Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 44 out. As Colonel of the 3d California Infantry, he learned a great deal about Indian fighting. He was a hero to frontier settlers and traders after he soundly defeated a combined group of Bannacks and Shoshones at the Battle of Bear River in northern Utah in January, 1863. Major General G. M. Dodge said something unintentionally funny in one of his letters giving orders to Connor about the Powder River campaign: You of course understand that we settle the Indian troubles this season, and at such time as you consider it proper and for the interest of the govern- ment you can make an informal treaty for cessation of hostilities, appointing some place for meeting the Indian chiefs for having a full understanding with them, and myself or such persons as the government sees fit to go there. You must be the judge when it is proper to do this, and the Indians must be given to fully understand that when all hostilities cease, any act of robbery, murder, etc., by their people will precipitate our whole force on them. You of course understand that we settle the Indian troubles this season— ah, the serene assurance of it! Indian troubles along the Bozeman Trail hadn't even really begun. ere were graves of white men along that road already in June, 1865, when Dodge wrote that letter. But there would be more, many more, and General Connor never had a chance to shake his finger at the Sioux and threaten to "precipitate our whole force on them." He was lucky to get out of the Powder River country as well as he did. What the Indians fully understood was that hostilities weren't going to cease until the palefaces agreed to stay out. Both Sawyers and Connor had trouble with Indians. But that was by no means the only trouble they encountered. Government red tape encompassed them; if supplies were available, there weren't enough wagons to haul them or the supplies were in the wrong place. Sawyers couldn't get all the men he had been promised for an armed escort. Connors infuriated his superiors in the Army. And both ran into mu- tiny among their men. John Bozeman's road avoided all those mountains by not going over the Divide at all. BILLINGS AIRPORT www.flybillings .com B I L L I N G S L O G A N I N T E R N A T I O N A L A I R P O R T BIL W HE THER TR AV ELING FOR BUSINES S OR PLE A SURE , W ITH E XCEP TION A L A IR SERV ICE A ND ACCES SIBILIT Y, W E G E T Y O U H E R E . Our convenient flight options now include daily ser vice to Dallas. Photos Courtesy of VisitBillings and Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development Seattle Portland Salt Lake City Los Angeles Las Vegas Phoenix Denver Chicago Minneapolis Havre Glendive Sidney Wolf Point Glasgow BIL Dallas Daily Direct Flights Weekly Direct Flights Seasonal Direct Flights Daily Flights in Montana Watch PBS special on The Bloody Bozeman Trail www.distinctlymontana.com/trail193 DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL

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