Robert Lee (10)

My reaction to reading this book in 1996.

Though a lot of this book consisted of Army administrative detail as to what regiment was stationed at Fort Meade and when and what companies it consisted of, there was a lot of interesting detail here about Fort Meade’s history till it closed 1944. I found the stories of black soldiers in Sturgis interesting – particularly the black businessmen and black prostitutes who catered to them and the lynching of Hallon (not entirely racial since white Fiddler was lynched a year earlier but Sturgis was not unhappy to see them go).

I had never heard of the experiment of recruiting Indian soldiers (including some Indian survivors of Wounded Knee serving in the 7th Calvary which was also at that battle) for the Army in 1891-1897. Of course, the troubles of the 1890 Sioux uprising made recruiting difficult. The experiment was deemed a failure, but some of the Indian units worked well depending on whom their white officers were. I had also never heard of the flight of the Utes in 1906. Lee deals with Wounded Knee (though of course in not as much detail as his source James Mooney in The Ghost Dance Religion and Sioux Outbreak of 1890), but he also has a section on the murder trials resulting from killings apart from Wounded Knee and the attempted arrest of Sitting Bull. The trial of Plenty Horses for the killing of a cavalry officer was interesting on several counts. The sympathy shown him by eastern South Dakotans (including General Miles who was sympathetic to his plight and Lt. Colonel Sumter who arranged for his self-defense), the interest shown in his trial, and his defense (killing Lt. Casey was an act of war – the US had to allow a state of war had existed in the area; otherwise it had acted illegally at Wounded Knee), and the effect on the trial of those who killed Few Tails. Black Hills juries were notorious in their hostility towards Indians and the prosecuting attorney in the case realized that after Plenty Horses was acquitted there was no way they would be convicted.

I liked reading about German prisoners of war being held at Ft Meade (mostly Africa Corps members and their letter upon repatriation stating how much they liked the Black Hills) and the 620th Engineer General Service Company – a collection of soldiers under suspicion of subversion or disloyalty (these units were few and secret in WWII) who wore uniforms similar to POWS (without the initials) and worked in non-sensitive jobs. There were also blemishes to be found in this history. Sturgis comes off as persistent grubbers for federal welfare in the form of defense and, later, VA dollars. It was kind of disturbing to learn the Black Hills were a hotbed for 1920s Klan activity (presumably targeting Catholics given the scarcity of non-whites). Soldiers at Ft Meade even illegally fired on a Klan burning cross.

The book also covered the court martial that got Major Reno kicked out of the Army.… (altro)