On November 2, 1892, outlaw Ned Christie was trapped by a large posse with some of his followers in a wooden fort they had built as a hideout near Tallequa (sp?), IT. During the ensuing furious battle, the fort easily withstood massed rifle fire, and so the lawmen sent for a cannon, which fired (to little effect) perhaps thirty 3 lb balls. This incident is often claimed to be the only time lawmen have ever used artillery against private citizens. Finally, the fort was blown up with dynamite, and Christie riddled by Winchesters as he emerged from the smoking ruins.

One of the people I was priviledged to meet (briefly) during the Ft. Smith Marshal's History Day is a descendant of USDM W. F. Jones. Mr. Jones published a now rare book (no date, no publisher) entitled The Experiences of a Deputy US Marshal of the Indian Territory. In this book, referring to the above incident, Mr. Jones claims the cannon was procured from Fayetteville. Most other sources say it came from Coffeyville, which does appear to be nearer to the action. Does anybody have any definitive information as to where the cannon came from?

--meursault

All the material I have seen, states that the cannon was brought down from Fort Scott in Kansas. To my knowledge there was no military installation in Fayetteville.

I don't remember W.F. Jones being a member of
the posse that killed Christie. There was a Deputy William Ellis and a Deputy William Smith. But I don't believe Jones was there. Although I may be wrong, I doubt it.

Art--you're not wrong. I did not mean to imply that Jones was a member of that posse. Also, I have been going through my notes, trying to find where I came up with the idea that "most sources" say the cannon was from Coffeyville. To my embarrassment I can now find nothing to substantiate such an assertion. I suspect this may be, on my part, one of those unforunate lapses which proves the saying that a false knowledge is a far more dangerous enemy to the truth than outright ignorance.

--meursault

And, speaking of false knowledge, my first reaction to the statement that the Christie incident was the only use of a cannon by lawmen was what about William Coe and the Robbers Roost? In the earliest days of the territory the military was used to enforce the law, so technically they would qualify as lawmen. Although there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of documentation to support it, a story emerged in the 1930’s, that in the fall of 1867, a contingent of 25 regulars from Fort Lyons, led by an officer named Penrose, marched south almost a hundred miles to Coe’s stronghold, the Robber’s Roost of the Black Mesa, with a six inch field piece in tow. Coe was a bandit whose gang preyed on the Santa Fe Trail and the isolated ranches and communities of New Mexico and parts of Kansas and Colorado. They were also fond of taking army stock from Fort Lyons in Kansas and Fort Union in New Mexico. Coe built a fortress, located at the east end of Black Mesa, about 3 miles northeast of present Kenton, The Roost was dominated by a building, 16 by 30 feet, with walls three feet thick and a roof of dirt, several feet thick, and supported by branches and wild grass on cottonwood ridge poles. A fireplace at each end of the building provided heat and cooking facilities. There were no windows, but portholes, four inches square on the outside, widening to 18 to 20 inches inside, provided gun rests and ventilation. The location, consisting of a valley with mountains on three sides and the Cimarron River guarding its entrance, was natural fort, could be defended by a small group against a small army. According to the tale, Penrose’s troopers positioned their cannon nearly three quarters of a mile to the northwest of the roost, on the lower slopes of Black Mesa, a short distance back of the east bank of North Carrizo Creek. At sunrise the bombardment began, and the walls of the stone structure across the stream began to crumble. The gang supposedly numbering around 50 individuals was broken up, some dieing, some running, and some left as prisoners. One reference said that Penrose did pass through the area in late 1867, early 1868, and that Penrose wrote an account describing the area, but did not mention the bandit king. Coe was eventually hung by a vigilante group in Colorado. Now, my question is who the heck was the writer who allegedly invented this story? And, what part is truth, and which fiction?

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Originally posted by Tower:
And, speaking of false knowledge, my first reaction to the statement that the Christie incident was the only use of a cannon by lawmen was what about William Coe and the Robbers Roost? In the earliest days of the territory the military was used to enforce the law, so technically they would qualify as lawmen

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Another great story, which I had not heard before, from Mr. Tower. And yes, if one chooses to define "lawmen" as including the military, then the statement to which you refer is indeed ridiculous. Question: would Gatling guns be considered artillery? If so, they were used with some frequency, and evidently at least once in the IT during a skirmish on April 6, 1875, with Indians near the Cheyenne Agency. They were certainly used nearby most notably during the Red River Indian Wars,along with mountain howitizers and Parrot Rifles (actually small cannons firing 10 lb. shells). Famously, General Custer was offered a detachment of Gatling guns on his trek to Little Big Horn but declined, leading to much speculation as to what might have happened had he accepted the offer.

Some other questions: would Christie, at the time the cannon was used against him, have been considered legally a US citizen? At what point did Indians become US citizens? Did this depend upon the specific treatys signed by their chiefs? If a group of Indians left the reservation and went on the warpath, were they considered outlaw US citizens or enemy combatants?

--meursault

I am not an attorney specializing in Indian treaties, but I believe Christie at the time of his conflict with the Marshals was actually a citizen of a dependent nation within the U. S. Parker's deputies were acting on a provision of case law giving the Western Court of Arkansas jurisdiction over conflict between white and Indian. Christie's government disputed the action of the marshals as according to their law the man Christie shot was an intermarried citizen. That question of citizenship is so muddled I'm not sure anyone understands it.I think treaties ratified by Congress, acts of Congress, and case law define which and who are citizens. Probably the best source to answer it would be a tribal policeman. Leaving the Reserve would not change a tribal member's status or rights guarenteed by treaty--however, being absent from the larger community would leave the individual or smaller group subject to hazards like getting shot at by folks who didn't like outlaw behavior and from fools with guns and a vivid imagination.

The man Ned Christie was accused of killing was U.S. Marshal Dan Maples. He was never tried or convicted of anything, he was however eventually killed by U.S. Marshals.

In response to Meursault's questions about when did indians become U.S. citizens, the tribes of indians in I.T. became U.S. citizens in 1907 at the time of statehood. At this time, the tribes were dissolved. Land was allotted to each member of the tribe who had registered on their respective Rolls. For example the Cherokee's had to register on the Dawes Rolls. Once you were signed up, then the government gave you some land, and that was it. The Government did this so that they could give all the left over land to the white people. The lands that were not allotted were called the Unassigned Lands, these were the lands used for Oklahoma's famed land runs.

Close, but no cigar. According to Muriel H. Wright, "A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma," which is probably the only book out there with comprehensive and comprehensible information,: "The first step in breaking up Indian reservation life in this region was a Congressional act in 1887, known as the Dawes Severalty Act, which provided that lands belonging to certain Indian tribes should be alloted in severalty. Throughout the next ten years similar acts were passed that affected the remainder of the Indians in the Territory. This legislation eliminated tribal control of any area and left surplus lands to be opened to white settlers...The Unassigned Lands, a tract of appx. 2 million acres in central Indian Territory were purchased from the Creek Nation and opened to white settlement in 1889. The next year, Oklahoma Territory was organized in western Indian Territory with the provision that as soon as the Indian reserves were opened to white settlement, these lands should be annexed to the new commonwealth..." Wright goes on to explain the Cherokee Outlet(popularly but erroneously called the Cherokee Strip) was purchased from the Cherokee Naion. This was handled by the Jerome Commission, who about as popular as bed bugs, and they also handled gaining the surplus lands on the western reserves. The Dawes Commission was created in 1893. Four years later the Atoka Accord between the Commission and the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek was incorporated into the Curtis Act of 1898 which provided the Commission would prepare a roll. In the next 12 years, more than 250,000 persons file claims of Indian heritage, many of whom had never even seen the Indian Territory. By the time the rolls closed in 1905, the five tribes total accepted citizenship was 77,942 not including the 23, 325 freedmen who were also approved. Tribal goverments were scheduled to end in March, 1906, but because it became obvious there was no easy solution on how to handle mineral rights and timber rights, Congress in April, 1906 enacted legislation allowing tribal governments to continue in a limited form.
There were many issues regarding tribal membership on both sides. The Dawes Commission and the Courts flat goofed in some cases and in other cases the Commission and Court was helped in committing errors because some tribal leader did not like a particular individual or family. And, some, like us in the "outtaluck" tribe are not regarding as having Indian heritage because some relative refused to enroll.
Now, this explains how OKLAHOMA Indians lost their land; it does not explain how other tribes lost or retained their lands. Nor, does it answer the citizenship question. A good many Oklahoma Indians became citizens with Statehood only in so far as constitutional guarentees as understood at the time, meaning a right to live, liberty and happiness as long as it didn't interfere with some other agenda or prejudice. Oklahoma Indians have had to fight for every right they have and still are. But, you need to remember there's a whole bunch of other Indians who were not treated as well as the Oklahoma clan.

With respect to the question that launched this discussion, I have found at least one source that asserts that the cannon was procured from Coffeyville. See
http://www.larkcom.net/org/ancestry/allen/_reports/allen_us_marshal.htm

--meursault

I believe the book, Hell on the Border states the cannon was obtained at Fort Scott, Kansas, which makes sense because it was a military establishment. Why would they have a cannon at Coffeyville?Hell on the Border

As best I can tell, by the time of the Christie battle Ft. Scott had not been an active military fort for nearly twenty years, probably longer. Established in 1842 (according to the National Park Service website on Ft. Scott), Fort Scott was decomissioned in 1865. However, on January 14, 1870, a military body called the Post of Southeast Kansas was created, which seems to have been an ad hoc command for the purpose of protecting the railroad interests as they pushed toward the IT against settler opposition. This group did have its headquarters in Ft. Scott though its troops were variously stationed along the proposed RR right of way. The NPS website concludes "the railroad years of 1869-73 marked the end of military involvement at Fort Scott."

As to why Coffeyville would have a cannon (if it did) I have no idea. Lots of towns back then (and even now) had perfectly functional cannons leftover from the Civil War usually parked on the courthouse square and fired for ceremonial purposes.

It is interesting to speculate--and this is pure speculation--that the Christie battle occurred less than a month after the Dalton raid on Coffeyville. There were many rumors at the time that the Daltons killed at Coffeyville were only a small part of a much larger band of outlaws who swore to seek vengeance upon the town. It may have seemed prudent to secure a cannon for the town's defense. Again, this is pure supposition.

--meursault

According to Frank Jones' booklet (The Experiences of a Deputy U.S. Marshal of the Indian Territory), the posse consisted of "Deputy Marshals Paden Tolbert, Capt. G.S. White, Thomas Johnson, Charlie Coplan, Heck Bruner, E.B. Ratirre, Eunice Mills, John Malone, and Bill Smith."

I'm not sure what Jones's sources were, but the members of that posse were: Ab Allen, John and Payden Tolbert, Heck Bruner, Charlie Copeland, Bill Smith, Wes Bowman, Tom Johnson, Dane Rusk, and led by G.S. White. There are a few more names floating around of folks that were reported to be there, such as Enos Mills and Coon Rattery, but those previously mentioned were in most of the photographs that came about from the Christie battle. It would appear that over time the spellings and confirmed attendence of some of these gents has blurred. My great grandfather, Wes Bowman, was responsible for the fatal shots that put Christie down. I had always heard the Coffeyville connection too, but now it seems impossible to know for sure.

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My great grandfather, Wes Bowman, was responsible for the fatal shots that put Christie down. .

Thanks for your input--it's great to see a descendant of Wes Bowman posting to this board. May I politely inquire as to how you know that Bowman was responsible for the fatal shots, which is new information to me? Is this a family story that was passed down? I ask because I had thought that Christie was killed by a fusillade of bullets, with perhaps six or more marshals and possemen firing at him. To my knowledge an autopsy was never performed. If so, it would be difficult to establish definitively who fired the killing shot. Can you give us more details? I'd also be fascinated to hear any more stories about Bowman which have been passed down through your family.

meursault

I have seen it reported both ways, that Christie died in a fury of fire directed at him. Wes was apparently a humble man about the events that day but would tell the story when asked by kinfolk. As the story has been passed down, Wes stated that there was alot of smoke present during the burning of Ned's cabin, and as Christie emerged he charged right at him, shooting along the way. He returned fire but not before being burned by the muzzle blast of Christie's Winchester. In fact, he bore bits of powder under the skin of his cheek for the rest of his life, which would indicate the close proximity of Christie.
When his son Charles (my grandfather) was a boy he often worked at the Tolbert Orchard (near Clarksville?) picking peaches during the summer, and one time asked John Tolbert directly if Wes had been the one who shot Ned Christie, and he replied that he was. Wes himself told my father and his cousins when asked to tell the story of the battle the details and relayed that he had shot Ned as he ran at him shooting. He furthered this in an interview with the Tulsa World in 1952.
So in essence, this is a "fact" as portrayed by an oral family history supported by some documentation. However, it does point to an interesting debate of the validity of such traditional family stories. I have seen other oral "histories" that get even the most well established facts dead wrong. Given this, I can understand if it is a reach for you or any other researcher to scrutinize these stories as the truth. Certain books, such as 'Iron Men' by Mckennon have embelished many details to this story. So I guess without empirical evidence, the truth in such matters will always be in the mind of the beholder!
There are a few other stories of Wes Bowman and his short career in law enforcement, most of which I cannot remember the key details. My grandfather said that he was a town marshal of Bristow and possibly Cushing. While on a research visit to Bristow I could not positively establish this, other than that Wes ran for an elected marshal position (1907?) and lost by 4 votes. The only records I was able to search were old newspapers. Any info that other Oklahombres members might have on futhering this type research would be appreciated.
And thanks for the interest in my great grandfather Wes...I'll be happy to pass along anything else of interest if I know the answer!
Paul (Jr.)