The second William Penn : $b a true account of incidents that happened along the old Sante Fe trail in the sixtiesRyus, W. H. (William Henry)
History
The second William Penn : $b a true account of incidents that happened along the old Sante Fe trail in the sixties
Ryus, W. H. (William Henry)
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- West (U.S.); Santa Fe National Historic Trail
The soldiers went to the government dining room there at Fort
Larned and got all the knives and forks they could rake and scrape
together and took them to the barbecue. When the Indians saw that the
white people had entered into the banquet with such enthusiasm and zest
they went to the settlers' store and bought two or three hundred dollars
worth of candies, canned goods of all kinds, crackers, etc., to make
their variety larger. They also bought 50 boxes of cigars with which to
treat the citizens and soldiers. When everything was in readiness for
the feast, the white men all stood up near the feast with a few of the
greatest chiefs of the several tribes, while the other Indians who were
not acting as waiters, to see that the choicest pieces of buffalo meat
were given their guests, stood in a ring back of the white guests, and
did not attempt to satisfy their hunger until after the whites had
demonstrated that they had feasted to the brim. This was one of the most
amusing incidents of my life on the frontier, and the Fort Riley boys
felt that in this treatment, they had been dealt a blow to their own
generosity, and one of the soldiers acting as spokesman, told the
Indians that they were ashamed of their own lack of hospitality when
they were the winners of the other race. This pleased the Indians
greatly, and they fell an easy victim to the duplicity of the soldiers
and made a contract to sell their black stallion racing horse to them
for the sum of $2,000, which sale was to be completed 60 days later if
the soldiers still wanted the purchase of the horse, at which time they
were to notify the Chief, and he was to bring or send him to Fort Riley.
This was a great sacrifice, but the ignorant Indian was not aware of it.
During the 60 days before the Indian brought the horse in and received
their money one soldier went up to St. Joe and sold this horse, so I
have been told for the sum of $10,000 in cash, but for the truth of this
statement I will not vouch.
It is a picturesque sight to watch the Indians move camp. Their trains
often covered several hundred acres of land. The Indians usually move in
a large body, or band. Their moving "van" consists of two long slim
poles placed on each side of a pony, made fast by means of straps tanned
by the squaws from buckskin and buffalo hides. About six or seven feet
from the ponies' heels are placed two crossbars about three or four feet
apart, connected by weaving willow brush from one crossbar to the other,
between these shafts, or poles, hitched to the pony. Upon this woven
space or "hold" are placed the household goods, the folded tents or
tepees, and lastly, their children and decrepit Indians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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