CRAZY HORSE CALLED THEM “WALK-A-HEAPS”
because they marched into battle, carrying their knapsacks, haversacks, and everything else they needed on campaign. Although the Native Americans hated the US cavalry during the Indian Wars of 1865 through 1891, they learned to respect the infantry.
It was the infantry that dealt the final blow to Plains Indian resistance during the Black Hills War of 1876-77. Following their victory at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull and Gall retreated to Canada: but Crazy Horse remained to fight Col (later Gen) Nelson Miles, commander of the 5th Infantry. The "Walk-a-Heaps" under Miles pursued the Oglala chief and his allies relentlessly throughout the winter months, and out-fought him at the battle of Wolf Mountains in January 1877. Elements of various other infantry regiments played their parts in the defeat of the Modocs under Captain Jack in Oregon during 1872-75; in the pursuit and capture of the Nez Perce in 1877: and in the final subjugation of the Apache renegades under Geronimo in 1886.
During the period 1866 through 1891, the US Army conducted 24 operations officially recorded as wars, campaigns or expeditions, and engaged in 938 separate combat actions against the Native Americans. In these actions, infantrymen either fought independently, or operated in conjunction with the cavalry, on at least 221 occasions, during which time they sustained an approximate total of 245 killed and 230 wounded. Nine officers and 61 enlisted men of infantry received the Medal of Honor for bravery shown during these actions (at this period the Medal was the only available national decoration for gallantry in the field, although the Certificate of Merit had been instituted without an actual medal in 1847).
ORGANIZATION, AND CHARACTER
As a result of the "Act to increase and fix the Military Peace Establishment of the United States," passed by Congress on July 28. 1866, the infantry component of the regular US Army was increased from 19 to 45 regiments, with a three-year term of enlistment. The Civil War regular infantry had consisted of ten regiments each of ten companies, and nine regiments each of 24 companies divided into three eight-company battalions. By the addition of two companies, each of these battalions became one of the 27 new regiments, becoming the 11th through 37th Infantry. The African American regiments were the 38th through 41st Infantry, while the 42nd through 45th Infantry were created from the four Veteran Reserve Corps regiments established during the Civil War. However, a series of cuts that began in March 1869 reduced the number of infantry regiments from 45 to 25, and this erosion of infantry strength continued until 1874. In that year the entire US Army numbered only about 27,000 men, which was a little over half the number on the rolls in 1866.
Each of the post-July 1866 regiments of infantry was to be composed of one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, one adjutant and one regimental quartermaster (both of the latter being extra first or second lieutenants), one sergeant-major, one quartermaster sergeant, one commissary sergeant, one hospital steward, two principal musicians, and ten companies. Each infantry company consisted of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant- one first sergeant, one quartermaster sergeant- four sergeants, eight corporals, two artificers, two musicians, one wagoner and 50 privates. The number of privates in a company could be increased to 100 when needed.
Company based officer of frontier-based regiments were intermittently detailed back East to raise new recruits, who were first sent to David’s Island, NY, or the Columbus Barracks in Ohio. There they were received by the depot cadre, which was composed of officers and NCOs detailed from various line regiments. Their induction into army life lasted only three to four weeks, during which training included marching by squad and company, the manual of arms, and maintaining equipment other than small arms. Some enlistees never entered recruit depots, but trained on the Frontier post where they signed their enlistment papers; such men were therefore more familiar with their area of operation and the condition under which they would serve.
This system was improved during the early 1880s, with the establishment of Companies of Instruction; these administered basic training over a four-month period, and included for the first time a rigorous physical training course designed to toughen recruits up more effectively in preparation for rugged Frontier life.
The shortage of soldiers and the vast open spaces on the Frontier created a situation peculiar to the infantry of the Indian Wars. Because each regiment had to be spread over large geographical areas, its companies - with an average strength of only about 35 men - served either singly or as two- or three-company units for much of the time. For example, during the spring of 1866 the 3rd Infantry were dispersed with three companies at Fort Lamed, three at Fort Ellsworth, two at Fort Riley, and two companies at Fort Leavenworth.
This isolation produced a strong feeling of loyalty and allegiance to the company rather than to the regiment. When the 4th Infantry at Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory was ordered into active campaigning against the Sioux in 1867, one of the corporals, a patient in the post hospital, went absent to join his company. Elsewhere, the 1874-82 records indicate that Co F, 5th Infantry, used its company funds to purchase items such as food and newspaper subscriptions (as well as a .22cal target rifle). The hard work that infantrymen put in to win their companies recognition as the best drilled, the best marksmen, or even the best vegetable growers, is a further indication of pride in their immediate unit. Occasionally entire infantry regiments did together in the field; for instance, in the campaign against Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in 1876-77 the ten companies of the 10th Infantry operated together - but this was for the first time since the Utah War of 1857-58.
The sergeants and corporals were the backbone of the Indian Wars infantry, and discipline and punishment were almost entirely the responsibility of the NCOs. Many sergeants were Civil War veterans, and a few had even held regular Army commissions but - like one first sergeant in the 7th Infantry - had been cashiered from their former units for misconduct.
Rates of pay hardly encouraged men to enlist in the infantry. In 1866 a private soldier fighting Indians under awful hardships in remote places was paid the princely sum of $16 per month. From this was deducted $1 a month until the end of the period of enlistment, plus 12 ½ cents, leaving him with $14.871/2 per month. A corporal was paid $18 a month, and a sergeant $20 a month, with the same deductions.
CAMPAIGNING WITH THE INFANTRY
Duty for the US Army on the Frontier consisted and small unit actions. For the infantrymen this typically involved forced marches and counter-marches as they sought contact usually unsuccessfully with a skilful and elusive foe. Heavy marching order equipage weighed about 50-601b., consisting of a pack, haversack and rations, canteen, shelter-half, blanket, extra clothing and shoes, plus the weight of the .45cal rifle and ammunition. Most infantrymen on campaign preferred to leave their packs behind at barracks, and carried personal items rolled in blankets slung around their bodies. When the 5th Infantry were ordered on campaign in July 1876, each soldier took only a blanket, a shelter-half, an extra pair of shoes and one change of underwear, plus weapons and ammunition. Sibley tents, iron stoves and other unit gear were carried in company wagons; more lightly equipped columns used pack mules.
Rail transportation was used when possible for long range movements. When the Ghost Dances were taking place in
Sioux country in 1890, the 21st Infantry at Fort Douglas, Utah Territory, was ordered to travel by rail to Fort Robinson, NE; once the train trip was over, however, the soldiers were required to march across the prairie.
The first day's march for an infantry column was usually limited to no more than 15 miles in order to give the troops an opportunity to adapt to the conditions; 25 miles was considered a good clay's march troops. Cavalry could travel faster and farther, but their grain fed mounts tended to tire after days of continual marching and, surprisingly well-trained infantry could outdistance cavalry units over a period of several weeks. During the Black Hills War of 1876 the 5th Infantry were required to make a forced march to the mouth of the Rosebud River, where they embarked on the steamer Far West to proceed to the mouths of the Tongue and Powder rivers in order to block the path of hostile Indians.
According to a correspondent:
In this movement the 5th Infantry made one of the most difficult and remarkable marches ever made by infantry troops. The 5th had just completed a fatiguing march of sixteen miles, when they started on the one of thirty-five through the blinding dust and darkness of night, over a rough and difficult country covered with cactus thorns, and made forty-three miles in twenty-four consecutive hours, equal to a march of sixty miles over ordinary country.
The individual infantry company's position in the marching column was rotated daily, and an advanced guard was usually sent ahead to clear the route where necessary. As long as they kept formation, the troops were permitted to move along in an informal route step. Infantry were also used as skirmishers during larger scale advances. During the Ute Campaign the advance of Gen Wesley Merritt's force from Milk Creek on October 10, 1879, was protected by elements of the 4th and 14th Infantry on either side of the wagons, with the cavalry at the center. According to a report in the Army & Navy Journal, "This formation allowed skirmishing by the infantry on both flanks to points inaccessible to cavalry in the canyons and rough valleys.'
Uniform regulations were often ignored by all ranks while on campaign, and officers and men clothed themselves pretty much as they pleased; items of civilian clothing were not unusual among infantry units as they slogged across the prairies and mountains. Most campaigning was done in the spring, summer or fall; but winter operations were sometimes conducted with great success, because Indian ponies were usually underfed and weak during the colder season, and the mobility of the warrior was drastically reduced- Rather than run, the Indians would be forced to stand and fight against
disciplined infantrymen, and this generally led to their defeat.
Infantry on campaign often endured terrible hardships. Elements of the 5th Infantry pursuing the Sioux in Montana in the fall of 1876 suffered from supply shortages when ordered to proceed with only a limited number of pack mules and no wheeled vehicles. Captain Simon Snyder subsequently reported, "During the greater part of the time [we] had nothing to eat [but] bacon and hardbread, with a little coffee, sometimes on half rations for days at a time." During their march towards the Black Hills in September 1876, the column under Gen. Alfred H. Terry suffered terribly. According to a contemporary report, "Water and wood were neither plentiful nor convenient, and owing to cold rainstorms which prevailed constantly, camp life on half rations, and with no tents and little bedding, was extremely severe on the men." In May 1886, Co D, 8th Infantry were engaged in the pursuit of Chiricahua Apaches led by Natchez and Geronimo. The men on this march were reported as "completely worn out, barefoot and almost destitute of clothing," and eight of them were sent to Fort Huachuca for medical treatment.
Infantry in the field were sometimes reduced to eating horse meat; Terry's column were twice reduced to eating "raw horse" during their march in 1876. Six companies of Col John Gibbon's 7th Infantry struggled over the mountains of south¬western Montana to halt the Nez Perce under Chief Joseph at Big Hole Basin during 1877. From July 29 to August 9 the command averaged 22 miles a day, and unsuccessfully attacked the Indian camp at dawn on August 9. Supplies ran
out, and the day following the indecisive battle the exhausted foot soldiers "ate horse."
Infantrymen campaigning in the Southwest naturally had to endure water shortages more often than troops serving on the central and northern Plains. Private John G. Brown, 13th Infantry, recorded that he had twice suffered extreme thirst in New Mexico in the early 1880s: "Both times for 4 and 5 days, except for a cup of coffee each day, and the water to make our coffee was well guarded. We were tenderfeet and did not know the water holes in New Mexico."
Winter campaigning was accompanied by different hazards. On October 20, 1871, Cos B and H. 7th Infantry, under Capt H.B. Freeman, left their headquarters at Fort Shaw en route to old Fort Belknap. Montana Territory, for the purpose of breaking up the camp of a party of metis who had crossed from Canada to engage in illicit trade with Indians in whisky and ammunition. The command reached their objective on November 2, capturing and burning supplies and ordering the illegal traders out of the country. The infantrymen remained at the location until November 16, when they broke camp and began their march back to Fort Shaw. On the 24th the command was overtaken by a freezing storm. The temperature, which had not been unusually cold hitherto, suddenly fell to many degrees below zero, and a violent northwest wind brought snow: nearly one-half of the men had their hands and feet frozen, some of them very severely - ten men subsequently suffered amputations.
MOUNTED INFANTRY
The infantryman did not always march when on active operations. The Sioux troubles of 1866-68 increased the need for mounted troops on the Frontier, and as early as December 6, 1866, elements of the 18th Infantry were mounted and operating alongside Co C, 2nd Cavalry out of Fort Phil Kearny. According to Special Orders No.33 issued by Gen Terry on April 3. 1867. "horses for mounting infantry" were allowed at the posts garrisoned by the 10th Infantry throughout the Department of Dakota as follows: "Fort Snelling. Minn. 10: Fort Ripley, Minn, 5; Fort Wadsworth. Dakota Territory. 60: Fort Abercrombie, DT, 50; Post on the Cheyenne, DT. 50: Post east of Berthold. DT. 75: Fort Rice, DT, 75; Fort Sully. DT. 75: Fort Randall, DT. 20: Fort Dakota. DT, 15; Camp Cooke, Montana Territory, 75; Fort Buford, DT. 150; Fort Berthold, DT, 50; Post on Sun River, 150" - a total of 860 mounts.
Elsewhere during 1867, Co C, 19th Infantry, serving in the Indian Territory, was mounted and armed with Spencer rifles. In September 1868 a mounted unit was formed within the 3rd Infantry by using horses from the 7th and 10th Cavalry: their mission was to patrol the region around Fort Dodge and the Santa Fe Trail, while the 7th Cavalry was off in Indian Territory. Elements of the black 24th and 25th Infantry were also mounted for operations on the Staked Plains in 1875. During the campaign against the Sioux in 1879, a letter in the New York Herald described the 5th Infantry as
‘looking like a cavalry command, with its lines of Indian ponies picketed along the line of tents. This infantry regiment campaigns altogether mounted on Indian ponies captured in former Indian wars. Miles perceived some time ago that Indians could catch us when they pleased, and that when it served their purpose to retreat we were unable to follow them up. He took the earnest opportunity to mount his men on the same animals on which ITK Indians enjoyed such superior powers of locomotion, and good results...
One hundred recruits were assigned to this battalion this morning. and this evening they are being introduced to their ponies. 1 sergeants are superintending the operation. There is a son impromptu track, where the neophyte is put on his horse bareback and made to walk, trot, and gallop around. Many are thrown, amid the good natured jeers of the old men, while some display horsemanship and receive the plaudits of their comrades.’
In fact, Col Miles appears to have first mounted some of his command in 1877. During the campaign leading up to the battle of Wolf Mountains in January of that year he improvised "a small mounted force about forty strong." comprised of elements of the 5th and 22nd Infantry, on horses and ponies captured from Sitting Bull's people the previous year. He subsequently mounted four more companies of die 5th Infantry with Indian ponies captured during the action at Little Muddy Creek in May 1877. The whole of the mounted 5th Infantry contributed to the final defeat and surrender of the Xez Perce at Bear Paw Mountains in September 1877. According to Miles, while the battle was at its hottest, the 5th Infantry, mounted on Indian ponies, arrived, dismounted, poured one volley into the midst of the camp, covering the dismounted cavalry, who were getting the worst of it under the magazine rifles of the Indians, and then charged in turn, driving the Nez Perces to cover.
The practice of using mounted infantry continued until the end of the Indian Wars. Five companies of the 1st Infantry, stationed at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota during the Wounded Knee campaign in 1890-91, were mounted on "good, hardy ponies, hired at 40 cents a day." A further company was "fully equipped with Hotchkiss mountain guns, packs, etc."
INFANTRY WAGONS
During 1868 Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully, commanding the Department of the Upper Arkansas, ordered the construction of 'The Infantry Wagon" to facilitate a more speedy deployment of Indian-fighting infantry on the Plains. According to a description given to the Army & Navy Journal, dated July 9, 1868, this vehicle was to consist of
‘a four-wheeled carriage, the wheels all of a size, and in height about the same as the rear wheels of an ordinary Army ambulance; they are much broader, however, and stouter, being constructed to endure the most severe service; the body is also about the same as the Army ambulance in size, except that the sides are much lower; the seat runs through the centre, and will seat comfortably four on each side, sitting back to back; there is also a rear seat which will seat two or even three men; ample room is provided under the seats for precision, ammunition, etc; the springs are elliptic. This carriage can be run over the prairies with great speed, saw forty miles per day. and can be drawn by four or six mules, and got ready for an expedition in less than half an hour, thus avoiding the usual delay. The animals used to pull this carriage, when not on duty with them, can be used for all other post duty. The present system of keeping at each post nearly two hundred horses, at an enormous expense expenditure, can be avoided. All available men can be run over the country with this Indian carriage, and after a ride of even forty miles be in good fighting condition, and not worn out by the fatigue of marching. We anticipate that the Government will in due time adopt these carriages for the Plains, as it will, undoubtedly, save many thousands of dollars, and meet with the entire approbation of Army officers.’
A prototype wagon was constructed by Wilson, Childs & Co of Philadelphia, PA, by December 18. 1868, but problems were experienced with the springs and the total weight of the vehicle, which necessitated further trials. Although this may have been the only example of Sully's "infantry wagon" ever made, several vehicles called "escort wagons" were produced during the following year, which may indicate that others were produced but given a different name. In 1875 Co K, 19th Infantry were photographed at Fort Wallace, KS, using a wagon pulled by four mules and carrying nine men who appear to be seated as per the Sully wagon. Six under-strength companies of the 7th Infantry set forth in wagons up the Bitterroot Valley to fight the battle of Big Hole, Montana Territory- during die Nez Perce War of 1877. As late as 1885 elements of the 10th Infantry were photographed crossing the Gila River, near San Carlos, Arizona Territory, in "buck-boards" that look similar to Sully’s concept of an "infantry wagon." |
