Battle of Red Buttes

The bronze says the fight happened across the river, and that is as close as anyone has come. Sergeant Amos Custard's five wagons from Sweetwater Station were caught on July 26, 1865, hours after Caspar Collins died at the bridge, and all but three of his twenty-three Eleventh Kansas troopers were killed. The marker stands about two miles south of where the fight is thought to have been, and archaeological surveys have found nothing conclusive. When the Army reenacted it in 1930, it did so on Governor's Island in New York Harbor.

What the plaque says

Commemorating Battle of Red Buttes which occurred across North Platte River July 26, 1865 Erected by Headquarters 2d Corps Area United States Army which reenacted the battle at Governor's Island N.Y. June 21, and 22, 1930 H. E. Ely Major General Commanding

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Caspar Museum — 3.5 mi
  The crossing before the fort: the Mormon ferry of 1847 and Guinard's toll bridge of 1859, rebuilt beside the 1936 log station.

More markers nearby

• Oregon Trail — 3.4 mi
• The Pony Express — 3.4 mi
• Oregon Trail Memorial — 3.4 mi
• The "Mormon" Ferry — 3.7 mi