Summit Springs, also referred to as Battle Ground Springs, is the location of the climactic defeat of the Southern Cheyenne Indians by the US Army in the plains region. Historians have argued over whether the even should be labeled a battle, a tragedy, or a massacre, but no matter what you call it, the event took place on July 11th, 1869.

The U.S. Army was in pursuit of a band of Cheyenne Soldiers, who along with a number of Sioux and Arapaho, were raiding the Kansas Frontier. This band killed and stole from frontier settlements and homesteads in retaliation for the massacres of over 175 men, women, and children over the course of five years at places like Sand Creek, Colorado, at the Washita River in Oklahoma, and at Beaver Creek in Kansas.

The Cheyanne, led by Chief Tall Bull, was on the move since May. On July 11th 1869 they stopped to recuperate along the banks of the White Butte Creek. Chief Tall Bull is believed to have thought he had a substantial lead between his band and the 5th cavalry, so he decided it best to let the animals and tribe rest.

A young Cheyenne boy alerted his people of the soldiers’ approach by driving the herd of grazing horses toward the village, but it was too late. 52 men, women, and children were killed on the Cheyanne side, to only one white fatality by the name of Susanna Alderice.

Regardless of the title of this tragedy, it was the last major conflict of the Southern Cheyenne and the U.S. Army in the state of Colorado.