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 42
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but being put to the test by my offering to feed and care for all of his band who would come to Fort Dodge and remain there peace- ably, he defiantly refused. The consequences of this refusal was a merited punishment only too long delayed." General Sheridan cited no authority for his statement to the effect that Black Kettle encouraged or incited his people by "making medicine" and other incantations before they started on the raid, so it is quite possible that it was based on hearsay or unfounded rumor. On the other hand, George Bent, whose father was Col. William W. Bent, the Rocky Mountain fur trader and whose mother was a Cheyenne woman, and who was himself a kinsman of Black Kettle and lived on terms of intimacy with him, assures the writer that Black Ket- tle's influence and example were both on the side of peace. More- over, Maj. E. W. Wynkoop, the tribal agent of the Cheyennes, who probably knew Black Kettle as no other white man ever did, always maintained that Black Kettle was innocent of any complicity in or responsibility for the raid through the valleys of the Saline and Solomon rivers. Nor should it be forgotten that, after his people had moved down on the Washita, Black Kettle had journeyed all the way to Fort Cobb to assure General Hazen, the military agent, that he was friendly and did not want war, shortly before his death. While the writer would not wish to detract from the reputation of General Sheridan, yet, in all fairness, it seems well, in commenting upon his positive though unsubstantiated statement, to call attention to the controversy which was then raging over the proposed transfer of the bureau of Indian Affairs from the Interior Department to the War Department. Although Major Wynkoop had had a most credit- able record as an officer of volunteers, he had been appointed to the position of United States Indian agent from civil life. He was snubbed by General Hancock, was sneered at in the writings of Gen- eral Custer ("Life on the Plains," pp. 142-50), while his unselfish services pass unnoticed in General Sheridan's "Memoirs." While "the Indian Ring" and the average tribal agent may have been all that they were depicted by the proponents of the transfer of the Indian' Bureau to the War Department, there were certainly no grounds for belittling the service of Major Wynkoop as systemati- cally as it seems to have been done.
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during the great snow storm. Not only did the officers and men suffer from exposure and privation but they lost many of their horses, so that by the time the regiment reached Camp Supply (re- lief parties having been sent to their rescue meanwhile), most of the men were already dismounted.14
14 For full accounts of the service of the Nineteenth Kansas Cav- alry in Western Oklahoma, in 1868-9, consult "The Nineteenth Kan- sas Cavalry," by Lieut. Col. Horace L. Moore, Kansas Historical Society Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 35-47; also "The Nineteenth Kan- sas Cavalry," by James A. Hadley, Ibid., Vol. X, pp. 428-56. Both of these papers throw considerable light upon the events of the period.
CHAPTER XLVIII
THE WINTER CAMPAIGN CONTINUED
After the arrival of the Kansas Regiment, the Seventh Cavalry having refitted during the interval of waiting, arrangements were soon made for both to take the field. It was planned to return first to the site of the recent fight on the Washita and from thence pro- ceed with the further operations of the campaign. General Sheri- dan and several members of his staff accompanied the troops on the march this time. The valley of the Washita was entered several miles below the scene of the fight. There the troops went into camp to enable General Sheridan to visit the battle field and also that a systematic search might be made for the remains of Major Elliott and the men who were believed to have perished with him. Two miles from the scene of the main engagement the bodies of Major Elliott and the little band of men who had followed lim were found, all within the limits of a circle not exceeding twenty yards in diameter with one exception, with a small pile of empty cartridge shells near each body. The bodies were stripped of all clothing and had been horribly mutilated. The bodies were re- moved to the camp, and, with the exception of that of Major Elliott, which was taken to Fort Arbuckle for interment, all were buried ยท in a single grave on a little knoll near the camp.
The next day the march was resumed down the valley, past the sites of the various Indian villages which had been so hastily abandoned after the destruction of that of Black Kettle's Band. All bore evidence of the haste with which the move had been made, a large part of their belongings having been abandoned and many of their extra horses and ponies killed in order to pre- vent them from falling into the hands of the troops. On the site of the village which had been occupied by Satanta's Band of Kiowas, there were found the bodies of a young white woman and an infant son. Her name was Blynn and she had been captured from a wagon train on the Arkansas River in Eastern Colorado, two or three months before. The mother and child had been held as cap- tives until there was danger that she might be rescued when she was Vol. I-28
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shot and scalped and her child had its brains dashed out against a tree. The bodies of the mother and child were taken - to Fort Arbuckle for interment.
Down the valley of the Washita marched the command, one of the officers naming the tributary streams as they were passed or crossed-Barnitz Creek for the wounded troop captain; Quarter- master Creek for the gallant officer whose courage and resourceful- ness in bringing a fresh supply of ammunition had prevented pos- sible defeat after the destruction of Black Kettle's Village; and Seventh Cavalry Creek, in honor of the regiment, which, though only two years old, was already famous-their valleys then a part of the vast wilderness and for ages the grazing ground of the shaggy buffalo, but, today, containing some of the most fertile and productive farms in the State of Oklahoma. On the 12th of Decem- ber the command resumed its march down the valley of the Washita toward Fort Cobb and, five days later, was approached by several Kiowa Indians under a flag of truce. The Indians had a letter from Gen. W. B. Hazen, who, though an officer of the army, was acting as a special Indian agent, and who was then at Fort Cobb. In this letter, General Hazen stated that the Kiowas and Comanches were friendly and, though General Sheridan had posi- tive proof to the contrary, he decided not to attack the Kiowa Vil- lage as he otherwise would have done. When he informed Satanta and Lone Wolf, the Kiowa chiefs, that he would respect General Hazen's letter if all of the Kiowas would go to Fort Cobb and sur- render, they promptly promised to submit and offered to accom- pany the troops to Fort Cobb. General Sheridan had his suspicions as to the sincerity of the Kiowas, even as he believed they had im- posed upon General Hazen, so they were closely watched. The second day it was noted that on one pretext or another, most of the Kiowa warriors were dropping out of the party which was accom- panying the chiefs and disappearing. Finally Satanta attempted to make his escape but was promptly pursued and brought back and both he and Lone Wolf were placed in arrest to be held as hostages for the good behavior of the tribe.1
When the expedition arrived at Fort Cobb it was found that all of the Comanches were either already there or were on their way to that post, except the intractable Quahada Band, but no Kiowas were there. Though the Kiowas had promised to come in, it was evident that they had no intention of doing so. After waiting several days
1 "Personal Memoirs of Philip H. Sheridan," p. 333-5.
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during which the captive chiefs made many excuses for the nonap- pearance of their people, General Sheridan, convinced of the futil- ity of further temporizing, directed that if the Kiowas did not come in and surrender by sunset of the following day, the two chiefs, Lone Wolf and Satanta should be hung by the neck until dead. Satanta's son was sent as a messenger to the Kiowa Village with this intelligence. This threat had the desired effect and most of the Kiowas arrived within the specified limit of time, the only exception being the band of the chief known as Woman's Heart, which, like the Quahada Comanches and the Cheyennes and Arapa- hoes had fled to the Upper Red River region near the Staked Plains. Then followed several weeks of futile effort to induce the last men- tioned tribes to come in and surrender without further hostilities.
FORT SILL IN 1871
Iron Shirt, an Apache chief was selected as a messenger to the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. He went accompanied by an old Chey- enne woman who was one of the captives, Mah-wis-sa, by name, and a sister of Black Kettle.
After an absence of three weeks, Iron Shirt returned alone. The Cheyenne and Arapahoe chiefs had rejected the overtures thus made; they made various excuses, such as the weakness of their ponies which made it impossible to travel, but in effect, it meant that they preferred war to peace and that they probably doubted the ability of the troops to follow and find them before the grass of another season should so far restore the strength of their ponies that they might be able to resume active hostilities. However, Iron Shirt reported that Little Robe, who was a leading chief of the Cheyennes and Yellow Bear, second chief of the Arapahoes were anxious for peace and that they had promised to personally visit Fort Cobb. A few days later these two chiefs came in, spent some time in conference with Generals Sheridan and Custer. Other mes-
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sengers were sent out to the Cheyennes and Arapahoes but still they did not come in, though the two chiefs still remained in camp as an evidence of good faith on their own part.
Fort Cobb was abandoned, the command marching to a point near the confluence of the Medicine Bluff and Cache creeks, not far from the eastern extremity of the Wichita range of mountains, where a new military post was to be established. The new post was named Fort Sill.2 The Comanches, Kiowas and Plains Apaches were required to move over to the valleys of Medicine Bluff and Cache creeks also, so that they might continue to be under military surveillance.
General Custer finally requested permission of General Sheri- dan to make a personal attempt to persuade the Cheyennes and Arapahoes to come in and surrender. For this purpose he pro- posed to take a small escort of forty men and, accompanied by Little Robe and Yellow Bear go in search of the villages of their respective tribes. The location of such villages was at best a matter of conjecture for, as the two chiefs explained, their people had to move more or less frequently on account of the scarcity of game and to obtain fresh pasturage. On arriving at the westernmost peak of the Wichita Mountains, the two chiefs made preparations to "call to the village," as they expressed it, by means of smoke signals. This was done by ascending the mountain, which was not over a 1,000 feet high. A vast vista of prairie and plain lay spread out before them but a careful scrutiny failed to show any sign of an Indian village. General Custer described the means and method of making the smoke signal, which he then witnessed as follows : 3
"First gathering an armful of dried grass and weeds this was carried and placed upon the highest point of the peak, where, everything being in readiness, the match was applied close to the ground; but the blaze was no sooner well lighted and about to envelop the entire amount of grass collected than Little Robe began smothering it with the unlighted portion. This accomplished, a
2 Fort Sill was so named in honor of Gen. Joshua Sill, a class- mate of Sheridan at West Point, who was killed while in command of a brigade in Sheridan's division at the Battle of Stone River. Tennessee. The site of the post had been selected during the preced- ing summer by Gen. B. H. Grierson, by whom it had been named Camp Wichita. Fort Sill is now the only regularly garrisoned mili- tary post in Oklahoma.
3 "Custer's "Life on the Plains," pp. 281-2.
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slender column of gray smoke began to ascend in a perpendicular column. This, however, was not enough, as such a signal, or the appearance of such, might be created by white men, or might arise from a simple camp fire. Little Robe now took his scarlet blanket from his shoulders and, with a graceful wave, threw it so as to cover the smouldering grass, when, assisted by Yellow Bear, he held the corners and sides so closely to the ground as to almost completely confine and cut off the column of smoke. Waiting but a few mo- ments and until he saw the smoke beginning to escape from beneath, he suddenly threw the blanket aside and a beautiful, balloon-shaped column puffed upward like the white cloud of smoke which attends the discharge of a field piece.
"Again casting the blanket on the pile of grass the column was interrupted, as before, and again in due time released, so that a suc- cession of elongated, egg-shaped puffs of smoke kept ascending toward the sky in the most regular manner. This bead-like column of smoke, considering the height from which it began to ascend, was visible from points on the level plain fifty miles distant. The sight of these two Indian chiefs so intently engaged in this simple but effective mode of telegraphing was to me full of interest, and this incident was vividly recalled when I came across Stanley's painting of 'The Signal,' in which two chiefs or warriors were standing upon a large rock with lighted torch in hand, while far in the dis- tance is to be seen the answering column, as it ascends above the tops of the trees from the valley where no doubt the village is pleasantly located. In our case, however, the picture is not so com- plete in its results, for, strain our eyes as we might in every direc- tion, no responsive signal could be discovered and, finally, the chiefs were reluctantly forced to acknowledge that the villages were not where they expected to find them and that, to reach them would probably involve a longer journey than we had anticipated."
Several days after the failure of the smoke signal, General Custer and his command met two Arapahoe warriors and by them were conducted to their village, situated on a small tributary of the Red River, near the boundary of the Texas Panhandle. The village proved to be that of Little Raven's Band of Arapahoes. They seemed delighted to have the white men come among them as friends and readily expressed themselves as being in favor of making peace. When asked as to the whereabouts of the Cheyennes, they were non-committal, merely stating that the Cheyennes moved fre- quently. Little Raven finally agreed to send two young men as guides to aid General Custer in his further effort to reach the Chey-
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ennes. General Custer also had to send a courier back to Fort Sill, asking for supplies. Little Robe was sent on ahead to find his people and to explain the pacific character of the mission upon which General Custer hoped to visit them. Although he received a fresh stock of supplies and a reinforcement of a dozen men, his further efforts to meet the Cheyennes did not meet with success and he was at last compelled by the lack of food to abandon the effort for the time being and return to his base of operations at Fort Sill.
The winter was drawing to a close and, unless the hostile In- dians were brought to terms before the opening of the spring season, the hope of peace on the Plains of the West would have had to be deferred for another six months at least. It was therefore important to find the Cheyennes and either fight them or persuade them to come in and surrender without much further delay. On March 2, 1869, the effective men of the two cavalry regiments started west from Fort Sill, following the southern base of the Wichita Moun- tains, the men of the Nineteenth Kansas being dismounted and marching as infantry. Five days later a force of 450 men was withdrawn and sent with a large part of the wagon train, including all camp equipage and all stores aside from subsistence and ammuni- tion and marched off to the quartermaster depot, which had been established by Maj. Henry Inman on the Washita near the scene of the destruction of Black Kettle's Village. Onward toward the west, Custer and his men pressed, weary, hungry, but still filled with determination. The mules by which the wagons were drawn, weakened by lack of grain and hay, fell by the wayside where they were promptly slaughtered and their flesh was eaten by the half- starved troopers, the serviceable animals being put in to replace the depletions of other teams and wagons that could no longer be hauled were burned. Day after day, the march continued, away to the west of the 100th meridian, sometimes following a dim Indian trail and anon pressing on where there was no sign. The one fact that enabled both officers and men to redouble their exertions even amid the discouragements and privations and discomforts of such a march was the knowledge of the fact that there were two young white women who were held as captives by the Cheyennes, this intelligence having been ascertained during the course of General Custer's previous effort to reach the Cheyennes. Both captives had been carried away from the settlements in Kansas during the course of the raid through the valleys of the Solomon and Saline rivers, seven months before. All were inspired by the hope of rescuing
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these captives alive rather than finding them dead and scalped as in the case of Mrs. Blynn already mentioned. Finally, when nearly as far west as the 102d meridian, the trail of a single lodge was found and followed. Within a day it had joined with others, till the deserted camp ground showed there had been a dozen lodges. A few miles farther on the trail led them to a second camp site upon which there had been twenty-five lodges. As the march progressed, directions having changed so that the course was then in a north- easterly direction, other lodges continued to join the band until there were evidently over a hundred of them. At last, in the valley of the Sweetwater (a tributary of the North Fork of the Red River) they came upon the camp or village of the main body of the South- ern Cheyenne Tribe.
' By signs General Custer made known to the Cheyennes that he had come on a peaceful mission and asked to meet their principal chief (Medicine Arrow), who promptly rode out and greeted him. With a single companion (Colonel Cook), the general then entered the Cheyenne Village, after sending orders for the troops to take up given positions and remain passive unless attacked, and visited the lodge of Medicine Arrow as his guest. He told the chief that he wished to secure the release of the two captive white girls and he also asked where he might find a good camp ground. Medicine Arrow personally went and showed the general a place for his camp, about three-quarters of a mile distant from the Indian vil- lage. General Custer was impressed with the belief that the Indians would decamp as soon as possible after nightfall, but this he did not propose to permit. After he had pitched his camp a big fire was built in front of his headquarters. Around this fire, many of the chiefs and head men and some of the young men gathered. It was announced that the young men were to give a dance and sere- nade for the amusement of the white soldiers. But General Custer's lookouts reported that there was a commotion in the Indian village; that the herds of ponies were being driven in and that it was evi- dent that the proposed entertainment was merely a ruse to enable the people of the village to make good their escape. General Custer listened with seeming credulity to the representations of the In- dians, but he passed back the word that a number of the officers of both regiments should arm themselves well and walk in apparent unconcern into the group in front of his headquarters. Suddenly Custer's tone and manner changed. He arose to his feet and gave the order, "Arrest these men." There was a struggle but, in the end, three of the chiefs were held captive. James A. Hadley, who
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as a soldier in the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry,+ was an eye witness described the scene as follows:
"Then ensued a dramatic scene. Warriors swarmed like angry bees. On their bony ponies hundreds of them raced around their village and the two regiments in the most threatening manner. Around and around they galloped, brandishing their fine rifles, screaming with rage and baffled hate. Though taken by surprise they were now already dressed for battle. Their gorgeous war-bon- nets, brilliant battle pennants, long-fringed leggings (stolen from some freighter's wagon, doubtless), were all in sharp contrast to their sheet-iron colored skin, for, cold as it was, few wore blankets. It seemed that they were in such a frenzy of hatred that they must throw themselves in sheer, insane fury upon 'Yellow Hair' (Custer) and his officers. But there was something omnious in the perfect silence of the motionless soldiers, their clothes faded and ragged, their faces almost black from camp fire and storm, their eyes deep- sunken, their teeth protruding and their fleshless cheeks like lines of skeletons. More impressive still to the superstitious Indian was the fact that these soldiers had crossed what the Indians all regarded as an impassable desert-had crossed it without horses, tents or food and, suddenly, in daylight, swooped down on them, captured their village and made their chiefs prisoners.
"The council went right on, but 'Yellow Hair,' who had only listened before, now 'made talk' himself. He told the chiefs that he wanted the two captives alive and unharmed. He coolly ignored their protestations that they had not even heard of white squaws among the tribes. He greatly disconcerted them by talking and acting as if they had not spoken, whenever they lied. As their state- ments had all been false, except in minor matters, they now began to tell the truth. In the face of the recent denials, they now admitted that two women were held but said that the captives were at a camp fifteen miles down the river (Sweetwater). Custer told them to pack up at once and move down to that camp and he would come the next day and get the women. In an hour the last warrior galloped away to overtake the squaws and pack-ponies. The chiefs seized as hostages were Dull Knife, Fat Bear and Big Head.
"That night, hunger and cold were self-invited guests. In addition, suspense was there-a new visitor. Next morning, the 21st, the column was early in motion. The Indian trail was broad the first five miles, then, as expected, began to fade away until, in
4 "Kansas Historical Society's Collections," Vol. X, pp. 451-2.
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another five miles, there was no trail at all. At the end of ten miles was a camping place but it had not been used since the year before."
Col. Horace L. Moore, who was in command of the Nineteenth Kansas Regiment throughout the latter part of the campaign, de- scribed the incidents which followed, in the course of an address before the Kansas Historical Society 5 in these rather thrilling words :
"The regiment bivouacked for the night, and General Custer had the head chief taken down on the creek, a riata put around his neck and the other end thrown over the limb of a tree. A couple of soldiers took hold of the other end of the rope and, by pulling gently, lifted him up onto his toes. He was then let down and 'Romeo,' the interpreter, explained to him that, when he was pulled up clear from the ground and left there, he would be hung.
"The grizzly old savage seemed to understand the matter fully and then Custer told him that if they did not bring in those women by the time the sun got within a hand's breadth of the horizon the next day, he would hang the chiefs on those trees."
This ultimatum was at once communicated to the people of the scattered village by members of the tribe, who were not in custody. Colonel Moore's account continues :
"It was a long night, but everybody knew the next afternoon would settle the matter in some way. As the afternoon drew on, men climbed the hills around Camp, watching the horizon, and about four p. m., a mounted Indian came onto a ridge a mile away. He waited a few minutes and then, beckoning with his hand to some one behind him, he came to the next ridge and another Indian came onto the ridge he had left. There was another pause; then the two moved up and a third came in sight. They came up slowly in this way till at last a group of a dozen came in sight, and, with a glass, it could be seen that there were two persons on one of the ponies. These were the women. The Indians brought them to within about 200 yards of camp, where they slid off the ponies and 'Romeo,' the interpreter, who had met the Indians there, told the women to come in. They came down the hill, clinging to each other as though determined not to be separated whatever might occur. I met them at the foot of the hill and, taking the elder lady by the hand, asked if she was Mrs. Morgan. She said she was, and then introduced the other, Miss White. She then asked, 'Are we free now?' She
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