Medicine Lodge Treaty
Signed | 21 October 1867 28 October 1867 |
---|---|
Location | Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Site |
Signatories |
|
Citations | 15 Stat. 581 15 Stat. 589 15 Stat. 593 |
See also the Act of 6 June 1900, §6, 31 Stat. 672, 676. |
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three
The U.S. government and tribal chiefs met at a place traditional for Native American ceremonies, at their request. The first treaty was signed October 21, 1867, with the
Under the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the tribes were assigned reservations of diminished size compared to territories defined in an 1865 treaty. The treaty tribes never ratified the treaty by vote of adult males, as it required. In addition, by changing allotment policy under the Dawes Act and authorizing sales under the Agreement with the Cheyenne and Arapaho (1890) and the Agreement with the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache (1892) signed with the Cherokee Commission, the Congress effectively further reduced their reservation territory. The Kiowa chief Lone Wolf filed suit against the government for fraud on behalf of the tribes in Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock. In 1903 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the tribes, determining that the Congress had "plenary power" and the political right to make such decisions.[4][5] In the aftermath of that case, Congress acted unilaterally on land decisions related to other reservations as well.
Because of the outstanding issues with the treaty and subsequent government actions, in the mid-20th century, the Kiowa, Arapaho and Comanche filed several suits for claims against the U.S. government. Over decades, they won substantial settlements of monetary compensation in the amount of tens of millions of dollars, although it took years for the cases to be resolved.
Indian Peace Commission
On July 20, 1867,
The official report of the Commission to the President of the United States, dated January 7, 1868, describes detailed histories of the causes of the Indian Wars including: numerous social and legal injustices to Indians, repeated violations of numerous treaties, acts of corruption by many of the local agents, and culpability of Congress in failing to fulfill certain legal obligations. The report asserts that the Indian Wars were completely preventable had the United States government and its representatives acted with legal and moral honesty in dealing with the Indians.[9]
Other members of the peace commission were
Medicine Lodge River councils
After an abortive meeting with northern Plains Indians in September,
The commission arrived at
Treaty terms and signatories
The treaties negotiated at Medicine Lodge Creek were similar in their terms, involving surrender of traditional tribal territories in exchange for much smaller reservations in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) and allowances of food, clothing, equipment, and weapons and ammunition for hunting.[8]
Treaties with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache
Under the first of the three Medicine Lodge treaties, the Kiowa and Comanche were compelled to give up more than 60,000 square miles (16,000,000 ha) of traditional tribal territories in exchange for a 3-million-acre (1,200,000 ha) reservation in the southwest corner of Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), most of it lying between the North Fork of the Red River and the North Canadian River.[1][8][17] The tribes would also be provided houses, barns, and schools worth $30,000, which the tribes had not requested.[17] By a second treaty, the Plains or Kiowa-Apache were incorporated into the first treaty;[18] this treaty was signed by all the Kiowa and Comanche signatories of the first treaty, along with several Plains Apache chiefs.[2] The treaties with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache tribes were concluded on October 21, 1867.[8]
- Satank, or Sitting Bear
- Sa-tan-ta, or White Bear
- Wa-toh-konk, or Black Eagle
- Ton-a-en-ko, or Kicking Eagle (Kicking Bird)
- Fish-e-more, or Stinging Saddle
- Ma-ye-tin, or Woman's Heart
- Sa-tim-gear, or Stumbling Bear
- Sit-par-ga, [Sa-pa-ga] or One Bear
- Cor-beau, or The Crow
- Sa-ta-more, or Bear Lying Down
- Parry-wah-say-men, or Ten Bears
- Tep-pe-navon, or Painted Lips
- To-sa-in (To-she-wi), or Silver Brooch
- Cear-chi-neka, or Standing Feather
- Ho-we-ar, or Gap in the Woods
- Tir-ha-yah-gua-hip, or Horse's Back
- Es-a-nanaca (Es-a-man-a-ca), or Wolf's Name
- Ah-te-es-ta, or Little Horn
- Pooh-yah-to-yeh-be, or Iron Mountain
- Sad-dy-yo, or Dog Fat
Plains Apache chiefs signing[2]
- Mah-vip-pah, Wolf's Sleeve
- Kon-zhon-ta-co, Poor Bear
- Cho-se-ta, or Bad Back
- Nah-tan, or Brave Man
- Ba-zhe-ech, Iron Shirt
- Til-la-ka, or WhiteHorn
At that conference, the Comanche Chief Parry-wah-say-men (Ten Bears) gave an address that foretold the future of his people:
My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring; and I feel glad, as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year. I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away, and I made but a few camps when I met you. I know that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you. My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. There has been trouble on the line between us and my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us. It was you to send the first soldier and we who sent out the second. Two years ago I came upon this road, following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm and we have not known which way to go. So it was upon the
Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, and for camp fires they lit our lodges. Instead of hunting game they killed my braves, and the warriors of the tribe cut short their hair for the dead. So it was in Texas. They made sorrow come in our camps, and we went out like the buffalo bulls when the cows are attacked. When we found them, we killed them, and their scalps hang in our lodges. The Comanches are not weak and blind, like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted, like grown horses. We took their road and we went on it. The white women cried and our women laughed.But there are things which you have said which I do not like. They were not sweet like sugar but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us upon reservation, to build our houses and make us medicine lodges. I do not want them. I was born on the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no inclosures [sic] and where everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them, I lived happily.
When I was at Washington the Great Father told me that all the Comanche land was ours and that no one should hinder us in living upon it. So, why do you ask us to leave the rivers and the sun and the wind and live in houses? Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep. The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry. Do not speak of it more. I love to carry out the talk I got from the
Great Father[president of the US]. When I get goods and presents I and my people feel glad, since it shows that he holds us in his eye.If the Texans had kept out of my country there might have been peace. But that which you now say we must live on is too small. The Texans have taken away the places where the grass grew the thickest and the timber was the best. Had we kept that we might have done the things you ask. But it is too late. The white man has the country which we loved, and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die. Any good thing you say to me shall not be forgotten. I shall carry it as near to my heart as my children, and it shall be as often on my tongue as the name of the Great Father. I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clear and pure and I wish it so that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in and leave it when they go out.
— Ten Bears[19]
Treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho
Under the
Southern Cheyenne chiefs signing[3]
- O-to-ah-nac-co, Bull Bear
- Moke-tav-a-to, Black Kettle
- Nac-co-hah-ket, Little Bear
- Mo-a-vo-va-ast, Spotted Elk
- Is-se-von-ne-ve, Buffalo Chief
- Vip-po-nah, Slim Face
- Wo-pah-ah, Gray Head
- O-ni-hah-ket, Little Rock
- Ma-mo-ki, or Curly Hair
- O-to-ah-has-tis, Tall Bull
- Wo-po-ham, or White Horse
- Hah-ket-home-mah, Little Robe
- Min-nin-ne-wah, Whirlwind
- Mo-yan-histe-histow, Heap of Birds
Arapaho chiefs signing[3]
- Little Raven
- Yellow Bear
- Storm
- White Rabbit
- Spotted Wolf
- Little Big Mouth
- Young Colt
- Tall Bear
Unratified
The Medicine Lodge Treaty required the approval of 3/4 of the adult males on the reservation for any further cessions of land. In 1887 the Congress changed national policy on allotment of Native American lands by passing the Dawes Act, which promoted allotment of parcels to individual households (they thought 160 acres per household would be adequate for cultivation) to break up the communal land held by tribes, with the government authorized to sell the resulting "surplus". In the case of the southern Plains Indians, a commission was assigned to gain their agreement to such allotments and sales. The Jerome Agreement of 1892, although never ratified by the tribes, implemented the new allotment policy, effectively removing millions of acres from the reservation. The commission negotiating the agreement had evaded telling the Indians what the sale price would be.[23] The Kiowa chief Lone Wolf sued the Secretary of the Interior on behalf of the entirety of the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache tribes, based on their being defrauded by the government at the time.[citation needed]
The case,
Aftermath
Following the Supreme Court decision, the Congress continued to make unilateral changes to reservation lands without getting agreement by the tribes, beginning in 1903 and 1904 with the
The outstanding issues were challenged again in the mid-twentieth century, beginning in 1948. Combined Kiowa, Apache and Comanche representatives filed suit against the US government for compensation due to the original treaty and subsequent actions, including sales under the unratified Jerome Agreement. Over the following decades and through several claims, the tribes won substantial compensation of tens of millions of dollars from the Indian Claims Commission.[27]
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is dramatized in the 1962 episode, "The Truth Teller", on the
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d "Treaty with the Kiowa and Comanche, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty), 15 Stats. 581, October 21, 1867.
- ^ a b c d e "Treaty with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty), 15 Stats. 589, October 21, 1867.
- ^ a b c "Treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty), 15 Stats. 593, October 28, 1867.
- ^ Pearson, Ellen Holmes. "Lone Wolf v Hitchcock." Teachinghistory.org. Accessed July 11, 2011.
- ^ "Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 187 U.S. 553 (1903)".
- ^ a b c d e f g h Greene 2004, p. 34.
- ^ Cozzens 2003, p. xxvi.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cozzens 2003, p. xxvii.
- ^ Taylor, N.G.; Henderson, J.B.; Sherman, W.T.; Harney, WM. S.; Sanborn, John B.; Terry, Alfred H.; Tappan, S.F.; Augur, C. C. (January 7, 1868). Report to the President by the Indian Peace Commission (Report). Washington, D.C.: Indian Peace Commission.
- ^ a b c Hoig 1979, p. 23.
- ^ Cozzens 2003, p. 664.
- ^ a b c Hoig 1979, p. 24.
- ^ a b Greene 2004, p. 36.
- ^ Hoig 1979, p. 25.
- ^ Hoig 1979, p. 26.
- ^ Hoig 1979, p. 29.
- ^ a b Hoig 1979, p. 30.
- ^ Hoig 1979, p. 31.
- ^ Taylor, Nathaniel G., et al., (1910) Papers Relating to Talks and Councils Held with the Indians in Dakota and Montana in the years 1866–1869, Washington: Government Printing Office. (Original in the National Archives, Records of the Indian Division, Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Record Group 48.)
- ^ Greene 2004, p. 28.
- ^ Greene 2004, p. 37.
- ^ ISBN 9780307958044.
- ^ Clark (1999), Lone Wolf, pp. 40–49
- ^ Blue Clark, Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock: Treaty Rights and Indian Law at the End of the Nineteenth Century, University of Nebraska Press, 1999, p. 142
- ^ Clark (1999), Lone Wolf, p. 62
- ^ Clark (1999), Lone Wolf, pp. 82–83, accessed January 21, 2011
- ^ "The J. Roy Thompson Story: Dockets 32, 258, 257, 259-A and Appeal 12–71" Archived June 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Special Collections & University Archives, Oklahoma State University Library, accessed January 21, 2011
- ^ "The Truth Teller on Death Valley Days". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
References
- Cozzens, Peter, ed. (2003). Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, 1865-1890. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0019-4.
- Greene, Jerome A. (2004). Washita, The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867-1869. Campaigns and Commanders. Vol. 3. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3551-4.
- Hoig, Stan (1979). THe Battle of the Washita. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-7204-9.
- "Treaty with the Kiowa and Comanche, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty). 15 Stats. 581, October 21, 1867. Ratified July 25, 1868; proclaimed August 25, 1868. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor,Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties — Vol. II: Treaties, pp. 977–982. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.
- "Treaty with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty). Archived May 30, 2017, at the Wayback Machine 15 Stats. 589, October 21, 1867. Ratified July 25, 1868; proclaimed August 25, 1868. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties — Vol. II: Treaties, pp. 982–984. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.
- "Treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, 1867" (Medicine Lodge Treaty). 15 Stats. 593, October 28, 1867. Ratified July 25, 1868; proclaimed August 19, 1868. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties — Vol. II: Treaties, pp. 984–989. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904. Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.
- A.A. Taylor, "MEDICINE LODGE PEACE COUNCIL", Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 2, No. 2, June 1924 (first-person account by Alfred A. Taylor, future governor of Tennessee, about events when he accompanied his father Nathaniel Green Taylor of the IPC)
External links
- Works related to Medicine Lodge Treaty at Wikisource