The Sunday Oregonian., November 01, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 4, Image 50

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FORSYTE
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AT BEECIIEft IS
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' ' GENERAL VIEW CT ECECHER ISLAND BATTLE SKOUMD lh'4 f! '
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BT ARTHUR CHAPiiAX.
SIX ilEN. some of them enfeebled
by bullet wounds, and all of them
bearins mlnful memories of the
most desperate Indian conflict and siege
in frontier history, gathered about a
granlto shaft In Eastern Colorado, near
the Kansas line, in the bright sunshine
of mid-September. They were members
of Forsyths scouts, anil had come to at
tend the 10th reunion nd 40th anniver
sary of the battle of Beecher Island, the
most desperate conflict and probably the
most heroic defense against odds in fron
tier history.
Forty year ago these six scouts were
grouped on the bank of the Arikaree
Kiver under different circumstances.
"W here the granite monument now stands
a Joint tribute from the state of Colo
rado and Kansas men were falling,
stricken down by Indian bullets. A few
yards away, across the little stream, that
Is hardly more than knee-deep In Its
sandy bed, nearly a thousand warriors,
Cheyennes. Arapahoes and Brule Sioux,
were pouring a deadly fire into the half
hundred scouts under command of Colo
nel George A. Forsyth. The Indiana had
wept down on the scouts at dawn on
September 17, and the little command had
been forced across the river to a tiny
Island, at the upper end of which stood a
few cottonwood trees. The Indians, un
der command of the great fighting Chey
enne. Roman Nose, thought their victory
would soon be complete. Five of the
scouts were killed. Including Lieutenant
i'red Beecher, and nearly a score were
Irounded. Including Colonel Forsyth, who
had fallen with a shattered hip. but who'
was coolly directing the work of scooping
out rifle pits In the sand.
Soon most of the scouts were protected
by rille pita and the carcasses of slain
mules and horses. Furious because the
tiny command had not been wiped out,
even as the commands of Custer and Fet
terman were slaughtered. Roman' Nose
launched an attack that has few parallels
In Indian warfare. Marshaling his war
riors In military formation, the war chief
gave the command to charge. The scouts
knew that the crucial moment Tiad come,
and reserved their fire until the horse
men were In the stream. Then volley
after volley broke forth from the sand
pits and the Indian line broke and swept
around the Island, only to be Reformed
by the dauntless Roman Nose.
Three Charges Repulsed.
Three times the Indians charged, and
uccess would have crowned their efforts
at the last attempt had not one of the
sharpshooters, behind the rifle pitsj suc
ceeded In killing Roman Nose Just before
the gigantic leader of the Indians reached
the island. Dismay spread through the
ranks of the Indians when the chief fell.
There were no more charges, but the red
skins, knowing that the scouts were with
out provisions, encircled the Island and
settled down to a siege. But even this
contingency was met by the resourceful
Forsyth, who called for volunteers to
penetrate the besieging lines and to get
aid from Fort Wallace. The first night
Jack Stlllwell and Pierre Trudeau suc
ceeded In getting through. The second
night two others made the attempt, but
were turned back by the watchful In
rf'iir.s. and the third night Jack Donovan
ai:d A. J. Pliley succeeded In getting
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away without attracting the attention of
the boselgors. The scouts all reached
Fort Wallace about the same time. Dono
van and Pliley arriving only an hour be
hind Stillwell and Trudeau. who had
started two nlshts ahead of them. Dono
van joined the relief expedition and
guided it back to the island, and the
lege was lifted on the ninth day.
Preserved In Marble.
Such, in brief, is the story of Beecher
Island the battlefield having been named
In honor of the gallant young Lieutenant,
a nephew of Henry Ward Beecher, who
was one of the first to fall under the
Indians' murderous fire. Ten years ago
two or three of the scouts located the
battlefield, and a memorial association
was formed and a temporary wooden
monument put up. In ISOo, the states of
Colorado and Kansas built a monument,
costing $10,000, on which are engraved the
names of the scoute who took part In the
fray, and a brief account of the battle.
The Government has set aside the battle
field as a National park. The graves of
Beecher, Dr. Moores, Culver, Farley and
Wilson, who were killed on the Island,
have been marked with headstones, and
the patriotic people of the vicinity see
that the grounds are not disturbed by
vandals. The annual reunions of the
scouts attract widespread Interest, and
the country people flock to the battle
field for miles around and spend several
days camping with the old Indian fight
ers and hearing their versions of the
encounter.
Thta year the scouts who took part In
the reunion were: Thomas Ranahan. of
WeUer. Idaho; Howard llorton, of Trea
cott. Kan.; A. J. Pliley. of Kansas City,
Kan.; George Green, of Sedro Woolley,
Wash.; EL A. Gilbert, of Beagle, Kan.,
and J. J. Peate. of Beverly, Kan. Of
these scouts. Ranahan and Gilbert had
not been on the field since the fight. Gil
bert was shot through the luncs early In
the engagement. but recovered and
served as an Indian scout many years.
Morton had an eye shot out, and Peate
was one of the first men to reach the
island with Carpenter's relief expedition
from Fort Wallace. Pliley, whose ex
ploit in going to Fort Wallace for relief.
In company with Jack Donovan, is cut
on the granite monument, modestly re
lated his experiences during that terrible
expedition.
Hero' Tells His Story.
"After the first day's fighting," said
air. Pliley, "it was plain that we must
get aid from Fort Wallace, or we'd be
starved"out. If our position was not tak
en by assault. At the first call for vol
unteers Stillwell and Thudeau started
out. Of course, we had no means of
knowing whether they got through the
Indian lines or had been killed; so. it was
decided to send out others. The second
night I volunteered, and a big. heavy
chap who was not built for such work,
insisted on golns along. We crawled
away from the island; but every once In
a while the sky would be illuminated
with flashes of heat lightning, which
made discovery imminent. An extraor
dinarily bright flash came, and showed
that we were crawling directly toward
a group of Indians. We retreated to the
island, and Colonel Forsyth would not
permit any more attempts that night.
"On the third night I succeeded in con
vincing my companion that he was not
built to withstand the hardships of the
long trip across the plains to Fort Wal
lace. He gave place to Jack Donovan,
who proved to be Just the right man for
the place, and but for whose courage and
endurance the scouts might have per
ished. Donovan and I pulled off our
boots and put on moccasins that we had
taken from a couple of dead Indians near
the Island. We thought if we left any
trail the Indians would not notice moc
casin tracks, but we soon found that we
had made a terrible mistake. We crawled
down the middle of the Arikaree, which
was very shallow, and, on reaching a
point, several hundred yards from the
foot of the island, made our way up the
in
bank and across a high bench of land,
the direction of Fort Wallace.
Suffered Excruciating Pain.
"Donovan aimed to strike the Smoky
Hill stage route at Cheyene Wells.
This stage route led to Denver, and
we knew If we should strike It In time
to catch the eastbound stage we might
get to Fort Wallace In a few hours.
We could only travel nights, however,
and had not gone a mile before we
found out what a mistake we had made
in leaving off our boots! The mocca
sins were wet. and the cactus thorns
which were plentiful on the desert,
went into our feet like needles into a
pincushion. Soon we were-hobbling In
painful fashion, but walked until dawn,
when we took refuge in a buffalo wal
low on the open prairie, knowing that
we would have to remain In conceal
ment all day.
"We took off the moccasins, in the
endeavor to ease our feet. The cactus
thorns broke oil, Instead of pulling out
of our feet, and then, when we put the
moccasins on again the broken pieces
simply drove into our "skin in new
places. The pain from our feet was al
most Intolerable. We had no water,
and the sun was blistering hot. We
dared not stir from our shelter, as we
knew there were Indians all about. In
the middle of the afternoon we gave
ourselves up for lost, when we saw a
war party of about 25 Indians riding
straight toward us. We looked to our
rifles, and Donovan, who was the lightest-hearted
man I ever knew, began to
sing. But, when within a quarter of a
mile of us, the Indians stopped, and,
after much argument, changed their di
rection and disappeared. At nightfall
we resumed our march, guiding our
selves by the star3, and at midnight
we got to the south fork of the Re
publican River, the Arikee being the
middle fork. After bathing our swol
len and festered feet, we pressed on.
and at dawn took shelter and waited
again until nightfall.
"At 3 o'clock the next morning we
struck the Smoky Hill stage route, and
knew that most of our troubles were
ever. We arrived at a little ranch
house, and told the men there who we
were, and asked them to wake us when
the stage arrived, after which we fell
asleep. When the stage came we rode
to Fort Wallace, stillwell and Trudeau
had arrived a 3hort time before, and a
relief party, under Colonel Carpenter,
was already under way. I was too sick
and exhausted to go another mile, but
the heroic Donovan ate a bite of food
and jumped on an old mule and started
out after Carpenter, knowing that,
without a guide, the relief party might
never find Forsyth. Sure enough, he
found Carpenter going up the south
fork of the Republican River, instead
of the middle fork. Donovan guided the
party aright, and was the first man to
arrive on the Island."
"And every one of us on that Island
owed an everlasting debt of gratitude
to the scouts who went for relief, and
particularly to Jack Donovan God
bless him!" said "Tom" Ranahan.
"There wasn't one of us who fell back
on that little island, after those In
dians came sweeping down on us, that
didn't think he was face to face with
certain death. All we thought of was
giving as good an account of ourselves
as we could, but such a thing as es
caping from those Indians never en
tered our heads. Those Indians felt
sure of us, too. Lord! what a sight It
was when that big chief Roman Nose
lined 'em up and led those charges.
The squaws a:id children were on a
high bluff, a few hundreds yards up
the river, yelling and singing, but they
got to wailing when we began to bowl
the Indians over. I am sure It was
Louis Farley who killed. Roman Nose.
He was a fine shot one of the best
among the scouts and he had picked
Roman Nose for his target. It wasn't
long after Roman Nose fell that Far
ley lost his life, but the scout had
done his work and done It well.
"And we had to be on the watch even
after the Indians had given up trying to
take the rifle pits by assault." continued
Ranahan. "They had sharpshooters sta
tioned all around the island, and it went
pretty hard with a man who exposed him
self to their fire. One of the bravest of
our boys crawled out and got a spade
which was lying some distance from the
island did It under fire. too. When we
got that,, we felt better, and it didn't take
us long to dig down to water. But living
on dead mules isn't very pleasant and
when the mule meat began to spoil, life
on that island can't be described. It was
especially hard for the wounded, but they
were game, every one of them. Forsyth
took his razor and cut the bullet and
gangrened flesh out of his own hip. He
was a good soldier and full of pluck. I
remember when we were following the big
Indian trail, just a day or two before the
tight at the
scouts said:
Got What Tliey Wanted.
" 'Colonel, this is a big war party we
are following, and If we keep on we'll go
right Into a trap.' Some of the others
said: . 'That 's so,
smiled and said:
" 'Now, look here, boys when you fel
lows signed that agreement with Uncle
Sam, didn't you specify that it was Indian
fighting that you wanted?" After that
there wasn't another kick and we sure
got all the Indian fighting we wanted for
a while."
Forsyth's command, which had such a
memorable experience, was an Independ
ent body of scouts. Forsyth was on Gen
eral Sheridan's staff in the Civil War
He is living today, and unveiled the
Beecher Island monument In 190B.A5ld
from himself and Lieutenant Beecher, the
command was composed of frontiersmen
stage drivers, pony express riders, buf
falo hunters, and free lances of the plains
in general. Many of the scouts have died
since the battle on the Arikaree. Pierre
Trudeau never recovered from the effects
of his terrible trip to Fort Wallace and
Stillwell. The latter died a few years ago
and Jack Donovan, the hero of the re
lief, died at his home In Denver. Four
teen of the scouts have never been heard
from since the battle. Hudson Farley,
who lives in a little town in Washington,
had a peculiarly painful experience, as he
held his dying father In his arms on the
island. Sigmund Schleslnger, the "kid"
of the command, Is In business In Cleve
land, Ohio; Eli Zeigler is a resident of
Salem, Or., and George Oakes, a famous
marksman, lives in Tucson, Ariz.
Soon there will be no more scouts to
gather on the batileground and tell their
experiences, but it is evident that the
scene of this display of Yankee courage
Is not going to be neglected, even thougti
it Is comparatively remote from the beat
en routes. The story of the American
valor, written on the Beecher Island
monument, will live as long as the story
of the Alamo br any other tale of courage
in the face of overwhelming odds.
Denver, Colo.
How Shall Museum Be Made More Useful?
Necessity Exists Now for a Permanent Building for Exhibits.
W. Miller, Librarian and Curator
of the Free Museum.
TJR public museum, like most all
great museums of the world, sprang
from a very humble beginning. In
the year 1S07 the late L, L. Hawkins suc
ceeded in securing the "Christ Ross' col
lection of shells, which was placed on ex
hibition In the City Hall as a nucleus,
.Mr. Hawkins assuming the management.
And it is due largely to his uninterrupted
devotion and interest in solicitation that
some of our people loaned or donated
small collections of curios, promiscuously
gathered together, regardless of any sys
tem of classification or labeling. Num
bering several thousand specimens and
representing nearly every branch of nat
ural history, it has outgrown Its limits
as a collection of curios and has as
sumed that of an educational museum
This has been dragging along the best it
could in the limited space allotted to us
In the City Hall by the municipal author
ities, which, owing to a few of our public-spirited
citizens, has developed into a
museum that is not only a credit to our
city and state, but the whole Northwest
as well.
It compares favorably with any In the
country in the quality of the various
specimens, along all lines of scientific
research, which has notably Increased
Its usefulness. It has grown to such an
extent that It cannot be accommodated
or properly displayed In Its temporary
quarters in the City Hall, thus retard
ing its growth. For under the present
existing conditions we are unprepared
to offer any inducements to those having
large and valuable collections to place
them with us, as many of the larger
museums are doing elsewhere, through
which they receive generous gifts from
wealthy patrons of science.
Specific mention could be made of sev
eral large and valuable collections scat
tered throughout the city and state in
the hands of people who have spent
years of labor and expended great sums
of money making them. They are
anxious to place them where they could
be exhibited, safely housed and prop
erly cared for in some local musuem
where they could be enjoyed by the
public at large, asking only the assure
ance that they will not be packed away
out of sight in some out-of-the-way place
for an indefinite period, at great risk of
Injury and destruction. No one feels like
parting with his treasures without some
assurance that they will be preserved in
safety. Owing to our inability to give
this assurance, several valuable collec
tions have been sold and removed from
the state.
. Under these conditions we cannot ex
pect the kind of support from the general
public that has done so much for many
other museums. It Is one of the princi
pal functions of both the Academy of
Science and Free Muesum to sow the
seeds of knowledge broadcast in the
minds of all, in the hope that some may
take root, multiply and bear fruit
through exerting an Influence in awaken
ing and stimulating interest concerning
the wonders and beauties of earth.
Knowing that an important and far
reaching influence will result from the
personal contact and friendly exchange
of Ideas and experiences between persons
engaged in the same or similar lines of
research, our- museum .would be the
proper meeting place for people of con
genial tastes. Therefore our musuem
should be located among surroundings
adapted to investigation of all branches
of natural science, with sufficient natural
light and ventilation. In well appointed
working quarters, including a well
equipped laboratory and workshop, pro
vided with all modern appliances, where
all the activities of the musuem could
be carried on. conveniently separated
from the exhibits and away from the an
noyances of visitors, where every speci
men would be so situated and arranged
that any one could be found at once and
examined.
Could we but provide tliese conveni
ences our museum would be the great
est educational Institution in the whole
Northwest, where all could know that
thev are at liberty to pluck the fruits
and flowers of truth, and knowledge
without feeling that they wero tres
passing or fear of being consider?! in
truders. Then our museum would te
looked upon as a center of research,
where all who are engaged in study
couid visit and find encouragement as
weli as every facility needed lor In
vestigation and study.
But until we are provided with a
permanent home we can accomplish but
little. No collection can be of much
value unless It Is well installed, where
It will not be crowded. It should be
classified and labeled with descriptive
labels, to be of much value to science
or from an educational standpoint.
Though these defects are being rem
edied by rearranging, classifying and
properly labeling the specimens, our
progress has naturally been slow, ow
ing" to the Jack of proper financial aid.
Having never received either bequests
or donations of funds from any source,
we have not been able to accomplish
all we wished. For. in order to obtain
the largest measure of success and
public recognition, we must Interest
men of capital as well as the educators
at the heads of our schools and edu
cational institutions.
Among our collections at the City
Hall our conchologlca.1 collection alone
numbers several thousands of speci
men of various types, and will com
pare favorably with any similar col
lection In the world. While our geo
logical series is not as extensive as It
might be. yet it is growing rapidly,
having had several hundred specimens
added within the last year, including
some very fine tvpes of fossils and
petrifactions, which will be classified
and properly labeled In the near futu-e.
All of which naturally suggests the
question, what shall be done in order to
increase the efficiency and usefulness
Of our free museum?