The Calendar History of Kiowa Indians (Illustrated Edition). James Mooney

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      For a number of years the Indian problem on the plains had been constantly growing more serious. The treatment accorded by Texas to her native and border tribes had resulted in driving them northward to the country of upper Red river and the vicinity of the Santa Fé trail, where they were a constant menace both to the trading caravans and to the frontier settlers of Kansas and Colorado. In addition to the old Santa Fé trail the thousands of emigrants to California and Oregon had established regular roads across the plains, in the north along the North Platte and in the south along the base of the Staked plain, while the discovery of gold in Colorado in 1858 brought a flood of white settlement into the very heart of the Indian country, driving away the buffalo and narrowing the range of the tribes. Encroachments and reprisals were becoming chronic, and it was evident that some arrangement must be made by which the wild tribes could be assigned a territory remote from the line of settlement and travel, where they might roam and hunt undisturbed, without danger of coming into collision with the whites.

      The conditions a few years previous are well summed up by the veteran trader William Bent, at that time agent for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, in an official report dated October 5, 1859. In it he says:

      The Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes scrupulously maintain peaceful relations with the whites and with other Indian tribes, notwithstanding the many causes of irritation growing out of the occupation of the gold region, and the emigration to it through their hunting grounds, which are no longer reliable as a certain source of food to them. These causes precipitate the necessity of immediate and sufficient negotiations for the safety of the whites, the emigrant roads, and the Indians....

      The Kiowa and Comanche Indians have for two years appeared in full numbers and for long periods upon the Arkansas, and now permanently occupy the country between the Canadian and Arkansas rivers. This is in consequence of the hostile front opposed to them in Texas, by which they are forced toward the north, and is likely to continue perpetual.... A smothered passion for revenge agitates these Indians, perpetually fomented by the failure of food, the encircling encroachments of the white population, and the exasperating sense of decay and impending extinction with which they are surrounded....

      I estimate the number of whites traversing the plains across the center belt to have exceeded sixty thousand during the present season. The trains of vehicles and cattle are frequent and valuable in proportion. Post lines and private expresses are in constant motion. The explorations of this season have established the existence of the precious metals in absolutely infinite abundance and convenience of position. The concourse of whites is therefore constantly swelling and incapable of control or restraint by the government. This suggests the policy of promptly rescuing the Indians and withdrawing them from contact with the whites, as the element capable of such immediate management as may anticipate and prevent difficulties and massacre. I repeat, then, as the suggestion of my best judgment, that immediate and sufficient steps be taken to assemble and finally dispose of these particular tribes of Indians, viz, the Kiowa and Comanches, the Cheyennes, and the Arapahoes, by reducing them, under treaties and arrangements, to become agricultural and pastoral people, located within specific districts, judiciously selected and liberally endowed, to which they shall be restricted and the white men excluded from among them. These numerous and warlike Indians, pressed upon all around by the Texans, by the settlers of the gold region, by the advancing people of Kansas and from the Platte, are already compressed into a small circle of territory, destitute of food, and itself bisected athwart by a constantly marching line of emigrants. A desperate war of starvation and extinction is therefore imminent and inevitable unless prompt measures shall prevent it (Report, 21).

      Despite this warning no steps were taken toward a remedy, and in April, 1864, the irritation resulted in a war with the Cheyenne, speedily involving also the Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, with several bands of the Dakota. The most memorable incident of this war was the massacre of 120 friendly Cheyenne, encamped under the protection of the United States flag, near Fort Lyon, on Sand creek, Colorado, by Colorado militia under Colonel Chivington, on November 29, 1864. Hostilities ended with treaties made with the five tribes chiefly concerned at the mouth of the Little Arkansas (now Wichita, Kansas), in October, 1865, as already noted. Short as the war had been, it had cost the government over $30,000,000 and an unknown number of lives (Report, 22).

      From this time the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, as tribes, remained quiet, according to the terms of the treaty, but it was otherwise with the more northern Indians, who found themselves subjected to constant aggressions in spite of all agreements. In July, 1866, a war broke out with the Sioux, and in April, 1867, it spread to the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Leading incidents of these campaigns were the massacre of Lieutenant-Colonel Fetterman's whole command at Fort Phil. Kearney, December 21, 1866, and the burning of a large Cheyenne village on the Pawnee fork, by General Hancock, in April, 1867 (Report, 23).

      At this stage of affairs Congress appointed a commission to establish peace with the hostile tribes, by first ascertaining their grievances and then making such treaties as would remove the causes of dissatisfaction and afford protection to the frontier settlements, emigrant roads, and railroads by assigning to the tribes reservations where they could remain undisturbed in the future. This commission consisted of N. G. Taylor, president, John B. Sanborn, Samuel F. Tappan, J. B. Henderson, and Generals William S. Harney, Alfred H. Terry, and C. C. Augur. Notwithstanding open war was in progress, they found no difficulty in effecting friendly meetings with the various tribes. In September and October, 1867, the commission held councils with the Sioux and Crows and made treaties with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, these being the treaties under which the latter tribes hold their present or recent reservations and draw their annuities.

      In regard to the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, the commissioners state that from the testimony they were satisfied that these tribes had substantially complied with the terms of their treaty made two years before on the Little Arkansas, the only serious violation being the killing of James Box and the capture of his family in western Texas in August, 1866. This is the Set-t'aiñte raid already noted. As excuse for this, the commissioners state, the Indians urged that they supposed an attack on Texas people would be no violation of a treaty with the United States—that as we ourselves had been at war with the people of Texas, an act of hostility on their part would not be disagreeable to us. In regard to numerous other misdeeds credited to these tribes, they state that the evidence pretty clearly demonstrates that the charges were almost entirely without foundation (Report, 24).

      After visiting some of the northern bands, the commissioners went to Fort Larned, Kansas, whence they sent messengers to the Cheyenne and Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, notifying them of their arrival and purpose. They then proceeded to the general tribal rendezvous on Medicine-lodge creek, about the present site of Medicine Lodge, Barber county, Kansas, where they met the Indians, and the treaties were made (see the calendar).

      A treaty was first made with the Kiowa and Comanche on October 21, 1867, and by a supplementary treaty made immediately afterward on the same day, the Apache, at their own request, were formally confederated and incorporated with them instead of with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, with whom they had been united by the treaty of the Little Arkansas two years before. The Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache together signed the treaty of confederation, which was proclaimed August 25, 1868. At the same council meeting was made the similar treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, by which those tribes held their late reservation and became entitled to their current annuities. These treaties superseded all previous agreements (Treaties).

      The Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache treaty provides for peace and mutual good will, and stipulates that the Indians shall refrain from further attacks on the whites, and withdraw all opposition to the construction of railroads and other roads and the building of military posts in the western country, then or afterward to be authorized by the government. The usual provision is made for an agency, schools, farmers, doctor, blacksmith, etc. Article 6 provides for the selection of farming tracts within the proposed reservation, to be recorded СКАЧАТЬ