1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty
Photography and story by Kenneth E. Thompson
MLHS Class of '72
Many people think of Kansas as miles and miles of flat wheat fields. But that's not all true. The south central portion of the state has red clay soil containing white gypsum. Most of the land is covered with green cedar trees, which create a marked contrast with the red soil. Over the centuries the land has eroded to form dozens of canyons and buttes that stand a hundred feet tall. In the Medicine Lodge area the canyons and buttes are called The Gyp Hills. This terrain extends south into Oklahoma. To the west it's called The Glass Mountains or sometimes, The Lost Mountains. To the east, around Enid, Oklahoma, it's called "Red Carpet Country". East of the town of Cherokee, Oklahoma, there is a saltwater lake, and along the southwest area of the lake is a huge area of soft red clay soil that contains huge amounts of salt that forms into selenite crystals.
Our story takes place in the town of Medicine Lodge, Kansas, about 90 miles southwest of Wichita. The earliest settlers came into the area in the 1850's. Before that, the Five Tribes of Plains Indians: the Arapaho, the Comanche, the Prairie Apache, The Kiowa, and the Cheyenne, were the indigenous people who made it their home.
The Native Americans believed that the water of the creek flowing west of modern day Medicine Lodge had medicinal powers. They called it the Medicine Creek. Later on as the town was established in 1873, it was named Medicine Lodge, referring to it as the lodge at the Medicine Creek. In modern times the creek is called The Medicine River.
This belief of the Native American peoples, that the Medicine River had medicinal powers, was put to use by the U.S. Government in 1867. The government brought the five tribes of Native American peoples together at the place where the Elm Creek poured into The Medicine River to hold a peace treaty. On October 21st of 1867, The Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek took place.

To the southeast of Medicine Lodge is a quarter section of canyon land that Mr. E.S. Rule of Wichita donated to the Peace Treaty Association. It is a natural canyon with unspoiled views of the prairie for a mile to the south. Along the northern walls of the canyon the Peace Treaty Association has built bleachers and a snack bar. From those bleachers, the view is just like what the prairie would have looked like in 1867—no buildings, no fences, no roads or bridges, lots of red cedar trees and native grasses and flowers.

Our story begins a few years before the Peace Treaty, with President Abraham Lincoln presenting the Gettysburg Address. The part of Abraham Lincoln was played by Ivan Klusman, and that's his daughter Madison as the trumpeter. The 7th U.S. Cavalry was played by residents of Medicine Lodge, including my high school friend, John Poindexter.
By 1867, Lincoln was gone but his spirit lived on in the Peace Treaty of Medicine Creek. The actual location was at the angle where the Elm Creek poured into the Medicine Creek. Great Indian leaders such as Satank (Sitting Bear), Satanta (White Bear), Watohkonk (Black Eagle) and Tonaenko (Kicking Eagle) met with the President of the Indian Commission, the Inspector General of the U.S. Army, the United States Indian Agent, and many other officials of the United States government. At one point during the signing, an indian brave tried to steal the document away from the table, but the cavalry caught him and returned the document.
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Updated 11/11/08