Sioux Wars: Fetterman Massacre Records, Histories, Newspapers

Sioux Wars: Fetterman Massacre Records, Histories, Newspapers

3,082 pages of records, histories, and newspaper articles covering the Fetterman Massacre of December 21, 1866.

The Fetterman Massacre is also referred to as the Fetterman Fight, Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands, or the Battle of a Hundred Slain. It was the worst military defeat suffered by the US Army in action with American Indians on the Great Plains until the Battle of the Little Bighorn 10 years later.

On December 21, 1866, a battle took place between a group of approximately 1,000 Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho and 81 members of the United States Army based out of Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. Captain William J. Fetterman had been sent from Fort Philip Kearney, Dakota Territory, to relieve a wood train that was under attack by a small band of Sioux Indians. While in pursuit of the escaping Indians, Capt. Fetterman's detachment was attacked by numerous Indians lying in ambush, and the entire command of 81 men were killed.

On February 18, 1867, President Andrew Johnson appointed a special commission of military officers and civilians to investigate the circumstances of the massacre and to determine the necessary steps to avoid a full-scale war with the Sioux Indians. The commission met on March 4 and began taking testimony. From Omaha the commission gradually moved westward and visited Fort McPherson and Fort Sedgwick before arriving at Fort Laramie in early May. There the commission decided to separate into three sections: one group visited the Upper Missouri area to determine the disposition of the Indians in that vicinity toward the white man; Judge Kinney went to Fort Philip Kearney to talk with the Crow Indians and to learn more details about the massacre; and the third group  remained at Fort Laramie to confer with Sioux bands in that region.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration

 
The collection includes:

Records Relating to the Investigation of the Fort Philip Kearney (or Fetterman) Massacre, 1866-1867

1,189 pages of records initially transmitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by a special commission appointed to investigate the causes of and the events relating to the Fort Philip [Phil.] Kearney (or Fetterman) Massacre of December 21, 1866. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, usually known as the Office of Indian Affairs until 1947, was established within the War Department in 1824. From 1789 to 1824 Indian affairs were administered in the Office of the Secretary of War. In 1849 the Office of Indian Affairs was transferred to the Department of the Interior.

Most of the records are copies of documents relating to activities of the commission appointed by President Andrew Johnson. Included are transcripts of testimony taken from officers and civilians who were present at Fort Philip Kearney at the time of the massacre, council proceedings with Indian leaders, and minutes; reports; letters received by the Commissioners; and other records transmitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs by the Commissioners.

Records include:

Minutes of Meetings of the Special Commission, Mar. 4-June 12, 1867

Testimony of Col. H.B. Carrington

Exhibits A-F

Testimony of Soldiers and Civilians

Proceedings of Commissioner J.F. Kinney, May 10-June 4, 1867

Report by Commissioner J.F. Kinney, Oct. 7, 1867

Proceedings of Commissioners Alfred Sully and Ely S. Parker, May 21-July 31, 1867

Report by Commissioners Alfred Sully and Ely S. Parker, Sept. 6, 1867

Miscellaneous Unbound Records, July 24, 1866-June 14, 1867


Report of Councils held with Red Cloud's Band of Ogallala Sioux May 27, 28, and 29th, 1872.

A 35-page, 1872, report by the Office of the Secretary of the Interior covering the councils held with Red Cloud's Band of Ogallala Sioux on May 27, 28, and 29th, 1872.

 
My Army Life and the Fort Phil Kearney Massacre with an Account of the Celebration of Wyoming Opened by Frances C. Carrington (1910)

Frances C. Carrington was the wife of Lt. George Washington Grummond. She traveled with him to Fort Phil Kearney in 1866. George was killed in the Fetterman Massacre. After the wife of Fort Phil Kearney's commander Col. Henry B. Carrington, died, Frances married the Commander. She tells her story of an army wife on the Great Plains in the 1860's and her views on events related to the Fetterman Massacre.

 
Red Cloud's War: An Insurgency Case Study for Modern Times (2011)

A 60-page, 2011, study by Lieutenant Colonel Michael G. Miller of the United States Air Force.

Abstract: This will be a case study of the little known Fetterman Massacre of 1866. It will look the situation at the time, possible causes, key players, the massacre itself and the aftermath. Similarities to the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan will be noted where applicable throughout this paper. A case will be proposed that the Army was ill prepared for the Indian Wars of the latter 19th Century, just as they were initially ill prepared for an extended Afghanistan Insurgency Campaign. Connections are drawn showing that there were lessons learned in 1866 that are still appropriate today. Familiarity with them, along with other more recent examples, will better prepare the Army to fight counterinsurgencies in the future.

 
Red Cloud’s War: A Failure to Effectively Coordinate the Instruments of National Power (2016)

A 107-page monograph written as a master's thesis by Grant A. Brown.

Abstract: The instruments of national power, as defined within the DIME model, are Diplomacy, Information, Military, and Economic. This thesis examines the United States’ use of its instruments of power with regards to Red Cloud’s War of 1866-1868. It addresses the period following the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie and analyzes the war years in particular. It aims to understand both how and why the US failed to effectively coordinate its national instruments against an alliance of Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho bands, leading to an operational defeat for the United States. 

 
Hoka Hey! The Unattainable End State and the Limits of Operational Art (2019)

A 47-page monograph written as a master's thesis by Major Daniel J. Tabacchi at the US Army's School of Advanced Military Studies.

Abstract: Following the Civil War, the US government renewed efforts to expand west. On the Northern Plains, its efforts met Native American resistance, most notably, from the Lakota Sioux. Two Native American leaders transcended tribal boundaries and emerged to coordinate Native American actions attempting to maintain their hegemony in the region. From 1866 to 1868 Red Cloud successfully orchestrated a campaign to close the Bozeman Trail. Red Cloud's War ended with the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, with the US government acquiescing to the Native American demands. Red Cloud's war demonstrates the only substantive operational and strategic victory of Native Americans against Westward Expansion. In 1876, Sitting Bull rose to direct efforts against a new influx of encroachment into the unceded Indian territory as outlined in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Sitting Bull delivered a string of tactical victories culminating in the Battle of the Little Bighorn but failed to link tactical success to operational and strategic objectives. By mid-1877, the US Army defeated Lakota resistance on the Northern Plains and the Great Sioux War ended. Analyzing Lakota actions during the wars illustrates the presence of effective and ineffective operational art in a culture unfamiliar with the concept and demonstrates the importance of deriving end states while accounting for strategic context.

 
Newspapers

122 full-sheet pages of newspapers dating from December 21, 1866, to August 16, 1941, containing content related to the Fetterman Massacre. The newspapers include: New York Tribune (New York, NY), Evening Star (Washington, DC), The Salt Lake Herald (Salt Lake City, UT), The National Tribune (Washington, DC), The New York Herald (New York, NY), The Oglala Light (Pine Ridge SD), Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, NE), The Tomahawk (White Earth, Becker County, MN), The River Press (Fort Benton, MT), Yankton Daily Press and Dakotaian (Yankton, Dakota Territory, SD), Carbon County News (Red Lodge, MT), The Wolf Point Herald (Wolf Point, MT), Montana Oil and Mining Journal (Great Falls, MT), The Enterprise (Sheridan, Johnson County, WY), The Kevin Review (Kevin, MT), The Cheyenne Daily Leader (Cheyenne, WY), Great Falls Tribune (Great Falls, MT), Rawlins Republican (Rawlins, WY), The Circle Banner (Circle, MT), The Democratic Leader (Cheyenne, WY), Helena Weekly Herald (Helena, MT), and The Enterprise (Sheridan, Johnson County, WY)


The collection also includes:

Absaraka, Home of the Crows by Margaret Irvin Carrington (1869), edited by Milo Milton Quaife (1950) - Written by Margaret Irvin Carrington the first wife of Fort Phil Kearney's commander Col. Henry B. Carrington. 

NPS National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet - Historic Resources of the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming (1989)

Atlas of the Sioux Wars (2006)

Military Sites in Wyoming 1700-1920, Historic Context (2012) 

The Northern Cheyenne Exodus: A Reappraisal of the Army's Response (2015)