Marker Name: Indian Treaties of 1865
Marker Type: Roadside
Marker text:
Hundred of Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, Apaches, and Commanches camped not far from here in 1865 to negotiate peace with the U.S. government. Both sides at the Little Arkansas council hoped their new treaties would put an end to the hostilities. Less than a year earlier, a Colorado volunteer militia had attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village near Sand Creek, Colorado, slaughtering about 400 men, women, and children.
"My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against whites. There has been trouble on the line between us, and my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us."--Ten Bears, Commanche
Although the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the agreements, the peace held for about 18 months until Gen. Winfield Hancock led 1,400 soldiers from Fort Larned on a campaign against the Cheyenne and Arapahos. Two years after the Little Arkansas council, the same parties signed new treaties at Medicine Lodge Creek, 76 miles southwest of here. Those agreements also failed to stop the wars on the plains.
Marker Location: Sedgwick
Official Marker Number: 64
Name of agency setting marker: Kansas State Historical Society
Year Marker Placed: Not listed
Marker Web Address: Not listed
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