Indian Wars of Kansas
The history of Kansas, etched in the annals of westward expansion, is punctuated by a series of conflicts known as the Indian Wars of Kansas. These clashes, born from the friction between migrating settlers and indigenous tribes, shaped the territory’s destiny and left an indelible mark on the American landscape. This article delves into the significant events and key players that defined this turbulent period, exploring the battles, treaties, and cultural clashes that characterized the Indian Wars of Kansas.
Initially, the settlement of Kansas Territory unfolded with relatively minimal friction with the indigenous population. While isolated incidents of depredation occurred, they were not of a scale to incite widespread alarm. However, this period of relative calm was soon to be disrupted as the influx of settlers increased and the struggle for resources intensified.
The year 1857 marked a turning point with Colonel Edwin V. Sumner’s expedition into Indian territory. This campaign culminated in the Battle of Solomon Fork, fought in Graham County in July. This engagement, though relatively small in scale, signaled a growing tension between the U.S. military and the native tribes of the region. Two years later, in the spring of 1859, another notable conflict occurred on Crooked Creek, near the southwest corner of Ford County. This battle was part of the larger Washita Expedition, commanded by Major Earl Van Dorn, a figure who would later gain prominence as a general in the Confederate Army. These two encounters represent the most significant military events related to the Indian Wars of Kansas during the territorial period.
The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 dramatically altered the dynamics on the western frontier. With the Federal government preoccupied with the conflict against the Southern Confederacy, various Native American tribes seized the opportunity to resist the encroachment of settlers on their lands. The Sioux uprising in Minnesota in the summer of 1862 served as a stark example of the potential for widespread conflict. The following year, the Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa tribes became increasingly problematic in Colorado, necessitating the deployment of troops to protect the burgeoning settlements.
The year 1864 witnessed one of the most controversial events in the history of the Indian Wars of Kansas: the Sand Creek Massacre. On November 29, Colonel John Chivington led his command in an attack on a Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment on Sand Creek in Colorado. The resulting slaughter of numerous Native Americans, including women and children, sparked outrage and led to a formal investigation into Chivington’s actions.
The same year, General Samuel R. Curtis was dispatched to Fort Riley, Kansas, with orders from the War Department to raise a militia force. Their immediate objective was to relieve several wagon trains that had been trapped on Cow Creek along the Santa Fe Trail due to escalating Indian hostilities. Concurrently, Captain Henry Booth and Lieutenant Hallowell, while on an inspection tour escorted by Company L of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, were separated from their escort and pursued by a large group of Indians. They narrowly escaped, highlighting the ever-present danger on the Kansas frontier. Furthermore, some Native American tribes within the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) sided with the Confederate armies, adding another layer of complexity to the already volatile situation and causing considerable anxiety among settlers in southeastern Kansas.
The years 1865 and 1866 saw a series of expeditions launched against hostile Native American tribes in the northwest, with the focal points of conflict centered around Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and the Black Hills of South Dakota. The massacre at Fort Phil Kearny, Nebraska, in the fall of 1866, carried out by the Sioux, significantly elevated the prestige of Chief Red Cloud, who subsequently planned a widespread uprising for August 1867. However, by this time, the U.S. government had managed to deploy sufficient military forces to the region to prevent the planned uprising. Although these conflicts occurred outside of Kansas, the repeated defeats suffered by the Native American tribes in the northwest led to their fragmentation into smaller bands. These groups gradually moved southward, raiding settlements as they went, and eventually impacting the Indian Wars of Kansas.
In response to the growing unrest, General William T. Sherman called upon the governor of Kansas for volunteer troops on June 27, 1867. Governor Samuel Crawford swiftly issued a proclamation on July 1, authorizing the formation of a regiment of volunteer cavalry, to be mustered into the United States service for a period of six months. Although a full regiment was not ultimately formed, a battalion known as the Eighteenth Kansas was mustered in on July 15. Their primary duty was to safeguard employees working on the Union Pacific Railroad, protect western settlements, and provide security for emigrant wagon trains.
The Eighteenth Kansas battalion, under the command of Major Horace L. Moore, consisted of four companies comprising 358 officers and enlisted men. They served in western Kansas until their muster out on November 15. Despite this increase in military presence, Cheyenne and Sioux warriors ambushed and killed a detachment of 11 men from the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, along with their Indian guide, near Beaver Creek in Sherman County, Kansas. This incident became known as the Kidder Massacre.
Companies B and C of the Eighteenth Kansas were involved in a battle with Native Americans on Prairie Dog Creek on August 21. This encounter is referred to as the Battle of Beaver Creek.
The summer of 1868 was marked by heightened activity from hostile Native American tribes. In early June, Cheyenne warriors raided as far east as Council Grove, ostensibly to retaliate against the Kanza Indians for alleged injuries inflicted upon them near Fort Zarah the previous fall. However, their actions extended beyond this stated objective, as they robbed settlers, killed livestock, and committed various other outrages against the white population.
On August 4, approximately 225 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux warriors departed from Pawnee Fork and were spotted on the Saline River a few days later. These groups then launched raids in the valleys of the Saline and Solomon Rivers, capturing wagon trains, killing escorts, burning wagons, and taking two women, Miss White and Mrs. Morgan, as captives.
The Native American raids eventually extended to within 20 miles of Denver, Colorado, as their numbers swelled with the arrival of additional bands. The governors of Kansas and Colorado communicated the escalating violence to authorities in Washington, D.C., urging federal intervention and threatening to deploy state troops if necessary. The national government initially attempted to persuade the Native American tribes to return to their reservations. When these efforts failed, General Philip Sheridan, commander of the Department of the Missouri, was ordered to engage the Cheyenne, led by Roman Nose and Black Kettle. During this campaign, Colonel George A. Forsyth’s band of scouts, equipped with revolvers and repeating rifles, patrolled the region around the headwaters of the Solomon River and Fort Wallace, Kansas. In September, they fought the Battle of Beecher Island.
On October 9, 1868, General Sheridan requested Governor Samuel Crawford to raise a regiment of mounted volunteers "to serve for six months, unless sooner discharged, against the hostile Indians on the plains." This regiment was composed of twelve companies, each consisting of 100 men. On November 4, Governor Crawford resigned from his office to take command of the regiment. He departed Topeka the following day for the Indian country, with orders to join General Sheridan’s command at Camp Supply in Indian Territory. The march took 24 days, and the regiment reached Camp Supply on November 29.
Meanwhile, as winter approached, Black Kettle’s band moved southward to the Washita River. George Armstrong Custer was dispatched from Camp Supply, Oklahoma, in pursuit. Late on November 26, the scouts sighted Black Kettle’s village. They established camp for the night, and at daybreak the following day, Custer’s bugles signaled the charge. Accompanied by the Seventh regiment’s fighting tune, "Garry Owen," Custer’s men swept through the village. Black Kettle was killed early in the fight, and leadership of the Native American forces fell to Little Rock, a Cheyenne chief nearly as renowned as Black Kettle. The village was destroyed, but Custer soon discovered that this band was just one of many and that there were approximately 2,000 warriors in the vicinity, representing the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and a few Apache tribes.
Custer dismounted his men and adopted a defensive posture. Little Raven, an Arapaho warrior, Satanta, a Kiowa chief, and Little Rock, a Cheyenne chief, led the Native American forces. As ammunition dwindled, Quartermaster Major Bell charged the line and brought in a wagon filled with fresh supplies. The Native Americans then became more cautious and eventually began to retreat.
Custer deployed flankers and followed, attempting to create the impression that his command was merely the advance guard of a larger army. This ruse was intended to buy time for a safe withdrawal. The tactic proved successful, and as soon as the Native Americans were in full retreat, Custer began his march toward Camp Supply, Oklahoma, arriving on December 1, two days after the Nineteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. Official reports documented 353 officers, soldiers, and civilians killed during 1868.
From December 18, 1868, to January 6, 1869, the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry was stationed at Fort Cobb, Oklahoma. It then moved 28 miles southward to Fort Sill. Colonel Samuel Crawford resigned on February 12, and on March 23, Lieutenant-Colonel Moore was promoted to colonel, and Major W. C. Jones was simultaneously promoted to lieutenant colonel. On March 2, 1869, the command departed from Camp at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, dismounted, and moved along the southern base of the Wichita range "to stir up the Cheyenne." They crossed the Salt Fork on March 6, and after a difficult march, they overtook the Native Americans on March 20. The men of the Nineteenth were prepared to open fire when Colonel Moore received an order from General Custer not to fire. This order nearly triggered a mutiny within the ranks. The men pleaded, argued, swore, and even wept in their disappointment, but Custer’s primary objective was to secure the release of the two women, Mrs. Morgan and Miss White, who had been captured in Kansas the previous year. A conversation ensued, resulting in the chiefs Dull Knife, Big Head, Fat Bear, and Medicine Arrow being held as hostages by Custer until the women were safely returned to their families. This was accomplished on March 22. The Nineteenth did not participate in any battles, and the regiment was mustered out at Fort Hays, Kansas, on April 18, 1869.
In early May 1869, raiding parties of Native Americans began to appear around the frontier settlements. On May 21, they attacked a group of hunters on the Republican River, driving them and the settlers on White Rock Creek, in Republican County, down to Lake Sibley. Five days later, B.C. Sanders of Lake Sibley wrote to Adjutant-General W.S. Morehouse that six men had been killed and one woman and two boys were missing. On May 30, Native Americans raided settlements along the Saline River, killing and wounding 13 people and taking Mrs. Allerdice, Mrs. Weichell, and a child into captivity. Mrs. Weichell was later rescued, but the other prisoners were killed during a conflict between Native Americans and white troops under General E.A. Carr.
To protect the settlers, the adjutant-general mustered a battalion of four companies, totaling 311 men and officers, and dispatched them to Plum Creek, near the mouth of Spillman Creek, close to the forks of the Republican River and Beaver Creek. The cost of this battalion was slightly over $83,800, but its presence in the threatened areas deterred Native American raids and likely saved more than the cost in property, not to mention the preservation of human lives.
The year 1870 was relatively peaceful. According to the adjutant-general’s report, a group of 20-30 Native Americans attacked settlements on Limestone Creek in Mitchell County in May, killing three unarmed men. These were the only casualties in Kansas caused by Native Americans during that year.
No further significant Indian troubles occurred in Kansas until 1874. In the spring of that year, roving bands began harassing settlers in Ford, Barber, and Comanche Counties, prompting Governor Thomas Osborn to deploy a small contingent of state troops to the area. In August, approximately 20-30 Osage Indians from Black Dog’s and Big Chief’s bands entered Kansas under the guise of hunting on their traditional hunting grounds. Captain Ricker, with approximately 40 men, occupied a stockade near Kiowa, Kansas. Aware that the Native Americans were off their reservation without permission, he marched to their camp to ascertain their intentions. The chief emerged and met him some distance from the camp. When Ricker ordered him to instruct the others to approach, the chief gave orders in the Osage language to fire upon the whites.
Lieutenant Mosely understood the order and promptly seized the chief, warning him that any further act of treachery would result in his death. The leader’s actions likely incensed Ricker’s men, potentially making them more vengeful in their dealings with the Native Americans. The camp was dismantled, the ponies and camp equipment were seized by the whites, and four of the Osage were killed in the ensuing conflict. Edward P. Smith, the Indian Commissioner, informed the interior department that Ricker had acted without authorization but that following the incident, Governor Thomas Osborn had the company mustered as militia and backdated the muster order to suggest that the act had been committed under state authority. Governor Osborn commissioned Captain Lewis Hanback to investigate the affair and report. Captain Hanback’s conclusion was that "The attempt made by the Indian authorities to fasten the charge of murder and robbery on the whites is wholly and utterly without foundation. It arises from a misconception of the facts or a willful desire to malign and misrepresent."
Following this event, a period of four years of peace ensued, leading up to the last Native American raid in Kansas: the Cheyenne Raid in September 1878. Dull Knife’s band of northern Cheyenne, dissatisfied with the rations provided by the government, decided to leave their reservation in Oklahoma and return to their former home in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The final battle was the Battle of Punished Woman Fork in Scott County, Kansas, on September 27, 1878. This marked the effective end of the Indian Wars of Kansas.
The legacy of the Indian Wars of Kansas is a complex and often tragic one. It serves as a reminder of the profound impact of westward expansion on the lives and cultures of Native American tribes and the enduring consequences of conflict and displacement.
Compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated February 2025.
Also See:
- Indian Battles in Kansas
- Indian Terrors on the Santa Fe Trail
- Indian Wars, Battles & Massacres
- Indian Wars of the Frontier West
Sources:
- Blackmar, William; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Standard Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, 1912.
- Cutler, William; History of the State of Kansas, A.T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883.