This Day…

1867-General William T Sherman has devised a plan to drive all of the Plains Indians either north of the Platte or south of the Arkansas River, leaving a broad belt of territory for the transcontinental railroad and the Kansas Pacific Railroad.  General Winfield Scott Hancock leads a large cavalry and infantry force across western Kansas.  At Pawnee Fork, his troops capture and burn a Cheyenne village of 250 lodges.  The Indians, fearing another massacre like the one at Sand Creek in 1864, flee before the advancing troops.  In retaliation the Indians halt almost all travel across western Kansas.  Surveying parties for the Kansas Pacific Railroad come under attack, and progress on that line is halted for over a month.