 Bell
Bogardus Massacre
Compiled by Peg Luke Brunnemer
The illegal sale of firearms and ammunition to the Indians and their
dissatisfaction with the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty provided the
ingredients which led to the general Indian uprising in Kansas during
the fall and winter of 1868, according to Marvin H. Garfield in his
"Defense of the Kansas Frontier, 1868-69".
He told of illegal sales of arms and ammunition by Indian agents and
traders, though the practice had been outlawed by Gen. W. T. Sherman in
January, 1867. Major Douglas, commander at Ft. Dodge, had written his
superiors that through these unlawful sales the "Indians were never
better armed than at the present time" and that the braves were openly
boasting of preparedness for war. Kansas Territorial Gov. S. J. Crawford
complained bitterly to Washington.
A band of 200 Cheyennes, under the leadership of Dog Soldier Chief
and The-Man-who-breaks-the-marrow-bones, went on the warpath in the
Solomon Valley. In a matter of a few days, they had killed at lease a
dozen settlers, burned and ramsacked homes, stolen livestock and driven
hundreds of settlers out of the region and paralyzed the rest with
fright. The Bell-Bogardus families, two brothers and two sisters and
their families, had three members killed and two kidnapped who were
later set free. While the worst of the Indian threat had passed in
Mitchell County by mid-August, 1868, the sorely-tried settlers'
tribulations were far from an end. Garfield in his "Defense of the
Kansas Frontier' points out "by October the inhabitants of NCK were so
destitute as a result of the Indian raids and crop failures that it
became necessary to send them financial relief." Organizations in the
eastern part of the state sprang up to raise funds to help these
pioneers cling to their claims through the winter.
The Bell Bogardus family members who died in the massacre are buried
in the Bell Bogardus cemetery north of Asherville, Ks. approximately 1/4
mile.
An in depth brochure of this massacre may be obtained from the
• Beloit Area Chamber of Commerce• P O Box 582•Beloit, Ks. 67420
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