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William Judd Fetterman (c. 1833 – December 21, 1866) was an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War and the subsequent Red Cloud's War on the Great Plains. Fetterman and his command of 80 men were killed in the Fetterman Fight .
Capt. William J. Fetterman and 80 men killed by Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians near Fort Phil Kearny, the worst military disaster for the U.S. Army in the Indian Wars other than the Custer defeat.
All 81 men under the command of Captain William J. Fetterman were then killed by the Native American warriors. At the time, it was the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. Army on the Great Plains.
- December 21, 1866
- Native American victory
The utter destruction of the detachment, commanded by Captain William J. Fetterman, was the worst disaster to befall the U.S. Army up to that point in the Indian Wars of the 19th century. Fort Phil Kearny sat precariously on land that was ceded by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.
Jul 11, 2023 · Captain William Judd Fetterman once bragged that he could “ride through the Sioux nation with eighty men.” Assigned to Fort Phil Kearny, near present-day Buffalo, Wyoming, Fetterman led an infantry detachment under the command of Colonel Henry Carrington.
Sep 14, 2011 · On Dec. 21, 1866, Capt. William J. Fetterman, sent to assist a wagon train in peril, was lured by Crazy Horse and other Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors over Lodge Trail Ridge just north of Fort Phil Kearny. Fetterman had been ordered not to go over the ridge and out of sight of the fort.
On December 12, Captain William J. Fetterman, in command of an 81-man mixed infantry and cavalry detachment, was ambushed by 1,000 Indian fighters outside Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. Fetterman and his entire command were wiped out.
