Heart of America

By G. L. Snider

Fort McPherson National Cemetery forms the index to a record of the advance of our civilization over a vast extent of territory. It holds a unique position in the history of our country and points the way to sources of information that should not be permitted to fall into oblivion. The North Platte Valley is well advertised and rightfully so for it's many advantages, but it is regretfully admitted that numerous historical places are neglected examples of which may be found along the old trail touching the range of hills between Brady and North Platte. Unmarked graves, scenes of early struggles by the pioneers, all will soon have disappeared and be forgotten The only lasting monuments will be those erected by nature like Indian Lookout and Sioux Lookout unless appropriate action soon follows.

Interest in these matters once was unmistakably shown by numerous tourists, visitors and hundreds of Nebraskans' whom the writer had the pleasure of meeting, while he was superintendent of the cemetery. But no organized effort appears to have been made to preserve for posterity the rich stores of historical knowledge throughout the North Platte Valley in which this cemetery is situated. The National Cemetery contains the remains of 1,112 men, women and children, soldiers, Indians and civilians, Veterans of Indian uprisings the great Civil War, Spanish War and the World War. Every one of them is a link that unites luxurious present with the hardships and tragedies endured and suffered by a past or a passing generation. Most of these were originally interred at outposts that stood in Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Colorado, and they are now at final rest in this hallowed ground.

They deserve the best care that a great and grateful nation can bestow, and it seems particularly the duty of Nebraskans', through their national representatives, to let the rest of the country know of the existence of this cemetery and other equally important but unmarked Historical Sites. There are many Nebraskans' who may read this, and for the first time learn that there is a National Cemetery within their borders. Criticisms and apologies will disappear if they give their public spirited moral support to a manifest mutt on organized interest in this inadequately recorded national history.

Tourists from the East will make reverential pilgrimages to the wonderful North Platte Valley and there refresh their patriotic spirits among graphic records of a past that is of national significance and essentially Nebraskan, if practical measures are adopted for their preservation and a resultant instruction of future generations.

It is interesting to recall that all the land within sight of the cemetery was formerly a Military Reservation. It extended far beyond the hills to the south and north to the Platte River. Barracks and stockades stood about a mile southeast of the present cemetery at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon. The post was established and named Fort McPhearson when the Union Pacific construction was under way in Lincoln County in 1868. The locality was known as Cottonwood Springs, which name it still retains, and may be identified by a clump of Cottonwood trees and a small, white house in the distance. Prior to the arrival of the military a man named McPhearson conducted a trading post there. Nothing survives as a reminder of the Fort except a stone marker at the site of the old flag staff. Crossing the north and south new public road near an unused irrigation ditch, is the line of the old emigrant trail, where it is hoped a conspicuous marker will be placed. At this point the trail followed a course diagonally across what is now a wheat field, owned by Mr. Alfred Sommer, to the Maxwell Road which it crosses at the public school.

Before Buffalo Bill became famous, he and his wife lived in a dugout at Fort McPhearson where numerous hunting expeditions were organized for the entertainment of British visitors and other guests of the officers.

The mouth of Cottonwood Canyon, in the early days, was a particularly dangerous spot as marauding Indians were partial to the concealment it offered. Here also a marker should be placed. Emigrant routes over the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail and Pikes Peak Trail should be located and permanent markers indicate their lines throughout the whole of North Platte Valley, while unmarked graves and old sites should receive similar treatment. With an authentic record accessible to literary workers, guidebooks will thus record these places, and tourists will be on the look out for them. In fact the whole valley may well become the trysting spot of the writer in search of material for the Great American Novel. It is all here lying fallow awaiting the pen of the man or woman who has vision enough to grasp the sublime epic of early American life here in this splendid valley. Permit me to repeat therefore, that permanent markers will be a tremendous factor in arousing interest and focusing attention on this region, markers that should include Indian look out and Sioux look out which so admirably served the Indians in prosecuting their hostilities. These lofty elevations command a view of the valley over many miles between Brady and North Platte.

There was a cemetery connected with the post on the hill south of the present National Cemetery. It contained twenty- five or thirty graves. All that could be found were opened and the bodies reintered at the Fort McPhearson National Cemetery, which was established in 1873. The present cemetery contains twenty acres, about four acres of which is enclosed by a five-foot brick wall, and the rest of the land is marked by wire fencing. Eleven hundred and twelve interments have been made. Of this number five hundred and seventeen are recorded as "Unknown". Survivors of those earlier days may recall the following names of abandoned Military Posts, whose dead now repose at McPhearson, Farnum, Fort Hartsuff, Fort Hall, Fort Kearney, Fort McPhearson, Fort Sidney, Island (Nebraska), Fort Bridger, Fort Fetterman, Fort Halleck, Fort Laramie, Fort Saunders, Fort F. Steele, Independence Rock, Wyoming, LaBont, Wyoming, Fort Crawford, Fort Lewis, Fort Sedgwick, White River Camp. These vanished outposts stood in what now constitutes an area comparable with the State of New York, Pennsylvania, and all the New England States combined.

The grounds are divided into sections known as A, B, C, D, E and F. In section B stands a simple but impressive white marble shaft about six feet high that holds the attention of visitors for its unofficial history which briefly follows.

August 18, 1854 a Corporal, with several other soldiers, visited an Indian camp near Fort Laramie, Wyoming under orders to investigate the disappearance of certain missing cattle. While in route the Corporal reinforced himself with frontier whiskey. The camp was under the leadership of Chief Bighead, which title might with more appropriateness have been applied to the Corporal. The latter rather pompously approached Bighead and demanded the return of the property and surrender of the thieves, whereupon Bighead earnestly protested that his followers had not stolen the cattle. This however did not satisfy the belligerent Corporal, who by his subsequent actions, signed the death warrants for a number of his comrades. Advancing near Bighead the Corporal placed a bullet between his lips spat it onto the ground, thereby signifying in sign language that hostilities were in order. However, the little party of soldiers was allowed to leave without casualties and the Corporal's desire for glory remained unappeased. But the following day, ever memorable in the annals of the regular army August 19, 1854, a detachment under Lieutenant Grattan with instructions to visit Bigheads camp, set out. Their objective was never attained for while on the way they were ambuscaded by a band of warriors led by Spotted Tail and all were killed except one man who reached the fort and died the following day. The bodies of the enlisted men numbering twenty-eight, now rest in a circle at the base of the white marble stone, on which are inscribed their names. All were members of Company G 6^th US infantry. This is an old account of what historians term the Grattan Massacre.

One more typical narrative, it relates to Section E, which is immediately outside and west of the enclosing brick wall. Here are the remains of two hundred and one human beings, who made the supreme sacrifice in wresting a rich empire from its savage proprietors, that a superior civilization in some respects, might enjoy the fatness of the land. Originally buried at Fort Sidney, Nebraska, the bodies were reintered here. One body was that of a woman with a mass of beautiful golden hair, another body of a woman with a child by her side, still another with a coil of wire about the neck, a mans body had a rope around his neck, and the body of another who in life must have been a giant, had the feet and legs encased in immense boots.

In Section C maybe seeing the grave of a friendly Indian, which is always remembered by unidentified visitors on memorial days. His name was Spotted Horse, a member of the Pawnee tribe doubtless, as he was employed as a scout. Old timers still relate the story of an expedition of Pawnees to recover a band of horses stolen by hostiles from the soldiers at Fort McPhearson. The Pawnees followed the hostiles many miles north, overtook and vanquished them, and then faced about to report their success with a fine collection of scalps as vouchers of their prowess. On their last night before reaching the fort, they halted for a celebration, which only ended at sunrise and took the form of a scalp dance punctuated by yells, tom toms and discharge of fire-arms. Heap much whiskey was consumed. The few settlers at Maxwell (as it is still known) were greatly relieved when the heroic band staggered away on the trail towards McPhearson, mounted their rested ponies, and with final yells and waving of their gory trophy's disappeared beyond the horizon. Men and woman still live in the Platte Valley who recall when these "Friendly's" roaming about as individuals, would suddenly appear and their presence be made known by the bronzed features of a stoic, peering through a window silent, intent, motionless. Or a tall blanket enwrapped figure topped by a brown face with beady black eyes became visible as if by magic at the open door.

The Burke ranch house a small log dwelling built entirely of Cedar, the grave of a notorious gunman at the roadside who passed away in correct professional manner, graves where a family of seven, father, mother and five children were butchered, the bodies of nine men also killed by Indians; these and other unmarked but authenticated spots were relocated between the National Cemetery and Bignell. The last great round up of cattle that took place between what is now the cemetery and North Platte also deserves notice. All of these and more should no longer be left in total neglect but permanently recorded by appropriate markers.