Cheyenne Summer: The Battle of Beecher Island: A History

by Terry Mort

Evoking the spirit—and danger—of the early American West, this is the story of the Battle of Beecher Island, pitting an outnumbered United States Army patrol against six hundred Native warriors, where heroism on both sides of the conflict captures the vital themes at play on the American frontier.

In September 1868, the undermanned United States Army was struggling to address attacks by Cheyenne and Sioux warriors against the Kansas settlements, the stagecoach routes, and the transcontinental railroad.  General Sheridan hired fifty frontiersmen and scouts to supplement his limited forces.  He placed them under the command of Major George Forsyth and Lieutenant Frederick Beecher.  Both men were army officers and Civil War veterans with outstanding records.  Their orders were to find the Cheyenne raiders and, if practicable, to attack them.

Their patrol left Fort Wallace, the westernmost post in Kansas, and headed northwest into Colorado.  After a week or so of following various trails, they were at the limit of their supplies—for both men and horses.  They camped along the narrow Arikaree Fork of the Republican River.   In the early morning they were surprised and attacked by a force of Cheyenne and Sioux warriors.  

The scouts hurried to a small, sandy island in the shallow river and dug in.  Eventually they were surrounded by as many as six hundred warriors, led for a time by the famous Cheyenne, Roman Nose.  The fighting lasted four days.  Half the scouts were killed or wounded.  The Cheyenne lost nine warriors, including Roman Nose. Forsyth asked for volunteers to go for help.  Two pairs of men set out at night for Fort Wallace—one hundred miles away.  They were on foot and managed to slip through the Cheyenne lines.  The rest of the scouts held out on the island for nine days.  All their horses had been killed. Their food was gone and the meat from the horses was spoiled by the intense heat of the plains.  The wounded were suffering from lack of medical supplies, and all were on the verge of starvation when they were rescued by elements of the Tenth Cavalry—the famous Buffalo Soldiers.  

Although the battle of Beecher Island was a small incident in the history of western conflict, the story brings together all of the important elements of the Western frontier—most notably the political and economic factors that led to the clash with the Natives and the cultural imperatives that motivated the Cheyenne, the white settlers, and the regular soldiers, both white and black.  More fundamentally, it is a story of human heroism exhibited by warriors on both sides of the dramatic conflict.

Genres: History, Native American

352 pages, Hardcover

First published July 6, 2021

Reviews

[David Crow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terry Mort has written an academic and thoroughly interesting book about the Plains Indians, the Army, the transcontinental railroad and the mistakes and atrocities about the development of the American west. The battle of Beecher Island comes at the end of the book which took me by surprise, but it worked out well since it sets up the framework for the battle and the men on both sides. If you are an aficionado of all things western and Indian, you will enjoy this book. I certainly did.

[Shrike58 · Rating 2 out of 5]

That I picked up this book was mostly due to a desire to learn a bit more about the Cheyenne tribe in their prime, before I tackled something more academic on the topic, and I suppose that objective was achieved. However, the author writes much of this work in a voice that can be best described as "get off my front lawn," and I really have to wonder if Mort had any other objective but to spout rhetoric. A particular low point is, when writing about the U.S. Army at this moment in time, Mort snarls that matters might have gone better had Congress not "spent money on an army of bureaucrats and cronies." I'm not going to dispute the prevalence of corrupt behavior in the U.S. Congress of the late 1860s but, speaking as a recently retired federal archivist, who had reason to work with the period records of the Indian Bureau, Mort can just back off on anachronistically projecting back in time his apparent contempt for the current federal work force. If you take a few minutes to examine the 1869 "Registry of the U.S. Government (readily available on-line)," you'll see that barely 500 individuals worked for the Indian Bureau in that year; hardly an "army." Just another over-worked cadre of people trying to implement federal policy while keeping their heads above water.

I will note that Mort's retelling of the fight at Beecher Island is actually pretty good, but it's only about twenty percent of the book; another example of a strong magazine article trying to escape from a pot-boiler.

[DeWayne Neel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-researched book that covers the entire westward movement, the Plains Indians, and a few battles with Beecher Island being only the last chapter. The midsection of this country was being "invaded" by prospectors looking for gold, trappers seeking beaver, hunters killing buffalo, Mormans seeking their Kingdom, and the poor seeking freedom and cheap land, all caring less who "owned" the vast plains. The "natives" had had enough and began to resist and the "rules of war" had not yet been explained to its participants. The brutality of the Sand Creek Massacre by John Chivington, killing old men, women, and children, who then entered Denver as a hero displaying body parts of those killed. Not much later the "natives" responded with the Fetterman Massacre on the Boseman Trail with like behavior.
This tit-for-tat battle happened for several years across the great plains, how was it to be stopped?
U S senator John Sherman (1867) said, "If the whole USA army stood in the way, the wave of emigration would pass over it to the seek the valley where gold was to be found." George Bent, 1/2 Cheyenne, son of a trader on the Arkansas, fought with the Cheyenne and called the white man "CRAZY".
This book explores the "thinking" of both the Indian and the white settlers

[Gilion Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Cheyenne Summer, Terry Mort takes a close look at one battle in eastern Colorado during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s. In the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors fought US Army scouts, including two battalions of Black "Buffalo Soldiers."

Although Mort describes the battle as not strategically significant, he concludes that it was culturally and historically important. He uses the battle to frame a discussion about one of the most transformative periods in America's history -- including a discussion of what motivated the white settlers, the Cheyenne, and the US soldiers, both white and Black.

I’m not a big fan of military history. So I appreciated that the bulk of Mort’s 270-page book was not spent describing the actual Battle of Beecher Island. Most of the book provides context for the battle. The first third or more is a detailed account of the Cheyenne, their history, culture, and nomadic tradition. The next third is a brief history of the U.S. Army and civilian settlers during the period of the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and western expansion. This was a perfect introduction for a reader like me to the various players in the Indian Wars, with their conflicting desires and goals.

[Don Best · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in the history of western United States during the 1800s. As the book title suggests, there is a detailed description of the Battle of Beecher Island in 1868 which was another single event between the US Army and Native Americans. But what is unique and makes it a must read is the background the author goes into why that confrontation occurred and forces behind events as he unwinds the string backward from Beecher Island to the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. The author has taken time to go beyond the Wikipedia version of events and people and analyze the forces, cultures and priorities of all sides that clashed during this time period. Especially as it relates to the Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska areas. Some of his insights into motivations and limitations on all sides of the conflicts are well, insightful. This review falls short of expressing my judgment of how well Terry Mort has presented an insightful narrative of events, cultures, political ambitions, economic factors that resulted in two bookend confrontations, the Sand Creek Massacre being tragic start, in this region that by themselves did not greatly change history but are important chapters to the history of this region and beyond.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As my rating indicates, I'm right in the middle of the road on this book. I like the author's overall style and he writes well; however, way too much is spent on extraneous information. For example, the first 100 pages are dedicated to the Cheyenne and a very robust history of the tribe...where they came from, lifestyle, etc. Continuing this theme, the next 100 pages are dedicated to the US Army and way too much background here as well...the Mexican-American War, lots of detail on the Civil War, and lots of history on westward expansion. It's not until page 200 that you get to the main players and lead-in to the battle and then only about 70 pages are dedicated to it. So a book about the Battle of Beecher Island devotes less than 1/3 of it's pages to the battle. This book is good if you want a high level overview of the battle and do not have any background knowledge on any of the belligerents in the Indian Wars.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you pick up this volume in anticipation of reading a book about the Battle of Beecher Island, you will be disappointed. Out of 270 pages, only about 100 of them discuss the battle, its participants, preliminaries, and aftermath. The balance of the book is consumed by a brief history of the trans-Mississippi West. While it's always good to "set the stage" and include information which places a battle in context, this is a bit much. And it certainly wasn't what was promised by the book title. Mort writes a good narrative, though he's guilty at times of making some assumptions and generalizations. The bottom line here is that there's only so much you can write about the battle, so you evidently have to fill in the balance of the pages with something. Read it as you will.

[Donny Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in elementary school, I read a few page history about a group of fifty scouts that got trapped by a river fighting Indians. Thirty years later, I did a little research to jog my memory that it was The Battle of Beecher Island and wanted to learn more.

The author does a great job of setting up the story with overviews of the plains Indians and the US Army first and only the last 100 pages dedicated to the battle (100 pages is plenty to cover the battle thoroughly). The part covering the US Army was particularly interesting.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book's title is a bit misleading. About 3/4ths of it is about the events that lead to the action at Beecher's Island. Now don't get me wrong, because this 3/4ths are important to the story. I felt like this story was a tragedy for both the Cheyenne and Forsyth's Scouts. The tragedy being the clash of two cultures and that in the end only one would survive intact. After reading this book I feel that you will see the struggle in the West of having no good guys or bad guys just two different ways of life running head on into each other.

[Alan Rockman]

The interesting thing about Mort is that while he does feature the history of the conflict between Forsyth and his Cavalrymen and the Cheyenne led by Chief Roman Nose, he also explores the economic and expansion aspects that brought White and Red to conflict. He argues that the training of Forsyth's men plus their repeating rifles, was the difference between victory and death at Beecher Island, but it was a near close thing.

[Richard Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A good read overall. The Battle of Beecher Island was only a small portion of the volume (approx 25%). The remainder of the book was more a general history of the Cheyenne, the US Army in the West at the time and the westward movement which lead to the fights between the US Calvary and the Cheyenn people as I knew next to nothing about them. I did enjoy learning about the Cheyenne in terms of their beliefs, social structure and how they lived.

[Ethelreda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a struggle. Based on the title, I was expecting the whole book to be about the battle, however the first 2/3 was a lengthy history of the parties involved - the Cheyenne, the Army, and the civilians. I really wanted to enjoy it, but these parts were somewhat of a slog to get through. It was well researched but very dense. If you're interested in delving into these topics in depth then you'll likely get a lot of enjoyment from these sections. I feel that the author probably has enough material to write separate books on both the history of the Cheyenne and history of the Army. The last section on the battle was gripping and I enjoyed it immensely.

[Stuart R. Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth your time

Closer to a 5 than a 4. The author does an excellent job of describing the sentiments of the time and the perspectives of those involved. A well explained complex mixture with no simply answers... Sometimes that is lost in translation when applying today's viewpoint to events of the past. A very good read.

[Steve Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good. I learned a lot about the army at that time, the cost to the government for cavalry as opposed to infantry. The warrior culture of the Cheyenne and how they came to be plains nomads for a rather short time.

[Gina Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

194 pages of random, unrelated facts about Indians, Custer, Sherman, the Civil War and the army in the mid 1800s that I can read verbatum in Wikipedia. 80 pages that actually address the sunbject for which this book is titled. Maybe this book was actually written for grade school kids.

[Mark Weber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book with a ton of great information. The story line is somewhat unclear throughout but it is not bogged down by facts and information in a way that slows reading. I learned a lot from this book.

[Garth Pettersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and inciteful account of the Cheyenne and the building of America.

[Mike Muskal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good history but not a very good story.

[Robert Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. The actual battle of Beecher Island is brief so the the author Terry Mort takes the opportunity to present in a readable manner both the Cheyenne tribe as well as the settlers, soldiers and guides as well as the nature of the conflict. I learned so much about the Cheyenne nation. I was not as prepared to enjoy this part as much as I did. I finished the book with the feeling I was better informed about the conflict. Terry Mort did an incredible amount of research to bring this story to his readers.

[Peg - The History Shelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read my review at Shelf Awareness:
https://www.shelf-awareness.com/reade...