The Way West

The gold rush to the Rocky Mountains brought a flush of travelers across the plains in 1860.

Treaties had long been established with the plains tribes allowing access through their traditional lands. Traders traveled the Santa Fe Trail. Settlers headed for California, Oregon, and other points west used the California-Oregon Trail. The Smoky Hill Trail cut a direct course to the gold fields if one was willing to risk traveling open country with virtually no trading posts along the way.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho living on the high plains in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains seemed to tolerate the invasion, hoping the roving men would find the “yellow metal” they were seeking and go home.

The Kiowa and Comanches were less welcoming. Increased travel across their northern range on the Santa Fe Trail had disrupted migration patterns of many of the free-ranging plains animals, especially the buffalo.

William Bent traded with all the plains tribes, but depended heavily on trade with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In addition, Bent served the federal government as the Cheyenne-Arapaho agent. He had “threaded the needle” many times to maintain a peaceful trading atmosphere. Bent recognized a troubling trend among Kiowa and Comanche men in the fall of 1859.

When federal troops were present Kiowa and Comanche men seemed very peaceable. But when troops left to return to Fort Riley, their passive manner “assumed a threatening attitude”. The army responded in May of 1860, sending six companies of cavalry and four companies of dragoons into the field. They were to seek out and “punish” hostile Kiowas and Comanches.

In spite of their desire to punish the hostiles very few warriors were found. Two warriors were killed in a running fight (near Twin Buttes, Colo.). Sixteen women and children were taken captive. They were turned over to Agent William Bent before the dragoons returned to Fort Larned.

Termination orders for the expedition reached the dragoons Aug. 11, 1860. The First Cavalry was on the trail of hostiles fleeing north into Nebraska. Oddly enough, the Aug. 11, 1860, Emporia News carried several accounts of recent Indian atrocity.

An account reprinted from the Council Grove Press inaccurately reported that five bodies had been found on the Santa Fe Trail, Texas Rangers “300 strong, with 300 friendly Seminole Indians” were here to clean out the Kiowas and Comanches. The Kaws (Kansas) from the Council Grove area were said to be “in league” with the warring Indians. There were no bodies.

The “Texas Rangers” were probably a mistaken identification of the First Cavalry, as they had ranged as far south as Fort Arbuckle in Indian Territory. They were returning from the south when their scouts discovered an abandoned camp that resulted in the pursuit of the hostiles toward Nebraska.

The scouts supporting U. S. troops were Council Grove’s Kaw neighbors. Far from aiding the warriors, the Kaws rode to defeat their supposed allies.

The cavalry crossed the Solomon River close on the heal of their prey. There were occasional fights that led the troops over hill and valley across northern Kansas toward the Republican River. It had been four days since they had left the Solomon River. Near present-day Campbridge, Neb., on Aug. 6, 1860, the troops crossed to the north side of the river to meet 600 Kiowa and Comanche warriors. The advance squadrons attacked the line of warriors on both flanks as a third squadron charged directly through the center. Col. Edwin Sumner had advised the officers before leaving on the expedition to turn their flanks for “Indians can never stand that.”

He was right.

The warriors broke and ran for the sandhills. The cavalrymen chased them for 15 miles, killing 29 warriors in the running fight. Following the fight, the First Cavalry reported to Fort Kearny where they were informed that the expedition had been terminated.

The Emporia News failed to carry a report of the cavalry’s success, but it did tell a story of an apparent rescue of stolen horses from Kiowas associated with those encountered by the cavalry.

From the Topeka Record another story told of a “Terrible Indian Fight” between the wild Cheyenne and Arapaho of the plains and the Pottawattamie and Delaware hunters from the nearby reservations. The fight had taken place beyond Fort Riley on the Solomon River. Three hundred reservation Indians were rumored to have been killed and scalped. But those will have to be stories for another time.

For the most part the Kiowa and Comanche were doing the things they had done for generations. The perceived threat was more fearful imagination than fact on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.