Indian Wars of the Frontier West

The vast expanse of land stretching between the Missouri River and the formidable Rocky Mountains, encompassing the Great Plains and the rugged foothills, became a stage often overlooked by those who sought fortune in the far reaches of the West. The allure of California, Oregon, and the promising farming and timber lands of the Northwest drew pioneers westward, even before the whispers of gold on the Pacific Slope echoed through the nation. This seemingly less-valued territory, nestled between the Missouri and the Rockies, underwent a period of transformation, marked by both progress and loss, ultimately culminating in a swift and decisive shift that forever altered its landscape.

This transitional zone, long considered of little significance by early American settlers, was the domain of the buffalo and the "Horse Indians," the Plains tribes whose existence was inextricably linked to the massive herds that roamed the grasslands. For a considerable period, these indigenous communities effectively impeded the westward expansion of white settlements into the territories that would become Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. However, as the relentless pursuit of homes in Oregon and the shimmering promise of gold in California, Idaho, and Montana intensified, the "Indian question" evolved into a critical and complex issue.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the United States Army was tasked with the daunting mission of subduing, or at the very least, displacing the native tribes that inhabited this largely unappreciated and uncharted Middle West. This endeavor proved far from straightforward. Initially, the Plains Indians mounted a formidable resistance, drawing upon their deep understanding of the land and their ability to sustain themselves without relying on external supply lines. The Army, in turn, was compelled to adapt, learning to emulate the skills and resilience of their adversaries to achieve a semblance of parity in the conflict. In the early stages of the Indian-fighting days, the primary objective was not necessarily the acquisition of land, but rather the securing of trails that facilitated westward passage. The indigenous peoples, having lived on these lands for generations, having mastered their environment, and having found contentment within it, were naturally inclined to defend their way of life with unwavering resolve.

The most significant of the Indian Wars of the Frontier West unfolded in the years following the Civil War, with some of the most memorable battles occurring on the open cattle ranges, the last vestiges of the American frontier. The era is well-documented, thanks to the proliferation of railroads that extended into the Plains, bringing with them a wave of new settlers, chroniclers, historians, and writers who produced both factual accounts and sensationalized fiction. Many of these narratives were readily accepted as truth, contributing to the romanticized image of Wild West heroes, rugged hunters, and self-proclaimed scouts who freely shared their tales, often embellishing them for dramatic effect.

As the Army successfully subdued the remaining Indian tribes on the buffalo range, the most adventurous chapter of the Wild West era drew to a close. It became easier to write about a past that was quickly fading from memory, as newcomers lacked firsthand experience and established residents were preoccupied with the challenges of a rapidly changing landscape.

Even as early as 1866, Colonel Marcy, a seasoned army officer and Indian fighter, recognized the impending disappearance of a distinct phase of American life. In his book, "Life on the Border," he reflected on the importance of preserving the memories of the people and cultures that were vanishing before the relentless advance of civilization.

Marcy wrote, "Many friends have persuaded me that the contents of the book which is herewith presented to the public are not without value as records of a fast-vanishing age and as truthful sketches of men of various races whose memory will shortly depend only on romance unless someone who knew them shall undertake to leave outlines of their peculiar characteristics… I am persuaded that excuse may be found in the simple fact that all these peoples of my description – men, living conditions, races of aboriginal inhabitants, and adventurous hunters and pioneers – are passing away."

He further predicted, "In a few years, the prairie will be transformed into farms, the mountain ravines will be the abodes of busy manufacturers, and the gigantic power of American civilization will have taken possession of the land from the great river of the West to the very shores of the Pacific. The world is fast filling up."

Marcy concluded with a sense of historical significance, "I trust I am not in error when I venture to place some value, however small, on everything that goes to form the truthful history of a condition of men incident to the advances of civilization over the continent – a condition which forms peculiar types of character, breeds remarkable developments of human nature – a condition also which can hardly again exist on this or any other continent, and which has, therefore, a special value in the sum of human history."

Marcy’s words demonstrated a profound and dignified perspective. His observations on the frontier’s demise offer valuable insights into the final stages of its clearing. Even during his time, the debate surrounding the government’s Indian policy was already underway. Marcy, viewing the issue through the lens of an Army officer, provided an accurate assessment of the existing conditions. His conclusions, written long ago, remained relevant and insightful decades later.

He astutely observed, "The limits of their accustomed range are rapidly contracting, and their means of subsistence undergoing a corresponding diminution. The white man is advancing rapidly upon all sides of them, and they are forced to give way to his encroachments. The time is not far distant when the buffalo will become extinct, and they will then be compelled to adopt some other mode of life than the chase for subsistence… No man will quietly submit to starvation when food is within his reach, and if he cannot obtain it honestly, he will steal it or take it by force. If, therefore, we do not induce them to engage in agricultural avocations, we shall, in a few years, have the alternative of exterminating them or fighting them perpetually before us. That they are ultimately destined for extinction does not, in my mind, admit of a doubt. For the reasons mentioned above, it may at first be necessary for our government to assert its authority over them by a prompt and vigorous exercise of the military arm… The tendency of the policy I have indicated will be to assemble these people in communities where they will be more readily controlled, and I predict from it the most gratifying results."

Another well-informed Army officer, Colonel Richard Dodge, a skilled hunter, tracker, and rider who rivaled the Indians in their own domain, offered a penetrating analysis of the Indian problem.

Dodge wrote, "The conception of Indian character is almost impossible to a man who has passed the greater portion of his life surrounded by the influences of a cultivated, refined, and moral society… The truth is too shocking, and the revolted mind takes refuge in disbelief as the less painful horn of the dilemma. As a first step toward understanding his character, we must get at his standpoint of morality. As a child, he is not brought up… From the dawn of intelligence, his own will is his law. There is no right and no wrong to him… No dread of punishment restrains him from any act that boyish fun or fury may prompt. No lessons inculcating the beauty and sure reward of goodness or the hideousness and certain punishment of vice are ever wasted on him. The men by whom he is surrounded and to whom he looks as models for his future life are great and renowned just in proportion to their ferocity, to the scalps they have taken, or the thefts they have committed. His earliest boyish memory is probably a dance of rejoicing over the scalps of strangers, all of whom he is taught to regard as enemies. His mother’s lessons awaken only a desire to take his place as soon as possible in fight and foray. The instruction of his father is only calculated to fit him best to act a prominent part in the chase, in theft, and in murder… Virtue, morality, generosity, and honor are words not only absolutely without significance to him but are not accurately translatable into any Indian language on the Plains."

Dodge’s words, though less compassionate than Marcy’s, provided a stark depiction of the Army’s mission on the frontier. The Indian Wars of the Frontier West was a war fought on broken treaties. Treaties were made and treaties were broken. In turn, it was not unexpected that these "ignorant savages" would break the treaties they made. The Indian policy at the time was a mix of ferocity and wheedling. The Indians did not understand their enemy, any more than the settlers understood the Indians. When the old frontier posts were withdrawn, the tribesmen interpreted it as fear, and acted accordingly. The war was one of desperation for the Native Americans, and one of conquest for the settlers.

At the close of the Civil War, the Army was in top shape. Made up of sound soldiers, it was larger than ever before. In 1860, the Army had 16,000 men. By 1870, it was 37,000, or one soldier for every one thousand people.

Against this was arrayed the population of fighting tribes, such as the Sioux, the two bands of the Cheyenne, the Piegan, the Assiniboine, the Arapaho, the Kiowa, the Comanche, and the Apache. The Sioux and Cheyenne were the leaders, and they always enlisted the aid of the less warlike tribes, such as the Crow, the Snake, the Bannock, and the Ute.

The Sioux, at the height of their power, were known for their warlike qualities. During the Civil War, they edged in and pushed the whites back to the eastern confines of the Plains. When the country was locked in war in 1862, the Sioux massacred at least 644 whites in Minnesota and South Dakota.

Following the Civil War, the railroads had land grants given to them, and they began to sell the lands. Soldier scrip began to float about. Some engineers and laborers began to set up homes near the railway lines. This increase in the white population infuriated the Indians, but gave them a better chance to inflict damage. The Army became a vast body of police, always punishing the offending tribesmen, who knew nothing of the laws of war.

The war of the last frontier involved the ownership of the last of the open lands. The settler continued to share his time between his rifle and his plow. The buffalo were butchered in great numbers. As the herds migrated south, they were killed in thousands. The Indians saw the sudden loss of livelihood.

Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Roman Nose, American Horse, and Black Kettle were great Indian generals. At times, they would have as many as five thousand warriors in one body. They were well armed and supplied. The Indian agents were carrying on their lists twice as many Indians as existed, and they were receiving twice as many supplies as were issued. The reservations were left when they were iced. In the end, they were asked to return to the reservations and be fed.

From 1869 to 1875, there were more than 200 pitched actions between the Army and the Indians. The white men were heavily outnumbered. The enlisted men of the frontier Army were riding and shooting men, able to live as the Indians did and beat them at their own game. They were led by Army officers whose type has never been improved upon.

The Fetterman Massacre in 1866, near Fort Phil Kearny, was a blow that the Army never forgot. Colonel Fetterman, Captain Brown, and sixty-five enlisted men were found stripped naked and hacked and scalped. This tragedy brought the Indian problem before the country.

While the Sioux and Cheyenne wars dragged on, Congress created a peace commission in 1867. General William Sherman wrote to his brother, "We have now selected and provided reservations for all the great roads. All who cling to their old hunting grounds are hostile and will remain until killed off. We will have a sort of predatory war for years – every now and then, be shocked by the indiscriminate murder of travelers and settlers, but the country is so large, and the advantage of the Indians so great, that we cannot make a single war and end it. From the nature of things, we must take chances and clean out Indians as we encounter them."

Segregation of the Indian tribes upon reservations seemed to the commission the only solution. Various treaties were made. The result was misgiving and increased unrest among the Indians.

In the summer of 1868, forays occurred at many points along the border of the Indian Territory. General Sheridan believed that a general war was imminent. He determined to teach the southern tribesmen a lesson. In the dead of winter, the troops marched against the Cheyenne.

The Indians did not believe that white men could march in weather forty below zero. Still, the cavalrymen marched. Among them was the Seventh Cavalry, led by Lieutenant-Colonel George A. Custer. Custer marched until he got in touch with the trails of the Cheyenne, belonging to Black Kettle’s band. He attacked at the dawn of a bleak winter morning, November 27, 1868, and killed Black Kettle and over 100 of his warriors. Many women and children also were killed. The Indians began to respect the men who could outmarch them and outlive them on the range. The lower Indians began to come in and give themselves up to the reservation life.

One of the hardest battles occurred in September 1868, where General “Sandy” Forsyth and his scouts fought over 600 Cheyenne and Arapaho. Forsyth was allowed to enlist fifty scouts, and with this body of fighting men, he carried out the most dramatic battle ever waged on the Plains.

Forsyth ran into the trail of two or three large Indian villages, but followed on until he came to the valley of the South Fork. The Cheyenne, under Roman Nose, surrounded him on September 17. The scouts took refuge on a brushy island and dug in. All their horses were shot down, and the men lay in the rifle pits with no hope of escape. Roman Nose led a charge of some 400 of his warriors, charging in full view three times in one day.

Roman Nose was killed. By then, the stream bed was well filled with fallen horses and dead warriors. Forsyth was shot three times. His men lay under fire for nine days. On the second day, Forsyth got out messengers, and the party was rescued by a detachment of the Tenth Cavalry. The Indians later said that they had over 600 warriors in this fight.

Such encounters taught the Indians that they could not beat the white men. The Baker Massacre was the turning point in the war with the Blackfeet. In 1870, Major E. M. Baker surprised the Piegan and killed 173 Indians, including many women and children. It was deplorable warfare. But it ended the resistance of the Blackfeet.

The Sioux and Cheyenne took revenge in the battle that annihilated Custer and his men on the Little Big Horn in 1876. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce led a flight which baffled the best generals for 110 days. The Nez Perce went down forever when Joseph surrendered.

After the Custer fight, many of the tribes went north of the Canadian line. Some of the wheels taken out of the watches of Custer’s men were seen.

The Modoc War against Captain Jack in 1873 was waged in the lava beds of Oregon. The Apache long waged warfare. The Spaniards had fought the Apache for nearly 300 years. They offered $300 each for Apache scalps. The Apache became mountain outlaws. General George Crook finished cleaning up the Apache outlaws by using the trailers of their own people. In 1872, Crook subdued them and concentrated them in reservations in Arizona. Ten years later, Geronimo broke loose and yielded to General Crook only after a prolonged war. He was forced by General Miles to surrender and deported to Fort Pickens in Florida.

In the Custer fight, the Army lost Custer, thirteen officers, and 256 men killed. The Indians had perhaps five thousand men. Custer and his men helped clear the frontier. At the close of the Civil War, the average of warlike qualities was high.

The frontier lay ready, waiting for the man with the plow.