General William T. Sherman
After a bumpy coach ride, General William Tecumseh Sherman,
the commanding general of the entire U.S. Army, arrived at Fort Richardson just
outside the frontier town of Jacksboro.
Named after a Union general killed at the Battle of Antietam, Fort
Richardson was part of a Texas chain of forts established to protect settlers
from Native Americans. From here, U.S.
cavalrymen patrolled the vast North Texas prairie for marauding Commanches and
Kiowas. Shortly after his arrival, Sherman
began reflecting on the Indian problem and his doubts about its severity. A number of settlers were complaining about
Indian raids, but there was scant evidence that such raids were a regular
occurrence. After all, most of the
Comanches and Kiowas were confined to a remote reservation - Fort Sill - located
in the southwest corner of the Indian Territory. Disease and war had reduced their numbers, and
the depletion of the buffalo herds kept them dependent on government
support. All of Sherman’s doubts suddenly
evaporated with the abrupt appearance of Thomas Brazeal, a teamster with Henry
Warren’s supply wagons.
By the early 1870’s, rampant corruption plagued the U.S. Commission
on Indian Affairs. President Ulysses S.
Grant decided the Church could better handle matters with the Native Americans. Since godly Christians were thought to be incorruptible,
military officers were replaced with church officials to manage the Indian
reservations. When confronted by
opposing congressmen, Grant replied, “Gentlemen, you have defeated my plan of
Indian management; but you will not succeed in your purpose, for I will divide
these appointments up among the religious churches, with which you dare not
contend.”
The Society of
Friends or “Quakers,” a society dedicated to nonviolence, was placed in charge
of the most violent Native Americans in the United States. The Quakers’ goal was simple - convert the nomadic,
warrior Comanches and Kiowas into peaceful, sedentary farmers. They appointed a balding Iowa farmer, Lawrence
Tatum, to head the Kiowa-Comanche reservation at Fort Sill. Considering their ancient warrior customs,
converting Comanches and Kiowas into farmers would seem laughable at best. No fool to Indian ways, Tatum certainly had
his doubts. In describing his new
charges, the newly christened “Bald Headed Agent” wrote, “Those in the
southwestern part of the territory were still addicted to raiding in Texas,
stealing horses and mules, and sometimes committing other depredations, and
especially this was the case with the Kiowas and Comanches. They were probably the worst Indians east of
the Rocky Mountains.” Peaceful, though
tough when he had to be, Tatum had the good sense to embrace Fort Sill’s troops
in managing the reservation. Nevertheless,
the Kiowas were not about to hitch up a plow horse anytime soon.
Unlike the pragmatic Comanches, the Kiowas were a deeply
spiritual people and were quick to rely on the prophecies of a charismatic medicine
man or owl prophet. Such was the case
with an obscure Kiowa prophet named Maman-ti or “Skywalker.” The prophet’s divinations entailed lengthy confinement
to a lodge followed by chanting, praying and the unmistakable sound of flapping
owl wings. Afterwards, Maman-ti emerged
with a compelling prophecy about the success or failure of an upcoming Kiowa
raid. Shortly after, raiding parties
were assembled under the owl prophet’s personal command. The problem for Tatum and the reservation
staff - no one knew him personally or knew what he was up to.
Spring was the season for raiding and Maman-ti was working
overtime. He foresaw the success of a
Kiowa attack on the white man’s wagon trains.
To supply its many forts with sustenance, the U.S. Army had to rely on
plodding, mule driven wagons - there were no railroads. Wagon trains, on the desolate prairie, were
tempting targets. Captain Henry Warren,
a government freight contractor from Weatherford, supplied the forts of West
Texas, including Fort Richardson. On May
18, 1871, one of his wagon trains, laden with corn, was making its way up the Butterfield
Trail toward Fort Richardson. Several
miles further up was a cavalry escorted ambulance with two high ranking
passengers inside: General William T. Sherman and General Randolph Marcy, the U.S.
Army’s Inspector General. Both officers
were inspecting Texas forts and Fort Richardson was on their list.
Maman-ti planned his own tour of Texas - a brutal raid that
included one hundred fifty Kiowa warriors.
Among the warriors were three of the Kiowa’s fiercest war chiefs:
Satanta, Satank and Big Tree. Satanta’s
larger-than-life notoriety spanned decades among Native Americans and white men
alike. The party set out for North Texas and crossed
the Red River between present day Vernon and Electra. To lighten their load, the Kiowas stopped at
a place they called “Skunk Headquarters,” a wooded patch with an unusual overabundance
of skunks. Nonessential belongings were
dropped off to be guarded by a few young warriors they left behind. Extra bridles were carried along for any horses
they stole and some rode double in hopes of getting a new mount.
Satanta
The Kiowas made their way to Salt Creek Prairie, an open field
in Young County between Fort Belknap and Fort Richardson. The area featured a sandstone hill with a
tree-lined base overlooking the Butterfield Trail, an ideal spot for an ambush. Unfortunately for Henry Warren’s teamsters,
they would pass right by it. During the
evening before the Kiowas’ attack, Maman-ti went off alone to communicate with
the spirits. The flapping of owl wings
was heard followed by the prophet’s return – he had a vision of two passing
wagon parties. The first one was too small - not to be touched, but the second
one would give them suitable plunder and scalps. Sherman’s passing ambulance and cavalry
escort would be that first party, thus costing the Kiowas a good chance of
killing the highest ranking officer in the U.S. Army. Warren’s wagon train was next.
Dozens of whooping Kiowas galloped out of the woods toward
the wagons. Satanta, who learned how to
play the bugle in his younger days, signaled the attack with a few crisp notes he
borrowed from the U.S. Cavalry. Like a
Hollywood Western, the teamsters circled their wagons to hold off the
attack. Armed with repeating Spencer rifles,
the teamsters were able to hold off the Kiowas but eventually fell to their
superior numbers. Seven teamsters were
killed, while five, including Thomas Brazeal, managed to escape. One teamster, Samuel Elliott, was tied to a
wagon tongue and slow roasted over an open fire. The rest were scalped and mutilated. The Kiowas took forty mules back with them to
the Indian Territory.
After Brazeal’s horrifying recollection, Sherman dispatched
the 4th U.S. Cavalry to the massacre site. Under one the army’s most
effective Indian fighters, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, the troopers found Indian
weapons scattered about the massacre site.
Their design left little doubt as to who was responsible. Sherman’s
opinion about the Indian raids changed dramatically. “I do think the people of Texas have a right
to complain,” he wrote, “only their complaints are now against troops who are
powerless, but should be against the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of
Indian Affairs that feeds and harbors these Indians when their hands are yet
red with blood.” He set off for Fort
Sill and a showdown with the Kiowas.
Sherman arrived at Fort Sill on May 23 and asked an
exasperated Tatum about any Indians off the reservation at the time of the
massacre. “The Kiowas and Comanches were
completely out of control,” he replied.
“They come and go as they please.”
Surprisingly, the Kiowas were more apt to boast about the raid rather
than try to cover their tracks. Satanta bragged
openly that he had led the raid. With
Sherman looking on, Satanta, Satank and Big Tree were arrested and placed in
chains. Maman-ti completely avoided
arrest.
The three Kiowa chiefs were placed in a wagon and taken back
to Jacksboro for trial. Along the way, the
elderly, melancholy Satank, who carried his dead son’s bones with him in a bag,
attempted to stab a guard with a concealed knife. The old chief was shot dead and his body was
dumped unceremoniously off to the side of the road. Having little regard for their Kiowa
prisoners, Satanta and Big Tree were staked to the ground at night while their
guards made camp.
Satanta and Big Tree were sentenced to hang by Jack County Judge
Charles Soward. In an overly agitated state, he ordered
Satanta be “hanged until he is dead, dead, dead and God have mercy on his
soul.” Hanging was a form of execution
that horrified Native Americans. They feared the tightened rope would block the
spirit’s passage after death. To prevent
a Kiowa uprising over the hangings, the sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment. The Kiowa chiefs served two
years on a prison chain gang at Huntsville.
In the interest of peace they were paroled in 1874 and returned to Fort
Sill.
Before the end of the decade, continuing Comanche raids led
to a military campaign (the Red River War) to force the remaining southern
plains Indians on to reservations. The peaceful touch of the Quakers gave way
to the clenched fist of the U.S. Army. Satanta
was arrested again for parole violation but he could never adjust to prison
life; he took a suicidal leap through a prison hospital window at Huntsville.
He was buried in the prison cemetery until he was reburied decades later at
Fort Sill. Big Tree renounced his
warrior ways and converted to Christianity.
He became a leading citizen of Anadarko, Oklahoma and a deacon in the
Baptist Church. Maman-ti was taken
prisoner during the Red River War and shipped off to Fort Marion in St.
Augustine, Florida. Fort Marion was an
old British built fort used to imprison the more troublesome Native Americans. Among it inmates was the celebrated Apache
war chief, Geronimo. It was there, the
owl prophet died from the effects of dysentery.
The terrifying Kiowa warrior “Blue Duck,” in Larry
McMurtry’s acclaimed book “Lonesome Dove” is based on Satanta.
