Samuel A . Cherry Samuel Austin Cherry ( April 14 , 1850 – May 11 , 1881 ) was an lieutenant in the United States Army . He spent most of his military career at posts in Wyoming and Nebraska . In 1879 , he participated in the Battle of Milk Creek , where he commanded a group of 20 men in a rear - guard action that allowed their column to make an orderly withdrawal from a superior Ute force and establish a defensive position ; Cherry was able to bring all 20 of his men back to the column . In 1881 , while based at Fort Niobrara , Nebraska , Cherry was killed by a drunken soldier . In 1883 , his name was given to the newly organized Cherry County , Nebraska , which included Ft . Niobrara . Early life . Cherry was born April 14 , 1850 in Lagrange , Indiana , and spent his boyhood there . In 1870 , he was admitted to the United States Military Academy in West Point , New York . There , he pushed a classmate away from a falling cannon , which struck him instead ; the injury left him with a limp for the rest of his life . He graduated from the Academy in June 1875 , ranked 35th in a class of 43 . Upon his graduation , Cherry was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in the 23rd Infantry . In September of that year , he was assigned to frontier duty at Fort D . A . Russell in Wyoming . In 1876 , he was transferred to the 5th Cavalry , in which he continued to serve at various posts in Wyoming . Battle of Milk Creek . On September 21 , 1879 , Cherry was attached to a column of about 175 soldiers consisting of one infantry and three cavalry companies under the command of Major Thomas T . Thornbergh . Thornbergh had been ordered to march from Ft . Steele ( near present day Rawlins , Wyoming ) to the White River Indian Reservation in Colorado in response to a request for help from Nathan C . Meeker , the White River Indian Agent , who had become engaged in altercations with the Ute Tribe . On September 29 at noon , Cherry was leading a small detachment making an advance scout in front of the main body , which had crossed the Milk River which was the Ute reservation boundary , when he detected a body of some 300 to 400 Ute warriors waiting in ambush . Cherry waved his hat and a single shot was fired followed by general firing from the Indians . Realizing they were outnumbered , the Army units sought to draw back . Major Thornburgh was killed and command passed to Captain J . Scott Payne , who was also wounded . Cherry and a group of 20 men were ordered to undertake a rear guard action to allow the rest of the command to withdraw and then consolidate a defensive position . With courage and skill , Cherry conducted a combined retreat and rear guard action over more than 1000 yards , that held the large force of Indians in check , and brought all of his 20 men back to the column , though many were wounded while under intense hostile fire . The column , outnumbered and entrenched in defensive positions , underwent a siege by the larger Ute force that went on for six days . Couriers were dispatched for help resulting in the arrival of Company D , 9th Calvary on October 2 , and on October 5 the siege was lifted by the arrival of Colonel Wesley Merit with about around 450 men of the 5th Cavalry . This engagement became known as the Battle of Milk Creek , part of the White River War . On the day the battle started , Ute Indians attacked the agency and killed agent Meeker in what is now known as the Meeker Massacre . After the battle , the fourteen non - commissioned officers from the three cavalry companies engaged in the battle ( Company E , 3rd Cavalry , and Companies D and F , 5th Cavalry ) composed and signed a letter for Cherry , commending his brave and professional actions and " cool , disciplined leadership " in conducting the rear guard action that brought his entire unit back across open ground and under intense fire , to the safety of the entrenchments , with seventeen men out of twenty wounded , and further commending him for his leadership during the siege . In an article in the New York Times , Nov . 9 , 1879 , Cherry was commended by Capt . J . Scott Payne , 5th Cavalry , for his quick thinking , training and judgment at the Battle of Milk Creek which kept the command from being first ambushed and later overrun . Fort Niobrara . In December 1879 , Cherry went on leave of absence until May 1880 ; for about a month after that , he served on a board in Washington , D . C . In June 1880 , he was assigned to frontier duty at Fort Niobrara , near present - day Valentine , Nebraska . The newly established post was about south of the Sioux reservation , and about from the Rosebud Agency ; with Fort Robinson to the west , it provided a large military presence near the Brulé and Oglala Sioux . On May 10 , 1881 , Cherry was charged with leading a patrol in pursuit of several persons suspected of robbery and the theft of government horses . On May 11 , in the vicinity of White Lake in South Dakota , about north of the post , he was fatally shot by one of his own soldiers , who was " insane from excessive drink " . Cherry was buried at Fort Niobrara . In March 1882 , his father and his fiancée , Virginia White , transported his body to Greenwood Cemetery in Lagrange , Indiana . Cherry County , Nebraska , which included Fort Niobrara , was formed by an act of the Nebraska legislature on February 23 , 1883 . At the behest of the citizens of the newly formed county , it was named for Cherry .