| Key to Oklahoma |
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The Destruction of the Plains TribesAs Oklahoma was being opened to the outside world, more and more American settlers moved into the area. That increased the trouble between whites and the plains Indians. By the 1850s and 1860s, many different plains Indian tribes lived in the Oklahoma region. All were nomadic, meaning they moved often from place to place. They followed the great buffalo herds that roamed throughout the Great Plains. The buffalo furnished the plains tribes with almost everything they needed to survive, including food, clothing and shelter. The range of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes was large. It included the land between the Platte River in Nebraska and the Arkansas River, part of which flows though northern Oklahoma. South of the Cheyenne and Arapaho were the Comanche, Kiowa and Kiowa-Apache. Their range included land from western Oklahoma to west Texas. Just west of them were the warlike Apache. By the 1860s, the whites’ movement west forced the federal government to change its Indian policy. The national authorities decided to negotiate with the plains tribes and force them to accept small reservations in western Oklahoma. Plus, whites settling Kansas wanted to clear Indians out of their area. Kansans hoped to push them south into Oklahoma. The tribes in Kansas included the Kaw, Ponca, Osage, Otoe and others. In 1861, miners discovered gold in Colorado. Thousands of white miners rushed into the area. They hoped to get rich quick. But the Cheyenne and Arapaho claimed that area as their own. As a result, the Cheyenne and Arapaho War (1861-1864) began between these tribes and the United States. The conflict is also sometimes called the Colorado War. It was hard fought, but the U.S. Army and the Colorado militia defeated the Indians. Because of such trouble, the American government brought 7,000 leaders of various tribes to a place on Medicine Lodge Creek in southwest Kansas. Among the Indians were the leaders of the Comanche, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Cheyenne, Arapaho and other minor tribes. They signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek (1867). The Comanche and Kiowa accepted a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. The Cheyenne and Arapaho accepted land north of the Comanche and Kiowa. Minor tribes like the Caddo and Wichita were also put on smaller reservations in Oklahoma.
Not all Plains Indians accepted reservation life. They were nomads who lived in a world of motion. They did not like being penned up in one place. They also missed the buffalo that had meant so much to them. Some reservation agents were corrupt. They did not deliver all the food and other supplies that the treaty promised the Indians. The Indians needed the food and other supplies to survive. At times the Indians almost starved to death. Because of such bad conditions, some Cheyenne and Arapahoe left the reservation and returned to their old ways. Led by Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle, they also raided isolated white settlements.
After the Battle of the Washita, most Cheyennes and Arapahoes now stayed on their reservations. But the Comanches and Kiowas did not. Led by such chiefs as the half-breed Quanah Parker, they frequently left their reservations to hunt buffalo and to raid isolated white settlements. From 1871 to 1874, they caused much death and destruction. One of their most famous raids came in 1874, when they attacked white buffalo hunters in the Battle of Adobe Walls in West Texas. American military commanders responded to this attack, and the Red River War began. Numerous battles occurred between the U.S. Army and the plains Indians. In September of 1874, more than 3,000 troops in five different columns converged on the Texas Panhandle. That was where Parker had set up winter quarters. His people were in Palo Duro Canyon, a place between present-day Lubbock and Amarillo. The army won the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, destroying most of the Indians' food and possessions and taking their horses. The defeat broke the power of Chief Parker and his Comanche-Kiowa band. After the Red River War, army leaders arrested many chiefs of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche and Kiowa. American leaders sent the chiefs to a military prison in Fort Marion, Florida. The prisoners had to live there for several years. Chief Parker was not sent away. Instead, he now accepted "white ways" and became the Principal Chief of all the Comanches. He helped his people adjust to reservation life. He also became a wealthy man. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, a number of Indian boarding schools were established. Their purpose was to "civilize" Indian children by teaching them white American culture. Most of the Indian children suffered from loneliness at being apart from their families. Outbreaks of diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, and measles were also common.
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