Normal graduates on the frontier

In the years after the Civil War many Kansas State Normal School graduates applied their skills in the public schools of Kansas. Others became missionaries or Indian agents in Indian Territory, known now as Oklahoma.

One of the most interesting of these was Addison W. Stubbs (1854-1933) who did both following his graduation in the elementary program from KSN in 1876. His father, Mahlon Stubbs, had become a Quaker missionary and teacher to the Kaw at Council Grove in 1863, and, in the Grant administration, he was appointed Indian Agent.

Addison later wrote that his parents "opened the first Government school on the reservation near Council Grove when I was a mere lad. I attended school three years with Indian boys and became an Indian myself, all but putting on the blanket. I learned the language and subsequently after my father was appointed U. S. Agent by Pres. Grant, I was made official Interpreter for the tribe."

He was interpreter for the Kaw and the Secretary of the Interior, Columbus Delano, when Delano visited the Kaw Agency and pressed for the removal of the Kaw to Indian Territory in the early 1870s.

Not only was he knowledgeable of the Kaw, but also traveled among the Kiowa, Osage, Cheyenne, and Pawnee, and was one of a very few who often viewed Native Americans in a more sympathetic light than most Kansans.

Following graduation from KSN, he taught at Emporia's Union School, and became superintendent of schools at Chanute. Shortly afterwards, he was on the staff of the Emporia News and the Emporia Ledger. In 1878, he was employed at the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Agency near Fort Reno.

He also was familiar with the Apache, Comanche, Kiowa, and other Indian tribes, and often sent columns back to the Emporia press. In later years, a businessman in Kansas City, Kansas, he continued to submit articles to various newspapers about his experiences and remembrances.

Also he remained one of the most active members of the KSN Alumni Association, even writing a lengthy poem of its early history and difficulties. Many of his writings are in the A.W. Stubbs Collection at the Kansas State Historical Society, others are buried in early newspapers. One of his earliest articles appeared in The Emporia News of August 10, 1877, just a year after his
graduation from KSN.

It was written in Darlington, Indian Territory, on July 25 and was entitled "Among the Cheyennes: An Emporia Boy Accompanies Them on a Grand Hunt."

"EDITORS NEWS: I was detailed by the agent on the 27th ultimo [June], to accompany about ninety Cheyenne and Arapahoe men with their women and children to the buffalo country for the purpose of securing meat and hides, and some notes of the trip may not be uninteresting to your readers.

"Leaving the Agency about ten o'clock, and proceeding to Fort Reno, I was joined by a detail of troops whom the law requires to accompany these Indians when away from the Agency, and together we were soon wending our way up the North Fork of the Canadian, to Little Robe's camp, where the Indians were partaking of a lunch and awaiting our arrival.

"After counting them to see that only those who had permission of the agent were in the party, we moved on about ten miles to a small Indian village and camped for the night. Early next morning the Indians packed their ponies and started out across the divide toward the main Canadian, which we reached about noon.

"By this time I began to thirst for blood, and selecting a young chief from the party, I suggested that we ride away from the trail a few miles and kill some kind of game. He readily consented, and our lunch over, we started ahead of the party.

"After a few minutes' ride through a grove of beautiful cedar trees, we reached the top of the hill west of the river, and what was our surprise on looking ahead about 500 yards to see a large black bear slowly walking across the ridge. We rode as fast as we could, but before getting near enough to shoot, he had entered a rocky canon, and it being impossible to ride after him we concluded to allow some one else the pleasure of killing the bear.

"My escort now pointed to a large hill near which he said antelope could be found. Spurring our horses we rode in the direction indicated, and about four o'clock reached the ground, where, sure enough, a herd of fifteen or twenty went bounding across the plain, having seen us first. Three of the number had not noticed our approach, however, and my friend "Little Bear" suggested that we wait a few minutes to watch their movements.

"They soon started directly towards us, and dismounting, we lay down in the grass, when they approached within fifty yards unconscious of any danger. We both fired, and my ball took effect, but the other two antelope bounded off a little ways and stopped. I shot again and again notwithstanding I had a slight attack of the "buck ague," succeeded in killing the other two.

"Little Bear was scarce of ammunition and preferred to save it for buffalo. "We were very thirsty, and my savage friend was soon quenching his thirst by eating the liver and inner coating of the stomach, raw. The blood on his face and lips caused cannibalism and kindred thoughts to pass through my mind, but he smacked his lips and said "pow-wah"! i.e. good, and was only intent on gratifying his appetite.

"Packing the game on our ponies we soon rode to a small creek where the party had camped for the night. It is the duty of the squaws in Indian life to take care of the ponies when the men return from the hunt, and when I rode to Little Robe's tent with one of the antelopes, I hardly had time to dismount before two or three squaws were unpacking and unsaddling my horse. I am sure they had not been so glad to see me since leaving the Agency.

"From this point nothing of special interest occurs. Following the dim trail to the Washita river and passing along its banks forty or fifty miles to the noted battle ground where Black Kettle and other Cheyennes were killed, our hearts were gladdened by the sight of several herds of buffalo grazing in the distance.

"The country passed over is comparatively worthless for farming, but affords excellent grazing, and, if opened up, lumber and stone of great value could be obtained. The canons along the Canadian river grow many very beautiful cedars large enough to saw for lumber, etc., and farther west I noticed a kind of white rock which resembles marble and would make excellent building stone.

"After reaching the Washita we have no good water, as this stream and its tributaries taste strongly of alkali. The soil is very red and last twenty-five miles of the route is over a very hilly country. In every direction little mounds may be seen from twenty to fifty feet in height.

"Indians are not generally noted for system, but when chasing buffalo in search of food they appoint captains whose duty it is to keep every man in ranks, and if any one charges the herd before the order is given, his ponies are killed and his tent cut in pieces. Notwithstanding these strict regulations, there is now and then a man who sacrifices his property in this way.Only last winter one of the Cheyennes had seven good ponies killed.

"When we came in sight of game the men were not long in mounting their best horses and preparing for the chase. This was my first opportunity for chasing buffalo and having often heard of the danger connected with it, I hardly knew whether or not to venture among a band of savages, who a few years ago would have greatly preferred my scalp to a buffalo hide.

"The Indians insisted that I should go, gave me a trained pony to ride, and in a few minutes we neared a herd of about two hundred cows. All was quiet until we rode within a few hundred yards of them. When the captains gave the command to charge, every man with a wild whoop spurred his horse and in a few jumps brought us in the midst of the confused game.

"Rifles were cracking and arrows flying in every direction. In a few minutes' time nearly the entire herd had been killed. I succeeded in slaughtering two, and rode back to camp as tired as though I had been working hard all day. They killed from one to three each, and packing the meat and hides on a single pony brought them to camp, where all partook of a bountiful feast.

"Indeed the camp fire hardly died out during the seven days that we were in the buffalo country. The custom of these people is when they have plenty to eat plenty, and when it is all gone do without. They scarcely know what it is to provide for the future.

Two men were sent out each morning early to ascertain where the nearest herds were feeding, and as soon as they returned the whole party would set out for a days' chase, the women remaining in camp to dry the meat and hides brought in the day previous.The meat they cut in thin slices about ten inches wide and from one to two feet in length, and hang on scaffolds without salt until thoroughly dried.

"The hides are tightly stretched on the ground and thoroughly scraped, after which they are subjected to various processes according to the use for which they are intended; some of them are divided in the middle, rudely painted and used for packing the dried meat; others are scraped on both sides until quite thin and used for lodge skins, moccasins, etc.

"I believe the general impression among the whites is, that all Indians are lazy and indolent, but I have not found the Cheyennes so. I never saw a more industrious class of people than they are, when employed at work to which they are accustomed.

During our seven days' stay the men killed and brought into camp from one thousand to fifteen hundred buffalo, and the women worked early and late, cut and dried the meat and dressed the hides. "They appeared to be perfectly contented and preferred to travel forty miles a day rather than return sooner, as our time was limited to fifteen days. On the way home they would start as soon as it was light enough to see, and travel about twenty miles without breakfast.

After stopping two or three hours during the hottest part of the day, they would again take up the line of march and travel about the same distance. In this way we came about one hundred twenty-five miles, eating only five meals in three days, and it is useless to say that by this time I was ready for a change of diet, as neither the Indian squaws nor myself were first class cooks, and the soldiers, having a heavy wagon, were left behind.

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A. W. STUBBS

 

Last Updated July 2, 2007>