Attacks and Battles

Overview

Image: The Grand Robe, c. 1800 – 1830. Battle depicted on hide.

In the 19th century, eastern dwellers and new emigrants continued to travel westward and settle on increasingly smaller tribal lands. In Kansas, while some relocated tribes assisted each other, others battled each other over resources, territory protection, and long-standing enmity. Wrote the Topeka Tribune (June 4, 1864): “Several parties of painted, shaved, and feathered Indians have passed through here this week. They do not appear very communicative, but the indications are that they are preparing to unite with the Pottawatomies for a raid on the Plains Indians."

Besides the relocated tribes, diseases, broken treaties, railroad expansion, cutbacks of promised annuities, and buffalo extermination frustrated Plains tribes who struck back at travelers and settlers who gathered together for protection if Indians were reported in their area. William Cutler in his 1883 History of the State of Kansas expressed a common sentiment: "In the first place, tribes of savage Indians were almost continually roaming over the country, and although they professed to be friendly, there was no telling at what moment, under some real or supposed injury, or the wild whim or caprice of some treacherous chief, an indiscriminate slaughter of the whites might commence. Experience had shown that when the savage thought there was anything to be gained by treachery, there was no dependence to be placed on him."

In response to settlers' tension with tribes, military forts with troops responded with force, further escalating conflicts that diminished once tribes had been forced onto reservations elsewhere.

Samuel Crawford, Kansas governor, wrote about troubles. "To protect the lives and property of the people and suppress this wide-spread insurrection, the Eleventh, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Kansas regiments were sent to the plains, also a number of regiments from Colorado and elsewhere. But the nomads were wary and hard to catch. Their field of operations extended from Southern Kansas to North Dakota. Their main objective points were the frontier settlements of Kansas and Nebraska and the overland routes of travel and transportation from the Missouri River to the Western Territories. Crawford, Samuel/War Governor of Kansas. (1911). Kansas in the Sixties. Chicago, IL: A.C. McClurg, 233.

“Neither side could easily reach an agreement, or understand the other’s ideas and culture,” stated a post on Dickinson County Historical Society Gazette newsletter that also appeared on the September 14, 2011 Abilene Reflector-Chronicle. The average United States cavalry member and the average Native American warrior did not believe they had much in common with one another, while this was far from the truth. Both sides fought to protect their families, resources, and property. “Both wanted to see their nation prosper. Additionally, both committed atrocious acts to further their cause. The slaughter of civilians, women, and children was knowingly carried out by both groups of people. For every emigrant settlement raided and fort attacked, there were burnings of tribal encampments and attacks on peaceful Native American nations.”

Often isolated attacks such as Dutch Bill found full of arrows on Ellsworth County's Turkey Creek in 1862 after he veered from his buffalo hunting group highlighted the unease or the deaths of two boys and abducted of a woman and her three children on the Saline River near Buffalo Creek in 1869 by suspected Arapaho who evaded the Seventh Cavalry who chased them for 15 miles. Some were ongoing, for example, rail workers from 1867 to 1869, when 14 were killed from Fossil Creek Stage Station to the north fork of Big Creek (a 23-mile distance), prompting calvary and later infantry stationed at each station along the line. Larger clashes, as seen below, were recorded in newspapers, memoirs, and local histories such as the 1912 Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, etc. in Indian Wars. Numerous others may have been known at the time but wasn't chronicled such as the Plum Buttes massacre in Rice County known by the debris found in later years and the death of Mexican travelers nearby. Wrote Cutler about one: "There are no Mormons in the county, but a great many have passed through the county on their way to Salt Lake, and it is believed that a company of nineteen were massacred near the present town of Scandia. Charles N. Hogan, a scout, relates that a company of twenty Mormons were crossing the county before any settlement had been made, when they were attacked by a band of Indians, and all killed but one. The nineteen were afterwards buried by the soldiers on a high bluff, near the Republican River. Adjoining the village of Scandia, on a high bluff, on the farm of R. L. Whitney, is a large grave, containing a number of skeletons, which, if the scout is correct in his statement, is doubtless the grave of the unfortunate nineteen. The grave, when discovered, was covered with triangular flag stones, placed vertically in the ground a few inches apart."

Attack at Chouteau Island. 1816. Near Lakin. While making their way back to Missouri with furs collected during the winter, Pawnee attacked August Pierre Chouteau and fellow trappers by Pawnee near the Arkansas River. They fled to an island now gone in the river. The trappers stacked furs for barricades and surprised the Pawnee with guns. Afterward, the island became known as Choteau’s Island and was a landmark on the Santa Fe Trail. Jules DeMun, Choteau’s partner wrote in his journal about “having sometimes to travel in the night to avoid the Panis’ war parties” and that he “bought the goods and engaged men for a new expedition, and, having taken another license, started on the 15th July to go by water to the Kansas river, where Mr. Chouteau and I appointed to meet. On his way from the mountains Mr. Chouteau was attacked by the Pawnees, about two hundred in number, had one man killed and three wounded; five Pawnees remained on the spot, and a great many wounded.” de Mun, Jules Louis René, (1928). Journals of Jules de Mun. Missouri Historical Society Collections, 5(3).

Commanche Attack on Freighters. September 1828. Cow Creek, Rice County. Returning from Santa Fe, 21 freighters with four wagons and 150 mules were attacked by Commanche. They fought back but eventually abandoned the wagons, mules, and gold profits and left camp on foot during the darkness.

Desperate Indian Battle at the Forks of Beaver Creek. 1832. Three and one-half miles southwest of Smith Center. The Smith County Pioneer (April 16, 1903) told the story of a 3-day battle between the Pawnee, Delaware, and Omaha against 9,000 Cheyenne led by Chief O-co-no-ma-woe along with Comanche, Arapaho and Apache. The Pawnee with about 7,000 warriors started the battle and each side lost a couple of thousand warriors. Hundreds were taken prisoner and burned at the stake. “This romantic tradition was told to the Smith County Pioneer Newspaper by an old blind warrior of the Pawnee as they were on their way south, who is said to be the only survivor of the bloody conflict now left to tell the bloody story. It is authenticated and substantiated by Moncravie, an old French trapper and hunter, now living on the extreme headwaters of Frenchman's Fork of the Republican River, to who it was told by the Pawnees.” Source: Smith County Pioneer, April 16, 1903.

Attack on Pawnee. August 1837. Arkansas River. A war party of about 80 Kansa and Osage surprised a party of Pawnee on the Arkansas River and took 11 scalps. Four of the war party were killed and two wounded. In a separate skirmish, warriors from the same party killed five Pawnee. These 1837 attacks were preceded by others. For example, a Pawnee band caught in storm sheltered in cabin being built for the Osage in summer of 1827. The next morning, the Osage found them and took three scalps. Source: Foreman Grant. (1930). Indians and pioneers. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press). In the winter of 1829, Osage warriors invaded a Pawnee camp on the upper Arkansas River, drove all into a lake, and claimed they killed almost a hundred Pawnee and took five women and 84 horses without any Osage life loss. Source: Hyde, Goerge. (1951). Pawnee Indians. Denver, CO: University of Denver Press.

Cherokee Revenge Attack on Osage. 1837. A few miles south of Oswego. A Cherokee band led by Captain Roers attacked and killed the Little Town Osage band, which numbered about a hundred and were drunk at the time. The attack was in revenge for an earlier Osage attack on the Cherokee. Source: Case, Nelson. (1892). History of Labette County, Kansas, from the first settlement to the close of 1892. Topeka, KS: Crane and Company.

Kansa Attack on Pawnee. December 1840. A Fort Leavenworth detachment took annuity payments to the Kansa and returned with 11 Pawnee captured by the Kansa. Wrote the Arkansas State Gazette [Little Rock] April 7, 1841: "It seems that sometime in December last, the Kanzas, or Caw Indians, hearing that an encampment of the Pawnees were on a buffalo hunt at some distance from the remainder of their tribe, gave up their own anticipated hunt and organized themselves into a war party, with their principal chief at their head. They entered the Pawnee country and laid in ambush near the illfated encampment until they saw the Pawnee warriors, numbering but 17, depart for their hunting ground. The Kanzas warriors, 65 in all, then commenced a murderous fire upon the defenceless Women and children, which they continued until they supposed all within the encampment had been killed~On entering the scene of carnage they tomahawked and scalped more than seventy of their victims-they found twelve (six Women and as many children) unhurt, whom they decided to retain as prisoners. One of the women, however, determined not to be taken alive, and suddenly springing at the nearest warrior, she seized him with a grasp of a tigress by the throat, and bore him to the earth. It was only when her arms were severed from her body that she relinquished her grasp-she was then dispatched, and her scalp added another bloody trophy to those yet reeking at their belts."

Love's Defeat. July 26, 1847. Nine and one-half miles west of Garfield, on U.S. Highway 56. On June 7, 1847, Lieutenant John Love led 80 soldiers of Company B from Fort Leavenworth to escort a paymaster with $350,000 payroll to Santa Fe, New Mexico. They joined another wagon train by present-day Larned and camped by the Arkansas River on June 26. As the livestock grazed, 250 to 300 Comanche attacked the campsite and took more than a hundred oxen. The Commanche also killed six soldiers and mutilated the bodies after death. About a dozen Commanche died. While the soldiers carried out their mission of successfully protecting the paymaster and the payroll, newspapers termed the incident “Love’s Defeat.

Battle of Coon's Creek. June 18, 1848. Two miles east of Kinsley. On their way to escort a wagon train and join a Santa Fe battalion in Chihuahua, 76 fresh recruits from Fort Leavenworth and a battalion who had joined them camped June 17 on Coon Creek a few miles from the present town of Kinsley. The next morning hundreds of Comanche and Apache attacked them. The soldiers had breech-loading carbines but the warriors’ buffalo shields repelled the bullets. Then, when the warriors were almost upon the camp, the soldiers started shooting the warriors’ horses. Sustaining heavy losses, the warriors rode off. Accounts tell of a woman in a red dress riding a horse and leading the warriors and also of a youth who returned during the gunfire to recover the body of an Apache chief. "Suddenly they spread out in a line about a hundred yards front and eight to ten feet deep, and started for us. They set up the most unearthly yells, and came on shaking their shields and shouting. By this time the sun had risen, and we could see their lances flash in the sunlight. In front of their line was a woman, who, Joan de Arc like, urged them on. On they came, determined to drive us into the river, and let their comrades, stationed there for that purpose, relieve us of our scalps. It was a square stand-up fight between 800 enraged savages and 76 boys. There was not a tree or a shrub in the way, and only the river behind us. On they came and the boys commenced shooting at 400 yards, then at 300, then at 200, and the at 100, and ready to shoot at closer range. Our shots seemed to have but little effect, for they were protected by their shield, and we could hear our balls strike their shield and sound like striking a board fence. The woman was still in the front. . ." Read an eyewitness report by James H. Birch (The Battle of Coon Creek, Collections of the Kansas Historical Society, 10: 409-13).

Kiowa Counter-Attack on Pawnee. Summer 1851. Kiowa County. A large Pawnee band came in a supposed friendly visit to the Kiowa camped north of Medicine Lodge Creek head. Kiowa warriors approached them and were given skin bags said to be presents. As the Kiowa rode back to their camp, they opened the bags and found buffalo dung in some and arrows in others signifying a non-peaceful mission. Dohasan and the Kiowa warriors then attacked the Pawnee, killing many. Source: San Angelo Evening Standards, March 13, 1927.

Cheyenne Attack on Pawnee at Beaver Creek. Summer 1852. Beaver Creek on Solomon Fork, 50 miles from Waconda Springs. The Smith County Pioneer reported that in 1852 for three days southwest of Smith Center, about 7,000 Pawnee, Delaware and Omaha battled an estimated 9,000 Cheyenne, Commanche, Arapaho, and Apache led by O-co-no-eie-woe. Hundreds were taken prisoner and burned. Alights on the Cloud, also known as Touching Cloud, led the Cheyenne attack on a buffalo hunting camp of Pawnees in northwestern Kansas to capture horses. Accompanying the Cheyenne were the Lakota, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Prairie Apache. Dressed in metal and leather armor from his father Medicine Wate that made him think he was invincible, Alights on the Cloud could only use a sword because of the armor stiffness. He was killed by Shield Chief/Carrying the Shield who shot him in the eye with an arrow. Kiowa who sided with the Cheyenne in the attack recorded the killing in their winter count, and the Pawnee composed a song about it. Cheyenne White Horse, Big Hawk, Earring, Red Bird, Black Wolf, Medicine Standing Up, and others were killed and buried in a ravine.

Smoky Hill Attack. 1854. Smoky Hills region. About 1,500 Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, and Arapaho attacked a hundred Sac and Fox camping . The allied tribes feared the Sac and Fox would further diminish existing food supplies. Vastly outnumbered, the Sac and Fox had government-issued rifles and defeated the attackers who had only bows and arrows. Source: Kansas State Historical Society

Emigrant Attack. Early June 1857. Near the present town site of Republic City. A party of 25 from Arkansas, with eight wagons, 400 head of stock, traveled slowly letting the stock graze. About 9 a.m., 150 suspected Cheyenne or Pawnee attacked, shouting and shooting to stampede the stock and drive the travelers away. In the frenzy, five Arkansans were killed, and two others wounded. The warriors plundered the wagons, got drunk on a keg of whiskey, stripped the wagon cloth and dumped food to have the cloth bags, and drove the stock away. Wrote F. G. Adams in the 1873 The Homestead Guide: “The terrified white men were so irresolute and timid that they did not dare to attack the Indians, even while they were lying stupified with liquor, but lingered, til fear induced by the returning animation of their enemies, caused them to flee again down the valley, toward the settlements, abandoning their property, and the unburied bodies of their slain companions.” Left without food, the Arkansas emigrants began walking and were rescued within six days. Several retuned to Arkansas. Source: Savage, Isaac. (1901). A history of Republic County, Kansas. Jones & Chubbic.

Battle at Solomon Fork. July 29, 1857. Near present-day Penokee and Morland on Solomon Fork of the Smoky Hill River. After escalating tension with the Cheyenne, the US 1st Cavalry led by Edwin Sumner pursued the Cheyenne in what is now Sheridan County for several days. When they approached the encampment, Sumner wrote in his report —Brackett, Albert Gallatin. (1865). History of the U.S. Cavalry. Harper and Brothers, 175) —there were about 300 warriors, “all mounted and well armed; many of them had rifles and revolvers, and they stood with remarkable boldness” until the cavalry charged with sabers that the warriors had not expected and immediately dispersed. The cavalry chased them seven miles but “Their horses were fresh and very fleet, and it was impossible to overtake many of them.” Agent Robert C. Miller, wrote in the 1857 Report of Commissioners of Indian Affairs (p. 141): "The Cheyennes, before they went into battle with the troops, under the direction of their great medicine man, had selected a spot on the Smoky Hill, near a small and beautiful lake, in which they had but to dip their hands when the victory over the troops would be an easy one. So their medicine man told them, and they had but to hold up their hands and the balls would roll from the muzzles of the soldier’s guns, harmless, to their feet. Acting under this delusion, when Colonel Sumner came upon them with his command he found them drawn up in regular line of battle, well mounted, and moving forward to the music of their war song with as firm a tread as well-disciplined troops, expecting, no doubt, to receive the harmless fire of the soldiers and achieve an easy victory. But the charm was broken when the command was given by Colonel Sumner to charge with sabers, for they broke and fled in the wildest confusion, being completely routed." The Cheyenne declared four dead— Coyote Ear, Yellow Shirt, Carries the Otter, and Black Bear—but the cavalry reported far more. Pawnee assisting the soldiers took the scalps of dead Cheyenne and stuck them on a stick to dry, accord to Lieutenant Eli Long. The cavalry searched for their camp only to finally find it with the lodges and their contents but the tribe had left to meet up with Kiowa, Apache, and Comanche tribes. Sumner burned the abandoned lodges, then traveled to Bent’s Fort to seize the Cheyenne annuities for his own soldiers. For further information, access this excerpt from the Journal of Lieutenant Eli Long, 1857, unpublished manuscript located at U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania and also William Chalfant's Cheyennes and Horse Soldiers: The 1857 Expedition and the Battle of Solomon's Fork.

Pawnee Horse Raid. Spring 1858. Dragoon Creek settlement, Waubunsee County. In Reminiscences of the Early Settlement of Dragoon Creek in the Early History of Wabaunsee County, a story was told of seven Pawnee who tried to steal horses and were met with settler resistance. In the exchanged gunfire, one Pawnee was shot and the rest scattered. At the time, the settlers thought the attackers were Kansa although in one telling of the story it was said they were Potawatomie. If known they were Pawnee, this story would have a different ending: “John Copp made the Indian a comfortable bed down by the hay stacks and sent word to the Kaws to come and take charge of the wounded Indian. In a few days the Kaws came over—about thirty of them, but John was away. Then for the first time it was learned that the wounded Indian was a Pawnee. The way the Indians took care of him left no doubt on that point --they scalped him alive and left him in his body by the haystacks. But John wouldn't have it that way. He followed the Kaws and told them they must return and kill the Indian they had scalped and purposely left to die a lingering death. But the Kaws were in an accommodating mood and they not only killed the Indian but proceeded to perform the last sad rites after their own peculiar fashion in the case of a dead Pawnee—knowing full well a band of Pawnees would gladly return the compliment should one of their number fall into their hands under similar circumstances. After cutting the Pawnee's throat the Kaws tied one end of a lariat about his neck and the other to the tail of the wildest pony in the herd. Then the work of preparing the body for burial commenced. With spear points and sharp sticks thrust into his flanks and rear that pony was soon made to know the part he was expected to play in the program and the demoniac yells from thirty Indian throats caused the pony to put such energy into his movements that when that part of the ceremony was over there were pieces of Pawnee scattered all about the stony hills of Mill Creek, but mighty little flesh left on the bones for the coyotes. The Indians then cut off the head of the dead Pawnee and used it for a foot-ball, after which they dumped the now denuded skeleton into a ravine and covering it over with stones the Kaws with grunts of satisfaction declared the funeral ceremonies ended and at once took up their march for their reservation."

Massacre at Crooked Creek. May 13, 1859. North of Meade, Ford County. Wrote William Y. Chalfant in the 1991 Without Quarter: The Wichita Expedition and the Fight on Crooked Creek: “Crooked Creek is a small stream that flows in a generally south-southeasterly direction across southwest Kansas to its junction with the Cimarron River. In years past, before white men came, it provided favored camping grounds for Kiowa and Comanche Indians — of the latter particularly the Kotsoteka and Yamparika bands. In the upper reaches it was a scant eighteen miles south of the Santa Fe Trail’s Middle (Cimarron) Crossing of the Arkansas River. The Lower Crossing and the river’s South Bend were only a few miles farther to the northeast. More importantly, Crooked Creek was at the western edge of prime buffalo country, making it a superior location for the villages of Plains Indians. A scattering of cottonwood groves and occasional stands of scrub trees and bushes — ash, hackberry, mulberry, and willow — along the narrow bed provided wood, water, and a little shelter. The great herd of buffalo, a multitude of pronghorn antelope, and innumerable deer and elk supplied fresh meat. With the coming of the Europeans and the opening of the road to Santa Fe, the trade caravans afforded new opportunities to supplement their material goods and food supply. All in all, at least to the nomadic hunters of the plains, the valley of Crooked Creek provided most of the things necessary for a good life. As the westward movement of whites assumed greater proportions and the trickle of traders became a massive influx of immigrants, gold seekers, hunters, and others, whites turned into a threat to the way of life of the natives, and to their very existence. The Indians fought back the only way they could against the superior numbers and weapons of the intruders; they raided the trails, attacked the settlements, and killed whites in an effort to expel them. It was to no avail, of course, and in the end most of the Indians’ country was taken from them. This violent reaction brought retribution in the form of the army, white militia, and rangers. Military posts dotted the plains, and mounted troops took to the field to find and fight the elusive warriors. The story was to be repeated often in the West, with cavalry attacks upon unsuspecting Indian villages and death of women, children, and the old as well as of fighting men. One such attack took place on Crooked Creek.” Led by Major Earl Van Dorn, the Second Cavalry from Texas crossed into Oklahoma to subjugate the Comanche. On April 30, 1859, the soldiers entered Kansas and captured a Commanche youth who they forced to divulge his Kotsoteka village. Thirteen days later, they discovered three Indians advancing toward the cavalry horses and chased them to a Comanche village on Crooked Creek, about 18 miles south of the Santa Fe Trail’s Middle Crossing of the Arkansas River. Van Dorn ordered his troops to shoot the Commanche horses and attack the camp. Without horses, about a hundred Commanche were overwhelmed by the line of soldiers. Only five severely wounded warriors survived. The soldiers killed 49 Indians, including eight women. Thirty-two women with children were captured. One soldier died; several were wounded, including Fitzhugh Lee, a nephew of Robert E. Lee and a later Confederate major general, had an arrow in his chest and was carried 200 miles on a cot strung between two mules and was back in duty a few months later.

Pawnee Ambush. 1860. South end of Main Street between Pawnee Creek and Arkansas River, Larned. Yellow Buffalo led 200 Cheyenne to the island where the Pawnee hid to ambush the Cheyenne hunting on Pawnee land. Suffering serious losses, the Cheyenne renewed the attack led by Black Kettle. Source: Workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Kansas. (1939). The WPA Guide to 1930s Kansas.

Spillman Creek battle. June 1861. Lincoln County. J. R. Mead wrote: "There was a battle fought on the plains north of the Spillman Creek in June, 1861. The Otoe tribe from the north, with their families and a letter from their agent, came down for a big hunt. They camped in the valley along the creek. The Cheyennes found them and sent three or four hundred warriors to drive them out. The Cheyennes were afraid to charge the camp as the Otoes had guns. Both sides fought on horseback with bows and arrows and after the battle arrows could be picked up everywhere. In one instance two young men rushed together at full speed, seized each other with their left hands, stabbing with their right till both fell dead without releasing their hold. The Otoes finally retreated down the river to my ranch with scalps, ears, fingers and toes of their enemies, trophies of the fight, tied on poles." Source: Vol. IX of the Kansas State Historical Collections.

Bullfoot Cave Attack. 1863. Southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 13, Indiana Township, Lincoln County. Potawatomie on horses attacked Pawnee who unsuccessfully hid in Bullfoot Cave in which they were killed. Other versions exist of this attack but Bullfoot Cave remains the site in all versions.

Fort Larned Raid. July 17 and 18, 1864. Pawnee County. Apache, Kiowa, and Commanche came to Fort Larned for provisions. On July 17, Satank shot an arrow in a soldier’s arm and gave signal to steal more than 200 horses and mules as well as cattle. After the theft, fort soldiers went to burn the Kiowa village three miles away but were met halfway by 600 warriors. The next day, a hundred boy warriors approached a train 30 miles west in a seemingly friendly manner. Then, the boys killed 10 and wounded three. Soldiers rushed there, drove the boys from the train, and successfully dodged 300 warriors with plans to cut them off from fort. Source: Leavenworth Times, July 29, 1864.

Rice County stand-off. July 18, 1864. Four and one-half miles west and one-half mile south of Lyons. About 600 Commanche warriors charged 104 soldiers transporting arms, ammunition and supplies with four ox-drawn wagons and the fifth hauled by 96 mules desired by Plains Indians. That night the soldiers drove the animals inside a horseshoe-shaped barricade. Because they had ample ammunition and the Commanche had only bows and arrows, the soldiers withstood the attack for days losing only three who had ventured outside the barricade for water and a lost mule. Nine days later, a smaller group of warriors successfully stampeded 95 mules from their camp later on the way. Source: Jones, Horace. (1928). The story of early Rice County. Wichita, KS: Wichita Eagle.

Black Kettle Creek Ambush. 1860s. Harvey County. About Kit Carson and a band of emigrants camping in Harvey County one night, M. S. I. wrote in the 1915 Twenty-Eighth Annual Picnic - Old Settlers of Harvey County: "It was perhaps three o’clock in the morning; a drizzling, chill rain had set in when a band of Comanches broke the stillness of the night, completely surprising the little camp [of Kit Carson and band of emigrants]. The heroic old trapper sprang from his couch, and there within the wagon corral the whites stood like tigers at bay. Chief Black Kettle, from whom the little creek took its name, closed in from the west, while Chief Hard Rope came down the east bank of the creek. For a time the affray was terrific, but the Red Men were held aloof. The Indian yell was horrifying, ammunition was running low, and the whites were fearful of the result. Morning dawned, the clouds broke away, the sun came creeping over the hill, the Indians formed for their final charge and were surely and slowly closing in, when above the clatter and din the quick and experienced ear of Carson caught the fiery blast of the army bugle and soon a portion of the Seventh U. S. Cavalry, commanded by General Custer, attracted by the cry of battle, dashed to their relief. The Indians retreated, taking with them their dead and wounded.”

Jewell County Atrocities. The 1878 History of Jewell County, Kansas supplied several accounts of raids on early settlers in the county. For example, in 1862, battling Pawnee and Sioux scared off settlers. In August of 1866, a small band of Cheyenne attacked White Creek settlers and “outraged her [a settler’s wife] in the most brutal and fiendish manner, took all their provisions, and set fire to a cabin. Other settlers went to a stockade for safety and all was well until April 9, 1867 when Cheyenne massacred a family of four, left one for dead, and carried off a young woman never heard of again in two attacks. Both times the Cheyenne asked for dinner and appeared friendly before killing the settlers. Then, in May 1868, six buffalo hunters were killed as they tried to flee attacking Indians in southern Jewell County. Also killed was a “party of six young men, . ..from the East,” who “were in gay spirits, and appeared quite contented with their own company.” An October 1866 hunting party fared better and only were stripped of their provisions by 80 warriors and told not to hunt in the area again.

Cassel/Collins Massacre. May 1865. Little Cheyenne mouth, Cloud County. Cheyenne attacked the camp of heavily armed hunters led by Lewis Cassel. The hunters might have resisted the attack if they used cover, but fled to the open prairie where they met up with two other hunters, William and John Collins. About 50 warriors showered the hunters with arrows and bullets. Once again, the hunters resisted the attack and made it about 14 miles almost to Buffalo Creek but then a linch-pin broke in their wagon. While replacing the broken part, the Cheyenne appeared again, caught them by surprise, and killed the hunters. Their bodies were found at the start of the Little Cheyenne, a tributary of Buffalo Creek. Source: E. F. Hollibaugh's 1903 Biographical History of Cloud County, Kansas. For a more in-depth account, read The Saga of Lew Cassel, Trapper by David Dary in the 1987 More True Tales of Old-time Kansas published by University Press of Kansas.

Kidder Massacre. July 2, 1867. Sherman County Road 28 and Road 77, Goodland. While delivering reports to George Armstrong Custer, 10 enlisted soldiers and a scout under command of Second Lieutenant Lyman S. Kidder encountered Ogala Lakota and Cheyenne buffalo hunters. The warriors circled and shot at the soldiers, as the Oglala dismounted and approached the soldiers on foot. Custer described it in his book, My Life on the Plains: "Each body was pierced by from 20 to 50 arrows, and the arrows were found as the savage demons had left them, bristling in the bodies." The Lakota also scalped the soldiers, smashed in their skulls, slashed their arms and leges, and cut off their noses. View The Death of Lyman S. Kidder.

Cheyenne Attack on Railroaders. August 1, 1867. Near Victoria. Tall Wolf, son of Medicine Arrows, led warriors to kill railroad workers in Ellis County.

Battle of Prairie Dog Creek. August 1867. By Long Island. Hundreds of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Sioux attacked the vastly outnumbered Kansas 18th Volunteer Cavalry who held them off with rifles during their retreat. Read more in Phillips County Review October 14, 2004.

Cheyenne Raid on Kansa. June 1868. Cheyenne led by Tall Bull fought with the Kansa on their reservation a few miles south of Council Grove. The Kansa had been warned, and while most settlers gathered for safety, a number followed the Cheyenne to watch the one-hour skirmish. Few fatalities occurred but ransacking did along the way to and from the raid. The raid motive was retaliation for Cheyenne slayed by the Kansa the previous summer. Source: Ellsworth, D. A. (n.d.). History of Chase County, Kansas extracted from local newspapers.

Saline River attack. Early August 1868. North of Fort Harker. An estimated 225 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux attacked six settlers’ homes on the Saline River after eating a meal with them. They robbed, burned houses, and “brutally outraged four females until insensible.” The attack led to the Battle of Beecher Island. Source: Choitz, John F. (1941). Ellsworth, Kansas: The history of a frontier town 1854-1885. Fort Hays, KS: Fort Hays Kansas State College.

Mulberry Creek Massacre. Late January or early February 1869. Ellsworth County. A small group of Pawnee, including former U.S. army scouts, returning to their reservation in Nebraska were killed. Reports vary about the Pawnee presence but agree that local settlers summoned troops camped nearby who killed several Pawnee by Mulberry Creek. Reports also concur that Fort Harker`s post surgeon B. E. Fryer sent six of these Pawnee skulls to the Army Medical Museum, which in 1865 had requested Indian skulls for measurement comparisons. [In 1995, the skulls were returned to the Pawnee for burial.] Barr, Elizabeth. (1908). A souvenir history of Lincoln County, Kansas; Lamb, Daniel. (1917). A history of the United States Army Medical Museum, 1862-1917; Riding In, James. (1992). Six Pawnee crania: The historical and contemporary significance of the massacre and decapitation of Pawnee Indians in 1869. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 16(2), 101-117.

Danish Settlement Massacre. May 30, 1869. Four miles west of Lincoln. About 60 Sioux and Cheyenne attacked the small Danish settlement in Lincoln County. Several new emigrants were killed along Spillman Creek. Two women taken prisoner for 12 days were found in Colorado with Tall Bull. Source: Bernhardt, C. (1910). Indian raids in Lincoln County, Kansas, 1864 and 1869. Lincoln, KS: Author.

Cloud and Mitchell counties' raids. August 12, 13, 1868. Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, Sioux, and Arapaho warriors attacked settlers along Solomon River.

Sioux-Pawnee horse raids. Winter 1871. Norton County. "Early one morning during a severe snow storm three Sioux Indians came into camp, asked for something to eat and inquired where the Pawnees were camped. Cole heard enough of their talk to find out that 300 Sioux were going through that storm on foot to steal the Pawnees’ horses; they promised not to steal the horses belonging to the hunters and soon departed. Cole said to the boys: 'There will be a bloody fight' and advised them to pull for the settlement; they all hitched up and started in the storm except Briggs and his outfit. The next morning at daylight the Sioux came back with an immense herd of horses and nine Pawnee scalps; they had a war dance at Briggs’ camp where they danced with the scalps tied in their hair, with the blood still dripping from them. During their stay Briggs traded them coffee and tobacco for 60 tanned buffalo robes. Hillsinger was so much interested in the war dance that he forgot to offer them any sorghum. The following night the Pawnees stole all of Briggs’ stock except one Spanish mule. He and three men followed on foot leaving Mrs. Briggs and one man, Cal Hopkins, in camp; they caught up with the Indians at Cedar Bluffs, but had to pay $2.50 a head for their stock to get them back. The Pawnees were taken at great disadvantage, they being taken by surprise and having 1,000 squaws and papooses with them, while the Sioux had nothing but warriors. Hillsinger took a lariat rope and a whetstone from a dead Indian, which he kept for many years a memento of that memorable trip. Upon their arrival at Norton he purchased what supplies Briggs had left and sold them out to the settlers. Briggs returned to the reservation, closed up his business affairs, returned to Norton and became a permanent resident in 1873." Lockard, F. M. (1894). The history of the early settlement of Norton County, Kansas. Norton, KS: Champion.

Lone Tree Incident. August 24, 1874. 11 miles southwest of Meade. Medicine Water and 25 Cheyenne killed six government surveyors who tried to flee in their ox-driven wagon.

Massacre of Sappa Creek or Massacre at Cheyenne Hole. April 23, 1875. Southeast of present-day Atwood. Company H of the Sixth United States Cavalry under Second Lieutenant Austin Henely overtook 60 Southern Cheyenne led by Little Bull and a group led by Sand Hill at their campsite on Sappa Creek. The cavalry killed many Cheyenne men, women, and children who had left a reservation for Montana to join Northern Cheyenne. For more information, read William Chalfant. (1997). Cheyennes at Dark Water Creek: The Last Fight of the Red River War. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. Read the National Register Nomination. When Cheyenne passed through in 1878, they avenged the deaths by killing 31 settlers in Rawlins County.

Battle at Punished Woman's Fork. September 28, 1878. North of Scott City. Dull Knife and Little Wolf and 351 of their starving Cheyenne followers fled an Oklahoma reservation to join the Northern Cheyenne in Montana. On their way through Oklahoma and Kansas, they robbed and killed settlers. Colonel William H. Lewis led about 200 soldiers to pursue the Cheyenne and found them in a hilly area where warriors waited in ravine. After the confrontation, the soldiers scattered the Cheyenne horse herd and took their food. When Lewis was shot, the soldiers abandoned the battlefield. Lewis died of his wounds the next day.

Last Indian Raid in Kansas. September 30, 1878. Northeast of Oberlin along Sappa Creek. Little Wolf and Dull Knife killed 19 settlers while taking the settlers' horses and food. The October 17, 1878 Telescope wrote: “The Indians did not seem to be a regular war party, as they were not in war paint, and did not scalp their victims, and only seemed disposed to kill when a man stood in their way, when he had horses or other property that they wanted, and two boys that they had captured and taken to camp, they, after keeping them a few hours, released.” A group of settlers pursued the Cheyenne until three companies of cavalry and one of infantry arrived. The Cheyenne split into two groups in Nebraska. Soldiers captured both and imprisoned them before the diminished groups ultimately were given a reservation in Montana.

Abductions

Image: Catherine German, Kansas State Historical Society

Caty Sage, 5, was abducted in 1792 from her home in Elk Creek, Grayson County, Virginia. Fifty plus years later, her brother Charles was told that a woman called Yourowquains who looked a lot like him lived with the Wyandots in eastern Kansas. He and another brother went to see Yourowquains and identified her through a birthmark. Through an interpreter, their sister told the brothers that a “white man” abducted her. She had lived with the Cherokee and Creeks; given as a present to the Wyandots; and outlived three Wyandot husbands (Tarhe, Between-the-Logs, and Frost). She died in 1853 and is buried in the Quindaro Cemetery.

Mary Ward. April 30, 1867. Nine Sioux warriors asked for dinner at two homes and then looted the houses, took two mules, killed four of the occupants and took one, Mary Ward, as captive. Searchers looked for her but quit after 40 miles. Ward’s fate is unknown and assumed she died of exposure. Fort Riley soldiers did report a woman fitting her description who ran away “in a crazy manner” when she saw them. About 11 years later, a Junction City news article described a woman wandering by the Saline River. Soldiers went to see her. Wrote the 1878 History of Jewell County, Kansas, “At their approach she ran out of an old, deserted cabin, and made for the timber, apparently in great terror, evidently mistaking the negro soldiers for Indians. The soldiers, on the other hand, fearing she might be an Indian decoy, did not follow. As their description corresponds with that given of Mrs. Ward, and as nothing has ever since been heard of her, there is but little doubt that it was her, and that she had escaped from the Indians, only to perish of hunger and terror, alone on the silent prairie. Mrs. Ward is described as a tall and prepossessing young woman, not over twenty-two years of age, respectably connected and beloved by all who had the pleasure of her acquaintance.” Source: 1878 History of Jewel County, Kansas; Switzer, Dale. (2023). Misremembered massacre. Lovewell History.

Mary Jane Bacon, Mrs. Smith, and Miss Foster. August 10, 1868. Near present-day Ash Grove, Man-Who Breaks-the Marrow-Bones and Red Nose with a band of Cheyenne caught Mary Jane Bacon while her husband hid. She was clubbed on the head, raped, and taken by the Cheyenne. Then, the band went a few miles north of present-day Denmark, plundered households, and caught Miss Foster and Mrs. Shaw as they tried to ride off. Both women were gang-raped and taken to the Cheyenne camp where they were further mistreated. After midnight, the three women were allowed to leave. The seriously injured Bacon fell off her house and laid on the prairie until found with only “the yoke of a bodice.” Bacon later went back east to live with her parents. Mrs. Smith and her husband divorced soon after the incident, and Miss Foster died a few years later.

Margaret and Esther Bell. August 11, 1868. The same Cheyenne above raided two houses southeast of Beloit in Mitchell County on the Solomon River. Both times they initially appeared friendly and then attacked. Those in the first house made a stand and fled. At the next house, they shot the woman they forced to cook and two young boys. One woman protected by her dog escaped. Margaret, 6, nd Esther Bell, 8, were taken to a tipi while the Cheyenne continued attacking settlers, fled, and left the girls to wander two days before found. Michno, Gregory, & Michno, Susan. (2007). A fate worse than death: Indian captivities in the West, 1830-1885. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Press.

Sarah White (1850-1939), 18, was captured August 13, 1868 by the Cheyenne on her father’s farm near Concordia. Wrote E. F. Hollibaugh's 1903 Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas: "On the fatal day of the Indian raid Mrs. White was alone with her daughter Sarah, a voting woman of about sixteen years, and three smaller children. They had finished milking the cows and returned to the house, when, without the least warning, they were in the midst of a prowling posse of six savages. The Indians divided into two squads on the opposite side of the creek and came around the bend of the stream, three from the north side and three from the south, led by a stalwart redskin who gave one of those fierce unearthly shrieks - the Indian yell - that once heard can never be forgotten, and especially if given when on the warpath. The house stood near the bank of the creek but a few rods distant from their present residence, and in the next instant they were surrounded. In all likelihood they had been skulking about the vicinity of the White home and were aware of the absence of Mr. White, consequently were brave, but to further assure themselves that the women were alone, they peered through the windows, and as their grim-visaged war-painted faces were pressed against the window panes they struck terror to the hearts of these helpless women and children. Not seeing any men, the brave and noble redmen entered the house and proceeded to make havoc with its contents, tearing up what they chose to leave, and proceeding to carry the remainder away as part of their booty. A more critical moment than this, with a helpless woman and her offspring at the mercy of these soulless demons, cannot be conceived. Their first thought was to escape while the house was being plundered and hasten to join Mr. White and his three soils, who were making hay on the Republican river, but the first move they made in that direction was thwarted by two of the Indians seizing the older daughter, a comely young girl just entering upon the dawn of womanhood. The frenzied mother resisted as much as possible, and with a child in her arms was dragged some distance, but her interference was useless. The powerful savages bore the girl away into captivity, her pitiful, agonizing screams wafted on the breezes to the half-crazed, suffering mother, growing fainter and more faint until they disappeared in the distance, leaving the desolate woman haunted by the worst fears — fears that her fate might be even worse than death." Mary White, another daughter, fought off the Cheyenne. Sarah was sexually traded around, whipped daily, and given an inch-square of mule meat to eat each day. Seven months later, the Cheyenne released her with Anna Morgan. White became a schoolteacher, married a Concordia area farmer, and had seven children. She said, “When she hears people complaining of hardships and hard times, she often thinks their knowledge along these lines is very limited.” Source: National Park Service. Sarah Catherine White Brooks (civilian captive) 1850-1939. https://www.nps.gov/waba/learn/historyculture/sarah-catherine-white-brooks-civilian-captive-1850-1939.htm

Anna Brewster Morgan (1844-1902), born in New Jersey, went to live with her brother near Delphos, Kansas, and married James Morgan September 13, 1868. On October 3, 1868, when working in the field with her husband, Anna was raped by a Sioux band and then traded to the Cheyenne for horses. The Cheyenne released her March 22, 1869 to the U.S. Cavalry. One solider said that she was dirty, stooped, and appeared to look twice her age. She returned to Delphos, had a half-Indian son, Ira, who died two years later. The Morgans had three children before they divorced. Anna is quoted as saying, "There were many things that I have not spoken of. After I came back, the road seemed rough, and I often wished they had never found me." She avoided social contacts because of the captive stigma, was committed in 1900 to the Home of the Feeble Minded in Topeka, and buried next to Ira at Delphos. Source: National Park Service. (2020). Amanda “Anna” Belle Brewster Morgan (civilian captive) 1844-1902. https://www.nps.gov/waba/learn/historyculture/amanda-anna-belle-brewster-morgan-civilian-captive-1844-1902.htm

Mrs. Bassett. In September of 1868, the Osage raiding in the vicinity of Sharp's Creek, carried off Mrs. Bassett who had just had a baby. The Osage left the baby and soon abandoned the mother later found by settlers pursuing the Osage. Bassett stayed with neighbors till well enough to travel to Junction City. On the train ride there, the baby died from suspected exposure during the raid. Source: Edna Nyquist, in the 1932 McPherson County, Kansas (McPherson, KS: Democrat-Opinion Press)

Susann Zigler Daily Alderice and Maria Weichel, both pregnant, were taken captive during the Spillman Creed Raid 30 miles west of Salina on May 30, 1869. The Cheyenne killed Maria’s husband George and three of Alderice’s children and took the women to Colorado Territory for 42 days. When the 5th Cavalry attacked the Cheyenne camping 14 miles southeast of today’s Sterling, Colorado, many Cheyenne and Lakota were killed. Their lodges burned to the ground. The Cheyenne shot Weichel who survived and killed Alderice by hatcheting her face. Weichelom, from Germany and who had been in America less than two months, later had a baby and little is recorded more than that about her.

Mary Smith Jordan. In August of 1872, George and Richard Jordan and their Swedish assistant had a successful buffalo hunt. Sixty miles southeast of Ellis on the middle fork of Walnut Creek they were killed by Old Bear, Buffalo Meat, Coon, Broen-hi-o and other Cheyenne. Richard’s wife Mary, five feet tall with a slight limp, had accompanied them but her body was not with them and her fate unknown. Her Newfoundland dog found its way home.

Catherine, Sophia, Julia, and Nancy German. John and Lydia German who had spent four years working to set up a Colorado homestead reached Ellis City in August 1874 with their seven children. Their goal was to travel another 12 miles north and follow the railroad into Colorado, unaware that bands of angry Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne were making their way from Texas. One Cheyenne band under Medicine Water that had just killed and scalped six surveyors August 25 in Kansas overtook the German family September 10 in the early morning. They killed and scalped the German parents, their son, and two daughters who had the longest hair. Then, the band took Catherine, 17; Sophia, 12; Julia, 7; and Addie, 5. The two older girls were subjected to maltreatment such as being thrown into a river or forced to ride untamed mules who bucked them off. Sophia was forced to be the wife of two and Catherine used as a prostitute for young Cheyenne. In time, Julia and Addie were traded to another band that neglected the girls and abandoned them when fearful of approaching military. The young girls ate wild berries and grass stems for weeks until later returned to the band by scouts. On November 8, soldiers surprised the Cheyenne who then deserted their camp. Movement in a pile of buffalo hides revealed the two youngest German sisters, both so emaciated they could hardly walk. When brought in, the older sisters told officers which individuals had murdered their family. These Cheyenne were sent to prison in Florida. The sisters reunited; received Cheyenne annuities for support; $2,500 at age 21; lived with a guardian in Kansas, and eventually all four girls married. Source: Mosely, Charlton. (1992). Georgians on the Western Frontier: The Cheyenne Massacre and captivity of a Fannin County family. The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 76(1), 19-45.

Military Forts

Forts. Military forts were placed to safeguard settlers and travelers from Indian attacks. Active from 1865 to 1889, Fort Hays U.S. Army post, for example, originally was built to protect the Butterfield Overland Dispatch freight wagons traveling along the Smoky Hill Trail to Denver from Southern Cheyenne and Southern Arapaho Indians. In time, the fort mission expanded to support railroad construction efforts and settlers traveling westward (1472 US Highway 183 Alt, Hays). Outside military forts, groups camped to obtain provisions, prepare for attacks, and other reasons. Forts in Kansas include Fort Dodge, five miles east of Dodge City (1868-1882); Fort Harker, Kanapolis (1866-1872), which replaced Fort Ellsworth (1864-1866); Fort Larned, five and one-half miles west of Larned (1859-1878); Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth(established 1827); Fort Riley (established 1853); Fort Scott, Fort Scott (1842-1853, 1862-1865); Fort Wallace, Wallace County, (1865-1882); Fort Zarah, three miles east of Great Bend (1864-1869). Communities also built their own fortifications against raids, e.g., in Cloud County, Fort Sibley on the north bank of the Republican River contained 16 log houses; Fort Montgomery in Eureka (1861-1868) and another Fort Montgomery built west of Mound City.

Community Defense

Wild Life on the Plains: The Horrors of Indian Warfare, 1891: "Leaving Fort Wallace about sunset on the evening of the 15th of July, we began our ride eastward, following the line of the overland stage route. At that date the Kansas Pacific Railway was only completed as far westward as Fort Harker. Between Forts Wallace and Harker we expected to find the stations of the overland stage company, at intervals of from ten to fifteen miles. In time of peace these stations are generally occupied by half a dozen employees of the route, embracing the stablemen and relays of drivers. They were well supplied with firearms and ammunition, and every facility for defending themselves against Indians. The stables were also the quarters for the men. They were usually built of stone, and one would naturally think that against Indians no better defensive work would be required. Yet such was not the case. The hay and other combustible material usually contained in them enabled the savages, by shooting prepared arrows, to easily set them on fire, and thus drive the occupants out to the open plain, where their fate would soon be settled. To guard against such an emergency, each station was ordinarily provided with what on the Plains is termed a "dug-out." The name implies the character and description of the work. The "dug-out" was commonly located but a few yards from one of the corners of the stable, and was prepared by excavating the earth so as to form an opening not unlike a cellar, which was usually about four feet in depth, and sufficiently roomy to accommodate at close quarters half a dozen persons. This opening was then covered with earth and loopholed on all sides at a height of a few inches above the original level of the ground. The earth was thrown on top until the "dug-out" resembled an ordinary mound of earth, some four or five feet in height. To the outside observer, no means apparently were provided for egress or ingress; yet such was not the case. If the entrance had been made above ground, rendering it necessary for the defenders to pass from the table unprotected to their citadel, the Indians would have posted themselves accordingly, and picked them off one by one as they should emerge from the stable. To provide against this danger, an underground passage was constructed in each case, leading from the “dug-out" to the interior of the stable. With these arrangements for defence a few determined men could withstand the attacks of an entire tribe of savages. The recent depredations of the Indians had so demoralized the men at the various stations that many of the latter were found deserted, their former occupants having joined their forces with those of other stations. The Indians generally burned the deserted stations."