Louis Kraft portrays Indian agent Ned Wynkoop onstage. (Photo by Johnny D. Boggs)

For some time Kraft has immersed himself in the life of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian agent Edward W. (“Ned”) Wynkoop. In 2002 the playwright’s one-man historical drama, An Evening with Ned Wynkoop, premiered in Kansas. He has since reworked and performed the play in California, Colorado and Oklahoma, most recently in Ned Wynkoop: Long Road to Washita as part of the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site’s 140th anniversary remembrance in December 2008. Kraft’s full-length play Cheyenne Blood, directed by Tom Eubanks, premiered in Oxnard, Calif., in April 2009.

Kraft’s nonfiction titles include Custer and the Cheyenne: George Armstrong Custer’s Winter Campaign on the Southern Plains (1995), Gatewood & Geronimo (2000) and Lt. Charles Gatewood & His Apache Wars Memoir (2005). He has also written a novel, The Final Showdown (1992). Forthcoming projects include a Wynkoop biography, Ned Wynkoop: Walking Between the Races, and a book on the Sand Creek massacre, Sand Creek: A Clash of Cultures. He’s also working on Errol & Olivia, a book that addresses the relationship between actors Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.

Kraft, who lives in North Hollywood, Calif., took a break between rehearsals, writing and research to discuss Ned Wynkoop and other subjects with Wild West.

‘If a character from history comes alive onstage, on the podium or on film, and he or she affects the audience by what they did, some may take the initiative and dig deeper’

Historian. Writer. Actor. Speaker. Playwright. Which comes first?
Writer.

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How effective a tool is drama to teach history?
This is important, oh, so important, and unfortunately the importance grows with each passing day. Fewer and fewer people read, and I hate to say it, but fewer and fewer people even know how to read. If a character from history comes alive onstage, on the podium or on film, and he or she affects the audience by what they did, some may take the initiative and dig deeper. I know this is true, for seeing people portrayed onstage and in film has jolted me to learn more. If we don’t find ways to keep our past alive (and that includes in books and articles), someday it won’t exist anymore.

Moving on to my survival as a historian/writer, performance art is one of the prime ways I obtain fans. I can almost count all my fans on my two hands. In the near future I hope to count them on my hands and feet. This is an understatement, but not by far, and I do everything I can to nurture my fans. Hopefully, they speak up once in a while and say something like, “Kraft is speaking next Thursday. Why don’t you come along? He gives his stories life.” Yes, I am optimistic.

Why have many historians overlooked Ned Wynkoop?
He is ignored by historians who only read what has already been published—a sentence here, a paragraph or two there. Like Lieutenant Charles Gatewood, 6th U.S. Cavalry, he, for well over a century, has been a footnote in history or relegated to the circular file. The reason is simple: Edward W. Wynkoop lived his life on the frontier his way. And, like Charlie Gatewood, he had a conscience and refused to accept the views of his times, the 1860s. This placed him at odds with the settlers, the press, the military, the government and even the Indians he worked with. Wynkoop’s stance during the 1860s Indian wars on the central and southern Plains turned him into a pariah. He dared to speak up against everything he thought was wrong.

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