Dee Brown
The Fetterman Massacre
Lincoln
University of Nebraska Press
1962
Thomas Barger
The book The Fetterman Massacre, by Dee Brown, is a novel based on an event that
happened on December 21, 1866. On that fateful day many failures came together in such a
manner that many men lost their lives to a large army of Native Americans, a battle that has
been dubbed the Fetterman Massacre. The squad of men that was fighting on the American
side was led by Captain William J. Fetterman. Fetterman was sent out with a group of men
consisting of “forty-nine infantrymen and twenty-seven cavalrymen” (p.12). It has been said by
many people that Colonel Carrington was responsible for the slaughter that had happened on
December 21, 1866, but others like believe that the fault lies with Captain Fetterman and the
US Government.
It is not obvious from the way that Dee wrote the book what opinion he has on the
events that took place at Fort Phil Kearny. The only indication of any opinion on the events is
that most of the book is narrated from Colonel Carrington’s point of view. There are two
possibilities that could be discerned from this. The first possibility is that it was written from
the Colonels point of view because all of the documents used to make sure the story was as
accurate as possible came from the Colonel’s report, and the second is that Dee sides with
Carrington in believing that the true fault for the massacre that happened at Fort Phil Kearny
resides solely with Captain Fetterman for not following the orders given to him. It also seems
that Dee puts part of the blame on the higher ranking officials that were posted in Ogallala and
Washington D.C. In all actuality though I think Dee wrote this book with no opinion in mind just
facts that he found in other peoples work. I think that in writing this book Dee hoped to bring
Dee Brown
The Fetterman Massacre
Lincoln
University of Nebraska Press
1962
some light on the events that happened at Fort Phil Kearny and supply us with as close to a true
account of the Fetterman Massacre as anyone could get so that all those people out there that
didn’t believe the newspapers or reports sent out by the government would finally know the
truth of what happened.
It is of my opinion that the blame for the massacre does not fall with Colonel Carrington,
and only partially falls on Captain Fetterman. I think that most of the blame actually lies with
the generals that were in Ogallala and Washington. If Carrington had gotten the supplies and
troops that he had requested Carrington could have mounted a defense strong enough to keep
the trail open. The only possible thing that Carrington could have done differently with what he
had was ignoring Captain Fetterman’s request and sending Captain Powell out to defend the
wood train. If Carrington had sent Powell who he knew would follow his orders the massacre in
the open would have been avoided, but the Fort would have probably been attacked in a fight
that would have been even more deadly.