Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-08-30

garrison Oh mDIG liha W WINES A
and negroes and left more than half Of them
dead.
The number of killed at Fort Minis has never
been accurately determined. Different authorities
give varying figures. ranging from $50 to 45O
with the preponderance of reliable evidence plac-
ing the number at $50. But even taking this
lowest figure, 1t gives the tragedy at Fort Minis
the doubtful distinction of being much worse
than any of the other Indian massacres whose
stories are familiar to most Americans.
Before discussing the affair at Fort Minis and
some of the factors which make 1t unique In our
history, 1t might be well to consider first the
word massacre and how inaccurately that
word is used by most Americans. For instance
they refer to the humiliation of Capt. W.. ]. Fet-
terman and his command on December Il, 1866,
as the "Fetterman Massacre" or the Fort Phil
Kearney Massacre" and to the Battle OF the Lit
tie Big Horn, fought June %, 1876. as the "Cus-
ter Massacre"
The late Cyrus Townsend Brady In his "In-
dian Fights and Fighters" In commenting on this
says: "Fetterman and Custer attacked the Indi-
ans and fought desperately until they and their
men were all killed. | call that a battle not q
massacre When an Indian war party raided a
settlement or overwhelmed q train or murdered
children and women, that, | think. was a mas
sacre'; but these two instances were not"
Much the same reasoning applies to the So
called "Dade Massacre during the Seminole war.
On December %, 1886. Maj. Francis L. Dade of
the Fourth infantry. who had set out from Fort
Brook In Florida with a force Of 40 officers and
men to cooperate with another detachment from
Fort King In a punitive expedition against Osce-
Ola's Seminoles, was ambushed near the Withla-
coochee river and fought bravely until all but
four were killed. In this case all of the slain
were soldiers bearing arms so it seems hardly
fair to call 1t a massacre"
Somewhat different are the cases of the "Cher-
nv Valley Massacre and the wyoming Valley
Massacre" during the Revolution. At Cherry Val
lev 80 non-combatants, men, women and chill
dren, were slain by the Indians and Tories who
also killed 16 Continental soldiers of the gar
rison at Fort Alden and their commander, Col.
Ichabod Alden, whose negligence and incompe-
tence was mainly responsible for the tragedy
there. At Wyoming Valley it was a case Of an
armed force, about so Continentals and some 250
soldiers enrolled as militia, taking the field
against the enemy, Tories and Indians. being
defeated and suffering a loss OF approximately
100 killed In action or slaughtered by the In
dams after being taken prisoners and disarmed.
In that respect 1.-THE killing of prisoners) 1t was
a massacre But despite the exaggerations
and myth making of the early historians of the
Wyoming Valley affair who painted 1t as a "di-
nbolical slaughter OF both sexes and every age"
modern historical research has established the
fact that only one man, a British deserter, was
put to death after the surrender of Forty Fort
and that there was no massacre Of non-com-
batants.
To three other historic affairs, the term mas
sacre" may be Justly applied. One of them was
the fort William Henry Massacre" in 1857
wvhan IN aoidIprc women and children of
the English garrison were slaughtered by the
Indians after the surrender of the fort to the
French before Montcalm, the French commander
could restrain the ferocity of the savages. An
other was the "Fort Dearborn Massacre" In
1912 when the Pottawatomies, after Capt. Nath'
an Heald had evacuated the fort, attacked the
retreating Americans among the sand hills OF
Lake Michigan and killed 20 regular soldiers
IL militia, a frontiersman, two women and IL
children. a total Of SO. The third was the "Rivel
Raisin Massacre In 1912 when after the Bat
lie of Frenchtown the British commander, Proc
tor. by failing to provide adequate protection
for some 30 wounded American prisoners al
lowed them to fall victims to the ~scalping knives
of his Indian allies.
But lest 1t be thought that the slaughter o.
whites by Indians were the only "Indian mas
sacres," let us remember what took place a
Gnaddenhutten In Ohio In 1882: at Sand Creel
In Colorado In 1864 and at Wounded Knee creel
in South Dakota In 1890. Those were cases o
an Indian massacre" In which the white mel
were the murderers and Indian men, womel
and children were the victims.
To return now TO the massacre at Fort MIN
1t will be seen from the foregoing that tn
toll OF death there was greater than that at an.
other massacre" OF whites BY the Indians. espe
clally II that term Ia limited to the killing 0