forked from historic-trails/website
-
Notifications
You must be signed in to change notification settings - Fork 0
/
html_file
211 lines (143 loc) · 24.8 KB
/
html_file
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
kramdown > /tmp/github.html
---
title: Fort Larned National Historic Site
author: Benjamin Liu
date: 2019-12-05
---
/
# Fort Larned National Historic Site
Fort Larned was an American military post near Larned, Kansas that was in operation from 1859 to 1878. It was one of several frontier forts that were established in the 1800's to protect trade routes and act as launching points for military campaigns against Native Americans on the western frontier.
Fort Larned's location on the Santa Fe Trail made it an ideal place for diplomacy and meetings between Native American leaders and the US government, as well as being a base of operations for military expeditions on the plains.
Today, Fort Larned is one of the best-preserved examples of these forts, and is a prominent National Park Service exhibit.[^ZwinkPreface]
{% include figure.html
class="img-center"
width="60%"
caption="Fort Larned's location along the Santa Fe Trail. Although much of the responsibility of patrolling the trail would go to Fort Dodge, Fort Larned's location made it a crucial buffer between the trail and the Native Americans of northwest Kansas."
image-url="fort-larned-trail-map.jpg"
source-url="https://www.smithburnett.com/?page=history_ft_larned"
%}
## Origins
{% include figure.html
class="img-left"
width="33%"
caption="The territories that the US acquired in the early 19th century. The annexation of Texas and the US's victory in the Mexican-American War were the largest influences on the growth of the Santa Fe Trail."
image-url="us-western-purchases.jpg"
source-url="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/photo/territorial-gains/"
%}
In 1848, the [Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo) ended the Mexican-American War. Shortly afterwards, with the [Gadsden Purchase of 1854](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase), and several other land acquisitions, the United States had secured the western territory that would create the borders that we know today. With this new frontier opened up, settlers began to pour in. In the early 19th century, the US military’s goal in the West was simple: they would maintain a line of forts to create a "buffer zone" between the natives and white settlers. The goal of these forts was to act as peacekeepers; both to prevent Native American attacks on the rapidly expanding settlements and to keep the white settlers in check.[^ZwinkQuote1]
However, with the frontier now entirely claimed by the U.S., this idea of having a "buffer zone" no longer applied. It was decided that more permanent forts were needed, and it also came to light that the policy toward Native Americans should change. This new policy called for clamping down on the natives, using military force to keep them in their reservations and away from white settlers. Dozens of new forts sprung up across the West, including Fort Larned, and a series of major conflicts with the Native Americans (the largest campaigns of the [Indian Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars)) started, with these forts as their focal points.[^Zwink4]
However, this was not the only reason these forts were created. During this period, trade routes to the West saw substantial increases in both traffic and value of shipped goods. A number of these forts were built along the Santa Fe Trail, with the most significant being Fort Larned in Kansas, Fort Lyon in Colorado, and Fort Union in New Mexico. These three forts essentially held each major fork of the Santa Fe Trail, and supplied troops that patrolled hundreds of miles of trail.[^NRHP7] These frontier forts and their soldiers became the only force of law on these trails, and the only source of the US government's authority on the frontier.[^Unrau]
## The Fort
{% include figure.html
class="img-right"
width="33%"
caption="The view of Fort Larned, looking across the plains."
image-url="view-of-fort-larned.jpg"
source-url="https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/216958/page/1"
%}
The first iteration of Fort Larned was called "Camp on the Pawnee Fork", and was located on the Pawnee River, at the base of Lookout Hill (now called “Jenkins Hill”). This was a small camp, consisting of tents and other temporary structures. The site was moved to a more permanent location in 1859, to a bend in the river overlooking the plains, and was given the name “Fort Larned” after the US army paymaster, Col. Benjamin F. Larned. [^Unrau] At most, the fort housed around 50 structures, but the majority of these were extremely temporary. In 1960, the first set of real buildings were constructed, but they were not very well built, being thrown together quickly with adobe and wood. As Fort Larned's significance to the US government grew, it was decided that the fort should be given more fortified, permanent buildings. In 1864, a stone blockhouse was built, and later, in 1866, a stone commisary storehouse was constructed. This storehouse had thick walls and rifle ports built into the side, and would be the extent of the fort's fighting structures.[^NRHP8]
The fort overlooked large stretches of the plains to the north and south, and was bordered by groves of hardwood trees along the river. The river itself acted as a moat along the northwest edge of the fort, giving it a natural barrier against any threats. [^NRHP] Because of this natural defence, Fort Larned was never built up like a traditional fort, with large walls or entrenchments. Despite its name, Fort Larned was really more of a small outpost than a proper fort. This was also reflected in the number of troops garrisoned at the fort: even at its peak, the fort never housed more than a couple hundred soldiers.[^Unrau]
From the government's perspective, the fort’s construction was an immediate success. Fort Larned became the home of an [Indian agent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_agent) of the Southern Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche tribes, [Colonel Jesse Leavenworth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Henry_Leavenworth). Because of this, the fort became one of the primary distribution points for annuities sent to Native American tribes, and its location on the Santa Fe Trail made it an easy spot for American and Native American leaders to meet.
Before the creation of Fort Larned, Santa Fe Trail travellers would leave [Fort Riley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Riley), Kansas and would not see another permanent Army post for 550 miles, until they reached [Fort Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Union_National_Monument), New Mexico. Its presence on the Trail lowered the frequency of Native American attacks considerably, to the point where in 1861, the commanding officer of Fort Larned stated that natives had completely left the Santa Fe Trail area, and that there was no sign of hostilities in the near future. However, the onset of the Civil War would bring about a new wave of unrest in the plains.[^Unrau]
## Early Interactions with Native Americans
In the 1830’s and 1840’s, with the increase in development of Texas, and its adoption as a state, Apache and Cheyenne tribes in northern Texas were forcibly moved further north, into western Kansas. The increased Native American population led to a sharp decline in the buffalo population, and a scarcity of resources for the native tribes living off the land. Coupled with the increased traffic on the Santa Fe Trail, this forced many natives in the area to turn to looting and raiding to survive.[^Unrau] Reports from people travelling the trail talked about running into large groups of natives waiting at strategic points in the trail, coercing the travellers to give them food in exchange for safe passage, or just looking for any opportunity to steal from the wagons.[^Zwink78]
Over the course of the Civil War, with many of the troops along the frontier having been relocated to the east to fight the Confederacy, the fighting over resources on the Santa Fe Trail intensified. This would lead to the [Nine Mile Ridge Massacre](https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-ninemileridge/), about 75 miles west of Fort Larned[^Zwink82]:
>In January, 1863, a wagon train that was preparing to bed down for the night was surrounded by a group of hungry Indians who demanded food and coffee. In the excitement that followed, a teamster wounded one of the Indians. This prompted them to return before daylight and massacre all the teamsters, excluding one who escaped to the protection of Fort Larned.[^Unrau]
The fort itself would also become involved in several incidents with the Natives, and was raided several times:
>In that same year a group of destitute Kiowas, under the guise of wanting to trade, ran off 300 cattle from Fort Larned…
[In] August [...], Little Heart, en route from his Cheyenne village just west of Fort Larned to the fort for the purpose of obtaining supplies, was shot by a sentry. It was later determined that Little Heart had been drunk and that he had attempted to ride over Isaac Marrs, the sentry.[^Unrau]
The relationship between the Native Americans and the soldiers of the fort was not all bad, however. In January of that same year, a group of [Caddo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddo) from Fort Cobb, Oklahoma, wandered up to Fort Larned, hoping to find somewhere to settle down. They had fled their village after their [Indian agent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_agent) had left them to join the Confederate army. The authorities at Fort Larned were sympathetic to them, and managed to get them a chunk of money and a large swath of land across the river to set up farms.[^Report] Unfortunately, relations between the US government and the tribes of the southern plains would only get worse, and a year later, a war started. The Caddo farmers fled, hoping not to get caught in the crossfire.[^Unrau]
## Conflicts of 1864-1867
{% include figure.html
class="img-right"
width="33%"
caption="An artist's depiction of the Sand Creek Massacre. When news of this event reached the tribes of the plains, distrust and hatred sparked off an entire series of conflicts."
image-url="sand-creek.jpg"
source-url="https://time.com/4584022/sand-creek-massacre-anniversary/"
%}
In 1864, as tensions came to a head, conflict broke out across the plains, and violence swept the region. In the summer, a group of 60 teamsters were attacked just west of Fort Larned. Many of them were killed, and one survivor was rescued later, after he had been captured and tortured by the natives. In the winter, the infamous [Sand Creek Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre) took place in the Colorado Territory, where an entire Native American village was slaughtered.[^Zwink88]
Throughout the year, Fort Larned was constantly raided for its supplies, especially its livestock and horses, and the surrounding area saw countless attacks and skirmishes. One incident in particular almost took out the fort entirely:
>On July 17, 1864, [...] the Indians were allowed to enter and move around the post without any restrictions. At the same time, however, they were planning a scheme to massacre the entire garrison. A square dance was to be held, and there the soldiers would be away from their weapons. Meanwhile, the Indians planned to infiltrate the fort, and at a prearranged signal would launch a surprise attack. The scheme partially was exposed by accident. Approximately three hours before the designated time for the attack and prior to the arrival of the Indians from their camps, a rumor circulated among the civilians and soldiers at the post, claiming that there was possible danger of Indian attack. The rumor reportedly originated from information that an interpreter had overheard from the Indians. Inasmuch as rumors of Indian attacks were quite common, there was no great alarm and no attention was given to the alleged attack. [...] The officer of the day, nevertheless, decided to order the guards to keep all other Indians from entering the post. The Kiowa chief, Satank, was the leader of the attack, but when he approached a sentry near the sutler's store, he was refused entry into the garrison. Satank became irritated, and the Kiowa chieftain first shot an arrow at the sentry and then fired a revolver. Wounded in the hand, the guard returned the fire, killing a Mexican who was riding behind Satank, apparently the Kiowa's aide. This exchange of gunfire prematurely triggered the attack. Consequently, the Indians abandoned their initial objective of a massacre and instead scrambled to confiscate the garrison's livestock. More than 200 mules and horses were lost--all the livestock of the post.[^Zwink85]
No other attempts at directly attacking the fort ever came, but fighting in the area would continue until early 1865. At this point, Col. Leavenworth (who had become the Indian Agent for the Kiowa and Comanche) wanted to try to find a way to stop the bloodshed. In October, he met with leaders from Kiowa, Comanche, Plains Apache, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne tribes near the Little Arkansas River. Theoretically, this meeting was a success, as every leader present signed new treaties with the US government. In actuality, not every group within those tribes agreed with the treaties, or considered them to be binding in any way. The more militant groups, especially those within the Cheyenne, did not take those treaties to heart, and continued raiding throughout 1866 and 1867.[^Zwink89]
At this point, the US government decided it needed to send a message, so in the early spring of 1867, [Major General Winfield Scott Hancock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winfield_Scott_Hancock) and the men under his command were sent to Fort Larned.
## Hancock’s Expedition
{% include figure.html
class="img-right"
width="33%"
caption="An artist's depiction of Hancock's expedition burning down the Cheyenne/Arapahoe village."
image-url="cheyenne-village.jpg"
source-url="https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209726/page/1"
%}
Hancock started gathering troops in Fort Riley for his expedition on April 3, 1867. There, he picked up the 7th Calvary, and with it, [Lieutenant Colonel George Custer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer), who, from this point forward, would be the commander of the 7th Calvary. They arrived at Fort Larned on April 7, where they stayed until the 13th, when they met with several Cheyenne chieftans from a nearby village.[^Coates51] During this meeting, the main goal of this expedition was explained to the chiefs, as written in the journal of Army surgeon Isaac Coates:
>"The Great Father [The President] has heard that some Indians have taken white men and women captives. He has heard also that a great many Indians are trying to get up war to try to hunt the white men. That is the reason I came down here. I intend, not only to visit you here, but my troops will remain among you, to see that the peace and safety of the Plains is preserved. I am going, also, to visit you in your camp. [...] [We] are not anxious for war against Indians, but are ready for a just war, [...] Let the guilty, then, beware, I say to you, to show you the importance of keeping treaties made with us, and of letting the white man travel unmolested." - General Winfield S. Hancock [^Coates54]
In response, one of the Chieftans stated:
>"We never did the white man any harm. We don't intend to. [...] We are willing to be friends with the white man. [...] The buffalo are diminishing fast. The antelope, that were plenty a few years ago, are now thin. When they shall all die away, we shall be hungry; we shall want something to eat and will be compelled to come into the fort. Your young men must not fire on us. When they see us, they fire, and we fire on them." - Tall Bull [^Coates57]
From Coates's perspective, Hancock's speeches during the meeting were patronizing and arrogant. His goal was to intimidate the chiefs into following their former treaties - treaties that were unfair, unjust, and promised reparations for the crimes of white settlers that never came, and Hancock ignored Tall Bull's response, instead insisting on holding a meeting in their village. [^Coates58]
The following morning, his expedition set out to march on the Cheyenne village, about 35 miles west of Fort Larned. About 10 miles before reaching the village, they ran into a group of Cheyenne warriors who proposed that they meet the following day, promising to gather up other local tribes' chieftans as well. Hancock accepted, and continued marching his troops forward until they stopped and made camp within a few hundred yards of the village. The sight of army soldiers frightened the villagers, especially since they had heard the story of the Sand Creek Massacre, and they fled as fast as they could, abandoning almost all of their posessions. During the night, a small group of soldiers, including Custer and Coates, went down to the village to investigate, and reported that the village was deserted.[^Coates62]
The next morning, Custer and his men were tasked with hunting down the villagers, and with that, Hancock declared that it would "now be war against the Cheyenne and Sioux between the Arkansas and the Platte."[^Coates74] Shortly afterwards, he ordered the Cheyenne village to be burned to the ground.
Sources disagree on what exactly compelled Hancock to give the order, but in general, his decisions seemed to be driven by impatience and mistrust with the natives, as well as a generally arrogant sense of superiority. Regardless, his mishandling of the situation at the village caused tempers to flare, and his expedition sparked off a series of conflicts across the Plains. Several historical sources describe this season as a large scale campaign, called "Hancock's War", while others see it as a heartless, unnecessary slaughter, with Hancock being "... a buffoon bumbling around Kansas with fifteen hundred men in tow, futilely pursuing uncatchable Indians and oblivious or indifferent to the suffering he was causing women and children."[^Coates23]
Because of his failures, Hancock would be transferred from his post at Fort Larned and replaced with [General Phillip J. Sheridan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Sheridan#Indian_Wars). The effects of Hancock’s expedition would end up being one of the main driving forces behind the Medicine Lodge Treaty.
## The Medicine Lodge Treaty
{% include figure.html
class="img-right"
width="33%"
caption="A sketch of the proceedings of the Medicine Lodge Treaty. The conference was filled with speeches from both sides about the benefits of peace between whites and natives, as well as mutual discussion about the causes of distrust and conflict."
image-url="medicine-lodge-treaty.jpg"
source-url="http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/october_28_1867_medicine_lodge_treaty_is_signed"
%}
With the continued fighting on the plains, the US government decided that it would be in their best interest to resolve the situation diplomatically. In July, 1867, it was decided that a peace comission should be created, and over the next two years, this comission would travel around the frontier, holding meetings and signing treaties.[^Oman37]
In the fall, tribal leaders from the Great Plains tribes - Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho - all agreed to meet at Medicine Lodge Creek, in southern Kansas. Preliminary talks began at Fort Larned, and after they had gathered, the peace commission left for Medicine Lodge Creek on October 13.[^Chalfant472] The proceedings went relatively well, with every tribe present signing a new treaty. However, according to several reporters, it appeared that the native leaders were misled into thinking that these treaties simply meant that they would uphold peace, and not disrupt the building of new roads and railroads, while still keeping their homelands.[^Chalfant500] In truth, the treaties were a continuation of a process that has been repeated throughout the US since the signing of the [Indian Removal Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act), and all of those tribes signed away their land in exchange for gifts and new reservations in "Indian Territory".[^Pusey]
Both the tribal leaders and the peace commission left Medicine Lodge Creek thinking they had secured a lasting peace.
## Last Years In The Military
This peace would be short-lived, and soon the expeditions of Generals Sheridan and Custer swept through the Midwest and, after years of warfare in the bloodiest chapter of the [American Indian Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars), completely wiped away any further resistance by the natives. After years of bloodshed, the US military finally succeded in its goal of confining the Native Americans to reservations far away from significant trails, and more importantly, away from the routes that would become the railroads.
By late 1868, all of the southern plains tribes were evicted from their homelands in Kansas. With no one left to pay annuities to, Fort Larned’s annuity distribution center was closed, and its job as a site of diplomacy to these tribes had come to an end. The fort stayed operational for about ten more years, mainly providing troops to protect railroad workers, but the amount of activity in the fort was greatly reduced. Operations slowly wound down until the fort was abandoned in 1878.[^NRHP6]
## Fort Larned as a National Historic Site
{% include figure.html
class="img-right"
width="33%"
caption="A painting of Fort Larned, showing wagon trains leaving the fort to cross the plains on the Santa Fe Trail."
image-url="fort-larned-watercolor.jpg"
source-url="https://www.jamesmannartfarm.com/jmas401.html"
%}
Between 1878 and 1884, Fort Larned was left to the elements, and with the help of scavengers, slowly detiorated. However, in 1884 the land was sold at an auction and quickly passed through the hands of several owners, and the fort was converted into a ranching operation. The barracks were converted into barns, new silos and corrals were built, and many of its more temporary structures were demolished. By 1960, the site had been turned from a rough military outpost into a stylish, cultivated ranch. It remained as such until its adoption as a National Historic Site in 1964. Since then, the National Park Service has tried its best to revert these changes. All of the new ranch structures have been taken down, and the only buildings left are the few permanent buildings that the military built in the 1860's.[^NRHP9]
### Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Larned_National_Historic_Site
https://www.nps.gov/fols/learn/historyculture/santa-fe-trail.htm
https://www.nps.gov/fols/learn/historyculture/hancocks-war.htm
https://www.kshs.org/index.php?url=p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-story-of-fort-larned/13139
https://www.jamesmannartfarm.com/jmas401.html
http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.017
### Citations
Chalfant, W. Y. (2010). Hancocks war: conflict on the southern plains. Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark Company, An imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press.
Coates, I., & Kennedy, W. J. D. (1997). On the plains with Custer and Hancock: the journal of Isaac Coates, army surgeon. Boulder, CO: Johnson Books.
National Register of Historic Places, Fort Larned National Historic Site, Larned, Pawnee County, Kansas, National Register #66000107.
Oman, K. (2002). THE BEGINNING OF THE END: THE INDIAN PEACE COMMISSION OF 1867-1868. Great Plains Quarterly, 22(1), 35-51. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.unm.edu/stable/23532701.
Pahre, R. (2012). RECONSIDERING NATIONAL PARK INTERPRETATION OF THE GREAT PLAINS AND TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST. Great Plains Research, 22(2), 99-122. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.unm.edu/stable/23780023.
Pusey, A. (2012). Precedents: October 28, 1867. Medicine Lodge Treaty Is Signed. ABA Journal, 98(10), 72-72. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.unm.edu/stable/23423745.
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1863, 253-254. Retrieved from digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?id=History.AnnRep63
Unrau, W. E. (1957). The Story of Fort Larned. In Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains (Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 257–280). Topeka, KS: Kansas Historical Foundation and the Department of History.
Zwink, T. A. (1980). Fort Larned: garrison on the central great plains (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University).
[^ZwinkPreface]: Zwink, iii
[^ZwinkQuote1]: Zwink, 1
[^Zwink4]: Zwink, 4
[^Zwink78]: Zwink, 78
[^Zwink82]: Zwink, 82
[^Zwink85]: Zwink, 85-86
[^Zwink88]: Zwink, 88
[^Zwink89]: Zwink, 89-91
[^Unrau]: Unrau
[^NRHP]: NRHP Fort Larned Inventory/Nomination Form
[^NRHP6]: NRHP Fort Larned Inventory/Nomination Form, 6
[^NRHP7]: NRHP Fort Larned Inventory/Nomination Form, 7
[^NRHP8]: NRHP Fort Larned Inventory/Nomination Form, 8
[^NRHP9]: NRHP Fort Larned Inventory/Nomination Form, 9-11
[^Coates23]: Coates & Kennedy, 23
[^Coates50]: Coates & Kennedy, 50-51
[^Coates54]: Coates & Kennedy, 54-55
[^Coates57]: Coates & Kennedy, 57
[^Coates58]: Coates & Kennedy, 58
[^Coates62]: Coates & Kennedy, 62-73
[^Coates74]: Coates & Kennedy, 74
[^Oman37]: Oman, 37
[^Chalfant472]: Chalfant, 472-473
[^Pusey]: Pusey