252                     During Two Indian Campaigns

Arrival of Osage Chiefs--Indian Speeches--Senator Henderson proposes the Treaty--Its favorable Reception by the Kiowas and Comanches--Presents.

BEFORE the council commenced, twelve Osage chiefs made their appearance at the council ground. They had been travelling for ten days to see the Commissioners. They appeared very tired and hungry. Their ponies were also lame from excessive travelling, and had buckskin wrapped around their feet. "Little Bear," the principal chief, requested an introduction to the Commissioners. After a shake of the hand all around, he said that he had come from the Osage reservation to see the great Peace chiefs.
    Ten Bears, Comanche chief, said:--
    "My people do not trouble the white man at all; but two years ago, on this road, your soldiers commenced killing my young men, and on the Canadian also. My young men returned the fire, and fought

                   The Speech of the Comanche Chief           253

your soldiers. Your men then attacked our villages; we retorted as well as we could, but we finally made peace, and there was an end of it. We have been at peace since.
    "There is one thing which is not good in your speeches; that is, building us medicine houses. We don't want any. I want to live and die as I was brought up. I love the open prairie, and I wish you would not insist on putting us on a reservation. We prefer to roam over the prairie when we want to do so. If the Texans were kept from our country, then we might live upon a reserve, but this country is so small we cannot live upon it. The best of my lands the Texans have taken, and I am left to shift as I can best do. If you have any good words from the Great Father I shall be happy to hear them. I love to get presents, for it reminds me that the Great Father has not forgotten his friends the Comanches. I want my country to be pure and clean."
    Another shaking of the hands, and then Ten Bears sat down, and was followed by Satanta, who spoke as follows:--
    "The Kiowas have no more to say. We have spoken already. When you issue goods, give all that is our due to us; do not hide any from us. Keep none back. I want all that is mine."
    After saying this he went and dragged Black Eagle up before the Commissioners, that he might speak. Black Eagle had nothing to say.
    Commissioner Taylor said that the Council Chief

254                     During Two Indian Campaigns

would reply in form to them, and that their annuity goods would be distributed to them the next morning. Upon hearing this, Satanta seemed to get sulky. Folding his blanket about him, he deliberately mounted his horse and rode off. In a short time he returned, and made another speech:--
    "We need two agents--one for the Kiowas and Comanches. There are so many hearts in the two tribes that it requires two. I have no objection to Colonel Leavenworth or anybody else in the Commission, but it requires two to distribute our goods properly. For myself and my band, we will take John Tappan [a cousin of S. F. Tappan]; the other Kiowas may take Leavenworth if they will."
    Although he said that he had no objection to Leavenworth, still, his dislike to him was only too manifest.
    Senator Henderson next spoke. As his speech was important, I copied it verbatim:--
    "To our Kiowa and Comanche friends who spoke to us on yesterday through their chiefs Satanta, Ten Bears, and Toosh-a-way, the Commissioners say they have listened to your words and considered them well.
     "We are glad to hear you express confidence in us, and to be assured that you will follow the good road we shall give you. We will not abuse that confidence. What we say to you may at first be unpleasant, but if you follow our advice it will bring you good, and you will soon be happy.
    "Through your great chief Satanta, you say you

                   Plain Talk by Senator Henderson            255

desire to hold this country south of the Arkansas River. By your treaty of the little Arkansas, two years ago, you received into your country here the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Apaches. We agreed you might continue to hunt up to the Arkansas River. We are still willing to stand by that treaty.
    "You say you do not like the medicine houses of the whites, but you prefer the buffalo and the chase, and express a wish to do as your fathers did.
    "We say to you that the buffalo will not last for ever. They are now becoming few, and you must know it. When that day comes, the Indian must change the road his father trod, or he must suffer, and probably die. We tell you that to change will make you better. We wish you to live, and we will now offer you the way.
    "The whites are settling up all the good lands. They have come to the Arkansas River. When they come, they drive out the buffalo. If you oppose them, war must come. They are many, and you are few. You may kill some of them, but others will come and take their places. And finally, many of the red men will have been killed, and the rest will have no homes. We are your best friends, and now, before all the good lands are taken by whites, we wish to set aside a part of them for your exclusive home. On that home we will build you a house to hold the goods we send you; and when you become hungry and naked, you can go there and be fed and clothed. To that home we will send a physician to live with you and heal your

256                     During Two Indian Campaigns

wounds, and take care of you when you are sick. There we will also send you a blacksmith to shoe your ponies, so that they will not get lame. We will send you a farmer to show your people how to grow corn and wheat, and we will send you a mill to make for you meal and flour.
    "Every year we will send to the warehouse a suit of clothing for each of your men, women, and children, so that they shall not suffer from cold. We do not ask you to cease hunting the buffalo. You may roam over the broad plains south of the Arkansas River, and hunt the buffalo as you have done in years past, but you must have a place you can call your own. You must have a home where we can send your goods, and where you can go and see your physician when you are sick. You must have a home where all your people who wish may farm, and where you may bury your dead and have your medicine lodges. We propose to make that home on the Red River and around the Wichita mountains, and we have prepared papers for that purpose. To-morrow morning, at nine o'clock, we want your chiefs and head men to meet us at our camp and sign the papers."
    This last speech ended the proceedings for this day. It was understood before the Council broke up that the Kiowa and Comanche chiefs would be up at our camps at nine o'clock to-morrow, to sign the treaty. Thus far, so good, though the business of the Commission is not half completed yet.
    The Cheyenne and Arapahoe braves will be here at

                   What the Peace Commission Has Cost         257

the end of three days from date. The Cheyennes are those who have been at war. If peace is not made with the tribe then the Peace Commission will be a failure, and it only remains to carry out the last section of the Act of Congress, relating to the Peace Commissions--viz., the raising of 4,000 additional troops for the vigorous prosecution of the war.
    We have been waiting eight days for the Cheyennes. The Commissioners are tired, and they talk of splitting up the party--one part to go up to Fort Laramie in the Black Hills to give presents and make arrangements with the Indians to meet again next spring, another to go up to North Platte to settle with the Ogallallas and Brules, and then they go for dividing, beyond what they have spent already for the Government, over $250,000. Senator Henderson uses all his influence to bind and cement together the Commission for the settlement of the Indian question.
    The treaty with the Kiowas and Comanches cannot be made public until the President has proclaimed it. But to satisfy the public it may be well to state that it contemplates no cession of any lands, except the removal of the tribes ten miles southward of Medicine Lodge Creek.
    Over $150,000 worth of provisions have been distributed to the tribes, also two thousand suits of uniform, two thousand blankets, fifty quarter boxes tobacco, twenty bolts of Indian cloth, three bales of domestics, one bale linsey, twelve dozen squaw axes, one bale of

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ticking, fifty revolvers (navy size), besides an assortment of beads, butcher knives, thread and needles, brass bells, looking glasses, and sixteen silver medals.

Source:

Stanley, Henry M., D.C.L., My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia, Vol. 1, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905, pp. 252-258.