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Fort Sill |
The oldest barracks at Fort Sill date to 1870. |
Fort Sill in 1889 (Library of Congress). |
Many myths surround Geronimo's jail cell door. The most famous one claims that Geronimo purposefully bent the bars of his cell door while angry. By all accounts at Fort Sill, however, Geronimo was a pleasant man who lived a relatively quiet life at the fort. |
Geronimo of the Apaches went on the reservation reluctantly. He started to farm pumpkins, which he felt was beneath him, as farming, for his culture, was women's work. Instead, he made a better living traveling with Wild West shows and selling his autographs. The Apaches still call Fort Sill home. The Apache group, originally from the arid lands in what is now Arizona, are kin to the Chiricahuas (Geronimo's group). (Library of Congress photo, 1895). |
In many ways, Fort Sill serves as the end of history for the Plains Indians. This Library of Congress photos remind us of what was lost when the Americans took over the Great Plains. Geronimo slaughtered one last buffalo before having to farm like the white man. |
The 10th Cavalry was called the "buffalo soldier regiment" by the Plains Indians during the Red River Wars (1871-1875), as the hair of the black soldiers "resembled the woolly bison fur." The cavalry, organized in Kansas at the beginning of the Civil War, was made up of abolitionist volunteers. After the war, the cavalry remained as a special, volunteer unit that worked predominantly in the southwest. The 10th cavalry built Fort Sill in 1869. (Oklahoma Historical Society). |
Fort Sill holds some very important historical relics in its collection, like this original flag for the 10th Cavalry Soldiers. |
The cemetery at Fort Sill is a treasure trove of Plains Indian history. Here is the grave of Black Beaver, a Delaware man who helped to forge the pioneer trails in northern Oklahoma that would later become the Chisholm Trail. |
Sitting Bear is better known as Satank, one of the raiders of the Warren Wagon Train. On his way to stand trial for the raid in Jacksboro, Satank gnawed his wrists to undo his cuffs, sang his death song, and commenced to wrestle with the American soldiers, who shot and killed him. |
Kiowa Chief Satanta, who fought to preserve his people's way of life, was also one of the planners of the Warren Wagon Train Raid. He committed suicide while imprisoned in Huntsville and was at first buried there, but his body was subseqently repatriated at Fort Sill. |
Chief Kicking Bird, a signer of the Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty (1867), was the leader of the peaceful Kiowa band who sought diplomacy over war. His willingness to negotiate with the whites brought him status, but not amongst the Kiowa war bands. Many of his followers believed he was poisoned for taking sides against the Plains Indians during the Red Rivr Wars. |
Quanah Parker, the son of Comanche chief Peta Nocona and the Anglo-American Cynthia Ann Parker, was himself one of the last Comanche chiefs to surrender to the U.S. government after the Red River Wars. After imprisonment at Fort Marion and his return to Fort Sill, Quanah Parker became a rancher, horse racer, and leader of the Comanche tribe. |
Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Quanah, was kidnapped in a Comanche raid in 1836 and then married Peta Nocona, with whom she at least four children, including Quanah and a daughter, Topsannah. She was "rescued" by white troops, led by Charles Goodnight, after the Battle of Lost Creek. However, Cynthia was not happy she had been "found." She had acclimated to the Comanche way of life and believed them to be her family. She remained in mourning for the rest of her short life, especially after her daughter, Topsannah died within a year of their capture. |
The grave of Chief Geronimo lies in the Apache cemetery at Fort Sill, surrounded by his wives. There are rumors that Geronimo is not actually buried here, and that his skull is in the possession of a secret society at Yale University. These rumors are very direspectful to descendants of the Apaches. |
Quanah Parker's abode on his ranch was called the "Star House" due to the four white stars he had painted on his roof - this was supposed to denote his status as a warrior and leader. The house sits inside an abandoned amusement park in Cache, Oklahoma, south of Fort Sill, and is slowly decaying. |
One of the more interesting "stories" at western forts is the graffitti that soldiers left behind. Sometimes, the graffiti just shows names and dates; other soldiers drew impressive and detailed art of what they encountered out on the "wild frontier." Most of the soldiers hailed from more settled areas like New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. They either joined the army during the Civil War and remained in service, or enlisted after 1865 to assist in the next great, but undeclared action - the wholesale expansion and exploitation of the American West. |
Comanche and Kiowa school children attend recess at the Baptist orphanage school at Fort Sill in the 1890s. Not all children remained at the post, however. Most were sent to far-off boarding schools back east in order to "kill the Indian and save the man." This resulted in subsequent generations losing language and cultural knowledge, which most Indian tribes were unable to regain. |