On September 3, 1855, the U.S. Army's 600-man Sioux Expedition,
commanded by Col. William
S. Harney, attacked and destroyed a Lakota village located three
miles north on Blue Creek. The
fight became known as the Battle of Blue Water, sometimes the
Battle of Ash Hollow after the nearby landmark, or the Harney
Massacre.
The army's attack avenged the Indian annihilation of Lt. John
Grattan's command near Fort
Laramie in 1854. Harney concluded the more than 250 Brules and
Oglalas camped on Blue
Creek were the guilty parties. He divided his force and led his
infantry towards the village. While
Harney engaged in a delaying parley with Chief Little Thunder,
the mounted troops had circled
undetected to the north.
The infantry opened fire with its new, long-range rifles and
forced the Indians to flee toward the
mounted soldiers, who inflicted terrible casualties. Eighty-six
Indians were killed, seventy
women and children were captured, and their tipis were looted
and burned. This first, yet often
overlooked, military campaign against the Lakota kept the Overland
Trail open, but only
postponed until 1863-64 a war between the two nations.
Erected in memory of Dennis Shimmin
Ash Hollow State Historical Park Superintendent, 1968-1998.
Nebraska State Historical Society
U.S. 26, 1 1/2 miles west of Lewellen
Garden County
Marker 403