The November 25, 1876 Battle of Bates Creek

This battle was fought near the Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming and a part of the white invaders 1874-1875 winter military campaign. Winter was the favorite time the whites boasted of for attacking Indian villages. This battle was probably not fought in 1876 as white historians claim. However, the white invaders may have decided to wait a couple of years after Custers 1874 Black Hills Expedition failed. The "Bates Creek Battle" is also referred to as the "Dull Knife Fight." Of course, the Americans refer to this battle as part of the so called Black Hills War, which is a bunch of bull. By 1876, the Americans had already set aside the Black Hills and all of western South Dakota to be Indian land. That occurred in 1868. They eradicated the so called Great Sioux Reservation after 1887.

On November 25, 1876 or 1874, the Americans and their Indian allies (the Anishinabek must remember that the Indian allies of the Americans were the Dakota and the Shoshone), attacked a fortified village of around 2,000 Anishinabek. In the ensuing "1876 Bates Creek Battle", the Indians tried desperately to defend themselves from their enemies who would have killed all of them, including their women and children, if they didn’t defend them. Over 1,100 well armed American soldiers and their Indian allies, probably surprised the inhabitants of the fortified village. About all the Anishinabek could do during a battle like the one that occurred at the Battle of Bates Creek was fight for their lives after the initial assault came.

They chose a good location for their village because it likely saved many of them from being killed. After the initial American assault, the 400 or so Anishinabe soldiers gathered their women and children, then headed for the nearby ridges near their village which offered them protection. From there, the Anishinabe soldiers used what guns they had, bows and arrows, spears, and even cannons if they still had any, to defend their women and children and themselves, from their enemies. It obviously didn’t turn out as well as the Americans had hoped but it was an American victory. Around 80 Anishinabek were killed or wounded but it could have been much higher. American casualties were around 35, with 9 killed. More importantly, the Americans captured some 600 horses but obviously not all of their horses. If they had captured all of their horses, all of the Anishinabek of that village would have surrendered to them. After capturing the village which had 173 lodges, the white invaders eventually destroyed it. Many of the Anishinabe survivors fled up north to other Anishinabe villages, while others surrendered to the white invaders. The white invaders followed.