In a council of the warriors held near Fort Dodge, Kansas, the war chiefs agreed to settle upon a reservation, but declared that they would not go unless they could have some one with whom they were acquainted to go with them to act a3 their agent. General Hazen at once sent for Colonel A. G. Boone, who had had many years of experience among wild tribes. The Indians consented to go if Colonel Boone would go with them. Their agency was then located near the base of the Wichita Mountains, about thirty miles north of the northern boundary line of Texas, and here the Kiowas and Comanches were finally settled, their new camps being called "Medicine Bluffs," and was generally known among the Indians as " Medicine Lodge Creek."
The Cheyennes and Arrapahoes were located south of the Arkansas River, near the North Canadian-a fine location for a reservation, there being plenty of wood, water and grass.
These warriors subsequently proved troublesome; so much so that a military post, called Fort Reno, was established there. The Indians in this section of the country
Lave given the government much trouble, together with the wild Apaches, who mostly roam in New Mexico and Old Mexico.
In the meantime, Generals Sherman and Sheridan were active in their respective duties in trying to bring about a peaceful result that would be satisfactory to the general government and beneficial to the Indians. General Hazen and Colonel Boone were encouraged and supported in every manner possible within the compass of the offices of these two worthy military chiefs. Their presence had a good moral effect upon the Indians. The Indian chiefs well knew their power and influence. They respected them as brave soldiers-a characteristic of war chiefs. They named General Sherman, " the Big-White-Chief," and General Sheridan, " The-Little-Big-Short-Chief-that-Eides-Fast "- in reference to his famous twenty-mile-ride into Winchester, known in history and poetry as " Sheridan's Bide." And they well knew the famous black horse on which he then xode, as he rode the same horse seventy-five miles across the prairie in a single night, in order to catch them napping, before daybreak in the morning. The war-chiefs often made kind inquiries after Sheridan, saying he was a brave soldier and a "heap-good-man." Occasionally one would -call him " Big-Heart-with-a-Fast-Horse."
Sheridan's plan with Indians determined to go on the war-path was invariably, " surround them and thrash them soundly"-but treat them well and kindly while they remain on their reservations and behave themselves.
General Sheridan is acknowledged by Western men to be not merely a good Indian fighter, but a good administration man in military affairs generally in the Western country. His immediate subordinate, General Alfred H. Terry, commanding the Department of Dakota, is deserving of great credit for his management of the wild tribes in the Northwest. He is a man of superior executive ability, and his honor and fidelity cannot be questioned.
Colonel Boone has since held various honorable posi-e tions in the Interior Department, and has been employed in making treaties with some of the wild tribes who are located further north than those above mentioned.
His course of conduct among wild Indians has always been that of pacification, his mode of treatment kind, and his rules and regulations very strict and impartial His health has now in great measure failed, and the Interior Department has lost a valuable servant. His. son-in-law, Lieut.-Colonel Elmer Otis, of the 7th'Cavalry (Custer's former position), is one of the most valuable and popular officers on the frontier.
The complications arising among the military officers in the Southern Indian District, in consequence of the famous " Battle of the Washita," are part of the history of the country, and need not be here recapitulated. The military operations in the Southwest, during 1368 and 1869, have been recorded at length in " Custer's Life on the Plains," which is still further supplemented by a pamphlet entitled, " Some Corrections of Life on the Plains," issued by General Hazen in 1875.
To recount the history of military campaigns against these wild tribes, has not entered into the plan of this volume, whose object has been rather to give to the reader a cursoiy but correct view of the character and status of the Indians involved. At that date peace councils were in the ascendancy in Indian affairs, and General Hazen had been assigned, in the autumn of 1868, in the interest of the Peace Commission, to the charge of all the wild Indians south of Kansas, comprising then the tribes above mentioned.
General Hazen made an eloquent appeal to the government for the restoration of their rights to the displaced Wichitas, but the return of their lands was found to be impossible, and they were provided for elsewhere.
General Hazen and Colonel Boone were both remarkably successful in their treatment of the Indians and in their schemes for their welfare, so far as they were permitted to extend their authority. But at this juncture a new administration came into power, and with the dawn of Grantism went out much that was calculated to improve and elevate the Indian.
Little attention was paid to the qualifications, energy or trustworthiness of the incumbents of offices. Boom had to
be made for a new set of officers, whether competent or incompetent, hence the agencies were turned over to a new class of men. It is proper to state, however, that many of the in-coming men made very good and efficient agents. It is proper to place proper credit where it belongs, and do injustice to no one. The Indians, however, became very uneasy, and greatly dissatisfied, at this change in their agents. They had become acquainted with General Hazen and Colonel Boone, and their administration had proved satisfactory to them, and this change no doubt led to the raids that were made into Texas during the following year. The new agents were good men enough, but the Indians were bound to become discontented at any frivolous reason that presented itself. So far as learned, it appears that when changes were to be made at Indian agencies, they were made with a sweeping hand, regardless of future consequences, and without any respect whatever to the qualifications and behavior of the previous occupants. It seems that no more respect was shown to the occupants, than was shown by ex-Secretary of War Belknap to post traders, when he made his raid upon them, regardless of the trouble that might arise from such summary proceedings, among themselves and their creditors generally.
Orders were issued by the parties in power, just because they had the power to issue them, and for no other reason, as it has been clearly demonstrated that the question of right or wrong did not enter into their calculations at all
Such conduct on the part of the high official^ of the country of course had its demoralizing effect upon the army officials throughout the West. They could not, consequently, look up to their leading civil officers with any feeling of respect, knowing, as they did, that they were degrading their offices, and assigning them to duties that were designed but to aid in their cwn peculations.
The Indians, of course, were but too well advised in regard to Belknap's sweeping orders among traders, as it drove away many who for years had been trading honorably among them. Some of the wily chiefs and warriors had named the Secretary of War " The-Heap-Big-Steal- Chief." "He no good; he steal'em all," was a frequent ejaculation. Thus, even the Indians shared with the brave little army of the frontier in the demoralizing effects of the short-sighted policy of the War Department, and divided with its officers the contempt with which they regarded the selfish, dishonest head of the War Department. Indians, as a rule, are shrewd traders, especially when they have an equal chance with white men. In those days they would nick-name the trader "Steal-Chief," on account of his holding his appointment under Belknap.