In 1864, 13-year-old Robert McGee was traveling west with a wagon party near Fort Larned, Kansas, when the group was attacked by Oglala Lakota warriors led by Little Turtle. McGee, already orphaned, was captured, scalped, and left for dead on the plains.
Ambushed on the Plains
The Lakota stripped McGee of his clothing and removed the entire scalp from his head to his eyebrows. Believed dead, his body was found by soldiers from Fort Larned who brought him in for medical treatment. Remarkably, he survived.
Left for Dead
Doctors cared for him despite the extensive injuries. McGee’s skull remained partially exposed for life. His case became one of the most widely publicized scalping survivals on the frontier.
A Life Marked by Scars
He later posed for several photographs, including one taken in St. Louis during the 1890s, clearly showing the scalp wound. He worked on the railroads and occasionally spoke about his ordeal.
Captured in Photographs
Robert McGee died in 1904. His story was widely circulated in newspapers of the time as a rare documented case of surviving a full scalping as a child.
In 1864, 13-year-old Robert McGee was traveling west near Fort Larned, Kansas, when his wagon party was attacked by Oglala Lakota warriors.
McGee was captured, scalped down to his eyebrows, and left for dead.
His survival would later be documented and photographed…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/yNHdT1vciA
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) May 10, 2025