Grant Orders an Investigation into the Murder of an Indian, Wounding of Women

At any given time, Grant’s staff while he was supreme commander of the armies consisted of thirteen officers only, and was not larger than that of some division commanders. The chief of staff was Brigadier-general John A. Rawlins. There were four senior aides-de-camp, one of whom was Brigadier-general Horace Porter. Grant had two military secretaries, Adam Badeau being the most noteworthy. There were four assistant adjutant-generals, the most famous being Ely Parker, a full-blooded Indian and grand nephew of the great Chief Red Jacket. Another was George K. Leet. The 1866 book “Grant and His Campaigns” says this about Leet: “Major George K. Leet, assistant adjutant-general of volunteers…entered the service as a private in the Chicago Mercantile Battery, and served with it in General Sherman’s expedition against Vicksburg, in the battle of Arkansas Post, and the battles and siege of Vicksburg. In August following the fall of Vicksburg, he was detached from his company as clerk at General Grant’s headquarters; and in October next thereafter, on General Grant’s recommendation, was appointed captain and assistant adjutant-general, and was with him in the campaign and battles of Chattanooga. On General Grant’s appointment to the command of all the armies, Leet was assigned to duty in Washington, in charge of office headquarters there. He was promoted to a majority in the adjutant-general’s department. As a private, he was a splendid soldier; as an officer, prompt and efficient in the performance of his duty — a courteous gentleman and man of sense. He possesses the respect and confidence of all who know him.”  So Leet was Grant’s man at the War Department in the final year of the war, and he was eventually promoted to Lt. Colonel. Leet remained in service to Grant after war’s end, and when Grant became President, Leet secured a position at the Customs House in New York, where for a time his superior was Chester A. Arthur.

At Ft. Gibson on New Years Eve some soldiers fired into a ballroom when Cherokees and some Army officers were present, killing one Indian and wounding several women

Autograph Letter Signed with initials “U.S.G”, on Headquarters Army of the United States letterhead, Washington, not dated but January 18, 1868, to George Leet, asking him to look into disturbing reports about soldiers firing into a crowd of Indians, soldiers and women at a dance. “At Ft. Gibson on New Years Eve some soldiers fired into a ballroom when Cherokees and some Army officers were present, killing one Indian and wounding several women. Cause report to be made and call special attention order issued in ‘65 against whiskey being taken into Indian country.” That same day, Leet wrote Gen. Andrew Smith ordering the investigation Grant sought.

Leet received back a report dated March 5, 1868, endorsed by Gen. Philip B. Sheridan, who was then head of the Department of the Missouri and in whose command the incident took place. He was no friend of the Indians. It stated that in the town of Ft. Gibson in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma), a Cherokee who owned a store – one Jesse Bushyhead – threw a party above his shop. After it broke up at 1:00 AM, Bushyhead and others at his party “proceeded to a house of doubtful character” where they found a party “composed of an inferior class of Indians and Negroes, Indian scouts and quartermaster’s employees.” It continued that Bushyhead and his friends were intoxicated and the women present fled, “fearful of the consequences.” Bushyhead, says the report, was shot by an Indian scout, and the wounding of the women was ignored, but a statement inserted that nobody seemed willing to talk about the incident. In any event, there were no United States officers or soldiers present at all during the entire night. That scout was arrested and would stand trial. As for the whiskey, it had been supplied by an Indian, who was arrested and released, as it was not unlawful for one Indian to sell alcohol to another. It went on to criticize Cherokee law as inadequate to the incident. Another report accompanied this first one, making it clear that the shooting occurred at a home owned by a Negro, and that since everyone who saw the incident was drunk when it happened, valid evidence would be hard to find.

The reports smack of a whitewash, with language designed to trivialize the incident by saying that the only people involved were an “inferior class of Indians and Negroes, Indian scouts and quartermaster’s employees.”?And as for the women, it is no wonder they wouldn’t talk, considering their exposed position and dependence on Army dollars for sustenance.