USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
47I
The Bloody Year on the Plains.
longed and they finally arrived at the conclusion that they were Indian ponies, though in the darkness it was difficult to determine. When they reached the bridge they found a picket stationed there and the gate closed. This picket told them of the conditions which prevailed around the fort and of the fighting that had been going on the day before. One of the soldiers of Lieutenant Bretney's de- tachment was John C. Friend, who afterward became a well known newspaper man in Wyoming, but of him I shall have occasion to speak more in detail later. On the morning of the 26th, there were stirring events about to transpire at that little post, which was pretty well hemmed in by savages. Lieutenant Bretney reported that there was a train on the road from Sweetwater, composed of ten wagons driven by as many soldiers and escorted by Sergeant Martin Ebberly and ten men all of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry. The escort was dismounted. It was thought that this train would be in that morning. Major Howard, the post commander, could not help feeling anxious for the safety of the train as the hills in the vicinity of the road over which it was to pass were covered with Indians. A detachment of twenty-five men was made at an early hour to go out and meet those who were escorting the wagons. After the rescue party was in line some question arose as to who should take command. Several officers excused themselves on one plea or another and while this was going on Lieutenant Caspar W. Collins stepped forward and said he would go providing he was furnished with a horse as his own was in bad condition. Finally the leader of the Elev- enth Kansas band offered his horse, a powerfully built, spirited grey. Lieutenant Bretney did not approve of Col- lins taking charge of the party and advised the young officer not to go, telling him that it was not his place, that the men were not of his command and he was only a chance visitor at the fort. Finding that Collins was determined to go Bretney hunted up John C. Friend and told him to use his influence to induce the young Lieutenant not to go with the relief party. Friend and young Collins had been
472
History of Wyoming.
very intimate for two or three years and Bretney thought that he would have some influence over him. Friend went to Collins and advised him not to lead the party, but all his arguments and pleadings were useless for Collins had determined to go. He said to Friend that he had no fears and would perform his duty. Lieutenant Bretney and Captain Lybe now organized a party of about thirty en- listed men and citizens and followed on foot the rescue party. Among the thirty was John C. Friend, Frank Ecof- fey, Phildean Ganard, and Jules Seminoe. Lieutenant Col- lins at 6:30 a. m. placed himself at the head of the twenty- five mounted men and led the way across the bridge closely followed by the dismounted force under Bretney and Lybe. The troopers on reaching the north end of the bridge formed into fours. They took the quick, ringing words of command, Trot! Gallop! Charge! and away they dashed along the road and up the hill. Never was there a braver band or a more gallant leader. On they went for over half a mile when they were met and attacked by 500 or 600 Cheyennes. who came out of the brush on the left toward the river. Then was seen 700 or 800 coming down from the bluffs on the right and a little to the rear, 300 or 400 of this party attempted to cut them off in the rear but the deadly rifle- men under Bretney and Lybe moved quickly forward and drove the howling demons back. Collins and his men en. countering overwhelming numbers on every side now turned and attempted to fight their way back. The con- test was being watched with deep interest at the fort, and, seeing the situation, Major Howard ordered the single piece of artillery to be run out behind Ganard's store on the river- bank and a rapid fire was opened up on the Indians who were determined to annihilate Collins and his little band. The shells reached the savages, but it was too late. Finding that more than half of his men were either killed or wound- ed and that it was impossible to hold the others in a compact body and keep up an orderly retreat, they all turned in the direction of the bridge and made a mad dash to escape. At this moment one of the troopers was wounded and fell from
473
The Bloody Year on the Plains.
his saddle but he called out to his comrades, "Don't leave me, Don't leave me," Collins turned his horse and rode to the place where the wounded man was lying, but his horse becoming unmanageable, ran away with him, going at a fearful pace along the ridge toward the north and a short distance west of Red Cloud's band of Sioux, who were still pouring down the bluff. The powerful grey horse rap- idly bore Collins out of the sight of his friends. The effec- tive work of the shells from the fort had routed the savages along the river bank and the hillside above and many of them followed the direction taken by the runaway horse which was carrying Caspar Collins to his death, but there were still hundreds of them bent on the destruction of not only the men on horseback but those on foot. The troopers returning, were protected by the fire of the dismounted men until they got safely to the bridge when Lieutenant Bret- ney gave the order to retreat and the soldiers and citizens returned to the fort.
Of those who went out with Collins, eight were killed, not including their brave leader and seven were wounded. Two hours later, the Indians having retired from the hill- side, William Worrell, Thomas St.Clair, and John C. Friend, all members of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry and of Lieuten- ant Collins' company, mounted their horses and started across the bridge to find the body of their gallant First Lieutenant, for they were certain that he would be killed, as there was no escape for him. They went up the road to the place where Collins had turned to rescue the wounded trooper and there lay the soldier dead who had called for help. His body was lifted and laid across Friend's horse and that trooper returned to the fort with it. While he was gone the others found two more of the dead.
Indians now appeared and it was their evident inten- tion to cut off these bold riders. The dead soldiers were hastily lifted across the horses and the three cavalrymen retired toward the fort bearing the remains of their com- rades with them. The wire being cut on the east as well as on the west and Major Howard being anxious to com-
474
History of Wyoming.
municate with Fort Laramie to call for assistance, sent a party out at 10 o'clock in the morning to mend the wire. They had not been gone long before they were attacked by 100 Indians who drove the men back. The gun at the fort was brought out and some well directed shells drove the savages back across the river. After dinner Captain Lybe, with a detail of twenty men, commenced the erection of breastworks around the fort. At 3 o'clock the expected wagon train was seen coming down the hill from the west and the appearance of this brought the savages from their hiding in the sand bluffs on the north side.
The train came down the hill and 500 mounted In- dians charged along the ridge in its direction. All now was excitement at the fort. Lieutenant Bretney wanted to take one hundred men and go to the rescue of the train, but the experience of the day convinced Major Howard that such a movement would be futile. In the meantime the soldiers in charge of the train seeing the oncoming savages, turned to the right in an open ravine and formed a corral and prepared hastily for defense. Three of the men, con- vinced that a successful stand could not be made, ran down the ravine toward the river half a mile away and getting into the bushes they finally reached the water and swam across and late in the afternoon arrived safely at the fort. The other eighteen men from behind their wag- ons made a fight for life. As the savages approached, again and again they sent them reeling backward with their well directed fire. The Indians finding that it was certain death to get within range of the deadly rifles of the white men, resorted to Indian strategy and with their knives and tom- ahawks dug trenches and commenced a gradual approach in such numbers as would enable them to overwhelm the brave Kansans when the supreme moment should arrive. For more than an hour the savages dug on these trenches. Those at the fort watched and waited with beating hearts the outcome of the struggle in the ravine. They did not know the methods being employed by the savages but it was very evident that some deep Indian strategy was in
475
The Bloody Year on the Plains.
process of being worked out. Another circumstance was noticeable, the soldiers were on the alert and every savage who exposed himself was fired upon by the besieged. Some- times a single rifle report would come from the ravine, again two or three shots would be heard in quick succes- sion and then, after an ominous silence, a volley would rumble and rattle over in the ravine to be followed by pain- ful silence. This had been going on for more than an hour when those watching saw Indians spring up out of the ground all around and in close proximity to the doomed men and this was followed by savage yells of exultation such as can only come from savage men and savage beasts. There were a number of shots fired but who fired them could not be told. It was plain to be seen that there was a hand to hand struggle, but it was of short duration and when it was over there were more savage yells and these were taken up and repeated by groups of Indians in almost every direction. The little garrison at the post knew well what had happened, even though they were unable to see the actual struggle. They knew also that those eighteen brave men had compelled their enemies to pay dearly for their victory. Major Howard now realized that the garrison at the fort was in danger, but the telegraph line being down there was no opportunity to call for aid. The garrison con- sisted of two companies of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, besides these there were a few infantrymen and also some chance visitors at the fort, soldiers who had come from below or above. There were possibly 200 men in all but what were these as compared to the 3,000 savages every- where about them and all intent on capturing the post and scalping its defenders. That night "Mich." Seminoe and another man slipped out of the fort and made their way to Deer Creek for aid. They had a journey over a country that was swarming with savages but they finally reached their destination and secured two companies of the Elev- enth Kansas who went to the rescue of the garrison at Platte Bridge. They arrived the next day and soon after, these troops, together with about twenty men of the Elev-
476
History of Wyoming.
enth Ohio, crossed the bridge and went up to the place where Collins and his men had their fight with the Indians. In that vicinity they found five more of the dead. The bod- ies were all horribly mutilated. They were gathered up and sent to the fort in a wagon after which the command moved farther up the hill to the place where the wagon train party had struggled so heroically against overwhelm- ing numbers. The bodies of the eighteen were all found but they had been cut, hacked, mutilated and burned, in some cases beyond recognition. It was a horrible sight and one that was never forgotten by those who gazed upon it. A hole was dug in the gulch and the dismembered portions of human bodies gathered up and deposited in this hur- riedly made grave. When all of the swollen, blackened and charred remains had been gathered their surviving comrades lovingly covered them with mother earth and left them on the field where they so nobly fought and fell. A search was commenced for the body of Lieutenant Col- lins which was not found until the following day. The place where it was discovered was up Caspar Creek about a mile and a half from the spot where he turned to rescue the wounded trooper. The body had been stripped of the bright new uniform which he had put on after his muster at Fort Laramie only a few days before. He was not mutil- ated like the others but powder had been exploded in his mouth which caused his face to present a horrible appear- ance. The body had lain three days in the hot sun and was consequently in a bad condition. A box was sent for and in this the remains were deposited and carefully closed up and carried to the fort where it was buried. A year later it was shipped to his native town in Ohio and interred in the fam- ily burial ground.
On the morning of the 27th the break in the telegraph line east of Platte Bridge was repaired and word was sent to General Connor of the condition of affairs in that part of the North Platte valley. General Connor ordered Col- onel J. H. Kidd, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, with nine com- panies to proceed by forced marches to the assistance of the
477
The Bloody Year on the Plains.
garrison at Platte Bridge. The troops moved with great celerity but found'upon their arrival that the Indians had been gone three days. They had left on the morning of the 28th, going north toward Powder River. Red Cloud, who was the leading chief of these red monsters had evi- dently heard of the proposed movement of General Con- nor's forces into that country and had resolved to be there in advance.
Caspar Collins was born at Hillsboro, Ohio, September 30, 1844, and was consequently, at the time of his death, July 26, 1865, twenty years, nine months and twenty-six days old. In years and appearance he was scarcely more than a boy, but in bravery he will ever be ranked among the most gallant heroes of any age. He was the son of Lieuten- ant-Colonel William O. Collins of the Eleventh Ohio Cav- alry, who made a brilliant record fighting Indians in Wyo- ming. Fort Collins, Colorado was named in his honor. Caspar was a worthy son of this hero and his early death deprived the West of one of the bravest young officers in the service on the plains. In 1862 young Collins came with his father to Wyoming, first going to Fort Laramie. He vis- ited Fort Halleck in September of that year, arriving there while the post was under construction. From this post he wrote home to his mother an enthusiastic letter regarding the country, the big game and the people he met. In October he returned to Fort Laramie. On this trip from Fort Hal- leck to Fort Laramie Jim Bridger was the guide, and young Collins, in another letter home, speaks of the old mountain- eer in a manner which indicates his admiration of him. He says: "We had Major Bridger with us as guide. He knows more of the Rocky Mountains than any other living man. He came to the country about forty years ago in command of a party of thirty or forty trappers, and some time after, with some others, organized the Rocky Mountain Fur Company which drove the Hudson Bay Company from American soil. He is totally uneducated but speaks English, Spanish and French equally well, besides nearly a dozen Indian tongues, such as Snake, Bannock, Crow, Flathead, Nez Perces, Pend
478
History of Wyoming.
d' Oreille, Ute and one or two others I cannot recollect. Under him Kit Carson first made his acquaintance with the Rocky Mountain region and he traveled through this while Fremont was a child."
The death of Lieutenant Collins and the brave men under him was the theme in army circles over the entire country. Major General Pope, who always had a warm place in his heart for a hero, issued an order on November 21st of that year which reads:
"The military post situated at Platte Bridge between Deer and Rock Creeks, on the Platte River, will be hereafter known as Fort Caspar, in honor of Lieutenant Caspar Col- lins, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, who lost his life while gallantly attacking a superior force of Indians at that place."
Thus it was that Caspar became one of the permanent names in Wyoming. It will be observed that the spelling is with an "a." The town, which is located two miles below old Fort Caspar derived its name from the same source and should be spelled in the same way. In this work I have uni- formly used the "a" so as to properly honor the gallant hero who met his death on the heights above old Platte Bridge. This name did honor to old Fort Caspar, to the State of Wyoming, and I am sure it will honor the enterprising city which has grown up in sight of the heights where Caspar W. Collins and his intrepid followers so bravely fought and fell.
The Kansans who were slaughtered on this occasion belonged to the regiment of which Lieutenant Colonel Pres- ton B. Plumb was in command. The companies were scat- tered along the telegraph line and south along the stage line and they were being relieved for the purpose of going to Fort Kearney to be mustered out. These men had been doing hard service on the plains and were very anxious to get home. Their Lieutenant-Colonel was a gallant fighter and afterwards distinguished himself in the United States Senate, to which body he was elected three times by the Kansas Legislature. He died at Washington, December 20,1891.
479
The Bloody Year on the Plains.
Now let us turn back and see what has been going on in Washington, St. Louis and other points in regard to the Indian question and General Connor's method of dealing with the savages. The war being over in the South the newspapers turned their attention to the operations of the army against the Indians in the West. The leading daily papers commented with much severity on the methods em- ployed in fighting the hostiles and the whole country was stirred up over the campaign of General Connor. The pres- ident was besieged with letters protesting against the in- humanity of the national policy toward Indians. In every city in the East there were religious societies appealing to heaven and the president to stay the hand which was carry- ing the sword to the home of the Redman. It was a notice- able fact that all these petitions and prayers were in the interest of the Indian, the white men and women together with their innocent children were left without prayers to the tender mercies of the savages. It was plain to be seen that General Connor was to be a sacrifice whether he suc- ceeded or failed in the Powder River expedition.
A few days before the departure of General Connor's forces from Fort Laramie for Powder River, orders came from Washington to Major General Pope to reduce the ex- penses of the army employed on the plains to the lowest possible limit and, to accomplish this, to reduce the force employed. To this Pope made the only reply possible to make under the circumstances. He said:
"In relation to reduction of forces on the plains I pre- sent the following statement and suggestions: All the tribes of Indians east of the mountains, and many west, are in open hostility. They attack the mail coaches, emigrant trains, and small posts continually. The United States is required to protect the great overland routes passing in several directions through this great Indian region. Protec- tion is thus required along 3,500 miles of road, nearly all of which lies in an uninhabited country, and yet over which are daily passing the U. S. mails to the Territories and the Pacific, crowds of emigrants, and great trains of supplies for the mining regions, as well as individuals and small parties of travelers. The threatened difficulties with the
480
History of Wyoming.
Mormons in Utah also demanded attention, and the civil offi- cers appointed for that Territory by the government, as well as the citizens of the United States now there and go- ing there, absolutely need military protection to enable them to remain in the Territory at all. This condition of affairs certainly demands a considerable military force, if the government means to assure security of life and of prop- erty to emigrants across the plains and to settlers in the newly opened Territories. The Indian question is the most difficult, and I confess I do not see how it is to be solved without an entire change of the Indian policy which has hitherto been and must, under the laws, now be pursued. The development of the rich mining regions in the Terri- tories of itself has attracted throngs of emigrants, and their number has been tenfold increased by the necessary results of the late civil war. Thousands of families who have been disloyal or have been sympathizers with the South have, since the conclusion of the war, found it difficult, if not im- possible to live at their homes, and have left the States of Missouri, Arkansas, Southern Illinois, Kentucky, and no doubt other Southern States, to make their permanent homes in the new Territories. Many thousands of men who have been discharged from the army are also seeking the mining regions. A surprising emigration has been going forward ever since the opening of spring and seems still to flow on without cessation. Not alone, or even generally, are the great overland routes pursued by these great throngs of emigrants. Every route supposed to be practicable is ex- plored by them. They make highways in every direction across the great plains and drive off or destroy the game. No part of that region, however inaccessible, escapes the prying eye of the gold seeker, and no route which promises discoveries of value or in any manner shortens his routes of travel is neglected. Of course, neither the movements nor the conduct of these parties can be controlled. No man ex- cept themselves can say what wrongs they do to the Indians by robbing, by violence, or by dispossessing them of dis- tricts of country which they have occupied unmolested for centuries, yet the United States government is held respon- sible if any damage is incurred by them or any loss of life or property sustained anywhere in the vast and remote region they are traversing. What the white man does to the Indian is never known. It is only what the Indian does to the white man (nine times out of ten in the way of retal- iation) which reaches the public.
FORT CASPAR (PLATTE BRIDGE)
(See page 478.)
INDIAN ATTACK ON OVERLAND STAGE.
481
The Bloody Year on the Plains.
"The Indian, in truth, has no longer a country. His lands are everywhere invaded by white men; his means of subsistence destroyed and the homes of his tribe vio- lently taken from him; himself and family reduced to starv- ation, or to the necessity of warring to the death upon the white man, whose inevitable and destructive progress threat- ens the total extermination of his race. Such is today the condition of affairs on the great plains and in the ranges of the Rocky Mountains. The Indians, driven to despera- tion and threatened with starvation, have everywhere com- menced hostilities against the whites, and are carrying them on with a fury and courage unknown to their history hith- erto. There is not a tribe of Indians on the great plains or in the mountain regions east of Nevada and Idaho of any consideration which is not warring on the whites. Until lately the U. S. troops, small in number and utterly incap- able on that account of affording security to the whites or protection to the Indians, have been strictly on the defensive. Lately large re-enforcements have been sent to the plains, and several expeditions have been organized which are mov- ing against the Indians in the hope to restore peace, but in my judgment with little prospect of doing so, except by violent extermination of the Indians, unless a totally dif- ferent policy toward them is adopted. The commanding officers of these expeditions, as also the commanders of mili- tary posts on the frontier, have orders to make peace with the Indians if possible, and at the earliest moment that any peace which even promises to be lasting can be made. The difficulty lies in the fact that we can promise the Indian under our present system nothing that he will ask with any hope that we can fulfil our promise. The first demand of the Indian is that the white man shall not come into his country, shall not kill or drive off the game upon which his subsistence depends, and shall not dispossess him of his lands. How can we promise this, without any purpose of fulfilling the obligation, unless we prohibit emigration and settlement west or south of the Missouri River? So far from being prepared to make such engagements with the Indian, the government is every day stimulating emigration and its resulting wrong to the Indian, giving escorts to all parties of emigrants or travelers who desire to cross the plains, making appropriations for wagon roads in many di- rections through the Indian country, and sending out engi- neers to explore the country and bands of laborers to con- struct the roads, guarded by bodies of soldiers. Where
-(31)
482
History of Wyoming.
under such circumstances is the Indian to go, and what is to become of him? What hope of peace have we when by these proceedings we constantly are forcing the Indian to war? I do not know of any district of country west of the Mississippi where the Indian can be located and protected by the government, and at the same time support themselves, as is their custom. I explained all these difficulties very fully in the conference which was had between the Secre- taries of War and the Interior, General Grant and myself. "It is idle to talk of making treaties of peace with the Indians when not even an unmolested home in the great region which they claim can be promised them with any sort of certainty that such a promise can be fulfilled. The very soldiers placed to protect the limited district which the government could alone protect against the incursion of white men would render it impossible for the Indian to maintain himself in the only manner known to him. It is useless to think of the government undertaking to subsist large bodies of Indians in remote and inaccessible districts. Whatever may be the abstract wrong or right of the ques- tion, all history shows that the result in this country must inevitably be the dispossession of the Indian of all his lands and their occupation by civilized men. The only practical question to be considered is, how this ineveitable process can be accomplished with the least inhumanity and the greatest moral and physical benefit to the Indian. We are surely not now pursuing such a course, nor are the means used becoming to humane and Christian people. My duties as a military commander require me to protect the emigration, the mails, and the settlements against hostile acts of the Indians. I have no power under the laws of the United States to do this except by force. This necessity demands a large military force on the plains, which will have to be increased as the Indians are more and more driven to des- peration, and less and less able to protect the game, which is their only means of life. The end is sure and dreadful to contemplate. Meantime, there is, so far as my power goes, nothing to be done except what is being done, and if this condition of affairs demands considerable military force and heavy expenditures they must either be accepted by the government or the troops must be withdrawn and the plains again given up to the Indians. It would probably not be difficult to make such a peace now with the Indians as has been the custom in times past, but useless to do so unless we can at the same time remove the causes of certain and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.