0911. Plains Indians & the Indian Agency

Each autumn in the years Fort Larned served as an agency for the Indian Bureau, post residents watched in fascination as the scattered tribes of Southern Cheyenne, Arapahos, Kiowas, and Comanches assembled at the fort. Pitching their tipis on nearby prairie, the tribes settled in to locate their friends and kin among their neighbors, to trade, and to await distribution of their annuities.

Noted Indian Bureau agents Edward W. Wynkoop and Jesse Leavenworth were among those who served the tribes from Fort Larned. Annuities included staples like bacon, wheat flour, coffee, sugar, fresh beef, and tobacco. Usually clothing, beads, blankets, metal tools and cooking utensils, gunpowder, and lead for bullets were also provided. The annuity system was designed to pacify and transform roaming tribes of warlike Indians into sedentary, peaceful farmers. But they were reluctant to give up their traditional way of life and continued to fight against the U.S. government’s attempts to place them on reservations.