Tactics
Indian culture focused on the individual warrior. This focus is reflected in the tactics the Indians employed. Bands of warriors went to war based on mutual consent. A chief led the war band but did not give orders. Warfare was about individual bravery and skill. Man for man, the Indian warrior totally outclassed his opponent in the American army. However, the emphasis on individual bravery and skill represented a corresponding weakness in unit discipline and team work. Thus, in a conventional open battle, the army could defeat Indian war parties with trained and disciplined troops operating together under their officers’ orders. However, the conventional open battle was a situation that the Indians avoided. Well organized and prepared soldiers caused the Indians to disperse and retreat. The Indians used tactics designed to take advantage of their superior fieldcraft and mobility. Warriors lured soldiers into ambushes by retreating. Raids hit isolated outposts and patrols and relied on surprise, shock, and speed for effect. The Indians then avoided pursuit using superior horsemanship, speed, and dispersal.
An important weakness in the Indian’s method of warfare was the lack of any overall strategic direction. Because of a lack of overall Indian unity, and large ignorance of events beyond the local region, the American Indian fought a skillful tactical war designed to defeat local enemies. However, there was no operational or strategic direction to the tactical conflict. Thus, the greatest Indian victories, such as the victory over Custer at the Little Bighorn in 1876 had only temporary local effects.
Horses and Horsemanship
The Plains Indians’ horses were the basis of their military power. But, unlike the horse cultures of the steppe, the Indians adapted their culture to the horse very late in their history. In fact, the horse was a European product that the natives of North America procured from the earliest European colonists. A testament to the adapt-ability of the Plains Indians was the speed with which they integrated the horse into tribal society and used it to improve all aspects of their life.
Horses
Horses had been absent from North America for 45 million years before the Spanish explorers reintroduced them in the sixteenth century. Hernán Cortés brought the first horses to mainland North American in 1519. By the middle of the sixteenth century there were tens of thousands of horses in Mexico. By 1600, most Indians in northern Mexico had horses, acquired through stealing Spanish stock. The first Indians west of the Mississippi and north of the Rio Grande Rivers to culturally adopt horses were the Navaho of modern New Mexico. In 1683 an Apache-Navaho shaman-priest named Popé led an Indian uprising that destroyed Spanish power in New Mexico. The Indians captured a large part of the Spanish horse herd, which numbered at least several hundred. The Indian trading system then introduced the horses into the Great Plains. By 1685, Indians in east Texas had horses originally taken from the Spanish in New Mexico.7
The first mounted combat on the plains may have occurred in a 1694 battle in modern Nebraska, between Navaho equestrians, whose mounts descended from the Spanish, and Pawnee horsemen, who got their horses from the French. By 1700, Comanche, riding out of Wyoming, were raiding Apache and Navaho villages in New Mexico, armed with guns provided by the French. The period between 1750 and 1800 saw the birth of American Indian horse culture on the western plains. The domain of the Plains Indian tribes was an area of 3 million square miles; approximately 75 percent of the present continental United States. Within a 50-year period virtually all of the western plains tribal cultures transformed from sedentary hunter gatherers into nomadic horsemen.8
As the horse was arriving on the plains, so were additional tribes. With the establishment of the United States, midwestern tribes came under increasing pressure to move west. As they migrated, tribes such as the Sioux, leaving Minnesota, traded their canoes for horses.9 At the same time the horse was being absorbed into Plains Indian life, firearms were arriving. The migration of the eastern tribes, who began using firearms prior to the beginning of the eighteenth century, accelerated the adoption of firearms by the Plains Indians . By the end of the eighteenth century, the Indian mounted warrior, armed with bow and musket, was the dominant military and cultural force west of the Mississippi River.
Sources of horses for the newly mounted tribes coming from the east included trading with the southern tribes, breeding their own horses, trading with French and English traders (despite prohibitive laws), and war booty. Another source of horses was feral horse herds which existed on the northern plains. Wild horse herds, escapees from Indian, French, and Spanish ownership, existed in large numbers throughout the plains. Captain Zebulon Pike, exploring the Colorado plains for the U.S. government described an encounter with one of these herds in 1806:
Upon using my glass to observe the adjacent territory, I observed on the prairie a herd of horses. Dr. Robinson and Baroney accompanied me to go and view them: when within a quarter of a mile they discovered us, and came immediately up near us, making the earth tremble under them: this brought to my recollection a charge of cavalry. They stopped and gave us an opportunity to view them; among them were some very beautiful bays, blacks and grays and indeed of all colors. We fired at a black horse, with an idea of creasing him, but did not succeed; they flourished around and returned again to see us, when we returned to camp.10
One estimate is that by the middle of the nineteenth century, within the Comanche territory on the southern Great Plains, there were as many as 2 million wild mustangs.11 The wild mustangs of the West may have been part of the seed population of some tribal horse herds, but once tribes acquired horses, their horse herds were mostly self-sustaining.
The abundant supply of horses ensured that there was no distinguishable Indian horse type. However, some tribes were very particular about the quality of their horses. A tribe that demonstrated a conscious concern about improving and sustaining the quality of the tribe’s horses were the Nez Perce of eastern Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The Nez Perce were the only major Indian tribe that carefully managed and selectively bred their horse herds. The Nez Perce bred for speed, surefootedness, and color. They divided their herds into solid color horses and spotted horses. The spotted horses of the Nez Perce eventually became the Appaloosa, and the modern breed represents some of the best features of the American Indian horse type.
In 1855 the Nez Perce agreed to a treaty with the U.S. government that granted the tribe a 1,000,000 acre reservation. In 1877 the U.S. government arbitrarily reduced the reservation to less than 200,000 acres in order to permit gold mining. Parts of the tribe resisted the new treaty, and in the ensuing tensions warriors engaged in a short sharp battle with a company from the 1st Cavalry Regiment at White Bird Canyon. There, an outnumbered and dismounted force of 60 to 70 warriors routed the mounted cavalrymen—killing 34 in exchange for 3 wounded. This battle began a running campaign of pursuit and escape, as Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce led the 800 people of the hostile bands on a 1,700-mile and three-month march to safety. The bands brought their entire population, and most of their possessions with them. Among their possessions was a pony herd of over 2,500 horses. The army mobilized several columns in pursuit of the Indians. Fighting numerous small battles, and consistently defeating small army contingents, the Nez Perce were within 40 miles of their goal, the Canadian border, when they were surprised on September 30, 1877, by a combined mounted infantry and cavalry force led by Colonel Nelson Miles. With a battalion of mounted 5th Infantry in support, a cavalry squadron of the 7th Cavalry charged the Indian camp while another squadron of the 2nd Cavalry, accompanied by Sioux and Cheyenne scouts, attacked the pony herd.
The attack quickly captured the pony herd, but accurate Indian rifle fire hit the 7th Cavalry hard and stopped their attack. The 5th Infantry moved up to support, and together the two units pushed the Indian skirmishers back toward their camp. The Indians understood how to fight the army, and Indian marksmen singled out officers and NCOs in the attacking force. The marksmen killed every officer but one and all three company first se
rgeants in the 7th Cavalry squadron. In the midst of the fight a snowstorm dumped five inches of snow on the combatants making maneuver difficult. The battle evolved into a stalemate. Without their horses, the Indians lost their mobility and couldn’t break contact. On the fifth day of the standoff, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce surrendered about 100 warriors and 300 noncombatants of the tribe. During the previous night, about 300 people escaped the camp and ultimately made it to Canada. Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce suffered about 120 dead during their flight, about half of them women and children. The army lost about 180 killed and another 150 wounded over the three months. The trek, though only partly successful, demonstrated the mobility and fighting abilities of well-led Indians.12
After the surrender, the army confiscated the Nez Perce horse herd. About 1,000 of the original 3,000 horses fell into the army’s hands. These were the best Indian horses in the country—the result of several generations of careful breeding. The army understood that Indian military power was more a function of the horse than any other factor. The army killed many of these horses to deny them to the Indians, and dispersed the remaining horses as war booty. This largely destroyed this carefully nurtured native American breed. However, when the Nez Perce left the northwest they left behind stock from their herds that they didn’t have time to gather, or that were too young or old to make the trek. Sixty years later, in 1938, an Oregon farmer, Claude Thompson, established the Appaloosa Horse Club to gather, register, and reestablish the spotted horse breed by bringing together the scattered remnants of the Nez Perce horses. The name Appaloosa derives from the name of the Palouse tribe located near the Palouse River in Washington State. Like the Nez Perce, the Palouse were also known for their spotted horses. Although the coat pattern is the main characteristic of the breed, there are four major physical characteristics: coat pattern, mottled skin, white sclera, and striped hooves. A sparse mane and tail as well as the strength of their hoof horn are also characteristics of the Appaloosa. The modern Appaloosa is the third most popular breed in the United States. Appaloosas normally range between 14 and 15.2 hands tall, are very athletic, and have a superbly calm disposition. As might be expected of a breed descended from Indian ponies, the Appaloosa excels in competitive endurance riding.13
Horsemanship
To the Plains Indians, riding was a fundamental of life. Plains Indians taught their youth to ride at a very early age. The Blackfoot claimed that five-year-olds could ride on their own. Learning to ride was a well-thought-out systematic process. Instructors led kids using a woman’s saddle on a gentle horse; they progressed to riding faster, bareback, using reins; and then, eventually, body position to control their mount. The trader Francois Larocque reported in 1805 that six- and seven-year-old Blackfoot were accomplished riders. Among the Indians, only the Apache wore spurs. However, all tribes used some type of whip or quirt as an aid in communicating with their horses.14
Army lieutenant colonel George Custer considered Indian horsemanship the best in the world. Dr. W. A. Bell, a traveler in western Kansas in the 1860s, wrote that “the Buffalo Indians are probably the finest horsemen in the world. Accustomed from their childhood to chase the buffalo, they lived half their time in the saddle.” Army Captain William Clark reported that among the Indians “The Comanches and Utes are considered by many Indians the best horsemen, and the Nez Perce and Cayuses as having the best or fastest ponies. The Southern Indians perform more daring and difficult feats on horseback, and are more expert in the use of the lasso than the Northern.”
Horse Equipment
Contrary to a popular conception, Indians did not normally ride bareback but used hand-crafted saddles. In 1719, explorer Claude Charles Du Tisne found Wichitas in Oklahoma mounted using “saddles and bridles similar to those of the Spaniards.” In 1880 a Sioux raider explained to army Lieutenant Hunter Liggett of the 5th Infantry (Mounted), that despite stealing more than 150 horses, they needed saddles more than anything else. Indian warriors used a simple pad saddle, while women used a wooden saddle with a high wooden pommel and cantle extended from wooden sidebars. The seat was wood or rawhide fastened between the cantle and pommel and suspended above the horse. Thus, like all modern saddles, the Indian framed saddle transferred the rider’s weight to the sidebars and not directly onto the spine of the horse. Some saddles had horns attached to the pommel and the cantle. These served as fastenings for equipment. The parts of the saddle—pommel, cantle, seat, and side boards—were attached to each other with wet rawhide thongs laced through holes bored in the wood. Straps connected the side boards to a cinch holding the saddle to the horse. A woven blanket protected the horse from the saddle tree, while a buffalo or bear skin covered the saddle and gave some comfort to the rider. They used cruppers and breast collars with both designs of saddles. These attachments as well as the saddles themselves were often highly decorated with beads. The women’s framed saddles were much more elaborately decorated then the more utilitarian pad saddle.15
Warriors used the pad saddle exclusively, and it was the common saddle for the hunt and war parties. Its design was simple and functional. Two hourglass shaped pieces of hide were sewn together and the interior filled with deer hair. The seat of the saddle was reinforced with an additional leather pad to which was sewn a cinch strap as well as stirrup straps. The entire assembly weighted approximately three pounds. The saddle could have additional straps sewn on that enabled the Indians to rotate their body onto the side of the horse in order to use the horse’s body for protection during raids. The pad saddle was probably derived from a Mexican pack saddle while the woman’s frame saddle was a unique plains design.16
Both type of saddles used stirrups. Craftsmen made the stirrups from wood. On the framed saddle, stirrup leathers attached to slots in the side boards. In the latter part of the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century, Indians traded for items such as metal buckles and rings which were highly prized additions to the indigenous saddles.17
Despite the functionality of crafted saddles, the Indian saddles could not match the well-made leather and wood saddles produced by American and Mexican craftsmen. By the middle of the nineteenth century, one of the mounted Indian’s most prized possessions, after his horse and his weapons, was a Mexican or American stock saddle. Hundreds of McClellan saddles also came into the possession of various tribes through war booty and theft. Once the saddles came into the possession of the Indians, they were decorated according to the tribe and personal preference with beads, bone, and colored cloth. Indians cut away excess leather. Thus, they modified the manufactured saddle to match the traditional regalia of the mounted warrior.
Indians fashioned simple bridles and reins using rope. The simplest bit was a rope run through the horse’s mouth and fastened under his chin. This then had additional ropes tied to it to make reins and a bridle. When they could acquire one, Indians used Mexican or American curb bits, attached to a native-made bridle. By the late nineteenth-century, Indian craftsmen made very serviceable leather bridles and reins, and used trading post bits.18
American Cavalry in the West
The only serious opponents of the Plains Indians were the mounted forces of the U.S. army. These forces were organized, equipped, and trained similarly to the Union cavalry forces of the American Civil War. Most of the cavalry officers and many of the senior enlisted men were veterans of that conflict and therefore were experienced and competent professionals. Thus, it would seem a relatively straightforward operation for the professional veterans of the American army to impose the will of the U.S. government on a relatively small group of disorganized native tribes. However, operations against the Indians stressed every aspect of the army and required resolute perseverance on the part of the army leadership to see the various campaigns through to their successful completion. Many diverse factors worked against the quick success of the American army. These included resources, training, political and public interference, and terrain. Victory required patience, learning and applying n
ew tactical lessons, and using strategic principles gleaned from the Civil War.
Organization
After the Civil War the army increased the number of active regular army cavalry regiments from 6 to 10. The 9th and 10th cavalry regiments were designated to be filled by black troops. These all-black regiments, led by white officers, proved to be two of the most reliable of the regular regiments with very high reenlistment and low desertion rates. The Indians recognized the fighting capability of the black troopers and nicknamed the 9th and 10th Cavalry “Buffalo Soldiers.”
The cavalry strength of the army during the Plains Indian Wars never changed from the original 10 cavalry regiments of the regular army. With an average strength of 500 to 600 troopers in each regiment, the army’s cavalry strength to meet the requirements of Indian campaigning was never more than about 6,000 mounted troopers. If they could have unified, the Indians had the potential to greatly outnumber the mounted forces of the army. Even given the independence of the tribes, 6,000 troopers were hard pressed to meet the requirements of campaigning, patrolling, and providing security in an area of operations of 2.5 million square miles against as many as 100,000 hostile Indians, including possibly more than 20,000 warriors. To partly compensate for the insufficient numbers of the mounted forces, some commanders mounted portions of infantry regiments on captured Indian horses to increase the mounted capability—the most effective of these was Colonel Nelson Miles’s 5th Infantry Regiment (Mounted).
A regular army cavalry regiment of the Plains Indian Wars period was similar to the cavalry regiment of the Civil War. It consisted of either 10 or 12 companies. The companies were rarely all stationed together but, rather, stationed at small forts garrisoned by individual companies or a battalion of three to five companies. Forts were built as needed to meet the Indian threat. In 1886 a cavalry company was authorized 64 privates. In 1876, after the Custer disaster, Congress increased the size of the company to 100 privates. Company assigned strength varied considerably. All soldiers were volunteers for five years of military service, but despite their volunteer status, desertion rates were very high. In 1878, at least one frontier company reported an assigned strength of only 16 men.19 Troop strength greatly constrained the tactical and operational choices of commanders.
War Horse Page 38
