Ft. Arbuckle

- A Poem

We have covered Indians, cowboys, outlaws, settlers, railroads, massacres and pestilence.  We will add a little culture to our rough-tough history lessons and offer a poem for your consideration.

Early in our discussion of Arbuckle Mountain history, we covered the shootout with the murderous outlaw gang, the Lee Brothers. If you remember, the Chickasaw Sheriff Jim Guy and two of the Roff brothers were killed in the shootout on May 1, 1885 in the Yellow Hills near Baum.

It should be known that Jim Guy was also considered the leading poet of the Chickasaw Nation.  In the book “Leaders and Leading Men of Indian Territory” by H.F. O’Beirne, 1891, it is noted that Guy wrote this poem shortly before his death.

Fort Arbuckle

By James Harris Guy

The day has been long and dreary;

I halt with the sitting sun

To gaze on the open world

And the work the years have done;

And a vision rises before me,

Of the past as it hath been,

And all the rolling hills have heard,

And the bright-eyed stars have seen.

Full many a thrilling story

Could the echoing rocks repeat,

And methinks I hear in the forest

The tramp of hurrying feet.

The yells of the great Comanche

Ring once more in my ear

And files of the ghostly warrior

Appear and disappear.

I see the dusky phantoms

Rise from their graves to-day,

With the war paint still upon them

As they started for the frey;

They scorned the white man’s promise

And refused to be his slaves,

But their ranks were few and feeble,

And the sun sets on their graves.

Once more from the hills above me

The painted warriors ride,

And fall upon Ft. Arbuckle

Like rocks from the mountain side;

But now the bow and the quiver

Give place to the plodding plow,

A bible, a hut, a handful of corn

And a Christian’s broken vow.

Oh, Mystical Ft. Arbuckle

The sun is falling aslant,

And a friend stands out in his doorway;

God speed thee Thomas Grant;

For thou hast ever a seat at thy board

And thy heart a place,

For him who would sing the wide world o’er

The songs of a ruined race.

Contributed by Dennis Muncrief,  February 20, 2003.