Buffalo Bill served for several years as a guide for the 5th Cavalry so often times their paths would intersect.  Buffalo Bill was also at the Battle Of Summit Springs, and although he would later take credit for killing Tall Bull, most believe it was Frank North who ultimately shot the Cheyenne warrior...

Lute also recalls the interesting first meeting between them - how Cody brought a wagon with him loaded with groceries, canned fruit, and vegetables to sell to the soldiers while in the field.  He remarked how even then, Cody was showing an early penchant for making money.

Traveling six miles the first day, the column camped up river. Luther relates a humorous story about that first night.

A little before sundown Cody rode into camp and said he had to go back to the fort, and asked me to ride with him and have dinner at his house, and we would then come back to camp. I accepted his invitation and went with him.

We had an excellent dinner and about ten or eleven o'clock started for camp. It was very dark and before we had gone two miles there came such a terrific storm of rain, hail, and wind that our horses were about unmanageable. We kept on going, as we thought, in the direction of camp, but could see nothing. Finally the horses stopped and we could not get them to move any further.

I shouted to Cody that we had better wait for a flash of lightening, so we could see where we were. When the flash came we found ourselves on the bank of a pond or slough, and neither knew where we were. The bank was perhaps ten feet high and if we had gone over it I do not know what would have become of us.

We waited till the storm was over and tried to figure out where we were but could not. Cody said, "Well we are fine scouts, lost within three miles of the fort."

We stayed there until daylight, when we found the road and went on to camp. The boys {Luther refers to his Pawnees as the boys throughout this book} were just getting up and we told them we stayed at the fort overnight on account of the rain, and to the best of my recollection we never told anyone the truth about that night.

Click HERE to read Lutes recollection leading up to Summit Springs.

Some of the excerpts through out this area, were taken from a book called "Luther North, Frontier Scout" - and written by Jeff O'Donnell. Some of the photos, primarily those of his parents, his funeral and the military photo, are from the Nebraska State Historical Society.