Posted by Rich on September 03, 2000 at 09:30:48:
"1855 U.S. Army avenges the Grattan Massacre
On this day in 1885, General William Harney and
700 soldiers take revenge for the Grattan
Massacre with a brutal attack on a Sioux village in
Nebraska that left 100 men, women, and children
dead.
The path to Harney's bloody revenge began a year
before near Fort Laramie, Wyoming, when a brash
young lieutenant named John Grattan and 30 of
his men were killed while attempting to arrest a
Teton Sioux brave accused of shooting a white
man's cow. Despite the many eyewitness reports
that Lieutenant Grattan had foolishly threatened the
Sioux and practically forced them to attack, the
incident quickly gained infamy around the nation
as the "Grattan Massacre." Americans demanded
swift vengeance, and the army turned to the
celebrated Indian fighter, General William Harney,
to lead a punitive attack against the Sioux. Harney
decided an appropriate target for retribution was a
village of 250 Sioux led by Chief Little Thunder
encamped near Ash Hollow, Nebraska. Refusing to
accept Little Thunder's offer of immediate
surrender, Harney ordered a full-scale attack that
completely destroyed the village and killed more
than 100 Sioux.
After later learning more about what had really
happened at the Grattan Massacre, Harney
softened his attitude toward the Sioux and
eventually convened a successful peace council
that temporarily calmed tensions. But for the rest of
his life the general was plagued with the nickname
of "Squaw Killer Harney," while the unfortunate
pattern of revenge and punishment his attack
began would only grow more vicious on both sides
of the conflict. One Sioux boy who witnessed the
brutal massacre would never forget or forgive and
would take his own revenge 21 years later at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn. His name was Crazy
Horse." ... from The History Channel
And the descendants of Chief Little Thunder??? One, his great grandson, our friend, Jake Little Thunder, who resides in South Dakota on Pine Ridge ... Another, HIS grandson, Jonathan Little Thunder, one of Crazy Horse's warriors in TNT's "Crazy Horse"!