Where Roman Nose Fell
Beecher Island
Plains Wars 1867-1868
Settlers establish themselves on lands reserved for Cheyenne and Arapahoe by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 in present day states of Colorado and Kansas. The Americans attempt to formally take these lands from the natives with the Fort Wise Treaty of 1861. A contingent of outraged Cheyenne warriors refuse to sign the treaty and break away from the other Cheyenne to form the Dog Warrior Society.
Dog Warriors take their name from their practice of tying one end of a rope around themselves and, with the other end tied to a lariat pin used to keep horses from wandering off at night, fix themselves to the ground in battle. A Dog Warrior will refuse to leave battle unless another warrior pulls up their pin.
[1] In June of 1868, Cheyenne and Arapahoe raid the Kaw reservation, taking horses and cows.
[2] In August, the Dog Warriors rage through the Saline and Solomon Valleys - killing and abusing many settlers.
[3] The warriors raid the Smoky Hill Road, killing a wagon team of 16 Mexicans. They burned the wagons and men.
[4] The warriors raid the Smoky Hill Road in southeastern Colorado.
[5] Warriors attack scouts William Comstock and ’Sharp’ Abner after escorting the two out of Turkey Legs camp. Comstock is killed and Abner injured.
[6] Kansas Governor Samuel Crawford appeal to General Sherman, commander of the Missouri Division. General Sherman tasks General Sheridan with bringing the warriors to heel.
[7] General Sheridan assembles a task force at Fort Hays, Kansas. Major Forsyth is the commanding officer. Lt. Beecher is Forsyth’s second commanding officer. They assemble a crack team of ‘Rangers’, a motley crew of scouts, frontiersman and experienced civil war and Indian fighters, numbered at 50 men. The plan is for the strike force will be a small, mobile assault team that will keep the natives on the defensive utilizing guerrilla - strike and disappear - tactics.
[8] Aug. 29 - Major Forsyth leads his strike force north of Fort Hays, over Beaver Creek to the South Fork of the Republican River.
[9] Sept. 9 - Major Forsyth returns to Fort Wallace without seeing any natives.
[10] Sept. 7 - Warriors raid Sheridan train, capturing 70-80 mules. The warriors kill and scalp two men. Fort Wallace commanding officer Captain Henry Bankhead dispatches Captain Graham to Sheridan. One Arapaho warrior is killed, Graham is unable to pursue the others.
[11] Sept. 10 - Major Forsyth and company leave Fort Wallace to track raiders who again hit Sheridan.
[12] Sept. 14 - Forsyth’s scouts find evidence there is a large band of Arapaho and question Forsyth whether they should continue following them. Forsyth reminds the men their mission is to attack and harass larger forces of Indian warriors.
[13] Sept. 15 - Captain Graham fights with 100 warriors on Big Sandy.
[14] Sept. 15 - Captain Carpenter fights 200 warriors near Beaver Creek - the warriors are in possession of 1,500 stolen horses. After a fight, Carpenter recovers the stolen livestock.
[15] Step. 16 - Major Forsyth and men camp on the Arickaree fork of the North Republican River. A mass of Cheyenne Dog Warriors and Arapaho are camped a short distance away to the west.
Editorial aside - recall the point of Forsyth’s strike force is to harass and harry Warriors to keep them off-balance. Note the spate of attacks [13,14] going off all over the territory after and during the time Forsyth’s men take the field [11]. The force of warriors that Forsyth attempts to harass and harry ends up crushing them - pinning them down on a sandbar for nine days forced to subsist on the rotting flesh of their dead mules and horses and one coyote they killed.
Roman Nose
“I’ll empty their guns” - Roman Nose
Roman Nose was a northern Cheyenne who belonged to the Crooked Lance Society.
Roman Nose’s friend Ice made his famed war bonnet.
Roman Nose war the bonnet in 1865, when the Cheyenne and Sioux avenged the Sand Creek massacre with raids on Platte Road.
Roman Nose wore the bonnet at the Red Buttes fight, where Roman Nose boasted he would empty their enemy guns before leading a charge against circled wagons - killing 22 men of the 11th Cavalry.
Roman Nose led a similar charge down a line of troopers in Powder River country fighting General Conner. Roman Nose wheeled his horse up and down the line three times with soldiers firing until at last Roman Nose’s horse was shot from under him. Then Roman Nose got up, turned his back on the soldiers, and walked back toward the warriors to get another horse.
[1] The warpath that led Roman Nose to his demise at Beecher Island began at least 1.5 years earlier, when Roman Nose sniffed out General Winfield Scott Hancock’s aggressive action aimed at the Cheyenne camps on Red Arm Creek. Hancock attempted to cover his intentions with bull-headed diplomacy - first riding toward the camps to meet the Cheyenne chiefs. When the women and children abandoned their village at Hancock’s rapid approach, General Hancock insisted that the evacuees return without reason. When Hancock asked the Indians to chase their own people and bring them back, Roman Nose sneered -
“My horses are poor,” Roman Nose replied, “and every man that comes to me tells me a different tale about your intentions. The Cheyenne warriors are not afraid, but have you ever heard of Sand Creek? Your soldiers look just like those butchers of women and children.” - Monnett pg. 51
Bull Bear stops the outraged Roman Nose from killing General Hancock at the conclusion of parlay.
[2] When the warriors slipped away that night, Hancock sent a detachment of cavalry to pursue them. The next day, April 15, 1867, a group of Red Cloud’s warriors knocked off three stage stations along the Smoky Hill Road to Denver. On April 16-18 Colonel George Custer sent word of the development to Hancock.
[3] On April 19, Hancock’s men burned the village of 250 lodges, buffalo robes and provisions left by the wary Cheyenne.
General ‘Half-cocked’ Hancock’s mad act stirred up a wave of violence that consumed the plains like fire. Hancock’s war led up to Forsyth’s action on the Arickaree. The inability of the soldiers to pursue the natives led to calls for the mobile strike force that eventually came to be under Major Forsyth’s command.
Beecher Island - Day 1
[1] Forsyth sets up camp on the north bank of the Arikaree Creek. 3 Cheyenne stampede their horses at dawn - the opening of an attack.
[2] Outnumbered and surrounded, Forsyth’s men scramble onto a sandbar ‘island’. The assault wounds Forsyth. Surgeon Mooers is killed attending to Forsyth’s wounds. Lt. Beecher is killed.
[3] 9:00 AM - Warriors kill the remaining horses and mules.
[4] 9:30 AM - Bad Heart leads a charge of 300 mounted warriors gather at the head of the creek and charge around both sides of the island. Bad Heart back and forth across the island.
[5] Forsyth dispatches Trudeau and Stilwell to protect the west end of the island. The men cross the creek and dig into some large weeds - from the hidden position the men do some damage to charging warriors all day.
[6] Afternoon - Stilwell and Trudeau shoot Roman Nose in the back as he charges past them. The wound is lethal.
[7] Evening - Another assault is repulsed. By this time the men have dug rifle pts into the soft sand of the island.
[8] Stilwell and Trudeau shoot White Thunder and Weasel Bear. Two Crows recovers the body of White Thunder and Weasel Bear, whom Stilwell and Trudeau have shot. Weasel Bear is wounded and paralyzed by the bullet - Two Crows uses rope to drag Weasel Bear by his feet to safety in a daring rescue.
[9] Cheyenne Dog Warrior Walking Bear’s widow Yellow Haired Woman rides around the island four times, daring the men to kill her.
[10] At night a desperate Major Forsyth dispatches Stilwell and Trudeau to summon help from Fort Wallace, 85-miles away. The two men successfully sneak off into the night evading detection.
Shot while trying to recover Dry Throat’s body, Killed by a Bull is the last Cheyenne dog warrior to die on day 1.
Days 2-9
The Dog Warriors make half-hearted charges on days 2 and 3 but are content to let the men starve on their sand pit stronghold. Allison Pliley and Chauncey Whitney try but fail to leave on the second night as Trudeau and Stilwell succeeded on the first night as the warriors have tightened the perimeter.
By days 5-6 the Cheyenne have abandoned the wounded and starving soldiers to their fate.
On day 8 the Cheyenne leave.
Stilwell and Trudeau managed to against near impossible odds make it back the 100 miles on foot to summon help. On day 9 the cavalry arrives, rescuing a dying Forsyth and the starving survivors of the Battle of Beecher Island.
[11] Wolf With Plenty of Hair is the last Cheyenne Dog Warrior to stake themselves to the ground in battle.
Notes
References
White, Lonnie J. Hostiles and Horse Soldiers. 1972.
Monnett, John H. The Battle of Beecher Island and the Indian War of 1867-1869. 1992.