KANSAS AS SEEN IN THE
INDIAN TERRITORY
By Hon. Percival G. Lowe.
["Kinsley Chronicle," Kinsley, KS, Sep 1890]
What I have to say of Kansas as I saw it in the Indian Territory is wholly from memory. Having no record of occurrences, I shall avoid mentioning individuals when by doing so tedious details would become necessary. My experience commences in December, 1849.
The Indian Territory then extended from the west line of Missouri to the state of Deseret, (changed in 1850 to the Territory of Utah,) and from Minnesota to Texas, out of which was afterwards carved Kansas.
Fort Leavenworth was the steamboat landing from which all military supplies were sent by wagon, and from which all military expeditions started across the great plains. To the south ran the military road across the Kansas river at Grinter's ferry to Fort Scott, and thence to forts Gibson and Smith. To the west and southwest ran the military road crossing the Kansas at Papan's ferry, near where Topeka now is thence to Council Grove, intersecting the Santa Fe trail from Independence a few miles east of that point, thence southwesterly, striking the Arkansas river at the "Big Bend," following it up to the Cimarron crossing, about twenty five miles above where Dodge city now is, thence southwesterly into New Mexico. From the Cimarron crossing a road ran up the north side of the Arkansas to "Bent's Fort;" crossing there it ran nearly south across the Raton mountains into New Mexico.
About one-third of the way from Cimarron crossing to Bent's fort, F. X. Aubrey laid out a new route in 1852, and being a better watered route than the Cimarron and nearer than Raton, many trains took it.
In April 1850, Maj. E. A. Ogden, quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth, with an escort and some Kickapoo guides, laid out a road northwesterly to a point beyond where Seneca now is, to intersect to the road from St. Joseph, Missouri. At the crossing of the Big Blue river, now Marysville, he returned with his guides, and the escort went on to Fort Kearney
The Shawnee Indians were located south of the Kansas river, in what is Johnson county; the Wyandottes in the forks of the Missouri and Kansas, part of Wyandotte county; the Delawares occupied a part of Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Jefferson counties; the Muncies, a small tract of land where the soldiers' Home and Mount Muncie cemetery now are, near Leavenworth; the Kickapoos were in Salt creek valley and farther west; the Pottawotomies occupied the Kansas valleys from the mouth of Soldiers creek to Big Blue river. The Kansas Indians, called Kaws, were about Council Grove. The Osages and others in southern Kansas, I saw but little of, except as I met them on the hunting grounds further west. None of the reservation Indians were very much confined to boundaries. They all went to the buffalo country for a grand hunt at least once a year. The buffalo range was a little west of a line drawn north and south through Fort Riley. East of that were plenty of turkey, deer, and other small game. The wild Indians, so called, never came east of the buffalo range. From the Shawnees, Delawares, Muncies, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, and some other small bands, there was nothing to fear; they lived comfortably and were contented. The Kansas and Osage, while not considered dangerous on their reservations, were good stock thieves on the great overland trails, and not to be trusted at any time. The Pawnees ranged west of the Big Blue to what is now known as Norton county, south along the Republican and north to and beyond the Platte. Their villages were on the Platte and Loup fork. Their war parties took wide range. They were at war with all the wild tribes on the plains; the Comanches and Kiowas on the south, the Arapahoes, Cheyenenes and Sioux on the north and northwest. Though not numbering near so many as their opponents, except the Arapahoes, they defended themselves so successfully that the enemy rarely got away with out leaving some scalps. They were also the worst Indians the whites had to contend with on the northern overland trail. Though they would not attack well armed parties, they were dangerous stock thieves, and the guards were always doubled when the Big Blue was corssed. Having passed the Pawnees, some forty miles west of fort Kearny, traveling was quite safe. Though they were numerous and powerful, the overland emigration with their immense flocks and herds were not molested by the Sioux and Cheyennes, for the five hundred miles through their country, during the years from '49 to '54.
During the summer of 1850 and the years following, emigration to California and Oregon was immense. In 1850 the cholera swept away many men, women and children, and hundreds of bodes were torn from their shallow graves by the wolves. The Pawnees were untiring in their depredations, and a few people were killed. Dragoons patrolled the road from thirty miles west of Kearny to one hundred miles east, and rendered every assistance possible, at one time following a large war party through what is now Washington, Republic, Jewel, Smith, Phillips and Norton counties. The action of Maj. Clinton in command of his troop and of fort Kearny, in '49 and '50 was so vigorous that the Pawnees gave very little trouble afterwards.
The Cheyennes and Arapahoes were the habitual occupants of these plains from the Platte to the Arkansas, and from the forks fo the Solomon to the mountains. I then thought, and still believe, that the Cheyennes were the handsomest, noblest and bravest Indians I ever saw in a wild state. I met them often, knew them well and their way of living. They fought their enemies with an unrelenting vigor-that was their religious duty from their standpoint. They were as virtuous as any people on earth; whatever civilized man may say of their table manners, their family government was perfect- perfect obedience to parents, and child whipping unknown; veneration and respect for old age was universal. In their relation to each other crime was practically unknown. They worshiped God, in whom they had implicit confidence. They hated a liar as the devil hates holy water, and that is why, when they came to know him, they hated the white man so intensely. For fortitude, patience and endurance, the sun never shone on better examples. They did not crave stealthy murder for the sake of murder; in which they were unlike the treacherous Kiowas and Apache, and the doughty hero of Sand creek.
And on what meat did the Cheyennes feed that made them so superior? It is said they came from a more northern clime. Be that as it may, they, of all the nomadic tribes that roamed the earth, were masters of the most productive part of it. The finest soil under the sun, from end to end and from right to left of what is now Kansas, furnished the most abundant pasturage, watered by numerous rivers flowing from never failing springs, free from swamp and marsh or malarial poisons. By reason of perennial pastures and wooded streams, the whole face of the country was a continuous park, where ranged the noble buffalo, the antlered elk, deer in the valley, antelope upon a thousand hills, and smaller game. The turkey-roosts upon all the timbered creeks would astonish the best farmer's wife in America.
These Indians knew no suffering except what the white man brought them. All were abundantly fed, warmly clothed, and comfortably sheltered. They had large number of horses, were fine horsemen, and if need be could replenish their stock from the wild herds at any time. In these liberal surroundings men grew large, strong, self-reliant and brave-rich in everything necessary to their personal comforts, and rich enough in enemies to keep up their warlike spirit. In this garden Adam and Eve would never have sinned; and the Cheyennes never sinned until the white man, with his tyranny and fraud, forced it upon them. If, then, after years of suffering and broken promises like Hannibal, the young Cheyenne swore eternal vengeance and resolved to fight the cause of his misery to the death, blame the Chivingtons and a government too changeable and fickle to look after the rights of its helpless wards- a government too much absorbed in the next election- too intently listening to the jobbers and politicians, to hear the cry of suffering caused by cold, hunger and outrage coming from the poor remnant of this once powerful people. If they became fiends incarnate and descended to acts the most brutal and revolting in the history of our country, and if finally the best and most distinguished soldiers in the and were compelled to wage a war of practical extermination, blame not the soldiers who risked and lost their lives, and whose graves are scattered from Texas to the Big Horn, and from central Kansas to the Pacific- nor blame the fierce Cheyennes.
In 1850 colonel Sumner established the post of Fort Atkinson, on the Arkansas, about six miles above where Dodge city now is. The soldiers dubbed it "Fort Sod," and later on "Fort Sodom." The walls were built entirely of prairie sod, partly covered with poles and canvas, and partly with poles brush and sod. It was built by the soldiers. Company D, Sixth Infantry, commanded by Brevet Captain S. B. Buckner, now governor of Kentucky, was left to garrison the post. It was the only military post between Fort Leavenworth and Riado, New Mexico, 650 miles. The Kiowas and Comanches frequently pounced upon freight trains, ran off stock ad killed stragglers. They ranged from about where Marion county now is, west along the Arkansas river to the mountains, southwest into New Mexico, and south through Texas into Old Mexico. Their war parties sometimes reached north to the Platte. They were numerous, well mounted, savage and treacherous. They had large bands of horses, and were the finest horsemen in the world. They made frequent raids into Old and New Mexico sometimes capturing whole villages, killing the men and holding the women and children as slaves. They all spoke Mexican Spanish. Their plunderings had supplied them with silver-mounted Mexican saddles and bridles, many of them of great value. The fact that they had only bows and arrows and lances enabled the whites to "stand them off" with rifles. At thirty yards their arrows were the best weapons, always ready, and could be discharged more rapidly than repeating rifles. Woe to the careless train master or straggler! Eternal vigilance was necessary to pass successfully from Council Grove to Mexico.
In January 1851, complaint was made to Col. Fauntleroy, commanding Fort Leavenworth, concerning outrages committed by the Kaws near council Grove. They had considerable stolen stock in their possession. Captain and Brevet Major R. H. Chilton, with his troop B, First Dragoons, went out and captured the five principal chiefs and placed them in the guard-house at Fort Leavenworth, where they remained a long time, until all the stolen stock was restored, and good promises made.
In April, 1851, Fort Atkinson was besieged by the Kiowas and Commanches, and the same troop went to its relief.
At Fort Atkinson the Kiowas and Commanche camps extended as far as one could see up and down the south side of the river. They seldom fought the "lodge knives" as they called the dragoons, except by stealth, and considering their immense numbers there was not much hope of earthly glory in hunting them; so that there was a sort of standing-off business all around, and the party who did the most successful bluffing was the winner. The threatening attitude of the Indians had cuased the trains to move cautiously and well prepared for emergencies. A large military command went out to New Mexico, which somewhat everrawed the Indians, and Major Chilton, with his troops, returned to Fort Leavenworth in July. About this time Lieut. Heath acting commissary officer at Atkinson, make a requisition for a dozen cats, and it was filled and cats sent out. The prairie mice were destroying the provisions so rapidly that the situation became alarming. The sod walls made good shelter for them. This is said to have been the first time that cats were borne on property returns in the army.
The latter part of July, Major Chilton's troop started from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Laramie as an escort for Col. D. D. Mitchel, Superintendent of Indian affairs. Col. Cooper, Adjutant General of the army, Col. Knapp, of the St. Louis Republican, and B. Gratz Brown, correspondent of that paper and later governor of Missouri, were of the party. Of that interesting and remarkable gathering, where about 50,000 Indians in all their gorgeousness were assembled to receive new assurance of the loving care of the Great Father, I am not to speak tonight.
Having returned from Laramie the first of November, Major Chilton's troop attended the distribution of annuities by the agent of the Pottawatomies at Uniontown, a little south of Silver Lake, in what is now known as Shawnee county, Kansas. The whole tribe was there, all mounted, and a happy, contented, comfortable looking set of people they were. St. Mary's Mission was well established and under the direction and good management of Father Durant, in whom his people had great confidence; they were progressing in agriculture, religion and learning.
In October, 1852, Major Ogden, then quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth, instructed to select a place for a new military post near the forks of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers. Major Chilton's troop, which had returned from a summers campaign on the Arkansas, as high up as Bent's Fort furnished the escort. The site was selected where Fort Riley now is. The first buildings were erected in 1853.
Of all the charming and fascinating portions of our country, probably there is known where nature has been so lavish as within the radius of 150 miles taking Fort Riley as a center. In rich soil, building material, in beauty of landscape, wooded streams and bubbling springs, in animal life, in everything to charm the eye, gladden the heart and yield to the industry of man- here was the climax of the most extravagant dream. Perfect in all its wild beauty and productiveness, perfect in all that nature's God could hand down to man for his improvement and happiness.
The year 1853 was an exciting season. The Kiowas and Commanches were dangerous and threatening. A few men were killed. To illustrate; Major Chilton's troop had spent the night at Cow creek. The next camp would be at the big bend of the Arkansas, eighteen miles. About midway between these points, now in Rice county, was a line of high sandy hills called "sand buttes." With his usual prudence and forethought in passing through broken country and in crossing streams- a habit which had enabled him to travel with one troop through all the tribes from the North Platte to New Mexico, and from Missouri to the mountains, without being surprised- Major Chilton threw out skirmishers, a corporal and four men riding twenty-five or thirty yards apart. Having reached the highest butte, the corporal fired his pistol; the four men rallied on him; the troop moved forward quickly, part thrown out in skirmish line. Ten yards from the corporal was a dead Mexican, and within a hundred yards two more. One was still breathing, and fresh blood was still trickling from their scalped heads. Away down towards the Arkansas was a large Mexican train. These men belonged to it., and were hunting antelope when killed. Ponies and arms were gone. They were evidently completely surprised. After following the trail a short distance it was obliterated by countless thousands of buffalo tracks. The Mexicans corralled on the plains below and the dragoons moved quickly to them, but they had only corralled to let the herds pass by, and had seen no Indians. This is but one of many incidents on this route.
From this point to Atkinson travel was nearly blocked with buffalo. Standing on any high point, as far as the eye could reach, a vast moving mass could be seen, making the earth tremble with their tramping and bellowing. It was afterwards learned that the Kiowas and Commanches had actually attempted to drive the buffalo from the Smoky Hill south of the Arkansas, in which they were partially successful. The line of drive extended two hundred miles from east to west, and they hunted and worked away on the north side of the herds until the great bulk of them drifted to and across the river.
In August, of this year, the Kiowas, Commanches, and Prairie Apaches, estimated at about 25,000, were gathered at Fort Atkinson to renew their allegiance to the Great Father, and be rewarded with large quantities of presents for being good Indians, or for promising to be good. They had not killed anyone who had got the drop on them first. Major Fitzpatrick (Three fingers, as the Indians called him,) a man of great experience with all the tribes, and in whom they all had great confidence, acted for the government. They claimed that Major Fitzpatrick had never lied to them in twenty years they had known him as a trader and agent. It was a certificate of character that few agents could get. The distribution was made two miles above the post. A volume might be written of this so-called treaty, a renewal of faith, which the Indians did not have in the government, nor the government in them.
After the distribution of goods the Indians moved south and left the trail clear. There was a feeling of security from Council Grove to Mexico.
Company D, Sixth Infantry, moved to Walnut creek, near where the town of Great Bend is now. Atkinson was abandoned. All of the goods and material of use at the new camp were moved, and the sod walls completely torn down, so as to leave no ambush for Indians. It was so full of mice, fleas and snakes, that it was uninhabitable.
I have told you a little, comparatively very little, "of Kansas as I saw it in the Indian Territory," in all of its savage grandeur and wild beauty.
The adventures of troops in protecting the commerce of the great plains, as well as the experience of men who risked life and fortune in that business may be read in books; and what I might say of either, has been told just a little differently, and much better than I can tell it, hence I have avoided detailing so-called exciting incidents of frequent occurrence in the years referred to.
The best portion of America has been baptized in blood in its settlement. In the nature of things it must be so. Owing to our location in the great highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the warlike inhabitants, and the tenacity with which they clung to this gem of all their possession, more military posts have been established and more soldiers maintained, and the destruction of human life has been greater in Kansas, of Indians and whites, than in any similar extent of territory in the settlement of our country.
Emerging from the Indian Territory in 1854, battle scarred, even in her infancy, ofttimes through trials severe and troubles most discouraging, as by magic every vestige of that savage live, and wild provision necessary to its existence, has disappeared: and in that magnificent park, in the geographical center of the United States, live the strongest and most progressive people in the world. They are building and maintaining the best principles, and furnishing the best ideas. Independence is written everywhere within in its charmed circle; the horn of plenty is full, and within the reach of every industrious man.