The Red River War of 1874

My thesis is concerned with the Red River War of 1874. This campaign was the largest of the Indian Wars, but has been overlooked by many historians. The reasons for the war are found in the failure of the federal government to provide the Plains Indians with a viable way of life. Reconstruction had devoured the military assets of the United States, and the western frontier was inadequately protected from attack by roving bands of hostile Indians. The economic situation of the United States and the Indian nations was approaching disaster by 1874, and desperate solutions were necessary. The elements for a general outbreak of hostilities were present, and confrontation was imminent. About five hundred warriors of several tribes attacked an outpost of buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls on June 27, 1874. The battle was indecisive, but the results far reaching, for the nomadic bands of red men had united for war. The U. S. Army prepared a summer offensive that included troops from five states. Numerous engagements in the Texas Panhandle in the summer and fall of 1874 brought fame and suffering to the men that fought there. By 1875, the once powerful Plains Indians had been defeated in spirit and in fact. Their leaders were forced into confinement and oblivion, and the tribes forced to live on reservations. The commanders of the formations that had defeated the Indians launched long, successful careers. The overall commander, Nelson Miles, became the highest ranking general in the army. Two of his subordinates in the campaign, Adna Chaffee and S.B.M. Young later served as the Army Chief of Staff. Tactics and techniques that were developed during this campaign affected American military doctrine and practice for many years. The effects of the war on the people that fought it, were wide spread. It marked the demise of the Plains Indians as a military threat to settlement of the frontier. The experience in Indian warfare marked the beginning of years of similar duty for the soldiers of the frontier army