3634 x 4543 px | 30,8 x 38,5 cm | 12,1 x 15,1 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
9 septembre 2014
Lieu:
nr Fort Phil Kearny, Buffalo, Montana, USA
Informations supplémentaires:
The Fetterman Fight, or Massacre , occurred during Red Cloud's War on December 21, 1866, between the Lakota, Cheyenne, & Arapaho Indians & soldiers of the U S army. All 81 men under the command of Captain William J. Fetterman were killed by the Indians. It was, at the time, the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. on the Great Plains. The battle led to an Indian victory and the withdrawal of the United States from the war. In June 1866, Colonel H Carrington advanced from Fort Laramie into the Powder River country, the hunting grounds of the above tribes. His object was to protect emigrants using the Bozeman Trail. Carrington had 700 soldiers and 300 civilians and established three forts along the trail, including his HQ at Fort Phil Kearny, nr Buffalo, Wyoming. About 400 of the soldiers and most of the civilians were stationed at Fort Kearny. In the next few months, while Fort Kearny was under construction, Carrington was plagued by 50 Indian attacks killing several dozen soldiers and civilians. About 10 a.m.on the morning of December 21, 1866, Carrington dispatched a wagon train to the "pinery" – about 5 miles northwest & the nearest source of construction timber & firewood for the Fort. The wagon train was attacked and Carrington ordered a relief party of 49 infantrymen & 27 mounted troopers under Capt Fetterman. Under no circumstances was the relief party to pursue Indians over Lodge Trail Ridge but Fetterman did just that. About noon Carrington and his men heard heavy firing to their north. About 75 men under Capt Ten Eyck were sent on foot to search for Fetterman. They advanced up Lodge Trail Ridge. Reaching the top, he and his men saw a very large force of Indians in the valley below. Indian warriors approached the soldiers and taunted them but withdrew slowly. Ten Eyck advanced carefully and the soldiers found the bodies of Fetterman and all of his men in the valley. The dead soldiers were stripped naked and mutilated.
