Battle of Summit Springs

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Battle of Summit Springs
Part of the American Indian Wars

The site of the Battle of Summit Springs from the November, 1929 edition of Colorado Magazine
Date July 11, 1869
Location Logan County, Colorado
Result U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States of America
5th Cavalry Regiment
Pawnee Scouts		 Arapaho
Southern Cheyenne Dog Soldiers
Lakota Sioux
Commanders
Eugene A. Carr Tall Bull
Strength
244 U.S troops
50 Pawnee scouts		 450 (estimated)
Casualties and losses
1 soldier wounded, 1 civilian killed and 1 wounded 15 warriors killed, 30 civilians killed and 17 captured
v • d • e
Comanche Campaign
Beecher Island – Washita River –
Summit Springs – Palo Duro Canyon

The Battle of Summit Springs (July 11, 1869) was an armed conflict between elements of the United States Army under the command of Colonel Eugene A. Carr and a group of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers led by Tall Bull (who died during the engagement.) The battle, a response to a series of Indian raids in north-central Kansas by Chief Tall Bull's band of the Cheyenne, was fought near Sterling, Colorado.

When the Pawnee Scouts managed to lead his command to Tall Bull's village, Colonel Carr, a tough campaigner known as "The Black-Bearded Cossack", deployed his forces - 244 men of the 5th United States Regiment of Cavalry and 50 members of the Pawnee Scout Battalion, carefully so that they hit the unsuspecting camp from three sides at once.

As the attackers galloped in, a twelve year-old Cheyenne boy called Little Hawk, who was on horesback, saw them. Instead of making for safety, as he could easily have done, Little Hawk rode back into the village calling out a warning. The Pawnee warriors later expressed their admiration for the boy's courage - but it did not stop them from shooting him dead.

Major Luther North, commander of the Pawnee Scouts, saw an Indian rise from cover and take aim at him. He shot the man, who turned out to be none other than Tall Bull. North's Pawnees surrounded a group of 12 Cheyenne warriors who had tried to hide in a draw. The Cheyenne held them off at first: but when they ran out of arrows, the Pawnee closed in and shot all of them.

A Cheyenne called Good Head of Yellow Hair put a wooden stake in the ground and tied himself to it by the waist in the traditional manner of a warrior electing not to flee an inch. He was probably the man killed by the saber of Private Graham of the 5th Cavalry[citation needed]. This was an unsual way to die during the Indian Wars, since the troopers did not normally bring their sabers on campaign because they rattled loudly in their scabbards on the march and were generally considered to be of no use in combat. Graham may also have been the only member of the 5th Cavalry to have killed an enemy warrior at the Battle of Summit Springs[citation needed]: the Pawnee Scouts, although outnumbered 5-to-1 by the troopers, seem to have fought far more effectively on this occasion. It is perhaps worth noting that North's Pawnees were veterans of fighting the Cheyenne and Dakota, whilst the 5th Cavalry were a unit that had seen very little combat up to that point.

Apart from Good Head of Yellow Hair, Tall Bull, and the 12 men surrounded by the Pawnee, the only other Cheyenne warrior known to have died that day was Mad Wolf: but the circumstances in which he was killed are unknown. Meanwhile, one Cheyenne escaped on Tall Bull's distinctive white horse. He was shot off it by Scout William Cody in a skirmish next day, leading Buffalo Bill to think that he had killed Tall Bull himself.

Carr reported only a single casualty: a trooper wounded in the forehead by an arrow. There were no Pawnee losses. The victors variously claimed that 52 or 53 Indians were reported killed as well as 17 captured. The Indians, however, were clear in stating that 15 warriors and about 30 women and children had been killed. One white woman captive was killed and one wounded. Over 400 horses and mules were also captured.

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