William Oliver Collins was an American attorney, politician, and Union Army officer who served in the cavalry during the Civil War and in the American West. He is the namesake for Fort Collins, Colorado, and Casper, Wyoming's name is derived from his son, Caspar Collins, who died nearby shortly after William's command of a garrison there.

The Battle of Rush Creek took place February 8–9, 1865, between about 185 soldiers of the U.S. Army and 1,000 warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. It was part of a series of retaliations by the Native American alliance after the U.S. army committed the Sand Creek Massacre. The inconclusive battle took place 4 mi southeast of present-day Broadwater, Nebraska, along both banks of the North Platte River.