Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

"Here goes for a brevet or a coffin!"
-last known words of Maj. Joel Elliott

I was selected to bring down a collection of Cheyenne tipi furnishings to a teachers' symposium at Washita Battlefield National Historic Site over the weekend.  I had read about Washita in several books and so was glad to get a chance to go see the site.  In talking about Fort Larned's importance, I often reach back to Sand Creek in 1864 and reach forward to Washita in 1868, two events that bookend Fort Larned's prime years.

I could recall the whole story here, but suffice to say that despite the overall success of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867, some Cheyenne were still raiding and causing problems in 1868, especially later in the year.  Custer, who had been relieved of command in 1867 for a year, needed to win big to redeem himself in the Army's eyes and was looking for a fight.  One group of warriors provided the necessary leverage to go to war with the Cheyenne again.

Custer's 7th Cavalry came upon Black Kettle's village of Cheyenne, a small encampment west of the much larger main encampment of Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and others.  Custer split his command into four sections intended to envelop and converge upon Black Kettle's village.  At this point, none of the army knew the larger village was still a few miles east, yet had committed to this attack.  Long story short, people died on both sides including Black Kettle and his wife, Maj. Elliott charged east and found himself outnumbered and was killed with 17 of his men, Custer hurried up and burned the village and killed 800 ponies before he and his troops got out of there.  It's a tragic episode for the Cheyenne well told in books such as Washita and Black Kettle, both of which are good reading, and many others.  Custer also told his version of the event in his writing.

Black Kettle's encampment was in the trees along the river.  Custer's troops came over the hill on the left; Elliott's troops came down through the cut on the right between the red hills while two other elements swept from this side of the river.

Necessarily, any discussion of what happened to Custer at Little Bighorn hinges on what happened at Washita.  At Washita, Custer split his command.  At Washita, Custer had fresh troops and the hour of day on his side.  At Washita, Custer was not up against the entire village.  All these things that went right at Washita went wrong at Little Bighorn.  A new book, The Last Stand, does a good job paralleling just how much Washita affected Custer's other officers in the future.

It was a warm day of about 100 degrees but I got the grand tour of the site with one of the rangers.  It was good that I went early because I didn't have a chance to go during the event the next day.  The nature trail is an easy walk down a mowed path to the river, the village site, and the pony kill site. 

Black Kettle and his wife Medicine Woman Later were shot and killed along the banks of the Washita River.

Three Cheyenne chiefs came to speak at the event, as well as several other notable tribal members to provide the teachers with perspective on Cheyenne issues and their interest in sharing and keeping their culture through children.  One of the chiefs directed the action and was an essential part of our tipi construction.  I got a very nice compliment from him, "You must be part Indian," while I was working on the tipi with some apparent skill.  Apparently I have more knowledge than I thought.

By the time the tipi was up and my furnishings were in place, I had burned up most of the day, was sprinkled with red Oklahoma dirt, had entirely sweat through my NPS uniform (a new record), and was ready to fall over with exhaustion.  It was kind of a lot of work for a few minutes of attention from the teachers, who were on a jam-packed schedule.  By 2:00 I could see the clouds gathering and started packing things back up into the car to take back to Kansas.

On the way back, I drove through a few rippers of thunderstorms: rain that turned into steam as it hit the ground, and wind blowing so hard I could barely walk when I stopped for gas.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site is a nice, new park just 15 years old.  It has a brand-new visitor center with great exhibits, some of which aren't quite complete yet.  They have an interesting film, too, but it's a little long, clocking in at 27 minutes.  Plus, they have a great air conditioning system!  Very important!  The bookstore has a wide selection of good books, plus armadillo stuffed animals.  It's a nice place to visit if you're interested in this part of American History or if you think you ought to know.  The staff is all very friendly and helpful.  It's a bonus that the rolling hills of western Oklahoma with their shades of green and bright red are a nice change of scenery, too.

Summer in the Sunflower State

Although the days are now getting shorter, the mercury keeps rising in western Kansas.  However, thanks to late-season rains, the grass is still green.  I can barely keep up with the mowing at the house.  Temperatures have gotten just over 100, but the relatively higher humidity lately has had the heat index way up over 120 degrees according to our instruments.  It's just not very fun to be outside when the weather is like that, but not impossible if a person stays hydrated.

4th of July festivities came and went at the Fort, though we were plagued with some rain and mist that dulled the fun a bit and made the company streets into gumbo.  We successfully fired the cannon twice, and I felt redeemed at my position as loader after the misfire last time.  I was in charge of heading up the period-style games played by the 7th cavalry near Ft. Larned in 1867 on the 4th of July, which included sack races, wheelbarrow races, and foot races. A few kids participated and everyone got some laughs, but it wasn't the rip-roaring success I had hoped for.

I've been working on my charcoal grill rib preparation, which is a 4- to 6-hour task.  I found a technique online that described putting the coals all on one side with a pan of water over them.  While the web recipe I saw said the pan of water helped with humidity, I think it has more of a role to play in regulating the temperature and keeping it close to 220 (steam will depart at 212 and take the heat energy with it).  I opened the grill and added a handful of coals and a handful of soaked chips every half hour, never touching the meat.  After a raging success the first time, I tried a total of three delicious times and feel good about the technique.  As you see in the photo, a narrower pan of water on top would make adding coals and chips easier.

When we got to Kansas in May, I was a bit alarmed at the frequency and intensity of thunderstorms and crazy wind.  It's settled down now that the summer weather pattern is established.  If you look at a weather map and zero in on Kansas, you can see where the prevailing winds either come from the northwest or the southwest; in the springtime, it alternates frequently, causing the storms.  However, we still get a zinger now and then.  We saw a spectacular show of lightning just a few nights ago with near-constant lightning coming from a massive cloud that went past without hitting us.  I got this photo among others of the storm.

Here's another one for good measure.

The wheat harvest came and went, leaving me with somewhat itchy eyes thanks to the dust in the air.  It was kind of fun to see the machinery working in the fields churning all the wheat up and doing their thing.  Some farmers now are into a second or third planting, depending on what they have been producing.  Now, fields are lighting up with the brilliant yellow of sunflowers.  So, in honor of the Sunflower State, I took a picture of one of the state's wild varieties, which grow about six feet tall along the edges of fields and roads.

Last but not least, fasten your seatbelts.  A whole new Fort Larned NHS website will be coming to you in early August.  We've already got a Facebook group; it helped that I had already written a policy for TR.  And since I have nothing more to say, I'll leave you with a cliche sunset picture from the back yard.  Except that the sky was totally weird.

War and Peace at Fort Larned

The following is an article I've been working on for Fort Larned NHS's website, which I'll be tackling this summer.  I appreciate your thoughts.

Introduction: Sand Creek

Established by the U.S. Army in 1859 to protect U.S. interests on the Santa Fe Trail from Indian raiders, Fort Larned was at the center of an intense cultural clash by 1867-1868. Fort Larned was both a site of war and of peace as government officials and chiefs met in council, gifts were distributed to tribes, and the military made preparations for war. The people that converged at Fort Larned in the late 1860s and their actions here changed the course of history on the Southern Plains.

The cultural interactions in and around Fort Larned in 1867-68 were strongly influenced by an attack nearly 200 miles away three years earlier. In November 1864, Col. John M. Chivington’s Coloradans attacked a sleeping Cheyenne camp at Sand Creek, killing 130 Cheyenne men, women, and children, including a number of prominent chiefs. After the battle, the troops mutilated the bodies and committed unspeakable atrocities, for which Chivington achieved lasting infamy. The Cheyenne were devastated by the attack. News of the event spread far and wide among the plains tribes. The Sand Creek Massacre became a turning point in the decades-long cultural shift taking place on the Great Plains; it was the beginning of a phase of increasing hostility.

Ever after Sand Creek, the Cheyenne were extremely distrustful of the U.S. Army. Their desire to avoid a second Sand Creek Massacre affected all the Cheyenne’s dealings with U.S. officials at precisely the time of most consequence. As more white settlers, trails, and railroads moved onto their land, the Cheyenne, desperate to save their lives, culture, and freedom, were left either to bargain for peace or to resist through military means. On one hand, a prominent chief named Black Kettle tried to negotiate with the U.S. Government to find a peaceful solution for his followers. Despite being a survivor of Sand Creek, Black Kettle believed that the Cheyenne would not be able to fight off the Army indefinitely and that peace offered the best chance for his people to survive. On the other hand, others such as the Dog Soldier warrior society within the Cheyenne tribe, remembering the injustice of Sand Creek, were more inclined to resist through violence to protect their freedom and independence.

The United States applied the same two-pronged approach of war and diplomacy to further the nation’s expansionist goals. Agents in the Office of Indian Affairs made treaties with the tribes to arrange for out-of-the-way places for the tribes to live and gifts to encourage them to do so. To this effect, Fort Larned served as an Indian Agency site for the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes with agents including the optimistic Colonel Edward Wynkoop. However, whenever one member or a contingent of a tribe appeared to disregard a treaty, the army was there to punish the tribe as a whole. U.S. Army commanders fresh out of the Civil War were eager to further their own ambitions and apply their military skill against an enemy that they did not fully understand. Fort Larned was a base for some of these military operations.

Hancock’s War

General Winfield Scott Hancock, a Union hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, arrived in western Kansas in 1867 to deal with the Plains Indian tribes that stood in the way of American expansion. At Fort Larned, Hancock met with several Cheyenne chiefs on April 12, 1867. Hancock intended to awe the chiefs with the army’s strength. Although Hancock expressed an interest in retaining peace, he elaborated much more on his ability and willingness to punish the tribe for any offenses. “You know very well, if you go to war with the white man you will lose….I have a great many chiefs with me that have commanded more men than you ever saw, and they have fought more great battles than you have fought fights,” Hancock warned the chiefs. Chief Tall Bull gave his reply, expressing willingness to make peace and concern over the diminishing animal herds that sustained his people.

Hancock had wanted to meet with all the chiefs and was disappointed when only a handful showed up to his council at Fort Larned. Desiring to “talk with them all together,” Hancock rode west on April 13 and 14 toward a combined Cheyenne and Lakota village with troops in tow. Among them was Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th U.S. Cavalry. For all their military skill and experience, neither Custer nor Hancock had ever dealt with Plains Indians before this encounter. Hancock’s plan to awe the Cheyenne into submission with his military might instead just provoked them.

As the army drew nearer the village on the April 14, a group of Cheyenne warriors rode out to meet them. The 7th Cavalry, with their sabers drawn and glinting in the sun, faced mounted Dog Soldiers in their war paint, each sizing the other up but holding their fire. Colonel Ed Wynkoop, the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agent at Fort Larned between 1866 and 1868, rode out between the lines to ask the warriors to stay calm and stay put. The warriors, trusting Wynkoop, agreed. The army continued to within one mile of the village.

The sight of a massive formation of troops so near their village evoked memories of Sand Creek, prompting the women and children of all tribes at the combined camp to flee on the evening of the 14th, leaving most of their lodges and belongings behind. Hancock, who had insisted on parading his military so near the village and bullying the chiefs in his negotiations, apparently could not understand why his counterparts would run from him and his troops. Frustrated and furious, Hancock considered the villagers’ flight at the least insulting, and at the most, hostile.

To appease Hancock, Cheyenne warriors said they would try and track down the fleeing women and children and return them to the village. Recalling Sand Creek, the warriors were likely not inclined to bring their families back within reach of the army. However, the fading twilight made tracking the villagers impossible before long anyway. After some time, the warriors returned and reported that they had been unable to follow the others’ trails, then announced their intentions to leave, too. Before Custer’s troops could surround the village and corral the remaining Indians, the inhabitants escaped into the darkness leaving their lodges and most of their belongings behind.

Hancock, left with an empty village, was quickly losing what he might have seen as his best opportunity to score a major victory in U.S.-Indian relations as his counterparts fled. After failing to locate and return the Indians to the village over the next several days, a consternated Hancock kept his promise to punish those who did not want peace. Hancock ordered the village burned to the ground on April 19, 1867. Just two days before, Captain Albert Barnitz of the 7th Cavalry had visited the abandoned camp and wrote, “On entering the camp I was astonished at its magnitude – and magnificence!” Now it was no more than a pile of ashes. The act destroyed lodges, food, tools, and equipment that would take months for the tribes to replace, further frustrating and incensing the Indians. It was the beginning of “Hancock’s War,” the opening shots in a continuing state of conflict that raged across the plains of western Kansas for years to come.

Following the destruction of the village, battles raged across Kansas: June 12 at Fort Dodge, June 21-22 at Fort Wallace, June 22 at Baca’s Wagon Train, June 26 at Pond Creek Station and another at Black Butte Creek, July 2 Kidder’s Fight (in which his entire detachment was killed), August 1-2 at Saline River, August 21-22 at Prairie Dog Creek, and September 15 at Davis’s Fight. Raiding along the Santa Fe Trail also increased.

The Medicine Lodge Treaty

Seeking to bring about an end to the state of war, U.S. officials and several tribes including the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache agreed to meet at a site southeast of Fort Larned along Medicine Lodge Creek frequently used by the Cheyenne for ceremonial purposes in October, 1867. Fort Larned served as the supply depot for the treaty proceedings as the U.S. Government provided food for the thousands in attendance. The proceedings concluded with the signing of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867.

Among its provisions, the Medicine Lodge Treaty relegated the Cheyenne to lands southeast of Fort Larned between the Arkansas River and the Cimarron River. On paper, the war was over, though Captain Barnitz of the 7th Cavalry, who recorded the speeches at the council, expressed his personal misgivings: “They have no idea that they are giving up, or that they have ever given up the country which they claim as their own…The treaty amounts to nothing, and we will certainly have another war sooner or later with the Cheyennes, at least, and probably with the other Indians…” Indeed, violence resumed in August, 1868.

Not all of the Cheyenne were hostile. In fact, many were peaceful, such as those that Captain Barnitz recognized at Fort Larned in July 1868 from the previous autumn. The Cheyenne and other tribes were able to collect annuities at Fort Larned per the Medicine Lodge Treaty. At Fort Larned on August 11, 1868, Captain Barnitz noted, “The Cheyennes have been coming in to Fort Larned to day for their arms and munitions,” which were ostensibly to be used for subsistence hunting. However, violence started up again in August of 1868.

During the Medicine Lodge Treaty proceedings in 1867, Buffalo Chief of the Cheyenne had said, “You think that you are doing a great deal for us by giving these presents to us, but we prefer to live as formerly.” Indeed, factions including the Dog Soldiers had continued violence throughout western Kansas in 1868. Fort Larned’s troop levels swelled to their largest in 1868. The additional troops at Fort Larned necessitated the construction of an additional warehouse, the New Commissary, which was to be the last sandstone building completed at the fort.

Lt. Col. Custer, who had been relieved of command in 1867 for insubordination when he had abandoned his post to be with his wife Libbie, was returned to command in late 1868. Perhaps eager to redeem himself, Custer led an expedition against the Cheyenne to the south. Unable to be a part of what he saw as a grave injustice in the face of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, which legally ended war between the U.S. and the Cheyenne, Ed Wynkoop resigned his post as Agent to the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Custer attacked the Cheyenne village at Washita on November 27, 1868. Among the dead was the chief Black Kettle, who had worked for years to achieve a peaceful solution to save his people.

Epilogue: Past Meets Present

Fort Larned was at the center of these tumultuous times of change on the windswept plains of Kansas. As violence on the Great Plains diminished, so did the need for Fort Larned. Over the following decade, troop levels tapered off until the last troops left in 1878. By that time, contingents of the Cheyenne were still fighting for independence elsewhere.

Today, Fort Larned remains an authentic, tangible link to the past, a reminder of the cultural conflict that defined 19th century America. The tribes with whom war and peace were made at Fort Larned are still with us, still struggling to maintain their cultural traditions and identity in an ever-changing world.