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The story of the American West is a story of struggle and perseverance:
man versus the elements, man versus beast, and above all man versus
man in savage combat. The centuries-long bloody struggle between
“Old World” settlers and the various Native American nations of the
“New World” is easily among the most critical and iconic components of
American history, and dramatic tales of the Indian Wars have long been
popular both within the United States as well as around the world. Near
continuous violence among the more than 500 Native American tribes as
well as between the tribes and settlers, traders, and the military essentially
lasted from Columbus’s landing in 1492 until the end of the Indian Wars in
the early 20th century. Frederick Jackson Turner and others recognized the
role of the frontier in shaping American culture and politics throughout the
19th century as settlements pushed further into the West completing what
many viewed as the United States’ “Manifest Destiny” to rule the continent.
The near continuous conflict shaped the nation in many ways, including the
importance of firearms to the American people.
Little in America in the 19th century was not influenced by the potential
of the vast territories in the West, including the outbreak of the
American Civil War which was fought in part due to disagreements on the
spread of slavery into the western territories. During the war, the Union
Army enlisted 2,672,431 men to re-unite the country. Among these men
arose talented military leaders, including generals Ulysses S. Grant, William
Tecumseh Sherman, and Philip Sheridan, who led the Union to victory.
Throughout the war, many younger officers and enlisted men also proved
their mettle and earned national recognition for their valor, though few had
any experience fighting Indians in the West. Perhaps no cavalry officer is
more famous than George Armstrong Custer. Custer was a young officer
and graduated in the Class of 1861 at the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point in June early in the war and proved himself a daring cavalryman. He
quickly rose to the rank of major general of volunteers by 1864 before he
turned 25 years old and continued pursuing General Robert E. Lee’s Army
of Northern Virginia until the surrender at Appomattox Court House on
April 9, 1865.
THE BATTLE OF THE WASHITA AND THE DEATH OF JOEL ELLIOTT:
A Prelude to Custer’s Demise at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Seventh U.S. Cavalry charging into Black Kettle's village at daylight, November 27, 1868
- Published in "Harper's Weekly", December 19, 1868