General Custer in Nebraska

Pawnee Killer, the Oglala leader who opened the fighting here, was about forty, his name taken from deeds against the Pawnee, the Oglala's old enemies. He had fought at Julesburg early in 1865, after Sand Creek, and had met Custer twice at Fort McPherson between June 10 and 18, 1867. The sentry hit at dawn on June 24 was Private Patrick Ford of Company H. Jeff Broome's study puts Captain Louis Hamilton's party at 24 men of Company A and the dead warriors at three. Pawnee Killer later settled at Pine Ridge and appears on its census until 1895.

What the plaque says

General Custer in Nebraska General George Armstrong Custer, commanding troops A, D, E, H, K, and M of the Seventh Cavalry, camped near here June 22 to 30, 1867, after a march from Fort McPherson, Nebraska. They were campaigning against the elusive Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. On June 24 Pawnee Killer led a dawn attack on Custer's camp, wounding a sentry. There followed a par- ley between Custer and his officers and Pawnee Killer, Pole Cat, Fire Lightning and Walks Underground. Neither side was able to learn the plans of the other, and an Indian effort to separate the officers from their command was thwarted. Later Captain Hamilton and forty troopers, pursuing a decoy war party, rode into an ambush seven miles northwest of the camp but fought their way out, killing two warriors. Custer's supply train of sixteen wagons, returning from Fort Wallace, Kansas, was attacked near Black Butte Creek, Kansas, and killed several Indians. Lt. Kidder, ten troopers and scout Red Bead, carrying orders from Fort Sedgwick, Colorado, missed Custer's camp and were killed near Beaver Creek. Their mutilated bodies were found and buried by Custer on July 12. The flamboyant career of General Custer ended on the Little Big Horn, Montana, June 25, 1876. Dundy County Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Arikaree Breaks — 14 mi
  A strip of loess canyons two or three miles wide cut across the northwest corner of Kansas, followed by a signed gravel tour north of St. Francis into Nebraska and back.

More markers nearby

• Ward Bond's Boyhood Home — 0.8 mi
• Nature's Gift: The Highway 34 Springs — 2.5 mi
• Prisoners of War in Dundy County — 10 mi
• Texas Trail Canyon — 17 mi