Fettetterman Massacre Research Paper

The Fetterman Massacre The Fetterman Massacre, also known as the Fetterman Fight, the Battle of the Hundred Slain, and the Battle of the Hundred in the Hand, was a battle on December 21, 1866 between Indians from the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and soldiers of the United States Army during Red Cloud’s War. This battle was at the time the worst military disaster to have ever been suffered by the by the U.S. on the Great Plains and is known as a massacre because all 81 men, under the control of Captain William J. Fetterman, were slain by the Indians. Only the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, commonly referred to as Custer’s Last Stand, stands as a worse defeat for the U.S. Army and a greater victory for the Plains Indians.
Grummond’s wife wrote that the orders were clearly heard by everyone present. Despite the many warnings given by Carrington, Fetterman did not take the trail northwest toward the pinery where the wagon train was, but instead took the Lodge Ridge Trail northward. Shortly after leaving, Carrington received word that the wagon train was no longer under attack. A group of about fifty Indians appeared near Fort Kearny, but Carrington quickly dispersed them with a few cannon shots. Those Indians, now joined by more, harassed Fetterman as he headed down Lodge Trail Ridge and went out of sight of the
The letter, addressed to General Cooke, detailed the Fetterman Massacre and requested immediate reinforcements as well as more rifles, specifically the repeating Spencer carbine. Phillips was sent out that evening with another messenger, Philip Bailey, on the Fort’s best remaining horses. Portugee rode the 236 miles to Fort Laramie in four days. On December 22, a night after the two messengers had left, a blizzard began and Portugee rode through a foot of snow and below zero temperatures. Luckily, he reported that he had not seen a single Indian the entire ride. On the evening of December 25 during a Christmas ball, Portugee stumbled into a hall at Fort Laramie, exhausted from his ride, to deliver his message to