Saturday, April 25, 2015

Crushing Tall Bull

On July 10, 1869, Maj. Gen. Carr positioned his soldiers near Tall Bull's Cheyenne village with its eighty-four lodges and 500 Dog Soldiers. 

A fierce battle lasted not quite three hours, wounding one of Carr's soldiers but 52 Cheyenne lay dead, including Tall Bull. 

Late that afternoon, an unexpected thunder storm pounded the area with rain and hail, drenching everyone including the Cheyenne fleeing from what had been their home.

The next morning, the soldiers looted the village. They found clocks, watches, photographs, shawls, kitchen and household utensils, mules, horses, rifles, revolvers, knives, and axes. They also found 1,500 dolls, 9,300 pounds of dried meat, and more than ten tons of Indian clothing, equipment, and food. 

At last the soldiers burned the village to the ground. It took 160 fires to destroy what the men didn't take.

Coming April 28, 7-9 p.m.
The Apollon, 1801 Vinton St., Omaha

THIEVES, RASCALS & SORE LOSERS:
The Unsettling History of the Dirty 
Deals that Helped Settle Nebraska

by Marilyn June Coffey


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