The Fetterman Fight – Sheridan, Wyoming
The site of the Fetterman Fight is just 25 miles from Sheridan where you can take a self-guided tour of the area. The battle took place in December 1866. This fight was the result of the US Government wanting to take back the land they had granted to the Indians when they discovered that the miners, settlers and military needed to travel through the area knows as the Bozeman Trail. The Indians did not want the infringement on their land and yet the military was taking it over.
Fort Phil Kearny was located in an area which was in low ground and the Indians could watch everything going on in the fort. During the winter the fort needed more wood to keep warm and so trains were sent out to get the wood. They were frequently attacked by the Indians. Due to this Captain William J. Fetterman and 80 men were sent out to rescue a besieged wood-wagon train. The Sioux and Cheyenne had gathered together in large war parties and prepared to battle the military.
The Indians sent decoy riders to entice Fetterman to go beyond the area that the commander had told him to do. He didn’t think he would have any problem fighting back the Indians. On the far side of Lodge Trail Ridge there were as many as 2,000 warriors waiting to attack the military. The battle was furious at first but the single-shot carbines that were used by the military were no match for warriors with thousands of arrows. The infantry consisting of 40 men didn’t have a chance and didn’t last long. The battle ended up being a hand to hand combat situation as the military took cover behind a rough circle of boulders. The bugler even swung his bugle against the Indians that came to kill him. Many years later the bugle was given to the Gatchell Museum in Buffalo, Wyoming by Jim Gatchell of Buffalo who had been given the bugle by an Indian.
Red Cloud’s War was effectively over and although the army remained in their two forts along the Bozeman Trail, fighting tow tough battles with the Sioux at the Wagon Box fight and the Hayfield fight near Fort Smith, the Indians has won the war.
You can get information on visiting the site at the Fort Phil Kearny Information center.
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