The High Plains that now encompass Rawlins County were once home and hunting ground to Cheyenne, Comanche, and Arapaho Indians. As railroad construction continued and permanent settlements grew, American westward expansion during the 1860s and 1870s threatened these lands, increasing tension and armed conflict. On April 23, 1875, the final violent act in the so-called Red River War took place about 14 miles south of here on Sappa Creek. The war, waged mainly in Texas, ended with the Comanches’ surrender, but a group of about 75 Northern Cheyennes who had fought alongside them escaped north. While camped on Sappa Creek, they were attacked at dawn by 40 men of the Sixth U.S. Cavalry. Two troopers and almost 30 Indians, including men, women, and children, were killed. The brutality of this surprise attack remained a bitter memory and may help explain the murder of more than 30 settlers on Sappa and Beaver Creeks in Rawlins and adjoining Decatur County during the Cheyennes’ famous trek north in the autumn of 1878. The following year, the city of Atwood was established, and it became the seat of county government when Rawlins County was organized in 1881.