Escape of the Northern Cheyenne

A week before this crossing, on September 27, 1878, at Punished Woman's Fork, now Ladder Creek, in Kansas, 92 Cheyenne fighting men under Little Wolf and Morning Star, the leader the army called Dull Knife, waited in a narrow ravine, families hidden nearby. An early shot spoiled the ambush. Colonel William H. Lewis was shot leading the advance and died the next day, and the Cheyenne lost many horses and much food. Near Oberlin, from September 29 to October 3, warriors killed more than 30 civilians against their leaders' orders.

What the plaque says

Escape of the Northern Cheyenne By 1878 more than 300 Northern Cheyennes were desperate to escape their hated reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf, they headed for their homeland in the north, fighting their way across Kansas. At about noon on October 4, 1878, they arrived at a crossing of the South Platte River and the Union Pacific Railroad northwest of Alkali Station but east of Ogallala. Their arrival was observed and reported by telegraph to Fort Sidney. Already aboard rail cars at the fort, the soldiers believed they could stop the Northern Cheyennes at this crossing. Arriving at 4 p.m., they began tracking the trail leading north, but the Cheyennes had already crossed the North Platte River and escaped into the Sandhills. The Cheyennes soon parted ways. Little Wolf's people made it home to Montana, but Dull Knife continued to northwest Nebraska. His group was captured and taken to Ft. Robinson. They escaped January 9, 1879, but most were captured or killed in a running fight known as the Cheyenne Outbreak or Fort Robinson Massacre. Local Residents & Organizations Nebraska State Historical Society, 2018

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake McConaughy and Kingsley Dam — 5.4 mi
  Nebraska's largest reservoir, 22 miles of North Platte water and white sand beaches behind a 1941 hydraulic-fill dam, built so farms far downstream could water their crops.

More markers nearby

• Ogallala and the Platte Valley — 1.1 mi
• Ash Hollow: Gateway to the North Platte Valley — 1.1 mi
• Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs — 1.1 mi
• Cowboy Capital — 5.2 mi