Kinzie Bates Papers: Finding
Aid
Processed by Brooke M. Black.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
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The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Overview of the Collection
Title: Kinzie Bates Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1863-1929
Bulk dates: 1874-1877
Collection Number: mssHM 60325-60354
Creator:
Bates, Kinzie, -1884.
Extent:
32 items in 1 box
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: The collection contains 32 items by or related to United States army office Kinzie Bates (died 1884), including his 1877 diary
written during his field
assignments to various Dakota Territory camps near the Black Hills during army campaigns against the Sioux and their search
for Sitting Bull and Lame Deer.
Language: English.
Access
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Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the
researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Kinzie Bates Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
Purchased from L & T Respess Books, August 18, 1998.
Biographical Note
United States Army Officer Kinzie Bates joined the 1st Michigan Infantry as a private in 1861 and saw battle during the United
States Civil War at Corinth and Vicksburg, Mississippi.
After the war he was promoted to Captain and stationed at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was transferred to
the frontier in 1869 and married Elizabeth
Chumley Bates in 1873. Bates participated in the final months of Colonel Nelson A. Miles' "Yellowstone Campaign" as a battalion
commander in the US 1st Infantry. Bates died in 1884.
Bibliography
Greene, Jerome A.
Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View.University of Oklahoma Press:Norman and London, 1993.
Greene, Jerome A.
Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877.University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln and London, 1991.
Robinson III, Charles M.
A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War.Random House: New York, 1995.
Wooster, Robert.
Nelson A. Miles and the Twilight of the Frontier Army. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln and London, 1993.
Scope and Content
The collection contains 32 items by or related to United States army office Kinzie Bates (died 1884), including his 1877 diary
written during his field
assignments to various Dakota Territory camps near the Black Hills during army campaigns against the Sioux. The collection
contains typed transcripts of all the correspondence by Kinzie Bates and his diary. Elizabeth Chumley Bates' 134 page diary,
which contains mostly blank pages,
includes a three-page chronology of Kinzie Bates' life.
The majority of correspondence in the collection was written by Bates to his wife, Elizabeth Chumley Bates, in 1874 and 1875,
during three thirty-day field assignments to
various Dakota Territory camps along the Niobrara River south of the Black Hills. His diary, made up of 48 letters written
to his wife, was written in 1877 during the army's
search for Sitting Bull and Lame Deer. The letters and journal entries record the U. S. Army campaigns during the war with
the Sioux. Bates' letters tell in great detail the
everyday hardships of military life including the separation from his wife. He also gives opinions regarding fellow officers,
including Colonel Nelson A. Miles, General William Hazen,
and his commanding officer Major Henry Lazelle. Bates gives detailed descriptions of the scenery, game and people he encountered
on his marches, as well as his experience with several
groups of Indians including the Yankton Sioux and the Brul Indians. Bates often mentions Sitting Bull's current location and
the army's newest strategy to catch him.
The collection also contains a photograph of Kinzie Bates from late in his military career, and his obituary from the
Detroit Free Press.
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
The collection is broadly arranged chronologically.
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Bates, Kinzie, -1884.
Hazen, William Babcock, 1830-1887.
Lazelle, H. M. (Henry Martyn), 1832-1917.
Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839-1925.
Sitting Bull, 1831-1890.
United States. Army. Infantry -- History.
United States. Army -- Military life.
Brulé Indians.
Black Hills War, 1876-1877.
Indians of North America -- North Dakota.
Indians of North America -- South Dakota.
Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1866-1895.
Indians of North America -- Wyoming.
Indians of North America -- Montana.
Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.)
Fort Buford (N.D.)
Fort Peck (Mont.)
Fort Randall (S.D.)
Niobrara River (Wyo. and Neb.)
Powder River (Wyo. and Mont.)
Tongue River Cantonment (Mont.)
Yellowstone River Valley.
Forms/Genres
Diaries -- West (U.S.)
Letters (correspondence) -- West (U.S.)
Alternate Authors
Bates, Elizabeth Chumley, correspondent.
Indexing: Subjects
Brulé, Indians –
1874, July 14–15. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60330.
1874, July 18. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60332.
1874, July 24. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60333.
Cheyenne Indians –
1877, June 29–July 9. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60348 (10).
Dakota Indians –
1874, July 13. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60329.
1875, May 9. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60337.
1875, May 21. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60340.
1877, June 9–27. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (9).
1877, June 29–July 9. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (10).
Hazen, William Babcock, 1830–1887 –
[1877], May 10–11. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (3).
Lazelle, Henry Martyn, 1832– –
1877, June 9–27. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (9).
Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839–1925 –
[1877], May 10–11. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (3).
1877, May 19–22. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (5).
1877, May 23–30. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (6).
1877, June 5–7. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (8).
1877, June 9–27. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (9).
Powder River (Wyo. and Mont.) –
1877, June 9–27. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (9).
Sitting Bull, 1834?–1890
[1877], May 7–10. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (2).
[1877], May 10–11. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (3).
1877, May 19–22. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (5).
[1877]. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.HM 60349.
1877, June 29–July 9. Kinzie Bates, d. 1884, diary.HM 60348 (10).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.
1874, June 9 HM 60324
Unknown author. Letter to Kinzie Bates.
1874, June 15 HM 60326
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. 16 letters to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.
1874-1875 HM 60327-60342.
Bates, Winnie. Letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.
1875, Sep. 14 HM 60343
Scope and Content Note
Last page of letter has a note written to Elizabeth Chumley Bates by Kinzie Bates, d. 1884.
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. 4 letters to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.
1875 HM 60344-60347.
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, May 5 HM 60348 (1).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, May 7-10 HM 60348 (2).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, May 10-11 HM 60348 (3).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, May 13-18 HM 60348 (4).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, May 19-22 HM 60348 (5).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, May 23-28 HM 60348 (6).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, June 2 HM 60348 (7).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, June 5 HM 60348 (8).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, June 9-26 HM 60348 (9).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Diary.
1877, June 29-July 9 HM 60348 (10).
Bates, Kinzie, -1884. Fragment of letter to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.
1877 HM 60349.
Bates, Clara. 2 letters to Elizabeth Chumley Bates.
1906-1912 HM 60350-60351.
Photograph of Sarah Flint.
1863 HM 60352.
Photograph of Kinzie Bates.
Approximately 1880 HM 60353.
Ephemera. 2 items.
1874-1884
Scope and Content Note
Includes: Fragment of letter and obituary for Kinzie Bates.
Bates, Elizabeth Chumley. Diary.
1912-1929 HM 60354.
