History Moments Massacre Canyon

Massacre Canyon may look like any other canyon in Hitchcock County, but the battle that took place here on August 5, 1873 ensured this canyon would forever be a part of Nebraska's history. A Sioux war party of more than one thousand warriors attacked about 350 Pawnee on a government sanctioned buffalo hunt. Over 60 Pawnee died, mostly women and children. The battle was one of the last between the Pawnee and the Sioux and the last large scale battle between Native American tribes in the area of the present-day United States. In 1875, the Pawnee Indians succumbed to efforts of the U.S. military and moved to Indian Territory. A monument marking the event in history was erected September 26, 1930 near Trenton. It was the first historical monument built in Nebraska by federal grant.