Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Site - Kansas
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 16.222 W 098° 33.064
14S E 539802 N 4124960
Re-enactments, pageants and more...
Waymark Code: WM10DTB
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 04/20/2019
Views: 1
County of site: Barber County
Location of site: US-160, Memorial Peace Park, 1 mile east of Medicine Lodge
"In a natural amphitheater, near the actual site of the council where the Medicine River (named by the Kiowa for its medicinal waters) and Elm Creek flow together, the re-enactment takes place and peace will come with time to the prairie.
"The pageant is an invitation to watch history unfold. Witness the Spanish discovery with Coronado. Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike come alive on the prairie, and the natives become unsure of their place in their homelands. The settlers were moving west and thoughts of railroads were in the future. Not all were peaceful journeys in the covered wagons, and sometimes the cavalry would rescue the settlers in an Indian attack. The longhorn cattle drive is another colorful scene.
"The community of Medicine Lodge transforms into a frontier town, with parades and the Medicine Lodge historical night show, which re-enacts the bank robbery that took place in 1880s, and Carry Nation, who loved to smash saloons and any place that sold the “Demon Rum!” The setting for the Pageant and the entire celebration is wrapped in the rust-colored glory of the Gypsum Hills on the horizon." ~ Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Association
ENTRANCE TO SITE IS LOCATED AT: N 37° 16.540 W 098° 32.953
Historic Marker at Entrance:
Marker at site erected by: Kansas Historical Society and State Highway Commission
Marker text:
Medicine Lodge Peace Treaties
In October, 1867, Iowa, Comanche, Arapahoe, Apache and Cheyenne Indians signed peace treaties with the Federal government. 15,000 Indians camped nearby during the council, among them the famous chiefs Satanta, Little Raven, and Black Kettle. 500 soldiers acted as escort for the U.S. commissioners. Interest in this colorful spectacle was so widespread that Eastern papers sent correspondents, among them Henry M. Stanley, who later was to find Livingstone in Africa. While the treaties did not bring immediate peace they made possible the coming of the railroads and eventual settlement. The site of the council was at the confluence of Medicine river and Elm creek, a little southwest of Medicine Lodge. Every five years a treaty pageant is re~enacted in this amphitheater. In Medicine Lodge there is a commemorative monument on the high school grounds.
Several videos and article about the possibility of this being the last pageant can be viewed here Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Pageant Home