Head Quarters detachment 2-Yellow Ribbon

 

Above Head Quarters Detachment on the move.

Before we do anything else let’s take another look at tribal hair styles.  Today it is the Shoshone. Distinctive enough for recognition I'd say. Not easily confused with the Crow, Rees or Sioux we have seen so far. 

 

The Shoshone scouted for Crook and fought alongside the Crow at the Rosebud.  As you can see they wore their hair loose with the top hair combed (or greased) high.  I intend adding a small band of Shoshone to Crook’s Command.  Six or eight figures including a lad in feather War Bonnet as their Leader.

The General and pals have ridden ahead with the Indian Scouts, Crow in this case. Below, at the head of HQ Detachment.

Now, more US cavalry.  All from QRF mounted. Somewhat under strength at 12 rather than 16 figures. Here we have B Company 2nd US Cavalry.  They are attached to Head Quarters tasked with ensuring the protection of supplies and provisions and anything else the General might command. 

 

Horses and horse holders.

Deployed for skirmishing.

 

Here another skirmish line on foot, Peter Pig tepees in the background.. 

These are a mixture of Minifigs, Peter Pig and QRF.  Proof positive that they mix well.  Good news for those of us gaming the period.  I nearly wrote heading West but that has other connotations.

Here is my Gatling.  I doubt I will use it very often.  Now and then though, certainly.

 

It is from QRF and is a nice piece at a good price. Again, with a Minifigs Crew.

The Ambulance.  Another from QRF and I’m happy with it.  It will have an important role in some games.  Above, you see it with the Medical Staff.  Military Doctors and their assistants tended to be very good.  There was a lot of learning in the ACW. Civilian hires might be good, or not. I have yet to add the driver to the ambulance.

More mules and Packers.  Note the boy with the (L) on his base.  Yellow Ribbon requires the Packers to have a Leader.  This is he.

This is the complete Mule Train. Ten mules in all.

With that Head Quarters Detachment is done.  Next, The Kit Foxes Warrior Society.

Elk Scrapers -Yellow Ribbon

 

The Elk Scrapers are my second Plains Indian Warrior Society.  These ones are from Minifigs. Pleasingly, I got a big bag of them as an ebay bargain!  A major project saving.  They came on horse and on foot.  These are very nice figures and easy to paint.  Once again the band is 18 strong.  As required by Yellow Ribbon I have them on foot too.  You can see one has been designated as Leader.

The Warrior Societies competed for members and membership was taken seriously.  Apart from scouting missions (Wolves) members always fought together.  The tactical method was always the same. Locate and watch the foe, skirmish and then attack.  Warfare was fluid in nature.  There was one exception.  If a village was attacked all warriors would stand and fight until all women children and elderly had been evacuated to safety. 

Here is my rating for the Elk Scrapers Warrior Society.  Medicine is high. Perhaps they are the survivors of the Powder River attack. Almost all Cheyenne survived that but they were utterly impoverished by the burning of their village. According to Scout Frank Grouard it had been a rich village. "Those Indians were well to do" he said. Naturally, they were furious.  The Sioux re equipped them gratis.

 

Elk Scrapers	Cheyenne Band	Leader, Wooden Leg
Movement Foot	Indian
Movement Mounted	Crack
Exhaustion Foot	11
Exhaustion Mounted	12
Field Craft	Crack
Close Combat	Crack
Marksmanship	Good
Weapon	Well Armed
Medicine	18

Normally, women did not fight. Yet, sometimes we read accounts of young women joining the warriors.  Then, riding with the best of them, they killed.  In each case that I have read this behaviour was occasioned by the death or injury of a young male relative.

Famously, a young Cheyenne  woman fought at Little Big Horn.  Here is another example.  At the Rosebud  a Crow warrior attempted to count coup on a Sioux.  The Sioux shot him in the knee and de horsed him.  Counting coup was always dangerous.  The Crow had failed in the attempt and the Sioux came in for the kill. He was shot dead by a Crow woman who had joined the fight.  Her brother had previously been killed by Sioux.

There is more.  The fallen Sioux was scalped by the Crow woman. Subsequently, she distributed parts of the scalp to women of her village. Then, when the scalp dance was performed the women joined in each displaying their scrap of Sioux scalp.

The origin of Scalping is much disputed.  Scalp Dances are much easier for us to locate.  During a scalp dance every warrior displayed the scalps he had taken. He then sang and boasted of the how and when. His women folk then acted as a sort of Greek Chorus.  They echoed his words, shouting his exploits. This was a high point in Plains Warrior culture.

To be an Indian was to compete for in tribe status.  Status came from hunting and warrior skills.  The more meat and hides provided, Coup counted, scalps taken the higher the status accrued.

The pressure on young men to gain status was immense.  Older warriors already had it.  Paint patterns of coup counted and men killed, scalps adorning war shields and lances all fore fronted their achievements. Scalp dances provided an additional reminder of who was who.  Young men yearned to be counted in.

This brought tensions as America advanced.  Red Cloud could afford to sit on his reservation.  No one could challenge his warrior status.  He had killed the foe, won his wars, brought fame to his name.  A young man seeking similar status, by necessity, must go to war.  There was no other way.

The Sitting Bull solution was to avoid America all together.  That was no longer possible.  America did not stand still.

On a Reservation a young Indian normally could not go to war and thus could not accrue status.  Progression to full manhood was then denied him. This was destructive of Indian Society.  Generational conflict was uncontained.  It found various outlets-none of them good.  The Comanches who we have yet to consider suffered most.  We may look at that later.

Some responded to Army calls for hireling warriors.  Once engaged they could fulfil their cultural imperative to war.  They could then return home having achieved status.  Or, possibly.  That they had fought and killed their own kin was a serious breach of tribal mores. For Reservation Crow or Shoshone no such problem existed.  They went out against traditional enemies.

We have not entirely reached those fraught times. In front of us is Powder River, The Rosebud and Little Big Horn.  We also need to say more about the Army, the Kit Foxes and potential scenarios.

All Brave Dogs- Yellow Ribbon

 

By the time of the Rosebud the Plains People were frantic.  No matter what they did, and they did a lot, nothing improved. More land was gone, more people were lost.  They felt, rightly, that their backs were against the wall.  Everlasting treaties barely saw a decade out. If the Government found Indian decision making trying the Indians found the converse utterly baffling.

Black Kettle died at Washita as a direct result of his sustained attempts at diplomacy.  He was emulating Red Cloud.  He lacked the Red Cloud touch.  He also wanted for Red Cloud's massed warriors.  

Custer claimed he had killed 110 Cheyenne warriors at Washita.  In fact he got 11 warriors.  The rest were women and children.  The bulk of the Band's fighters were off on a hunt.

All the same Red Cloud's inspirational military and diplomatic win was not all it seemed. True, Forts were abandoned, True, the Bozeman Trail was closed to American settlers.  Yet, Washington had simply placed its strategic eggs in the railroad basket.  The aim had not changed.  This was a world beyond Indian experience.

Crook's winter attack on a Powder River Cheyenne village was the final straw.  At some point we will look at that action in detail.

The Cheyenne, en masse, joined the Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse lobby. Their policy was admirably direct- if they won't leave us alone we fight. 

Old enmities were perforce forgotten. The Black Foot reported for duty.  Like many another before them the tribes resolved to combine and teach the interlopers a lesson they wouldn't forget.

The concept was sound, the actuality fraught.  The best weapons came from the people they intended to fight.  Sometimes they were freely given, betimes traded and of course, captured the hard way.  

The fact remained the other side had a monopoly on the good stuff.  No doubt many Indians recognised the problem.  It didn't matter.  To fight and die was better than just dying. Also, it might possibly work and the tribes were better armed than they ever had been. Today we are rating the Sioux All Brave Dogs Warrior Band.

All Brave Dogs	Sioux Band	Leader, Little Wolf
Movement Foot	Indian
Movement Mounted	Crack
Exhaustion Foot	11
Exhaustion Mounted	12
Field Craft	Crack
Close Combat	Crack
Marksmanship	Good
Weapon	Well Armed
Medicine	14

 

Man for man the Indian was confident of his superiority in combat. It was not misplaced.  He was acclimatised to killing from an early age.  He killed to eat via hunting. He killed men for social prestige or simply to protect others and to survive himself.  He knew not just when and how to strike but also where to strike for the best result.

We can note he was not especially muscled.  Women did most of the physical work.  He was generally tall or at least of middle height. He was inured to bearing hardship.

His ultimate accolade came from striking an armed foe with an open hand or a stick.  Thus demonstrating combat primacy and no small degree of contempt.  It was an irresistible cultural priority.  Men died attempting it.

You might be interested to know it was colour coded. A green paint spot for touching a Crow, Red for a white man, Yellow for a Shoshone.  You could decorate your gear or pony accordingly.  Then everyone would know. 

Obviously living that way came at a price.  The tribes were never rich in man power.  Each man lost to battle was a local disaster. This shaped the Indian approach to war. The aim was to dish out the maximum punishment for the minimum attrition.

War Chiefs could not command, rather they advised.  Mostly they led by example. All the same every Indian was his own General.  His decisions were his alone and could not be criticised.

Indian camps were often surprised in dawn attacks. Leaders could ask for sentries but nothing could compel those sentries to stay at post or awake.

All of this made it difficult to mount a co-ordinated campaign.  The Rosebud was a trial run at it.  It stopped Crook dead.  Little Bighorn was an ad hoc response to an incursion by the 7th Cavalry.  Once again the Indians were surprised.

All this brings us to the appearance of the Plains Warrior.  Eclectic doesn't do it.  He dressed with great care.  He might wear anything that he considered suitable, highly decorated buckskins, parts of silk dresses, bits of Spanish armour, tail coats, stuffed birds. Buffalo caps with horns. Things he had seen in dreams especially. Feathers. The scalps of previous opponents. Magical charms. The list was endless.  

Added to this he painted himself and his pony with a stylised visual record of his martial accomplishments. More paint was added as suited. No two warriors looked the same.  In combat the effect was terrifying.  Then we have war cries and for the Sioux the screech of eagle whistles.

The Plains People wanted to live as Indians.  For the US Government that was an impossible demand.

We may dip further into the subject further as we see other Warrior Bands. For moment I'll just say Yellow Ribbon delivers on the Plains Indian Way of War.  No mean accomplishment.