10. The United States Army engages in “Total Warfare” against the Native Americans.
Peace on the southern plains would not last long however as restless warriors of the Southern Cheyenne carried out raids on the villages of their traditional rivals, the Kaws and the Pawnees. When Thomas Murphy, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, withheld arms and ammunition guaranteed to the Southern Cheyennes under the Medicine Lodge Treaty in an attempt to quell the violence the warriors vented their frustration on white settlers, killing fifteen. This violation provided Generals Sherman and Sheridan with the opportunity to engage in the “total warfare” which would characterize the military’s brutal response to Indian resistance that would continue until the 1880s. Rather than confining engagements solely to those warriors responsible, the Army carried out a devastating series of raids on Southern Cheyennes encampments, killing women and children, and destroying food supplies and horses in order to make life as difficult as possible for the surviving Cheyennes. Sheridan’s notorious statement that “the only good Indians I ever saw were dead,” appeared to shape the philosophy of his winter campaign of 1868-1869.