As the last of the famous Kiowa scout detachment, I-See-O was one of the greatest Indian peacemakers in early Oklahoma history.

In 1891, Secretary of War Redfield Proctor authorized the enlistment of all-Indian units. Troop L, 7th Cavalry, was entirely wiped out at the Battle of the Little Bighorn under Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer in 1876. Ironically, it was reconstituted at Fort Sill in 1891 as an all-Indian troop. It was composed mainly of Kiowas, Apaches, some Comanches, and a few Cheyennes and Arapahos. Although usually referred to as scouts, the soldiers of Troop L were actually enlisted regular cavalry in a noncombat era. While their duty involved no combat action, Troop L provided valuable service to Fort Sill and the army. Members policed the reservation for trespassers, land squatters, illegal cattle rangers, timber thieves, whiskey peddlers, and any outsiders infringing on the reservation and its resources. Troop L provided mounted escorts for payroll wagons and supply trains against criminal elements and over saw cattle drives that crossed Indian lands from Texas to the north; and to help maintain peace on the reservation. Tahbonemah, who was then 42-years-old, wanted to enlist. In addition to his pre-reservation warfare experience, he had served 54 months on the police force at the Kiowa, Comanche, and Wichita Agency between 1881 and 1885. Tahbonemah reported his age as 29 and enlisted under the name of I-See-O after his famous uncle and older brother. By the time Troop L was formed Lieutenant Hugh L. Scott and I-See-O were already well acquainted and had developed a friendship. They met when Scott was reassigned to Fort Sill in Indian Territory in July 1889. Scott had used I-See-O's service as a horse wrangler, guide, and general aide and, perhaps more importantly, in monitoring the Ghost Dance and several other tense situations. The Indians were surprised to meet an Anglo so adept at sign language, which Scott had learned from time spent with Northern Plains Indians. Scott's greatest achievements came in the camps and lodges of the Indian peoples and not on the battlefield. His unique skill in sign language and skills as a diplomat allowed him to make and maintain peace with their former enemy, rather than through combat. Scott also began to advocate on behalf of Indian rights, treatment and physical welfare.

I-See-O taught Scott the Southern Plains variations of sign language as well as much specific ethnological information pertaining to the Kiowas.

As Scott noted, "I-see-o [sic] instructed me in the lore of the Plains during nine years of almost daily converse in the sign language, as he knew no English and never learned to speak it … Nothing was ever told me as fact that would not be recognized as genuine by the majority of the tribe … And he never told me anything that did not afterward prove to be absolutely true." Scott's interest in Plains Indian Sign Language continued throughout his life. This allowed him to enter almost any group of Indians of the plains and quickly befriend them. Beyond the mere novelty of a white man who knew the system, Scott had respect for the Indians of the plains and their cultures, which communicated beyond any verbal or sign system. In time I-See-O's service expanded to include seeking out ethnographic information on a wide array of subjects, both by interviewing elders and conveying information to Scott by arranging meetings between Scott and highly respected elder men of the tribe.

I-See-O, Scott and other Indians opposed any additional reduction of the KCA Reservation, pointing out the poverty of the Cheyennes and Arapahos, who had recently negotiated the sale of their surplus reservation lands. He testified before the Jerome Commission in 1892 and summarized the feeling of many Indians: "Mother earth is something that we Indians love. We do not know what to do about selling our mother to the Government. That makes us scared."

Ultimately he relented and when he signed in support of the agreement, he was verbally disrespected for the first time by a nephew. The forced assignment of 160-acre allotments and sale of excess reservation lands to non-Indians inevitably led the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches to the exact poverty that I-See-O, Scott and others had foreseen. Although there is some indication that not all Indians viewed I-See-O's later interactions with non-Indians favorably, he ultimately earned their respect for his tenure in the army and the service he provided during the reservation era and after.

I-See-O's work was always of the quiet kind. His services have never been measured by heroism in the face of hostile fire, nor by the prowess of his rifle or pistol, but by the struggles that he averted …

He was usually the intermediary; the man who was Indian at heart, but well aware of the power of the American soldier and the futility of struggle when the same ends could be obtained in a peaceful manner. Wherever I-See-O appeared bloodshed and struggle were conspicuously absent. In 1890, when the Ghost Dance craze spread among the Indians, a craze that threatened to light the embers of hate that had been dormant in the hearts of many Indians, it was Lieutenant Hugh L. Scott and I-See-O who prevented the Kiowas and Apaches from following the example of the Sioux to the north. Scott and I-See-O went together wherever the excitement was greatest; sometimes in the Wichita Mountains, sometimes in the Caddo country, or sometimes 150 miles up the Washita. Between them they pulled the southern Indians through that period without the firing of a single shot.

Never to be retired on account of age, never to be reduced in rank …

By 1913, I-See-O had become old in the service. He could no longer live by the sweat of his brow. He was stunned by the complexities of modern economic life, was unable to render to the country he had served so well any further aid and seemed destined to end his days in poverty. It was then that his old commanding officer and loyal friend, not Lieutenant Scott now, but Major General Scott, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, who came to his assistance. He had heard about I-See-O's difficulties and made a personal appeal to the Secretary of War in his behalf.

Never to be retired on account of age, never to be reduced in rank and for all the remaining years of his life to hold the rating of senior duty sergeant, United States Army. "For distinguished service as a peacemaker," has not yet appeared on the citation of a soldier, but it might well be set down on the service record of the one man in the army for whom army regulations and army routine had been thus set aside. For it was recognition of his efforts for peace, and not for gallantry on the battlefield, that an appreciative government had honored the veteran Indian Scout I-See-O. Sergeant I-See-O held a unique position in the American army. No one, not even General Pershing, himself, was afforded the privilege that was I-See-O's. When General Pershing reached his sixty-fourth birthday he was automatically retired from active service. Not so with I-See-O. As long as he lived he was a sergeant in the army on the active list, with all the pay and allowances of a non-commissioned officer of that rank. He could not be reduced in rank either, which was a privilege shared by no other soldier in the army. I-See-O was thus the oldest soldier on an active status in the Army of the United States.

In spite of what the army tried to do for I-See-O he preferred to live in the Indian way. The howling winds of the prairies which rocked even the permanent dwellings of the Fort Sill reservation held no terrors for the hardy old Indian. The army built I-See-O a comfortable little cottage and equipped it with many modern conveniences, including a range. I-See-O was pleased and gratified but the old tepee still stood on the prairie where I-See-O slept in comfort as he did thirty years ago. He still cooked his meals in the open in the old-fashioned way, and frequently showed up at one of the army mess halls for a change. His cooking range he used as a chiffonier and as for his little cottage in the woods, he found that it served a much more useful purpose as a storeroom. He refused to cut his hair, and wore it in two long braids over his shoulders. He balked at heavy shoes, preferring his moccasins instead. His sole duty in later years was showing up on payday. He was noted for generously sharing his income with his friends, who would often stay with him until his funds were depleted. However, I-See-O was never in want, for the officers and enlisted men looked after his needs, as well as his family.

"… the most impressive funeral ever accorded an Indian in the history of the United States."

I-See-O took ill in February 1927 and died of pneumonia on March 11, 1927. I-See-O's commander, Lieutenant Jesmond D. Balmer, saw that I-See-O was "given the most impressive funeral ever accorded an Indian in the history of the United States." The service was conducted by the Reverend J.L. Read and was translated into Kiowa by I-See-O's nephew George Hunt and into Comanche by White Parker, a son of Quanah Parker. Hunt gave a personal tribute to his uncle: "I do not tell you of I-See-O, you know him. His life is like a book. He has served his people and the American flag and had been thanked by President Coolidge for his services." Hunt added: "He is like a shock of corn gathered in old age."

The next day a traditional military-style funeral was held at Fort Sill Post chapel with chaplain Ralph C. Delbert officiating and George Hunt translating. Attended by all the senior officers of the post and many Kiowas and individuals from neighboring tribes, the service was concluded with the singing of a Kiowa song by the members of I-See-O's tribe. Large crowds awaited outside, unable to squeeze into the already overcrowded chapel. The flag-draped casket was transported from the chapel to the Fort Sill Cemetery on a caisson of the 1st Field Artillery. The coffin was lowered as the post flag hung at half-mast. A bugler provided by the 23rd Infantry sounded taps, and a firing squad fired a volley over the grave. As he had requested, I-See-O was buried in his military uniform with full military honors at Chieftain Knoll in the Fort Sill Military Post Cemetery. According to tribal custom, after the service numerous Indians remained behind to mourn with high-pitched keening. For many years thereafter relatives came to the grave to "cry for I-See-O" on Memorial Day.

On June 7, 1931, the Friends of the Garrison and the Lawton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution sponsored a ceremony at the old post chapel that included the unveiling of a bronze memorial tablet dedicated to I-See-O. The inscription on the tablet states:

In memory of

I-SEE-O

Sergeant, United States Army

The Last of the Fort Sill Indian Scouts

Loyal to his Race

And to the Arms of

His Country

Sources:

Through Indian Sign Language: The Fort Sill Ledgers of Hugh Lenox Scott and Iseeo 1889-1897, Edited by William C. Meadows

Chronicles of Oklahoma, "SERGEANT I-SEE-O, KIOWA INDIAN SCOUT," Volume 13, No. 3, September 1935,** **By Morris Swett

I-See-O, Troop L, 7th Cavalry, on horseback at Fort Sill guardhouse, c. 1890s. Photo #aeP1472, The Fort Sill National Historic Landmark, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Sergeant I-See-O, 1913.

Sgt I-See-O meets General John J. Pershing, 1922.

I-See-O's obituary, 12 Mar 1927.

Mar 1927 Post Cemetery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma Funeral of Sergeant Iseeo, March 1927. Photo #P3636, The Fort Sill National Landmark, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Fort Sill, Comanche County, Oklahoma, USA Inscription: Kiowa Tribe; 1st SGT Troop L; 7th Cav; And Last Indian Scout On Active Duty

Sergeant I-See-O (aka Tah-Bone-Mah)