INDIANS ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL
The opening of the Santa Fe Trail to Americans in 1821 (see related feature, P. 36) further complicated the “Indian problem” west of Missouri. At first tribes living along the trail scarcely noticed the small wagon parties passing through. But as traders and travelers began to violate their hunting grounds and otherwise disrupt their way of life, the Indians defended their turf. Or at least they tried to.
In decades prior Osage and Kansa (Kaw) Indians lived in relative peace in what today is the eastern third of Kansas. “Never had I witnessed such general happiness in any community as prevailed here,” George C. Sibley recalled of observing 1,000 Indians at an Osage hunting camp in 1811. As government factor at Fort Osage, Sibley had traded
