The Indian Agency at Fort Larned

Indian Agent Edward Wynkoop rented this building to use as his office.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Larned, KS

Amenities

2 listed

Cellular Signal, Wheelchair Accessible

12 - The Indian Agency at Fort Larned

 

From 1862 to 1868 Fort Larned served as an Indian Agency for the Indian Bureau. Agencies were set up as part of a formal relationship when the U.S. government signed a treaty with an Indian tribe. In exchange for their land the government promised them goods, food and annuities. Indian Agents maintained a relationship with the tribes to coordinate the distribution of those goods, as well as to make sure they were following the terms of the treaty.

Agents were assigned regionally and usually located in communities or forts close to the tribes they were responsible for. Noted Indian Bureau agents Edward W. Wynkoop and Jesse Leavenworth were among those who served the tribes from Fort Larned. Edward Wynkoop rented the sutler's quarters at the original post sutler's complex to serve as his office. 

The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche and Plains Apache were assigned to the agency here. The annuity goods they received from the government were most often distributed in the Autumn. For the years that Fort Larned served as an agency for the Indian Bureau, post residents watched in fascination as the scattered bands of these Plains Indian tribes assembled at the fort. Pitching their tipis on nearby prairie, the tribes settled in to locate their friends and kin among their neighbors, to trade, and to await distribution of their annuities.

Annuities included staples like bacon, wheat flour, coffee, sugar, fresh beef, and tobacco. Usually clothing, beads, blankets, metal tools and cooking utensils, gunpowder, and lead for bullets were also provided. The annuity system was designed to pacify and transform roaming tribes of warlike Indians into sedentary, peaceful farmers. But they were reluctant to give up their traditional way of life and continued to fight against the U.S. government’s attempts to place them on reservations.