"The Kidder Murder." From "My Life on the Plains" by Gen. George A. Custer (1874)
The Kidder Murder of 29 June 1867 refers to the killing of United States Second Lieutenant Lyman Kidder, along with an Indian scout and ten enlisted men in Sherman County, Kansas, near Goodland, by a Sioux and Cheyenne war party. It was during the period of the Indian Wars on the western plains.
In June 1867 Kidder and his men were ordered to take dispatches from General William Sherman to Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, camped on the Republican River in Nebraska. Lt. Kidder's party reached the encampment, but prior to their arrival, Custer had become restless and moved his force to the south, then to the northwest. When Lt. Kidder discovered Custer's force had departed, he seemed to have thought Custer moved south to Fort Wallace. En route to Fort Wallace, Kidder and his troops were killed by a Sioux and Cheyenne war party.
When Custer sent troopers to search for Lt. Kidder's party, they found a dead army horse on the trail, then signs of a running battle for a few miles along Beaver Creek. On 12 July, Custer's scout Will Comstock found the mutilated bodies of the Kidder party north of Beaver Creek in northern Sherman County, Kansas.
In his book, “My Life on the Plains,” Custer described his arriving at the scene of the massacre in these words: "Each body was pierced by from 20 to 50 arrows, and the arrows were found as the savage demons had left them, bristling in the bodies."
In 1967 "The Friends of the Library of Goodland Kansas" erected an historic marker in honor of the soldiers and scout, on land owned by Kuhrt Farms. [Source: Wikipedia]
"The Kidder Murder." From "My Life on the Plains" by Gen. George A. Custer (1874)
The Kidder Murder of 29 June 1867 refers to the killing of United States Second Lieutenant Lyman Kidder, along with an Indian scout and ten enlisted men in Sherman County, Kansas, near Goodland, by a Sioux and Cheyenne war party. It was during the period of the Indian Wars on the western plains.
In June 1867 Kidder and his men were ordered to take dispatches from General William Sherman to Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, camped on the Republican River in Nebraska. Lt. Kidder's party reached the encampment, but prior to their arrival, Custer had become restless and moved his force to the south, then to the northwest. When Lt. Kidder discovered Custer's force had departed, he seemed to have thought Custer moved south to Fort Wallace. En route to Fort Wallace, Kidder and his troops were killed by a Sioux and Cheyenne war party.
When Custer sent troopers to search for Lt. Kidder's party, they found a dead army horse on the trail, then signs of a running battle for a few miles along Beaver Creek. On 12 July, Custer's scout Will Comstock found the mutilated bodies of the Kidder party north of Beaver Creek in northern Sherman County, Kansas.
In his book, “My Life on the Plains,” Custer described his arriving at the scene of the massacre in these words: "Each body was pierced by from 20 to 50 arrows, and the arrows were found as the savage demons had left them, bristling in the bodies."
In 1967 "The Friends of the Library of Goodland Kansas" erected an historic marker in honor of the soldiers and scout, on land owned by Kuhrt Farms. [Source: Wikipedia]