IS_Wolf wrote:
Animal wrote:
Nah, the outsome was still pretty much pre-ordained. The disadvantages weren't just numerical; the tribes had little resupply, they had no resources, they weren't just outnumbered but overwhelmingly outnumbered, outgunned, and out-everything else. And with Army units like the 10th Cavalry out there, it would have been pretty dang hard to "exclude" non-whites.
Some small groups made trouble for the Army by being hard to find, and by popping up here and there, raising a little hell and vanishing. You might win a few battles that way, but when you're facing an overwhelming force that can easily hem you into a smaller and smaller area at will, there just isn't much you can do.
I'm guessing that the 10th cav had black soldiers then?? If I recall my history correctly the 54th and 55th Massachusetts had some serious trouble with maltreatment by the DoD brass, pay issues, promotion issues, not getting all the required gear, racist remarks by soldiers from other regiments.
They all had such problems, during and after the Civil War. (I mention the 10th because they were a cavalry unit, and were active in the Indian Wars.) They didn't let it stop them. They wanted to be US soldiers, and they were damn good ones - most of them were considerably better than average at that time.
IS_Wolf wrote:
That's what I meant with utilizing racial tensions. Send representatives, preferably those who could not be used in combat anyway, to talk such units out of fighting. Point out the similar situations, the broken promises, the discrimination etc. It ought to have some type of effect on these soldiers.
Probably not. Do some reading on the Buffalo Soldiers - their unit cohesion and morale was impressive. Those fellas were
soldiers. And there weren't very many great orators among the Plains Indians. They led a pretty bleak intellectual life.
IS_Wolf wrote:
Also is it really that impossible for a smaller group to take out a numerically superior enemy??
Outnumbered a hundred or a thousand to one, with no supplies? That's pretty damn impossible. And remember, there's more than just raw numbers - there was almost no unity among the tribes that existed. They fought each other as much as they fought the Army or white settlers.
IS_Wolf wrote:
Another off beat question, I admit, but how would you have run one of the Native-American tribes when faced with the odds that they faced at the times??
I'd have taken up farming.