The Way West

The Indian scare of 1885 created such a panic that the U. S. Army responded with one of the largest forces assembled since the American Civil War.

Frightened settlers abandoned their farms, seeking refuge in nearby towns. From later reports there appeared to be several sources for misinformation.

On the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation traditional dance ceremonies were taken to be wild preparation for war. Indian Agent D. B. Dyer didn’t help matters when he announced that the Cheyenne “could put 1,200 to 1,500 warriors on the war path at any time.” Dyer was replaced when the military found that the Cheyenne had remained at peace the entire time.

Boomers, the people who wanted reservation lands open for settlement, were suspected of starting rumors of raids and murders. But possibly the most inflammatory participant, the Wichita Daily Eagle was almost allowed to get away with irresponsible reporting that fanned the flames during the imaginary uprising.

The editor insisted that the Cheyenne were on the verge of an all-out attack. The newspaper wrote that Indian “spies” were spreading over the prairie in all directions and, settlers had been killed in Pratt County. There was no uprising. There were no spies, and no one had been killed.

Surprisingly, the July 31 edition of the Daily Eagle included a letter from a man who gave the initials, E. W. J. The writer somewhat dryly announced, “Business being somewhat slack in Wichita we concluded to take a trip to the Nation and witness a few Indian fights.”

At Caldwell the party made an inquiry with J. A. Hollinger, the ticket agent at the Santa Fe depot. Mr. Hollinger advised them not to venture too far “until it could be ascertained where the hottest fighting was going on, to which place we could go direct and witness the worst of it.”

Meantime, they accepted an invitation from a Mr. Barnard to spend an afternoon on his farm three miles southwest of Caldwell along the banks of Bluff Creek.

Mr. J. found to his delight a stock farm of 640 acres with a large orchard of peach and apple trees and fields of corn tucked in amongst large stock pastures filled with sheep, hogs, and cattle.

“Verily one would think they were on a farm in the old settled state of Illinois.” Mr. J. pleasantly noted “that the nearer we got to the seat of war the farther it was away, and civilization being so attractive we concluded to send for our wife and child to accompany us, that they might become accustomed to Indian warfare sights.”

Once his wife and child arrived on the train from Wichita, he and the party decided to “take in the fighters.”

He described the disappointment of missing a “severe engagement ... between a force from Caldwell and a squad of Cheyennes and Arapahoes.”

As it turned out the “battle” was not from a raid, but a disagreement over the ownership of a horse. The horse, “being found with an Indian, who swore he paid for him and would not give him up.” The “force” gave up the pursuit and returned to Caldwell without the horse.

“The account of this terrible battle will be seen in some Chicago paper ... troops will be ordered from all parts of the United States so as to get up a good scare and thereby keep everybody out of Kansas another six months. The farther these reports go the worse the thing looks. Down in Maine they think it is unsafe in Kansas City.”

Mr. J. finally did find some Cheyennes returning home from a trading foray in Caldwell. Their entourage consisted of a train of 26 wagons. “Coming close to them we found they were armed to the teeth — with flour from Caldwell.”

When asked when they were going to make a fight the Cheyennes thought talk of war was nonsense. Mr. J. readily agreed.“To learn anything about Indians raiding Kansas one must leave the Territory and read nickel newspaper(s).”

Turning back toward Kansas the party visited a place Mr. J. called “the Oklahoma camp.” The camp was a known Cheyenne camp near a beautiful spring on the Kansas side of the border. In the center of the village of tents one large tent held their meager stores. Instead of frightful warriors only a powerless and poverty-stricken band of families welcomed them.

Mr. J had seen all there was to see of the great Indian war. The revealing letter to the editor came to a close with his return to Wichita, having failed to find the fight he was looking for, 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.