Colorado - Kansas Border / Smoky Hill River

George Bent described the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in "Life of George Bent" (by George E. Hyde). Bent and other survivors ".....could stand the cold no longer, and although it was still pitch-dark and long before dawn, we left that place and started east, toward the headwaters of the Smoky Hill, where we knew Indians were encamped....."

On page 161 is a hand drawn map which shows the location of the Cheyenne camp where the survivors took refuge. The village was on the Smoky Hill river where it crossed the Colorado - Kansas border. This was just west of where Fort Wallace was established a few years later, as shown on the map in the previous post.

And, on page 120 is a map which shows the Western Cattle Trail just to the east of Fort Wallace. An excellent source of information on the Western Cattle Trail is the book "The Western" by Gary and Margaret Kraisinger.