Fort Assinniboine Telegrams Received, 1881

The telegrams in this collection are "true copies," duplicates of original transmissions that were mailed from the office of origin to Lt. Col. Henry M. Black, 18th United States Infantry and commanding officer of Fort Assiniboine during 1881. The majority came from the headquarters of the military District of Montana in Helena, and are signed by Lt. George L. Turner, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. Other telegrams are from the headquarters of the Department of Dakota at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; Fort Buford, Dakota Territory; and Forts Maginnis, Shaw, and Keogh, Montana Territory. The telegrams address the movements of troops, disposition of supplies, court marital proceedings, and other routine military matters. Of particular interest are several messages dated in January 1881 concerning the movements of Sitting Bull and the army's failed attempt to capture his camp in the Milk River area. Other military movements against Canadian Crees, Piegans, and half-bloods are also discussed in the telegrams. The telegrams have been chronologically arranged. Unless otherwise indicated, all telegrams are from the headquarters of the District of Montana, Colonel Thomas H. Ruger, 18th U.S. Infantry, commanding, and signed by Lt. Turner, or from the Department of Dakota, Brigadier General Alfred Terry, commanding, and signed by Major Samuel Breck, Assistant Adjutant General. Parentheses after a date indicates more than one telegram bears that particular date of transmission.