General Crook / Frontier Soldier

The first subject that comes to mind when you think of a U.S. Army soldier on the old western frontier are the Indian Wars including the Fetterman Massacre and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. There were also numerous books written about Quanah Parker and his Comanche Wars throughout Texas in the late 1860's and early 1870's.

A Western Frontier General

The Indian Wars are what thousands of books have been written about, both nonfiction historical accounts and dime novels. Fighting Indians is also what we remember most about the famous frontier generals of the period.

The picture below is of the General George Crook House located in the Miller Park neighborhood of North Omaha Nebraska. It's on the U.S. Register of Historic Places and it would make a good addition to your trip planner. The Crook House was used as the headquarters for the Department of the Platte during the general's tenure and also for later commanders. The Crook House was visited by both Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes. The house was eventually  taken over by the Douglas County Historical Society and was refurbished in the 1980's. It's open for both tours and special events. Their website is listed at the bottom of this post.

The Expeditions of General George Crook

General George Crook was involved in many events on the western U.S. frontier, being part of the Sioux Indian Wars of the mid 1870's as well as Comanche campaigns among others.

He was also involved in matters not strictly military in nature and with nothing to do with fighting Indians. This was a part of frontier military duty that I think really hasn't been heavily publicized.

During the very early Civil War reconstruction period, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act which really was an extension of an Act passed in 1807.

The Posse Comitatus Act put a limit the military's potential involvement in civilian affairs. In other words, it's intent was to keep the army from being a domestic police force.

This was actually one of the founding principles of our government. Being passed in 1867, the act went into effect right at the time of massive westward expansion. Towns were springing up almost every day and when the transcontinental railroad was completed, the emigration westward reached new heights. To be sure, the U.S. Army had it's hands full trying to protect settlers and at the same time attempting to relocate Indians on reservations.

General George Crook

There were many times that soldiers became involved in nonmilitary matters. A unique example was the time they chased after train robbers.

The Army Goes After Train Robbers

A Union Pacific train was robbed at Big Springs Nebraska on September 18, 1877. The train robbers netted personal items from the passengers and about $60,000 in gold coins. This certainly was one of the great robberies of the time. The robbers split up into two groups and headed south. The Union Pacific offered a $10,000 reward mostly due to the amount of gold coins stolen.

Civilian posse's headed out after the robbers which of course was normal. What was different in this case was that General George Crook, pictured right, ordered troops dispatched from both Fort Robinson and Fort McPherson to join the pursuit. Eleven soldiers joined Sheriff George W. Bardsley of Hayes City Kansas and a short time later confronted two of the bandits near Buffalo Station Kansas. A shootout ensued and both outlaws were killed.

If it sounded like a good outcome, it really wasn't. There was a legal battle over the reward money and a few years later Bardsley collected $2,250 and the eleven soldiers had to split a total of $1,002. The prevailing story is that Sheriff Bardsley claimed all the credit. While General Crook was known to have a liberal interpretation of Posse Comitatus, most of the time that the army found itself involved in civilian affairs they drew loud criticism.

The army's dilemma was that the relatively new settlements in the west often times had inadequate law enforcement but at the same time the army had to act in some capacity when high profile trouble erupted and a $60,000 train robbery qualified as high profile. Regardless of the controversy generated, General Crook was known to have ordered his soldiers into civilian matters more than once. You can just imagine the political infighting that ensued trying to interpret the Posse Comitatus Act. Today we have much clearer lines of jurisdiction but in the wild west of the late 1800's this line was blurred at best.

The Pullman Strike

General Nelson Miles

Another high profile civilian disturbance that drew in the military was the 1894 Pullman Strike in Chicago. While Chicago isn't really the western frontier, the story is revealing as to how military intervention can turn political.

The period of the late 1800's saw it's share of labor unrest. Immigrants has arrived by the thousands searching for work. Regarding work unions, The Knights of Labor reached it's zenith in the 1880's and had it's greatest victory with the Union Pacific Railroad strike.

The primary goal of the Knights was the eight hour workday. Miners as a group called many strikes involving both pay and working conditions. In the second decade of the 20th century one of the most bloodiest labor uprisings took place in Ludlow Colorado when coal miners struck.

Several economic downturns  from the 1870's onward aggravated the labor situation and in this case it involved the Pullman strike. The Pullman Palace Car Company lowered worker's pay 25% while leaving corporate manager's pay the same. Union activists and avowed socialists always appeared, tempers flared and violence was inevitable. George Pullman stuck to his guns. He wasn't going to bargain and he wasn't going to talk with the strikers.

General Nelson Miles, pictured above left, another big figure from the Indian Wars both on the plains and in Arizona (Geronimo surrendered to Miles) and a Civil War veteran, was sent in with 12,000 troops augmented by U.S. Marshals on orders of President Grover Cleveland to end the strike. The use of force against civilians by the military was a very controversial topic at the time. During the confrontation several strikers were killed in the  and that in itself led to further violence. A tremendous amount of property damage occurred. During the strike Eugene Debs, the socialist organizer, was arrested and tried for inciting violence and destroying private railroad property. After two trials and being represented by Clarence Darrow he was found guilty of a lesser charge and served six months in jail.


When the Pullman Strike was over the army took a great deal of criticism. The criticism was that Nelson Miles was getting too close with George Pullman and kept his troops in Chicago longer than necessary. In situations like these the army is wide open for accusations of taking sides. Regardless, Nelson Miles had a very successful military career. The town of Miles City Montana was named in the General's honor. Pullman himself was criticized for his "company town" philosophy whereas workers were dependent on his company for their homes, groceries, everything. They lived in homes within Pullman's own town outside Chicago.

 Many historians have pointed out the irony of having rank and file troops used to subdue the nations labor force. If anything, the typical non commissioned soldier had much more in common with the work unions than he did with the industrial tycoons of the day. Many U.S. Army troops were themselves immigrants.

As a memorial to the 1894 Pullman strikers, a rose and herb garden was planted in Chicago in the 1980's to commemorate the strike. It's location is 11111 S. Forestville Ave.

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images from public domain)

The Pueblo Revolt That Drove The Spaniards Out Of The Southwest

There were many significant events in the early southwest and among the very major happenings was the Pueblo Revolt. This was probably the most adverse event in Spanish colonial history on the North American continent. It's a story of servitude and surprises. It's also a story of secrecy and violence. The story of the Pueblo Revolt is the most interesting revolution fought against a European colonial power on what is now American soil.

Visit Northern New Mexico

Before I tell this story I want to point out that there are several historic sites in the state of New Mexico that I believe should be a part of any New Mexico vacation and are connected to our story.

Just two of these sites include the Jemez Monument west of Santa Fe and the Black Mesa northwest of Santa Fe shown at left. There is also the popular Petroglyph National Monument on the western edge of Albuquerque.

There are stories attached to all of these sites and I think you'll find both our story and a visit to these sites interesting and enjoyable. These are low cost trip ideas that are educational for the entire family and you'll be able to take some great photos. Links for these sites are at the end of our story.

North Come the Spaniards

As most of us were taught in our history class at school, the Spaniards were the first European power to explore the American southwest. First into Mexico and then northward.

There were Native Americans present for centuries just as there were throughout the continent. There are several similarities between the Spanish move northward and the Americans moving west under Manifest Destiny and the ensuing Indian Wars. Both powers sought to change the Native American way of life..to have it conform to their customs including religious beliefs. Both powers were met with considerable violence. Both powers also meted out violence. The Indian Wars conducted by the U.S. military, while not with the same religious overtones as the Spaniards presented, were not so much different than what transpired in Spanish New Mexico. It was just 200 years later.

Searching For Gold and the Franciscan's Presence


Coronado originally set out into the New World looking for gold and all kinds of riches. The Eldorado. He didn't find the gold he was looking for. Decades later the Spaniards made their exploration up the Rio Grande and established Nuevo Mexico. Gold wasn't found but what was found were the Pueblo Native Americans. Unlike most the plains Indians, the Pueblo people were not namadic. They built settlements and they built them with what the New Mexican tourist sees today..adobe structures. Along with their mud and straw like settlements they had their Kachina religion and they had their medicine men.

The Spaniards traveled with Franciscan Friars and their goal was conversion. To the friars the Kachina religion was simply idol worship and paganism and of course their goal was to usher the Pueblo people into Christianity. This was no different than what the Spaniards attempted throughout the southwest with the Navajos, Apaches, Hopi's and other tribes.

Over time some of the things imposed on the Pueblo population was drastic by any measure. They included forced servitude in the construction of missions and churches.

The picture at right is the San Jose Mission which is now part of a New Mexico State Monument. It was built around 1621. Many time the native Americans were forced to build these structures upon the same ground which their destroyed kivas had been on.

The kiva's were the ceremonial place where families throughout the pueblo gathered to practice the Kachina religion. In other words, it was a very sacred place. There was a lot of dissent and very strict rules were put into effect by the Franciscans. The Spanish in New Mexico levied very severe punishments to those who offered resistance.

Below left are excellent drawings of Kachina dolls from an 1894 anthropology book.

The Year 1680

I think you'll find that anytime a people are put under servitude, especially for over 100 years, they conspire to lash back.

In the case of the pueblo people it was not merely servitude but their entire way of life was taken from them. This is a life and religion that developed over centuries. A century of this type of deprivation led to one of the biggest revolts of the 17th century. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was a rebellion that forced the Spanish to completely withdraw from Nuevo Mexico. After considerable bloodshed including the slaying of most of the friars, the Spaniards withdrew south along the Rio Grande back to the El Paso area and into Mexico.

For twelve years the pueblo people lived without the Spaniards. While they threw off their shackles of forced submission, at the same time there was no longer Spanish conquistadors to protect them against attack from other tribes such as the Apaches. Fighting between the tribes ensued.

Twelve Years After the Revolt


Then in 1692, Don Diego de Vargas led Spanish troops and priests back up the Rio Grande. The image below left is an undated oil painting of de Vargas that hangs in the Palace of the Governors on the Santa Fe Plaza.

As Vargas suspected, the pueblos along the way were abandoned. They were abandoned all the way north to the Cochiti Pueblo south of Santa Fe. He then advanced to the walls of Santa Fe. There were many Natives at Santa Fe and Vargas was prepared for a fight. There was no fight.

The inhabitants first thought the force were Apaches coming to attack. After they were convinced that these actually were Spaniards a long parley ensued whereby Vargas assured them that they came in peace and that the people who were responsible for the harsh treatment previously meted out years ago were no longer with their party. The Native Santa Feans accepted this and the result is what historians call the bloodless reconquest of New Mexico.

In about four months Vargas was able to reclaim almost all of the former colony. Although the first reentering of New Mexico was bloodless, trouble sprang up again when Vargas traveled back to Mexico in 1693. When he returned in 1694 he found that the Indians reneged on their agreements from 1692 concerning adopting Christianity and assimilating.

A Misunderstanding Leads To One Last Trouble

One story is that the trouble began after false rumors were spread that the true intent of Vargas' arrival was to eventually annihilate the Indians. This was not true but Vargas was forced to put down another uprising however not to the magnitude of 1680. One of the encounters is as follows.


The rebel pueblos ended up congregating at Black Mesa which is located northwest of Santa Fe and about 20 miles east of present day Los Alamos. A picture of Black Mesa is at the very top of this post. When the Spaniards advanced on the Black Mesa in march 1694 they were met with arrows and rocks being thrown down from on top.

A mesa is not easy to scale and much harder when rocks are thrown over the side. Vargas made several attempts to scale Black Mesa at one point using ladders. His troops were met by boulders being rolled over the edge. Vargas' assault on Black Mesa lasted three weeks before his cold, worn out and low on ammunition troops trekked back to Santa Fe.

 It's interesting to note that Vargas did not chronicle this as a defeat. Eventually the holdouts on Black Mesa came down. The incident was regarded by the Spaniards more as a stalemate. What it did prove was that to take total control of the colony one had to control the high ground. A mesa does offer an excellent defensive position as long as there are enough supplies for the defenders.


There is much more to learn about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. I encourage you to explore the event in greater detail. There are several excellent books that delve into different aspects of the struggle as well how the pueblo people were treated by the Spaniards.

As we all know, Spain eventually lost the territory to Mexico and Mexico in turn lost the region to the U.S. after the Mexican-American War. The end product is the state of New Mexico.

The links below are excellent for planning your New Mexico vacation. Also you can map the locations and retrieve directions with the Google Map driving direction box on this site. I hope you have the opportunity to visit many of these historic sites.

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images in the public domain)


www.nmmonuments.org


www.indianpueblo.org/19pueblos/sanildefonso.html

www.palaceofthegovernors.org

www.santafe.org