Lieutenant Casper Collins: Fighting the Odds at Platte Bridge

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By this time, Lieutenant Collins had finished his errand at Fort Laramie but was in no rush to return to Sweetwater. The Indians had burned some buildings at Rocky Ridge Station (near South Pass) and had left some scalped and mutilated bodies staked out here and there. Setting out alone seemed foolish, so he planned to wait until he could hook up with some patrol passing through.

Collins’ plans did not meet with General Patrick Connor’s approval. In fact, the Fort Laramie commander became downright agitated.

‘Why have you not returned to your post?’ Connor asked sternly.

Collins started to explain.

‘Are you a coward?’ the general interrupted.

‘No, sir!’

‘Then report to your command without further delay.’

The general’s words must have stung young Caspar Collins. For many months he had been helping to guard the overland routes. According to one author, ‘He had ridden through blizzards on the desert; had forded treacherous mountain streams, and had soldiered under dangerous and adverse conditions….Never had he shirked his duty.’

The men at Fort Laramie apparently did not see things Connor’s way. According to one account, they persuaded Collins, who was hurriedly preparing for the 179-mile trip to Sweetwater, to wait a while longer. Collins waited until July 20, when he accompanied Corporal Paul Grimm and 11 men of the 11th Kansas Cavalry with the mail ambulance.

All was excitement when Collins, Grimm and the others arrived at Platte Bridge Station about 4 p.m. on July 25. Just across the river, Indians had gathered to taunt the soldiers with obscene words and gestures. The soldiers fired the mountain howitzer but refused to be lured away from the station by Indian decoys. Some of the Indians swam their horses across the river below the bridge in an attempt to run off some stock. In the skirmish that followed, the soldiers, led by Captain Greer, killed a Cheyenne chief, High-Backed Wolf. Private John Friend of the 11th Ohio later wrote, ‘The first day in the afternoon the Kansas men killed an Indian, scalped him and hung the scalp on a stick on top of the quarters.’

The Indians withdrew from the south side of the river, and an eerie silence settled over the station as night fell on the 25th. The soldiers expected the Indians to come back looking for revenge. Ammunition was low, and the soldiers ‘ran bullets’ and loaded cartridges. Sentries were on the alert. The Indians did not return that night, but Major Anderson did receive a surprise visitor–Lieutenant Bretney.

Bretney–last seen being escorted to Sweetwater by Sergeant Custard–and a detachment of 10 men of the 11th Ohio and Captain A. Smyth Lybe of the 6th U.S. Infantry had left Sweetwater for Fort Laramie, where they intended to draw pay for their companies. Supper time had found them at Lower Willow Springs, again in the company of Custard, who was on his way back to Platte Bridge Station with the three empty mule-drawn wagons. Bretney had wanted to spend the night in the relative safety of the station and had urged Custard to do the same. The sergeant had declined, saying the animals were too tired to continue that night.

As soon as he arrived at the Platte Bridge Station, Bretney hurried to Major Anderson’s quarters. His urgent knocking awakened the major.

‘Major,’ said Bretney, ‘a rescue party should be sent at once to your wagon train at Willow Springs Creek….The men…are camped about 25 miles from here….I did my best to persuade the sergeant…but he said his horses were too fatigued.’

‘They are well armed,’ was Major Anderson’s brief response.

‘I know that, but there is danger of the Indians surrounding them and cutting them off,’ continued Bretney. ‘Help should be sent at once. There is no time to lose.’

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Tags: 19th Century, American Indian Wars, Historical Conflicts, Native American History, Wild West

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