USA > Oklahoma > Woods County > History of Woods County Oklahoma > Part 2
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The religion of all Indians is intensely real to them. The prairie tribes worshiped the sun and called upon it as the Great Spirit. The aspects of nature which they could not understand stirred their vivid imagina- tions and aroused their awe and reverence. They be- lieved that many objects trees, rivers, clouds, streams -were peopled with spirits, some good, some bad. Ill- ness meant to them the presence of an evil spirit. They placed strong faith in their Medicine Men whose only method of cure was the performance of strange rites in honor of the sun-god.
Prairie Tribes War-like
All the prairie tribes were fierce and war-like. Upon the slightest provoca- tion they attacked other bands or white men. The good fighters often had several scalps dangling from their belts, and they lost no oppor- tunity to add to their collec- tions. The Comanches, Apaches and Kiowas were the last of all tribes to adopt modern instruments of war- fare, but an arrow from the
Indian Medicine Man
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
bow of one of their chiefs was a deadly weapon and seldom missed its mark.
The Indian warriors presented a gaudy picture. They painted their faces in brilliant hues-red, orange, black -using fruit juices or bright clays to make the desired shades. Chiefs and Medicine Men wore headdresses of large, gaily colored feathers, with a string of feathers dangling behind them. Before fighting the Indians usually danced and prayed to the sun god, imploring his protection. The following prayer is characteristic of a warrior: "Kon-c-ko-on-ta (Grandfather), give me
-Brooks, Story of the American Indian The Scalp Dance .
success in war, that I may get many scalps and much plunder and never be hurt myself."
After a big fight, if the warriors returned with scalps, a grand jubilee was held. The scalp dance was a grim performance generally lasting about three weeks
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
with dancing day and night. The women were privi- leged to dance, the squaws showing the greatest fierce- ness and most devilish joy.
Attacked White Men
The Plains Indians, and especially Comanches, made repeated attacks upon parties of white men. They particularly resented the hunters who killed the buffalo and game which they regarded as their own. Many frightful massacres occurred and none who ventured into the western country was safe from danger. The Indians approached unseen, and charged upon their victims with blood curdling screams of rage, often in- flicting barbarous torture.
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
CHAPTER V OKLAHOMA PRAIRIES Hunting Parties and Game
For untold centuries before the coming of the white man the Oklahoma prairies were practically un- inhabited. But many times they resounded with the war cry of the red man who staged many of his blood- iest skirmishes upon them. Often in those by gone days
BRIOGMAN.
-Brooks, Story of the American Indian An Indian Hunting Party
the savage shouts of hostile warriors and the glint of flying tomahawks pierced their serenity. To the prairies, also, the Indians came on hunting expeditions.
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Mounted on swiftest ponies they dashed headlong after their prey, their arrows whizzing through the air with never failing sureness of aim. Days of feasting and dancing followed the hunt, days when the smoke of Indian camp fires rose black against the splendor of the Oklahoma sun-set. Huge herds of buffalo grazed upon
Finding a Cool Drink
these prairies and lumbered heavily toward the streams to drink of the cooling waters. The tall grasses, set in undulating ripples by the summer breeze, sheltered small animals and game of all kinds. Fleet-footed deer darted like phantoms through the deep stillness. And across the quiet of night shivered the melancholy howls of far off coyotes.
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Coming of the White Man
Then, suddenly, like a bursting bomb, other sounds pierced the age-old quiet of the prairies. The white man had come with his gun, his axe, and his plow! In an incredibly short time the whole aspect of the plains changed. The wandering buffalo gave place to herds of cattle. The sturdy dwelling of the white man re- placed the Indian tepee. The tall grasses went down before the farmer's plow, and in their place sprung up row after row of corn and wheat. From a wilderness the prairies were transformed almost in a day to the richest of agricultural regions. Oklahoma became, in- deed, a land of golden grain, a land of abundant har- vests.
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CHAPTER VI "THE TREATY OF MEDICINE LODGE" The Plains Indians After the Civil War
During the Civil War while the United States troops were withdrawn from the southwestern frontier forts the Plains Indians scoured the prairies without re- straint and fought continually. They plundered and massacred not only white travelers and settlers, but also bands of peaceful Indians. Their enmity against the government increased after a number of Indians had been killed by soldiers. Several attempts to curb the fighting of the red men were made in vain. When the Civil War ended the government took definite steps toward settling this continual Indian war-fare. A com- mission was appointed by the President. It was decided that a council should be held with the fighting tribes in order that Indian affairs might be ar- ranged for all future time.
It was difficult to persuade the Indians to assemble. They were experts at dis- obeying orders. Medi- cine Lodge, in the southwest part of Kan- sas, was named as the location for the coun- cil. Notices were sent out three months in
-Hatcher and Montgomery Santank, Kiowa Warrior
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advance to give the redmen ample time for "cool- ing off." A large number of military and civil officials, newspaper reporters, interpreters and scouts, and a military escort accompanied the commission to Medicine Lodge.
Warriors Rush Party
They made the last hundred miles of the journey in wagons, as the railroads did not extend to the ap- pointed place. As the party neared its destination and could see the Indian tepees pitched a few miles ahead a strange thing happened. Thousands of warriors in full war regalia, with their faces, bodies and horses painted in brilliant colors, dashed at full speed out of the camp and toward the white men. Suddenly the charging mass of riders formed itself into a huge wheel-shaped ring composed of five distinct circles of horsemen.
The ring wound round and round with perfect regularity, advancing at each turn closer to the com- mission party. The riders plunged forward with start- ling speed, but with never a flaw in their exactness of movement. Onward they rushed with thundering clamor of horses' hoofs. When almost upon the quaking "palefaces" the wheel abruptly came to a standstill. Then an opening was made, and the members of the commission were led through the five rings of wildly painted warriors to a space in the center.
The white men were at the red men's mercy! There followed the smoking of the peace pipe. To the Indians this is a very grave and dignified ceremony. All of the Chiefs and Medicine Men except White Antelope, advanced and took a puff from the pipe. This signified that all would make peace but him. After the pipe had gone all around, the war was considered
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
at an end. The commissioners returned unharmed to their wagon train, and proceeded to Medicine Lodge. There the white men arranged their wagons in a circle four deep, like a stockade. They knew it was always best to prepare for danger when dealing with Indians.
Cheyennes Hold Out
All the warring tribes had assembled except a part of the Cheyennes. They were encamped about 50 miles away. For two weeks the commission labored to pacify them. Black Kettle, head chief of the Cheyennes was eager to have all his people make peace. Finally the stubborn Cheyennes came in. In the meantime, White Antelope had been won over to accept peace also. The commissioners knew exactly how to deal with the Indians. They provided plenty of food, and kept great pots filled with steaming black coffee which the Indians could drink at any time. Also they dis tributed beads, ribbons, blankets, ponies, and trinkets with a lavish hand. These things are the chief delights of the red men. A Kiowa Chief, Ton-ne-en-ko (Kick- ing Bird) took a fancy to a high silk hat belonging to the president of the commission. The hat immediately changed owners, and Ton-ne-en-ko became its proud possessor.
The Dog Feast
When all the Indians had agreed upon peace they decided to give a feast in honor of the white men. It was a dog feast. Indians like dog as Americans like turkey. Each guest was given a plate of cold dog, crackers and a cup of coffee. Many amusing things happened, but the funniest was the appearance of Ton- ne-en-ko. He came to the feast in full evening dress, as he understood evening dress, which included only his
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breech clout and the high silk hat! And this hat was decorated with a band of red ribbon around the crown and three long red streamers hanging down to the ground.
Sign Treaty
After the Indians had been flattered and petted and fed and given presents until they were in a good humor the treaty of Medicine Lodge, made in October, 1867, was signed. It provided that the Plains Indians should leave Kansas, and gave them large reservations in the southwest part of Oklahoma with a great hunt- ing range south of the Arkansas River. The Indians now agreed to stop fighting. Although there were some bloody frays thereafter like those at Adobe Walls and Buffalo Wallow, the tribes never went on the war path again.
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CHAPTER VII THE BATTLE OF ADOBE WALLS
Indian Hunting Ground
It was a hot temper that characterized the spirit of the Red Men of the Plains. They had only con- tempt for the five civilized tribes now living peacefully in the eastern portion of the new Indian Territory. Over the broad open prairies, south of the Arkansas river, they still had a hunting range of 100,000 square miles. This was their last, except the arid regions, and they were resolved to keep it at any cost.
In the northern part of this region, probably 100 miles south of Dodge City, in the valley of a small branch of the Canadian river, and just over the western border of the present state of Oklahoma, the cowboys and buffalo hunters decided to erect a stockade and a supply house of sod with walls two feet thick, which they called "Adobe Walls." Here the soil was rich, the grass was rank, an excellent spring was found and the little valley was almost surrounded by great rocky bluffs from 30 to 100 feet in height. Never before had there been any sort of habitation for white men in all this part of the country, for it was generally under- stood by both the Indians and the white men that the former considered this the best of all their southern hunting grounds and that the white men were to keep out.
Warn White Men
When, therefore, the stockade and trading post began to be erected, the Indians quickly notified the workmen and freighters to get out of their country and carry their stuff with them back across the Arkansas
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
river. Even before the erection of this stockade at Adobe Walls, the Indians had observed with grave alarm the wholesale slaughter of their buffalo. Now they asked themselves, "what hope is left for us if we permit this trading post to be erected in the very heart of our buffalo lands?" The thought of it made them wild with rage and once more they mounted their ponies, approached the cowboys and made signs for them to get out of the country. They reminded them too of the white man's treaty at Medicine Lodge only seven years before, when it was agreed that the lands south and west of the Arkansas were to be their hunt- ing grounds forever.
But cowboys and frontier traders are not easily frightened and so the erection of the fort continued. As to the rights of the Indians and their threats, they cared nothing for such matters. The cowboys only scoffed at the Indians and pointed to their long range, 50-caliber Spencer rifles. This was more than the Indians could endure and they decided in their fury to utterly destroy Adobe Walls and scalp all who were found there. War, they thought, was the only thing that was left to them, and the only way to keep the white men out.
Buffalo Slaying Continues
Meanwhile, the extermination of the buffalo went on apace. The immense traffic in their hides was very profitable and vast herds were being slaughtered, their carcases often left on the plains for wolves and buzzards while the freighter carried the hides 150 miles north to the new Santa Fe railroad.
All was excitement now among the Indians. They first held their fire dances. Here their chiefs, Lone
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
Wolf and Quanah Parker, and their medicine men with loud and vicious war whoops showed the warriors how to kill and scalp the enemy. When the war spirit was hot, they mounted their ponies and hurried away to their savage deeds. A bold and determined band of young war- riors from the Chey- ennes, Arapahoes, Comanches and Kiowas had made their vows to utterly de- stroy the trading post and to scalp every cowboy to be found. One of their medicine men, probably Spotted Wolf, had made them believe that he possess- ed a charm, that would take away the power of the white man's bullets to do them harm, so they became fearlessly brave.
-Hatcher and Montgomery QUANAH PARKER, After accepting civilized life.
Off they galloped, 600 or 800 Indian warriors, all bound for the trading post of Adobe Walls, where they arrived before the dawn of day, June 27, 1874. As the great stockade had not yet been completed they rode right up to the trading post or "lodge" where all but two of the twenty six cowboys were still asleep.
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Many of the horses and two of the men were horribly pierced by their long sharp arrows during their first wild charge. But, early as it was, two of the cowboys were already up and were making ready for the day's hunt. These instantly gave the alarm and, guns in hand, ran for the big "lodge." Now cowboys are "quick on the trigger" and at once their guns began to do their deadly work, so that soon a score or more of the Indians and their horses lay dying in the bloody grass.
Carry Attack Three Days
All day long and for part of the night the attack continued, the Indians making their charges with the fury of fiends and demons. Not a cowboy slept, nor scarce did he eat or drink, so determined were the In- dians to kill. The second day was like unto the first. At day break of the third day there appeared on the top of the northern bluff, the figure of an Indian medi- cine man all painted in red and yellow with great rows of feathers on his arms and hands, a high ridge of feathers covering his head, and a huge streamer of feathers floating from his head to the ground behind him. There he stood all alone on the very crest of the bluff with his head lifted high and facing the rising sun. As the sun's first rays came into view, he danced with wild excitement, flopped his wing like arms, bowed low to the ground and repeated these gestures as if he were making signs of worship, which indeed he was, for he was a sun worshiper.
The cowboys watched him a few minutes, know- ing his warriors were just over the bluff and that he was getting them ready for another attack. Then old Bill Dixon reached for his big buffalo rifle and said,
3
3
110
The Death of the "Medicine Man."
The Indians' Method of Fighting.
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
"Boys, I'm going to take a crack at him." So saying, he took careful aim at the dancing figure more than three- fourths mile away. Pop went the rifle but Spotted Wolf kept dancing on. Then another shot and the dancing stopped instantly, and to their great wonder, Spotted Wolf rolled in a heap down, down, over rock and cliff to the very botton of the bluff.
Soon the warriors were seen dashing hither and thither behind the crags; then with the speed of the wind a half dozen galloped down the side of the bluff, and leaning low over their ponies grabbed the dead body of Spotted Wolf and quickly disappeared on the other side.
Dixon is quoted by MacDonald of the "Kansas City Star," as saying:
"There was never a more splendidly barbaric sight. Hundreds of warriors, the flower of the fighting men of the southwestern plains tribes, mounted upon their finest horses, armed with guns, lances, bows and arrows, and carrying heavy shields of thick buffalo hide, were coming like the wind. Over all was splashed the rich colors of red, vermillion and ochre, on the bodies of the men, on the bodies of the running horses. As they came closer I could see scalps dangling from the bridles, gorgeous war bonnets fluttering with plumes, bright feathers dangling from the manes and tails of their horses, and the bronzed, half naked bodies of the riders glittered with ornaments of silver and brass.
"Time and again, with the fury of a whirlwind, the Indians charged upon the building.
"Through the whole of that sweltering June day that incredible seige went on, 500 Indians, or more, against that little band of white men. They would
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
form in the shelter of the timber along the creek and charge upon the sod houses, circling them, lying low behind the necks and shoulders of their horses and pouring lead and arrows against the earthen walls.
"Sometimes a group of In- dians on foot would make a run together for an open window, ram their rifle barrels through the windows and shoot. The most deadly fighting was done at those times, hand to hand and face to face."
The battle had now
BILLY DIXON, As he looked, 1874.
raged for three days. All of the horses and cattle of the cowboys and freighters had been killed. There they lay, seventy five ghost- ly bodies studded with arrows and torn with bullets. But what of the cowboys? Their shooting was still as Memorial Monument at Adobe Walls. strong and deadly as on the first morning. Only three had been killed. And the hated trading post, though filled with arrows and bullet holes, seemed as formidable as ever.
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
It looked like a repetition of the old, old story-the Indian must bow to the white man. More than half a hundred of their "braves" and very many of their horses were dead. Every new charge upon the cow- boy fort meant that more of their brave warriors never returned. And now that Spotted Wolf, their daunt- less Medicine Man, had fallen, their spirits were broken; they gathered many of their dead on their ponies and rode away, back to their people to tell the sad story of the battle of Adobe Walls, the last major conflict between the pioneer whites and the Plains In- dians of Oklahoma and Texas.
Henceforth the Red Men of the plains must accept the white man's yoke of civilization.
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
CHAPTER VIII "THE OVERLAND CATTLE TRAILS"
The Texas Cattle Ranges
As the buffalo of the plains disappeared their place was rapidly taken by cattle. By the close of the Civil War the state of Texas had become a great cattle-rais- ing region. Large herds grazed upon the fertile ranges in the mild southern climate. But there was no mar- ket for cattle in the South, and without markets the cattle business could yield no profit. As a result, a number of cattlemen determined to drive their cattle north across the country to railroad towns where they
Three Cowboys.
could be shipped to large market centers. Thus began the "Northern Drive."
It was no small task to drive a large herd of cattle over the long stretches of prairie land which lay be-
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
tween the Texas ranges and the shipping points. The drives were started in the spring, usually with herds numbering several thousand head. The drivers had to
Cattle on Trail and Cowboys with Horses in Coral.
be men of patience, endurance, and ingenuity, for the journeys were very slow and there was constant danger of storms, stampedes and Indian attacks. At first, the
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
usual route lay through the land of the Five Civilized Tribes, but these Indians naturally objected to the huge herds of cattle being driven across their fields. (Find the Shawnee and Baxter Springs Trails on Map 2.)
Gangs Stole Herds
The greatest sources of trouble were the bands of lawless men who attacked and often killed the drivers, scattered the herds, and became the arbitrary owners of the cattle.
The Cow Towns
The earliest shipping point used by cattlemen was Abilene, Kansas. Later Wichita, Caldwell, Ellsworth and Dodge City, came to be the great "cow towns." They changed almost overnight from villages of no im- portance to bustling booming towns. They overflowed with an ever-moving tide of men-buyers, sellers, fortune-seekers, gamblers, cowboys, criminals, prospec- tors-all called together by the growth of a new in- dustry and the lure of adventure. The click of the trigger, clank of the spur, and the shifting figures on the dice were the prevailing laws.
North Good Feeding Land
It was soon discovered that the northern plains states, such as Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas, were good cattle territory. The warm southern climate in Texas for breeding, and the cooler northern climate for feeding, made a splendid combination. Many owners came to have herds in both places, and the "Northern Drive" became more common than ever. Oklahoma lay just between the two great cattle- raising regions. Many of the older residents of Kansas and Oklahoma can remember the immense herds which
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
were driven across these states during the last three decades of the nineteenth century. In the distance they appeared like black swarms of bees. On closer approach the animals could be discerned, a slow-mov- ing, eddying wedge. On they came, nearer-nearer. Finally, with a great rumbling, the herd passed by- drivers to the front and back, drivers to the side, drivers with cracking, snapping whips which kept the sleek, fat, lumbering cattle in a compact mass and ever on the move. Ten or a dozen drivers could handle several thousand head, but they had to be constantly alert and quick with the whip.
Starting the Cattle Ranches in Oklahoma
The men who pushed their herds across the fertile fields of Oklahoma were not slow to see the advantages of ranching in this state. Often they stopped and allowed their cattle to graze for days and weeks. From Texas on the south and Kansas on the north a few head of cattle, and occasionally whole herds, strayed across the boundary into Oklahoma. The prairie lands of the Cherokee Outlet were recognized as especially adaptable for ranching. (See Map 3.) In spite of the opposition of the Cherokee Nation an ever increasing number of cattlemen pushed their way into the Indian territory. The Cherokees then proceeded to collect taxes from all owners whose cattle grazed in the "outlet." As a re- sult of the conditions which followed the insistent in- vasion of the ranchers there arose that great organiza- tion known as the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Associa- tion.
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HISTORY OF WOODS COUNTY
CHAPTER IX
CHEROKEE STRIP LIVE STOCK ASSOCIATION
Changed Conditions in the "Strip"
When the Cherokees were removed from Georgia to Oklahoma they were given a large reservation, on which they settled, and also a large "Outlet" extending west to the 100th meridian, which was then the western boundary of the United States. For many years there- after the Cherokee Outlet was not used except as an occasional hunting ground for wandering Indians. After the Civil War, the Cherokees, who had fought mostly on the side of the South, made a new treaty with the United States government. By the terms of that agreement the United States was given the right to locate friendly Indian tribes in the Outlet. The Osages, Kaws, Poncas, Otoes, Missouris, Tonkawas and Pawnees bought reservations in the eastern part of the "Strip," thus cutting off the uninhabited portion of the Outlet from its owners. This western portion still belonging to the Cherokees was large. It had a length of 180 miles, a width of almost 60 miles, an area greater than Massachusetts and as large as Belgium. (See Map 3.)
Immediately after the Civil War, there began the rapid expansion of the cattle raising industry. This resulted in the Northern Drives.
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