USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. I > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44
MILITARY EXPEDITIONS
Although the region now embraced in Oklahoma was then a wilderness and a large part of it was inhabited by wild men, there were no Indian wars worthy of mention within its limits during this period until near its end. To be sure, there were some military movements but these were not important. Capt. Nathan Boone commanded an expedition which explored the valleys of the Arkan- sas and the Cimarron and those of their principal tributaries, in 1843. This expedition went as far north as the Great Bend of the Arkansas. Among the places visited by Captain Boone's com- mand were the salt plains of the Cimarron and the Nescatunga (Salt Fork of the Arkansas).4
4 Captain Boone is said to have written a very interesting report of the expedition, which, however, is buried in the unpublished rec- ords in the archives of the War Department. Nathan Boone was the youngest son of Col. Daniel Boone, the Kentucky pioneer, and was born in Kentucky in 1780. He removed with his parents to Missouri in 1796, while it was still a part of the Spanish possessions. He was a captain of volunteers during the second war with Great Britain. He was a member of the convention which framed the con- stitution of that state when it was admitted to the Union, and also served in the State Legislature. At the organization of the First
229
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
In 1846 most of the troops stationed in the Indian Territory were ordered to Mexico to take part in the war which had begun between the United States and that country. These forces marched overland under the command of Maj. B. L. E. Bonneville. After the end of that struggle the garrison of the Indian Territory posts were again increased to their former strength.5
In the late spring of 1858 a detachment of Texas Rangers, under the command of Capt. Jolin S. Ford ("Old Rip"), and accom- panied by a force of friendly Indians from the Brazos Reserve, in Texas, under the leadership of Capt. Shapley P. Ross, passed north- ward from the Red River through the western tier of counties and attacked a Comanche village on Little Robe Creek, in the south- western part of Ellis County, inflicting a severe loss upon them but otherwise barren of results."
When the Rangers attacked the Comanche encampment most of the warriors were several miles distant hunting buffalo. They arrived on the scene in such numbers that the Rangers deemed it prudent to retire. At the beginning of the fight Pohebits Quasho (i. e., "Iron Jacket"), the chief of the band, was seen to ride forth from the village toward the attacking party. He was mounted on an iron-gray steed and wore a coat or shirt of mail (whence his name) which had probably been stripped from the stricken body of
Regiment of Dragoons, he was commissioned a captain and was in command of the post at Fort Wayne in 1839-40. He remained with the Dragoons for twenty years, retiring with the rank of lieutenant- colonel. He died in 1857.
5 Among the troops that were stationed at Fort Gibson after the end of the Mexican war was the celebrated battery of Capt. Braxton Bragg, which, obeying General Taylor's request for "A little more grape, Captain Bragg !" helped to save the day and win a glorious victory for American arms at Buena Vista.
" The author's detailed account of the campaign of Ford's Rangers against the Comanches and of the Battle of Antelope Hill, as it was called, based upon original sources and on personal infor- mations secured from surviving participants, was published in Sturm's Oklahoma Magazine, July, 1910, pp. 30-38. Col. George W. Paschal (a grandson of Major Ridge, the leader of the Ridge or Treaty party, in the Cherokee Nation), who is (in 1915) still living, was a member of Ford's Rangers, having run away from school at the age of seventeen for the purpose of enlisting. In the fight lie was sorely wounded, receiving a Comanche arrow in his bosom. Because of the lack of competent surgical service, the steel point of the arrow could not be located or removed and it has remained, during nearly sixty years, embedded in the inner wall of the pleural cavity.
230
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
a proud Castilian conquistador several generations before. As he rode out alone, he was seen to be waving a small white cloth, about a yard square. As he approached the center of the line of attack, a number of the Rangers began to shoot at him, though with no ap- parent effect other than to cause him to swerve the course of his charger sharply to the left and gallop along in front of the friendly Indian allies on the right of the line. The fact that he had passed unscathed through a galling fire seemed, even to some of the ob- servant Rangers, to warrant the reported belief of the Comanches that he bore a charmed life. Reaching the end of the line, his horse was brought up with a round turn and he raced back toward the center, where, apparently, not wishing to draw the fire of the Rangers, he made another short turn and rode back toward the right of the line. There, just as he was making another sharp turn, with his body leaning away from his enemies, a bullet, said to have sped from the rifle of Jim Pock-mark, the Anadarko chieftain, lifted one of the scales of his hitherto invulnerable armor and the great Pohebits Quasho was laid low, just as his gallant steed fell dead. Savage that he was, cruel and vengeful though he may have been, he died as brave men die, nor was his tragic end less heroic than those of the white race whose memories are treasured in song and story.
On the first day of October following, a force consisting of four troops of the Second United States Cavalry, under the command of Captain and Brevet Major Earl Van Dorn, aided by a company of friendly Indian auxiliaries which were led by young Lawrence Sullivan Ross (son of Agent Shapley P. Ross, of the Brazos Re- serve), attacked a Comanche encampment at the Wichita Village on Rush Creek, a short distance east of the site of Rush Springs, in Grady County. The Comanches, who were there on a peaceful mission, were taken completely by surprise and were defeated with severe loss, though they fought with the valor of desperation.
It seems that the Comanches had had some difficulty or mis- understanding with the Wichitas and had come to visit the latter for the purpose of holding a friendly council to adjust the matter. The purpose of the visit was known to the commander at Fort Arbuckle. Unfortunately for the Comanches, Major Van Dorn and his command had but recently arrived in the Indian Territory from the other side of the Red River and he knew nothing of the purposes of the Comanches in visiting the Wichitas. So, when his scouts brought him word of the whereabouts of the Comanche en- campment, he immediately set forth to attack it. After riding all
231
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
night, the attack was made at daybreak. The fight was a furious one while it lasted. Major Van Dorn was seriously wounded, an arrow having passed through his abdomen. His adjutant, Lieut. Cornelius Van Camp, fell from the saddle with a Comanche arrow straight through his heart. Young "Sul" Ross, the boy captain of the friendly Indian contingent (later, a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, and still later governor of Texas), was also severely wounded. The Comanches suspected the Wichitas of treachery in informing the soldiers of their presence and vowed to have vengeance for such presumptive duplicity. The Wichitas, who were peaceful and faithful to every trust that the Comanches had reposed in them, fled in consternation, abandoning their village and crops, to take refuge under the protection of the garrison at Fort Arbuckle. The Wichitas never again returned to their village on Rush Creek, nor, indeed, to their old home country at all. About a year later they were settled on the north side of the Washita, with the several small tribes and remnants of tribes which had been recently transferred thither from the Brazos Reserve, in Texas. An account of the battle at the Wichita Village between Van Dorn's command and the Comanche Indians encamped there, in which numerous details (secured from original sources and from men who participated in the fight) were related, was prepared by the author and appeared in Sturm's Oklahoma Magazine, August, 1910, pages 22-8. On the monument at the grave of Lieutenant Van Camp, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, appears the following in- scription :
CORNELIUS VAN CAMP LT. 2D CAVALRY, U. S. A. BORN Nov. 24, 1833 Shot through the heart while gallantly charging the enemy at Wichita Village, Texas, October 1, 1858.
A similar inscription appears on a bronze tablet in the Hall of Fame, at the Military Academy, at West Point, from which insti- tution Lieutenant Van Camp graduated only a year or two before his death.
In May, 1859, having recovered from his wound and having had his command recruited and reinforced by the arrival of two additional troops of cavalry, Major Van Dorn again set forth from Camp Radziminski in quest of the hostile Comanches. The ex-
232
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
pedition marched nearly 200 miles, found and attacked a band of Comanches which was encamped on Crooked Creek, in the north- ern part of what is now Meade County, Kansas, capturing the horse herd and village of buffalo skin lodges and killing or capturing practically the entire band, which had been surprised and compelled to fight dismounted.
With this expedition, which consisted of six troops of cavalry, were nine line officers, four of whom afterward became general officers in the Confederate army, namely, Earl Van Dorn, Ed- mund Kirby Smith, Fitzhugh Lee and George B. Cosby. Another --- Lieut. Manning M. Kimmel-was adjutant general of Missouri under the Confederate organization and also served as adjutant general on the staff of Gen. John B. Magruder, C. S. A. Capt. E. Kirby Smith and Lieut. Fitzhugh Lee were botlı wounded in this fight, the latter receiving a Comanche arrow in the right breast, the point passing through the right lung and protruding from the back, beneath the shoulder blade. The author's detailed account of this second expedition of Van Dorn's command, and of the battle of Crooked Creek, was published in the "Kansas Historical Collec- tions," Vol. XII, pages 312-29, the data for the same having been gathered from original sources and from personal information secured from surviving officers and men who participated in the same.
During the summer of 1860, a strong force of cavalry, selected from the garrisons of Forts Smith, Washita and Arbuckle, was sent out on the Plains under the command of Capt. Samuel D. Sturgis, for the purpose of operating against the Indians of the tribes that were then hostile. The chase was a long one, leading as it did far to the north and west and across the line into Kansas. At the end of the summer's campaign the troops returned to their respective stations in the Indian Territory and on the border at Fort Smith.
-
1
CHAPTER XXXI
THE EXILE OF THE CADDOES AND OTHER TRIBES FROM TEXAS
Near the end of this period, in 1859, a number of small tribes and fragments and remnants of tribes of Indians were removed rather hastily from Texas to the valley of the Washita River, in Southwestern Oklahoma, to save them from extermination at the hands of certain unruly elements in the Lone Star State. These included Caddoes, Anadarkoes, Keechis, Wacoes, Towakonys, Ton- kawas, the Absentee Shawnees, a small band of Delawares and the Penateka Comanches.
The story of the treatment of the Indians of various tribes which had settled in Eastern Texas prior to the close of the Texas Revolu- tion has been recounted in the history of the previous period. After they had been driven from their lands, their homes destroyed and their fields laid waste, the people of these smaller tribes led a pre- carious existence under nomadic conditions. Some of them, at least, spent some time in the Indian Territory. Finally, ten years after the annexation of Texas, the United States Government secured, from the State of Texas, the privilege of establishing two reserva- tions on the Brazos River, where the people of these tribes were brought and settled in 1855. Most of the tribes mentioned were set- tled on the Lower Reserve, as it was known, near Fort Belknap. Capt. Shapley P. Ross, a well known Texas pioneer and patriot, was appointed as the agent for the tribes on the Lower Reserve. Most of the Indians on the Upper Reserve were members of the Penateka Comanche Band, who were peaceably disposed and less given to roaming than the other Comanche bands were. John R. Baylor was the Government agent of the Upper Reserve.
In the spring of 1858, Capt. John S. Ford's Expedition against the wild Comanches was accompanied by a strong body of friendly Indian auxiliaries from the Lower Reserve, under the command of their agent, Captain Ross. Again, in the following autumn, a simi- Jar force of scouts and trailers from the Lower Reserve, under the
233
-
234
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
command of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, the young son of Agent Ross, accompanied the command of Maj. Earl Van Dorn when it marched northward across the Red River into the Indian Territory. The Indians of the Upper Reserve thereupon expressed a desire that they should also be given an opportunity to prove their friendship for Washington (i. e., the Government) by being sent out to aid the troops in campaigning against the hostiles. This offer was declined for the very good reason that the Government authorities could not endorse any policy which would employ a part of the people of a given tribe to make war on their kinsmen of the remainder. Whether or not the Penateka Comanches taunted their agent with having less influence with Washington than the agent of the Lower Reserve, is not known, though it is not improbable that such was the case. If so, it must have added to the friction already existing between Agent Baylor and the superintendent or supervising agent, Maj. Robert S. Neighbors, who was next above him in authority. At any rate, Agent Baylor was dismissed from the service for cause and Matthew Leeper was appointed to succeed him.1
Up to that time there had never been any trouble between the Indians of the Lower Reserve and the white settlers living in the immediate vicinity thereof. From that time on, however, troubles came so thickly and in such rapid succession as to warrant the infer- ence that they were the result of systematic instigation at the hands of some malevolent party or parties who were seemingly determined to bring the Indians and their agent into disrepute. A series of depredations upon the property of citizens of neighboring counties, usually at a considerable distance from the borders of the Reserve and generally in the theft of horses or other live stock, was begun, evidently by irresponsible white men who were willing to act as the instruments of the real conspirators. In order to more certainly fix the guilt for such lawless acts upon the Indians, an occasional arrow or moccasin (which had been previously purchased for the purpose from unsuspecting Indians or from traders) was dropped along the trail. The irate owners, in hot pursuit, picked up these seemingly incriminating evidences and then found the stolen stock, where it had been purposely abandoned, near the edge of the Re- serve. In all such cases, complaints were promptly made to Agent Ross, who, with equal promptness, investigated the same only to find
1 Letter of Superintendent R. S. Neighbors to the commission appointed by the governor of Texas, Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859, p. 293.
235
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
that the blame for such acts could not be justly charged against any of the Indians of his agency.2 The frequent repetition of such depredations throughout the counties of Bosque, Comanche, Coryell, Erath, Jack and Palo Pinto, had the certain effect of not only ex- asperating the settlers against the Indians who lived on the Reserve but also embittered them against Superintendent Neighbors and Agent Ross.3
Rumors and threats of an organized attack upon the Indians of the Lower Reserve were frequent during the spring of 1859.+ Su- perintendent Neighbors had already written (February 14, 1859) to the commissioner of Indian affairs, suggesting the advisability of the removal of the Indians of the Brazos Reserves to lands on the other side of the Red River and the Interior Department had taken the matter under advisement.5 Finally, in May, a force was organized for the express purpose of exterminating the Indians of the Lower Reserve. It is significant that the leader of the force thus organized in defiance of constituted authority was none other than the former Government agent of the Upper Reserve. Super- intendent Neighbors and Agent Ross, who had been keeping them- selves well informed concerning such hostile developments, appealed to the officer in command of the Government troops stationed at Fort Belknap (Maj. George H. Thomas, Second United States Cav- alry-afterward famous as the commander of the Federal Army of the Cumberland during part of the Civil war) for assistance in defending the people of the various tribes and bands on the Reserve, who abandoned their villages and gathered at the agency. Major Thomas promptly responded by dispatching a detachment of cav- alry which was subsequently reinforced by one of infantry and one of artillery.
2 Personal information secured from Capt. R. S. Ross, son of Agent S. P. Ross, in 1910.
Resolutions of certain citizens of Jack County, Texas, in mass meeting, December 25, 1858, Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859, pp. 254-5; also letter addressed by certain citizens of Texas to Messrs. Neighbors, Ross and Leeper, April 25, 1859, demanding the "immediate resignation" of those officials, pp. 273-4. 4 Letters of S. P. Ross and F. M. Harris, Ibid., pp. 260-3; letter of Robert S. Neighbors, pp. 269-71; letters of S. P. Ross, pp. 271-2. 5 Letters of Robert S. Neighbors, Ibid., pp. 235-7, 252-3, 257, 266-71; letters of Charles E. Mix, acting commissioner of Indian Affairs, pp. 263-6.
236
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
On the morning of May 23d, a foree of about 250 "filibusters," as they were called (having rendezvoused at Loving's Valley in Parker County ), invaded the Lower Reserve, John R. Baylor being in command. Capt. J. B. Plummer, First United States Infantry, who was in command of the Government troops stationed at the agency, promptly sent a demand to know "for what purpose le had come upon the reservation with an armed body of men?" To this Baylor replied that his force "had come to assail certain In- dians of this Reserve, but not to attaek any whites, but, should the troops fire upon his men during the fight, he would attack them also, or any other whites who did the same thing, and treat all alike." To this Captain Plummer responded that his orders were to proteet the Indians of the Reserve from attacks of armed bands of eitizens and that he would do so to the best of his ability and closed by warn- ing the invaders, in the name of the Government of the United States, to leave the reservation. To' this Baylor rejoined that his determination was not altered; that he had come to attaek the In- dians on the Reserve and that he would attend to leaving it when he was ready; that he "regretted the necessity of coming into collision with the United States troops, but was determined to destroy the Indians on this and the Upper Reserve, if it cost him the life of every man of his command." However, finding that bluster and bravado did not daunt the commander of the troops, Baylor with- drew his force, capturing and killing an inoffensive Waco Indian, eighty years old. (Previous to that, while approaching the ageney, they had killed an old Indian woman who was working in her gar- den in another village.) 6
The invaders having thus begun hostilities, a number of In- dians, variously estimated at from 50 to 100 and belonging to sev- eral different tribes, attacked them on flank and rear and acceler- ated the retrograde movement until it became a running fight. After being thus pursued by a band of Indians inferior in number to that of their own force, the "filibusters" took refuge in the build- ings of a ranch outside the limits of the reservation and eight miles from the ageney. There they remained in the defensive until night- fall, when the Indians withdrew. During the course of the fight at the raneh, Jim Pock Mark, second chief of the Anadarkoes, rode up to the house and called for Baylor to come forth and give him single combat but the latter; who came to exterminate whole tribes,
6 Letters of Capt. J. B. Plummer and Agent S. P. Ross, Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859, pp. 276-8.
237
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
did not see fit to try his martial prowess in any such venturesome manner.7
The civil authorities of Texas were either unable or unwilling to cope with the situation. Governor H. R. Runnels issued a , proclamation shortly after the trouble began in which he counseled the people to refrain from violence but it had little if any appre- ciable effect.8 Later on, when the situation became still more seri- ous, he appointed a commission to adjust the matter.9 This com-
7 The attitude and disposition of John R. Baylor with regard to the treatment to be accorded to Indians is presumably fairly repre- sented in the following letter, which was written by him to one of his military subordinates several years later, and which is extracted from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. L, Part I, p. 942 :
Hdqurs. Second Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles, Mesilla, March 20, 1862.
CAPTAIN HELM,
Commanding Arizona Guards.
SIR: I learn from Lieut. J. J. Jackson that the Indians have been in to your post for the purpose of making a treaty. The Con- gress of the Confederate States has passed a law declaring extermi- nation to all hostile Indians. You will therefore use all means to persuade the Apaches or any tribe to come in for the purpose of making peace, and when you get them together kill all the grown Indians and take the children prisoners and sell them to defray the expense of killing Indians. Buy whisky and such other goods as may be necessary for the Indians and I will order vouchers to cover the amount expended. Leave nothing undone to insure success, and have sufficient men around to allow no Indian to escape. Say noth- ing of your orders until the time arrives, and be cautious how you let the Mexicans know it. If you can't trust them send to Captain Aycock, at this place, and he will send you thirty men from his con- pany-but use the Mexicans if they can be trusted, as bringing troops from here might excite suspicion with the Indians. To your judgment I intrust this important matter and look to you for success against these cursed pests who have already murdered over 100 men in this territory.
JOHN R. BAYLOR, Colonel Commanding.
s Proclamation of H. R. Runnels, governor of the State of Texas. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859, p. 223.
9 Letter of Governor Runnels to Allison Nelson and others, Ibid., pp. 287-8; also, appointment of members of commission to "repre- sent the state of Texas in the peaceable and lawful adjustment of said difficulties," pp. 288-9; also, instructions issued by the gov- ernor to the members of the commission, pp. 289-90.
238
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA
mission met and organized and went through the form of investi- gating the matter but its report was far from being impartial.10 The governor could have used the Rangers but he did not make any effort to do so. An effort to secure protection for the Indians on the Reserve from the Rangers was negatived by their commander, Capt. John S. Ford, who declined to take any action because of alleged legal technicalities.11 Meanwhile, Major Neighbors was urging the removal of the Indians from the state at the earliest pos- sible date. The Interior Department, which has never been noted for precipitate haste in matters of policy, made fairly good time in effecting arrangements for the removal of the tribes from the Brazos Reserves to the valley of the Washita, considering the distance from Washington to the Indian Territory and the lack of facilities for rapid communication. The details of preliminary negotiation and preparation for removal lengthened from weeks into months before they were completed.12
During the interval of over two months that elapsed between the invasion of the Reserve by the force under Baylor, and the final departure of the Indians for their new places of abode on the Washita River, constant vigilance had to be exercised in order to avoid further attempts at violence.13 Although the Government authorities had promised to remove the Indians from the two re- serves on the Brazos to some place outside the State of Texas as soon as the necessary arrangements could be effected, the malevolence of the Indian haters remained unabated and unappeased. No effort was spared in an endeavor to play upon the fears, and arouse the passions of the people of the neighboring counties. Public meet- ings were held at various places and inflammatory resolutions were adopted. The few newspapers published in the frontier counties did
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.