Civilizing the Indian; A Period of Unrest; An Outbreak; Murder of a
Freighter.
At this time the Quakers were largely in control of the Indian Department
and were indorsed in their views by Pres. U. S. Grant. They believed the
Indian could be civilized and kept under control by moral suasion by the
erection of school houses for his children, and by imparting a knowledge
of the proper system of agriculture. Under their influence, rations were
issued and blankets distributed among them. They were also given wagons,
plows, and other farm implements which they knew nothing about. They would
not ride on a spring seat, nor sit in a wagon box, but for some reason
best known to themselves, they would remove the box and place teepee poles
on the wagon bolsters and all climb in when they were ready for a trip.
The plows and other implements which were sent out among them to encourage
them to farm, I have seen suspended from trees. I cannot understand why
they did so, unless it was to show contempt for the white man's way. It is
true, some of them raised small patches of corn, which with the rations
issued by the Agency and the game they killed, kept the wolf from the
door, or rather the flaps of their teepees. Occasionally a small band of
them would get a permit from the Fort Commander to go on a hunt, with the
understanding that they were to return at a stipulated time and behave
themselves during their absence and not commit any depredations. All this
they complied with. I have met these hunting parties up in No Man's Land
and other places and never heard of their perpetrating any mischief on
persons or stock whilst out under a permit.
The squaws, when not busy in the corn patch or in their little garden,
were engaged in making ornaments or other fancy needlework at which they
were experts. These articles they afterwards sold to tourists from the
East, at the Agency, as souvenirs of their trip among the Indians. Some of
this kind of work had a real intrinsic value far above the ornamental part
of it. I knew one chief's daughter who had a blanket ornamented with elk's
teeth and shells, that was valued at $1500. She was taken ill and died,
and the blanket which she loved to wear at festivals was used as a shroud.
A few days afterwards, some person passing by noticed that the grave had
been disturbed. He notified her people and an investigation being made,
they found that some white man or men had been there and had stolen the
blanket or robe in which she was wrapped. If they were ever captured, I am
not aware of it. I said that white men did it, because a negro is too
superstitious to do it, and I do not believe there is an Indian in the
Territory who would stoop to such a ghoulish act; so I shall give some
white animal the credit for the deed.
The government also built large corrals or cowpens where the cattle were
issued to the Indians. On the size of the family depended the size of the
cow or steer issued. The Agent had the name of each family and the number
of persons comprising it. When a steer was selected a cowpuncher rode
among the herd and cut out the desired animal and rushed him through the
gate of the corral where the Indians were waiting with bows and arrows to
kill him. They seldom killed him at the first or second shot. More
frequently a dozen shots were required before they struck a vital spot.
When the beast fell, the squaws, papooses and dogs came along to do the
skinning and oversee the division of the meat. Each one came in for a
share. After the killing, the lordly old buck would seek out the shelter
of some tree or other shady place to rest his manly form until the animal
was dressed and ready for consumption; then he would return and fill his
capacious stomach with wohaw. The Government shortly changed the arrow
shooting feat as it considered that such a practice had no civilizing
influence on the Indian and, besides, it wanted them to forget their old
habits as soon as possible. Thereafter, when on issuing day a beef was
selected, a man was there to shoot it in the corral and the Indian entered
with his ponies to drag away the carcass to dress it outside.
After some time the Department decided to remove a large number of the
Indians at Camp Supply to the Darlington Agency which is located about 140
miles south-east of Supply on the north bank of the North Canadian river,
and about two miles from Fort Reno. Here they settled down submissively
and appeared to be content with their existing condition. At times there
were some small complaints about the agent, which upon investigation
proved oftentimes to be correct. On the other hand there was a disturbing
element. This thing is not common to the Indian alone, but may be found
among civilized folks who are not at peace with themselves or the world at
large. Taking everything into consideration, they were doing about as well
as could be expected under the circumstances.
The other band of Cheyennes who had located on Pond Creek, were also
brought down to the Darlington Agency. This left the Cherokee Strip
comparatively deserted, but it did not remain so long as the cowmen
entered there and built ranches and stocked them with cattle under leases
from the Indians. There were the Turkey Track, the Box T. R-S, Bull Foot
and other ranches too numerous to mention, all located in the Cherokee
Strip.
Everything moved along smoothly with but little trouble from the Indians
until the year 1874, when the spirit of unrest seized them again and
extended to all the Indians over the western plains. Some had one
grievance and some had another. They began making medicine, which to a
man acquainted with the Indians meant trouble sooner or later. At that
time, supplies to Anadarko, Ft. Reno, and the Darlington Agency were
freighted from Wichita, Kansas, and distributed to the different bands at
these places. As there were no railroads in this country, it gave
employment to hundreds of men and teams on the trails to enable them to
keep up the supplies. The freighting business was a great boon to the
early settlers of Kansas as the grasshoppers had destroyed everything in
the form of vegetation and the settlers who had teams went to Wichita and
engaged in freighting for the government. Even the white folks at this
time were reduced to a great state of privation and had to depend on the
bounty of the outside world. The more fortunate in the older states
responded to their appeal and tided them over their distress until
prosperity placed them beyond the reach of want.
About this time small bands of discontented Cheyennes began prowling
around over the country and occasionally went beyond the limit allowed
them by the Agent, and then returned to draw their rations with the other
Indians at the Agency. They continued to do this for some time and finally
began to make depredations on stock or anything else that came within
their reach. The Agent prone to avoid trouble with them, treated them
leniently, but the more leniency he showed, the bolder they became until a
small band under the leadership of Tall Meat, a petty chief, went north as
far as Buffalo Springs on the south line of the Cherokee Strip. There they
could see the freight wagons in the distance laden with government
supplies heading for Anadarko, and came to the immediate decision of
raiding the train. They withdrew into a canyon on the side of the trail so
as to be out of sight when the train arrived. They intended to murder the
teamsters and plunder their goods of whatever they wanted and then make
their escape. A man named Patrick Hennessey was driving the lead wagon of
one of the trains. He was trudging along on foot beside his team without
the slightest suspicion of any danger. As soon as he had passed where they
were hiding they shot him in the back. When the shooting took place the
team stampeded and dragged Hennessey in his dying condition along the
ground. The wagon upset and a bag of grain fell across Hennessey's lower
limbs and there he lay dead. In the meantime the drivers of the other
wagons together with a passenger who was working his way down the country,
abandoned their teams and wagons and fled. Next day the Indian Agent with
an escort happened to pass that way and discovered the work of destruction
of the day previous. They found the remnants of the wagon which had been
set on fire. Some of the oats which comprised part of the load were still
burning, and the sack that had fallen across poor Hennessey's limbs in
burning had charred his legs to a crisp. The agent, John D. Miles, and his
escort, Billy Mulally, dug a kind of temporary grave to protect the
remains from the coyotes and the buzzards and marked the place with a few
rocks. Every freighter that passed that way felt it his duty to see that
the grave was kept in as good condition as circumstances would permit. The
resting place of Pat Hennessey became a landmark for all travellers in
that section until the Rock Island railroad was built, when the remains
were removed to their present place of rest. The city of Hennessey, one of
the most prosperous little cities in the state is named in his honor. I
have since been told that the women of Hennessey have erected a monument
with suitable inscription at his grave. The other teamsters who fled when
the first shot was fired were overtaken and killed at some distance from
where Hennessey fell.
This little band of highwaymen could not expect to be allowed to pursue
their murderous way with impunity. They had no following, as such acts
would be condemned by the best Indians of their tribe, and again they were
surrounded by forts. Supply on the north, Elliot on the west, Sill on the
south, and Reno at home. A small band of white men might escape under
such conditions as it would be possible for them to avoid detection, but
not for Indians of the kind, as their approach would be a signal to begin
shooting. It was a very short time until they were captured and brought
into the agency. Several others were rounded up at the same time. Then an
official investigation was made and after a great deal of red tape
ceremonies and other preliminaries, it was thought best for the interests
of the Indians, as well as for the safety of the white settlers, to
transport them to the Dry Tortugas. I have never visited that locality,
but from what I have learned from persons who did, it was not a very
desirable place to locate a people who might expect any great degree of
personal comfort. I had been told by a man who spent some time there, that
if the government sent those folks there to confine and punish them, it
had struck the exact spot where everything had a tendency to add to human
misery, and he believed it was located so close to the region of the lost
that he could hear old Cerberus barking across the dead line.
To show the reader a fine sense of filial affection and brotherly
attachment is not a stranger to the savage breast, I must mention a little
circumstance that occurred. When all that were to be sent off were
standing around and their friends were giving their farewell greetings,
one young Indian stepped forward and asked the officer in command if he
were going to take his brother away where maybe so he not come back some
time. The officer replied that such was the present intention, but
modified his remark by saying that at some time in the future they might
regain their liberty if they were good Indians. The young Indian hesitated
a moment and then said, "Well, me go too. Me not want for stay here and my
brother he take away some place I not know and maybe so he not come back
at all sometime. Me go, too." The commanding officer granted his request
and gave him transportation along with his brother to the Dry Tortugas,
situated 175 miles west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico.
When the Indians were removed, in a short time everything dropped back
into peaceful channels and ran along in a comparatively smoother fashion
until Chief Dull Knife became uneasy and wanted to return to the Black
Hill country. His outbreak will form the subject of another chapter.
Since writing the above I have had occasion to visit one of the public
schools of El Reno, where I found a history of Oklahoma written by Joseph
B. Thoburn, former secretary of agriculture, and Isaac M. Holcomb, former
superintendent of Oklahoma City schools. On page 133 I found a brief
history of the tragic death of Pat. Hennessey on July 3rd, 1874, and what
a brave defense he made against such odds and when captured was bound to a
wagon wheel and burned alive. Also, there was a foot-note stating that it
was reported and generally believed that it was the deed of white men
disguised as Indians, in order to have it charged up to the Indians. Such
was not the case and the above statement is misleading and incorrect, and
for the benefit of the school children of the State of Oklahoma, as well
as in justice to the Indian I shall set down the correct statement of the
case.
My authority for my version of the affair are the following gentlemen:
John Murphy of El Reno, and H. A. Todd of Calumet, brother-in-law of Billy
Mulally who assisted John D. Miles, Indian agent at Darlington, to bury
Pat. Hennessey, while on their way to Wichita, Kansas. Billy Mulally is
still living at Calumet and can be consulted in regard to the matter.
Their version of the affair is as follows:
Patrick Hennessey in the lead of a wagon train was going from Wichita,
Kansas, to Anadarko, I. T. loaded with grain and other supplies for the
government. He had been warned at Buffalo Springs ranch, kept by a man
named Mosher, that the Cheyenne Indians were on the war-path, and was
advised to go no farther. He persisted in going and in like manner did the
two other teams of the train. With them was a passenger who was working
his way with them. When not far from where Hennessey, Okla. is now
located, a band a Cheyenne Indians, under the leadership of Bear Shield
and Tall Meat, came out of a draw and shot Hennessey in the back. The
commotion caused by them stampeded the mules Hennessey was driving. He in
his dying condition hung on to the lines and was dragged along the ground,
as he had been walking alongside the wagon. Presently the wagon upset and
a sack of oats fell across Hennessey's prostrate form and pinned him to
the ground. He was dead. The other drivers with their passenger leaped
from their wagons and ran north-east in the direction of Skeleton Creek
where they were followed by the Chyennes and killed, and were afterwards
buried by the cowboys and Mosher. This accounts for their not being buried
with Hennessey. The burning of Hennessey cannot be attributed to the
Cheyennes as the Osages happened along about this time and the Cheyennes
fled. The Osages after plundering the wagons of all they wanted, set fire
to what they could not carry away. The following forenoon, John D. Miles,
Indian Agent at Darlington, accompanied by Billy Mulally, a cowman on his
way to Kansas, came across the wreckage. The grain was still burning and
Pat Hennessey's body lay partly under a sack of grain which was still
smouldering, and not tied to the wagon wheel as the history has it. From,
there they removed him and buried him in a temporary grave. From this
resting place he was afterwards removed to what is now called Hennessey,
Okla., where there stands a splendid monument erected to his memory by the
women of Oklahoma.
Note--This correction is only one of many that might be made in our
present day history which pretend to set forth a correct idea of the
early days of our state. For any further reference to such matters, living
witnesses are at hand to give a correct version of many erroneous
statements that have crept into our text books and other writings.