Oh What a Slaughter Read online

  For a time, though, almost any gathering of Indians, of any size, continued to awaken old fears. When the northern Cheyenne broke out in 1877 the whole of the population of the Great Plains went into a panic. The old apprehension was waiting there in the yeast of pioneer memory; it easily swelled up. In situations such as occurred at Wounded Knee, one shot, accidental or not, was enough to set off one more unnecessary slaughter.

  The Great Plains of the American West is a huge space, and yet there proved to be not enough room in it for two races, two ideas of community identity to coexist. Both races, it seemed, needed all the land there in order to survive in their traditional ways. Wounded Knee was a final spasm in the long agony of dispossession.

  Black Elk said that he didn’t realize at first how much had been lost on that snowy battlefield. In fact, by the time of Wounded Knee, a whole continent had been lost to the native peoples. A process begun in the seventeenth century on the shores of Virginia and Massachusetts got finished on that bleak plain in South Dakota at the ending of the year.

  Wounded Knee was not the last conflict between the white government and the native people, but after Wounded Knee the scale changed, and also the methods of dispossession. The latter, since then, has mainly been accomplished through the Congress and the law courts. Chiseling turned out to work as well as shooting. The Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma suffered a second dispossession when they were made American citizens—merely a clever ruse to end their system of communal ownership of land. They ceased to be sovereign nations—as brand-new American citizens they were easily cheated.

  The white man’s appetite for land and profit never slackened: the Indians repeatedly found themselves left with the short end of the stick. Within the last year revelations of large-scale misuse of Indian trust funds have come to light, an indication that this pattern hasn’t changed. Large gatherings of Indians are still viewed with suspicion by police, even when Indians are the police. The general attitude seems to be that it cannot be good for too many Indians to assemble, even if they are only getting together for celebration and meditation.

  Despite all these losses the native tribes of America still exhibit a good deal of resilience. Some have prospered running casinos—others have managed significant wins in court.

  Just over the hill from the Wounded Knee battlefield is Wounded Knee village, a rather cheerful, somewhat suburban community. Someone has taken the trouble to line the highway with vividly painted Drive-Slow signs, urging drivers to remember that there are children at play. The signs insist on responsible driving, and this in a place where most people don’t like to drive slow. Wounded Knee, the battlefield, is, like most of the other massacre sites, a somber place; but you only have to go over the hill a few hundred yards to realize that the Sioux are still here and still lively.

  History, both ancient and modern, reminds us that the impulse to turn whole groups of people into meat shops is not likely to be extinguished. Wounded Knee may have been an impulsive massacre, but the others I have considered were not. What happened in Rwanda was not impulsive, either: nor was Saddam’s gassing of the Kurds.

  Long ago, when I was a young cowboy, I witnessed a herd reaction in a real herd—about one hundred cattle that some cowboys and I were moving from one pasture to another along a small asphalt farm-to-market road. It was mid-afternoon in midsummer. Men, horses, and cattle were all drowsy, the herd just barely plodding along, until one cow happened to drag her hoof on the rough asphalt, making a loud rasping sound. In an instant that sleepy herd was in full flight, and our horses too. A single sound on a summer afternoon produced a short but violent stampede. The cattle and horses ran full-out for perhaps one hundred yards. It was the only stampede I was ever in, and a dragging hoof caused it.

  So it may have been at Wounded Knee. But for Black Coyote’s perhaps unintentional shot the old sick chief and his people might merely have grumbled a bit about the disarming and then trundled harmlessly off to Nebraska. But when that shot sounded, the soldiers on the ridge went off like my cows, and, once more, slaughter was unleased.

  * * *

  A final point about these homely little massacres and the even more terrible ones that keep occurring throughout the world: women and children are almost never exempted. A small anthology could be assembled just of quotations about the desirability of killing the women and children while one is killing undesirables. There one would find John Chivington’s “nits breed lice” remarks, and General Sherman’s famous grim one-liner.

  A star item certainly would be Heinrich Himmler’s famous speech delivered in Posen in October of 1943, in which he informed the Nazi hierarchy of the program to exterminate the Jewish people; Himmler himself raises the question of women and children and concludes, after only the briefest pause, that they had better be killed too.

  And they were.

  This is an old conclusion, many times restated by those inclined to massacre. The earliest statement I have been able to find comes from the prophet Ezekiel, who wrote about 600 B. C.:

  Go yet after him through the city and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slaughter old and young, both maids and little children.

  Ezekiel 9:5–6

  Time and time across history, Ezekiel’s advice has been followed to the letter. The making of meat shops seemingly has no end.

  Bibliographical Note

  The literature on the massacres of the American West is not really vast, though it certainly might swell in size if one included all the memoirs in which one or another of the massacres is mentioned. This would include the often homespun recollections of pioneers, travelers, soldiers, administrators, local historians, newspapermen, (and women), miners, ministers, railroad men, cowboys, and the like.

  Virtually any of the memoirs might contain a line or two that throws new light on some aspect of some massacre: perhaps only a memory, probably inaccurate, passed down to them from parent or grandparent.

  The genius of Evan Connell’s great book on Custer, Son of the Morning Star, is that he mined just such memoir literature brilliantly, constructing around Custer’s defeat a kind of mosaic of local memory, white, Native American, military, journalistic, and so forth. William Coleman, in Voices of Wounded Knee, has done something of the same thing for that encounter.

  There is nothing so comprehensive about any of the other massacres in this book. The one study that attempted comprehensiveness, J. P. Dunn’s Massacres of the Mountains, was published too soon to include Wounded Knee.

  The most solid facts about any of these massacres are the dates on which they occurred. All other statements need to be regarded with caution. Will Bagley cheerfully restates this principle in Blood of the Prophets, his recent book about Mountain Meadows. The principal fact, in each case, is that a lot of people turned up dead.

  How many exactly, and why, is, in almost every case, still disputed.

  These are the books I’ve worked from:

  Backus, Anna Jean. Mountain Meadows Witness: The Life and Times of Bishop Philip Klingensmith. Arthur H. Clark, 1996.

  Bagley, Will. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.

  Brooks, Juanita. The Mountain Meadows Massacre. University of Oklahoma Press, 1962. The classic account.

  Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970.

  Coleman, William. Voices of Wounded Knee. University of Nebraska Press, 2000.

  Connell, Evan S. Son of the Morning Star. Promontory Press, 1993. The illustrated edition.

  Cutler, Bruce. The Massacre at Sand Creek. University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.

  Denton, Sally. American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857. Knopf, 2003.

  Dunn, J. P. Massacres of the Mountains. Archer House, 1965.

  Hoig, Stan. The Sand Creek Massacre. University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.

  Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor. Boston, 1881.

>   Lamar, Howard (ed). The New Yale Encyclopedia of the American West. Yale University Press, 1998.

  Mendoza, Patrick. Song of Sorrow: Massacre at Sand Creek. Willow Wind, 1993.

  Mooney, James. The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890. Bureau of American Ethnology, Fourteenth Annual Report, Part II, Washington D.C., 1896.

  Roberts, David. A Newer World: Kit Carson, John Charles Frémont, and the Claiming of the American West. Simon & Schuster, 2000.

  Schellie, Don. Vast Domain of Blood. Westernlore, 1968.

  Scott, Bob. Blood at Sand Creek. Caxton, 1994.

  Wilson, James. The Earth Shall Weep. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999.

  Wise, William. Massacre at Mountain Meadows: An American Legend and a Monumental Crime. Crowell, 1976.

  Index

  Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

  Across America and Asia (Pumpelly), 124–25

  Adams, Cassilly, 37, 38

  Adobe Walls, Battle of, 106

  Alamo, Battle of the, 15

  American Horse, 155

  American Massacre (Denton), 63

  Anheuser-Busch Company, 37

  Apaches, 5, 24, 60, 61, 129, 135

  Camp Grant Massacre and, 119–27

  Papagos and, 119, 120, 124

  Arapaho, 24, 58, 94, 105, 135, 157

  Aravaipa Apaches, 119, 120, 125

  Aravaipa Massacre, see Camp Grant Massacre (1871)

  Armenians, 2

  Army, U.S., 30, 158

  Big Foot’s death and, 149–50

  Camp Grant Massacre and, 119–20, 121, 122–24, 125

  Frémont and, 50

  Marias River Massacre and, 115, 118

  Mormons and, 26, 66–67, 69, 70, 71, 82

  Red Cloud’s War and, 109–10

  Sand Creek Massacre and, 95, 99, 104

  Sitting Bull’s death and, 145–47

  Wounded Knee Massacre and, 140, 143–44, 149–52, 155

  Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, 50

  Arnold, Lucy, 154

  Badlands, 144, 147

  Bagley, Will, 63, 65, 89, 164

  Baker, E. M., 115, 118

  Barbie, Klaus, 21

  Baskin, Leonard, 40

  Battleship Potemkin, 105

  Bear Dance, 53, 59

  Bear Flag Revolt, 50

  Becker, Otto, 37

  Beckwourth, Jim, 103–4, 103, 107

  Bent, Charles, 91

  Bent, Charles (son of William Bent), 91, 106

  Bent, George, 91, 104

  Bent, John, 91

  Bent, Robert, 91, 104

  Bent, William, 91, 92, 105

  Bent’s Fort, 91

  Berger, Thomas, 40, 111

  Big Foot, 29, 147, 149–50, 151

  death of, 150

  Black Beaver, 60–61

  Black Coyote (Black Fox), 150, 151–52, 155, 160

  Black Elk, 153–54, 154, 159

  Blackfeet, 115–18, 118

  Black Hills, 140, 143

  Black Kettle, 54–55, 55, 56, 99, 100, 109

  death of, 106, 111

  at Sand Creek Massacre, 103, 104, 111

  Blood of the Prophets (Bagley), 63, 164

  Bloody Point, 111

  Blue Whirlwind, 152, 154

  Bodmer, Karl, 117, 118

  Bonney, William (Billy the Kid), 41, 42, 44, 66

  Bosnia, 21

  Bosque Redondo, N. Mex., 60

  Bosse, 55

  Bourke, John Gregory, 122–23

  Boxer movement, 137

  Bozeman Trail, 109

  Bradley, James, 31, 33

  Brand, Dewey, 150

  Breckenridge, Thomas, 32

  Bridger Plateau, 69

  Brooks, Juanita, 64, 64, 65

  Brown, Dee, 140, 147

  Brulé Sioux, 94–95, 129, 130

  Buchanan, James, 66

  buffalo, 97, 132

  Buffalo, Connie, 92

  Bull Bear, 55, 100, 100

  Bullhead, 145, 146

  Bureau of American Ethnology, 135

  Bureau of Indian Affairs, 122, 123

  Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Brown), 140

  Caddos, 135, 157

  California:

  Frémont in, 50–53

  Indian tribes of, 47–48, 53–56, 59–60

  see also gold rushes, in California; Sacramento River Massacre (1846)

  Camp Grant Massacre (1871), 15, 119–27

  children abducted after, 121, 125

  effect of, 122–23

  Grant’s condemnation of, 21, 121

  Indian decline following, 129–34

  investigation and trial after, 121–22

  women and children as sole victims of, 31–32

  Wounded Knee compared with, 152

  Captain Jack, 47, 48, 129

  Carleton, James H., 60, 84

  Carrington, Henry, 112

  Carson, Christopher “Kit,” 23–26, 23, 32

  Frémont expeditions and, 47, 60

  Long Walk and, 60

  “perfect butchery” comment of, 1, 23, 25, 26, 53

  at Sacramento River Massacre, 51–52, 53, 59, 60

  as Western icon, 41

  Carson, Josefa, 61, 61

  Catch-the-Bear, 145–47

  Catlin, George, 117

  Chamberlain, Neville, 105

  Cherokees, 98, 111

  Cheyenne, 24, 34, 58, 94, 100, 104, 105, 112, 124–125, 132, 141, 157, 158

  see also Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

  Cheyenne Autumn (Sandoz), 141

  Chivington, Colo., 21, 91

  Chivington, John Milton, 20–21, 20

  blood lust of, 24

  in Civil War, 98

  Dunn’s defense of, 109–11

  as Free-Soiler, 93, 102

  Frémont compared with, 52

  intimidating presence of, 101, 107

  later life of, 108

  “nits breed lice” comment of, 102, 106, 161

  as preacher, 98, 101–2

  racism of, 93

  Sand Creek Massacre and, 30, 54–55, 91, 99, 100–108, 112–13

  Civil War, U.S., 94, 98, 108

  Clark, William, 116

  Clayton, Nephi W., 70

  Cochise, 57, 119, 127, 129

  Cody, William F. “Buffalo Bill,” 43

  Hay-o-wei killing and, 132

  Sitting Bull and, 131, 142, 144–45

  as Western icon, 41, 44

  Colby, Captain, 154

  Coleman, Thomas, ix

  Coleman, William, 155, 163

  Colter, John, 117

  Colyer, Vincent, 126

  Comanches, 9, 58, 94, 129, 130, 131, 135

  Conestoga Indians, 110

  Confederate States of America (CSA), 98

  Congress, U.S.:

  Native American dispossession and, 159

  Sand Creek Massacre and, 107

  Connell, Evan, 40, 163

  Conquering Bear, 95

  Cooper Union, 41

  Corps of Discovery, 116

  Cradlebaugh, John, 85

  Crazy Horse, 37, 47, 58, 95, 127, 144

  death of, 130, 133

  Miles and, 124, 131

  Rosebud battle and, 31

  surrender of, 132

  as symbol, 41, 130

  Crook, George, 122–24, 125–26, 127, 130, 132, 143, 145

  Crows, 123

  Custer, George Armstrong, 25, 31, 58, 110, 122, 141

  Cody’s revenge for death of, 132

  death of, ix, 2, 31, 130, 138

  mutilation of body of, 34

  reconnaissance ignored by, 59

  representations of, 37–40, 38

  Washita attack of, 106

  as Western icon, 44

  see also Little Bighorn, Battle of (1876)

  Custer Reader (Hutton), 37

  Custer’s Last Fight (Adams), 37, 38

  Custer’s Last Rally (Mulvany), 37

  Custer’s Las
t Stand, see Little Bighorn, Battle of (1876)

  Dawson, Bill, 91, 92

  del Rio, Dolores, 48

  Denton, Sally, 26, 63, 64, 65, 89

  Denver, Colo., 97, 98, 106

  diseases, 94, 115

  Dog Soldiers, 91, 99, 106

  Dresden, Germany, 34

  Dull Knife, 141

  Dunn, J. P., 4, 5–6, 81, 82, 87, 115, 121, 122, 163

  on Camp Grant aftermath, 125–26

  Chivington defended by, 109–11

  on Indian agents, 134

  Eakin, Emily, 63

  Earth Shall Weep, The (Wilson), 55–56, 136

  Edras, Casper, 139

  Eichmann, Adolf, 21

  Elk Shoulders, Mrs., 141

  Encyclopedia Britannica, 1

  Eskiminzin, 119, 121, 125

  Evans, John, 100

  Ezekiel, Book of, 161

  Fall Creek Massacre (1824), 16–17

  Fancher party, 66–78, 85

  value of possessions of, 80

  see also Mountain Meadows Massacre (1857)

  Fetterman, William, 32, 155

  Fetterman Massacre (1866), 15, 56, 109, 155

  casualties in, 34

  mutilations after, 34, 112

  as Native American victory, 31, 129

  Five Civilized Tribes, 98, 141, 159

  Ford, Henry, 40

  Ford, John, 141

  Forney, Jacob, 82–84

  Forsyth, James, 149–50, 152

  Fort Laramie council (1854), 94–95, 98, 132

  Fort Lowell, Ariz., 120

  Fort Lyon, Colo., 30, 99, 104

  Fort McKenzie, Mont., 117

  Fort Phil Kearny, Wyo., 15, 112

  Fort Richardson, Tex., 11

  Fort Robinson, Nebr., 130, 144

  Fort Sill, Okla., 12, 130

  Fort Union, N. Dak., 117

  Fraser, Caroline, 70

  Free-Soilers, 93, 102

  Frémont, John Charles, 24, 25

  Bear Flag Revolt and, 50

  Chivington compared with, 52

  expeditions of, 47, 49, 60

  Gavilan Peak encampment of, 50

  Paiutes and, 48, 59, 66

  Sacramento River Massacre and, 48, 49–53

  Sierra Nevada crossing of, 59–60

  Galveston flood, 2

  Gavilan Peak, 50

  Geronimo, 45, 58, 119, 125, 137