LONE TREE MASSACRE

IN 1874 TWENTY-SEVEN PERSONS WERE MURDERED BY INDIANS ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER OF KANSAS. SEVERAL TIMES DURING THE SUMMER WARRIORS BROKE AWAY FROM THE RESTRAINT OF THEIR RESERVATIONS IN INDIAN TERRITORY (PRESENT OKLAHOMA) AND MOVED NORTH KILLING AND PLUNDERING. ON AUGUST 24 CHIEF MEDICINE WATER AND A BAND OF TWENTY-FIVE CHEYENNES AMBUSHED SIX MEN OF A SURVEYING COMPANY ELEVEN MILES SOUTHWEST OF HERE. AFTER A RUNNING FIGHT OF THREE MILES THE OXEN DRAWING THE SURVEYORS' WAGON WERE SHOT. ALL THE MEN WERE KILLED AND THREE WERE SCALPED. TWO DAYS LATER THEIR BODIES WERE FOUND BY OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PARTY AND WERE BURIED TEMPORARILY IN A COMMON GRAVE NEAR A SOLITARY COTTONWOOD FIVE MILES SOUTH OF THIS MARKER. FOR MANY YEARS THE "LONE TREE" WHICH GAVE ITS NAME TO THIS MASSACRE WAS A FAMOUS LANDMARK ON THE PRAIRIE.