Free The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer by Thom Hatch Page B

Beecher Island in honor of Frederick H. Beecher, who had been killed on the first day of the battle.
    Sheridan’s next move was to dispatch Colonel Alfred Sully and his Third Infantry, bolstered by eight companies of the Seventh Cavalry under Major Joel Elliott, to hunt down the Cheyenne who had been raiding south of the Arkansas River. Sully, who had distinguished himself fighting Sioux in the Dakotas, had apparently grown timid and, much to the disgust of Sheridan, returned empty-handed after just one week in the field.
    Sheridan, however, was well acquainted with an officer who had the tenacity to implement his strategy of total war. A telegram was sent to summon Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, who was serving out his one-year suspension in Monroe, Michigan. An elated Custer was on the train the following morning and reported to Fort Hays on September 30 to prepare for a winter campaign.
    Before firm plans had been developed, a debate ensued over the practicality of a cold-weather operation that could pose potential health dangers for the troops and present difficulty in keeping open a supply line. No less of an authority than the legendary trapper and mountain man Jim Bridger, a noted Indian expert, arrived from St. Louis to argue against the campaign. But Sheridan was won over by the argument that their only chance for success was to locate and engage the Indians at the time of the year when they were relatively immobile and therefore vulnerable.
    On November 12, Custer and eleven companies of his Seventh Cavalry under the command of Colonel Sully, with his five infantry companies, marched south from Cavalry Creek to a supply base on the North Canadian River appropriately named Camp Supply. On the way to Camp Supply, Custer discovered the trail of an Indian war party estimated at seventy-five warriors. Custer was anxious to follow, but Sully refused permission until reinforced by the Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, commanded by Kansas governor Samuel J. Crawford, which was en route to Camp Supply.
    Custer was furious. When Sheridan arrived on November 21, he complained about Sully’s typical passivity. Sheridan resolved the tug-of-war over command by sending Sully back to Fort Harker. Custer now had the freedom to pursue the hostiles.
    Two days later, Custer and the Seventh Cavalry—eight hundred men—marched south toward the Washita River Valley, where it was believed that large bands of Indians, perhaps as many as six thousand, were camped for the winter.
    On November 26, Major Elliott and the Osage Indian scouts came across a fresh trail near Antelope Hills made by warriors returning from a raid on homesteaders in Kansas. Custer dispatched Elliott to follow the trail while he marched the main column forward through the deep snow.
    Cheyenne chief Black Kettle and several subchiefs had returned to their camp on the Washita that night after a meeting at Fort Cobb with Colonel William Hazen, who had the unenviable task of determining which Indians were hostile and which were friendly. Hazen was convinced that Black Kettle was indeed peaceful, but advised the chief to personally make peace with Sheridan in the field to ensure his safety. The general could not easily be located, and Black Kettle simply went home. Although the chief’s wife warned him that he should move the village that night, Black Kettle was convinced that the soldiers would wait for more favorable conditions and not brave the freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions to attack.
    That opinion by the chief was probably true of most commanders in the field—but not this particular commander. George Armstrong Custer was undeterred by fatigue, weather conditions, or any other obstacle in his way to carrying out his orders. He was determined to aggressively follow orders and protect the lives and property of those innocent homesteaders.
    Custer led his troops through the bone-chilling cold and dense morning fog until