1867 Cheyenne village, Pawnee River

This 1870 map of Kansas represents the area along the Pawnee Fork river near Fort Larned. Ness County is the green area of the upper left portion of the photo.

In 1867, the 7th Cavalry marched west out of Fort Larned on an expedition "designed to give the central plains Indians a lesson and to provide a response to the Fetterman Massacre that took place the previous year." This web site describes the Hancock Expedition which resulted in the destruction of the Cheyenne village. Here is part of the story:

"On the expedition was a half French, half Cheyenne scout by the name of Edmund Guerrier. He reported to General Hancock on the evening of Sunday, April 14, 1867, that the Indians were leaving the camp on the Pawnee. Hancock gave the order to Colonel George Custer and the 7th to surround the village. Custer's surgeon, Isaac Coates, described the scene..........On April 19, Hancock's order to destroy the "nest of conspirators" was carried out. Three companies of the 37th Infantry gathered the lodges, Buffalo robes, and the camp equipment into great piles and set everything ablaze."

Over 100 years later, two researchers discovered the location of the Cheyenne village: "George and Earl were able to pinpoint the village, along with every stop and feature on the route taken by the Army. In their search, they had worked east along the river to within a mile of the site from the west. From the east end going west, they had just gotten to the place called Duncan's Crossing. With this new information and map in hand, they began exploring the village site and discovered it was rich in artifact material. Most of what the two found was found with metal detectors. George and Earl found iron trade items that were used to trade with the Indians, kettle parts, gun parts, tin cups, and cartridge cases. There were also iron objects altered by Indians for uses such as awls, scrapers, points, and knives. They also excavated non-iron items; stone points, pot shards, rubbing stones, clay pipes, glass, and beads. They noted that material was often in groupings or piles of similar items. There were many burned areas."

The history and location of Duncan's Crossing is described by a web site from Santa Fe Trail Research: "Duncan's crossing was originally founded by John O'Loughlin, a young Irish immigrant who had come west to find his fortune. It was his work as a teamster for the Army Quartermaster Department that probably led him to this spot in the trail that linked Fort Dodge to Fort Hays. After the railroad reached Hays City in 1867, the army shipped their supplies by rail to Hays City and used wagons to transport them on the Fort Dodge. Thus, the trail between the two forts was established by the Army. O'Loughlin chose his location well. It was half way between the forts of Hays and Dodge in Kansas, and located on the Pawnee River. It was difficult to cross, even in the dry season, because of the high banks, so he built a bridge to aid both the Army and civilians as they came this way."

Thus, Guerrier and Hancock and Custer were present at the Cheyenne village on the Pawnee Fork in Ness County near Duncan's Crossing. The location of the village has since been discovered. This is definitely someplace I would love to visit!