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Indians 101: A prison for American Indians 150 years ago, 1875 [1]
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Date: 2025-05-27
During the nineteenth century it was commonly felt that American laws and the concept of justice did not apply to Indians. Indians were not citizens and because they were not immigrants the path to citizenship was limited. In 1870, the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded that Indians did not become citizens under the 14th Amendment. It was felt that American Indians had no legal rights and were, therefore, able to be imprisoned by military or Indian Office authorities for an indeterminate amount of time without a trial.
In 1875, the Red River War in the Texas Panhandle ended and the Army arbitrarily selected 72 Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Caddo Indian warriors to be punished.
In his book Warrior Artists: Historic Cheyenne and Kiowa Indian Ledger Art, historian Herman Viola reports:
“In many cases the selections were arbitrary and capricious. On the Cheyenne reservation, for example, a drunken Army officer lined up recently surrendered Indians, and to expedite matters ‘cut off eighteen from the right of the line,’ promising to review his selections at a later time.”
His selections were, of course, not reviewed. Herman Viola also writes:
“Several were guilty of heinous crimes, but most were ordinary young men guilty of nothing more than leading the traditional life of a Plains Indian.”
In his book Another America: Native American Maps and The History of Our Land, Mark Warhus reports:
“…the army arbitrarily singled out young men from the line of surrendering Indians, labeled them ring leaders, and arrested them as well.”
Originally, the army intended to try the prisoners before a military commission, but the attorney general ruled that a military trial would be illegal as a state of war cannot exist between a nation and its wards—American Indians were considered wards at this time. Thus, the Indians were imprisoned without a trial. It was decided that the prisoners would be transported from Indian Territory to the Fort Marion Military Prison at St. Augustine, Florida where they were to be held for an indefinite period of time.
While most of the prisoners were men, the group included one Cheyenne woman—Buffalo Calf Woman, the wife of Medicine Water—who had killed a non-Indian farmer. Also included in the group, but not counted as prisoners, were the wife and daughter of the Comanche chief Black Horse. Eleven of the Comanche and Kiowa prisoners were actually Mexican captives who had been raised as tribal members.
According to Cheyenne writer Henrietta Mann, in her book Cheyenne-Arapaho Education: 1871-1982:
“Viewed from the Cheyenne perspective, this exile was a disaster; banishment or isolation was the sentence for intratribal murder, the most extreme of behavior in their social structure.”
According to Henrietta Mann:
“The men and the woman had committed no crime in their cultural context to warrant such harsh punishments.”
In her chapter in Dimensions of Native America: The Contact Zone, Heather Waldroup reports:
“Imprisonment was a form of humiliation. The families of the prisoners assumed that their loved ones were on their way to execution, and indeed the prisoners themselves believed that they would be killed.”
Lieutenant Richard Pratt
Lieutenant Richard Pratt (1840-1924), the commander of the Indian scouts at Fort Sill, Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) was given the task of escorting the Indian prisoners to Fort Marion in Florida. At Fort Marion, Lieutenant Pratt was given command of the Fort Marion Military Prison.
By using rigorous military discipline, Lieutenant Pratt set out to force the Indians to assimilate totally into American culture. One of his first acts was to cut the prisoners’ hair and to issue them European-style clothing. The Indian response to the clothing was to cut off the legs of the pants, discard the upper portion, and wear the legs as leggings in the Indian fashion.
In an article in American Indian Art, Candace Greene writes:
“Consistent with American attitudes of the time, Pratt had little respect for Indian culture. Nevertheless, he took a humanitarian interest in the men under his charge and held what was, for the day, a liberal stance regarding their mental abilities and moral values. He believed them capable of full participation within wider American civilization, and he made it his mission to demonstrate their abilities and help them along that ‘road.’ Christianity was, of course, the key element of that road, with participation in the American economy, then largely agrarian, a close second.”
To help assimilate the Indian prisoners, Pratt, with the aid of local teachers, established educational and vocational programs. The educational program included teaching the Indians English. The vocational programs included carpentry, masonry, tailoring, and baking.
Pratt also allows the Indian prisoners to visit the nearby beaches. From time to time, Indian dances were staged for important visitors.
Note: Pratt would go on to establish the Carlisle Indian School which would serve as the model for other Indian boarding schools. He would also obtain the rank of Brigadier General.
Prison Art
Lieutenant Pratt also encouraged the prisoners to produce works of art for sale. Herman Viola reports:
“Although he seems to have viewed the drawings more as curiosities than art, Pratt made them part of his public relations campaign on behalf of his prisoners after witnessing the excitement the works aroused in visitors. Pratt gave the Indians paper, pencils, and inks and told them to draw. They needed little encouragement.”
With regard to selling the art, Joyce Szabo, in her chapter in Painters, Patrons, and Identity: Essays in Native American Art to Honor J.J. Brody, reports:
“Among the most popular collectibles were the warriors’ colorful drawings available for approximately two dollars per book.” The art in the books is often given concise, simple captions. The artists are also encouraged to sign their works as this makes them more valuable to a public which is accustomed to European art.
Joyce Szabo also writes of the art books produced by the captive warriors:
“They were in many ways a continuation of the Plains practice of artists making drawings as part of a war-honors system in which men earned the right to draw images of their battle exploits through individual bravery; certainly, the imprisonment of the men in Florida gave them the right to create images of their experiences both before and during their exile.”
In her chapter in Dimensions of Native America: The Contact Zone, Heather Waldroup writes:
“The drawings were in keeping with a rich pictorial tradition in Plains arts.”
Not all of the images created by the Indian artists at Fort Marion were traditional Plains Indian images: the artists also drew scenes of their journey to Florida and the new surroundings in which they found themselves.
More American Indian histories
Indians 201: The 1836 American Indian Liberation Army
Indians 101: American Indians and the 1893 World Columbian Exposition
Indians 201: The Navajo Long Walk
Indians 101: Hanging Indians, slaughtering horses
Indians 201: The murder of Walla Walla chief Peopeo Moxmox
Indians 101: Indian Art in the Late 19th Century
Indians 101: Chief Leschi's trial
Indians 201: The Kickapoo War against Texas
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