Battle of Saline River

[coxic]

Hello fellow Historians, 

I research battle site on Saline River in Ellis County Kansas. I have discovered many military activities at my locations that were part of the Indian Wars. My recent discovery is the real site for Battle of Saline River. I have two accounts of the battle , report submitted by Captain Armes and report of Wild Bill Hitchcock as a scout, which has questions. of course the reporting does not match up. But items found using metal detectors and excavation  support the account given by Armes to some degree. One find supports Hitchcock's claim an artillery piece was there and dismantled by the Indians.   this seems to be shell piece from Hotchkiss mountain gun shell. It's graphite and 37 mm, 1.65 diameter. However does not fit time period of August 1867. So still sorting it out

[noggy]

Jan 11, 2021 11:59:24 GMT -5 coxic said:

Hello fellow Historians, 

I research battle site on Saline River in Ellis County Kansas. I have discovered many military activities at my locations that were part of the Indian Wars. My recent discovery is the real site for Battle of Saline River. I have two accounts of the battle , report submitted by Captain Armes and report of Wild Bill Hitchcock as a scout, which has questions. of course the reporting does not match up. But items found using metal detectors and excavation  support the account given by Armes to some degree. One find supports Hitchcock's claim an artillery piece was there and dismantled by the Indians. View Attachment  this seems to be shell piece from Hotchkiss mountain gun shell. It's graphite and 37 mm, 1.65 diameter. However does not fit time period of August 1867. So still sorting it out

Hello!

There was some artillery used at the fight, was it not? But the Hotchkiss was if I recall correctly produced after 67? Either way it is a cool find. How are the laws in Kansas/the US when it comes to historic relics, and wheter you can keep them or not?

Noggy

[wimpy2020]

I live in Victoria Kansas and was wondering if there is a map of the route the buffalo soldiers took during the battle.

[coxic]

November 1, 2021

Sorry for my absence from the discussion. 

I discovered the site for the Battle of Saline River.  Actually having an event on November  20th, this year, to present findings and provide tours of the battle site. The Buffalo Soldiers and Capt. Armes traveled 15 miles north and 12 miles  west of Camp Campbell, a railroad camp that is present day Victoria Kansas. 

[noggy]

Nov 1, 2021 20:03:39 GMT -5 coxic said:

November 1, 2021

Sorry for my absence from the discussion. 

I discovered the site for the Battle of Saline River.  Actually having an event on November  20th, this year, to present findings and provide tours of the battle site. The Buffalo Soldiers and Capt. Armes traveled 15 miles north and 12 miles  west of Camp Campbell, a railroad camp that is present day Victoria Kansas. <button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button><button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button><button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button>

Congratulations.
So out of curiosity, how do you go about with findings and such now? Do you contact local authorities, museums..?

Noggy

[backwater]

found this""Armes and his men then began to follow the trail and were soon sent back to the fort for reinforcements. However, after waiting for four hours, the anxious men continued the pursuit before the reinforcements arrived. Some 25 men of the Thirty-eighth Infantry, under the command of Sergeant Pittman of Company C, were sent out to reinforce the Tenth Cavalry. Following the trail up the North Fork of Big Creek northeast of Fort Hays, they encountered a small band of 50 Cheyenne warriors and, with three shells from a howitzer, succeeded in scattering the Indians but doing little damage. When they found no signs of Captain Armes and his men, the Thirty-eighth Infantry returned to Fort Hays."" And from 4th regiment of artillery... The organization of a light battery under Orders No. 151, Series 1865, was 74 privates, 73 horses, 56 sabres (the drivers not being armed), and 8 revolvers for chiefs of pieces and caissons. One battery of each regiment was to be armed with 4 3-in. rifles and the other with 4 12-pdr. Napoleon guns.

The regiment retained its stations until November, 1872, the batteries occasionally interchanging, and a number of them doing reconstruction duty in North Carolina from 1870-72. G Battery was dismounted in February, 1869, under the order allowing but one light battery to each regiment, and was sent to North Carolina for duty in that section.

Light Battery B was in the field against the Cheyenne Indians in 1867, and in the campaign against the Indians in 187o, and joined at regimental headquarters in 1871.

[backwater]

I think they had 3" rifled guns and 12 lb napoleons when light battery B went to Leavenworth in fall of 1865.