the '59'ers) gold was discovered in Montana and Colorado and led to another big rush. The Civil War, 1861-1865, disrupted this westward flow a bit, but the whole enterprise was really just put on hold. In 1851, the Ft. Laramie Treaty was forced on the Plains Indians, by which they ceded Nebraska and the eastern Dakotas in return for "perpetual" control of the western Dakotas and a big hunk of Wyoming. In particular they were to control the Powder River, Big Horn River, and Yellowstone river basins. The Powder was very important to the Indians, a place where the plains met the mountains. There was water (at least in the river valleys!), lots of game (buffalo and also deer and antelope in abundance) and wood in the valleys and low hills.

The Gold Rush and also the California and Oregon land rushes brought lots of immigrant traffic, particularly along the Oregon trail. At its peak as many as 50,000 immigrants (US and foreign) moved west along this trail. As discussed earlier, the trail left St. Joseph or Kansas City and headed through Ft. Laramie and then on. It passed largely south of the land ceded to the Indians in 1851-(which is not to say that there were never Indian troubles on the Oregon Trail). However, the gold and land rush into Montana was a different matter. Miners and immigrants moved along the Oregon Trail a bit past Ft. Laramie, but then split off and headed north along what was called the Bozeman Trail (and often the "Bloody Bozeman" because of its colorful history). John Bozeman had pioneered this route in 1863, which ran along the Big Horns and up into Montana, over 500 miles through Indian land, to mining towns like Virginia City. Jim Bridger had tried to convince him to put the trail further west up the Big Horn valley, an area occupied by the Crow who were friendly to whites. The Crow had been pushed there by the Sioux and Cheyenne who took over the Powder River basin (recall that the Crow then got into it with the Shoshone as testified to by Crow Heart Butte described earlier). Anyway, the Sioux Indians didn't care for people trekking through the Powder River and, after the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, just over the Wyoming line in northern Colorado, they had had enough and were set to defend their rights.

To assist the white settlers the US built three forts along the Bozeman: Ft. Reno on the Powder, Ft. Phil Kearny on Piney Creek (well before it feeds into the north flowing Powder), and Ft. Smith in Montana. Ft. Phil Kearny provided the biggest aggravation to the Indians and was engaged in warfare over most of its brief history. This is the archetype for the movie and TV version of western forts. Many western forts didn't even have palisades (often times wood was not available; Ft. Laramie, the center of the western forts, had no walls). It became immediately clear that this would not work here. The area was pretty well forested and they built a walled fort that enclosed 17 acres and went to the creek. Two saw mills were set up here and timber-cutting and lumber-milling were important activities.

Of the many skirmishes here, the Fetterman Massacre and the Wagon Box Battle were most important. The Fetterman Massacre began in December of 1866, when soldiers were out cutting wood some miles from the fort (since they had cleared most of the close-in stuff to make their stockade). When they were attacked by Indians, one soldier ran for help (although letting him out was probably part of the Sioux battle plan). A cavalry relief column set out, led by an impetuous young officer named Fetterman, plus some infantry. They drove the attackers off the wood-cutting column and then, against explicit orders, Fetterman led his horse soldiers after the Sioux, leaving the infantry behind. The Indians led him into an ambush. About 2,000 were hidden in the grass and jumped up to surround Fettermans troop. They massacred all 79 men and then mutilated the bodies, taunting the infantry, who could see all this from too great a distance to be of help. I remember seeing a movie of this episode when I was a boy, but I can't recall its name.

In any case, the fort felt besieged, and the survivors went catatonic. Women and children were put in the powder magazine so that if the fort was overrun they could be blown up rather than fall into Indian hands. A man named John "Portugee" Phillips rode 230 miles in 30 below weather to Ft. Laramie to get help, arriving during a Christmas ball. (He is immortalized in several places in Wyoming.)

The next spring, under a new and smarter commandant, the tables turned. The soldiers were, again, out cutting wood for the saw mill when they were jumped. However, they had removed their wagon boxes and made a coral for their horses and this served as a makeshift defense line. More importantly, these troopers had the new repeating rifles. The Indians made a charge and, like stoic warriors, absorbed the volley. They thought the soldiers would now be reloading so they rode hard into the boxed circle. The soldiers fired again and again. When the Indians realized this was not going according to plan, they retreated with over 100 dead, compared to three soldiers. This led to a new round of negations and a new treaty moving the Indians again, this time giving them the Black Hills. As part of the deal Ft. Kearny was abandoned and burned to the ground only three years after it was built. (It should also be remembered that the transcontinental railroad reached Wyoming by 1867, running through the southern part of Wyoming, and this rapid transit put an end to the wagon trains and the need to protect them in the same way; perhaps the U.S. was not really giving up too much.) In any case, you will recall that the Black Hills treaty later went by the boards when gold was found there and it was part of that "cultural clash" which found George Custer out looking for Sioux on the Little Big Horn.

In addition to its role in forming the archetype of Indian fights, Wyoming also established another archetype - the range wars. This episode, too, was set right here in the Powder River valley. With the Indians driven out, whites started to colonize the area. A large number of wealthy cattle men showed up, including a fair number of wealthy Europeans getting in on the Western boom. Along with these "cattle barons," a lot of smaller ranchers and farmers and sheepmen moved in. The fences put up by the "grangers" irritated the cattle men. In 1892 about 25 barons and 25 hired guns from Texas invaded the Powder River basin. They had a list of 70 "rustlers," although they were probably pretty liberal with their definition of what constituted a rustler. The cattlemen's army trapped a couple of rustlers in the KC ranch and killed them. The locals mobilized and trapped the invaders in the TA ranch where they besieged the cattlemen. Eventually the Army arrived, separated the combatants and arrested the cattlemen. They were tried and all acquitted. The cattle war has been the inspiration for any number of movies.

Finally, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and their gang hid out in the "Hole in the Wall" just west of Buffalo. Obviously this story has also become part of the Western myth.

The road along this historical route is beautiful with the Big Horns to the west, a series of creeks and rivers running east to the Powder, the green hills rolling on endlessly. The hills and creeks feed and shelter all kinds of game and its easy to see why the nomadic Indians loved it so. It is also good cattle grazing-land if you have enough of it, although it is not farm land. The hills are rocky with only a thin dirt covering to hold some grass and sage. After Kaycee, the hills and landscape gets more sparse and the buttes and ridges get rockier and more barren. I've got to mention the wind, too. The day is clear and the temperature must be near 70 but the wind is steady at about 40 mph. Wyoming is living up to its reputation. By the time we get to Casper the land is pretty arid. We drive through Casper, down to Cheyenne and on to Denver, all against a terrific headwind. We do a brief side trip to Brighton, where Polly's mother grew up and where she lived off-and-on between birth and 9 years. The Front Range mountains outside Denver, the last of the Rockies we will see, are very impressive, consistent with its reputation as what is probably the most famous "mountain" city in the country. However, the air is pretty brown and polluted and compared with, say, the Tetons, you cannot see much detail.

On Sunday, before heading to the airport, we took Polly's aunt Mary Jane (her father's sister) to lunch. She is a most charming lady; to see a nice picture of Polly and Mary Jane , click here. This vacation has surpassed our expectations in every way, and if it weren't for tiredness and a need for clean clothes and a sight of our kids, we could go on and on . . . (Also, there's all that work to go back to!).

OTHER LINKS

Now that I've finsihed rambling on, I will direct you to some other sites that relate to our trip. I didn't want to mix them into the narrative, because I was afraid you'd wander away!

To learn more about Fort Laramie, click here.

There are several good sites about the Oregon Trail. Click here for one from PBS.

To learn more about the Wyoming Dinosauer Museum in Thermopolis, click here.

To get the Park Service story of Grand Teton National Park, click here.

To get the corresponding word on Yellowstone, click here.

The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody has a nice site.

The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman has a webpage, too.

The National Park Service has info about the Custer Battlefield- click here.

But there seem to be some other enthusiasts around as well- click here.

Finally, to visit the Jon Robertus University of Texas Research Page, click here.
Have Fun!

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Diary of our trip to Wyoming and Montana (Polly and Jon's EXCELLENT Adventure-Now Read On!) This is my journal of our trip; it describes what I saw and what I felt about it plus whatever else came to mind. I have included some photographs that can be viewed by clicking on the appropriate places.

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The Fetterman Fight, also known as the Fetterman Massacre or the Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands or the Battle of a Hundred Slain, was a battle during Red Cloud's War on December 21, 1866, between a confederation of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and a detachment of the United States Army, based at Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. The U.S. military mission was intended to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail.

A group of ten warriors, including Crazy Horse, acted to lure a detachment of U.S. soldiers into an ambush. All 81 men under the command of Captain William J. Fetterman were then killed by the Native American warriors. At the time, it was the worst military disaster ever suffered by the United States Army on the Great Plains.

The Lakota alliance emerged victorious and the remaining U.S. forces withdrew from the area. The Fetterman Fight took place on Crow Indian land that was guaranteed to them by a treaty signed with the U.S. government. where the Lakota and their allies were operating without the consent of the Crow.

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 had this territory designated as Crow Indian land. The Lakota, the Cheyenne and the Arapaho accepted it as such. Tracking the dwindling herds of buffalo, the three tribes soon ignored the treaty boundaries agreed upon and invaded Crow land. By 1860, these traditional enemies of the Crow had taken control of their hunting grounds west of Powder River.

In June 1866, United States Colonel Henry B. Carrington advanced from Fort Laramie into the Powder River country, now the hunting grounds of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho. His orders were to protect European-American emigrants traveling west along the Bozeman Trail. Carrington had 700 soldiers and 300 civilians in his command. He established three forts along the trail, including his headquarters at Fort Phil Kearny, near present-day Buffalo, Wyoming. All three forts were located in Crow territory. The army used a treaty right to "establish roads, military and other post". About 400 of his soldiers and most of the civilians were stationed at Fort Kearny.

During the next few months while Fort Kearny was under construction, Carrington suffered about 50 Indian attacks, losing a total of more than 20 soldiers and civilians. The Native American warriors, invariably mounted, generally appeared in groups of 20 to 100. Several of Carrington's junior officers pressed him to take the offensive. They increased their urging after November 3, when a cavalry company of 63 men arrived to reinforce the post. Leading the cavalrymen was Lieutenant Horatio S. Bingham. He was accompanied by infantry Captains William J. Fetterman and James W. Powell. Both had been assigned to Fort Kearny from the 18th Infantry's headquarters at Fort Laramie. Bingham and Fetterman were Civil War veterans, and Fetterman had a distinguished war record.

Although he had no experience fighting Indians, Fetterman criticized Carrington's defensive posture and expressed contempt about the Indian foes. He allegedly boasted, "Give me 80 men and I can ride through the whole Sioux nation." Many other officers shared Fetterman's feelings. Shortly after Fetterman arrived at Fort Kearny, Carrington gave the captain permission to attempt a night ambush. However, the Indians saw through it and instead stampeded a herd of the cattle on the bank of the Powder River opposite Fetterman's intended trap. On November 22, Fetterman himself almost fell into an Indian ambush. He had accompanied an escort that guarded a wagon train gathering firewood and construction timber for Fort Kearny. A single Indian appeared, trying to entice the soldiers into chasing him into the woods. Lieutenant Bisbee, commanding the wagon train, sensibly took cover instead of pursuing the bait.

Grummond eventually was seen approaching with seven Indians in hot pursuit, though he managed to reach safety with Carrington and Fetterman. The mutilated bodies of Bingham and a sergeant were found several hours later. Another four soldiers had been wounded after they pursued another Indian decoy into an ambush. Carrington reported that he had killed 10 Indians, but both he and Fetterman were sobered by the shortcomings in organization and discipline of their largely inexperienced soldiers. Fetterman said, "This Indian war has become a hand-to-hand fight requiring the utmost caution." Carrington's guide, the famous Mountain Man Jim Bridger, was more succinct: "These soldiers don't know anything about fighting Indians".

Red Cloud and other Indian leaders, encouraged by their successes, decided to undertake a large military operation against Fort Kearny before winter snows forced them to break up their large village on the Tongue River and disperse. The decoy trick had worked on December 6 and they decided to try it again, this time with a force adequate to destroy any group of soldiers sent to chase them. The warriors, possibly numbering more than 1,000, congregated about 10 miles north of Fort Kearny, reconnoitered, and decided the best place to lay the trap was along the Bozeman trail north of Lodge Trail Ridge. It was out of sight but only about four miles from Fort Kearny. The Cheyenne and Arapaho took up positions on the west side of the trail and the Lakota on the east. The group of Indians chosen to decoy the soldiers included the young Oglala Crazy Horse.

The morning of December 21, 1866, was clear and cold. About 10 a.m., Carrington dispatched a wagon train to the "pinery" - about five miles northwest and the nearest source of construction timber and firewood for Fort Kearny. Almost 90 soldiers were detailed to guard the wagon train. Less than an hour later, Carrington's pickets on Pilot Hill signalled by flag that the wagon train was under attack. Carrington ordered a relief party composed of 49 infantrymen of the 18th Infantry and 27 mounted troopers of the 2nd Cavalry under the command of Captain James Powell. By claiming seniority as a brevet lieutenant colonel, Fetterman asked for and was given command of the relief party. Powell remained behind. Another officer of the 18th, Lieutenant George W. Grummond, a known critic of Carrington, led the cavalry, which had been leaderless since Bingham's death in early December. Captain Frederick Brown, until recently the post quartermaster and another of Carrington's critics, and two civilians, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, joined Fetterman, bringing the relief force up to 81 officers and men. The infantry marched out first; the cavalry had to retrieve its mounts before it could follow and catch up.

According to Carrington, his orders were clear. "Under no circumstances" was the relief party to "pursue over the ridge, that is Lodge Trail Ridge". Lieutenant Grummond's wife, in her memoirs, confirmed Carrington's statement. She said these orders were given twice, the second time by Carrington from the sentry walk after ordering the soldiers to halt as they left the front gate of the fort. Francis Grummond wrote that everyone present could hear the orders. On leaving the fort, however, Fetterman took the Lodge Ridge Trail northward rather than the trail northwest toward the pinery where the wagon train was. Carrington assumed that Fetterman intended to approach the Indians attacking the wood train from their rear. Within a short time, the signal came that the wood train was no longer under attack. About 50 Indians appeared near Fort Kearny, but Carrington dispersed them with a few cannon shots. Those Indians and others harassed Fetterman as he climbed Lodge Trail Ridge and disappeared out of sight of the fort.

About noon in the fort, Carrington and his men heard heavy firing to their north. Carrington gathered together about 75 men under Captain Ten Eyck and sent them out on foot to search for Fetterman. Ten Eyck advanced carefully up Lodge Trail Ridge. Reaching the top, about 12:45 p.m. he and his men saw a very large force of Indians in the Peno Creek valley below. Indian warriors approached the soldiers and taunted them. Meanwhile, Carrington dispatched another group of 42 soldiers to join Ten Eyck. The Indians in the valley slowly dispersed and disappeared. Ten Eyck advanced carefully and the soldiers found the bodies of Fetterman and all of his men in the valley. The dead soldiers had been stripped naked and mutilated. That afternoon, wagons were sent to bring the bodies back to Fort Kearny.

Red Cloud's perspective

According to Charles Alexander Eastman, in 1866, the Native American's discomfort with the degrading influence of the illegal invaders had peaked. Red Cloud was determined to face any odds rather than bow to the invaders. "Hear ye, Dakotas!" he exclaimed. "When the Great Father at Washington sent us his chief soldier [General Harney] to ask for a path through our hunting grounds, a way for his iron road to the mountains and the western sea, we were told that they wished merely to pass through our country, not to tarry among us, but to seek for gold in the far west. Our old chiefs thought to show their friendship and good will, when they allowed this dangerous snake in our midst. They promised to protect the wayfarers. Yet before the ashes of the council fire are cold, the Great Father is building his forts among us. You have heard the sound of the white soldier's ax upon the Little Piney. His presence here is an insult and a threat. It is an insult to the spirits of our ancestors. Are we then to give up their sacred graves to be plowed for corn? Dakotas, I am for war!" Less than seven days after that speech, the Sioux went to Fort Phil Kearny, the new sentinel of the Oregon Trail. A grand attack had been planned with care and nearly every well-known Sioux chief had agreed to strike the invaders. Crazy Horse, was put in charge of the attack, while the older men acted as councilors. They experienced great success, in less than half an hour they had defeated nearly hundred men under Captain Fetterman, who had been cleverly drawn out of the fort by a ruse.

Just before the battle, Red Cloud called for the Lakotas' most powerful "half-man," a hermaphrodite who was believed to have special powers, to give advice from the butte overlooking the proposed ambush site. The half-man rode on his pony in a crazed manner four times between the warriors gathered on the butte and Lodge Trail Ridge, each time gathering more "soldiers" into his hands in a prophetic manner. When he returned to Red Cloud the fourth time, he declared that in his vision he had a hundred blue-coat soldiers in each hand - too many to hold. The Lakota saw this as the good medicine that won the battle and thereafter called it the "Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands." A total of eighty-one American soldiers and civilians died in the battle.

The battlefield was examined briefly and the bodies of soldiers removed quickly. According to a Cheyenne informant named White Elk, who was interviewed as he walked the battlefield 48 years after the event, the Indians had chosen 10 warriors as decoys to tempt Fetterman into the ambush: two Arapaho, two Cheyenne, and two from each of the three Lakota bands present: the Oglala, Brulé, and Miniconjou. Approximately three times as many Lakota participated in the battle as did Cheyenne and Arapaho. White Elk said there were more Indians present than at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which would indicate an Indian force of considerably more than 1,000 men. Eyewitness testimonies and historians stated that Red Cloud was present in the battle, although his role during the fighting is unknown. Indian armies rarely had a single leader or a command structure with Red Cloud as one of those who planned much of the attack, but Hump (High Backbone), a Miniconjou, was the prominent leader in the fighting.

About one-half mile after Fetterman had crossed the summit of Lodge Trail Ridge, the decoys gave a signal and the Indians on either side of the trail charged. Fetterman's infantry took up a position among some large rocks and in hand-to-hand fighting, he and 49 of his men died. Their bodies were found in a small circle, huddled together for defense. A few of the cavalry were with Fetterman, but Grummond and most of the cavalry apparently were a mile ahead of the infantry, near the flat along Peno Creek and possibly chasing other decoys. When attacked, the cavalry retreated uphill and southward, toward Fetterman and Fort Kearny. Civilians Wheatley and Fisher and several cavalrymen, "knowing it was fatal to retreat from Indians", halted and took shelter among several large rocks, where they were killed. Grummond and the cavalry apparently remained in good order, leading their horses and presumably firing at the Indians all around them. Because of the steepness of the hill and the ice and snow, the Indians were slowed in their attempt to come in close quarters with the cavalry. Still the warriors, mostly on foot, approached within a few feet of them. Grummond probably was killed at this point, after he had personally decapitated at least one warrior with his saber before being overwhelmed by the others.[citation needed ] The cavalry continued its retreat, halting to fight in a flat area on the ridge 400 yards north of where the infantry lay dead. The Indians sniped at the soldiers while organizing a charge and then rushed in among the soldiers, killing them all. It had taken the Indians about 20 minutes to kill the infantry and another 20 to dispatch the cavalry.

The Indians had few guns and fought mostly with bows and arrows, spears, and war clubs. Only six of the 81 soldiers died of gunshot wounds. Captains Fetterman and Brown are reputed to have committed suicide by shooting each other in the head to avoid capture, but the official army autopsy report gives the throat wound as the cause of Fetterman's death. Indian accounts credit a Lakota warrior named American Horse with killing Fetterman by slashing his throat. It is possible that Fetterman shot himself just before American Horse cut his throat.

The Indians stripped and mutilated the soldiers' bodies before leaving in an apparent mirror of the Sand Creek Massacre of two years before. In his report to his superiors, Carrington listed what was discovered at the battlefield the next day: eyes torn out and laid on rocks, noses and ears cut off, teeth chopped out, brains taken out and placed on rocks, hands and feet cut off, private parts severed. The two civilians, Wheatley and Fisher, had their faces smashed into bloody pulp, and Wheatley had been pierced by more than a hundred arrows. The last trooper to die in the battle may have been Adolph Metzger, a bugler who used his instrument as a weapon until it was battered shapeless. Metzger was the only soldier whose dead body was not mutilated. The Indians covered him with a buffalo hide. Some historians interpreted that as a tribute to his bravery in standing alone against several armed enemies.

Estimates of Indian casualties vary widely. Historian Stephen Ambrose said Indian dead totaled 10 Lakota, 2 Cheyenne, and one Arapaho, some of them killed by 'friendly' arrow fire rather than soldier's bullets. George Bent, a Cheyenne-Anglo man, said 14 Indian warriors were killed. White Elk said only two Cheyenne were killed, but he saw 50 or 60 Lakota dead - more, he said, than were killed in the Battle of the Little Big Horn 10 years later. Years later, Red Cloud remembered the names of 11 Oglala who had been killed in the battle. Some estimates range up to 160 Indian dead and an equal number wounded.

Historians do not believe that Indian casualties approached the higher estimates. The Plains Indians rarely mounted a direct charge at a foe capable of defense. Rather, they struck at the rear and flanks of an opponent, using mounted mobility to probe for weaknesses and attempt to cause disorganization and panic, backing off if they encountered a stout defense, and closing in for the kill when they could do so with little risk of heavy casualties.

Counting Fetterman and his men, in less than six months at Fort Kearny, Carrington had lost 96 soldiers and 58 civilians. More than 300 soldiers were still garrisoned at the fort.

Carrington prepared for an attack on the fort the evening after the Fetterman fight, ordering all his men to stand watch, three to a porthole. All extra ammunition and explosives were deposited in a powder magazine ringed with wagons. If the Indians attacked, the ten women and children at the fort were ordered to get into the magazine. Soldiers were told that in the last extremity they were to retreat to the magazine. Carrington would blow up the magazine to ensure that no Americans remained alive to be captured by the Indians.

Carrington and a detail of 80 men marched cautiously out of Fort Kearny on December 22 as the blizzard was approaching and gathered the remaining bodies of those killed. On December 26, the soldiers buried the bodies of Fetterman, his officers, and his men in a common trench. By January 1, Carrington's fears of an Indian attack on the fort had subsided. The snows were deep and Jim Bridger advised him that the Indians would hole up for the winter.

General Cooke, on receipt of Carrington's distress message, immediately ordered that he be relieved of command by Brigadier General Henry W. Wessells. Wessells arrived safely at Fort Kearny on January 16 with two companies of cavalry and four of infantry. One man in his command froze to death during the journey. Carrington left Fort Kearny on January 23 with his wife and the other women and children, including the pregnant wife of the deceased Lieutenant Grummond. They braved temperatures as low as 38 below F (-39 C) during the journey to Fort Laramie. One half of the 60-soldier escort suffered frostbite.

Lurid newspaper stories blamed Carrington for the Fetterman disaster. An investigation absolved him of blame, but the report was not made public. The investigation noted that 12 companies of soldiers were stationed at Fort Laramie in a region at peace, while at Fort Kearny Carrington had only five companies in a region at war. Carrington would spend the rest of his life attempting to repair his tarnished reputation as a soldier.

The Fetterman fight soured the mood of the nation and the government on defending the Bozeman Trail. In 1868, Fort Phil Kearny was abandoned, and in November of that year Red Cloud signed a peace agreement with the U.S. "For the first time in its history the United States Government had negotiated a peace which conceded everything demanded by the enemy and which extracted nothing in return." Indian sovereignty over the Powder River country, however, would only endure for eight years.

Although initially blamed for the Fetterman defeat, after many years of effort Carrington and his author wife succeeded in deflecting blame back to Fetterman. Carrington's case was that Fetterman was arrogant, insubordinate, and inexperienced in fighting Indians and that he had given Fetterman explicit orders not to venture beyond the summit of Lodge Trail Ridge. According to Margret Irvin Carrington in her book Absaraka: Home of the Crows,

The orders were given in front of Lieutenant Grummond's house, next the colonel's, and those who were present heard them repeated with distinctness and special urgency. Lieutenant Wands was also instructed to repeat them. As if peculiarly impressed with some anticipations of rashness in the movement, the colonel, just after the command left, went across the parade ground to a sentry platform, halted the mounted party, and gave additional orders, understood in the garrison, and by those who heard them, to be the substantial repition [sic] of the former. 'The health of Mrs Grummond was such that Lieutenant Wands and other friends urged him, for his family's sake, to be prudent, and avoid all rash movements and any pursuit that would draw them over Lodge Trail Ridge, and to report to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Fetterman the orders he had received. These orders, in so many words, 'to relieve the train, and under no circumstances to cross the ridge.' Everyone knew why special emphasis was given to these orders.

The bodies of Fetterman and his soldiers were found more than half a mile beyond the summit of the ridge. According to Calitri, historians believe there is conflicting evidence as to whether Carrington gave his order. He suggests that Carrington and Fetterman planned to take the offensive against the Indians attacking the wood train and that Fetterman took the Lodge Trail Ridge to gain a position to attack the Indians from the rear. He says that other than Carrington's accusations, "there is no evidence indicating that Fetterman was anything but a professional officer and a perfect gentleman" with a distinguished combat record.

Calitri also suggests controversy about Grummond. On dispatching Grummond and the cavalry to join Fetterman, Carrington explicitly ordered him to stay with Fetterman during the operation.[citation needed ] Yet, at some point, Grummond led his cavalry far in advance of Fetterman, chasing the Indian decoys in direct violation of his orders. He had a distinguished Civil War record as a combat officer, but he had been court-martialed for drunkenness and abuse of civilians and was known as a bigamist. Calitri suggests that he was reckless and possibly disobeyed orders during the December 6 fight.

There is also the case of Captain Tenodor Ten Eyck. Sent by Carrington to support or rescue Fetterman when the sounds of battle were heard at Fort Kearny, the captain was accused of having been slow to march to the aid of Fetterman, taking a longer route to reach him. Ten Eyck was accused of cowardice and drunkenness and was permitted to retire from the army. It is highly unlikely that even if he had taken the shortest route, Ten Eyck would have arrived in time to assist Fetterman.

Native Americans, About 2,000 warriors.

United States Army Wood Cutting Detachment Rescue Party from Fort Phil Kearny, Dakota Territory, December 21, 1866, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Captain William J. Fetterman†, commanding.

1. See e.g. ^ Papers relating to Talks and Councils held with the Indians in Dakota and Montana Territories in the Years 1866-1869. Washington, 1910, p. 69. Dunlay, Thomas W.: Wolves for the Blue Soldiers. Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860-90. Lincoln and London, 1982, pp. 39-40.

2. ^ Kappler, Charles J.: Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. Washington, 1904. Vol. 2, p. 594.

3. ^ Brown, Dee (1962). The Fetterman Massacre. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

4. ^ Brady, Cyrus Townsend (1904). Indian Fights and Fighters-The Soldier and the Sioux. New York: McClure, Phillips and Co.

5. Calitri, Shannon Smith. "'Give me Eighty Men': Shattering the Myth of the Fetterman Massacre", ^ Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Vol. 54, No. 3 (Autumn 2004), p. 46

6. ^ http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/336 Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, by Charles Alexander Eastman (1918)

7. Monnett, John H., Where a Hundred Soldiers Were Killed: The Struggle for the Powder River Country in 1866 and the Making of the Fetterman Myth. University of New Mexico Press (July 16, 2010). p. 123. ^ ISBN 978-0826345042.

8. ^ Monnett, John H. Eyewitness to the Fetterman Fight: Indian Views. University of Oklahoma Press; 1st edition (March 23, 2017). Chapter: American Horse. ISBN 978-0806155821.

9. ^ "The Fetterman Fight" Archived 2009-07-21 at WebCite. Fort Phil Keary State Historic Site. Retrieved August 20, 2012. This is not the same American Horse who was killed at the later Battle of Slim Buttes

10. ^ Smith, Shannon. "New Perspectives on the Fetterman Fight". Wyoming State Historical Society.

11. C. G. Coutant, ^ History of Wyoming, https://archive.org/details/historyofwyoming00hudsrich

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The Fetterman Fight, also known as the Fetterman Massacre or the Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands or the Battle of a Hundred Slain, was a battle during Red Cloud's War on December 21, 1866, between a confederation of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and a detachment of the United States Army, based at Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming.

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Camp Weld Conference | www.American-Tribes.com

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November 29, 1864 - Sand Creek Massacre - Map of the attack - More information to be found at http://www.amertribes.com

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument - Wikipedia

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Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the site of the June 25 and 26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn, near Crow Agency, Montana, in the United States. It also serves as a memorial to those who fought in the battle: George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry and a combined Lakota- Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho force.

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June 25-26 1876

-Near Little Bighorn River

-N.A. Leaders- Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull

-Native American Victory

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General Custer with U. S. Army troops in
Little Bighorn Battlefield
June 25, 1876, Little Bighorn River, Montana

Battle of Bighorn Summary & Definition
Battle of Bighorn Summary and Definition: The year that the Battle of Little Bighorn took place was in 1876 and was part of the Great Sioux War. The location was near the Little Bighorn River in Montana. The combatants were the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army led by General George Custer and a combined force of Sioux, Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors led by Chief Sitting Bull. Custer underestimated the size of the Native Indian forces which led to his defeat and the deaths of the men of the 7th Cavalry under his command. The Little Bighorn is a river in the West central US flowing north to the main Bighorn River.

The Indian Wars

Native Indian Tribes Index

Specific Causes of the Battle of Bighorn
What were the specific causes of the Battle of Bighorn? The specific causes of the Battle of Bighorn at a local level were:

Facts about the Battle of Bighorn
The History of the Battle of Bighorn including details of the cause, reason, and summary. The dates and years of the Battle of Little Bighorn - when and why the battle started and the consequences of the conflict. Who fought in the Battle of Bighorn? The combatants of the Battle of Bighorn were the US Cavalry and Sioux, Cheyenne & Arapaho Indians. When did the conflict start and when did the conflict end? What were the causes, what was the significance, what were the results and effects? Interesting history and facts about this historic conflict in the fast facts sheet.

The following pictures are of the leaders of the conflict
Chief Sitting Bull and General George Armstrong Custer.

History & Causes of the Battle of Bighorn - Political Policies and Beliefs
What were the causes of the Battle of Bighorn? Some of the history and causes of the Indian Wars and battles were dictated by general policies & beliefs which shaped the historical background to the causes of the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Culture Clash: Distrust and hostilities grew between the indigenous population of the region and the Europeans as the number of newcomers increased leading to the inevitable culture clash. A major cause of conflict in the 1800's

Land: The United States adopted the European practice of expansion and of recognizing only limited land rights of indigenous peoples. A major cause of conflict in the 1700 and 1800's

Manifest Destiny: In the 1800's advocates of 'Manifest Destiny' fuelled by religious fervour believed in American cultural and racial superiority and efforts to "civilize" the indigenous people was widespread. A major cause of conflict in the 1800's

Extermination of the buffalo: The US government promoted a policy to exterminate the buffalo in the 1870'S which would inevitably mean the demise of the Indians who relied on them for almost every aspect of their existence. This, in turn, would reduce the capacity of the Native Indians to continue armed battles against the United States

The Battle of Bighorn Map
The location of the Battle of Bighorn is indicated on the map which illustrates the US three pronged movements headed by Gibbon, Terry and Custer and General George Crook during the Great Sioux War.
Battle of Little Bighorn Map

The Significance and Effects of the Battle of Bighorn
The effects and significance of the Battle of Bighorn in history is that the Battle of the Little Bighorn was the beginning of the end of the Indian Wars. The nomadic hunter lifestyle of the Plains Indians was lost forever. The languages, culture, religion, beliefs and ceremonies of conquered people fell into decline. The news in the East of the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn shocked people who were accustomed to battlefield victories and convinced of their inherent superiority and claim to manifest destiny. The US Government expanded the Army in the region by 2,500 men following the Defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The Battle of Little Bighorn led to increased intolerance of the Native Indians and a determination to place them on a reservation in order to 'civilise' them.

Battle of Bighorn - The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (formerly Custer Battlefield National Monument) preserves the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The graves of those killed in the Little Bighorn Battle are located around a granite monument marking the spot of 'Custer's last stand. The first memorial on the site was assembled by Captain George K. Sanderson and the 11th Infantry who buried the mutilated bodies where they were found. In 1877 the body of George Custer, who had been buried at Little Bighorn, was re-interred in West Point Cemetery.

Photo of the Custer Hill Monument at the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn

History Timeline of the Battle of Little Bighorn
This short History Timeline of the Battle of Bighorn provides fast facts and information about the history, years & dates, key events and famous people who fought in the Battle of Bighorn.

History Timeline of the Battle of Little Bighorn

1875

The US government attempt to buy the Black Hills of Dakota from the Indians

1875

The offer is refused as the land includes the sacred burial grounds of the Sioux

History Timeline of the Battle of Bighorn

Battle of Bighorn

Significance, causes, summary, dates and history of the Battle of Bighorn for kids

History timeline of the Battle of Bighorn

Interesting Facts and information on the Battle of Bighorn for kids and schools

Cause and Effects of the Battle of Bighorn

Significance, causes events, summary, dates and history of the Battle of Bighorn for kids

Battle of Little Bighorn - Pictures and Videos of Native Americans
Battle of Bighorn. Discover the key years, famous people and events of the Battle of Bighorn together with the causes and effects of the war, conflict and battle. Pictures have been include wherever possible which show the battlefield, clothing and weapons of the Native Indian tribes and their leaders who fought in the Battle of Bighorn. The Battle of Bighorn. The videos enable fast access to the information and the many facts featured on this subject of the Battle of Bighorn.

Teaching resource - Teachers - Kids - Battle of Little Bighorn - Indian Wars - Causes of battle - Battle of Little Bighorn - Battlefield - Summary - Battle of Little Bighorn - History of War - Indian - Native American - Battle - Conflict - Massacre - Causes - Battle of Little Bighorn - US Cavalry - Tribes - History - Timeline of War - History - Facts - Information - Info - Famous - Battle of Little Bighorn - Causes of War - Battlefield - Summary - History of War - Native - American - Battle of Little Bighorn - Significance of War - Battle of Little Bighorn - Events - Dates - Causes - Conflict - Battle of Little Bighorn - Summary - Definition - Battle - War - Death - Short - Kids - Children - Studies - Battle of Little Bighorn - US - Causes - United States - America - Significance of War - Causes - Results - Causes - Effects - Year - Causes - Significance - Dates - Summary - Battle of Little Bighorn - Impact - Causes - Reasons - Events- Battle of Bighorn - Written By Linda Alchin

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Check out this site for facts and information about the Battle of Little Bighorn. Summary, cause and effects of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Facts, dates, key events and information about the Battle of Little Bighorn

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-Started as an attempt to easily remove a few groups of Native Americans from  the Southern Plains

-Summer 1864

-Most influential Indian Chief was Quanah Parker

-Native Americans had no chance to win against the powerful American Army and Frontiersman

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History of the Red River War in the Texas Panhandle which ended the traditional way of life of the Southern Plains Indians.

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December  21, 1866

2000 Indians Attacked 81 Americans

Location
Fort Phil  Kearney

All 81 American Men Died

-Crazy  Horse Main Leader of Native American Attackers

-Colonel Henry Carrington and Colonel Fetterman were two main Americans killed

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Dates

November 1864

Location

Colorado Territory (Kiowa County, Colorado)

Commanders

United States: John M. Chivington
Cheyenne, Arapaho Indians: Black Kettle

Casualties

United States: 24 killed, 52 wounded
Indians: 70 – 163 killed

Result

United States Army massacres Native Americans.

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Condemned by Congress, the Sand Creek Massacre marked the plains with blood, sparking warfare from Texas to the Canadian border. On the morning of November 29, 1864, U.S. Army Volunteers attacked a peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho, mutilated the dead, and looted the village. The massacre left behind about two hundred Cheyenne and Arapaho dead and many more wounded, with women and children comprising two-thirds of the casualties according to articles from the National Park Service.

Often given as a cause for the savagery of the massacre on Sand Creek, the murder of the Hungate Family forms one of the mysteries of 1864's sordid history. Nathan (29 years), Ellen (25), Laura (2 ½) and Florence (under 6 mos.) The Hungates were killed along Running or Box Elder Creek at or near the cabin of their employer about 25 miles southeast of downtown Denver on June 11, 1864. There are many suspects in the murders, but a single individual or group has never been singled out with reasonably certainty.

Many Coloradoans blamed the Cheyenne or Arapaho, as reflected in the Coroner's inquest on June 14. It stated that the family, "... came to their death by being feloniously killed by some person or persons to the jury unknown, but supposed to be Indians[.]"

Experienced frontiersman Jim Beckwourth doubted the family had been killed by either the Cheyenne or Arapaho because of the manner of death, according to the June 15 th Daily Commonwealth.

Lone Bear, long a friend of white society, tried to secure peace across the Colorado Plains in 1864. U.S. Army Colonel John Chivington remarked on his conduct as a prominent Cheyenne peace chief and "wrote out a certificate of [Lone Bear's] good character, stating that he was a friendly Indian."

Following negotiations with Territorial Governor John Evans, Lone Bear came to the peace village at Sand Creek, which Chivington and his men attacked on November 29, 1864.

Lone Bear's daughter Walking Woman married John Prowers, a local landowner and settler. Prowers testified that, "I was taken prisoner one Sunday evening, about sundown, by men of company E, first cavalry of Colorado, by orders of Colonel Chivington... and not allowed to leave the house for two nights and a day and a half... because I had an Indian family. The colonel commanding thought I might communicate some news to the Indians encamped on Sand [C]reek." Even his association with white society could not protect Lone Bear; during the chaos of the massacre, soldiers killed Lone Bear.

In the aftermath of Sand Creek, Lone Bear's family relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Walking Woman stayed in Colorado's Arkansas Valley, becoming an area matriarch under the name of AmacheProwers. During World War II, the federal government interned Japanese-Americans near Granada, Colorado, a camp soon nicknamed after her. Now a National Historic Landmark, Camp Amache connects the experiences of the Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek to those of Japanese-Americans in World War II.

As the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War noted in 1865, the "truth is that [Chivington] surprised and murdered, in cold blood, the unsuspecting men, women, and children on Sand creek [sic], who had every reason to believe they were under the protection of the United States authorities, and then returned to Denver and boasted of the brave deeds he and the men under his command had performed."

This is the 150th anniversary of this tragedy. On November 29, 2014 those who lost their lives will be remembered as part of the commemoration activities taking place in the park. A complete schedule of events is available from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.

In collaboration with the Northern Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, and Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the National Park Service manages the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site for all Americans to understand and learn from our past.

Information for this article came from The Prowers Journal and the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.

To contact the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site outside of Eads, Colorado, call (719) 438-5916.

The Boulder History Museum did an interview with Jeff Campbell, a National Park interpreter about the Sand Creek Massacre. There are two parts to the conversation. Here are the links:

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Condemned by Congress, the Sand Creek Massacre marked the plains with blood, sparking warfare from Texas to the Canadian border. On the morning of...