WINNERS OF THE WEST
Vol. XV     No. 8
ST. JOSEPH, MISSOURI
AUGUST, 1938
 
 
 

MEDICINE LODGE PEACE COUNCIL
(Continued from page 2)     [note: we do not have "page 2"]

with arms, equipments, horses, and clothing from the date of muster into the service of the United States.

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

P. H Sheridan,
Major General, U. S. A.

"On receipt of this despatch I immediately issued a call for troops.

"The response to this Proclamation was made with alacrity, and a regiment of twelve hundred men speedily recruited and mustered into the United States service for six months. As every one knew, the campaign was to be made in the dead of winter against five war-like tribes in remote and almost inaccessible regions. Such an expedition had time and again been declared by officers of the army to be impossible; and yet it seemed to be the only way to bring the hostile Indians to a sense of their duty.

"In a letter to General Sheridan of date October 15, General Sherman said:

"As to extermination; it is for the Indians themselves to determine. We don't want to exterminate or even fight them. At best it is an inglorious war, not apt to add much to our fame or personal comfort; and for our soldiers, to whom we owe our first thoughts, it is all danger and extreme labor, without a singe compensating advantage . . . As brave men, and as the soldiers of a government which has exhausted its peace efforts, we, in the performance of a most unpleasant duty, accept the war begun by our enemies, and hereby resolve to make its end final. If it results in the utter annihilation of these Indians, it is but the result of what they have been warned again and again, and for which they seem fully prepared. I will say nothing and do nothing to restrain our troops from doing what they deem proper on the spot, and will allow no mere vague general charges of cruelty and inhumanity to tie their hands, but will use all the powers confided to me to the end that these Indians, the enemies of our race and of our civilization, shall not again be able to begin and carry on their barbarous warfare on any kind of pretext that they may choose to allege. I believe that this winter will afford us the opportunity and that before the snow falls these Indians will seek some sort of peace, to be broken next year at their option; but we will not accept their peace, or cease our efforts till all the past acts are both punished and avenged. You may go ahead in your own way, and I will back you with my whole authority, and stand between you and any efforts that may be attempted in your rear to restrain your purpose or check your troops."

"From this, as will be observed, General Sherman agreed to stand between Sheridan and the Interior Departmentthe course of all our Indian troubles. Nevertheless, Sheridan, on account of an erroneous sentiment in the Eastern States concerning the Indians was anxious to have the

State authorities behind him. On that account and for the reason that I knew a winter campaign was the only thing that would end the Indian war and keep the savages on their reservations, I resolved to resign as Governor and to accompany the expedition.

"Before resigning my office I issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation, November 4, 1868, after which and on the same day I was appointed and mustered in as Colonel of he new regiment, the NINETEENTH KANSAS CAVALRY."

OFF TO CAMP SUPPLY
"The regiment broke camp at Topeka on the morning of November 5, and started for Camp Supply, the point designated by General Sheridan as a rendezvous for the troops that were to participate in the campaign. From Topeka we marched by way of Emporia to the Arkansas River, where the city of Wichita now standsa distance of one hundred and fifty miles in seven days.

"At Wichita or Camp Beecher, as we called it we expected to find ten days' rations and forage for the regiment, which had previously been ordered from Fort Riley by General Sheridan; but on arriving there we found that one-half the rations had been consumed by the U. S. troops, while only a part of the forage had reached it's destination.

"Then it became a question whether we should proceed on a two-hundred-mile march from Wichita to Camp Supply through an unknown country with inexperienced guides, or wait and send back to Fort Riley for rations and forage. The country through which we had to pass was known to contain large herds of buffalo and flocks of deer and wild turkey; and as yet no snow had fallen; so, after considering the question in all its bearings, I determined to move on.

"Having loaded our wagons with such supplies as had not been consumed by the troops stationed at Wichita, I crossed the Arkansas River on the morning of November 14 and moved in a southwesterly direction toward Camp Supply. As heretofore stated, the distance in a direct line was two hundred miles through unknown country, with no road, no bridges over the streams, and no guide who knew anything of the formation of the country. It was a bold dash into the wilderness with a regiment of on thousand officers and men, at the approach of winter.

"For the first five days we marched on an average twenty miles per day, and improvised our own crossings over the rivers and small streams. On the evening of November 18, after a hard day's march, the horses of one battalion stampeded and caused a delay of one day. On the morning of the nineteenth we were overtaken by a snow storm, which continued without intermission for forty-eight hours, and until the ground was covered to a depth of ten inches. The next morning we moved as usual and made a good day's march notwithstanding the snow.

"Here, our rations and forage having been exhausted, it became necessary to resort to strategy. Buffalo in large herds were found in abundance, so we had no fears of the men suffering for food. But our forage was gone, and the privation began to tell on the horses and mules. From the day we left Wichita great care had been taken to camp early in the afternoon and let the animals graze. Now we were in a country where timber was more plentiful and grass not so abundant.

"On going into camp every afternoon a heavy detail of men would take the horses and mules out and scraping the snow away from the grass, let the animals graze until dark. Meantime other details would cut cottonwood limbs and other green bushes and place them under the picket line where the stock would browse during the night. Thus we moved along through the ever-increasing snow and over the hills and hollows until we reached the [ ]rakes of the Cimarron River.

"There I established a camp for the dismounted men and disabled horses and mules, and sent Captain Pliley forward with his troop to Camp Supply for rations and forage. Here the buffalo were still within easy reach, and the men had an abundance of meat; but our stock was suffering for lack of forage, and on account of the intensely cold nights.

"Leaving Major Jenkins in charge of the camp, with three hundred and sixty men and two hundred and fifty tired-out horses and mules, I took the remainder of the regiment (about six hundred men), pushed on to Camp Supply, and arrived there on November 26just twelve days out from Wichita.

"Meantime Captain Pliley had returned to the camp with supplies and forage, and on the twenty-ninth Major Jenkins came in with his portion of the commandwithout the loss of a man from the day we left Topeka.

"Thus from Wichita to Camp Supply we made the march over all obstacles in twelve daysa distance of over two hundred and twenty-five miles actually travelled. It was two hundred miles in a direct line; but a column winding its way around hill, ravines, and bad crossings, necessarily had to deviate from the direct route.

"When we arrived, General Sheridan expressed himself as highly pleased, and seemed to think that under all the circumstances we had made a wonderful march. He had excused himself for sending me guides who knew nothing about the country through which we had passed; and if I am not mistaken, he reprimanded the captain in command of the U. S. troops at Wichita, for consuming the rations and forage which he had sent there for my regiment.

"But in writing of this expedition twenty years later, in his "Memoirs," he goes out of his way to reflect on the officers of the regiment and, in doing so, contradicts what he said when we arrived at Camp Supply, and what he said in his official report.

"On the march from Wichita to Camp Supply, there was no road; not even an Indian trail. It was simply a southwest course through an uninhabited country from one point to another, with only the sun and the compass as guides. There was nothing from which to get lost. There were no roads nor cross-roads to mislead us; and at the time General Sheridan understood that fact.

"We made the march in twelve days, and if, as he says, we had been subsisting on buffalo meat for 'eight or nine days,' it simply shows that we marched the greater part of the distance without rations or forage. The truth is that General Sheridan, knowing nothing of the country over which we marched, was laboring under a misapprehension of facts. He had been misinformed by his scouts and others, whose reputation and wages depended largely on their skill as liars."

CUSTER'S FIGHT WITH BAND OF CHEYENNES
"General Sheridan with General Custer and the Seventh Cavalry, reached Camp Supply from Fort Hays a week or so before I arrived, and was anxious to push forward to where the Indians were supposed to be in winter quarters. While waiting for my regiment, he sent Custer out with his regiment on a reconnoitring expedition; who, striking an Indian trail followed it to the Washita Valley, where he fought a battle with Black Kettle's band of Cheyennes. A number of Indians and Indian ponies were killed, and their camp was captured and destroyed.

"In the fight Custer lost two officersMajor Elliott and Captain Hamiltonand a number of men. From the Washita he returned to Camp Supply, and on the seventh of December General Sheridan with both regiments, the Seventh U. S. Cavalry and the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry, moved forward to the Washita, where the bodies of Elliott and Hamilton were recovered, and the soldiers of the Seventh who had been killed were buried."

CAPTIVES SLAIN
"The bodies were buried, also, of two Kansas captives -- Mrs. Blinn and her little boy who had been killed by the Indians and left on the field a mile or so from where the fight occurred. This unfortunate woman and her husband and child were returning home from Colorado, when, on the ninth of October the train with which they were travelling was attacked and captured by the Cheyennes. The men were all killed and the poor woman and her child carried into captivity.

"While she was a prisoner with the Cheyennes, some Mexican traders visited their camp, and at the risk of her life she slipped a letter into their hands, which reads as follows:

November 7, 1868

"Kind friends, whoever you may be: I thank you for your kindness to me and my child. You want me to let you know my wishes. If you could only buy us of the Indians with ponies or anything, and let me come and stay with you until I can get word to my friends, they would pay you, and I would work and do all I could for you. If it is not too far to their camp, and you are not afraid to come, I pray that you will try. They tell me, as near as I can understand, they expect traders to come and they will sell us to them. Can you find out by this man and let me know if it is white men? If it is Mexicans, I am afraid they would sell us into slavery in Mexico. If you can do nothing for me, write to W. T. Harrington, Ottawa, Franklin County, Kansas, my father; tell him we are with the Cheyennes, and they say when the white men make peace we can go home. Tell him to write the Governor of Kansas about it, and for them to make peace. Send this to him. We were taken on the ninth of October, on the Arkansas, below Fort Lyon. I cannot tell whether they killed my husband or not. My name is Mrs. Clara Blinn. My little boy, Willie Blinn, is two years old. Do all you can for me. Write to the Peace Commissioners to make peace this Fall. For our sakes do all you can, and God will bless you. If you can, let me hear from you again; let me know what you think about it. Write to my father; send him this. Good-bye.

Mrs. R. F. Blinn
I am as well as can be expected, but my baby is very weak."

"As shown by her letter, the father of this woman resided in Franklin County, but I was never able to get into communication with him.

"On the day of the fight with Black Kettle, Custer held his ground until dark, when, the Indians being rapidly reinforced, he retired, leaving his dead on the field. A week later when Sheridan was advancing with Custer's regiment and the Nineteenth Kansas, the Indians broke camp on the Washita and fled; the Cheyennes retreating southward, and the Kiowas, Comanches, and Arapahoes going down the Washita Valley toward the Wichita Mountains.

"When this break-up occurred and we were ready to start in pursuit, it was not knows that the Cheyennes had slipped off south with the captive women from Kansas, Mrs. Morgan and Miss White. Hence General Sherman, on the morning of December 12, broke camp and started down the Washita Valley in pursuit of the main body of Indians, who left a wide trail behind them."

GEN. SHERIDAN'S ACCOUNT
"The snow was falling in sheets and the weather was intensely cold. For a vivid account of this march down the Washita to Fort Cobb, I quote from General Sheridan's report, as follows:

" 'At an early hour on December 12 the command pulled out from its cozy camp and pushed down the valley of the Washita, following immediately on the Indian trail which led in the direction of Fort Cobb; but before going far it was found that the many deep ravines and canons on this trail would delay our train very much, so we moved out of the valley, and took the level prairie on the divide. Here the travelling was good, and a rapid gait was kept up till mid-day, when, another storm of sleet and snow coming on, it became extremely difficult for the guides to make out the proper course; and, fearing that we might get lost or caught on the open plain without food or wateras we had been on the CanadianI turned the command back to the valley, resolved to try no more short cuts involving a risk of a disaster to the expedition. But, to get back was no slight task, for a dense fog just now enveloped us, obscuring the landmarks. However, we were headed right when the fog set in, and we had the good luck to reach the valley before night-fall, though there was a great deal of floundering about, and also much disputing among the guides as to where the river would be found. Fortunately we struck the stream right at a large grove of timber, and established ourselves admirably. By dark the ground was covered with twelve or fifteen inches of fresh snow, and, as usual, the temperature rose very sensibly while the storm was on, but after nightfall the snow ceased and the skies cleared up. Daylight having brought zero weather again, our start on the morning of the thirteenth was painful work, many of the men freezing their fingers while handling the horses, equipments, harness, and tents. However, we got off in fairly good season, and kept to the trail along the Washita, notwithstanding the frequent digging and bridging necessary to get the wagons over ravines.'

"According to this report, as will be observed, the floundering was not all done by the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry, while enroute to Camp Supply.

"Late in the afternoon of the seventeenth, after a continuous forced march of six days, we drove in the enemy's rear-guard and would have attacked the main force of Indians that day, but for the lateness of the hours. That night we camped on the north side of the Washita, about two miles from the Indian camp. We were then about twenty miles from Fort Cobb, and during the night a number of the Indian chiefs ran into Fort Cobb, surrendered to General Hazenrepresenting the Interior Departmentand were back at the camp by the break of day.

"On the morning of the eighteenth Sheridan moved in double column with the train between the two regiments, intending to throw his men forward into line and open the fight as soon as he came within striking distance. When within a mile of the Indians two of Hazen's scoutsa man by the name of Hart and a half-breed Comanchecame out from the Indian camp and handed General Sheridan a note from Hazen, saying in substance, that the Indians had surrendered to him the previous night and that he had promised that they should not be attacked by the troops then advancing."

SURRENDER OF INDIAN CHIEFS
"Sheridan immediately called a halt and while consulting a few of the officers as to what should be done, a number of chiefs rode out in front of their camp and two of them Satanta, of the Kiowas, and a Commanche chief started to meet us. When within a half-mile they suddenly took fright and, wheeling their ponies, started back at full speed. Sheridan not knowing what they meant ordered his scouts to bring them in. The scouts, being better mounted than the chiefs, soon overtook and brought them back as prisoners. Then Sheridan moved his command forward to within striking distance, and taking some of the other leading chiefs prisoners, ordered the remaining tribes to report to him at Fort Cobb on a certain day.

"Thus, after an arduous winter campaign, at a heavy expense to the Government, and when a permanent suppression of these hostile tribes was almost within our grasp, the Interior Department he source of all the troubles again stepped in and attempted to snatch the victory, at whatever cost, from the War Department.

"But fortunately General Sheridan was there, and while he could not violate the agreement just concluded by General Hazen, he was not going to let Hazen baffle him entirely out of the fruits of the expedition. He remained at Cobb until all the tribes except the Cheyennes, came in and then he ordered them to move south fifty miles to Cache Creek, where grazing was better for our horses and the Indian ponies.

"On the first of January, 1869, I crossed the Washita and moved south with my regiment to where Fort Sill now stands. Within a day or so Custer with the Seventh Cavalry followed, and soon thereafter the Indians began to make their appearance in that vicinity. Sheridan remained at Cobb a few days and then came over and established Fort Sill.

"The Indian chiefs, as prisoners, were entrusted to my care. While they pretended to be good now and for all time to come, they were at all times gnashing their teeth and watching for an opportunity to escape. Gradually they all came in and made all sorts of good promises for the future, except the Cheyennes, who were away west of the Wichita Mountains with the women they had captured in Kansas.

"Most of the hostile bands, having come in and surrendered to General Sheridan and sent their requisitions to General Hazen at Fort Cobb for rations and clothing, I could see no reason why I should remain longer with the command. The Cheyennes, as already stated, were still out with the captivesone a young bride of three weeks when captured, and the other a charming young lady of eighteen.

"But it was apparent that the expedition, as such, had been brought to a close by the intervention of General Hazen; and, no arrangement having been made for payment of my regiment when mustered out of service. I turned the command over to Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, a worthy officer, preeminently qualified to subdue the Cheyennes' and compel the surrender of the captives.

"On the fourteenth day of February, 1869, I resigned; and on the fifteenth, with a light escort, I left Fort Sill for Washington by way of Fort Gibson and Topeka. The next morning after my arrival in that city, I called on the Secretary of War, and was informed that Congress had adjourned without making an appropriation to pay the regiment. Fortunately, however, General Sherman, who had called the regiment into service, was in the city; and he and I, after much argument and persuasion, finally prevailed on the Secretary to order the payment out of his Contingent Fund."

COL. MOORE'S REPORT ON THE PURSUIT AND RELEASE OF CAPTIVES
"General Sheridan, having arranged for the expedition against the Cheyennes, left Fort Sill for Washington by way of Camp Sherman and Fort Hays. General Custer and Colonel Moore were left at Fort Sill with their regiments, to proceed against the Cheyennes and bring home the captives. That they accomplished their purpose with skill, courage, and powers of endurance, is shown by an able address, delivered by Colonel Moore before the Kansas State Historical Society, of date January 19, 1897. In this address Colonel Moore says:

"On the second of March, 1869, the Nineteenth Kansas and the Seventh Cavalry marched from Fort Sill with intention to find Little Robe's band of Cheyennes. The command marched to the west, and on the second day out camped at Old Camp Radziminski, a camp where the Second Dragoons, under Colonel van Dorn, wintered, long before the war. The course was still west, across the North Fork of Red River and across the Salt Fork of Red River, till the command reached Gypsum Creek. Here the command was divided. Most of the train, and all the footsore and disabled, were sent to the north up the North Fork and along the State line (of Texas), with orders to procure commissary stores and halt on the Washita till joined by the balance of the command.

"The Seventh and Nineteenth then pushed on up the Salt Fork, and on the sixth of March struck the trail of the Indians. It was broad and easy to follow as an ordinary country road. The scanty rations were now reduced one-half, and the pursuit began in earnest. At the head waters of the Salt Fork the trail turned north and skirted along the foot of the Llano Estacado. The trail led through a sandy mesquite country, entirely without game, although the streams coming out of the staked plain furnished abundance of water. By the twelfth of March rations were reduced again. The mules were now dying very fast, of starvation, as they had nothing to live on except the buds and bark of cottonwood trees cut down for them to browse on. Every morning the mules and horses that were unable to travel were killed by cutting their throats and the extra wagons run together and set on fire. On the seventeenth the command came on to Indian Camp-fires with the embers still smouldering. The rations were all exhausted on the eighteenth, and the men subsisted, from that on, on mule meat, without bread or salt.

"On the afternoon of the twentieth the Nineteenth Kansas came in sight of a band of ponies off to the west of the line of march, which was now in a northeast direction. In a few minutes Indians began to cross the line of march in front of the command, going with all haste toward the herd. The regiment quickened its pace, and I directed the line of march to the point from which the Indians were coming. In another mile the head of the column came upon a low bluff overlooking the bottom of the Sweetwater, and saw a group of two hundred and fifty Cheyenne lodges stretching up and down the stream and not more than one hundred from the bluff. The men thought of the long marches, the short rations, the cold storms, of Mrs. Blinn and her little boy, of the hundred murders in Kansas, and, when the order "Left front into line" was given, the rear companies came over the ground like athletes. But "there is may a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." Lieutenant Cook, Seventh Cavalry, rode up to the commanding officer, and, touching his hat, said, "The General sends his compliments, with instructions not to fire on the Indians." It was a wet blanket, saturated with ice-water. In a minute another aide came with orders to rest. The men laid down on the ground or sat on logs, but always with their carbines in hand. Custer was close by, sitting in the centre of a circle of Indian chiefs holding a powwow. In two or three minutes an officer of the Seventh came up, and in a low tone asked that a few officers put on their side-arms and drop down one at a time to listen to the talk. While Custer talked he watched the officers as they gathered around, and in a few minutes he got up onto his feet and said, "Take these Indians prisoners." There was a short but pretty sharp struggle, and a guard with loaded guns formed a line around these half-dozen chiefs, and Custer continued the talk. But he had pulled out another stop. The tone was different. He told them they had two white women of Kansas, and they must deliver them up to him. They denied this before, but now they admitted it, and said the women were at another camp, fifteen miles farther down the creek. He told them to instruct the people to pick up this camp and move down to the camp mentioned, and we would come down the next day and get the women.

" 'As soon as the chiefs were taken prisoners, the warriors mounted their ponies, and, armed with guns or bows and arrows, circled around the bivouac of the troops. They looked very brave and warlike. They wore headdresses of eagle feathers, clean buckskin leggings and moccasins, and buckskin coats trimmed with ample fringe. Lieutenant Johnson, commissary of the Nineteenth, watched them awhile, and then remarked: "This is the farthest I ever walked to see a circus." In a surprisingly short time after Custer gave them permission, the whole camp was pulled down, loaded onto the ponies, and not an Indian was in sight except the half-dozen held by the guards. Another night of stout hearts but restless stomachs, and in the morning the command began a march of fifteen miles down the Sweetwater to the other camp. The trail was broad and fresh for five miles, and then it began to thin out and get dimmer and dimmer, until at the end of ten miles not a blade of grass was broken. At the end of fifteen miles an old camp was reached, but no Indians had been there for two months. The regiment bivouacked for the night, and General Custer had the head chief taken down to the creek, a riata put around his neck and the other end thrown over the limb of a tree. A couple of soldiers took hold of the other end of the rope, and, by pulling gently, lifted him up onto his toes. He was let down, and Romeo, the interpreter, explained to him that, when he was pulled up clear from the ground and left there, he would be hung.

"The grizzly old savage seemed to understand the matter fully, and then Custer told him if they did not bring those women in by the time the sun got within a hand's breath of the horizon on the next day, he would hang the chief's on those trees. He let the old chief's son go to carry the mandate to the tribe. It was a long night, but everybody knew the next afternoon would settle the matter in some way. As the afternoon drew on, the men climbed the hills around camp, watching the horizon; and about four p. m. a mounted Indian came on to the ridge a mile away. He waited a few minutes, and then beckoning with his hand to some one behind him, he came on to the next ridge, another Indian came on to the ridge he had left. There was another pause; then the two moved up and a third came in sight. They came up slowly in this way till at last a group of a dozen came in sight, and with a glass it could be seen that there were two persons on one of the ponies. These were the women. The Indians brought them to within about two hundred yards of the camp, where they slid off the ponies, and Romeo, the interpreter, who had met the Indians there, told the women to come in. they came down the hill clinging to each other, as thought determined not to be separated whatever might occur. I met them at the foot of the hill, and taking the elder lady by the hand asked if she was Mrs. Morgan. She said she was, and introduced the other, Miss White. She then asked, "Are we free now?" I told her they were, and she asked, "Where is my husband?" I told here he was at Hays recovering from his wounds. Next question: "Where is my brother?" I told her he was in camp, but did not tell her that we had to put him under guard to keep him from marring all by shooting the first Indian he saw. Miss White asked no questions about her people. She knew they were all dead before she was carried away. Custer had an "A" tent, which he brought along for headquarters, and this was turned over to the women.

'At the retreat that night, while the women stood in front of their tent to see the guard mounted, the band played "Home, Sweet Home." The command marched the next morning for the rendezvous on the Washita. It was a couple of days' march, but when the end came there was coffee, bacon, hard bread, and canned goods. Any one of them was a feast for a king. From Washita to Supply, Supply to Dodge, Dodge to Hays, where the women were sent home to Minneapolis, and the Nineteenth was mustered out of the service. The Indian prisoners were sent to Sill, and soon after the Cheyennes reported there and went on to their reservation....

"The expedition resulted in forcing the Kiowas, Comanches, and Arapahoes onto their reservations, and since then the frontier settlements of Kansas have been practically free from the depredations of Indians.

"The campaign was a most arduous one, prosecuted without adequate camp equipage, in the midst of winter, and much of the time with an exhausted commissariat. The regiments of Kansas have glorified our State on a hundred battlefields, but none served her more faithfully or endured more in her cause then the NINETEENTH KANSAS CAVALRY.'

"The regiment, after securing the captive girls, returned to Fort Hays, and was paid off and mustered out of service on April 18, 1869.

"The captives were sent to their homes on the Solomon and Republican rivers, and the Indians ever afterwards remained on their reservations, and are now quiet citizens of the United States. But as tribes they died hard. They fought to kill, and people on the frontier were often their victims."

THE MISTAKEN POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT
"Had the Government, at an early date, adopted a just and firm Indian policy and adhered to it, the soil of every township of land west of the Appalachian Range would not have been saturated with human blood. But that was not done. The humanitarians, who knew nothing about the real character of the wild Indians, were going to manage them by moral suasion, and with beautiful flowers, as some ladies reclaim murderers when on trial for their lives.

"That sentiment took the Indian Bureau from the War Department, where it belonged, and placed it in the Interior Department, where it belonged, and placed it in the Interior Department, where it soon became a plaything for boss politicians and thieving Indian agents. Then the War Department was held responsible for the conduct of the Indians, while the Interior Department, through its agents, was supplying them with munitions of war, and encouraging them in deeds of atrocity.

"That was the condition of things in Central and Western Kansas from the Spring of 1864 to 1869, when the savage barbarians were rounded up on the Washita and placed on their reservations. Had this been done at the outbreak of hostilities in 1864, the lives and property of many of our frontier people would have been saved; but public sentiment in the East was against it, and the bloody work was allowed to go on until it could no longer be endured.

"Our Indian troubles having thus been brought to a close and permanent peace assured, Central and Western Kansas soon became a paradise for the home-seekers. But few of the well-to-do farmers and others now residing in that lovely country, have even a remote idea of the trials and tribulations endured by the pioneer settlers. Many of them had been soldiers in the Civil War, and when they formed in line on the frontier, they were there to stay. Such men deserve good homes."