Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Festival

It was in 1917 that citizens of Medicine Lodge made the initial effort to commemorate the historical significance of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, signed in 1867 by the Peace Commission of the United States Government and the five tribes of Plains Indians, the Kiowa, the Comanche, the Kiowa-Apache, the Arapaho and the Cheyenne.

World War I delayed their progress, but in 1926, a citizens’ committee secured the services of Sergeant I-See-O, a Kiowa Indian, who was also an army sergeant. I-See-O, as a young boy, had attended the treaty signing in 1867 and his mission was to rediscover the site of the event. After much searching, and with the corroboration of the Kiowa records, Sergeant I-See-O declared the site to be at the confluence of Elm Creek and the Medicine River, south of the present city of Medicine Lodge. The citizens’ committee decided to commemorate the event with a historical pageant. The colorful celebration was first presented in 1927, in the beautiful amphitheater which covers a quarter section of Kansas prairie. This arena was presented to the Peace Treaty Association by E. S. Rule of Wichita, a Barber County native. It was designated as the Memorial Peace Park.