The Fetterman Fight
Ten Eyck advanced carefully and discovered the bodies of Fetterman and his men in the valley. The dead soldiers had been stripped naked and their bodies mutilated. Many years later, a Cheyenne warrior named White Elk, who took part in the fight, was brought back to the battlefield to describe the events. He recalled that 10 warriors were chosen to act as decoys and lead Fetterman into an ambush, two Cheyenne, two Arapaho and two from each of the three Sioux tribes, Oglala, Brule and Miniconjou. One of the Sioux decoys was Crazy Horse who would play a big part in later battles against the white man. White Elk also said that there were more Indians present than at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which would indicate that there were many more than a thousand Indians facing Fetterman.
With White Elk’s aid, the story was pieced together. Fetterman marched north after leaving the fort and was harassed by groups of Indians firing at the column and taunting them. Fetterman did not turn east towards the wood train, but continued north, climbing Lodge Trail Ridge, perhaps to circle east to the wagon train, or perhaps being drawn towards the ridge by the Indian decoys. What is known is that, in violation of his orders, he made a fateful decision to follow the decoys north rather than to turn east and rescue the wagons. He advanced along a narrow ridge leading to Peno Creek, his cavalry under Grummond were in the lead, but were moving at the pace of the infantry, but as the decoys increased their pace, the cavalry moved forward to catch them up and left the infantry behind.
About a mile after Fetterman had crossed the ridge, the decoys gave a signal and the Indians, hidden on either side of the trail charged down on them. The soldiers took cover among some large rocks and began firing, but the sheer numbers of Indians soon overwhelmed them and after some desperate hand to hand fighting, Fetterman and 49 soldiers were killed, their bodies facing out in a small circle, huddled together for defence.
Grummond meanwhile, was about a mile ahead and was still following the decoys when he too was attacked. He retreated south trying to get back to Fetterman, but the two civilians with him, Wheatly and Fisher, plus a few cavalrymen, “Knowing it was fatal to retreat from Indians”, took cover in some large rocks where they were killed.
Grummond and the cavalry retreated in good order, leading their horses and firing at the advancing Indians and, despite the snow and ice underfoot, managed to gain the high ground on the ridge about 400 yards from Fetterman. The Indians rushed in on the cavalrymen and killed them all. It had taken the Indians around 20 minutes to kill the infantry and another 20 for the cavalry.
Despite popular belief, the Indians had few guns and fought mostly with bows, spears and clubs. Only six of the dead soldiers had been killed by bullets. At the last, Captains Fetterman and Brown aimed their pistols at each others head and simultaneously pulled the triggers. However, an Indian account credits a Sioux warrior, American Horse with killing Fetterman by slashing his throat and the official army report gives the cause of death as a throat wound. It is possible that Brown’s shot had not instantly killed Fetterman before American Horse cut his throat.
The Indians had scalped, stripped and mutilated the bodies. Carrington’s report after the battle records that he discovered, “Eyes torn out and laid on rocks, noses and ears cut off, teeth chopped out, brains taken out and placed on rocks, hands and feet cut off, private parts severed”. The Indians had been particularly brutal in their treatment of the civilians Wheatly and Fisher who had been carrying brand new sixteen shot repeating Henry rifles which may have caused a disproportionate number of Indian casualties. The two had had their faces smashed to a bloody pulp and had been pierced by a hundred arrows. Only the body of bugler Adolf Metzger was untouched. His body had been covered by a buffalo robe, a sign of Indian respect for his courage.
In 1868, Fort Phil Kearny was abandoned and in November that year, Red Cloud signed a peace treaty with the United States. It was reported at the time that, “For the first time in its history, the United States Government has negotiated a peace which conceded everything demanded by the enemy and which extracted nothing in return”.
The Indian nation had regained sovereignty over the Powder River hunting grounds, but it was only to last for seven years before the soldiers were back.
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