For Indians, Lost War Sowed
Seeds Of Eventual Salvation

By David Bowser

CANYON, Texas — Despite the defeat and suffering, a Cheyenne chief says the Red River Indian War of a century ago across what is now the Texas Panhandle is significant to the humanity of his tribe and others who fought there.

Lawrence H. Hart, executive director of the Cheyenne Cultural Center in Clinton, Okla., and one of four principal chiefs of his tribe, says the Red River Indian War of 1874-75 was the crucible which forged the Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa and Arapaho peoples.

Speaking at a Panhandle Plains Historical Museum symposium on the war of the 1870s that essentially cleared the High Plains of native tribes, Hart says four significant developments came out of the war.

Wearing a Thomas Jefferson Peace Medal, struck in 1801 that Lewis and Clark gave to Cheyenne leaders in 1804 in the Black Hills area of what became South Dakota, Hart said the first Europeans the Cheyenne met were French.

"French traders had penetrated the heart of the Louisiana Territory, and we met them at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers in what is now the southwest part of the State of Wisconsin," he continued. "The first meeting was friendly."

The newcomers were anxious to trade, especially for pelts, furs or animal hides.

"They were not intent on driving us out of their newly acquired territory," Hart said.

The French the Cheyenne first met were of the mercantile class.

"There was another class of French," he said. "These were the clerics."

These two groups of French held divergent views, he noted. The clerics held the view of native peoples as people without culture, without religion, without a system of law.

"These clerics were certainly myopic in their views compared to those of the mercantile class, the French traders," Hart said.

In the early days of trading, somewhere north of New Orleans, the French met and traded with the Indians, Hart said. Communication was difficult. As the traders were leaving for France, they proposed to take two young native boys and leave two of theirs by mutual agreement.

The Indians learned to speak French. The two young Frenchmen, who remained behind, learned that tribal language. When the traders returned the following year, there were four persons who could communicate in two languages.

"That greatly influenced more friendly trade relationships," Hart explained. "Moreover, these traders learned that these people had culture, religion and a system of law."

Some 250 years later, those tribes that were engaged in the Red River War also had culture, religion and a system of law, Hart said.

But the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes had been confined to reservations in Indian Territory. Quoting from writings of a missionary's daughter during the time prior to the war, Hart said she described the tribes as a stalwart people that had degraded to one of misery.

Promised annuities in treaties such as the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 or the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 were not fulfilled, Hart said.

"In a desperate effort to survive as a people of culture, religion and government," he continued, the Kiowa, Comanche, the Plains Apache, the Arapaho and Cheyenne left the reservation.

"They took part in many engagements that we now call the Red River War. They lost the war, but I maintain that the battle for their peoplehood was won."

Even in defeat, the Red River War served as an empowerment for these High Plains tribes, he contended.

"It is ironic that survival necessitated this war, these many engagements, and although the tribes suffered casualties and imprisonment for many of our people, the end result was survival," Hart said.

The tribes are still here, he noted. They still have their culture. They still practice their religion. They still speak their languages and sing their songs. They still have many of their ceremonies.

"There was not total defeat in the Red River War, for we are still a people with culture and a system of law," Hart said. "I look upon the Red River War as tantamount to going through the arduous Sundance, which the Cheyenne still practice."

The Sundance, he explained, is an annual ritual of renewal.

"In the Red River War, there was suffering to be sure, but in the end, our ways were renewed," Hart said. "It's like the Sundance. It's a very arduous task. There is suffering, for when one fasts for three days around the summer solstice, June 21, it means that one does not take food or water and dances when required. At the end of the dance, according to our view, all of creation is renewed. At the end of the Red River War, in spite of defeat and the suffering, as a people we were renewed."

Their culture has survived, as has their language, which is being taught in their schools. Updated versions of these languages and dictionaries are now available on computer.

"We still have our sacred ceremonies," Hart said. "We still have those same war societies who engaged in the Red River War, the Elk Scrapers, the Bow Strings, the Dog Soldiers and the Kit Foxes. Each of them have their own ways including songs that belong only to them. We still have a council of 44 peace chiefs. We have our own ways. As Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and Cheyenne, we still dance."

Their art still lives. Indeed, Plains Indian ledger art survives not only in museums and collections throughout the world, but serves as a basis for contemporary artists from the tribes.

"The Plains Indian ledger art already existed but was used extensively by the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors, especially those who were imprisoned after the war," Hart said.

Several of the artist were charged either as participants or as ringleaders in the engagements and in some atrocious acts that were committed, he noted. They were gathered at their respective reservations and sent to Fort Sill by wagon. By train they went to St. Augustine, Fla., to be imprisoned at Fort Marion. Out of that came Fort Marion art.

"It is a by-product of the Red River War," Hart explained. "Thanks to Capt. Richard Pratt, those prisoners were able to make a pictured record of their experiences including their imprisonment. They sold them to citizens and tourists in St. Augustine."

The accused were never sentenced. There was never a trial. Attempts were made, Hart said, but none developed. They were chained and sent off to prison.

Of the 72 prisoners, 33 were Cheyenne, two were Arapaho, 27 were Kiowa, nine were Comanche and one was Caddo.

"I have been to Fort Marion twice," Hart said.

The first time he went for research. The second time, he says, he went by himself.

"I wanted to be alone," Hart explained. "I had a personal quest."

He focused his thoughts on the prisoners. He sat on a bench that faced east.

"In our tradition, a vision or a dream or any revelation will come from the east," Hart pointed out. "In a vision quest, facing east is important, therefore. I sat on that bench and in a few moments a marvelous revelation came to me."

Hart said that in the Cheyenne way, four is a cardinal number. There are four primary directions: northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. The fort is laid out on a north-south axis, but the corners extend to the four sacred directions of the Cheyenne.

"The corners of the fort were in those directions important to our people," he said.

At each corner, the fort jutted out in arrowhead shapes. Each arrowhead pointed to the southwest, southeast, northeast and northwest.

"As Cheyenne people, we have four sacred arrows given to us by Sweet Medicine, a great prophet and a cultural hero," Hart continued. "I had more than an 'aha' experience at the fort. It was an ecstatic moment. It was awesome. I am convinced I am not the first Cheyenne to have such an experience."

He thinks Making Medicine, Bear's Heart, Howling Wolf, Roman Nose and the others must have come from that same revelation.

Given their circumstances and conditions, Hart said, those prisoners of the Red River War made distinctive achievements.

"It is not only their achievements at Fort Marion that survive to this day," he continued. "So do their families, their clans, their tribal legacies."

One of the prisoners of the Red River War is a man whose name is often translated as Making Medicine. The literal translation would be Sundancer.

"This warrior also became known as Oakerhater," Hart said. "David Pendleton Oakerhater. He was a warrior. He was known to have participated in some of the engagements of the Red River War. He was one of the prisoners at Fort Marion."

He is also the first American citizen to be elevated to sainthood in the Church of England in the U.S.

"It is significant that he was a Native American," Hart said. "Moreover, he was a Cheyenne. One of those warriors. One of those prisoners."

His feast day in the Episcopal Church is the first Sunday of September.

"There are at least four noteworthy developments of the Red River War," Hart continued.

In addition to Oakerhater, there is the ledger art, Indian education and leadership development.

"We have many contemporary Cheyenne and Arapaho, Kiowa and Comanche artists who do ledger art, draw inspiration from those prisoners," Hart said.

Following the war, there was the development of an educational program for the tribes.

"Education began inside the prison," Hart noted.

Later in April, 1878, when many decided to remain in the east to further their education, they studied at a black institution, Hampton Institute, and still later at the Carlisle Indian School, Hart continued. It was a direct result of what happened immediately after the Red River War.

"Capt. Richard Pratt was assigned to escort the prisoners from Fort Sill to Fort Marion," Hart said. "He remained with them. Initially, he held the view that these were savages. He came to know them as a people. It became his obsession to better their lot. He almost alone was responsible for the establishment of the Carlisle Indian School."

Today, members of the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho and Cheyenne hold professorships in a number of universities, Hart said proudly.

"All the tribes represented in the Red River War have produced many leaders," he continued. "That development can be traced to that period immediately following the Red River War."

Bear's Heart, the most prolific artist of the Fort Marion prisoners, chose to remain in the East when released. He went to the Hampton Institute, and ended up representing the school in the inaugural parade of James Garfield, carrying the American flag.

But perhaps the most interesting was David Pendleton Oakerhater, the former warrior and ex-prisoner whose spiritual journey culminated with sainthood in the Episcopal Church.