A winter campaign: General Philip H. Sheridan's operations on the Southern Plains, 1868--1869.
Item
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Title
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A winter campaign: General Philip H. Sheridan's operations on the Southern Plains, 1868--1869.
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Identifier
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AAI9997119
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identifier
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9997119
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Creator
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Sarf, Wayne Michael.
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Contributor
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Adviser: David Syrett
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Date
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2001
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, United States | American Studies
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Abstract
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The treaties made in 1867 between the United States and the Indian tribes of the Southern Plains failed to secure peace; the Comanches and Kiowas continued their traditional pattern of raids against Texas, and in the summer of 1868 Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors began a wave of attacks against Kansas frontier settlements. The nomadic Plains Indians' skiff in eluding pursuit, and their habit of avoiding any fight at unfavorable odds, frustrated conventional military responses, and Major-General Philip H. Sheridan resolved to nullify the tribesmen's superior mobility with a winter campaign, unprecedented in scope.;Sheridan employed three powerful columns. The main force, led by Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, achieved the campaign's greatest battlefield success by destroying the snowbound Cheyenne village of chief Black Kettle, though this victory inspired charges that Custer had massacred women and children---and had in fact attacked a friendly village. While the soldiers' ability to wage a sustained campaign in the harshest of climates influenced most of the so-called "hostiles" to submit to reservation life, some bands continued to resist, and military operations extended well into the summer of 1869.;Sheridan's philosophy of total war resulted in a campaign waged against his foes' entire population, as his soldiers slaughtered Indian horses, burned villages, and carried off noncombatants as prisoners. Its success offered a pattern for subsequent operations against Indians. But while it received praise for its audacity, the campaign was also damned by humanitarians, and produced both minor mysteries and major controversies. No comprehensive narrative of the winter campaign, attempting to address fully its many unresolved questions, has appeared. This dissertation will fill the scholarly gap, exploring the controversies surrounding the campaign---dissecting the options available to U.S. Army and Indian leaders, the question of the Army's ability (or inability) to distinguish "friendly" from "hostile" Indians, the campaign's military lessons, and its effect on Indian resistance and subsequent Army policy.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
