<< Previous 1 2 3 Next >>

Indian battle.

Battle of Beaver Creek (1867)

Battle of Chouteau's Island (1816)

Battle of Coon Creek (1848)

Battle of Prairie Dog Creek (1867)

Battle of Punished Woman Fork (1878)

Battle of the Saline River (1867)

Battle of Solomon Fork (1857)

Cheyenne Outbreak of Morris County (1868)

Cheyenne Raid (1878)

Kidder Massacre (1867)

Love's Defeat (1847)

Plum Buttes Massacre (1867)

The trappers utilized their packs of furs for barricades. One trapper was killed and three were wounded. However, seven of the Pawnee Indians died in the battle. The Pawnee would later say that it was the most fatal affair in which they were ever engaged, having never seen guns in the past.

The island was afterwards known as “Chouteau’s Island” to travelers along the Santa Fe Trail and described as a "beautiful spot, with a rich carpet of grass, delightful groves, and and a heavily timbered bottom."  Located about six miles west of Lakin, Kansas in Kearny County, Chouteau’s Island has long since disappeared due to erosion by the Arkansas River.

Battle of Coon Creek (1848) - In May, 1848, a company of about 140 soldiers left Fort Leavenworth to join the Santa Fe battalion in Chihuahua, Mexico. On June 17th they camped on Coon Creek, on the Santa Fe Trail, not far from the present town of Kinsley, and the next morning were attacked by some 200 Comanche and Apache Indians. The troops were armed with breech-loading carbines, but the bullets rattled harmlessly from the raw-hide shields of the savages who came on in a charge that looked as though the troops might be exterminated. When they were almost upon the camp the soldiers turned their attention to firing upon the horses, and with their breech-loading guns soon turned the tide of battle. Nearly all the horses in the front rank were killed at the first volley and the remaining Indians sought safety in flight. After this inconclusive battle, according to the official report, an Indian woman "who seemed to be their queen, mounted on a horse, decorated with silver ornaments on a scarlet dress, rode about giving directions about the wounded." Her identity is unknown. The campsite is thought to have been along the Arkansas River approximately two miles northeast of present day Kinsley, Kansas. At this location a limestone post marker has been placed. Near this location is said to be where the battle took place.

Battle of Prairie Dog Creek, painting by Ralph Heinz for

 the National Guard Bureau.

Armes led his men down Prairie Dog Creek in present-day Phillips County, while Moore scouted upstream. While separated, Armes group was attacked on August 21, 1867 by about 300 Kiowa and Cheyenne under the leadership of Satanta and Roman Nose. As Armes' troops valiantly fought off the attack, the other soldiers began to make their way to  provide assistance. Captain Armes then gathered the troops and charged the Indians , who then broke and scattered. The cavalry suffered 3 men dead and 36 wounded; the Indians, 50 dead and 150 wounded. This battled ended the U.S. offensive operations on the Kansas frontier for the year, and in the fall treaties were signed with the tribes of the Southern Plains. Today, the 18th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry continues its efforts as the Kansas Army and Air National Guard.

Battle of the Saline River (1867) - In August, 1867, P.S. Ashley and a crew of six were surveying the route for the Union Pacific Railway when they were attacked by a group of about 30 Cheyennemargin-bottom: 0"> warriors, attempting to stop the construction of the iron rails through their homeland. All six of the railroad workers were killed, but one man named William Gould survived and was brought to Fort Hays where he told his story, before he too, died of his wounds. At that time, one of Fort Haysmargin-bottom: 0">' main functions was to protect the railroad workers and Captain Henry Corbin, commanding the Thirty-eighth Infantry and Tenth Cavalry, known as the "Buffalo Soldiers," immediately ordered Captain George Armes, Company F, Tenth Cavalry, in pursuit of the Cheyenne.

Armes and his men then began to follow the trail and soon sent back to the fort for reinforcements.

However, after waiting for four hours, the anxious men continued the pursuit before the reinforcements arrived. Some 25 men of the Thirty-eighth Infantry, under the command of Sergeant Pittman of Company C, were sent out to reinforce the Tenth Cavalry. Following the trail up the North Fork of Big Creek northeast of Fort Hays, they encountered a small band of 50 Cheyenne warriors and three shells from a howitzer, which succeeded in scattering the Indians but doing little damage. When they found no signs of Captain Armes and his men, the Thirty-eighth Infantry returned to Fort Hays.

In the meantime, Armes had followed the trail up the Saline River and about 25 miles northwest of Fort Hays, they were surrounded and attacked by some 400 Cheyenne warriors. Armes quickly ordered his men to dismount and fight on foot and the soldiers soon found themselves surrounded. Outnumber, Armes then ordered his men to form a compact defensive maneuver by forming a "hollow square" around the cavalry horses and began to march toward Fort Hays. The battle raged for six hours as the Buffalo Soldiers fought off their attackers. Amazingly, when the soldiers were about ten miles north of Fort Hays, the Cheyenne broke off the attack. During the thirty hours the troops had been gone, they had marched 113 miles without rations, fifteen of those miles while under attack. Although 2,000 rounds of ammunition had been fired during the battle, casualties were surprisingly light - with only six Indians and one soldier, Sergeant William Christy, killed. Christy was the first combat death in the Tenth Cavalry. Armes would later say of the battle, "It is the greatest wonder in the world that my command escaped being massacred."

Continued Next Page