THE STEAMBOAT IN THE INDIAN WARS.
[Sidenote: MILITARY USE OF KEELBOATS.]
Throughout the Indian wars of the Missouri Valley the steamboat played
a part of the very highest importance. It was almost the exclusive
means of transporting men and supplies along the river, except when in
active campaign work in the interior. Its use in the military service
dates from the very beginning of steamboat navigation on the river, as
well as from the first important step toward the military occupation
of the valley. When the first steamboat entered the Missouri, in 1819,
arrangements were being perfected to transport by steam to the mouth
of the Yellowstone a large body of troops designed to establish a post
there. Five boats were brought into requisition for this purpose, and a
sixth, the _Western Engineer_, was built by the government to transport
a party of scientists who were to accompany the expedition. Owing
to the entire absence of experience in navigating the Missouri with
steamboats, this attempt proved a failure. None of the boats except
the _Western Engineer_ got as far as to the old Council Bluffs, and
the troops, after marching a part of the distance, went into winter
quarters at that point.
Four years later the first Indian campaign west of the Mississippi
River took place, when Colonel Leavenworth, with a considerable body
of troops, went up the river from Fort Atkinson (old Council Bluffs)
to chastise the Aricaras, who had attacked a fur-trading party under
General Ashley and killed a number of men. Keelboats were used on this
expedition.
Two years later, 1825, General Atkinson took a large body of troops
from Fort Atkinson to a point about one hundred miles above the mouth
of the Yellowstone and return. His purpose was to make treaties with
the Indian tribes along the valley and acquaint them with the power
of the United States. Keelboats were used, and a novel feature was
introduced in propelling them--a wheel, or wheels, which were operated
by hand power, the soldiers being used for this purpose.
No further use of steamboats in the military service except at Forts
Leavenworth, Kearney, and Croghan, and in connection with the Mexican
War, occurred until Harney’s campaign of 1855. All the troops that went
up the river at that time were transported in steamboats. The transfer
of ownership of Fort Pierre from the American Fur Company to the army,
and the movement of material connected therewith, were also done by
steam. The establishment of Fort Randall and the subsequent maintenance
of that post were mainly accomplished by the aid of the steamboat.
[Sidenote: A LONG WAY AROUND.]
The outbreak of the Sioux War in 1863 and the campaigns of 1863–64
called the steamboat again into extensive use. A remarkable instance
of this use was the transportation of the Winnebago Indians from their
home near Mankato, Minn., to their new home on the Missouri River. The
feeling against the Indians after the Minnesota massacre was so bitter
that it was taken advantage of to move them all from the State. It
does not appear that the Winnebagos were active participants in the
outbreak, but the hand of vengeance fell upon them as upon the others.
They were moved westward several hundred miles, and in exchange for the
fertile lands of the Minnesota Valley were given a home on the sterile
wastes of the Missouri. In making this transfer the Indians were not
taken directly across the country, which was perfectly practicable for
wagons all the way, but were transported by _steamboat_. They were put
on board the _Favorite_ and other boats at Mankato on the Minnesota
River, taken down that stream to the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, down
the Mississippi to the Missouri, and up the Missouri to the mouth of
Crow Creek, twenty miles above the present site of Chamberlain, S. D.
The distance around was 1900 miles, against about 300 miles across.
The Indians arrived at Crow Creek on May 30, 1863. A reservation was
laid off, the necessary agency buildings were erected in a stockaded
inclosure, and the place was named Fort Thompson, in honor of Clark
W. Thompson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern
Superintendency. Mr. Thompson personally supervised the work of
locating the Indians on this new reservation.
[Sidenote: STEAMBOATS IN SULLY’S CAMPAIGNS.]
In the campaign of General Sully in 1863 he relied entirely upon
steamboats for transporting his supplies from Sioux City to the field
of operations, and one boat accompanied him from Fort Pierre well on
his way to the scene of actual hostilities. It was on this campaign
that General Sully impressed Captain La Barge’s boat, the _Shreveport_,
into his service for a time.
The campaign of 1864 from Fort Rice to the Yellowstone River was
conducted in connection with steamboats. Three boats were sent around
into the Yellowstone to meet the troops at the Brasseau Houses. They
were loaded with rations, forage, and material for a new post which
it was proposed to build on the Yellowstone River near the mouth of
Powder River. These boats were the _Chippewa Falls_, the _Alone_, and
the _Island City_. The last-mentioned boat had all the forage for the
animals on board and was unfortunately wrecked just below the mouth of
the Yellowstone River. This occurrence caused General Sully to abandon
for the time his contemplated establishment on the Yellowstone.
During the next twelve years steamboats were constantly in the service
of the government in transporting troops and supplies along the river.
It is impossible to estimate the great value in the military operations
of the valley of this important line of communication. Forts and
cantonments were strung all along the river from Fort Randall to Fort
Benton, and all of them, as well as the troops in the field, depended
for their support upon the river boats. The conquest of the Missouri
Valley would have been a very different matter had the government been
deprived of this important aid in its operations.
[Sidenote: STEAMBOATS IN CAMPAIGN OF 1876.]
In the Sioux campaign of 1876 steamboats bore a prominent part, one
of the very highest importance, and one which had its full share
of the thrilling incidents of that tragic conflict. A considerable
fleet of boats was sent up the river from Fort Abraham Lincoln to
co-operate with the troops under Terry, who marched across the country
to the Yellowstone. They not only carried supplies, but assisted in
patrolling the river to prevent the Indians from crossing, and moved
the troops from point to point as their services were needed. One boat
in particular, the _Far West_, Captain Grant Marsh, master, performed
a service which will go down in the history of the campaign as one of
its most thrilling episodes.
[Sidenote: THE “FAR WEST.”]
The _Far West_ was for a few days used by General Terry as his
headquarters boat while his command was moving up the Yellowstone to
the mouth of the Big Horn. The boat, after ferrying General Gibbon’s
command to the north bank of the Yellowstone, was directed to proceed
up the Big Horn, and, if possible, to reach the mouth of the Little Big
Horn. General Gibbon, being ill at the time, remained on the boat with
a company of infantry a part of the way, when he joined Terry’s column
and resumed command of his own troops. The _Far West_ ascended the Big
Horn fifteen miles above the mouth of the Little Big Horn and then
dropped down to that tributary. It remained there until the 30th, by
which time all the wounded from Reno’s fight had been placed on board,
and it then moved down to the Yellowstone, where it arrived on the
same day. Three days later it started down the river for Fort Abraham
Lincoln with all the wounded, and a volume of dispatches, official and
private, relating to the terrible tragedy of which the world had but
just been informed. The very nature of its mission made the voyage of
the _Far West_ one of romantic interest. Its cargo of wounded men, its
greater burden of news to anxious friends and an impatient public, all
mark it as one of the historic incidents of our Indian wars. The _Far
West_ arrived at Fort Lincoln July 5, about midnight.[70]
[Sidenote: AN HISTORIC VOYAGE.]
The _Far West_ returned from Fort Abraham Lincoln immediately after
she had discharged her cargo, and remained with other boats on the
Yellowstone until the subsiding waters made it impossible to navigate
that stream. Among these boats was another, well known to the army for
many years, and the only one of the old fleet that still survives.
This was the _Josephine_, which is now in the service of the government
as a snagboat in the work of keeping the upper river free from
obstructions.
[Sidenote: A STRANGE LAND; AN UNKNOWN RIVER.]
[Sidenote: DOWN THE SWIFT YELLOWSTONE.]
[Sidenote: LA BARGE IN CUSTER CAMPAIGN.]
Captain La Barge also saw service in the Custer campaign. The need
of a light-draft boat for use in the latter part of the season led
the authorities to engage his boat, the _John M. Chambers_, to carry
supplies to Fort Buford. The boat left St. Louis August 5 and reached
Buford September 11. The commissary stores were at once unloaded, with
the assistance of soldiers detailed for the purpose. General Terry and
staff, with a company of troops and a piece of artillery, were then
taken on board, and the boat started for Wolf Point in the hope of
heading off the Indians, who were reported to be in that vicinity. The
boat started early on the morning of the 12th. She proceeded about
thirty miles that day, having made a stop at Fort Union to put off
General Hazen and take on a supply of meat for the troops. Owing to the
low water she made only about twenty miles on the 13th. On the 14th the
party stopped to examine a broken-down ambulance on the shore. It was
found to have belonged to Reno’s troops, who were in pursuit of the
Indians. A little farther they came upon a party of seven men on their
way down the river from Montana, and through them news of Reno and the
Indians was received. These men had been terribly frightened the night
before. The boat had laid up near their camp and had thrown a shell
into a grove of cottonwoods to search for Indians. It struck near their
bivouac and almost paralyzed them with fright. They came on board next
day and went down by the boat on its return home.
On the 15th the boat reached Reno’s camp. The Indians had already
crossed, and Captain La Barge immediately commenced ferrying Reno’s
command over. This work was accomplished before night, and the boat
left for Buford the following morning, with General Terry and staff and
270 men. Buford was reached on the 17th, and the boat was discharged.
She at once started on her return to St. Louis, where she arrived
October 8.
[Sidenote: THE NEZ PERCÉ CAMPAIGN.]
Strange as it may seem, considering the nature of a campaign like that
of 1877 against the Nez Percé Indians, the Missouri River steamboat
played an important, and perhaps a decisive, part in its operations.
Chief Joseph, in his long march from Idaho, had crossed the Yellowstone
National Park, and finding himself pursued and harried in every
direction, struck north for the British line. The pursuing troops, whom
he had so far eluded, he felt confident would not overtake him; but he
did not count on a danger which arose in a quite unexpected quarter.
General Miles, with about 350 men, was encamped on the Yellowstone at
the mouth of the Tongue River, where the news reached him that Indians
had crossed the Yellowstone farther up and were making for the British
line. He at once put his command in motion to intercept them. His first
objective was the Missouri River at the mouth of the Musselshell. As
soon as he came in sight of the river, scouts were sent on ahead to
stop any steamer that might happen along. By the greatest good fortune
the scouts reached the bank just as the last boat of the season was
passing down. Fifteen minutes later and she would have been gone.
[Sidenote: TIMELY AID.]
The troops were brought down to the river and ten days’ rations were
put on the boat and taken to the mouth of the Musselshell. The
officers of the boat stated that the Indians had not yet crossed the
Missouri, and General Miles accordingly decided to march up the valley
of the Musselshell to intercept them. The boat was discharged and
dropped downstream, stopping about a mile below to take on some wood.
While there, two men came down the river in a mackinaw and reported
that the Indians _had_ crossed the river, some eighty miles above,
and were making for the British line. General Miles instantly ordered
some cannon shots fired in the direction of the steamboat. A Captain
Baldwin, who had been sent down on account of sickness, was on board.
He at once understood that the boat was wanted, and caused her to
be brought back. The command was ferried over, and on the following
morning, September 27, set out to the northwest after the Indians.
They were overtaken on Snake Creek, where Chief Joseph was defeated
in battle, and the greater part of his people captured. This point
was within fifty miles of the boundary, and about one hundred of the
Indians actually got across the line. But for the timely aid of the
steamboat it is probable that the whole band would have escaped.