The Pawnee War

The Pawnee War was a series of skirmishes and confrontations between white settlers, Nebraska Organized Militia, and a detachment of U.S. Army dragoons in the early summer of 1859. The Nebraska Militia’s march up the Elkhorn River Valley and parlay with the Pawnee on a windswept hill near the present site of Battle Creek, Nebraska, was unique in the history of the American West. It was the only time a territorial governor led armed forces into direct military confrontation with a Native American tribe. Nebraska Territorial Governor Samuel Black took this dubious honor and he remains the only Nebraska governor to command military forces on the field of battle.