Beecher Island

[Fox Creek Kid]

Today is the 140th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle Of Beecher Island.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Beecher_Island

[US Scout]

Beecher's Island is probably my favorite Indian Wars battle.  I was able to get out that way a few years ago and while there is not much to show what took place, with the aid of a few maps and Forsythe's report that I took with me, I was able to visualize what took place.

Ironically, as I was getting ready to leave two elderly women came up and began asking me some questions, which ended up with me explaining the battle to them.  They asked how long I'd been working at the site - and I had to admit that it was my first visit.

US Scout
Bvt Brig Gen, GAF 

[Top Kick Ken]

Beecher's Island is probably my favorite Indian Wars battle.  I was able to get out that way a few years ago and while there is not much to show what took place, with the aid of a few maps and Forsythe's report that I took with me, I was able to visualize what took place.

Ironically, as I was getting ready to leave two elderly women came up and began asking me some questions, which ended up with me explaining the battle to them.  They asked how long I'd been working at the site - and I had to admit that it was my first visit.

US Scout
Bvt Brig Gen, GAF 

I was just reading about this battle the other day.  It is also covered in a 3 DVD set about the Indian Wars called "The Great Indian Wars 1540-1890"  Not a bad set for $15.00.

Also your story about the ladies visiting the site reminded me of a trip I made to Gettysburg when I was about 15 years old.  My parents hired a guide to ride with us in our car and by the time we reached the 20th Maine's Regimental marker, the guide and others who were there with us mentioned that I should get a job at the park too.  I guess it was the easiest job that the guide had...LOL!!!!

One of my Great Grandfathers was in the 20th Maine (hence, my interest) although he never made it to Gettysburg (we didn't know it then, we later found out when we got his records from the National Archives).  His experiences with the 20th Maine ended at Antietam.  He became too ill to continue with the regiment.  He went in as a corporal and left that way too.) 

[Fox Creek Kid]

U.S. Scout, here's a good site with photos of Beecher Island and other battles:

http://www.garryowen.com/cuskan.htm

After action report by Lt. Col Carpenter is here:

http://files.usgwarchives.org/ks/ellsworth/cemeteries/forsyths.txt

http://contentdm.byu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Camp&CISOPTR=272&CISOBOX=1&REC=4

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v005/v005p297.html

http://abuffalosoldier.com/forsyth.htm

And finally, a little known primary source account:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nalakota/wotw/military/forsyth_wotw022936.htm


Historical trivia: one of the scouts, who is not listed on the monument as he joined up after they left Ft. Wallace, was one of the West's deadliest gunfighters, Jim Curry. Ironically it was Curry who, in a scene to be repeated in Deadwood seven years later, walked up behind Wild Bill sitting at a table and put a revolver to his head. Wild Bill cooly talked his way out of it. Curry's greatest claim to fame is that he shot the great actor John Barrymore in Marshall, TX in 1879 in a drunken rage. Barrymore lived and sired the famous Barrymore family of actors.

http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHistorical/BarrymoreShootingBB603.htm