Sheridan At the Reins

By 1871, Phil Sheridan had now been promoted to control the majority of the American West and was tasked with numerous responsibilities. Sheridan described these in his report to Congress in 1871 stating his forces had "been constantly engaged in protecting our exposed frontier settlements; the different lines of commercial travel and telegraph lines, in furnishing escorts to surveying parties, for railroad and scientific purposes, and in guarding Indian agents on reservations, and aiding in the police and management of such reservations" (Secretary of War Report 1871, 24). In order to successfully perform all of these tasks, Sheridan recognized the importance of maintaining well supplied and trained cavalry forces in the West. Sheridan had proven their effectiveness in his Winter Campaign the following year and made requests to General Sherman, President Grant, and Congress for more cavalry (Secretary of War Report 1868, 5). Figure 6 below details the strength of the U.S. Army and the Cavalry from 1865 to 1877. Figure 6 is discussed in more detail in the next section on the U.S. Army . This graph shows the strength of the Army and the Cavalry during Sheridan's command in the West from 1870-1877. As can be seen, while the Army as a whole fluctuates during this period, the strength of the cavalry continues to consist of seven to ten thousand men and one third of the total army. Many of these men were deployed to departments in the West and were used to accomplish the tasks listed above by Sheridan. (Individual troop deployments for the U.S. Army can be seen in the Secretary of War Report to Congress from the years 1869-1877.) In addition to those responsibilities, Sheridan and his men were also tasked with launching military campaigns into the West to combat Native Americans who were perceived to pose a threat to American Settlers seeking to establish control of the region. Following his winter campaign of 1868, Sheridan favored using cavalry columns in winter operations against the Native Americans and attempted to do so in multiple campaigns in the West which are discussed in more detail below. These tactics became typical practice of Sheridan and his subordinates for the years to follow.

Figure 6: Army and Cavalry Strength Compiled from the Secretary of War Reports 1865-1877

Red River War

In 1874 General Sheridan and the United States Army launched a military campaign attempting to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Native American tribes from the Southern Plains and forcibly relocate them to reservations in Indian Territory. Sheridan implemented similar tactics from the winter of 1868-69 by launching numerous columns across the region to converge on native positions and potentially herd them between the forces. Sheridan had wanted to launch these columns in the winter but the weather proved uncooperative and the expeditions were launched in the summer. Five different army columns, consisting primarily of cavalry units, crossed the Texas Panhandle attempting to locate and capture the mounted Indian Bands. Generals Pope send from the Department of the Missouri two columns into Indian territory to assist in the campaign. Colonel Miles led eight troops from the Sixth Cavalry and four companies of the Fifth Infantry from Fort Dodge into the Indian Territory. From New Mexico a column of the Eighth Cavalry under Major Evans moved into the Indian Territory as well. General Auger launched three columns from the south to pursue the Native Americans. At Sheridan's suggestion, Colonel Mackenzie and elements of the Fourth Cavalry moved from the border to establish a forward supply base for the campaign (Utley, Frontier Regulars, 226). Lt.Col. Buell led a column of the Eleventh Infantry towards Mackenzie's force, while Lt. Col. Davidson moved from Fort Sill with the Tenth Cavalry. Sheridan had conceived the overall strategy for this campaign and spent most of October of 1874 in Indian Territory putting it into effect (Utley, Frontier Regulars, 237). From the onset this campaign was plagued with terrible weather, at times the temperatures reaching 110 degrees, the men struggling to find supplies on the hot plains. On August 30 Miles engaged for five hours against a large band of Native Americans using superior weaponry and cavalry charges to drive the enemy back. This would be the largest engagement of the campaign, the remainder of the war consisted mostly of small engagements. By the winter months the army attempted to further pressure the Native Americans in the region by deploying more columns into the area, however weather and logistical failures limited their success. Despite these struggles, the military pressure and bad weather drove Native American tribes to begin to surrender in small parties as early as October. The fighting in the Red River War had only lasted a few months, although the last large group of Native Americans surrendered in June of 1875. This war placed the last of the free-roaming Indians of the southern Great Plains onto reservations and solidified American control over the region. This was the first major campaign launched by Sheridan in the West since taking command and proved to be a success.

Great Sioux War

On February 8, 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant ordered the U.S. Army to secure the Black Hills and force the submission of Lakota people in the region. General Sheridan dispatched orders to Generals Alfred Terry and George Crook to launch expeditions into the region to force the submission of the uncooperative Indians and seize control over the Black Hills and the Great Sioux Reservation. This war saw the largest field command dispatched by the Americans against the Indians. Initial plans called for a winter war like Sheridan's Winter campaign in 1868, however weather prevented this. The war began with General Crook's column moving north from Fort Fetterman in Wyoming as General Alfred Terry's column split in two with Colonel John Gibbon leading a column moving east from Fort Ellis in Montana, and Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry moving down from Fort Abraham Lincoln and turning west (Hedren, Great Sioux War, 107-110). The three columns were meant to encircle the Lakotas and their Cheyenne allies and destroy them, eliminating the main source of Indian resistance on the Plains and its leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. This war saw the deployment of 2,500 American soldiers on numerous expeditions against an estimated 15,000 Indian men, women, children and warriors from various tribes. There were three major battles during this war, the Battles of Rosebud, Slim Buttes, and Little Bighorn which was the worst American defeat on the plains and the sight of George Custer's death. During this war the American forces suffered over 300 killed and Indian losses are estimated to be around 250 warriors killed. Because of the numerous military campaigns by spring of 1877 tribes began surrendering and were placed on reservations. While Sheridan did not command these men in the field and left the tactical details to the officers in the field, Sheridan was in command of the forces in the Great Sioux War. The death of his close friend and mentee George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn especially impacted him. Sheridan took special interest in the burial of Custer and recovery of his body and honoring the men of the 7th Cavalry.

After the Sioux War

Due to the efforts of Sheridan and the U.S. Army in the Military District of Missouri, Indian raids began to subside during the 1870s and were almost over by the early 1880s. Sheridan was promoted on November 1, 1883, succeeding General William T. Sherman as Commanding General of the U.S. Army, and held that position until his death (Morris, 309-324). He was promoted on June 1, 1888, shortly before his death, to the rank of General in the Regular Army, which is the equivalent to a five-star general in the modern U.S. Army. During his thirteen years in command of the West and his fifteen years serving there following the Civil War, Sheridan had managed to end virtually all Indian resistance in the West. From his earliest campaign Sheridan showed how effective cavalry forces could be in pursuing the Native Americans during the winter months and he used that to his advantage. By the end of his career in the West the region had become immortalized with symbols of the Cavalry and the Native Americans.

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