"The First Sioux War"

[Bob Rea]

I have been reading a book to review for "Nebraska History." It is "The First Sioux War, The Grattan Fight and Blue Water Creek 1854-1856" by Paul N. Beck from University Press of America, 2004.
There seems to be more interest in pre Civil War Indian War topics. An acquaintance Eli Paul has also come out with a book on that Sioux war. The book contains about 135 pages of narrative and the usual endnotes and references.

Of interest is the make up of Gen. Harney's forces at Blue Water Creek. Two officers are John Buford and Henry Heth who opposed each other later at Gettysburg on the first day. The author contends that the fight on Blue Water was the reason Buford later embraced dismounted cavalry tactics. Because of a lack of cavalry for the expedition, Harney had Heth mount his company of the 10th Infantry at Fort Leavenworth on ponies bought from the Sac and Fox Indians. He was also issued the new Sharps rifle. Harney's other mounted companies were from the 2nd Dragoons led by Philip St. George Cooke. Unlike Buford, Cooke believed cold steel and revolvers were the cavalryman's primary weapons.

Bob Rea

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bob Rea</i>
<br />I have been reading a book to review for "Nebraska History." It is "The First Sioux War, The Grattan Fight and Blue Water Creek 1854-1856" by Paul N. Beck from University Press of America, 2004.
There seems to be more interest in pre Civil War Indian War topics. An acquaintance Eli Paul has also come out with a book on that Sioux war. The book contains about 135 pages of narrative and the usual endnotes and references.

Of interest is the make up of Gen. Harney's forces at Blue Water Creek. Two officers are John Buford and Henry Heth who opposed each other later at Gettysburg on the first day. The author contends that the fight on Blue Water was the reason Buford later embraced dismounted cavalry tactics. Because of a lack of cavalry for the expedition, Harney had Heth mount his company of the 10th Infantry at Fort Leavenworth on ponies bought from the Sac and Fox Indians. He was also issued the new Sharps rifle. Harney's other mounted companies were from the 2nd Dragoons led by Philip St. George Cooke. Unlike Buford, Cooke believed cold steel and revolvers were the cavalryman's primary weapons.

Bob Rea
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What will your review appear in, so that we can view it when it comes out?

Interesting on Buford. Also interesting on the reference to mounting infantry on Indian horses. I see that from time to time, but I never seem to find any references to it causing problems. Either the authors omit that, as perhaps it wasn't interesting at the time, or it says something about horse familiarity at the time that it could be done without tremendous problems.

Pat

[Bob Rea]

The review may appear in Nebraska History magazine published by that historical society sometime in '05. My review does not have to be in until March 1.

I left the book at work but I remember that the company that was mounted on the Indian ponies was posted in a position to block an avenue of escape for the Indians in the village. But the Sioux got around them somehow. Cooke blamed Heth for his inept handling of the situation. There ensued a chase across the prairie after fleeing Indians that was mostly done by the real mounted troops of the 2nd Dragoons. They also suffered the most casualties among the attacking troops. The frontal assault on the village was by infantry. The mounted troops had been sent around up the creek to attack the village from upstream and block any fleeing villagers. There may have been some comment about the mounted infantry in the source material that may have been deemed unimportant by the author. One would have to go through his sources to check.

Bob Rea

[Trooper]

Bob,
I have seen mention of Sharps carbines being lost by Dragoons in this affair, possibly owing to weakness in the sling bar. Does the book mention this and does it give any citation where this could be followed up? I have a feeling that this problem led to the shortening of the sling ring bar in later models of Sharps - and other carbines and would like to look into it for future work.
Thanks for any leads and good luck with the review.


Dušan

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Bob Rea</i>
<br />The review may appear in Nebraska History magazine published by that historical society sometime in '05. My review does not have to be in until March 1.

I left the book at work but I remember that the company that was mounted on the Indian ponies was posted in a position to block an avenue of escape for the Indians in the village. But the Sioux got around them somehow. Cooke blamed Heth for his inept handling of the situation. There ensued a chase across the prairie after fleeing Indians that was mostly done by the real mounted troops of the 2nd Dragoons. They also suffered the most casualties among the attacking troops. The frontal assault on the village was by infantry. The mounted troops had been sent around up the creek to attack the village from upstream and block any fleeing villagers. There may have been some comment about the mounted infantry in the source material that may have been deemed unimportant by the author. One would have to go through his sources to check.

Bob Rea
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I suppose these mounted infantry units, that is ad hoc mounted infantry, were using horses as transportation only, and were not really mobile in combat. The use of them to block a retreat route makes sense in that context.

We have had a thread on that in the past, interesting topic. One thing that has surprised me in the past is that the tack for these efforts was apparently available. It was pointed out then that it is likely that Quatermaster units could likely have had their tack used.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

The old thread on use of Indian horses.

http://www.militaryhorse.org/forum/topi ... IC_ID=1201

Pat