August 25, 1868; Kiowa, Colorado: The Indian uprising of 1868 hit eastern Colorado and western Kansas hard. Gen. Philip Sheridan reported that from August through October, seventy-nine civilians were killed and nine were wounded, along with six soldiers killed and ten wounded. As was usually the case, settlers bore the brunt of the Indians' animosity, which seemed to target isolated settlements and civilians least able to defend themselves.
A particularly tragic incident occurred along Comanche Creek, Colorado Territory, several miles southeast of present-day Kiowa. About forty settlers lived in the valleys along Kiowa and Comanche Creeks. Two days before the episode, Apollinaris Dietemann and his business partner, Anton Schindelholz, went to Denver to buy supplies and obtain a marriage license for Schindelholz and his sweetheart, Dietemann's sister Maria. On their way back on 25 August, as the two men neared home, Indians, mostly Arapahos who had been raiding earlier in the vicinity of Colorado City (Colorado Springs), appeared on Comanche Creek. Dietemann's ranch hands had seen the Indians early that morning and warned the folks at the house.
Fleeing the house, the Dietemanns thought it best to head up the creek to their nearest neighbors rather than toward Kiowa Station, near where the Indians had been seen. Thirty-one-year-old Henrietta Dietemann took several thousand dollars, $400 of it in gold. About 10 a.m., the family had gone about four miles when Indians suddenly appeared and cut off Henrietta, who was lagging behind. Maria and ranch hand Benedict Marki were carrying Henrietta's three-year-old daughter, Henrietta, and five-year-old son, John. When the Indians grabbed his mother, little John pulled free and ran back to her. A warrior seized him, broke his neck, and shot him full of arrows. While the Indians struggled with the elder Henrietta on the ground, the fleeing settlers realized that their only chance was to change course and head northwest to the Kiowa settlement. They got away, but Henrietta was raped, shot in the right shoulder, clubbed in the face, scalped, and mutilated.
When Apollinaris Dietemann and Anton Schindelholz reached Running Creek Station, several miles west of Kiowa, the news of the raid had already arrived. They unhitched their wagon and rode to Kiowa, where they joined a dozen men who were gathering a search-and-rescue party. They soon found the bodies of Henrietta and her son, but the raiders were gone. The Indians had also raided at least seven other ranches in the area, stealing many horses in the process.
The settlers took the bodies of Henrietta and John to Denver and set them up for public viewing. The exhibition stirred up a major uproar in the region. Acting Colorado governor Frank Hall telegraphed army authorities on 27 August with an urgent message: "The Arapahoes are killing settlers, destroying ranches in all directions. For God's sake, give me authority to take soldiers from Fort Reynolds. The people are arming, and will not be restrained."
