To mark Native American Heritage Month, the National Park Service, Flagler College, UCF, and tribal partners held two days of free public events honoring the Plains Indian warriors imprisoned at Fort Marion between 1875 and 1878, some of whom died in St. Augustine. The first gathering, in 2022, came out of a five-year partnership between the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the National Park Service, and Flagler College. In 2023 the partnership grew to include the Kiowa Tribe, the Comanche Nation, and the Caddo Nation, all of whom traveled from Oklahoma. Flagler College hosted, with support from the University of Central Florida, the Florida National Guard, and the National Parks Foundation.
Sessions at Flagler College’s Ringhaver Student Center opened with a prayer, welcome remarks, and greetings from the leaders of the Kiowa, Caddo, and Comanche nations. Talks covered the Cheyenne and Arapaho “Lost Warriors” of Fort Marion, the St. Augustine burials of the Plains warriors and how to teach that difficult history, healing, and rewriting the history of the Cheyenne warriors. Contemporary Native artists discussed ledger drawings in a panel. In a series of “In Their Own Words” sessions, descendants of Fort Marion prisoners, among them Gray Beard, Roman Nose, Mah-mante, Pile of Rocks, Poor Seat, and Prominent Man, spoke from the Kiowa, Cheyenne and Arapaho, Comanche, and Caddo nations. After a closing roundtable with tribal representatives, the gathering ended with a ceremony at the Castillo de San Marcos (historic Fort Marion) honoring those who had been imprisoned there.
Project Team
Project Lead
Contributors
