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New podcast episode: The Battle of the Washita
The latest episode of A Very OK Podcast explores the painful history of the Battle of the Washita. After the Civil War, increased westward migration resulted in escalating violent conflicts between the Plains Indian tribes protecting their ancestral lands and the new settlers. The 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty failed to quell the violence, which resulted in Major General Philip Sheridan’s new strategy of attacking the tribes in their winter camps.
On November 27, 1868, Lt. Col. George A. Custer led the US Army’s Seventh Cavalry on an early morning attack along the Washita River near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma. The troops attacked the village of Cheyenne Peace Chief Black Kettle. When the attack commenced at dawn, people in the village were still asleep. They awoke to the sound of gunfire—then they had to flee or fight for their lives. They fought to protect their families, their horses, and their property. Learn more about this tragic event at Washita Battlefield National Historic Site. The battle, also referred to as a massacre, was the opening salvo in the US Army’s five-month campaign to force the Cheyenne into living on reservations.
Pictured above: Cheyenne Chief Homer Heap of Birds, who witnessed the attack as a young boy, and Chief Little Hand visiting the site, c. 1929 (19589.126.32, Alvin Rucker Collection, OHS).
Next month’s episode of A Very OK Podcast will be recorded in front of a live audience at the Oklahoma History Center. Save the date and plan to attend this free event on Thursday, February 10, at 6 p.m. Click here for more info.
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Dust to Eat OHS documentary airing on OETA
A new documentary produced by the Oklahoma Historical Society entitled Dust to Eat (2021) will premiere on OETA on Saturday, February 5, 2022, at 2 p.m.
The hour-long film takes the viewer through the drought and ensuing dust storms of the 1930s from the perspective of Caroline Henderson, who, with her husband, stayed behind to save the family farm. Through poignant narration and imagery, the film explores the lasting impact of one of the worst natural disasters in our nation’s history, 85 years after it occurred. The film was directed by OHS Video Production Specialist Ryan Green and produced by historian Dr. Alvin Turner and OHS Board President Dr. Deena Fisher.
The narrative of the documentary is drawn directly from the book Letters from the Dust Bowl by Caroline Henderson (University of Oklahoma Press, 2001), edited by Dr. Alvin Turner. Henderson’s gripping account of the Dust Bowl era comes to life through detailed excerpts from her writings, which include articles written for national magazines and missives penned to her daughter and friends. After graduating from a leading liberal arts college, Henderson fully embraced an agrarian vision to pioneer in the Oklahoma Panhandle from 1907 until 1966. However, her experiences in those years were far from her original idealistic vision—recurring droughts, dust storms, and similar disasters left her, in her words, with nothing but “dust to eat.”
The documentary comes to life with images from the Farm Security Administration photography program (1935–1944). This initiative portrayed the challenges of rural poverty in the United States at a time when the Dust Bowl significantly devastated regions of the Oklahoma Panhandle. The program was led by Roy Stryker, who hired some of the nation’s most talented photographers, including Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, and Arthur Rothstein.
Please check your cable provider and local listings to confirm viewing of the documentary in your area.
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Current and Upcoming OHS Exhibits |
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OHS COVID-19 safety measures
Per CDC guidance, we recommend that visitors who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 wear face masks and maintain social distancing in indoor public areas. All visitors, staff, volunteers, contractors, and vendors should use appropriate handwashing techniques.
We ask that you avoid visiting OHS museums, sites, and affiliates if you have COVID-19, are experiencing symptoms, have a fever, or are otherwise feeling sick or unwell.
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Click event listings below for more information.
20 - Historic Preservation Review Committee meeting, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
21 - Museum After Dark: Behind-the-Scenes Tour, Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, Enid
22 - Wanted: Dead or Alive exhibit opens, Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum, Pawnee
22 - Volunteer Training Day, Henry and Anna Overholser Mansion, Oklahoma City
22 - Lap Loom Weaving class, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
24 - Kilgen Organ performance featuring Clark Wilson and silent film Girl Shy (1924), Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
26 - Oklahoma Historical Society Board of Directors meeting, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
28 - Movie Night featuring Stagecoach (1939), Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore
29 - The Jefferson Highway in Oklahoma: The Historic Osage Trace author’s review by Jonita Mullins, Honey Springs Battlefield, Checotah
31 - Silver Selections from the USS Oklahoma exhibit closes, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
2 - Antique Doll exhibit opens, Fred and Addie Drummond Home, Hominy
5 - Museum OKademy volunteer training class, Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, Enid
5 - Seizing Justice: The Greensboro 4 film screening, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
5 - Dust to Eat (2021) OHS documentary premiere, OETA
10 - “From Tulsa to Beyond: African American Genealogy in the Indian Territory and Oklahoma” presentation by Nicka Smith (VIRTUAL), Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
10 - A Very OK Podcast LIVE: All-Black Towns, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
12 - Quilting workshop with Martha Ray, Sod House Museum, Aline
12 - Casserole Carrier Basket Making workshop, Fort Towson Historic Site, Fort Towson
16 - Oklahoma Historical Society Executive Committee meeting, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City
17 - Thursday Night Lecture Series featuring John Duncan Forsyth TED Talk, Will Rogers Memorial Museum, Claremore
19 - Museum OKademy volunteer training class, Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, Enid
19 - 24th at the Fort, Fort Gibson Historic Site, Fort Gibson
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Early-day unfinished stone engraving at the Washita Battlefield site. Black Kettle and men, women, and children were killed the morning of the attack, although precise numbers of Indigenous deaths are not known. Fifty-three women and children were captured and taken to Camp Supply. In the attack, the Seventh Cavalry burned 50 lodges, killed 800 horses in the village, and destroyed supplies for the approaching winter. The Seventh lost 22 men including two officers (4517, Czarina Conlan Collection, OHS). |
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