David.Gettman October 29th, 2008
This map shows the main area of the Indian Wars the 2d Regiment of Dragoons/2d Cavalry Regiment were involved in between 1848 and 1883, the majority of the forts in the area, and the main trails. The color key to the trails is in the lower left corner.
Click on the map to enlarge it. Once enlarged, click on it again to make very it large.
David.Gettman October 29th, 2008
As a result of the unstable state of affairs in the West, the regiment received orders in October, 1865, to change station to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It was then encamped at Monrovia Station, Maryland, following four years of active duty in the Civil War. Having received its complement of recruits, the regiment now had a strength of 34 officers and 876 enlisted men. During October, it was depleted of all horses and was not again provided with them until November, after arriving in the West. The regiment now consisted of a regimental headquarters, a band, and twelve companies, with squadrons of two companies. On October 15 it moved by rail to Parkersburg, West Virginia, at which place it embarked on the steamboats Mariner and Huntsville. Thence it traveled via the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers to Fort Leavenworth, where it arrived November 7. The regiment was not again to be assembled as a unit in one post until the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898.
The troops moved between November 10 and 20, 1865, to frontier posts as follows:
Regt. Hq, Band, and Co. E – Fort Riley, Kansas.
Cos. A, B – Fort Kearney, Nebraska.
Co. C – Fort Hays, Kansas.
Co. D – Fort Lyon, Colorado.
Co. F – Fort Ellsworth (Fort Harker), Kansas.
Cos. G, I – Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Co. H – Pond Creek (Fort Wallace), Kansas.
Co. K – Fort Dodge, Kansas.
Co. L – Fort Larned, Kansas.
Co. M – Fort Aubry, Kansas.
These posts were newly located, offering little shelter to men or animals. It was therefore necessary for the troops to embark upon a building program using soldier labor, especially at Hays, Harker, and Wallace on the Smoky Hill route, and Dodge and Aubry on the Arkansas River. The troops were thus employed in cutting timber, quarrying stone, making adobe bricks, running saw mills, burning brick and lime, and driving wagons.
This was a common way of constructing new posts, and even old posts were provided with new buildings from materials found in the vicinity. Many desertions were thought to be caused by troops doing this kind of work. In addition, enlisted men were used to procure fuel and hay, and to act as gardeners. It was necessary that the troop also do some drilling, guarding, and general police of the post. The men were usually so busy at the various activities that there was little time for drilling and other military work.
During the War of the Rebellion, the Indian question had been largely left in abeyance. It was to keep these people in a peaceful state that the Second Cavalry was now on the Great Plains. In the area where the regiment was to be stationed during the next year the government assembled, in the fall of 1865, the Southern Tribes, consisting of the Southern Cheyennes, Kiowas, Arapahoes, Apaches, and some Comanches, in a grand council at the big bend of the Arkansas in southern Kansas. They made a treaty of peace with the whites, and agreed to allow the government to establish a stage line through their country along the Smoky Hill River to Denver, and not to molest the settlers.
This treaty was soon broken through repeated attacks upon the stage lines and settlers. Accordingly, it was decided to send a commissioner among the Indians in February to make another treaty. Companies K and L, under Captain G. A. Gordon, were selected to act as escort to the meeting place, which was on Bluff Creek. The same peaceful treaty was again signed as the year before. It was not broken until after the regiment left the Department of the Missouri later in the year of 1866.
David.Gettman October 28th, 2008
Hardly had the troops finished building the cantonments in Kansas when they were ordered by General Sherman to change station to the Department of the Platte. This area was commanded by the former colonel of the regiment, General Philip St. George Cook, with station at Fort Omaha, Nebraska.
Upon their arrival, the troops were distributed as follows:
Regt. Hq., Band, Cos. D, F, H, I, K, L – Fort Laramie, Wyoming.
Cos. A, B – Fort McPherson, Nebraska.
Co. C – Fort Phil Kearney, Wyoming.
Co. E – Fort Casper, Wyoming.
Co. G – Fort Sanders, Wyoming.
Co. M – Fort Sedgwick, Colorado.
At these posts the troops began the same routine of construction and labor as they had experienced in Kansas during the past year. Forts McPherson, Sedgwick, Sanders, and Phil Kearney were incomplete, the accommodations being of a most temporary character. Fort Laramie, one of the oldest posts in the West, was more up to date, but had insufficient space for the number of troops stationed there.
The Second Cavalry was now located in strategical points between the plains and the Rockies. Fort Laramie was at the junction of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers. It was also at the junction of the Oregon and Bozeman Trails, and commanded the exit of the South Pass. Fort McPherson was at the junction of the South Platte and North Platte Rivers. Fort Sedgwick, near the town of Julesburg, was at the meeting of the Bozeman and Overland Trails. Forts Sanders, Sedgwick, and McPherson were on the projected route of the transcontinental railroad. Fort Casper was on the North Platte River and the Oregon Trail, while Fort Phil Kearney was on the Bozeman Trail.
David.Gettman October 27th, 2008
A small party of Indians ran off some stock from the vicinity of Fort Laramie in early October, 1866. Lieutenant Bingham, with a detachment from Company C, pursued them on October 3, recaptured the stock, and killed one Indian. Although after a much smaller party, this scouting expedition was performed under the same difficulties as that of Lieutenant Armes the same month, which brought forth the praise of the Department Commander.
Hardly had Company M arrived at Fort Sedgwick in northeastern Colorado when it was called upon to show its mettle. On October 23, Lieutenant Armes, with 25 men from his company, was sent in pursuit of about fifty Sioux Indians who had stampeded a herd of mules and another of oxen near the post. Starting at 4:00 a.m. the detachment traveled until 9:00 p.m., a distance of about ninety miles, when it came upon the Indians encamped in a marsh on the north side of the . Lieutenant Armes divided his party in order to attack from two directions and to separate the pony herd from the camp. The Indians, who were in their tepees, were taken completely by surprise. When they rushed toward their ponies, the troops barred the way. The latter then proceeded to burn the village and at the same time to drive away the stolen stock and Indian pony herd. The detachment turned home that same night and arrived there the next afternoon, having fought a skirmish and traveled one hundred seventy miles in thirty-seven hours. Because it was necessary to cross the North Platte several times, the men traveled most of the distance in wet clothes. The Indians left on the field four killed and seven wounded, and Lieutenant Armes had two men and ten animals wounded. As a result of this engagement that officer recommended that the revolver be issued to troops. Continue Reading »
David.Gettman October 26th, 2008
In 1865 the United States Government wanted to build a wagon road east of the Big Horn Mountains into the mining districts of Montana and Idaho. The country through which this road was to pass was the hunting grounds of the Sioux and Cheyennes. Red Cloud, the chief of the Sioux, entered a most emphatic protest, declaring it would drive away the game. It was the best buffalo range on the continent, and these animals furnished the Indians with food, clothing, and skins for their lodges. During the fall of 1865 a council was proposed to Red Cloud to effect an agreement whereby the road might be constructed, but he refused to participate.
Another council was proposed the following June, and this time Red Cloud, along with several other Sioux chiefs, attended. Throughout the conference there was violent opposition to the building of the road by most of the Indians present. Anticipating success of his effort, the government initiated plans to go ahead with the work while the meeting was still in progress. Hearing of the movement of the troops into the disputed country, the majority of the chiefs, under Red Cloud, withdrew from the session, refusing to accept the presents sent by the government.
Nevertheless, it was decided to go ahead and build the forts along the route, which was known as the Bozeman Trail. Colonel Henry B. Carrington, of the Eighteenth Infantry, was given charge of the work, which included rebuilding old Fort Reno, on the Powder River, Fort Phil Kearney at the forks of the Big and Little Piney, and Fort C. F. Smith on the Big Horn.
Company C left Fort Laramie under command of Lieutenant Horatio S. Bingham, October 23, 1866, en route to Fort Phil Kearney, Wyoming, and arrived at this place November 2. Six companies of the Eighteenth Infantry under Colonel Carrington had occupied the post since its beginning in July. Construction was still in progress, necessitating logging operations some seven miles from the post. So closely had the Sioux drawn their lines about the garrison that hay could not be cut or trees felled without a heavy guard accompanying the workmen. In fact, this post was generally in a state of siege. From the arrival of the troops until the close of the year, Red Cloud’s warriors killed one hundred fifty-four persons, wounded twenty, and drove away hundreds of head of stock belonging to citizens of the area.
David.Gettman October 25th, 2008
About eleven o’clock on the morning of December 21, 1866, the lookout on Sullivant Hills signaled that the wood train had been corralled about one and one-half miles from the post, and was attacked in force. A relief party of forty-nine men of the Eighteenth Infantry, and twenty-seven of C Company, Second Cavalry, temporarily commanded by Lieutenant Grummond, Eighteenth Infantry, was hastily organized. Captain Powell was placed in command of the expedition, but just as it was about to start, Captain Fetterman came up and begged for the command. Colonel Carrington reluctantly acceded to his plea, and gave him orders to relieve the wood train, drive back the Indians, but not to pursue them beyond the Lodge Trail Ridge. The force was joined by Captain Brown and two hunters who volunteered to go, and now consisted of eighty-two men. Instead of leading his men direct to the wood train on the south side of Sullivant Hills, Captain Fetterman moved hastily toward Peno Valley on the north side.
This movement was noticed from the fort, and as it might be a good tactical maneuver by taking the enemy in the rear, no apprehension was felt. The hostile Indian scouts noticed Fetterman’s movement on the north side of the hill, and immediately withdrew from the wood train, which broke corral and made its way to the Piney, seven miles northwest of the fort, where it went into camp. About this time several Indians were noticed along the Piney in front of the fort. A shot from the cannon caused this group to scatter. The main body of the Indians had disappeared to the northwest toward Peno Creek. This placed them, during this movement, on the opposite side of the hill from Fetterman’s force, which doubtless was ignorant of the withdrawal of the Sioux from the attack on the wagon train. Continue Reading »
David.Gettman October 24th, 2008
By Sergeant John Guthrie
Early one morning myself and several of the boys were detailed to form a little squad which had been ordered to run the mail from the fort to Fort Reno, seventy-two miles from Fort Phil Kearney. It was during our trip to Fort Reno on the banks of the Powder River, the Indians had attacked the wood train in the valley of the Big Horn Mountains at Pine Ridge in the Sullivant Hills. My comrades and myself arrived at Fort Phil Kearney at day break.
In the morning Colonel Fetterman had started out for the purpose of protecting the wood train. In the middle of the day before the morning arrival of my comrades of the mail detail, the Fetterman command did not return to the fort or to the wood train, for he had taken the old Holiday coach road. We started out to find the Fetterman command, for it was feared that the detachment did not take enough ammunition with them. The party consisted of Lieutenant John C. Jenness of the 27th Infantry, two soldiers and myself, a driver with four mules and a wagon, three boxes of ammunition, the Lieutenant being mounted on an Indian pony, the soldiers dismounted.
A little over a mile from the fort on the Holiday coach road, near Stoney Creek ford, we found the dead bodies of the whole detachment, including Colonel Fetterman, Captain Brown, and Lieutenant Grummond, lying where the Indians had killed them. The scene baffled description as the dead bodies were horribly mutilated. So you see the detachment had been surrounded by overwhelming numbers of Indians, and every man killed. Nothing had life left but a gray horse, Dapple Dave of Company C, 2nd Cavalry, the only horse left on the battlefield, being shot with both bullet and arrow. Lieutenant Jenness of the 27th Infantry returned to the fort with the news and horror of the situation. Continue Reading »
David.Gettman October 23rd, 2008
Colonel Carrington decided to send to Fort Laramie for help at once. But it was not believed that any courier would stand a fair chance of ever passing through the hostile country. At this juncture, John Phillips, an employee of the quartermaster department, who was used to frontier life, volunteered his services as dispatch bearer. He finally reached a telegraph station and sent his message, only a short time before it was attacked. He then pushed on and arrived safely at Fort Laramie, having traveled two hundred twenty-five miles under the most trying conditions of severe weather and with Indians along the entire route.
Six companies of the Eighteenth Infantry under Major Voast, and Companies D and L, Second Cavalry, under Captain David S. Gordon, were sent to the relief of Fort Phil Kearney. Lieutenant Colonel Wessells, who was to relieve Colonel Carrington because of the late massacre, joined the command at Fort Reno. This march was a trying one on account of the severe weather, especially on the animals, as the long forage was exhausted after ten days from the post. After much discomfort, the command arrived at Fort Phil Kearney, January 16, 1867, with the loss of one man frozen to death. On account of the shortage of forage at the post, Colonel Carrington decided to send the horses back to Fort Laramie at once. This march was a disastrous one, as every horse, 150 in number, died on the way.
David.Gettman October 22nd, 2008
By Brigadier-General DAVID S. GORDON, U.S.A.
The garrison at Fort Laramie in the year 1867 was composed of four troops of cavalry and six companies of the Eighteenth Infantry, commanded by the late Gen. Innis N. Palmer, colonel of the Second Cavalry.
It was on Christmas night, 11 P.M., in the year 1866, when a full dress garrison ball was progressing and everybody appeared superlatively happy, enjoying the dance, notwithstanding the snow was from ten to fifteen inches deep on the level and the thermometer indicated twenty-five degrees below zero, when a huge form dressed in buffalo overcoat, pants, gauntlets and cap, accompanied by an orderly, desired to see the commanding officer. The dress of the man, and at this hour looking for the commanding officer, made a deep impression upon the officers and others that happened to get a glimpse of him, and consequently, and naturally too, excited their curiosity as to his mission in this strange garb, dropping into our full-dress garrison ball at this unseasonable hour.
As we were about to select partners for another dance word was passed into the ball-room that General Palmer desired to see me. Excusing myself, I reported to the commanding officer, who handed me a dispatch dated for Fort Phil Kearney, December 21, 1866, signed by Col. H. B. Carrington, commanding post, that Brevet Colonel Fetterman, with a detachment consisting of three officers, ninety-two men and two citizens, had been massacred outside of the post. This dispatch was repeated to Omaha, Neb., headquarters of the department, commanded by General Cooke. I think it was on the 26th that orders to the commanding officer at Fort Laramie were received to send troops immediately to Fort Phil Kearney and relieve Col. H. B. Carrington, Eighteenth Infantry. Six companies of the Eighteenth under Major Van Voast and Companies D and L of the Second Cavalry, commanded by myself, were to get in readiness and march to the relief of this garrison. As the snow was so deep and the thermometer indicated, as previously stated, twenty-five below zero, we were held a few days in the garrison for preparations and moderation of the weather. However, the infantry under Major Van Voast was soon in readiness and marched for their destination. As rumors were currently afloat in the garrison that it might be attacked on account of its depletion, I was held with my command forty-eight hours longer after the infantry left, so as to test the temper of the Indians camping in small parties near the fort; they were evidently spies upon us to watch our operations and the movement of the troops. As this information was developed afterwards the news was known through interpreters, Charlie Garue and Jules Coffee, the second day after the massacre. But nothing authentic until the dispatch was handed the commanding officer by one Portuguese Phillips, who was employed by Colonel Carrington in Fort Phil Kearney and was paid $1,000 for carrying and delivering this dispatch at Fort Laramie. Continue Reading »
David.Gettman October 21st, 2008
The remainder of Company C was brought back to Fort Laramie in February, 1867, and recruited and reorganized under Lieutenant Thomas J. Gregg. L Company returned to Fort Laramie in March, but D Company remained at Fort Phil Kearney until June, 1868, when the post was abandoned. During the year 1867, the regiment was busy on the various duties of a frontier garrison in that perilous era. Military telegraph lines were repaired by the troops, mostly as a result of destruction by Indians. They were also busy escorting engineers and trains on the road to Fort C. F. Smith. In January and March, Troop M made two noteworthy scouts for Indians toward Lauren’s Fork and Moore’s Ranch. Although the weather was so severe it seemed many men and horses would be lost, because of the fine spirit shown by everyone, the command made the marches without losing a soldier.
On May 23, Troop E was called upon to come to the rescue of a wagon train in the vicinity of Bridger’s Ferry. The Indians were trying to surprise the train by sneaking through a gulch that ran into the river just below where the train was corralled. They were so intent upon their scheme that they did not notice the approach of the troop. As they started to charge the train, the troop galloped right among them, breaking up the attack and killing several. Two men of the troop were killed in this action.
