This is about the Fetterman Fight of 1866. The battle occured along the Bozeman Trail near Fort Phil Kearney. 80 men went out to chase the forces of Red Cloud, none returned.
Thanks for this. I visited both Fort Phil Kearney and the Fetterman battle site. Very easy to get to from the interstate. The Fetterman site has a nice monument and trails with plaques explaining the battle. Very interesting and well worth checking out.
This the first time I have seen a historical view of the Fetterman battle field. Thank you, and to Fen who studied and presented the talk and to Joe. May we all live in the peace God intended. Amen!
I wonder if either of these 2 men knew my grandfather, Mark Badgett. He died when I was 2 so I never got to know him but from what I'm told he was considered to be a subject matter expert on the Bozeman Trail and Fort Phil Kearny. He wrote a book called Along the Bozeman Trail and was featured in National Geographics "Trails West." How I wish I had the chance to pick his brain... These stories are so fascinating to me. Thank you very much for this great video.
I drove there last week with my dad and I was surprised by just how long this battle actually was. The way I’ve read it before had me under the impression that it was basically on one hill down the slope, ala Custer’s Hill style. It was snowy there, so I was kinda happy to see it in conditions close if not exactly like it had been.
When I did presentations and someone would cause a disruption, distraction and rude interruptions; I would asc them to leave and get a glass of water or find a way to deal with the problem!
You seem to understand "Dialog" poorly. I think you mean "Monologue". As if you know everything perfectly. The "problem" of opposing views is what Democracy is based on, Ace.
Wonderful retelling of what happenned from Sterling and Joe. Both were incredibly knowledgeable, and recounted the sequence of events very well. Sterlibg was right to say this wasnt a massacre (as some refer to it) but a fight the Army lost. The Indians were very smart in how they goaded and lured the soldiers on. Thanks very much, I learned a lot
I would like to know how red cloud started a fire from what I see in the video,I didn't see any material of making a fire,the wind had to be blowing a little
This is an AWESOME LEARNING EXPERIENCE, to actually be on the BATTLEFIELD where it occurred. And the GUIDES are cool 😎. The FACT that the guide informed the tourist that the Native Warriors were "Guerrila Fighters" & did not fight to take heavy casualties CONTRARY to what has been depicted in so many B/S HOLLYWOOD movies.
I’m 64 and I read about this as a kid in school. The books will tell you that from the start fetterman was very insubordinate. At any other place he’d probably have been relieved before he got his men wiped out
Red Cloud forced the US to have to do what Japan couldn't . . . To sue for peace under circumstances of defeat. That probably would've been temporary in either case.
It was temporary. That's why the U.S. has States, instead of "Homelands". People don't matter. Gold, Coal, Natural Gas, Lumber, corn, wheat, interest rates matter. One day, you will be the Indian, and then you'll go WTF?
As an American soldier and a team leader who served in combat I can understand how it happens. You get hit with IEDs or hit and run attacks you make mistakes trying to force a decisive battle and over confidence in your technological advantages. I almost had the same fate in the biggest cemetery on earth in najaf iraq
I imagine the warriors picked up their arrows after the fight although many were imbedded in the soldiers. I wonder though how many arrow heads you could find there today?
If I understood,a company of the 2nd Cavalry was the ones killed, I am interested because I served with G Troop 2nd Cavalry in Germany, never heard about this until now.
@@zipperpillow The Indians knew that both Custer and Fetterrman were impulsive and full of themselves. Fetterman greatly underestimated his enemy and so did Custer, they believed they were superior to all.
I'm glad you guys keep it even and honest, I'm an Alaskan Native and I been hearing way more disrespect lately about current events, enough that I am glad to see some respect for the past, enough that I am glad to comment 🙏 on a positive note, enough that you kind of made my day 🤘
20,000 arrows flying while uncounted rounds of hot lead poured upon the victorious; the contrast is startling. I did not notice the coughing until the very end.
In September 1877, four months after surrendering to U.S. troops under General George Crook, Crazy Horse was fatally wounded by a bayonet-wielding military guard
The "Russians" (do you mean Muscovites? or Kievans?) in the 1240's had no such thing as an "Imperial Army". You're confused about timelines and terminology. All horse nomads used "feigned retreat" since Sintashta (3,000 B.C.) invented riding horses. The American Indians never developed "Heavy Cavalry" with lancers. The dead in this battle were killed by club wounds to the head, and arrows. That means Indians got off their horses and clubbed soldiers to death, not as cavalry, but as mounted infantry. The Indians left with rifles and metal knives. Don't believe Hollywood. The Indians were the underdogs in every single battle.
@@zipperpillow "Muscovites" I think. Alexander Nevsky. Anyway, even in WW2, Russia adopted this tactic to draw Nazi forces into ambushes!! With great success!! Many Nazi's were terrified of the Russians as they said
There is speculation that Grummond was the real problem. His opinion of Carrigton was well known and he also seems to have been something of a hot head. The Cavalry was more than a mile ahead of the rest of Fetterman's force so that it had in fact taken off away from the rest of the force in pursuit of the Indian Decoy's. Thus - the Speculation - is that Grummond had in fact ordered the Cavalry to advance - without Fetterman's approval. Fetterman then - went down into the Valley - in support of Grummond and the Cavalry. So - while Fetterman was in fact the Officer In Charge of the force - and guilty of failure to control Grummond - he may not have wanted to abandon him. There is also speculation about the number of Indian casualties. It is a fallacy of the Modern Revisionist Historian to try to debunk any notion of heroism on the part of Military Persons - and thus - make them look like complete failures. This would be one explanation for the currently popular notion of a low number of Indian Casualties. There were other notions that the Indians did in fact take more casualties than the Army. One thing about this is that the Indians were reluctant to do this again. _This_ being getting together a very large force and then luring the Army into a trap. They did continue to harass the Army though and eventually the Government decided that the Bozeman trail was more trouble than it was worth. It was after all - just a short cut - as longer ways to the same places were still available. .
BOTH Grumman AND Fetterman hated Carrington. Also, Fetterman specifically used his "Civil War chops" to get command of the patrol this day. I've read numerous accounts (from his wife, Carrington, and statements from other people at the fort) attesting to Fetterman's disregard for Lakota bravery & fighting ability. Grumman was apparently cocky & undisciplined, but Fetterman was responsible... He blew it! As for Indian losses? ONLY the Lakota, Arapaho & Northern Cheyenne knew for sure. They still say the Army severely overestimated their losses! For ~4 decades, I've heard the Indians' version of events regarding numerous historic conflicts with the Lakota, Apache, Cheyenne, Ute, etc. Yet, EVEN ~150 years later, many of Custer's disciples completely omit any Indian testimony from their "research" about the battle! Look how long it took to "rename" the so-called Custer battlefield. And how long was it before they fully integrated descendants of the Native Peoples into the guide positions? Do revisionists interfere with genuine history? Sure! Did you know... The Bozeman Trail was centuries old as a highway across the Plains. It was developed & traveled by American Indians. Bozeman committed a serious copyright violation. 🤥🤥 But hey, his side was better armed. Right?
Custer should have learned from this debacle. He didn’t and it cost Major Elliot and 19 troopers their lives at the Washita. Even a bigger blunder by Custer at the Little Big Horn. Bottom line is you are not going to defeat or survive against a much superior force on open ground without an effective strong point. Examples would be the Wagon Box Fight in 1867 in Wyoming or the British Army defense of Rorke’s Drift in South Africa in 1879. Hubris will get you killed!
@@DUCKSAREEVILLLLLLLL I think it was the two white (Mountain Man) scouts who had the Spencer Rifles. (Beside theyre remains were two huge piles of spent shells!) Anyway, if Fetterman had been a Disciplined Officer, he would have followed Orders & avoided falling into the trap Crazy Horse had set!! 80 men, two scouts & one Captain. All gone because of one Captains arrogance!!...Fetterman is no better than Lt. Col. Ichiki Kyono of the Tenaru River fight on Gaudalcanal in 1942. Kyono also sent his entire command into hell itself! Don't blame the U.S. Marines!! Ask any surviving Marine from the Tenaru River Battle. He'll say what I said! He didn't want to kill those kids!! Kyono kept sending them again & again until everyone was dead. Tragic.
I heard this story before and laughed and still love it .Fetterman was a arrogant bastard that went looking for a fight , found it and got his ass handed to him .
"Trying" to exterminate a "people" is evidently harder than it seems, by the geniuses who plan such things. Just ask the Jews. Or the Pagans. Don't ask the Neanderthals. Also, people extinct themselves. Where are the Whigs? or the Prussians? Or the Huns?@@M35kriegsmarine
Fetterman Fight probably contributed to Washita 1868, leading to Little Big Horn, then finally to Wound Knee- seldom could defeat them in fair fight that did not slaughter non combatants- they were more skilled AND honorable.
@@Idahoguy10157 Warfare has international rules of engagement- 1) Gulf of Tonkin incident (false radar image) 2)No Weapons of Mass Destruction, are examples of the U.S. bypassing those rules- leading to catastrophe, like Vietnam, Iraq, and here with Fetterman, later Little Big Horn.
Of all his successes... this fight was last on his mind. If you read in to Custer, and why he did what he did at LBH, it is easy to formulate that he was trying to repeat the Battle of Washita where he took a troop of cavalry around the flank to the rear in order to capture the elderly, women, and children to force the warriors to stop fighting. A peaceful means to the end of the battle. No, it wasn't to attack the non-combatants, it was to force the combatants to stop fighting. But... Custer hadn't counted on the massive volumes of Indians, Reno getting pushed back, and then him being cut off, surrounded, and fighting against 10 to 1 odds (at a minimum). So... he knew of the Fetterman fight, but there were plenty of other successes involving cavalry flanking maneuvers he was relying on. His luck ran out.
The notion that Fetterman was decoyed into an ambush is total nonsense , This type of tactic had been used over and over again and its more likely that Fetterman actively sort the fight for two reasons the first was his friend and well liked quartermaster Capt Fredrick Brown who wanted to see action with the Indians before he was posted to a new fort in a matter of days and the second was Carrington's superior St Cooke had preached more aggressive action to be taken against the Indians thus contradicting Carrington's more cautious approach. This is a clear case of under-estimating the Indian numbers , In prior attacks that had been at most 100-200 Indians which the force Fetterman took should had been ample to deal with the fact their was between 500-750 Indians was unforeseen as with Custer at the LBH.
Well armed, well fed, well equipped, well dressed, good boots, good saddles, good horses, good beds, good housing, free medical, paid leave, fancy medals, state-of-the-art weapons brought everything they had on the U.S. side all against Natives with stone-age technology, teen-agers, and 20-somethings on bareback semi-wild horses who didn't want to live in a zoo. What is your point? The battle was hugely one-sided, and the fat-boys lost.
@@zipperpillow, “fancy medals”? “Good housing”? “Medical”? “Good meals”? “Fat bots”? You must be joking. If you really believe that; then the Indians would have been wise to join them.
Dude, the land belonged to the Indians. The Americans were the aggressors. Why didn't King George just kill everyone in Boston? Then New York? Then Philadelphia?
@Silkk Solid the same reason all of humanity thought and did, like the Mongols and Europe, the Persians and all of the Mediterranean world, and yes the native American world such as the Sioux to the crow, and Shoshone, the Comanche to the apache. Now that we have that ridiculous question out of the way, we can now focus on strategy.
@@williewonka6694, I don’t even know who Senator Fetterman is, so it’s obviously more painful to you than it is to me. For you to come crying here about him (whoever he is), shows how butthurt he, or she; has made you.
Didn't happen in Montana. Much better armed Federal soldiers were wiped out by pissed off young men with bows and arrows. Goliath got killed by a stone thrown by a shepard boy. Federal over-reach V.1. Hats off to Crazy Horse! A brave American. Fetterman....not so much.
