With the close of the Civil War, a nation turned its eyes westward.

The vast ocean of grass known as the Great Plains offered new immigrants and veterans of the war an opportunity to start over. Eastern capitalists eager to capture new profits also looked to the undeveloped ranges of west.

But the plains and mountains were not devoid of native inhabitants.

The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, and Pawnee occupied the central and northern plains. Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache roamed the southern plains and the Crow, Blackfeet, Shoshone, Ute, and other lesser tribes inhabited the Rocky Mountains.

Travelers on the Santa Fe Trail tended to interact with the Pawnee, Kiowa, and Comanche. Wagon trains on the Oregon-California Trail also encountered the Pawnee as well as various bands of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho.

Early experiences were often friendly in an uneasy sort of way. But as more and more wagons streamed onto the plains, conflict was inevitable. Differences in culture, especially in the art of trade and title to property, were foremost in bringing war to the plains.

The Smoky Hill country of western Kansas had long been a common hunting ground for all of the tribes from both the northern and southern plains.

Mountain tribes from the west and “blanket” tribes from as far east as Missouri were known to venture onto the prolific buffalo range of the Smoky Hill River.

But first and foremost, among the tribes who utilized the Smoky Hill were the Cheyenne and their Arapaho allies. Smoky Hill country not only provided the Cheyenne and Arapaho with an abundance of buffalo, antelope, and elk, its ceremonial sites were central to the social structure of the people and to all that they held sacred.

Invading Anglo traders skirted the Smoky Hill country, following the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River and the California-Oregon Trail along the Platte River.

When gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains of western Kansas in 1858, a littleknown direct route along the Smoky Hill River, known as the Smoky Hill Trail, also came into use.

In the beginning the native people welcomed the gold hunters, thinking they would “go home” once they had found enough gold to satisfy their needs.

Ben Holladay’s Overland Stage Company followed the South Platte River out of Nebraska to the foothills of the Rockies at present-day Denver, Colo. Stage stations established along the route drew a variety of people and occasionally developed into small trade centers.

At Fremont’s Orchard, near present-day Goodrich, Colo., supplies could be purchased. News from the gold fields or the latest happening from the eastern states could be obtained as well as regular delivery of the mail.

The “orchard” was a beautiful stand of cottonwood trees. No fruit could be found growing on the trees at Fremont’s Orchard where majestic branches provided shade and comfort in an otherwise desperate land. The station’s substantial walls provided protection in case of Indian attack, although until 1864 the high plains had been peaceful.

That changed when the freighting firm of Irwin & Jackman out of Atchison, Kan., reported the loss of 175 head of oxen to Cheyenne raiders in early April 1864. At the First Colorado Cavalry “Headquarters Camp Sanborn,” Capt. George L. Sanborn learned from ranchman W. D. Ripley that the Cheyenne had stolen his horses on Bijou Creek southeast of Denver City. Capt.

Sanborn immediately ordered Lt. Clark Dunn into the field for the express purpose of taking back the stolen stock. Dunn’s troopers spent the better part of April 12, 1864, scouting the bluffs on the south side of South Platte River. At about four p.m., having marched 75 miles “over sandy hills, deep ravines, and most of the time without water,” the command stumbled upon the Cheyenne raiders just north of Fremont’s Orchard, preparing to run through a herd of government horses and mules.

Dunn ordered his men into a gallop and intercepted the raiders before they could run off the stock. In the distance Dunn could see riders driving a separate herd away from the soldiers. They were the stolen stock he was ordered to recover. Another line of raiders formed a defiant defensive line in front of the soldiers. Not wanting to start an Indian war, Dunn dismounted and walked to the chief. Following formal introductions Dunn requested a return of the stock. His request was answered with “a scornful laugh.”

When Dunn reached for a Cheyenne weapon, gunfire erupted and despite Dunn’s best efforts, his action led to the birth of the Indian war of 1864 on the Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) -531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.