2. I derive this characterization from Augur’s official correspondence and the observations of his superiors, Generals Sherman and Sheridan. Of the generals treated in this volume, Augur and Terry are the only ones lacking a biography. Augur’s papers are archived in the Newberry Library in Chicago.
3. I treat the Battle of Big Meadows in Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848–1865 (New York: Macmillan, 1967), pp. 183–86.
4. U.S. Senate Executive Doc. No. 13, 40th Cong., 1st sess., p. 27.
5. Sherman to Assistant Adjutant General Hq. of Army, St. Louis, March 13, 1867, U.S. Senate Ex. Doc. No. 7, 40th Cong., 1st sess., 1867, pp. 1–3 (response to the Senate Resolution of March 11 asking for information about armed expeditions against western Indians).
6. I treat these commissions in The Indian Frontier, 1846–1890 (rev. ed., Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003), pp. 106–10.
7. Annual Report of Bvt. Maj. Gen. C. C. Augur. Augur to Bvt. Maj. Gen. W. A. Nichols, Assistant Adjutant General Military Division of the Missouri, Hq. Dept. of the Platte, Omaha, October 14, 1868, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1868), pp. 21–24; Statement of campaigns, expeditions, and scouts made in the Department of the Platte during the year ending September 30, 1868, Hq. Dept. of the Platte, Omaha, October 17, 1868, sgd Bvt. Brig. Gen. George D. Ruggles, in ibid., pp. 25–29.
8. Report to the President by the Indian Peace Commission, January 7, 1868, House Ex. Doc. No. 97, 40th Cong., 2nd sess., pp. 1–22.
9. Untitled essay (thoughts on Indian wars) by Augur on stationery of Department of the Platte in the late 1860s, Christopher C. Augur Papers, Newberry Library, Chicago.
10. Ibid.
11. Annual Report of Bvt. Maj. Gen.1 Augur, Augur to Hartsuff, Dept. of the Platte, Omaha, October 23, 1869; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1869), pp. 70–75. See also my book Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891 (New York: Macmillan, 1973), pp. 156–57.
12. Annual Report of Brig. Gen. Augur, Augur to Adjutant General E. D. Townsend, Hq. Dept. of the Platte, Omaha, October 25, 1870; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1870), pp. 31–35. See also Utley, Frontier Regulars, p. 241.
13. U.S. Senate Ex. Doc. No. 89, 41st Cong., 2nd sess., Message of the President, May 23, 1870, in response to Senate Resolution of May 12, 1869; Encroachments upon Indians in Wyoming Territory, Annual Report of Brig. Gen. Augur, Augur to Adjt. Gen. E. D. Townsend, Hq. Dept. of the Platte, Omaha, October 25, 1870; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1870), pp. 31–35.
14. Annual Report of Brig. Gen. Augur, Augur to Lt. Col. J. B. Fry, Asst. Adjt. Gen. Hq. Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Hq. Dept. of the Platte, Omaha, October 10, 1871; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1871), pp. 31–33.
15. Both Augur’s and Merritt’s reports are printed in Army and Navy Journal 9 (May 25, 1872): 653.
16. Indian Frontier, pp. 140–44, on the City of Refuge.
17. Annual Report of Brig. Gen. Augur, Augur to Fry, Asst. Adjt. Gen. Military Division of the Missouri Chicago, Hq. Dept. of Texas, San Antonio, September 28, 1872; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1872), pp. 54–60.
18. I treat this episode and the operation that followed in “Border Showdown,” MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History 23 (Spring 2011): 98–104. See also Paul Andrew Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985), pp. 221–25; R. G. Carter, On the Border with Mackenzie: or, Winning West Texas from the Comanches (New York: Antiquarian Press, 1961), pp. 422–23; and A. M. Gibson, The Kickapoos: Lords of the Middle Border (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964), pp 239–54.
19. Mackenzie to Augur, Fort Clark, April 20, 1873, Christopher C. Augur Papers, Newberry Library, Chicago.
20. Mackenzie to Assistant Adjutant General Department of Texas, Fort Clark, May 23, 1873, in Ernest Wallace, ed., Ranald S. Mackenzie’s Official Correspondence Relating to Texas, 1871–1875, 2 vols. (Lubbock: West Texas Museum Association, 1967), 1:167–72. The report was at once endorsed by Sheridan, Sherman, and Belknap but not by Augur.
21. Sherman to Sheridan, June 3, 1873, Sherman-Sheridan Letters, Sheridan Papers, Library of Congress; Sheridan to Sherman, June 5, 1873, Sherman Papers, vol. 35, Library of Congress.
22. Many monographs treat the Red River War. See in particular my Frontier Regulars, chap. 13; Indian Frontier, pp. 171–74; and “The Red River War: Last Uprising in the Texas Panhandle,” MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History 20 (Autumn 2007): 74–83; and Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army, chap. 11.
23. Hutton, Phil Sheridan and His Army, chap. 12, deals with this interlude.
24. Letter of 138 Texas citizens to Augur, San Antonio, March 12, 1875, Christopher C. Augur Papers, Newberry Library, Chicago.
25. Report of Brig. Gen. C. C. Augur. Augur to Adjt, Gen. Military Division of the Missouri Chicago, Hq. Dept. of Texas, San Antonio, September 27, 1881; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1881), pp. 128–30.
26. Report of Brig. Gen. Augur, Augur to Adjt. Gen. Military Division of the Missouri Chicago, Hq. Dept. of Texas, San Antonio, September 21, 1883; U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1883), p. 146.
Chapter 3. George Crook
1. Two biographies authoritatively treat Crook the Indian fighter. Charles M. Robinson III covers Crook’s entire life in General Crook and the Western Frontier (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001). The second biography is a projected three-volume work, of which the first two have been published: Paul Magid, George Crook: From the Redwoods to Appomattox (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011), and The Gray Fox: George Crook and the Indian Wars (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015). The first volume treats Crook’s service in the Pacific Northwest before the Civil War and his service during the war itself, while the second volume deals with his postwar career to the surrender of Crazy Horse in 1877. Presumably the final volume will deal principally with Crook’s Arizona service. I have relied heavily on both of Magid’s excellent volumes. Useful in understanding Crook is the hagiographic memoir by his longtime aide Captain John G. Bourke, On the Border with Crook (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891).
2. Many of these characteristics are described by all who knew and wrote about Crook. Others are my own judgment based on a comparison of his official reports with what actually happened as revealed by reliable sources. Magid states some and implies others.
3. Martin F. Schmitt, ed., General George Crook: His Autobiography (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946), pp. pp. 17–20. Magid, in George Crook: From the Redwoods to Appomattox, pp. 54–55, describes this event better than Crook does.
4. Schmitt, General George Crook, p. 21.
5. Crook describes these events in detail in ibid., pp. 35ff.
6. Crook describes this operation in ibid., pp. 57–68. I treat the march in the larger context of Indian warfare in Washington Territory in Frontiersmen in Blue, pp. 203–204.
7. Crook’s Civil War career is detailed in his autobiography (Schmitt, General George Crook, chaps. 3 and 4), and in Robinson, General Crook, chaps. 3–6. See also Warner, Generals in Blue, pp. 102–104.
8. In his autobiography Crook expressed his resentment in blunt terms: Schmitt, General George Crook, p. 127.
9. Ibid., p. 134n7.
10. Ibid., p. 141.
11. Both engagements are noted in Special Order 32, Hq. Dept. of the Columbia, Portland, November 1, 1867, By command of Bvt. Maj. Gen. F. Steele, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1868), pp. 770–72. Crook’s operations in this campaign and all that followed are described in great detail in Magid, The Gray Fox. As previously noted, this volume is the second of three by Magid, with a third still to come. I relied extensively on the first volume in recounting Crook’s Civil War career. This volume carries the story to 1877, at the close of Crook’s 1876 campaign against the Sioux. In addition, consult Robinson, General Crook; and Schmitt, General Crook.
12. Th
e battle is noted in Special Order 32 in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1868), pp. 771–72. See also Magid, The Gray Fox, pp. 32–35, and Robinson, General Crook, pp. 96–101.
13. Magid, The Gray Fox, p. 42.
14. Crook to Assistant Adjutant General, Dept. of the Columbia, Camp Warner, Oregon, August 22, 1868, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1868), pp. 72–73.
15. Halleck to Adjutant General, Hq. Military Division of the Pacific, San Francisco, September 22, 1868, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1868), p. 44.
16. The details of Crook’s march from Tucson and his interaction with the White Mountain Apaches are recounted by a correspondent of the Army and Navy Journal who accompanied the command: Army and Navy Journal 9 (August 8, 1871), 816; 9 (October 7, 1871): 120.
17. Schmitt, General George Crook, p. 169.
18. Both Magid and Robinson, of course, deal with this operation in detail. I treat it in Frontier Regulars, pp. 195–98.
19. Crook explains his agreement with the miners in his annual report for 1875 and emphasizes the provocation of the Sioux raiders. September 15, 1875, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1875), pp. 69–70.
20. The definitive history of this campaign is Paul L. Hedren, Powder River: Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016). I deal with the Great Sioux War in Frontier Regulars, chaps. 14–15.
21. Crook to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Hq. Department of the Platte, Omaha, May 7, 1876, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1876), pp. 502–503.
22. Reynolds to Sherman, Fort D. A. Russell, Wyo., April 11, 1876, Sherman Papers, vol. 43, Library of Congress.
23. Crook’s report of the battle, demonstrating more than a touch of dissimulation, is found in Crook to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, Hq. Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, Camp Cloud Peak, Base Big Horn Mountains, June 20, 1876, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1876), pp. 504–505.
24. Crook tells of Slim Buttes in Telegram, Crook to Sheridan, Camp on Owl River, D.T., September 10, 1976, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1876), pp. 506–507.
25. Sheridan to Sherman (confidential), February 10, 1877, Sherman Papers, vol. 45, Library of Congress.
26. Annual Report of General Crook, Crook to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Hq. Department of the Platte, Omaha, August 1, 1877, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1877), pp. 84–86.
27. Brig. Gen. George Crook to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago. Hq. Department of the Platte, Omaha Bks, December 6, 1877, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1878), pp. 91–92.
28. Report of Brig. Gen. George Crook, Crook to Assistant Adjutant General, Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Hq. Department of the Platte, Fort Omaha, September 27, 1879, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1879), pp. 77–78; Annual Report of Lt. Gen. P. H. Sheridan, Sheridan to Townsend, Hq. Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Oct. 22, 1879, in ibid., pp. 42–46.
29. Paul Magid ends the second volume of his three-volume biography of Crook with the surrender of Crazy Horse in 1877, so he does not treat the Ponca affair. Crook ceased to compile his biography at the same time; but his editor, Martin Schmitt, compiles a thorough history of the episode. See Schmitt, General George Crook, pp. 231–35. I have relied heavily on Robinson, General Crook, chap. 14, for the Ponca affair.
30. Sheridan to Sherman (strictly confidential), January 22, 1879, Sherman Papers, vol. 49, Library of Congress.
31. General Order 43, Hq. Department of Arizona, Whipple Barracks, October 5, 1882, by command of Brig. Gen Crook, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1883), pp. 170–71.
32. Memorandum of a council at San Carlos, November 2, 1882, between General Crook and the Indians on the White Mountain Reservation, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1883), pp. 172–73.
33. I treat Crook’s Arizona tenure, 1882–1886, in Geronimo (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012).
34. Crook’s summary is found in Crook to Assistant Adjutant General Military Division of the Pacific, [Hq. Department of Arizona, Whipple Bks., n.d., c. 9/84,] in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1884), pp. 131–34.
35. Annual Report of Lieutenant General Sheridan, October 10, 1886, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1886), p. 72.
36. George Crook, “The Apache Problem,” Journal of the Military Service Institution 7, no. 27 (October 1886): 266.
37. I recount this complex story in detail in Geronimo, chap. 21 (quotation on p. 182).
38. Originals of all the telegrams are found in Record Group 94, Letters Received, Office of the Adjutant General, 1881–1889, 1066 AGO 1883, National Archives and Records Administration (hereinafter NARA).
39. This is my own analysis, as set forth in Geronimo, p. 190.
Chapter 4. Oliver O. Howard
1. This is the portrait provided by his biographer: John A. Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch: Oliver Otis Howard (New York: Fordham University Press, 1999, first published in 1964). My own essay draws heavily on this book. For Howard’s Civil War career, see, in addition, Warner, Generals in Blue, pp. 237–39.
2. Howard quoted in Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, p. 60.
3. Sherman quoted in ibid., p. 65 (the following Sherman quotation is also from this source).
4. Paul S. Peirce, The Freedmen’s Bureau: A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction (Iowa City: State University of Iowa, 1904), pp. 111, 170.
5. I treat the Howard peace mission in Geronimo, chap. 8.
6. Quoted in Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, pp. 232–33.
7. Sherman to Howard, Washington, D.C., November 12, 1872, Sherman Papers, vol. 90, p. 220, Library of Congress.
8. Sherman to Howard, Washington, D.C., November 29, 1873, Sherman Papers, vol. 90, pp. 301–302.
9. An abundance of helpful books describe the Nez Perce War. The most valuable is Jerome A. Greene, Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The U.S. Army and the Nee-Me-Poo Crisis (Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2000). See also Utley, Frontier Regulars, chap. 16; and Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, pp. 246–64.
10. U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1877), pp. 12–14.
11. U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1878), p. 235.
12. Sherman to Howard (at Ebbitt House), December 7, 1880, Sherman Papers, vol. 91, pp. 545–46, Library of Congress.
13. My account of the Whittaker affair is drawn entirely from an online article in Black-Past.org. Strangely, although Carpenter, in Sword and Olive Branch, pp. 272–77, deals with Howard’s two years at West Point, he ignores the Whittaker court-martial and dismissal entirely, failing even to note that Howard ordered the court-martial. A century later a Mississippi professor unearthed Whittaker’s story. It was made into a television movie. President Bill Clinton posthumously commissioned Johnson Whittaker a second lieutenant in the army on July 24, 1995.
Chapter 5. Nelson A. Miles
1. Robert Wooster, Nelson A. Miles and the Twilight of the Frontier Army (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), p. 273. My work relies heavily on this definitive biography.
2. Besides Wooster’s biography, consult Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Blue, pp. 322–24.
3. Flaws in the officer corps are clearly set forth in Frank D. Baldwin to My Darling Little Wife, Hq. Indian Territory Expedition, Camp on Wolf Creek, Tex., October 22, 1874, and Baldwin to My Darling Wife, Camp on Red River, Tex., November 4, 1874: Baldwin Papers, Box 11, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
4. All official reports and correspondence of the Red River War are set forth in Joe F. Taylor, ed., The Indian Campaign on the Staked Plains, 1874–1875: Military Correspondence from War Department Adjutant General’s Office, File 2815–1874 (Canyon, Tex.: Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, 1962). An especially graphic description of the fight is found in the Journal of Frank
D. Baldwin, August 30, 1874, Box 1, Folder A3c, Baldwin Papers, Huntington Library.
5. Journal of Frank D. Baldwin, November 8, 1874, Box 1, Folder A3c, and Baldwin to My Darling Wife, Camp on Red River, Tex., November 4, 1874, Box 11: Baldwin Papers, Huntington Library. This letter was continued on December 18 after the battle.
6. Baldwin’s journals are in Box 1, Folder A3f, his letters in Box 11, Frank D. Baldwin Papers, Huntington Library.
7. Telegram, Terry to Sheridan, Camp on Rosebud, August 10, 1876, received in Chicago on September 4, Record Group (hereinafter RG) 393, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, Special Files, Military Division of the Missouri, M1495, Roll 4, Frame 39, NARA.
8. Sheridan to Terry, Hq. Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, August 18, 1876, RG 94, Office of the Adjutant General Letters Received (Main Series), 1871–1880, File 4163 AGO 1876 (Sioux War Papers), M666, Roll 278, Frame 219, NARA.
9. Miles to Assistant Adjutant General Department of Dakota, Camp opposite Cabin Creek on Yellowstone River, October 25, 1876 (Frame 431), and Miles to Terry, Camp on Bad Route Creek, October 28, 1876 (Frame 413), RG 94, Office of the Adjutant General Letters Received (Main Series), 1871–1880, File 4163 AGO 1876 (Sioux War Papers) M666, Roll 279, NARA. I treat these events in my book The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull (New York: Henry Holt, 1993), chap. 13. For the entire campaign, see Jerome A. Greene, Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991; paperback: Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006).
10. Miles to Assistant Adjutant General Department of Dakota, Cantonment at Tongue River, December 17, 1876 (Frame 593), and telegram, Miles to Terry, Dec. 20, 1876 (Frame 573), RG 393, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands (Special Files), Hq. Military Division of the Missouri, M1495, Roll 4, NARA; Miles to Assistant Adjutant General Department of Dakota, December 21, 24, 1876, in U.S. Secretary of War, Annual Report (1877), pp. 493–94. The movements of Miles’s command and Baldwin’s command in more detail are recorded in Baldwin’s journals, diaries, and letters to his wife: Box 1, Folder A3f, and Box 11, Frank D. Baldwin Papers, Huntington Library.
The Commanders Page 25
