Feral Jundi

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

History: Contractor Buffalo Bill Cody–Congressional Medal of Honor Holder

    Yep, it’s true.  He is by every definition of the word, a civilian contractor and he is a Medal of Honor recipient.  Matter of fact, he, along with several other famous wild west legends were contractors as well. Men like Robert Denbow, David L. Payne, and Wild Bill Hickok were all civilian Scouts hired by the US Army to hunt and kill Indians during that long war for the west.  Not to mention the hundreds of Indians hired by the US Army to be Scouts.

   What they paid these guys back then was interesting too.  Cody was getting paid I believe 5 dollars a day, versus 12 dollars a month for the enlisted man in the Army. (sound familiar?)  In essence, Cody and the rest of the mountain men Scouts employed by the US Army were well compensated and highly valued contractors back in the day. I am not sure how much they paid the Indian Scouts, but I am sure they paid pretty well for that too.  Scouts were certainly an asset back then, and worth every penny.

    On a side note, I have been reading the book Indian Wars, and have been very interested in that war’s activities.  Especially how the tactics evolved over the course of many years of fighting, and how important the use of Indian and Mountain Man Scouts were to that effort. Arguably, the US Army back in the day, would never have defeated the Native American without these civilian contractor Scouts.

    That war went through the same typical ‘arc of learning’ that we painfully go through in every war, and in the beginning it was all about using conventional forces to combat guerilla forces.  We learned slowly, after years of combat with the Native American, that conventional warfare like that, just doesn’t work against light and nimble guerilla forces.

    In this war, we got small and mobile, and used Indian Scouts that hated a rival Indian tribe, and it worked.  It reminds me a lot of how the Selous Scouts operated in Rhodesia, by using captured and turned guerillas for operations.  General George Crook and Kit Carson is definitely worth some more investigation, if you are interested in the Scout concept as it was applied during the Indian Wars.

     Also, thanks to Cannoneer#4 for all the enlightening input about Scouts during the Indian Wars on prior posts.  I learn a lot from ‘you’ the readership, and your input is highly valued. Cheers. –Matt

Edit: Also, I mean no disrespect to my Native American readership.  This is purely a study on military tactics and military history, and the use of contractors in past wars.  But along those lines, it was a war and it does deserve some study so we can learn from it.  I also have great respect for Crazy Horse and Geronimo, and we can learn a lot about how they conducted operations as well.

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Buffalo Bill Cody

Buffalo Bill Cody – Congressional Medal of Honor Holder

By Carl Benjamin

Earlier this year I did an article for Associated Content on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and the many characters that performed with him. Over the course of my research, I discovered that Buffalo Bill Cody was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. This is something that I never knew about or even understood why and how he received it.

William Cody was born in 1846 in Iowa. Quite a bit is known about young Bill Cody. After the death of his brother, the family moved to Kansas. His family was often persecuted because they believed in fighting anti-slavery. His father was stabbed while giving an anti-slavery speech. He never fully recovered. At the age of 11, Cody took a job with a freight company as a “boy extra”. His job was to ride up and down the wagon train delivering messages. He later joined Johnson’s Army as a scout. His job was to help guide the Army in Utah. It is here that he got his reputation as an ‘Indian fighter.” Sometime between the age of 12 and 14 he killed his first Indian. At the age of 14 he signed on with the “Pony Express.” Before he became a rider, he helped build the stations and corrals and took care of the livestock. In 1863 , after the death of his mother, he enlisted with the Union Army and entered the Civil War.(In 1863 he enlisted as a teamster with the rank of Private in Company H, 7th Kansas Cavalry and served until discharged in 1865. From 1868 until 1872 Cody was employed as a scout by the United States Army.)

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Sunday, October 18, 2009

History: Contractors During the Indian Wars of 1864 – 1866

Filed under: History — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 12:46 PM

“These are perilous times, Mr. Holladay, all over our country; my anxiety is great. We have no soldiers to spare, but I will do all in my power… You will be reimbursed for all loses and damages; like all patriotic men, you must trust to the honor of our government.” -President Lincoln in reply to Ben Holladay’s urgent plee for help, in regards to keeping the routes west open and running, despite indian attacks (Chapter 13, Stagecoaches by John A Sells).

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   Who here has an American Express card, or has an account with Wells Fargo?  Have you ever wondered about the history of these two institutions?  Well guess what, these institutions, along with the Pinkertons, have some interesting history.  They were operationally speaking, equal to today’s companies like Armor Group, Blackwater, Triple Canopy, Dyncorp and any number of other PMC’s or PSC’s that are conducting convoy or PSD operations for clients in today’s wars. These companies were among the many companies performing convoy and PSD operations during the Indian wars of 1864-1866.  And it wasn’t just these years, it was during all of the years during the expansion out west.

   The point is, it took armed contractors with the guts to say ‘I will transport you or your goods to where they are needed’, no matter how dangerous.

   And especially during the Civil War. Troops were short during that time, and armed contractors were especially important during these times. Things were very dangerous, and Indian attacks, bad weather, terrain, and bandits were all contributors to that danger.  Sound familiar?

   I have posted several stories below, but the first one is the most important.  I would like for the reader to go through this story, and replace Smoky Hill Route with Route Tampa in Iraq.  Or replace the Butterfield Overland company with Armor Group (AG transported many folks on the dangerous roads in Iraq). The Indians would be the insurgency.  The reporter writing the story, of course would be an embed traveling with Armor Group on Route Tampa.  You get the idea.

   Finally, what I want the reader to come away with on this, is that the expansion into the west was of vital national interest.  Gold and natural resources were necessary to fund the Civil War and for the growth of the US.  It was in our best interest to keep pumping folks out west, and that is clearly evident with Lincoln’s reply to Ben Holladay in the quote up top. Contractors are what made that happen, and the importance of contractors and private industry in regards to supplying the war effort or expanding control throughout the west, is the history that no one talks about.

   It is history that was always there, and it is very interesting to apply today’s definition of what we do, to what we did back in the day.

   By now, you are starting to see the theme here.  From Privateers winning  the sea war during the Revolutionary War, to the Marines at the shores of Tripoli using mercenaries, to the Pinkertons protecting Lincoln, to contractors being essential to the expansion into the West, we are an important part of US history.  And I will continue to point that out in future posts. –Matt

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Legends of America-Butterfield

One of Butterfield’s stagecoaches.

A Journey to Denver via the Butterfield Overland Dispatch

New York Times

December 26, 1865

Smoky Hill Springs, Kansas, Saturday, November 25, 1865 –

 In my last epistle, I gave an account of the murder of several persons along the Smoky Hill route, and depredations of various kinds by a band of Indians, supposed to be Cheyennes, under the lead of one of their chiefs rejoicing in the soubriquet of “Fast Bear.” We, that is the Butterfield Overland Dispatch coach, containing General Brewster and several passengers, left Chalk Bluff Station with an escort of cavalry on the 23rd, arriving without adventure at Monument Station the same evening. At Monument there is a military post, so we considered our case a safe one.

A large wagon train with an escort of Infantry was also at this point en route for Pond Creek, a military post some twenty-five miles west of our present position.

We left Monument yesterday morning to continue our journey to Denver, accompanied by an ambulance, in which was Surgeon N.L. Whipple, who had been to Chalk Bluff to care for the soldiers wounded at that place in repelling an attack made by Indians a few days since.

Colonel Tamblyn seemed to think that there was so little danger that we felt very safe with an escort of eight men, three in the ambulance with the doctor, and five mounted men riding in advance of the coach.

We saw no sign of the presence of Indians during the morning, and had nearly reached the station when the ambulance driver took a short cut which did not pass the station, but joined the main road a mile beyond it.

When within fifteen hundred yards of the station, Mr. Davis, of Harper’s Weekly, discovered that a squad of Indians were charging down on us. He at once gave the alarm and opened on the redskins with his Ballard rifle, which performance was immediately initiated by General Brewster, Mr. Hasbrock and Your Own, Mr. Perrin doing duty his revolver from the outside of the coach.

As were all armed with Ballard guns, we drove the party off quite as fast as they came, two of them bearing tokens of our regard in the shape of curiously shaped cones of lead.

The driver of our coach was not wanting in pluck but quickly drove his team to the station.

We left the coach at once, and discovered that another party of Indians had rushed in among the horses and mules that were grazing near, stampeding them.

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Saturday, September 26, 2009

History: President Lincoln’s PSD Team–The Pinkerton National Detective Agency

Filed under: History — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 11:29 AM

“We Never Sleep” -Company slogan of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency

*****

   This is some cool history that I wanted to put out there.  The Pinkertons were a major part of the history of the US, and certainly contributed greatly to the security of this nation.  These guys were private investigators, but they were also security providers that actually protected President Lincoln. They were also Lincoln’s ‘goto’ guys for intelligence.  Not to mention that they also protected stage coaches and wagon trains during the days of the wild west and participated in many significant labor disputes as striker breakers. They are very much a part of American history.

   Matter of fact, I look at these guys the same way I look at today’s security contractors in the war.  The best visual example of what I am talking about was the modern film version of 3:10 to Yuma, starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.  Peter Fonda stars in this movie as well, and he plays a crusty old Pinkerton ‘convoy leader’. I call him a convoy leader, because that is what he was doing in this fight scene.  Even the Gatling gun mounted on the back of the stage coach reminded me of today’s ‘trunk monkey‘  in a convoy or PSD operation.

     The history of the Pinkertons is a reminder to all Americans that security contractors are and will always be a necessary component of the security of this great nation. And the controversies surrounding this industry are nothing new either.

     I put up the Homestead Strike story, along with the Anti-Pinkerton Act (APA) story as a reminder of some hard core American history.  The Pinkertons were contracted to do some tough strike breaking, and I can only imagine how crazy that must have been for those agents back then. I am sure the Pinkertons were also pretty miffed that they got sucked into the politics of the incident, and eventually paid a price with the APA.

    Going from being the President’s personal body guards and intelligence service, to being singled out with a law that made it illegal for the government to contract with the Pinkertons for strike work, must have been a hard pill to swallow. As crappy as that must have been, the Pinkertons drove on and are still in existence today.

     I will end this with another quote. President Obama said after his trip to Afghanistan during his campaign trail and obligations as a Senator, that “Blackwater is getting a bad rap”. He said this, because this was the company contracted to protect him at the time. Hmmm.  I think the same statement could be said about the entire security contracting industry, both in the past and present. –Matt

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 Allan Pinkerton, President Lincoln, and Major General

 John A. McClernand, 1862, photo by Alexander Gardner.

*****

The Pinkerton Detective Agency -Operating For 150 Years

From the Legends of America Website

Founded by Allan Pinkerton, a Scottish immigrant in 1850, the Pinkerton Agency quickly became one of the most important crime detection and law enforcement groups in the United States. Born in Scotland on August 25, 1819, Allan Pinkerton worked as a barrel maker before immigrating to the United States in 1842. Settling near Chicago, Illinois, he went to work at Lill’s Brewery as a barrel maker. However, Pinkerton soon determined that working for himself would be more profitable for his family and they moved to a small town called Dundee, some forty miles from Chicago.

Making barrels once again, he quickly gained control of the market due to the superior quality and low prices of his product.

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Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Podcasts: DoDLive–Dr. Michael Crawford Shares History Behind Pirates, Privateers, and the War of 1812

 

Click on this link to hear podcast.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

History: Sun Tzu and His Army of 360 Concubines

Filed under: History,Leadership — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 1:59 PM

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu and His Army of 360 Concubines

     The king of Wu tested Sun’s skills by commanding him to train a harem of 360 concubines into soldiers. Sun divided them into two companies, appointing the two concubines most favored by the king as the company commanders. When Sun first ordered the concubines to face right, they giggled. In response, Sun said that the general, in this case himself, was responsible for ensuring that soldiers understood the commands given to them. Then, he reiterated the command, and again the concubines giggled. Sun then ordered the execution of the king’s two favored concubines, to the king’s protests. He explained that if the general’s soldiers understood their commands but did not obey, it was the fault of the officers. Sun also said that once a general was appointed, it was their duty to carry out their mission, even if the king protested. After both concubines were killed, new officers were chosen to replace them. Afterward, both companies performed their maneuvers flawlessly.

   Sima’s biography claims that Sun later proved on the battlefield that his theories were effective, that he had a successful military career, and that he wrote The Art of War based on his tested expertise. His descendant, Sun Bin, also became a famous scholar of the military arts.

Link Here.

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