Medicine Lodge Peace Treaties
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 16.540 W 098° 32.953
14S E 539963 N 4125548
Every five years this town reenacts the event.
Waymark Code: WM9A2X
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 07/20/2010
Views: 7
Marker Erected by: Kansas Historical Society and State Highway Commission
Location of Marker: US-160, Memorial Peace Park, 1 mile east of Medicine Lodge
County of Marker: Barber County
Marker Text:
In October, 1867, Iowa, Comanche, Arapahoe, Apache and Cheyenne Indians signed peace treaties with the Federal government. 15,000 Indians camped nearby during the council, among them the famous chiefs Satanta, Little Raven, and Black Kettle. 500 soldiers acted as escort for the U.S. commissioners. Interest in this colorful spectacle was so widespread that Eastern papers sent correspondents, among them Henry M. Stanley, who later was to find Livingstone in Africa. While the treaties did not bring immediate peace they made possible the coming of the railroads and eventual settlement. The site of the council was at the confluence of Medicine river and Elm creek, a little southwest of Medicine Lodge. Every five years a treaty pageant is re~enacted in this amphitheater. In Medicine Lodge there is a commemorative monument on the high school grounds.