William (Buffalo Bill)
Mathewson
The use of the sobriquet, "Buffalo Bill," in Kansas,
has reference to that daring explorer, hunter, Indian scout and
fighter, than whom none did more to prepare the pathway for
western immigration and settlement\emdash William Mathewson, a
resident of Wichita and the last of the old-time pioneers. Heir
in a direct line to the prowess of Daniel Boone, David Crockett,
and Kit Karson, his family lineage is through American ancestors
back to the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, when three
brothers emigrated from Scotland. One of them, William Mathewson,
great-grandfather of the original "Buffalo Bill,"
settled in Connecticut, where he engaged in farming until his
death, and also served as a soldier in the French war. His son,
William Mathewson, was born in Connecticut, in 1743; was a farmer
by occupation, and during the Revolution participated in the
campaigns in New England until the close of the war. In 1806,
when the country was wild and very thinly settled, he removed to
Broome county, New York, purchased land, cleared it of timber,
and engaged in farming until his death, in 1835, at the age of
ninety-two years. His son, Joseph Mathewson, was born in
Connecticut, in 1790, and removed with his parents to New York,
where he engaged in hunting and trapping until the incoming
settlers drove the game from the country, and then engaged in
farming and stock raising until his death, in 1835, aged
forty-five years. The maiden name of his wife was Eliza Stickney,
who moved with her parents from New Hampshire to a farm on Page
Brook, in the town of Triangle, Broome county, New York, the
family locating on a farm adjoining that owned by Joseph
Mathewson. \par \par William Mathewson, son of Joseph and Eliza
(Stickney) Mathewson and the original of the sobriquet,
"Buffalo Bill," was born in the town of Triangle,
Broome county, New York, Jan. 1, 1830, the seventh in a family of
eight children. When a child his inclinations were for the wild;
roving life of a hunter, seemingly inheriting the intrepid daring
of his Highland Scotch ancestry, and he longed for the
adventurous life of a frontiersman. After his father's death he
remained with his mother until he was ten years old, attending
the country schools, and then resided with an older brother three
years. At the age of thirteen he went into the lumber regions of
Steuben county, New York, and there and in western Pennsylvania
was employed in the lumber and mill business a part of each year
until eighteen years old. During this time, in the fall of each
year, he would set out with other hunters on long hunting
expeditions, going to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Canada, and
returning home in the spring. A part of the time he was engaged
in looking up pine lands in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and at one
time acted as a guide to a party of land buyers through the
unknown West. In 1849 he embraced an opportunity offered him by
the Northwestern Fur Company, with headquarters at Fort Benton,
Mont., and with a company of men traveled through the Dakotas,
Nebraska and Wyoming, trading with the Indians when the latter
were found to be friendly and fighting them when the tomahawk
superseded the pipe of peace. It was in this expedition that Mr.
Mathewson acquired his first knowledge of Indian warfare. At one
time the party was surrounded by a band of Blackfeet Indians and
did not dare to leave the stockade to give battle, but after
severe fighting the Indians were driven off. \par \par After
remaining nearly two years in the employ of the Fur Company Mr.
Mathewson joined that famous party, consisting of the two
Maxwells, James and John Baker, and Charles and John Atterby,
under the leadership of the renowned Kit Karson. This party
traveled south to the head of the Arkansas river in Colorado,
traversing the foothills of the Rocky mountains, crossing the
headwaters of the Big Horn\emdash where General Custer was
afterward killed\emdash and the north and south forks of the
Platte, and passed down through the country where Denver is now
located, when there was no sign of habitation, elk, deer,
antelope and other game being abundant. With Kit Karson Mr.
Mathewson went to get the Indians together and prevent them from
raiding into Mexico. In 1852 he entered the employ of the
Bent-St. Vrain trading post, at the foot of the Rockies, and a
year at that place gave him a new insight into the affairs of the
West. He had traveled over the entire unsettled region between
the Missouri river and the Rocky mountains and his keen brain saw
readily that when immigration burst through the Missouri river
boundary the settlement of eastern and central Kansas would be
rapid. Reasoning thus, he determined to establish a trading post
somewhere near the center of the state, on the old Santa Fe
trail, although no man had as yet dared to attempt such a thing,
so far away from military protection. In 1853 he opened his
trading post at a place known throughout the West as the
"Great Bend of the Arkansas River." This post he
maintained for ten years, and it was while living there that the
most remarkable deeds of his career were accomplished. In 1861 he
had a personal encounter with Satanta (White Bear), at that time
the boldest and most powerful of the Kiowa Indian chieftains.
With a small band of warriors Satanta entered the post and
announced his intention of taking the life of Mr. Mathewson, in
revenge for the death of one of his braves, killed while
attempting to steal a horse from the post. It took but an instant
for Mr. Mathewson to floor the Kiowa chieftain and give him a
severe beating, and the followers of Satanta, driven from the
house at the point of a revolver, were forced to carry their
defeated leader back to camp. Satanta swore revenge for this
humiliating defeat, and Mr. Mathewson, hearing of this, and
deeming it best to settle the matter once for all, rode out alone
on the prairie, in search of his enemy. Learning of the pursuit
Satanta fled and did not return for more than a year, and when he
did return acknowledged Mr. Mathewson as his master and entered
into a treaty with him, giving a number of his best Indian horses
as a token of his subservience. Mr. Mathewson was henceforth
known in every Indian camp of the plains as "Sinpah
Zilbah" (long-bearded dangerous white man). \par \par But
the thing for which Mr. Mathewson was most revered and most
renowned in Kansas pioneer days was that which obtained for him
the famous sobriquet of "Buffalo Bill." The winter of
1860-61 was a hard one for the early settlers of the Sunflower
State. The crops had been burned up by the hot, scorching winds
of the previous summer, and all over the eastern part of the
state the people were literally starving. A man, returning from
the West over the Santa Fe trail, brought with him a wagon load
of buffalo meat. He was beseeched to tell where he secured his
bountiful supply and replied, "Out at Bill's."
"Bill who?" asked the hungry settlers. "Oh, just
Bill, the buffalo killer out at Big Bend, that's all I
know." And thus the fame of Bill, the buffalo killer,
spread. The famishing settlers fairly swarmed to the Mathewson
ranch with empty wagons that went away creaking with the weight
of buffalo meat. Day after day Mr. Mathewson followed the herds
on the prairie and the hungry settlers, with tears in their eyes,
thanked him for the timely succor which he afforded them. Some
offered to pay and others promised to remunerate him when they
had anything to pay with, but all were grateful and ever retained
memories of the man who saved them from starvation in that
terrible winter of 1860-61. He remained on the buffalo range
until February and, no matter what the condition of the weather,
each day added to the supply of buffalo meat, which he freely
gave to those in need of food. In this way he earned his title of
"Buffalo Bill," a sobriquet that is remembered and
cherished by many who enjoyed his beneficence in those trying
days. It is this title of "Buffalo Bill," so nobly
earned, that William Mathewson cherishes most among his earthly
possessions. \par \par As an Indian fighter of skill and daring
Mr. Mathewson's fame was also widespread throughout the frontier
of the early '60s, and the report of a deed of unusual
intrepidity reached the war department in Washington and brought
to him a fitting reward. It was in the summer of 1864, when the
Indians took the warpath and were terrorizing the people in the
most extreme settlements of Kansas. Satanta, having become the
fast friend of Mr. Mathewson, warned the latter of the uprising
three weeks in advance and entreated him to leave, saying that in
revenge for having been fired on by a regiment of soldiers, the
Indians were not going to leave a white man, woman, or child west
of the Missouri. Instead of fleeing, however, Mr. Mathewson sent
all of the settlers to places of safety and then settled down
with a few brave men to hold his trading post. He and his men,
five in number, were armed with the first breech-loading rifles
that had had ever been used on the plains of Kansas. On the
morning of July 20 a band of 1,500 Indians, gaudy in war paint
and feathers, surrounded the Mathewson post, and for three days
they skulked about, attacking, reconnoitering, and spying, but
they were repeatedly forced to retreat, upon coming within range
of the deadly fire of the breech-loading rifles. The Indians lost
160 horses and a score or more of their kinsmen upon the prairie.
\par \par When first warned of the Indian uprising, among the
first things Mr. Mathewson did was to write to the Overland
Transportation Company, and to Bryant, Banard & Company,
telling them not to send any wagons out. In reply he received
from the latter word that they had already started a train,
loaded with modern rifles, and the letter ended with the appeal,
"For God's sake save this train, as it is loaded with arms
and ammunition." On the fourth day of the siege this
overland train of 147 wagons, loaded with supplies from the
government posts of New Mexico and in charge of 155 men, appeared
upon the scene. Ignorant of the Indian uprising, the train had
come within three miles of the post, and upon the morning of the
fourth day of the battle Mr. Mathewson discovered that the
Indians had departed during the night. He mounted the highest
building of the post and to the eastward, three miles away, saw
through his field glass the government train, drawn up in the
usual camp half circle, and surrounded by Indians. For a few
minutes he studied the situation, and quick thoughts passed
through the brain of the grim watcher. Then returning to his most
trusty companion, he inquired if the stockade could be held in
his absence. Being assured that it could, he ordered his horse
saddled, and when it was led out of the stable was ready with his
Sharp's rifle and six Colt's revolvers. After a hearty handshake
with each of the little band and a cheery good-bye, he touched
the spurs to his horse and the two shot out of the stockade gate
like a whirlwind. Reaching the little camp Mr. Mathewson burst
into its midst like a cannon ball. Shot after shot whizzed past
his ears as he dashed through the two lines of startled Indians.
A second later he was off his horse and calling lustily for an
ax. He then quickly mounted one of the wagons, split open the
boxes, and handed out rifles and ammunition to the men. In a
moment a well directed fire was turned on the now astonished and
bewildered Indians, who, after continuing the fight for a short
time, in which many of them were killed or wounded, beat a hasty
retreat. To make the victory complete Mr. Mathewson organized and
mounted the teamsters and gave chase, driving the Indians miles
away. Then, after taking needed rest, burying the dead and
repairing the ravages of the fight, the train moved on to its
destination. In 1864 Mr. Mathewson joined Blunt's expedition as a
scout and through his exertions comparative quiet was restored.
After the close of the Civil war in the states the government
commenced sending troops out to subdue the Indians, but later
orders came to the commander of the Western Department to get
some one to go to the Indians and try to get them to come into
council with the commissioners that the president would send to
meet them. Mr. Mathewson was finally decided upon and he was duly
commissioned for the purpose. He started from Larned, Kan., going
to the mouth of the Little Arkansas river, and the fourth day
after leaving the Arkansas came in sight of the Indian camp. He
was entirely successful in his mission and the desired council
was held between the commissioners of the government and the
Indians. \par \par In 1867 the Indians were again on the war
path, the result of being fired upon by a regiment of soldiers.
At that time Mr. Mathewson was in the South, trading with the
Indians, and did not get back for three weeks. When he returned
he went to Junction City and telegraphed to Washington, asking
the recall of General Hancock and saying that he would take care
of the Indians. His request was complied with and he got the
Indians together for another treaty, known as Medicine Lodge
treaty, after which they ceded all their rights and title to
lands in Kansas and Colorado to the government and went back to
their reservations. Mr. Mathewson lived and traded with them for
seven years, preventing breaks of the 1865 and 1867 type,
settling internal quarrels, and doing all in his power to make
them satisfied. During the years between 1865 and 1873 he saved
fifty-four women and children from death at the hands of the
savages, or from a life of unspeakable slavery and drudgery. One
of these was a young woman who had been captured in Texas by the
Kiowas and brought into Kansas, where she escaped. Learning of
her escape and of a reward for her recapture Mr. Mathewson
determined to save the girl from being taken again by the
Indians. Riding his favorite mare, "Bess," and leading
another horse, he set out in the face of a driving storm.
Striking the trail of the girl's Indian pony, on the evening of
the second day he found her more dead than alive, and then took
her to Council Grove, where she afterward married and still
resides. Mr. Mathewson also arranged with the chief of the Kiowas
for the release of two little girls held captive by them, and
whose parents were killed by the Indians; In May, 1866, he was
presented with a beautiful pair of six-shooters\emdash carved
ivory handles, silver mounted and inlaid with gold\emdash by the
Overland Transportation Company, in recognition of his saving 155
men and 147 wagons of government supplies. \par \par In 1868 Mr.
Mathewson pre\'ebmpted a homestead at a spot near the Arkansas
river, the spot being now in the heart of the city of Wichita.
There he built a log house, which was torn down in the fortieth
year after its erection. Since 1876 Mr. Mathewson has been a
permanent resident of Wichita and has carried on agriculture on a
large scale on his farms of several hundred acres. He has been a
live stock and real estate dealer and, in 1887, organized a bank
in Wichita, of which he was president. In 1878 he established a
brick plant, south of the city, and for many years, until he sold
his farms, devoted himself principally to agriculture and
obtained a gold medal for the best exhibit of corn at the Omaha
exposition. \par \par Mr. Mathewson has been twice married. His
first wife, to whom he was married Aug. 28, 1864, was Miss
Elizabeth Inman, born in Yorkshire, England, in 1842, and
immigrated with her parents to this country, in 1850. She became
an expert in the use of the rifle and revolver, and was her
husband's companion among the Indians, passing through many
experiences of border life. She was possessed of undaunted
courage and was the first white woman to cross the Arkansas river
and go through the Indian Territory, and on more than one
occasion stood by her husband's side and helped beat back the
savage foe who attacked their home and camp. It was from her that
Henry M. Stanley obtained much of the information he furnished
Eastern papers concerning savage life on the plains. At Walnut
Ranch she became a successful and favorite trader with the
Indians, who called her "Marrwissa" (Golden Hair). She
died Oct. 1, 1885, leaving two children\emdash Lucy E. and
William A. Mr. Mathewson's second marriage occurred May 13, 1886,
to Mrs. Tarleton, a most estimable lady of Louisville, Ky., whose
maiden name was Henshaw. Socially Mr. Mathewson is a Mason, an
Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and has membership in the
Improved Order of Red Men. For three years he was grand
instructor of Odd Fellows in Kansas. \par \par Pages 1008-1013
from volume 3, part 2 of \b\i Kansas: \i0 a cyclopedia of state
history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties,
cities, towns, prominent persons, etc\i .\b0\i0 with a
supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and
reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912, This copy of
volume 3 owned by Dennis Hopkins of Sterling, Kansas
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