The Battle of the Washita River, a Contrast

The Battle of the Washita River

          I think it's instructive to contrast the Battle between the Chickasaw militia and the Comanche in 1866 described in my last post (May 29, 2011), with the Battle of the Washita River between the 7th Regiment of the U.S. Army, under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and Black Kettle's band of Cheyenne families during the winter of 1868.  

          After the Civil War, Congress voted to create 4 new cavalry regiments to deal with the "Indian Problem." This made sense. The Army had previously been given mainly foot soldiers to face mounted Indian warriors, and they had failed for the most part. George Armstrong Custer volunteered to lead one of these regiments. Custer had been brevetted to the rank of general during the Civil War, but with the downsizing of the army after the war, he had reverted to the rank of captain. His new position as regimental commander gave him the rank of lieutenant colonel.

 George Armstrong Custer





          The government plan of sequestering Indians on reservations in Indian Territory wasn't working. The land had no game; it was unfit for cultivation, and there was no program to assist the Indians in changing their way of life. Several bands of Indian warriors were still actively raiding white settlements.  

          Black Kettle, a chief of the southern Cheyenne, consistently favored peace during his lifetime. He signed the Treaty of Ft. Laramie in 1851, guaranteeing hunting land in the Colorado foothills to the Cheyenne. When gold seekers displaced the Cheyenne from this land, the Cheyenne retaliated by raiding their settlements. Black Kettle, in order to achieve peace, signed the Treaty of Ft. Wise in 1861, agreeing to move his band to southeastern Colorado. The land there was not arable and there were no buffalo, the Cheyenne's main source of meat, and  some of the Cheyenne, dissatisfied with their situation, continued their attacks on whites. When the Colorado Governor, John Evans, issued a proclamation in 1864 that all Indians who did not report to a fort would be attacked, Black Kettle went to Fort Wise. Black Kettle's band was attacked anyway while their warriors were away hunting, and 163 were killed, mainly women and children. This attack was afterwards known as "The Sand Creek Massacre."

Black Kettle

          Even though his wife was seriously injured at Sand Creek, Black Kettle again negotiated with the government, this time agreeing to move his people to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma, to an area just as unsatisfactory as their prior reservation. After this move Black Kettle met again with U. S. agents at Medicine Lodge in 1867, again affirming his desire for peace.  

          In the meantime, General Phillip Sheridan, in command of the new cavalry regiments north of the Arkansas River, declared all Cheyenne and Arapahoe to be hostiles because of continued raids by elements of these tribes, and he planned a campaign against them for the winter of 1868 at their winter campgrounds. In order to protect his people Chief Black Kettle went to General Hazen at Fort Cobb. General Hazen told Black Kettle that he could not protect him, that he would have to deal with General Sheridan himself. Black Kettle met with his chiefs late into the night of November 26, 1868, after returning from his meeting with General Hazen, and his council decided to send a delegation to General Sheridan to sue for peace, but as Black Kettle's council met, Custer's troops were surrounding his village.  

          The next morning Custer attacked, slaughtering men women and children, and taking 53 women and children prisoners to discourage counterattack by the other Indians encamped nearby. 7th Cavalry Scout Ben Clark reported: The Regiment galloped through the teepees… firing indiscriminately, killing men and women alike." One cavalry unit was seen following a group of women and children shooting at them and "killing them without mercy." Lt. Geoffrey Green reported that soldiers made no effort "to prevent hitting women during the attack," and "all warriors who lay wounded in the village…were promptly shot to death." The Cheyenne horses were also shot, and the village was burned.  

          Now let's compare Custer's attack on the village of Black Kettle with the attack by the Chickasaws on the Comanche just two years before. Superficially the battles were similar. Both were surprise attacks on sleeping Indian villages, and both were overwhelming victories by the attackers.  

          On the other hand the differences are striking. First, the provocation for the two attacks were different. The Chickasaw expedition was precipitated by a specific raid by the Comanche, whereas Custer's attack was part of a campaign by the U. S. Army to instill fear in the Indians and to force them to remain on reservations which were inadequate to sustain them. Also Custer attacked Black Kettle's people merely because they were Cheyenne, even though their chief had spent his life trying to achieve peace for his people. The Chickasaw, on the other hand, attacked a specific band of Comanche who had stolen their property.   

          Next, in the battle itself, Custer's men charged into Black Kettle's village and shot men women and children indiscriminately. The Chickasaw militia, on the other hand, fired a volley to arouse the Comanche, and afterward only fired on those who charged their lines. When the Comanche raised a flag of truce, all firing stopped, and the Chickasaw received a Comanche representative to talk terms.  

          Finally Black Kettle's wounded warriors were executed; their horses were shot; their village was burned, and their women and children were taken hostage. The Chickasaw, on the other hand, declared a truce after the Comanche surrendered, allowing the Comanche to treat their wounded and bury their dead. Then the Chickasaw returned home with their cattle. They took no prisoners, and they damaged no Comanche property.  

          The U. S. Army was out to bring the Indian tribes to their knees, no matter how many they had to kill. They gave no thought to providing a means for the Indians to survive; they had no respect for the Indians' treaty rights, their traditions, their very right to existence. They attacked Black Kettle to satisfy the greed of the settlers. The Chickasaw, on the other hand, respected the Comanche as human beings. They only sought to satisfy their legitimate claims against them. 

          So who were the savages, the Chickasaws or the U. S. Army?

          I want to say that I don't believe Lt. Col. Custer or General Sheridan were the villains here. The real villains were the American people. I think that the attitudes and actions of these men were reflections of their times, and if you want to judge a people by their history, you have to answer the above question in favor of the Chickasaws.