Luther H. North, 89, Columbus pioneer, leader of the Pawnee Indian Scouts in frontier days and last member of the G.A.R. Post in Columbus died Thursday night, April 19, 1935 after falling on the back porch of his home. He suffered a skull fracture and died in the Lutheran Good Samaritan hospital four hours later without gaining consciousness. He was buried with full military honors in the Columbus Memorial Cemetery after services at the Grace Episcopal Church. He was survived by his widow, and no children.

This simple paragraph appeared in the Columbus paper several days after Luther's death.

Luther North was one of the last of the sturdy group of scouts who played an important part in winning the west to civilization. He lived in Nebraska from the time he was 10 years old and was considered an authority on events connected with the early West. His opinion frequently was sought by historians on disputed historical incidents of the frontier period after the Civil War.


On April 24, 1935, Senator K. C. Regan of North Platte, Nebraska, introduced a memorial to the memory of Luther that tells his story.

Captain Luther H. North, born in Richard county, Ohio, March 6, 1846; came to Nebraska with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. North in 1855; United States mail carrier in 1859; soldier in Company K, Second Nebraska cavalry in 1862-63, under Colonel Robert W. Furnas; took part in Sioux Indian campaign and in battle at white Stone Hills in Dakota; drove freighting wagons from Omaha to Fort McPherson in 1864 through hostile Indian country.

When his brother, Major Frank North, raised the battalion of Pawnee Scouts in 1867, Luther became Captain of Company D. He had an active part in the frontier wars against the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne Indians until the final surrender of Chief Crazy Horse at Fort Robinson in May, 1877. He was scout with General George A. Custer in the first military exploration of the Black Hills in 1874, and with his own eyes saw the first gold dust washed from the waters in the Black Hills.

Among the noted achievements of the Pawnee Scouts in which Captain Luther H. North participated are the defeat of the Cheyennes under Tall Bull at Summit Springs, near the Nebraska-Colorado line on July 12th, 1869; the night march of sixty miles from the Niobrara River to Chadron Creek and the surprise capture of the hostile Cheyennes under Dull Knife on Crazy Woman's Fork in Wyoming, November 26, 1876, resulting in the destruction of the camp, followed by the surrender of the hostile Sioux in 1877 at Fort Robinson.

For thirteen years Major Frank North and Captain Luther H. North, with the cooperation of the Pawnee Scouts trained under them, were the chief defense of the Nebraska frontier against the hostile plains Indians. The Pawnee Scouts made possible the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad in the time allotted. They opened up for pioneer cattlemen the western half of Nebraska, since no settlement was possible until the hostile Indians were forced to surrender. The Pawnee Scouts had the almost unbelievable record during thirteen years of border warfare and scores of hand to hand conflicts with the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne Indians of losing only one of their entire forces.

On March 2, 1870, the Nebraska legislature by a formal resolution, voted its thanks to General Carr of the Fifth Cavalry and to Major Frank North and the Pawnee Scouts in, which (Captain North was serving, for distinguished service in protecting the Nebraska frontier settlers and driving the hostile Indians from the country.

During the fifty-seven years since he retired from the campaigns of the Pawnee Scouts, Captain North had been a exemplary citizen of Columbus, modest, loyal to his family and friends; the firm friend of the Indian tribes; honored and sought for his friendship by historians and frontier men, honored with the distinguished service medal of the Lincoln Kiwanis Club in 1930, honored by the people of western Nebraska in his last tour of the old battlefields and camps in June, 1933, honored by his fellow citizens upon his eighty--eighth birthday celebration March 6, 1934, mustered out of life April 18, 1935, the last survivor of the Grand Army of the Republic at Columbus. His life was full of service to his state and his country, his example one of inspiration in war and in peace.

The Nebraska Legislature, Fiftieth Session, records this tribute to the memory of the last of the Great Plains fighting SCOUTS. The history of his achievements and that of his brother, with whom he was joined in so many campaigns, will form one of the most thrilling chapters of Nebraska History throughout the years.

Ordered that this Memorial Resolution be placed in full upon the records of this body, and that an engrossed copy be sent to his surviving widow at Columbus.

In 1937 Congressman Karl Stefan, of the Third Nebraska district, introduced into Congress a bill to appropriate $75,000 for the construction of life-size, bronze equestrian statues of Major Frank North, and Captain Luther North, pioneer Indian fighters and scouts, in Pawnee Park at Columbus, Nebraska.

The first Unicameral Legislature of Nebraska gave its complete approval and support for this project and recommended the passage of the act upon the Congress and the President of the United States. These were never commissioned and sadly the names of Luther North, brother Frank, and the Pawnee Scouts have drifted off into the forgotten corners of our memories, all but unknown to everyone today.

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During Luthers funeral a special plaque was displayed commemorating his extraordinary life.   Below is a description of what the plaque reads -

Captain L. H. North Cherished In Thy Memory


The left side of the plaque lists the 'Active Pallbearers'

Homer Tiffany
Henry Ragatz
Ed, C. Kavanaugh
George S. Reeder
Gus. G. Becher
W. I. Speice


To the right are the 'Honorary Pallbearers'

C. C. Sheldon
Carl Rohde. Sr.
H. A. Phillipps
W. R. Hitchcock
J. G. Reeder
Louis Lightner
William Waack
Bert. J. Galley
Dr. D. T. Martyn
A.M. Gray
Addison E. Sheldon
C.S. Munhall
Dr. R.W. Reynolds
Charles Bull
Doresy Howell


At the bottom of the plaque there is a poem which reads:

"COMRADES"

There's a little flower named "Comrade"
That round our hearts entwine,
Methinks 'twas brought by angels
From some sweet Eden Clime.
The loving tendrils clinging
Grow stronger day by day
There's a little flower name "Comrade"
That never fades away.

And it was written by one of his Honorary Pallbearers - C.S. Munhall


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