Rock Creek Station XP: Where "Bill" Hickok Became "Wild"

McCanles fight according to legend

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok is another of the Western men whose legend eclipsed the man.  Dime novel hero, crack pistol shot, cold eyed killer, a fine specimen of rugged Western manhood, protector of feminine virtue, gambler, lawman.  Finding the event that gave birth to the legend is not difficult, but wrestling away fiction from fact is another story, altogether.  The birthplace of the "Wild Bill" legend is Rock Creek Station, near Fairbury, Nebraska and his fight with the "notorious McCanles Gang".

Much of Wild Bill's legend stemmed from his physical presence.  A large muscular man with steel gray eyes, flowing auburn locks and mustache, he was attractive to the ladies and intimidating to other men.  From a young age, he trained himself to be a crack shot, and loved to have an audience at target practice.  The more people that knew he could shoot well, the fewer he would likely have to fight.  By all accounts, he was calm under fire, and once he decided to shoot, he would shoot to kill.

One of the players in the Rock Creek incident, Sarah Shull remembered Hickok:  "Hickok has steel-blue eyes that were beautiful and gentle but could change in a second and look dangerous.  You had better watch his eyes; he wasn't one to run from a fight."

Wild Bill and the McCanles Gang - According to Hickok (Abridged)

Reconstructed Rock Creek Station Cabin

When recounting the story of shooting at Rock Creek Station, Bill paints Dave McCanles as the bully leader of a gang of murdering desparadoes, horse-thieving cutthroats who terrorized settlers on the Nebraska-Kansas border.  Hickok states that he was a scout for the US cavalry bringing through soldiers from Camp Floyd when he rode up to the station on 12 July 1861.  He says he found the station superintendent's wife in hysterics, her husband shot dead.  Hickok was in the house when the Gang rode up dragging a minister to the station by the neck with a rope.

Dave McCanles c. 1859

Recognizing Hickok's horse, McCanles comes into the front door of the station cabin with a gun drawn.  Hickock shoots Dave McCanles through the heart, which only enrages the nine men with him.  As the men poured into the cabin, Hickok opens up with his pistol, killing four more men.  The fight becomes a desperate hand to hand struggle during which Hickok shoots one man, knocks another one out before he is shot with shotgun pellets and struck with a rifle butt.  In the confused fight he gains a knife and starts slashing at the rest of the men, eventually subduing them all before walking a way, falling into a faint.  He claims to be shot with 11 buck shot and cut in 13 places, all of the knife wounds being life-threatening.

It is a great story and really entertained Colonel George Ward Nichols, who wrote it up for Harper's Weekly in 1867.  Problem is, it is a story and a greatly inflated one at that.  When Hickok was put on trial for McCanles' murder, there was not a scratch on him.  Furthermore, the dead superintendent, felled by a shot in the head, was present at the trial as a co-defendant.  There were not 11 dead men at the station, rather there were only three; McCanles; his cousin and a hired-hand of McCanles'.  There is also no pay record that would substantiate Hickok's claim that he was serving as a scout for the cavalry.

Getting to Rock Creek - Wild Bill

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok

Like many other colorful figures of the American West, James Butler Hickok was born in what seems to be a much tamer environment, Homer (now Troy Grove) Illinois on 27 May 1837.  Raised by devout Baptist parents, William and Polly (Butler) Hickok, young James yearned for fame and honed his shooting skills as soon as he could.  His parents became caught up in the abolitionist movement, and the family home reportedly served as a station on the "Underground Railroad".  Once his father died, James provided game for the family to eat, relying on those sharpshooting skills.

In June 1856, James headed out west for the newly opened Kansas Territory.  At this time, settlers were strongly polarized into pro-slavery (Missourians/Border Ruffians) and anti-slavery (Free State/Free Soil/Jayhawkers) factions.  James Butler Hickok joined with James Lane's Free State "army" and became Lane's personal bodyguard.  Hickok was also looking for land to farm and staked a 160 acre claim in modern-day Lenexa, Kansas.  He was elected a constable in Monticello Township, Johnson County, Kansas in 1858.

Setup of the inside of the cabin

It was during this time that James Hickok started using the aliases William Hickok and William Haycock.  He would also be nicknamed Shanghai Bill and Dutch Bill, although it is difficult to see the reasons.  Finding out that his claim had been preempted, Bill struck out to see more of the West.  He was employed first as a teamster for the freighting company of Jones and Cartwright from 1858 - April 1861.  He arrived at Rock Creek Station shortly after Horace Wellman took over as station superintendent for Russell, Majors and Waddell's Pony Express.  Exactly what Bill's role was at the station is unknown, since there is no evidence that he was actually an employee of Russell, Majors and Waddell.  It is possible that Wellman personally hired him as a stockhandler or even as an enforcer.

Getting to Rock Creek - Dave McCanles

Reconstruction of West Ranch building

Not nearly as much is known about the other man that figures in this fight, David Colbert McCanles.  We know he was born in Iredell County, North Carolina on 20 November 1828 and moved with his family to Watauga County, NC.  Records show that he served as deputy sheriff of Watauga County from 1852-1856 and sheriff from 1856-1859.  Descriptions picture him as a large, powerful man.  He married young, listed as a farmer in Watauga County in 1850 with wife Mary (18 years) and son William M. (Monroe), age 1.

Reconstructed toll bridge between West and East Ranches

David later took a mistress, Sarah Shull, abandoning his family by 1859 and heading west with Sarah.  Originally headed to the Colorado gold fields, he was dissuaded from traveling all of the way by returning and disappointed gold-seekers.  He bought the Rock Creek Station property from Newton and S.C. Glenn.  The property was crossed by the Oregon-California Trail and did a business in supplying emigrants and serving as a campground.  He soon built a toll bridge over the creek there, charging 10-50 cents per wagon to cross.  The original ranch was on the west side of the creek, but he was soon able to set up a ranch on the east side, as well.  Apparently having a change of heart about his family, he sent east for his wife and children, but Sarah remained as a "domestic".  What Mary thought of this arrangement I do not know, but it was likely not comfortable.

Census entry for McCanles family in Jones County, Nebraska Territory, 1860

Reconstructed bunkhouse of East Ranch

It is agreed that Dave McCanles was a man who liked to have his way, and he would push other people around to further his desires.  It is thought that the appearance of Hickok in the community upset the balance of power in the neighborhood,  Many historians suggest that Sarah Shull was taken with Hickock and welcomed his advances, inciting McCanles' jealousy, although Sarah later stated that this was not so.  Even if this is true, it was only a contributing factor to the fight.  The most immediate cause was McCanles' impatience with collecting a debt from Russell, Majors and Waddell, whose company was bankrupt following the loss of mail contracts.

Stable and corral

Russell, Majors and Waddell's Central Overland California and Pike's Peak Express Company had leased the east ranch from McCanles in 1861, then arranged to buy it in April 1861 for 1/3 down, with the rest of the payment due in three monthly installments.  At that time the company was not making payroll on time and was behind on the payments.  Having been left holding the bag by a freight company one other time, McCanles was determined to either get his money or get his property back.  He just wasn't entirely sure whether the company was not going to pay up, or if Wellman had already received the money, but was keeping it for himself.

Rock Creek Station Accomodations - Sir Richard Burton

Sir Richard Burton c. 1875 painting by Frederic Leighton

Noted explorer Sir Richard Burton (not the actor, rather the translator of The Arabian Nights), stayed here on 08 August 1860 and wrote in his book City of the Saints, and Across the Rocky Mountains to California:

"A weary drive over a rough and dusty road, through chill night air and clouds of musquetoes, which we were warned would accompany us to the Pacific slope of the Rocky Mountains, placed us about 10 P.M. at Rock, also called Turkey Creek surely a misnomer ; no turkey ever haunted so villainous a spot! Several passengers began to suffer from fever and nausea ; in such travel the second night is usually the crisis, after which a man can endure for an indefinite time. The 'ranch' was a nice place for invalids, especially for those of the softer sex. Upon the bedded floor of the foul "doggery" lay, in a seemingly promiscuous heap, men, women, children, lambs, and puppies, all fast in the arms of Morpheus, and many under the influence of a much jollier god. The employes, when aroused pretty roughly, blinked their eyes in the atmosphere of smoke and musquetoes, and declared that it had been 'merry in hall' that night the effects of which merriment had not passed off. After half an hour's dispute about who should do the work, they produced cold scraps of mutton and a kind of bread which deserves a totally distinct generic name. The strongest stomachs of ,the party made tea, and found some milk which was not more than' one quarter flies. This succulent meal was followed by the usual douceur. On this road, however mean or wretched the fare, the station- keeper, who is established by the proprietor of the line, never derogates by lowering his price." Burton would declare Rock Creek Station "the ne plus ultra of Western discomfort".

The McCanles Murder According to Monroe McCanles (Abridged)

Front door of cabin, Oregon Trail coming from left

Monroe would say that Dave McCanles, James Woods, James Gordon and himself arrived unarmed at the East Ranch.  His father directed him to stay outside and entered the cabin.  A shot rang out and Dave stumbled out, collapsed and died trying to say something to his son, but was unable.  Woods and Gordon had been looking for McCanles stock and harness, but hearing the shot, ran up to the house.  Woods approached from the rear and Gordon approached from the front.  Both were apparently shot by Hickok.  Grabbing a hoe, Mrs. Wellman chased off Monroe, started yelling "Kill them all" and hacked Woods to death with the hoe.  Gordon made a break for the timber, but was followed by his dog, which gave his whereabouts away.  It was unclear who fired the shot that killed Gordon, and he was buried on the spot.  Monroe was able to follow a dry creek bed to safety, and alert his mother to what had happened.  The mother then sent for Dave McCanles' brother James, who alerted authorities in Beatrice, Nebraska.

Rock Creek property after the McCanles affair

What really happened?

Hickok at about the time of the Rock Creek Station incident

Nobody can really know for sure, but by cutting the stories from the two camps down the middle, we can probably come pretty close.  This is likely a fight that is more about McCanles and Wellman than Hickok.  David McCanles had accused Jane Wellman's father of stealing, and had allegedly beaten the older man earlier.  Earlier in the month, McCanles had sent his son Monroe with Wellman to try to collect payment from the section head of the Central Overland Company in Brownville, Nebraska.  While they were away, McCanles tried to push Mrs. Wellman into turning over the ranch property to him.  She had no use for McCanles and let him have an earful.

David McCanles usually carried a shotgun on his saddle and two pistols on his person, which was not unusual in this place at that time.  It is reasonable to assume that he was armed on 12 July 1861.  He likely brought Monroe with him to convince the Wellmans that he did not expect violence.  Both versions of the story say that David approached the ranch house and asked to see Wellman.  He was probably not expecting to see Hickok in the house.  McCanles made it clear that he wanted to see Wellman and expected him to come out or be dragged out.  Seeing some movement in the back of the house (which would have been dark) he asked for a drink of water, which Hickok got him, before Hickok stepped back into the house.  A gunshot rang out, striking McCanles in the chest.  Who fired it is unknown, but it was likely a nervous Wellman.

Subpoena for Monroe McCanles

If Wellman fired the shot, Hickok may not have immediately known which man shot, but he was now committed to the fight. Seeing Woods and Gordon rushing to the house, and having to assume that they were armed, it is likely that Hickok shot both of them with his pistol. Jane Wellman wanted blood and called for all of them to be killed, taking a swipe at Monroe McCanles with the grubbing hoe, before turning it on the badly wounded Woods and hacking him to death. Monroe and Gordon both ran for cover, but Gordon's dog followed him into the brush, and the station hands followed the dog to Gordon. It is not clear who fired the final shotgun blast, although it may have been J.W. "Doc" Brink.

Criminal complaint against Dutch Bill,
Wellman and Brink

Monroe ran home to tell his mother what happened. The following day, James (LeRoy) McCanles swore out a criminal complaint of murder in Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska against "Dutch Bill, Dock and Wellman (thier other names not known) committed the same". It has been alleged that McCanles made fun of Hickok by calling him "Duck Bill" because his upper lip protruded over his lower lip, but a misspelling in other court documents referring to "Duch Bill" probably gave rise to the notion. Another good story bites the dust.


When the arresting party arrived at Rock Creek Station on 15 July, the station men went along peacefully. The trial was speedy, occurring 15, 16 and 18 July 1861. Although Monroe was subpoenaed, the judge in the case refused to let him testify (perhaps because of his age) and had him removed from the courtroom during testimony. With only the stationmen's testimony to go by, and given the threats apparently issued by McCanles to Wellman, the judge ruled that the men had acted in self-defense.

Bunkhouse with stable and corral behind

Was this a proud moment in the Hickok legend? Certainly not, but as the legend grew in popularity, he was likely caught up in the story as much as he had been in the original events. Some McCanles relatives and allies would like you to believe that Hickok was a complete fraud, a coward and a murderer of a quiet family man. Some Hickok allies would like you to believe that he was a superhero who rid the neighborhood of a wicked bully. Hickok's reputation would not have risen to the level it did if he was without bravery or virtue, and there would be no sympathy for McCanles had he been completely evil. They were humans, and in this case caught up in events that took on a life of their own. Stories without heroes and villains are not comfortable, and this is a very uncomfortable story. You can find reason to sympathize with and also dislike each of the major characters in this story. Nope, not real satisfying, but interesting all the same.

The Dime Novel

Most of the dime novels were complete fabrications or there was nugget of truth in the premise of the story that was greatly exaggerated.  The problem with these stories when they make characters out of live people, is that you lose the boundaries of what is real and what is fantasy.  When you tell tall tales often enough, the story becomes the fact.  My favorite illustration of this process is from the miniseries Wild Times, starring Sam Elliot as Hugh Cardiff, a Buffalo Bill-like character.  The following is a scene in which three shootists including Cardiff are telling tall tales to a dime novel author:

[Hugh, Doc and Caleb are spinning yarns for Bob Halburton, a writer of western dime novels]

Hugh Cardiff: Bob, I recall the time that me and Caleb here was carryin' dispatches for an...

Doc Bogardus: That was, ah, Phil Sheridan, I recall.

Hugh Cardiff: Yeah, General Phil Sheridan. We was crossin' through some hostile Indian country and we got jumped by a band of forty Cheyenne.

Caleb Rice: And thirty Arapaho and two Ute.

Hugh Cardiff: And old Caleb here, he took care of thirteen of them Cheyenne with those two pistols you see hanging right there in that belt. And understand, Bob, he only fired twelve shots - now one of 'em went through two of those Indians and killed 'em both.

Caleb Rice: It had probably gone on and killed another one, except there weren't any more left. We had killed them all by that time.

It is easy enough for me to see Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok sitting around telling such stories to eastern greenhorns like George Nichols.

Last Laugh?

Rear Admirals Byron (left) and Bruce McCandless with USS McCandless

It is difficult to measure the value of one man in life against another.  Wild Bill Hickok served the US Army as a teamster, scout, and perhaps spy during the Civil War.  He was a lawman in Hays, Kansas and Abilene, Kansas and celebrity figure before he was killed in Deadwood, South Dakota by Jack McCall on 02 August 1876.  He died without children, so the Hickok contribution to American history stops there.  

Dave McCanles' son Julius, changed the name to McCandless, perhaps to escape notoriety, or just to match the actual spelling to the phonetic.  Julius' son Byron became a commodore in the US Navy (later updated to rear admiral), earning the Navy Cross as commander of the destroyer USS Caldwell during WWI.  During WWII, Byron was in charge of the San Diego Repair Base, earning the Legion of Merit for his performance and the ability of his command to return battle-damaged ships to service.  Commodore McCandless also designed the Flag of the President of the United States, as well as the Presidential Seal in 1945.  Byron's son Bruce McCandless attained the rank of rear admiral, earning the Congressional Medal of Honor for his performance on the cruiser USS San Francisco during the Battle of Savo Island (Guadalcanal) during WWII.  Bruce's son, Bruce II, became a naval aviator and an astronaut.  He served as CAPCOM during the Apollo 11 mission.  Bruce McCandless II flew on the Space Shuttle as a mission specialist twice, making the first untethered spacewalk in the history of human spaceflight.  The frigate USS McCandless (FF-1084) was named for Byron and Bruce McCandless.   Regardless of Dave McCanles' history, his family accounts for some of the most storied achievements of the 20th Century, and that legacy continues today.  Certainly any perceived debt owed society by David McCanles has been more than repaid by his offspring.

USS San Francisco Memorial at Land's End.  Note the battle damage on the salvaged section of the ship

Navy Cross Citation for Byron McCandless:

"For distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the USS Caldwell, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity."

Medal of Honor Citation for Bruce McCandless:

Lt. Commander Bruce McCandless

"For conspicuous gallantry and exceptionally distinguished service above and beyond the call of duty as communication officer of the U.S.S. San Francisco in combat with enemy Japanese forces in the battle off Savo Island, 12–13 November 1942. In the midst of a violent night engagement, the fire of a determined and desperate enemy seriously wounded Lt. Comdr. McCandless and rendered him unconscious, killed or wounded the admiral in command, his staff, the captain of the ship, the navigator, and all other personnel on the navigating and signal bridges. Faced with the lack of superior command upon his recovery, and displaying superb initiative, he promptly assumed command of the ship and ordered her course and gunfire against an overwhelmingly powerful force. With his superiors in other vessels unaware of the loss of their admiral, and challenged by his great responsibility, Lt. Comdr. McCandless boldly continued to engage the enemy and to lead our column of following vessels to a great victory. Largely through his brilliant seamanship and great courage, the San Francisco was brought back to port, saved to fight again in the service of her country."

Bruce McCandless II during first untethered spacewalk

Getting There

From US-77, turn west onto NE-8. From NE-8, turn north onto 573rd Ave, then east onto 710th Rd, then follow the signs to Rock Creek Station State Historical Park. There is an entry fee ($5 daily entry or $25 yearly sticker for all Nebraska State Parks) for the park and admission to the museum on grounds.

Waypoint: Latitude: 40.113760 N; Longitude: 97.060900 W
Street Address: 57426 710th Road, Fairbury, NE 68352

Further Reading

Pro-McCanles Account

Pro-Hickok Account

Grave Matters: Cholera and Amanda Lamme

Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff on horizon

A couple of days wagon trip from Chimney Rock, Nebraska stands a memorial marker to Amanda Lamme.  Ben and I almost whizzed by it on the road to Montana, but we decided to stop and take some pictures.  The marker tells how Amanda Lamme died of cholera and was buried near here on 23 June 1850.  She was the young wife of M.J. Lamme, just 28 years old.  They started out from Boone County, Missouri and were headed to California with their two daughters.

Historical marker about a mile from gravesite

Amanda's Story

Amanda was born on 22 February 1822 in Missouri to Thomas and Anna Maupin.  Thomas was at one time the sheriff of Boone County in central Missouri.  She was married to May Jackson "Jack" Lamme in August 1841 in Boone County.  They had two daughters, Laura (born November 1843) and Alcis (born 16 July 1847).  Some accounts mention a third daughter (Frances Anne), but I can find no record of her in any official documents that I could locate.

1850 Census lines (cropped with titles from top of sheet) for
Maupin-Lamme families

Amanda's broken original marker, and 1912 marker

They struck out from Marthasville, Missouri in April 1850 with the Maupins, passing through Independence, the Gardner Junction and on 28 May were crossing the Big Blue River at Independence Crossing south of Marysville, Kansas.  Cholera made its first appearance north of Marysville at the Little Blue River in Nebraska.  On 08 June, they made it to Fort Kearny, Nebraska.  Jack mentioned in a letter to his mother that he was worried about cholera on the trail and had passed several fresh graves. On 20 June, the Lamme-Maupin group pulled into Ash Hollow campground for rest.  After resting for a day, the families moved on, but Amanda fell ill on 22 June, suffering torturous abdominal cramps, fever, and diarrhea.  Hoping to get her to fresh water at Pumpkin Creek, Jack put Amanda in the wagon, made her as comfortable as possible and pushed the family west with all possible haste.  However, on 23 June 1850, Amanda became one of nearly 4000 pioneers that would die of cholera along the trail.

Jack Lamme and Thomas Maupin found a grove

1912 marker

of trees between the trail and the Platte River, dug a grave and buried Amanda.  They marked the spot with a board from the wagon and carved "AMANDA" into it with a knife according to one source.  A good deal more must have been written on the board, because on 30 June 1850, Micah Littleton noted a grave marked "Amanda Lamme, June 23, age 28, Boon Co., Mo.".  The wagon train continued west, but Jack went back to Fort Kearny and bought a headstone for his wife.  According to legend, he loaded the stone into a wheelbarrow and walked it back to the grave from Fort Kearny, a distance of some 200 miles.

Jack would catch back up to the family wagons and in October 1850, they pulled into Marysville, California.  In the 1860 US Census, the girls were living with the Maupins and in the 1870 Census Alcis' last name is listed as Maupin.  Jack mourned for Amanda for a long time, going back to Boone County in 1858 where he married Semiramis Echols on 02 April.  They had two children, Joseph born 1861 and Ida, born about 1860.  Alcis married Howard Cunningham and died in San Francisco 03 January 1918.  Laura Lamme was married on 29 March 1871 in Buchanan County, Missouri to William Burton White.  William died on 02 January 1878 and Laura never remarried.  She died 05 May 1923 in Alameda, California.

Amanda and Jack's marriage record from Boone Co., MO

A new marker

Nebraska Territory was opened up to permanent settlement in the 1850s and free-ranging cattle in the area trampled and broke the marble headstone bought by Jack.  Locals remembered the old marker and gathered what they could find and tried to piece together what the old marker said.  What they came up with was:

AMANDA

Consort of M.J. Lamin

of Devonshire, Eng.

Born February 22, 1822.

Died June 23, 1850, of Cholera.

Amanda was born in Missouri and her parents were born in Kentucky.  It seems entirely likely that the well-intentioned citizens of Bridgeport found the remains of two markers and tried to cobble them together into one cohesive marker.  Allowing for the damaged name, everything jives, except for the birthplace.  Another pioneer from Devonshire, England must have been buried in the same grove of trees.  It is prescient since I know that her husband's family was originally from Devonshire, and it is likely that her family was as well.

Living in a time of cholera

1800s medical text illustration of effects of cholera (right) on a patient

Cholera is a bacterial infection that induces a massive watery diarrhea, transmitted by contaminated drinking water or foodstuffs contaminated with fouled water.  The diarrhea is copious, almost beyond understanding pumping an amazing 2 liters of water out of the body each hour.  Without fluid replacement, the blood increases in viscosity, making it increasingly difficult for the heart to push blood through the circulatory system, leading to shock and collapse of vital organs.  The eyes become sunken, the skin wrinkled, cramps result from loss of minerals and fever spikes.  Death often takes place within hours of symptom onset.

Vibrio cholerae bacterium

The cause is a comma-shaped bacteria called Vibrio cholerae.   When the bacteria is exposed to stomach acid, it signals the bacterium to start making a toxin that causes cells to pump chloride ion into the intestine, pulling water along with it.  The cells lining the intestine are shed into the water passing through resulting in rice-water stools.  It costs less than $1 in materials to support a patient with cholera.  Water with a bit of sugar and salt to replace lost fluids is all that is required.  The patient will pass so much fluid that it will flush the bacteria out of the gut (self-limiting).

Cyclops copepod

The bacteria can persist in the environment for a long time, because they can live inside copepods (small aquatic organisms) in slow moving streams.  People drinking this water without filtration or treatment can swallow the copepods and release the bacteria. If you hold up a jar of pond water to the light, the little white specks that flit around are probably copepods.  Over 250,000 cases of cholera still occur world-wide each year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria" - Benjamin Franklin

Second Asiatic Cholera Pandemic

Route of spread of cholera from India to Americas in 2nd pandemic

The second pandemic of cholera originated in India in about 1829 and spread through the United States in 1832.  The second major epidemic in the United States started in about 1849, corresponding with a major gold rush to California and the Mormon migration to Utah.  This epidemic of cholera was a major cause of death of westward emigrants from 1849-1851.  

A collapse of the United States economy in 1837 drove people from the east to the west with the prospect of a new start and cheap land.  Using a trail first pioneered by fur traders to the Oregon country, a trickle of emigrants began using the trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon in 1836.  Soon, each spring found the population of Independence swelling several-fold, as the emigrants began staging for the trip west, waiting for the grass on the prairie to green enough for the grass to support grazing animals.  Once the conditions were right to move on, wagons waited in line for days to travel the ferry across the river.

Mosquito Creek by trail campground near Troy, KS

Such a great concentration of individuals in one place, with fecal material running into water also used for drinking, created the perfect conditions for diarrheal diseases in Independence and outlying trail areas.  Most of the trail campgrounds that I have visited are bowl shaped, affording protection from wind, but also directing flow of human sewage to the slow-flowing streams that were a major attraction to the emigrants.  Few emigrants would escape diarrhea or dysentery along the trail.  Typhoid fever broke out several places on the trail, becoming a leading cause of death in Kansas Territory.  When cholera came to the United States, epidemics rapidly broke out on the emigrant trails to Santa Fe, Salt Lake City, Oregon and California; the faster flowing water past Fort Laramie nearly eliminated cholera cases by that point.

Native stone markers in Courter-Richey Cemetery on St. Joe Road

Cholera and overcrowding in Independence pushed emigrants to points further north at Saint Joseph, Missouri and old Fort Kearny (now Nebraska City), Nebraska.  Saint Joseph was incorporated in 1842, becoming a boomtown in 1849 as people flocked to California in search of gold.  Cholera outbreaks in Independence pushed a majority of the ‘49ers to the Saint Joseph trailheads.  No cholera outbreaks occurred in Saint Joseph, but many emigrants began to die from cholera within a day after hitting the trail.  Several small cemeteries in the Northeast Kansas countryside were started as burial grounds for cholera victims.  Many graves marked with native stones are thought to contain the bodies of cholera victims.

Mosquito Creek campground area near Troy, Kansas

About one of every 200 emigrants kept some kind of record of their travel.  Some wrote extensively about each day’s events; others simply kept lists of miles traveled, major landmarks passed, numbers of dead animals or graves passed.  In May of 1850, James Campbell noted a total of 16 graves along the Saint Joseph Road from 1849, while only 4 graves from 1850 were noted.  Emigrants of 1852 noted another bad cholera year.  The May 18, 1852 entry in John Hawkins Clark's diary noted:

“Camped last night on the bank of the Nemaha river, and this morning were called upon to bury a man who had died of cholera during the night. There have been many cases of this disease, or something very much like it; whatever it may be it has killed many persons on this road already. Yesterday we met two persons out of a company of five who left St. Joe the day before we did; two had died, one left on the road, sick, and the two we met were returning. There are many camps on the banks of this river; many are sick, some dead and great numbers discouraged. I think a great many returned from this point; indeed, things look a little discouraging and those who are not determined may waver in their resolution to proceed. This afternoon we passed the graves of a man and woman; the former was marked for seventy-four years.”

Native stone likely marking a cholera victim's grave in
Courter-Richey Cemetery

Many people commented on the speed and severity of the cholera symptoms.  People who were well at breakfast were taken sick at lunch and dead by supper.  Lydia Allen Rudd was traveling along this same stretch of trail on May 14, 1852 and wrote the following:

“Just after we started this morning we passed four men diging a grave.  They were packers  The man had died was taken sick yesterday noon and died last night.  They called it cholera morbus  The corpse lay on the ground a few feet from where they were diging  The grave it was a sad sight…. On the bank of the stream waiting to cross, stood a dray with five men harnessed to it bound for California, They must be some of the perservering kind I think Wanting to go to California more than I do…We passed three more graves this afternoon.”

These were hardly unique experiences.  Some estimates put the 1849 death toll at between 1500-2000 and the 1850 cholera death count at over 1000.  Ezra Meeker suggested that the count was closer to 5000 in 1850 noting that the dead were often buried in rows of 15 or more. 

Six Degrees....

George IV Boone's will mentioning Dinah

Amanda Lamme's husband Jack was a great-grandson of Daniel Boone.  This would make Jack and his children distant cousins to us through my Grandpa Shafer's family.  Amanda was a cousin to Ben and me by marriage.  My 9xgreat-grandfather, George Boone III was Daniel Boone's grandfather.  My 7xgreat-grandmother was George Boone IV's daughter, Dinah Boone; she was Daniel Boone's first cousin.  Stopping for a seemingly random marker not only gave me material for my Geography of Disease course, but brought us into touch with a distant relative.  It makes sense.  It would take some kind of stubborn to push a wheelbarrow with a heavy marble marker 200+ miles to mark a grave.  That sounds like us.

Getting There

The Amanda Lamme gravesite is about 600 meters northwest of the intersection of US-385 and NE-92.  It is on private land, so you must get permission to visit.  You might be able to see the marker from roadside with a pair of binoculars or a good zoom lens.  The roadside historical marker is about 1.25 miles northwest of this intersection on combined Scenic US-385/NE-92.  This is west of Broadwater but southeast of Bridgeport, Nebraska.


Gravesite Waypoint: Latitude 41.605433 N; Longitude 102.9802684 W (private land)
Historical Marker Waypoint: Latitude 41.612911 N; Longitude 103.003697 W

Further Reading

Amanda Lamme

True West: Massacre Canyon

Massacre Canyon looking south towards the Republican River

A modern reinterpretation of the American West story is that Euro-Americans conquered paradise, introducing greed, waste and murder into a veritable Garden of Eden.  When I was growing up the picture was that Indians killed Euro-Americans without mercy and settlers always heroically fought off their tormentors, Indian and outlaw alike.  We like our stories to be black and white, complete with easy to identify good guys and bad guys.  No story is ever that clear cut, especially any story that includes humans.

East side of the memorial

We often refer to humans as a species in a way that makes it sound like we should function as a unit.  However, no species behaves that way.  The functional level of organization in biology is that of a population - nations, tribe, clan, village, state, or family.  We are programmed to be able to detect patterns of similarity and difference.  The more differences we can pick out, the more likely that we are to perceive a threat.  We are nice to those that are like us, but aggressive to those that are different.  Our stories are framed in such a way to dehumanize those that we think are different.  When we see "those people" with "things we need" we compete by seizing resources, mates, manpower and killing "what we don't need".  That is the way evolution works, and has played itself out over Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and South America for millenia.

Just east of Trenton, NE on US-34 stands a 35 feet tall obelisk of Minnesota pink granite with carvings of a Pawnee Indian chief (Ruling His Sun) and a Lakota Indian chief (John Grass/Charging Bear).  It is an odd thing to see in this part of the country, a monument to American Indians without obvious connection to white settlers or army.  The signs indicate that it marks Massacre Canyon.  Massacre?  Canyon? Where? Who? When?

The Pawnee

Ruling His Sun's (Pawnee) likeness

The Pawnee nation is comprised of four independent bands: Chaui (Grand); Kitkehaki (Republican); Pitahawirata (Tappage) and Skidi (Wolf).  Historic Pawnee lands were roughly south central Nebraska to north central Kansas.  The Skidi were the northernmost band.  The Pawnee language belongs to the Caddoan family of languages, which are spoken by peoples from present day Louisiana and Texas northwards to North Dakota.

The Pawnee lived in permanent settlements with large earth lodges that could house as many as 50 people from several related families.  Ancestry was matrilineal, being reckoned through the mother.  Upon marriage, the groom became part of the bride's family and marriages had to be outside of the mother's clan.  Men and women both had decision making roles.

Women were responsible for farming and maintaining seed stocks.  They planted ten varieties of corn, eight varieties of beans, and seven varieties of squashes and pumpkins.  The men provided the protein by seasonal hunts for buffalo, deer, elk, bear, rabbit, big cats and skunks.  The Pawnee would range far while hunting buffalo.  One buffalo would provide enough meat for one person for an entire year, plus uses were found for every other part of the animal from the sinews for thread, the bladder for a canteen, skins for clothing and shelter.  This became easier with the acquisition of horses.  The hunt lasted from late-June to early September.  When the hunt was finished, it was time to return to the village and harvest the corn.

Massacre Canyon looking north toward the start of the fighting

The geographically remote position of the Pawnee kept them from very much contact with Europeans until the 1830s, which protected them from population losses due to smallpox, cholera, measles and tuberculosis.  The Coronado expedition met a Pawnee chief in a Wichita village in 1541, but most contact was with the odd European trader.  The Pawnee were flexible and would make alliances as it suited their needs.  An alliance between Pawnee, Oto and French traders was responsible for dashing Spanish goals of eastward expansion from Mexico when allied forces defeated the forces of Lt. General Pedro de Villasur at present day Columbus, NE on 14 August 1720.  Eventually, the Pawnee would be threatened by encroachment from Siouan peoples being pushed westward by European expansion, and by the 1850s, their population had plummeted to about 30% of 1800 numbers.  The Lakota and Cheyenne became their most threatening enemies.

The Lakota

John Grass' (Lakota) likeness

The Lakota were part of what has come to be called the Sioux Indian Nation, along with the Santee and Yankton-Yanktonai.  They occupied the area that was roughly Minnesota, northern Iowa, western Wisconsin to the Dakotas by 1600.  By the late 1600s the Lakota were being pushed south and west by encroaching peoples from the east, as a consequence of European expansion on the continent.  Their mobility greatly increased upon obtaining horses from the Cheyenne in 1730, and pushed into the Dakotas as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara populations collapsed due to smallpox, measles and cholera.

The Lakota also have a matrilineal society and the mother's family wields more influence over the young male than the father, much of the time.  Leadership was determined based on the mother's clan.  Upon marriage, the groom lives with the bride's family.  Women control food, resources and moveable property.  While males made the major life decisions for the tribe and served as traditional chiefs, they could not continue to exert influence without the support of the women.  Male roles were to protect the village, hunt, conduct warfare and politics.

Plains style tipi

Villages were mobile and the dwelling was the conical buffalo skin tipi.  Women owned the tipis and were responsible for their manufacture, care and upkeep.  They also made nearly every bit of clothing and utensils that were used in the household.  Women also raised the crops that were used by the tribe and they prepared the fish and game caught by the men.

The Buffalo

Buffalo hunt silhouettes at visitor center

Buffalo (Bison bison - the American bison) were a supermarket on the hoof - enough protein for one person for a year, source of clothing, shelter and all manner of tools from sewing needles to hoes.  The summer hunt would provide an immediate supply of fresh meat and dried meat could be used through the winter.  Buffalo historically occupied a huge range: From the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains and from the level of Great Bear Lake in Canada into Mexico.  Buffalo were still seen in North Carolina as late as 1750. The prairies of the Great Plains evolved with the dual grass and tree trimming action of fire and buffalo.

Buffalo enjoying a late afternoon graze in Yellowstone National Park

Hunting buffalo was a dangerous proposition.  Buffalo are large, standing nearly six feet tall at the shoulder and weighing in around one ton.  The largest wild buffalo measured weighed nearly 2800 pounds.  Despite their size, they are quick and agile, running up to 40 miles per hour and having a 6 foot vertical leap.  Coupled with the large herd sizes, hunting was very hazardous.  The hunters had the fastest, most athletic horses.  Several tactics, such as walking up on the herd dressed in animal skins were employed to pare out a small portion of the herd to hunt with fewer bodies.  If possible the buffalo would be herded towards and then stampeded over a steep incline called a buffalo jump.   Injured surviving animals could be killed using spears and arrows with reduced risk of injury to the hunters.

1870's pile of buffalo skulls for use as fertilizer

Commercial use of the buffalo increased pressure on the people that relied on them for food.  Buffalo hunters would hunt them for meat, but often just took the hides and/or tongues for use and left the rest of the carcass to rot.  Later, buffalo bone would be collected and ground into fertilizer.  Before 1800, there were about 60 million buffalo in North America, a number that dropped to less than 6 million by 1870, less than 400,000 by 1880 and less than 600 total by 1890. Mass extermination of the buffalo by commercial hunters and US Army policy could do no less than bring conflict between the peoples that relied on the buffalo for their livelihood.   This situation was reaching a critical point as more nations were pushed into the same geographic areas by Euro-American encroachment and seizure of territory, often in open violation of treaties.

Massacre Canyon

The events at Massacre Canyon were perhaps inevitable.  Encroachment of Lakota and Cheyenne into Pawnee territory and hunting grounds were intolerable to both groups.  The Lakota, Cheyenne and Pawnee all needed space and resource for their people, and things were getting crowded geographically.  Males of the Pawnee and Lakota culture built individual prestige and wealth through raids on villages of neighboring tribes and capture of horses.  The back and forth raids between the two led to intense hatred and open warfare in which even women and children became legitimate military targets.  The Pawnee allied with the United States and served as scouts and soldiers in the US Army, especially in campaigns against the Lakota and Cheyenne, which only heightened an already tense situation.

The US policy of forced removal pushed all of the Pawnee to a 10 mile x 30 mile reservation at the northern extreme of their range, along the Loup River in modern Nebraska.  This was accomplished by treaties in 1833, 1843, and 1857.  Under the conditions of these treaties, the Pawnee were to be allowed to conduct their summer hunt for buffalo, although white settlement meant that they had to travel farther and farther to accomplish the hunt. By 1873, they were pushed out along the Republican River in southwest Nebraska.  The site of the reservation was poorly considered by the US government, as it placed the Pawnee right in the path of Lakota coming down the Platte and Loup Rivers from Dakota.  Failure of the Army to protect the Pawnee from these raids coupled with a string of Quaker agents that preached nonviolence only angered and mystified the Pawnee.

During the 1873 hunting season, the Pawnee set toward the Republican River from the east with their hunting agent, John Williamson.  The youth (24 years) and inexperience of Williamson provided him with little stature and less knowledge in avoiding the coming conflict.  At the same time, the Cut-Off band of Oglala Lakota (subagent Antoine Janis) and a Brule Lakota group (subagent Stephen Estes) were working their way down the Republican from Colorado.  During the trip, the Lakota lost several horses and a man killed by Ute Indian raids.  On 03 August 1873, the Oglala discovered the Pawnee position.

Seeking a pre-emptive strike to prevent a repeat by the Pawnee of the Ute raids, the Oglala decided to attack the Pawnee.  When Janis was asked if he would allow the raid he basically said that they could not go into white settlements or onto the Pawnee reservation, but he had no instruction against a raid in the open country.  While Estes did not condone the raid, he was wholly ineffectual in dissuading the Brule from participating when invited by the Oglala.  A Lakota war party of about 1000 started moving down the Republican River towards Culbertson.

Ruling His Sun

On 04 August, a party of three white hunters informed Williamson and the Pawnee of the presence of a large body of Lakota warriors.  The head chief at the meeting, Sky Chief doubted that the Lakota were near, assuming that the hunters wanted the buffalo skins for themselves.  When Williamson tried to call off the hunt and head back to the reservation to avoid conflict, Sky Chief accused him of being a coward and a woman.  Williamson angrily replied that he would go as far that the chief dared to go.  Macho superseded good sense, especially as US Army protection failed to materialize.

On Tuesday 05 August, Sky Chief apologized for his harsh words, but still refused to send out scouts to look for the Lakota.  Buffalo were sighted in a canyon running northwest from the Republican River and the hunt commenced.  Several kills were made before the Lakota fell on the Pawnee from both sides of the canyon.  Sky Chief was one of the first Pawnee killed.  One thousand Lakota warriors made fairly short work of 350 Pawnee men and 350 women and children.  As the Pawnee retreated down the canyon, Lakota fired on them from both rims.  In the end, twenty Pawnee men, 39 women and 10 children were killed in the "battle".   It is thought that six Lakota were killed in the engagement. The loss for the Pawnee was severe.  The meat they needed, the skins, tents, cookware and 10% of their party killed - everything was gone.  They had to abandon belongings and their dead and flee for their lives.

Sky Chief, 1868

"The following morning August 5, we broke camp and started north, up the divide between the Republican and the Frenchman Rivers. Soon after leaving camp, Sky Chief rode up to me and extending his hand said, 'Shake, brother.' He recalled our little unpleasantness the night previous and said he did not believe there was cause for alarm, and was so impressed with the belief that he had not taken the precaution to throw out scouts in the direction the Sioux were reported to be. A few minutes later a buffalo scout signaled that buffaloes had been sighted in the distance, and Sky Chief rode off to engage in the hunt. I never saw him again. He had killed a buffalo and was skinning it when the advance guard of the Sioux shot and wounded him. The Chief attempted to reach his horse, but before he was able to mount, several of the enemy surrounded him. He died fighting. A Pawnee, who was skinning a buffalo a short distance away, but managed to escape, told me how Sky Chief died." - John Williamson

John Grass (Charging Bear) 1880s

Despite being informed of the attack by Williamson and three Pawnee chiefs, a search of the area by the army failed to turn up the Lakota.  It seems likely that the Army detachment of 52 thought it poor odds to fight 1000 well armed Lakota and did not push the issue.   Estes and Janis would eventually regain most of the Pawnee captured by the Brule and Oglala.  The Pawnee would return to their reservation but briefly.  It is often said that the Pawnee were so discouraged after the battle that they asked to be relocated to a new reservation in Indian Territory.  The real story is that the US government sold off Pawnee reservation land to homesteaders after Nebraska was made a state.  The proceeds from these sales were used to buy land for a Pawnee reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and to relocate the Pawnee in 1876.  Tensions between the US and the Lakota would culminate in the Indian Wars of the late 1800s.  In the end, the Lakota would end up on reservations and having to abandon their traditional nomadic lifestyle, as well.

The Memorial

Spotted Tail (Brule)

As the 50th anniversary of the battle approached, the locals decided to have a commemoration of the event.  In 1923, residents sponsored a Pow-Wow with Lakota survivors of the Massacre Canyon incident.  The Massacre Canyon Pow-Wow was an annual event until the 1950s.  The first time the Pawnee attended was in 1925 and they refused to meet with the Lakota until the second day of the Pow-Wow.  After 50 years, the hurt still ran that deep.  In the obituary of Ruling His Sun it is stated that it was difficult to restrain Ruling His Sun from violence when he learned that Sioux were at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the battle on the old Pawnee reservation.  This is understandable since one of Ruling His Sun's wives and at least one child were killed in the ambush.

This marker was dedicated on 26 September 1930 and stood on the side of US-34 at the mouth of the canyon about 1 mile south of the current location.  As the highway was realigned, the monument was moved to its current location in 1951.  The monument indicates that this was the last battle between the Pawnee and Lakota (Sioux).  Others assert that it was the largest and last engagement between two American Indian Nations.  To some it serves as a monument to "forgiveness" and "peace".  To me it causes one to remember that outside forces sometime conspire to bring about conflict that would not have otherwise existed and that individual actions can cause consequences that ripple out for generations.

Getting There

Little Wound (Oglala)

The monument is in a roadside pull-out along US-34 just between Trenton and Culbertson, NE.  It's the big rock column (ok, obelisk) with the Indian faces on it.

Waypoint:  40.206405 N; 100.965038 W

Further Reading

The Battle of Massacre Canyon

Ruling His Sun obituary

Across the Fence: Massacre Canyon

Sun Chief (Pawnee)

Two Strikes (Brule)