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Scenario 21stDecember 1866
90 woodcutters [3dead] areattacked by 60 Indians [0]
Carrington orderssave thewoodcuttersdo not crossLodge Trail
Ridge
Fetterman leads out 52infantry
Grummond leads out &overtakes with 27 Cavalry
Lt. Brown [without orders]borrows a horse & joins
thecavalrykeen to get anIndian scalp
2 civilian hunters [Wheatley& Fisher] ride over to join
the soldiers The 60 indians are making
for Lodge Trail Ridge
On the ridge 10 indians arecovering the 60 with gun fireand
shouting taunts at thesoldiers Fort
Pines
& Woodcutters
Sullivant trail
Bozeman Trail
Lodge Trail Ridge
60
10
Fetterman
Grummond & Brown
civilians
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Grummond overtook Fetterman, and the whole command followed the
Bozeman Trail up Lodge Trail Ridge.
Whether Fetterman gave the order or Grummond was acting on his
own will never be known, but
Carrington's order had been disobeyed.
Just as the troopers reached the Peno Valley, a force of 2000
Indians rose from the high grass. as the
ambushers unleashed their wrath.
Grummond was probably one of the first to die. The two
civilians, Wheatley and Fisher, and a few of thetroopers dismounted
and formed an effective actionfor a while.
Most of the cavalrymen retreated partway back toward the
infantry, then dismounted and made a stand.
Fetterman and the foot soldiers, unable to advance or retreat to
the fort (there were also Indians behind
them), formed a defensive circle.
That meant there were three small, separate groups of soldiers
trying to hold off a vastly superior force that
shot an estimated 40,000 arrows during the fight. Fetterman and
the infantrymen fired from their tight little
circle, where rocks provided some cover.
Indian participants said later that they had moved in so close
that some of the arrows they unleashed struck
their fellow warriors on the other side of the circle. In the
end, the Indians rushed right up to the last
soldiers and slashed at them with war clubs, lances and
knives.
Before that final assault, Fetterman and Brown apparently shot
each other in the temple to avoid capture
and slower, more painful deaths. Their bodies, according to most
accounts, were found lying next to each
other. In any case, Fetterman and all his command were dead.One
of the last to soldiers to die was bugler Metzger, evidently fought
off the last of his attackers with his
bent and twisted bugle until finally succumbing to over a dozen
wounds. Prior to withdrawing from the
battlefield, the Indians stripped and mutilated the bodies of
the soldiers according to cultural beliefs. It is
noteworthy that the only body left unmutilated was that of
Metzger. His body was found covered by a
buffalo robe,the Indian ultimate sign of respect for bravery in
battle.
