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== The Medicine Lodge Treaty ==
Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas was the site of a meeting between the Department of Indian Affairs and several thousand Native Americans. The week of meetings that took place from October 21-28, 1867 was an attempt at appeasement on the part of the government. Treaties made that week between the Kiowa-Comanche association and the Cheyenne-Arapaho alliance were designed to afford some land to the Indians while assuring the safety of white hunters and migrants.
[[File:medicine lodge peace council.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Depiction of the Medicine Lodge Peace Council, Medicine Lodge, Kansas, 1867.]]
The Kiowa-Comanche treaty was signed on October 21, 1867 and the Cheyenne-Arapaho chiefs signed their treaty one week later. The treaties mandated that the native tribes were to reside on reservation land within Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) and were to receive provisions, including food stuffs and ammunition, at the expense of the federal government. Further, excepting government agents, whites were forbidden from trespassing on reservation land and that the territory designated was for the “absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named.” Further, a clause was incorporated allowing the Native tribes “the right to hunt on any lands south of the Arkansas River so long as the buffalo may range thereon.”<ref>Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, ''Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties — Vol. II: Treaties'', (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904), 977-989.</ref>The tribal chiefs were resigned to the terms of the treaty; however, became angry when they were not given their allotment of weapons and supplies. Viewing the slight as an act of betrayal, young warrior bands from the Cheyenne tribe lit out on raiding expeditions to obtain what was necessary for their families. The federal government became enraged with the actions of the individual warrior bands and bolstered its complement of troops in the region. As the reinforcements arrived, General Sherman stated, “‘I will say nothing and do nothing to restrain our troops,’” as Sherman viewed native Americans as “‘the enemies of our [white] race and civilization.’”<ref>Quoted in Robert M. Utley, ''Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indians, 1866-1891'' (New York: Macmillan, 1973),150-52.</ref>Sherman’s barrage of attacks on the South Plains Indians were stifled the following year when his former commanding general became his Commander-in-Chief.
== Enabling Treaty Violations ==
Hunting buffalo had become a wildly popular means by which to make a living and the number of hunters pouring into Dodge City grew at an exponential rate. Renowned hunter William “Billy” Dixon wrote that “During the fall and winter of 1872 and 1873, there were more hunters in the country than ever before…I feel safe in saying that 75,000 buffaloes were killed within sixty or seventy-five miles of Dodge.”<ref>Frederick S. Barde,'' Life and Adventures of “Billy” Dixon of Adobe Walls, Panhandle, Texas'' (Guthrie, OK: Cooperative Publishing Co., 1914), 109-110.</ref>The result of such voracious hunting was the decimation of the animal north of the Arkansas River.
[[File:40,000buffhidesdodgecity1878.jpg|thumbnail|300px|Approximately 40,000 buffalo hides stacked in Dodge City, 1878.]]
The white men inched their way down through Kansas and into Indian Territory one river at a time. The initial southern hunting boundary of the Medicine Lodge Treaty was the Arkansas River; what the hunters called the “Dead Line.” After crossing the Arkansas, they moved in order to the Cimarron, Canadian, and finally the Red River. The U.S. Army turned the other way when they saw the trespassing, hunting, and poaching of what, by treaty, belonged to the Native Americans. By 1873, the tribal leaders realized they were unable to prevent the hunters from infringing on their territory, thus they elected to remain on the reservations rather than hunt on their own land. Factions within tribes began to quarrel as most sought peace while a growing number of war chiefs and young warriors began to emerge. Actions of the hunters exacerbated the path to war in 1873 when they scouted the Texas panhandle.
While on his scouting expedition, Josiah Wright Mooar realized the abundance of buffalo in the region. The potential earnings seemed great; however, in order to reach the plentiful grounds, the hunters had violate the treaty by passing through Indian lands. Wright Mooar met with Major Richard Dodge, the commander of Fort Dodge, and asked the military’s stance on treaty violations. Major Dodge shared the opinions of many high ranking military officers regarding Native Americans and assured Mooar that he would not encounter any interference from his troops. With the tacit consent from Major Dodge, Mooar coordinated the other white hunters into a party to pursue buffalo on the Staked Plains of the Texas panhandle. By working in this region, the white hunters violated the Medicine Lodge Treaty by taking buffalo south of the designated border and trespassing on tribal territory. They were able to do this due to the lack of enforcement on the part of the United States Army.
== Native American Frustrations ==
By the early part of 1874, the majority of South Plains Indians had resigned themselves to the reality that due to the military power of the federal government they had no choice but to concede to the demands white Americans. Chiefs arrived with their tribes at the designated reservations as they were promised protection and rations. The government did not provide the promised food and supplies, thus the frustrations grew among the tribal warriors. Additionally, white hunters and pioneers began poaching Indian horses without facing any consequences for their actions.
Cries for war were increasing at Darlington and agent Miles grew concerned. He wrote that “‘The Chiefs are very much provoked and discouraged…and express the fear that, should nothing be done…and another raid be maid upon them, that it will be impossible for them to restrain their young men from making a like raid on the frontier of Kansas.’”<ref>Quoted in Haley,45</ref>Again, nothing was done to punish the white criminals and the robberies and poaching continued.
[[File:buffhunterscalped1868nearftdodge.jpg|thumbnail|300px|A buffalo hunter discovered near Fort Dodge, December, 1868. The victim has been scalped. ]]
At Fort Sill, agent Haworth was faced with the same problem in that his Indian wards were suffering the same deprivations as those at Darlington. Agent Haworth wrote that “‘Since the Indians have camped near the agency, over one hundred head of their stock have been stolen and taken into Texas ̶ ̶ ̶ and none recovered.’”<ref>Quoted in Haley, 47.</ref>Compounding the problem of the robberies was the fact that the horse thieves were at times forced to kill other white men and did so in a manner that suggested the killings were perpetrated by Native Americans. They took scalps, which was the tradition of Native Americans, and convinced the frontier citizens that that it was the South Plains Indians who were guilty. Agent Haworth defended the tribes and wrote, “‘I am fully convinced that many of the offences charged to the Indians are committed by white men in disguise.’”<ref>Quoted in Haley, 48.</ref>
Native American chiefs were also aware of the trickery being enacted by the thieves, which increased the call for war. By spring 1874, hungry South Plains tribes had been infringed upon, neglected, stolen from, and framed for murders of which they were innocent. Their increased anger and hatred of white hunters and the U.S. government had been simmering for years and at last reached the boiling point when hunters established a settlement on the Texas panhandle.
== Conclusion ==
The Red River War was a series of engagements fought between the United States Army and the war parties of the Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne tribes. By enabling white buffalo hunters to breach the Medicine Lodge Treaty, the military leaders fostered the desire for war among the war factions of the tribes. Further, the neglect on the part of the federal government to provide rations to the peaceful reservation Indians exacerbated the feeling among the tribes that they needed to feed and protect themselves. In the early part of May 1874, agent Miles had no food to provide and the nearest herds of buffalo were more than one hundred-fifty miles from the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation. Miles had no choice but to allow his tribes off the reservation in order to hunt buffalo. These two tribes proceeded in the direction of the Staked Plains on the Texas panhandle where they encountered the white hunting parties at a settlement named Adobe Walls. This was the beginning of the Red River War.
