THE STORY OF
CHIEF BENITO ALTAHA GRAY HORSE
By Marcus Phillips and Sandra Long

With the coming of white settlers in the early 1800s, Hot Springs [Manataka], which had been a Mecca to Amerindians since before the dawn of history, changed forever.  The hunting grounds were overrun by the newcomers, and the Valley of the Vapors became a reservation controlled by the "Great White Father" in a place called Washington.  The tribes that had lived nearby journeyed westward to other lands, but the Place of the Healing Waters [Nowasalon] was embedded in the collective mind of the Native Americans, whose ancestral legends told of its magic and beauty.

As the years went by, Indians remembered and continued to visit the springs, sometimes coming in groups to camp in Gulpha Gorge or other outlying areas.  One notable Choctaw Chief, Louis LeFlor, visited Hot Springs and died here in the early 1830s.  With the discovery of oil on western Indian lands, many, especially the Osage, became affluent and were able to make frequent visits to the spa as tourists.  During the 1920s and 30s, elegantly dressed groups of Quapaw, who had profited from lead and zinc mines, arrived in limousines to enjoy the "good life."

A number of Native Americans even returned to make their homes in the area.  The most memorable of these later residents was Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse, a member of the Chiricahau Apache tribe, who made an important contribution to the Resort City as a reminder of its rich Indian heritage.  During the colorful period of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the Chief was in great demand among various civic organizations as a speaker on Indian history and culture.  Having fought against the United States Calvary, he was an authority on Indian wars.  Wearing colorful regalia, he led or participated in many of the city's parades and often visited in the schools to play his harmonica for the children and to tell Indian stories and talk about the merits of education.

During the 1920s, the Hot Springs Business Men's League was eager to promote the early history of the area by restoring some of the Indian trails as tourist attractions.  After the Boy Scouts places markers along these trails, hiking clubs and riding academies were formed.  A trail guide was published, and guides were employed to lead tour groups along the sometimes lengthy routes.

Chief Gray Horse became the most colorful of these guides.  He laid out a favorite trail, which made a loop leaving town through the Red Fox Pass, circling through the North Wildwoods, and returning through Bonanza Gorge.  On the way out, he would stop at a farmhouse in the morning to inform the lady of the house, Mrs. Susie Terry, of the number of riders he was leading in the group and to make arrangements for her to have their dinner prepared when they returned.  Along the way, Chief Gray Horse, who was a cultivated and highly educated man, demonstrated his many talents by discussing the points of interest along the trail, telling stories, and explaining Indian lore.  [One of the legends he told is included on these pages - see "The Legend of the Twin Springs"]

In later years, the Chief established his home in Gulpha Gorge where he lived, Apache style, in a tent.  Sightseeing buses used to stop there, and Chief Gray Horse would come out to thrill the tourists by telling an Indian story or reciting one of his many poems.  As the site of the Chief's original tent, just west of the National Park campground, a teepee was constructed in his memory.  This memorial, which was on private property, could be seen from the road… [The memorial was torn down and the property is now controlled by the U.S. Park Service.]

With the death of Chief Gray Horse in 1945, Hot Springs lost one of the most colorful and influential characters to live in the community during the twentieth century.  The following obituary, which was printed in several Arkansas newspapers at the time, provides a brief history of his remarkable life:

Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse, 95, for the past 18 years a colorful figure on the streets of Hot Springs, died yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock at the Salvation Army.  He had been in ill health for the past four months.

He was a familiar character to both residents and visitors, with his long braided hair and his easy manner, and true to Indian code, he was a great lover of nature.  He wrote poetry and was an accomplished musician, performing for local civic clubs on several occasions in years past.

Born in Arizona on January 3, 1850, Chief Gray Horse served with the noted Apache Chief Geronimo from the time he was 19 years old to his 36th year.  At Fort Marion, Florida he was selected scoutmaster of a group of Indian boys and sent to Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, where he became patron of the boy's dormitory.  He began to study at Carlisle and learned to read and write.  He later won a four-year scholarship offered to the Quakers and attended school in Germany, specializing in medicine.  While in Germany, he was forced to serve one year in the German Army, relatives said.

For six years following graduation, he practiced medicine in Cuba and served in the Army during the Spanish-American War. 

From Cuba, he went to Galveston, Texas, where his first wife and two children were drowned in the Galveston flood.  His only surviving son, who was with him at a Dallas fair at the time, served in aviation and was killed during World War I.

By natural instinct, he was a linguist, speaking from five to seven languages; among them Cuban, Mexican, Apache, German, and English. 

His second wife, Louise Henrietta Gray Horse, resides in Hot Springs.  They have three children; one son, Benito Geronimo Gray Horse, and two daughters, Teewahnee and Napanee Gray Horse, all of Hot Springs.

Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the Gross Chapel, with the Rev. Jesse Reed, pastor of Park Place Baptist Church, officiating.  Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery.  The Chief will be buried in his Indian regalia.

Credits: The Story of Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse by Sandra Long and Marcus Phillips are from the  "Indian Folklore Atlas of Hot Springs National Park" (1994).   

Indian Folklore Atlas of Hot Springs National Park

by Marcus Phillips and Sandra Long 

The Valley of the Vapors, Manataka -- The Place of Peace was never told as well before this excellent resource guide was written.  Well researched with dozens of references, this book contains the colorful history of Hot Springs and Indian legends of this sacred site. The Indian Folk Lore Atlas also serves as a tour guide with seven individual walking tours designed to take the visitor back in time to the actual locations where history was made.  This book is endorsed by the American Indian Center of Arkansas, the City of Hot Springs and the Garland County Historical Society.  Experts of the Caddo, Quapaw and Cherokee nations consulted on this book. A wonderful addition to any library.  Great for the coffee table. Dozens of maps and illustrations. 195 pp. Soft Cover.  $37.95 

An aura of tomahawk truth surrounded Chief Gray Horse who wagoned his way across mountains and plains to Man-A-Ta-Ka, Valley of Peace.

His path had been long; and now he who came from where the sun-ball drowns, sought peace in our valley.  Indian tribes had long traveled to healing Hot Springs waters where, regardless of tongue, they laid their weapons down to smoke pipes-of-peace.  And here  Chief Gray Horse, an Apache,  became a part of our hearts.

Solid as a sequoia, though nearly seventy, he became a ready-and-able public-spirited part of our valley.  Quick as a pine knot, this multi-talented man with thick jet-black braids and slow even ways, lit a flame that fed fresh friendships and gentle trust.

While traveling with a medicine show, he met his young wife, Princess Napanee. They drove his Model T across a pontoon bridge at  Dardanelle; and often laughed about "Doodle-de-do" playing all night their first night together. Teewahnee (buttercup), their first child, was born in Malvern; Benito Geronimo was born in Eureka Springs; and Napanee (water lily) was born in Hot Springs.

Their colorful teepee off Gulpha Gorge became a tourist stop.  Often Chief Gray Horse boarded the bus to recite a poem.  Asked why he lived in this primitive way, he would say,  "An Indian is an Indian."

He charmed civic clubs and schools by playing his harmonica, reciting original Indian poetry, demonstrating Indian artifacts and telling Indian legends and stories.  We listened. Bit by bit, we fit together fragments of his memories.

Because Apaches could not read the smoke of paleface campfires, his father Cochise, chief of the Chiricahua Band and four other bands were caged in reservations.  Gray Horse, brother to sunshine and storm,  brother to buffalo and deer, fought with Geronimo from age seventeen until his thirty-sixth year.

But vain was the terror of war whoops. His ancestors, who had seen other people rise tall - - and fall, now fell as flowers of thistle poppies on desert land.  When asked why he fought against USA,  he would say, "An Indian is an Indian."

Swift as an arrow his life catapulted from Indian to White Man culture.  In one of his poems he said,

He became a doctor, then a lawyer, this Indian Chief who spoke five tongues.  This educated gentleman and accomplished musician, now no longer young, and tired of it all, joined a Wild West Show and, billed as The Apache Kid, performed a sharp-shooting act.

Here in the land of pine and hardwoods, following old moccasined trails, Chief Gray Horse aided by Boy Scouts, helped re-open eleven walking and riding trails which led to the Hot Springs.  He acted  as guide on the Gray Horse Route which went across Sugarloaf Mountain and out  Wildcat Road.

This man of many moons who left his shadow on our trails and on our hearts, was laid to rest in full Apache regalia. "An Indian is an Indian," we said.

But oh, I wish I had run and jumped on his horse the day he led our National Park Centennial Parade. I wish I had touched his braids.

by Takatoka

INTRODUCTION

During our first journey to Manataka back in 1955, we knew very little about this sacred place and its secrets.   During the next 50-odd years, we learned many things about this special place on earth, but even after a half-century, the origin and meaning of the word "Manataka" did not present itself as an important issue -- until now.

It was Apache Grandmother Napanee Henrietta Gray Horse who came to Manataka (Hot Springs) in 1927 at age 14 that first told this writer that the name of this these sacred grounds was Manataka.   

Napanee was the young wife of Chiricahua Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse. She made her home with Benito in Gulpha Gorge at the foot of the great Manataka mountain until sometime after he stepped  over the stream of life in 1945.  Napanee then built a small shack on the mountain off Sleepy Valley Road and that is where we met years later when she was wore white hair and was bent with age.    

While among dominant society, Napanee did not use her English first name "Louise" but preferred her middle name, Henrietta that she pronounced it Eh-ni-eeta.   Over a period of several years, Napanee told us many stories about her life with Benito and things she had learned from him, other Indians and spiritual elders who often came to pray at the sacred mountain.

Our first discussion about the name of the sacred Valley of the Vapors, began with the words she used to describe water.  We found it curious that she referred to the hot springs that flowed on the other side of the mountain as No-waa-sal-on - Breath of Healing and also called the cold-water stream that flowed in front of her home by the same name.  At the time we thought the name Nowaasalon was a fitting name for the hot waters because the meaning of the word obviously referred to the vapors that escaped from the hot springs -- but the cold water stream emitted no steam -- or Breath of Healing.  

As usual, it seemed like an eternity before she answered our question.  We learned it was best to remain patient and respectful while waiting for an answer, even though this wise elder sometimes did not respond to my incessant questions for weeks.  After staring into my eyes for several minutes she responded, "...One of the seven waters of this [cold- water] stream comes from a place of great healing within the Earth Mother...  The other waters [hot springs] heal the body, but these waters heal the spirit," she said.  After a lengthy discussion over a period of several days about how the waters heal the body and spirit, Napanee spoke about the names of other places around the area.  

Napanee Louise Henrietta Gray Horse was one of our teachers and guides. 

PART 1

Inconsistencies exist about the life of Benito Gray Horse related by the  accounts of Marcus Phillips and Sandra Long in the "Story of Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse" and the award winning poem, "An Indian is an Indian" by Verna Lee Hindgardner.  Other inconsistencies exist among files located at the Garland County Historical Society.   

Some variations in these stories seem trivial in substance, and others omit vital information necessary to understand the depth and breadth of the man called 'Chief' Gray Horse.   

For example, his newspaper obituary omits the fact that Gray Horse served in the Cuban Army as a medical doctor during the Spanish-American War - not the U.S. Army, while not said, it is inferred.  The obituary mentions he spoke seven languages but only mentions five.  The other two were French and German. 

It is reported that Gray Horse's second wife bore three children.  This is not correct.  The first child born to the couple died of pneumonia at an early age and is buried in Gulpha Gorge.  According to Napanee Henrietta, their second child, Teewahnee was born in a home of a friend in Malvern because a Hot Springs hospital refused to admit her.

Another erroneous report says Gray Horse was the son of Cochise. Cochise had two sons, Taza and Naiche and two daughters by another marriage.  

Gray Horse was not a Chief.   The term 'chief' was applied to Gray Horse only after he settled in Hot Springs and was never conferred upon him by the Apache tribe.

Gray Horse did not become a doctor first, then a lawyer.  Just the opposite is true.  He first became a lawyer, then a doctor.

The most glaring omissions concerns his life prior to his arrival at Manataka.  Did he escape the reservation as reported or was he taken capture and later released? What paths did he travel to become a lawyer, doctor, poet and lecturer? Why did he go to Europe and what were his adventures there?  Why did he settle in Hot Springs in 1927?  

It is necessary to tell the 'rest of the story' because of these and other inconsistencies in stories about Benito Gray Horse.  It is even more important to report to relate his life story before his arrival in Hot Springs. 

LIFE AT HOT SPRINGS

After moving to the Gulpha Gorge area of Hot Springs in the early 1980s to within sight of the old Gray Horse home place, this writer was privileged to have lengthy conversations over the course of several years with a bent, gray-haired woman in her late seventies named Louise Henrietta Gray Horse, Benito's second wife of nearly three decades. 

She liked to be called by her middle name and detested anyone who referred to her as "Princess Napanee". 

After Gray Horse died, Henrietta lost the property in Gulpha Gorge. Henrietta did not speak much about of the loss, but only looked away and grunted when asked about the old home place where Benito constructed a hogan and fire circle.  Later, the Butkus family of Cicero, Illinois built a summer home on the property.  Several years later, Mr. Butkus had a concrete memorial teepee built behind their home to honor Gray Horse.  During the 1930s and 40s, Mr. Butkus was a business manager for the Teamsters Union in Chicago and Salmone Butkus, his wife, owned a funeral home in Cicero.     

Henrietta built a small shack deep in the forest not far from the old home place.  It was accessible only by a few well-hidden paths.  Henrietta did not want visitors and discouraged anyone from finding her nest by selectively using different paths according to the time of the year or weather.  During winter, she took a path covered with rock slabs so as not to leave a trail on soft ground.  In the summer, she traveled several paths, allowing broken grass to grow back before she went that way again.  Even neighbors who lived within a quarter mile of her home for many years never knew of the hideaway.   She came and went either in the very early morning hours or in the dark of night.

Henrietta says that her husband was very wealthy before moving to Hot Springs in 1921 (reports say, 1927).  "Benito was an educated man who loved people and all creation."   Mrs. Gray Horse was sad as she recalled the early years when local people were often abusive and called them 'dirty' or 'dumb' Indians.  It was only after someone discovered that Gray Horse may have been wealthy that the locals began to show respect.   She recalled times when she was harassed by boys when she went in to town for supplies.   Some merchants refused to sell to her.  In those days, she did not speak English well compounding their problems.  

Twice, their hogan was burned down and their home was plundered many times as her husband was gone and she was foraging in the surrounding woods.  The first time her home was burned down was during the winter of 1929.  Napanee had given birth to her first baby inside the hogan with only Benito to assist.  The baby was barely a month old when a severe storm dumped several inches of snow and ice in the Gorge, making the dirt road to their home nearly impassable.  Napanee was returning from gathering firewood with the baby tied to her back when she first saw the smoke.  She dropped the wood in her arms and ran to the hogan, but it was too late.  A few minutes later, two government men walked into the area and one laughingly said to her, "Damn good thing you didn't burn down our forest!"  Then the other said, "Yeah, we would have to arrest you then."  It was several hours later when Benito came home to find his wife in tears, nearly frozen.  He attempted for several hours to start a fire from wood wet with ice.  Finally, he gave up and built his family a quick lean-to to get out of the cold wind.  Their tiny baby caught pneumonia and died about a week later.  

Over 50 years later, Henrietta still blamed the two government men with burning down the Gray Horse home and the death of her baby.   

To supplement their limited income, Henrietta made craft items made from materials gathered from the nearby forest.  She spread blankets under a large tree near the road and sold her handiwork to tourists.  Shortly after Gray Horse died and the loss of their land, she stopped selling crafts in public.

Louise Henrietta Gray Horse was a sad, lonely woman, but a tiny smile cracked her dried lips and a little light came on in her eyes as she spoke of her champion and companion. 

LIFE AS AN APACHE WARRIOR

According to Henrietta, Benito's life as an Apache warrior ended when he was captured by the U.S. Calvary and kept in an open stockade for many weeks without much food or water.  Soldiers often stabbed bayonets through open slats in the wall piercing his body.  He scooped dirt on the wounds to stop the bleeding.  He carried the scars from those attacks the rest of his life.  Gray Horse, along with others from his Band were then moved far away from their land of birth to a 'reeducation' camp in Florida.  While there, Benito won favor among army officers by quickly learning to speak English and encouraging younger warriors to walk the path of peace. 

A group of Quaker's from Pennsylvania were visiting Indian prisoner-of-war camps all over the country when they met Benito.  They liked the intelligent, good-looking Apache and decided to offer him an opportunity for an education in Pennsylvania. While at Carlisle Indian School, Gray Horse decided to become a lawyer because he felt that white man's law could be used to help his people. He worked hard learning to read and write and earned a scholarship to attend college from the Quakers.

It is said, although not confirmed, that Benito earned a degree in law at Harvard University with the sponsorship of the Quakers.   Immediately after graduation, he traveled back to Apache country to lend assistance to his people.   The Apaches did not know him.  He had changed and become 'too white' during his long absence.  They rejected him and any assistance he might give.  The people had changed too.  They were no long a proud and independent people and they were living like dogs.  

Gray Horse attempted to find employment as an attorney in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas but found the task impossible.  No one took him seriously.   The dominant white culture did not want an Indian lawyer.  Rejection by his people and white communities would mark him for many years to come.

Gray Horse wandered around the southwest doing odd jobs to stay alive  but soon his fortune turned when he began to use his skills of communication.   He used his language skills to become a successful trader between Mexico and the United States. His success as a trader grew due in no small part by the fact that he spoke English,  Spanish and several Indian languages.   

He established business links in many southwest cities and made his home near the seaside port of Galveston, Texas.   There he acquired storage facilities to handle growing stocks of imported and domestic goods and purchased a small home.   Still, life was not easy for Benito as discrimination against Indians was at an all time high.   Regardless of frequent set-backs and racial attacks, Gray Horse was admired by many and his fortune began to grow.

With his career and security established,  Gray Horse met and married a lovely white woman (name unknown).  Soon the couple had two sons and they purchased a larger home at Galveston Bay near the warehouse district.   For the first time in many years, Benito had a family of his own. 

All this ended when Gray Horse was on a business trip to Dallas.  In 1885 Great Fire of Galveston took the life of his wife and youngest son.  His home and warehouses burned to the ground.  Again, Benito was left alone.

He wandered the country for many years before finally coming to grips with the reality of his situation.   He could not practice law because no one wanted to hire an Indian lawyer.  He was in debt and could not restart his trading business.   He could not return to his people and did not feel comfortable living in the city.    Finally, he made a very important decision.  

When faced with adversity, Benito went inside himself to face his most difficult fears and discover the strength and curiosity that had always driven him to success in the past.   He decided to go to Europe to discover the roots of the people who invaded his country and took away all that he knew.   

Benito found life in Europe in the 1890's even more difficult and hostile than the American Southwest.   People were either very rich or very poor.  They lived either on beautiful estates or in the squalor of the inner cities or in hovels in the countryside.   The seemed rigid, harsh, and unforgiving.   He saw the majority of people lived in cramped, dirty conditions.  Plagues of sickness were not uncommon.   People confronted him as if he were a rare caged animal in a zoo, or they were more resentful and bigoted than their cousins in America.    

Regardless of these conditions, he studied their languages, history and sciences.  He attended many seminars and open meetings as he worked at a variety of odd jobs.    After a time, Benito became restless and wanted to do something about human misery he saw around him.   It was during this time he decided to study medicine.  "I wanted to become a healer man," Benito said years later.   

Gray Horse studied long hours in the evening as he labored at menial jobs during the day.   It is rumored that he was given an apprenticeship by a London physician and later under the sponsorship of his old friends, the Quakers in Pennsylvania, he was accepted by the medical college at Eaton and graduated a Rhodes Scholar in 1896.   Benito applied his knowledge of Indian herbal medicine and experiences as a warrior to his new profession. 

Unfortunately, two years of receiving his medical degree, Gray Horse was wandering around Europe still doing odd jobs to keep himself alive.   Europeans did not want an Indian witch doctor.   In February, 1898, while in Spain, the Spanish American War broke out in Cuba and he enlisted in the Spanish Army as a doctor.   

 (TO BE CONTINUED)

Credits: The Story of Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse by Sandra Long and Marcus Phillips and the poem, "An Indian is an Indian" by Verna Lee Hinegardner are from the  "Indian Folklore Atlas of Hot Springs National Park" (1994).   

Indian Folklore Atlas of Hot Springs National Park

by Marcus Phillips and Sandra Long 

The Valley of the Vapors, Manataka -- The Place of Peace was never told as well before this excellent resource guide was written.  Well researched with dozens of references, this book contains the colorful history of Hot Springs and Indian legends of this sacred site. The Indian Folk Lore Atlas also serves as a tour guide with seven individual walking tours designed to take the visitor back in time to the actual locations where history was made.  This book is endorsed by the American Indian Center of Arkansas, the City of Hot Springs and the Garland County Historical Society.  Experts of the Caddo, Quapaw and Cherokee nations consulted on this book. A wonderful addition to any library.  Great for the coffee table. Dozens of maps and illustrations. 195 pp. Soft Cover.  $37.95