Commemorating the Peace Treaty - Medicine Lodge, KS
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 16.920 W 098° 34.751
14S E 537304 N 4126239
Kansas’ own Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Pageant commemorates the great Peace Council of 1867 between the U.S. Government and the proud civilization of the Plains Indians.
Waymark Code: WMV8F6
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2017
Views: 0
County of marker: Barber County
Location of marker: 200 North Main St., Middle School lawn, Medicine Lodge
Statue commissioned: 1927
Statue Erected: 1929
Statue erected by: US Government & Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Association
Plaque Text:
TO COMMEMORATE THE SIGNING OF
THE PEACE TREATIES BETWEEN THE
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND
THE FIVE TRIBES OF PLAINS INDIANS
AT MEDICINE LODGE, KANS., OCT. 21 - 28, 1867.
"The Association found the exact boundaries of the old Indian stockade, which was the first step in building the historic Stockade Museum. They also commissioned a monument to be built to commemorate the Peace Council. That monument now stands on the northeast corner of First and Main Street, and has been there for 67 years." ~ DeDe Morgan-Vick, The Gyp Hill Premiere, 1994
"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" ~ Kansas Historical Society & Kansas Highway Commission