During General Grant's first term as President, the Indian agencies were put in the hands of the representatives of the following churches, namely: Congregational, Presbyterian, Catholic, Dutch Reform, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Unitarian, and the two branches of Friends. This was brought about by a resolution on January 13th, 1871 at a conference of the President, the board of Indian commissioners and the official representatives of the religious bodies above mentioned. This was considered at the time as the President's policy and was something of a surprise to many army officers. But there was no marked criticism, most of them believing that if the management of Indian affairs could not be in the hands of the war department, it would have as good a chance of being honestly managed by representatives of the churches as in any other way.

The Kiowa and Commanche agency was put in the hands of a Mr. Tatum, a Quaker and most estimable gentleman, but I afterwards thought he as illy understood the Indian character as the Indians did the peace loving creed of the Quaker persuasion. He was unfortunate in being found in his shirt sleeves and at work, when the first delegation of the Indian chiefs went to the agency to see him, and from that time was spoken of by the Indians as the squaw agent. They could see nothing elevating or even respectable in a man working, that being the squaw's duties, and had little respect for the agent afterwards, although he did the best he could for them.

Mr. Tatum thought it would be better for the Indians to live in houses like white people, instead of in tents, and proposed building them houses, and some of the chiefs agreed to occupy them. He at once got busy and built six or seven neat log houses in the timber a few miles north of the camp. The Indians moved in as they had agreed and it was reported that some of them put their tepees up inside the houses. Of course they did not stay long in such an unnatural place, and when I saw the houses some time afterwards, there was no evidence of recent occupation.

He also established a school for Indian children at the agency, and I think it was patronized by some of the Indians sending their children, but up until the time we left the post, the attendance was small. We cannot tell what the eventual results of these honest efforts to do good may be.

One of the most interesting places about the camp to me was Mr. Orleman's office. He was a West Point graduate, a lieutenant in one of the companies at the camp, and was the engineer under Major Rockwell, who had charge of the construction of the new post. Maybe my everlasting desire to know things interested him, for he was very kind in showing me his instruments and explaining their uses. I was a frequent caller at his office and he always seemed glad to see me. I mention this more particularly from the fact that in the spring of 1871 there was a part of the garrison, I think two troops of cavalry sent to establish a camp on or near the junction of Cache creek and Red river, and I was ordered to make a survey of the route and distance. I had never done such a thing and was more than doubtful of my ability to do it properly, so I went to see Mr. Orleman about it. He said, "Oh, you can do it as well as anybody. I have explained these instruments, and how to use them; of course you can do it." And that settled it. It was simple enough after all. A meter is fastened to the hub and spoke of one of the rear wheels of the ambulance, the hand pointing down and with a weight on the end of it to hold it steady over rough ground. A clockwork inside records the revolutions of the wheel. In other words, the clock goes around instead of the hand, and by knowing the circumference of the wheel it is easy then to calculate the distance traveled. The compass and tripods were not so easy, but a little practice before starting gave me some confidence. The zig-zag course we had to take to get around the head of the canons and to avoid rough ground where the ambulance could not go, were the principal difficulties, but by recording the degrees of each change of direction one gets fairly good results. Mr. Orleman came down some time after we had established that camp, and corrected the survey by triangulation, and complimented me on missing the location less than one-fourth of a mile in a distance of more than forty-five miles traveled.

From this camp I was ordered to make a topographical survey to the junction of the North fork of the Red river with the main stream, a distance of about one hundred miles by the route we took along the river. Mr. Spencer with a detachment of about thirty troopers was sent with me as an escort. This kind of survey did not pretend to be accurate but was intended to observe and record the principal features of the country, such as canons, high points of land, valleys and table lands, and to estimate the altitudes and distance. The compass was the only instrument used on this trip. We arrived at our destination about the middle of the forenoon of the third day and crossed the North fork and went into camp at the junction of the two streams. There was an immense cottonwood tree just on the bank where the two streams united and we conceived the idea of marking our names and date on it, supposing that we might be the first white people in that locality. After the work was done I suggested that we have a picket pin heated and burn the letters to keep them from healing over so soon, but we discovered there were no matches in the command to start a fire, a piece of carelessness that we thought inexcusable. It occurred to me that the medical panniers are always provided with matches and on investigation I found a little box of wax matches and we soon had a fire started. When we had seared the letters over thoroughly we were quite pleased with the result and if that tree is still standing it will probably show some marks of the vandal hands that scarred its magnificent body. I remember the dinner that day among other good dinners that I have had on my hunting trips. We had buffalo hump and I thought it at that time the best thing I had ever tasted.

The country from our camp at the mouth of Cache creek to the junction of North fork and the main stream of Red river is made up mostly of wide valleys and high table lands called mesa in Spanish. These vary in extent from a mile or less to several miles and near the river the country is broken up by frequent canons. It was a beautiful country to look at but it was, of course, entirely uninhabited except by prairie dogs and wild game and buffalo were plentiful, and I recall one bunch of wild horses.

We came on them unawares, going up from a wide valley to a mesa or table land, and they were grazing some three or four hundred yards from the edge of the mesa. It was astonishing how quickly they were bunched up, the colts in the middle, the mares on the flanks and the stallions in the lead, going full speed to get away. When we came to the edge of the mesa again they had crossed a wide valley and were going up on another mesa several miles away still at full speed. They were a beautiful bunch of animals, a reddish roan in color, long tails and manes, and in size much larger than the Indian ponies, but were of a pony build and smaller than our best roadsters.

Prairie dog villages were numerous. We went through one that must have been four or five miles in extent.

We had an early dinner that day, and concluded to start on our return march, and about five o'clock in the evening we came to a pretty little valley with numerous water holes and some dead timber and went into camp.

I took my shotgun and was having some good sport with the ducks when Mr. Spencer's orderly came to me and said, "the lieutenant's compliments and he would like some matches to start a fire." I replied, "give the lieutenant my compliments and tell him I gave the matches to the trooper to start a fire to heat the picket pins, and have not seen them since." When I returned to camp and was within hearing distance I saw two men riding away and heard Mr. Spencer hallow and say, "Corporal, it will be about midnight when you get back, and we will have a bonfire on the hill for you as a guide to our camp." When I got close enough I said, "Spencer, how are you going to get a fire?" and then it dawned on him that we had no matches. "My God," he said, "I never thought of that." But the men had gone at full gallop and we let them go. I thought of the powder I used in my shotgun and thought I would try an experiment. That was when muzzle loaders were still in vogue, the breechloader not having come into general use, and I cut a hole in the lining of my coat where it was padded about the shoulders and took out some cotton wadding which I tamped lightly down on the powder in the gun. At first I had too much powder and it would not work but after a few trials the wadding caught fire and with some dry sticks for kindling we soon had a fire under way and Mr. Spencer had his bonfire on the hill that night. The corporal and the careless troopers who had left the matches at our midday camp returned before midnight having made the round trip of about twenty-eight miles for a little box of matches.

The following day was uneventful until toward night. Some troopers who had permission were out hunting. We had heard a shot occasionally but attached no importance to it, but late in the afternoon an Indian or two were seen off on the hills to the north and in a little while they became numerous enough to create some apprehension. It developed that one of the fool troopers had taken a shot at one of them, but fortunately had missed him and by nightfall there were great numbers of them in sight.

We soon found a little water hole and went into camp and made the best preparation we could for trouble if it came. We got everything close about the water supply and the horses lariated close around us and awaited results. Soon the advance guard of the Indians appeared in perfect alignment silhouetted against the western sky and Mr. Spencer with two men went out to meet them. Explanations and apologies followed, but before the parley was over they informed Mr. Spencer that if they had found us to have been soldiers from Texas they intended to make a clean sweep of it, but as we were from Fort Sill they wanted to be friends. I have often thought it was fortunate for us that we were from Fort Sill, as they outnumbered us twenty or more to one. We waited a half hour or more after they had gone and then quietly mounted and rode away, not a man saying a word until we felt that we were out of danger. We camped again about midnight and saw no more of the Indians.

The following morning I had taken my gun and gone ahead a mile or so and came down off the mesa and found a pony in the valley below. I rode up to it and tried to catch it but it would not allow me to get close enough. I then waited until the command came up. The column marching in twos separated at the order right and left oblique march and made a V shape that surrounded the pony and we took him along with us. We soon came to the trail where the Indians had crossed, a very wide one, showing that great numbers had passed. There were other evidences of their having been on a raid in Texas; some bed ticking and feathers, some pieces of clothing, evidently taken from some settler whom they had probably murdered and scalped. The pony had a sore back and had evidently been abandoned as useless and a hindrance on their march.

Although it was a long day's march we concluded to try and make the camp at Cache creek that night, which we did, getting in very late. We had come by compass directly across country from the junction of the two forks of Red river instead of following the stream as we did going up.

We captured a young antelope, the last day out, and one of the troopers carried it on the saddle in front of him into camp. It lived until we were back at Fort Sill some time, but that kind of life was too hard for it and it gave up the struggle.

There was plenty of game in the country around the camp at Cache creek. Turkeys were very abundant and duck shooting was good in season, and the fishing was fine. I have always regretted my impulsive disposition when thinking of my first shot at turkeys near this camp. When the command was nearing the mouth of Cache creek from Fort Sill, I had taken my last observation with the compass and directed the ambulance driver to a point indicated, and went ahead of the command to select the camp. Having decided on a desirable place I went down stream a little distance and heard some turkeys making a great ado about something. I got down on a sand bar and slipped along the river bank until I thought I was at the right place for a shot. On looking over the bank I discovered that there was quite a bunch of turkeys standing around in a circle and making a great chatter. I fired into them without waiting to see what caused such a commotion, and when I was near where two of them lay an immense diamond rattler uncoiled and glided away. What would have happened if I had waited? Would the turkeys have killed the snake, or the snake some of the turkeys, or would the turkeys have gotten tired of the game and quit? I have often asked myself these questions. Does anybody know? If so I would like to hear their comment. While in that camp we killed two diamond rattlers, one six feet and the other six feet, four inches in length. It may be that one of them was among my first acquaintances in that camp.

There was a turkey roost some three miles above camp where we generally got our supply of turkeys. A young son of General Grierson, having returned from school for his summer vacation, came down to our camp, and was enthusiastic for a visit to the turkey roost, so we arranged to go the following evening, and got permission to take a couple of troop horses for the purpose, a thing not provided for in the regulations. When we had reached the timber we left the trail and hunted for a secure place to tie our horses, as dense a thicket as we could find. We found a place where we thought they would be secure and from there walked to the roost, a short distance away, and sat down and waited for the birds to come in. We did not have long to wait until we could hear the sound of wings, and they commenced lighting in the tree tops above us. We waited until they were well settled before shooting. It had been a warm day and by this time was murky and getting quite dark, and we had difficulty in marking our birds, but we soon had four handsome ones and gathered them up and started to find our horses. I was confident I had observed closely the directions and distance we had gone from the trail and also from the horses to the roost, but we failed to find them where we expected. It was pitch dark by this time and very still and we tramped the neighborhood where we thought we had left them, and then sat down and waited, hoping they might neigh or make some noise and thus guide us to them. When this failed we went to the trail and by lighting matches found where we had left it, and from there we followed the course that we thought would take us to the thicket where we had left the horses. We found it, or thought we had, and tramped it over thoroughly without finding them. We carried our guns and turkeys with us, not daring to put them down for fear we would lose them. We finally concluded some thieving Indians had watched us and had followed us into the timber and stolen our horses, and so we started for the camp on foot. It was a hot, sultry night and I soon began to think three turkeys and a shotgun a good deal of a load and when I inquired of my companion how he was making it he admitted that he was getting a little tired. We rested a little bit and started again, I having taken his bird, much against his protest, and by frequent rests on the way we got into camp between ten and eleven o'clock, a very tired pair of hunters. I sent for the sergeant of the guard and told him I wished to be awakened at four o'clock in the morning. The young lad insisted that he would go with me but I told him no, that he was too tired and had better sleep and that I could get the horses if they were there. At four o'clock, however, he was up as quick as I was and we were soon on the way afoot to the turkey roost. We found the horses just where we had tied them and I felt greatly relieved, not only because it saved me the price of two valuable horses but because it saved the captain of the company who loaned them, as well as myself, a severe reprimand. I came to have a great admiration for the pluck and manliness of my young hunter friend, and if he is an officer in the service now, as many of the sons of my army acquaintances are, and he should ever see this story of army life on the frontier, I wish here and now to present him my compliments, and would like to hear from him.

We had an abundance of fish while at this camp. The quartermaster had built us a little boat so we could stretch troutlines across the stream and we not only had the officers' mess well supplied but often had plenty for the men of the command.

A few days after we had returned from the North fork or Red river, Captain Norvel's troop of cavalry was ordered out on a scout down the valley on the north side of the river, and I was ordered to accompany the command. We started late in the afternoon and by evening it commenced a drizzling rain. We went into camp about dark but did not unwrap our blankets as expected to be out some days and did not wish them to get wet. The blankets in a scout like this are made into a roll and wrapped in a poncho or oil cloth covering and fastened up against the cantle of the saddle by straps which are always a part of the equipment of the army saddle. The captain and I placed our rolls of blankets at the foot of a big tree and with our waterproof to protect us against the rain, sat down on them until the shower should be over. It never let up raining during the whole night, and there we sat dozing and talking by spells until morning. Soon after daylight a messenger arrived with orders to return to camp.

We found nearly everything ready for the return trip to Fort Sill and were soon on the way. We had already heard that General Sherman and staff, Colonels Marcey, Audenried and Tourtellotte, were there on an inspection trip of the military posts of the west. They had come by way of Texas and were fully informed of the doings of the large band of Indians with whom we had our little pow-wow and whose horse we had captured, and whose trail we had crossed on our return from the north fork of Red river to the camp on Cache creek. They had also learned that they came very near being in line with the depredations committed. This band had not only burned houses and killed settlers but had also captured a government wagon train and had tied the teamster to the wagon and having looted the train of all they wanted, burned the teamsters with the wagons and contents. The young bucks on their return to the reservation, and feeling secure at Fort Sill had bragged about it. The names of the leaders in the raid were known and the matter could not be overlooked by General Grierson, but he was powerless without the authority of Mr. Tatum, the Indian agent. This always struck me as a ridiculous phase of our Indian policy.

It was a universal feeling in the army that the war department should have the exclusive control and management of the Indian problems, instead of the interior department, but I suppose politics, the bane of the country in so many ways, ruled in Washington then as it does now, and it was to the interests of the politicians to have it where it was. General Grant was at this time President and had served as a young army officer on the frontier and knew better. The Republicans were in control of congress but it would have been the same with any other political party in control, and was probably the worst that could have been done. Mr. Tatum was fully informed of the raid and the leaders in it, and called for a pow-wow at General Grierson's quarters. A number of Indian chiefs came in to talk the matter over, among them being Satanta, the war chief of the Kiowas; Big Tree, a young chief of the same tribe, and Satank, an old and wizzened up and vicious looking Indian, and council chief among the Kiowas; all known to have been in the raid. There was a heavy guard standing around the quarters ready for any emergency. Mr. Tatum had demanded the surrender of the guilty parties. While the pow-wow was in progress Lone Wolf, chief of the Comanches, came among them, a rifle in each hand, and a couple of bows and a quiver full of arrows swung over his back. I suppose it was a pre-concerted arrangement among the Indians for he handed one gun to an Indian near him, and a couple of Indians behind him grabbed the bows and arrows and in an instant these were pointed at the breast of Mr. Tatum, General Grierson, General Sherman, and other officers present. I suppose the click, click, click of the rifles as the guard cocked and brought them to shoulder, gave Lone Wolf a better understanding of the bloody work at hand, for he raised one hand and said "No shoot! No shoot!" and by the interpreter explained that it was only a joke and that he did not intend to hurt anybody. The interpreter reported afterwards that he had also said when presenting these guns to the breasts of those men mentioned, "Now let these men go and we can fix things up all right." During the excitement Big Tree broke away from the crowd and mounted a horse near by, and tried to escape but the garrison was wide awake to the condition of things, and after a shot or two he surrendered. He and Satanta and Satank were put in the guard-house, a newly built one at the new post, and a strong guard placed about the building, until they were removed to Texas to be tried by the civil authorities.

We arrived at Fort Sill from our camp on Cache creek a day or two after these occurrences but I got the details of the incident from officers present and from my wife who remembers them better than I do. Promptly after the depredations had been committed General Mackenzie of the Department of Texas with several troops of cavalry got on the trail of these Indians and had followed it up into the territory and into the Wichita mountains and from there to Fort Sill and arrived at the post shortly after our return from camp.

After resting his troops for a few days General Mackenzie was ready for the march back to Texas with his prisoners. Quite a number of officers were present to witness their departure. I was standing next to Mr. Jones, the interpreter, when they were brought out of the guard-house, all hand-cuffed, and all in the usual blanket attire of the Indians. When old Satank appeared he set up the most weird and doleful sing-song wail I ever heard, and his face I thought was not so vicious looking as usual, but was more solemn and maybe with a trace of sadness in it. I asked Mr. Jones what it meant, and he replied in an undertone, "It means he ain't going far."

Satanta and Big Tree were placed in one wagon with guards sitting behind them and Satank in another wagon with one of the sergeants sitting beside him and guards behind and when the columns were formed troopers rode alongside the wagons and in this formation they left the post. When in the valley south of the post and probably a couple of miles away we heard the report of firearms from that direction. Soon a messenger arrived with the compliments of General Mackenzie and requested that an ambulance be sent for a trooper who had been wounded. He also gave the essential particulars of what occurred. It seems that by some means unknown, Satank had a knife hidden about his person somewhere and although hand-cuffed had got possession of it and stabbed the sergeant sitting next to him and then grabbed the sergeant's gun and shot the teamster. The sergeant's wound was only slight and he went forward with the command, but the teamster was shot through one side of the neck and fell from his saddle and was brought back to the post hospital for treatment. It proved to be only a deep flesh wound and he was soon discharged from the hospital, and returned to his own command. When the guards realized the state of affairs they made short work of it, and Satank was laid by the roadside and General Grierson sent a squad of soldiers and buried him there in his blankets. It was his death song that had so impressed me as they brought him from the guard-house.

Satanta and Big Tree were tried and convicted in Texas and sentenced to the penitentiary for life. It was reported in the papers some years afterwards that Satanta jumped out of a window at the prison and killed himself and it was rumored that Big Tree had hung himself, but so far as I know this was not confirmed.