RED CLOUDS WAR:

AN INSURGENCY CASE STUDY

Role play
COIN & Leadership
1866-1890
Army
statistics:
1065
encounters
70%
Indians/civilians
30%
Indians/soldiers
Of the 30% a total of 93% involved less than 100 soldiers and the remaining 7% involved
more than 100 soldiers eg Little Big Horn 1876
Read the word document COIN thoroughly
Carrington
Fetterman
Grummond
Umpire
Scenario
21
st
December 1866
90 woodcutters [3dead] are
attacked by 60 Indians [0]
Carrington orders save the
woodcutters do not cross
Lodge Trail Ridge
Fetterman leads out 52
infantry
Grummond leads out &
overtakes with 27 Cavalry
Lt. Brown [without orders]
borrows a horse & joins the
cavalry keen to get an
Indian scalp
2 civilian hunters [Wheatley
& Fisher] ride over to join
the soldiers
The 60 indians are making
for Lodge Trail Ridge
On the ridge 10 indians are
covering the 60 with gun fire
and shouting taunts at the
soldiers
Fort
Pines
& Woodcutters
Sullivant trail
Bozeman Trail
Lodge Trail Ridge
60
10
Fetterman
Grummond & Brown
civilians
The great war party gathered in the hills. They asked a
half man half woman for spiritual guidance. The
Heemanah wore a woman's dress and his head was
covered by a black cloth. He blew on a bone whistle and
his horse zigzagged as he was seeking a vision. He rode to
the warriors saying I have five in the hand but he was
met with silence. He rode about and returned saying I
have ten in the hand , is that enough? but still the
warriors remained silent. After a while he rode back and
staggered on his feet, answer me quickly , for I have a
hundred in the hand. The warriors shouted together
their answer Hokey hay which means it is a good day
to die!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X
y4NX5RgV8
400
Grummond overtook Fetterman, and the whole command followed the Bozeman Trail up Lodge Trail Ridge.
Whether Fetterman gave the order or Grummond was acting on his own will never be known, but
Carrington's order had been disobeyed.
Just as the troopers reached the Peno Valley, a force of 2000 Indians rose from the high grass. as the
ambushers unleashed their wrath.
Grummond was probably one of the first to die. The two civilians, Wheatley and Fisher, and a few of the
troopers dismounted and formed an effective actionfor a while.
Most of the cavalrymen retreated partway back toward the infantry, then dismounted and made a stand.
Fetterman and the foot soldiers, unable to advance or retreat to the fort (there were also Indians behind
them), formed a defensive circle.
That meant there were three small, separate groups of soldiers trying to hold off a vastly superior force that
shot an estimated 40,000 arrows during the fight. Fetterman and the infantrymen fired from their tight little
circle, where rocks provided some cover.
Indian participants said later that they had moved in so close that some of the arrows they unleashed struck
their fellow warriors on the other side of the circle. In the end, the Indians rushed right up to the last
soldiers and slashed at them with war clubs, lances and knives.
Before that final assault, Fetterman and Brown apparently shot each other in the temple to avoid capture
and slower, more painful deaths. Their bodies, according to most accounts, were found lying next to each
other. In any case, Fetterman and all his command were dead.
One of the last to soldiers to die was bugler Metzger, evidently fought off the last of his attackers with his
bent and twisted bugle until finally succumbing to over a dozen wounds. Prior to withdrawing from the
battlefield, the Indians stripped and mutilated the bodies of the soldiers according to cultural beliefs. It is
noteworthy that the only body left unmutilated was that of Metzger. His body was found covered by a
buffalo robe,the Indian ultimate sign of respect for bravery in battle.