At 11am on December 21, 1866, Colonel Henry B Carrington, commanding officer of Fort Phil Kearny, received a message from lookouts who were stationed on nearby Pilot Hill that a woodcutting detail that had left the fort a few hours earlier was being attacked by "many Indians." Carrington immediately organised a relief force and placed Captain William I Fetterman in command, and minutes later Fetterman - an ex-Civil War officer who had joined the garrison a month previously and a fire-eater who proclaimed that given eighty men he could ride through the whole Sioux nation - led his command out into the frost-hardened wilderness. At this time there were probably more than two thousand of Red Cloud's Sioux within a five mile area of the fort, yet when Fetterman arrived at his destination and found that the Indians had moved off, he erroneously believed that the approach of his column had put the hostiles to flight When a small detachment of mounted Sioux led by Crazy Horse broke cover and headed for Lodge Trail Ridge, Fetterman led his mixed command of cavalry and infantry in pursuit. The Indians zigzagged their ponies up the ridge and counter marched along the crest to throw a few insults at their pursuers before disappearing from the skyline. From a vantage point in the fort, Carrington's binoculars followed the movements of both hostiles and Fetterman's detachment across the snow covered ground, and when he saw the silhouettes of cavalry and infantry follow the Indians over the skyline, he must have felt some annoyance and a little unease, for Fetterman had been given explicit instructions that he must not cross the ridge and thereby put his command out of visual contact with the fort. Meanwhile Fetterman was leading his men down the far side of the ridge in pursuit of Crazy Horse's red-blanketed braves, wing-whipped splashes of colour that were drumming across the white wastes of the valley beyond. Suddenly the blankets swirled from their wearers' shoulders as the Indians wheeled their ponies to face the soldiers, and Fetterman ground his column to a halt as he realised the truth. But the sand had run out and there was no time for a withdrawal. More than a thousand Indians who seemed to appear from nowhere swept down on to the flanks of his troops, and, less than 40 minutes from the trap being sprung, arrows, warclubs, and small-arms fire wiped out Fetterman and his command to the last man. When the spasmodic crackle of gunfire reached his ears, Carrington organised a relief force to go to Fetterman's aid, but when this force, which was commanded by Captain Tenedore Ten Eyck, reached the crest of the Lodge Trail Ridge, there was little they could do. The valley floor was swarming with hostiles, and Ten Eyck, realising the folly of engaging such an overwhelming force, wisely kept his command hugging the skyline, where they waited until the Indians had left the area before venturing into the valley to recover the bodies of Fetterman's last command. THE FETTERMAN FIGHT: SPECIAL RULES In the original fight there were 50 infantry, 27 cavalry, 1 lieutenant of cavalry (George W. Grummond), 1 captain of infantry (William I Fetterman) and 2 civilian scouts (Isaac Fisher and James Wheatley.) Arrayed against them were more than 1000 Indians. In our re-creation needless to say we scaled the fight down but the odds still remain overwhelmingly in the Sioux's favour and the outcome can never really be in doubt. It remains only to see how long the Army can hold on for and how well they fight. GENERAL These special modifiers etc are designed for use with our Old West Skirmish rules, but can be easily adapted to suits any set of rules you use for your Old West or Plains' Wars games. Factors and Abilities Certain key named characters have individual factors and abilities, whilst the majority are standardised. US Army Novices(Weapons Carriers) All factors and Abilities 3 or 30% Averages(Weapons Users) All factors and Abilities 7 or 65% Veterans (Weapons Pro's/Weapons Experts) All factors and Abilities 9 or 80% Numbers of men in each category: Indians, Nov 20%, Av 30%, Vet 50%, Whites Nov 50%, Av 30%, Vet 20% Terrain The ground was covered in snow and ice in parts and even the Indians had great difficulty moving on particularly icy patches. Mounted Movement: All attempts at mounted movement on slopes or river banks (within 6 yards of river edge) need an Agility Test: Pass - move at intended rate in intended direction Fail with an Even number - move at half intended rate with an Odd number - throw again 0-50% - no forward movement 51-99% - slide backwards half intended move 100% - lose footing and fall to ground and slide backwards 2x10" Foot Movement Movement on foot was easier but could still be tricky on some patches. Take Agility Test in same circumstances as for Mounted Movement but with results : Pass - move as intended Fail - move at half intended rate. Fail with 100%, lose footing and fall to ground and slide backwards 1x10D Relief column from Fort Phil Kearny After the 10th Phase there is a chance that reinforcements might arrive from Fort Phil Kearny. Throw each phase with the same % chance as the phase No. ie Phase 10, 10%, Phase 15, 15% chance and so on. US ARMY Loss of Officer(s): Men Breaking The men broke when Indians attacked them (Bingham's group) and/or when their officer (Grummond) was killed. Do they do so individually or en masse? Test individually in both instances ie when first attacked and when officer(s) killed or seriously wounded. If more than 50% break then the rest will too, carried along with the others. Loss of Officer: Fire Discipline Certainly in case of the cavalry in the real action the death of their officer(s) was critical because fire discipline was lost Therefore officers must play key role in the action Once the group's officer is killed or incapacitated by serious wounds, before firing the soldier must pass their Fire Control Test with only one result if they fail - they don't f1re! Horsemanship: Many of the cavalry were so green that they lacked training in horsemanship. All Cavalry riders must take a Controlling Mount Test each phase once firing starts to simulate the potential for loosing control of the horse. Take test each phase thereafter if Novice. INDIANS Coup As each Indian comes into the battle he tests to see whether he will attempt to count coup but the chance gets less as the battle continues: Phases 1-5, 40% Phases 6-10, 20% Phases 11-last, 10% Cavalry Horses: Prime Indian target for capture - they were almost more important than killing Whitemen. 0-50% Indians will go after any loose horses. Firearms: Few Indians had them and so they were eager to capture them. No more than 10% of Indian characters can be armed with firearms - any figure which has a firearm must throw to see whether in fact he has a gun, 1-20% he does, until the 10% maximum is reached. Indians must always attempt to pick up any firearms they could see dropped by the Whites, using Dexterity Test for Simple Action if no fighting going on within 6 yards or Difficult Action if there is fighting within 6 yards Indians who have picked up a firearm must either 0-50% attempt to use them 51-75% carry them but continue to fight using their existing weapons 76-100% make off with them (ie leave the fight). Readers will have noticed that this re-fight is called The Fetterman Fight and not the more usual Fetterman Massacre - why is it that if the Whites win it's a victory hard fought and well won, but if the Indians win it's a massacre? I refuse to kow-tow to this concept, the US army troops went out to kill Indians and got suckered into an ambush because of their leader's stupidity - so the action gets his name, but it was a fight and so that's what it should be caked! The Fetterman Fight: The Sioux The fight was referred to by the Miniconjou Sioux as "One Hundred Whitemen Killed", in a very forthright way. The Miniconjou were lead by 6 hereditary chiefs, the Scalp Shirt Men, and in 1866 these were Black Shield [leader of the Miniconjou in the Fetterman Fight], Brave Bear, White Hollow Horn, One Horn, Makes Room and White Swan [who had died prior to the fight]. The leader of the Miniconjou Fox Soldier Society was White Bull, the position being known as the Drum Keeper. The lesser leaders of the society included Little Soldier, Thunder Hawk, Thunder Hoop, Bear Loves, Bear Grabs and Lazy Ghost. Miniconjou warriors who fought included Fire Weather [killed], BullEagle, King, Runs-Against, Little Bull, High Hump, Long Fox, Broken Hand [k], Flying Hawk [k], Crazy Thunder, Powerful, Little Crow [k], Love Bear [k], Male Eagle [k], Thunder-With-Horns, Thunder Hump, Standing Bull, Feather Earring, Little Bear, Charging Crow [k], Eagle-Stays-In-Air [k], Eats Pemmican [k], Long Ghost, Fast Horse, Bear ears [k], Yellow-White-Man [k], Clown Horse [k] and He Dog [k]. For the Oglala I only have 3 names; Crazy Horse, Long man and He Dog. The Dog Eat Dog Society included an Indian called Long Forelock. The first Indian killed was Eats Meat, who rode right through the infantry position unscathed but was shot immediately after this feat. The first coup was struck by Thunder Hawk, the Miniconjou being closer than the Oglala and so reached the soldiers first. Back to MWAN #117 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com