Who What Where When How

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Thirty-two defenders hold off 1000 - 1500 attackers.  Give me the five W's (Who was involved?, What was the engagement?, Where did it happen?, When did it happen?, and How were they able to pull it off?)

Hint is depicted below.

[Big Hext Finnigan]

Well heck.. I got Adobe Walls on the brain.. but those look like wagons. 

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Well heck.. I got Adobe Walls on the brain.. but those look like wagons. 

Not Adobe Walls, first or second.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Hint #2.

The name of the painting in Hint #1 is "STING OF THE
NEEDLE GUN".

[Russ T Chambers]

Hint #2.

The name of the painting in Hint #1 is "STING OF THE
NEEDLE GUN".

OK I'll bite.

It's has to be either Fetterman's battle (he loses), or the woodcutter fight that sparks Fetterman.  I'll have to go with the Woodcutter fight, as Fetterman wouldn't have had any wagons.

[Russ T Chambers]

If that's right, then it's outside Fort Phil Kearny.  The reason was the new breach loading Springfield that allowed quicker reloads than the Indians expected.  And I think it was around '66 or '67.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

You're really close, Russ T.  There were three nearly back-to-back engagements. The first one, which you have identified, involved Fetterman, and became known as the Fetterman Massacre.  This was followed by the Hayfield Fight (see second paragraph below).  The one we are looking for is the last of this "trilogy" of fights with Red Cloud.

"The task of fort building proceeded regardless. The first taste of Red Clouds fury came at newly built Fort Phil Kearney, when brash Captain William Fetterman who claimed that with 80 men he could subjugate the entire Sioux nation was wiped out along with the 79 men under his command. When a group of wood cutters were caught outside of the Fort, Fetterman rushed to their rescue. Despite the clear warning from his superior, Colonel Carrington, not to pursue the Indians, Fetterman did just that. He golloped after the feinting Indians into the Lodge Tail Ridge and out of sight of the Fort. Over the hill Red Cloud waited with the main force of warriors. They streamed upon the hapless Fetterman destroying the eighty men whom he had so proudly bragged that he could wipe out the Sioux nation with. The Fetterman massacre was the armys worst western defeat up to that date. The only thing that stopped the entire fort from being overrun was the terribly bad weather. The Forts commander, Colonel Carrington, sent out a scout on a perilous, frozen bid for help. After a heroic journey this scout he reached a telegraph wire at Horseshoe Bend where it was possible to contact Fort Laramie and call for help. However the message did not get through. The courier, Portugee Philips rode on, finally able to get to Laramie. Reinforcements were rushed to Fort Phil Kearney. Red Clouds warriors quickly dispersed.

"On August 1st Red Cloud came back. This time he attacked both Fort Kearney and Fort C F Smith. About 500 Cheyenne warriors came across 30 civilian hay cutters about two miles from Fort Smith. After a stand off the Indians retreated, having lost 20 of their number.

"The next day an attack came against Fort Kearney. Among the warrior band were the greatest of their warrior chiefs, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and American Horse. Again the Indians managed to cut off the wood cutting crew outside of the fort..."  This is the one in question.

Will ID source of quotes once we get our answers.

PS:  Posted the above response before I saw your second post.  You are correct Re: the rifles.  We'll talk more on them later.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Just so you don't miss it, Russ T, I added a couple of lines to my initial response to you.

[Russ T Chambers]

Then we're left with the Wagonbox fight.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Thirty-two defenders hold off 1000 - 1500 attackers.  Give me the five W's (Who was involved?, What was the engagement?, Where did it happen?, When did it happen?, and How were they able to pull it off?)

Let's see how old Russ T did.

"Who" was pretty much a "gimme" (US Army and Sioux).

He definitely got the "What" with his "Wagon Box Fight" response.

He was right on again with the "Where" when he said "...it's outside Fort Phil Kearny."

His "...around '66 or '67." was a good enough "When" - actual date was 2 August 1867.

Finally, Russ T identified the Army's use of the new breach loading Springfield rifle as the primary "How" factor in the outcome of the fight.  It, and the initiative of the Captain in charge of the detail to use the wagon boxes as  breastworks provided enough time for a rescue force to arrive from the fort, causing the Sioux to leave the field of battle.

There are many sites on the internet that provide more info than you'll ever want  to read, but I am only providing two here.  I ran across a two-part article that describes both Fetterman's Massacre and the Wagon Box Fight.  Interestingly it appeared in a 1927 publication produced by an Indian Wars Veterans group, and was written by an individual who had been assigned to Fort Phil Kearny at the time of both events.  Like most accounts written years after the event, I'm sure some of his memories may have faded by the time he put pen to paper (example:  he has Fetterman's troops armed with the 1866 Springfield, 2nd Allin Conversion in .50-70, and I'm right sure it's first combat use was in the Wagon Box fight)  but I found both accounts to be very interesting.  (This stuff is frustraiting at times.  As in the Jim Courtright - Luke Short post, it is difficult to find two independent accounts that will match in all respects.)

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/ftphilkearney_forgottenbattalion_wotw063028.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/wagonboxfight_wotw07301928.htm

Also see http://ugca.org/firepower/firepowermain.htm for more on the "new" Springfield rifle.

Painting in first post of this thread came from http://www.westernheritagestudio.com/products/sting_of_the_needle_gun.html

Other quotes came from http://mo.essortment.com/redcloudwar_rfkq.htm

[Silver Creek Slim]

Way to go Russ T.

Slim