Mr. Wright is one of the few living men who observed Indians from the pioneer point of view. Mr. Wright’s observations, which he kindly furnished me, are the more important in that they are offered by one who has not held Indians in very high esteem. Mr. Wright saw some of his warmest friends shot down during Indian raids. His narrative, if anything, should be rather prejudiced against the Indians. Yet it is not so, as will be observed by perusal of the following pages.
Before presenting quotations from his manuscript I shall sum up briefly his general observations. Looking back upon a career of upwards of sixty years throughout the West (chiefly in Kansas and Nebraska,) Mr. Wright concludes that the Plains Indian was vastly better off when able to roam, unhampered by anyone, throughout the country, than at the present time. He speaks of the great and interesting Kiowa village located some distance from Dodge City about 1868. Living in central and southern Kansas, he came in contact, not so much with the Sioux, but with the Pawnees, who occupied the flat country, and the Horse Indians, which included the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Prairie Apache. As to the wars among themselves, he thinks that the number of killed, or damage inflicted upon villages has been exaggerated. Usually, there were few casualties in these actions. Some writers might not agree with him, but this is his opinion. Occasionally, one band would surprise a village and take many captives and scalps. He was impressed in the early days with the good health of these Indians, their hardiness, and that they were seldom visited by epidemics. Smallpox broke out along the Missouri River, and to the east and north, but seldom in southern Kansas and northern Texas. He declares that there was no tuberculosis or trachoma when he first went among these people. The general standard of character and virtue was much higher.
“As has been said, the Indian was by nature a warrior and hunter, and was trained as such from earliest childhood. It is taken for granted, by the great mass of civilized peoples, that the uncivilized redskin had no idea of education. This is an error. For years, I was among the wild Indians of half a century ago, and I know from personal observation that they had as thorough a system of education for their children, in their line, as that boasted by the civilized white race. From the time the Indian child was able to walk, his or her education began. The first lesson usually consisted in being strapped upon the back of a docile pony and taking a little practice in riding. In the second step in education he was made to become familiar with the bow and arrow, which were the Indians’ favorite weapons, half a century ago. At the age of five, perhaps, the father took the boy out upon the hills adjoining the camp and admonished him to be observant of what he saw. Every ravine and hill, a buffalo skeleton, a rock or tree, a footprint in the sand or grass, the displacement of a stick or stone—all these things and many more a child must study and learn to notice. He must learn to readily detect the different marks on bows, arrows, and moccasins, distinguishing as to which tribe they belonged, as every tribe had a peculiar mark of its own for its manufactured articles. When the father and child came back to the tipi, after a day of observation, the child was required to give a description of what he had seen during the long tramp, the father or teacher questioning him. The child must give an intelligent and comprehensive account of his observations, or be taken over the same ground again and again until he could do so and had acquired a thorough knowledge of the territory covered. As soon as the child had familiarized himself minutely with one section of the country, he was taken to another and yet another, until, finally he was intimately acquainted with all the territory adjacent to the camp. These same methods were employed in familiarizing the young Indian with more extended ranges of country until, at last, he thoroughly understood his surroundings for hundreds of miles.
“But there were many other subjects in that course. For instance, the young Indian was expected to learn signalling, similar to that of our signal corps. Indians well versed in signalling could communicate accurately with each other though many miles apart. This knowledge was augmented by detailed instruction and drill in matters of war, the trail, and the chase. Some of the old-time scouts, who were with us, had been captured in childhood and raised and educated by the Indians. These were as proficient in Indian tactics as the Indians themselves, and were very valuable to have along with a command in Indian campaigns as scouts and guides. They could follow up a trail, tell the number of ponies, give the number of Indians in the party being trailed, and, in fact, by their Indian lore, could know the movements of such a party about as well as those comprising it knew them. The Indian was as fond of his boys as any white father could be, and took pride in their training.”
Of the buffalo, he claims, as have all writers, that the very existence of the Plains Indians was threatened when that noble animal was exterminated. A great enmity sprang up between the Indians and the white hunters.
“With this hatred and enmity, the Indian blended a certain fear of the white hunters, and to the credit of the redskin’s courage it can be said that the hunters were the only class on earth that he did fear, while with his fear was mixed also a sort of desperation. The Indian hunted altogether on horseback, with bow and arrow or lance, which they planted in the side of the animal by riding up alongside of him. The Indians claimed they killed only for meat or robes, and, as soon as they had sufficient, they stopped and went home; whereas, the white hunters never knew when they had enough, and were continually harassing the buffaloes from every side, never giving the herds a chance to recover, but keeping up a continual pop-pop from their big guns. Only under the most favorable circumstances would the Indians attack the hunters. They were afraid of the latter’s big guns, cool bravery, and, last but not least, of their unerring, deadly aim. The passing of the buffalo herds, because of the white men, was one of the prime causes of Indian hostility.
“But the feeling over the buffalo was only one of the causes of the Plains wars. To understand other causes, one should consider the Indian as he was found by the first white men, and compare him with what he was after his association with the Whites for a term of years. It can clearly be seen, by such a comparison, that a great change took place, in that time, in the Indian’s attitude and sentiments toward the Whites, and this change could not have been due to anything but the influence of association. The redskin acquired knowledge, also confidence in himself. Then followed hostile feelings awakened by the mismanagement and needless cruelty of the Whites. The Indian seemed to learn and adopt every vice of the Whites but not one of their virtues.
“When I first crossed the Plains in 1859, we met several bands of Indians. In fact we struck about the first and much the biggest number at the great bend of the Arkansas River, a little east of where the town of Great Bend now stands and from there on we met them up to seventy-five miles west of old Fort Lyon in eastern Colorado. There was no military fort there then, nor any west of Fort Riley to Fort Garland in the mountains, and there was no need of any, for the Indians were supposed to be friendly, which indeed they were. This part of the country was the chief resort of the Kiowas, Comanches, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Prairie Apaches. Here, on the Arkansas River, near the present site of Great Bend, is where they all congregated. Up to 1864, all the Indians mentioned were considered peaceable and were so to a great extent. When they caught parties of Whites south of the Arkansas River (which was sacred ground to them, where no trespassers were allowed) there was trouble. Only traders were allowed in that region, and they had to be well known and familiar with the Indians to be safe. If an unknown trader ventured down there, he was stripped of his goods, whipped severely, often killed, and his wagons burned. But along the great Santa Fe Trail small parties of Whites, and even single individuals, went through without being molested, though I have seen these peaceable Indians, at such times, treated with the utmost contempt and actual abuse by the white travelers.
“The propensity to beg or steal seemed born in the original Plains Indian. They made away with any portable article at hand from seemingly sheer love of theft. And beg! they would beg one blind! They wanted everything in sight, yet in early days, they made no disturbance if they were given nothing. It actually seemed as if an Indian could not help begging or stealing, but, instead of accepting this as a fact and treating it accordingly with wise leniency, the Whites made use of needless cruelty. When an Indian picked up something and hid it under his blanket to carry away, he was black-snaked, or kicked out of camp. I once saw an Indian climb up on the hind wheel of a big freight wagon and lift up the wagon sheet. As he was peeping in, with his back bent and body exposed much as if he were bent over a barrel, a bull-whacker, with a big ox-whip, stood off ten feet and let him have it on the naked skin. That Indian dropped as if he were shot, with a gash where the lash struck as if a sharp knife had cut him. There were many other Indians in camp, and they all jumped up and halloed and laughed uproariously at the discomfited one, who crept humbly out of camp. Many indignities like this were given the Indians without their retaliating, even though there were often many more Indians than Whites in the party, which conclusively proves the superior peacefulness of the redskin. This was as late as 1863. But soon there came a change.
