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GUYMON DAILY HERALD
Stories from the past
All articles copyrighted by the Guymon Daily Herald. Used by
permission.
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Hermit Reveals Wild
Horse Lake History
The following article appeared in the Guymon
Daily Herald, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 1967.
The article was written by Lawrence Gibbs and Jim Rockenback.
The Massacre of Wild Horse Lake has been an oft repeated story of
early Oklahoma Panhandle history, and until now Wild Horse Lake
has been known by that name because of the wild horses which
stayed there for water and to feed on the lush grass surrounding
it.
However, information recently brought to light by Charlie
Littlejohn links the lake, located north of Straight, with Kansas
Civil War history and Quantrill's Raiders.
Littlejohn, who was 80 last Aug. 11, is affectionately known as
the "Hermit of Wild Horse Lake"
He lives alone in a small rustic cabin that his father, Aaron
Littlejohn, built soon after filing on the homestead six miles
north of Guymon.
Located several hundred feet east of State Highway 136, the
weathered woodframe cabin, which has never been painted, occupies
the west side of a small gully, and is sheltered by a number of
fruit and shade trees.
A barbed wire fence surrounds the house and yard filled with such
things as a left-handed plow, old harness, rigs, angle iron, and
other relics of an age gone by.
Time has eaten away at the cobblestone foundation, the wind has
removed a good portion of the wooden shingles, and the small
structure leans with the seasons--north in the summer and south
in the winter. The latest addition to the house was a lightning
rod installed seven years ago.
Its lone occupant is also worn and wrinkled, but Littlejohn says
he enjoys his secluded life on the prairie.
He still uses a kerosene lamp since the cabin has no gas or
electricity. He burns wood for heat and cooking.
A windmill, built in 1919, is his only water supply, and a garden
supplies most of his food in summer, if the jack rabbits don't
get to it first.
Littlejohn's eyesight is failing although he still reads without
glasses, and he has lost all his teeth, (he hopes to get some
false teeth within the next year) but his health in general is
excellent and his memory is the envy of many.
Known by many, but still unknown because he prefers it that way,
Littlejohn has a few close friends. Most of those are neighbors
or businessmen in Guymon who have made his acquaintance by
offering him rides to and from town.
Charlie gave up driving several years ago and walks to Guymon to
do his grocery shopping.
"I enjoy walking outside," he stated, and pointed to
one of his favorite hiking areas--a 22 acre piece of unbroken
land in the northwest corner of his land.
It was there that he pointed to ruts of the Houston-Seattle Wagon
Trail.
"As a youngster, I saw wagons going back and forth along
this trail. They kept east of the mountain until about Denver,
then crossed Seattle," he related.
"My pappy filed on this land Aug. 5, 1905, and mom and us
kids came here on May 22, 1906--lived here ever since that
time."
Littlejohn was born near Dover, Kan., and came to Indian
Territory by wagon and team.
He remembers the trip well, and much of what has happened since
that time.
In the course of a converstaion Littlejohn reached in his pocket
and pulled out some old relics. Fingering an Indian arrowhead, he
commented: "Indians made these by heatin' the stone then
dipping water onto the rock--water makes it chip to this
(shape)."
In his other hand he had a piece of soapstone which had been
carved square with a hole in the top.
"Know what this is?" he asked. Then without waiting for
an answer said: "It's a tallow stone, You just pour tallow
in this here hole and poke a sick in it and you light it for a
light. Burns quite a while."
On the way to old Lee Cemetery where Charlie said his mother was
buried, he pointed out the location of old Sledgeville one mile
from his cabin, "Use to be a town settlement there. Store.
School House. Voted there too--at L.W. Reed's." he related.
When asked what the precinct name was, Charlie readily answered
"Block."
Charlie, a veteran of World War I, also reminiscenced of his time
spent in service.
"Reckon there was 65 to 70 men in my outfit--all from the
Guymon area. Trained at Camp Travis with the 90th Division."
He mentioned several names of those who enlisted with him in
February of 1918.
"In the second bunch--we was the second bunch to go--there
was J. Dunham (deceased)of Hough, Frank Parks--he lives at Hooker
you know."
Littlejohn also mentioned Albert S. Johson of Ft. Hobbs, N.M.
"Albert S. Johnson was just a
lieutenant when I knowed him--we was kinda buddies. He's a
five-star general now."
Charlie was in Company C and was a flag sergeant.
Nearing the location of the old Lee Cemetery, Littlejohn craned
his neck and pointed to a patch of dry rustling Johnson grass
growing alongside the road,
"Here tis," he said.
To a passerby the cemetery would appear as a corner mud hole to
wet for cultivation.
County road crews had apparently mowed a swath of the grass
around the cemetery for driver safety at the county road
intersection, but all headstones, of which there were three or
four were hidden in tall grass and brush.
Littlejohn went directly to his mother's marked grave.
A Civil War veteran, Harvey Lee who served with Company I, 48th
Illinois Infantry, donated the land for the cemetery, and Lee,
his son, Clem Lee and Clem's wife, are the first three graves.
Littlejohn's mother's headstone read: C.E. wife of A. Littlejohn.
Born Oct. 1852; died Sept 23. 1917.
Charlie's father died in Kansas and was buried in Russell Creek
Cemetery in Craig County, Kan.
Keeping Charlie on one subject is hard, and in bringing him back
to the Wild Horse Lake story, he insisted on talking abut
Quantrill's Raiders--a band of Confederate guerrillas led by
William Clarke Quantrill during the Civil War.
By combining what Charlie had heard his pappy say and with the
use of an encyclopedia, it was learned that Quantill was born in
Ohio, he rode west with a wagon train and became a gambler at
Fort Bridge, Wyo.
He returned to Kansas in 1859, and taught school for one term. He
was accused of stealing cattle and horses and killing several
persons, but he escaped arrest.
At the start of the Civil War, Quantrill formed a band of
guerrillas. He led his men on raids against the townspeople who
favored the Union.
Quantrill's band was mustered into Confederate seervice in 1862,
but continued to operate independently. Oct. 21, 1863 he and his
men burned out the town of Lawrence, Kan., and killed about 150
people.
Frank James, Jesse James' brother, rode with the band that day.
Quantill was fatally wounded in 1865 during a raid in Kentucky.
This seemed a long way off from Wild Horse Creek, but Charlie
continued. April of 1870, what was left of the raiders--who had
been robbing and looting Kansas, chased some Indians to an area
around Wild Horse Lake.
"In order to keep Quantrill's men away, the Indians, who
were Cherokee, tied brush to a horse and set the brush afire. It
went crazy and ran around setting the countryside afire, then
jumped into the lake."
Hence the name--Wild Horse Lake.
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