A History of Ft. Arbuckle

The 18^th of March 1854 found a troop of twenty Dragoons arriving at the post in search of a party of Indians that had murdered Colonel Stern, Indian Agent of the Texas frontier. The murder of the colonel and a passenger in the carriage happened within six miles of Ft. Belknap. The two misfortunate victims were beaten to death with an empty rifle; also a tomahawk was used. The trail the Dragoons followed led to the Washitas (Arbuckles). The troop was using the services of two Delaware scouts by the name of Bill and Jim Shaw.¹

The second trail was discovered after the band of Wichita prisoners at Belknap said that the Kickapoo were responsible for the murders. The next day the Dragoons set out for the Kickapoo village at Ft. Arbuckle. Supposedly a group of Kickapoo stopped at Nelson's house, twenty-seven miles south, and offered some trace chains for sale. They also had several uniform coats and quite a bit of money. Black Beaver was sent for and he determined that the perpetrators were Kickapoo, one named Sa-Kok-Wah and the other named Pe-A-Tah-Kak, a half- breed.

The Kickapoo chief, Mosqua, and a prominent man named Johnson were sent for by the post commander. The latter came promptly and stated that Mosqua would be there in awhile. Johnson stated that the suspects had been in camp for several days but had fled when it was learned that the Dragoons were looking for them. The next day the Kickapoo brought in the body of Pe-A-Tah-Kak, the half-breed and he was buried in the Ft. Arbuckle cemetery.

A boy, who was with the two murders, told what he witnessed. The two men were surprised by the attack. Although two shots were fired, none hit either man. The two murders rushed upon the men with a tomahawk and an empty rifle.

On March 26th, the head of Sa-Kok-Wah was brought to Ft. Arbuckle and shown to the post commander. Captain Simmons and Mosqua had agreed that if the remaining murder could be captured within twenty miles of Ft. Arbuckle, Simmons would go identify the body. If it was more than twenty, only his head was to be returned. A brother killed Sa-Kok-Wah at Tom Pecan's village some forty miles north of the post. Either way, he was to be killed.²

When the killer reached Tom Pecan's village, he went to the house of his brother. He related his troubles to his brother who asked what he planned to do. The suspect said he would go to Missouri or the Comanche country. At that moment the suspect looked out the window and saw the Kickapoo posse approaching. He made an attempt to run but his brother hit him in the head with a hatchet, killing him.