History
Fort Howes was established in the spring of 1897 by Custer County civilians after a sheepherder named John Hoover, who worked for John Barringer, and his sheep dog were murdered by several Cheyenne warriors between April 28 and May 3, 1897, near the town of Ashland, Montana. After Hoover's body was recovered on May 27, the women and children that lived near Ashland were sent to Sheridan, Wyoming and Miles City, Montana. Men of the Ashland area began building a fortified redoubt on the crest of a hill located on the Howes ranch, along Otter Creek, a tributary of the Tongue River, to discourage further Indian attacks. The walls were built with spaces for rifles to shoot through, and one large opening for men to enter through. Finally there was a wooden plank roof built over the fort. Weapons, ammunition, food, and water were stored inside. At its completion, the walls measured 18 by 10 feet (5.5 by 3.0 m).
The redoubt was named after Captain Calvin C. Howes, who owned the land under the fort. Cowboys and stockmen were posted at the fort as guards, and on multiple occasions in the early summer of 1897 they observed Cheyenne warriors riding nearby and examining the structure. Custer County Sheriff John Gibbs came to the Howes ranch and deputized twelve men, including Levi Howes, the son of Calvin C. Howes. The group was joined by cowboys, and when they numbered about 200 men, rode into Lame Deer, Montana to apprehend the Cheyenne warriors that had killed John Hoover. A contingent of U.S. Army soldiers from nearby Fort Keogh also traveled to Lame Deer to keep the peace. After discussing the situation with the Cheyenne through interpreters, the guilty Cheyenne warriors were turned over to Sheriff Gibbs and his deputies, and later released. The anticipated "Indian uprising" did not take place, and the redoubt was abandoned in the summer of 1897. [3]
The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
The Cheyenne are one of the indigenous people of the Great Plains and their language is of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese. These tribes merged in the early 19th century. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized Nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, and the Northern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana.
Rosebud County is a county in the state of Montana. It was established February 11, 1901, and has Montana vehicle license plate prefix 29. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 9,233. Its county seat is Forsyth.
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Ashland is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rosebud County, Montana, United States. The population was 464 at the 2000 census. Ashland is immediately east of the boundary of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and also along the Tongue River. It is the location of the St. Labre Indian Catholic High School, established in 1884 as a boarding school by a Catholic mission to the Cheyenne.
The Tongue River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 265 mi (426 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana. The Tongue rises in Wyoming in the Big Horn Mountains, flows through northern Wyoming and southeastern Montana and empties into the Yellowstone River at Miles City, Montana. Most of the course of the river is through the beautiful and varied landscapes of eastern Montana, including the Tongue River Canyon, the Tongue River breaks, the pine hills of southern Montana, and the buttes and grasslands that were formerly the home of vast migratory herds of American bison. The Tongue River watershed encompasses parts of the Cheyenne and Crow Reservations. The Headwaters lie on the Big Horn National Forest, and the watershed encompasses the Ashland Ranger District of the Custer National Forest.
The Battle of Washita River occurred on November 27, 1868 when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle’s Southern Cheyenne camp on the Washita River.
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the site of the June 25 and 26, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn, near Crow Agency, Montana, in the United States. It also serves as a memorial to those who fought in the battle: George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry and a combined Lakota-Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho force. Custer National Cemetery, on the battlefield, is part of the national monument. The site of a related military action led by Marcus Reno and Frederick Benteen is also part of the national monument, but is about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of the Little Bighorn battlefield.
Little Wolf was a Northern Só'taeo'o Chief and Sweet Medicine Chief of the Northern Cheyenne. He was known as a great military tactician and led a dramatic escape from confinement in Oklahoma back to the Northern Cheyenne homeland in 1878, known as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus.
The Colorado War was an Indian War fought in 1864 and 1865 between the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and allied Brulé and Oglala Sioux peoples versus the U.S. army, Colorado militia, and white settlers in Colorado Territory and adjacent regions. The Kiowa and the Comanche played a minor role in actions that occurred in the southern part of the Territory along the Arkansas River. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux played the major role in actions that occurred north of the Arkansas River and along the South Platte River, the Great Platte River Road, and the eastern portion of the Overland Trail. The United States government and Colorado Territory authorities participated through the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment, often called the Colorado volunteers. The war was centered on the Colorado Eastern Plains, extending eastward into Kansas and Nebraska.
Buffalo Calf Road Woman, or Brave Woman, was a Northern Cheyenne woman who saved her wounded warrior brother, Chief Comes in Sight, in the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876. Her rescue helped rally the Cheyenne warriors to win the battle. She fought next to her husband in the Battle of the Little Bighorn that same year. In 2005 Northern Cheyenne storytellers broke more than 100 years of silence about the battle, and they credited Buffalo Calf Road Woman with striking the blow that knocked Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer off his horse before he died.
The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation is home of the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately 690 square miles (1,800 km2) in size and home to approximately 5,000 Cheyenne people. The tribal and government headquarters are located in Lame Deer, also the home of the annual Northern Cheyenne pow wow.
Otter is an unincorporated community in southwestern Powder River County, Montana, United States, in the Custer National Forest. It lies along local roads southwest of the town of Broadus, the county seat of Powder River County. Its elevation is 3,484 feet (1,062 m). Although Otter is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 59062.
Fort Custer was established during the Indian wars in the Department of Dakota by the U.S. Army to subjugate the Sioux, Cheyenne and Crow Indians near present-day Hardin, Montana. The post was named for General George Armstrong Custer who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
The Crow War, also known as the Crow Rebellion, or the Crow Uprising, was the only armed conflict between the United States and the Crow tribe of Montana, and the last Indian War fought in the state. In September 1887 the young medicine man Wraps-Up-His-Tail, or Sword Bearer, led a small group of warriors in a raid against a group of Blackfoot which had captured horses from the Crow reservation. Following the raid, Sword Bearer led his group back to the Crow Agency to inform the Indian agent of his victory, but an incident arose which ended with the young leader taking his followers into the mountains. In response, the United States Army launched a successful campaign to bring the Crow back to the reservation.
The Sheep Wars, or the Sheep and Cattle Wars, were a series of armed conflicts in the Western United States which were fought between sheepmen and cattlemen over grazing rights. Sheep wars occurred in many western states though they were most common in Texas, Arizona and the border region of Wyoming and Colorado. Generally, the cattlemen saw the sheepherders as invaders, who destroyed the public grazing lands, which they had to share on a first-come, first-served basis. Between 1870 and 1920, approximately 120 engagements occurred in eight different states or territories. At least 54 men were killed and some 50,000 to over 100,000 sheep were slaughtered.
The Battle of Julesburg took place on January 7, 1865 near Julesburg, Colorado between 1,000 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota Indians and about 60 soldiers of the U.S. army and 40 to 50 civilians. The Indians defeated the soldiers and over the next few weeks plundered ranches and stagecoach stations up and down the valley of the South Platte River
The Mizpah Creek incidents, were a series of incidents that occurred from April 5 – June 8, 1879, between United States soldiers and civilians, and eight Northern Cheyennes, that resulted in the death of one U.S. soldier, and the capture of the eight Cheyenne, three of whom committed suicide in prison at Miles City, Montana Territory. The incidents occurred near Mizpah Creek, a tributary of the Powder River, in Montana Territory.
Camp Merritt was a United States army camp established in December, 1891 at the Northern Cheyenne Agency. It was named for Brevet Major General Wesley Merritt, and abandoned in 1899.
