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When the last of
the
Indian tribes was removed from Kansas to the
Indian Territory, hope was
entertained that depredations on the western frontier would cease. But in
September, 1878, Dull Knife's band of northern
Cheyenne,
dissatisfied with the rations furnished by the government, decided to return
to their former home in the
Black Hills
of
South Dakota. They accordingly
left the reservation, moved northward into Kansas, and on the September 17th
attacked the cattle camps south of
Fort Dodge,
where they killed several white men and drove off some of the cattle. News
of the event reached
Governor
George
Anthony the next day and he appealed to General John
Pope, commanding the department, but Pope thought it was nothing more than a
"scare."
The governor sent Adjutant-General Peter Noble to
Dodge City
with arms and ammunition, but the
Indians
had moved on northward.
Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Lewis, with a detachment of troops from
Fort Dodge,
pursued the
Indians and
caught up with them at a canyon on Famished Woman's Fork.
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Cheyenne
Warriors by Edward S. Curtis
This image available for
photographic prints and downloads
HERE!
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In the fight that ensued Lewis was killed. Telegrams
from various points in the western part of the state poured into the governor's
office appealing for aid, but still General Pope declined to act.
On September 30th the
Cheyenne
appeared in Decatur County near Oberlin, Kansas. When it became known that the
Indians were in in the county, a meeting was held and a number of men
volunteered to defend the area. They were divided into three small
companies commanded by W. D. Street, J. W. Allen and Solomon Rees. They went in
different directions, scouring the western part of the county, but Captain Rees'
company was the only one that came in contact with the
Indians. A running fight
of several miles followed, in which one
Indian was killed, and it was thought
several others were wounded. All together, 17 white settlers were killed in
Decatur County. The
Indians were finally overpowered and returned to the
reservation. This was the last
Indian raid of any consequence in Kansas. Clara Hazelrigg, in her book, History of Kansas said: "Of the many
Indian raids
in Kansas, none was ever characterized with such brutal and ferocious crimes,
and none ever excited such horror and indignation as the
Cheyenne
raid of 1878."
On November 11,
1878,
Governor
Anthony wrote to the Secretary of War demanding the
surrender of the chiefs to the civil authorities to be tried on the charge of
murder. The chief, Wild Hog, and six others surrendered in December, and on
February 15, 1879, were taken from
Fort
Leavenworth to
Dodge City
for trial. They were finally tried in
Ford
and
Douglas
Counties, but the evidence was insufficient to convict, and in October, 1879,
the
Indians
were released by order of Judge Stephens of
Lawrence.
After the raid the
government established a cantonment in the
Indian Territory, on the north fork
of the Canadian River between Fort Supply
and
Fort Reno,
Oklahoma,
for the better protection of the settlers in western Kansas. The post was
occupied by five companies of foot soldiers and one company of mounted infantry.
Steps were also taken by the state to afford security to the western
settlements.
Governor John
St. John, who succeeded
Anthony
in January, 1879, in his first message to the legislature, recommended the
establishment of a military contingent fund and on March 12, 1879, $20,000 was
appropriated for the fund.
In 1909, the
Kansas Legislature appropriated $1,500 to the Board of County
Commissioners of Decatur County to erecting a monument in memory of the
citizens of that county who were killed on September 30, 1878, victims of
the
Cheyenne
Raid. The victims are buried in the
Oberlin
Cemetery where the monument also
stands.
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LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
Native
American Postcards
