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Carbine and Lance: The Story of Old Fort Sill

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This is the story of the Old Fort Sill, established by General Sheridan to guard against white raids into, and Indian raids out of, the Comanche and Kiowa Indian reservations. It is not a pleasant story.

In 1867 Indian depredations on the Southern Plains were unchecked and numerous Plains tribes, primarily the Comanche and the Kiowa, refused reservation life. With the approval of President Johnson, General Sherman ordered a three pronged attack on these tribes that resulted in Custer's thrashing the Kiowa on Washita Creek. Department Commander Phil Sheridan subsequently ordered the establishment of Ft. Sill on the Kiowa reservation to directly control the Kiowa. But direct control was not to be.

With President Grant's election in 1868, he transferred responsibility for Indian affairs from the Army to the Interior Department, enlisting the assistance of the Nation's religious groups to pacify the Indians. It proved to be a most well intentioned, colossal error. Except for the people who lived on the frontier, no one understood that with this policy the Plains Indians and the frontiersmen's fundamental nature guaranteed anarchy.

The Plains Indians, especially the Comanche, hated the Texans and had been warring with the Mexicans for well over 100 years. They saw both groups as fair game. Suddenly thrown into the mix of prey was the Army, the railroad and the Interior Department itself. With the transfer of control the Indians understood immediately what it subsequently took the US government six years to resolve. The reservation system provided free sanctuary, a base of operations within which the Indians could not be directly challenged by the Army and from which they could wreak devastation everywhere outside of the reservation. Better yet, when they tired of their raiding and returned to the reservation, they were fed, clothed, remounted and rearmed by the Interior Department.

With the United States government aiding and abetting Comanche, Kiowa and Arapaho military campaigns no wonder the Indians viewed everyone else with arrogance and derision. Amazingly, despite howls of protest by the Mexican government and everyone on the frontier, the Interior Department would pursue its "peace initiative" for years while the railroad and US Army columns were attacked, Texas was ravaged and raids into Mexico as far south as the Yucatan Peninsula resulted in a most amazing pattern of pillage and plunder, including a slave trade, with Texas and Mexican women and children often ransomed to the US government courtesy of the Interior Department. It truly was the Wild West.

But once the Indians began directly threatening Interior Department personnel, Interior made common cause with the Army and the mayhem ended. As Phil Sheridan had anticipated, Fort Sill became one of the key posts from which the ultimate subjugation of the Plains Indians occurred. We can be thankful that the author, Colonel Wilbur Nye, wrote this work in the 1930s while stationed at Fort Sill. In addition to having access to the post's archives and files he also had direct access to many of the Native Americans who were still alive. Thus, it is a compendium of the battles, fights and skirmishes (reported in a remarkably balanced manner) that were fought from roughly 1866 until 1873.

I knew the Oklahoma and Texas frontier was rough but I never realized how savage it was until I read this book.

I have some sentimental connection to this book, as my dad did went to Fort Sill for artillery training in the early 1950s.

While it's true this book tells the story of the southern Plains Indians Wars from an Army perspective, that's to be expected, as this story is about an Army fort and Army cavalry of the era.

That said, this is a great book to get a feel of that era on the saddle, especially if you combine it with something like "40 Miles a Day on Beans and Hay."

An excellent, very detailed history of the Southwestern Oklahoma frontier, the conflicts with the Comanches and Kiowas, and this important military post. As should be expected given Colonel Nye's background and the focus of the book, it is written from a military perspective. The book contains a wealth of information and is well worth reading by those interested in its subject matter. Other accounts of the wars and the reasons for the clash of cultures on the Southwestern Frontier after the Civil War may be found in Comanches: The Destruction of a People by Fehrenbach and The Buffalo War by Haley; or a later compilation by Nye of the tales told him by the Kiowas, entitled Bad Medicine and Good.

Having lived in SW Oklahoma off and on for my entire life, I am fascinated with the history of the area. All those places I had visited so often I can now tie to events long before my time.

Aside from solidifying my bonds to the region, COL Nye weaves an interesting and exciting tale of the Plains Indians and the rapidly growing USA. If your knowledge of frontier life comes from John Wayne movies (not that there's anything wrong with that), this book will open your eyes to the whole story.