The Real Story of Nelson Story

Nelson Story was born in 1838 in Meigs County, Ohio. His father, Ira Story, was of Scotch descent and
was born eight miles west of Shaker Village, New Hampshire. He married Hanna Gile in 1832, who was of English parentage. She died in 1854. Nelson helped his father with the farm and received some college education. He did not graduate due to his father’s death in 1857. Nelson taught school in Ohio in 1857, moved to Illinois and on to Nebraska City in 1858. In 1859 he moved to Leavenworth, Kansaswhere he was employed by Jones & Company. He went with the first freight wagon train by the Smokey Hill route to Denver, arriving there on June 5th. Later in June, hearing about a gold strike, he and three other young men went to the Gregory Mines south of Helena, Montana Territory. They purchased claims at Nevada Gulch, but had poor success during the rest of the summer. In October 1859 they returned to Leavenworth. (endnote 3)

In May 1860, Story drove freight wagons to Breckenridge by way of Denver. These were the first wagons ever taken to nearby Blue River, and they arrived in July 1860. He continued to drive wagons from Leavenworth to Denver and sold goods there until March 1863. That same month he returned to Leavenworth and married Ellen Trent.

In 1865 the thirty 0ne year old Nelson traveled day and night for one month with $30,000 in gold on the Ben Holladay’s Overland Stage Line via Salt Lake City to Denver and the Smokey Hill route on the Butterfield Overland “Despatch” to Atchison, Kansas. He shipped the gold by express to a New York bank. He traveled to Meigs County, Ohio to visit with his two brothers. After a short stay He continued on to New York City. A shortage of gold in the eastern banks allowed Story to sell his for $127.50, converting the $30,000 in gold to $40,000 in greenbacks. Story visited several eastern cities before returning to Leavenworth. He traveled around the country, attending some government sales and visited Civil War battlegrounds near Nashville. (endnote 3)

The drive started in early spring and crossed the Red River into Indian Territory north of Dallas. They followedthe Neosho River to the Kansas border, probably just south of Humbolt, about 55 miles north of the present Kansas/ Oklahoma border. Note that in 1866, the most southern row of Kansas counties were also Osage Indian lands

Many of the eastern Kansas counties were well populated, had established farms and ranches and were afraid of diseased cattle infecting their herds or trampling crops. Most of the southern border counties in eastern Kansas had “no cattle drive” ordinances. In mid June Story trailed the cattle two counties farther west. He tried to turn north through Greenwood County where he was arrested.

Story and several men went to Leavenworth on July 4th for more freight wagons and supplies for his store in Virginia City. Leavenworth at that time had two daily newspapers reporting the Sioux uprisings. Both papers, The Leavenworth Evening Bulletin and The Leavenworth Conservative also had daily ads by E. Remington & Sons offering revolvers, rifles, muskets and carbines sold through local gun dealers. The Leavenworth City Directory listed seven gun dealers and gunsmiths.(Following map) Shows route (in green) taken by Nelson Story in 1866.

During the initial attack, William Petty was
wounded by a bullet and George Overholt by two arrows.
The arrows were removed from Overholt’s back with pincers.
Fearing that Petty would die, Thomas A. Thompson,
one of the drovers, volunteered to go to Fort Reno for an
ambulance to carry the wounded there. Catlin said that
one of the men was a Texan, who had been in charge of
the longhorns since the drive started. (His job was nicknamed
the “Ramrod.”) Later that night, a Dutchman that
was subject to fits was said to have died of shock from the
fright of the previous day’s fight (endnote 4).

The following day the drive pushed on to within
one quarter of a mile of Fort Reno to make camp and
located the cattle a half mile away. About ten AM one
of the two drovers with the herd reported that the other
had been killed by Indians and some of the cattle driven
away. Nelson Story immediately strapped on his two Navy
revolvers, mounted bareback and rode across the Powder
River near the cattle. He came across two of his men who
joined him in the pursuit of the hostiles. As they emerged
from the timber they saw three Indians running to the
main band that was driving thirty to forty head of his
cattle. Story and his two men pursued to within 200 yards
when they observed the Indians forming as to trap them.
The three turned and rode toward the cattle camp.

About
October 7th they were halted three miles south of the
partially completed Fort Phil Kearney. Story was told
that they would have to camp that far out because Col.
Carrington, Commander of the 18th Infantry Regiment,
needed the grass meadow near the fort for his army stock.
Col. Carrington ordered Story not to proceed as no party
smaller than fifty were to travel any further. Major Catlin
had this to say about the situation (endnotes 4 and 5).

“Here was our predicament. We were camped
three miles from the post, so far that the soldiers could
not have rendered assistance if we were attacked. We
were forbidden to proceed as the soldiers could not leave
their building (construction) operations to escort us. We
just had to sit there and twiddle our thumbs. There were
three miles of fine meadow grass between us and the
post. The troops had a few mule teams that were being
used to transport logs and hay and Col. Carrington had
one saddle horse that the Indians had not captured. That
three miles of grass was for the saddle horse I suppose.

(endnotes 4 and 5)

After waiting two weeks, Story decided to proceed
without Col. Carrington’s permission. They took a vote on
it and all but George Dow voted for moving on. He was
arrested and placed under guard. They left after dark on
October 21st. The morning of the 22nd, Col. Carrington
was notified that the Story party had defied his order. He
was furious but felt that it was his duty to dispatch fifteen
soldiers to bring the party up to strength. After two days
George Dow was released and given the choice of going
back to Fort Phil Kearney or staying with the drive. He
chose to stay.

The remainder of the drive was
uneventful. They entered Montana
Territory near Fort C. F. Smith and
continued northwest to a crossing
on the Yellowstone River and into
the Gallatin Valley where the cattle
were located to graze. This would
be the location of the famed Story
Ranch.

So which guns did Nelson
Story furnish his drovers? As
both the Remington rolling block
and the centerfire .50-70 cartridge
were not produced until the Nelson
Story cattle drive was almost over,
I think that the readers will agree
with the writer’s conclusion that the guns were Civilian
Model Remington Large Frame Split Breech Carbines produced
in 1866 from leftover parts, and chambered for the
caliber .56-50 Spencer rimfire cartridge.

1. Nelson Story Outfought Crazy Horse, The West, magazine, April 1970. J. L. Beardsley.
   The Remington Historical Treasury of American Guns, The Sioux and the Rolling Block, H. L.
   Peterson.
2. The Bloody Bozeman, The Perilous Trail To Montana Gold, Dorothy M. Johnson, 1983.
   The Virginia City Trail, Ralph Compton, 1994.
3. History of Montana, Gallatin County. Personal History and Reminiscences, p 1163-1165,
   Chicago, Warner beers and Co., 1885.
4. Following Old Trails, Arthur L. Stone, Missoula, MT, Morton John Elrod, publisher, 1913.
5. Annals of Wyoming, Burton S. Hill, Oct. 1964,Vol. 36, No. 2.
6. Gary Kraisinger, co-author, The Western, The Greatest Texas Cattle Trail. 2004.
7. Famous Guns That Won The West, James Wycoff, 1967
8. Kansas Map, 1866, Wichita Public Library, Special Collections.

• 14,499 LARGE FRAME, CALIBER .56-.50 SPENCER RIMFIRE AMMUNITION AND 5,000 SMALL FRAME CALIBER .46 MANUFACTURED BY SAVAGE REPEATING ARMS COMPANY FOR E. REMINGTON & SONS DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
• ALL SPLIT BREECH CARBINES DELIVERED TO THE U.S. ARMY BY MAY 24, 1866.
• FIRST SURPLUS SALE OF SURPLUS GOVERNMENT CARBINES AT LEAVENWORTH ARSENAL ON NOVEMBER 1866. HOWEVER, NO REMINGTON OR SPENCER CARBINES WERE OFFERED.
• 3,600 REMINGTON SMALL FRAME, SPLIT-BREECH CARBINES IN CALIBER .44 WERE OFFERED BY THE NEW YORK U.S. ARSENAL ON OCTIOBER 17, 1870. THEY WERE NOT BID UPON, NOR SOLD.
• THE FIRST SALE OF REMINGTON SPLIT-BREECH CARBINES BY NEW YORK ARSENAL NOVEMBER 1870. SCHUYLER, HARTLEY & GRAHAM PURCHASED 14,757 LARGE FRAME, MOST IN CALIBER .56-.50, A FEW SMALL FRAME CARBINES IN CALIBER .44 . THE ARSENAL STILL HAD 310 ON HAND.
• HERMANN BOKER & CO. PURCHASED 3,663 REMINGTON SMALL FRAME CARBINES CALIBER .44 BETWEEN APRIL 1875 – JANUIARY 1876 AND 382 LARGE FRAME IN CALIBER .50 FEB-MAR 1876.

• SOME SPLIT BREECH SPORTING RIFLES WERE ASSEMBLED BY E. REMINGTON & SONS FROM SURPLUS PARTS. NO SWIVELS OR SADDLE RING. KNOWN EXAMPLES INCLUDED STANDARD AND FANCY WOOD AND A FEW WITH A METAL FOREND TIP.
• BOTH LARGE AND SMALL FRAME REMINGTON SPLIT-BREECH CARBINES WERE ASSEMBLED BY E. REMINGTON & SONS FROM SURPLUS PARTS IN .38, .44 AND .50 CALIBER.
• LEAVENWORTH’S ™ TWO DAILY NEWS PAPERS RAN ADS FOR REMINGTON FIREARMS, INCLUDING CARBINES, THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER AND FALL OF 1866.
• 1866 LEAVENWORTH CITY DIRECTORY LISTED SEVEN GUN DEALERS/GUNSMITHS.
• ONE LARGE FRAME, SPLIT BREECH MILITARY CARBINE IN AUTHORS COLLECTION IN CALIBER .56-.50. SADDLE RING ON LEFT SIDE, NO MILITARY INSPECTORS CARTOUCHE OR MARKS ON LEFT WRIST AND NO “U.S.” ON BUTT PLATE. SERIAL NUMBER 11,750 STAMPED ON UPPER SURFACE OFLOWER TANG, PROOF MARKS ON UNDERSIDE OF BARREL BUT NO ARMY SERIAL NUMBER.
• ONE LARGE FRAME SPORTING CARBINE KNOWN TO EXIST IN CALIBER .56-.50 WITH SERIAL NUMBER 16409 ON INSIDE AND 438 ON OUTSIDE. NO BARREL BAND AND HAS CRESCENT BUTT PLATE AND SMOOTH METAL FOREND TIP.