Battle of Beecher Island

Last updated

Battle of Beecher Island
Part of the Comanche War, American Indian Wars
Republican River with Beecher Island highlighted.png
A map of the Republican River and its tributaries, with the location of Beecher Island highlighted in red.
Date17–19 September 1868
Location
Yuma County, Colorado
39°52′18″N102°11′08″W / 39.87165°N 102.1855°W / 39.87165; -102.1855
Result United States victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United States (1867-1877).svg  United States Arapaho
Cheyenne
Sioux
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the United States (1867-1877).svg George A. Forsyth Roman Nose†
Strength
50 cavalry 200-1,000 warriors
Casualties and losses
6 killed
15 wounded [1] 		9–32 killed [2]
USA Colorado location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Beecher Island Battlefield
class=notpageimage|
Location within Colorado

The Battle of Beecher Island, also known as the Battle of Arikaree Fork, was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army and several of the Plains Native American tribes in September 1868. Beecher Island, on the Arikaree River, then known as part of the North Fork of the Republican River, near present-day Wray, Colorado, was named afterwards for Lieutenant Fredrick H. Beecher, an army officer killed during the battle.

Contents

Background

In the summer and fall of 1868, continuing their annual seasonal raiding activities between the Arkansas and Platte Rivers in what was also the region of their best buffalo hunting, bands of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians conducted raids against whites throughout the western Great Plains in Kansas. In addition, they found incentive in the warfare that had been waged specifically against their clans by the military in 1867 and by memories of such atrocities as the Sand Creek massacre. Finally, the westward movement of the transcontinental railroad had stretched all the way across Kansas, bringing with it many permanent white settlements.

During the period 1867–1868, the Cheyennes were in schism, with those advocating peace (possibly a majority) retreating south out of Kansas and the younger, intractable warrior societies continuing to raid. The latter during the summer of 1867 had successfully avoided a large expedition commanded by Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock and in the process had garnered sympathy from Americans in the East who supported peaceful negotiations after Hancock attempted to force the Cheyennes to submit and burned their abandoned villages when they did not.

In August 1868, General Philip Sheridan replaced Hancock in command of the Department of the Missouri and was asked by acting Governor Frank Hall of Colorado for assistance after 79 settlers were killed in repeated attacks on farms, ranches, way stations, and travel routes. Sheridan's main effort was to be made south of the Arkansas during a winter campaign in the Indian Territory, but he remained active in Kansas during the warmer weather, patrolling the Arkansas with the 7th Cavalry and the area between the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers using the 10th Cavalry.

Unit formation

As the Indians fought dispersed battles composed of small bands of warriors all over the frontier, U.S. Army troops and units were at a premium. General Sheridan decided to try an unusual tactic. He ordered his aide, Major George Alexander Forsyth of the 9th Cavalry, a Civil War veteran, to raise a company of "fifty first-class hardy frontiersmen, to be used as scouts against the hostile Indians." [1] They were to seek out and engage the marauders using their tactics, rather than those of the traditional Army.

Forsyth hand-picked 48 men at Forts Harker and Hays and armed them with Spencer repeating rifles. Forsyth's executive officer was Lieutenant Fredrick H. Beecher of the 3rd Infantry, a decorated veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg. His company rode northwest nearly to Nebraska, then turned southwest and reached Fort Wallace the night of 5 September without finding any trace of Indians.

The engagement

During the morning of 10 September, the troops at Fort Wallace received information that Indians had attacked a freighter's train 13 miles (21 km) east of Ft. Wallace, near the railhead (at that time) of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, which was the since-abandoned town of Sheridan in Logan County, Kansas. [3] Brevet Colonel Forsyth and his group of scouts departed Fort Wallace with orders to counter the raid. Col. Forsyth took his command to investigate. They learned that a force of about 25 Indians had taken part in the attack. They followed their trail into what is now Yuma County, Colorado. [4] [ better source needed ]

The trail was heavily beaten, indicating that the opposing force considerably outnumbered the scouts, but the unit nonetheless pressed on. [5] Around dusk on the 16th, Forsyth and his men arrived in the vicinity of the "Dry Fork of the Republican River" (reported at the time as "Delaware Creek"—now the Arikaree River) and made camp on the south bank. They camped only 12 miles (19 km) downstream from a large encampment of two Lakota villages, one of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers (led by Roman Nose) and a few lodges of Arapaho. [6] [7] A group of Sioux warriors soon announced the arrival of Forsyth's men. [8]

Indian surprise thwarted

By the morning of the 17th, hundreds of Indians (variously estimated to number 200, 600, or 1,000) [9] [1] [10] had positioned themselves among the bluffs around Forsyth's camp. A group of eight tried to stampede the soldiers' horses, and Forsyth heard their war cries. [8] Soldiers thwarted them, while the rest mounted their horses. Dozens of Indians galloped towards Forsyth on the riverbed opposite the way he and his men had entered it. [8] These were driven back and Forsyth directed his men to cross the river's shallows to a sandbar, where they tied their horses to bushes to form a barricade. [8]

The initial assault by the Indians was cut down by the accurate, quick-firing Spencer rifles. The combined force of Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were surprised and changed their tactics. [11]

During the early morning of the first day of battle, small parties of Indians dashed up to the sand bar on horseback several times, but they did little damage to the scouts. The scouts killed their horses for breastworks and dug pits into the soft sand behind them. [11] When the scouts opened fire, the Indians attacked the island on both sides. Later they crawled through the grass and shot through the grass. Several scouts who were killed or wounded were hit by the Indian snipers hidden in the grass. The Indians surrounded the island and repeatedly attacked the scouts. Three scouts hidden in hole on the riverbank shot several Indians from the shore. [10]

Roman nose is shot (from an 1895 book) The death of Roman Nose.jpg
Roman nose is shot (from an 1895 book)

Roman Nose initially abstained from the battle, believing he would die if he fought that day because he had violated a protective taboo. After another Indian accused him of cowardice, he decided to lead the next attack. [8] When Forsyth saw the charge coming, he ordered his men to hold their fire until the Indians were 50 yards away. [12] After several volleys, Roman Nose was shot in the back [13] on the riverbank at the west end of the sand bar. He jumped back into the grass where other warriors retrieved him. He died at 10 pm that night. [10]

Many other warriors fell, while four of the scouts including Beecher, Acting Surgeon J.H. Mooers, George W. Culver, and William Wilson were killed. Another 15 scouts were wounded, including Colonel Forsyth. Forsyth had received three gunshot wounds: one glancing his head, another shattering his left shin, and a ball was lodged against his right femoral artery. [9] [13]

Scouts sent for relief

Before dawn on the second day, Forsyth said, "Some one must go to Wallace for assistance." Sharp Grover, who was chief of scouts, said "It is impossible to get out." Then Stilwell came forward and said, "Let me choose the man to go with me and I will go." Grover said, "Jack is too young and inexperienced, he can't get through." Ft. Wallace was about 70 miles (110 km) to the south east. But Forsyth tore off the fly leaf out of his daybook, wrote a note to Col. Bankhead at Ft. Wallace, and gave it to Simpson "Jack" Stilwell. [14]

Stilwell chose Pierre Trudeau to come with him. They crawled for 3 miles (4.8 km) the first day before they took cover in the daylight. They were forced to evade Indians for four days during their journey. [15] : 1370  They had only horse meat for food and when it spoiled they got sick. Trudeau was so weak he could only stand with assistance, but after resting and traveling for four days they reached Fort Wallace. Two nights after Stilwell and Trudeau left, Scouts John J. Donovan and Allison J. Pliley left the island to seek relief. It was unknown if Scouts Stilwell and Trudeau had made it through the Indian lines. On the fourth day of the battle, Forsyth asked his men to extract the bullet; when they refused, he used his own razor to remove it. [16] Others thought Forsyth would die of his wounds before they would be rescued. [10]

Relieved

Three rescue parties departed following different routes due to the uncertainty of the Scout's location. The first was Lieutenant Colonel Louis H. Carpenter leading Troop H & I of the 10th Cavalry Regiment (Buffalo Soldiers) with Captain Baldwin. Major Brisbin in command of two troops of the 2nd Cavalry took another route. Captain Bankhead, went from Fort Wallace with about 100 men of the 5th Infantry, took a third route. [17]

About daybreak on 25 September, Lt.Col. Carpenter's Troops H & I [15] were intercepted on the plains by Scout John Donovan and four riders he had recruited after reaching Fort Wallace and starting back for the battlefield. They were the first to arrive and relieve Forsyth's unit. Carpenter later received the Medal of Honor for his relief of Forsyth's command and for his actions during the battle on Beaver Creek.

Over fifty dead horses greeted them with their putrid smell. Forsyth's command had been out of rations and forced to survive on the decaying horse flesh. [18] The air around Forsyth was completely filled with a great stench and was swarming with black flies feasting on the rotting defensive line of dead horses. The square sandy hole, where Forsyth was lying was half encircled by dead mounts and would have become his grave if help had not arrived when it did. Other gun pits, interconnected, contained the living and the dead of his unit. [17]

Carpenter immediately secured the area and pitched a number of tents up wind nearby. The wounded men were carefully carried there for more healthy air and the dead men were buried to reduce the stench and possibility of disease. Twenty-six hours later, Carpenter sent a detachment to look for Bankhead's unit. They found Stilwell and Trudeau several miles in advance of Bankhead. Captain Bankhead followed bringing with him the two troops of the 2nd Cavalry. [17]

The following day, a fifth scout died of his wounds and was buried on the battlefield with the other four scouts. Walter Armstrong died in a hospital later. [17] Beecher, Culver, Farley, Wilson and Doctor Mooers were buried on the island. Sixteen others were wounded. On 27 September, the Forsyth Scouts departed for Fort Wallace, escorted by the 10th Cavalry. [17]

Aftermath

Beecher Island Monument, 1899 Beecher Island Monument.png
Beecher Island Monument, 1899

The "Forsyth Scouts" arrived back at Fort Wallace on 30 September. General George Custer later proclaimed that the Arickaree fight was "…the greatest battle on the plains." To the Cheyenne, the engagement would be remembered as "The Fight when Roman Nose was Killed." Only nine Indians were confirmed killed, but the U.S. soldiers claimed to have slain hundreds. Years later Forsyth had a chance encounter with a Brule Lakota warrior who was at the battle. Through an interpreter this warrior recounted that the natives had suffered 75 dead and numerous more wounded. [18] The fight's significance as a tactical model for combating the Indians was largely ignored.[ citation needed ] The location of the battle was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The next spring Captain Brown returned to retrieve the bodies. He found Culver and Farley's remains, but Beecher, Wilson and Doctor Mooers' graves were empty, apparently removed by Indians. Culver and Farley were re-buried at Ft. Wallace. [10]

A monument was erected by the states of Colorado and Kansas at the site of the battle. [19]

Historic designations

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Little Bighorn</span> 1876 battle of the Great Sioux War

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sand Creek massacre</span> 1864 killing of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by US troops during the American Indian Wars

The Sand Creek massacre was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of U.S. Volunteers Colonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 69 to over 600 Native American people. Chivington claimed 500 to 600 warriors were killed. However, most sources estimate around 150 people were killed, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service. The massacre is considered part of a series of events known as the Colorado Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dog Soldiers</span> Military society of the Cheyenne nation

The Dog Soldiers or Dog Men are historically one of six Cheyenne military societies. Beginning in the late 1830s, this society evolved into a separate, militaristic band that played a dominant role in Cheyenne resistance to the westward expansion of the United States in the area of present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming, where the Cheyenne had settled in the early nineteenth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Washita River</span> U.S. Cavalry attack on Plains Indian camp

The Battle of the Washita River occurred on November 27, 1868, when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne camp on the Washita River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Caspar</span> United States historic place

Fort Caspar was a military post of the United States Army in present-day Wyoming, named after 2nd Lieutenant Caspar Collins, a U.S. Army officer who was killed in the 1865 Battle of the Platte Bridge Station against the Lakota and Cheyenne. Founded in 1859 along the banks of the North Platte River as a trading post and toll bridge on the Oregon Trail, the post was later taken over by the Army and named Platte Bridge Station to protect emigrants and the telegraph line against raids from Lakota and Cheyenne in the ongoing wars between those nations and the United States. The site of the fort, near the intersection of 13th Street and Wyoming Boulevard in Casper, Wyoming, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is now owned and operated by the City of Casper as the Fort Caspar Museum and Historic Site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sioux Wars</span> Conflicts between the United States and indigenous Sioux tribes from 1854 to 1891

The Sioux Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and various subgroups of the Sioux people which occurred in the later half of the 19th century. The earliest conflict came in 1854 when a fight broke out at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, when Sioux warriors killed 31 American soldiers in the Grattan Massacre, and the final came in 1890 during the Ghost Dance War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powder River Expedition (1865)</span>

The Powder River Expedition of 1865 also known as the Powder River War or Powder River Invasion, was a large and far-flung military operation of the United States Army against the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians in Montana Territory and Dakota Territory. Although soldiers destroyed one Arapaho village and established Fort Connor to protect gold miners on the Bozeman Trail, the expedition is considered a failure because it failed to defeat or intimidate the Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado War</span> 19th-century armed conflict of the American Indian Wars

The Colorado War was an Indian War fought in 1864 and 1865 between the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and allied Brulé and Oglala Sioux peoples versus the U.S. Army, Colorado militia, and white settlers in Colorado Territory and adjacent regions. The Kiowa and the Comanche played a minor role in actions that occurred in the southern part of the Territory along the Arkansas River. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux played the major role in actions that occurred north of the Arkansas River and along the South Platte River, the Great Platte River Road, and the eastern portion of the Overland Trail. The United States government and Colorado Territory authorities participated through the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment, often called the Colorado volunteers. The war was centered on the Colorado Eastern Plains, extending eastward into Kansas and Nebraska.

Roman Nose, also known as Hook Nose, was a Native American of the Northern Cheyenne. He is considered to be one of, if not the greatest and most influential warriors during the Plains Indian War of the 1860s. Born during the prosperous days of the fur trade in the 1820s, he was called Môséškanetsénoonáhe ("Bat") as a youth. He later took the warrior name Wokini, which the Euro-Americans rendered as Roman Nose. Considered invincible in combat, this fierce warrior distinguished himself in battle to such a degree that the U.S. military mistook him for the Chief of the entire Cheyenne nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Powder River</span>

The Battle of Powder River, also known as the Reynolds Battle, occurred on March 17, 1876, in Montana Territory, United States as part of the Big Horn Expedition. The attack on a Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota Indian encampment by Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds initiated the Great Sioux War of 1876. Although destroying a large amount of Indian property, the attack was poorly carried out and solidified Northern Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux resistance to the U.S. attempt to force them to sell the Black Hills and live on a reservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Summit Springs</span> 1869 conflict in the Comanche War

The Battle of Summit Springs, on July 11, 1869, was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army under the command of Colonel Eugene A. Carr and a group of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers led by Tall Bull, who was killed during the engagement. The US forces were assigned to retaliate for a series of raids in north-central Kansas by Chief Tall Bull's Dog Soldiers band of the Cheyenne. The battle happened south of Sterling, Colorado in Washington County near the Logan/Washington county line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beecher Island</span> A sandbar located along the lower course of the Arikaree River

Beecher Island is a sandbar located along the lower course of the Arikaree River, a tributary of the North Fork of the Republican River near Wray in Yuma County, Colorado. The site is notable for having been the scene of an 1868 armed conflict between elements of the United States Army and several of the Plains Indian tribes. The island was named for Lt. Fredrick Henry Beecher of the 3rd Infantry, one of the heroes of the engagement who was killed during what became known as the Battle of Beecher Island. The "island" and the courses of the river have been modified by several floods since 1868.

The Kidder Fight, of July 2, 1867 refers to a skirmish near what is now Goodland, Kansas involving a detachment of ten enlisted men and an Indian scout of the United States 2nd Cavalry under the command of Second Lieutenant Lyman S. Kidder who were attacked and wiped out by a mixed Lakota and Cheyenne force. Two Lakota, including chief Yellow Horse were also killed. The fight occurred during the period of the Indian Wars on the western plains and was an incident in the campaign known as Hancock's War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis H. Carpenter</span> 19th and early 20th-century US Army brigadier general

Louis Henry Carpenter was a United States Army brigadier general and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions in the American Indian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Cheyenne Exodus</span> Attempt of the Northern Cheyenne to return to the north

The Northern Cheyenne Exodus, also known as Dull Knife's Raid, the Cheyenne War, or the Cheyenne Campaign, was the attempt of the Northern Cheyenne to return to the north, after being placed on the Southern Cheyenne reservation in the Indian Territory, and the United States Army operations to stop them. The period lasted from 1878 to 1879.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simpson E. Stilwell</span>

Simpson Everett Stilwell was a United States Army Scout, Deputy U.S. Marshal, police judge, and U.S. Commissioner in Oklahoma during the American Old West. He served in Major George A. Forsyth's company of scouts when it was besieged during the Battle of Beecher Island by Indian Cheyenne Chief Roman Nose and was instrumental in bringing relief to the unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Julesburg</span>

The Battle of Julesburg took place on January 7, 1865, near Julesburg, Colorado between 1,000 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota Indians and about 60 soldiers of the U.S. army and 40 to 50 civilians. The Indians defeated the soldiers and over the next few weeks plundered ranches and stagecoach stations up and down the South Platte River valley.

The Battle of Platte Bridge, also called the Battle of Platte Bridge Station, on July 26, 1865, was the culmination of a summer offensive by the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne Indians against the United States army. In May and June the Indians raided army outposts and stagecoach stations over a wide swath of Wyoming and Montana. In July, they assembled a large army, estimated by Cheyenne warrior George Bent to number 3,000 warriors, and descended upon Platte Bridge. The bridge, across the North Platte River near present-day Casper, Wyoming, was guarded by 120 soldiers. In an engagement near the bridge, and another against a wagon train guarded by 28 soldiers a few miles away, the Indians killed 29 soldiers while suffering at least eight dead.

The Big Horn Expedition, or Bighorn Expedition, was a military operation of the United States Army against the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in Wyoming Territory and Montana Territory. Although soldiers destroyed one Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota village at the Battle of Powder River, the expedition solidified Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne resistance against the United States attempt to force them to sell the Black Hills and live on a reservation, beginning the Great Sioux War of 1876.

The Powder River Battles were a series of battles and skirmishes fought between September 1–15, 1865 by United States soldiers and civilians against Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. The fighting occurred along the Powder River in Montana Territory and Dakota Territory, in present-day Custer and Powder River counties, Montana and northeastern Wyoming.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Richard W. Stewart, ed. (2005). "Winning the West: The Army in the Indian Wars 1865–1890". American Military History Volume 1. Army Lineage Series. United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 30-21. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  2. ↑ Dixon, David (1994). Hero of Beecher Island: The Life and Military Career of George A. Forsyth. University of Nebraska Press. p. 87. ISBN   0-8032-1700-5.
  3. ↑ Kansas Pacific Railway (1870). "Hand Book for the Kansas Pacific Railway" . Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Zion, Lee C. "Forsyth Scouts, Beecher Island 17–25 September 1868". History of the Regiment. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  5. ↑ Nevin 1973, p. 19.
  6. ↑ Smallbone, Chris (March 2006). "1865-9 Clearing the Central Plains for the Railroad" . Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  7. ↑ Nevin 1973, pp. 19, 21.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Nevin 1973, p. 21.
  9. 1 2 Sheldon, Addison Erwin (1913). "The Battle of Beecher Island". Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Lockard, F. M. (September 1927). "A Version of a Famous Battle". 5 (3). Chronicles of Oklahoma. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2011.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. 1 2 "The Old Trail Town Cemetery". Ultimate Wyoming Historical Site. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  12. ↑ Nevin 1973, pp. 21–22.
  13. 1 2 Nevin 1973, p. 22.
  14. ↑ Ahlquist, Diron Lacina (2003). "Simpson Everett "Jack" Stilwell". Lawmen & Outlaws. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  15. 1 2 Thrapp, Dan L. (1991). Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, Volume 3: P-Z (Bison Book print ed.). Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN   978-0-8032-9420-2.
  16. ↑ Nevin 1973, pp. 22, 24.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Carpenter, Louis Henry, Brig. Gen, retired (1912). Carpenter's Recollections: The Battle of Beecher Island. Kansas State Historical Society. Retrieved 1 August 2009.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Letter written in 1912 from Carpenter to Mr. George Martin of the Kansas State Historical Society.
  18. 1 2 Nevin 1973, p. 24.
  19. ↑ "photograph". Walter Mason Camp photograph collection, Fonds: MSS P, Series: 16, ID: 170. Brigham Young University.

Sources

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.