How many times have we all heard that when you go looking for trouble, you are most likely to find it?
Lets step back a few years... actually a lot more and go back to 1868. It was in that year that the US government came to an agreement with the natives with the Fort Laramie Treaty. In this, the Lakota Indians were promised that everyone would leave them alone on a large chunk of land that would become known as the Great Sioux Reservation.
The natives agrees...sort of. Then along came the US Cavalry's Custer who was sent into that territory looking for gold. When it was found the white man gravitated to the area in large numbers in search of fortunes. This of course violated the Treaty but the white man looked the other way,
Government then ordered the natives to move away from the more prosperous areas of their treaty lands and ordered to relocate to a selected area that was less suitable to their needs. They were given until the summer of 1876 to make the move. Failure to comply meant they would be treated as hostile and rounded up by force and escorted to these lands.
Hostilities would soon break out when the white man found them doing buffalo hunts and gathering in very large numbers. Push would soon come to shove and eventually the army would pit about 1500 against 1500 natives in the Battle of Rosebud in Montana. It would become the largest encounter on record. In a 6 hour battle the military would lose about 50 to wounds and death but the natives only lost half that amount. Not including the 150 dead horses. The natives were pushed back several miles. The soldiers had almost exhausted their supplies and had expended over 25,000 rounds of ammunition. They were also quite exhausted even before the battle having just finished a very long forced march. So their commanders decided to back off, return to their base and resupply. Weeks later many of the same natives were in battle again. History would record this as the Battle of Little Big Horn.
In the earlier battle Joseph Robinson, from Montreal Canada, (pictured above) serving as a First Sergeant with the 3rd US Cavalry would earn his Medal of Honor. While information is difficult to locate it seems that during a portion of the battle the horses were kept back. At a critical point in the battle he would play a strategic role in having them brought forth, and controlling the line that would lead to turning the tide in the battle.
Research is incomplete but it appears that Robinson served from 1866 until 1893 in the 3rd US Cavalry then remained in the Leavenworth area and fought his last battle... for a breath of air...95 years ago today..on 18 Dec 1917. He is buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas along with other 3rd Cavalry colleagues, some also having earned the Medal of Honor.
Bart
Lets step back a few years... actually a lot more and go back to 1868. It was in that year that the US government came to an agreement with the natives with the Fort Laramie Treaty. In this, the Lakota Indians were promised that everyone would leave them alone on a large chunk of land that would become known as the Great Sioux Reservation.
The natives agrees...sort of. Then along came the US Cavalry's Custer who was sent into that territory looking for gold. When it was found the white man gravitated to the area in large numbers in search of fortunes. This of course violated the Treaty but the white man looked the other way,
Government then ordered the natives to move away from the more prosperous areas of their treaty lands and ordered to relocate to a selected area that was less suitable to their needs. They were given until the summer of 1876 to make the move. Failure to comply meant they would be treated as hostile and rounded up by force and escorted to these lands.
Hostilities would soon break out when the white man found them doing buffalo hunts and gathering in very large numbers. Push would soon come to shove and eventually the army would pit about 1500 against 1500 natives in the Battle of Rosebud in Montana. It would become the largest encounter on record. In a 6 hour battle the military would lose about 50 to wounds and death but the natives only lost half that amount. Not including the 150 dead horses. The natives were pushed back several miles. The soldiers had almost exhausted their supplies and had expended over 25,000 rounds of ammunition. They were also quite exhausted even before the battle having just finished a very long forced march. So their commanders decided to back off, return to their base and resupply. Weeks later many of the same natives were in battle again. History would record this as the Battle of Little Big Horn.
In the earlier battle Joseph Robinson, from Montreal Canada, (pictured above) serving as a First Sergeant with the 3rd US Cavalry would earn his Medal of Honor. While information is difficult to locate it seems that during a portion of the battle the horses were kept back. At a critical point in the battle he would play a strategic role in having them brought forth, and controlling the line that would lead to turning the tide in the battle.
Research is incomplete but it appears that Robinson served from 1866 until 1893 in the 3rd US Cavalry then remained in the Leavenworth area and fought his last battle... for a breath of air...95 years ago today..on 18 Dec 1917. He is buried at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in Kansas along with other 3rd Cavalry colleagues, some also having earned the Medal of Honor.
Bart
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