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Beecher Island Battle Ground

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1924–1958. Yuma County KK

Beecher Island was built around a combined post office and store near the site of an 1868 battle between the U.S. army and bands of Cheyenne and Arapaho. Lieutenant Frederick H. Beecher and the Cheyenne warrior Roman Nose both lost their lives in this ten-day siege, ended by the arrival of U.S. cavalry. Today this semi–ghost town consists of abandoned frame cottages and an unlikely collection of three Sunday schools, the oldest and largest built in 1891. An obelisk commemorates the battle site on an island that the Arikaree River has since washed away. The Rosencrans Ranch on Willow Creek, 6 miles east of Beecher Island, has a rare two-story sod ranch house.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Thomas J. Noel
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Data

Citation

Thomas J. Noel, "Beecher Island Battle Ground", [Wray, Colorado], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/CO-01-YM02.

Print Source

Buildings of Colorado, Thomas J. Noel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 264-264.

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