al Forsyth recruited a company of
frontiersmen who could move rapidly, as they were to carry no luggage,
and were to travel without the ordinary transportation. Thirty of these
frontiersmen came from Fort Harker, and twenty from Fort Hays. It was
certainly a small body of men, but nearly every one of them was an
experienced hunter, guide, scout and Indian-fighter, and they could fight
the red-skins in their own way.

In four days they were prepared to take the field, and on the morning of
the 29th of August, 1868, they rode out of Fort Hays to meet the Indians.
Lieutenant F.H. Beecher, of the Third Infantry, nephew of Henry Ward
Beecher, was second in command; Brevet Major-General W.H.H. McCall, who
had been in the volunteer army, acted as first sergeant; Dr. John Mowers,
of Hays City, who had been a volunteer army surgeon, was the surgeon of
the expedition; and Sharpe Grover was the chief guide.

Resting at Fort Wallace, they started September 10th, for the town of
Sheridan, thirteen miles distant, where a band of Indians had attacked a
train, killed two teamsters, and stolen some cattle. Arriving at Sheridan
they easily found the Indian trail, and followed it for some distance. On
the eighth day out from Fort Wallace, the command went into camp late in
the afternoon, on the Arickaree, which was then not more than eight or
nine feet wide at that point, and only two or three inches deep. It was
evident to the men that they were not far from the Indians, and it was
decided that the next day they would find them and give them a fight.

Early next morning, September 19th, the cry of "Indians" startled the
command. Every man jumped for his horse. A half-dozen red-skins, yelling
and whooping and making a hideous racket, and firing their guns, rode up
and attempted to stampede the horses, several of which, together with the
four pack-mules, were so frightened that they broke loose and got away.
The Indians then rode off, followed by a few shots. In a minute
afterwards, hundreds of Indian warriors--it was estimated that there were
nearly one thousand--came galloping down upon the command from every
quarter, completely hemming them in.

Acting under the order of General Forsyth, the men retreated to a small
island, tied their horses in a circle to the bushes, and then, throwing
themselves upon the ground, they began the defense by firing at the
approaching enemy, who came pretty close and gave them a raking fire. The
besiege