Seventh Cavalry's 'glorious' history
Their first massacre was in 1868
By Mahtowin
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the big
business media has made much of the spearhead role of the
Seventh Cavalry. "Rich in glory and agony," read the New York
Times' headline about its history.
The "agony" refers to the 1876 defeat of the Seventh Cavalry
and its commander, Col. George Armstrong Custer, at Little Big
Horn by combined Lakota and Cheyenne forces.
Many people know about this. But few know the rest of the
"glorious" history and what preceded the battle at Little Big
Horn.
Commissioned by Congress in 1866, the Seventh Cavalry is one
of the oldest continuously serving regiments in the U.S. It was
initially given the task of quelling Native uprisings and
ensuring that pioneers were safe in the Midwestern states.
On Nov. 27, 1868, Custer led the regiment in a pre-dawn raid
on a peaceful Cheyenne encampment on the Washita River in
Oklahoma. It resulted in the massacre of hundreds of women,
children and men. Cheyenne leader Black Kettle had already seen
many of his people massacred in 1864 at Sand Creek. He had
brought the survivors to Washita.
When Black Kettle once again saw his people slaughtered, he
and his wife rode out, trying to meet Custer. They carried a
white flag, hoping to stop the attack, but were shot on
sight.
In the early 1870s, the Seventh Cavalry escorted surveyors,
prospectors and others into the Black Hills to steal gold and
land from the Lakota people.
It was a fine day, indeed, when Custer and many of his
soldiers met their death at Little Big Horn in 1876.
Unfortunately, this was not the end of the Seventh
Cavalry.
Wounded Knee massacre
In late December 1890, shortly after the murder of Sitting
Bull, some Minneconjou and Hunkpapa Lakota left their
reservations and headed toward the Badlands.
On Dec. 28, in the village of Wounded Knee at Pine Ridge
Reservation, South Dako ta, the Seventh Cavalry arrested a
group of Lakota led by Big Foot of the Hunkpapa Lakota. After
disarming the Native people, the cavalry began the Wounded Knee
massacre, raining fragmentation shells into the village at a
combined rate of 200 or more rounds a minute. The 500
well-armed cavalry troops carried out the slaughter
methodically.
Unarmed women, children and men were mercilessly massacred.
A few ran as far as three miles only to be chased and put to
death. Frozen bodies were strewn across the snow-covered land.
Many were unceremoniously dumped into a mass grave by the
cavalry.
At least 300 Lakota were massacred that day. Many said this
was the "revenge" of the Seventh Cavalry for its defeat at
Little Big Horn.
Twenty Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to these
troops for this "battle."
The Seventh Cavalry was exonerated for its conduct.
Secretary of War Redfield Proctor said, "[I]t was impossible to
distinguish buck from squaw. ... The bucks fired from among the
squaws and children in their retreat. ... The Indians
themselves were entirely responsible for this unfortunate phase
of the affair."
Army Gen. Charles Brewster Schofield, in his report
regarding the conduct of the soldiers, said: "The evidence
shows that great care was taken by the officers and enlisted
men to avoid unnecessary killing of Indian women and children
in the affair at Wounded Knee, and shows that the conduct of
the Seventh U.S. Cavalry under very trying circumstances was
characterized by excellent discipline and in many cases by
great forbearance."
This kind of lie-filled public relations disinformation
sounds just like what is now coming out of the Pentagon to
cover up the U.S. military's killing of Iraqi civilians.
That was not the end of the "glorious" history of the
Seventh Cavalry, however.
In 1950, the regiment slaughtered hundreds of defenseless
civilians near the village of Nogun-ri, South Korea, a massacre
covered up for many years.
During the Vietnam War in the 1960s, these latter-day
cowboys caused many more civilian deaths.
Perhaps this "glorious" history of slaughtering civilians in
wars of imperialist conquest makes the Seventh Cavalry ideally
suited for a leading role in Iraq.
As if this history were not odious enough, subdivisions of
the Seventh Cavalry have vilely appropriated the names of
Native warriors and nations, using appellations such as "Crazy
Horse" and "Apache."
The Department of Defense routinely scavenges through Native
heritage to give names to its tools of death and destruction.
Assault helicopters have names like the "Apache," "Iroquois,"
"Cayuse," "Black Hawk" and "Kiowa." There is the "Tomahawk"
cruise missile.
Naming these weapons of destruction and intimidation after
Native warriors and nations is an insult.
Crazy Horse (Tashunke Witko, 1849-1877) was a great Lakota
visionary and warrior who was among those who defeated Custer
at Little Big Horn. Black Hawk (Makataimeshekiakiak, 1767-1838)
was a great Sauk war chief from what is now Illinois. His
eloquence and dignity, as well as his courage, were well
known.
Why does the U.S. military use the names of Native people
and nations? They say it is to give weapons names that are
frightening or intimidating.
In that case, says Moonanum James, a Wampanoag Vietnam-era
veteran, "They should name their tools of war after Bush,
Cheney and their cohorts."
Reprinted from the April 17, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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