Dead Horse Creek

Three months before this scout, its guide was driving elk. Conrad Wentworth, Little Buckshot, a Loup Valley scout and hunter with about nine or ten months in Company M, caught four young elk near the Loup in summer 1872. At Omaha Barracks he trained the two bucks to harness with a bit made by the saddler, rigged a sleigh and drove them to Florence; the Omaha Daily Bee of January 21, 1873, said they could be driven like a team of horses. Harold Foght's The Trail of the Loup recalled his buckskin and his pony, Billy.

What the plaque says

Dead Horse Creek In April 1873, Headquarters, Department of the Platte at Omaha, ordered a military scout of the North and Middle Loup River Valleys. The detachment of soldiers was commanded by Captain John Mix of Company M, of the Second Cavalry, and guided by Conrad "Little Buckshot" Wentworth. This expedition was sent out in response to a Sioux Indian raid on settlements some thirty-five miles to the northwest. That action resulted in the Battle of Sioux Creek. The troops had completed the scout and were returning when they were struck by the terrible "Easter Blizzard," which began on April 13, 1873. For four days, the soldiers were housed by settlers and storekeepers. Their animals were left in a sheltered area alongside this creek. During the storm twenty-five horses and four pack mules were suffocated by snow. The creek has since been known as Dead Horse Creek. Many similar incidents associated with early pioneer life were commemorated in stream names. Sherman County Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The Loup City Riot, 1934 — 0.3 mi
• Jenner's Park — 0.7 mi
• Austin — 5.7 mi
• Arcadia Congregational Church — 13 mi