Five hundred Pawnee warriors stood “armed with Bows and Arrows, spears and tomahawks, in gloomy silence” awaiting the signal from their chief, or perhaps an attack from the Americans. The Americans were indeed “all mounted, well armed and equipped [with] their heavy broadswords drawn.” But there were only 23 of them.
The Americans, led by Lt. Zebulon Pike, were determined to move past the Pawnee either peacefully or by force. They had already accomplished one geographic expedition, and now they were in the midst of their second. The Spanish, however, had strongly encouraged the Pawnee not to allow the Americans to move westward from their location in today’s Guide Rock, Nebraska.
