Black Infantry in the West essays

Black Infantry in the West essays In May of 1865, Congress faced a problem with the war ending and men being sent home. Where were they going to find men to replace the volunteer units? Another problem that the army faced was keeping the hostile Indians under control and learning how to adapt to their style of warfare. General Sheridan also proved to be an important person during this time period. At the beginning of the Indian wars, from 1866 to 1891, the actual strength of the army was approximately 25,000 men (Fowler, 1971, p. 4). Because of the shortage of men, many commanders found themselves very short on personnel. Sheridan pointed out that he was required to garrison seventy three posts and protect an area of country that extended from Canada in the north to Rio Grande in the south with a force of only 13,468 men (Fowler, 1971, p.5). I could only imagine how difficult it must have been for Sheridan to cover such a vast area of land with such a shortage of personnel. It makes you wonder how he organized his divisions to cover the area required by him. The Indian wars proved to be one of the biggest problems that faced the infantry in the west. The way the Indians fought was impractical to the army. They were used to using large regiments and guns. The Indians hit and run style of fighting devastated the army. This was smart to me. The Indians fought their own war instead of fighting the armys war. If the Indians would have tried to fight the way the army was used to fighting, they would have been slaughtered. The war most likely would not have lasted as long as it did. In my opinion, the Indians were very tactical. Just think, they fought their own war on land that they had lived on forever. They were also very mobile. They could pick up and move their entire tribe at a rate of 55 miles per day (Fowler, 1971 p. 7).The Indians ability to move quickly and endure long marches through rough conditions also proved to be a useful tactic. When reviewing thi...