During the nineteenth century the United States aggressively pursued a policy of manifest destiny to expand between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. By 1874, the coast-to-coast expansion was complete, but conflicts with many Indian nations continued and the United States used force, often in the form of the Army, to settle disputes.
In his book Noble, Wretched, and Redeemable: Protestant Missionaries to the Indians in Canada and the United States, 1820-1900, C.L. Higham writes:
“The government used the Army not as a peacekeeping force but as an occupier, meant to herd the Indians onto reservations. The U.S. government and the Army failed to enforce most of the treaties in the West and preferred to deal with Indians as one amorphous group on whom the government had declared war.”
In his chapter in Legacy: New Perspectives on the Battle of the Little Bighorn, historian Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. writes that the United States gave Indians three options:
“…first, they could abandon everything that constituted their Indianness and turn into whites, accepted as whites by the white population; second, if they refused to adopt that option, they would have to move far away from the whites, out of sight and out of mind, giving up their land and resources and becoming in no way a physical or cultural threat to the whites; and, third, if they refused to become white or move away from them, they would have to be exterminated.”
Briefly described below are a few of the conflicts, which have been described as wars and battles that took place 150 years ago, in 1874.
Kansas
In 1874, the Wichita Eagle carried a story about Indian raids turning the border between Indian Territory and Kansas into a blood bath. In an article in Chronicles of Oklahoma, James Christianson writes:
“The settlers were cautioned to be careful and, if nothing else, whenever possible they were to keep posted by Texas cowboys in the area, who would know better than anyone else if the Indians were about to go on the warpath.”
In one incident, the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad sent out a crew to finish its survey of southwestern Kansas. Near Spring Creek, a party of 15 Cheyenne warriors led by Medicine Water attacked a survey camp, killing six men.
Oklahoma
In 1874, the United States Army had classified a number of Comanche and Kiowa leaders as “hostile.” The “hostiles” included Pearekaeka, Tabenanaka, Esarosavit, Coby, Mowway, Hitetsi, Black Duck, and Isatai.
Army troops from Fort Sill arrived at the Wichita Agency and demanded that Comanche leader Pearekaeka and several others be arrested as prisoners of war. After initially agreeing to be detained, Pearekaeka bolted and managed to escape. The army then demanded that all Comanche weapons, including bows and arrows, be relinquished.
In retaliation for the escape, the army burned the village, but soon found itself surrounded by Comanche, Kiowa, Caddo, and Wichita warriors. After two days the Indians left when they heard that additional troops were on their way from Fort Sill.
In another instance, following a hard winter in which the people had to kill their horses for food, many of the Kiowas under the leadership of Lone Wolf went to war against the Americans. However, about half of the tribe under the leadership of Kicking Bird and Stumbling Bear remained at Fort Sill and did not go to war.
After the death of his son in a raid in Texas, Sitting Bear (Satank), who had refrained from the war parties, joined the hostilities.
After a series of defeats, the warriors returned to the reservation where the army jailed the principal chiefs and confiscated their weapons, horses, and most of their material goods. The women and children were placed in detention camps.
The government asked Kicking Bird to select 26 of the hostiles to be sent to prison at Fort Marion in Florida. In his chapter on the Kiowas in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13, Part 2: Plains, anthropologist Jerrold Levy reports:
“Kicking Bird, desiring to protect his friends, chose only a few of the prominent leaders, making up the rest of the quota with Mexican captives and young men of no great reputation.”
Texas
A small party of Kiowas and Comanches attacked an American force at Tule Canyon. While the initial attack was at night, the Americans quickly responded. Among those killed in the attack was the Kiowa leader Woman’s Heart.
The American forces, aided by Tonkawa scouts, tracked the Kiowas and Comanches to their camp at Prairie Dog. In his book The Last Comanche Chief: The Life and Times of Quanah Parker, Bill Neeley reports:
“As their women and children escaped, the warriors entrenched themselves behind boulders and clumps of cedar on the rugged canyon walls and began to fire on the soldiers.”
Although most of the Kiowas and Comanches escaped, they lost their lodges, equipment, clothing, and most of their horses. The Americans captured about 2,000 Indian horses which were then shot.
Running low on supplies, the Army sent a party of five messengers to Camp Supply in present-day Oklahoma. The messengers traveled at night, making it to Whitefish Creek in present-day Donley County, Texas, where they planned to spend the day. However, the messengers spotted an Indian about 50 yards from their camp and shot him. The sound of gunfire attracted a party of Indian warriors, and the camp was soon under attack. Using Wings’ Sporting Rifles, the accurate fire drove the warriors off.
In another incident, two Texas Rangers were looking for stray cattle to slaughter to provide beef for their company. The Rangers saw 11 Comanches and did a short charge at them, and then turned around with the intent of luring them back to the Ranger camp. The Comanches, however, did not fall for the trick, so one Ranger rode back to the camp to get the rest of the company. A group of 11 Rangers then chased the Comanches for about 20 miles. Near present-day Menard, Texas, the Comanches turned and attacked. After a short fight in which the Comanche chief was killed, the Comanches retreated and were chased for another three miles. In the end, nine Comanches were killed, and many of the corpses were scalped by the Rangers. One Comanche was captured (the Rangers did not normally take captives). In their book Forgotten Fights: Little-Known Raids and Skirmishes on the Frontier, 1823-1890, Gregory Michno and Susan Micho report:
“The captured Comanche was taken to Austin and put on display in the opera house for twenty-five cents’ admission. When the adjutant general heard about the exhibition, he put a stop to it and had the Indian placed in prison, where he soon caught a disease and died.”
(Note: The Comanches had not displayed any aggression toward the Rangers: the Comanches were traveling peacefully on their own land.)
Montana
Montana’s territorial governor called Sitting Bull and his Sioux a “band of murdering robbers.” In Bozeman, a group of Americans calling themselves The Boys, deliberately invaded Sioux territory. While they were ostensibly looking for gold, The Boys—150 well-armed men whose armaments included a brass howitzer provided to them by the territorial governor—were actually looking for Indians to kill. They engaged the Sioux in three battles, inflicting heavy damage on the Indians.
Not all conflicts in Montana in 1874 were battles between American Indians and the non-Indian invaders. In 1874, the Crows and their Nez Perce allies met the Sioux in battle. The Nez Perce leader Looking Glass gained distinction in combat.
Wyoming
In 1874, a small party of Indians—identified as either Lakota Sioux or Arapaho—attacked three soldiers from Fort Laramie who had wandered away from the wood-cutting party they were escorting. Two soldiers were killed before the main body of troops responded to the sound of gunfire. As a result of this attack, the soldiers were told to spare no Indians.
In 1874, American troops with the aid of Shoshone warriors attacked Black Coal’s Arapaho camp. Black Coal mounted his horse to lead a counterattack, but the horse was shot out from under him. Then Black Coal was wounded in the chest. The Arapahos managed to escape to some buttes where they rained fire down on the troops. Shoshone chief Washakie called for his warriors to retreat once the Arapahos had escaped to the buttes. He shouted:
“Don’t kill ‘em any more! We have whipped them! We’ve set them a-foot.”
The Shoshones captured 250 horses and about 50 Arapahos were killed in the battle.
South Dakota and Wyoming
In 1874, the Lakotas held a great Sun Dance in South Dakota and then joined with the Cheyennes and the Arapahos in a large war party against the Shoshones in the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. In Wyoming, there was a disagreement and the Arapahos refused to go farther with the war party.
Shoshone scouts discovered the large Arapaho camp and returned to alert the Indian agent, who, in turn, called in the military. A military strike force under the command of Captain Bates was formed. This force included 125 Shoshone warriors. The strike force attacked the Arapaho camp of 112 lodges and quickly overran the village. The Arapahos took refuge on a bluff above the campsite and sent smoke signals to summon the Cheyenne and Lakota warriors to come to their aid.
The Arapahos were able to fire down upon the soldiers and the Shoshones and hold on to their strategic advantage. Captain Bates ordered the soldiers to withdraw.
North Dakota
In 1874, a Sioux war party lured some Arikaras out of their village with a decoy, attacked them, and killed five Arikaras.
More American Indian histories
Indians 101: Sioux Indians and Black Hills gold 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indian Reservations 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indians in Oklahoma 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indians and Christianity 150 years ago, 1874
Indians 101: American Indians and the federal government 150 years ago, 1873
Indians 101: American Indians in Montana and Washington 150 years ago, 1873
Indians 101: American Indians and the Army 150 years ago, 1873
Indians 101: Indian reservations in Washington, Oregon, and California 150 years ago, 1873
