1872 Account, Battle of Beecher Island, Yuma County, Colorado
http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/yuma/military/indian/beechersfc1872.txt

San Francisco Chronicle clipping donated by Daniel Woodhead.  
Transcription by Lee Zion <lzion@plains.net>
December 2003

------------------------------------------ 

Published by the San Francisco Chronicle from a serialization of
General George A. Custer's book, "My Life on the Plains," in
"Galaxy."

USGenWeb Archives Copyright Notice.  This transcription is
public domain and may be freely distributed, EXCEPT for
profit, providing the credits and transcribers notes remain
attached. - Lee Zion, Dec 26, 2003.

----------------------------------------

San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday, December 8, 1872

"BEECHER'S ISLAND"

A Thrilling Story of American Heroism.

TOLD BY GENERAL CUSTER

Sandy Forsyth's Fight on the Republican River.

A SPARTAN BAND OF SCOUTS.

Nine Hundred Savages Whipped By Fifty White Men.

HOW LIEUT. BEECHER DIED.

A Wonderful Display of Bravery and Endurance.

(From the December Galaxy.)

    The Winter of 1867-'68 was a period of comparative idleness
and quiet, so far as the troops guarding the military posts on
the Plains and frontier were concerned.  The Indians began their
periodical depreciations against the frontier settlers and
overland emigrants and travelers early in the Spring of 1868, and
continued them with little interruption or hindrance from any
quarter until late in the Summer and Fall of that year.  General
Sully, an officer of considerable reputation as an Indian
fighter, was placed in command of the district of the Upper
Arkansas, which embraced the Kansas frontier and those military
posts on the central plains most intimately connected with the
hostile tribes.  General Sully concentrated a portion of the
troops of his command, consisting of detachments of the Seventh
and Tenth Cavalry and Third Infantry, at points on the Arkansas
river, and set on foot various scouting expeditions, but all to
no purpose.  The Indians continued as usual not only to elude the
military forces directed against them, but to keep up their
depredations upon the settlers of the frontier.

EXCITEMENT ALONG THE BORDER.

    Great excitement existed along the border settlements of
Kansas and Colorado.  The frequent massacres of the frontiersmen
and utter destruction of their homes created a very bitter
feeling on the part of the citizens of Kansas toward the savages,
and from the Governor of the State down to its humblest citizen
appeals were made to the authorities of the General Government to
give protection against the Indians, or else allow the people to
take the matter into their own hands and pursue retaliatory
measures against their hereditary enemies.  General Sheridan,
then in command of that military department, with headquarters at
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was fully alive to the responsibilities
of his position, and in his usual effective manner set about
organizing victory.
    The mass of the troops being concentrated and employed along
the branches of the Upper Arkansas under General Sully, thus
leaving the valleys of the Republican, Solomon, and Smoky Hill
rivers comparatively without troops, and the valleys of the Upper
Republican being a favorite resort and camping ground for the
hostile tribes of the upper plains, General Sheridan determined
that, while devoting full attention to the Kiowas, Comanches,
Apaches, Arapahoes and Southern Cheyennes, to be found south of
the Arkansas, he would also keep an eye out for the Sioux, Upper
Cheyennes and Arapahoes, and the "Dog Soldiers," usually
infesting the valleys of the Upper Republican and Solomon rivers.

IDEAL WARRIORS.

    The "Dog Soldiers" were a band of warriors principally
composed of Cheyennes, but made up of the turbulent and
uncontrollable spirits of all the tribes.  Neither they nor their
leaders had ever consented to the ratification of any of the
treaties to which their brothers of the other tribes had agreed. 
Never satisfied except when at war with the white man, they were
by far the more troublesome, daring and warlike band to be found
on the Plains.  Their warriors were all fine-looking braves of
magnificent physique, and in appearance and demeanor more nearly
conformed to the ideal warrior than those of any other tribe.  To
operate effectually against these bands General Sheridan was
without the necessary troops.  Congress, however, had authorized
the employment of detachments of frontier scouts to be recruited
from among the daring spirits always to be met with on the
border.  It was upon a force raised from this class of our
Western population that General Sheridan relied for material
assistance.

ORGANIZING VICTORY.

    Having decided to employ frontiersmen to assist in punishing
the Indians, the next question was the selection of a suitable
leader.  The choice, most fortunately, fell upon General George
A. Forsyth ("Sandy"), then Acting Inspector General of the
Department of Missouri, who, eager to render his country an
important service and not loath to share in the danger and
excitement attendant upon such an enterprise, set himself
energetically to work to raise and equip his command for the
field.  But little time was required, under Forsyth's untiring
zeal, to raise the required number of men.  It was wisely decided
to limit the number of frontiersmen to fifty.  This enabled
Forsyth to choose only good men; and the size of the detachment,
considering that they were to move without ordinary
transportation - in fact were to almost adopt the Indian style of
warfare - was as large as could be without being cumbersome.
Last, but not least, it was to be composed of men who, from their
leader down, were intent on accomplishing an important purpose;
they were not out on any holiday tour of pleasure excursion.
Their object was to find Indians; a difficult matter for a large
force to accomplish, because the Indians are the first to
discover their presence and take themselves out of the way;
whereas with a small or moderate-sized detachment; there is some
chances, as Forsyth afterward learned, of finding Indians.

THE SPARTAN BAND.

    The Frontiersmen of the Kansas border, stirred up by numerous
massacres committed in their midst by the savages, were only too
eager and willing to join in an enterprise which promised to
afford them an opportunity to visit just punishment upon their
enemies.  Thirty selected scouts were procured at Fort Harker,
Kansas, and twenty more at Fort Hays, sixty miles further west.
In four days the command was armed, mounted and equipped, and at
once took the field.  Lieutenant F. H. Beecher of the Third
Regular Infantry, a nephew of the distinguished divine of the
same name, and one of the ablest and best young officers on the
frontier, was second in command; and a surgeon was found in the
person of Dr. John S. Moyers of Hays City, Kansas - a most
competent man in his profession, and who had had large experience
during the war of the rebellion as surgeon of one of the
volunteer regiments from the State of New York.  Sharpe Grover,
one of the best guides and scouts the Plains afforded was the
guide of the expedition; while many of the men had at different
times served in the regular and volunteer forces.  For example,
the man selected to perform the duties of First Sergeant of the
detachment was Brevet Brigadier General W. H. H. McCall, United
States Volunteers, who commanded a brigade at the time the
Confederate forces attempted to break the Federal lines at Fort
Hall, in front of Petersburg, in the early Spring of 1865, and
was brevetted for gallantry on that occasion.  As a general thing
the men composing the party were just the class eminently
qualified to encounter the dangers which were soon to confront
them.  They were brave, active hardy and energetic; and, while
they required a tight rein held over them, were when properly
handled, capable of accomplishing about all that any equal number
of men could do under the same circumstances.

THEY LEAVE FORT HAYES.

    The party left Fort Hayes on the 29th of August, 1868, and,
under special instructions from Major General Sheridan,
commanding the Department, took a northwesterly course, scouting
the country to the north of the Solomon, Prairie Dog creek, and
then well out toward the Republican river, and swinging around in
the direction of Fort Wallace made that post on the eighth day
from their departure.  Nothing was met worthy of notice, but
there were frequent indications of large camps of Indians, which
had evidently been abandoned only a few days or weeks before the
arrival of the command.
    Upon arriving at Fort Wallace, General Forsyth communicated
with General Sheridan and proceeded to refit his command.  On the
morning of September 10th, a small war party of Indians attacked
a train near Sheridan, a small railroad town some eighty miles
beyond Fort Wallace, killed two teamsters and ran off a few
cattle.  As soon as information of this reached Fort Wallace,
Forsyth started with his command for the town of Sheridan, where
he took the trail of the Indians and followed it until dark.  The
next morning it was resumed, until the Indians, finding
themselves closely pursued, scattered in many directions and the
trail became so obscure as to be lost.  Determined, however, to
find the Indians this time, if they were in the country, he
pushed on to Short Nose creek, hoping to find them in that
vicinity.  Carefully scouting in every direction for the trail
and still heading north as far as the Republican river, the
command finally struck the trail of a small war party on the
south bank of that stream, and followed it up to the forks of
that river.  This is familiar ground perhaps to some of my
readers, as it was here Pawnee Killer and his band attacked our
camp early one morning in the Summer of 1867, and hurried me from
my tent without allowing me time to attend to my toilet.

ON THE TRAIL.

    Continuing on the trail and crossing to the north bank,
Forsyth found the trail growing constantly larger, as various
smaller ones entered it from the south and north, and finally it
developed into a broad and well beaten road, along which large
droves of cattle and horses had been driven.  This trail led up
the Arickaree fork of the Republican river, and constant
indications of Indians, in the way of moccasins, jerked buffalo
meant, and other articles, were found every few miles, but no
Indians were seen.  On the evening of the eighth day from Fort
Wallace, the command halted about 5 o'clock in the afternoon and
went into camp at or near a little island in the river, a mere
sand-pit of earth formed by the stream dividing at a little rift
of earth that was a little more gravelly than the sand in its
immediate vicinity, and coming together again about a hundred
yards further down the stream, which just here was about eight
feet wide and two or three inches deep.  The water courses in
this part of the country in the dry season are mere threads of
water meandering along the broad sandy bed of the river, which,
during the months of May and June, is generally full to its
banks, and at that time capable of floating an ordinary ship,
while later in the season there is not enough water to float the
smallest row-boat.  In fact in may places the stream sinks into
the sand and disappears for a considerable distance, finally
making its way up to the surface and flowing on until it again
disappears and reappears many times in the course of a long day's
journey.

THE BIVOUAC.

    Encamping upon the bank of the steam at this point - which at
that time was supposed by the party to be Delaware creek, but
which was afterward discovered to be Arickaree fork of the
Republican river - the command made the usual preparations for
passing the night.  This point was but a few marches from
Kidder's massacre.  Having already been out from Fort Wallace
eight days, and not taking wagons with them, their supplies began
to run low, although they had been husbanded with great care.
During the last three days game had been very scarce, which fact
convinced Forsyth and his party that the Indians, whose trail
they were following, had scoured the country and driven off every
kink of game by their hunting parties.  The following day would
see the command out of supplies of all kinds; but feeling assured
that he was within striking distance of the Indians, Forsyth was
determined to push on until he found them, and fight them, even
if he could not whip them, in order that they might realize that
their rendezvous was discovered, and that the Government was at
last in earnest when it said that they were to be punished for
their depredations on the settlements.

"O HEAVENS GENERAL, LOOK AT THE INDIANS!"

    After posting their pickets and partaking of the plainest of
suppers, Forsyth's little party disposed of themselves on the
ground to sleep, little dreaming who was to sound their reveille
in so unceremonious a manner.
    At dawn the following day, September 17, 1868, the guard gave
the alarm "Indians."  Instantly every man sprang to his feet and
with the true instinct of the frontiersman, grasped his rifle
with one hand while with the other he seized his lariat, that the
Indians might not stampede the horses.  Six Indians dashed up
toward the party, rattling bells, shaking buffalo robes, and
firing their guns.  The four pack mules belonging to the party
broke away and were last seen galloping over the hills.   Three
other animals made their escape, as they had only been hobbled,
in direct violation of the orders, which directed that all the
animals of the command should be regularly picketed to a stake or
picket pin, firmly driven into the ground.  A few shots caused
the Indians to sheer off and disappear in a gallop over the
hills.  Several of the men started in pursuit, but were instantly
ordered to rejoin the command, which was ordered to saddle up
with all possible haste, Forsyth feeling satisfied that the
attempt to stampede the stock was but the prelude to a general
and more determined attack.  Scarcely were the saddles thrown on
the horses and the girths tightened, when Grover, the guide,
placing his hand on Forsyth's shoulder, gave vent to his
astonishment as follows; "O heavens, General, look at the
Indians!"  Well might he be excited.  From every direction they
dashed toward the band.  Over the hills, from the west and north,
along the river, on the opposite bank, everywhere and in every
direction they made their appearance.  Finely mounted, in full
war paint, their long scalp locks braided with eagles feathers,
and with all the paraphernalia of a barbarous war party - with
wild whoops and exultant shouts, on they came.

FORSYTH'S FORESIGHT.

    There was but one thing to do.  Realizing that they had
fallen into a trap, Forsyth, who had faced danger too often to
hesitate in an emergency, determined that if it came to a Fort
Fetterman affair, he should make the enemy bear their share of
the loss.  He ordered his men to lead their horses to the island,
tie them to the few bushes that were growing there in a circle,
throw themselves upon the ground in the same form, and make the
best fight they could for their lives.  In less time than it
takes to pen these words, the order was put into execution.
Three of the best shots in the party took position in the grass
under the bank of the river which covered the north end of the
island; the others formed a circle inside of the line of animals,
and throwing themselves upon the ground began to reply to the
fire of the Indians, which soon became hot and galling in the
extreme.  Throwing themselves from their horses, the Indians
crawled up to within a short distance of the Island, and opened a
steady and well-directed fire upon the party.  Armed with the
best quality of guns, many of them having the latest pattern
breech loaders with fixed ammunition (as proof of this many
thousand empty shells of Spencer and Henry rifle ammunition were
found on the ground occupied by the Indians after the fight) they
soon made sad havoc among the men and horses.  As it grew lighter
and the Indians could be distinguished, Grover expressed the
greatest astonishment at the number of warriors, which he placed
at nearly one thousand.  Other members of the party estimated
them at even a greater number.  Forsyth expressed the opinion
that there could not be more than four of five hundred, but in
this it seems he was mistaken; as some of the Brules, Sioux and
Cheyennes have since told him that their war party was nearly
nine hundred strong, and was composed of Brules, Sioux,
Cheyennes, and Dog Soldiers; furthermore, that they had been
watching him for five days previous to their attack, and had
called in all the warriors they could get to their assistance.
The men of Forsyth's party began covering themselves at once, by
using case and pocket knives in the gravelly sand, and soon had
thrown up quite a little earthwork consisting of detached mounds
in the form of a circle.

THE HOT WORK BEGAN

    About this time Forsyth was wounded by a Minie ball, which
striking him in the right thigh, ranged upward, inflecting an
exceedingly painful wound.  Two of his men had been killed, and a
number of others wounded.  Leaning over to give directions to
some of his men, who were firing too rapidly, and in fact
becoming a little too nervous for their own good, Forsyth was
again wounded, this time in the left leg, the ball breaking and
badly shattering the bone midway between the knee and ankle.
About the same time Dr. Moyers, the surgeon of the party, who
owing to the hot fire of the Indians, was unable to render
surgical aid to his wounded comrades, had seized his trusty rifle
and was doing capital service, was hit in the temple by a bullet
and never spoke but one intelligible word again.  Matters were
now becoming desperate and nothing but cool, steady fighting
would avail to mend them.  The hills surrounding the immediate
vicinity of the fight were filled with women and children, who
were chanting war songs and filling the air with whoops and
yells.  The medicine men, a sort of high priest, and older
warriors rode around the outside of the combatants, being careful
to keep out of range, and encouraged their young braves by
beating a drum, shouting Indian chants and using derisive words
toward their adversaries, whom they cursed roundly for skulking
like wolves and dared to come out and fight like men.

"COUNTING GAME."

    Meantime the scouts were slowly but surely "counting game,"
and more than one Indian fell to the rear badly wounded by the
rifles of the frontiersmen.  Within an hour after the opening of
the fight the Indians were fairly frothing at the mouth with rage
at the unexpected resistance they met, while the scouts had now
settled down to earnest work, and obeyed to the letter the orders
of Forsyth, whose oft reiterated command was, "Fire slowly, aim
well, keep yourselves covered, and above all don't throw away a
single cartridge."  Taken all in all, with a very few exceptions
the men behaved superbly.  Obedient to every word of command,
cool, plucky, determined, and fully realizing the character of
their foes, they were a match for their enemies thus far at every
point.  About 9 o'clock in the morning the last horse belonging
to the scouts was killed, and one of the red skins, was heard to
exclaim in tolerably good English, "There goes the last d----d
horse, anyhow;" a proof that some of the savages had at some time
be intimate with the whites.  Shortly after 9 o'clock a portion
of the Indians began to form in a ravine just below the foot of
the island, and soon about 120 Dog Soldiers, the "banditti of the
Plains," supported by some 300 or more other mounted men, made
their appearance, drawn up just beyond rifle shot below the
island and guided by the famous chief "Roman Nose," prepared to
charge the scouts.  Superbly mounted, almost naked, although in
full war dress, and painted in the most hideous manner, with
their rifles in their hands, and formed up with a front of about
50 men, they awaited their chief's signal to charge, with the
greatest confidence.  Roman Nose addressed a few words to the
mounted warriors, and almost immediately afterward the dismounted
Indians surrounding the island poured a perfect shower of bullets
into the midst of Forsyth's little party.  Realizing that a
crisis was at hand, and hot work was before him, Forsyth told his
men to reload every rifle and to take and load the rifles of the
killed and wounded of the party, and not fire a shot until
ordered to do so.

THE SAVAGES MAGNIFICENT CHARGE

    For a few moments the galling fire of the Indians rendered it
impossible for any of the scouts to raise or expose any part of
their persons.  This was precisely the effect that the Indians
desired to produce by the fire of their riflemen.  It was this
that the mounted warriors, under the leadership of Roman Nose,
were waiting for.  The Indians had planned their assault in a
manner very similar to that usually adopted by civilized troops
in assailing a fortified place.  The fire of the Indian riflemen
performed the part of the artillery on such occasions in
silencing the fire of the besieged and preparing the way for the
assaulting column.
    Seeing that the little garrison was stunned by the heavy fire
of the dismounted Indians, and rightly judging that now, if ever,
was the proper time to charge them, Roman Nose and his band of
mounted warriors, with a wild, ringing war whoop, echoed by the
women and children on the hills, started forward.  On they came
presenting, even in the brave men awaiting the charge, a most
superb sight.  Brandishing their guns, echoing back the cry of
encouragement of their women and children on the surrounding
hills and confident of victory, they rode bravely and recklessly
to the assault.  Soon they were within the range of the rifles of
their friends, and of course the dismounted Indians had to
slacken their fire for fear of hitting their own warriors.  This
was the opportunity for the scouts, and they were not slow to
seize it. "Now," shouted Forsyth. "Now," echoed Beecher, McCall
and Grover, and the scouts springing to their knees, and casting
their eyes coolly along the barrels of their rifles opened, on
the advancing savages as deadly a fire as the same number of men
ever yet sent forth from an equal number of rifles.  Unchecked,
undaunted, on dashed the warriors; steadily rang the clear, sharp
reports of the rifles of the frontiersmen.  Roman Nose, the
chief, is seen to fall dead from his horse, then Medicine Man is
killed, and for an instant the column of braves, now within ten
feet of the scouts, hesitates - falters.

REPULSED

    A ringing cheer from the scouts, who perceive the effect of
their well-directed fire, and the Indians begin to break and
scatter in every direction, unwilling to rush to a hand-to-hand
struggle with the men who, although outnumbered, yet knew how to
make such effective use of their rifles.  A few more shots from
the frontiersmen and the Indians are forced back beyond range,
and their first attack ends in defeat.  Forsyth turns to Grover
anxiously and inquires, "Can they do better than that, Grover?"
"I have been on the Plains, General, since a boy, and never saw
such a charge as that before.  I think they have done their level
best," was the reply.  "All right," responds 'Sandy;' "then we
are good for them."
    So close did the advance warriors of the attacking column
come in the charge that several of their dead bodies now lay
within a few feet of the intrenchments.  The scouts had also
suffered a heavy loss in this attack.  The greatest and most
irreparable was that of Lieutenant Beecher, who was mortally
wounded, and died at sunset of that day.  He was one of the most
reliable and efficient officers doing duty on the Plains.
Modest, energetic and ambitious in his profession, had he lived
he undoubtedly would have had a brilliant future before him; and
had opportunity such as is offered by a great war ever have
occurred, Lieutenant Beecher would have without doubt achieved
great distinction.  The Indians still kept up a continuous fire
from their dismounted warriors, but as the scouts by this time
were well covered by their miniature earthworks, it did little
execution.  At 2 o'clock in the afternoon the savages again
attempted to carry the island by a mounted charge, and again at
sunset; but having been deprived of their best and most fearless
leader by the fall of Roman Nose, they were not so daring or
impulsive as in the first charge and were both times repulsed
with heavy losses.  At dark they ceased firing and withdrew their
forces for the night.

FORSYTH'S DEAD AND WOUNDED

    This gave the little garrison on the island an opportunity to
take a breathing spell and Forsyth to review the situation and
sum up how he had fared.  The result was not consoling.  His
trusted Lieutenant Beecher was lying dead by his side; his
surgeon, Moyers, was mortally wounded; two of his men killed,
four mortally wounded, four severely and ten slightly.  Here out
of a total of fifty-one, were twenty-three killed and wounded.
His own condition, his right thigh fearfully lacerated and his
left leg badly broken, only rendered the other discouraging
circumstances doubly so.  As before stated, the Indians had
killed all of his horses early in the fight.  His supplies were
exhausted and there was no way of dressing the wounds of himself
or comrades, as the medical store had been captured by the
Indians.  He was about one hundred and two miles from the nearest
post, and savages were all around him.  The outlook could
scarcely have been less cheering.  But Forsyth's disposition and
pluck incline him to speculate more upon that which is, or may be
gained, than to repine at that which is irrevocably lost.  This
predominant trait in his character now came in good play.
Instead of wasting time in vain regrets over the advantages
gained by his enemies, he quietly set about looking up the
chances in his favor.  And let the subject be what it may, I will
match "Sandy" against an equal number for making a favorable
showing of the side which he espouses or advocates.  To his
credit account he congratulated himself and comrades, first upon
the fact that they had beaten off their foes; second water could
be had inside their intrenchments by digging a few feet below the
surface; then for food, "horse and mule meat," to use Sandy's
expression, "was lying around loose in any quantity;" and last
but most important of all, he had plenty of ammunition.  Upon
these circumstances and facts Forsyth built high hopes of
successfully contending against any renewed assaults of the
savages.

A PERILOUS MISSION

    Two men, Trudeau and Stillwell, both good scouts and familiar
with the Plains, were selected to endeavor to make their way
through the cordon of Indians and proceed to Fort Wallace, 110
miles distant, and report the condition of Forsyth and party, and
act as guides to the troops which would be at once sent to the
relief of the besieged scouts.  It was a perilous mission, and
called for the display of intrepid daring, cool judgment and
unflinching resolution, besides a through knowledge of the
country, as much of their journey would necessarily be made
during the darkness of night to avoid discovery by wandering
bands of Indians, who, no doubt, would be on the alert to
intercept just such parties going for relief.  Forsyth's
selection of the two men named was a judicious one.  Stillwell, I
afterward knew well, having employed him as scout with my command
for a long period.  At the time referred to, however, he was a
mere beardless boy of perhaps nineteen years, possessing a trim,
lithe figure, which was set off to great advantage by the jaunty
suit of buckskin which he wore cut and fringed according to the
true style of the frontiersman.  In his waist belt he carried a
large sized revolver, and hunting knife.  These, with his rifle,
constituted his equipment.  A capital shot, whether afoot or on
horseback, and a perfect horseman, this beardless boy on more
than one occasion proved himself a dangerous foe to the wily red
man.  We shall not take final leave of Stillwell in this history.
These two men, Trudeau and Stillwell, after receiving Forsyth's
instructions in regard to their dangerous errand, and being
provided with his compass and map, started as soon as it was
sufficiently dark on their long, weary tramp over a wild, desert
country, thickly infested with deadly enemies.  After their
departure the wounded were brought in, the dead animals
unsaddled, and the horse blankets used to make the wounded as
comfortable as possible.  The earthworks were strengthened by
using the dead animals and saddles.  A well was dug inside of the
intrenchments, and large quantities of horse and mule meat were
cut off and buried in the sand to prevent it from putrefying.  It
began to rain, and the wounded were rendered less feverish by
their involuntary but welcome bath.

THE FIGHT RENEWED

    As was expected, the night passed without incident or
disturbance from the savages, but early the next morning the
fight was renewed by the Indians again surrounding the island as
before, and opening fire from the rifles of their dismounted
warriors.  They did not attempt to charge the island, as they had
done the previous day when their attempts in this direction had
cost them too dearly; but they were not the less determined and
eager to overpower the little band which had been the cause of
such heavy loss to them already.  The scouts, thanks to their
efforts during the night, were now well protected and suffered
but little from the fire of the Indians, while the latter, being
more exposed, paid the penalty whenever affording the scouts a
chance with their rifles.  The day was spent without any decided
demonstration on the part of the red men, except to keep up as
constant a fire as possible on the scouts and to endeavor to
provoke the latter to reply as often as possible, the object, no
doubt, being to induce the frontiersmen to exhaust their supply
of ammunition.  But they were not to be lead into this trap; each
cartridge they estimated as worth to them one Indian, and nothing
else would satisfy them.
     On the night of the 18th two more men were selected to
proceed to Fort Wallace, as it was not known whether Trudeau or
Stillwell had made their way safely through the Indian lines or
not.  The last two selected, however, failed to elude the
watchful eyes of the Indians and were driven back to the island. 
The placed a gloomy look upon the probable fate of Trudeau and
Stillwell, and left the little garrison in anxious doubt not only
as to the safety of the two daring messengers, but as to their
own final relief.  On the morning of the 19th the Indians
promptly renewed the conflict, but with less energy than before.

INDIAN TACTICS

    They evidently did not desire or intend to come to close
quarters again with their less numerous but more determined
antagonists, but aimed as on the previous day to provoke a
harmless fire from the scouts, and then, after exhausting their
ammunition in this manner, overwhelm them by mass of numbers, and
finish them with tomahawk and scalping knife.  This style of
tactics did not operate as desired.  There is but little doubt
that some of the Indians who had participated in the massacre of
Fetterman and his party a few months before, when three officers
and ninety-one men were killed outright, were also present and
took part in the attack on Forsyth and his party; and they must
have been not a little surprised to witness the stubborn defense
offered by this little party, which, even at the beginning,
numbered but little over fifty men.
    About noon the women and children, who had been constant and
excited spectators to the fight from the neighboring hilltops,
began to withdraw.  It is rare indeed that in an attack by
Indians their women and children are seen.  They are usually sent
to a place of safety until the result of the contest in known,
but in this instance, with the overwhelming numbers of the
savages and the recollection of the massacre of Fetterman and his
party, there seemed to the Indians to be but one result to be
expected, ant that a complete, perhaps bloodless victory for
them; and the women and children were permitted to gather as
witness of their triumph, and perhaps at the close would be
allowed to take part by torturing those of the white men who
should be taken alive.  The withdrawal of the women and children
was regarded as a favorable sign by the scouts.  Soon after and
as a last resort the Indians endeavored to hold a parley with
Forsyth by means of a white flag; but this device was too shallow
and of too common adoption to entrap the frontiersmen, the object
simply being to accomplish by stratagem and perfidy what they had
failed in by superior numbers and open warfare.  Everything now
seemed to indicate that the Indians had had enough of the fight,
and during the night of the third day it was plainly evident that
they had about decided to withdraw from the contest.

FORSYTH'S DISPATCH

    Forsyth now wrote the following dispatch and after nightfall
confided it to two of his best men, Donovan and Plyley; and they
notwithstanding the discouraging result of the last attempt, set
out to try and get through to Fort Wallace with it, which they
successfully accomplished:

      ON DELAWARE CREEK REPUBLICAN RIVER
                    September 19, 1868

To Colonel Bankhead or Commanding Officer, Fort Wallace
I sent you two messengers on the night of the 17th instant,
informing you of my critical condition.  I tried to send two more
last night but they did not succeed in passing the Indian pickets
and returned.  If the others have not arrived then hasten at once
to my assistance.  I have eight badly wounded and ten slightly
wounded men to take in and every animal I had was killed save
seven which the Indians stampeded.  Lieutenant Beecher is dead
and Acting Assistant Surgeon Moyers probably cannot live the
night out.  He was hit in the head Thursday and has spoken but
one rational word since.  I am wounded in two places, in the
right thigh and my left leg broken below the knee.  The Cheyennes
numbered 450 or more.  Mr. Grover says they never fought so
before.  They were splendidly armed with Spencer and Henry
rifles.  We killed at least thirty-five of them and wounded many
more, besides killing and wounding a quantity of stock.  They
carried off most of their killed during the night, but three of
their men fell into our hands.  I am on a little island and have
still plenty of ammunition left.  We are living on mule and horse
meat and are entirely out of rations.  If it was not for so many
wounded, I would come in and take the chance of whipping them if
attacked.  They are evidently sick of their bargain.  I had two
of the members of my company killed on the 17th, namely William
Wilson and George W. Calner.  You had better start with not less
than seventy five men and bring all the wagons and ambulances you
can spare.  Bring a six pound howitzer with you.  I can hold out
here for six days longer if absolutely necessary, but please lose
no time. 
     Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
             George A. Forsyth
             U.S. Army, Commanding of Scouts
    P.S. My surgeon having been mortally wounded, none of my
wounded have had their wounds dressed yet, so please bring out a
surgeon with you.

ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE

A small party of warriors remained in the vicinity watching the
movements of the scouts; the main body, however, had departed.
The well men, relieved of the constant watching and fighting,
were now able to give some attention to the wounded.  Their
injuries, which had grown very painful, were rudely dressed.
Soup was made out of horse flesh, and shelters ere constructed
protecting them from the heat, damp and wind.  On the sixth day
the wounds of the men began to exhibit more decided and alarming
signs of neglect.  Maggots infested them and the first traces of
gangrene had set in.  To multiply the discomforts of their
situation, the entire party was almost overpowered by the
intolerable stench created by the decomposing bodies of the dead
horses.  Their supply was nearly exhausted.  Under these trying
circumstances Forsyth assembled his men.  He told them "they knew
their situation as well as he.  There were those who were
helpless, but aid must not be expected too soon.  It might be
difficult for the messengers to reach the fort, or there might be
some delay by their losing their way.  Those who wished to go
should do so and leave the rest to take their chances."  With one
voice thy resolved to stay, and if all hope vanished, to die
together.  At last the supply of jerked horse meat was exhausted
and the chances of getting more was gone.  By this time the
carcasses of the animals were a mass of corruptions.  There was
no alternative - strips of putrid flesh were cut and eaten.  The
effect of this offensive diet was nauseating in the extreme.  An
experiment was made, with a view to improving the unpalatable
flesh, of using gunpowder as salt, but to no purpose.  The men
allayed only their extreme craving of hunger, trusting that
succor might reach them before all was over.

RELIEF

    On the morning of September 25th the sun rose upon Forsyth
and his famished party with unusual splendor, and the bright
colors of the morning horizon seemed like a rainbow of promise to
their weary, longing spirits.  Hope, grown faint with long
waiting, gathered renewed strength from the brightness of nature.
The solitary plain receding in all directions possessed a deeper
interest than ever before, though it still showed no signs of
life and presented the same monotonous expanse upon which the
heroic band had gazed for so many trying days.  Across the dim
and indefinable distance which swept in all directions the eye
often wandered and wondered what might be the revelations of the
next moment.  Suddenly several dark figures appeared faintly on
the horizon.  The objects were moving.  The question uppermost in
the minds of all was, Are they savages or messengers of relief?
As on such occasion of anxiety and suspense time wore heavily,
minutes seemed like hours, yet each moment brought the sufferers
nearer the realization whether this was their doom or their
escape there from.  Over an hour had elapsed since the objects
first came in sight and yet the mystery remained unsolved.
Slowly but surely they developed themselves, until finally they
had approached sufficiently near for their character as friends
or foes to be unmistakably established.  To the joy of the weary
watchers the parties approaching proved to be troops; relief was
at hand, the dangers and anxieties of the past few days were
ended and death either by starvation or torture at the hands of
the savages no longer stared them in the face.  The strong set up
a shout such as men seldom utter.  It was the unburdening of the
heart of the weight of despair.  The wounded lifted their fevered
forms and fixed their glaring eyes upon the now rapidly
approaching succor and in their delirium involuntarily but feebly
reiterated the acclamations of their comrades.  The troops
arriving for their relief were a detachment from Fort Wallace
under the command of Colonel Carpenter of the regular cavalry,
and had started from the fort promptly upon the arrival of
Trudeau and Stillwell with intelligence of the condition and
peril in which Forsyth and his party were.

GAME TO THE LAST

    When Colonel Carpenter and his men reached the island they
found its men in a most pitiable condition, yet the survivors
were determined to be plucky to the last.  Forsyth himself, with
rather indifferent success affected to be reading an old novel
that he had discovered in a saddlebag; but Colonel Carpenter said
his voice was a little unsteady and his eyes somewhat dim when he
held out his hand to Carpenter and bade him welcome to "Beecher's
Island," a name that has since been given to the battleground.
During the fight Forsyth counted thirty-two dead Indians within
rifle range of the island.  Twelve Indian bodies were
subsequently discovered in one pit and five in another.  The
Indians themselves confessed to a loss of seventy-five killed in
action, and when their proclivity for concealing or diminishing
the number of their slain in battle is considered, we can readily
believe that their actual loss in this fight must have been much
greater than they would have us believe.

INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT

    Of the scouts, Lieutenant Beecher, Surgeon Moyers and six of
the men were either killed outright or died of their wounds;
eight more were disabled for life; of the remaining twelve who
were wounded, nearly all recovered completely.  During the fight
innumerable Interesting Incidents occurred, some laughable and
some serious.  On the first day of the conflict a number of young
Indian boys from fifteen to eighteen years of age crawled up and
shot about fifty arrows into the circle in which the scouts lay. 
One of those arrows struck one of the men, Frank Harrington, full
in the forehead.  Not being able to pull it out, one of his
companions, lying in the same hole with him, cut off the arrow
with his knife, leaving the iron arrow head sticking out of his
forehead.  At that moment a bullet struck him in the side of the
head, glanced across his forehead, impinged upon the arrow head,
and the two, fastened together, fell to the ground - a queer but
successful piece of amateur surgery.  Harrington wrapped a cloth
around his head, which bled profusely and continued fighting as
if nothing had happened.
    Howard Morton, another of the scouts, was struck in the head
by a bullet, which finally lodged in the rear of one of his eyes,
completely destroying its sight forever; but Morton never
faltered; but fought bravely until the savages finally withdrew. 
Hudson Farley, a young stripling of only 18, whose father was
mortally wounded in the first day's fight, was shot through the
shoulder, yet never mentioned the fact until dark, when the list
of wounded was called for.  McCall, the First Sergeant, Vilott,
Clark, Farley the elder, and others who were wounded continued to
bear their full share of the fight, not withstanding their great
sufferings, until the Indians finally gave up and withdrew.
These incidents of which many similar ones might be told only go
to show the remarkable character of the men who composed
Forsyth's party.
    Considering this engagement in all its details and with all
its attendant circumstances, remembering that Forsyth's party,
including himself, numbered all told but fifty-one men, and that
the Indians numbered about seventeen to one, this fight was one
of the most remarkable and at the same time successful contests
in which our forces on the Plains have ever been engaged; and the
whole affair, from the moment the first shot was fired until the
beleaguered party was finally relieved by Colonel Carpenter's
command, was a wonderful exhibition of daring courage, stubborn
bravery and heroic endurance, under circumstances of greatest
peril and exposure.  In all probability there will never occur,
in our future hostilities with the savage tribes of the West, a
struggle the equal of that in which were engaged the heroic men
who defended so bravely "Beecher's Island."  Forsyth, the gallant
leader, after a long period of suffering and leading the life of
an invalid for nearly two years, finally recovered from the
effects of this severe wounds, and is now, I am happy to say, as
good as new, contentedly awaiting the next war to give him
renewed excitement.
    G.A. CUSTER