William Averill Comstock, born on January 17, 1842, in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, in the town of Comstock named after his father, became one of the best known scouts on the Central Plains. After family setbacks and his mother's death, he was sent at age four to live with his sister in Wisconsin. By age 18 he had moved west and became part owner of a road ranch at Cottonwood Springs, Nebraska, where he worked as an Indian trader with two employees and $500 in property. In 1861 his address was listed as Pike's Peak, Nebraska Territory, and during this period he likely learned the languages, dress, and customs of Native people that later served him as a scout. He later scouted briefly at Fort Halleck in Wyoming and in 1865 moved to western Kansas, where he established Rose Creek Ranch eight miles west of Fort Wallace and supplied forage for horses and livestock. From December 23, 1865 until January 15, 1868, he served with distinction as a scout at Pond Creek Station and Fort Wallace and became known as the Ace of Scouts. In 1867 Lt. Col. George A. Custer asked him to join the Hancock Expedition, and Comstock led the Seventh Cavalry more than 1500 miles through Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado in pursuit of Cheyenne and Sioux. Custer later praised his knowledge of the country, his familiarity with Indian tribes and languages, his horsemanship, courage, hunting skill, and modest manner. His bravery and skill were further established when the Seventh Cavalry's wagon train was attacked on its return to Fort Wallace and when he found the remains of Lt. Lyman S. Kidder's command on Beaver Creek near present-day Edson, Kansas. In 1868 he was involved in a dispute with a man named Wyatt over unpaid wood-contracting payments; Wyatt died of gunshot wounds, and Comstock was later declared not guilty by a judge in Hays. In May 1868 General Phil Sheridan asked for his help in joining an elite group of scouts and frontiersmen assembled to assist in subduing hostiles raiding the Saline, Solomon, and Smoky Hill River valleys. In August 1868 Lt. Fredrick Beecher ordered Comstock to track down the Cheyenne and persuade their leaders to stop the attacks, and another scout, Abner Sharp Grover, joined him. What happened afterward remains uncertain, but Comstock died on August 16, 1868, at age 26. It was said that he and Grover visited a Cheyenne village and were attacked as they left, with Grover injured and Comstock killed, though many theories arose, including a belief among some of Comstock's admirers and friends that Grover killed him to become Chief of Scouts and gain Rose Creek Ranch. Surgeon Theophilus H. Turner wrote that few deaths would have caused so wide-felt an impression and called him a great loss.