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Indians used grass fires as a weapon

A long cloud of smoke hung Saturday over the Flint Hills as cattlemen burned the dry prairie grass in preparation for a new grazing season.

A story was told many years ago about an incident which happened in the fall of 1852 along the Santa Fe Trail, in which Indians used fire as a weapon.

A troop of United States cavalry was camping on high ground near the Diamond Springs stage station on the Santa Fe Trail.

Cavalry leader, Col. Percival G. Lowe, reported seeing small bands of Indians all day traveling a mile or two off the trail, and advancing in their direction. They were perceived to be friendly Kaw Indians who did not pose a threat.

The military band was extra careful with fire because of the dense growth of grass.

They had finished dinner, about two hours before sunset, when fire broke out in a circle all around them not more than a mile from camp.

A strong wind was blowing from the south, and the flames leaped 20 feet high as the fire roared through the tall grass.

The men began working with a frenzy, setting and extinguishing fires all around the camp. With much hard work, they were successful in saving their camp and their lives.

"I have never seen 15 minutes of such desperate work followed by such exhaustion," wrote Col. Lowe. "Scarcely a man could speak. Blinded by smoke, heat, and ashes, intuitively we found our way to the creek and bathed our hands and faces. Many of us were terribly blistered."

They applied warmed antelope tallow to their sores.

"Men who could stand together in such a fight, and win, could stand against desperate odds anywhere," Lowe said.

In May 1863, a group of men from Quantrill's gang raided and plundered the stage station, killed the manager, and wounded his wife.

The Diamond Springs station was abandoned but the springs remained a favorite camping spot for pioneers traveling west or returning east in covered wagons.

(Source: Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. XIV, 1915-1918, pages 797-802.)

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