George Bent
Encyclopedia
George Bent was the mixed-race son of the fur trader William Bent
, the founder of the trading post named Bent's Fort; and Owl Woman
, a Cheyenne
. Born near present-day La Junta, Colorado
, Bent served as a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War
and a Cheyenne warrior. As the informant of several anthropologists, he was significant to the recording and preserving of Cheyenne history and culture.
at home. He learned much about Cheyenne culture from his mother, Owl Woman, and her family. When the boy was 10 years old, his father sent him to school in St. Louis, Missouri
for a European-American education. He was a student at Webster College in St. Louis when the Civil War began.
with the Confederate Army, fighting at the Battle of Wilson's Creek
near Springfield, Missouri, on August 10, 1861; and at the First Battle of Lexington near Lexington, Missouri, on September 20, 1861; both were Confederate victories. As a member of the 1st Missouri Cavalry, he fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge
at Pea Ridge, Arkansas
, March 7–8, 1862, a Union victory. When the Missouri cavalry was converted to infantry, Bent became attached to the horse artillery
attached to General Mathew F. Greene's Missouri Brigade; this was part of General Sterling Price
's division. His artillery unit participated in the siege
and retreat from Corinth, Mississippi
, where it stayed behind to cover the retreat of 66,000 Confederates under the command of P.G.T. Beauregard.
Later that summer, Bent was either captured or deserted. After his return to St. Louis, he was briefly confined in the Gratiot Street Prison
, but was allowed to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union and be released. His guardian, Robert Campbell
, a prominent St. Louis citizen, had eased his way.
Bent returned to his father’s ranch in Colorado, but anti-Confederate sentiment was intense in that state. For safety, he went to live with his maternal Cheyenne relatives. From that time on, Bent lived among the Cheyenne and identified with them.
's camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho
at Sand Creek
about 35 miles north of Lamar, Colorado
, on November 29, 1864. The Indians in the camp had initiated peace negotiations with the U.S. Army, and believed they were under the protection of the army, but Colonel John Chivington
and his force of 700 Colorado volunteers attacked the village. They killed about 150 Indians, mostly women and children. Bent's brother Charles was nearly executed by the soldiers, but was rescued by friends. Another young mixed-race man, Jack Smith, was killed in the soldiers' attack.
Bent was among the Indians who fled upstream and found shelter in sandpits dug in the creek bed beneath a high bank. Wounded in the hip, he was with about 100 survivors who crossed the plains to the Indian camps on the Smoky Hill River
. He was found there by his friend Edmund Guerrier
, who accompanied him back to the Bent Ranch at Big Timbers
, where Bent recovered. The Cheyenne and Arapaho planned revenge for the Sand Creek Massacre. In January 1865, the Bent brothers joined an Indian army of nearly 1,000 warriors in a successful attack on Julesburg, Colorado
, in which they killed many townspeople and soldiers. Most of the Cheyenne went north to join Red Cloud
on the Powder River
in Wyoming. Before leaving the area, they burned many homesteads in the South Platte River
valley. "At night the whole valley was lighted up with the flames of burning ranches and stage stations, but these places were soon destroyed and darkness fell on the valley." For the next two years, Bent traveled and raided with Cheyenne war parties from Wyoming south to Texas. Bent wrote about this period and expressed his opinion that the "savages" in the conflict were the U.S. soldiers. He participated in 27 Cheyenne war parties, although he never gave many specifics about his personal role in the Indian wars.
Council of October 1867. Bent impressed the U.S. soldiers and officials there with his negotiating skills. Shortly thereafter, his brother Charles, a well-known and feared Cheyenne warrior, was killed in a skirmish with soldiers. In 1868, Bent was hired by the U.S. government as an interpreter, first at Fort Larned
and later for the newly created Indian Agency headed by Brinton Darlington, the first US Indian Agent
for the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In 1870, the Agency was located at El Reno, Oklahoma
. Bent lived on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation near the town of Colony
and worked as a U.S. government employee for most of the rest of his life.
Because of his knowledge of both European-American and Cheyenne culture, Bent became a prominent and powerful person on the reservation. During the first several years, he tried to moderate hostilities between the two cultures. He learned that, as a half-breed
or mixed-race man, he was an outsider to both.
Bent developed a serious problem with alcohol
during this period. He became prosperous by assisting European-American cattlemen to obtain grazing leases on Indian land. Because of his influence peddling, he lost the trust of some Cheyenne and was fired as a U.S. interpreter. But in 1890, he was the crucial go-between to persuade the Cheyenne and Arapaho to accept plans for allotment of land by individual households, under the Dawes Act
. Presented as a way for Indians to assimilate by adopting Euro-American farming styles, the allotment plan meant that former communal tribal land the government declared "surplus" could be sold to non-Indian parties. Many Cheyenne and Arapaho held Bent responsible for the ill effects of the transition to allotments, including the loss of substantial amounts of tribal lands from the reservation. Allotment would have happened without Bent's assistance, but he was considered partially responsible.
was beneficial for both. Grinnell realized that Bent, who spoke both Cheyenne and English, was literate, and could write passable English, would be invaluable for his research into Cheyenne culture. (Bent had been an informant of James Mooney
earlier, but he had little respect for Mooney.) Bent told Grinnell what he knew and arranged interviews with other Cheyenne for what he did not know. He wanted the story of the Cheyenne told in a book. In Bent's opinion, Grinnell was too slow to finish his book about the Cheyenne. Bent began collaborating with the deaf, nearly blind, and reclusive George E. Hyde
. Eventually, at Bent's recommendation, Hyde became a ghost writer for Grinnell and probably wrote most of The Fighting Cheyenne, published in 1915. Grinnell mentioned Bent as a source in the book, but did not give him full credit for his assistance and contributions. Later, Grinnell wrote The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Lifeways, in which he was more generous in crediting Bent. Cheyenne culture is unusually well described in Grinnell's books, thanks largely to Bent's insights and Hyde's writing.
Although the two never met in person, Hyde and Bent became the closest of collaborators. Bent wrote 340 letters to Hyde between 1904 and 1918. From these letters, Hyde distilled a book, Life of George Bent: Written from his Letters. Hyde finished the book but, still unknown in the anthropological fraternity, he could not find a publisher. His Life of George Bent was not published until 1968. Hyde and Bent's collaboration is the principal source for the Cheyenne side of the wars of the 1860s and subsequent events.
Bent died May 19, 1918, at Washita, Oklahoma
in the 1918 flu pandemic. At the time, his dream of a well-written book about the history and culture of the Cheyenne was unrealized.
William Bent
William Wells Bent was a frontier trapper, trader, and rancher in the American West who mediated among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding United States. With his brothers, Bent established a trade business along the Santa Fe Trail. In the early 1830s Bent built an...
, the founder of the trading post named Bent's Fort; and Owl Woman
Owl Woman
Owl Woman , was a Cheyenne princess. She married an Anglo American trader named William Bent, with whom she had four children. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame for her role in managing relations between Native American tribes and the Anglo American men...
, a Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
. Born near present-day La Junta, Colorado
La Junta, Colorado
The City of La Junta is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,568 at the U.S. Census 2000. La Junta is located on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado east of Pueblo.-History:During...
, Bent served as a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and a Cheyenne warrior. As the informant of several anthropologists, he was significant to the recording and preserving of Cheyenne history and culture.
Early life and education
Bent was born at Bent's Fort, owned by his father, and grew up speaking both English and CheyenneCheyenne language
The Cheyenne language is a Native American language spoken by the Cheyenne people, predominantly in present-day Montana and Oklahoma in the United States. It is part of the Algonquian language family...
at home. He learned much about Cheyenne culture from his mother, Owl Woman, and her family. When the boy was 10 years old, his father sent him to school in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
for a European-American education. He was a student at Webster College in St. Louis when the Civil War began.
Military service
Bent served in the Missouri State GuardMissouri State Guard
The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...
with the Confederate Army, fighting at the Battle of Wilson's Creek
Battle of Wilson's Creek
The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes...
near Springfield, Missouri, on August 10, 1861; and at the First Battle of Lexington near Lexington, Missouri, on September 20, 1861; both were Confederate victories. As a member of the 1st Missouri Cavalry, he fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge
Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...
at Pea Ridge, Arkansas
Pea Ridge, Arkansas
Pea Ridge is a city in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The name Pea Ridge comes from a combination of the physical location of the original settlement of the town, across the crest of an Ozark Mountains ridge, and for the hog peanuts or turkey peas that had been originally cultivated by...
, March 7–8, 1862, a Union victory. When the Missouri cavalry was converted to infantry, Bent became attached to the horse artillery
Horse artillery
Horse artillery was a type of light, fast-moving and fast-firing artillery which provided highly mobile fire support to European and American armies from the 17th to the early 20th century...
attached to General Mathew F. Greene's Missouri Brigade; this was part of General Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
's division. His artillery unit participated in the siege
Siege of Corinth
The Siege of Corinth was an American Civil War battle fought from April 29 to May 30, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi.-Background:...
and retreat from Corinth, Mississippi
Corinth, Mississippi
Corinth is a city in Alcorn County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,054 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Alcorn County. Its ZIP codes are 38834 and 38835.- History :...
, where it stayed behind to cover the retreat of 66,000 Confederates under the command of P.G.T. Beauregard.
Later that summer, Bent was either captured or deserted. After his return to St. Louis, he was briefly confined in the Gratiot Street Prison
Gratiot Street Prison
Gratiot Street Prison was an American Civil War prison located in St. Louis, Missouri and was the largest war prison in Missouri.Run by the Union Army, it housed Confederate prisoners-of-war, confederate sympathizers, guerrillas, spies, and Federal soldiers accused of crimes. It is well known for...
, but was allowed to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union and be released. His guardian, Robert Campbell
Robert Campbell
-Politicians:*Robert Campbell , Australian merchant/politician from New South Wales*Robert Campbell , New South Wales politician, son of the above*Robert Campbell , New York politician...
, a prominent St. Louis citizen, had eased his way.
Bent returned to his father’s ranch in Colorado, but anti-Confederate sentiment was intense in that state. For safety, he went to live with his maternal Cheyenne relatives. From that time on, Bent lived among the Cheyenne and identified with them.
Sand Creek and aftermath
Bent was at Black KettleBlack Kettle
Chief Black Kettle was a leader of the Southern Cheyenne after 1854, who led efforts to resist American settlement from Kansas and Colorado territories. He was a peacemaker who accepted treaties to protect his people. He survived the Third Colorado Cavalry's Sand Creek Massacre on the Cheyenne...
's camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho
Arapaho
The Arapaho are a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the eastern plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Sioux. Arapaho is an Algonquian language closely related to Gros Ventre, whose people are seen as an early...
at Sand Creek
Sand Creek Massacre
As conflict between Indians and white settlers and soldiers in Colorado continued, many of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, including bands under Cheyenne chiefs Black Kettle and White Antelope, were resigned to negotiate peace. The chiefs had sought to maintain peace in spite of pressures from whites...
about 35 miles north of Lamar, Colorado
Lamar, Colorado
The City of Lamar is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Prowers County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 8,869 at the U.S...
, on November 29, 1864. The Indians in the camp had initiated peace negotiations with the U.S. Army, and believed they were under the protection of the army, but Colonel John Chivington
John Chivington
John Milton Chivington was a colonel in the United States Army who served in the American Indian Wars during the Colorado War and the New Mexico Campaigns of the American Civil War...
and his force of 700 Colorado volunteers attacked the village. They killed about 150 Indians, mostly women and children. Bent's brother Charles was nearly executed by the soldiers, but was rescued by friends. Another young mixed-race man, Jack Smith, was killed in the soldiers' attack.
Bent was among the Indians who fled upstream and found shelter in sandpits dug in the creek bed beneath a high bank. Wounded in the hip, he was with about 100 survivors who crossed the plains to the Indian camps on the Smoky Hill River
Smoky Hill River
The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through the U.S. states of Colorado and Kansas.-Names:The Smoky Hill gets its name from the Smoky Hills region of north-central Kansas through which it flows...
. He was found there by his friend Edmund Guerrier
Edmund Guerrier
Edmund Gasseau Choteau Le Guerrier , of French and Cheyenne parentage, was a survivor of the Sand Creek massacre in 1864. He was an interpreter for the U.S...
, who accompanied him back to the Bent Ranch at Big Timbers
Big Timbers
Big Timbers is a wooded riparian area in Colorado along both banks of the Arkansas River that is famous as a campsite for native American tribes and travelers on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail. The Spanish knew this area as "La Casa de Palo" or the House of Wood...
, where Bent recovered. The Cheyenne and Arapaho planned revenge for the Sand Creek Massacre. In January 1865, the Bent brothers joined an Indian army of nearly 1,000 warriors in a successful attack on Julesburg, Colorado
Julesburg, Colorado
The historic town of Julesburg is a statutory town that is the county seat of Sedgwick County, Colorado, United States. The town is located on the north side of the South Platte River. The population was 1,467 at the U.S. Census 2000...
, in which they killed many townspeople and soldiers. Most of the Cheyenne went north to join Red Cloud
Red Cloud
Red Cloud , was a war leader and the head Chief of the Oglala Lakota . His reign was from 1868 to 1909...
on the Powder River
Powder River (Montana)
Powder River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately long in the southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming in the United States. It drains an area historically known as the Powder River Country on the high plains east of the Bighorn Mountains.It rises in three forks in eastern...
in Wyoming. Before leaving the area, they burned many homesteads in the South Platte River
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
valley. "At night the whole valley was lighted up with the flames of burning ranches and stage stations, but these places were soon destroyed and darkness fell on the valley." For the next two years, Bent traveled and raided with Cheyenne war parties from Wyoming south to Texas. Bent wrote about this period and expressed his opinion that the "savages" in the conflict were the U.S. soldiers. He participated in 27 Cheyenne war parties, although he never gave many specifics about his personal role in the Indian wars.
Interpreter
Bent began his return to a peaceful world as an interpreter at the Medicine Lodge TreatyMedicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed between the United States government and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by relocating the Native Americans to reservations in Indian Territory and away from European-American...
Council of October 1867. Bent impressed the U.S. soldiers and officials there with his negotiating skills. Shortly thereafter, his brother Charles, a well-known and feared Cheyenne warrior, was killed in a skirmish with soldiers. In 1868, Bent was hired by the U.S. government as an interpreter, first at Fort Larned
Fort Larned National Historic Site
Fort Larned National Historic Site, located six miles west of Larned, Kansas, United States, preserves Fort Larned, which operated from 1859 to 1878...
and later for the newly created Indian Agency headed by Brinton Darlington, the first US Indian Agent
Indian agent
In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....
for the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In 1870, the Agency was located at El Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno, Oklahoma
El Reno is a city in Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States, in the central part of the state. A part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area, El Reno is west of downtown Oklahoma City...
. Bent lived on the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation near the town of Colony
Colony, Oklahoma
Colony is a town in Washita County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 147 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Colony is located at in Seger Township , Washita County, Oklahoma....
and worked as a U.S. government employee for most of the rest of his life.
Because of his knowledge of both European-American and Cheyenne culture, Bent became a prominent and powerful person on the reservation. During the first several years, he tried to moderate hostilities between the two cultures. He learned that, as a half-breed
Half-breed
Half-breed is an historic term used to describe anyone who is mixed Native American and white European parentage...
or mixed-race man, he was an outsider to both.
Bent developed a serious problem with alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
during this period. He became prosperous by assisting European-American cattlemen to obtain grazing leases on Indian land. Because of his influence peddling, he lost the trust of some Cheyenne and was fired as a U.S. interpreter. But in 1890, he was the crucial go-between to persuade the Cheyenne and Arapaho to accept plans for allotment of land by individual households, under the Dawes Act
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians. The Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again...
. Presented as a way for Indians to assimilate by adopting Euro-American farming styles, the allotment plan meant that former communal tribal land the government declared "surplus" could be sold to non-Indian parties. Many Cheyenne and Arapaho held Bent responsible for the ill effects of the transition to allotments, including the loss of substantial amounts of tribal lands from the reservation. Allotment would have happened without Bent's assistance, but he was considered partially responsible.
Cheyenne historian
By 1901 Bent was at low stage in his life. He had stopped drinking, but his influence with the Cheyenne was largely gone, as was his earlier prosperity. His meeting with the anthropologist George Bird GrinnellGeorge Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880. Originally specializing in zoology, he became a prominent early conservationist and student...
was beneficial for both. Grinnell realized that Bent, who spoke both Cheyenne and English, was literate, and could write passable English, would be invaluable for his research into Cheyenne culture. (Bent had been an informant of James Mooney
James Mooney
James Mooney was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. He did major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as those on the Great Plains...
earlier, but he had little respect for Mooney.) Bent told Grinnell what he knew and arranged interviews with other Cheyenne for what he did not know. He wanted the story of the Cheyenne told in a book. In Bent's opinion, Grinnell was too slow to finish his book about the Cheyenne. Bent began collaborating with the deaf, nearly blind, and reclusive George E. Hyde
George E. Hyde
George E. Hyde was the "Dean of American Indian Historians." He wrote many books about Indian tribes, especially the Sioux and Pawnee plus a life of the Cheyenne warrior and historian, George Bent.-Life:...
. Eventually, at Bent's recommendation, Hyde became a ghost writer for Grinnell and probably wrote most of The Fighting Cheyenne, published in 1915. Grinnell mentioned Bent as a source in the book, but did not give him full credit for his assistance and contributions. Later, Grinnell wrote The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Lifeways, in which he was more generous in crediting Bent. Cheyenne culture is unusually well described in Grinnell's books, thanks largely to Bent's insights and Hyde's writing.
Although the two never met in person, Hyde and Bent became the closest of collaborators. Bent wrote 340 letters to Hyde between 1904 and 1918. From these letters, Hyde distilled a book, Life of George Bent: Written from his Letters. Hyde finished the book but, still unknown in the anthropological fraternity, he could not find a publisher. His Life of George Bent was not published until 1968. Hyde and Bent's collaboration is the principal source for the Cheyenne side of the wars of the 1860s and subsequent events.
Bent died May 19, 1918, at Washita, Oklahoma
Washita, Oklahoma
Washita is a rural community in Caddo County, Oklahoma, located west of Anadarko on a bend in the Washita River. The post office opened October 31, 1900. The ZIP Code is 73094....
in the 1918 flu pandemic. At the time, his dream of a well-written book about the history and culture of the Cheyenne was unrealized.
Family
Bent was married three times. He first married Magpie (d. May 10, 1886), a daughter of Black Kettle of the Southern Cheyenne tribe. His other wives were Kiowa Woman (d. 1913) and Standing Out (d. 1945). Bent had six children: Mary, William, Daisy, Lucy, George Jr., and Charlie.External links
- "Bent-Hyde Papers", University Archives, University of Colorado Boulder