Hi there; Blogger Friends,
It's a cold and windy night on the plains of Kansas, and I complain with a warm house and everything a body needs for comfort. It's hard for us to imagine what the pioneers went through when they first came here and tried to survive on almost nothing. We are so blessed.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about my research paper lately. I think I need to narrow my quest down to some main issues. I have an idea about what my topics main question should be, roughly speaking, something like," Did the Wichita Indians Really Give Wichita It's Name, Or Was It Simply Named Wichita Because The Wichita Indians Once Lived Here"? Something like that maybe, or what about, " Marker Commemorating The Wichita Indians Is Incorrect." Well whatever the thesis statement turns out to be, I still have a long way to go before I'm anywhere ready to start writing my essay.
One thing that I think I need to change is the scope of my searching. I really like to dig up old stories about the people and places of the old west and the pioneer days. I've been fascinated with that subject since I was in grade school. Having had the opportunity to have lived for weeks at a time on a farm without any modern conveniences such as electricity, running water, indoor and sometimes outdoor facilities, cooking on a coal-oil stove and doing homework by oil lamp light has given me a small taste of the of early life on the open prairie, but I knew I'd be coming back to home; to this home, when the work at the farm was done for a while.
I've been focusing my research on the men who came to Kansas and started trading with the Indians and opening trading posts. Some of the men who had a vision of a town at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers. For a while I think I will begin to look at that marker; the one that is about the Wichita Indians that is in Wichita, somewhere around Riverside Park; I think that's where it is. Guess I just might need to learn some things about it; like when was it erected and who wrote the words that were placed on it. You know, little things like that.
History is a big place to visit, you can get lost in it if you're not careful. But it's always a fun and interesting place to hang-out.
I know this post is somewhat short, but it was either short, or not at all, so I chose short.
Have a pleasant evening,
Cheri

Good Evening Fellow Bloggers Everywhere'
Today is the 22 day of February, 2014. Today has been a long day and if you have been car shopping before you totally understand. I got a beautiful 2012 Ford Focus, pearl white and I love it. I will certainly try to  take very good care of it and drive it with my full attention on my driving.
For my blog tonight I want to share a few facts about William Greiffenstein. I'm so glad that's not my name!
He's an interesting person and one of the founding fathers of Wichita, Ks.
Mr. Greiffenstein was born in Germany in 1829 where he lived with his family who were prominent members of the Lutheran Church, and very well educated and refined. He lived with his family in the suburbs of Frankfort-on-the-Main. When William was 14 years of age, he was sent to a Darmstadt College for three years, where he received his education. After school, he worked in a commission house, but when the Revolution broke out in Germany, William moved to the Western World, he was only 19 years old at the time. He located in Hermann, Mo. and worked as a clerk for a while until he moved to St. Louis, Mo. and worked in a store as a clerk. William wasn't content working for other men and wanted very much to open his own store. In 1850 he left Missouri  for the Shawnee Reservation, close to Lawrence Ks.. Here he partnered with a "halfbreed" and opened a mercantile and traded with the Indians.
To transport his wares around the country, he had to use pack animals, because there were no roads to use.
After a while he left his trading business and went to New Mexico and on the way back, bought some land near Topeka, Ks.. Col. Levenworth had heard about some white children that were being held by the Indians. Mr. Greiffenstein was able to get them released and returned them to their families. On another occasion there was word of a white women and her child who were being held captive by Indians and again Mr. Greiffenstein went to rescue them from the Cheyenne. During the battle with General Custer on the Washita river, the women and her child were killed by an Indian women as revenge for a her family member that was killed. So Mr. Greiffenstein went back to his home.
At one point Mr. G. went to Texas to buy breaking plows, twenty of them, so he could break-up the ground at the Kiowa reservation. He was on his way home when he happened to camp for the night at White Beat Hill. General Sheridan was also camping there and the General has been told some bad things about Mr. Greiffenstein and a ruckus broke out between General Sheridan and Mr. Greiffenstein. General Sheridan ordered Greiffenstein out of the country. Mr Greiffenstein went to Washington to try to get some help, but none was forthcoming. A few years later General Sheridan found out that the things he'd been told about Mr. Greiffenstein were untrue and he made amends with Mr. Greiffenstein and they became good friends.
In 1869, William moved back to Topeka where he had done a trading business, and married Miss Catherine Burnett. The were blessed with three children.
In 1870 the first land that was platted in the Wichita area by Mr. Greiffenstein. It was eighty acres of land and some of the plats he gave to people who would improve them. Mr. G. had a large ranch with a lot of horses, cattle and pigs. This ranch was near or perhaps on the Pottawatomie Reservation. He acquired 680 acres of land in what is now Wichita, and build a huge, beautiful house on part of the land.
It is reported that "the costing with improvements cost a cool $75,000."  Mr. G. was a stockholder in the street railway, (I wonder if that was Wichita's trolley system) and a watch factory. He also did a lot of
work on Douglas street.
Mr. Greiffenstein was the mayor of Wichita for eight years and in 1877-1878 he represented his district in the State Legislature. That's a wrap for tonight's news, my friends,
Until next we meet,
Cheri
The KSGenWeb Project and Home Page for the Kansas State Library.

Hi there,
Today is February 19, 2014. It's been an adventure maneuvering through the hoops after being in a car accident. No fun my friends, but at least I'm only hurt a little and will mend with time. I got some news last night about a dear friend of mine who's 34 year old granddaughter killed herself. She just graduated from nursing school last Spring. I'm heart sick for my friend and her family. Makes my problems come into perspective and I'm so blessed to only have a car wreck to deal with.
On with my blog for today, and there's not much time to get-er-done before leaving for English class.
I reread Prof. Buua's syllabus again; I've read it several times before, but it never hurts to read it again from time to time. I had printed off the explanation for the writing option that I've chosen and reread it as well.
Then I had an epiphany, It became clear to me what I'm supposed to do with all the information that I've been gathering. I found the argument, the rhetoric, the ethos, logos and pathos. What a relief, before I was asking myself how was I to turn the research work into what the actual assignment is.
After this epiphany, I looked on-line of course, for the plaque commemorating the Wichita Indians that is in Riverside park. Also looked at some of the other historical markers in Wichita. I'm liking this assignment more and more, as I plan and do detective work about the Wichita Indians and the founding fathers of Wichita.
I don't know yet who made the plaque in Riverside park, but I think I can do better, making it a more historically accurate plaque.
I'm actually excited about the prospect. I still have much research to do and several people to learn about. What fun; I'm so blessed. I know that this blog is a bit short today, but I wanted to get in my third one for this week and with my accident and all, it's been hard to find the time to write three times this week.
Look for some more reports as I dig deeper into Wichita's very interesting past.
Cheri

Good Evening Blogger Friends,
There are two more letters that James R. Mead wrote that were in trusted to the Kansas Historical Society, they are the subject of tonight's blog. This is the third of four letters that I found at Kansas Memory, a branch of the Kansas Historical Society. It's a wonderful web site if you like history; there's so much to tantalize your imagination. OOP'S, got side tracked there, so back to the letters. This one is titled First Trading Post In Kansas, and is dated December 25, 1859, as were the first two letters. It is signed "Your son, James R. Mead", so it must have been written to his parents, one would think. He begins by telling his readers that he is prepared to spend the winter on the prairie and that that probably doesn't set to well with the folks, but never-the-less, that's the plan. He says that he has plenty of food and grocery's on hand and thinks "it will be a pleasant and profitable time." He plans on trading with the Indians and assures his family that he is in a safe location, away from "the wild Indians." There was a Kaw tribe camped not far away and he says that "they are friendly and fond of trading". He has two companions and a hired man. The companions whom he doesn't name are fellow hunters, while the hired man is the one in charge of processing the buffalo.
In the second paragraph Mr. Mead is commenting on what they get from the buffalo beyond their hides. He says, and I quote, " I have on hand about 100 tongues which are worth $1 apiece in market. We also have a barrel of tallow and next summer can get it by the thousand weight. It is worth .10 each or .121/2 per pound. It makes beautiful candles."
Going on, Mr. Mead talks about times being hard in Kansas because much of the money was being spent buying land. He says that new comers tell that it's harder in the States than in Kansas. A man by the name of Col. Titus has become a friend of Mr. Mead and is a very influential man in town. The Col. opens his home to Mr. Mead whenever he is in town and Mr. Mead is pleased with this friendship.
In the fourth paragraph he speaks to his father, I believe, do to the tone of the words. It has something to do with Mr. Mead Sr. having some trouble and anxiety over something that we as readers have no point of reference. His advice to his dad is to banish the past from his mind and be happy and content. Mr. Mead Jr. says that he is happy and doesn't envy those who have more than he.
In the fifth and last paragraph of this letter, his dad asks the sons advise about an old mare that I suppose the old man is somewhat fond of for it's having been around for so long. It's time to let the old girl go and the son says to his dad, in all caps; "BY ALL MEANS SHOOT HER! She is an eye sore and disgrace to any man." His finial words of wisdom on the subject is; "A man is always judged by the stock he keeps." Isn't there something like that concerning the company one keeps too? Http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90618.
The last letter is of a different flavor and is titled; " RAMBLES OF DIS-UNION ADVICE TO FATHER RELIEF, and dated February 14, 1861 from Saline Ranch. It begin with this phrase;" Disunion news is terrible indeed." Mr. Mead is concerned about the influence this news will cause on his business come winter. He says that the price he get for furs has gone down, but he still had plenty to eat.
This part is interesting and I will quote it so you can hear every word. "The awful facts you hear of suffering in Kansas are half of them bare-faced lies. Tell the folks to take care of your own poor and let us alone. The Territory would be vastly better off today if not one dollar of relief had been sent to us." I don't quite understand what he's so upset about. If any of you bloggers know, by all means enlighten me. He also, in the same paragraph tells his dad to keep out of the way of his enemies and avoid publicity. To live within his means and forget about the past. That remark about the past surfaces again here. This letter is more like a note, as it only takes up a half sheet of paper. Another short note is printed at the bottom of this page titled; "War: Fire: Decision to Marry. Written from Leavenworth, Ks. on May 1, 1861. This portion has to do with the effect of war on the economy in Kansas, which was having a rough time in the early days of 1861.
 He says that the river towns are doing a good business outfitting people going to Pikes Peak, but other than that, there wasn't much going on there.
He tells about a big fire that was in the town the night before he wrote this note. The losses from the fire were $70,000, but insured. He didn't say what burned or how the fire started, just that there had been a fire. He also mentions that the people were getting ready for the possibility of war should it come that way. He says, "I hope Old Abe gives them fits before long!" This guy, Mr. Mead, sure had a way with words. Here's what he has to say about the women he's planning on marrying. "I am going to get married this Fall to a poor girl and not very good looking but she likes me and I like her and I guess we could make a living." He says he could have anyone he wanted, but he didn't care that much about looks. Poor girl indeed!
These letters are copies of the type written ones by Mr. Mead and were donated to the Kansas State Historical Society by Mr. Mead's family in 1940 when the originals were still owned by the family. The originals are now held by Wichita State University. (Item Number:90618; Call Number: James Mead Coll. #438; Box 1 Volume 1;
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 90618.)
That's a wrap for tonight, sweet dreams,
Cheri

Good Sunday Evening Dear Bloggers,
This has been a very unusual weekend for me. One of frustration and upset, to say the least. Yesterday around eleven A.M. I had my first and hopefully last auto accident. My car's front end is in pieces and I don't know yet if it's a total loss or not. I fared better than the car, with a few bruises and a hurting neck and back. I don't want to get into the details of the accident, but the fact that I'm somewhat preoccupied with all the implication of being in an accident may keep this post from being my usual bubbly best.
This evening it is my goal to tell you some of the information that is in the personal letters that James R. Mead written to his father, mother and sister. I love to read other peoples mail, but only when it's over a hundred years old! The first letter of Mr. Mead was written at Burlingame,(Berlingame Ks. is a city in Osage Co. Ks., and is part of present day Topeka, according to Wikipedia). dated Nov.7, 1859. The letter is headed, Dear Father and Folks at home:. In this narrative he says and I quote, "I have been very successful as a hunter, having beaten the rest of the company so bad that they actually got mad at me." He goes on to say that he shot 30 buffalo. In the third paragraph of this letter he tries to describe what a buffalo looked like. He said that they looked much different than what he had imagined. He describes his method of stocking buffalo when out on a hunt. He would hid in the tall grasses and shot them as they came by. He said that the sound of the guns didn't seem to scare or startle the other buffalo which made shooting them easy. Some of the other hunters like to use horses and ride into the herd, but no so for Mr. Mead. He bragged to his family that he could usually kill a buffalo with a single shot. (paragraph 3).
In this letter he has some; not so nice things, to say about the Indians. Mr. Mead says, " You never saw the hide of a full sized buffalo; the Indians are too lazy to tan them. They only save the cows and calves". He later changes his mind about the character of the Native American Indians.(paragraph 3). He speaking about the prairie dogs, telling his family of a village of approximately 300 praire dogs that live close to their camp. He says that the prairie dogs eat the green grass and are as fat as butter, and are pretty good eating. This ends this letter to his family back home in Iowa. (http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90617 - Copyright 2007-2014- Kansas Historical Society).
The next letter was written to his sister. the date is Dec. 25, 1859, Christmas Eve, Somewhere in the West.
He begin with, "My Dear Sister;. In the first paragraph, he tells his sister; whom he doesn't mention by name, how to locate his location on a map. Quoting his words," Look west of Ft. Riley and you will see the Saline River. Then with the scale of miles, measure off 20 on the north side of the river and you have our place exactly." (paragraph 1.)  He tells her about shooting four turkeys, he calls them gobblers and weighed them at 14 pounds each. He talks about some of the other wildlife like rabbits and prairie chickens and squirrels.
He also lists for her the general grocery's he has on hand; flour, meal, tea, coffee, sugar, molasses. (second paragraph). In the third paragraph, he give his reason for being on the Kansas prairie. He says, and I quote; "I hope to make a reasonably sized pile before I return to civilized life. There is a better show for it here than anywhere in the settlements as far as my acquaintance extends. We trade considerably with the Kaw Indians who hunt here in the winters. I could have traded $1000 with them this winter if I had been prepared for it. As it is, we have already got $200 worth of furs from them and may get a good many more before Spring."
He talks about having a lot of buffalo robes that he said," I got a number of them for a peck of corn meal, each." He tells his sister about four copperheads that came down in the summers. At first I thought he was talking about the copperhead snakes, but that didn't make much sense. They were four Indian's who were very fierce, and the hunters were afraid of them, so they built a  bullet-proof "shack" to go into so the Copperhead Indians couldn't get to them. They were planning on giving them a "warm reception, should they trouble us."( Paragraph 3).
In paragraph 4, Mr. Mead talks about the Kaw Indians calling them" lazy, lousy, lying set of thieving rascals, without a grain of manliness about them." As I said before, he changes his mind later on and a notation on this page says that Mr. Mead had only been on the prairie one month when he wrote this letter to his sister.
In the last paragraph, he speaks of the Copperhead Indians again saying that he'd had several good offers from them, but declined. I'm assuming he's referring to trading, since that was what he did. No further mention was made of the four unfriendly Copperhead Indians. He tells his sister that his partner had gone into Burlingame to buy a pound of strychine that had been sent to Mr. Mead and he was also picking up a load of meal. He tells his sister how much he would like to be with the family for the holidays and then tells her about the warm weather they were having in Kansas. It was very dry as they hadn't had rain in six months, but that wasn't a problem for Mr. Mead who didn't want mud, as opposed to anyone who might be trying to farm. He closes his letter with the words," I must close my Christmas Eve letter and bid you goodnite and pleasant dreams and excuse my rambling style as I write just as thots happen to come into my mind. Your affectionate Brother, James." Mr. Mead and I have the same sort of writing style!
(http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90619/page/2, copyright 2007-2014-Kansas Historical Society.
There a a couple more letters to tell you about, but I believe I will save them for tomorrow night.
As I'm righting this blog, I keep wondering how I will pull all of the information that I'm gathering into an essay. An essay that has the components that are required for the intended criteria. Any "thots" on this would be appreciated. Well fellow bloggers, have a good night and sweet dreams.
Until next time,
Cheri

Good Evening Blogging Friends,
It's the 11th. of February and time for another entry in my blog. As I told you in the last blog, I'm going to write a few of my impressions of James Richard Mead. After reading some of his personal letters that he wrote to his dad, mom, and sister from 1859 - 1861; which have been in trusted to the Kansas Historical Society and found on the Kansas Memory web site,(http://www.kansasmemory.org), I have both good and not so good feelings for the man. My first impression was that he was an egotistic, self absorbed man. He seems to be bragging to his dad about killing buffalo's. He had always liked to hunt, so I suppose he was good at it alright. He told his dad about killing 30 buffalo one day, but being an animal lover and thinking it sad that the buffalo was hunted almost to extinction, largely for their hides was a crime and a shame. He did cure the meat though and that's honorable of him.
James Mead was a very busy man and was a man of passion. He quickly had a vision for the frontier and the Southern Plains of Kansas. After he came to Kansas and saw the buffalo, the Indians, other settlers and later on the Union soldiers he quickly knew that they would need places to buy supplies.
He set up several trading posts around the area, and traded with the Indians. One near todays Salina, Towanda, Wichita, and maybe another one of two that I can't think of right now. He was a sheriff, a businessman, hunter and trader, and adventurer, and finally a husband. It was interesting how he told his dad about the woman he was going to marry. He said," she isn't pretty, but she likes me and I like her, so we should be able to work together to build a life." His first two wives died and shortly after the second wife died, their infant son died too. James Mead was grief stricken for quite a while, but eventually married a third wife and he also out lived her. I will give more detail on all of these things soon. I know that all of tonight's blog is short and vague, but I can hardly keep my eyes open tonight, so please forgive me for making this a less than my usual long winded blog.
Thank you for popping in and have a very good night.
Cheri

Good Afternoon, Fellow bloggers,
Today is February 7, 2014 and another cold and cloudy day to be sure. A couple of days ago while out driving through Derby; to my surprise and delight, I saw two different yards that had eight or nine robins hoping around, looking for bugs or more likely seeds. When I was a kid and saw my first robin of the new year, I would be so happy because I was sure that it would soon be spring. I've been told by some bird watching friends, that robins don't leave Kansas in the winter, they just hang out in the woods and then come out of hiding in February or March. Spring is still on the way, and I will be so glad when it arrives.
Well, that's my "robin (rabbit) trail" for today. Last night I spent some time reading material that the man who is in charge of the history education department at our Wichita's CowTown Museum gave me . He was very nice and I enjoyed my visit with him. I wish I had written his name down, but I didn't. I will have to call the museum and ask his name. Anyway, he printed off for me several, very good writings about early Wichita. Two are essays that W.S.U. students wrote. One is titled: Indians In Wichita, by David A. Cox. The other one is titled: Wichita Indians, by Elie Tabarani. Both essays were assignments they had to do for a English 102 class. Much of the information in their reports is the same as what I have already discovered, with a few minor differences. One item that I want to have for my own essay are the names of the affiliated Indian bands. According to David Cox, they were the Wacos, Towacanis and Kechais. Information located in Kansas Historical Collections,(Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, 1923), Vol. 15, p. 501. Subheading 19 Mead, p.172.
In Elie Tabarani's essay, she relates that several names were suggest for the new settlement. Henry Vigur proposed "Wichita, Sedgwick for General John Sedgwick. Governor Crawford wanted it to be called Hamilton for Alexander Hamilton. This is the funny one; Opu Elei (elk tooth), suggested by a man because it was the name of the loveliest Indian woman he had ever seen. The name Wichita was most likely decided on by its main promoters; Greiffenstain, Munger, and Mead. They are reported to  have expressed their reasoning because Wichita was already being called Wichita Town, and it should continue to be called Wichita. According to Elie Tabarani's paper, the Indian pronunciation of Wichita was "Wish-i-ta." That's just a little different from the pronunciation I found in my research which was: "Wee-che-taw.) Taw is Osage for North, and Wiche (Weechee) means scattered Villages. I have several references in my notes, but I will have to retrace my tracks to find just where I got this information. I'm reasonably sure it is from the Kansas Memory's web site of the Kansas Historical Society. I must learn to take more care in writing down my references.
I am forming a sketchy picture of the very busy and industrious Mr. James Mead. That will be in part the substance of my next blog.
Search on, dear bloggers,
Cheri

Good Winter's Eve to all my blogging friends,
Today is February 4, 2014 and it has snowed all day. It looked so beautiful coming down and the Cardinals and House Finches were having a ball at the flower pots on my porch that serves as feeders. I can stand inside my nice warm house and snap pictures of them as much as I please; it's so fun.
Well, lets get back to the business of the Wichita Indians. Information about the Wichita's and their decision to back the Union side during the Civil War is still eluding me, but I have a lot of material that I haven't gotten to yet, so we will continue researching for that.
Looking online at the Kansas Memory web site, I came across a cool document that is the minutes of a tribal meeting, The purpose of the meeting was to tell the history of the Wichita Indians. This meeting took place on November 23, 1935 at Anadarko, Oklahoma. I would like to quote the beginning acknowledgement from this document, it is as follows.
Minutes of a tribal Association meeting in Anadorko, Oklahoma to the Wichita City Library; The Kansas Historical Society; The Wichita Indian Historical Society Who Have So Faithfully Devoted The Necessary Time Energy Research as Endeavoring To Uncover Evidence Concerning The Habitat Custom Tradition History Of The Wichita Indians Who Were Our Ancestors And To Exhibit Our Unbounded Affection We Are Pleased To Dedicate This Writing --The Wichita and Affiliated Bands Of Indians Of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. (The Wichita Indians by Charles H. Pratt, Historian for the Wichita Nation Association and Affiliated Bands of Indians.) ( www.kansasmemory.org/item/219783).
I typed it as it was, with all words capitalized and no punctuation. Above the acknowledgement was written the names of the Officers and stated that Dennis Warden was the Tribal Chief. The objectives: Tribal. There were about a dozen pages with information from as far back as the oldest man could remember, but the part I want to blog about has to do with my research paper. There was a small portion that mentioned James Mead who reported, (I don't know if he was at the meeting or not, but it states that James Mead reported, (so I am relating what he said). that the language of the Wichita Indians was similar to that of Indians in Oregon. A Mrs. Russel who worked at the Kiowa's agency had also reported at some point, that the language of the Wichita's was very much like the languages of Indians she had heard in Oregon. The writer of the document said that he to had heard of this before, many times from a number of different people. (vol.8, Kans. Hist. Coll. P. 171)
The next section of the document was about the origin of the name of the Wichita Indian. I thought this was very interesting, but then I find languages fascinating. I had already read that they were named Wichita's by the Osage. The Osage were living in about the southern third of Kansas when the Wichita came and started camping along the Arkansas River. This made the Osage unhappy, they didn't like the Wichita's encroaching on their land and there eventually was some fighting between the two tribes. The Osage did allow the Wichita's to stay on their land.
The Wichita's called themselves Kiddi-Ki-dish. It means tattooed around the eyes, guess they looked like they had raccoon eyes. The Osage named them Wee-che-taws' which means scattered villages. (p. 140, made April 2, 1928, at "Ashington, D.C.). A Deposition by General H. L. Scott.
In a library book that I'm looking at titled: Cowtown Wichita and the Wild, Wicked West, by Stan Hoig, there is a passage of interest giving the impression that the Wichita's made on Coronado and his band of Spaniards back in the 1500's. The Indians were very tall; over six feet in height. They were tattooed around their eyes and their houses were in no particular formation, but put wherever the builder (the women) decided to put them. It also described the shock of the Wichita's when they laid eyes on the Conquistadors. The Indians had never seen horses before, not to mention these beings in very bright shiny metal riding on these the beasts. They looked and ran, but the Coronado had an Indian guide from New Mexico who assured the Wichita's that the "shiny people" (my words) were friendly. (P. 4) University of New Mexico Press.
Well, it's been fun sharing a few tidbits with you again.  Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it for you.
Until next post,
Cheri

Good evening blogger friends, today is February 1, 2014 and it seem like yesterday that the Wichita Indians were camped along the Arkansas river. I want to talk about a book that I checked out at the base, (McConnell AFB). The title of the book is: Images of America Wichita 1860-1930, written by Jay M. Price. The introduction to the book has good information on the early days around the Wichita area. The land was originally owned by the Osage people, and the Osage and Wichita Indians hunted, raided and traded here. In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase was transacted and brought the land that became Kansas into the United States. This encouraged merchants and traders into the area along the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas river. It was a place of opportunity for those who had a vision for the expanding frontier.
At the time of the Civil War, the Wichita Indian's sympathies were with the Union Army. In order to separate the Wichita Indians from those who sympathized with the South; tensions were running high between the tribes, the U.S. government relocated them from the southern Indian lands to the area near where Riverside Park is in Wichita today.
They remained there until end of the war and were then relocated back to Oklahoma, near Anadarko.
Most of the American Indians were gone by the late 1860's so that the white settlers could move west and build farms and business.
This began the time of cowboys and cattle drives; around the 1870's. This was Wichita's first boon, however, it only lasted around four short years. I had thought that the cattle industry lasted much longer than that. 
Here is a list of some of the men who were influential in Wichita becoming a community: Jesse Chisholm; James R. Mead; "Buffalo Bill" Mathewson; Darius Munger; and quite a few others that I won't list right now. Lest we forget, I would also like to mention; Agnes Barcome, James Mead's first wife and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Mathewson, wife of Buffalo Bill and Fern Hoover, James Mead's third wife. I didn't see anything about wife number two, and I sure wonder what her story might be. I want you to know there names because as history is related and retold, the women are not always recalled. It's the men who get all of the credit for settling the west, but without their wives working beside them, these men wouldn't have gotten as far as they did, certainly not as quickly. These three wives worked in the trading posts and often managed things alone; when the husbands were away hunting or drumming up trade for their businesses. The reference to drumming up business is not intended to be a pun.
Another new thing I found out is that there was a military base north of the Wichita's camp.
It had several names, but eventually became known as Camp Beecher. The thing that was interesting was that the military camp didn't look anything like the forts depicted in movies and television. It was actually a dugout, dug into the ground with a sod roof. There's a picture of one in the book, and if I can figure out how to attach a picture to my blog, I will show you what an actual military camp looked like.
There is also a picture of "the" Wichita Indian lodge what was built on Mead Island. There is a women standing in front of it and I wonder if she is Sooka.
This cool book is a photo album of early Wichita and the people who gave her birth. It's ideal for anyone who likes early pioneer history.
That it for tonight, but I checked out another book that I haven't had time to look at yet, maybe next time I will be able to share some of it's content with you.
Happy researching,
Cheri