Mini
Biographies of Scots and Scots Descendants (F) Forsyth, George
Scot from Illinois. On 9/16/1868, Forsyth and
his party of 50 men rode out over the floor plain of the Arikaree River in
eastern Colorado. By first light 600 Indians had encircled the cavalry
party, but Forsyth and his men dug in on a 60-yard long island in the
middle of the river. The Battle of Beecher's Island (named for Forsyth's
second in command, Frederick Beecher, killed in the early hours of the
battle) lasted for a week with the men being reduced to eating the
festering flesh of their fallen horses. Forsyth is said to have been
reading Oliver Twist when the relief column appeared on the horizon.
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