The Battle of Beecher Island - the Story of the 1868 Colorado Plains War Battle with Pictures of the Battlefield

September 1868, Maj. George A. Forsyth, Lt. Frederick Beecher, Sgt. William H. H. McCall and 48 citizen scouts, traveling from Ft. Wallace, Kansas, were trapped on a sand bar in the middle of the Arickaree River for nine days in Colorado Territory as they valiantly repelled numerous attacks from as many as 900 Northern Cheyenne, Ogallala Sioux, and Arapaho warriors. The battle, one of the most clearly documented of the Plains Wars Battles of 1864-69, is known also as The Battle of the Arickaree River.

The source of the fight, in part, can be traced back to 1862 and 1864 when Brule-Sioux and Ogallala Indians conducted raids in three counties in Minnesota, which resulted in the murder of settlers and the procuring of guns and ammunition that were used in later fights. [1] Significant battles that preceded this one were Sand Creek, Fetterman, Kidder Massacre, and Wagon Box/Hayfield, all conducted between 1864-67. In the month preceding the Beecher Island Battle, Colorado Territory acting governor asked the U.S. Army to assist in finding marauding Indians in the Colorado Territory after he learned that 79 settlers had been killed in attacks on farms, ranches, and way stations during the summer of 1868. Six hundred miles of way stations were burned that summer from Liberty Farm, Nebraska to Big Sandy, Utah. Many of these attacks are mentioned in Thomas Ranahan's article "What Caused the Beecher Island Fight," written shortly after the Beecher Island Battle. Ranahan, an original Forsyth scout left at Ft. Wallace due to illness, wrote this article by request of J.J. Peate, one of the soldiers that eventually rescued Forsyth's men.

Seeking the Raiders

General Philip Sheridan ordered Major Forsyth to find able citizen scouts, which he gathered at Ft. Hayes, and begin a search for the raiding Indians. From Ft. Wallace, Kansas, Forsyth followed a fresh trail of Indian ponies that had attacked Sheridan, Kansas on September 10.

Forsyth's men were equipped, according to Forsyth, with little more than " . . . a blanket a piece, saddle and bridle, a lariat and picket-pin, a canteen, haversack, butcher knife, tin place and tin cup in the barrel), a Colt's revolver, army size, and 140 rounds of rifle and 30 rounds of revolver ammunition per man . . ." along with seven days of cooked rations for each man. The men were equipped with seven-shot Spencer repeating rifles.

Soon after leaving Ft. Hays for the Solomon River, Forsyth wrote about the calm before the storm he and his men would soon find on the Arickaree to their west. ". . . I find it almost impossible not to rhapsodize somewhat over the freedom of the life we led; the fresh air of the plains, the clearness of the atmosphere, the herds of buffalo, which scarcely raised their heads from their feeding grounds as we passed, the bands of antelope that circled around us . . . the sneaking gray wolf . . . the half haze, half vapory mist that marked the line of the Smoky Hill river . . . the feeling that civilization was behind us . . ."

Along the trail Forsyth's men found a camping ground where a "great sun dance" had been held at the fork of the Beaver and Short Nose Creeks. This dance, remarked Forsyth, was a prelude to a "war with whites." Forsyth followed the trail until they camped on the 16th of September in the middle of a valley of the Arickaree " . . . on the bank of the stream, opposite of the center of a small island, which had been formed in the sand in the middle of the bed of the stream . . . [the water in summer] dwindle to almost the merest thread of water . . ."

Attack and Battle

After an uneasy night of sleep, Forsyth awoke early and scanned the horizon at dawn to see "an object moving stealthily" upon a distant ridge. Seconds later Forsyth and a sentry saw the waving feathers upon the heads of three warriors galloping quickly toward the encampment. The sight was met with rifle fire by Forsyth and the sentry along with a call to the men that they were under attack. It was only a short time later that Forsyth realized that he was overwhelmed by hundreds of warriors and the only course of action was to "lay in a successful defense . . . [horses were led] to the little island . . . to form a circle facing outward." Bullets and arrows rained on the men, horses, and mules. So desperate was their situation that they were forced with the horrible task of shooting the surviving mules and horses upon the sandy island within the river in hopes the animals' bodies would be part of their defense and not stolen to be used against them.

During the next few days, four men from the group were killed and two died of injuries. There were at least fifteen other injuries including Forsyth, who was shot in the head, leg, and suffered a broken leg. He survived to write a detailed report of the battle. One of the Indian warriors later claimed to Forsyth himself that over 70 Indians were killed. One of the Indian dead was the great Cheyenne leader, Roman Nose, shot in one of the later battles of the first day.

On the first night, Forsyth selected two scouts to walk to Fort Wallace, Kansas in hopes of gathering a rescue party. Understandably, though the prospect was highly dangerous, he had many volunteers and selected Pierre Truedeau (an experienced trapper) and Jack Stillwell (a trustworthy and fit 19-year-old) to take Forsyth's only map. Just after midnight, Truedeau and Stillwell quietly left the river walking backwards in stocking feet with their boots around their necks in hopes that the Indians would not recognize their real direction. The distance to the fort would be approximately 80 miles as the crow flies. They hid themselves during the day to avoid the eyes of Indians and at one time were forced to hide from warriors while inside "the dried-up, year-old carcasses of two dead buffaloes."

On the third night, fearing Stillwell and Truedeau may not make it to Wallace, Forsyth sent two more men, Donovan and Pliley, with the same instructions. However, these men traveled almost due south approximately 60 miles to Cheyenne Wells in hopes of boarding the eastbound Smoky Hill Stage that traversed along the Federal Road from Denver, a staggering feat that was successfully endured. Suffering cactus needles that penetrated the moccasins they wore to disguise their trail, they laid a course, as Pliley would write, ". . . to hit the Smoky Hill Stage north of Cheyenne Wells and on the fourth night we struck the road at a ranch about three mile east of the Wells. Our feet were a sight, swollen to twice their normal size, festered with thorns . . ." Though both sets of scouts made it to Ft. Wallace, it was Donovan and Pliley, with the help of the Smoky Hill Stage, that made it there first, beating Truedeau and Stillwell by an hour. The Tenth Cavalry led by Col. Bankhead and Lt. Col. L.H. Carpenter were immediately dispatched to Forsyth's camp.

Rescue and Aftermath

On the morning of the ninth day of the attack, though the Indians for the most part had scattered and lost interest in finishing off Forsyth's men, a set of silhouetted figures dotted the horizon once again. "In a few moments a general murmur ran through the command," wrote Forsyth. "'By the God above us, it's an ambulance!' shouts one of the men . . . a wild cheer that made the little valley ring, and strong men grasped hands, and flung their arms around each other, and laughed and cried . . . When Col. Carpenter rode up to me, as I lay half covered with sand in my rifle pit, I affected to be reading an old novel that one of the men had found in a saddle pocket. It was only affectation, though, for I had all I could do to keep from breaking down . . . sore and feverish and tired and hungry. . ."

General Custer read Forsyth's account of the battle and considered Forsyth a hero and the battle the epitome of soldier courage. After reading Forsyth's detailed account of the battle, Custer wrote an article of his account of the battle that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, December 8, 1872 ("BEECHER'S ISLAND" -- A Thrilling Story of American Heroism. TOLD BY GENERAL CUSTER -- Sandy Forsyth's Fight on the Republican River. A SPARTAN BAND OF SCOUTS. Nine Hundred Savages Whipped By Fifty White Men. HOW LIEUT. BEECHER DIED. A Wonderful Display of Bravery and Endurance.)

Custer on the Dog Soldiers: "The 'Dog Soldiers' were a band of warriors principally composed of Cheyennes . . . neither they nor their leaders had ever consented to the ratification of any of the treaties to which their brothers of the other tribes had agreed. Never satisfied except when at war with the white man, they were by far the more troublesome, daring and warlike band to be found on the Plains. Their warriors were all fine-looking braves of magnificent physique, and in appearance and demeanor more nearly conformed to the ideal warrior than those of any other tribe . . . " [Custer]

Undoubtedly inspired by the bravery of the men who were engaged in the Beecher Island Battle, Custer would lead the 7th Cavalry against Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne at the Washita Battle in Oklahoma the following November of the same year. Just 100 miles south of Beecher's Island, in 1864, Col. Chivington had led an attack against Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho camped on Sand Creek, an act that enraged many of the Indian tribes. Though Black Kettle would survive Sand Creek, he was killed at Washita.

Some of the warriors in the Beecher Island Battle had participated in the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, Dakota Territory, in what is now north-central Wyoming. Over 80 soldiers were killed in an ambush north of Fort Kearney by forces led by Ogallala Lakota Sioux leaders Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. No soldiers survived the Fetterman Massacre, which occurred on a bitterly cold December day and lasted less than an hour.

In a cruel twist of fate, one of the scout survivors of Beecher Island, Thomas Alderdice, returned to his home in central Kansas near Lincoln but his misfortune would multiply into an unimaginable horror. Only a few months after he had laid in the Arickaree, on May 30, four of his children would be tortured and killed by Dog Soldiers and his wife kidnapped, an atrocity that resulted in the Battle of Summit Springs of July 11, 1869. Susanna Alderdice and another young woman of the Lincoln, Kansas area, Maria Weichel, whose husband was killed in the attack, were enslaved and marched on foot nearly a hundred miles into Colorado Territory. They endured abuse for two months until Gen. Carr's 5th Cavalry, led by scout William F. Cody, raided the Cheyenne camp that held the two women at Summit Springs, Colorado Territory, fourteen miles south-east of Sterling in a rescue attempt that was met with mixed results. When attacked the Cheyenne shot Maria and hatched Susanna. Maria survived but Susanna died and was buried at the site. Thomas Alderdice, against all odds, would survive the Beecher Island Battle only to have his entire family murdered months later.

The Summit Springs Battle is brilliantly described in Jeff Broome's Dog Soldier Justice, a book that details the prelude and aftermath of the battle that is considered to be the last of the Indian Plains Wars. The entire story was written as an historical novel by Terry Johnston (Black Sun), similar to his Beecher Island Battle account (The Stalkers), part of his Plainsmen series that fictionalizes The Fetterman Massacre and the Wagon Box/ Hayfield battles as well.

Another scout that survived the battle, Chancey B. Whitney, went on to have a successful but limited career as a lawman in the Kansas cattle town of Ellsworth. Whitney, thirty-one, worked the outer areas of the county, while his partner, Brocky Jack, worked the inner town of Ellsworth. On a hot day in August of 1873, a town saloon was populated by the Thompson brothers, Billy and Ben, who were known as tough gun hands who had allegedly tangled with Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene, Kansas just months before. On this August day, Billy Thompson had too much to drink, which led to a fight in the saloon that spilled into the street. Whitney tried to diffuse the situation when Billy Thompson's brother Ben, apparently as drunk as his brother, shot Whitney fatally with a shotgun. What exactly happened during Whitney's shooting is unclear, but it is said that legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, who happened to be in town but not acting as an official lawman, helped disarm the Thompsons and divert further bloodshed. Historians are still collecting and debating information about this incident, but what clearly remains is that another Beecher Island scout found a violent death. [2]

Lt. Beecher Honored

Forsyth's battle and "island" were named after Lt. Fred Beecher who was killed on the tiny sand bar in the middle of the river where the soldiers were trapped. Forsyth said of Beecher that he was "a most lovable character . . . served through the Civil War with great gallantry, and was lamed for life with a bullet through the knee at the battle of Gettysburg . . . a most valuable man in any position requiring coolness courage, and tact . . ."

The site became a National Historic Site and State Park in 1976.

Controversy Concerning the Exact Location

Though the battle has been documented by numerous eyewitnesses and part of many books on the subject of Indian Wars, the exact location of the site has become an unexpected controversy.

A monument was established in 1905 at the site, which was originally established by J.J. Peate. Peate was thought by many as part of the embattled scouts but later it was found he was part of the rescue team. He declared the site by remembering a cottonwood tree that he had tied his horse to but the entire Arickaree was populated by cottonwoods. No original scout or soldier ever declared Peate's declaration as the site or not. It is interesting to note that when Forsyth attended the 1905 ceremony and monument unveiling at the site, he declared that he had wished he had visited the site before he had written his account of the battle and that "he saw that he was turned around." Was this the declaration of a man who realized he wasn't at the original battle site? [Lynam] Even a 1917 photo of the monument and supposed original battle site does not show any sandy island. [Brinninstool]

A flood in the 1930's washed away the monument and much of the original terrain, an act of nature that may have been repeated many times since 1868. A new monument was established. The monument is located at the crossing of County Road KK and the Arickaree River approximately 10 miles south of the junction of Hiway 385 and County Road KK, which is south of present-day Wray, Colorado.

Two scholars on the subject, Dr. Jeff Broome and Dwight Clark, have done extensive research into the Beecher Island battleground and the possibility that the real site may be more likely seven miles west of the original site on the Arickaree that is currently marked with the monument. Clark has written that the recognized site was mistakenly marked. Broome has researched the site using an 1873 map at the Denver Bureau of Land Management as a source. Clark has used his experience with battle sites along with Forsyth's original map and various other documents like an 1872 Union Pacific map to assert that the real site of the battle is more accurately placed west along the river of the original site, writing to Broome on the location that it was seven miles west of the State Park (currently recognized location) and that the State Park location does not match descriptions of the survivors of the battle. [Broome and Clark]

The controversy of the original site does not detract from the significance of the battle and the bravery shown by the scouts defending themselves and settlers of the region in a violent culture clash with native Americans who believed they were defending their rights to the plains.

Timeline of Significant conflicts of the Indian Plains Wars (1864-1869)

Sand Creek, Colorado Territory, current Kiowa County, November 29, 1864

Bozeman War / Red Cloud's War - Fetterman Massacre , Dakota Territory (current Wyoming, Powder River Country), December 21, 1866

Kidder Massacre, Beaver Creek, Kansas, currently Sherman county north of Edson, Kansas, June 27-July 1?, 1867

Wagon Box / Hayfield, Dakota Territory, August 2, 1867

Beecher Island, Colorado Territory, September 17-26, 1868

Washita Battle, Oklahoma Territory (current Roger Mills County), November 27, 1868

Soldier Springs, Oklahoma Territory, Oklahoma, December 25, 1868

Summit Springs (aka Susanna Springs), Colorado Territory, July 1869

Pictures of the Beecher Island Battle site: http://public.fotki.com/jcocktail/beechers_island/

Sources:

Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association. The Battle of Beecher Island: Fought September 17-18, 1868, Royal Printing, Sterling, Co., 1996.

Broome/Clark. Correspondence between Jeff Broome and Dwight Clark on location of the battle.

Brininstool, E. A. Fighting Indian Warriors, Indian Head Books, NY, 1995.

Criqui, O.A. Fifty Fearless Men: The Forsyth Scouts and Beecher Island, Walsworth Publ., Marceline, Mo., 1993.

Custer, George A. "Beecher Island -- A Thrilling Story of American Heroism." San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, December 8, 1872.

Forsyth, George A. "Thrilling Days in Army Life," Harper's, 1900.

Johnston, Terry C. The Stalkers, St. Martin, NY, 1990.

Lynam, R. "In Regard to the Names of the Scouts," Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association. The Battle of Beecher Island: Fought September 17-18, 1868, Royal Printing, Sterling, Co., 1996.

Pliley, A.J. "The Journey of Pliley and Donovan to Fort Wallace for Relief," Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association. The Battle of Beecher Island: Fought September 17-18, 1868, Royal Printing, Sterling, Co., 1996.

Werner, F.H. The Beecher Island Battle, Werner Publ., Greeley, Co., 1989.

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Additional reading: Life of George Bent, from His Letters (George E. Hyde); The Southern Cheyenne (Donald Berthrong); The Fighting Cheyenne (George Grinnell); Dog Soldier Justice (Jeff Broome); Black Sun, Terry Johnston.

Endnotes:

[1] Ranahan, Thomas. "What Caused the Beecher Island Fight," Beecher Island Battle Memorial Association. The Battle of Beecher Island: Fought September 17-18, 1868, Royal Printing, Sterling, Co., 1996, p. 1. Ranahan wrote this article by request of Scout J.J. Peate. Peate was part of the rescue team (thought, in error, by some as part of the original Beecher Island scouts) and Ranahan was part of the scouting party but was left behind at Ft. Wallace due to illness. Ranahan was a Pony Express rider, stagecoach driver, and became a scout with Gen. E.A. Carr.

[2] Tefertiller, Casey. Wyatt Earp, The Life Behind the Legend, John Wiley and Sons, NY, 1997.