Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ?? RELATIVES OF SOLDIERS WHO FOUGHT AM. INDIANS.

Over many years, I've read dozens of dozens of stories of the American soldiers who fought the various tribes of Indians in the West, Northwest, and Southwest. I've always found those actions to be very interesting.

Given that I know some of our members here have relatives who have been in the U.S. for many years, before and post Civil War, I have wondered if anyone had a relative who was in the U.S. army, fighting the Indians on the frontier?? If so, it would be very interesting if a member posted any stories he might have of one of his relatives who actually fought in "the Indian Wars."

Although my paternal and maternal family have been in America going "waaaay back," they stayed in the South and never moved to the frontier.

Anyone??

L.W.

Grandpa about 6 or 7 greats back, Jeremiah Kendall, fought the Indians in SW Pennsylvania. They had to get control of the Indians to settle the territory. We was granted land in the region for doing so.

Wife and I like to go to old forts when we are on vacations, and have gone to them from Texas to Wyoming, when you look at the soldiers names and ages and were they’re from and when they arrived in US, our military and cavalry was made up of immigrants and straight off the boat, first job these kids had and died before they even could talk the language.

Some of my mother's ancestors went first to Missouri, and on to California by wagon train in 1841. This guy and his brothers founded several towns, were involved in Indian massacres, the Bear Flag Revolt, and late in his life he supposedly was part of a Confederate guerrilla gang operating in Southern California. He and his wife are fairly well known as part of early California history. At some point in his adventures he relocated to Texas for a while, and one of his daughters was scalped by Comanches but lived.

Some of my ancestors were the indians.

I have German and Scots Irish ancestors who were rangers on the frontier during the F&I and rev wars, killing and being killed by Indians. Two of them were working for Braddock on his ill fated expedition to three rivers. Two massacres I know of where ancestors were killed occurred in august of 1780 in the Mohawk valley of NY, and July 1781 in Westmoreland County PA. A gggg-? Grandfather who was a boy in 1781 was captured and then escaped. He went on to develop a rather intense hatred of Indians, fought them, fought in 1812, then drowned while trapping in what is now Mercer county PA.

Yep, but I am pretty much a mutt.

Indian, German, French, English, Hollander, Russian. My grandmas, grandma was killed in a massacre in SE Wisconsin. Everything else is off the boat from the 1800's as far as I know.
The French part could have been here a long time, but no documentation.

For my kids, throw in Norwegian, and Danish to the mix.

You can read my relatives life story in books he wrote, and watch videos about him on youtube. He fought the Comanches in Texas and Oklahoma. He was a famous Texas Ranger named John Salmon "RIP" Ford..

He wrote a book called "Rip Ford's Texas" that was pretty good, still sells copies to this day....I'm related to him on my dad's side.

On my mom's side, my great great great Grandmother was a full blood Cherokee Indian and was on the Trail of Tears as a young woman...Not sure about the Grandfathers on that side but know my Mom's grandmother was also full blood Cherokee and was married to an Irish man..

My paternal family, at least those I know of and have researched or have been told about by my grandparents, were here from early early on. They settled in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York and several were quite successful. They were attorneys and business men who were representatives of their respective regions. One of my direct descendants was an original signatory to the Declaration of Independence. His signature is the last signature on the Declaration of Independence and his name was Matthew Thornton. My grandma was really into our family history and spent a lot of hours researching it back before the internet when inquiries were done by pen and paper and snail mail. She used the Mormons as a research aid to the extent that she could but over the years grandma collected a lot of well researched documentation and proof to the extent proof existed. Somewhere way way back I’m even related to a king of England but we’ll keep that skeleton in the closet since eventually my family revolted against the king and helped form a new country without the boot heel of the king on our throats.

My maternal side was more blue collar. My great great great great (not sure how many greats) died giving birth to a son when they were crossing the Atlantic Ocean escaping the The Great Potato Famine in Ireland in the 1840’s iirc. The rest of the family landed at Ellis Island and were processed through but not before their last name was misspelled, it was inadvertently (I assume) misspelled and that changed it from Shea to Shay which isn’t a terrible change….it could’ve been a lot worse like Shaystein or sheaberg. 😂. For the most part I believe they settled in New Jersey, New York and Ontario Canada. The family who settled in Ontario had a lot of acreage and a big farm where they lived in hardworking comfort and raised a ton of children who lived good lives. I have never heard of any scandals or trouble that they were a part of so I guess unfortunately they were pretty boring. 😄

My father in law however has quite a rich family history. His relatives were French Canadian trappers who eventually had children that set out west and his great great great (not sure how many greats) grandfather “settled” in the Bel Fourche/Deadwood area and was eventually elected mayor of the 2 cities simultaneously. I heard a lot of stories about them and even in the 40’s my FIL would travel back there every year to spend the summers in Deadwood. My FIL showed me pictures, newspaper articles and old documents that he had about the family in South Dakota but after he passed I’ve been looking everywhere for them and I can’t find them. He had some killer pictures from his 10 years in Laos and Vietnam, he had awesome photos of Alaska during the territory days including pictures of him on one of his early solo flights to Kodiak. There were a bunch of great pictures and I’ll be damned if I can find them. The one that I really want to find is him flying over Lituya Bay before an earthquake caused a landslide inside the confines of the bay which caused a MEGA TSUNAMI. It’s the biggest tsunami ever recorded at over 1,700 feet. The picture he took of Lituya Bay was a perfect capture of the mountainside that slid into the bay as well as Cenotaph Island in the middle.

I’d really love to avail myself to the new technology that allows individuals to accurately research their genealogy but that would require me to pay my enemies to collect mine and my family’s specific DNA profiles and I’m just not comfortable giving my enemies ammunition. 😉

My ancestors were fighting Indians in the early 1600s in Virginia. They got off first at Jamestown in 1607. A little over 100 survived the voyage and built the fort and town, named after King James. History has it that 80% of the colonists died in the first two years at Jamestown.... by disease or by the Indians.

I am a descendent of the 20 or 25 who survived. The relative I'm descended from at Jamestown died in 1665.

My ancestors fought Indians from the early days on the east coast, to all the descendants who migrated West. I'm 17th generation in this country. But born in 1808, one of my direct relatives had a wife who was full blooded Cherokee.

Grandfathers, (X ever how many times) both sides. were involved in the French / Indian wars on what was the frontier at that time, the American Revolution, War of northern aggression, Spanish / American War and WW 1. A couple of great (x2?) uncles went west after the civil war, but no real information on them after they headed out.
Several uncles in WW2 and Korea. Dad in Korea and early stages of 'Nam.
Me, lowly Marine with no real trigger time, if you don't count Beirut.
So no real "Indian fighters" that I know of, as far as western tribes are concerned.

Don't have any old relatives that I know of that fought in the old frontier Indian wars. Had a aunt who chased down the family tree way back and had some interesting ancestors who were fighters as needed when needed. My folks moved to South Dakota in 1960 when I was 5 as long as I been here were still at war with the Indians. I don't go out and make trouble with them and do my damndest to meet anyone halfway. They are their own people and have totally different values than I do. Most folks will meet them halfway then it's up to them. I don't trust easy and life's experience teaches you that so I'm allways on guard and armed. After 64 years here in SD were still at a state of unease with our native neighbors and it's all due to the federal gov't when run by the demotards..mb

I have a direct ancestor that fought in the War of 1812, and later moved from VA to SC, then GA and fought in an Indian war there. Was awarded some land in GA for his service and went on to become a county sheriff and serve in the legislature for a time.

Paternal grandparents both came through Ellis Island circa 1900, from what is now Croatia.
Maternal Great grands came to the Oklahoma panhandle in the land rush days from Springfield IL, in a covered wagon.
I don't know the family history before that time.
My wife is 1/16th Cherokee - her paternal grandma really showed the heritage - flat looked "Indian".
Especially as she aged. I've seen pictures of her as a young woman - stunning beauty. Lived to be 104 yo.

On my dad's side, several were Texas Rangers beginning back when they were first formed in the 1820s so yeah they fought Indians. Some of my other ancestors on my mom's side are from here in Texas, Lipan Apache Indians. I haven't looked any farther back, but my uncle has the research back to before the Revolutionary War on my dad's side.

It's a trap!

Maternal great great Uncle, Capt GD Conrad, Co B, 2nd California Volunteer Cav. Black Rock Paiute wars from 1861 to 1866, trying to keep the Applegate Trail open.

I find it more interesting, the conflicts of 2 very different cultures. Indians suspected encroachment as early as the turn of the 19th century when the Corps Of Discovery made contact with them in the most remote parts of North America. The only information Lewis and Clark had was from sketchy maps and rumors from trappers that had already penetrated the far west, yet the Indians were already on alert to how many more whites would be coming into their territory.

Today we seem to be overloaded with “white guilt” in the assessment of those conflicts that were inevitable. To think that a Stone Age civilization could coexist with the settlements of Europeans as they moved across the county, is nonsense.

This isn’t a question of right or wrong, it is just what happens under those circumstances.

Conquering a vast uncharted landscape comes with a determination of how you do it subject to the philosophy of that time under circumstances that were considered a necessity for the westward expansion. Indians were considered an obstacle, but more importantly they were a threat to the lives of those that were participating in that expansion.

Finding fault with how the Indians were mistreated and abused, is a 21st century standard that really can’t be applied to the Indian wars. Indians can’t be blamed either, as they were fighting for their way of life. The savagery that existed on both sides of the conflict leave many people today feeling the Indians were wronged.

Under the circumstances of a country in it’s infancy, growing and expanding in a way that had never been seen before, it is hard to envision a different means of settling those conflicts to make it more appealing to 21st century observers.

I don’t see how it could have been done much differently…

Smile for the Camera! That fella looks like he just ate a pound of nails.

My great x 7 grandfather fought the Cherokee indians back in 1776. Virginia militia settled some scores. The indians were working for the british at the time. I believe the action was called the Rutherford Light Horse Expedition.