The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-07
Little Body of Forsythe's Scouts
Whipped Indians.
GOES INTO DETAILS.
Roman Nose Tried in Vain to
OTerWhelm Soldiers.
Only Eighteen of the Brave Men
Yet Alive.

who participated IN the OlooO% o6NA-o
of Beecher's Island. has written for
the State Journal g vivid description
OF that encounter The battle took
place in 1858. Just over the Colorado
line, and the joint action OF the Ieg-
islatures of Kansas and Coloraoo mas
resulted in the erection OF a handsome
$4,000 monument TO the DEaNS SCoutS
who lost their lives in the Tight 1ne
following IS the story of the battle
prepared by Mr.. Mclaughlin: :.
Il will give you a short history OF
the Battle of the Arickaree, and a
sketch of the participants General
Forsythe had been a cavalry othcer IN
an Illinois cavalry regiment he was
three times promoted for brilliant ser
vices He was called SANDY during
the war and was one of the most dar-
ing officers in the army Lieutenant
Beecher had served with distinction
during the war Dr. 1oors was a sur
geon during the war He was civil
fan as were the rest OF the company
Mccall the orderly sergeant, had been
a brfgadier general and commanded
division OF the Pennsylvania reserves
during the latter part of the war he
was q brevet major general The fol-
lowing were scouts before they joined
the company. and 1 think were at
tached to the company Grover
Treadeau Plfiey, Donovan. McLAugn-
lin and StilweIl, who was next TO the
Youngest man in the company sig
SchleSsinger. little Jew, was only
eighteen. and q year younger than sui
we'll who was a scout at Fort Larned
when he was sixteen. OF the hfty-One
nearly forty had seen service IN the
war of the Rebellion; one mad oeen
a major and six that know OF had
been captains There were SeSer4l
more that had been neutenants ana
there was only one man in the ouCnt
that had never been under fire, and
that was Schlessinger, and he was one
of the braveSt men Of the lot
RaachAT had a Henry
sporting rifle: I had a common Henry
rife (1e shoOters); Louis Fairy ana
son had needleguns. or breechloading
Ramfugtons: the rest OF the company
we're armed with Spencer carbines q
shooters). and We all had two 44-cau-
bre reyolvers each.
The outfit left Fort wallace with
100 rounds for each revolver and 400 |
rounds for the guns( Of ammunition). |
I had 500 rounds. and I think Beecher
had that much When We were re-
iie~ed We didn't have 25 rounds to the |
gun left and more than half our revolt 1
var ammunition was gone
The battle began at about Sun-up, /
September II, 1858 and by O'Clock
every horse had been shot down. and /
three men were dead. four mortaily |
IE-r.rnded ten severely wounded. and |
seventeen slightly wourdd
When we were attacked. we went l
On the island and tied our horses TO |
the bushes and laid down in the high |
grass We were out of provisions the |
morning we we're attacked, and had 10 /
live on our dead horses until relieved. |
which was the 9Th day. The dead /
horses had swelled and fallen in and l
the morning we were relieved several i
Of the men. among the rest, cut pieces
Of the putrid flesh and roasted it, and
eat some of it.
The Indians kept around close IN
I'll the morning of the Sth day. There l
were about fifty OF them in sight at
one time the morning Of the 9Th day
since the battle. myself have seen /
and talked with Indians from every 4
tribe and band of Indians concerned in /
the battle There were three bands OF /
the Sioux, three bands OF Cheyennes.
and two bands of ArapahoeS, a few
Comanches. and most of one band OF
the Kfowas.
I'm addition. all OF the dog soldiers
led by Roman Nose. about 400, were
there There is no way of finding out
how many were present. or now many
but the death rate must have been
very heavy. we found on our way
back to Fort wallace sixty-eight bod
les buried in one place They were
Cheveunes. and some OF them told me
afterwards that the dead OF Black
Kettles band were buried In another
place There were more Sioux IN the
battle than any other tribe, and as
IL II likely more of them were killed
I would think that there were 1000
Indians engaged and probably 500 kill
ed and uortaIly wounded The dog SOL
diers were a gang Of renegades that
belonged to all the tribes They con-
Erecated together in the summer and
rafded the settlements and were on the
trails attacking trains They never
took prisoners. only to torture them
neither man woman or child II they
captured women they outraged them
until death released them from their
sufferimgs.
~ NnGa 1
the bravest and most blOod-thirsty In
dian on the plains Every scout in the
outfit believes If they had allowed him
to take the lead in the first attack that
our chances would have been mighty
enm. but the other Indians Looked
down on the dog soldiers. and the other
chiefs would not let him lead, and
took the lead themselves. and while
the dog soldiers fought from the be-
ginning. Roman Nose sulked and
would take no part in the fight I
wondered at his cot taking part in the
fRtt as knew him by sight and
knew the dog soldiers were fghtinz
us as I saw several knew.
The Indians. when they alta cked
Us. expected to make short work Of us. !
for thew brought their women and !
children with them. and the fight we
mt I'D surprised them. They COM
menced by charging on Us by riding
IN a circle. and getting closer and )
closer with the intention OF drawing |
our fire and when we stopped to load !
rush in on us and get us. Nothing
saved Ms but the GOODNESS OF the Tnen
and the amount OF times We could
shoot without loading. The Indians
would lay on the opposite side of their
Monies and shoot under their necks-
The men would shoot the pony and '
try to kill the Indian with the same =
shot by shooting through the horse.
and they killed lots Of them that way
They made three charges that way 7
After the first charge about two hun 5