Following the November, 1864, Sand Creek massacre, the Cheyenne-Arapaho survivors fled north to Cherry Creek (presentday St. Francis, Kan.) after taking a brief rest on the Smoky Hill River. On Cherry Creek they joined the Sioux and other bands from their own tribes in a large winter camp.

From the Cherry Creek camp a combined force of 1,000 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors rode to Fort Rankin, Colo., on Jan. 7, 1865.

Fourteen soldiers were killed in a surprise ambush outside the fort before the warriors moved on to the abandoned town of Julesburg, burning and looting everything in sight. That same day five trading ranches were attacked on the South Platte River road to Denver. Jan. 7 marked the beginning of a bloody season north of the Kansas border.

There were 23 more attacks over the next 25 days. On Feb. 2, 1865, 600 warriors again surrounded Fort Rankin. And once again, Julesburg was completely destroyed within sight of Fort Rankin.

After the second sack of Julesburg the tribes turned northwest, concentrating their attacks at Deer Creek Station (present-day Glenrock, Wyo.). The Bozeman Trail departed the Oregon-California Trail at that point, leading through the Powder River basin to new gold fields in Montana.

On the way to Deer Creek the warriors and their families went into camp south of Mud Creek Station (near Dalton, Neb.) on Feb. 4, 1865. Within the station nine cavalrymen and five civilians were no match for the estimated 1,000 warriors. Fortunately, 39 troopers under Lt. William Ellsworth arrived the next morning while warriors were preparing to attack. When the attack commenced the soldiers fired through holes cut in the walls.

One soldier recalled, “The arrows came in showers.” But they did little damage to the impenetrable log walls.

Col. William O. Collins arrived the next morning with 120 troopers. With superior firepower the soldiers forced the attackers to withdraw.

Two days later, Feb. 8, 1865, Col. Collin, reinforced with fresh troops from Fort Laramie, caught up to the warriors at Rush Creek (near Broadwater, Neb.). The warriors turned and surrounded the soldiers. To clear the way, a small force of troopers charged through the enemy while laying down a barrage of hot lead with their revolvers. Two privates were killed before the warriors left the field of battle. A small fight was resumed the next day and then it was over. Collins also had had enough and chose to return to Fort Laramie.

All the while the prairies of Kansas were relatively calm with only small skirmishes with Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches on the Santa Fe Trail. Even in Nebraska it seemed that all of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux people had abandoned Nebraska to defend the Powder River country in the north.

Only a small band of warriors remained to renew the fight along Nebraska’s Oregon-California Trail. Freeman’s Ranch at Plum Creek (present-day Lexington, Neb.) was destroyed on April 1.

A month later on May 5, 1865, 30 to 40 Cheyennes attacked a wagon train west of Fort Kearney near Smith’s Ranch (near present-day Gothenburg, Neb.). One of the teamsters reported that, “It was all we could do to save ourselves.”

In reality, losing 119 oxen and 15 horses saved them as the warriors preferred taking livestock to fighting teamsters.

The warriors returned on May 12, 1865. Sgt. Hiram Creighton and two others of the Nebraska Veteran Cavalry were attacked while driving a wagon five miles west of Smith’s. All three men were wounded in the running battle that ensued. They made it to the ranch, but Sgt. Creighton later died of his wounds.

South of Smith’s Ranch soldiers gathering firewood encountered the same warriors. Pvt. Francis W. Lohnes’ horse was wounded. Alone and surrounded by 10 warriors, Pvt. Lohnes fought for his life as arrows filled the air about him. Arrows pierced his shoulder and thigh. One arrow split the stock of his Enfield rifle. Incredibly he was able to hold the enemy at bay until being rescued. Eventually the soldiers made it safely to Smith’s Ranch. Additional troopers arrived in time to pursue the warriors for 65 miles but finally gave up the chase when they were unable to engage them in a fight.

Throughout the summer the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux carried out a few more raids in Nebraska but focused greater attention in the north where they fought fiercely against intrusions along the Bozeman Trail. Pvt. Lohnes was promoted to corporal and awarded the prestigious Medal of Honor. He later wrote that others were much more deserving. After all, his was but a fight for survival 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.