On July 4th, 1957, 91 year old Julia German Brooks traveled from California to Wallace, Kansas to the old fort's cemetery.

She was the honored guest of the Fort Wallace Memorial Association for the dedication of a grave marker which had been placed at the common grave of her parents and siblings.

Five members of Julia's family had been killed by a Cheyenne raiding party, while she and her three sisters were taken captive.

The tragedy occurred More than seven decades earlier.

Fort Wallace had played a significant role in the events of those years, and as the final resting place of the victims, it continues to serve the sacred duty of caretaking and interpreting the German family's story.

The passage of time has not diminished interest in this tragedy.

If anything, the public is more curious than ever about the circumstances that led this family from Georgia to the high plains of western Kansas.

There they would be touched by the Red River War waged between the U.S.

Army and native tribes in the Texas Panhandle.

There were so many people caught in the violent vortex of the times.

Ultimately, though, the story of the German family is one of courage and sacrifice, faith and reconciliation.

And Fort Wallace was the epicenter of these events.

264 Oh, land of rest for thee I sigh When will... John German is born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, which is in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the Virginia North Carolina border.

And at the time that he's born in 1830, very much backwoods.

It is very isolated.

These would be, those predominantly Scots-Irish, some German in there that are very independent people.

It is a very tough life.

You are doing mostly subsistence farming there.

You don't have room to break a lot of land because it's hilly, it's rocky, and basically this is the area that's going to become world famous for moonshine and music, you know, and that's that's pretty much everybody's pastime in this neighborhood.

So he comes from a pretty hardscrabble life, and then he moves with his family.

He's only 18 years old, but he has grown up.

And Wilkes County, he moves with his father and mother and siblings to Blue Ridge, Georgia, which is also in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia.

The landscape is going to be essentially the same.

The difference is this part of Georgia has recently been, made available for settlement because the Cherokee have been moved out of it.

So there is more available land there than there would have been back home in Wilkes County, it is more heavily settled.

So John moves with his father and mother there, and then starts a family of his own.

John married Lydia Cox from a family nearby.

John bought a parcel of land from his father and began building up a prosperous home place, growing cotton, flax, corn and vegetables, raising cattle, hogs, and chickens.

When the Civil War erupted, John was conscripted into a Georgia infantry regiment, leaving Lydia and the children to tend to the farm.

The war took him to battlefields like Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and he may have even been AWOL for a time to help take care of his family.

During the war John bought a Bible that would play a central role in the tragic events on the High Plains.

It was one of the treasured possessions that the family packed into their wagon.

When they left their broken home place and headed westward, it recorded the births of John and Lydia's children: Rebecca Jane, Stephen, Catherine, Joanna, Sophia, Julia and Addie.

he fought for the Confederacy.

He may not have been completely devoted to the Confederacy, but he was devoted to his family and a better opportunity for his family.

And that does seem to be the driving force behind John German's decision making Is a better life for my family.

That goes even further in the sense of what's happening where he lives in Georgia.

There's not enough land for this large family.

He knows this land is limited there.

So the West appeals to him immensely because for a large family, for more opportunity, for more financial gain, the place is the West.

And his family has been pillaged, the neighborhood, the state has been looted and plundered.

So it's not only that you don't have resources.

Your neighbor doesn't have resources.

You know, your your dad over there, they don't have many resources.

So people are really starting over from scratch.

But the thing is, John German has a family now.

It's not just him or not just him, a wife he's got children to provide for and he just can't see a future where he is.

And like so many Americans and especially veterans north and south at the time, the hope is in the West because you've got all that wide open space out there.

And with the railroads crossing America, you know, the way the railroads are selling their idea, the way they're funding much of their activity in laying track is selling land.

So the railroads are doing everything they can to promote settlement in the West, to promote building towns in the West so that they can, make a profit.

And those land sales, they're not making a profit on the railroads at that point.

They're making a profit on the land sales.

If they're making anything.

So there's a tremendous amount of propaganda all over the country to move to the West.

after the Civil War, there was certainly a tremendous amount of upheaval and change and for northerners, many of them, West was the place to go.

For Southerners, it was more challenging for a person like John German.

It was really challenging because he had nothing.

He had very little.

You can say, well, he has very little.

He can move.

Not as easily as you might think.

It's this is a challenge.

So he really has to dream large and he has to dream big.

He could have gone to Missouri, as we all know, and live near, a favorite uncle and done fine.

But for him, he really wanted, the clean slate.

He wanted, that beginning that he probably felt like he never had.

He also didn't want to be beholden to someone.

In fact, that speaks to John German's character.

He wanted no handouts.

It needed to be him.

This was a moment of pride, a moment of endurance.

We know it took him four years to get really to western Kansas because of stopping to try to earn money for the family.

they left Georgia in 1870.

Took them four years.

Little over four years, I believe, to come across.

They come up through, I believe, part of North Carolina, through Kentucky, Missouri.

They and worked their way west.

So John had been in the, Civil War, fought in the Civil War.

And when he came home, he was in pretty poor health.

But he also had a daughter that was not in good health.

And so they worked their way west to, they heard the weather was better in Colorado and out west here.

So that's what they were doing when they were trying to move someplace where it'd be better for their health, At last, all was in readiness.

And on April the 10th, 1870, we say goodbye to our friends and relatives and left this beautiful signs of our mountain home.

It was impossible for all to ride.

as our necessary personal belongings almost filled the wagon.

Since our family now consisted of nine persons, we realized before starting that several of us must walk at all times or in other words, that all except mother and 2 or 3 the smallest children must walk when tired walking, we could exchange places with those in the wagon.

As I remember though, Father and Stephen rode very little and I not much more.

As the family worked their way across the country, they stopped in West Plains, Missouri and determined to settle there.

After a few months, however, and much sickness in the family, John and Lydia sold the farm and continued their trek.

They spent four months with John's uncle, Rufus Brown, in southwestern Missouri.

Rufus encouraged John to stay put.

He assured John that he and the family would be comfortable there.

But John was more determined than ever to see Colorado.

They traveled into Kansas and stay near Elgin for a time.

As fall approached, John figured they could reach the promised land before winter set in, and having assembled provisions, their adventure resumed.

They were following the railroad to Ellis.

Well, that the people there told them, well, you better take the old route on the, on the Butterfield Trail because you won't find any water if you follow the railroad west.

So they dropped down to the Butterfield Trail, In our journey across Kansas to Colorado.

Father's aim was to follow a north westerly direction until he reached the Union Pacific Railway leading up to the Smoky Hill River.

He intended to follow this railway and make camp each night at a station.

When we reached Ellis City, Several persons at this station advised father to go by the old stage route, because water was very scarce around the railway.

I remember hearing a man tell father that the station agents would not sell him a cup of water.

When father asked about the dangers of the state rail, he was told that there was little danger, as there had been no deeds of violence for some years.

Of course, although John German doesn't see the danger in what he's walking into, there is great danger because events are occurring that he or that he's not aware of.

And the Red River War is escalating in the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma.

And so he is walking into a hornet's nest that he's not aware of.

He also doesn't understand the complexities of the Cheyenne tribe.

He doesn't understand the elements that are more hostile at that point.

And so he's walking into that challenge and that trouble.

The trouble had been brewing for decades, and there were multiple causes the decimation of the buffalo.

The advent of the railroads.

Surveyors drawing lines across the prairie for settlement, pushing the plains tribes off their homelands and onto reservations.

How could John have known that the Red River War, a conflict 200 miles south on the Staked Plains of the Texas Panhandle, could reach his little family?

In truth, the fate of the German family was tied with the fate of the plains tribes fighting for survival.

In September 1874, the German family were in the vicinity of Fort Wallace.

After such an arduous journey, the mood of the family was buoyed when the hunters on the trail told them they were nearing the post.

They would be able to get provisions for the last leg of the trip.

More than supplies, however, they were looking forward to civilization, to conversations and company.

As they made camp on that peaceful High Plains evening, they did not know they were being watched.

The golden sun was sinking behind the green hills when we camped near a sandy creek bed, which seemed to have been a sunken stream for his father dug a hole 1 or 2ft deep.

The water arose so that he dipped the bucket full for our use.

Joanne and I gathered sticks for the campfire.

Sophia opened the coop and scattered grain for her chickens.

Father and Stephen milked the cows.

And how we enjoyed that sweet, warm milk along with the supper mother had prepared.

After supper, the youngest children were soon fast asleep.

But father, mother, Jane, Stephen, and I sat around a campfire talking and listening.

This evening was long to be remembered.

they are getting so close, so close to Colorado.

They're getting close to Fort Wallace, where they might be able to get news and supplies.

You know, getting news was important to people.

Just what's going on in the world and and seeing other people that you could talk to.

And, the landscape has changed and the vistas that you get there, it would be very easy to think, you know, you're looking over there and you can just about see Colorado now.

So their spirits really had to be buoyed at this point.

And when they set off on the morning of September 11th, They're, they're very hopeful of this new life that they're going to create the Cheyenne raiding party that attacks them has been following their progress for a couple of days.

and on September the 10th, they arrived at a camping site on the east facing west bank of the Six Mile Gorge.

Camped.

And on their way there they, been met by a couple of hunters that told them, well, they could they could reach Fort Wallace the next day.

And I think they were given some erroneous information, because that would have been a long, long day to to have done that.

But they camped, they left getting ready to leave early the next morning.

And as they, got actually out on the trail from their campsite, the Cheyenne under Medicine Water, and Moki came from the south in a hidden sway with, there were 19 of them, and the Moki's family had been killed at Sand Creek.

So she was filled with righteous, righteous revenge.

You know, I don't blame the Cheyenne people at all for their response.

They were fighting for everything that they knew.

And as we follow the progression of history, we see that they kept being pushed and pushed and pushed through.

Their response was that if they came up on a situation where there were people that were actually they considered invaders of the Cheyenne territory, they were going to attack, is what is what happened.

So Stephen and I think Katherine, they had seen some antelope on the trail ahead and Katherine was herding I think the cow that they had.

Stephen went off to the north to try to get some, some antelope.

And as he was out there, the Cheyenne came up, attacked, killed Stephen, wounded Katherine, and killed the father.

The mother, and Joanna, and then took the four girls into captivity.

their belongings are set on fire.

The cattle are butchered, you know, it's just wanton destruction.

And, just a horrific scene in the middle of absolute nowhere.

There's nobody around to call for help.

There's nobody around.

Probably to even see the fire from the burning wagon.

So it's days before a hunter happens on the remains of the wagon and finds the bodies.

He then, this hunter goes to Sheridan Station, which is still a station on the the railroad.

The Red River War itself takes place largely in the panhandle of Texas.

In fact, the military is moving in a 4 or 5 pronged, pincer attack on today's panhandle.

So you wouldn't think that you'd have activity related to that as far north as Fort Wallace, Kansas, The railroad has gone on through to Wallace.

So there's not, an encampment there, but there are a handful of soldiers that maintain some protection for for the little settlement of Sheridan.

And those soldiers then go back and find the bodies they, bury, the folks who were, who were murdered there.

But most importantly, they find a family Bible, that same family Bible that John German had bought in the middle of the Civil War and has recorded the birth of all those children.

They find those and they realize that they have family members missing.

And that's when this urgent call to find these four girls goes out.

A Bible, the Bible that John German had bought during his Civil War service.

The Bible that had comforted them on this years long journey.

The Bible survived and bore witness to the existence of the family The births of each of the seven children had been carefully recorded on the worn pages.

At Sheridan, I found a hunter, Martin by name, who discovered the outraged party.

In accordance with the orders, I procured a conveyance and was conducted to the spot, which is about 25 miles southeast of Sheridan, on what is known as the Old Stage Road.

There I found and buried the remains of four persons.

All but one had partly been devoured by wolves.

Shoes were found indicating there had been children with the party, but no bodies could be found.

The four girls are carried off into captivity.

Catherine is about 17.

Sophia, probably 12.

Then you've got Julia and Addie, who are five and seven.

They are soon separated.

So Sophia and Catherine are taken into different camps and don't see each other very often at all during their captivity.

Just a couple of times.

The little girls become a burden again, because these, bands are living hand-to-mouth, barely sustaining themselves.

The little girls are just set out to wander, and they may not have wandered more than a mile or two in a circle, but they are wandering for weeks, four weeks, maybe even six weeks.

And they were captured September 11th.

So on the High Plains, we're going into the late fall and early winter.

So the, the weather is extreme.

It's going to be very cold at night.

There are still wolves on the high plains.

So the little girls talk about hearing the wolves and how they were scared at night.

They had nothing to eat except what they could forage.

So again, it's the fall.

What have you got?

You've got dried up berries.

the army is moving around there, so they will find kernels of corn that was feed corn for the horses There's an account where they found a cracker one time.

But they're just barely, barely alive.

Sophia and Katherine have a harder existence.

They're forced to perform chores.

They are afraid of freezing to death.

Their food.

They're not used to eating uncooked meat or just nearly raw meat.

Which makes them sick.

And it's, it's a pretty, pretty awful captivity.

In 1927, Catherine German's niece, Grace Meredith published the book Girl Captives of the Cheyennes.

It was written in the first person as if Catherine had penned it herself.

It must have been Catherine's choice, then, to begin the book with an explanation for the Cheyenne's actions.

It also spoke to Catherine's faith that the most significant reason for their anger was the desecration of their graves.

It seems essential, in the spirit of justice to the Indians, to explain the reasons for their hostility at this time.

One of the peculiar customs of these Indians was the burial of their departed loved ones, upon scaffolds built in the branches of forest trees.

They first clothed the bodies of their dead in their richest robes, and bedecked them with their most highly prized ornaments and paraphernalia.

They therefore held these forests sacred to their dead.

And when a wood.

Contractor near Fort Wallace, Kansas, disregarded their pleas to save their sacred groves.

They swore vengeance upon every white settler they could find in that vicinity.

How could Catherine have known these things?

She listened.

She learned even in the midst of her personal nightmare.

She had the ability to look past her own situation.

Like most Americans in the East Catherine and her family members would have had little or no contact with American Indians of any tribe.

Their farm in Georgia had been home to the Cherokee until their forced removal to the West.

Any understanding or knowledge of the Plains tribes and their culture would have been gleaned from biased newspaper reports.

The brutal attack on her family might have cemented the perspective of a savage people.

But when Catherine became their prisoner, she was determined to learn the language for her own survival.

In the process of understanding the words spoken by her captors Catherine began to see the bigger picture.

She began to understand how they had lost land and loved ones, and most importantly, she saw them as individuals, as real people, even as she was their prisoner she was struggling to survive with them.

The soldiers I found out later had intentionally driven the hostile Indians to this Staked Plains where the food for them and their horses was very scarce.

The severity of the winter was one of the best allies the soldiers could have had in subjugating the Indians.

The ponies and horses were dying by the hundreds from starvation.

The Indians were forced to eat the flesh of those starved animals.

Thus saving their own lives.

I became very hungry for bread, fruits or vegetables.

Even grains of corn would have been relished, for I had never been accustomed to a meat that alone.

One night I went to bed hungry and dreamed that I crawled along a lightly traveled wagon road in search for grains of corn.

Later, I dreamed that I saw little sisters Julia and Addie walking toward me.

Then one night, I dreamed that I had a visitor, but I did not seem to know him.

He told me how sorry he was for me.

And then I must keep up my courage, for surely I would be recaptured or rescued sometime.

As he was departing, I saw dear brother Stephen.

Oh, so plainly.

I thought I tried to follow him.

That night I dreamed again.

There seemed to be a kindred in a living presence near me.

I felt a warm kiss and heard those words so very distinctly.

Catherine, do the very best you can.

Then I saw my dear own mother and tried to go to her, but she was beyond my reach and vanished.

Until this time I had been so annoyed, despondent, and at times terrified by these savages who had hurried us over the country so fast that I had given little time to notice their mode of living.

Now, we were allowed to rest few days, and I began to study these strange people and try to adjust myself to their way of living.

In personal appearance this band of Aborigines were much the same as Indians to be seen at the present time.

They were tall and straight in figure many averaging six foot in height with bronze or copper colored skin, straight black hair, black eyes, thin lips, straight noses and all had high cheekbones.

I found them frequently kind and nearly always agreeable in their quiet family life, but toward the white race they were revengeful and cruel in the extreme.

Yet Catherine also witnessed acts of kindness, generosity and real affection from the couple to whom she referred as her foster parents.

Even Sophia, who was unwilling to learn the language and resisted adapting to the Cheyenne way of life, realized the plight of her captors and felt true sympathy as she shared their suffering.

Her Indian clothing was not made for the extremely cold weather in New Mexico, and she could not find enough wood to build a fire.

I was so cold and helpless, Sofia said.

She admitted that she looked forward to dying and witnessed so many deaths among the youngest and oldest of the Cheyennes.

Sophia said she never feared death after that terrible winter.

As news of the attack spread across the nation, John's father Thomas, back home in Georgia, spied a small news article in the Knoxville newspaper.

He wrote to Lieutenant Hewitt.

Thomas inquired about the fate of the survivors and also asked for the Bible to be sent to him.

For weeks, months, the girls had no idea that their story had been shared far and wide.

They did not know that hundreds of soldiers across the Llano Estacado, the Staked Plains, were committed to their rescue.

As conflicts go, the Red River War had been a footnote, receiving little attention except from locals.

Western historian Michael Grauer discusses the war in the context of the widespread slaughter of the buffalo, and the federal government's determination to put the Plains tribes onto reservations.

The tribe's frustrations over the overhunting of buffalo erupted in an attack on Adobe Walls, a Trading post buffalo hunting camp.

The frustration doesn't end there.

the Cheyennes went northeast up into Kansas, and they caught the Lone Tree massacre.

Surveyors, I think there were 15 of them that eventually were killed, mutilated, etc.

and then they made it up here to Wallace County, and they and they killed the, the German family and kidnaped the girls.

So ultimately, the battle of Adobe Walls lack of success from the Native American side, plays a role, a critical role in these attacks on civilians.

And especially the kidnaping of the German girls, basically is the U.S.

Army says enough's enough, even though officially the Red River War had it started in the, latter part of August 1874, and the German massacre didn't happen until September 11th.

The, the Red River action had already started in what's called the battle of Red River, which is in the lower Palo Duro, with Miles and and and some of his troops in, in fighting Cheyennes, Arrapoho, Kiowas, Comanches in that part.

And eventually it's a basically a roundup operation.

Columns from different directions, primarily northeast, southeast, south and then west out of New Mexico Territory, basically round one or second circle.

These renegades, as they called them, and push them back east onto their reservations in what's now western Oklahoma.

Not a lot of casualties during the Red River War proper, except at Sapper Creek in northwestern Kansas, where 27 Cheyenne Southern Cheyennes are massacred by a U.S.

Army company.

That's the bloodiest battle, ultimately the bloodiest massacre in the Red River War proper.

But these are all consequences of what did not go right for Native Americans at Adobe Walls.

And Well, General Nelson Miles, in the end, is the the overall commander of what is happening, in the Red River War.

Miles already is quite a veteran.

He's seen a lot of action in the Civil War in the postwar.

He's certainly going to see a lot more action even after this.

Miles is, in my opinion, an extremely effective commander throughout his career.

He also is a commander who has a fair amount of ego.

Some would say arrogance, but confidence.

And he gets the job done.

And over and over again, general Miles gets the job done.

And one of the things I would say about general Miles, in my opinion, is that multiple times throughout his military career, he doesn't say, go get em, boys.

He says, let's go get them boys.

And that's part of the reason that I respect him.

I believe he's on the front lines when he can be, General.

Miles in the Red River War is charged with taking the Cheyenne to the reservation.

That's it.

And for him, that's eventually going to be Can we get them to Darlington, in the area where they're supposed to be on the reservation?

So he is trying to pull in several warring bands of Cheyenne, what they would have deemed as hostiles, and get them to the reservation.

The captives.

Are this the part that's stuck in the middle of all of that?

But that's his job.

And of that he did.

In the winter of 1874 1875, Nelson Miles got the Cheyenne to Darlington.

An officer junior to Miles.

But just as important in the story is Frank Baldwin.

If you look Frank Baldwin up, you'll see that he was the person who led the charge on the Cheyenne village at McClellan Creek, successfully caught them off guard, put them on the run, and ended up rescuing the two young girls, Julia and Addie.

But Frank Baldwin, throughout his career was just a consummate soldier, a good person, a person of high character for over 50 years in the military, he was a person that you could admire always.

Baldwin had been a commander at Fort Harker in Kansas, and he had seen, the Box Sisters, whose family, had a similar situation in Texas.

The family was attacked.

The girls were taken captive.

Many family members killed.

And he was at Fort Harker when the surviving Box Sisters were brought through.

They were being shipped back to their families in the east, and one of the girls was insensible.

She had lost her mind after being a captive.

So I go back to that so many times that Frank Baldwin had seen what this looked like.

He knew the impact that it had on these girls, and he had to have that in the back of his mind as they are searching for these girls.

And I think that that would have made Frank more determined and even more compassionate than he naturally was.

As Addie and Julia wandered alone on the prairie in early November.

Both Cheyennes and soldiers unknowingly camped near them.

Cheyenne scouts came upon them and carried them back to camp.

It was a bitterly cold night, and if not for their intervention, the barely clad girls would probably have not survived for a few hours.

All four sisters were in the same camp, but not held together.

As Colonel Baldwin's forces came closer.

Katherine and Sophia were forced to flee on horseback with their captors.

They heard conversations that the younger girls should be killed, and a warrior rode back to do that.

The older sisters heard the gunshots and did not know the fate of Addie and Julia.

The warrior had missed, and the little girls huddled together under a pile of buffalo robes.

They were discovered by the soldiers who were appalled by their condition.

Poor little things were nearly starved to death, naked and could hardly talk.

They were turned over to me by men of D Company, 5th Infantry, and I had them turned over to Doctor Junius Powell, who cared for them in the best manner he could.

If kind attention will bring them through, they will be all right.

It was a pitiable sight, and many a wet eyes showed the feelings of those brave men who had just driven their enemy so nobly and so gallantly from their ground.

Twice the Indians charged up to their camp, evidently with the intention of securing the little wafes.

But each time they were repulsed.

General Miles visited them the next day and described their condition in his official report to officers at Fort Leavenworth.

Their story of woe and suffering is simply too horrible to describe the most emaciated mortals I have ever seen.

They were almost naked and nearly starved.

They are under the charge of Doctor Powell, who will give every care and attention.

And when strong enough to endure the journey will be forwarded to Leavenworth.

And General Miles wrote to his wife, I am quietly waiting here for supplies, and as soon as they're received, I intend to make one more movement towards the head of the Red River, with the hope of driving up the Indians who have taken refuge in that region, or of making it uncomfortable for them even if I cannot capture them, and possibly we may be able to do something towards rescuing those poor white girls who are still in their hands.

As much as I long to return to my darling little family.

I am unwilling to turn eastward and leave them in captivity.

Last night I could not sleep thinking about their sufferings.

I judge from the story told by the younger ones that a scene is enacted in their camp every night that would chill the blood of the sternest soldier of my command.

Knowing how concerned Katherine and Sophia would be worried about the fate of their younger sisters.

General Miles had a photograph of Julia and Addie safe and well clothed sent to their older sisters.

A Kiowa messenger who spoke English, delivered the precious package to Catherine in the Cheyenne camp.

He said.

Here I have something for you.

And from neath his blanket he drew a package which he handed to me.

I unwrapped, did it once, and was delighted to find a photograph of dear little sisters.

On the back of the picture was pasted a message.

Your little sisters are well and in the hands of friends.

Do not be discouraged.

Every effort is being made for your welfare.

I wanted to show this picture to Sophia so that she might share my joy.

But the Kiowa wished the return of it at once.

You may be sure I found Sophia as soon as possible.

Sister was much pleased to know that I had seen the picture of our sisters, and to hear the encouraging message written on the back of it.

The cheerful thought that efforts were being made for our benefit by the Major General of the United States Army, helped us to take courage and a hope that soon release would come.

At Fort Wallace, post Commander Major A Hambright had received a telegram from General John Pope, commanding Fort Leavenworth, requesting that any mail, papers or artifacts, including the family Bible that had been found at the attack site, be sent to Leavenworth in order, quote, "to determine what to do with the two young children just arrived here."

Major Hambright had already asked for permission to disinter the family members who had been buried where they were found in the desolate countryside, and reinterred them in the post cemetery.

It would be more than a year before that took place, but eventually the bodies would rest on the post they had been so eager to reach that September morning.

It would be the 1st of March 1875, before Catherine and Sophia were surrendered with Stone Calfs band at the Darlington Indian Agency, Indian Territory.

By then Catherine was 18 and considered an adult, but the younger sisters were still minors.

Grandfather German ask them to come back to Georgia, but Catherine believed the West offered more opportunity.

West or east, the three younger girls needed a guardian, and General Miles stepped up to the task.

What he did afterwards in trying to get the girls to a family and becoming really their legal guardian for a time is pretty miraculous.

A lot of people say, well, they were they were dropped in his lap.

What else was he going to do?

Well, he could have completely just disregarded them altogether.

Most military people, in my opinion, would have, but he didn't, he followed up.

And so, it certainly was a kind of act on his part that he, tried to take care of these girls, get them out safely and get them to families that would basically adopt him.

All four girls led full lives, married, had children of their own, Catherine and Julia in California, Addie and Sophia in Kansas and Nebraska.

Their tragic story followed them.

Reporters would knock on their doors and newspapers would share a photo with the headline Saw Indians kill her Family.

Then the radio interviews followed.

Imagine hearing the voice of someone who had survived such an ordeal and witnessed such carnage.

In 1925, residents of Wallace, Kansas, created the Fort Wallace Memorial Association to preserve the unique history of the post that had been the beginning of the community.

The organization went dormant and was rejuvenated in 1955.

Only a couple of years later, hundreds of people gathered for the dedication of the grave marker for the German family members who had been killed in 1874.

Julia German Brooks, the last survivor, was the guest of honor.

Hundreds of people came to see her, and the museum's cavalry troop reenacted the rescue of Julia and Addie in the midst of the Red River War.

The gravestone was the tangible and eternal evidence of the connection of Fort Wallace and the German family.

In 1998, Sophia's great granddaughter, Arlene Feldman Jordan, published The Moccasin Speaks.

The historic account of her ancestors' experiences, including the military maneuvers and the Cheyenne accounts of the times.

The book remains in print and has been an invaluable source in understanding the human toll of the conflict.

Later on, Arlene gifted not only the moccasin worn by Sophia German, but all of her notes and photographs and other artifacts to the fort Wallace Memorial Association.

Among her possessions was a tintype of a Confederate soldier, believed to be John German, and General Nelson Miles' autobiography, signed to Sophia.

I'm the great great granddaughter of Sophia German is how I'm related.

And my mom wrote the book The Moccasin Speaks.

So, she did about 12 years research trying to find out what she could about the story She knew three of the four German sisters during her life, and she just wanted to know more about the story and dig into it and find out what was true and what wasn't.

First person living history presenter Marlene Matkin was a friend of Arlene's and has portrayed Lydia Cox German.

The book and Arlene's Files were invaluable tools in developing the rich character of Lydia, Though she rarely speaks from the grave in such presentations, she does so with Lydia so that she can tell a more complete story.

The fact that Katherine had dreams of her mother make that perspective even more compelling.

Marlene believes the faith demonstrated by John and Lydia gave courage to the girls.

I can't imagine the visions those girls kept in their heads for the rest of their lives.

What they saw that day.

It had to be unspeakable.

And, to remember their parents and their siblings in that way had to be just, you know, devastating.

But yet they did.

They carried on and, some of these women experienced.

One married an abusive husband.

Another lost children.

But they carried on as they had been raised to do.

And I attribute this again to their parents, how they raised them, how they taught them, and the abiding faith they gave them that, you know, there was a bigger purpose for everything that happened.

And, you know, if they had endured, they would claim the reward.

One of the unexpected friendships that developed while Arlene was researching the book was that with John Sipes, the descendant of Cheyenne warriors Medicine Water, and his wife who had led the attack on the German family.

Local historian Mike Baughn developed a close friendship with John, as well.

We decided we were going to have a Cheyenne-German family peace ceremony.

And this was after John and Arlene Yaunkin had met and were discussing the events that had happened between their families on September 11th of 1874. we had about 1500 people show up for this ceremony.

It was a hot, hot, hot day and we were bringing people in on, on, stock trailers and everything else trying to get him into the scene.

And John Sipes did a, a blessing away from the crowd.

A Cheyenne blessing.

There were the Fort Wallace Seventh Cavalry reenactors came riding in over the hill with a letter from the governor welcoming us there and thanking us for this ceremony.

We had letters from senators and everybody else.

Well, John was seated by me, of course.

He was the great great grandson of, Madison Water and Moki.

And when he looked up and saw the cavalry go He his eyes got a bit bigger saucers.

But, the ceremony went well.

We had the commandant of Fort Riley was there to speak.

We had, various individuals representing the Cheyenne.

John's mother was there, and a lot of the descendants of, Madison Water and Moki were there.

There were a lot of German descendants there from Tennessee and Georgia and Kansas.

the most striking thing about that ceremony, like I said, it was a very hot summer day, and, towards the end, when the ceremony was ending, there was a, a thunderstorm came up from the south, a small thunder cloud, and it was just as John was concluding the ceremony, the concluding the program, a bolt of lightning struck and John said that, he told me later he said that that was a sign of a great spirit that that this, this peace ceremony was, was blessed.

In 2024, the Fort Wallace Museum chose The Moccasin Speaks as the theme for the year's events.

The commemorative coin featured Sophia's Moccasin.

Descendants once again visited the community with John Sipes son, Ah-in-nist.

speaking at the annual symposium about his ancestors.

He stood at the same podium that his late father had used at the peace ceremony Ah-in-nist was just a baby then, just weeks old.

My experience has been it's been my entire life.

I grew up hearing, you know, not just this story, but all of our family history and that this was a, you know, this is one one moment in the in the timeline of events.

But this particular one, the more I learn about it, the more I realize that it's a tragedy for everybody involved.

Like everything that happened, it was it was a tragedy.

But from my family's perspective and from my own personal perspective, it's also a story of resilience and defiance and bravery.

To stand against invasion, to stand against, unimaginable odds and adversaries and to stay true to who they are to defend not only your homeland, but how you live, who you are, your identity.

I don't like using the word religion, but also defending your religion as well, defending your spirituality, your way of life.

And and for me, that's what it is a story of.

I know many times people talk about manifest Destiny, moving forward, you know, the genocide of the Indians, but, you know, and those things, you know, that did happen.

That is true.

But but for me, it's it's it's it's facing those things and showing courage, showing resiliency and facing those things, even even when you know that you can't win, but still doing it anyways.

The involvement of Ah-in-nist Sipes in telling the story brought Lee Ramsey to the Fort Wallace Museum.

He is connected to both Addie and Sophia and first learned their remarkable story at family reunions.

After reading Arlene's book, he made a point to visit the sites connected to the sisters' journey And, when I saw on today's agenda that, the son of John Sipes was going to be here as one of the speakers, that was a, motivator to try to come here and, meet this person and and see his story.

it's much more than the massacre and the rescue.

It's really understanding, you know, walking in the other guy's shoes.

So to speak, their moccasins and so to speak, and really understanding how they got there versus how you got there and realize, that we were both sides, victims in, in our own ways, you know.

150 years after the attack.

Julia's great grandson, Scott Dean, presented another precious artifact from the family A 1829 hymnbook that had belonged to John German is now on exhibit, along with the moccasin.

He purchased it in August 1862, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

He was on stockade duty in nearby Loudin, and he was captured after the Battle of Missionary Ridge in late November and imprisoned at Rock Island, from December 1862 to the end of the war.

The hymn book was with him, providing sustenance and comfort during those dark months of imprisonment.

He would have it in camp and spiritual meetings, singing with his brothers in arms, then on his road home to his devastated farm, and probably with his loved ones afterwards.

But before starting his journey west, he gifted the hymn book to his father, Thomas.

So about December 1874, Thomas heard of John's youngest daughters having been found alive and the fate of the older sisters still unknown.

Because of the inscription we know, Thomas sent the singular personal remnant of John a remembrance or surrogate of their father to Julia and Addie, and to be shared with Catherine and Sophia.

After their release in March, imparting a message of his faith, hope and love.

As we view these pages today, may the faith proclaimed in the words of these sacred songs, monuments of our rich American heritage, speak to all of us.

May they inspire and edify, sustain and encourage us, and ever grant the faith, the grace to sing God's praise as John German did.

Regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

We should learn from it and learn that cultures do have different ways of looking at things, but we can overcome these differences by understanding what happened, understanding what people were were fighting for.

You know, the, homesteaders had a different, intention than did the, the Native Americans.

They were looking at two different things.

One was fighting to save their land, and the other one was fighting to take their land.

And so if we can understand these tensions.

After you study history and you begin to understand the the subtle intertwining of peoples, you know, you you, you incorporate a picture that's broader than what you first envisioned, what happened there on September 11th of 1874.

(singing) Lord, keep us safe this night John and Lydia's descendants visited the Smoky Y Ranch south of monument on the Smoky Hill River.

The ranch is owned by Randy and Donella Younkin, and is believed to be the site where the attack occurred.

In a spirit of respect and reconciliation, they gathered and prayed 150 years after the incident that forever bound the Cheyenne people to the German family, the German family to Fort Wallace, and bound them all to the great tapestry of Western history.

When Arlene Jounkin spoke at the peace ceremony now decades ago, she said, "Love thy neighbor."

She recalled those moments in the Moccasin Speaks and wrote pensively.

I gaze at the pictures of John's son and my six grandchildren on my old walnut organ in my living room.

I envision those seated around God's great eternal throne.

The Medicine Waters, the John Germans, the white soldiers, the Buffalo Soldiers, and other militarily involved so many years ago.

I can only contemplate there must be forgiveness.

These young descendants are innocent of all charges except that of being Americans.

Hopefully, we, the ancestors, will seek to be bigger on the inside than any prejudice on the outside.

Yes, peace truly comes through understanding, love and forgiveness.