Washita : the U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869

"On November 27, 1868, the U.S. Seventh Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer attacked a Southern Cheyenne village along the Washita River in present-day western Oklahoma. The subsequent U.S. victory signaled the end of the Cheyennes' traditional way of life and resulted in the death of Black Kettle, their most prominent peace chief. Long considered a watershed event, the Washita received formal national recognition in 1996 when the site became a unit of the National Park System. Now, in a remarkably balanced history, Jerome A. Greene draws on newly available material from both Indian and U.S. Army sources to retell in depth the story of what happened on the snowy banks of the Washita River at dawn that November day.". "Tracing the history of the Southern Cheyennes from the seventeenth century, Greene describes the horrific losses Black Kettle's people suffered at Sand Creek, Colorado, four years earlier. Terrified of another attack, Black Kettle sought to maintain a fragile peace, but to no avail. On orders from General Phil Sheridan, the U.S. Army made a retaliatory strike against the Indians for purported raids, deliberately attacking the Cheyennes in the deep of winter when the Indians were most vulnerable.". "Synthesizing primary and secondary sources, Greene describes the event's causes, conduct, and consequences even as he addresses the multiple controversies surrounding the conflict, including questions of whether the engagement was a battle or a massacre and whether Custer purposely abandoned his men during the fighting. As Greene explains, the engagement brought both praise and condemnation for Custer and carried long-range implications for his defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn eight years later."--BOOK JACKET.