USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Voilume I > Part 112
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Illinois Confederacy .- At Castor Hill, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 27, 1832, a treaty was concluded with the Kaskaskias, Peorias and some minor tribes of the Illinois confederacy, by which they ceded certain lands in Missouri and Illinois and were assigned a reservation in Kansas, to consist of 150 square miles of land "to include the present Peoria village, west of the State of Missouri, on the waters of the Osage river, to be bounded as follows, to-wit: North by the lands assigned to the Shawanoes; west by the western line of the reservation made for the Piankeshaws, Weas and Peorias; and east by the lands assigned the Piankeshaws and Weas."
Prior to the negotiations of this treaty the government had made preparations for quartering the Piankeshaws and Weas in Kansas, and some had actually taken up their abode there. On Oct. 29, 1832, a
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treaty was concluded with these bands at Castor Hill, whereby they accepted a reservation "within the limits of the survey of the lands set apart for the Piankeshaws, Weas and Peorias, bounded east by the western boundary line of the State of Missouri for 15 miles; north by the southern boundary of the lands assigned to the Shawanoes; west by the lands assigned to the Peorias and Kaskaskias, and south by the southern line originally surveyed for the Piankeshaws, Weas and Peorias, said tract being intended to include the present villages of the Piankeshaws and Weas."
The reservation of the tribes of the Illinois confederacy embraced a tract 14 miles wide by 32 miles long, 250 sections of which were assigned to the Piankeshaw and Wea bands. The present city of Paola is not far from the center of the old reservation, the northern boundary of which is nearly represented by the third standard parallel. By the treaty of Feb. 23, 1867, these lands were ceded back to the United States and the confederated tribes were given another reservation in the Indian Territory.
Kickapoo .- By a treaty concluded with this tribe at Castor Hill on Oct. 24, 1832, certain lands were ceded to the United States and the tribe was given a reservation of 1,200 square miles in Kansas. The boundaries as described in the treaty were not satisfactory to the In- dians, and on Nov. 26, 1832, a supplementary treaty was entered into fixing the boundaries as follows : "Beginning on the Delaware line where said line crosses the left branch of Salt creek; thence down said creek to the Missouri river ; thence up the Missouri river 30 miles when measured on a straight line; thence westwardly to a point 20 miles from the Delaware line, so as to include in the lands assigned the Kickapoo at least 1,200 square miles."
Near the northeast corner of this reserve as thus established now stands the little city of Troy, and the city of Hiawatha, the county seat of Brown county, is very near the north line of tlie old Kickapoo reservation. The southern boundary ran from the Missouri river near Fort Leavenworth in a northwesterly direction to a point not far from the southeast corner of Nemaha county.
At Washington, D. C., May 18, 1854, a treaty was made with the Kickapoos by which they ceded a portion of their reserve, retaining 150,000 acres in the western part, and they also granted right of way for roads and railroads to pass through their lands. A further diminu- tion of the reserve was made by the treaty of June 28, 1862, which was concluded at the Kickapoo agency in Kansas, and which set apart a certain tract to be held in common and authorized the sale of the remainder of the reserve to the Atchison & Pike's Peak Railroad com- pany. The tract reserved for the Indians is in township 4 south, ranges 15 and 16 east, a little west of the city of Horton. By an act of Con- gress, approved on July 28, 1882, the sale of the tracts reserved by the treaty of 1862 for a mill site, mission and agency was authorized, and by an executive order of Aug. 15, 1883, President Arthur set apart a Kickapoo reserve in the Indian Territory.
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Quapaw .- A treaty with the Quapaws at Fort Gibson, Ind. Ter., May 13, 1833, assigned that tribe a reservation of 150 square miles "west of the state line of Missouri and between the lands of the Senecas and Shawnees not previously assigned to any other tribe." Of this reserva- tion a strip about half a mile wide in the southeast corner of Kansas extended from the Missouri line to the Neosho river. It was ceded to the United States by the treaty concluded at Washington, D. C., Feb. 23, 1867, except 320 acres which were reserved and patented to Samuel G. Vallier.
Pawnee .- From the time of the Louisiana purchase the Pawnees never manifested hostility toward the United States, and their lands in Kansas and Nebraska were acquired with little difficulty. On Oct. 9, 1833, at the Grand Pawnee village on the Platte river, the confederated Pawnee bands ceded to the nation all right and title to lands claimed by them south of the Platte river. That portion of the cession lying in Kansas is a triangular tract, bounded on the north by the line separating Kansas from Nebraska, on the west by a line running near the center of range 36 west (near the western boundary of Rawlins and Thomas counties), and on the south, or southeast, along the divide between the Solomon river and Prairie Dog creek, extending eastward to the state line in range II west.
Cherokee .- By the treaties of May 6, 1828, and Feb. 14, 1833, this tribe had been granted lands west of the Mississippi, but in the negotia- tion of the treaty of New Echota, Ga., Dec. 29, 1835, the Indians set up the claim that the lands thus granted were insufficient for their use and the United States assigned to them an additional tract of land "situated between the west line of the State of Missouri and the Osage reservation, beginning at the southeast corner of the same and run- ning north along the east line of the Osage lands 50 miles to the north- east corner thereof; thence east to the west line of the State of Mis- souri ; thence with said line south 50 miles ; and thence west to the place of beginning."
The tract above described is situated in the southeast corner of Kansas, embracing approximately the present counties of Cherokee and Crawford, and was known as the "Cherokee Neutral Lands." By the treaty of July 19, 1866, the Neutral Lands were ceded in trust to the United States, with the condition that they be sold for the benefit of the Cherokee nation, and at the same time the Delaware, Chippewa and other tribes were merged with the Cherokee. The lands were sold to James F. Joy, and on April 27, 1868, at Washington, D. C., a treaty with the Cherokees reaffirmed the sale. (See Neutral Lands.)
Chippewa .- Henry R. Schoolcraft, acting as commissioner for the United States, negotiated a treaty with the chiefs and head men of the Swan Creek and Black River bands of the Chippewa tribe at Wash- ington, D. C., May 9, 1836, when these bands ceded their lands in Michigan, and the government agreed to give them a reservation of 13 square miles west of the Mississippi river or northwest of St.
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Anthony's Falls, to be located by an agent of the government. The reservation selected was situated south of the Shawnee lands, between the lands assigned the Ottawas and Sauks and Foxes, near the western line of Franklin county. When the tribal existence of the Chippewa was merged with the Cherokee nation by the treaty of July 19, 1866, their reservation reverted to the United States and was opened to white. settlers.
Sauk & Fox .- In most of the treaties made with the Sauk and Fox, especially the earlier treaties, the Iowa Indians were also interested. At Fort Leavenworth Sept. 17, 1836, William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, concluded a treaty with the Sauks and Foxes and Iowas, by which those tribes ceded their lands in Missouri to the United States. By article 2 of the treaty the United States granted to these tribes "the small strip of land on the south side of the Missouri river, lying between the Kickapoo northern boundary line and the Grand Nemahar river, and extending from the Missouri back and westwardly with the said Kickapoo line and the Grand Nemahar, making 400 sec- tions to be divided between the Ioways and the Missouri band of Sacks and Foxes, the lower half to the Sacks and Foxes and the upper half to the Ioways."
This reservation included an irregular shaped tract of land in the northeast corner of Kansas and the southeast corner of Nebraska. The west line of the reserve was about the middle of range 15 east, and the city of Hiawatha stands near the southern border.
By a treaty concluded at Washington, D. C., May 17, 1854, the Iowas relinquished their title to the reservation established by the treaty of Sept. 17, 1836, except a tract "Beginning at the mouth of the Great Nemehaw river, where it empties into the Missouri; thence down the Missouri to the mouth of Noland's creek; thence due south one mile; thence due west to the south fork of the Great Nemehaw river, and thence with the meanders of said river to the place of beginning."
The tract of land thus excepted from the cession lies partly in Kan- sas and partly in Nebraska. At the same time a half-section was set apart for the Presbyterian board of foreign missions, and another half- section was reserved for John B. Roy.
On Oct. 1, 1859, at the Sauk and Fox agency, Kan. Ter., the tribe reserved 153,600 acres of their lands in Osage and Franklin counties and ceded the remainder to the United States to be opened to white settlers. The boundaries of the portion reserved were described in the- treaty as follows: "Beginning at a point on the northern boundary line of their reservation 6 miles west of the northeast corner of the- same; running thence due south to the southern boundary of the same ; thence west along the southern boundary 12 miles; thence due north to the northern boundary of said reserve 20 miles; thence east along the said boundary 12 miles to the place of beginning." The city of Lyndon, the county seat of Osage county, is near the center of this diminished. reserve.
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By a treaty concluded at the Great Nemaha agency in Nebraska on March 6, 1861, the Iowas ceded to the Sauks and Foxes all that part of the reserve in northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska lying south of Robert's creek, after which the Sauks and Foxes ceded the reservation to the United States. Congress, by the act of Aug. 15,. 1876, provided for the sale of 10 sections off the west end of this reserve -partly in Kansas and partly in Nebraska-and by the act of March 3, 1885, the secretary of the interior was directed to survey and sell all the Sauk and Fox and Iowa lands in Nebraska and Kansas.
Pottawatomie .- The lands held by this tribe in the State of Indiana were ceded to the United States by the treaty of Washington, D. C., Feb. 11, 1837, and the Indians agreed to remove to a reservation in Kansas within three years. The lands assigned to them were situated between the Shawnee reservation and that of the New York Indians,. just west of the Miami reserve. The city of Garnett, the county seat of Anderson county, stands near the center of the original Pottawatomie reservation. In 1842 the Sauks and Foxes were granted a reserve. which overlapped the Pottawatomie lands. This led to a controversy, and by the treaties of June 5 and 17, 1846, concluded near Council Bluffs, the Pottawatomies ceded their claims to lands in Iowa and were given a new reservation including the southern half of Jackson. county, the greater part of Shawnee, the southeastern part of Pot- tawatomie and the northeastern part of Wabaunsee-a tract 30 miles. square, embracing the lands in ranges 11 to 15 and townships 8 to 12, inclusive.
On Nov. 15, 1861, at the Pottawatomie agency in Kansas, was made- a treaty by which 576,000 acres of this reserve were to be held in com- mon, 77,357 acres were set apart for the "Prairie Band," a portion was. sold to the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad company, and a portion was allotted in severalty to certain individuals. The part set apart to be held in common is located in Jackson county, now known. as the Pottawatomie reserve, and is inhabited by what is left of the Prairie Band. On Feb. 27, 1867, the tribe was assigned a tract 30 miles. square in the Indian Territory, but with the understanding that this arrangement was not to affect the rights of those holding their lands. in common under the previous treaty.
New York Tribes .- At Buffalo creek, N. Y., Jan. 15, 1838, the Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Senecas, Cayugas and some minor tribes entered into an agreement by treaty to relinquish all their lands in the State of New York and accept a reservation in Kansas. Accordingly a tract of land was set apart for their use and occupancy, embracing prac- tically the counties of Bourbon, Allen, Woodson and the greater part of Greenwood, but they refused to occupy it. A few of the New York Indians came to Kansas and were assigned a small reservation in the- northeastern part of the present Bourbon county, but the lands were. all finally sold by order of Congress under the provisions of the acts. of Feb. 19, 1873, June 23, 1874, and April 17, 1878.
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Miami .- At the forks of the Wabash river in Indiana, Nov. 1I, 1838, a treaty was negotiated with the Miamis by which they agreed to relinquish their claims to certain lands in Indiana and accept in exchange therefor a reservation in Kansas. The tract assigned to them lay between the lands of the Illinois tribes on the north and the New York tribes on the south, extending from the Missouri line to the Pot- tawatomie reservation, in what is now Linn and Miami counties, and contained 500,000 acres. By a second treaty at the forks of the Wabash on Nov. 28, 1840, the reserve was to be held in trust for the chief Me- shing-go-me-sia and his band, and by the treaty of Washington, D. C., June 5, 1854, the reservation, except 70,000 acres for the use of the tribe, 640 acres for school purposes and 50 sections reserved to indi- viduals, was ceded to the United States. By an act of Congress, approved by President Grant on June 1, 1872, the reserve was par- titioned among the members of the band and patents issued in sev- eralty, and by the act of March 3, 1873, the remainder of the reserve was ordered to be sold, the Miamis at that time being merged with the Kaskaskias, etc.
Wyandot .- At Upper Sandusky, Ohio, March 17, 1842, the Wyandot Indians ceded their lands in Ohio, and on Dec. 14, 1843, they pur- chased 39 square miles off the east end of the Delaware reservation in Kansas, where Kansas City, Kan., now stands. The purchase of this tract was approved by act of Congress on July 25, 1848. By the treaty of Washington, D. C., April 1, 1850, the 39 sections were ceded to the United States for a consideration of $1.25 per acre, and by the treaty of Jan. 31, 1855, the lands were ordered to be subdivided and reconveyed to the Wyandots as individuals. On Feb. 27, 1867. a por- tion of the Wyandot tribe was assigned lands in the Indian Territory.
Arapaho and Cheyenne .- A few years before the organization of Kansas as a territory some of the western tribes became involved in a dispute as to their respective domains. To settle this controversy and fix definitely the boundaries of the Sioux, Gros Ventres, Mandan, Blackfoot, Crow, Arickaree, Cheyenne and Arapaho, a treaty was arranged with these tribes at Fort Laramie Sept. 17, 1851. By this treaty the boundaries of the Cheyenne and Arapaho were thus described : "Commencing at the Red Bute, or the place where the road leaves the north fork of the Platte river; thence up the north fork of the Platte river to its source; thence along the main range of the Rocky moun- tains to the headwaters of the Arkansas river; thence down the Arkan- sas river to the crossing of the Santa Fe road; thence in a northwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte river; and thence up the Platte river to the place of beginning."
Within these boundaries lies that portion of Kansas north of the Arkansas river and west of the cessions of the Osage, Kansa and Paw- nee tribes. This tract was ceded to the United States by the Cheyenne and. Arapaho in a treaty concluded at Fort Wise, Kan. Ter., Feb. 18, 1861.
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Oto and Missouri .- These two tribes never cut much figure in Kan- sas history. By a treaty concluded at Washington, D. C., March 15, 1854, they were given a reserve consisting of a strip 10 miles wide on the Big Blue river. About 3 miles of this strip was in the northern part of Marshall and Washington counties, extending from about the middle of range 4 to the middle of range 8 east. After several supple- mentary treaties their reserve was ordered to be sold by act of Con- gress of May 3, 1881, and the Oto and Missouri Indians were given a new reserve in the Cherokee nation.
Munsee .- This tribe, known also as the "Christian Indians," was allowed to purchase 4 square miles from the Delawares by the treaty of May 6, 1854. (See Delawares.) This tract was sold to A. J. Isaacs on June 8, 1858, when a new home was found for the Munsees with the Chippewas a little south of Leavenworth, and on July 16, 1859, the tribe was merged with the Chippewas.
Comanche and Kiowa .- The United States came into possession of the lands claimed by these tribes, including that portion of Kansas west of the Osage reservation as established by the treaty of June 2, 1825, and south of the Arkansas river, by a treaty concluded at a camp on the Little Arkansas river, Oct. 18, 1865. At the same time the two tribes were given a reservation in' the Indian Territory. With the exception of the reservations previously established, this was the last Indian cession of Kansas lands.
Indian Wars .- During the early years of settlement, while Kansas was a territory, but little trouble with the Indians was experienced. A few depredations were committed by some of the tribes, but none of them was of sufficient magnitude to cause serious alarm. Col. Sum- ner led an expedition into the Indian country in 1857 (see Cheyenne expedition), and in the spring of 1859 a battle was fought on Crooked creek, near the southwest corner of the present Ford county. The action was an incident of the Washita expedition, which was under command of Maj. Earl Van Dorn, who afterward became a general in the Confederate army. These two affairs were the most important events in connection with Indian warfare during the territorial period.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil war, while the Federal gov- ernment was engaged in conflict with the so-called Southern Confed- eracy, the Indians took advantage of the opportunity to harass the white settlements in the states west of the Mississippi river. The first notable instance of this character was the Sioux uprising in Minnesota in the summer of 1862. The following year the Comanches, Cheyennes and Kiowas became troublesome in Colorado, requiring the presence of troops to protect the people. On Nov. 27, 1863, Col. Chivington's com- mand attacked a camp of Cheyennes and Arapahoes on Sand creek and killed a large number of Indians, for which Col. Chivington was sub- jected to an investigation. In 1864 Gen. Samuel R. Curtis was sent to Fort Riley, Kan., by the war department to raise a force of militia for the relief of some trains corralled on Cow creek on the Santa Fe trail (I-59)
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on account of the hostility of the Indians. The same summer Capt. Henry Booth and Lieut. Hallowell, escorted by their company-Com- pany L, Eleventh Kansas-while on a tour of inspection, became separated from their escort and were chased for some distance by a large body of Indians, but succeeded in escaping. Some of the In- dians in the Indian Territory acted with the Confederate armies and caused some apprehension among the settlers of southeastern Kansas. (See War of 1861-65.)
In the years 1865-66 several expeditions were led against the hostile Indians of the northwest, the storm centers being at Fort Laramie and in the Black Hills of Dakota. The massacre by the Sioux at Fort Phil Kearny in the fall of 1866 increased the prestige of the chief Red Cloud, who planned a general uprising for Aug., 1867. But by that time the government was in a position to send sufficient military forces into the Indian country to forestall the movement. None of these conflicts was in Kansas, but the successive defeats of the Indians in the northwest caused the tribes to break up into small bands which gradually worked their way southward, raiding the settlements as they went.
On June 27, 1867, Gen. W. T. Sherman called upon the governor of Kansas for volunteers, and on July I Gov. Crawford issued a proclama- tion authorizing the organization, "as speedily as possible, one regi- ment of volunteer cavalry, to be mustered into the United States service for a period of six months, unless sooner discharged." A full regiment was not organized, but a battalion, known as the Eighteenth Kansas, was mustered in on July 15, "for the purpose of guarding the employees on the Union Pacific railroad, the western settlements and the emigrant trains bound westward." The battalion was commanded by Maj. Horace L. Moore, formerly lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Arkansas cavalry. It consisted of four companies, to-wit: Company A, Capt. Henry Lindsey ; Company B, Capt. Edgar A. Barker; Com- pany C, Capt. George B. Jenness; Company D, Capt. David L. Payne, the entire battalion numbering 358 officers and enlisted men. It served in western Kansas until Nov. 15, when it was mustered out. Com- panies B and C were engaged in a fight with Indians on Prairie Dog creek on Aug. 21, though the action is known as the battle of Beaver creek (q. v.).
The summer of 1868 witnessed considerable activity on the part of hostile Indians. Early in June the Cheyennes made a raid as far as Council Grove, ostensibly for the purpose of revenging themselves on the Kansas Indians for injuries received through that tribe the fall before near Fort Zarah, but they robbed settlers, killed cattle, and com- mitted other outrages on the whites. On Aug. 4 some 225 Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Sioux left Pawnee fork and a few days later were on the Saline river. They repaid the kindness of the white settlers with treachery, raided the valleys of the Saline and Solomon, captured trains, killed the escorts and burned the wagons, and carried two women- Miss White and Mrs. Morgan-into captivity. They finally extended
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their field of operations to within 20 miles of Denver, their numbers increasing by the addition of other bands until a formidable force was gathered together. The governors of both Kansas and Colorado reported the outrages to the authorities at Washington, urging that something be done with the Indians, and threatening to call out the state troops. The national government tried to induce the savages to return to their reservations, and failing in this, Gen. P. H. Sheridan, commanding the Department of the Missouri, was ordered to take the field against the Cheyennes under Roman Nose and Black Kettle. It was in this campaign that Col. George A. Forsyth's band of scouts, armed with revolvers and repeating rifles, scouted the country about the headwaters of the Solomon and Fort Wallace, and in September fought the battle of Arickaree. (See Arickaree, Battle of.)
On Oct. 9, 1868, Gen. Sheridan called upon Gov. Crawford for a regiment of mounted volunteers "to serve for a period of six months, unless sooner discharged, against the hostile Indians on the plains." The regiment consisted of twelve companies of 100 men each, and was officered as follows: Colonel, Samuel J. Crawford; lieutenant-colonel, Horace L. Moore; majors, W. C. Jones, Charles Dimon, Richard W. Jenkins and Milton Stewart. On Nov. 4 Gov. Crawford resigned his office to take command of the regiment, which left Topeka the next day for the Indian country, under orders to join Gen. Sheridan's com- mand at Camp Supply. The march took 24 days, and was made on 9 days' subsistence and 7 days' forage, the regiment reaching Camp Supply on the 29th.
In the meantime, upon the approach of winter, Black Kettle's band moved southward to the Washita river. Gen. George A. Custer was sent out from Camp Supply in pursuit, and late on Nov. 26 the scouts came within sight of Black Kettle's village. Bivouac was made for the night, and at daybreak the next morning his bugles sounded the charge. With the band playing the Seventh regiment's fighting tune of "Garry Owen," Custer's men swept like a tornado through the village. Black Kettle was killed early in the fight and the command of the Indians fell on Little Rock, a Cheyenne chief almost as well known as Black Kettle himself. The village was destroyed, but Custer soon learned that this band was only one of many, and that there were in the vicinity about 2,000 warriors-Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Comanches and a few Apaches. He dismounted his men and assumed the defensive. The Indians were led by Little Raven (an Arapaho), Satanta (a Kiowa), and Little Rock. The ammunition ran low, but the quartermaster, Maj. Bell, charged the line and brought in a wagon loaded with a fresh supply, after which the Indians grew more wary and finally began to retreat. Custer threw out flankers and followed, his object being to make the savages think his command was but the advance of a large army, until he could withdraw with safety. The ruse succeeded, and as soon as the Indians were in full retreat Custer started for Camp Supply, where he arrived on Dec. I, two days
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