62                      During Two Indian Campaigns

The Last Pow-Wow--The Irrepressible Satanta in Council--His Speech--His Views of War and Peace--He accuses the Indian Agent at Leavenworth--Hancock's last Speech--Leavenworth's Reply to Satanta.

THE last and most important "talk" with the Indian chiefs took place at Larned on the 1st inst. Satanta, the chief of the Kiowas, appeared in person, accompanied by a small and select body of lesser chiefs. Satanta has won a great name for daring and recklessness from the Republican to the Rio Colorado. His name is on every lip, and his praises are sounded by the young damsels of his tribe as the chief and greatest warrior of the red men! His figure is large, and very muscular, showing great strength, and at the council was adorned in a unique manner, the colour of red predominating. As he stood before the glittering council, his sharp, brilliant eyes wandered incessantly around the circle. All the officers in the command were assembled in the tent which had been erected and set apart for the important occasion. There were present, also, Colonels Edward W. Wynkoop and Jessie H. Leavenworth, Indian agents. It will be remembered that the latter personage is agent for the tribe of which Satanta is chief. His father built the well-known fort of that name in the twenties. Some time ago we stated that the civilians and the military had censured Leaven-

                   Satanta Accuses Col. Leavenworth            63

worth. We have reason to believe that the censure was not undeserved, as may appear from a careful investigation of the evidence.
    Colonel Leavenworth is now a cripple, and his beard is silvered by age. He has an astute look, and is devoted to red tapeism. His coat pockets are always full of official documents, and the ends of said papers can be seen sticking out an inch or so, and on each and all will be found legibly inscribed, "Leavenworth, Indian Agent."
    Preceding the grave charges of Satanta, we had confession from three men, Frederick Jones, John A. Atkin, and Kin-caid, who by profession are Indian interpreters. In their confessions they stated that for their services they had received as compensation Indian annuity goods; that they had been engaged at various times in trading Indian annuity goods in Indian camps, for buffalo robes, furs, and lariats; that Leavenworth conveyed the goods received in exchange to Leavenworth City, and there, to their certain knowledge, the said Leavenworth did receive for the goods several sums of money amounting to several thousands of dollars, from a merchant bearing the name of Durfy; and that Leavenworth, to their certain knowledge, did bury in the earth, with intent to conceal, several bales of Indian goods.
    Frederick Jones was employed as interpreter at this Council. Before proceeding with the regular business, he rose and said: "I have learned that Colonel Leavenworth has told Satanta not to talk

64                      During Two Indian Campaigns

much to-day, but to go down to Fort Zarah" (headquarters of his agency) "tomorrow, and he would make it all right. He may not, therefore, talk as much as he would have done."
    On hearing the above, General Hancock said: "Colonel Leavenworth is here, and can answer for himself."
    Leavenworth: "All I have to say in regard to that is, that not a word of that kind has passed between us. I did not ask him to cone to Zarah, nor tell him anything about talking."
    Hancock: "Now, Mr. Jones, if Satanta wants to proceed, you can let him do so whenever he is ready."
    Then Satanta very seriously rose and said:�--
    "I look upon you and General Smith as my fathers. I want friends, and I say by the sun and the earth I live on, I want to talk straight and to tell the truth. All the other tribes are my brothers, and I want friends, and am doing all I can for peace. If I die first, it is all right. All the Indians south of here are my friends. When I first started out as a warrior I was a boy; now I am a man.
    "I want the Great Father at Washington and all the soldiers and troops to go slowly. I don't want the prairies and country to be bloody, but just hold on for a while. I don't want war at all. I want peace. As for the Kiowas talking war, I don't know anything about it. Nor do I know anything about the Comanches, Cheyennes, and Sioux talking about

                   The Indian View of the Indian Question      65

war. The Cheyennes, Kiowas, and Comanches are poor. They are all of the same colour. They are all red men. This country here is old, and it all belongs to them. You are cutting off the timber, and now the country is of no account at all. I don't mean anything bad by what I say. I have nothing bad hidden in my breast at all; everything is all right. I had heard that there were many troops coming out to this country to whip the Cheyennes, and that is the reason we were afraid and went away. The Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Kiowas heard that there were troops coming out to this country; so did also the Comanches and Apaches; but did not know whether the soldiers were coming for peace or for war. They were on the look-out and listening, and hearing from down out of the ground all the time. They were afraid to come in. I don't think the Cheyennes wanted to fight; but I understand that you burned their village. I don't think that is good at all. To you, General, and to all these officers sitting around here, I say that I know that whatever I tell you will be sent to Washington, and I don't want anything else but the truth told. Other chiefs of the Kiowas, who rank below me, have cone in to look for rations and to look about, and their remarks are reported to Washington; but I don't think their hearts are good. [Interrupted by Colonel Leavenworth; "What he means by that is that other chiefs come in to make speeches for nothing- else but to get something to eat."] Lone Wolf, Stumbling Bear, and Kicking Eagle, all come

66                      During Two Indian Campaigns

in with that object, and their speeches amount to nothing. The Cheyennes, the Arapahoes, Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches, and some Sioux, all sent to see me--for they knew me to be the best man--and sent information that they wanted peace, and nothing but peace. They do not work underhanded at all, but declare plainly that they want peace. I hope that you two Generals, and all these officers around here, will help me, and give me heart, and help the Cheyennes, and not destroy them; but let them live. All of the Indians south of this desire the same; and when they talk that way to me I give them praise for it. Whatever I hear in this council, and whatever you tell me, I will repeat when I reach my villages; and there are some Cheyennes over there whom I will tell and induce to preserve peace. But if they will not listen to me all my men and myself will have nothing more to do with them. I want peace, and I will try to make them keep peaceful. The Kiowa braves have grown up from childhood obtaining their medicine from the earth. Many have grown old, and continue growing old, and die from time to time, but there are some remaining yet. I do not want war at all, but want to make friends, and am doing the best I can for that purpose. There are four different bands of Comanches, camped at different points in the south along the streams, and there are five different bands of Kiowas, 'Lone Wolf,' '---Wolf,' 'Heap Bears,' 'Timber Mountain,' and 'Stumbling Bear.' They profess to be chiefs, although they have

                   Satanta's Oration                          67

but two or three lodges each. They are waiting, however, to hear what they can learn before taking the warpath. The Kiowas do not say anything; and whatever the white man says is all right. The Kiowas and the white men are in council to-day, but I hope no mistake will be made about what the Indians say, and that nothing will be added to it, because I know that everything is sent to Washington. [Interrupted by General Hancock: "There are two or three interpreters here to witness, and prevent mistakes in the translation, so that all will be properly written down."] About two o'clock to-day I want to start back to Fort Dodge, and I want you to give me a letter."
    General Hancock: "As soon as I can copy it I will give you the written proceedings of this council, but cannot say that I can give it to you as soon as that."
    Satanta: "I simply want a letter when I go into camp so that I can show it."
    General Hancock: "I will give you a copy of the proceedings to take with you, so that you may show it to any man who may be able to read it to you."
    Satanta then resumed his oration: "As for this Arkansas waggon road, I have no objection to it, but I don't want any railroad here; but up on the Smoky Hill route a railroad can run up there, and it will be all right. On this Arkansas, and all these northern streams, there is no timber; it has all been cut off; but if anybody knows of anything bad being done

68                      During Two Indian Campaigns

do not like it. There are no longer any buffaloes around here, nor anything we can kill to live on; but I am striving for peace now, and don't want anything construed to be bad from what I say, because I am simply speaking the plain truth. The Kiowas are poor. Other tribes are very foolish. They make war, and are unfortunate, and then call upon the Kiowas to aid them, and I don't know what to think about it. I want peace, and all these officers around this country know it. I have talked with them until I am tired. I came down here, and brought my women with me; but came for peace. If any white men steal our stock I will report it openly. Now, I am doing the best I can, and the white man is looking for me. If there were no troops in this country, and the citizens only lived around here, that would be better. But there are so many troops coming in here that I fear they will do something bad to me.
    "When Satank shot the sentinel here at the post [Larned] some two or more years ago, there was then war, and that was bad. I came near losing my life then. The Kiowas have now thrown him [Satank] away. If the Indians up north wish to act foolishly, that is none of my business, and is no reason why we should do so down here. If the Indians further south see the white man coming, they will not come up on the warpath, nor fight. They will call a council to come and talk, as they do here now. To-day it is good, and to-night it is good, and when the grass comes it will be good; and this road, which

                   Satanta's Oration                           69

runs up to the west [Santa F�], is good also. Everything is all right now.
    If you keep the horses herded around here close to the fort they will never be good. Let them run away off on the prairies; there is no danger; let them get grass, and they will get fat. But do not let the children and boys [young soldiers] run away off on the hills now. That is not good. I don't do it; nor do the Cheyennes. I think that is a very good idea. You are a very big chief; but when I am away, over to the Kiowas, I am a big chief myself.
    "Whenever a trader comes to my camp I treat him well, and do not do anything out of the way to him. All the traders are laughing and shaking hands with me. When the Indians get a little liquor they get drunk, and fight sometimes; but when they get sober they are all right. All the white men around here can look at me, and hear what I say. I am doing all I can to keep my men down, and doing the best I can to have peace. Down at the mouth of the Little Arkansas, where a treaty of peace was made, Colonel Leavenworth was present, and I was the first man who came in there to make peace with Colonel Leavenworth; and I did it by my word.
    "Little Mountain, the chief of the tribe, is now dead. He did all he could to make peace, and kept talking, and talking, but the white man kept doing something bad to him, and he was in so much misery that he died. The white men and Indians kept fighting each other backward and forward, and then I came in and

70                      During Two Indian Campaigns

made peace myself. Little Mountain did not give me my commission; I won it myself. These three braves [pointing to some Indians near him] are chiefs also, and are not afraid of soldiers, and the sight of them does not frighten these chiefs at all. This prairie is large and good, and so are the heavens above, and I do not want it stained by the blood of war. I don't want you to trouble yourself about bringing out too many trains in this country. I don't want to see any waggons broken or destroyed by war.
    "Now, I want to find out what is the reason that Colonel Leavenworth did not give me some annuity goods. I don't want to talk bad, but want to find out the reason why I did not get my annuity goods. There are Lone Bear, Heap of Bears, Stumbling Bear, and Little Heart, and others--six chiefs with very small bands, and they have all received their annuity goods, while those of my tribe are as plenty as the grass, and I came in for my goods and did not see them. You can look upon us all here present, and see if we have any of those goods. All that we have we have bought and paid for. We are all poor men, and I think others have got all the goods; but let them keep them. I want peace, and don't want to make war, on account of our goods. I expect to trade for what I get, and not get anything by making speeches. My heart is very strong. We can make robes and trade them. That is what we have to live upon. I have no mules, horses, nor robes to give Colonel Leavenworth for my goods. I am a poor

                   Satanta's Oration                           71

man, but I am not going to get angry and talk about it. I simply want to tell this to these officers here present. Such articles as the white man may throw away we may pick up, and use, and make out the best we can; and if you throw away any provisions we will use them also, and thus do the best we can. I see a great many officers around here with fine clothing, but I do not come to beg; but I admire fine clothes, although I never did beg, or anything of that sort. I have no hat, and am going about without one, the same as all other Kiowas. Colonel Bent, of St. Louis [who was present, and was an interested spectator], used to come over often to my tent, and the Kiowas went there to him very often, and were glad, and shook hands with him; and Mr. Curtis went there, and he was treated in the same way. All were treated the same. But I am not poor enough to die yet. I think my women can make enough to live off, and can make something yet.
    "When Colonel Bent was our agent, and brought our goods out to us, he brought them out and kept them in a train, and when we arrived he unloaded all our goods to us, and that was the way to do it. But now there is a different way of doing things. That different way of doing things is, that the agent lives away from the Indian tribes, about two hundred miles apart from them, and he keeps their goods in his backroom, and when the chiefs come for them he denies that he has any. At my camp I waited and sent for the agent, and did not see him; but other chiefs

72                      During Two Indian Campaigns

mounted their horses and went there, and claimed to be the principal men.
    "I heard that this railroad was to come up through this country, and my men and other tribes objected to it. But I advised them to keep silent. I thought that by the railroad being built up through here, we would then get our goods sure, but they do not come. I would like to get some agent who is a good and responsible man, one who would give us all our annuities. I do not want an agent who will steal half our goods and hide them, but an agent who will give all my goods. I am not talking anything bad or angrily, but simply the truth. I don't think the great men at Washington know anything about this; but I am now telling your officers to find it out.
    "He gave goods to Stumbling Bear and Mah-way, two chiefs who were with me in Texas.
    "Now, I am done, and whatever you [General Hancock] have to say to me I will listen to, and those who are with me will listen; so that when we return to camp we can tell the others the same as you tell us."
    Major-General Hancock, said: "We have heard always that you are the great chief of the Kiowas, and that is the belief among the white people whom I have seen. I am very glad to see you here for that reason.
    "The Great Father did not send me here to make treaties with you, but we came to see who are respecting the treaties which have already been

                   Hancock Answers Satanta                     73

made; to find out those who are not respecting them; and if there are any guilty, as their agent tells us, we are ready to punish them. We do not come down here to make war; but with the hope of avoiding war. We came prepared for it, however, and if we found anybody here who wanted war, as we heard, we were ready to meet it. When I first came to Fort Larned I went up to Pawnee Fork; I had more soldiers with me in my command than all your men together.
    "Your Great Father has many more soldiers. You know this very well. If we lose soldiers we don't have to wait for them to grow up. Your Great Father will send us more--a great many more. You know very well that when you lose a man you cannot send another, but you must wait until your young men grow up. It is for your interest, then, to have peace; and the white men do not want war, and the Great Father is as much a friend to the Indian as to the white man. He learned that there were a great many murders and depredations committed upon the trains and travellers on the Smoky Hill, and sometimes on the Arkansas, and sometimes in Texas, and he became angry. I have been sent here to find out who those persons were that committed the depredations. Some time ago we were at war with Texas. They were a great people, but rebelled against their Great Father, but they have now been punished, and they are now his children, and you must not make war upon the people there. As I have told the other

74                      During Two Indian Campaigns

Indians before, I command all of the country down to the Red River and New Mexico, and up to the Platte on the north, so that when any orders to fight Indians are made by the Great Father the orders pass through me.
    "I like to see tribes, too, who have one chief, to whom I can talk, and whom the young men will obey, instead of two or three chiefs.
    "The Great Father will not permit all these young men to run around. And if there is no great chief, who can prevent it? The Great Father must do it with his soldiers. When I started out I intended to go south of the Arkansas and see the Kiowas and Comanches, as well as the Apaches and Arapahoes; but I got into the war with the Cheyennes and Sioux, and have sent all my cavalry after them. I don't want to call them back here, because they have plenty to do where they are. Nor do I want to go south of the Arkansas, because they told me that the Indians were afraid of the troops, and ran away. I don't want to frighten the families of those who are at peace with us. I will not go south of the Arkansas River, unless I find that we have enemies there. The Cheyennes and the Sioux at the north are fighting and behaving very badly, and a great many troops are in pursuit of them. A great many Sioux and Cheyennes came down south here last winter. I learnt that they were coming down here to induce these Indians to join them. Satanta told Major Douglass so, and others told him so, and told Major Douglass that they must get off

                   Hancock Answers Satanta                     75

from this road, and that they intended to make war here, and that is one of the things that brought me here. We know that the depredations that were committed last summer and winter, and recently, were by the Sioux and Cheyennes. We know this, and have satisfactory evidence of it. You say the Indians do not want to make war? Is not that war? What do you call war if that is not war? The other day I came here and sent for the chiefs of the Sioux and Cheyennes to come to my camp at Fort Larned. Only two chiefs came, although I waited here for several days, and although they were only thirty miles away from here.
    "They told me the young men were out buffalo hunting, and that was the reason the young men could not come. But I know the reason. I soon found out that the young men were out on the Smoky Hill. Their agent was with me, and I took him along so as to convince them that I did not mean to harm them unjustly. I told them that whatever their agent told me they had been guilty of I would make a demand for if the agent considered it was clear; and I told them that we didn't go there to make war upon them. When I got up near their camp I met Pawnee Killer, who promised to come and see me the next morning at nine o'clock to have a talk. Pawnee Killer, and some of the chiefs of the Cheyennes remained in camp all night. He sent a messenger to their camp. I was then ten miles from them, and told them after our talk I would come

76                      During Two Indian Campaigns

up and encamp near them on my road to the south. They did not come out the next day at nine o'clock, and then I ordered my camp to be struck, and some time after that we received notice that they were coming, but it was so windy that we could not have a conference; and we said that we would talk with them in the evening. They spoke very well, and said that they would be in camp in the evening, and have another talk. And all this time they were telling me they were going to talk with me, the Cheyennes and Sioux, and all, excepting a few warriors, were running away. When I reached their camp, and encamped quietly by them, and sent their stray mules to them, Bull Bear and Roman Nose came to me and told me that the women and children were frightened and ran away. They did not tell me though that the Sioux and nearly all of the Cheyennes had run away, but that if I would give them some horses they would go and bring them back that night, and they promised to keep their warriors in camp that night. I told them very well. I put an interpreter there to see if they remained in camp, and instructed him to come and tell me if they remained in camp all night.
    "He came and told me just after dark that they were all running away; and thus they lied to me. I then concluded that it was a nest of conspirators, and that they were there for mischief, as Satanta had told me and all the others. I believe they ran away because they were guilty, fearing that we would punish them. I sent my horsemen after them, and I

                   The White American View of the Question     77

waited there nearly a week to see whether they commenced war or not. I had made no war yet; I placed a guard around their camp so as to allow nobody to touch it. I wanted to see if the Sioux and Cheyennes committed any murders, and I waited there for that purpose. They started so early that they arrived on the Smoky Hill a good while before the cavalry arrived, and they burned one station and tried to burn another, and burned three white men. That I consider war, and then I ordered their camp to be burned, and everything they had in it to be destroyed. They fired upon my expressmen.
    "I wanted to ascertain whether the Cheyennes went north or south, and sent a few of the cavalry up to the Cimmarron crossing, with orders that if any Cheyennes came there to take them prisoners. There were some horses out herding and grazing, and six Cheyennes came along and tried to sneak up and shoot the herders. I don't think they saw the cavalry. The commander of the troops thinks that the Indians did not know that the cavalry were there, and twenty soldiers happened to come up just then and demanded that they should surrender, but they, in answer, fired upon the troops. The troops then killed them all. I then wrote to all of my commanders and to General Smith, who commands in this part of the country, that we were at war against the Cheyennes and Sioux. When the Great Father knows all that has taken place out here, he will see what has to be done with the Cheyennes and Sioux.

78                      During Two Indian Campaigns

    "It is very difficult for soldiers to tell one tribe from another, and therefore during the time this war is going on with the Cheyennes and Sioux you had better remain south of the Arkansas, unless they go north from the south, or south from the north. But there must be peace south of the Arkansas; there must be no trouble, nor on this road. Otherwise I shall have to bring my troops here. If these Cheyennes cross the river, and we see their trails, we shall have to follow them. We shall soon know whether the Cheyennes mean war or not, and whether the Sioux do, and whether they both do, and whether any other Indians do, and we shall then know what to do ourselves. If we have war with the Sioux and Cheyennes, I will not make peace with them until the Great Father tells me to do so. They will have to show by their acts that they are honest, that they are not telling me lies. If the Kiowas, Arapahoes, Comanches, Apaches, or either of them keep this road clear, I will not have to send any soldiers down here, and then their families will not be frightened, and you will not have to go to war unless so disposed.
    "If this war continues with the Cheyennes and Sioux, I would like to get two or three hundred of your tribe for scouts. I will clothe, feed, and dress them well, and arm them well and furnish them with horses and blankets. I want them to keep this road clear, and tell us who are the Cheyennes and the Sioux, and who are the other Indians, so that we may kill only the guilty. I prefer to have some Kiowas,

                   The White American View of the Question     79

some Arapahoes, and some Apaches, but if I can't get them from all the tribes I will take them from one tribe. I wish you would think over it and let Major Douglass know at Fort Dodge, what your conclusion is. I will put a white officer with them, so that our troops can know who they are, and will give them the lodges of the Sioux which we did not burn up to put them in if they are short of lodges. The most important thing I have to say to you now, is to keep this road upon the Arkansas River clear, and allow no depredations, and allow no horses nor mules to be stolen, so that I will not have to collect all this force out here and come down again to see who are committing these depredations.
    "You see that you cannot travel in winter. We have forage and storehouses, and can move in winter when horses are fat. I may not come down south of the Arkansas this month, nor the next month, but whenever I find out anything is going wrong, I shall come, even though it should not be until next winter.
    You know very well that in a few more years the game will go away. What will you do then? You will have to depend upon the white man to assist you, and depend upon the Great Father to feed you when hungry. Your children will have to depend upon raising corn and stock, as other Indians do. This generation may not have to do it, but the next generation will have to do it. Then you should cultivate the friendship of the white man now, in order that he may be your friend when this time

80                      During Two Indian Campaigns

comes. The white men are coming out here so fast that nothing can stop them--coming from the east and coming from the west, like a prairie on fire in a high wind. The reason of it is because the whites are a great people, and they are spreading out and we cannot help it. Those on one sea in the west want to communicate with another sea in the east, and that is the reason they are building these waggon roads, and railroads and telegraphs. The Great Father had a council with these tribes, and asked their permission to run roads through here, and you and the others gave your permission. That treaty was made at the mouth of the Little Arkansas; and last fall it was signed again, and it is too late to reconsider it now. I don't know where the railroad is going to run. It may run on the Smoky Hill, and they may find a better road on this line. At any rate, if the road comes here I cannot help it, and you have already given your assent to it.
    "You say the wood is all going. So it is in the east where the white man lives, and they will soon use up the wood there, as soon as the Indians are out of it here; but we have found other things that answer the purpose as well as wood; and the same will be found here when the white men have explored here. They will find it somewhere in this country. It has been found up on the Smoky Hill. In the east, where the Great Father lives, they all burn coal. You need have no fear on this point.
    "We build these garrisons as places of rest for the

                   Colonel Leavenworth Defends Himself         81

travellers and for soldiers in case the travellers are disturbed; but they will disturb no Indians unless they have sufficient cause. We will also protect the Indian in his property, and if he loses property and the white man commits a depredation, you must not take it upon you to redress these wrongs, but come to us, for we can do it better. We will arrest the offender if there is any danger of his escaping, and if you should arrest offenders, you must bring them to us.
    "I have listened to what you have said about your annuity goods; I have nothing to do with that matter. What you have said here, however, and what I have said will go to Washington. I cannot tell you anything about your agent: after I have finished, if the agent desires to say anything, he can do so; I have no control whatsoever over him. I have said everything now which I desire to say; I do not expect to see you for some time again, unless we go south of the Arkansas River."
    Colonel Leavenworth said:--
    "These are the men who killed the Box family in Texas, and my instructions were not to give them any annuity until the conditions of my written instructions were complied with. I accordingly file copies of these instructions for record in the proceedings of this council, as an explanation why these Indians have not received their goods. These papers are from Washington. The Commissioner at Washington told me in these papers that until all these

82                      During Two Indian Campaigns

captives were returned without ransom of which he [Satanta] knows, and we obtained sufficient assurances that no further depredation would be committed, no annuities should be given. But Satanta has never come and given any assurances in the matter."
    Satanta said: "Stumbling Bear was in that raid, and why should he get so many goods?"
    Colonel Leavenworth: "Because he had come in and given the assurances that had been required of him."
    Satanta: "Why was Mah-way given so many goods?"
    General Hancock said he did not wish to be questioned upon this matter.
    "This council will now end unless Satanta has something more to say. This man is General Smith, an old soldier on the plains, and was here a great many years ago, and was here twenty years ago with General Harney. He commands in this country when I am not here."
    General Hancock's speech is well worthy of study. To the reports of the three interpreters about a dozen names of the most respectable citizens on the route are attached, certifying that they are correct in every particular.
    After the council was over Satanta was presented by General Hancock with a major-general's coat and yellow sash. He seemed fully aware of the high rank to which he had been elevated. Had General Hancock encouraged Satanta we have no doubt that he

                   Fort Hayes                                  83

could have disclosed other dark deeds of Indian agents; but, we presume, he did not feel himself licensed to play the inquisitor.
    These speeches reveal many true facts about Indian matters. The speakers appear to be on their honour to tell the truth; and between the Indian chief and the great General we get a good deal of it.

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. 62-83.