+----------------------------+------------------+---+-------------------+
| National Park Service      | Washita          |   | Rt. 1, Box 55A    |
|                            | Battlefield      |   |                   |
| U.S. Department of the     |                  |   | Cheyenne,         |
| Interior                   | National         |   | Oklahoma          |
|                            | Historic Site    |   |                   |
|                            |                  |   | 73628             |
|                            | Use the complete |   |                   |
|                            | site name here   |   | 580-497-2742      |
|                            | (e.g. Palo Alto  |   | phone             |
|                            | Battlefield      |   |                   |
|                            | Historic Site).  |   | 580-497-2712 fax  |
+----------------------------+------------------+---+-------------------+

![](media/image1.png){width="0.5597222222222222in"
height="0.7201388888888889in"}

**Washita Battlefield NHS** News Release

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use a "short-hand" version of the site name here (e.g. Palo Alto
  Battlefield not Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Site).

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Dave Schafer at 580-497-2742

Date: November 24, 2008

**Washita Battlefield National Historic Site and Cheyenne High School**

**To Host the Play *Ned Wynkoop: Long Road to Washita* on December 4**

Louis Kraft, a noted western historian and stage actor, will present
*Ned Wynkoop: Long Road to Washita* at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, December
4. Tom Eubanks will direct the production, which will be staged free of
charge to the public in the Cheyenne High School auditorium. The one-man
play is part of Washita Battlefield National Historic Site's observation
of the 140th anniversary of the Washita attack.

Using Wynkoop's own words, as well as dramatic sound effects and
lighting, Mr. Kraft will bring to life a man whose story was enmeshed
with the conflict of cultures that led to the tragedy of Washita. "The
play explores Edward 'Ned' Wynkoop's life during the 1860s," said Kraft,
"a time which saw him evolve from someone who looked down on Indians to
a person who accepted them as human beings."

Wynkoop at first "harbored the typical prejudices then prevalent on the
frontier," said Kraft. As a young military officer in 1864, however,
Wynkoop began to soften his views after he befriended Chief Black
Kettle. Major Wynkoop helped organize a peaceful meeting between
Cheyenne and Arapaho Chiefs and Colorado Territorial Gov. John Evans and
Col. John Chivington, the region's military commander.

But Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders were betrayed two months later at Sand
Creek when Colonel Chivington led two regiments of Colorado volunteers
on a murderous assault of a peaceful village. Major Wynkoop had been
sent out of state and exploded in anger when he heard about the attack.

Wynkoop eventually left the military and became the U.S. Indian Agent
for the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Looking out for the interests of
his charges during the hostilities of 1867 and 1868, Wynkoop struggled
to keep the tribes' young warriors from raiding and to keep the
government's word regarding its treaty obligations. During the fall of
1868, Wynkoop became alarmed when he was ordered to gather Cheyenne and
Arapaho people in Indian Territory. Believing that this might set up
conditions for another massacre, Wynkoop resigned in protest. "I most
certainly refuse," he said, "to again be the instrument of the murder of
innocent women and children."

Unfortunately, by the time of Wynkoop's resignation, Lt. Col. George A.
Custer had already led a strike on November 27 against a slumbering
Cheyenne village camped along the Washita River. Chief Black Kettle and
his wife, Medicine Woman Later, were among those killed during the
attack.

Despite Wynkoop's failure to prevent bloodshed in 1868---when warriors
raided white settlements in Kansas and when Custer's troopers attacked
Black Kettle's village---he had continually tried to do the right thing.
George Bent, a half-Cheyenne survivor of Sand Creek, summed up the work
of Ned Wynkoop many years later by calling him "the best friend the
Cheyennes ever had."

Louis Kraft became interested in western history in the 1970s and in the
decades since he has published many articles and books. In particular,
Kraft became intrigued by people whom did not speak the same language,
yet worked out their differences peacefully. In 1992, Kraft published
*The Final Showdown*, a novel that explored racial relations in Kansas
at the time of the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867. In 1995, he published
*Custer and the Cheyenne: George Armstrong Custer's Winter Campaign on
the Southern Plains.*

Kraft premiered his play about Edward Wynkoop in Kansas in 2002. He has
since staged it in Colorado and California. Mr. Kraft lives in North
Hollywood, California, and spends all of his free time with the ladies
in his life: sweetheart and best friend Diane Moon and daughter Marissa
Kraft.

Tom Eubanks has directed, produced, and acted in over 60 productions. He
is the Artistic Director of the Elite Theatre Company in Oxnard,
California, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Ojai Art Center
Theatre in Ojai, California. He wrote and directed a feature film, *Open
Spaces*, which premiered in 2003, and is the author of the novel *Worlds
Apart*. At the Elite Theatre in 2009, Eubanks will be directing
*Cheyenne Blood*, which features historical personalities such as Ned
Wynkoop, Black Kettle, and John Chivington. Mr. Eubanks lives in Casitas
Springs, California, with wife Judy and youngest daughter Hannah.

"We are thrilled to be working with the Cheyenne School District to
bring a quality production like *Ned Wynkoop: Long Road to Washita* to
the community of Cheyenne," said National Park Service spokesman Dave
Schafer. "The fascinating story of Edward Wynkoop is an inspiring
example of the difference one person can make in history. We appreciate
the Cheyenne school staff for working with the director, actor, and our
staff to stage the production."

The park visitor center will be open on Thanksgiving Day, November 27,
the actual anniversary of the Washita attack. A full slate of 140th
anniversary activities will take place at the park's new visitor center
on Saturday, December 6. For more information, call 580-497-2742 or
check www.nps.gov/waba.

\* \* \*

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site protects and interprets the
setting along the Washita River where Lt. Col. George A. Custer led the
7th U.S. Cavalry on a surprise dawn attack against the Southern Cheyenne
village of Peace Chief Black Kettle on November 27, 1868. The attack was
an important event in the tragic clash of cultures of the Indian Wars
era. The site is located in western Oklahoma near the town of Cheyenne,
halfway between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Amarillo, Texas. The park's
new visitor center is located one mile west of Cheyenne on Highway 47A.

-NPS-