The Buffalo War

less than 1 minute read

“As the Adair’s hunt buffalo, this pincer operation drives Indians back to their hated reservations, marking the first use of the Gatling gun againts Indians and history’s largest recorded horse massacre…”


a.k.a the Red River War, a multi-pronged operation by the Army – also known as Gen. Phil Sheridan’s strategy of convergence – defeats, hunts down and drives most of the Indians back to the reservations. Under Sheridan’s oversight, its main columns were led by Col. Nelson A. Miles (who deployed Gatling Guns), Col. Ranald “Bad Hand” Mackenzie, Lt. Col. George P. Buell, Lt. Col. John W. Davidson and Major William R. Price. Some younger participants would live to participate in the Spanish-American War’s aftermath in the Phillipines (starting 1898 and for 5 years thereafter).