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Whiteshield Camp 1. Was the camp that Custer wiped out near Cheyenne temporary or permanent? I'm wondering if the tribe roamed the Washita between Cheyenne and Hammon during those early days. In short, was there any historical connection between the two locations even though the one near Cheyenne preceded Whiteshield by several years. Answer: As near as I can tell, the government intended for the camp to be permanent. The camp, located northwest of Cheyenne, was, as near as I can tell, known as Black Kettle Camp. Chief Black Kettle was killed by Gen. George Custer in 1868 in a Massacre on the Washita. By a strange coincidence, Black Kettle had survived the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 almost to the day four years earlier. (I have a ton of research to do on these scant facts. I'll be going that later.) Black Kettle's camp at Cheyenne was, as near as I can tell, about the same size about the same size as Whiteshield Camp. There were a large number of Cheyenne camps in the area known as the Cheyenne Nation. There appears to have been at least three camps of Cheyenne in the Hammon/Cheyenne area. They were Black Kettle's camp near Cheyenne, the Whiteshield camp and the Red Moon Camp near what became Hammon. Neither Cheyenne nor Hammon existed as communities in the 1860's. Hammon came into existence in the 1890's. The first Hammon post office is dated at June 30, 1894. The post office was named J. H. Hammon, who was the Indian agent assigned to the local area. (Source: Oklahoma Place Names, by George H. Shirk, p. 108) The Cheyenne nation stretched over a ten county area from present day El Reno north to Kingfisher and west to the Texas line at the west end of Roger Mills/Ellis County. Red Moon's Camp, another local camp, was located north of the Washita River, six miles east of Whiteshield Camp (on what once was the Hodge Ranch. I don't know who owns the land now since Hodge is now dead and the ranch has been sold in recent years. Pat Hodge, now dead, was a historian in her own right and I'm aware that she did a lot of research on Hammon. I plan to look through her research for more information... ) (Click on the thumbnails below for larger photos that delineate the location of the three camps)
2. I think Washita is an Indian word. Do you know what it means? Answer: "WASHITA" the French form of the word is "Ouachita" and the English is "Washita." The name is from two Choctaw words, "owa" and "chito," meaning “big hunt.” (Source: Oklahoma Place Names, by George H. Shirk, p. 250) 3. Who was Whiteshield's primary chief in its first days? Answer: I think Ben Whiteshield's father was the man. I browsed through at the Indian cemetery for about two hours last Monday afternoon (June 7, 2004). I located Ben Whiteshield's headstone. Near by was the large stone of Ben's father, who was name was Ben Quiver Whiteshield. I didn't have my camera, which was a huge mistake. There is a lot of information on that stone, including the names of all of Ben Quiver Whiteshield's children. I plan to always take my camera with me from hence forth. Personal question: How did "Whiteshield Creek" receive its name? Answer: I don't know. That is a piece of information is something I need to research. I do know that Whiteshield Creek runs generally north from a spot down near Carpenter and goes within a few hundred feet west of Hammon, (down there west of the Co-op). Whiteshield Creek trails north from Hammon and runs parallel to the Washita River for about a mile. The river and the creek are separated by less than an 8th of a mile for a stretch of about a mile. The old Whiteshield Camp was located between the river and the creek near where the creek empties into the river. Thus the old camp was less than a hundred yards from the river (on the west) and about 800 yards from the creek (on the east). I suspect that the creek received it's name from the fact that it emptied into the river so close to the old Whiteshield Camp. But I don't know the answer to this. It's something I need to work on.) 4. Did the government build permanent housing for the Whiteshield camp initially (in the 1890s) or did that come later? Answer: I don't know. That's something I need to research. But this question helped me confirm that my dates are off on some of the facts. I had originally thought that the Cheyennes were brought into our area sometime in the early 1890's. From the research I did today, I learn that they were here in the 1860's... I know this by the fact Black Kettle was killed in 1868. Some of the stories told by survivors are that those who managed to escape Custer's massacre fled down-river to a camp. I'm not sure which camp this would have been, but most logically it would have been Whiteshield's Camp, since Red Moon's camp was still six miles farther east. So, by deduction, Whiteshield Camp must have been in existence as far back as 1868... 5. Did the Indian agency feed the original camp dwellers or did they hunt game (like they did before the reservation days)? Answer: I don't know. My hunch is that it was probably both. I do know that the Indians were still hunting some in those days. In fact, they spent a lot of time hunting & fishing when I was a kid. I can remember seeing them going up and down the river, hunting in groups of five to seven at a time. If you'll remember from that tape I sent you (from Edwin Pewo), he tells of several hunting trips he and his friends took along the Washita, and in the bottoms there near the new camp. This is one I'll have to work on as well. 6. On your map, I note a large block of Cheyenne land east of the John Flick and Reed Ackley farms. Does the tribe own this land or is it owned by individuals? Answer: The land straight east of Dad's place is owned privately. That is it is allotted land. There are so many heirs, however, that some of the land is owned partially by as many as 50-60 heirs. The entire two-sections straight east & south of Reed Ackley's is tribal land. The north section, the one straight east of Reed Ackley is the section where the Red Moon School was located. The section south of that one is where the Red Moon pow wow grounds are located. |
