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Summit Springs Battlefield Site

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5 miles east of Colorado 63 on Washington County 2, 32 miles north of Akron

Markers on this enclosed one-acre site commemorate the last battle on the Colorado plains, fought here between the Cheyenne Indians and the U.S. 5th Calvary, on July 11, 1869. Some 300 cavalrymen, under General Eugene A. Carr, and more than 100 Pawnee scouts surprised 450 warriors led by Chief Tall Bull (Tatonka Haska). In a battle lasting less than an hour, fifty-two Cheyenne, including Tall Bull, were killed, seventeen taken prisoner, and many ponies and buffalo robes confiscated before the encampment was burned. One of the scouts present at the battle was Buffalo Bill Cody, who later reenacted the battle as a regular feature of his Wild West Show.

A large stone slab commemorates an unknown fifteen-year-old Cheyenne herd boy slain here. An anonymous Indian artist's sketchbook captured at Summit Springs, which portrays Indian life and war with the bluecoats, is now in the Colorado History Museum in Denver.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Summit Springs Battlefield Site", [Otis, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-WS09.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 272-273.

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