The Battle of the Saline River in August 1867 was one of the first recorded combats of the
Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S.
10th Cavalry. This battle occurred 25 miles northwest of
Fort Hays in
Kansas near the end of August 1867.
Prelude
On August 1, 1867,Medicine Arrows Medicine Arrows (real name Rock Forehead or Stone Forehead) (17951876) was a Cheyenne chief and Keeper of the Medicine Arrows from 1850 until his death. Rock Forehead became known to whites as Medicine Arrows after his appointment to this office. Am ...
, attacked and killed a party of railroad workers in Ellis County, an incident which led to a battle between the Cheyenne and Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Hays that became known as "The Battle of the Saline River."[Cozzens, Peter, ed. (2003). ]
Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, Volume Three: Conquering the Southern Plains
', Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
Battle
Captain George Augustus Armes
George Augustus Armes (May 29, 1844 – December 18, 1919) was a United States Army officer on the staff of Winfield Scott Hancock who participated in the Battle of the Saline River. He was court-martialed three times.
Biography
He was born in F ...
, Company F, 10th Cavalry, while following an active "hostile indian" trail along the Saline River Saline River may refer to:
United States
*Saline River (Little River tributary), in southwestern Arkansas
*Saline River (Ouachita River tributary), in southern Arkansas
*Saline River (Illinois), a tributary of the Ohio River
* Saline River (Kansas) ...
was surrounded by about 400 horse mounted Cheyenne warriors. Armes formed a defensive infantry style "hollow square
An infantry square, also known as a hollow square, was a historic combat formation in which an infantry unit formed in close order, usually when it was threatened with cavalry attack. As a traditional infantry unit generally formed a line to adva ...
" with the cavalry mounts in the middle. Seeking better defensive ground, Armes walked his command toward Fort Hays while maintaining the defensive square. After 8 hours of combat, 2,000 rounds of defensive fire and 15 miles of movement, the Cheyenne disengaged and withdrew. Company F, without reinforcements, concluded 113 miles of movement during the 30-hour patrol, riding the final 10 miles back to Fort Hays with only one trooper killed in action. Captain Armes commented later, "It is the greatest wonder in the world that my command escaped being massacred." Armes credited his officers for a "... devotion to duty and coolness under fire."
Aftermath
Within a short time of violent clashes between Native Americans and whites, the last Indian battle in the State of Kansas took place on September 27, 1878. It was known as "The Battle of Punished Woman Fork" on Punished Woman Creek. Also known as the "Battle of Squaw's Den Cave." The Medicine Lodge Treaty would be signed, broken and betrayed. Other battles would continue such as the ones near Sterling, Colorado
Sterling is a home rule municipality and the county seat and most populous municipality of Logan County, Colorado, United States. Sterling is the principal city of the Sterling, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city population was 13,753 a ...
the Battle of Summit Springs and near Cheyenne, Oklahoma the Battle of Washita River after this, but the fighting along the Saline River was over.[Hoig, Stan. (1980). ]
The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-Custer Indian Campaign of 1867-69.
' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. . Previously published in 1976 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday). .
See also
* Buffalo Soldiers
* List of battles fought in Kansas
This is an incomplete list of military and other armed confrontations that have occurred within the boundaries of the modern US State of Kansas since European contact. The region was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1535–1679, New F ...
* Military history of African Americans
References
Further reading
* Greene, Jerome A. (2004). ''Washita, The Southern Cheyenne and the U.S. Army.'' Campaigns and Commanders Series, vol. 3. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. .
* Schubert, Frank N. ''On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier II: New and Revised Biographies of African Americans (1866–1917)'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. .
* Tom, Willard, ''Buffalo Soldiers''. Tor/Forge, 1997.
External links
Battle of Punished Woman Fork - Last Indian Battle in Kansas—1878
Keystone Gallery, Scott City, Kansas.
- Battle of Punished Woman Fork, aka: Battle of Squaw's Den Cave (1878). Legends of Kansas, Warsaw, Missouri.
{{coord missing, Kansas
African American
Buffalo Soldiers
Comanche campaign
1867 in Kansas
August 1867 events