1878 – Sep 30, Cheyenne attack settlers, Sappa Creek area, SW of Oberlin, KS — >28

lornajarrettblanchard September 30, 1878

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-21-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–>40 Collins. Dennis. The Indians’ Last Fight; Or, The Dull Knife Raid. ebook, 2022.

–~40 Frazier, Ian. “Authentic Accounts of Massacres.” The New Yorker, 3-11-1979.[1]

— 30 The Inter-State, Humboldt KS. “The Cheyenne Raid – A Trail of Blood.” 11-14-1878, p. 7.

–>30 Wikipedia. “Battle of Punished Woman’s Fork.” 6-2-3034 edit. Accessed 6-20-2024.

–>30 Wikipedia. “Sappa Creek.” 7-12-2022 edit.

— 28 Blanchard count of named settlers, herders and ranchers in sources below.

— 19 (In Decatur County.) Kansas Trails. Decatur County, Kansas. Monument to Kansas Settlers.

— 19 Discoe. “Listen to both sides – Cries from ‘Last Indian Raid’…” McCook Gazette, NE. 10-8-2008.

— 18 (In Decatur County.) The Oberlin Herald. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives…” 9-17-2008.

— 17 Legends of America. “Cheyenne Raid in Kansas.” Accessed 6-19-2024.

Narrative Information

Discoe: “Dr. Richard E. Littlebear, president of Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Mont., explains the Northern Cheyenne perspective of “the last Indian raid on Kansas soil,” in 1878, to a group of about 140 who helped the Decatur County Museum in Oberlin celebrate its 50th anniversary Sept. 28. Calvin Ufford of Oberlin points out the site of a killing on the Sappa Creek southwest of Oberlin;[2] a tour participant glances over the dry prairie that was the site of 19 killings of white settlers 130 years ago. The grave of homesteader George Walters is the only remaining physical evidence of the killings. A monument in the Oberlin Cemetery pays tribute to the 19 settlers who lost their lives on Sept. 30, 1878.

“Oberlin — Echoing over the quiet hills southwest of Oberlin … through the deep-cut canyons … caught in the sharp limestone outcroppings … are the anguished cries of prairie settler families: Husbands, fathers, brothers killed as they worked the hay. Their horses stolen … lives shattered.

“Listen again — closer. There are other cries — cries of hungry babies … mothers who haven’t enough to feed their children, to protect them from the cold. Husbands and fathers frustrated and angry because they can’t provide for their families. Their home is still so far away …

“Listen to both sides, asked Richard E. Littlebear, a Northern Cheyenne Indian. Listen to the cries of both white families and Indian families … both sides tell the story of the “last Indian raid” on Kansas soil, 130 years ago….

“Moses Abernathy, an old trapper, was the first homesteader in Sheridan County, Kan., in 1872. Six years later, in late September, he and Marcellus Felt were on their way to Oberlin to record Felt’s purchase from Abernathy of land in Decatur County.

“William Laing Sr. had homesteaded in Kansas, from Canada; he and his son, Freeman, were driving a wagon to Oberlin. Laing’s other sons, William Jr. and John, were erecting a building on the family’s homestead.

“L.T. Lull and John Irwin left Nebraska, stopped at the Kirwin, Kan., Land Office, and were searching for land to purchase in Decatur County.

“Edward Miskelley was working for the Doweling Brothers Stock Company and was moving cattle to winter pasture.

“James G. Smith, his son, Watson, and their neighbor, John Hudson were putting up hay in a Sappa Creek bottom.

“Ferdinand Westphalen and his son, Thomas, homesteaded in Decatur County in 1874, and were hitching their mules to a wagon.

“Everyone, including Ferdinand Westphalen and his son, Thomas, were going about their usual chores on those warm autumn days in 1878. Most settlers were not afraid of Indians, said Calvin Ufford, a Decatur County history buff. ‘They knew there could be Indians around,’ Ufford said. ‘But they weren’t hostile.’

“So, on Sept. 30, 1878, when several Indian braves rode into the yard of the Westphalens, the father and son thought they were friendly and gave them food. However, by the end of the next day, the Westphalens and 17 of their neighbors would be dead, many of the women seized, carried off by force and later released, and the Indians were continuing their trek north toward Montana.

“Littlebear said he isn’t justifying the killing of the Kansas settlers. ‘I’m against killing,’ he said, ‘And it’s not to say our killing was better or more justified than yours.’ ‘But,’ Littlebear said, ‘what we often don’t see is that raids were often retaliation for what happened before.’….

“In 1874-1875, Indians fought with prospectors arriving to find gold on the Sioux reservation in the Dakotas’ Black Hills. In November 1875, the U.S. government ordered all Northern Indians (Sioux and Cheyenne) to report to reservation headquarters and to leave the bulk of the reservation to the whites. Most Indian bands did not respond because they were isolated by winter weather, and those who did hear were reluctant to make such a major move in the winter. The government declared all non-conforming Indians to be in a state of war against the United States, and turned the matter over to the U.S. Army.

“On March 17, 1876, Col. J.J. Reynolds and three companies of cavalry attacked and destroyed the winter camp of Northern Cheyenne Chief Two Moon, who was friendly and non-hostile. Two Moon and his forces organized, counterattacked and defeated Reynolds, and Two Moon became actively hostile.

“At what would become known as “The Battle of the Little Bighorn” and “Custer’s Last Stand” in eastern Montana on June 25 and 26, 1876, U.S. Army Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his battalion of about 250 men attacked what appeared to be a small and defenseless Indian camp, and were killed — every last soldier — by 5,000 Sioux, Northern Cheyenne (including Two Moon) and Arapaho.

“In August 1876, the government declared that all of the Powder River country in Montana and about a third of the South Dakota reservation (and the Black Hills) were now U.S. government property. On Nov. 25, 1876, Brigadier General George Crook attacked Northern Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife’s camp, killing many inhabitants of the camp.

“In May, 1877, the government forced about 960 Northern Cheyenne men, women and children from their northern homelands in Montana onto the Darlington Reservation in Indian Territory in what would become Oklahoma. Many died in the unfamiliar lowlands, hunting was limited to restricted lands and rations did not arrive as promised.

“This is the point at which Richard Littlebear picked up the story of ‘the Last Indian Raid on Kansas soil’ during the commemoration of Oberlin’s ‘Last Indian Raid Museum.’ Littlebear told the 140-or-so tour participants, ‘They couldn’t acclimate to the weather. They were given substandard food. And they had clashes with the Southern Cheyenne.’….

“The Northern Cheyenne were physically sick, homesick, and heartsick. Their elderly and young were dying. Everyone was hungry. Under the cover of early-morning darkness on Sept. 10, 1878, 335 survivors fled the Darlington Reservation, determined to reach their homelands 15-hundred miles away, in the Black Hills of the Dakotas and Montana. They left behind their tipis and their burning fires, and took with them only what they could carry.

“Calvin Ufford of Oberlin points out — during a tour Sept. 28 of the sites where 19 Decatur County settlers died 130 years ago — that the Northern Cheyenne ‘just wanted to go home. They needed the settlers’ horses for transportation and for food. They were starving. They just wanted to go home.’

“Ufford pointed out that the Indian scouts did not scalp the men they killed, nor did they kill women and children. ‘The men, yes, working with their horses,’ Ufford said. And they took little more than the horses and food. ‘They were not just rampaging,’ Ufford said. ‘These Indians had to be looking for provisions.’….”

roxieontheroad.com:

“Of the many Indian raids in Kansas, none was ever characterized with such brutal and ferocious crimes, and none ever excited such horror and indignation as the Cheyenne raid of 1878.’ — Clara Hazelrigg, A New History of Kansas, 1895, discussing the Last Indian Raid in Kansas.”

“A trail of murders and rapes was not what the exodus leaders wished. They wanted to go home with as little trouble as possible. Chiefs Vóóhéhéve (Dull Knife) and Ó’kôhómôxháahketa (Little Wolf) had urged their group to leave civilians alone. After Punished Woman’s Fork, Little Wolf said, ‘My friends, we must try to get through here without so much fighting, or we may all get killed. We must go faster.’ Kill soldiers, he said, because they are trying to kill us. Don’t bother civilians. The warriors paid them no attention.

“As the Tsistsistas (Cheyenne) headed north, they fanned out along the plains. The warriors searched for places to raid. Many times, they approached the settlers in a friendly fashion, lulling people into trusting them. Trusting them until it was too late to escape. The violence began in Sheridan County.

“On Sunday, Sept. 29, John Young and another man were traveling along the North Fork of the Solomon River in Sheridan County. They had taken homesteads and were now headed to visit their homes in the east. They intended to stay at the Bayless Post Office. As they arrived at the post office, they saw smoke rising on the horizon. Believing the smoke was from a burning home, they hurried to the scene. The sight was more complicated than a burning home. The Tsistsistas were doing the burning. The men turned away, but not quickly enough. The raiders shot at them and hit Young below his shoulder blade. The bullet lodged on his breastbone. Young’s companion hurried the team back to George Shoemaker’s home along Prairie Dog Creek.

“Shoemaker sent out men to warn settlers of the raiders. Young’s companion then headed about 12 miles north to Oberlin. He intended to find a physician and also warn the town about the raid. He reached Oberlin about 10 a.m. the next morning, Sept. 30, and warned the people. They ignored the warning, believing it to be a false alarm.

“After the shot in the back, Young was paralyzed from the chest down. He died three days later and is buried in the Shibboleth Cemetery.

“While Young’s companion rushed to save him and warn others, the Tsistsistas plundered the neighborhood around the Bayless post office. The raiders butchered livestock and enjoyed a big feast. They took whatever they found useful and destroyed everything else. They ripped open mattresses, perhaps looking for money, and scattered the feathers over the countryside…..

“The warriors fanned out across Decatur County, where 17 settlers would die…. While one group was busy raiding along Prairie Dog Creek, another group raided along the South Fork of Sappa Creek….

“More Tsistsistas continued north of the Colvin homestead. They found James G. Smith, his 27-year-old son Watson (Wat), and John C. Hudson. The trio had started putting up hay and were armed with nothing more than rakes, spades, and pitchforks. They fought off the raiders while the warriors rode around them in circles. ‘The Indians rode up to us … and commenced shooting at us,’ Wat recalled. James was standing in front of Wat, and a raider came up behind them. The raider shot bullets and arrows over Wat’s head. ‘I saw my father fall.’ The raiders tried to grab Hudson’s horses. To take them, the warriors started cutting the horses’ harnesses. Smith tried driving away the warriors with a rake, but his desperate attempt was doomed. The warriors shot him. The shot frightened the horses into running away. Hudson chased after his horses, ‘and the Indians shot him through the heart,’ neighbor Joe Raab recalled. Hudson died immediately.

“Eventually, the Tsistsistas chased the settlers into timber along Sappa Creek. They struck James with two arrows and two bullets. He crawled into a clump of willow trees. With Smith’s four wounds, the pursuers thought he was dead and left him. The raiders plundered the Smiths’ homestead.

“Wat ran away, following the creek. One of the warriors followed the boy, but he was a poor shot. His arrows missed every time. Finally, the raider approached Wat and raised his tomahawk. Seizing the opportunity, Wat stabbed the raider’s abdomen with his pitchfork. The raider had had enough of Wat and left. Wat continued running down the creek until he reached the Raab claim. Raab was putting up hay northeast of his house. William Smith, a younger Smith son, was helping Raab….

“Moses Abernathy, Oliver Palmer, and Marcellus Felt were rounding up cattle. Felt and Palmer were partners. Somehow Palmer escaped, warning other settlers on his way. When he arrived home, he gathered his family and two other people to safety. Abernathy trusted too much in the tribe’s peaceful intentions. Earlier, Bertram had asked whether Abernathy feared Native Americans. No, he said, ‘I have treaties with all of them.’ The Colvin party also found Abernathy’s and Felt’s bodies.

“On the North Fork of the Sappa River near the Rawlins County line, William and his 14-year-old son Freeman Laing were on their way to the Kirwin Land Office to pay for their claim. Eva and Lou Van Cleave were riding along. They were headed to school in Norton. None of the four saw the raiders before they had come within gunshot range. The raiders surrounded the Laings’ wagon and greeted the wagon riders. Two of the raiders grabbed the Laings’ hands, seemingly in a friendly way. Then two others shot them from behind. Both Laings died instantly. William’s body fell into a Van Cleave sister’s lap. Freeman sank to his knees.

“The raiders plundered the wagon, feasted on the provisions, removed the canvas cover and took the horses. The raiders dragged the girls to their camp, where they stripped and raped them. The raiders left the Laings’ bodies in the wagon without mutilating them. After they were finished savaging the girls, the raiders ordered them to leave. The Van Cleaves feared that the raiders would murder them from behind. The raiders taunted them before they were finally persuaded to leave. They walked to the Keefer ranch half a mile away.

“As sundown approached, the raiders struck the Laing homestead on the North Fork of the Sappa. Julia Laing had just learned of her husband’s and youngest son’s deaths. The eldest Laing sons were finishing the day’s fieldwork. John was 20 and William, Jr., was 17. Their three sisters, Mary, 12 or 13; Elizabeth, 9 or 10; and Julia, 7 or 8; were about to ride in the work wagon. The raiders shot the men. They fired at such close range that the men had powder burns on their skin. Seeing their sons and brothers murdered, the women hurried into the cabin.

“The cabin was no protection. Warriors burst into the cabin and raped at least three of them. Then they burned the cabin. When the warriors left, the women fled. They walked naked eight miles to the Keefers’ ranch. They arrived around 2 a.m. ….

“Henry Abbott was away from home seeking a stray horse when the Tsistsistas showed up at his father’s homestead. At the Abbott homestead, his father, Christopher Abbott, saw a raider standing in some timber. He ordered Abbott to ‘go back.’ Abbott started back, then looked over his shoulder. The raider aimed his rifle at him. When Abbott saw this, he started running a zigzag pattern. When Abbott came about 100 yards from his house, the raider fired four shots. Abbott escaped and reached his sod house…. The next day, the father found his son’s body with bullet holes through his head and hand.

“Ed Miskelly was murdered from an ambush on the cattle trail north of the Sappa. Searchers found him on his back with a shot through his heart. His cowboy hat was on the ground nearby.

“Alexander Foster had relieved Gus Cook from riding the night herd on the Sappa’s South Fork. Cook left and went to the mess wagon for breakfast and a fresh horse. He was standing at the wagon when another cowboy galloped in. The second cowboy said he had seen some Tsistsistas in the draw. The cowboys grabbed their guns from the mess wagon. Cook and Charley Green jumped on their horses and headed toward Foster. They found him dead. The Indians had shot him three times, once each through the head, the body, and hand, Cook recalled.

“….A few days before the raid, John Humphrey had visited Buffalo Park (present-day Park). He told his parents Ephraim P. and Eliza Humphrey that the Tsistsistas were south of the railroad. He recommended that the family leave for a safe place. The elder Humphrey declined. About noon Sept. 30, the raiders arrived while father and son were cutting hay about a quarter-mile away from their home. A group of warriors rode up and shot them. The father died at the site. The wounded son escaped… volunteers [went] to find John Humphrey. When they found him, he was nearly unconscious. Colvin’s party found Humphrey and the Streets the next day. They helped Street hitch his wagon, and load Humphrey and the Street family for a trip to Oberlin. Humphrey died in Oberlin four weeks later.

“….W.M. Lull had taken several claims in Decatur County. His friend John Irwin… came to visit him for a few days. Unfortunately, Irwin’s visit coincided with the Last Indian Raid. Both died. Lull and Irwin had watched Abernathy’s and Felt’s deaths. They were in a dugout and had guns….

“The Westphalens were new to Kansas. Ferdinand Westphalen heard the shooting. He believed other settlers were practicing target shooting. He had hitched up his horses when the Tsistsistas appeared. His oldest son John was riding his pony. The raiders demanded his horses. He refused. They shot both Westphalens. One of the raiders demanded Dora Westphalen’s money. She refused. He shot her with an arrow. The arrow split. One half impaled her shoulder blade. The other half burrowed under her skin. She nearly fainted. The raider demanded money again. She fished the cash out of her bosom and handed it to him….

“A man named Rathbone and Frederick Hamper…were seeking stolen mules. They met two raiders who greeted them in a very friendly manner. After they parted from the warriors, Rathbone looked back. He saw the pair aiming at them. He screamed to Hamper, ‘Look out!’ They fired at the same time. Hamper died instantly. The bullet intended for Rathbone passed below his chin….

“….Rudolph Springler, Peter and Egnac Janousek were all in a house with three children when the raiders came. They each grabbed a child and attempted to escape. The warriors cut them off and shot the men. When they shot one of the adult Janouseks, the bullet had touched the infant’s scalp in his arms, then it went through his father’s head. This bullet struck so close to another child’s head that it burned the other child. Their bodies rest four miles east, one-half mile north, and one-quarter mile west of Ludell.

“….When 17 warriors approached Frank Sochor’s house, he carried bread toward them, thinking they were hungry. The warriors repaid his generosity by shooting him through his open door. They frightened away his daughter, Barbara Sperasek, but his wife, Mary, refused to leave him. They mangled his body in front of her. [He was scalped. (Find a Grave. “Frank Sochor.”]

“….Anton Stenner was plowing when the raiders arrived at the Stenner place. His wife Dina and children were in the house when she saw the raiders approaching her husband. She followed them. She arrived just in time to witness her husband’s murder….

“….Forty cowboys, including O’Toole, formed a posse. They caught the raiders near the Laing place. A firefight ensued. O’Toole said the posse surrounded three raiders and killed two of them. At some point, John Wright disappeared from the posse. Two weeks later, searchers found his body southwest of Lamb’s Draw’s mouth….”

Author notes: “I have extensively used the books From the Files of the Decatur County Museum,

Perilous Pursuit: The U.S. Cavalry and the Northern Cheyenne, and

W.D. Street’s Twenty-Five Years Among the Indians and Buffalo, The Indian Territory Journals of Richard Irving Dodge, edited by Wayne R. Kime; and

John Monett’s Tell Them We Are Going Home. Holding Stone Hands and

The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory …”

Wikipedia. “Sappa Creek.” 7-12-2022 edit: “….In 1878, the Sappa Creek valley in Kansas was the scene of the last raid by Native Americans (Indians) in Kansas. In the Northern Cheyenne Exodus after the Battle of Punished Woman’s Fork, a band of Cheyenne needing horses and provisions raged through the valley, killing more than 30 civilians and raping several woman. Several Cheyenne elderly, women, and children were also killed in the region by soldiers and civilians…” [Cites: Leiker, James N.; Powers, Ramon (2011). The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 59–67.

Usgennet.org. “Czechs in Nebraska.” (Frank Sochor): “Killed in an Indian raid: From Bouda’s farm they proceeded to the farm of Frank Spevacek, where they were met by Frank Sochor, the aged father of Mrs. Spevacek. The old man, thinking they wanted food, came out of the house carrying several loaves of bread, but they shot him dead and ravaged the farm, culminating their work by driving a hatchet into the old man’s skull and scalping him.” (In: Find a Grave. Frank Sochor.”)

Newspaper:

Nov 14, 1878. The Inter-State, Humboldt, KS: “The Cheyenne Raid – A Trail of Blood.”

(Correspondence of the N.Y. Herald.)

“When the news of the massacre in the Beaver and Sappa Valleys of Kansas was first telegraphed to the east it is safe to presume not one in ten of the readers of the Herald knew where these streams were located. The two streams are, at the scene of the massacre, little more than brooks rising in the extreme western portion of Kansas and flowing northeast into the Republican river. It is a region remote from the highways of travel and has hitherto been but little known except among cattle men as a good grazing range. It is only accessible by a seventy-mile ride from Buffalo station on the Kansas Pacific Railroad or by a still longer ride across the Solomon and Saline valley and thence across the great watershed of Kansas and Colorado. The former trip has just been made by your correspondent, who is, therefore, in a position to testify to the tedium and fatigue of such a journey across the great plains. Some years since Lieutenant Hendley surprised a band of sixty Northern Cheyennes at the head of Sappa Creek, and so thorough was the ambitious young officer that very few escaped to tell the fate of their comrades. Some did escape, however, and since that time the Sappa Valley has been set down as an object of the vengeance of the punished tribe.

“The first stroke of that vengeance has fallen, and fallen so heavily that it will be many years before its effects will cease to be felt. The valley has now been settled about five years and has from fifty to sixty families living along its banks from a distance of forty miles from its head to its mouth. The Beaver Valley is also lined with settlers, and but for the recent raid, last spring would have seen at least two hundred new families settle in the two valleys. But the destruction of property and loss of life will prove a serious backset to the community, which was just emerging from the first struggle for existence in a new country.

The First Depredation.

“The Indians, after crossing the Kansas Pacific Railroad, followed the great Ogalala cattle trail to the north fork of the Solomon. At the crossing of this stream was located Sheridan Post Office, a rude log hut owned and occupied by Mr. Bayles, who supplemented his income from the products of his farm by the pittance of a cross-road’s postmaster. This point was reached on the afternoon of September 29^th. Mr. Bayles saw them coming over the divide and speedily placed himself and family in a position of comparative safety. When the savages arrived and found the ranch deserted they took the only means of vengeance possible, and gutted the house. The squaws ripped open the feather beds, and, appropriating the ticks, scattered the feathers to the winds. Everything movable, including blankets and clothing, was speedily transferred to the pack animals, and everything breakable was converted into atoms. While the women were thus employed, the men were busy killing the cattle and hogs, cutting off huge slices of the still quivering flesh and leaving the rest for the coyotes. Having completed the work of destruction they moved about a mile down the creek, to Leatherman’s ranch, which they devastated in like manner. Mr. Leatherman also had warning of their approach and escaped.

“Before they left Leatherman’s two young men, John Young and Charles Leonard, who had been hunting land claims, drove up to the ranch with the intention of stopping over night. As they approached they were met by a party of Indians, who opened fire upon them. Young was mortally wounded, but Leonard succeeded in getting away by driving over the divide toward the settlements on Prairie Dog Creek, a tributary of the Sappa, about ten miles from Leatherman’s.

“These young men warned the settlers, so that when the Indians reached the Prairie Dob they found the cabins deserted and contented themselves with gutting two or three ranches, the owners of which had the melancholy satisfaction of witnessing the destruction of their property from their hiding places in the brush. From the Prairied Dog to the Sappa is fifteen miles, and at seven o’clock on the morning of September 29 the savages were on the latter creek. The settlers had not been warned and were pursuing their customary avocations.

Massacre At A Farm.

“The first attack was made upon James G. Smith, his son and John Hudson, who were loading hay in Smith’s meadow. Attempting to seize the horses, the elder Smith resisted and was shot seven times with arrows. Still fighting with his only weapon – a rake – he was shot twice with a needle gun,[3] receiving wounds from which he died thirty-eight hours later. Their yells frightened Hunson’s mules, and while running to catch them he was shot dead. Young Smith ran, followed by a mounted Indian, who fired seven shots at him from a Winchester rifle, until in very desperation the young man turned on his assailant with a pitchfork, when, firing a last shot, the Indian fled, leaving Smith to conceal himself in the brush.

“The Indians then proceeded to the cabin of Mr. Colvin, but that gentleman and his wife, armed with a shotgun and a rifle, resisted the assault until one savage had his arm broken with a ball from Colvin’s revolver, when they retired.

Horrible Outrages On Young Ladies.

“From Colvin’s they went to the cattle trail, where they met William Laing, his youngest son, aged fourteen, and two young ladies, sisters – one of them the district school teacher. They approached with signs of friendship, and while the old man was shaking hands with one, another sent a ball through his brain. The boy was also shot, and the young ladies were dragged from the wagon, stripped entirely naked and outraged repeatedly. They were then seized by a mounted Indian on each side and dragged through the thick underbrush, the ponies going at a trot, until they bodies were badly lacerated; then again outraged and then released, half dead with fright and the cruelty of their captors.

“Within sight of the attack upon Laing’s wagon was Kiefer’s ranch. An Irishman named Lynch was in the cabin, and as the Indians approached he shut the door and waited for them with a needle gun. After dancing around the cabin for several minutes one incautiously exposed himself and received a ball through his body This satisfied them and they retreated.

Other Outrages And Murders.

“The column then took the road up the south fork of the Sappa, gutting deserted ranches and killing stock. A mile above Kieler’s they met John Lull and _____Irwin in a wagon, whom they killed, taking their horses and cutting the harness to pieces.

“At Westphallen’s ranch they found Ferdinand Westphallen, his wife and his son John, about getting into their wagon. The two men were killed and Mrs. Westphallen outraged and shot with blunt arrows until she gave up her money, $250.

“A short distance further on Moses Abernathy and Marcellus fewlt were killed in a wagon as they were driving along the road.

“Half a mile beyond Abernathy was E. P. Humphrey and his son John, also in a wagon. The old gentleman was killed, but John escaped into the bushes with a broken arm.

“A one-legged man named Steadman was then met and also escaped with a broken arm, leaving four fine horses in possession of the savages.

“The Indians then crossed over to the north fork of the Sappa Creek, where they met Ed Miskelley, a cattle breeder, riding along the road. He was killed and his horse taken.

Herders Attacked.

“Tuesday they attacked a herd of Texas cattle on the way to the Beaver. Three of the herders were well armed and repelled the attack, but John Foster, who was unarmed, was killed, and the ponies of the outfit were captured. Tuesday evening they struck the Beter. Near that stream fifteen of them met two herders – Hamper and Rathbun. They saluted them and after passing fired. Hamper was killed, but Rathbun threw himself into a buffalo wallow and kept them off with his revolver until darkness permitted him to effect his escape.

“A lame man named Harry Abbott was also killed while working in his field.

“A Bohemian, name unknown, was met in his wagon and killed, and his body partially burned.

A Heroic Girl.

“A farmer named Steiver was killed in his bed. His daughter, aged sixteen, ran out of the house with her three little brothers and sisters, and was met by a squad. She fought them so vigorously that they whipped her severely, only letting her go when alarmed at something approaching. The lacerated girl pulled grass all night to cover the little children.

“Another farmer, named Snyder, was killed in his house, and his three little children driven far out on the prairie and left to the mercy of the coyotes which followed the Indian trail. They were found by a party of herders.

“Another young girl, who fought for her honor, so enraged the Indians that they scored her breasts with their knives and then outraged her; and still another was dragged by two mounted Indians a distance of five miles, absolutely naked, and forced to submit to all who chose to embrace her.

“Nine others were killed on Beaver Creek, whose names I was unable to get, they being Bohemians, unable to speak the language and only a short time in the settlements.

“A party of settlers followed the Indians from the Sappa and engaged the rear guard, killing one. The rest made their escape.

Summary Of The Killed.

“The total number known to be killed in the two valleys is thirty, and _____Wright and Fred Walters are missing. From eight to ten more were killed in the Republican Valley.

The Military Censured.

“Captain Manck, in command of the pursuit, is severely censured by the settlers. On the night of the 1^st inst. he encamped at the head of a gulch, directly opposite which and three miles distant was the camp of the Indians, and yet he allowed them to escape. The military authorities have denied mony [many?] of these outrages, but I have been on the ground and conversed with eye-witnesses of each of the transactions above noted, and in some instances with the participants themselves. A hundred witnesses van be produced to attest the accuracy of this brief statement.”

List of fatalities identified in sources above:

Abbott, Henry, killed where he was working in his field.[4]
Abernathy, Moses.[5] Aged 57-58. Buried in Indian Raid Memorial Sec., Oberlin Cemetery.[6]
Felt, Marcellus.[7] Age 35. Buried in Indian Raid Memorial Section, Oberlin Cemetery.[8]
Foster, Alexander (also referred to as John Foster), a herder.[9]
Hamper, Frederick, a herder. Also named G. F. Hamper, if referring to the same person.[10]
Hudson, John C., shot helping James G. Smith loading hay in Smith’s meadow.[11]
Humphrey, Ephraim P.[12] Age 62. Buried in Block 8, Lot 14, Oberlin Cemetery.[13]
Humphrey, John (died four weeks later in Oberlin from wounds). Age 29. Oberlin Cem.[14]
Irwin, John (while visiting with W. M. Lull).[15] Buried in Indian Raid Memorial Section.[16]
Janousek, Egnac, 52, Sappa Creek in Rawlins County. (Kansas Memory)[17]
Janousek, Peter, 37, brother of Egnac, Sappa Creek area in Rawlins County. (KS Memory)
Laing, Freeman, 14, son of William Sr. [Find a Grave. “Freeman Laing.”]
Laing, John, 20, son of William Sr. [Age 17-18 according to Find a Grave. “John G. Laing.”][18]
Laing, William Sr. On cattle trail driving a wagon while shaking hands with a Cheyenne.[19]
Laing, William Jr., 17, son of William Sr. [Find a Grave. “Wiliam Laing Jr.”]
Lull, W. M. [Weekly Kansas State Journal, Topeka. “Visitor killed…” 11-7-1878, p. 2.][20]
Miskelly, Edward. Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives…in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.[21]
Smith, James G., loading hay with his son and John Hudson in Smith’s meadow.[22]
Snyder, a farmer, killed in his house and “his three little children driven far out on the prairie.”[23]
Sochor, Frank, 60-61. Died near Ludell, Rawlins County on Oct 1.[24]
Springler, Rudolph, about 41. (Kansas Memory. “Grave Marker, Rawlins County, Kansas.”)
Stenner, Anton.[25]
Steiver, a farmer, killed in his bed.[26]
Walters, George. (Oberlin Herald. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago….” 9-17-2008.)[27]
Westphalen, John Ferdinand Jr., 16.[28] Find a Grave notes age as 15-16.[29]
Westphalen, John Ferdinand Sr., 38-39.[30]
Wright, John (posse member chasing the Cheyenne raiders).[31] Buried Oberlin Cemetery.[32]
Young, John (shot in Sheridan County, to the south of Oberlin in Decatur County).[33]
Cheyenne raider killed by posse chasing the raiders.
Cheyenne raider #2 killed by posse chasing the raiders.

Sources

Ancestry.com. “All U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current results for Anton Stenner.” Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/?name=Anton_Stenner&pcat=bmd_death&qh=449e9abc508c78929228c776c7b217ee

Campbell, Walter Stanley, USA in Typescripts of records of U.S. Army patrols and campaigns. University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections.) Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://digital.libraries.ou.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/CampbellWS/id/10257/show/10196/rec/31

Collins. Dennis. The Indians’ Last Fight; Or, The Dull Knife Raid. ebook, 2022. Google Preview accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Indians_Last_Fight_Or_The_Dull_Knife/18yIEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Discoe, Connie Jo. “Listen to both sides – Cries from ‘Last Indian Raid’ still echo through canyons.” McCook Gazette, NE. 10-8-2008. Accessed 6-19-2024 at: https://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1468049.html

FamilySearch. “John Ferdinand Westphalen Jr. 1862-30 September 1878.” Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/MHWL-VSL/john-ferdinand-westphalen-jr.-1862-1878

Find a Grave. “Edward Miskelly.” Memorial ID 25216722. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25216722/edward-miskelly

Find a Grave. “Ephraim Palmer Humphrey.: Memorial ID 60382647. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382647/ephraim-palmer-humphrey

Find a Grave. “Ferdinand Westphalen.” Born 1839 in Germany. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382599/ferdinand-westphalen

Find a Grave. “Frank Sochor.” Posted by Michael Kokes 3-26-2015. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144193356/frank-sochor

Find a Grave. “Freeman Laing.” Memorial ID 60382667. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382667/freeman_laing

Find a Grave. “George F Walters.” Memorial ID 60382631. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382631/george-f-walters

Find a Grave. “James G Smith.” Memorial ID 60382699. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382699/james-g-smith

Find a Grave. “John Ferdinand Westphalen Jr.” Memorial ID 60382605. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382605/john-ferdinand-westphalen

Find a Grave. “John Humphrey.” Memorial ID 60382643. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382643/john-humphrey

Find a Grave. “John Irwin. Memorial ID 60382585. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382585/john-irwin

Find a Grave. “John G Laing.” Memorial ID 60382671. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382671/john_g_laing

Find a Grave. “John Wright.” Memorial ID 260054818. Accessed 6-21-2024. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/260054818/john-wright

Find a Grave. “John Young.” Memorial ID 92904919. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/92904919/john-young

Find a Grave. “Marcellus Felt.” Memorial ID 60382588. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382588/marcellus-felt

Find a Grave. “Moses Abernathy.” Memorial ID 60382629. Accessed 6-21-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382629/moses-abernathy

Find a Grave. “William Laing Jr.” Find a Grave Memorial ID 60382694. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382694/william-laing

Find a Grave. “William Laing Sr.” Memorial ID 60382788. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/60382688/william_laing

Frazier, Ian. “Authentic Accounts of Massacres.” The New Yorker, 3-11-1979. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1979/03/19/authentic-accounts-of-massacres

Kansas Memory. “Grave Marker, Rawlins County, Kansas.” Created by William C. Piper, 1979. Kansas Historical Society. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/442119

Kansas Trails. Decatur County, Kansas. Disasters. “A Tale of Horror [Laing family massacre].” Accessed 6-20-2024 at: http://genealogytrails.com/kan/decatur/disasters.html

Kansas Trails. Decatur County, Kansas. Monument to Kansas Settlers. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: http://genealogytrails.com/kan/decatur/monument.html

Legends of America. “Cheyenne Raid in Kansas.” Accessed 6-19-2024 at: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/cheyenne-raid-kansas/

roxieontheroad.com. “The Last Indian Raid: ‘Brutal, ferocious crimes.’” Accessed 6-19-2024 at: https://roxieontheroad.com/last-indian-raid/

The Inter-State, Humboldt KS. “The Cheyenne Raid – A Trail of Blood.” 11-14-1878, p. 7. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-inter-state-newspaper-the-inter-sta/23233701/

The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: http://nwkansas.com/obhwebpages/pdf%20pages%20-%20all/obh%20pages-pdfs%202008/obhPages_09_Sept/Week3/1B%20KD%2038.pdf

Weekly Kansas State Journal, Topeka. “Visitor killed…” 11-7-1878, p. 2. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.newspapers.com/article/weekly-kansas-state-journal-1878-11-07-v/36421163/

Wikipedia. “Battle of Punished Woman’s Fork.” 6-2-3034 edit. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Punished_Woman%27s_Fork

Wikipedia. “Dreyse needle gun.” 5-27-2024 edit. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyse_needle_gun

Wikipedia. “Sappa Creek.” 7-12-2022 edit. Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappa_Creek

WikiTree. “Rudolph Springler (1837-1878).” Accessed 6-20-2024 at: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Springler-4

[1] “The raid…was executed by a group of Cheyennes and took place on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 1878. About 40 settlers and at least 2 Indians died.”

[2] “Sappa Creek is a stream in the central Great Plains of North America. A tributary of the Republican River, it flows for 150 miles through the American states of Kansas and Nebraska.” (Wikipedia. Sappa Creek.)

[3] “The first types of needle gun made by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse were muzzle-loading, with a firing pin consisting of a long needle driven by a coiled conchoidal spring that fired the internal percussion cap on the base of the sabot.” (Wikipedia. “Dreyse needle gun.” 5-27-2024 edit.)

[4] “A lame man named Harry Abbott was also killed while working in his field.” (The Inter-State, Humboldt KS. “The Cheyenne Raid – A Trail of Blood.” 11-14-1878, p. 7.)

[5] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[6] Find a Grave. “Moses Abernathy.” Memorial ID 60382629. Accessed 6-21-2024

[7] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[8] Find a Grave. “Marcellus Felt.” Memorial ID 60382588. Accessed 6-21-2024.

[9] “Having completed the duties required of me in Post Orders No. 79, dated October 9, 1878, I have the honor to make the following report. I left this Post October 10 and proceeded to Buffalo Station, Kansas, crossing the trail of the Cheyenne Indians a short distance east of Carlyle….Alexander Foster, their [Dowling Brothers] herder was killed and his horse, a fine cow poney, his clothes, 100 Dollars in money and a silver watch were taken…” (Report of Walter Stanley Campbell, USA in Typescripts of records of U.S. Army patrols and campaigns. University of Oklahoma Libraries Western History Collections.)

[10] The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[11] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[12] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[13] Find a Grave. “Ephraim Palmer Humphrey.: Memorial ID 60382647. Accessed 6-21-2024.

[14] Find a Grave. “John Humphrey.” Memorial ID 60382643. Accessed 6-21-2024.

[15] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[16] Find a Grave. “John Irwin. Memorial ID 60382585. Accessed 6-21-2024.

[17] Kansas Memory. “Grave Marker, Rawlins County, Kansas.” William C. Piper, 1979. Kansas Historical Society.

[18] Find a Grave. “John G Laing.” Memorial ID 60382671.

[19] Aged 52. Born in Roxburgh, Scotland. Died 9-30-1878. Find a Grave. “William Laing Sr.”

[20] Or: L.T. Lull. (Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.)

[21] About 20 (born in 1858). Buried in West Park Cemetery, Gove County, Kansas. Find a Grave. “Edward Miskelly.”

[22] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008. Was 52 years-old and is buried in the Oberlin Cemetery. (Find a Grave. “

[23] The Inter-State, Humboldt KS. “The Cheyenne Raid – A Trail of Blood.” 11-14-1878, p. 7.

[24] Find a Grave. “Frank Sochor.” Posted by Michael Kokes 3-26-2015.

[25] Ancestry.com. “All U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current results for Anton Stenner.”

[26] The Inter-State, Humboldt KS. “The Cheyenne Raid – A Trail of Blood.” 11-14-1878, p. 7.

[27] Also: Find a Grave. “George F Walters.” Buried in Indian Raid Memorial Section, Oberlin Cemetery.

[28] FamilySearch.org. “John Ferdinand Westphalen Jr. 1862-30 September 1878.”

[29] Find a Grave. “John Ferdinand Westphalen Jr.” Memorial ID 60382605. Buried in Oberlin Cemetery.

[30] Find a Grave. “Ferdinand Westphalen.” Born 1839 in Germany. Accessed 6-20-2024.

[31] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008.

[32] Find a Grave. “John Wright.” Memorial ID 260054818. Accessed 6-21-2024.

[33] Also see: The Oberlin Herald, KS. “Indian Raid claimed 18 lives, 130 years ago in Decatur County.” 9-17-2008. Died on Oct 3 and buried in Shibboleth Cemetery, Dresden, Decatur County, KS. Find a Grave. “John Young.”