Civil War and Indian Wars U.S. Army Surgeon. He served in the Civil War, acted as surgeon in the Union Army Medical Department with the 16th & 118th New York Volunteers from 1861 to 1865. After the war he was a physician and druggist in Plattsburg, New York. Contracted on August 29, 1868 for service as a First Lieutenant acting Assistant Surgeon he reported to Fort Hays, Kansas. There he served in the command of Major George A. Forsyth, this group known as the Forsyth Scouts had been actively searching out Cheyenne adversaries. On September 17, 1868, a large band of Cheyenne warriors, led by Chief Roman Nose, pursued his detachment of 50 men led my First Lieutenant Beecher. The Indians stranded them on a sandbar on the Arikara River near the Kansas-Colorado border. The Indians organized several massed charges but the attacks decreased following the death of Roman Nose. While tending to a fallen soldier he was fatally shot and died 2 days latter from his wound. Lt. Frederick Beecher, for whom the battle and site is named, was also killed in action with 21 soldiers. The remaining defenders were rescued on September 25 when a company of 10th Cavalry troops came to their aid. A historical marker commemorates the battle as Beecher's Island Battlefield and serves as a memorial to the dead on both sides who are buried there.
Civil War and Indian Wars U.S. Army Surgeon. He served in the Civil War, acted as surgeon in the Union Army Medical Department with the 16th & 118th New York Volunteers from 1861 to 1865. After the war he was a physician and druggist in Plattsburg, New York. Contracted on August 29, 1868 for service as a First Lieutenant acting Assistant Surgeon he reported to Fort Hays, Kansas. There he served in the command of Major George A. Forsyth, this group known as the Forsyth Scouts had been actively searching out Cheyenne adversaries. On September 17, 1868, a large band of Cheyenne warriors, led by Chief Roman Nose, pursued his detachment of 50 men led my First Lieutenant Beecher. The Indians stranded them on a sandbar on the Arikara River near the Kansas-Colorado border. The Indians organized several massed charges but the attacks decreased following the death of Roman Nose. While tending to a fallen soldier he was fatally shot and died 2 days latter from his wound. Lt. Frederick Beecher, for whom the battle and site is named, was also killed in action with 21 soldiers. The remaining defenders were rescued on September 25 when a company of 10th Cavalry troops came to their aid. A historical marker commemorates the battle as Beecher's Island Battlefield and serves as a memorial to the dead on both sides who are buried there.
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