A Buffalo Soldier who won the Medal of Honor in 1889 has been buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Missing in America Project helped get Mays moved to Arlington from the cemetery of an Arizona hospital. The Old Guard Riders provided the motorcycle escort.
My first unit was D Troop 2/9 Cavalry which was one of the great Buffalo Regiments. The other was the 10th Cavalry. I have previously written about Corporal Edward Scott of K Troop of the 10th and his action at Pinito.

After the Apache leader Geronimo's escape in April 1886, rumors of his whereabouts floated around, but soon his band of Apaches raided the Peck family ranch in the Santa Cruz Valley in modern day Arizona, killing Mrs Peck and a child. The Apaches took Mr Peck and another child captive.

Company K of the 10th Cavalry (one of the famed Buffalo Soldier units, the other famous one being the 9th Cavalry), led by Captain Thomas Lebo, followed in hot pursuit for 200 miles through the Sonoran desert. When the troopers found him, Geronimo took his band up into the rocky heights of the Pinito mountains. A fire-fight ensued where 2 Apaches were killed and 1 wounded. Private Hollis of the 10th was killed and Corporal Edward Scott was critically wounded in the legs. Lieutenant Powhatan Clarke braved the hail of bullets and pulled Corporal Scott to safety. Geronimo escaped again, but was continually harried by the 10th and then the 4th Cavalry who re-engaged in the same area on 15 May 1886.

Clarke was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. Clarke later wrote to his mother about the actions and said this of Corporal Scott "The wounded Corporal [Scott] has had to have his leg cut off, the ball that shattered it lodging in the other instep. This man rode seven miles without a groan, remarking to the Captin that he had seen forty men in one fight in a worse fix than he was. Such have I found the colored soldier."

Check out the sculpture of the 10th Cavalry Sergeant in "Pinito Pass" by artist Dave Venell

Ride Suggestion

Take a ride from Tucson, Arizona through the Santa Cruz Valley and then on to Tombstone, Arizona.

Book Recommendations

After being hectored by the fast and loose talking Isaac Stevens, the Washington Territory Governor, into signing a treaty that would see them removed from their ancestral lands to reservations in 1855, the native tribes of present day eastern Washington state became restless with the intruding white settlers and miners. Repeated raids and revenge killings spiralled the area into open confrontation between the U.S. Regualr Army of the Northwest and combined tribes of eastern Washington.

Stevens' disputed 1855 agreements were falling apart as several tribes (a Yakima faction, Coeur d'Alenes, Palouses, Cayuses and Spokanes) raided the eastern end of the territory. From 1855 through 1857 the pace of the unrest grew, until the exasperated Stevens called up volunteers to seek out the Indians that they felt were not complying with the treaty. Stevens had looked to volunteers, because, the military commander of the area, General John E. Wool, had held Stevens' demands for federal troop intervention in contempt. Eventually, Wool sent a force under Colonel Newman S. Clarke to clear out the area, but very little action was found by Clarke and the area slipped into a relative calm. Wool started making concessions to the treaty in return for continued peace. Stevens was livid, but Wool felt it was better to try to live in peace with the Northwest Indians, rather than rankle them all of the time. Unfortunately, the tribes of eastern Washington began to view the concessions as weakness and the pace of the attacks picked up again, especially against miners digging for gold in the Colville area.

Eventually, Stevens had used his political connections to get Wool re-assigned and Clarke, now a Brigadier General, took over from his boss. Clarke was an old Indian fighter from the Second Seminole Indian War in Florida, but held many of Wool's sympathies for the Indians and was just as disgusted by the actions of many of the whites. Both officers had either seen or had direct knowledge of the Cherokee's Trail of Tears and were abhorred by it. However, Clarke was an old Army hand and knew that he would follow Wool out if he didn't do something to stop the killings around Colville. In May 1858, Clarke sent Major (Brevet Lieutenant Colonel) Edward J. Steptoe, a respected and decorated Mexican War veteran, on an armed reconnaissance of the Colville area to see if there was a way to cool hot-heads on either side. Steptoe headed out of Fort Walla Walla in southeast Washington near the Oregon border on 6 May 1858 with approximately 160 soldiers (1st Dragoons, Companies C, E and H and E Company of the 9th Infantry).

Steptoe took off in early May 1858, but turn back immediately with a wagon train that was just too heavy to maneuver to his animal's liking. After unloading ammunition (leaving an average of 40 rounds per man), he set off again. After crossing the Snake River at Red Wolf's crossing, Steptoe had Indian company from thereon. The Allied Indians had already received advance notice of his movements and were waiting. They followed his movement up past what is known as Steptoe Butte today and through the town of Rosalia, Washington.

As Steptoe passed Rosalia going North on 16 May 1858, he was confronted by approximately 1,000 Indians of the combined tribes. Steptoe, realising he was outnumbered, deciding to parley with them. The talk merely confirmed to Steptoe that the Indians were spoiling for a fight and could take his whole command if he wasn't careful. The Indians thought Steptoe had come to fight and were unmoved by his explanation that he came to try to settle the Indian / miner disputes in the Colville area. Thinking discretion was the better part of valor, Steptoe decided to withdraw back to the Snake and await re-enforcements who he had requested through a courier, now on his way.

The night passed with an uneasy truce, but the morning of the 17th found Steptoe on the move and aggressive Indians following like a pack of hyenas waiting for a moment of weakness. By 8 AM, the soldiers were taking regular assaults from the Indians. They just accepted them at first, but had to start retaliating when the Indians started taking high ground in advance of Steptoe's column. Eventually, the fire from the soldiers took down several Cour d'Alene chiefs which raised the blood of the Indians, namely Chief Vincent whose Brother-in-law was one of the dead. Vincent had been one of the restraining voices in the Indian camp. With Vincent's rage ignited, the combined tribes began to attack in earnest. On the Army side, all ideas of a quiet withdrawal were now gone. A series of running skirmishes on the flanks by Company E and C of Dragoons, led by Lieutenants William Gaston and Oliver Hazard Perry Taylor, respectively, were getting increasingly hot. Steptoe sent H Company, led by Lieutenant David McMurtrie Gregg, ahead to secure high ground, but even this was not enough to secure his force. Once the force had consolidated on the Gregg secured hill, Steptoe decided to keep moving to the vicinity of his 15 May camp Southeast of present day Rosalia, near To-Hoto-Nim-Me Creek (now known as Pine Creek). Along the way, Gaston and Taylor went down mortally wounded. The Tribes were calling in re-enforcements as they realised an opportunity to cut off Steptoe's command.

Finally, the soldiers reached the hill which today is the Steptoe Battlefield State Park, on the Southeast outskirts of Rosalia. Steptoe set up a perimeter with the howitzers guarding the main approaches. The Indians surrounded the hill and tried attacking from multiple angles, but were beaten back each time. However, the soldier's ammunition and water was running disastrously low. One example of the fierceness of the fighting on the flanks as the hill was being occupied was Trooper Victor De Moy, a former French Captain, swinging his rifle as a club and firing off all of the rounds of his Colt revolver except one...which he saved for himself. As night closed in, Steptoe gathered his remaining officers and suggested they fight to the bitter end. His lieutenants thought otherwise and convinced Steptoe to evacuate the hill under cover of darkness and make an end run for the Snake River. Burying the dead they could find and the disassembled howitzers, the soldiers left their fires burning, blacked out their gear and horses, tied down jangly items and exfiltrated through a gap in the Indian lines. Rumor has it that the great Yakima chief Kamiakin made it to the site by evening and encouraged a full scale night attack, but was not taken up. Instead, a series of uncoordinated attacks from different angles would harry the soldiers. The first of such was around midnight, but the Coeur d'Alenes who attacked found no soldiers, but most of their gear left behind. The temptation of scavenging the remaining goods overtook reporting the lack of soldiers, so Steptoe got a good head start.

Steptoe's troops then made an extra-ordinary march of approximately 90 miles to Wolf's Crossing on the Snake in 24 hours. There they were met by friendly Nez Perce Indians who secured their camp for them as they took well needed sleep. This ended a potentially disastrous engagement for the U.S. regulars, but the sting of having to retreat in the face of Indians was new to the U.S. Army.

Although in military history hindsight, Steptoe's retreat was one of the most innovative, lucky and resourceful imaginable, his decision to take too little ammunition and his decision to withdrawal in the face of the combined tribes was questioned heavily at the time. The tribes of eastern Washington were resurgent and felt their strength when they fought together and in great numbers. The Army could not allow this "humiliation" to stand and immediately began preparing a column to address the issue. This column, which included future Indian fighting legend Lieutenant George Crook, met the combined tribes on 1 and 5 September 1858 at the battles of Four Lakes and Spokane Plain, respectively, and won decisive victories that ended the problems in the Northwest for the time being.

Ride Recommendation

Below is a long ride if you want to follow the Steptoe line of march. (A glitch in Google Maps is causing the route to go through Moscow, Idaho on US-95. The map I designed is correct when I view it, but the insertion code moves the route east. The route should follow Highway 195 through Pullman, Washington. Sorry, but I can't really complain, Google Maps are pretty good normally) Once in the area, consider the Palouse Scenic Byway for some great scenery. Finally, check out the Rosalia Visitor and Interpretive Center at an old Texaco station for a map of the whole engagement.

At the confluence of the Two Medicine and Cut Bank Rivers is where the Marias River begins and flows east for approximately 60 miles to Lake Elwell, then on for another 80 miles where it meets the Missouri River near Loma, Montana. Somewhere along this stretch of river (possibly here), there lies an ancient site where Major Eugene Baker of the U.S. Army took his mixed detachment from the 2nd US Cavalry and the 13th Infantry to surround an encampment of Piegan Indians on 22 January 1870. (See a picture of Baker and some of the 2d Cavalry officers in 1871, here) What happened next is clear, but why is not so clear.
The area had seen an altercation between two hotheads, one white, Malcolm Clarke, and one Indian, Owl Child. Clarke beat Owl Child, who he claimed had stole his horses. Owl Child retaliated by killing Clarke. As so happened in those days, this caused cries for the army to make sure another white was not killed by another Indian, so Baker was sent to teach the Indians a lesson. Baker's detachment left Fort Shaw on 15 January 1870 and rode north to find a group of Indians known as the Piegans. Baker found an encampment at a big bend on the Marias River and surrounded it in the winter's night of 22/23 January 1870. There is some debate as to whether Baker knew it was the camp he was looking for or another one.

On the morning of the massacre, Chief Heavy Runner tried to stop the attack by showing papers that he claimed gave him and his people clear passage in the area. Regardless, Baker issued the order to fire on the camp and many women, children and elderly were killed, the camp was burned and the survivors set afoot in the Montana winter without provisions.

Some said Baker knew that it as the wrong encampment, some said he didn't care, some said he was a drunken commander and didn't know what was happening. None of the PR options were good and the Army made it worse by ignoring, at the least, but probably covering up the massacre. As so often happens in these cases in the U.S. Army, a young soldier steps up where his superiors have fallen down and tells the truth. Lieutenant William Pease, acting as a Blackfoot agent, reported the massacre to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ely Samuel Parker. Parker, a Civil War veteran, confidante to U.S. Grant and an Iroquois Indian whose real name was Donehogawa, demanded a investigation, but the outcome was prevarication as the Army closed ranks with General Sherman saying he would prefer to believe his soldiers.

In the end, no official recognition of the massacre was forthcoming and only time has brought a gradual acceptance of the fact of this massacre. Author Dee Brown, in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, puts the casualties at 33 men, 90 women and 50 chldren. Best research on the topic seems to be by Stan Gibson. He and Jack Hayne are working on a book on the topic.

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Motorcycle Ride

This is a long ride starting and ending at Browning, Montana at the Museum of the Plains Indians. The ride passes through the origin of the Marias and also runs about 5 miles north and parrallel to the Marias for a good while on the beautiful U.S. Highway 2.

Maps

Interesting post at The Jacksonian Party on the relative lack of constabulary forces in American military history.

After the disaster of Little Bighorn, the Indian Fighters of the upper plains went hell for leather in harrying Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. However, the harsh winter of 1876 made it hard for the US Army to conduct the pursuit. General George "Three Stars" Crook called it a season until the weather eased. However, the aggressive, but vain General Nelson "Bear Coat" Miles wanted none of Crook's waiting and launched new offensives over Christmas 1876 and into early 1877 in search of Crazy Horse's Oglala Sioux. On 7 January, Miles' column was attacked, but rebuffed and Miles took a Cheyenne contingent (Crazy Horse allies) prisoner. Thereafter, Miles encountered raids to free the prisoners, so he decided to set up a defensive position near Wolf Mountain. On the morning of 8 January the battle commenced with Crazy Horse attacking from various angles, but always finding no joy. As the weather cleared a bit, Miles was able to get range with his artillery which prompted an advance on Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse had no choice, but to retreat to save his force. The numbers lost by both sides were small and the battle may have gone down as a draw. However, the larger point was made on the Indians. They were not safe from US forces in their own areas...even in the dead of winter. Total capitulation was to follow shortly. Miles was not liked by much of anyone, but his successes were rewarded and he eventually became the Commanding General of the US Army in 1895.

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Motorcycle Ride

For a good long run all around the area of Miles' and Crazy Horse's actions in the Tongue River area, try this circular ride from Ashland to Busby to Decker to Birney and back to Ashland.

Maps

On 29 December 1890, a group of Sioux, led by Bigfoot, arrived at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation after hearing of Sitting Bull's death on 15 December. The resurgance of Indian spirituality in the form of the "Ghost Dance" was worrying the U.S. government agents in the area who feared violence. The attempt to disarm the Sioux descended into chaos that left nearly 200 Sioux, including many women and children, and 25 Cavalrymen dead. One can find many interpretations of the battle of Wounded Knee...many not calling it a battle, but a massacre. Wounded Knee marked the end of the Indian Wars of west, in much the same way as it started... duplicitousness, misunderstanding, confusion, chaos and death to many innocents and warriors on both sides.
Read a few different versions and decide for yourself;
"Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1998).
Wikipedia
Bowling Green State University
Public Broadcasting Service

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Motorcycle Ride

Try South Dakota State Route 44 southeast out of Rapid city to Scenic. From Scenic, go south along bombing Range Road, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 27, Indian Service Road (ISR) 27, ISR-33 and finally Big Foot Trail to Wounded Knee. See map, here.

Maps

On 21 December 1866, the US Army suffered its worst defeat in the western Indian Wars up to that time. (Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn would later surpass it) Fetterman, a junior officer at Fort Phil Kearney, was given the mission to relieve a wood cutting party who had been attacked by Indians led by Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. In fact, the attack on the woodcutters was a diversion and Fetterman and his 80 man unit were led into an ambush. All 81 were killed.* Traditional history, gives the idea that Fetterman was out to make a name for himself and had said, "With 80 men, I could ride through the entire Sioux nation." For a deeper and somewhat contrarian view to the traditional, click here.

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Motorcycle Ride

Try the Cloud Peak Skyway from Ten Sleep to Buffalo through the Bighorn National Forest.

Maps

*Indians massacre Fetterman and eighty soldiers, http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4374 (last visited Dec 21, 2006).

The warrior who destroyed Custer and the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn was killed in a Indian Police raid* on 15 December 1890. The Indian Agents felt that Sitting Bull was fomenting disquiet by encouraging the revival of the "Ghost Dance." They went to arrest him, but things got out of hand and he was shot and killed during the raid.
* Sitting Bull killed by Indian police, http://www.history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=4368 (last visited Dec 15, 2006).

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Motorcycle Ride

If you've got the time, try the Native American Scenic Byway which passes by Sitting Bull's grave on the Missouri river near Mobridge, South Dakota. Click here for a printable, detailed map and guide from the AAmerica's byways website.

Maps

From the late 1840s to the early 1890s, the USA fought many of the disparate Native-American, or Indian, tribes throughout the USA frontier states. Many of the battles are well known, such as Little Bighorn, but many more have fallen into obscurity.

• The Fetterman Massacre 21 December 1866
• Baker-Marias-River-Piegan-Massacre-23-January-1870
• Battle of Wolf Mountain Battle of the Butte 8 January 1877
• Sitting Bull Killed on Indian Reservation 15 December 1890
• Wounded Knee 29 December 1890
Technorati Tags: 1800s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s Apache AZ CA CO frontier ID Indian Kiowa KS MN MT Native-American ND NE NM NV OK OR SD Shoshone Sioux TX US Cavalry USA USA USA Indian Wars of the West UT WA west west WY motorcycle motorcycle-touring motorcycle touring military history military-history battlefields