Sitting Bull’s War by Paul L Hedren- A Book Review

 

Sitting Bull’s plan was simple. Don’t go anywhere near the Whites. If they aren’t where you are, they can do you no harm.  

Problematically, the Whites kept coming. Amazingly, in the vastness of the West, Sitting Bull’s people ran out of room. Then they had to stand and fight. Spectacularly they did so, at the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn.

Sitting Bull’s War is my latest acquisition from Paul L Hedren. Hedren gives us 423 pages of text, notes for each of the 16 chapters and a copious biography.   The are 14 pages of photographs.  This is highly readable quality scholarship throughout. I can only give you snapshots of a work of such size.

Hedren says “I consciously intend that the work in hand defy the standard tradition. This is a unique history of the Great Sioux War, carefully and deliberately told through the eyes of its victims, the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne of the northern plains…”

He wants to give us an insiders perspective and largely succeeds in doing so. Indian accounts are personal, selective, and detached. No one wanted to implicate himself for condign punishment. 

Also, the Indian tradition was to proclaim one’s own valour and skill in war.  After the defeat this became personally problematic. They had been crushed and their world was literally gone with the Buffalo. All that courage and killing and only ruination resulted and, what of the dead? Indian losses per capita were huge. 

All the same, Hedren has gathered the accounts and reconstructed the sequences. The result is clear eyed and we see the individuals and share their experiences of victory and defeat.

There is detail galore of the kind that delights the enquiring reader. A key source of arms and ammunition were the Metis of Canada. At first the Sioux fought them. That proved very unprofitable. The Metis could have a fight. They followed the old trading routes their forebears had traversed before New France fell.

As an alternative to fighting friendship developed between Lakota and Metis. We might recall that it was in Canada that Sitting Bull sought refuge. 

A Hudson’s Bay Company Trader recalled “Sitting Bull did not care to arouse the Metis against him”. The two peoples did brisk trade. Metis prices were high but the quality was good. American officials became concerned.  Well armed Indians were a constant fear.

It is often said that the Victors captured significant arms and ammunition at the Little Big Horn. They did indeed. Hedren reminds us that the ammunition didn’t fit the Indian rifles. Also, the Indians thought the single-shot breech-loading Springfield carbine inferior to their own Henry or Winchesters. Not because the Springfields jammed, they didn't.

Additionally huge amounts of ammunition were expended at the Rosebud Fight and then more in the killing of Custer and Companies. Post Little Big Horn the Lakota and allies were much worse off for ammo than pre Rosebud.

Red Cloud's earlier successful resistance is considered in detail. He won and everyone knew it. He was not to know the strategic situation had changed. What Red Cloud defended was no longer key to USA expansion.

The dynamic of the Tribes and Indian Agency is dealt with in detail. It was often a complex interaction. Many Indians liked to summer on the Plains and didn't see why they shouldn't. When was an Indian a Hostile? No one could be sure. Yet many Indians never were. It made no difference in the long run.

Betimes, the population of the reservation was a political barometer. Indian Agents were a key USA intelligence resource. How many and where?

The Blue Coats never stopped coming. Infantry with their longer ranged weapons were particularly hard to deal with. US infantry could and did chase the Indians across the Plains. Hedren tells us about it.

When it came to horsemen the Indians thought the Crow and Shoshone more dangerous than the Cavalry.

All of the famous are found herein, sometimes with visual detail. For instance, Crazy Horse rides a white spotted pony. You might want to replicate that.

The Indians never had enough modern weapons. 

When Crazy Horse, Little Big Man and He Dog’s people surrendered they had 117 firearms for 217 men and 186 boys.  Mind you they had a total of 2,200 ponies, US Mules and cavalry horses. Mobility was good but eating was essential. Hunger broke the Plains People.

Combat detail abounds  as you might expect in a work on this subject. The Army does what it does, by the book. The Indians display tactical brilliance or defiant idiocy depending on who, where and when.

It is not possible to do this book justice in a one page review. There is so much useful information in it.  Buy a copy if you are interested in the Pony Wars, Plains Peoples or Old West. You will not regret it. 

Let me take the opportunity to commend Rosebud and Powder River by the same author. I have them both. Books to revisit.  

As I conclude Hedren's Great Sioux War-Order of Battles wends its way here. Each engagement is detailed with deployments and tactics used. I think it will see much use.

A Russian Civil War update and China WW2

 

I noticed that tchanka teams are often shown as a 4 like above, or even a 3. Most of mine are in two 2s. I may be doing it wrong. I'd have thought 2s handier. 

I have four tchanka in all. Also a staff tchanka too. Peter Pig as usual.  Now, to China.

Two Chinese Maxim Heavy Machine Guns and Crews from Minifigs. Uniforms varied  quite a lot.

A couple of Putilov Armoured Cars. Useful for lots of games.

Early in my China Project I found myself using substitutes. Mostly from Peter Pig.

Also I bought some of Eureka's Chinese WW2 15mm. 

 I'm pleased to tell you Irregular Miniatures15mm are back. Sort of, as we will soon see. I have lots of Irregular WW2 Chinese and Chinese War Lord troops on the way. 

All being well they will be in my eager hands at the end of next week. I will review what I get, hopefully for your delectation.

Comparison pic' above Minifig, Eureka, Eureka, Peter Pig. Not to bad at all. Back to Russia again.

 I made some Officer Cards for TMWWBK. 

I scrupled to use actual photos having no wish to malign the dead. Instead I turned to paintings of the period. Here is a selection Traits and all. 

I can add to the cards as I roll them up. Good for period flavour.  This probably the last Time we have a joint RCW/China post. Both projects having achieved a critical mass. As a consequence I can manage a plausible Back of Beyond game too.

 

Four Covenanter Infantry Regiments

 

With these little chaps my Covenanter Regiments of Foot are done. Three Brigades, 2 of three regiments and one of 2 regiments.

Above an unknown Regiment's colours captured Dunbar, 1650. It is unusual as it bears the devices of 4 families; Wemyss, Forbes, Douglas and Sinclair. A composite regiment made of transferred Companies? I don’t know.

The figures are from Peter Pig. The central Ensign has an expensive buff coat. Either lucky or gentry then. Note also the expensive dyed clothes. I considered giving him a sash but thought to let the paint do the work.

Argyle's Lowland Regiment. "Sallow faced" as Iain Lom said surveying their corpses at Inverlochy.  Highlanders having a more ruddy look, presumably. 

Pike and shot equipped of course. We will have reason to speak of them again in a future post. Black and Yellow were Campbell colours. That said I don't know how this regiment's colours appeared in reality. Figures from Essex, QRF and Peter Pig.

Another unknown regiment. The central colour with it's five dot device is a puzzle. Significant to a family? Or, just denoting the fifth company of a Regiment? I hope not the latter. The figures are from Essex and Peter Pig. The central Ensign has a cuirass and a nice blue suit of clothes.

McKenzie of Seaforth's Regiment.  Highlanders and equipped with pike and shot.  The pike men are conversions. 

Sometimes Covenanter and sometimes not. Accordingly the flags proclaim no loyalty beyond that of Clan McKenzie. Flags from Ray at Don't Throw a 1 with stars added by me to denote Company.  I'm learning new stuff.

Figures from Essex, Lurkio and , Peter Pig.

Soon I want to complete the Covenanter Cavalry. Three regiments, that's  12 figures a piece, 2 squadrons. One will be Lancers the other two, pistol armed troopers.

Did I mention the Guns? Frames and a Field Piece to come. Next week we will either have Highlanders or more Russian Civil War.

The Russian Civil War and Foch

 

How pleasing it is to find a shared interest with a fellow enthusiast. In my search for info’ on the Russian Civil War I find myself on Neil’s blog. Scotty's Wargaming: RCW.  Time well spent.

I have had a few units of Peter Pig figures for the RCW lying about for a few years. Other projects shoved them aside until now.

I came across an excellent extension to Dan Mersey’s TMWWBK. It was written by Pierre AYMERIC and covers WW1. Infantry, cavalry, grenades, rifle grenades, armoured cars/tanks and everything else. Artillery you would expect, flamethrowers were unexpected. 

Pierre calls his game “Foch” after the famous French General.  It is very good.

I set to thinking. I could see Foch lends itself very well to RCW and, indeed, Back of Beyond. Minifigs below, note the Staff officer.

I'm making a few adjustments to accommodate Tchanka use and RCW tactics. Also to mostly reduce the lethality of rifle fire. "Poor Shots" as the original says. I was interested to see that "chains" were still about from, at least, Napoleonic times. Basically two infantry regiments dynamically supporting each other. 

A couple of new formations are needed too. The basic infantry tactic can be accommodated by the existing Skirmish rule. Advance half speed and fire at reduced effect. Whites below as they have shoulder boards.

Tchanka teams could just park up and offer fire support. They could also dash up to HMG range and deal out death, quick sharp. Then they would head for a flank to repeat the exercise. 

An early and a later Peter Pig Tchanka below.  The early one is ever so slightly smaller. Check out those horses-it's not just perspective. I have 4 of these. I thought that too many but seemingly not.

Meantime cavalry rode in to exploit the confusion. Deadly, unless everyone got shot on the way in. All the same dramatic gaming. You can see it in the minds eye. Red cavalry above.

I'm pleased to tell you almost all the figures and vehicles, artillery etc needed were sitting in a box. Expenditure has happily been minimal.

Elsewhere on the battlefield were Armoured Cars and sometimes Tanks. Foch deems both to be impervious to gunfire. Iron Ivan thinks Armoured Cars were not safe from Heavy Machine Gun fire. Setting the World Ablaze concurs. I’m going with the not safe option for Armoured Cars I think.

A learning curve for me then, as it is pretty much a new period. In reserve I have Iron Ivan’s Price of Glory. Tried and tested.  

I thought to do an Event Table as I did for my Spanish Civil War Game. Then thought not. Further research changed my mind again. There will be an Event Table, of 6 possibilities so far. The Spanish one began as 6 but rose to 12. It works a treat.

For Activation I often like Cards. Not in this case we will dice as in TMWWBK. Where next on this? Units and stat's I think.

All the forgoing brought to mind my maternal Grandfather's experiences of the Western Front 1914-18. He was around for some interesting stuff, historically speaking and told me about it. For him as a personal experience it was Hell on Earth, he told me about that too.  Stories I might tell here. He had a colourful turn of phrase and excellent recall. "We are fighting for a monkey on a horse." He remembered saying.  Was that at a parade at Amiens ? Anyhow it stuck.

On this page you see what I have done so far.  More as it comes. Next week we are back in England or more probably Scotland. Yes, War of Three Kingdoms.

Montrose's Regular Scots Regiments

 

Farqueson's Highland Regiment. Note this is conventionally  armed with pike and shot. Securing the Highland pikemen is a bit of a challenge. Met in this case by turning to Gripping Beast who now sell Lurkio Miniatures. You will notice the Lurkio pike men have a targe. I'm living with that, as clearly they have not yet engaged. Targes can be slung on the back.

All of the Centre Stand figures saving the standard bearer are from Lurkio. He is an old FK15 from way back when. The remainder are from Essex. There are some conversions. Flags from Project Auldearn.

Moneymore's Regiment comprised of men in Highland and Lowland dress. Once again a Pike and Shot unit. The plaid wearing pikemen are my conversions from Essex Italian Wars Light Pikemen. For the rest a mixture of Essex and QRF. Flags are from Project Auldearn.

Above the Strathbogie Regiment, the best known of the three we see here. Raised in the Clan Gordon lands it provided good service to Montrose. Once again the flags are from Project Auldearn.

Sometimes McKenzie of Seaforth's Regiment could be found with the Royalists. It is on my to do list. I printed their flag today. I went for a neutral saltire sans slogans to allow for changing sides.

To finish with our Scots regulars we can conclude with Montrose's Cavalry.

Above, the Gordon Horse. I would like a second squadron for this unit. Visiting Caliver Books, the home of Matchlock, I was delighted to buy another 6 of them.

Above the Ogilvy Horse.  Here I have used an Essex Scots trooper alongside the Matchlock horsemen. Not too bad at all. 

Montrose had a small Life Guard unit and I have the right flag for them. I'm tempted to do it-one stand only.

I'm not sure what we are having next week. I'd like to present Montrose's Irish Regulars all at once. They aren't finished yet. 

It might be Highland Clan units. A handy place to remind myself, and perhaps you Dear Reader, that the Clans won at Kilsyth while their own Regulars stood guard.

Overall progress on this project hit a bump in the road. I needed standard bearers for another & Scots units. My usual source is the QRF FK Range. They reside at Little Corporal these days. Little Corporal is highly problematic to deal with. My last order took 6 month to arrive. So that is out.

A shame as I'd also like more of their dismounted Scots Dragoons too. I do have enough to do another unit that would do for either side at a push.

Luckily for me Martin at Peter Pig does an open handed pack of Scots Lowland Pike and a pack of open handed Irish Pike. The Irish are wearing trews and are perfect for a Highland unit. The Lowlanders can have a green stuff sash and will fit right in. Astute Readers will note that is my Highland pike men problem sorted too.

The project marches on. 

There we leave it amid the skirl of the pipes and the thunder of hooves.

Shortly I will be able to show you my World War 2 Chinese and Japanese. A  new and unexpected interest.

Scots Covenanter Regiments of Foot- Victory Without Quarter

 

Lord Balfour of Burley's Regiment. What a memorable flag. Figures from Essex and QRF. Flags from Project Auldearn.  Balfour’s were frequently engaged. They took very heavy casualties at Aberdeen. A second newly raised Balfour Regiment may have been at Dunbar.

The Aberdeen Regiment with colours withdrawn for the immediate onset. Pikemen are advanced.  The arms of Aberdeen fly over the centre stand. The red and white saltires are my own notion. Flags from the internet. Figures mainly from Essex.

Red coats for Campbell of Lawers Regiment. If I recall right these coats were English issue from the time the Cromwellians and the Covenanters were on the same side in Ireland.  An experienced regiment that had seen much hard fighting there. Figures mainly from Essex and flags from Project Auldearn.

The Earl of Sutherlands Regiment of Foot. The figures are from Essex and QRF. The flags, they are fine, from Project Auldearn. Sir John Hurry, below, keeps an eye on things.

A good start I think. There are more to come. Initially I had thought to do 3 Campbell Regiments. Clan Campbell could turn out about 20,000 men. By comparison in times past the Armstrong Lord of Glenockie commanded 3,000 Lances. Clan peoples of significance, with a discrete legal and social structure.

Anyhow, I have revised my plan. I intend Campbell's Lowland Regiment and Campbell's (Pike and Shot) Highland Regiment. In addition I will do McKenzie of Seaforth's (Pike and Shot) Highland Regiment.

The (Pike and Shot) Highland Regiments are a bit of a challenge in 15mm. What with the absence of Highland pike men in that scale. Some ingenuity is required. Conversions in fact. I have already done this for the Royalist Montrose Highland (Pike and Shot) regiments that we will see next week.

I am minded to add the Earl of Lothian's Regiment of foot too. Availability of figures permitting.

If that all transpires I will have 8 Regiments of Covenanter Foot which I think will do nicely for Victory without quarter.

To this I will add two units of Dragoons. One done above and another to come.

Victory Without Quarter - Back to England

Recall we had 11 Regiments of English Foot to do. Today we have the 5th and 6th done. Above the green regiment. All Matchlock with flags from Ian KH at "This 28mm Life" blog. Thank you Ian KH.  

Parliamentary General Lord Manchester had a Green Regiment. Conversely the flag above might indicate a Royalist allegiance. Let's have a closer look.

Shall we try another Green Regiment? Why not. 

It occurs to me that in the heat of the game one Green Regiment's card might be mistaken for another. The wrong unit might act. How's that for the fog of war and the chaos of battle? Not the two above though, the flags are sufficiently different.

Next, the Blue Regiment. Both sides had Blue Regiments. In fact I already have a Blue Regiment of Essex figures that once rebased will join the throng.

How are we doing with the English Cavalry? Not bad at all. Mystery flags once again. I'm having no success in tracking the artist.

Here is Sir Richard Astley's Regiment of Horse at full strength, 2 squadrons.

Lord Carnarvon's Regiment of Horse. In intend to add a second squadron.

A unit of Essex figures.  The simple red standard with its red and white border was used by the regiments of both Francis Thomson and George Thomson. They fought for Parliament. . A real break I didn't want to be clipping and drilling cast on flags. 

Happy days.