Drex wrote:
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Actually there is a western out there that has Howard portrayed. It dealt with the Nez Perce War in which he was successful although Chief Joseph accused Howard of starting the war. Howard was more successful after the war it seems. Besides fighting indians, he was Superintendent of West Point, a major figure in the Reconstruction and was one of the founders of Howard University. Not bad for a lousy commander.
Howard had anticipated that his soldiers "will make short work of it." But instead, a small number of Nez Perce fighters, probably fewer than 200, defeated or held off larger forces of the U.S. Army in several battles. The Nez Perce - 250 warriors and 500 women and children - engaged 2,000 American soldiers of different military units, as well as their Indian auxiliaries. They fought eighteen engagements, including four major battles and at least four fiercely contested skirmishes. After a remarkable fighting retreat of roughly 1,170 miles, the Nez Perc had shaken off Howard and their pursuers, but they were unaware that Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles in command of the newly created District of the Yellowstone had been dispatched from the Tongue River Cantonment to find and intercept them. The Lamátta band of Nez Perce managed to elude the Army after the final battle and escape with an undetemined number to Sitting Bull's camp in Canada. The 418 Nez Perce who surrendered, including women and children, were taken prisoner and sent by train to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. I don't think Napoleon or Alexander the Great have to worry about being eclipsed by Howard. Hopefully he was a better school administrator than battlefield commander.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nez_Perce_War