Oklahoma's Historic Fort Arbuckle

Colonel Norman A. Lamb, United States Army (retired), is pictured here sitting on top of the state marker announcing the location of  the historic U.S. Fort Arbuckle (est. 1851) in south central Oklahoma. Norman's military background is quite impressive. He was the U.S. Army liaison to West Point from Oklahoma for over a decade,  the Secretary of Veteran Affairs for a record setting nineteen years (serving in this cabinet position under three separate governors), and a multi-term Oklahoma state senator, holding various legislative leadership positions in the state assembly. His son, Todd Lamb, is the current Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma, and in the opinion of many (including me), the next Governor of Oklahoma.

I've met very few people who are able to converse on Oklahoma and United States history with the ease of Norman Lamb. Norman is 78 years young. He went with me yesterday as I made hospital visits in OKC and then on to Falls Creek, the world's largest youth encampment. Norman had mentioned to me that he wanted to see the location of the historic Fort Arbuckle. Over the last decade I've become friends with the homeowners who live on the grounds of the former fort as I did research for Red Earth Courage and Enid's Night of Generals.

So yesterday Norman and I made our way to the site of the old fort. We ended up having a wonderful visit with a woman named Porte (pronounced Porshe) who has lived on the grounds of the old Fort Arbuckle  for over fifty years. Her husband's parents lived on the site of the old fort as well, and that is where her husband was born over seventy years ago. After giving her a copy of one of my books, she gave me a pistol ball from an old Patterson "cap and ball" revolver that had been embedded in the grounds of the old fort. She also gave me one of the earliest .44 caliber bullets made for the infamous Smith and Wesson revolver that won the west, also discovered on the grounds of the fort.

Fort Arbuckle was established April 19, 1851 by Captain Randolph B. Marcy. He chose a location on Wild Horse Creek, just west of the creek's mouth at the Washita River, in what is now south central Oklahoma. The location was just north of a range of mountains that the French trappers and Indians called the Ouachita Mountains, but the soldiers spelled phonetically  "Washita" Mountains (same with the river that runs near the mountains). Captain Marcy named the new frontier fort he established Fort Arbuckle in honor of the respected General Matthew Arbuckle who had died of cholera just a little over a week earlier (April 11, 1851) at Fort Smith (Arkansas). The Ouachita Mountains south of the fort would eventually take the name Arbuckle Mountains because of their close proximity to Fort Arbuckle.

Fort Arbuckle was built by the United States army to protect the recently relocated eastern civilized Indian tribes--primarily the Chickasaws and Choctaws--from the native Comanche, Kiowa and Cheyenne Plainsmen Indians who did not take kindly to other Indian tribes encroaching on their lands. The United States had signed treaties with the civilized tribes that guaranteed their protection in "Indian Territory" and Oklahoma's earliest history is the story of the locating and establishment of military forts (Fort Smith, Fort Gibson, Fort Towson, Fort Washita, Fort Arbuckle, Fort Cobb, Fort Sill) for the purpose of protecting civilized Indians from Plainsmen Indians. The soldiers stationed at these forts also ended up protecting wagon trains that crossed through "Indian Territory" on their way to the gold fields of California (think Lone Ranger).

In the 1820's, 30's, 40's and 50's the finest graduates of West Point were assigned as officers to Indian Territory, to the land that would eventually become Oklahoma. Though Oklahoma's Native American history stretches back for centuries, the earliest white settlers in Oklahoma were soldiers. Most people don't know that as late as 1801, 2 out of 3 white Americans lived within fifty miles of the Atlantic ocean.  There were only four roads over the Appalachian Mountains that headed west. Anything west of the Appalachians was considered frontier, and no American lived west of the Mississippi until after 1803 and the Louisiana Purchase. Our nation has exploded in growth in a short 200 years. It's hard for young people today to fathom what America was like as late as fifty years after Independence Day (July 4, 1776).

Fort Arbuckle was closed in the spring of 1870 when a new fort opened, the massive and still existing Fort Sill. Because of Fort Arbuckle's short tenure as a military fort, most people have forgotten about it. The old fort was located seven miles west of the today's Davis, Oklahoma just north of Highway 7. Even today, when it rains hard, you can find treasures that surface from their burial places on the grounds of old Fort Arbuckle. My friends have found pistols, rifles, plates, perfume bottles, forks, knives, and a host of other artifacts. Fort Arbuckle is a state treasure trove of history. Though there are many things I could tell you about why Fort Arbuckle has an important place in Oklahoma and U.S. history, I'll give you just four:

(1). Captain Marcy, who founded Fort Arbuckle on April 19, 1851, would explore the headwaters of the Red River (the river that divides Oklahoma and Texas) the following year (1852). Accompanying Captain Marcy for that Red River exploration was a young lieutenant named George B. McClellan.  Young George would eventually fall in love with Captain Marcy's daughter Mary Ellen (Nelly) Marcy, and the two would marry. McClellan would later be promoted to General at the beginning of the Civil War, and President Abraham Lincoln would eventually appoint McClellan as the General-in-Chief of the entire Union Army. Lincoln famously fired McClellan for not being aggressive enough in taking the fight to the Confederates, a trait of reticence probably developed back when McClellan and Marcy made a major mistake in charting the Red River. McClellan, however, was a proud man and took offense at his sacking. He ran against Abraham Lincoln in 1864 for the Presidency of the United States. McClellan would lose the Democratic nomination and Lincoln would be assassinated in April 1865. General's McClellan and Marcy had the beginnings of their long relationship in the Indian Territory that we now call Oklahoma and the old fort we call Arbuckle.

(2). The first secret mission of the Civil War (as recorded in the Official Records) had as its target destination Fort Arbuckle. Young Lieutenant William Averell was commissioned by Abraham Lincoln and Winfield Scott to dress as a confederate and make his way from Washington, D.C. by train to St. Louis (where the railroad ended just west at Rolla, Missouri), from Rolla to Fort Smith via stage coach, and then from Fort Smith to Fort Arbuckle on a horse. Averell carried a handwritten order that Union troops stationed in Indian Territory were to evacuate to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and then to other locations to the east. Lincoln needed his finest officers and troops to help defend the Union. In essence, the U.S. government's commitment to protect the Indian nations was abandoned. The story of Averell's horseback ride through Indian Territory to Fort Arbuckle, chased by confederates the entire five day journey from Fort Smith, is one of the most amazing unknown stories of the Civil War and forms the basis of the two books Red Earth Courage and Enid's Night of Generals. The mile and a half train of troops and dependents that left Fort Arbuckle on May 3, 1861 and headed north (guided by the legendary Delaware Indian Black Beaver) would include many future Union Generals and Medal of Honor recipients who would help defeat the Confederacy.

(3). Most Americans have forefathers who came to the plains of the Midwest and the west coast of the America's during the 1849 Gold Rush or later. These western pioneers usually rode by wagon train in groups of 50 to 70 people. The mandatory guidebook for that journey west of the Mississippi was written by Fort Arbuckle's founder Randolph Marcy. The book was entitled The Prairie Traveler: A Handbook for Overland Expeditions. The United States government printed it, every wagon train had multiple copies of it, and it told in detail how to spot peaceful or hostile Indians, how to find water, how to start a fire, how to protect the camp at night, and a host of other invaluable guidelines. A first edition copy of this book, originally published in 1859, will cost you thousands of dollars. It was the best selling book in America from 1860 to 1885. The author was the founder and first commander at Fort Arbuckle.

(4). The historic Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry were stationed at Fort Arbuckle after the Civil War. I will be writing a future post on the importance of these freed slaves who served in the United States army at a later date, but their presence alone at Fort Arbuckle makes this fort extremely important.

So, yesterday was a very interesting day for me with Norman Lamb. It's great to have friends who are as interested in connecting the historical dots as I.

The Roots of the Real Red River Rivalry

This Saturday the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas will play in a ball game the media calls The Red River Rivalry.  The game rattles the nerves and boils the emotions of people in Oklahoma and Texas. What most don't realize is that there was a real Red River Rivalry that has lasted for 150 years. The Oklahoma and Texas border dispute which involves the Red River began with a navigating error by a soldier who would become a Civil War general, necessitated a U.S. President calling out federal troops to clear the disputed land of Texans, and ultimately would only be resolved by a decision of the United States Supreme Court.

       In 1803 Thomas Jefferson purchased land from Napoleon in a transaction that became known as The Louisana Purchase. The southern most portion of the land, including modern day Oklahoma, formed the United States border with Spain. The 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain established the Red River, the river that now forms the border between Texas and Oklahoma, as the southern boundary line between the U.S. and Spain. In addition, the 100th Meridian, north from the Red River to the Arkansas River (a river in the territory that would eventually become Kansas), was established as the western boundary of the United States.  When Mexico became independent of Spain in 1821, the U.S. signed a treaty recognizing Mexico's boundaries as the same as the 1819 treaty. In 1837, Texas seceded from Mexico and proclaimed itself an independent nation. The following year the Republic of Texas concluded a treaty with the United States, and once again, the United States recognized the same boundaries.

Though the Red River and the 100th Meridian were considered the boundaries between the U.S. and Texas, nobody really explored the boundaries to set definitive markers until the summer of 1852. In that summer, two young U.S. soldiers stationed in Indian Territory (Oklahoma), Captain Randolph Marcy and Captain George B. McClellan,  were sent by the government to explore the upper Red River to find its source and mark the 100th meridian. Captain McClellan, who himself would later (1861) become a general and be appointed by President Lincoln as general-in-chief of the Union Army, used astronomical observations to establish the 100th meridian. However, McClellan made a mistake in his navigation. He placed the meridian one degree east of its actual location. This made the meridian intersect the Red River at a point near the mouth of the North Fork of the Red River. McLellan and Marcy followed the North Fork of the Red River north, falsely believing the North Fork to be the Red River.

          McClellan's mistake would not be discovered for five years, but by that time, Texans had already taken up residence in the area between the North Fork of the Red River and the real Red River (the light red colored land pictured in the map). On February 9, 1860, Texas called this land Greer County, named in honor of John A. Greer, the former lieutenant governor of Texas. The new county's boundaries were the area east of the 100th meridian and between the north and south forks of the Red River,  Texas recognized the true 100th meridian as the eastern boundary of the Texas Panhandle but claimed the North Fork as the main branch of the Red River. Texas argued that General McClellan had claimed the North Fork was the main fork of the Red River back in 1852. Based on McClellan's error, Texas would claim sovereignty over Greer County for almost forty years.

           In 1890 the United States sought to establish Oklahoma as a new Territory. A lawsuit was filed by the attorney general  the United States to recognize Greer County as part of Oklahoma and not Texas.  After hearing all the testimony and after examining all the documents, the Supreme Court held that the central issue was "what did the negotiators of the Treaty of 1819 believe the boundary to be at the time they were presenting the treaty for ratification by both national governments (Spain and the U.S.)." In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that the southern branch of the Red River was the main original border of 1819. As a result, the land between the North Fork River and the Red River belonged to the United States (and Oklahoma) and not Texas. In 1896 Greer County became part of Oklahoma Territory and in 1907 the new state of Oklahoma divided the 1.5 million acres into four counties: Beckham, Harmon, Greer and Jackson counties.

However, the border dispute between Texas and Oklahoma did not end. In 1918 wildcat oil men found oil in north Texas. Wells were drilled by Texans as close to the Red River as possible, peven actually drilling into the river. Oklahoma land owners asserted that oil was being pumped from the Oklahoma side into Texas pocketbooks.   Oklahomans demanded royalty payments asserting that the middle of the Red River to the south bank was Oklahoma land. The State of Oklahoma filed suit in the U.S. Supreme Court against the State of Texas.  Eventually the courts decided that the entire Red River was in Oklahoma and the state of Texas only begins on the south bank. However, the bed of the Red River expands and contracts through the natural processes of erosion and accretion. The question eventually became "Where is the south bank of the Red River?"   Determining the exact location of the south bank required a great deal of legal work and surveying. In 1991 the state legislatures of Oklahoma and Texas created Red River Boundary Commissions and charged them with establishing a fixed and permanent boundary. In the spring of 1999 the commissions decided "the vegetation line along the south bank of the Red River extending on a line from the 100th Meridian east to Lake Texoma as the northern border of Texas."  The 1999 agreement required the Oklahoma/Texas border be marked with visible landmarks. Texas Gov. George W. Bush signed the resulting legislation into law on May 24, 1999 and Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating signed the agreement into law on June 4 of the same year. In Washington, D.C., Congress affirmed the agreement, which became federal law on August 31, 2000.  150 years of border dispute was finally resolved at the dawn of the 21st millenium.

The only remaining Red River battle will take place Saturday.

Marquis James: A Tribute to the Unqualified Master of Understated Metaphors

Today, August 29, is the birthday of Marquis James. Marquis, raised in Enid, Oklahoma, won the Pulitzer Prize twice. The first Pulitzer Prize was awarded him in 1930 for James' epic biography of Sam Houston entitled The Raven. It is said that President John F. Kennedy was so captivated by The Raven that the book became one of the first gifts he gave to his fiance Jacquelin Bovier.  The second Pulitzer was awarded eight years later, in 1938, for the massive two volume The Life of Andrew Jackson. Marquis James would eventually write sixteen epic historical books.

A Yale University textbook of the late 1940's declared, "The greatest masters of the understated metaphor are Marquis James and William Butler Yeats." When told of the quote, Marquis James allegedly replied mildly, "Who is this man Yeats?" 

Many of you might be saying,  "Who is this man Marquis James?"  

Marquis James is a literary giant and a master of the understated metaphor, and it is through reading his books that I have learned the importance of adding the color of metaphor to both speaking and writing.

A metaphor is a figure of speech which expresses the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar. For example, the metaphor "love is a rose" takes the abstract concept of love and makes it understandable by using the visible, tangible and familiar rose (i.e."love blossoms and grows over time, is sweet to the senses, is in close proximity to the pain of thorns, etc...). The imagination is illumined to understand life better by use of metaphors.

The best speakers and writers are those who most often and most naturally use understated metaphors. Marquis James was a master, and anyone who speaks or writes for a living ought to be familiar with him.

120 year ago, on August 29, 1891, Marquis James was born to Houstin and Rachel Marquis James in Springfield, Missouri. Marquis' father would leave his bride and young son two years later to participate in the infamous September 16, 1893 Cherokee Land Run. With the services of a swift horse, Houstin James became the 15th settler to file a land claim at the government land office in Enid, outracing between 90,000 and 100,000 other land seekers. Houstin laid claim to a quarter section of land located two miles southeast of Enid on the banks of Boggy Creek (SE Quarter of Section 17 Township 22 N, R6W).

Two months later Houstin's wife and son joined him in Enid. Marquis, called Mark or Markey while a youth,  attended the Enid public schools,  graduating from Enid High School in 1910. Marquis only attended one year of college at Oklahoma Christian University in Enid (later called Phillip's University) before leaving Enid and traveling the country working for the next five years as a reporter for various newspapers in major cities including Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Chicago, winding up in New York City as a rewrite editor for the New York Tribune.

Marquis formal education was limited to his one year of college, but his enthusiasm for self-learning and his natural abilities led him to become a successful writer. Marquis turned down a job  at the start of World War One to be the Tribune's war correspondent and he volunteered for the American Expeditionary Force and fought on the front lines in France. Marquis was wounded in battle and received the Purple Heart. Upon his return to the United States in 1919, Marquis took a job as the National Publicity Director for the newly formed American Legion. It was in 1925 that Marquis James and Harold Ross, an editor for the American Legion monthly magazine, joined together to found The New Yorker.  Marquis then went to work as a writer for the magazine he helped found.

In 1925, while covering the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee for the New Yorker, Marquis took a break from the coutroom and went to the local library where he came across a large collection of books on Tennessee's native son, Sam Houston. Reminded that he once met Sam Houston's son, Temple Houston, when living in Enid, and that Temple Houston regaled him with stories about his father, Marquis James determined in that Tennessee library to write a biography on Sam Houston. James spent the next four years researching the life of Sam Houston, and then published his manuscript The Raven in 1929. He won the Pulitzer Prize the following year.

Marquis James eventually wrote sixteen epic books, two of which won the Pulitzer Prize, but his favorite book of all was his autobiography of growing up in Enid, Oklahoma within what was formerly known as the Cherokee Outlet. The book, entitled The Cherokee Strip: A Tale of an Oklahoma Boyhood, was published in 1945, and though it did not win a Pulitzer, it remains one of the finest first hand accounts of early Oklahoma life.

Marquis James died suddenly of a brain aneurism on November 19, 1955 at his home in New York. He was working on the definitive biography of Booker T. Washington at the time of his death. After his death, his wife donated James' original manuscripts of The Raven and The Cherokee Strip to the Enid Public Library, where they remain encased and on display in the Oklahoma Room. One of these days someone is going to write a biography on the master biographer we know as Marquis James.

Happy Birthday, Marquis James. Thanks for illustrating how history can be told in a colorful style with metaphorical flair. We would all be better if we turned off the television for a while and read The Raven or The Life of Andrew Jackson or The Cherokee Strip: A Tale of an Oklahoma Boyhood. Maybe this little birthday wish will point a reader in the right direction.

God's Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Clendon Thomas

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a tribute luncheon for Clendon Thomas, the 1957 Oklahoma All-American football player who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame this December. The Petroleum Club in downtown Oklahoma City was packed with people who came to honor Clendon's accomplishments, but more importantly, to honor his character and humility. The Daily Oklahoman did a great job this morning reporting on the event.  I knew Clendon and his lovely wife before the luncheon, even attending OU football games with them courtesy of my friend Jakie Sandefer. However, I was deeply impressed by an event that closed out the luncheon You could tell Clendon was unconfortable throughout the tribute with all the attention. Clendon was so popular during his playing days that some Oklahoma fans even named their sons after him, and he remains unaffected by such attention, even to this day. However, the only time Clendon became emotional was at the end. I sat where I had an unobstructed view of Clendon as Chuck Bowman, Director of Oklahoma's Fellowship of Christian Athletes and former roommate of Clendon at OU, read a poem. I saw on Clendon's face his heartfelt belief this poem represented his beliefs.

Clendon Thomas

A little background on the poem is warranted. Mickey Mantle came to faith in Jesus Christ two weeks prior to his death in 1995. His longtime friend, Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson, had long prayed for Mickey Mantle's conversion to Christianity. At Mantle's euology, Bobby Richardson read the poem that Chuck Bowman read at the Clendon's tribute yesterday. For two of Oklahoma's greatest athletes, one of whom has served Christ all his life (Clendon Thomas), and the other who came to know Christ just two weeks before his death (Mickey Mantle), this poem has proved very meaningful. For me, it is a creative reminder that real  and lasting meaning in life comes from our relationship with God through faith in His Son.



GOD’S HALL OF FAME

Your name may not appear down here,
In this world’s hall of fame,
In fact you may be so unknown,
That no-one knows your name!

Our Halls of fame are only good
As long as time shall be;
But keep in mind, God’s Hall of fame,
Lasts for eternity!

To have your name inscribed up there
Is greater yes by far,
Than all the Halls of Fame down here
And every man made star.

Man on earth will soon forget
The heroes of the past;
They cheer you on until you fall;
How long will your fame last?

But God, He never does forget,
And in His Hall of Fame,
By just believing in his Son,
Proud, you’ll find your name.

Accepting His Son died for me
Was all it really took,
For God to take His pen,
And write me in His book.

For every famous name on earth
Or glory that we share;
I’d rather be unknown down here,
And have my name up there.

I tell you friend, I wouldn’t trade
My name, however small,
In His book, beyond the stars
…In His celestial Hall.

A Captivating Story of God's Saving Grace: From Cheyenne Warrior to Christian Missionary

David Pendleton

"Men, you know me. You remember me when I led you out to war. I went first, and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East, and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all he tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace and where we never have only victory..."     From a sermon delivered by David Pendleton (formerly known as the Cheyenne Warrior "Okuhhatuh")  to fifty Cheyenne Indians who had gathered to hear him speak on Sunday, June 19, 1881, at the Cheyenne schoolhouse in Caddo Springs (now Concho), Oklahoma. 

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Every time I drive south on Highway 81 from my home in Enid, Oklahoma on my way to Oklahoma City, I pass by a big casino in what is now Concho, Oklahoma. Thousands of people in my state know about the casino called Lucky Star, but very few people inside or outside of Oklahoma know about the extraordinary events that occurred three miles south of Lucky Star on the banks of North Canadian River on April 6, 1875, or the subsequent story of personal redemption (see above quote) that was told six years later on June 19, 1881, in the schoolhouse immediately west of Lucky Star. The story of David Pendleton will require a little background, but if you patiently and carefully digest the history, you will understand the significance these events have on U.S. history. The story of Okuhhatuh's conversion to Christ has some startling connections to U.S. federal labor laws, the Star-Spangled Banner, and the National Football League.

President Garfield Shot

I live in Garfield County, Oklahoma, a county named after U.S. President James Garfield. On July 2, 1881, President Garfield, accompanied by Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln's son), made his way to a  train station in Washington, D.C. in order to catch a train to Massachusetts where the President would be giving a speech. As President Garfield and Mr. Lincoln walked through the Sixth Street Station in Washington, assassin Charles J. Guiteau shot the President in the back. Guiteau, who had campaigned for Garfield's election, had applied for federal office and was angered that the President had denied him a job. Armed with a .44 caliber pistol, Guiteau mortally wounded Garfield. The President would eventually die from his wounds on September 19, 1881. Most people know of Garfield's assassination, but few know of the historic aftermath.

George Pendleton

Ohio Senator George Pendleton was a friend of President Garfield. They both hailed from Ohio and had been close friends for decades. Senator Pendleton, upset by the assassination of the President by a disgruntled federal office seeker, authored legislation that eventually became known as the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. If you have ever taken a test for a federal job or held a position within the federal government, you are familiar with Pendleton's Act. It provided a selection of government employees based upon competitive exams rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation, reversing the federal patronage system which had been in place prior to the act. Pendleton's law also made it illegal to fire or demote government employees for political reasons. To enforce the merit system, the act also created the United States Civil Service Commission. Pendleton, called by those who knew him "Gentleman George" for his gentle demeanor and Christian principles, is best known for three things: (a). The Pendelton Act, (b). His long and happy marriage to Alice Key, daughter Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and (c). Pendleton, Oregon, a city named in his honor.

Senator George Pendleton and his wife Alice Key Pendleton, however, should be known for something even more significant. This Christian couple led a Cheyenne warrior named Okuhhatuh to faith in Christ while visiting him in prison in Florida. Okuhhatuh had lived the first thirty years of his life roaming the western plains of Oklahoma as a Cheyenne warrior. How Okuhhatuh wound up in the prison in Florida is a story of God's providence and mercy in the life of an Indan man God chose to redeem.

A Cheyenne Warrior in Need of a Change of Heart

"You Are Here" is Darlington Indian Agency

Less than sixty miles south of where I live in Garfield County is the historic Darlington Indian Agency. Located on the north bank of the North Canadian River, precisely where the old Chisolm Trail (Fort Sill Military Road) crosses that river, Darlington was established in the spring of 1870 and served as the government base for the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indian Reservation. The United States 6th and 10th Cavalry also used Darlington as one of their Indian Territory posts in the 1870s. Darlington is two miles north and two miles west of what is now the city of El Reno, Oklahoma. What happened at the Darlington Indian Agency on April 6, 1875, directly resulted in the establishment three months later of U.S. Fort Reno (est. July 1875), a fort built directly south of Darlington, just across the North Canadian River. Fort Reno was created to assist the government in putting down "The Cheyenne Rising."  The origin of the phrase "God willing and the Creek don't rise" has nothing to do with flooding, but rather, with the knowledge that if "God wills" and the Creek Indians don't rise up and fight, then future plans are certain. In 1875 it wasn't the Creek rising, but rather the Cheyenne, the Comanche, the Kiowa, and other Plainsmen Indians as they revolted against government efforts to force them to live on Indian reservations within Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The plains were filled with uncertainty that comes with war.
 

Indian Drawing of Red River War battle

On April 6, 1875, several Cheyenne warriors found themselves prisoners at Darlington, courtesy of the United States cavalry. These Cheyenne warriors had been captured and arrested by United States troops for their armed resistance over being forcibly settled on a  Cheyenne reservation. The Cheyenne reservation is located at present-day Concho, Oklahoma, just north of Darlington Indian Agency. The Cheyenne warriors had been joined in the fight with whites by other Plainsmen Indian tribes (Comanche, Kiowa, Caddo, etc...) who were also being forced by the U.S. government to live on their respective tribal reservations within Indian Territory. This 1874-1875 Indian war, called the Red River War, began with the Indian attack on white buffalo hunters at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls in the Texas Panhandle on June 27, 1874, continued with dozens of major battles and minor skirmishes between Indians and whites which included the brutal slaying of white merchant Pat Hennessey on July 3, 1974, near the town that bears his name (Hennessey, Oklahoma),  and would only end when Quanah Parker's Comanche warriors turned themselves into U.S. troops at Fort Sill (Oklahoma) on June 2, 1875, just under a year after the Red River War began.

U.S. Army Gatling Gun

The Cheyenne warriors who stood shackled before Sixth Cavalry Commander Lt. Colonel Thomas H. Neil that Tuesday afternoon, April 6, 1875, were waiting to be loaded on wagons for their transfer to the federal penitentiary at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Black Horse, one of the last prisoners to be shackled, overpowered the blacksmith attempting to rivet iron leglets on him.  The Cheyenne warrior broke free from his captors and ran in an attempt to escape. At first, the soldiers tried to chase down and capture Black Horse without shooting him.  But as the pursuit lengthened and the cavalrymen realized that Black Horse would soon be able to cross the North Canadian and enter a Cheyenne war camp, they fired their guns at Black Horse. Other Cheyenne Indians, encamped around Darlington but not in custody, responded to the gunfire by attacking Blackhorse's pursuers.  Cavalrymen from the 6th and 10th U.S. Cavalry were wounded in this Indian attack and infantry reinforcements were called as the battle grew intense. This April 6, 1875, Red River War battle took place just north of what is now the city of El Reno, Oklahoma all along the North Canadian River, and is considered the last major battle of the Red River War. It also marks the first time a Gatling Gun was used by the U.S.military against Indians in the Southwest. Black Horse and several other Cheyenne Indians were killed during the battle.

A Cheyenne Warrior on the Open Range

Listening to the gunfire around him while under arrest and shackled with iron leglets in the jail at Darlington was a Cheyenne Indian warrior named Okuhhatuh.  He was thirty years old and stood over six feet tall. His eyes had the cold, hard stare of a hardened Cheyenne warrior. His name loosely translates into English as "Sun Dancer" or "Making Medicine." The Cheyenne word for 'medicine' referred to supernatural powers both during and after combat.  Okuhhatuh possessed great fighting skills and had demonstrated such during the major battles of the Red River War. He had distinguished himself as an accomplished and powerful warrior, leading his fellow Cheyenne into battle. His activities had led to his eventual capture and arrest by the United States cavalry troops who had been assigned to put down the Indian's insurrection. Okuhhatuh's anger stirred as he struggled against the bonds that kept him imprisoned and unable to enter the battle going on around him. Little did Okuhhatuh know that just a few years later he would return to Darlington with a changed heart and a new name.

The Cheyenne Warriors Become the "Florida Boys"

The Cheyenne Warriors at Fort Marion

After the U.S. soldiers quelled the April 6, 1875, Cheyenne uprising in the sandhills around Darlington with the use of their Gatling Gun, the soldiers turned their attention to safely transferring Okuhhatuh and 71 other imprisoned Indian warriors, 33 of whom were Cheyenne, to Fort Marion in Florida. Now properly shackled, the Indians were loaded onto transport wagons and taken to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Boarding trains at Fort Leavenworth while guarded by U.S. soldiers, Okuhhatuh and his fellow prisoners then took their first-ever train ride through St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, Macon, finally disembarking at Jacksonville, Florida. From Jacksonville the Indian prisoners were taken by steamboat to Tocoi, Florida and then by railway 20 miles to Fort Marion, arriving at the Fort in late April of 1875.

Fort Marion was constructed in the late 1600's and is the oldest stone fort in the United States. Located in the St. Augustine, Florida (est. 1565), Marion was constructed by the Spanish to protect Spain's sea lanes in the New World.  Originally called Castillo de San Marcos,  the Castillo was renamed Fort Marion after Florida became United States Territory. It served as a United States Army Post in 1875 as well as a Federal Penitentiary.

Capt. Pratt (top left) with the Indians in Florida

Captain Richard Henry Pratt became the Commander of Fort Marion when Okuhattuh and his fellow warriors arrived in 1875.  He had traveled with the Indians from Indian Territory (Oklahoma), having been stationed there with the U.S. Army, but rather than returning after delivering the captives, the government made him the commander of Fort Marion. Captain Pratt was a political progressive as well as a devout Christian. He believed, contrary to his commanders, that Indians should be redeemed and educated, not exterminated. Pratt's commander, Civil War hero General Philip Sherman told Pratt that his prisoners were “unmitigated murders of men, women, and children without a single particle of provocation.” Pratt, however, had great deal of respect and deep compassion for his Indian prisoners. He treated them as fellow human beings and spent the next three years doing everything within his power to educate, teach and "convert to Christ," the Indians under his charge. He would later say, "In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing the Indians in our civilization and when we get them under holding them there until they are thoroughly soaked." His efforts included teaching the prisoners English in order to read the Bible, treating them daily with dignity and respect, helping them start a local small business outside the prison, allowing them to attend church services in St. Augustine on Sundays, and the freedom to interact with citizens who wished to build friendships with the Indian warriors. It was not long after Pratt arrived in St. Augustine that word began to spread these Plains Indians were not "savages" but real human beings. His grand experiment proved a success, with not one Indian, including Okuhhatuh, ever attempting to escape. Many of the Indians converted to faith in Christ. Pratt's methods would be deemed politically incorrect and totally unacceptable by today's standards. His motto was "Kill the Indian, save the man."

The Pendletons Visit Okuhhatuh

In the summer of 1875, George Pendleton was President of the Kentucky Central Railroad.  He would become a United States Senator in 1879, but in the summer of 75, this wealthy Christian businessman from Ohio traveled with his wife, Alice Key Pendleton,  and his daughter Jeanie to St. Augustine, Florida for vacation. Touring Fort Marion (a tourist attraction even then), the Pendleton's became acquainted with the efforts of Captain Pratt to lead his Indian captives to Christ. The Pendleton's were introduced to the tall, Cheyenne warrior named Okuhhatuh, and a bond was instantly formed between the Pendleton's and Okuhhatuh. The Indian could understand English more than he could speak it, so the Pendleton's spent several days of their vacation visiting the Cheyenne warrior, explaining to him the hope they had in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In return, Okuhhatuh gave the Pendleton's daughter, Jeanie, some books of his Indian drawings he had done in prison. Sometime during the Pendletons visits with Okuhhatuh, the Cheyenne warrior gave his heart to Christ.

All Christian conversions are ultimately attributed to the grace of God, but it is telling that when Okuhhatuh made known his faith in Christ in a letter to his older brother "Little Medicine," he had changed his name to David (from the David in the Bible) Pendleton (in honor of the Pendletons who led him to Christ). He writes to his brother in broken English in 1878 before his release from prison:

David Pendleton's Letter to His Brother

"Christian name give me. I am very well. Dear Jesus. God gives me good head, good heart, good speak. good everything. Every day my heart so glad. A long time my name "Okuhhatuh". Now my Xn name David Pendleton. Every day I am very well. My heart so glad. Oh I hope just the same you all will be very soon."

A fast and lasting friendship was formed between Okuhhatuh and the Pendletons.  The Pendletons would make regular trips to Florida to assist and train the Indian whom they had led to faith in Christ, and who had taken their surname as his own. David eventually gave the Pendleton girls archery lessons, teaching them how to shoot an arrow from a bow with accuracy. Some might say that it was cruel the way Okuhhatuh came to faith in Christ, but reading the letters of David Pendleton Oakerhater (the anglicized spelling of his name), one gets the impression that the greatest day in his life was the day he received Christ as his Lord.

David writes in April 1879: "I sorry my Indians not know God not know Jesus not know Sunday not know everything."

The passion David Pendleton showed for reading and learning the Christian faith, sharing with others the love of Christ, and desiring his fellow Indians to come to know Christ themselves surprised everyone who had once known David as the warrior Okuhhatuh.

Davod Pendleton and the Carlisle Indian School

Carlisle Indian School, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Upon being released from prison in Florida, David was sponsored by the Pendletons on a trip to New York where he received some further English education. David, however, was eager to return to Indian Territory. Captain Pratt, based upon his successful assimilation of the Cheyenne Indian warriors into white civilization while at Fort Marion, had been granted permission by the U.S. government to begin an Indian school called The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Captain Pratt desired David to go back to his home in Indian Territory, share Christ with his friends and family, and then return to Carlisle with a number of Cheyenne and Arapahoe children to attend Carlisle Indian School in time for its opening in the fall of 1879. Carlisle would operate with the same principles under which David lived while at Fort Marion prison. The school's motto would be "To civilize the Indian, get him into civilization. To keep him civilized, let him stay."

David agreed to the request and in September 1879 David Pendleton Oakerhater returned to Darlington for the first time since his removal in iron chains in April 1875, four and a half years earlier. He had an emotional reunion with friends and family, and he shared with them "the new way" of faith in Christ.  David only stayed a month in Darlington among his Cheyenne people, after which he brought with him twenty-nine Cheyenne and Arapahoe children to the newly opened Carlisle Indian School. In the fall of 1879, Carlisle Indian School formed its first football team.

The Carlisle Indians (Jim Thorpe top right)

Today, the Carlisle Indian School is known world-wide for Jim Thorpe and the 1911 football team called the Carlisle Indians. Jim Thorpe was its star athlete. He would later become a double Olympic gold medalist, as well as a professional baseball and football player, and is widely considered the world's greatest athlete. The coach of that team was "Pop" Warner (Glenn Scobey Warner), who started coaching at Carlisle Indian School when he was 28 years old. Pop Warner coached at Carlisle for two different periods, 1899–1903 and 1907-1914. Thorpe competed under him from 1907-1911. The Carlisle Indians' winning percentage of .647 still stands as the best of any college football team in history.  In her 2007 book about the Carlisle Indians, author Sally Jenkins characterized them as The Team that Invented Football, due to Pop Warner's innovations which were later adopted by the fledgling National Football League.

A Missionary to His Cheyenne People

After spending another two years back East, David Pendleton eventually returned to his home in Darlington as a missionary to his own people, ordained by the church to minister on the frontier to the Cheyenne Indians. He arrived back at Darlington on Tuesday, June 14, 1881, and the following Sunday preached to his people the gospel of Jesus Christ. An eyewitness records the events of that historic week:

"As irony would have it, at the time of Oakerhater's arrival in the Indian Territory the Cheyenne were in the midst of their Sun Dance celebration. Oakerhater was well aware of the Sun-Dance and its meaning. He understood the significance of the event and its importance to his people. He fully understood what the Missionaries were up against introducing the white man's “new road” at this particular moment in time."

David Pendleton (on steps) at Cheyenne school

As mentioned earlier in the quote at the top of this post, the first Christian worship service David Pendleton held among his people was on Sunday, June 19, 1881, in a building that had been erected by the government as a school-house for the Cheyenne children. The Cheyenne had requested that their children be allowed to attend school separate from the Arapaho, so the government had erected a separate facility about three miles away from the Darlington Agency near Caddo Springs (present-day Concho, Oklahoma). David Pendleton would use a room in the school-house for the service. A fellow missionary with David Pendleton describes how they went about inviting Cheyennes to come to the Christian worship service:

“The young men were the very ones whom David had led in war seven years ago, and were dressed in the gay attire appropriate for the Sun Dance. Right below us a few hundred yards away, the medicine dance was going on, hundreds thronging every side of the great lodge, a striking contrast to our quiet Christian talk. David seated his people in a circle and led me to the center of it to open the talk. I told David to say first to them that we would look to God for His blessing. They all bowed their heads reverently in the prayer as though trained to it for years. David acted as interpreter, I began by telling them why I had come to them, who had sent me, and what we wished to do for them. Then one of the Chiefs, Sand Hill, stepped forward and thanked me, expressing the desire to be taught the good way; another Chief, Mad Wolf, followed in the same strain. David then addressed them briefly, and our first council closed. I invited them to service at the school-house on a Sunday morning and they promised to come.”

It was at that first Christian worship service among the Cheyenne on Sunday, June 19, 1881, that David Pendleton spoke the words used at the beginning of this post:

"Men, you know me. You remember me when I led you out to war. I went first, and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East, and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all he tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace and where we never have only victory..."

The Grace of God Far Exceeds the Sin of Man

David Pendleton Oakerhater

David Pendleton Oakerhater, the former Cheyenne warrior known as Okuhhatuh, served among his Cheyenne people in Oklahoma as a Christian missionary for over fifty years. He performed the first Christian funeral among the Cheyenne in 1882, burying the son of Black Horse, the very Cheyenne warrior who had been shot and killed by U.S. troops at Darlington as he attempted to escape custody on April 6, 1875.  David Pendleton had come full circle.

Senator George Pendleton would later say that his belief in fair labor was strengthened by his observations of David Pendleton's abilities in spite of the white prejudices against the Indians. Captain Pratt founded Carlisle Indian School because he saw the effects of proper education on the poor Indian minorities, transforming men like David Pendleton Oakerhater. The daughter of the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, Alice Key Pendleton, had a father who believed America was "the home of the free," and her bond of friendship with the Cheyenne prisoner was due to her belief that freedom should exist for all Americans, not just white Americans.

David Pendleton Oakerhater died on August 31, 1931, of natural causes and is buried in Whirlwind Cemetery just west of Watonga, Oklahoma. Many Cheyenne graves in my part of the country are marked with crosses because of the influence and ministry of David Pendleton. I can't help think about David every time I drive by the Lucky Star casino which marks the area of David's early life and ministry.

David Pendleton wasn't lucky. He was graced. Graced to know people who lived by principles. Graced to know a God who can forgive sinners of every sin. Graced to be a man who changed from the inside out.

A Fascinating Multi-Media Presentation on a Remarkable Yet Little Known Civil War Event

Who Needs Dave Ramsey When You Have the Cherokees?

I live in the middle of the historic Cherokee Outlet. This 225 miles long and 60 mile wide rectangular piece of land, sometimes called the Cherokee Strip, has been roamed by “Plainsmen” Indians (Comanche, Kiowa, Wichita, Pawnee and Osage) for four centuries. However, in 1836 the United States government “gave” this stretch of land to the 'civilized' Cherokee Indians as payment for forcibly relocating them from Georgia to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The Cherokee Outlet was to serve the Cherokees as a perpetual “outlet” to the West from their national capitol in Tahlequah in the northeastern portion of Oklahoma. The history of the Cherokee Outlet is rich and one anecdote from the 1880's has a great deal of relevance for today's economic conditions.

After the Civil War (1861-1865) cattlemen in south Texas owned hundreds of thousands of longhorn steers that sold for $1 to $5 in Texas, but $45 to $50 in New York. These cattlemen began great cattle drives bringing millions of longhorns from south Texas, right through the middle of the Cherokee Outlet, to Kansas rail heads. The cattle were then shipped by train back east to be sold. The cattle drives were needed because trains were not yet running in and out of Texas, contruction of the railroads having been stymied by the Civil War. Some wonderful cowtowns in Kansas like Caldwell, Abilene, and Dodge City (think of the television show Gunsmoke)  became the final destinations of these Texas cattlemen during the 1870's. Some of the more entrepreneurial cattlemen noticed their steers were losing weight on the grueling trail drives from south Texas to Kansas. Seeing the glorious pasture lands within the Cherokee Outlet, the cattlemen decided it would much better to “lease” the Cherokee Outlet from the Cherokees and let their steers grow fat over the winter by grazing within the Cherokee Outlet and then drive the cattle on the short trip to Kansas in the spring.

A meeting was called at the historic cow town of Caldwell, Kansas, (60 miles north of Enid) in March of 1883 to discuss this lease proposition. Many different cattle companies were represented at the meeting, and an association was formed called the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association. These Texas and Kansas cowboys, cattlemen and businessmen joined together to convince the Cherokees to allow them to graze their cattle within the Cherokee Outlet. Representatives from the newly formed Cherokee Strip Livestock Association were dispatched from Caldwell, Kansas to the Cherokee National Capitol at Tahlequah to propose the lease agreement. On May 19, 1883, the Cherokee Council granted the lease of the entire “Outlet” to the Livestock Association for a period of five years, requiring payment to the Cherokees of $100,000 per year, payable semi-annually in advance. In short, the lease required two payments of $50,000 a year to the Cherokees, and if the lease payment was late by even one day, the lease would be considered null and void by the Cherokees.

The Cherokees Refused “Greenbacks” for Payment

There arose a problem, however, after the lease was signed. The cattlemen wished to pay the Cherokees in “greenbacks,” but the Cherokees refused to accept them. Since the Civil War, the U.S. government had experienced with printing dollar bills on paper with green ink as a “medium of exchange.” When the United States government needed money to prosecute the war against the south in 1863, but access to additional gold and silver was virtually non-existent for the government, Abraham Lincoln authorized the Union to “print” paper money to pay soldiers, buy war supplies, and fund the war against the south. Surprisingly, the paper money succeeded. Why? Northerners, in the midst of patriotic fever in the war against the south, chose to accept the medium of exchange.

But nobody else accepted the funny money. This non-acceptance of greenbacks included foreign countries, Indian nations, and of course, the Confederate States of America. After the Civil War the U.S. government went back to a gold and silver coinage medium of exchange for America. This lasted for about a decade until the 1870’s when the United States suffered two very severe economic downturns. To “spur the economy” (sound familiar) the government decided to print more paper money—in essence, to give Americans paper “cash” since the average U.S. citizen had little access to silver or gold coinage.

This time, however, the government’s attempt to create money failed. People didn’t trust the money. Notes issued by prosperous railroad companies, called “railroad currency,” were more trusted by Americans than the federal greenbacks. The U.S. government realized that the greenbacks needed the backing of silver for people to trust them so a proclamation was issued in January 1879 that “the Secretary of Treasury shall redeem in silver coinage the United States all legal tender outstanding.” This meant that if you possessed a greenback you could go into any bank and receive a silver dollar, and the banks had the U.S. government promise that the greenbacks could be redeemed by them for silver dollars from the U.S. Treasury.

That government promise of silver backing for the greenback ended quickly however. The Treasury knew that if people were to make a run on the banks, there would not be enough silver dollars on deposit. The government rescinded their “silver” promise by September of 1879.

By 1883, the Cherokees wanted nothing to do with the American dollar. Due to hyperinflation, the greenback was worthless to the Cherokees. They wanted silver bullion coins—Morgan Silver Dollars.

So in the fall of 1883 the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association sent a wagon with heavily armed escorts from Caldwell, Kansas to Tahlequah, Indian Territory with a treasure chest of $50,000 Morgan Silver Dollars for a six month lease of the Cherokee Outlet. It is said that the Cherokees, upon arrival of the armed caravan, counted out each silver dollar one by one. This practice of delivering chests containing $50,000 silver dollars to the Cherokee Indians continued for several years, until the U.S. government took the land from the Cherokees and the Livestock Association in order to open the Cherokee Outlet for white settlement in the infamous 1893 Cherokee Run, classicly portrayed by Ron Howard’s 1992 movie Far and Away, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The Cherokees may have lost the Cherokee Outlet, but by 1893 their decades long demand for payment in the form of silver bullion set the Cherokees up to be the most successful tribe financially of all the Indian tribes in Oklahoma during the early portions of the 20th Century.

The moral of the story?

(1). When the government is broke, it prints more money.
(2). When more money is printed, smart people begin demanding gold or silver.
(3). When gold or silver is in demand, the value of the greenback continues to fall.
(4). Hyperinflation is the natural consequence of the devaluation of the paper dollar.
(5). The paper dollar will eventually be taken off the market when it is not trusted and a new “medium of exchange” will be introduced.

It’s coming. Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat its failures. Who needs Dave Ramsey when you know the history of the Cherokees?

Smiling,



Wade Burleson

The Cheyenne "Sand Man" of 1971: Supernatural Forces and the History of the American West

A friend of mine recently told me that through his exploration of northwest Oklahoma on an off-road dirt bike, he believes he stumbled upon the exact location of the infamous June 1838 Battle of Wolf Creek. This battle, fought between various Plainsmen Indian tribes (Cheyenne and Arapahoe vs. Comanche, Kiowa and Apache), is considered by historians to be the largest intertribal Indian battle ever fought on the southern plains. Shortly after, the Plainsmen Indian tribes joined forces together to fight the intruding white man, laying aside any tribal animosity in pursuit of a common cause.

My friend invited me to join him in exploring the area with him, which led me to do a little research on the 1838 battle which occurred northwest of Enid, Oklahoma. During my investigation I came across an interesting and little known discovery in 1971 that ties directly to The Battle of Wolf Creek and the role of the supernatural in the American West. Forty years ago the skeletal remains of a Cheyenne warrior was accidentally uncovered on some farm land near the location of the Wolf Creek battle. The Cheyenne warrior had been buried in full battle regalia with his face painted red, his elaborate hair pipe and concho (shell) earrings still in place, a  heavily beaded blanket wrapping the remains, and the warrior's parasol and weapons carefully placed by his side. Mary Jane Warde, retired history professor and former director of Indian cultural artifacts for the Oklahoma Historical Society, believed the warrior was a participant in The Battle of Wolf Creek due to the location of the burial spot and the dating of the artifacts buried with the warrior, materials certified through historical documents as being purchased by the Cheyenne Tribe at Bent's Fort (Colorado) in the late spring of 1838.

Here is where the story gets very interesting.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was called to the site. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) would be approved by Congress nearly twenty years after the body's discovery, but the OSBI handled the Indian gravesite with respect, mostly because of the one man charged with the facial recreation of the skeleton. Harvey Pratt, a young law enforcement agent in 1971 who would later become associate director of the OSBI, was himself a Cheyenne Indian and a direct descendent of a Cheyenne Arrow Keeper named White Thunder. Harvey Pratt began his scientific examination and facial recreation of the Cheyenne skeleton back at OSBI's headquarters in Oklahoma City but was immediately thwarted in his efforts by what he called "supernatural occurances." Pratt reported to his superiors that the warrior "died with spiritual powers in full force."

Lest one scoff at such a statement by criminologist Harvey Pratt, the expertise of Mr. Pratt should be examined. Mr. Pratt is considered one of the leading forensic criminologists in the nation. He has assisted national and state crime agencies, including the FBI, in solving several cases, such as the Green River Killer (Gary Ridgeway), the BTK Killer (Dennis Rader), the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders (Gene Leroy Hart), the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing and many other crimes of national significance. He lectures at universities and law enforcement conferences and is now in his late 60's. Mr. Pratt's opinion of what happened to him in 1971 during the investigation and examination the Cheyenne warrior has not changed. In April 2000, during the Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Historical Society, Mr. Pratt presented a lecture entitled "The Reconstruction of the Sand Man."

Mr. Pratt named the uncovered Cheyenne warrior "The SAND MAN."

The "supernatural occurances" which affected invesigator Harvey Pratt included dreams, visions and apparations that affected his ability to reconstruct the face of the Sandman. Mr. Pratt found himself mentally and phyically unable to even begin the exacting process of reconstruction. Mr. Pratt informed his superiors that the Sand Man had prepared his "medicine" before battle just as he had readied his bow, lance, and shield. This "medicine" was supernatural. This warrior had died with his medicine in full force.
 
Before going into battle, Cheyenne warriors would prepare themselves spiritually through rituals performed within the Cheyenne camp, waiting to move into battle until the medicine men, through the authority of the Arrow Keeper of the southern Cheyenne gave their approval. For a detailed explanation of how the Cheyenne prepared for battle see the free on-line 1905 book entitled The Cheyenne, Volume 1. The elaborate "medicine" invoked the spirit realm to enable the Cheyenne warriors to defeat their enemy. There is no question among the Cheyenne today that spiritual forces were at work in battles of the American west.

 Whether or not those forces were good or evil, forces of light or darkness, real or imagined may be debated by modern whites, but the experiences of 21st century criminologist Harvey Pratt should cause every skeptic of the supernatural to at least pause. Steven Spielburg's new movie about the American west cowboy and aliens,  Aliens and Cowboys, is sure to be a 2011 blockbuster, but the unfortunate side effect of this movie is to dull the senses of the modern American to the reality of the supernatural. While the concept of aliens intermingling with cowboys may make for good movies, it leads some to scoff at all things supernatural or to simply explain away all such phenomenon through natural science. In short, many intellectuals may be dulled by fantasy movie regarding the real facts of the supernatural in the American west and/or modern day. Criminologist Harvey Pratt may not be interested in making a movie about the supernatural, but frankly, a movie based upon events surrounding the Sand Man rather than a story line produced through the imagination of a Hollywood producer may reap benefits for American culture.

The supernatural exists. What it is may not be fully understood or seen by many in American, but the fact that it does exist can be confirmed experiences like those of Harvey Pratt in investigating the Sand Man. Whether or not a person is religious, it would serve all people well this Easter weekend to stop and consider the fact that the natural world is not all there is. The Cheyennes and other Plainsmen Indians understood this clearly.

The Sand Man was re-interred at Fort Supply, Oklahoma in 2000. The Sand Man remains an intriguing glimpse into supernatural forces and their role in the American West. For years I worked with the Tulsa Police Department and a specialized task force that examined crimes involving the occult. Those occultists who dabbled with what are called "the dark arts," ritual "drugs" and other occultic practicse will quickly proclaim their belief in the supernatural realm. Modern science might quickly explain away such things as hallucinations, "delusional thinking" or "chemically imbalanced" brain waves. Point taken. However, for those who wish to naturally explain away all such supernatural occurances through natural means, I point to criminologist Harvey Pratt and his work with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in 1971 and ask the question:

"Can science also naturally explain away Mr. Pratt's 'supernatural occurances' while working on the Sand Man?" Those who say, "Yes, science can explain it away" are also those who most likely attempt to explain away all concepts of the supernatural, life after death, and the role of the supernatural in the history of the world. I accept that there is a hidden realm, governed by a good God who "puts all things in subjection to Himself."