The Battle of Washita River was one of General George A. Custer's first major engagements against the Plains Indians. Follow along as we tour the battlefield.
the loss of Black Kettle is truely grievous him and wife shot in the back but in the hysteria nobody knew who anyone was. same with bigfoot frozen at wounded knee. its terrible that these things happened but there is no going back to every battle
The thing about Custer is that people only remember his fatal mistake, but he took part in many successful military engagements. I remember reading he had horses shot out from under him like 11 different times.
the pattern repeats in that it was always the few gangmembers that brought death and destruction to the tribe. I grew up spokane. just type in and you will find the biggest indian war was the northwest not where you think it was. George Wright arrived and said " these few warriors must arrive immediately and it was the spokane indians that turned them in and they were HUNG ON THE SPOT thats why its called hangman creek because the actual Spokane indians hated the few gang members that had brought death and destruction on them. Chief Spokane Gary I grew up yards away and his marker is still there to this day from his schoolhouse. as got older he went out in style in a teepee right up next to greenwood cemetery
November 27, 2018 will be the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of the Washita. We walk the Washita battlefield trail regularly. It is approximately 1.4 miles long. There is a guide, describing each stop, to carry with you available at the trail head if you can't access or prefer not use the cell phone guide. Because artifacts were gathered and not documented it's almost impossible to be certain where the actual events took place, also the Washita River has changed channels during floods over the years so that also makes it difficult to know the exact location of events. But all in all it is a good representation of the battle - loss of life included US Soldiers and Indians. We recommend the books "The Battle of the Washita" by Stan Hoig or "Washita Memories" by Richard G. Hardorff for further information about the battle. As a side note....the monument/overlook/pavilion area will soon be renovated. If anyone is interested in seeing it with the pavilion and markers that were placed there in 1933 and 1962 I suggest making a visit soon.
Nice, while the monuments and pavilion are extremely nice and informative, I am always glad to see updates to our parks and areas. I'll definitely check out those books.
@@patrickroy3380... such a bold statement, I wish you had included a few dislikes, as my desire to gain facts would be welcomed in reading material- was it a lack of pictures or a prejudice to the soldiers/ warriors.
Wait, you said nobody has any idea why Custer attacked? It's because he found the tail of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers who were encamped with all of the other natives upriver. They passed through Black Kettle's camp before hitting home. There are numerous sources behind that. It was not unwarranted, though it was a tragic misunderstanding. The ones Custer was after had performed raids on settlers on the Saline River up north and needed to account for their actions, it just happened that Custer massacred the wrong people
One of the big problems with Indian raiding parties and treaty breaking was chiefs generally refused to take any responsibility under the apology of we can't control what our young men do without our knowledge; this along with the split-ups of the raiding parties that made them difficult to chase or track. Raiding and murdering was a pretty lucrative endeavor and the tribes generally encouraged and profited off of all the booties and ransoms.
here are some facts for people your not told. Black Kettle was great and had just returned from the fort and wanted to come in complaining " i cannot control the warriors that go out and kill and return to the camp". the FACTS ARE custer went there because of the raiding and killing of pioneers that most of the indians liked. the pattern is the same that most of the indians DID NOT LIKE the warrior gang members going out killing and stealing. the FACT IS that these DOG SOLDIERS brought death and destruction to the tribe the other indians did not approve of. THE FACT IS Custer just came from killings of settlers in which the indian gang members came up with woman baking bread and AND CHOPPED HER UP AND THREW THE BABY INTO THE OVEN. They then followed the tracks AND IT WAS NOT 5 OR SO. The reason they say that is to get you to believe "maybe a few crazy indians". as they followed the tracks in the snow a settler WAS BEING ROASTED to feed to the dogs. Its too bad Black Kettle and wife got shot but they did not know who was who. Washita WAS NO SAND CREEK. So we have these words of wisdom about massacres such as in dead of winter--but NOTHING is said about the indians who also went out in dead of winter throwing a baby into oven while pioneer woman was baking bread. so Custers soldiers went in and they were not very happy.
Thanks for your feedback. Your viewpoint is rather dissimilar to the ones depicted in "Little Big Man" or "Dances with Wolves" where only the Pawnee did the evil deeds. I had the honor of serving with several Amer Indians from various tribes, while in the Marines, truly fine fellows - great Americans
Thousands of Comanches, Arapahos, other Cheyennes, Kiowas and Lakotas were camped a little further down the Washita-river. Custer narrowly escaped death that day!
@@austin3626 After the Sand Creek massacre of 1864 in south-eastern Colorado, the plains indians put aside all enmity between themselves and united to fend off together the white man`s encroachment on their lands. And yes there were also Lakota guests in these camps further down the river. Had Custer not taken Cheyenne hostages on this fateful day in 1868, he would`ve been wiped out that day and the Battle of the Little Big Horn would not have taken place.
Yes and no , Benteen was a brave soldier but he was also vindictive and I find it funny what he accused Custer of at Washita with Elliot he did at LBH to 210 men . Ps Custer sent out two search parties for Major Elliot but he was probably already dead as his 18 men shot and killed one of the squads that killed 2 year old Willy Blinns 19 year old Mother . Garryowen
@@maxdavid84 Major Elliott went for glory " as they said "heres to a star or a coffin" and with more Savages coming and darkness upon then Custer did his greatest military move EVER by using the squaws as a human shield and then fake attacking the others tribes on the river. In darkness he than turned around and returned to fort supply. Garryowen
Diebulfrog79 - Read a book bullfrog. Your “bad tactical mistakes” comment is an incorrect and unfair summary of General George Armstrong Custer’s military career. I know that the internet allows the ignorant to post comments but I’ve spent to many years studying American military history to not post this admonishment.
@@johnnalley8809 he was smart, it was behavior demerits that put him at the bottom of his west point class, had nothing to do with his intellect. By the way, he was a school teacher before the war.
A very amateurish awkward presentation. He seems uncertain about many parts of this location and the facts were sketchy, plus his video repeats it's self earlier on. I did like his outfit tho.
