Good Bye, Sallie Ann

"Good-Bye, Sallie Ann," releases from the pages of history a moment from the Old West.  It was a joyous occasion for some 53 Cheyenne prisoners that were released from their confinement at Fort Hays, Kansas and returned to their relatives in the Indian Territory of current day Oklahoma the morning of June 13, 1869.
Following a surprise attack the morning of November 27, 1868, on Chief Black Kettle's Village on the Washita River in Indian Territory, General George A. Custer and troops of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry seized the Camp and captured over 50 Cheyenne women and children.  Custer transferred the Cheyenne captives to Fort Supply in Northwest Indian Territory, and shortly thereafter General Phil Sheridan ordered the Cheyenne’s to be moved to a wooden stockade that had been constructed at Fort Hays.
After the battle of the Washita, Custer set out to find the remaining bands of the Southern Plains Nations.  He took with him three captive squaws Mah-wis-sa, sister of Chief Black Kettle, a Sioux woman named Red Hair, and Mo-nah-se-tah whose name meant "The grass that shoots in the spring".  According to Elizabeth Custer, "she was the Princess, the ranking woman among them all, being the daughter of Little Rock, who, since the death of Black Kettle, in the battle of the Washita, was the highest in authority among the Cheyenne’s".
She was young and attractive and became a favorite of the soldiers who eventually named her "Sallie Ann".  Of these three women, only "Sallie Ann" would return with General Custer to Fort Hays.
General Custer also brought back to Fort Hays two kidnapping victims, Sarah White and Anna Brewster Morgan, as well a Big Head, Lean Face, and Fat Bear, the Cheyenne warriors he had taken as hostages on the Staked Plains of Texas, in order to obtain the capitulation of the tribe and the release of the two white women.
Upon their return, the Seventh Cavalry encamped on the banks of Big Creek near Fort Hays while "Sallie Ann" and the three Cheyenne warriors were removed to the stockade.  Inside the stockade, the Cheyenne captives planned an escape.  Knives that had been given to them to eat with were sharpened and hidden so that when an opportunity presented itself they would be ready to strike.
On May 9, fearing an escape attempt, an officer ordered the three warriors to be moved to the adjacent guardhouse.  The Cheyenne’s fell upon the guard with their knives.  In the subsequent scuffle Big Head was killed and Lean Face was mortally wounded.
Word of the killings quickly reached the Indians and attacks resulted all along the Kansas frontier.  However, with the release of the prisoners on June 13, the raids abruptly ceased.
In Following the Guidon, Elizabeth Custer wrote of frequent visits to the Indian stockade, where she took special interest in "Sallie Ann" and her baby born after the Washita incident.  Mrs. Custer described her as "young and attractive, perfectly contented, and trustful of the White Man's promise, and the acknowledged belle among all the other Indian maidens".
Libbie described the release of "Sallie Ann" and the other Cheyenne captives at some length and told how "the soldiers and bystanders had called, "Good-bye Sallie Ann," and she turned from right to left to receive the homage her sweet face elicited", and that behind her followed the old grandmother carrying "Sallie Ann's" possessions.
Finally, emerging from the stockade gate was the only remaining warrior, Fat Bear.  Libbie wrote, "the old Chief walked forth too dignified to show joy at his release, but no amount of impressiveness of manner could subdue the soldiers or ourselves.  Cries pealed out on all sides, "Halloa, Cardigan!" He had been relieved of his own title, Fat Bear, long before and named for the cardigan jacket that had been given to him, and that he evidently had never removed from the day of its presentation.  An underling squaw carried his enormous pack as he stalked towards the wagon, she struggling on in the rear."
As the wagons pulled away, Libbie wrote, "the sentinel relieved of the completion of the unusual duty, descended from his elevated beat to allow the stockade to be demolished, and with it departed all trace of the Indian captives, save the circles made by their tents in the soil."
Excerpts taken from:
"Custer Come at Once" by Blaine Burkey


