Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 385

western expansion. Although no one knew it at the time, Custer’s

fate had been sealed.

On December 6, the government issued an ultimatum. All roaming

Indians would have to return to the reservations by January 31,

1876, or risk being considered “hostile.” In early February, Lt.

Gen. Philip Sheridan, commanding the Division of Missouri,

ordered his forces to prepare for operations against the

hostiles. The military plan was a three pronged affair. One

force under Brig. Gen. George Crook moved out from Fort

Fetterman in Wyoming. Colonel John Gibbon marched from Fort

Ellis in Montana. The third unit, led by Brig. Gen. Alfred

Terry, advanced from the Dakota Territory. Terry released Custer

and his 7th Cavalry as a mobile strike force to track and locate

the Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen thought to be in Montana

Territory in the Little Bighorn Valley.

Unheeded Warnings

By late June, however, the plan to link up and trap the hostiles

was falling apart. Crook was defeated by an Indian force on the

Rosebud River. Terry and Gibbon got temporarily lost. Custer was

essentially on his own. In fact, Terry had given Custer unusual

freedom. One part of his orders read, “We place too much

confidence in your zeal, energy and ability to impose precise