The Iola register., 1889-11-08

A EH is revered in q
NV doubie degree; for II
was he who, when
SSR the public domain
within its geograph.
~ icaI limits was first
20 eagerly sought for. and a mighty
rush Of immigration Immediately after
the close of our civil war in.
vaded its inviting prairies, valleys
and wooded intervales, forever ended,
by his military genius, that muir.
derous and savage warfare OF the allied
Indian tribes in their attempted, and some
times locally successful, raids upon the
sparse and widely separated settlements
in the young but promising State.
Fresh from . hundred battlefields Of the
great rebellion, on every one Of which
he was the laurel-crownei victor,
without availing himself Of that rest to
which hs was so pre-. e.eminently entitled, he
at once, upon taking command OF the
military division of the Missouri, with
headquarters at Fort Leavenworth-for
which specific purpose he had been as.
signed at his own request-iuaugurated
the memorable winter campaign against
the hostile tribes which resulted In that
ever since unbroken white winged peace
and made possible the empire that has
been evolved in the great central State.
In the beautiful and heavily -timbered
valley Of the Saiine-a favorite rendezvous
Of the Kiowas, Cheyennes and Arapa.
hoes-a region teeming with game of all
kinds, from the bronzed wild turkey to the
ponderous but swift-footed elk (well
known among all the tribes, as nearly as
its Indian nomenclature can be literally
translated, 'the hunters paradise"), there
came in the spring of 1865 more than fifty
men, most of them old soldiers, with their
wives and little ones, who stepped eau.
tiously and hesitatinsly into the peculiarly
inviting bat relatively unknown territory,
to open for themselves farms in the new
wilderness" In their establishment they
were necessarily widely separated; homes
were frequently ten or more miles distant
from each other; but rude log cabins were
quickly erected, few acres Of the stub.
born sod subordinated to the plow, and Q
crop planted, but which these honest and
hard-working settlers were destined never
to reap.
The Indians sullen and watchful, but in
no wise demonstrative just then, hung
aroand the creeks and little valleys not
many miles remote; but they were Jealous
and watchful, because of this invasion Of
their favorite hunting-ground, only wait
Ing for their opportunity when the obliv-
ious homesteaders, lul1ed into a sense of
security, through a series of months of
Hepcse, should become careless or indiffer.
ent to the condition of their environment
in its relation to the status of the willy
nomads.
At last the supreme moment arrived for
which the savages had been so patiently
waiting! 1t was an indescribably CHARM
ing morning. Sunday morning in Octo.
Der. that glorious month of Kansas in.
comparable Indian summer. The golden
mist hung in light clouds over the series of
rocky hills which so picturesquely follow
the sinuosities of the Saline: the foliage
of the dense belt of trees on the rivers
margin had already turned deep russet,
the effects of the first frosts, and the in.
volvemsnt Of wild grape vines exposed
the clusters Of their purple fruit to the
rays OF the early morning sun; while the
sumac berries, intensely red, bordered the
edge Of the timber for miles.
A few bunches Of antelope were rumi-
mating on the sunny slopes Of the hills,
and scattering herds of buffalo could be
seen quietly grazing in the distance. Here
and there, though at great intervals, Q
thin wreath Of smoke curlel gracefully
upward from the isolated cabins of the
unsuspecting dwe1lers of the beautiful
valley, and over all nature
The breezy and pure inspirations Of morn
Breathed about"
Suddenly, like the rushing of mighty
wings, with one accord and simultaneous.
ly inspired by the genius of that demon
Sahnta, the chief OF the Kiowas, q
band Of warriors, -bedecked and
paint-bedaubed, rushed into the peaceful
and defenseless little settlement, bearing
the torch and the scalping knife, giving
no quarter anywhere but numbering
women and children alike as they reveled
in their horrible saturnalia of blood!
1t was the work of but a few moments:
q ghastly corpse here and little mound
OF ashes there were all that was left to tell
how complete had been the well-conceived
massacre.
A few, however, escaped, and these
hastened under the friendly shelter of the
darkness that night having hidden during
the day in the stream or tn ick under. brush
which hcrdsred it to the military post of
Port Harker, where now the town of
Ksnopolis, in Ellsworth County, is located.
savage's deep laid plot, from various
points where settlements had sprung up,
men, women and children who had
escaped the keen edge of the scalpiug.
knife or that captivity to woman more
horrid than q thousand deaths, came into
Harksr, where temporarily they were
tented, fed, and the wounded cared for un.
til 1t was safe for them to venture an oc.
cupancy Of their abandoned claims again
The tocsin Of q prolonged and revengeful
war had thus been sounded by this diabol.
ical overt act Of the formidable plains
tribes, who now entered into an alliance
offensive and defensive, their runners
being kept constantly on the move between
the several hostile camps, inviting the
young warrors to deeds Of hellish daring,
inspired by messages from the leading
war chiefs Freighters on the Old Santa
Fe and Oregon trails were attacked
daily, and the overland coaches carry
ing the United States mail were frequent.
ly raided by rowing bands Of the Kiowas
Arapahoes and 'dog soldiers" of the
Cheyennes, who had now, in all their saw.
age hatred OF the whites, determined
upon an exterm:n alton Of the race.
General Sheridan, immediately after the
massacre on the Spillman ami tributary
creeks, accompanied by his personal aids,
the two Generals Forsyth, moved from tho
comfortable and elegantly appointed post
of Fort Leavenworth to the extensive but
primitive one OF Fort Harker, where he
established his headquarters in tents and
accommodated himself to all the hard.
ships and inconveniences of camp life
again.
Here he gave orders for the erection st
once of two block houses in the rseion