With Only His Bugle, He Fought to the Last. The 1866 death of Adolf Metzger.

hey gang we are in Montana right now at a very special place Hallowed Ground this is where Custer and his men met their end at the Custer monument and here at the cemetery where many veterans are buried and you can just look out here we're just south of crow agency the little town this is Crow territory and that'll give you a feel a feel of where this all happened but that was 1876. and I'm going to take you back to 1866. yeah we're gonna go back 10 years before that to another fight it happened south of here in Wyoming this was all Dakota territory at the time and in Wyoming about an hour's Drive south of here we're going to go to a place called Fort Phil Kearney and there was a similar battle the first disaster Massacre and that's what we're actually going to be focusing on today now there's someone buried here from that battle that has a remarkable story it's not the leader it's not the hero it's just a man from Germany his name was Adolf Metzger he was the bugler for a company of men that were under a man named captain fetterman now Adolf Metzger was born oh around 1834 no one's sure of his exact birth date he had come to the United States as a Young Man settled in Philadelphia and it is there where he worked as a laborer on May 29 1855 he was enlisted into company C Regiment of mounted rifles by a lieutenant Burns his enlistment documents describe him as 21 years of age five foot five inches tall he had brown hair blue eyes and a dark complexion chances are he was not 21 he was probably 17 or 18. after service with that regiment he was discharged as a private May 29 1860. and he didn't like civilian life he liked being in the Army so he re-entered a few months later on November 14th he was enlisted into company C second U.S Cavalry by a lieutenant Wilkins and that's when he became a bugler now the buglers you know you always think they're just bugling away it's to intimidate the enemy but no These Guys these were they'd stay with the commander and they would basically these were commands you know the commander would say charged and the bugler would play the charge retreat that was a different bugle they had to know 80 different commands and bugle and that's how all the soldiers could hear and take the orders during the battle during The Fray when everything was in chaos you could always hear the bugler and know what you're doing he served through the various campaigns of the Civil War no major incidents during a furlough he was granted he got married a woman named Frederica Cooper took place on August 2nd at the German Evangelical Church Washington D.C she was only about 15 or 16 at the time and interestingly he did not he did not inform his parents back in Germany hey I got married while they were on the move the regiment moved West October 1865 out this way and probably luckily he left Frederica behind as many did some took their wives they were coming out this way to Fort Phil Kearney it was going to be a cush mission Sherman said come on out guys this is just going to be a vacation protect the Bozeman Trail not much going on out here just watched the Pioneers we're going to build three forts the one in the middle you can headquarter at with a guy named Carrington and life's going to be great but it wouldn't be this area we're going to go to about an hour south of here was under constant attack mainly by the Sioux Nation and all of those that Red Cloud assembled we're going to talk about Red Cloud and Crazy Horse and they would come here very much like Custer in a way I guess what happened here 10 years later they would meet their end in a violent way but this man was remarkable Adolf Metzger and here he lies among the other veterans and heroes alike and there's this Stone second U.S Cavalry he didn't die here he died down there and we're gonna go there I leave a coin a penny is a sign of respect coarse nickel dimes quarters they all have the different meanings the quarter would mean that you served with that person and we're with them when they fell so all right guys so let's we're gonna go from here and we're going to drive south into Wyoming this was all Dakota territory now of course it's Wyoming this Montana rest in peace Adolf Metzger and let's go I'm gonna go tell you the story where it happened let's go okay we have arrived in Wyoming at the spot this is the spot where there was a big fight now let's go back to let's go back to 1851 The Laramie treaty all of the tribes all of the the Native Americans everything was in flux and and you know the white man coming the Buffalo disappearing and they they made this treaty to keep every give everyone some boundaries now this was the land of The Crow and to the east we had the the big the Sioux the tetonsu the Lakota Dakota nation under which there were seven bands the minikonju the hunk Papa the oguala the others and they basically were running out of I mean the Buffalo were being killed and they're they're like they they came this way and they're just We're Not Gonna go for these treaties and anyway you know Chiefs would sign the treaties and they couldn't control all of the Bands so anyway there was a lot of you know Chiefs could only represent so many but they came out this way they subdued the crow they pushed the crow and they you know this was Where the Buffalo were and the white man was a was encroaching now the boat we're talking about the Bozeman Trail here this is the Bozeman Trail and as I mentioned there were three forts set up here now just south of this site that way is for Phil Kearney and south of that was the fort and up here CF Smith Fort and they were all three built at the same time Kearney was the kind of the headquarters for Colonel Carrington who basically came here with 400 troops and 300 civilians or so and it's funny it's ironic because there was a the most amazing Chief probably at this time was Red Cloud who had assembled usually they the Warriors that the bands would fight 30 to 40 and they would have their battles but Red Cloud assembled all the nations all the tribes for a big Uprising now they were intriguing talks here south Way South as Carrington was coming through with this Armada they were literally having the talks and revcloud you know saw the stripes and he's like you you're you're coming here to steal the land the the white man Trail and he basically struck his teepee right there in the middle of the talks with all the other Chiefs and he was the figurehead and basically left and on the way out looked back and said I am going on the warpath and one by one the other Chiefs you know they they followed and they melted away and he was on the warpath so this was all Brewing so Carrington comes here and they build these forts and even the first the second day of building the initial layout of the fourth they're being attacked and they were attacked every single day it was absolutely brutal here but they built the fort there was a quite a large Fort I'm talking about Kearney here and then there were bigger bigger skirmishes now let me let me show you around a little bit here yeah let's pan around the area so what we have here is to the West as we have this massive massive Hill and we're in a valley now that's going to come into play in the story but to the northwest of here we have these mountains now they would call this the Pinery and this is where they would get all their wood they would send parties of 40 to 60 and the wood cutters would come on Wagon Train up in those Hills mountains if you will where the Pines were and they would this is where they would get all the wood and they would be under attack constantly also and they'd have to be under the guard of the Cavalry Soldiers the mounted soldiers and but they you know they would do it and then 1866 there would be one major major assault that would happen up there and Carrington sent out now the the other thing is Carrington was really I hobbled because they only had you know that that was not a large Force he had here and he already lost some soldiers and they needed reinforcements well they finally got reinforcements and a couple of companies came in and one of them was fetterman fetterman captain fetterman and that's you know this is who we're going to talk about here and you can see the monument here fetterman's monuments and he was a very Brash guy he served in the Civil War he did really well in some notable things marched with Sherman on the pillage the Georgia to the coast and now he was here to the west and he was going to fight Indians now Carrington was a lawyer he had no experience fighting Indians he was kind of a defensive guy and they were using defensive tactics and then when fetterman came with the others the other guys they were critical of Carrington they're like hey we've got to go on the attack here you know all this brash ego and we've got our repeating rifles we've got our horses and we can ride through this nation like they're nothing so basically the first big engagement they had here it wasn't right here but it was on the wood cutting mission and what the the Warriors would do is very cleverly is they would send decoys you know might be two or three might be ten get really close and decoy these and try to get them to follow and then they would have many more Warriors in Ambush so that first that first major engagement one of the guys well they had two companies of soldiers and they they did just that and they lured them they lured him out lured them out and they killed one of the one of the captains Lieutenant Horatio s Bingham fetterman was on that one and fetterman almost he was basically surrounded and he was he was a goner and they were all goners you know it was like Custer's Last Stand and Carrington came to the rescue and bailed him out just in the nick of time and at the time all that Brash ego seemed to evaporate and this is coming from Carrington's notes that he said that fetterman kind of like learned his lesson he's like sir we've got to really fight with caution these Indians it's not like regular fighting and Carrington was actually complementary of this brash fetterman well it was in December when they would send the wood cutting party again back up into the the Piney now south of here just south of here there is a and again we're at The Massacre scene I shouldn't say south south west of here is a Pilot Knob where they would flag and from the fort they could see that signal or the flag signal or and then they would kind of Watch Over The Woodcutter parties and if they were being attacked then they would send a flag send up a flag signals back to the fort and then of course they would send reinforcements out so anyway there was a trap being set okay and what they didn't know is Red Cloud was waiting in the wings right here okay Red Cloud had assembled anywhere from a thousand to three thousand Warriors and it was I mean it was all the Sioux a wrap a hole I mean they they had just and they were hiding and they were hiding on each side and this they were like down here we're looking at this this big Ridge that goes up here Fetter men they're all on the other side and and they're the wood cutters are up there but what fetterman did is he kind of came down just behind this Ridge I believe it would be right on the other side and he was following a small band and getting distracted not going to the wood cutters right in this direction on the other side of that he wasn't here yet and guess who was leading that little group of warriors Crazy Horse [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] horse yes Crazy Horse arguably is well very famous one of the most inspirational leaders Warrior leaders and he he was leading this decoy group he was trying to lure fetterman into this trap because again they're over there and they're coming this way and down here is just imagine just two or three thousand Warriors and you can and when you look around here you can see there's a lot of brush a lot of places to hide and fetterman is falling for it now fetterman it's it's 81 there's 80 of them there's plus fetterman there's two civilians like Rocky Mountain guys Indian hunters and they had their new repeating rifles and they literally said we want to try these out on the Indians we'll go whip and they're riding and they're well armed a little short on ammunition and they're following Crazy Horse they don't know it's crazy horse now Crazy Horse as is somewhat of an enigma it's just amazing now he he's from Oglala again a big band of the the titansu nation and his father oguala his mother was minakanju her name rattling blanket woman and she when he was born she named him curly and that he had it said that he had curly hair he had different kind of features maybe lighter skin maybe lighter hair there's different descriptions there is a sketch that was done by a Mormon missionary I think it was 1834 and he drew a sketch of Crazy Horse and his sister testified Crazy Horse's sister testified that that sketch was accurate so there's no picture of Crazy Horse but that sketch is the closest thing that they have so I mean Crazy Horse he was very quiet very shy you've walked through the village he wouldn't talk to very aloof not unfriendly but he was kind of the mystery man but he loved the children they say he loved the elderly he would help and he would he would help the weak and he was just an amazing guy of course later he was murdered sitting both a different story but at the time here he was here and he he was one of the bravest and and by the way when he was on the battles he became different he was joking he was trying to keep his fellow Warriors at ease and he would he was he would just never show fear and he was just an amazing leader so anyway they brought fetterman to the top of this Ridge right here and over the ridge they came and over the ridge fetterman followed and it was a big trap this is where it happened guys and they were surrounded thousands thousands of you look down here you can see the the brush the trees and you can just imagine the Warriors and they were on all sides they weren't just on one side or the other or a head on they they cut them off they surrounded them and they massacred them I mean these guys all did not have a chance and the way it really went down is that fetterman I don't know exactly where they fell but you can just imagine Maybe in in some of these locations this one location the the big group of them were all overwhelmed and fetterman and I forget the name of the other they they literally shot each other in the head at the same time just as they were being overwhelmed an American Horse said that he killed fetterman although and he cut his throat and he did cut his throat but I think it was after fetterman had fallen and committed suicide you know that joint suicide now there are a set of rocks I see up there and I don't know if those are the ones and I'll point the camera but there it is said that a group of them along with the two civilians fell at this location where there were rocks like this and crevices they were hiding in and again there were carbine bullets piles of them found and it is said this is where Adolf Metzger was the bugler and what was really I'm not sure the words to use I would say noteworthy is that they did not they did not mutilate Metzger's body they mutilated all of the other well there was one other body they didn't mutilate for another reason but they mutilated all the bodies in horrible ways they pulled their eyes out they cut their hands off they scalped them of course they did all this brains on rocks eyeballs on rocks I mean that's what they did but not to Metzger why well of course the survivors grew old those Warriors some later became Chiefs and lots of corroborating testimony that Metzger you know and typically the buglers were not armed and he fought with his bugle they had him pinned down in a crevice in that rock one of those rocks and he was just fighting with his bugle he was just fighting and I'm sure they were taunting him and they were jabbing him with their lances and shooting them full of arrows and he was fighting with that bugle and smashing it and they respected him for that said this man is brave we are not going to mutilate him and it has said that and this may not be true that they covered him with a buffalo blanket so Adolf Metzger that's how he met his end here with fetterman now you can see the bugle it's south of here at a museum it's all smashed and I think the interest there's an interesting story that goes with that bugle that how it was found here a long time later it was found by a Rancher here on the battlefield and it was Adolf spugel so that's the story of what happened to Adolf what happened to the fetterman 81 men lost their lives here in such a violent way and the fort the fort what would happen to the Fort well there was by the way there was a blizzard the next day there was a blizzard the next day and it was like 30 below and they they had to send a guy a Portuguese Phillips was the only Brave guy who took Carrington's horse I mean they needed help they were they were screwed and there was a blizzard minus 30 degrees literally the next day or two later and they had to send somebody down to get help Fort Laramie and they sent this guy and he made this heroic heroic rides to bring reinforcements but they would they would abandon the fort and like the very next day when they wrote out the the victors came and they burned it to the ground Phil Kearney go on yeah some real history here well let's take a look at this Monument here and see what it says we're on the top of a a knob here it's a big Shield bronze there's a gate yeah let's see if this will so it said on this says on this field the 21st day of December 1866 three commissioned officers and 76 privates of the 18th U.S infantry and of the second U.S Cavalry and four civilians four civilians I said two it's four under the command of Captain brevit Lieutenant Colonel William J fetterman were killed by an overwhelming force of Sioux under the command of Red Cloud there were no survivors and I understand that in the early 1900s colonel Carrington came back here and they're the ones that dedicated this right here and can you imagine what can you imagine what he felt like as he he probably stood here and looked out and it was it must have been like a nightmare to look out and say this is all those memories all those sufferings and then the massacre all the friends and comrades he lost here and now it's Ranch Land those sounds of cows you hear in the background but yeah you can just imagine you know this this this has to be the Big Ridge here and you look up there and you you just imagine crazy horse riding down with the other Warriors at full gallop right over that Ridge line and then the Cavalry coming behind with Adolf Metzger [Music] blowing his bugle so valiantly down they came here to meet their end rest in peace all you men [Music] [Laughter] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Faces of the Forgotten

Views: 86,983

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Id: S1Rh4ft_hGQ

Length: 31min 25sec (1885 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 07 2023