June 3 1865 Dry Creek Battle location?

[pemihan]

Hi,

My first post here, just joined.
I'm researching for a photographic project on the battlefields of the Indian Wars, at the moment I'm focused on Wyoming.

I'm trying to find the location of the June 3 1865 battle at Dry Creek but am having a really hard time pinpointing it. The text below is from www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-indianbattles2.html and it's the closest I have come but I'm not sure the place should be west of Kaycee, I can't get it to make sense and I can't find any Dry Creek near Kaycee..

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Peter

Dry Creek (June 3, 1865) - In June, 1865 Lieutenant Colonel Preston B. Plumb in command of the 11th. Kansas Cavalry, was making his headquarters at a temporary tent camp called Camp Dodge, about six miles southeast of Platte Bridge Station. At about 3:00 p.m. on June 3, 1865, a band of ten warriors fired on the Platte Bridge Station from across the North Platte River. When a messenger brought Plumb the news, he and ten troop rode to the station, where he gathered ten more men from the Ohio Cavalry and a few more from the Kansas Cavalry, and headed west after the raiders. After pursuing the Indians for about five miles, the soldiers were close enough to fire and hit two of the warriors. The Indians then turned and briefly charged Plumb and his troops, before breaking off. As Plumb and his men pursued they soon came to Dry Creek where they faced a party of about 60 warriors who charged them. However, the troops were quickly reinforced by another 20 men from the Kansas Cavalry and the warriors made an about face. The soldiers pursued the Indians for another two miles, before being ambushed by about 30 warriors. Two of the soldiers were killed. When the battle was over, Plumb reported one Indian killed and about five wounded. Today, the battlefield is is marked by a stone monument, on the side of a hill just off an unimproved road, about 23 miles west of Kaycee.

[Yan Taylor]

Hi Peter and welcome, I tried your link but is seems cut, is this the battle ?;

link

Ian.

[fred]

A friend of mine told me the battle occurred near the Platte Bridge Station about seven miles southwest of Camp Dodge. Is that near Kaycee?

Have you tried looking through Gregory Michno's Encyclopedia of the Indian Wars?


Best wishes,
Fred.

[fred]

My friend sent me this:

"Found a map in Michno's book page xxxiv. The battle site is just south of FT. Casper along the North Platte River and North of where the Sweetwater intersects with it."


Best wishes,
Fred.

[pemihan]

Thanks Ian, yes that's the one, sorry about the link, it missed the last l which I have added now :-)

Fred, thanks, I assume you mean Camp Dodge which was located seven miles southeast of the Platte Bridge Station?
Some of the troops in the battle came from Camp Dodge, but rode to the Platte Bridge Station and gathered more troops before pursuing the Indians west.
There's a Dry Creek about 30-35 miles west of the Platte Bridge Station, so it could be out there, but that doesn't fit with being 23 miles west of Kaycee..

I have Gregory Michno's Encyclopedia of the Indian Wars but he doesn't give any location.

Best
Peter

[quincannon]

Camp Dodge was about six miles southwest of Platte Bridge Station and was a tent camp. Platte Bridge Station itself became Fort Casper in November 1865 named for Caspar Collins. Note the misspelling of the first name of Lieutenant Collins, and the use of the first name in naming the post, so as not to confuse it with Fort Collins, Colorado.

There is some dispute about the Caspar-Casper business though.

Casper and Kaycee are in different counties and those a big counties up there. They seem to be on the order of 75 miles plus or minus apart, looking at the maps.

Fred: To put you into perspective, as you come out of Colorado and enter Wyoming near Cheyenne, I 25 transits most of the state. The first exit to Casper coming from the south is near mile marker 180, As you continue up I24 it bends northward at Casper and the exit for Kaycee is at mile marker 254. Kaycee is not all that far from the site of old Fort Reno, and is about half way between Casper and Buffalo.

I think what you are looking for is probably within the city limits of Casper or not far outside those limits.

[pemihan]

According to Gregory Michno's Encyclopedia of the Indian Wars camp Dodge was seven miles southeast of Platte Bridge Station.
According to this document it was located app six miles from the Platte Bridge on the west fork of upper Garden Creek which is slightly southeast from Platte Bridge Station on Casper Mountain.
wyoshpo.state.wy.us/pdf/SHPOmilitarycontext2012.pdf page 73 top left.

Anyway it's not where the June 3 1865 Dry Creek Battle took place. It was somewhere west of Platte Bridge Station and supposedly there should be a marker out there.
Anybody know where it is ;-) It should be on a hill side just off a dirt road...

Peter

[quincannon]

Southeast is correct. My southwest above was in error.

[fred]

I got this from Greg Michno:


"The Dry Creek fight is mentioned in the Official Records and in Preston Plumb's biography. His description is about five miles either west or southwest of Ft. Caspar. It is in the Encyclopedia of Indian Wars, which is out of print right now, but Mountain Press just informed me they would reprint this fall."


Best wishes,
Fred.

[quincannon]

Seems to me the most simple way to approach this is to contact the folks at the Fort Caspar Museum in Casper. If this is as said off a dirt road up a hill etc. it probably requires local knowledge for specific directions. If it is five miles west or southwest of Fort Caspar that puts it a short distance outside the Casper city limits. They have a web site and contact information for Fort Caspar Park on the internet.

[fred]

I received the following from someone I know who used to teach at Leavenworth... Combat Studies Insitute or C&GS, I'm not sure which:


"The 3 June 1865 fight was on Dry Creek (modern Caspar Creek) north of the North Platte River and Platte Bridge Station. Camp Dodge was a temporary tent encampment located on Garden Creek from April to June 1865 to provide grass for the 11th Kansas Cavalry horses. It is located approximately 4 1/2 miles south of the Fort Caspar Museum. The precise location has not been confirmed, but the Wyoming Veterans Museum is working on a project to confirm the location. I’m not aware that there is any marker for this engagement, which was a running fight in any event. Camp Dodge was the headquarters of Colonel Preston Plumb of the 11th Kansas Cavalry from April to June 1865. Because of Indian threats, it was closed and the troops transferred to Platte Bridge Station in late June/early July 1865."


Best wishes,
Fred.

[Yan Taylor]

I think this is another report on the Battle;

June 3, 1865 Dry Creek (Casper, Wyoming)

Lt. Col. Preston B. Plumb, in command of the 11th. Kansas Cavalry, made his headquarters at Camp Dodge, about seven miles southeast of Platte Bridge Station, which was guarded by soldiers from Company G of the 11th. Ohio Cavalry. At about 3 P.M. on June 3rd, a band of ten Indians fired on Platte Bridge Station from across the North Platte River. When a messenger brought Plumb the news, he took ten men of Company B and rode to the station. There he gathered ten more men from the 11th. Ohio Cavalry and a few more from Companies A and F, 11th. Kansas Cavalry, and headed west after the raiders.

A chase of five miles had half the cavalry's horses dropping back in exhaustion, but Plumb's men were close enough to fire on and hit two Indians. The warriors abruptly turned and charged at Plumb, who did not turn away. The Indians then broke off, at a considerably faster speed than they had been going before. These Indians, Plumb discovered, were a decoy. "This purpose quite apparent immediately after," Plumb later said, "as a party of about sixty Indians came charging down the bottom of Dry Creek half a mile to our left, with the apparent purpose of getting between us and the station and cutting off the stragglers".

At this time another 20 men from Companies A and F of the 11th. Kansas Cavalry showed up, and the Indians turned around. The soldiers chased the warriors for two miles. Six men of A and F Companies and one of Company G, 11th. Ohio, pursuing a party considerably in advance, were ambushed by about 30 Indians, front and rear. Before assistance arrived two privates were killed. One was scalped after his horse fell on him and pinned him to the ground; the other's body was saved from mutilation when a Pvt Martin of Company A, taking cover in a ravine, drove the Indians off with his carbine.

Plumb reported one Indian killed and about five wounded. The two soldiers killed were the only army casualties.

I don’t want to muddy the waters here but what is this battle;

The Dry Creek Fight Wyoming September 8th 1865.
The Battlefield is located on private land, near the confluence of Pilgrim Creek, and the Powder River, in Powder River County, Montana, near present-day Broadus, Montana.

Ian.

[pemihan]

quincannon, thanks, I already did that, but they didn't know the location.

Fred, thanks again. Your last post makes sense, I wasn't aware that Casper Creek used to be Dry Creek. That would put the start of the fight in the vicinity of Casper Airport.. See Google Earth screen print.

[pemihan]

Ian, that is taken from Michno's Encyclopedia of Indian Wars.

The other fight you mention is a bit confusing as it mentions both Wyoming and Montana..

Peter

[pemihan]

Ha! I think I know where the mistake on www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-indianbattles2.html of putting the site 23 miles west of Kaycee comes from.
Whoever wrote it has copied the directions to Dull Knife Battlefield from A Guide to the Indian Wars of the West by John D. McDermott. It states almost exactly the same.

Case closed, well almost, still need to find an approximate location of the start of the June 3, 1865 Dry Creek battle, but at least I have it narrowed down somewhat now.

Peter