GENERAL H. M. CREEL

Ben Clark accepted the appointment and at once began to make the preparations necessary for the removal of the indians to their destination at Fort Reno, I. T. It was a perilous undertaking at that season of the year as the plains were alive with hostile Indians. Another incident arose about the time to make the journey more hazardous than usual, viz, the report that Dull Knife had left the reservation at Fort Reno and was on his way northward to his former hunting grounds. In other words, Dull Knife was on the warpath and as explained in a former chapter, was committing all kinds of depredations. It may be easily imagined what would occur if the tribe that had just broken away from Reno reservation were to join forces with the Little Chief band on their way to the place the other had just quitted. Naturally the tensity of the situation exercised its influence on the whole force accompanying the Little Chief band. At this juncture Ben Clark received the following telegram:

When everything was in readiness, and there was considerable difficulty in the task just accomplished, the expedition set out for Bear Buttes. General Sam D. Sturgis, Colonel of the Seventh Cavalry, in command. Captain Benteen, in command of the escort. The journey was rather tedious as the distance to be traveled each day was limited by Ben Clark to 15 miles. When they reached Bear Buttes they were met by Second Lieutenant H. M. Creel, of K troop of the 7th Cavalry, and Captain Mathey, who took charge of the escort from that place to Fort Robinson. Everything went along as well as the trying conditions of the march would permit, and through the watchfulness of Ben Clark the Indians had little cause to murmur, as he looked after their interests and comfort in a manner that reflects great credit upon him. When they reached Sidney Barracks farther south, the following telegram was awaiting them.

Major Mauck took charge of the escort under Ben Clark at Sidney Barracks. Things went along according to the usual routine until they reached the vicinity of the Red Cloud agency. The close proximity of that agency to the present position of the prisoners of war, no doubt, had some influence on the Little Chief band, as they used to belong to that section of the territory. At this place, Iron Shirt and Black Wolf, chiefs of no mean repute, decided that they would go no further. They declared that they preferred to go to the Red Cloud agency and did not want to go any further south. For a time it seemed as if there was going to be some difficulty in getting the expedition under way again as Iron Shirt, in particular, who was looked upon as a military genius by his followers, was quite determined in his attitude against any further advance towards Reno. However, the matter was promptly adjusted by the commanding officer, by the use of a little diplomacy, as he explained matters to them through the interpreter and put the affair in such a light that it seemed satisfactory to all concerned. The Indians had been rather loathe to leave Fort Abraham Lincoln and would in all probably openly resisted were it not for an agreement made between them and General P. H. Sheridan wherein he promised them good locations, plenty of rations, good hunting on the North Canadian, and besides, gave them permission to retain their firearms as there was an abundance of game in the land to which they were going. The reader will discover later on how this agreement was respected by the war department.

The expedition journeyed along from Sidney Barracks under command of Major Mauck, via Fort Wallace, Fort Dodge, and Camp Supply, without any interruption of any importance, though it was a very tickelish situation all the way as they knew not at what time or place they might encounter the Dull Knife band. It took all the wariness of Ben Clark to keep the band out of all possibility of meeting their kinsmen who were then on the warpath. That he did it successfully, is to his credit, and for it he deserves the highest commendation of not only those immediately concerned with the expedition, but of the country at large, for if those two bands of Cheyennes united, there would have ensued another massacre appaling in its execution.

Little Chief and his band escorted by four troops of the fourth cavalry under Major Mauck arrived at Camp Supply, I. T., in December, 1878, after a few days’ rest started for Fort Reno, the first day’s march brought them to the junction of Wolf and Beaver Creek, forming the North Fork Canadian River, where the command camped, the next morning in the midst of a heavy snow storm Major Mauck came to Lieutenant Creel’s tent about five o’clock with a telegraphic order from General Pope commanding department of Missouri directing him to disarm and dismount the Northern Cheyennes in his charge and en route for Fort Reno, as the interior department at the instigation of the Indian office refused to allow the Indians to enter the Territory unless this was done—this was done to prevent a repetition of the Dull Knife raid of that year. General Pope being entirely ignorant of the promises made by General Sheridan to these Indians that they should retain their arms and ammunition and he had called their attention to the excellent hunting in the Indian Territory. Now on this morning the Indians expected to start out on a great hunt and had asked Lieutenant Creel to go with them, but immediately after reveille and breakfast were confronted with the four troops of the Fourth Cavalry mounted and asked to deliver up their arms and ponies. Lieutenant Creel told Major Mauck of the promises made the Indians by General Sheridan and pointed to the interpretation that would be placed upon such treatment and asked Major Mauck if he could not defer action until they could get into communication with General Sheridan, Division commander, but due to poor means of communication Major Mauck was afraid to assume the responsibility. Later when General Sheridan learned of this action on request of the Indian office, it is needless to say he was much incensed and it was due to this fact that he in a short time affected the transfer of all Northern Cheyennes in this band who desired, to return to their old hunting grounds in Montana.

On the arrival of the expedition at Camp Supply, they were confronted with a dispatch from the war department through General Pope, demanding the immediate disarmament of the Indians. When the order was made known to Little Chief, he at once objected to its enforcement, and with his band, stood with arms drawn and ready to rebel against such open violation of their treaty with General Sheridan.

The Indians when asked to surrender their arms and ponies refused, and formed in battle line in semicircular formation, the women and children in the center. Iron Shirt exhorting them to die fighting for their rights, telling them that they had been lied to long enough, during this time had one gun gone off, it would have been the commencement of a bloody massacre of women and children. All the women and children that could crowd into Lieutenant Creel’s two tents, thinking that when the firing commenced they would be immune. Until eleven o’clock the Indians maintained a bold and relenting attitude, their guns in hand, they stood immovable not yielding one inch; during this tense interval when any moment one shot would have precipitated a bloody fight, Lieutenant Creel remained with the Indians in their midst, walking quietly up and down their line urging carefulness and pleading for the lives of their women and children until they finally surrendered. The Northern Cheyennes as Little Wolf said at Washington in the winter of 1913, had made him an adopted member of their tribe, and the history of the Cheyenne nation or people would not be complete without his name in it, that no white man, an officer in the gallant Seventh Cavalry had when death was near, stood with the Indians in their midst, and on their side as he had done, every other white man had left the Indian camp including William Roland, a half-breed Cheyenne interpreter for these Indians, saying there was going to be a massacre.

It was certainly a very trying situation. There was not a man of the whole command who did not admit the justice of the Indian Chief’s refusal to turn over the arms which he had been promised to be allowed to keep as he would need them in his new location for the purpose of killing game. The cavalry were ordered to mount and enforce the unjust order. At this point there occured one of those little incidents that oftentimes raises a man above his fellows and marks him for all time as one to whom the regard for justice is paramount above all things, even life itself.

The troops had mounted and were holding themselves in readiness for further orders, when H. M. Creel, second lieutenant of K troop, indignant at the injustice of the order, went to the Indians and urged them to refrain from bringing on an engagement which would prove disasterous to themselves and cause a massacre of their women and children. As the lieutenant could speak the Cheyenne tongue fluently, and was familiar with the customs and habits of the tribe, he received a hearing that was respectful. He succeeded in bringing about a conciliation by becoming personally responsible for their firearms and anything else which they might have that was considered contraband of war. By his course of action in the matter, he at once won the undying gratitude of the Cheyennes, which endures to this day, and will continue to do so as long as the traditions of the Cheyenne are handed down to posterity.