The devastating raids through north-central Kansas in August of 1868 brought a decisive response from Gen. Philip Sheridan.

Operating out of Fort Hays the general organized a surprise attack during the winter while the tribes were at rest on their reservation.

According to treaty, bands of Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches lived in winter villages south of the Kansas border. The villages extended 10 to 15 miles along the Washita River in presentday western Oklahoma. The basin, bordered by sandy bluffs, provided winter protection, abundant water and timber, and plenty of good grazing for their horses.

Nearly 3,000 soldiers were placed under the command of Brevet Maj. Gen. George Armstrong Custer. Black Kettle’s Cheyenne village was an easy target nestled in a cottonwood grove west of the other villages. In the early morning hours of Nov. 27, 1868, Custer’s troops targeted the isolated camp, knowing that thousands more warriors were sleeping further to the east.

Over 100 warriors were killed. Nine hundred horses were captured. Significantly, 53 women and children were taken captive.

At Fort Supply, Custer and his troops were welcomed as conquering heroes.

The captives, “wrapped in brightly colored blankets so that only their eyes were visible” rode two to three to a pony. Resigned to their fate, no one looked to the right or left but stoically held their gaze before them as they passed Gen. Sheridan in review.

The review was a grand affair with commanding officers saluting the general with sabers to which Sheridan responded with a tip of the cap. Riding his spirited black stallion, Custer broke formation as he approached Gen. Sheridan. Strains of Garryowen from the regimental band lilted through the air as the two officers jubilantly exchanged greetings. The next day wounded captives were treated at the fort’s hospital.

The captives were sent north with a supply train under the command of Maj. Henry Inman. After a brief spell at Fort Dodge, Kan., they were transferred to Fort Hays where they were held in a stockade attached to the post guard house.

Custer returned to the field with his troops, traveling to Fort Cobb, Fort Sill, and down the Red River. Turning toward the Sweetwater River and a known Cheyenne village, Custer negotiated the release of Sarah White and Anna Morgan. The women had been taken captive by warriors during the August 1868 raids through north-central Kansas.

To gain their release and ensure that young warriors would not return to war, three chiefs were captured and held by Custer and his troops. The chiefs have been identified by various names. George Bent, who was half Cheyenne, said that they were Lean Face, Fat Bear, and Curly Hair.

Custer had a level of endurance in the saddle that few could match. Even so, he expected his troops to face his grueling marches with military resolve.

By the time his troops rejoined the rest of the 7th Cavalry on March 22, 1968, at the Washita battlefield his men were starving and near collapse. They remained in camp on the Washita for five days before resuming their march to Camp Supply before their eventual return to Fort Hays on April 10.

Besides the three captive Cheyenne chiefs, Custer brought along the daughter of Cheyenne Chief Little Rock. Mo-nah-see-tah had been with Custer as an envoy to the tribes during his long march to Red River. The soldiers called her Sallie Ann.

Instead of sending Sallie Ann and the three chiefs to the stockade, Custer kept them in his camp east of Fort Hays on Big Creek. Eventually the three chiefs were taken to the stockade. Sallie Ann was allowed to come and go as she pleased.

A growing uneasiness within the stockade set the guards on edge. The officer of the day, Lt. David Rousseau, 5th Infantry, decided on May 9 to move the chiefs inside the adjoining guard house. The sergeant and guard sent into the compound did not speak Cheyenne or understand sign language. Not knowing what was happening, the Cheyenne men resisted, and a fight broke out. A Cheyenne woman stabbed and killed the sergeant. Instantly the guard fired, killing Curley Hair. A thrust of the guard’s bayonet found its mark, and Lean Face was dead. Finally, the same guard smashed the butt of his rifle into Fat Bear’s head, rendering him unconscious.

At Camp Supply Cheyenne families were demanding the return of the women and children. The Cheyenne men at Camp Supply had shown an “earnest” desire for peace, leading to an order communicated on May 31 to be sent back to Camp Supply under proper guard.

Company D, 7th Cavalry left Fort Hays with the Cheyenne women and children on June 13, 1869. The soldiers surprisingly gave a hearty cheer. The Cheyenne women laughed and chatted among themselves as the wagons carried them away from the stockade of infamy 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 RD Geneseo, Kan. Phone (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.