Jeffery W. McKelroy

by Jeffery W. McKelroy

• Ghost Stories
• Spirit Photography

In the winter of 1869, Major General Philip H. Sheridan of the United States Army was leading a campaign as part of the Indian War to put a stop to raids by hostile tribes coming from inside Indian Territory. The hostiles were raiding border settlements in Kansas and Texas, stealing cattle, burning farms and sometimes killing or kidnapping the settlers in the process. Sheridan had been chosen for the job because although brutal, he was known to get the job done by any means necessary. He was a veteran of the Civil War and had been the first U.S. commander to employ a “scorched earth” policy as a tactic of war. His cavalry was instrumental in the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox.

It was in January of 1869 that the Major General plotted the layout of what was to be the southernmost frontier fort on the Southern Plains. This would be his forward operating base in the effort to gain control over the region and establish order. Prior to the opening of the territory for settlement the soldiers at the fort would not only serve as the reigning military power in the region but also as the only law enforcement. They were charged with stopping the raids by hostiles and also with protecting the non-hostile tribes from raids by other tribes and from outlaws who roamed the territory. It was a truly lawless and unforgiving land.

When Sheridan arrived, it was with a large contingent of cavalry. In all he commanded six cavalry regiments, guided by scouts “Buffalo Bill Cody, “Wild Bill” Hickock and Jack Stillwell. Most of the original stone buildings were built by the distinguished 10^th Cavalry of Buffalo Soldiers. Those buildings still surround the original Old Post Quadrangle today.

The provisional name of the fort was Camp Wichita although the local Natives called it the “Soldier House at Medicine Bluffs”. The name would later be changed to Fort Sill in honor of a West Point classmate of General Sheridan, Brigadier General Joshua W. Sill, who gave up his life in battle during the Civil War.

Not long after the fort was established, President Ulysses S. Grant, who was a close friend of Sheridan’s, approved a policy that he thought would chart a new course for peace between the Indians and the United States. The policy placed the Indian Territory under the sole authority of Quaker Indian Agents and restricted the authority of the soldiers based at Fort Sill. The soldiers were now forbidden to take any kind of punitive action against the Indians who they were charged with policing. The local Chiefs construed this as a sign of weakness, however, and were determined to exploit it. They quickly resumed their cross-border raids on settlers in Kansas and Texas.

In 1871 General William Tecumseh Sherman arrived at Fort Sill. Sherman was no less brutal than his predecessor. He is well known to have employed “scorched earth” policies that had real and lasting impacts on the citizenry of the Confederate states. The General was as intelligent as he was brutal and was regarded as a brilliant tactician.

 When Sherman took command, there had recently been an Indian raid on a wagon train that resulted in the death of several of those that were traveling with it. The General was not going to allow the perpetrators to get away with this outrage. It was common knowledge that three Kiowa Chiefs had led the raid. The Chiefs were so confident in the inability of the soldiers to do anything about it that they openly boasted of their actions. Sherman, however, took their boasting as a confession and quickly had them arrested. Not long after, several warriors endeavored to assassinate him while he was sitting on the front porch of his house on the military post but were unsuccessful.

Although General Sherman had moved to put a stop to the raids, they continued as there were no longer any buffalo to hunt and the Indians had little opportunity to graze their livestock. By June of 1874 the Kiowa, Comanche and Southern Cheyenne had stirred to full and total war. In an effort to regain control the United States Army retaliated with the Red River Campaign. It took a year for the Army to accomplish the mission which concluded with the final relocation of the Southern Plains Indians to reservations. The Comanche led by Chief Quanah Parker were the last hold outs of the struggle. They finally surrendered in June of 1875 at the fort’s Quartermaster Corral.

The end of the war with the Southern Plains Indians was not the last of the conflicts to be had between the soldiers of the fort and the local Natives. In the 1890’s there was a bloody uprising known as the Ghost Dance Uprising. Lieutenant Hugh L. Scott organized a cavalry regiment comprised of Comanche, Kiowa and Apache Indians. Trop L of the 7^th Cavalry would be credited with putting down the uprising and saving many lives. They were the last of the Indian troops in the Army and were disbanded in 1897.

The Indian war in Arizona had also proved successful and in 1894 Geronimo and over 300 of his warriors were transported to Fort Sill. They were given plots of land on which they lived in a village like setting. They grew small crops and enjoyed relative freedom. They were taught to raise cattle and taught skills such as construction. For some time, Geronimo was allowed to travel with Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show and even met President Theodore Roosevelt. Geronimo was treated very well and was only briefly locked in the post jail on a few occasions for public drunkenness. He finally died in 1909 of pneumonia and is buried on the post with his two wives.

In 1901 the last of Indian land was opened for settlement and almost overnight the city of Lawton grew up around the Fort. It is now the third largest city in Oklahoma. The frontier was disappearing but Fort Sill, ever resilient, changed its mission to fit the changing times.

The first field artillery regiment was assigned to the fort in 1902 and watched as the last cavalry regiment departed in 1907. Fort Sill would go on to serve as the home of an infantry school as well as that of several Army aviation schools and today is the headquarters of the Army field artillery.

Fort Sill houses the largest museum in the Army with 46 historic buildings in its collection which include historic homes, the post chapel and the old post jail. As well as being the repository of a wealth of Army history and the history of the taming of the West. Many say that it is also home to the ethereal presence of soldiers and Indian warriors who refuse to accept that it is time to move on.

One popular character in many ghost stories told about Fort Sill is Geronimo himself. Over the years story after story has been told about sightings of the old warrior in the old post jail. Geronimo was never really imprisoned here. Not for more than a day or so anyway and that was only for having a little too much fun with the bottle. In his old age he seemed to enjoy his celebrity and his peaceful life as a watermelon farmer. There may be the apparition of an old Indian that appears at the old jail but perhaps it is the spirit of another old warrior who spent a little more time there. Although, it is said that Geronimo had a playful sense of humor, maybe even in death, he enjoys toying with the staff and visitors.

There have been many reports of a native woman standing atop Medicine Bluffs, wrapped in a blanket as though she is protecting herself from the cold, even in the heat of the summer. Some have said that they can hear the echo of her singing. She has also been seen standing in the stream just beneath the rocks and is sometimes accompanied by a white wolf who stands very close to her side. Medicine Bluffs is a powerful and sacred place to the local Native Americans who still hold it in high regard today just as some would feel about a cathedral or other holy site. For hundreds of years the native people have brought their sick here to be healed. They have come to ask for blessings and protection before battle and seeking spiritual guidance for their lives. On foggy mornings in the spring and fall it is said that if you stand below the bluffs you can look up and see the faces of the warriors whose spirits guard the bluffs in the mist.

Soldiers and their families who live on post often describe strange and unsettling events in their homes. Constant and unexplained electrical problems such as lights that refuse to turn on and then refuse to turn off with no discernable reason, appliances that turn themselves on or radios that change stations on their own.

Many of the Military Police that have been stationed at Fort Sill have experienced inexplicable phenomenon while on duty. Not the least of these is a sense that even when they are alone, they are not alone, especially at night. There is always a feeling of being watched. One MP recounted a story of making the rounds of an empty building. While walking the halls, he could hear two people having a conversation. The voices were clear, not muffled and not whispers. The MP was certain that some bored teenage kids, living on the post had broken in. He approached the room where the voices were coming from and opened the door. As the door to the darkened room opened, he heard one of the voices say, “Wait.”.

At that moment he shined his flashlight across the entire room. Seeing nothing he flipped the overhead light switch. There was no one there and the only sound was the hum of the overhead light. All the doors and windows to the building were secured. There was no way to explain what had just happened.

The spirits of soldiers from all eras of the fort’s history have been witnessed in various locations on the post. In the officer’s club a soldier in a WWII uniform wearing the unit patch of the 45^th Infantry Division often pushes past people trying to enter the latrine. When they turn to look at the guy that just pushed them out of the way, he is gone.

Many an unruly teenager roaming the base after hours has been admonished by an MP wearing a uniform that was replaced shortly after Vietnam.

Maybe it is the long, storied history of the fort or the many soldiers from so many different wars that have spent time here that cause this place to seem to be alive with spirit activity. Whatever the reason, it is not hard to find someone at Fort Sill, Oklahoma with a ghost story.