Sending for Help

Two scouts braved Indians and elements to get a relief force.

On September 17th, 1868, Colonel Sandy Forsythe’s band of scouts found themselves surrounded by several hundred Cheyenne Dog Soldiers on the Arikaree fork of the Republican River in eastern Colorado. Casualties were heavy. Food ran low. Forsythe decided to send 19-year-old Jack Stilwell and an old scout named Pete Trudeau 120 miles to Fort Wallace, Kansas for help. Forty-eight hours later—after a series of adventures—the pair made it to the fort and a relief column was sent out.