City of Chesapeake

We started this trip by taking an early morning flight. This allowed us to be on the first flight from Norfolk and to hopefully avoid any delays due to traffic. The flight took off on time, so we succeeded. The flight took us first to Chicago O'Hare for a layover and then on to Rapid City South Dakota. The flight landed on time in O'Hare, so we had time to rest in the United Business lounge before the flight to Rapid City. While in the Lounge we saw the newest addition to the Lounge staff in the form of a robotic cleaner scurrying by us en route to the kitchen.

We landed on time in Rapid City and were surprised that our bags were on the carousel before we even made it off the plane. Luckily the airport is small, so the bags rode the carousel for a round and re-appeared. Equally indicative of the size pf the airport was that the rental car desk was adjacent to the carousel, so we managed to get the car rental keys rather quickly. We were then ahead of our planned time.

Once we got to the car we took a look at the surroundings. What we saw was a very different landscape from what we normally see in the east. It was not the browns of California, but it was not the greens of the east coast either. What we also saw was a lack of any real mountains close by. True the Rockies are clearly visible in the far horizon, but that horizon is distant and there was really just a flat area between us and the Rockies.

We had to drive through Rapid City on our way to the first stop of the Fetterman Massacre so had a chance to observe this city. This was our first trip to the Dakotas and our ambition was to visit the remaining two Dakotas in order to say we have been to all 50 states. We knew that the size of Rapid City was just around 82,000 so did not expect to see a large city. But we did notice that the city was spread out farther than needed, likely due to the lack of any pressure to be efficient in the use of land. Also the city seemed to be less wealthy than one might expect - a lot of lower priced housing.

Once we cleared the city - which didn't take long we had a 3 hour drive to the Fetterman Massacre site. From the online pictures the Fetterman Masscre monument seemed to be in an isolated place. So we expected the drive to be through largely empty lanscape. We noticed few towns along the way and thaose that we did drve through were small and seemed to be dependent on tourism, both during the summer and during the winter.

We drove past Sturgis, the center for the annual Motocycle Rally, passed Deadwood - which we planned to visit later, and realized that we were near Devils' Tower which had been the central landscape feature of the Movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We added that place to our list of places to visit later in the week.

When we arrived at the turn off to the Fetterman Massacre Monument we were not surprised that at that point along the I-90 highway there was little to see, After the turnoff we had to turn again to drive onto the monument road, which was paved but not really well maintained. This monument road ended at the Fetterman Massacre Monument.

For a little context the Fetterman Massacre occurred on December 21, 1866, almost a decade before the Custer Little Big Horn fight that occurred on June 25, 1876.

The troops involved were deployed from Fort Phil Kearny, which had been named for Major General Phil Kearny who had been one of the highest ranked officers killed on the Union side at the early battle of Chantilly. The fort was the largest along the Bozeman Trail, which had been created to enable settlers to get to the gold fields in Montana or to connect with the Oregon trail for heading further west. It was situated on land that had been ceded to the Indians in the Laramie Treaty of 1851. However, the then existing route to the gold fields or the Oregon Trail required a long detour around the land so ceded to the Indians, so John Bozeman created this route to shorten the trip. The Indians did not appreciate it and were not asked.

The fort was sited by its commander, Colonel Henry Carrington, who had not been in any Civil War battles but rather was a political appointee in Washington DC. The US Army was aware that the Indians intended to resist having forts on this land.

The main issue with the fort was its isolation. It required considerable effort to man and supply. In addition, there was a need to obtain firewood frequently to maintain the fort. It was this need for firewood that caused the engagement. The principal Indian leader was Red Cloud, an Oglala Sioux. His plan was to attack the men gathering firewood and then lure the troops from the fort that likely would come to their rescue into an ambush.

The troops at the fort were officered by former Union officers, many having been brevetted to high rank during that war. So, there was some tension between them and the Commander, Col Carrington, who had not been in any battles and whom they judged to be less than capable. The fort housed about 700 troops.

On December 21, 1866, men were sent to gather firewood for the winter. As planned Red Cloud had this group attacked. As anticipated the fort responded by sending a troop of 81 officers and men under the command of Captain (Brevet Lt Colonel) Fetterman to their rescue. At that time the US Army troops viewed the Indians as being unable to fight as a group, as the Indians largely fought as individuals. So, there was a sense that the Indians would simply run away at the first sight of a large troop of soldiers. Captain Fetterman had even boasted that he could ride through the entire Sioux nation with just 80 soldiers. So, no one anticipated an ambush.

When the troop under Captain Fetterman neared the firewood detail, they had been ordered by Col. Carrington not to pursue the Indians further, and in no case to go beyond the hill named Lodge Trail Ridge as they would no longer be in sight of the fort. Fetterman disobeyed the order and proceeded to follow the Indians and his boast.

Once the Fetterman troop had passed over Lodge Trail Ridge, it followed the retreating Indians for a brief period before becoming surrounded by hundreds of Indians (estimates range up to 1000) who had waited in ambush.

The actual fight lasted just only about 2 hours. The fort was unaware of what had happened for some time and even sent out a further troop of soldiers to find Fetterman and his troop. This additional troop found the Fetterman troop all dead, and the Indians gone, having stripped the bodies before departing.

Carrington's reaction to the loss of Fetterman's men was to place the fort under a state of siege as he expected the Indians to attack the fort. And with just around 300 soldiers remaining at that time he judged he would be overwhelmed. His orders were that in the event of a breach of the fort's perimeter that all the troops and the women (10) and children would retire to the powder magazine and Carrington intended to blow it up to avoid anyone being taken captive.

The Fetterman Massacre Monument is a simple stone obelisk with a metal tablet attached listing the names of those killed. The monument is surrounded by a simple stone wall, but it is not very tall, so it is easy to climb over. Just beyond the monument is a trail that was established to provide details of the Fetterman Massacre fight. There is a gate to enter this trail and a sign that warns of encountering rattlesnakes along the trail.

The trail has a number of metal markers that describe the events of the fight at each point. starting with the actions of the soldiers and ending at roughly a mile away at the point where the Indians established the ambush. This trail follows the remnants of the Bozeman Trail, which can be seen where there are rutted tracks. We took some panoramic videos of the surrounding area near the Fetterman Monument to show just how isolated this area is even today. If one looks closely one can just discern the I-90 road in the middle distance to the east of the monument. There was one metal marker that attracts some attention as it is to one of the troopers who died, Bugler Corporal Adolph Metzger. It indicates that the Sioux he was battling thought that he was very brave. He continued to fight using his bugle as a clubbed weapon, so the Indians did not mutilate his body as they did others and left him covered with a buffalo cape in honor of his bravery. Most others were mutilated, and it was reported that Captain Fetterman took his own life rather than be captured.

The soldiers who died here were initially buried at the fort but were later in 1888 transferred to the cemetery at the Custer Battlefield.Read more