About a week or so ago, I finished writing out the notes from the new book I got and then, as I said before, started writing options for Carrington's confusing orders to Fetterman then Grummond. Overall, there were 7 options for what he could have told Fetterman and then just 1 for Grummond, as I decided on the first one I wrote down because I was happy with it!
The orders he gave to Fetterman I decided were offensive, which is against a lot of accounts but that's because of Carrington's *lies*, I think. You see, after the 'massacre', Carrington was blamed for the whole debacle because he sent Fetterman out and so on...He tried extremely hard to clear his name from that and when historians started writing about him at the time, if they had said anything bad about him, he would contact them and 'help' them put it 'right'. In my opinion, this has implications that he was very guilty of something. It also means that when his wife wrote her book about him and their time at Fort Phil Kearny and when the testimonies were being taken, he would obviously try and make himself sound as good as possible, which makes what he said not necessarily true. Now, the books written after the ones he adjusted at the time were based on these manipulated ones and the ones after that were based on them and then so on and so forth until what Carrington said became known as truth. Nobody really looks at the other side of it.
It's safe to say that in the story I'm trying to write as soon as I can, Carrington is not coming off all that well.
So, he sends Fetterman on an offensive, instead of the defensive he claimed he led him on - because if it was a defensive, why would he send out the biggest detachment that had ever left the Fort to protect a wood train when he'd sent out much smaller forces to do the same job before? And why would he then send out a surgeon? However, before this, I am having him trying to send Powell out on a DEfensive but Powell refusing, saying he's not his little pet that only goes out to defend - or something to that effect. Carrington then changes his plans when Fetterman arrives and requests the force as now, when Powell testifies, he will say it was a defensive and will unintentionally back up Carrington's later schemes (I say, schemes, because well, he had the time to scheme, and I don't think he was quite as innocent as portrayed).
Fetterman is sent out on this offensive and then Carrington sends Grummond out after him. He tells Grummond to tell Fetterman it's now a DEfensive for a number of reasons he doesn't say. The biggest reason though is that he knows Grummond will disobey him and cross the ridge he said not to cross. Therefore, he knows Fetterman will follow him over and therefore, make himself look bad without it being too obvious Carrington is prompting it. Carrington obviously doesn't want him to die out there but I imagine he'd want him to fail. Carrington is seethingly jealous of Fetterman and has been for a while and just wants to see him do something wrong for once.
Many people have said that Fetterman was just disobedient and that's why he crossed the ridge. But it wasn't like that at all because Carrington confused him by giving him these new, mixed up orders, sending a wild Grummond after him and also daring Grummond over that ridge. Fetterman had to decide what he was going to do in a matter of a few seconds and he was too much of a good soldier to just let Grummond die out there so he rode in to help him, even though he knew from experience it was a trap.
I'm so happy I got there in the end with these damn orders! :)
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Thursday, 8 July 2010
...what feels like a startover!
Since I got that new book by Shannon D Smith (the Give Me Eighty Men one), the story feels like it has been started all over again. A lot of things have been reorganised and at the moment, I'm in the process of writing the different options for how Carrington can give the orders of December 21st, 1866 to Fetterman and/or Powell because here there seems to be a heck of a lot of confusion. For example, Carrington said he gave orders to Powell but Fetterman then claimed by rank to take out the detachment to relieve the wood train yet no other testimony (except from George Mackey and I don't really know who he was) backs this up. And on top of that, there are many other questions. For example, if it was possible to claim a detachment by rank then when didn't Powell claim Grummond's later command by rank? Or did he decline or refuse to take out the first detachment? And why hadn't Fetterman claimed command two days earlier when a relief force was sent out? Or were Carrington's orders actually different between the two days?
And on the subject of his orders, there is also the confusing issue with what he said to Grummond after Fetterman had exited the fort. Some people say he said to Grummond to 'remind' Fetterman of his orders and others say he said to Grummond to 'tell' Fetterman of his orders which are completely different things. And what are these orders? Some say they are the ones that say not to cross Lodge Trail Ridge but then why was Fetterman allowed to pass over it with no man going out to stop him? And why was he allowed to just go in the opposite direction to where the wood train he was meant to be relieving was? So does that mean the orders Grummond was meant to remind him/tell him of were different?
Very confusing. And there are other things too, including how the cavalry and infantry advanced, what happened where and when on the battlefield (and also back at the fort) and so on...
Also, some details of the original plan have been changed around and they have been compiled into a Add/Adjust/Lose list of what to do for the story. A big change is the circumstances of Fetterman and Brown's deaths and also Fetterman's whole personality.
Another thing is that before we were going from Carrington's testimony a lot of the times which is what many, many books afterwards draw information from. However, Carrington's testimony is full of what could be described as lies. He compiled it to make himself sound better, after a long time of being blamed for the disaster, and also to make Fetterman seem arrogant, disobedient and a bully, which, really, he wasn't.
So that's another change.
However, I have come up with a title for this book: 'Fighting With Their Eyes Closed: Braving The Storm at Fort Phil Kearny' which takes inspiration from what Grummond was alleged to have done in the incident on December 6th, 1866 when he was surrounded by Indians - fought his way out with his sabre with his eyes closed.
And on the subject of his orders, there is also the confusing issue with what he said to Grummond after Fetterman had exited the fort. Some people say he said to Grummond to 'remind' Fetterman of his orders and others say he said to Grummond to 'tell' Fetterman of his orders which are completely different things. And what are these orders? Some say they are the ones that say not to cross Lodge Trail Ridge but then why was Fetterman allowed to pass over it with no man going out to stop him? And why was he allowed to just go in the opposite direction to where the wood train he was meant to be relieving was? So does that mean the orders Grummond was meant to remind him/tell him of were different?
Very confusing. And there are other things too, including how the cavalry and infantry advanced, what happened where and when on the battlefield (and also back at the fort) and so on...
Also, some details of the original plan have been changed around and they have been compiled into a Add/Adjust/Lose list of what to do for the story. A big change is the circumstances of Fetterman and Brown's deaths and also Fetterman's whole personality.
Another thing is that before we were going from Carrington's testimony a lot of the times which is what many, many books afterwards draw information from. However, Carrington's testimony is full of what could be described as lies. He compiled it to make himself sound better, after a long time of being blamed for the disaster, and also to make Fetterman seem arrogant, disobedient and a bully, which, really, he wasn't.
So that's another change.
However, I have come up with a title for this book: 'Fighting With Their Eyes Closed: Braving The Storm at Fort Phil Kearny' which takes inspiration from what Grummond was alleged to have done in the incident on December 6th, 1866 when he was surrounded by Indians - fought his way out with his sabre with his eyes closed.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Reorganisation
In a similar maddening fashion to how the army was reorganised in early 1867 after the Civil War, this story is now in the process of being pulled and pushed and tugged around too. I've decided that instead of incorporating it yet into a larger book of small series about the American West entitled On Paths We Used To Walk, it's going to exist somewhat independently of it.
This means that Caution to the Winter Wind will now be part of a separate novel I'm going to try and concentrate on about the story of Fort Phil Kearny. This will include the Powder River Invasion of 1865 (to open the gates for the settlers and therefore the forts), the treaties drawn up to try and force the Indians to let the soldiers use the land, the construction of the forts in Absaroka (the soldier's name for the area around Powder River), Red Cloud's War (including the events leading up to December 6th, December 6th itself and the Fetterman Fight) and also the events after, so the confusing army reorganisation (though only briefly mentioned I hope), Carrington being pulled down from his fort, the confusion of the War Department and Department of the Interior (again, only briefly mentioned I hope), the Wagon Box Fight of 1867 and eventually, the burning of the forts when the soldiers evacuate them to serve in the upcoming campaigns of 1868.
Yes, it sounds long, and yes, it probably will be long but it's a very interesting subject - at least to me - and some of the research is already done, namely some of the stuff for the Fetterman Fight, though with the new book, I need to develop that a little further.
Yet to come up with a title but I'll wait for that, I guess.
x
This means that Caution to the Winter Wind will now be part of a separate novel I'm going to try and concentrate on about the story of Fort Phil Kearny. This will include the Powder River Invasion of 1865 (to open the gates for the settlers and therefore the forts), the treaties drawn up to try and force the Indians to let the soldiers use the land, the construction of the forts in Absaroka (the soldier's name for the area around Powder River), Red Cloud's War (including the events leading up to December 6th, December 6th itself and the Fetterman Fight) and also the events after, so the confusing army reorganisation (though only briefly mentioned I hope), Carrington being pulled down from his fort, the confusion of the War Department and Department of the Interior (again, only briefly mentioned I hope), the Wagon Box Fight of 1867 and eventually, the burning of the forts when the soldiers evacuate them to serve in the upcoming campaigns of 1868.
Yes, it sounds long, and yes, it probably will be long but it's a very interesting subject - at least to me - and some of the research is already done, namely some of the stuff for the Fetterman Fight, though with the new book, I need to develop that a little further.
Yet to come up with a title but I'll wait for that, I guess.
x
New Book
I ordered a new book just over a week ago and this Wednesday, it arrived. It was Shannon D Smith's Give Me Eighty Men: Women and the Myth of the Fetterman Fight and it is extremely well and thoroughly researched and she has introduced so many questions to the incident that no other historian I've read about so far has done. Which is great but also very annoying for the current story I'm writing.
I spent ages preparing for it and researching and doing character profiles and so on and now, I've found out in a mere couple of days that maybe all this work is riddled with faults. For example, the thing I was most happy with - the relationship between Carrington and Fetterman and Fetterman's personality on the whole - has been described by Shannon D Smith as not as bad as a lot of other books and accounts play it out to be. So, I have to try and adjust that a little. Even though, with researching, maybe it's not all that wise to suddenly change everything because of what one person has said, with her, it seems different. Her answers and suggestions to the questions she raises seem very plausible and the evidence that the other accounts I've gone through have provided are turned to represent what she's saying, and yes, they do back her up a lot of the time.
As well as Carrington and Fetterman's relationship, other things have to be lost, adjusted and added. The relationship is the biggest thing to be changed as that is what a lot of the other events stem from but the littler things count too.
On the other hand, she did introduce Lieutenant Bisbee a lot more than the other accounts and he seems very interesting too.
So now, I'll have to write down some notes from the book that'll come in handy and also try and justify the Carrington profile I wrote out to these notes. Also, I'll have to write a list of things to add, adjust and lose. Plus, anything else that comes to mind.
I'm not sure how maddening this will turn out to be.
I spent ages preparing for it and researching and doing character profiles and so on and now, I've found out in a mere couple of days that maybe all this work is riddled with faults. For example, the thing I was most happy with - the relationship between Carrington and Fetterman and Fetterman's personality on the whole - has been described by Shannon D Smith as not as bad as a lot of other books and accounts play it out to be. So, I have to try and adjust that a little. Even though, with researching, maybe it's not all that wise to suddenly change everything because of what one person has said, with her, it seems different. Her answers and suggestions to the questions she raises seem very plausible and the evidence that the other accounts I've gone through have provided are turned to represent what she's saying, and yes, they do back her up a lot of the time.
As well as Carrington and Fetterman's relationship, other things have to be lost, adjusted and added. The relationship is the biggest thing to be changed as that is what a lot of the other events stem from but the littler things count too.
On the other hand, she did introduce Lieutenant Bisbee a lot more than the other accounts and he seems very interesting too.
So now, I'll have to write down some notes from the book that'll come in handy and also try and justify the Carrington profile I wrote out to these notes. Also, I'll have to write a list of things to add, adjust and lose. Plus, anything else that comes to mind.
I'm not sure how maddening this will turn out to be.
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