Battle of Beecher Island

1868 battle in the American Indian Wars

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.

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.

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." 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.

During the morning of 10 September, the troops at Fort Wallace received information that Indians had attacked a freighter's train 13 mile (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. 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. The trail was heavily beaten, indicating that the opposing force considerably outnumbered the scouts, but the unit nonetheless pressed on. 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 mile (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. A group of Sioux warriors soon announced the arrival of Forsyth's men.

By the morning of the 17th, hundreds of Indians (variously estimated to number 200, 600, or 1,000) 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Stilwell chose Pierre Trudeau to come with him. They crawled for 3 mile (5 km) the first day before they took cover in the daylight. They were forced to evade Indians for four days during their journey. 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. Others thought Forsyth would die of his wounds before they would be rescued. About daybreak on 25 September, Lt. Col. Carpenter's Troops H & I