Across the Fence: Battle on Horse Creek

Word of the brutal hangings of Black Foot and Two Face by Colonel Moonlight and the captivity of their bands quickly reached the Sioux leaders, who continued to wage war against the increasing white encroachment of Sioux lands. Warriors under the leadership of Crazy Horse, Spotted Tail and Red Cloud prepared themselves for battle and headed south to intercept Captain Fouts and the 135 troopers of the 7th Iowa Cavalry. Between the time of Captain Fouts departure with the 1,500 Sioux captives on June 11, 1865 and their arrival on Horse Creek on June 13, Sioux warriors had infiltrated the ranks of the captives and had begun to organize an offensive strike. On the evening of the 13th, Captain Fouts and his men pitched camp on the east bank of Horse Creek and the 185 lodges of the Sioux were erected on the west bank.

On the night of the 13th there was a boisterous dog-feast among the Sioux people. The revelry of the feast created a diversion while the sons of Two Face and Black Foot, their warrior brothers and the warriors from the north prepared for battle. During the night markers were placed across the river to show where safe and speedy crossings could be made by the old men, women, children and horses while avoiding the deadly quicksands of the Platte. When all was in readiness the sounds of celebration quieted, lodge fires died back to glowing embers and mothers lay down beside their sleeping children to wait for the morning.

At 3 a.m. reveille was sounded and the troops ordered to resume their march toward Julesburg. At 5 a.m. the supply wagons struck the trail ahead of the mounted troops and proceeded down river. Meanwhile, on the western bank of Horse Creek it appeared as though the Sioux had not even begun to strike camp. Captain Fouts, along with a small detachment of men crossed over Horse Creek to see what was holding up their preparations to leave.

When Captain Fouts arrived in the Sioux camp he began an angry tirade of verbal abuse using curses that the Sioux called "bad white man words." No doubt, during this encounter he noticed the women and children fleeing northward across the Platte and realized that the Sioux escape was beginning. A line of warriors blocked the path between the fleeing women and children and Captain Fouts and his men. Then suddenly, a barrage of gunfire erupted and Captain Fouts fell, mortally wounded.

The men with him, having no ammunition, wheeled their horses and beat a rapid retreat back across Horse Creek.

It was reported by both the military and by the Sioux that, after Captain Fouts fell, there was fighting that erupted among the Sioux themselves. Perhaps this was a skirmish between the warriors who wanted a battle and those who wished to remain friendly. Whatever the cause, it seems that in the end the entire village chose the path of escape.

Captain John Wilcox of the 7th Iowa Cavalry was in charge of the advance detachment of men and supply wagons that had started down river early that morning. Captain Wilcox's official report states that when he heard the shots fired on Horse Creek and knowing that his men were hugely outnumbered and without ammunition, he immediately set about establishing a defensive position by corralling the wagons, unhitching the teams and placing the animals inside the corral. Captain Wilcox then placed his men in a line around the perimeter and awaited orders from Captain Fouts.

In a short while a messenger did arrive and informed Captain Wilcox that Captain Fouts had been killed. Wilcox immediately dispatched a rider to Fort Mitchell, some 18 miles further down river, to request reinforcements. Captain Wilcox ordered all ammunition to be distributed and for the corralled supply wagons to be defended against attack from all quarters. He then organized a detachment of 70 men to ride back and engage the Sioux on Horse Creek.

When the soldiers arrived on the west bank they rode past women and children who were running toward the river. Captain Wilcox reported that he shouted orders to his men to not kill or harm them. As the troops rode toward the river they passed the stripped and mutilated body of Captain Fouts. At the river, the Sioux warriors had set up a strong defensive line to protect those who were crossing.

A heavy barrage of gunfire repelled the troops and forced them to retreat to the wagons while being pursued from the rear and pressed from both flanks by large numbers of Sioux warriors. After regrouping at the corralled wagons Captain Wilcox organized and mounted another offensive attack with about 50 troopers. The Sioux also successfully repelled this second attempt and Captain Wilcox once again retreated to the fortifications offered by the circled wagons. However, during the retreat they were able to retrieve the bodies of Captain Fouts and other soldiers who had been killed during the previous skirmishes.

At 9 a.m. Captain Shuman and a detachment of the 11th Ohio Cavalry arrived from Fort Mitchell and a third assault was organized. This final assault proved to be too little too late. When the reinforcements arrived on the south banks of the Platte the entire contingent of Sioux; warriors, old men, women, children and horses were on the north bank and taunting the soldiers to dare a crossing.

Some of Captain Wilcox's men did attempt to cross the swollen Platte but lost two horses and one mule by drowning, while floundering animals injured two men. Captain Wilcox defended his failed attempt to cross by reporting that "Indian ponies are trained and accustomed to cross in every stage. All Indians, great or small, can swim; one-third of white men cannot."

In their haste to escape, the Sioux were forced to leave behind their lodges and much of their belongings and supplies. Captain Wilcox ordered everything to be burned and as the lodges went up in crackling flames, the high pitched wailing of the Sioux women could be heard from the far reaches beyond the Platte.

Captain Wilcox reported that the number of Sioux killed in that battle, "...was not less than 20 or 30, most of whom they threw in the river, as dead bodies were seen floating in the river..." Cavalry losses were four killed and four wounded. The dead were: Capt. W. D. Fouts, Pvts. Edward McMahon, Richard Groger and Philip Alder. The three privates were buried near the battle site and Capt. Fouts was interred at Fort Mitchell.

The oral history of the Sioux tells that five soldiers and the soldier chief Fouts were killed in the battle on Horse Creek and that of the Sioux killed in that battle, there were four Lakotas whose ashes were left among the burning lodges on Horse Creek. A fifth Lakota from Black Foot's band was shot and scalped while shackled to a prison wagon.

Word of the battle reached Colonel Moonlight at Fort Laramie and he, in command of the 11th Kansas and a company of California Cavalry pursued the fleeing Sioux on a northeasterly course from where they crossed the Platte at Horse Creek.

On the morning of June 17, after a 20 mile march before breakfast, Colonel Moonlight and his command established a camp on Dead Man's Fork, about 120 miles east by northeast of Fort Laramie. Sioux history relates that the skirmish on Dead Man's Fork occurred on the White Earth River. If Colonel Moonlight's reckoning is correct, 120 miles east by northeast of Fort Laramie, on the White River, would place Dead Man's Fork somewhere north of present day Chadron, very near the Nebraska/South Dakota border.

And so, about 10 o'clock on the morning of June 17, 1865, while the troops were taking breakfast and the horses were grazing without tethers, about 200 Sioux warriors made an attack on the camp. There were no casualties in this skirmish and the Sioux were successfully repelled. Colonel Moonlight then ordered his troops to mount up and pursue the retreating Sioux. Unfortunately the horses had spooked at the onset of the attack and being unrestrained, stampeded headlong and directly toward the Indians. Of course many of the horses were captured and the Sioux warriors took their easily won spoils of war and left.

Colonel Moonlight had begun his campaign with 234 mounted troops. During the march from Fort Laramie 103 had to turn back due to the poor condition of their horses. The Colonel wrote in his official report; "My force was thus reduced from 234 to 131...from the fact there has been no forage..."

Before the attack on Dead Man's Fork there were only 131 horses remaining and of those, the Sioux captured 74. With 131 troopers and only 47 undernourished horses among them, it was a long and weary walk of 120 miles back to Fort Laramie. Colonel Moonlight reported, "After losing the horses there was nothing left for me to do but to return, after destroying the saddles and other property which we had no means of transporting."

Soon after, Colonel Moonlight was relieved of his command and discharged from service with the U.S. Cavalry.

M. Timothy Nolting is an award winning Nebraska columnist and freelance writer. To contact Tim, email; [email protected]