On the High Plains, near the Bunch of Trees, also known as the Smoky Hill River, the Tse-Tsehese-Staestse, Cheyenne for "The People," followed their leader, Mi-Huh-You-I-Nup, Medicine Water.
The warriors, known as “Dog Soldiers,” had led many of the survivors of the horrific massacre at Sand Creek north to the Smoky Hill River. Included among the survivors was Mo-chi, who had grabbed her murdered father’s Hawkins rifle before fleeing north from Sand Creek.
Later, Medicine Water and Mo-chi were married, following the traditional Cheyenne custom. As head chief of the Cheyenne Bowstring Warrior Society, commonly known as the Dog Soldiers, Medicine Water proved himself long ago as the rightful chief of this courageous and loyal society of warriors.
The Beginning
Medicine Water was born in 1835 in the Yellowstone Country of today’s state of Wyoming. He was the fifth of six sons born to Medicine Water and Old Yellow Hair. Medicine Water and his brothers all became members of the Cheyenne Bowstring Warrior Society and noted chiefs.
Two of his brothers, Earrings and Alights-On-Cloud, were killed by the Ho-Nehe-Taneo-O (Pawnee) in 1852. Following their deaths Medicine Water and his brother, Iron Shirt, rode together as Dog Soldiers for several years until younger brother, Man-On-Cloud, was old enough to join them. Man-On-Cloud proved himself as an effective fighter beside his brother and soon became a chief of the Dog Soldiers.
As the U. S. Army continued to build forts and allow the white man to cross through and even settle in the Cheyenne lands, Medicine Water took matters into his own hands.
The Cheyenne people were determined to fight for the preservation of their traditional way of life. Thus, as head chief of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, Medicine Water declared war.
Cheyenne Dog Soldiers Go on Warpath
On the morning of September 11, 1874, Medicine Water, along with his wife Mo-chi and brother, Iron Shirt, brutally attacked an innocent family. The German family was traveling by covered wagon near the Smoky Hill River, when the Cheyenne warriors attacked.
John L. Sipes, great-great grandson of Medicine Water and Mo-chi, recounted the Cheyenne Oral History of the incident: “During the month of the Cool Moon [September,] Medicine Water and his warriors encountered a white family that had camped on the Bunch of Trees River.”
“This was on the land the Cheyenne considered theirs, and the whites were seen as intruders. Medicine Water reacted in retaliation for members of his family who had been murdered at Sand Creek and the Washita River,” Sipes recalled.
Nevertheless, it was a horrific, bloody, deadly ordeal. John German was the first to die followed by his only son, Stephen, who received a lance driven through his chest.
An Indian threw his tomahawk at John’s wife, Lydia, breaking her skull in two. As the older daughter, Catherine, fled for cover, another warrior shot an arrow into her thigh.
Then Mo-chi joined the murderous warriors and wielded her hatchet to kill and scalp those the Dog Soldiers had missed. After killing Rebecca Jane German, Mo-chi then killed and scalped Joanna German, as her long blond hair was considered a prized trophy.
Sipes, later reflected on Mo-chi’s actions of that day: “Mo-chi I do not think had rage in her as much as she had sadness and anger from the losses and deaths of her family and when she was attacking the German family I think she saw no difference in what the soldiers did at the [Sand Creek] massacre to her family and her people.”
With five dead bodies lying on the ground, Medicine Water’s Dog Soldiers began ransacking the wagon.
Inside the wagon, the remaining German family, Sophia, Julia and Adelaide, were huddled together. Five-year-old Adelaide began crying uncontrollably. Just as a warrior was about to shoot the child to stop the annoying crying, Mo-chi grabbed the little girl, saving her life.
While gathering the animals, a warrior discovered Catherine hiding in the tall grass along the river. He grabbed the teenager and threw her on his horse, and took her to the wagon where her sisters were.
Mo-chi took charge of the four German girls, who were now hostages of the murderous Cheyenne band of Dog Soldiers. After the warriors had plundered the wagon and set it afire, Medicine Water placed each one of the German girls on a horse with one of his trusted comrades. Then the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers fled the scene.
Medicine Water led his warriors south, crossing the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle, where he met with Comanche leader, Quanah Parker.
Raiding with Quanah Parker
After smoking the war pipe with Quanah Parker’s band of Comanches, Medicine Water and his band of Cheyenne warriors agreed to join forces in protection of their homeland from further encroachment.
In the summer of 1874, Medicine Water led the Cheyenne, alongside Parker’s Comanches, in a raid at the old Adobe Walls trading post. Adobe Walls was a small fortress inhabited by 28 buffalo hunters and located on the Staked Plains in the Texas Panhandle.
Several lives were lost on both sides. The conflict finally ended with Billy Dixon’s famous rifle shot knocking an Indian off his horse nearly a mile away.
As the Indians fled the Staked Plains, Medicine Water led his warriors back to their homeland.
In the middle of winter, the Cheyenne were facing near facing starvation. Stopping in the Indian Nation of Oklahoma Territory, Medicine Water sought food and shelter for his people. When Colonel Nelson Miles learned of Medicine Water’s presence in the region, he demanded the release of the German sisters and that Medicine Water surrender.
Surrender
The exchange took place at Darlington Agency, Indian Territory. When the German sisters were released from captivity, Medicine Water surrendered. He, along with Mo-chi and 31 members of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers were arrested.
John Sipes recounted the family oral history of this event: “The Old ones say our family fought to the bitter end until they could fight no more and just had to surrender because their horses gave out and five columns of troops were moving in on Medicine Water from all directions and five different forts. So it was best for his people and his family that he and Mo-chi and the warriors follow the Arrow Keeper and surrender.”
Medicine Water, Mo-chi, and 31 others were transported in chains to Fort Marion, Florida, as prisoners of war, without benefit of trial or legal defense, where they were held for three years.
Mo-chi died of health complications received during her imprisonment. Medicine Water died several years later, it is said of a broken heart.
Linda Wommack can be reached at lwomm3258@aol.com
