William S. Harney

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William Selby Harney (1800-1889) - Born 22 Aug 1800, Haysborough, Tennessee to Thomas and Margaret(nee Hudson) Harney.

On September 3, 1855, General Harney lead his 600 troops to Ash Hollow, Nebraska, where Little Thunder and his band of Brules were encamped on Blue Water Creek. Harney attacked the village in retaliation for the Grattan fight a year earlier. Harney killed 86 Indians and took another 70 women and children captive. Harney then proceeded to Fort Laramie for a council with a delegation of Sioux chiefs. Harney threatened the Indians with continuing military action if any further depredations occurred along the trail. Harney again played a significant role in Plains Indian affairs in 1868 as part of the Indian Peace Commission held at Fort Laramie.

Harney's military encounters included the the "Pig War" with Great Britain in 1859 in which Harney almost single-handedly caused a shooting war between Royal Marines and U.S. forces over the killing of a British pig rooting in an American garden on San Juan Island. For his involvement he was officially rebuked. By 1861 Harney was commander of the Union Army of the West. Suspected of being a Southern sympathizer he was relieved of command. While attempting to report to Washington he was captured by the Confederates, held for a time and released. In 1863, he was brevetted brigadier general and retired.

Links:

• Military Career of William Selby Harney

Books:

• Indian Foe, Indian Friend: The Story of William S. Harney, by Jules Archer, 1970
• General William S. Harney: Prince of Dragoons, by George Rollie Adams, University of Nebraska Press (February 1, 2001)