Battle of Beecher Island 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 . Background . 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 with many permanent white settlements During the 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 bully 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 , 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 , 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 River s using the 10th Cavalry . Unit formation . 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 rifle s . 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 . The engagement . During the morning of 10 September , the troops at Fort Wallace received information that Indians had attacked a freighter ' s train 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 . Indians spotted . The scouts trailed the Indian raiding party from Sheridan into Colorado ; signs indicated 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 downstream from a large encampment of two Lakota villages , one of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and a few lodges of Arapaho . Indian surprise thwarted . At dawn on the 17th , Forsyth sensed trouble and spotted the silhouette of a feathered head against the skyline . He fired his weapon , instantly killing the Indian warrior . Simultaneously , other Indians , who , having moved nearer to where the scouts ' horses were tied up , attempted to stampede them , but the scouts immediately responded to the sound of Forsyth ' s gunshot and only the pack mules were lost . Roman Nose , war leader of the Cheyenne , had planned a dawn raid to overrun the camp of 50 U . S . scouts , but the element of surprise was lost when a few eager warriors rushed the camp before the order to attack was given . Forsyth gave orders to saddle the horses . Seeing that no escape route was open , he directed his men to take cover on a sand bar in the middle of the Arikaree . The numbers of attacking Indians varies widely , with estimates including 200 , 600 to 1 , 000 . 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 . During the early morning of the first day of battle , small parties of Indians dashed up to the sand bar on horseback several times , but they did little damage to the scouts . The scouts killed their horses for breastworks and dug pits into the soft sand behind them . 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 . Roman Nose was shot on the riverbank at the west end of the sand bar . He jumped back into the grass where other warriors retrieved him . He died at 10 pm that night . Many other warriors fell , while four of the scouts including Beecher , Acting Surgeon J . H . Mooers , George W . Culver , and William Wilson were killed . Another 15 scouts were wounded , including Colonel Forsyth . Forsyth received a mild head wound and his leg was fractured by a gunshot wound . Scouts sent for relief . Before dawn on the second day , Forsyth said , " Some one must go to Wallace for assistance . " Sharp Grover , who was chief of scouts , said " It is impossible to get out . " Then Stilwell came forward and said , " Let me choose the man to go with me and I will go . " Grover said , " Jack is too young and inexperienced , he can ’ t get through . " Ft . Wallace was about to the south east . But Forsyth tore off the fly leaf out of his daybook , wrote a note to Col . Bankhead at Ft . Wallace , and gave it to Stilwell . Simpson " Jack " Stilwell chose Pierre Trudeau to come with him . They crawled for 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 . In the mean time , Forsyth and his men survived on muddy river water and rotting horse meat . Forsyth was wounded twice and others thought he would die of his wounds before they would be rescued . Relieved . Three rescue parties departed following different routes due to the uncertainty of the Scout ' s location . The first was Lieutenant Colonel Louis H . Carpenter leading Troop H & I of the 10th Cavalry Regiment ( Buffalo Soldiers ) with Captain Baldwin . Major Brisbin in command of two troops of the 2nd Cavalry took another route . Captain Bankhead , went from Fort Wallace with about 100 men of the 5th Infantry , took a third route . About daybreak on 25 September , Lt . Col . Carpenter ' s Troops H & I were intercepted on the plains by Scout John Donovan and four riders he had recruited after reaching Fort Wallace and starting back for the battlefield . They were the first to arrive and relieve Forsyth ' s unit . Carpenter later received the Medal of Honor for his relief of Forsyth ' s command and for his actions during the battle on Beaver Creek . Over fifty dead horses greeted them with their putrid smell . Forsyth ’ s command had been out of rations and forced to survive on the decaying horse flesh . Forsyth ' s 2nd in command , Lt . Fredrick H . Beecher , had been killed during the battle . Forsyth had been shot in the thigh , fracturing his leg , and wounded in the forehead . He was not expected to survive another day . The air around him was completely filled with a great stench and was swarming with black flies feasting on the rotting defensive line of dead horses . The square sandy hole , where Forsyth was lying was half encircled by dead mounts and would have become his grave if help had not arrived when it did . Other gun pits , interconnected , contained the living and the dead of his unit . Carpenter immediately secured the area and pitched a number of tents up wind nearby . The wounded men were carefully carried there for more healthy air and the dead men were buried to reduce the stench and possibility of disease . Twenty - six hours later , Carpenter sent a detachment to look for Bankhead ' s unit . They found Stilwell and Trudeau several miles in advance of Bankhead . Captain Bankhead followed bringing with him the two troops of the 2nd Cavalry . The following day , a fifth scout died of his wounds and was buried on the battlefield with the other four scouts . Walter Armstrong died in a hospital later . Beecher , Culver , Farley , Wilson and Doctor Moers were buried on the island . Sixteen others were wounded . On 27 September , the Forsyth Scouts departed for Fort Wallace , escorted by the 10th Cavalry . Aftermath . The " Forsyth Scouts " arrived back at Fort Wallace on 30 September . General George Custer later proclaimed that the Arickaree fight was " … the greatest battle on the plains . " To the Cheyenne , the engagement would be remembered as " The Fight when Roman Nose was Killed . " In actuality , the fight was a minor engagement of no lasting import whose greater significance , as a model for tactics in successfully combating the Indians , was largely ignored . The location of the battle was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 . The next spring Captain Brown returned to retrieve the bodies . He found Culver and Farley ' s remains , but Beecher , Wilson and Doctor Moers ' graves were empty , apparently removed by Indians . Culver and Farley were re - buried at Ft . Wallace .