The Indian warriors rode in, shooting arrows and firearms, and mowed down the teamsters within minutes, and the group was slaughtered. (Colorized by Jecinci).Īt about 5 in the afternoon, the camp was attacked by 150 Sioux allegedly under the command of the chief Little Turtle. With a fort so close, the teamsters and their escort became lax about security, and they ended up camping about a mile from their army escort.Ĭolorized version of the original photo. On July 18, flagging from the heat, the pioneers made camp near Walnut Creek, not far from Fort Zarah near present-day Great Bend, Kansas. Because of the dangers on the trail, the wagon train had a US army escort.ĭespite several skirmishes with Indians, the wagons traveled roughly 16 miles per day. In the summer of 1864, the freight company had a wagon train leave Fort Leavenworth bound for Fort Union, and Robert was one of the teamsters working on this wagon train. Desperate for work, Robert took a job with a freight company to take supplies to Fort Union in New Mexico.
Once in Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, Robert applied to join the army, but he was not accepted, because he was too young. Somewhere on the trail, Robert’s parents died, and he became an orphan. The family joined a wagon train heading to Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1864, 14-year-old Robert McGee and his family decided to migrate west, as was the custom of many emigrants of the day, to seek a better life on the American Frontier.
This is the story of how Robert McGee was scalped in the summer of 1864 by Sioux Indian warriors and lived to tell the tale. Henry took this rare photograph of Robert McGee displaying his scalping scars. Robert McGee is one of the few people in American frontier history to survive having his flesh ripped from his skull.
Survivor Robert McGee was scalped as a child in 1864 by Sioux.
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