Pueblo
Pueblo, was a trading post established in what is now southern Colorado, in the late 1830’s. A forerunner and later competitor of Bent’s Fort, Pueblo, or El Pueblo as it was known, was located at the confluence of Fountain Creek (Fontaine-qui-bouit) and the Arkansas River at the site of what is now Pueblo, Colorado. El Pueblo comprised a crude adobe fort, founded by a group of mountain men, rumoured to include the famous Jim Beckwourth. It was rightly described as one of the strangest trading establishments in the West. It attracted a mixture of American trappers, French coureurs de bois, Canadian Iroquois, Mexican trappers and traders, African-Americans and immigrants from various European countries. Francis Parkman wrote of his visit to Pueblo and Bent’s Fort in 1846:
“We approached the gate of the Pueblo. It was a wretched species of fort of most primitive construction, being nothing more than a large square inclosure, surrounded by a wall of mud, miserably cracked and dilapidated. The slender pickets that surmounted it were half broken down, and the gate dangled on its wooden hinges so loosely, that to open or shut it seemed likely to fling it down altogether. Two or three squalid Mexicans, with their broad hats, and their vile faces overgrown with hair, were lounging about the bank of the river in front of it. They disappeared as they saw us approach; and as we rode up to the gate a light active little figure came out to meet us. It was our old friend Richard. He had come from Fort Laramie on a trading expedition to Taos; but finding, when he reached the Pueblo, that the war would prevent his going farther, he was quietly waiting till the conquest of the country should allow him to proceed. He seemed to consider himself bound to do the honors of the place. Shaking us warmly by the hands, he led the way into the area.
Here we saw his large Santa Fe wagons standing together. A few squaws and Spanish women, and a few Mexicans, as mean and miserable as the place itself, were lazily sauntering about. Richard conducted us to the state apartment of the Pueblo, a small mud room, very neatly finished, considering the material, and garnished with a crucifix, a looking-glass, a picture of the Virgin, and a rusty horse pistol. There were no chairs, but instead of them a number of chests and boxes ranged about the room. There was another room beyond, less sumptuously decorated, and here three or four Spanish girls, one of them very pretty, were baking cakes at a mud fireplace in the corner. They brought out a poncho, which they spread upon the floor by way of table-cloth. A supper, which seemed to us luxurious, was soon laid out upon it, and folded buffalo robes were placed around it to receive the guests. Two or three Americans, besides ourselves, were present. We sat down Turkish fashion, and began to inquire the news. Richard told us that, about three weeks before, General Kearny's army had left Bent's Fort to march against Santa Fe; that when last heard from they were approaching the mountainous defiles that led to the city. One of the Americans produced a dingy newspaper, containing an account of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. While we were discussing these matters, the doorway was darkened by a tall, shambling fellow, who stood with his hands in his pockets taking a leisurely survey of the premises before he entered. He wore brown homespun pantaloons, much too short for his legs, and a pistol and bowie knife stuck in his belt. His head and one eye were enveloped in a huge bandage of white linen. Having completed his observations, he came slouching in and sat down on a chest. Eight or ten more of the same stamp followed, and very coolly arranging themselves about the room, began to stare at the company. Shaw and I looked at each other. We were forcibly reminded of the Oregon emigrants, though these unwelcome visitors had a certain glitter of the eye, and a compression of the lips, which distinguished them from our old acquaintances of the prairie. They began to catechise us at once, inquiring whence we had come, what we meant to do next, and what were our future prospects in life.
The man with the bandaged head had met with an untoward accident a few days before. He was going down to the river to bring water, and was pushing through the young willows which covered the low ground, when he came unawares upon a grizzly bear, which, having just eaten a buffalo bull, had lain down to sleep off the meal. The bear rose on his hind legs, and gave the intruder such a blow with his paw that he laid his forehead entirely bare, clawed off the front of his scalp, and narrowly missed one of his eyes. Fortunately he was not in a very pugnacious mood, being surfeited with his late meal. The man's companions, who were close behind, raised a shout and the bear walked away, crushing down the willows in his leisurely retreat.
These men belonged to a party of Mormons, who, out of a well-grounded fear of the other emigrants, had postponed leaving the settlements until all the rest were gone. On account of this delay they did not reach Fort Laramie until it was too late to continue their journey to California. Hearing that there was good land at the head of the Arkansas, they crossed over under the guidance of Richard, and were now preparing to spend the winter at a spot about half a mile from the Pueblo.
When we took leave of Richard, it was near sunset. Passing out of the gate, we could look down the little valley of the Arkansas; a beautiful scene, and doubly so to our eyes, so long accustomed to deserts and mountains. Tall woods lined the river, with green meadows on either hand; and high bluffs, quietly basking in the sunlight, flanked the narrow valley. A Mexican on horseback was driving a herd of cattle toward the gate, and our little white tent, which the men had pitched under a large tree in the meadow, made a very pleasing feature in the scene. When we reached it, we found that Richard had sent a Mexican to bring us an abundant supply of green corn and vegetables, and invite us to help ourselves to whatever we wished from the fields around the Pueblo.
The inhabitants were in daily apprehensions of an inroad from more formidable consumers than ourselves. Every year at the time when the corn begins to ripen, the Arapahoes, to the number of several thousands, come and encamp around the Pueblo. The handful of white men, who are entirely at the mercy of this swarm of barbarians, choose to make a merit of necessity; they come forward very cordially, shake them by the hand, and intimate that the harvest is entirely at their disposal. The Arapahoes take them at their word, help themselves most liberally, and usually turn their horses into the cornfields afterward. They have the foresight, however, to leave enough of the crops untouched to serve as an inducement for planting the fields again for their benefit in the next spring.” (Parkman, "The Oregon Trail")
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Plainsmen Who Dealt With The Cheyennes
In 1923 the Oklahoma Historical Society published an article in the Chronicles of Oklahoma titled "REMINISCENCES OF THE WASHITA CAMPAIGN AND OF THE DARLINGTON INDIAN AGENCY." The author was John Murphy, who dictated these reminiscences in 1918. He concluded the article with the following description of men he had been acquainted with on the frontier:
"Most of the men with whom I was associated while in the Indian Service have long since crossed the Great Divide. Ed Guerrier, the French-Cheyenne half-breed, for whom the town of Geary, in Blaine County, was named, still lives at Porcupine, South Dakota. His wife was a daughter of Colonel William Bent, of Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas. Her brother, Robert, died just at the time of the opening of Oklahoma to settlement, in 1889. Her brother, George Bent, died at Colony, in May, 1918. Dick Curtis, whose wife was a Sioux woman, but who was an adopted member of the Cheyenne tribe, died about 1872. Phil McCusker, who was a noted scout, lost his life during the great blizzard, in Jauary 1886. But little is known of his antecedents and early life, though he was said to have been a soldier in the Regular Army, before the Civil War, and was reputed to have been an officer in the Confederate Army. Jimmie Morrison was another old timer who died long since. He had been a clerk and interpreter for Agent Wynkoop, at Fort Larned. His wife was a daughter of Big Mouth, a leading chief of the Arapahoes. Jimmie was a prominent cattleman during the early ’eighties. David Tramp, a Creole-French trapper, one of the last survivers of the Rocky Mountain fur-trade era, died at Colony, about twenty-five years ago. John Seger still lives at Colony and Agent Miles is yet living in Texas. Practically all of the leading men of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of forty years ago are dead."
This is a pretty good list of names, but of course it does not include many other important plainsmen. These were men who were involved with the Cheyennes as interpreters, scouts, traders, or agency officials.
One name, David Tramp, is not familiar to me. Looks like some research is called for.
"Most of the men with whom I was associated while in the Indian Service have long since crossed the Great Divide. Ed Guerrier, the French-Cheyenne half-breed, for whom the town of Geary, in Blaine County, was named, still lives at Porcupine, South Dakota. His wife was a daughter of Colonel William Bent, of Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas. Her brother, Robert, died just at the time of the opening of Oklahoma to settlement, in 1889. Her brother, George Bent, died at Colony, in May, 1918. Dick Curtis, whose wife was a Sioux woman, but who was an adopted member of the Cheyenne tribe, died about 1872. Phil McCusker, who was a noted scout, lost his life during the great blizzard, in Jauary 1886. But little is known of his antecedents and early life, though he was said to have been a soldier in the Regular Army, before the Civil War, and was reputed to have been an officer in the Confederate Army. Jimmie Morrison was another old timer who died long since. He had been a clerk and interpreter for Agent Wynkoop, at Fort Larned. His wife was a daughter of Big Mouth, a leading chief of the Arapahoes. Jimmie was a prominent cattleman during the early ’eighties. David Tramp, a Creole-French trapper, one of the last survivers of the Rocky Mountain fur-trade era, died at Colony, about twenty-five years ago. John Seger still lives at Colony and Agent Miles is yet living in Texas. Practically all of the leading men of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of forty years ago are dead."
This is a pretty good list of names, but of course it does not include many other important plainsmen. These were men who were involved with the Cheyennes as interpreters, scouts, traders, or agency officials.
One name, David Tramp, is not familiar to me. Looks like some research is called for.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Scout William Comstock
Just a couple of newspaper articles that I have located relating to Comstock:
Winona Daily Republican, Winona, Minnesota, February 6, 1867
From the Plains
Frightful Massacre by Indians
Fifty-Nine Men Killed Out of a Party of Sixty-Three
A dispatch from Junction City, Kansas, Feb. 2, says:
A man came into Salina, about fifty miles west of here, yesterday, and reported a frightful massacre of white men by Cheyenne Indians, near the head of Smoky Hill River, a few days since, under the following circumstances:
Wallace’s train, with sixty-three men, were in camp. A party of fourteen Indians came begging. The teamsters refused to give them anything, whereupon the Indians fired upon them, but without affect. The teamsters returned the fire, and killed eight Indians. About 8 o’clock, that night the camp was surrounded by two hundred Indians, who massacred fifty-nine out of sixty-three men.
The man that brought the news had an arrow-hole through his shoulder, and another wound in the hip. He claims to be one of four men that escaped.
A party of Omahas and Kaws made a thieving raid on the Cheyennes, a few days since, on the Salina. Several head of Cheyenne stock were captured. One Kaw was killed.
Wm. Comstock, the famous interpreter, Government scout, and guide, says the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes[sic] of the Arkansas and Smoky Hill appear friendly, but part of the northern Indians are now moving southward, and have already committed many murders and other outrages. Comstock believes they mean war.
Liberty Weekly Tribune, September 4, 1868, pg. 2
A Colorado paper says that the death of Comstock is more than a passing event in the history of the far west. Every year the Indians take the life of someone whose life has been spent with and among them, and whose services to the whites of the plains cannot be estimated in money. Bill Comstock was one of the few worthy the name of “scout,” and his compeers may be summed up in half a dozen names. The Indians glory in the death of one of his stamp. They fear him and count his death a hostly gain to themselves.
Winona Daily Republican, Winona, Minnesota, February 6, 1867
From the Plains
Frightful Massacre by Indians
Fifty-Nine Men Killed Out of a Party of Sixty-Three
A dispatch from Junction City, Kansas, Feb. 2, says:
A man came into Salina, about fifty miles west of here, yesterday, and reported a frightful massacre of white men by Cheyenne Indians, near the head of Smoky Hill River, a few days since, under the following circumstances:
Wallace’s train, with sixty-three men, were in camp. A party of fourteen Indians came begging. The teamsters refused to give them anything, whereupon the Indians fired upon them, but without affect. The teamsters returned the fire, and killed eight Indians. About 8 o’clock, that night the camp was surrounded by two hundred Indians, who massacred fifty-nine out of sixty-three men.
The man that brought the news had an arrow-hole through his shoulder, and another wound in the hip. He claims to be one of four men that escaped.
A party of Omahas and Kaws made a thieving raid on the Cheyennes, a few days since, on the Salina. Several head of Cheyenne stock were captured. One Kaw was killed.
Wm. Comstock, the famous interpreter, Government scout, and guide, says the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes[sic] of the Arkansas and Smoky Hill appear friendly, but part of the northern Indians are now moving southward, and have already committed many murders and other outrages. Comstock believes they mean war.
Liberty Weekly Tribune, September 4, 1868, pg. 2
A Colorado paper says that the death of Comstock is more than a passing event in the history of the far west. Every year the Indians take the life of someone whose life has been spent with and among them, and whose services to the whites of the plains cannot be estimated in money. Bill Comstock was one of the few worthy the name of “scout,” and his compeers may be summed up in half a dozen names. The Indians glory in the death of one of his stamp. They fear him and count his death a hostly gain to themselves.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wired.com has published "June 25, 1876: Was Custer Outgunned at Little Bighorn?" at it's website. The article is very informative and well worth reading.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Medicine Bill Comstock article
Edmund Guerrier is pictured in this drawing (seated on horse at right) in an article appearing in Wild West magazine. The article is about the scout named William Averill “Medicine Bill” Comstock.
In August 1866 Comstock had become chief of scouts at Fort Wallace, Kansas.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
A Granddaughter of Black Kettle
ADA BENT BURNS was quite a unique person of the southern plains. Mentioned in a previous post (Caddo Springs and Concho Cemetery), Ada is buried in the Concho cemetery near El Reno, Oklahoma. According to the book “Halfbreed” by David F. Halaas and Andrew E. Masich, Ada was the child of George Bent and his Cheyenne wife, Magpie.
Magpie was a niece of Cheyenne chief Black Kettle but was raised in his lodge as if she were his own daughter. Magpie and George were married in 1866, and their daughter Ada was born the next year out on the Great Plains along the banks of Medicine Lodge creek.
It was during the 1867 Medicine Lodge peace council, in which Black Kettle was a participant. Magpie had grown to adulthood in the lodge of Black Kettle, and now the Cheyenne chief shared the joy of the birth of his granddaughter Ada.
Edmund Guerrier was present at the Medicine Lodge peace council, as were interpreters Philip McCusker and Margaret Fitzpatrick Adams.
Magpie was a niece of Cheyenne chief Black Kettle but was raised in his lodge as if she were his own daughter. Magpie and George were married in 1866, and their daughter Ada was born the next year out on the Great Plains along the banks of Medicine Lodge creek.
It was during the 1867 Medicine Lodge peace council, in which Black Kettle was a participant. Magpie had grown to adulthood in the lodge of Black Kettle, and now the Cheyenne chief shared the joy of the birth of his granddaughter Ada.
Edmund Guerrier was present at the Medicine Lodge peace council, as were interpreters Philip McCusker and Margaret Fitzpatrick Adams.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Washita Attack
We have just passed the 140th anniversary of the Washita massacre.
The attack at the Washita was an attack upon a predominantly peaceful village. It may have contained a few warriors who had been involved in the recent depredations, but the majority of the village was innocent.
Black Kettle (who was over seventy years of age when he was killed at the Washita) wanted peace. When talking about Cheyenne raids carried out earlier in 1868, he said "I have always done my best to keep my young men quiet, but some will not listen... But we all want peace... I cannot speak [for] nor control the Cheyennes north of the Arkansas".
His fellow Chief, Little Rock (also killed at the Washita) said that "another small party [of the warriors who had carried out the 1868 attacks - not the whole war party] returned to Black Kettle's village".
Little Rock went on to say "I do not wish to be at war with the whites, and there are many of my nation who feel as I do, and who are in no way guilty, and do not wish to be punished for the bad acts of those who are guilty".
Following on from Little Rock’s comments, it is clear that the majority involved in the depredations actually went unpunished. To that extent, the attack was not only a travesty, but it failed to target those whom Sheridan and Custer allegedly wanted to punish.
Good online resources relating to the Washita include:
http://home.epix.net/~landis/washita.html
‘Lodge Pole (Washita) Massacre (November 1868) The Families' Stories’.
And this one, which has some of the contemporary reports, including Custer's report to Sheridan:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wynkoop/webdocs/bwashita.htm
Good balanced accounts of the attack are contained in Stan Hoig’s ‘The Battle of the Washita’, Jerome Greene’s ‘Washita’, Donald Berthrong’s ‘The Southern Cheyennes’ and Richard Hardorff’s ‘Washita Memories’. Also worth tracking down is 'The Eyes of the Sleepers' by Peter Harrison (Published by the English Westerners Society www.english-westerners-society.org.uk)
With regard to casualties, about 12 or 14 warriors were killed at the Washita. The figures vary, but most non-military estimates support these figures. There is evidence that some casualties were counted more than once. Hence the much higher figure of 103 given by Custer.
Custer reported that some women and a few children were killed. Ben Clark (Custer's scout who was married to a Cheyenne woman – see the earlier posts) estimated a total of 75 women and children casualties. Other non-military estimates for women and children killed vary from about 20 to about 40. Most non-military sources agree that more women and children than warriors were killed. A good summary of these figures is contained in Hardorff's 'Washita Memories'.
Custer called the officers together after the attack and asked them for estimates of Cheyenne casualties. It is of course likely that more than one of the officers had seen the same casualties. Their estimates were however totalled to provide a figure of 103 warriors killed. This it is now generally accepted to be an exaggeration
Soldiers were killing women and children. Ben Clark reported this to Custer "and asked him if it was his wish that these people should be killed". It was only then that Custer told Clark to "give his compliments" to the officer in charge and "ask him to stop it".
Twenty-two soldiers were killed at the Washita. A total of eighteen in Elliott's detachment; Elliott, Sergeant Kennedy and sixteen troopers. They were killed chasing a group of mainly women and children who had fled towards the other camps. The warriors who killed Elliott and his men came from the other camps. They were not from Black Kettle's camp. Captain Hamilton was killed at Black Kettle's village, together with two troopers. A third trooper died of his injuries.
Two white captives were killed at the time of the attack upon Black Kettle’s village; Clara Blinn and her young son, Willie. The circumstances of their deaths are however shrouded in contradictions. There is no evidence that Clara and Willie Blinn were killed by the Cheyennes. There is evidence that both were killed by cavalry fire. Indeed, the army went to great pains to deny this at the time, but the military accounts of their deaths are contradictory.
The allegation usually made in relation to the deaths of the Blinns is in fact that they were killed by the Arapahos or Kiowas, not the Cheyennes; they were not in the Cheyenne village. Indeed, the military accounts of the discovery of their bodies and wounds are contradictory. There is a growing body of thought that they were in fact killed by the troops.
Jesse Leavenworth and Albert Boone, agents for the Comanches and Kiowas, reported that their enquiries indicated that the troops had killed the Blinns. Leavenworth and Boone’s involvement resulted from the fact that Custer and Sheridan blamed the Kiowas or the Arapahho, not the Cheyennes, for killing the Blinns.
There was a very good analysis of the the deaths of Clara and Willie Blinn by Joe Haines in the Summer 1999 volume of Chronicles of Oklahoma. After sifting through the evidence, Haines concluded that "[t]he most believable scenario has Clara and Willie Blinn in Black Kettle's village at the time of Custer's attack. As they attempted to flee from the village, they were pursued and killed by one of Custer's men".
It was alleged that four white scalps were found in the village. There is however no evidence to support this. It is based upon an unsubstantiated claim by Sheridan. It was not mentioned in Custer's reports on the attack. Even if the scalps were found, they do not prove that the whole village was hostile. Indeed, they would not even prove that the person in possession of the scalps was responsible for taking them.
As for the question: was it a battle or a massacre? It is interesting to note that Captain Benteen felt the need to use inverted commas when writing to a friend about "our 'battle of the Washita' ". In his ironic account of the aftermath of the battle, he talks of the dead bodies of a [Cheyenne] woman and a child. No mention is made of warrior casualties. Benteen clearly did not think that it was an heroic victory.
There was no excuse for the killing of women and children by the troops. Or the murder of Pilan, the Mexican trader who was in the village at the time of the attack. He surrendered to the troops and was then shot. In fact, he was treated very similarly to Jack Smith, John Simpson Smith's mixed race son, who was murdered at Sand Creek.
The attack at the Washita was an attack upon a predominantly peaceful village. It may have contained a few warriors who had been involved in the recent depredations, but the majority of the village was innocent.
Black Kettle (who was over seventy years of age when he was killed at the Washita) wanted peace. When talking about Cheyenne raids carried out earlier in 1868, he said "I have always done my best to keep my young men quiet, but some will not listen... But we all want peace... I cannot speak [for] nor control the Cheyennes north of the Arkansas".
His fellow Chief, Little Rock (also killed at the Washita) said that "another small party [of the warriors who had carried out the 1868 attacks - not the whole war party] returned to Black Kettle's village".
Little Rock went on to say "I do not wish to be at war with the whites, and there are many of my nation who feel as I do, and who are in no way guilty, and do not wish to be punished for the bad acts of those who are guilty".
Following on from Little Rock’s comments, it is clear that the majority involved in the depredations actually went unpunished. To that extent, the attack was not only a travesty, but it failed to target those whom Sheridan and Custer allegedly wanted to punish.
Good online resources relating to the Washita include:
http://home.epix.net/~landis/washita.html
‘Lodge Pole (Washita) Massacre (November 1868) The Families' Stories’.
And this one, which has some of the contemporary reports, including Custer's report to Sheridan:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wynkoop/webdocs/bwashita.htm
Good balanced accounts of the attack are contained in Stan Hoig’s ‘The Battle of the Washita’, Jerome Greene’s ‘Washita’, Donald Berthrong’s ‘The Southern Cheyennes’ and Richard Hardorff’s ‘Washita Memories’. Also worth tracking down is 'The Eyes of the Sleepers' by Peter Harrison (Published by the English Westerners Society www.english-westerners-society.org.uk)
With regard to casualties, about 12 or 14 warriors were killed at the Washita. The figures vary, but most non-military estimates support these figures. There is evidence that some casualties were counted more than once. Hence the much higher figure of 103 given by Custer.
Custer reported that some women and a few children were killed. Ben Clark (Custer's scout who was married to a Cheyenne woman – see the earlier posts) estimated a total of 75 women and children casualties. Other non-military estimates for women and children killed vary from about 20 to about 40. Most non-military sources agree that more women and children than warriors were killed. A good summary of these figures is contained in Hardorff's 'Washita Memories'.
Custer called the officers together after the attack and asked them for estimates of Cheyenne casualties. It is of course likely that more than one of the officers had seen the same casualties. Their estimates were however totalled to provide a figure of 103 warriors killed. This it is now generally accepted to be an exaggeration
Soldiers were killing women and children. Ben Clark reported this to Custer "and asked him if it was his wish that these people should be killed". It was only then that Custer told Clark to "give his compliments" to the officer in charge and "ask him to stop it".
Twenty-two soldiers were killed at the Washita. A total of eighteen in Elliott's detachment; Elliott, Sergeant Kennedy and sixteen troopers. They were killed chasing a group of mainly women and children who had fled towards the other camps. The warriors who killed Elliott and his men came from the other camps. They were not from Black Kettle's camp. Captain Hamilton was killed at Black Kettle's village, together with two troopers. A third trooper died of his injuries.
Two white captives were killed at the time of the attack upon Black Kettle’s village; Clara Blinn and her young son, Willie. The circumstances of their deaths are however shrouded in contradictions. There is no evidence that Clara and Willie Blinn were killed by the Cheyennes. There is evidence that both were killed by cavalry fire. Indeed, the army went to great pains to deny this at the time, but the military accounts of their deaths are contradictory.
The allegation usually made in relation to the deaths of the Blinns is in fact that they were killed by the Arapahos or Kiowas, not the Cheyennes; they were not in the Cheyenne village. Indeed, the military accounts of the discovery of their bodies and wounds are contradictory. There is a growing body of thought that they were in fact killed by the troops.
Jesse Leavenworth and Albert Boone, agents for the Comanches and Kiowas, reported that their enquiries indicated that the troops had killed the Blinns. Leavenworth and Boone’s involvement resulted from the fact that Custer and Sheridan blamed the Kiowas or the Arapahho, not the Cheyennes, for killing the Blinns.
There was a very good analysis of the the deaths of Clara and Willie Blinn by Joe Haines in the Summer 1999 volume of Chronicles of Oklahoma. After sifting through the evidence, Haines concluded that "[t]he most believable scenario has Clara and Willie Blinn in Black Kettle's village at the time of Custer's attack. As they attempted to flee from the village, they were pursued and killed by one of Custer's men".
It was alleged that four white scalps were found in the village. There is however no evidence to support this. It is based upon an unsubstantiated claim by Sheridan. It was not mentioned in Custer's reports on the attack. Even if the scalps were found, they do not prove that the whole village was hostile. Indeed, they would not even prove that the person in possession of the scalps was responsible for taking them.
As for the question: was it a battle or a massacre? It is interesting to note that Captain Benteen felt the need to use inverted commas when writing to a friend about "our 'battle of the Washita' ". In his ironic account of the aftermath of the battle, he talks of the dead bodies of a [Cheyenne] woman and a child. No mention is made of warrior casualties. Benteen clearly did not think that it was an heroic victory.
There was no excuse for the killing of women and children by the troops. Or the murder of Pilan, the Mexican trader who was in the village at the time of the attack. He surrendered to the troops and was then shot. In fact, he was treated very similarly to Jack Smith, John Simpson Smith's mixed race son, who was murdered at Sand Creek.
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