Chapter 10

Wyoming Territory, May, 1874

The inherent problem the plains Indians always had when fighting the US Army was that the Indians never really operated as a coherent force. They might attack all at one time, but that was more to have an audience for deeds of daring and glory than to put added pressure on the opponent. The Indians basic intent was a one-on-one combat that had no overall purpose in mind. As a result, the Indians could win individual battles where they outnumbered the Army, but they could never hope to win the war. In fact, in the cases that counted, the Indians were not fighting a war, they were just having fun!

This was the spirit in which the Indians attacked the fort the next morning. There was a lot of yelling and shooting just to make noise and attract attention beyond the effective range of the weapons of either side. With orders to remain calm and not to waste ammunition, the soldiers just stood quietly at their places on the firing platform and watched the show. They were allowed to relax and smoke, if they wished, as everyone knew that it would be a while before the Indians worked themselves up to a fighting fury.

Finally, after an hour or so of spirited demonstration, the Indians began riding toward the fort. They appeared to be about to hit all four walls at the same time. This really was not very good strategy, but it fit the Indian psychology. It would have been much better for the Indian attackers to have rushed the fort's gate. If they could have broken through this weak point, the battle would have been over and the slaughter of the Whites could have begun. Fortunately for those within the fort, this never occurred to the attackers.

At first, there was a lot of riding around the fort in a great circle, with more shooting and shouting. The walls of the fort averaged 12 feet in height, so the attackers were going to have problems getting over them, no matter how brave or clever they might be. Somebody sitting at a desk in Washington, DC, had decreed that there would be firing loopholes in the wall, but these were not of much use because they were too small to see through and fire through at the same time. The limited visibility through the loophole, combined with the smoke from the black powder, dictated the defensive tactics.

Most of the defenders stayed down behind the wall and peered through the loopholes to select a target. They then stood up and fired over the wall. This gave them much needed protection while selecting a target and freedom of movement when shooting. Once the shooter ducked back to his loophole, he was looking below the smoke cloud and generally had an open field of view. The Indians found this particularly frustrating and led to some pretty stupid actions on their part.

The Indians found themselves trying to shoot at the small loophole while riding, a mostly futile exercise which rarely resulted in a hit. A bouncing horse was not a very stable platform for precision shooting. The Indians who realized this rode up to the wall and tried to use the horse's back as a stepping stone to scale the wall. The warrior could stand on the horse's back and jump to grasp the top of the wall. The loophole openings could serve as footholds so that it was possible to get over the top of the wall and reach the firing platform. This worked on rare occasions, but the soldiers in the watchtowers were usually able to pick off the Indians before they could get over the wall.

The lone Indian who successfully scaled the wall did not survive long. He might have been able to wound his soldier adversary, but he was attacked and killed by several other soldiers only moments after clearing the wall. It was always very exciting for all concerned whenever an Indian scaled the wall, but there was never any doubt about the outcome of the mano a mano battle. It was always one against many very soon after a fight started.

Cletus had been assigned to supervising the Gatling gun; strangely enough, this was the first major battle Cletus had ever been in where he never personally fired a weapon. The Gatling gun was an interesting case study for a military historian in this battle. It was murderously effective for the first few minutes of the battle as the Indians rode into range, but they soon learned how far to stay away to be outside the effective range of the gun. After that, the Gatling gun did not kill many attackers, but it certainly kept them away from the gate. Therefore, despite its relatively small number of kills, the Gatling gun was completely effective in its primary objective—protecting the gate.

The Indians did not give up easily, so the attack lasted well into the afternoon. The Indian host was quickly reduced to less than half its original complement, but the living warriors stubbornly refused to admit defeat. The attack never formally stopped, it just petered out as fewer and fewer Indians tried to fight an impossible battle. One day the Indians would learn that they could not take a determinedly defended fort, but would have to rely on attacking isolated detachments in order to gain victories. This was one of those lessons.

Before nightfall, the Indians rode out of sight and were never seen at the fort again.

Even before the last shot was fired, Major Roberts had his officers assess the result of the battle. Only three defenders had been killed and 11 wounded enough to be out of action for more than a few hours. Only 7 attackers had been able to get over the wall and they accounted for most of the Army's causalities. The corpses were stripped of potential souvenirs and tossed back over the wall.

The next day, the dead Indians and their horses were dragged to a large sink hole and dumped in. The Indians had been stripped of valuables by the burial details and a lively trade in souvenirs lasted for a week afterwards.

Fort activity returned to normal and Cletus was overworked somewhat as he was the only scout now working at the fort. He was no longer assigned to a particular patrol, but allowed to range free on the lookout for trouble. He never found any during the rest of the summer and life settled into a regular routine of riding out early in the morning and returning before dark. Ellie was happy with the way things were going, as she had made a few friends, and her time was fully occupied with these friends and her domestic duties. She had mastered the use of the stove and was a great cook, edging up to the level of chef, within the range of the raw materials she had to work with. Cletus found himself putting on weight and resolved to stop eating so much!

Winter came and went without disturbing their placid existence. Neither Cletus or Ellie had ever been so happy. This life was the nearest either had ever been to Eden!

Spring of 1875 brought ominous signs of increased hostile Indian activity. The Cheyenne, the Arapaho, the Sioux and the Utes were all stirring. The Crow were about the only ones who weren't making trouble. The fort was put on alert and patrols were increased, both in number and in duration. Cletus was still the only scout permanently located at the fort, so he was as busy as ever and more so. He was asked to swing his patrols out farther and to stay out overnight. Ellie was annoyed, but what could either one do?

Cletus found that the Indians were physically attacking the railroad itself, not just taking potshots at the trains as they rolled by. On several occasions, he found where fires had been built on the track and fed enough fuel to burn through the crossties. If a train hit this at speed, there would surely be a derailment, if not a major wreck. In every case, he put out warning markers on both sides of the damaged track and rode as quickly as he could to warn the railroad. He was not a telegrapher, so he couldn't send a warning that way.

Once, he did show up during one of these burning incidents. There was a group of six Indians whooping and laughing as they fed the fire. Cletus drew his Winchester carbine and began shooting as soon as he saw the fire. The Indians, Cheyenne, jumped to their horses and rushed toward Cletus. He managed to drop two of the Indians before he ran out of ammunition in the carbine, but the other four kept coming. He holstered his carbine and drew his pistol. Cletus surprised the Cheyenne by charging straight for them.

Four Cheyenne could reasonably expect an enemy to try to run away from them; Cletus' charge was completely unexpected! The Indians pulled their knives and hatchets; they were too close to use their Henry carbines effectively. Cletus waited until he was too close to miss and fired all five shots into the approaching Indians. He had his horse moving as fast as possible as he swept past the Indians, but he was still caught on the left arm by a hatchet swing. He reloaded as fast as he could, about 45 seconds, and turned to face the remaining Indians.

There was only one still on his horse, and he had a gaping wound in his side. He still had some fight left, so he swung around and charged at Cletus. He must have been the one who wounded Cletus, since he was swinging a hatchet with a bloody blade. Cletus sat quietly, waiting for the Indian to get to him. When the warrior was close enough, Cletus fired three shots into the man's chest. This knocked him off his horse and he must have been dead before he hit the ground.