Last Indian Raid in Kansas, 1878, Decautur County, Kansas Brochure, c. 1960
Entry/Object ID
AM1975.7.3
Scope and Content
Last Indian Raid in Kansas, 1878, Decautur County Museum, Kansas Brochure, c. 1960. 4-page handout that describes a Cheyenne first-person account of the what he believed were the causes behind the raid.
The Northern Cheyenne had been removed to Oklahoma, but homesick, under the leadership of Chief Dull Knife more than 300 or them decided to go home, and on their way journeyed through western Kansas.
He describes the false assurances given the Cheyenne to entice them to go peacefully to Oklahoma and the deplorable conditions they found there. They thought they would rather die at home than in Oklahoma from disease.
Although for the first 100 miles the Indians were peaceful, solider who dogged them told settlers they were on warpath, and a bloody skirmish occurred but the Indians continued north, the worst interactions being in Decautur and Rawlins counties where nearly 40 settlers were killed.