Opponents: Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry.
v.
Black Kettle’s Southern Cheyenne, led by Little Rock.
Place: Washita River in Indian Territory (near Cheyenne, Oklahoma).
Factors:
* After signing the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the Southern Cheyenne (and Arapaho) were sent to a sparse reservation in Indian Territory. Food was in short supply.
* In August 1868, the warriors began raiding white settlements, killing at least 15 people.
* Peace talks between the U.S. Army and tribal leaders at Fort Cobb broke down.
* Major Joel Elliott of the 7th Cavalry had tracked raiding Dog Soldiers back to their camp on the Washita River. He returned to inform Custer, but the soldiers had also been spotted by the warriors. Because snow had fallen over a foot deep, Black Kettle decided to wait before sending out runners to talk with the soldiers. Meanwhile, Custer decided to attack the sleeping village at dawn.
* The Cheyenne had been camped on reservation land where they had been assured of safety.
* A white flag was flown in the village to indicate that this was a peaceful community.
* Custer lost 21 men, including Major Elliott who had ridden off without permission into an ambush.
* The Cheyenne casualties numbered 50 warriors, including their revered leader, Black Kettle.
* Custer withdrew without knowing the fate of Elliott’s band, which ruined his reputation among the ranks and caused a rift within the regiment.
* The 7th Cavalry used 53 women and children as human shields to protect their return to Camp Supply.
* This success cemented Custer’s reputation as a military leader and helped make him a popular figure in the newspapers.
I’ll sing you a true song of Billy the Kid,
I’ll sing of some desperate deeds that he did,
Way out in New Mexico long, long ago
When a man’s only chance was his own forty-four.
When Billy the Kid was a very young lad,
In old Silver City he went to the bad,
Way out in the West with a gun in his hand
At the age of twelve years he did kill his first man.
There’s Mexican maidens play guitars and sing
Songs about Billy, their boy bandit king.
‘Ere his young manhood has reached his sad end
With a notch an his pistol for twenty one men.
Was on a sad night when poor Billy died,
He said to his friend, “I’m not satisfied.
There’s twenty one men I have put bullets through,
Sheriff Pat Garrett must make twenty two!”
I’ll sing you how Billy the Kid met his fate,
The bright moon was shining, the hour was late,
Shot down by Pat Garrett, who once was his friend
The young outlaw’s life is now come to an end.
There’s many a man with a face fine and fair
Who start out in life with a chance to be square.
Just like poor Billy they wander astray –
They’ll lose their lives in the very same way!
A popular traditional Cheyenne guessing game is known as the Hand or Stick Game.
There are 2 teams. Each team has 10 sticks and 1 colored stone.
The first person from Team A hides their stone in either the left or right hand.
Team B has to guess which hand it is in. If they are correct they claim 1 stick from their opponents. If they are incorrect they must give up 1 of their own sticks.
At the start of 1885, a wealthy New York socialite – Beret Osmundsen – discovers that her estranged sister Lillie was recently murdered in a Denver brothel. Beret immediately makes her way to her aunt’s house in the Mile-High City, and joins forces with the local detective to solve the case. Then two other prostitutes are brutally killed and it seems like a serial killer may be stalking the tenderloin district. But in an unexpected turn of events, things move much closer to home than Beret could ever have anticipated.
Sandra Dallas uncovers the seedy side of Denver, on both sides of the tracks. Nothing – and no one – is as they first seem. This mystery thriller keeps the reader guessing what terrible secrets will be uncovered next. My only reservation is that the beautiful pacing throughout the majority of the novel loses traction at the end and rushes to a quick conclusion. Nevertheless, Fallen Women is still an enjoyable read that raises fascinating ethical questions regarding family ties, loyalties, perceptions, and obligations.
