Pawnee Scouts

Pawnee Scouts
Pawnee scouts, circa 1868 to 1871, by William Henry Jackson.
Active	1864 - 1877
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch	United States Army
Type	Indian scouts
Garrison/HQ	Fort Kearny, Nebraska Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming
Engagements	Powder River Expedition Crazy Woman's Fork Powder River Battle of the Tongue River Comanche War Battle of Summit Springs Great Sioux War
Commanders
Notable commanders	Frank North

Pawnee Scouts were part of the United States Army in the latter half of the 19th century. Like other groups of Indian scouts, Pawnee warriors were recruited in large numbers to fight on the Northern Plains in various conflicts against hostile native Americans. Because the Pawnee people were old enemies of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, instead of fighting against Westward expansion, they served with the army for fourteen years between 1864 and 1877, earning a reputation as being a well trained unit, especially in tracking and reconnaissance.^[1]

Service History

Powder River War

The Pawnee tribe originally came from an area in Nebraska around the Republican, Platte and Loup Rivers. They were known for being a warrior culture, skilled in raiding enemy villages for horses. Prior to December 1864, when the scouts were established, Pawnee braves constantly waged war against their neighbors so when General Samuel Curtis began recruiting for scouts to help him in an expedition against hostiles, he had no trouble in convincing seventy Pawnees to join in. Shortly thereafter, First Lieutenant Frank North was authorized to recruit 100 more Pawnees. North would eventually be put in command of the scouts and promoted to captain and then major, a position he held until the final disbandment of the unit in 1877. The first Pawnee scouts were posted at Fort Kearny, Nebraska and later units served at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming and at Sydney Barracks. The Pawnee scouts were very fond of Major North, due to his bravery in battle and a pair of "miraculous" incidents in 1865. From May to November, the Pawnee scouts were in General Patrick E. Connor's Powder River Expedition and first saw action on August 13, 1865, at Crazy Woman's Fork of the Powder River. Captain Frank North and his men were chasing a party of Arapaho warriors on horseback when the Captain became separated from the Scouts by about one mile. The retreating warriors then turned to engage North and wounded his horse, so he used the animal as a "breastwork" to fight off the attackers. Their second skirmish on August 16, 1865, was in the Battle of Powder River. Captain North was following the trail of about 27 retreating Cheyennes with about forty-five of his scouts when they discovered the Cheyenne's camp. After two days of searching, it was 2:00 am when the camp was found so North had his men dismount and rest, in order to attack at first light. During the following skirmish, all twenty-seven Southern Cheyenne men, women, and children were killed by Captain North and his Scouts who only suffered four horses killed.^[1][2]

These two events helped create an idea about North among the Pawnee Scouts as having supernatural powers and being invulnerable to harm. The scouts served distinctively in the Battle of the Tongue River on August 29. In the fight, about 200 United States soldiers and 70 Indian Scouts (including 30 of the Pawnee) captured an Arapaho village containing about 500 people, mostly women and children, under Medicine Man. The few Arapaho warriors counterattacked but were repulsed by the soldiers' repeating carbine's and mountain howitzer's fire. Sixty-three Arapahos, mostly unarmed noncombatants were killed and eighteen women and children were captured and later released. Additionally, hundreds of Arapaho horses and ponies were shot after the battle. Five U.S. soldiers and Indian Scouts were killed or mortally wounded and an additional two were wounded in the battle.^[3][4][5]

Cheyenne War

In the spring of 1866, after the expedition into the Powder River Country, the Pawnee scouts were disbanded but only temporarily for in March 1867 Major North was authorized to enlist four fifty-man companies of scouts for protecting the Union Pacific Railroad, then under construction. During this time, Major North was accompanied by his brother, Luther, who was in command of one of the scout companies. The "Pawnee Battalion", as it was called, was active in the Comanche War, fighting against Chief Turkey Leg and his band of Northern Cheyenne. A "severe" engagement took place near Plum Creek Station, Nebraska, on August 22, in which Major North and forty-two of the scouts engaged 150 Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne warriors who had destroyed a train on August 6, killing seven settlers and taking a large amount of private property. The Pawnee scouts were victorious again, they killed "many", retrieved the stolen property, and captured Turkey Leg's wife and child. The chief's family was later exchanged for three captured American girls and two boys who were held by Turkey Leg for a long time. In the autumn of 1867 the battalion was mustered out but in the spring of 1868 North reorganized the unit to continue protecting the Union Pacific. In 1869, North and fifty scouts guided Colonel Eugene Asa Carr's Republican River Expedition through Colorado and fought in the Battle of Summit Springs on July 11. The battle put approximately 300 Americans and Pawnees up against 450 to 900 encamped Arapaho, Sioux and Cheyenne braves under the command of Chief Tall Bull. Carr positioned his forces so as to attack the camp simultaneously from three sides. The maneuver worked and in the end about thirty-five native men, women and children were killed, including Tall Bull, while only one American was wounded. The scouts were responsible for the deaths of at least seven women and children. Some 800 heads of captured livestock was also retaken.^[6][7][8][9]

Great Sioux War

In 1870 the Pawnee scouts were still working to protect the railroad but eventually they were disbanded. However, with the outbreak of the Great Sioux War in 1876, Major North was ordered by General Philip Sheridan to travel to Indian Territory, where the Pawnee now lived, to organize another company for General George Crook's Little Bighorn Campaign. North found that the Pawnees living on the reservation were very poor and all of the males were eager to enlist. North recruited 100 of the Pawnees and headed back north, to Fort Robinson, Nebraska where the Sioux chiefs Sitting Bull and Red Cloud were active in fighting the army. Major North and his men arrived at the fort on October 22 and immediately thereafter began a march to the camp of Chief Red Cloud with a regiment of cavalry. On the following morning, North's command advanced on the camp and took it without a shot fired, capturing Red Cloud and over 700 ponies which were later sold by the Pawnee. The chief and his band were then marched to Fort Robinson and imprisoned there until the end of the war in 1877. In November, 1876, General Ranald S. Mackenzie led seventy Pawnee scouts and 800 cavalrymen into the Big Horn Mountains to attack a "well concealed" Cheyenne camp. On the day of the battle, the hostiles were exhausted from celebrating the night before so when General Mackenzie launched his attack most fled, leaving their provisions and lodges to be piled up and burnt by the soldiers. Some 650 ponies were also captured and over forty natives died from exposure of starvation in the following weeks. The battle left the Cheyenne destitute so they journeyed to the camp of Chief Crazy Horse who denied them aid because they had been "outwitted and surprised" by the army.^[1][10]

With nowhere to go, the Cheyennes walked to Fort Robinson and surrendered. Due to General Crook's winter campaigning, the remaining hostiles under Sitting Bull were not able to hunt for buffalo so by the spring of 1877 they surrendered at Fort Robinson as well. Now that the war was over, the Pawnee scouts were disbanded for good on May 1, 1877 and returned to the Indian Territory. Major North retired from his military life the same year, General Crook wrote; "I think it only just and appropriate to thank you for your excellent behavior during the time of your stay in the Military service under my command, and to say that the soldier-like conduct and discipline of the Pawnee Scouts is the most eloquent testimony that could be adduced to prove your fitness for the position you have held as their Commanding Officer."^[1][2]

See also

• Apache Scouts
• Navajo Scouts
• Crow Scouts
• Black Seminole Scouts

References

• Grinnell, George Bird (1915). The Fighting Cheyennes. University of Oklahoma Press. 
• Michno, Gregory F. (2003). Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes, 1850-1890. Mountain Press Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87842-468-7. 
• McDermott, John Dishon (2003). Circle of Fire: The Indian War of 1865. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0061-0.