Battle of Ash Hollow

Battle of Ash Hollow
Part of the First Sioux War, American Indian Wars

An 1878 depiction of the Battle of Ash Hollow.
DateSeptember 3, 1855
Location
Ash Hollow, Nebraska
Result United States victory
Belligerents
Brulé  United States
Commanders and leaders
Little Thunder United States William S. Harney
Strength
~250 ~600
Casualties and losses
86 killed, 70 women and children captured 27 killed

The Battle of Ash Hollow, also known as the Battle of Blue Water Creek or the Harney Massacre,[1][2] was an engagement of the First Sioux War, fought on September 2 and 3, 1855, between United States Army soldiers under Brig. Gen. William S. Harney and a band of the Brulé Lakota along the Platte River in present-day Garden County, Nebraska. In the 20th century, the town of Lewellen, Nebraska, was developed here as a railroad stop.

The American force won the battle: the Brulé women and children they killed made up nearly half the fatalities; other women and children made up most of the prisoners they took. The Army planned this punitive expedition in retaliation for the "Grattan Massacre" in August 1854, and for raids by Lakota in its wake.

  1. ^ "The Battle of Blue Water"[usurped], 2004, Nebraska State Historical Society; accessed 15 August 2016
  2. ^ Warren, G.K. (Lt.) Report of September 4, 1855, and sketch of Battle Ground at Blue Water Creek. p. 38-39. In Warren, G.K., 1856. Explorations in the Dacota Country in the Year 1855. 34th Congress, No. 76.