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[Illustration: Yours Truly, DENNIS COLLINS]
THE INDIANS' LAST FIGHT
Or The Dull Knife Raid
by
DENNIS COLLINS
Copyright Reserved
By Dennis Collins
Press of
The Appeal to Reason
Girard, Kansas
PREFACE
The work of writing a book is one that requires a vast amount of
knowledge, natural ability and educational advantages, to produce
something that is reliable, as regards information imparted, unimpeachable
authority, and, at the same time, a power of expression that will present
the matter to the reader in a manner that will convey the proper meaning
of the author. I would not have undertaken the present work, were it not
that I was encouraged by the friends of former days who felt confident in
my ability to portray the scenes to be depicted in a fitting manner. I
should probably be able to perform the task before me with greater success
if I had some of the advantages of what is called Higher Education, but, I
set out on my journey through this new domain, encouraged particularly, by
a statement made by a certain ex-President, that he did not believe in all
the "Ph's", and "Ch's", that are in common use in our language; that he
believed in a plain, intelligent expression of ideas that conveys the full
meaning of the speaker or writer, without any unnecessary verbiage.
My own personal qualifications for undertaking the task before me, might
be considered too inadequate to many. True, I have not had the advantage
of a University Education, but with a solid foundation of learning laid in
the little school of boyhood in Canada, supplemented by a wide course of
reading through all the years I have spent in the West, I feel that the
difficulties before me are not too great to be overcome, especially as I
have the example of so many men before me who have become self-educated by
an earnest application of time and energy to the opportunities presented.
If I have developed any facility of expression, I must attribute it to
the wealth of good books I have had the good fortune to have at my
disposal at various times.
Another motive that has impelled me to undertake the task of presenting
the "West" to the general reader, is that there has been so much written
about it that is not veracious, and that many have a false notion of what
the term really means. I shall endeavor to set before the public a true
account of many of the recent happenings in the vast country that lies
west of the Mississippi, that they may have a better idea of its history
and its people. I have read in numerous Magazines and Journals, accounts
of the habits and customs of the Western People in general, and of the
cow-puncher in particular, with a full description of the Indian at peace
and at war, that, from the reality, it would be impossible to recognize
any of them. I am quite satisfied that the authors of the so-called
narrations did not have an opportunity of studying the subject at close
quarters, and, consequently, were not in a position to do the topic
justice. As a consequence of this unreliable mode of narration, people who
do not know, imagine that the cow-puncher was half-man and half-horse, or,
if not so bad as that, pictured him as a ranting, roaring, rollicking,
bloodthirsty, oath-emitting, unconstrained son of perdition, whose chief
occupation was murder and rapine, and whose avocation was herding cattle.
As for the Indian, he was supposed to have no other qualification for
attention than murder and pillage, totally depraved, and beyond the scope
of all civilizing influences. Such ideas are based on imaginary authority,
and are as far from the truth as it is possible for any narrative to be. I
shall endeavor to set before the reading public a proper appreciation of
both the Indian and the cow-puncher. Both had faults, but, in view of
their surroundings and circumstances of life, they both will bear
comparison with those who have had all the advantages of the higher
education, and the influence of civilization. One thing that will always
stand in their favor is that they were "men," and played the game of
life, in "man" fashion. Smallness, or rather, pettiness of character was
entirely lacking in their general scheme of life; that remained in the big
cities of the East.
Having spent more than thirty years among the cow-men and the Indians of
the different tribes, from the Dakota line to the Panhandle of Texas, I
feel that I am not presuming when I say that in that time I have acquired
considerable knowledge of both classes of men, their habits, and ideals,
and I trust that the present narrative may be interesting to all my old
comrades of the "Plains" as well as instructive to the friends of my
boyhood days in the "Land of the Maple Leaf." I have the further hope,
that if any of the readers of this little work contemplate coming west to
grow up with the country, they may find the difficulties of the way
overcome, and the rough places made smooth. They will find a generous
welcome awaiting them from the whole-souled men of the Great West, and
will discover that their lot has fallen on pleasant places.
THE AUTHOR.
INDEX
Page
CHAPTER I General Conditions 9
CHAPTER II Santa Fe Trail 13
CHAPTER III Freighting on the Trail 17
CHAPTER IV No Man's Land 22
CHAPTER V Cattle Round-Ups 26
CHAPTER VI Good Men and Bad 28
CHAPTER VII Catching Wild Horses 41
CHAPTER VIII Why I Came West 52
CHAPTER IX A Cow Boy Love Affair 63
CHAPTER X Entertaining the Hobo 69
CHAPTER XI The Man From Missouri 76
CHAPTER XII Organizing in Self Defense 81
CHAPTER XIII A New Venture or Hard Times 95
CHAPTER XIV Returning to Kansas, The Phenomenon 127
CHAPTER XV Postmasters of Early Days 137
CHAPTER XVI Messiah Craze 144
CHAPTER XVII Savages on Warpath 167
CHAPTER XVIII The Whirlwind Raid 187
CHAPTER XIX The Indian Sun Dance 195
CHAPTER XX The Adobe Wall Raid 210
CHAPTER XXI The Dull Knife Raid 231
CHAPTER XXII The Great Awakening of the West 262
CHAPTER XXIII P. H. Sheridan's Arrival 269
CHAPTER XXIV Capture of Comanches and Kiowas 276
CHAPTER XXV California Joe's Weakness 283
CHAPTER XXVI A Period of Unrest 292
CHAPTER XXVII A Decade of War 301
CHAPTER XXVIII Trouble With the Northern Cheyennes 312
CHAPTER XXIX Observations in Conclusion 321
CHAPTER I.
General Conditions.
Someone has said, and I think very truthfully, too, that one-half of this
world doesn't know how the other half lives, and if he had added that
one-half did not care, he would have hit the nail on the head. In order to
verify this statement, go to the frontier of any new country, and you will
readily see that the progressive, or producing class, is too busy and too
much interested in trying to make a little home, and in providing the
necessaries of life, for himself and family, to stop and inquire into the
cause of such conditions which surround him. He is busy, very busy, with
his own affairs. He must dig a well, build a dugout, and plough the sod to
roof it. He must make a storm cave, as it is one of the essentials in
Oklahoma and in Kansas, as a cyclone is liable to make a visitation, and
he himself and all that he has, may very likely be nothing more than a
memory. A storm cave is a very valuable asset, as it gives the family a
place of safety in storms, and is a very great factor socially, as the
neighbors, if there be any close enough, are most likely to drop around
should there be a threatening cloud in the sky, for the sake of mutual
encouragement and consolation. I have seen twenty-two persons in one cave
that was no larger than eight by ten feet, and all seemed to be satisfied;
at least I was.
At one time, of the early settlement of Western Kansas, Indian Territory
and Western Texas, there were no mail routes established except between
the military posts, Fort Dodge, Kansas, Fort Elliot, Texas, Camp Supply,
Fort Reno and Fort Sill, I. T. About this time, 1870, Dodge City, Kansas,
sprang into existence, and became the Mecca for the cowmen of the
Southwest, and like Rome, all roads led to it. If mail was wanted, or
trading was necessary, one had to go from fifty to seventy-five miles for
the purpose, and in no case less than twenty, as the S. F. R. R. had a
land grant of twenty miles on each side of the roadway, and one could not
homestead inside of that limit more than eighty acres, and that is why
settlers who wanted 160 acres went farther out.
In making those trips two neighbors usually went together, leaving their
families in one place until their return. Their outfit for the journey
consisted generally of a few blankets, a shot gun, a Winchester, a coffee
pot, a frying pan, tow lariat ropes to picket out the horses, and a box of
axle grease. The time required for the trip from three to five days and
sometimes longer, owing to the distance and condition of the roads. There
were no hotels on the way. In fact, there was nothing but the open
prairie, and when it came to camping out time they picketed out the
horses, gathered some buffalo chips for a fire, made coffee and flapjacks,
fried some bacon and then satisfied their appetites with the fare at hand.
Supper over, they discussed prospects for the future and then rolled up in
their blankets for a good sound sleep with nothing to disturb them but the
howling of the coyotes that were around looking for something to eat. At
times something would stampede a herd of antelopes and in their mad flight
they would create a noise like the roll of distant thunder. One thing that
was in the favor of the camper-out was that it seldom rained and any dust
that was made on the trail was blown away, leaving the way as clean as a
pavement. The wind generally blew from the South for four days at a time,
or thereabouts, at a rate of about forty miles an hour, and then returned
at the same rate from the North.
On a trip of this kind, one became the messenger and delivery boy for all
the neighbors. It was mail for one, paregoric for another, Epsom Salts for
a third, and tobacco, coffee, sugar and other commodities which they were
in need of at the time the journey was undertaken. The return of the
expedition was looked forward to with as much interest and anxiety as is
the return of the Cunard steamer at the port of New York. Each day found
the children on the hillside watching and waiting for the return of the
dear ones, and night was made hideous by the howling of the family
watchdog wailing over the absence of his master. The neighbors, too,
shared the general feeling and called several times a day to see if any
tidings had been received of them, or if there was anything they stood in
need of.
The next step in the way of progress was to sink a well. This was a
necessity of the first degree, as the early settlers were compelled to
haul water from the distant creeks, or rivers, in barrels, and the quality
of the supply was not very high class. The presence of a well near at hand
would solve the problem and at the same time save a lot of time which
would naturally be required to bring it from a distance. The task was the
work of two men, as the well had to be sunk from one hundred to one
hundred and twenty-five feet before water could be found that would meet
the needs of the situation. One man could not do the work alone, so a
neighbor lent his assistance. By means of a derrick and a cheap mule
purchased for the purpose they raised the water when the well was dug. The
animal was left at the well and each man that went to draw water was to
see to it that his muleship did not suffer from want of attention.
The above were only a few of the difficulties that the pioneer encountered
in his endeavor to get a start in life. Those who came to the country in
'79 or the early 80's found difficulties in abundance. As it rained very
little during those years, their means were soon exhausted, and a great
many were forced through necessity to abandon their claims and return East
in search of employment. All would have been compelled to go were it not
for the carcasses left by the buffalo hunters who had taken nothing but
the hide and the hump. Buffalo bones were worth about $14 per ton, and the
pioneers that remained gathered them up and hauled them to market at
Dodge City. It took from eight to ten days to gather and market a load of
bones. This source of revenue, while not very remunerative, served as an
opportunity for them to keep body and soul together. By the time the bones
began to disappear entirely, they had succeeded in getting some land in a
state of cultivation and raised a fair crop of millet, sorghum and Kaffir
corn, crops adapted to the dry climate. Besides these things, a few
chickens and a cow or two relieved the situation a great deal. Most of the
old-timers who had the courage to stay, or rather lacked the means of
getting away, are today in good circumstances, and the land that was then
almost a desert, is now as productive as any in the United States.