Furnas County

General George A. Custer Traveled through Furnas County in June of 1867

June 1, 1867 – General Custer, with 350 men and 20 supply wagons left Ft. Hays, KS to search for Indians between Ft. Hays and the Platte River in Nebraska.
June 6 – They entered into Furnas County at a spot on the Nebraska-Kansas line south of the present town of Hendley and one mile east.
They traveled northwest about one mile to find a place to cross the “Stealing Horse Creek” (Sappa Creek). This crossing is straight south of Hendley.
They proceeded northwesterly to the “White Rock Creek” (Beaver Creek), at a spot about two miles west of Hendley.
Here they found an Indian Trail indicating about 15 Indians going east but they didn’t follow it as the trail was several days old.
They forded the creek and proceeded northwesterly to within two miles of the Republican River and camped there over night.
June 7 – They continued a northwesterly route to the east side of Medicine Creek and followed it north going out of Furnas County the same day.
They traveled on to Ft. McPherson on the Platte River, then traveled back to Kansas in a southwesterly direction and then into eastern Colorado.
July 12 – They returned back to Ft. Wallace, located on the south fork of the Smokey Hill River in western Kansas.
They had several skirmishes with Indians, but nothing of great importance was really accomplished.
June 5, 1967 – As part of Nebraska’s Centennial Celebration, almost 100 years to the day from Custer’s crossing of the Beaver Creek, a wagon train composed of 5 wagons and some 40 people under the leadership of Wagon-master, Lyle Hutchens of Hendley, started out from the Hutchens farm near Hendley and crossed the Beaver Creek at almost the exact crossing location taken by General Custer in 1867.