Fort Wicked

After having followed the gold rush to California and then returned to his family in Wisconsin, Holon Godfrey moved to Colorado with the Pike's Peak Gold Rush (1859) and then settled in the Merino area about 1863, where he established a farm and built a sod house and stable. Most of his family of seven children followed him to Colorado. After the Overland Stage Route was established along the South Platte Trail in 1862, Holon Godfrey and his wife Matilda operated a stage station, rest stop, and general store along the route near Merino. In 1864, there was increased likelihood of attacks by Native Americans in the area and he made a fortress out of his ranch with gun ports put in between adobe bricks, a lookout tower on top of the house, and a six-foot high wall surrounding the property. ==Retribution for Sand Creek Massacre==

by Cheyenne eyewitness and artist Howling Wolf Julesburg was attacked on January 7, 1865, by about 1,000 Cheyenne and Sioux men in retribution for the Sand Creek massacre. Three groups of Native Americans, the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux then attacked stage stations and ranches along the South Platte Trail over six days. In the Colorado War the Indians killed more people, counting both soldiers and civilians, than were killed at the Sand Creek Massacre with few losses of their own. They burned ranches and tore down telegraph lines. They also looted horses, 2000 cattle, and wagon trains, one of which had 22 wagons. ==Raid ==

Holon Godfrey and his family held off an attack by Native Americans, called the Raid on Godfrey Ranch, on January 15, 1865. The cavalry arrived after the Native Americans had left. ==Aftermath==

After the raid, Godfrey painted a sign with the ranch's new name, "Fort Wicked", on the gate of his fort. == References ==