Red Cloud's War - War

War

Carrington and his caravan reached Fort Reno on June 28, and left two companies (about 100 men) there to relieve the two companies of the 5th U.S. Volunteers (nicknamed the "Galvanized Yankees") who had garrisoned the fort over the winter. Proceeding north, on July 14, Carrington founded Fort Phil Kearny on Piney Creek, near present-day Buffalo, Wyoming. From there two companies of the 18th advanced 91 miles to the northwest, where on August 13, they established a third post, Fort C. F. Smith on the Bighorn River. Given the typically early and severe winters of the high plains, the middle of August was very late in the year to begin constructing forts, but Carrington's march had been slowed by the inclusion of a large mechanical "grass-cutting machine." With replacements and reinforcements, Carrington's total force never exceeded much more than 700 of whom 400 were located at Fort Kearny.

Carrington was an engineer and political appointee, not experienced in combat. He spent manpower resources building picture-perfect, mathematically-precise fortifications. This was due in part to his arrival in the region in mid-July, as he tried to prepare for winter. Given the severity of the Wyoming winters, this strategy was not unreasonable, but many of his junior officers, anxious for battle, were infuriated. Most were Civil War veterans, but they were unfamiliar with Indian fighting and believed the warriors could be easily defeated.

On July 16, a group of Cheyenne, including Dull Knife and Two Moons, visited Carrington at Fort Reno, proclaimed their desire for peace, but said that Red Cloud was nearby with 500 warriors. Two white civilians were killed that day and the campaign against the forts along the Trail began the next day. Red Cloud's warriors infiltrated the picket lines near the fort and stampeded 175 horses and mules. About 200 soldiers pursued the Indians in a running 15 mile fight, attempting unsuccessfully to recover the animals and suffering two men killed and three wounded. Returning to the fort they found the bodies of six civilian traders killed by the Indians.

On July 20, Red Cloud's warriors attacked a wagon train of 37 soldiers and civilians, killing two, at Crazy Woman Fork of the Powder River. Other civilian wagon trains were also attacked and nearly all civilian traffic on the Bozeman Trail ceased. Carrington could only be re-supplied with food and ammunition by heavily guarded wagon trains. In the weeks and months that followed, the Indians repeatedly attacked the wagon trains that sallied out of Fort Kearny to cut construction timber in a forest six miles away. For defense, the wood trains were large, consisting of two parallel lines of 24 to 40 wagons guarded by mounted soldiers on either flank. In the event of an attack, the wagons were quickly drawn into an corral for defense. Fifteen Indian attacks near Fort Kearny between July 16 and September 27 resulted in the deaths of 6 soldiers and 28 civilians and the loss of several hundred horses, mules, and cattle. Carrington's hay cutting machine was also destroyed.