Carbon County news., 1937-10-01

The Peace Treaty MOnun
already pitched along the two
streams and that he expected
more than 5000 Indians to be
present by the time the commits
sioners arrived. They reached
Medicine Lodge on October IA.
A Congress of NOtabIes.
Famous as is the Medicine
Lodge treaty in western history,
it would be memorable for the
number of notables who had a
part in it, if for no other reason.
Among those who helped in the
preliminary work were Kit Car
son, the renowned scout and
guide; Jesse Chisholm, the half
breed Cherokee whose name is
immortalized in the most famous
of all cattle trails; Col. A. G..
Boone, grandson of the immortal
Daniel; William Matthewson, the
original Buffalo Bil1"; Black
Beaver, the celebrated Delaware
Indian scout; and a number of
other frontier characters of lesser
fame.
The commission itself, headed
by N. G.. Taylor, United States
commissioner of Indian affairs
and chief exponent of the "peace
policy" was composed of Senator
John B. Henderson of Missouri,
A. S. H. White, secretary, Gen.
Alfred H. Terry, Gen. c. c. Au-
CUR, Gen. w. L. Harvey, Gen.
John B. Sanborn and Col. S. F.
Tappan.
General Augur was added to the
commission to take the place of
Gen. w. T. Sherman, who was re-
called to Washington before the
party left Fort Larned. Sherman,
it will be recalled, was credited
with that frank, if brutal, decla-
ration that 'the only good In
dian is dead one."
Presumably General Harvey
subscribed to that sentiment, too.
Twelve years earlier he had won
a reputation as a successful In
dian fighter by attacking the camp
of Little Thunder, a friendly
Brule Sioux chief, and by killing
nearly a hundred men, women
and children.
Both Harney and Sanborn had
been members of another peace
commission, which included Will
liam Bent and Kit Carson and
which had made a treaty with
these same tribes at the mouth
of the Little Arkansas in October,
1865. Since neither the whites
nor the Indians had kept this
treaty, both of these generals can
be forgiven if they were cynical
as to the value of making another
here at Medicine Lodge.
Other Witnesses.
Entitled to the same cynicism
were Gov. Samuel j.. Crawford
of Kansas, ex-Lieut. Gov. J. P.
Root and Senator e. G. Ross, who
were also present at Medicine
Lodge. Within a year some of
these red warriors would be raid
ing through Kansas, killing set
tiers, burning their homes and
carrying women and children
away into captivity and Governor
Crawford would resign his Office
to lead the Nineteenth Kansas
cavalry in an expedition against
the hostiles. And then, ironically
enough, this expedition, led by
Gen. George A. Custer, would at
tack a camp of the Cheyennes on
the banks of the Washita river in
Oklahoma (where they had a per-.
feet right, under the terms of the
Medicine Lodge treaty, to be) and
kill their chief, Black Kettle, and
with him IS men, 16 women and
9 children.
Other witnesses to the treaty
were Mai. E. w. Wynkoop, Su-
perintendent Murphy, Colonel
Leavenworth and Col. J. K. Ran
kin, representing the Indian de-
partment, and John Smith and
George Bent, who acted as in
terpreters. In addition there was
present also a considerable "press
gallery" composed of represent
atives from the leading newspa-
pers of the country. Outstanding
among these was Henry M. STAN
ley, correspondent for the New
York Tribune, who later became
famous as an African explorer
when James Gordon Bennett of
the Herald sent him to the Dark
Continent to ''find Livingstone"
A photographer named Willis also