Account of provisions and supplies issued to destitute Shawnees
Creator: Abbott, James Burnett, 1818-1897
Date: 1861
This account book belonging to an Indian agent named James Burnett Abbott lists the names of Shawnee Indian heads of household, the number of family members within their household, and the amount of pork, corn, and meal provided by the government to each Shawnee. The Shawnee had emigrated to Kansas after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Only an excerpt is included here.

Al-le-ga-wa-ho, Head Chief of the Kaw
Creator: Gardner, Alexander, 1821-1882
Date: 1867
A photograph of Al-le-ga-wa-ho, Head Chief of the Kaws. This is a cropped version of a larger group photograph taken at a meeting between Lewis V. Bogy, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Chas. E. Mix, Chief Clerk of the Indian Bureau, and the Sacs and Foxes and Kaws in Washington, D.C. At the meeting, Bogy advised the Sacs and Foxes and Kaws to go to a new home, better adapted to their condition, in the valley of the Canadian River in what became Oklahoma. The full photograph titled "Kaw Chiefs" is item 208164.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Haldeman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: August 11, 1856
In this letter to John A. Haldeman, Andrew H. Reeder discusses the "sacking of Lawrence," the loss of papers related to the sale on lands that once belonged to Indians, and the use of Haldeman as his agent for his lots in Leavenworth, Kansas. As Reeder's letter indicates, the transition of Indian lands into the hands of white settlers was often quite difficult and added to tension levels in Kansas in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

Andrew J. Mead to John A. Haldeman
Date: July 12, 1856
In this letter to John A. Haldeman, Andrew J. Mead asks if he knows of a portion of the Wyandotte Float that was available for sale. The Wyandotte Floats were originally set aside for the Wyandotte Tribe. However, the flexible nature of the Floats allowed them to be more easily transferred to white settlers once the U.S. Government decided to remove Native Indians from the newly created territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

Annals of Shawnee Methodist Mission and Indian Manual Labor School
Creator: Caldwell, Martha B. (Martha Belle)
Date: 1939
These annals are a compilation of events concerning the Shawnee Methodist Mission year by year. The information was culled from a variety of sources. Most entries include a citation to the source. Thomas Johnson established the mission in 1830 near Turner in present Wyandotte County, Kansas. He also founded the Indian Manual Labor School, which operated in conjunction with the mission. It was moved to the Johnson County area in 1839 and the school operated until 1862. The Santa Fe and Oregon trails passed near the Johnson County location so travelers frequently stopped at the mission. The site housed the executive offices of the first territorial governor and the first territorial legislature met there. In addition to the Methodist mission, the Baptist and Quaker churches also operated missions for the Shawnee. These annals are the complete manuscript from which a condensed version was published by the Kansas State Historical Society in 1939.

Battle of Little Big Horn
Creator: Coffeen & Schnitger Trading Company
Date: 1876
These six postcards show scenes from the Battle of Little Big Horn one year after the June 25, 1875, incident between the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment and a coalition of Plains Indians. The images show monuments to Lt. J. J. Crittenden, 20th Infantry; a monument on the battle field, a pile of horse remains; a marker for Col. Keogh and 28 soldiers from Co. I, 7th Cavalry; a marker for Lt. Sturgis, 7th Cavalry; and the custodian's house at the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery.

Battle of Little Big Horn
Creator: Coffeen & Schnitger Trading Company
Date: 1876
These five postcards show scenes from the Battle of Little Big Horn after the June 25, 1876 incident between the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment and a coalition of Plains Indians.

Black Hawk, Sauk Indian
Creator: Catlin, George, 1796-1872
Date: 1832
This portrait, painted by the well-known artist George Catlin, depicts the fierce leader of the Sauk and Fox tribe after his arrest in 1832. Black Hawk and some of his tribe had resisted their removal to lands west of the Mississippi River, but the Black Hawk War, as it came to be known, ended in defeat. The original of this portrait is on exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The Sauk and Fox would eventually be relocated to Kansas.

Brass Bracelet from the Village on Pawnee Fork, 14NS403
Date: 1867
This bracelet was fashioned out of a brass wire. The bracelet was recovered from the Village on the Pawnee Fork in Ness County during excavations in 1977. The site was home to several hundred Southern Cheyenne and Southern Teton Oglala. It was destroyed by order of Major General Winifred S. Hancock in 1867. The Village on Pawnee Fork is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Burning the Cheyenne village near Fort Larned, Kansas
Creator: Davis, Theodore R.
Date: April 19, 1867
This illustration portrays soldiers under the command of General Winfield S. Hancock burning a Cheyenne village on Pawnee Fork, thirty miles west of Fort Larned. The illustration was drawn by Theodore Davis and published in Harpers Weekly, April 19, 1867. The village was burned as part of a campaign to pacify Native American tribes on the Great Plains who had come into conflict with white settlers.

Camp of the Peace Commissioners at Medicine Lodge Creek
Creator: Stieffel, Hermann
Date: 1867
A copy of the painting by Hermann Stieffel titled, Camp of the Peace Commissioners, which depicts the location of the Medicine Lodge Creek treaties with various Indian tribes in late October 1867. The original painting can be found at the Smithsonian Institution. Funds for digitization provided by Mr. Steve Peckel in memory of William Chalfant.

Charles T. Sherman to Lewis Allen Alderson
Creator: Sherman, Charles Taylor, 1811-1879
Date: June 20, 1831
In the letter to Lewis Allen Alderson, Charles Taylor Sherman, the oldest brother of General William Tecumseh Sherman and Senator John "The Ohio Icicle", explains to Alderson that he believed that Native Indians owned the best land in the state of Ohio. However, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was beginning to change that, as it required most Native Indians to move to the newly created Indian Territory that was located west of the Mississippi.

Cheyenne Indian drawing
Creator: Northern Cheyenne
Date: Between 1870 and 1880
This is a colored pencil drawing created by a Cheyenne Indian, possibly Wild Hog. The item is a single sheet of paper with drawings on both sides. The tipi drawing appears on one side, the horse on the other. The drawings may be related to the 1878 escape of a band of Northern Cheyenne from Indian Territory and their attempt to return to their homeland north of Kansas. Six Cheyenne were confined to jail in Dodge City and charged with murder in 1879. The incident is commonly known as the Dull Knife raid and is regarded as the last major conflict between whites and Indians in Kansas.

Cheyenne Indian drawing
Creator: Northern Cheyenne
Date: Between 1870 and 1880
This is a colored pencil drawing created by a Cheyenne Indian, possibly Wild Hog. The drawings may be related to the 1878 escape of a band of Northern Cheyenne from Indian Territory and their attempt to return to their homeland north of Kansas. The incident is commonly known as the Dull Knife raid and is regarded as the last major conflict between whites and Indians in Kansas.

Chronology of the Iowa and Sac and Fox Indians in Doniphan County, Kansas
Date: 1882
This chronology details major events occurring between 1837-1855 among the Iowa and Sac and Fox Indians who had been relocated to Kansas after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Topics mentioned within the chronology include warfare among relocated tribes, the arrival of white emigrants, disease, mission buildings, and treaties ceding land to the United States government. During the period covered in this item unfolded a large number of white settlers began moving into the lands that the tribes occupied, especially after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854.

Coffee Mill Hopper from the Village on Pawnee Fork, 14NS403
Date: 1867
This coffee mill hopper fragment was recovered from the Village on the Pawnee Fork (also called Hancock's Village) in Ness County during excavations in 1977. Coffee mills are used to grind roasted coffee beans prior to brewing. This hopper fragment is made of cast iron and was part of a manual coffee grinder. The hopper fragment was cleaned by electrolysis, which passes an electrical current through a liquid solution to separate the rust from the artifact. The Village on Pawnee Fork, home to several hundred Southern Cheyenne and Southern Teton Oglala was destroyed by order of Major General Winifred S. Hancock in 1867. The site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Colonel A.C. Pepper to Robert Simerwell
Creator: Pepper, Abel C., 1793-1860
Date: April 11, 1833
In this letter to Robert Simerwell, Indian Agent Colonel A.C. Pepper tells Simerwell that he is preparing to lead a band of Native Indians led by Quea-Quea-Tah, west in the early part of June 1833, and that the Native Indians "express a wish" that Simerwell accompany them on their journey. Pepper also states that Simerwell should talk with the Native Indians in his area to see if they are interested in moving west with the others and, if so, to meet at Logansport, Indiana on June 10, 1833.

Council meeting at Kickapoo Agency
Creator: Baldwin, Royal
Date: 1857
This is a transcribed copy of a conversation between Keotuck and his fellow Potawatomi leaders and their Indian agent, Royal Baldwin. The Potawatomi and Kickapoo had been living on the same lands, and since they had just planted their crops, the Potawatomi were expressing their desire to remain settled on this land. Apparently the United States government had not given the Potawatomi their full annuity payment and had asked them to move, but Keotuck's band protested because they had paid $8,009 to remain with the Kickapoo. The back of the document includes a transcription of the compact joining the Kickapoo and Potawatomi, written in 1851. This item demonstrates that many Native Americans lived in the middle of a very precarious situation due to the nature of the treaties they signed with the U.S. Government.

Country drained by the Mississippi, western section
Creator: Long, Stephen Harriman, 1784-1864
Date: 1822
This map shows Stephen Long's depiction of the "Great American Desert" and the rivers draining east from the Rocky Mountains. The map supported the claim that much of the great plains region was unsuitable for agriculture and white settlement and lent support to the creation of an Indian territory to which Indians would be removed. Under orders from John C. Calhoun, secretary of war, Long lead an expedition into the territory west of the Missouri River in 1819 and 1820 to acquire thorough and accurate information on the soil, geography, water courses, animals, vegetation, and minerals in the new territory. The map was published in an atlas (1822) accompanying Stephen H. Long's Account of An Expedition From Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, Performed in the Years 1819 and 1820 (1823).

Delaware Indians to T. Hartley Crawford
Creator: Delaware Indians
Date: January 6, 1840
This is a copy of a letter that Isaac McCoy sent on behalf of the Delaware Indians. McCoy was a missionary in Indian Territory (present-day Kansas), and Crawford was Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In the letter, the Delaware asked for government patents that would prove their ownership of their new lands in Indian Territory. Apparently, some of their lands had also been claimed by Kansa Indians. The Delaware refer in this letter to a treaty signed on September 24, 1829, and express their desire to be permanently settled in this new territory. However, the Delaware did not enjoy a permanent home in Kansas--treaties in 1854 and 1860 diminished Delaware lands and, in 1867, the Delaware were moved to present-day Oklahoma. In sum, this letter highlights the difficulties that Native Americans faced during the 19th century with regard to retaining control over the land that they occupued.

Dr. Fenn's history and sketch of their days with the Indians
Creator: Fenn, Elbridge Burke
Date: Between 1900 and 1920
Elbridge Burke Fenn moved to Kansas in 1866 with several others, first settling in a "vacant cabin" on the Sac and Fox Agency. This item contains information on several Sac and Fox bands. In addition, it highlights the tensions that existed "on the part of the common Indians and one or two of their chiefs against whites for driving them off the Kansas Reservation."

Eastman's map of Kansas and Nebraska territories showing the location of the Indian reserves according to the treaties of 1854
Date: Between 1854 and 1856
This map shows the locations of the new or reduced lands of Indian tribes according to the treaties of 1854. With the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, the former Indian Territory was opened to white settlement, and the government looked for ways to relocate the native tribes who had made their homes in Kansas. To create more land for white settlement, George Manypenny, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, negotiated treaties with Indian tribes that ceded much of the Indians' lands to the government. This land could then be sold to white emigrants. Naturally, these events helped to exacerbate existing tensions between settlers and Native Americans, contributing to the Indian Wars that occupied the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War.

Face Pipe
Date: 1886
Notes that accompanied this ceramic pipe at the time of its donation alledged that the pipe was bought from the Apache Chief Geronimo on his way to Fort Sill in 1886. There is no other verification for this narrative. The pipe was donated in 1972 to the Kansas Historical Society. It appears to have never been smoked. The molded clay face has been embellished with black and red paint on the bowl and stem. The base of the bowl has been decorated with a swastika, a symbol that has been used in America and elsewhere since prehistoric times. The date "1886" was likely added at a later time.

Firearm Main Springs from the Village on Pawnee Fork, 14NS403
Date: 1867
These two firearm main springs were recovered from the Village on the Pawnee Fork in Ness County during excavations in 1977. The main spring on the left is from a Colt-style Model 1851 or Model 1860 revolver. The main spring on the right is from an undetermined firearm. Both were cleaned by electrolysis, which passes an electrical current through a liquid solution to separate the rust from the artifact. The Village on Pawnee Fork, home to several hundred Southern Cheyenne and Southern Teton Oglala was destroyed by order of Major General Winifred S. Hancock in 1867. The site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

George W. Collamore to Honorable William P. Dole
Creator: Collamore, Geo. W
Date: April 21, 1862
A letter written to William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D. C., from George W. Collamore in Kansas. Collamore describes the horrible living conditions that the Creek and Cherokee have been living in since the war started, having their homes destroyed, their livestock chased off, and having little food, water, or shelter. Collamore pleads assistance be given. Opothleyahola and his daughter are also mentioned in the letter.