CUSTER'S FIRST DEFEAT 1995
By: Carl Adams
In the fall of 1941, I was seven years old and we had gone from Magnum, Oklahoma past Lone Wolf four or five miles and turned south on a dirt road looking for a place where we could pick up some pecans on the halves. Back then, it was common for poor people to help harvest pecans for half of the ones each person gathered. Sometimes, we were paid by the pound for gathering them, but it was just before Christmas and we traditionally had pecan pies and cakes for the holidays. A couple of miles down the dirt road, we overtook and old Indian walking, so Dad stopped and picked Him up and asked if He knew of any place where we could pick up some pecans. He said "Sure, I have a couple of trees left, and you can pick about fifty pounds or so if you want to" . I remember Him asking my Dad if he had any chewing tobacco and Dad did not but He gave the Indian some Prince Albert smoking tobacco and He put it on a tooth and said that it would help His tooth ache. He directed us another two or three miles down the road to the south, then had Dad turn left into a lane down to his house. He told us on the way that He had been to Washington D.C. to try to get the white people to live up to the last treaty they had made with the Kiowa Indians, but that He had not been very successful.
At the house, He got out of the car and told Dad how to get on down in the pasture to the pecan trees and said to come on back to the house when we got through picking up pecans and that his wife would have dinner ready by then. When we got to the pecan trees we all jumped out of the car and began to pick up the pecans. Not because we were all that anxious, but, because it was so cold and the car did not have a heater. The wind was blowing so we did not have to frail the pecans. They were all already off of the trees and lying on the ground. We were not more than 30 or 45 minutes picking up about 40 pounds of pecans and loading up to go back to the house. When we got back to the house, Dad took the sack of pecans up on the porch and the old Indian came out and took them from Dad and set them On the porch and said "All of you come in the house and get warm while my wife finishes dinner." We all went in the house and gathered around a wood or coal burning stove and got warm, then we went in the kitchen and ate dinner, lunch. After we had eaten, Dad and the old Indian were back in the living room talking and the old one told me to stay in there with Him and my Dad while the other kids went outside to play. My whole family is one half Choctaw so we fit in real well with the Kiowa. The Old one who was probably named Opetone: wooden lance, but for the life of me, I can not remember, told me a story about His Father. or maybe His Grandfather.
In the early spring of 1869 three young warriors were out looking for game and came upon a troop of U.S. Calvary on the Kiowa reservation in what is now Beckham county, Oklahoma. There was a truce of sorts between the Kiowa and U.S. so the three warriors approached the White Men. They were not wearing war paint and hoped that the Whites realized that they were not there to fight. The leader of this trio was named Grey Kettle or something that sounded a lot like that. There were about thirty soldiers so the Indians hoped that the Whites would not kill them out of hand but would be willing to talk to them. They approached the soldiers from the west. late in the afternoon, with the sun at their back. and the Whites waited with drawn weapons until they were about two hundred feet apart. The chief of the Whites came out close to the Indians and asked them what they wanted. The Indians asked why they were on Kiowa land without permission from the council and the Chief White said "I am General Custer and I go where I want to when I want to and I do not have to have permission from anyone."
Gray Kettle said "We have our own police and do not need soldiers to tell us what to do. You should go back where you came from." Custer and his men did not go back but rather went a little farther to the south and camped for the night on a small creek. The creek is in a small draw or canyon where they camped and the next morning just at daylight, Gray Kettle approached the tent of Custer as Custer was coming out of the tent. Gray Kettle did not wait for the older person Custer; to speak as is the courteous thing with Indians, but immediately told Custer "You have until sunset to get back across the Canadian river and I will give you your life back."
Custer said "What do you mean? I have my life and if you don't show more respect for your betters I will take your life." Gray Kettle said "I have you surrounded and unarmed, so you had better start north." Custer called for the two men who were on perimeter guard but they did not answer. Custer then went back into His tent to get a pistol that He had secreted under His pillow before going to sleep, but it wasn't there. He did not have a rifle or it was not there in the tent with Him, and His sword was hanging outside of the tent so He came back outside and Gray Kettle turned around and walked off. The guards were tied and gagged and all of the horses were gone. There were no arms or ammunition in the camp. They had all been stolen by the Indians. The Indians surrounding the Calvary encampment consisted of the other two who were with Gray Kettle the night before. As soon as Grey Kettle had gone over the crown of the nearest hill, He stopped and crawled back to the top of the hill so He could watch the Soldiers. The soldiers looked around for a little while and when They could not find any arms, other than Custer's sword they picked up what food and other necessities they could carry and started walking to the north. They made it across the Canadian river just before sunset by force marching ,and when they got across, there were enough horses and McClelland saddles from Custer's camp to provide one for each soldier. The rest of the mounts and the arms were not to be found.
The Indians wasted most of the ammunition shooting at targets and such and within a couple of weeks decided that they had better get rid of the Calvary weapons and other plunder because someone would see some of it and know who robbed the Calvary. They had not kept any of the Calvary horses, partly for the same reason and partly because they had to be fed regularly and the Indian ponies would fend for themselves. They threw what they had left of the saddles and bigger items in a canyon near where they had stolen it and took the weapons and other small items, that could be recognized and buried them.
Chief Opetone if that was His name, told me where they were buried, but He said I could not go get them as long as He or my Dad were alive and when I did go get them that I could not realize any monetary benefit from them. He said I could use them for the benefit of the Indian people in general. or for something like museum exhibits but not for profit. He had some boys, but they were not interested in things about the Indians as much as they were about playing ball.
I am sixty years old now, so I had better start planning a trip pretty soon, or I will be too old to do any digging. THE END
