CHAPTER XL

Custer's report, which was directed to the military headquarters at St. Paul, was given to the press on the evening of the 12th day of August. To appreciate the interest which it excited, the general condition of the period must be taken into account. Less than one year previous that black Friday of 1873 had fallen upon the country, bringing to thousands and tens of thousands of families, the end of the world, so far as their financial hopes were concerned. It may be said that the American people were throughout the land in the depth of despondency, even at the point of despair. For a year they had not even dared to hope, but in a moment a new prospect had been opened to them. The magic of gold in a locality not difficult of access, in a section possessing every element attractive to the emigrant, was heralded throughout the despairing homes of the east and everywhere active preparations were made to at once, by hook or crook, reach the Eldorado. Two lines of access were at once presented, one by way of the Union Pacific railroad to Sidney, Nebraska, thence overland to the Hills; the other by the Missouri River to Fort Pierre and thence overland. The news of the gold discovery reached Yankton on the evening of the 13th, and the enterprising citizens of that place, recognizing the great advantage of that city as an outfitting depot and centerport to the Black Hills, assembled a great mass meeting on that very evening and began an elaborate propaganda to advertise the Dakota gold fields, and Yankton as the gateway, to the world.

Flaming posters were printed, setting forth the advantages of the route by which Yankton could be reached in parlor cars, thence on palatial steamers over the Missouri River to Fort Pierre, and thence a three days' drive in sumptuous stage coaches over a beautiful prairie directly into the heart of the diggings. This Yankton movement was far in advance of any other and attracted the attention of all the gold- fevered world. A party was immediately assembled at Yankton and outfitted to hasten over the route to the Hills to thoroughly spy out the land, establish stage stations, and secure the choicest locations. Excitement everywhere was intense, and little less in the cities of the east than upon the frontiers of Dakota. But, if the hopes of the despondent people had been suddenly aroused, so were they to be as promptly dashed to the ground again. Not more than four days had elapsed after the first announcement of the gold find had reached the people and the story of the activity of the Yanktonians had been telegraphed out to the waiting world, than General Sheridan from his headquarters in Chicago, wired to General Terry, in command of the department of Dakota, absolutely prohibiting all white persons from attempting to enter the Black Hills, and instructing General Terry to set his forces along the Missouri river and the Platte upon the qui vive to seize and destroy the wagons and outfits of all persons attempting to enter the Indian country, and to send the argonauts themselves under arrest to the nearest military post. Naturally, this had a depressing effect upon the gold hunters. He especially called the attention of General Terry to parties said to be outfitting at Yankton. It must be said that in good faith this order of General Sheridan's was carried out in the fall of 1874 and the spring of 1875. A few persons, it is true, did succeed in reaching the diggings and got out again with exaggerated stories of the richness of the placers. But those who remained there were promptly removed by the soldiers and every avenue leading to the Hills was strongly guarded. Under all of the circumstances the Indians behaved very well indeed. They were annoyed, as they had a right to be, over the military invasion of the Black Hills in 1874, but the government gave them the assurance that the public should be kept away until a satisfactory treaty could be negotiated with the Indians for the purchase of the Hills, and they waited patiently the course of events, relying upon the government to do them justice.  On March 27, 1875, the commissioner of Indian affairs instructed Professor Walter P. Jenney, a geologist of note, to visit the Black Hills, make a thorough examination of the same, and to report on the mineral wealth, climate and rainfall and natural resources of the region. This Professor Jenney did, under a military escort, which left Fort Laramie on the 24th of May. Lieutenant Richard I. Dodge was in command, having something more than 400 men and seventy-five wagons with him, and they were absent four months and twenty days upon the expedition, returning on the 24th of October. While the report of Professor Jenney was not so lurid as that of General Custer, it still added something to the force of what had previously been done in establishing the fact that gold existed in the Hills over a wide area.

On the 18th of June the secretary of the interior appointed a commission consisting of William B. Allison, Alfred H. Terry, A. Comingo, Samuel D. Hinman, G. P. Beaubias, A. G. Lawrence and William H. Ashby, to treat with the Dakotas with a view to secure to the citizens of the United States the right to mine in the country known as the Black Hills, and such other rights as could be secured and as might be thought desirable for the government, having in view the rights of the Indians and the obligations of the United States under the existing treaty stipulations. They were instructed to assemble the Indians in a grand council for the purpose of negotiating such a treaty. The committee met at Omaha on the 26th of August and organized and proceeded directly to Fort Laramie and thence to Red Cloud agency on the 4th of September, runners having been previously sent to the various tribes requesting them to assemble there about the 1st of September. They found an acrimonious dispute on between Red Cloud and Spotted Tail as to whether the council was to be held at Red Cloud agency or at Chadron Creek, twenty-five miles distant. It was not until the 17th of September that a final compromise was reached and the council was held on White River, eight miles from Red Cloud. The commission, too, was divided as to the best methods of procedure. Under the treaty of Laramie of 1868 it will be remembered that it was stipulated that in the future no relinquishment should be valid unless three-fourths of the adult male Indians interested in the cession joined in the instrument of sale. The majority of the commission were convinced in advance that it would be impossible to secure three-fourths of the Indians to an agreement to absolutely relinquish title to the Black Hills for any sum which the government would be willing to pay. They therefore deemed it advisable to only attempt to secure the right to mine in the Hills, without asking for a relinquishment of title. The minority believed that an absolute relinquishment should be obtained at some price. They disputed over these matters until the 20th of September, before they arrived at an agreement that they should proceed to attempt to secure the right to mine only. The tribes represented in the council were the Brules, Oglalas, Minneconjous, Uncpapas, Blackfeet, Two Kettles, Sans Arcs, Lower Brules, Yanktons, Santees, Northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes. When in the mid- summer the runners went out to the agencies to notify the Indians to meet in council, the Indians felt that they were hardly prepared to discuss the question intelligently without themselves knowing precisely what the condition in the Black Hills was. Therefore, Spotted Tail, with several of the head men, was delegated to go to the Black Hills and if possible learn what discoveries the white men had really made there. Accordingly Spotted Tail visited the Black Hills, and in an intelligent and business-like way examined the prospects, obtained all the information he could from the miners and Professor Jenney, and appeared at the council well informed as to the real value of the concessions which the white men desired to secure. On the 20th of September the council assembled. William B. Allison acting as chairman. In opening the council Mr. Allison said: "We have now to ask you if you are willing to give our people the right to mine in the Black Hills as long as gold or other valuable metals are found, for a fair and just sum. If you are so willing, we will make a bargain for this right. When the gold or other valuable minerals are taken away the country will again be yours to dispose of in any manner you may wish. If you will sell us this right we suggest as the proper eastern boundary the point where the north and south Cheyenne come together, and that we take for mining uses all the country lying between the rivers, thus uniting as far west as the 104th meridian west of Greenwich, which will be about the line of the high limestone ridge in the west of the Hills." It will be well to bear in mind this statement of Chairman Allison's, because we will learn that even to this day there is a controversy with the Indians as to what rights they really sold when the Black Hills were finally relinquished. After this statement the Indians asked time to consult. The commissioners at once became aware that an exorbitant price would be demanded, and in this the Indians were supported by Dr. Daniels, the agent of Red Cloud and the agent of Spotted Tail, who expressed the opinion that the government ought to pay from thirty to forty millions for them. The Indians themselves were divided into two parties, the larger party being willing to dispose of the Hills if a large price could be secured; the other smaller, but more resolute party, composed chiefly of the young men, were opposed to parting with the Hills at any price. By the 23d they were in a fearful turmoil and a serious outbreak was only prevented by the wisdom of Young Man Afraid of His Horses and his soldier band. They met on the 23d, but the Indians were not ready to talk, and hourly it became more and more apparent that an agreement could not be reached. On the 26th the commission sent for twenty of the head men and endeavored to impress upon them the importance of their coming to an agreement among themselves, and a general council was fixed for the next day, the 27th. But when they came together it was discovered that more than one-half of the Indians had slipped away to their homes, abandoning all hope of making a treaty. They had talks, however, on the 27th, 28th and 29th. Red Dog said he was willing to part with the right to mine if the government would undertake to take care of seven generations yet unborn. That seemed to be the opinion of most of the leading chiefs. Little Bear said: "Our Great Father has a house full of money. Suppose a man walks right into that house and takes the money. Do you suppose that would suit everybody? The Black Hills are the house of gold for our Indians. We watch it to get rich. I want our Great Father to remember that and not to forget it." Old Spotted Tail said: "As long as we live on this earth we will expect pay. We want to leave the amount with the president at interest forever. I want to live on the interest of my money. The amount must be so large that the interest will support us." Spotted Bear said: "Our Great Father has a big safe and so have we. This hill is our safe. We want $70,000,000 for the Black Hills." Red Cloud said: "We have much small game yet that we can depend on for the future. I want the great father to buy guns and ammunition, so we can shoot the game. For seven generations to come I want the Great Father to give us Texan steers for our meat. I want the government to issue for me hereafter flour and coffee, and sugar and tea and bacon, the very best kind, and cracked corn and beans and rice and dried apples and saleratus and tobacco, and soap and salt and pepper for the old people. I want a wagon, a light wagon, and a span of horses and six yoke of working cattle for my people. I want a sow and a boar, and a cow and a bull, and a sheep and a ram, and a hen and a cock for each family. I am an Indian, but you try to make a white man out of me. I want some white men's houses at this agency to be built for the Indians. I have been into white people's houses and I have seen nice black bedsteads and chairs, and I want that kind of furniture given to my people. I thought I had some interest in this sawmill here, but I find I have not. I want the Great Father to furnish me a sawmill which I may call my own. I want a mower and a scythe for my people. Maybe you white people think I ask too much from the government, but I think those hills extend clear to the sky, maybe they go above the sky, and that is the reason I ask for so much. I think the Black Hills are worth more than all the wild beasts and all the tame beasts in the possession of the white people. I know it well, and you can see it plain enough, that God Almighty placed those hills here for my wealth, but now you want to take them from me and make me poor, so 1 ask so much that I won't be poor. Now I will tell you how much country I give you. Around the Hills is a race track (referring to the valley which extends clear around the main body of the Hills) and I sell to the government inside of that trail." Many others made addresses, but enough has been given to show the general tendency of Indian opinion. Fast Hear said, referring to the capture of One Stab by General Custer, "One of my headmen was caught in the Black Hills and scared a little last summer. I want the government to pay him for that road." Mr. Allison asked, "What road?" To which Fast Bear replied, "That thieves' road." Meaning the trail made by General Custer. Stabber, whether or not in a spirit of facetiousness the commissioners do not inform us. advised the commission to "Beware and be lively and don't be discouraged and try and give us as many millions as we have asked for these hills."

Finally, on the 28th, Spotted Tail, who throughout the negotiations exercised greater business sense than any of the others, asked the commissioners to state in writing exactly what they were willing to pay for the Hills and the manner in which they proposed to pay. Consequently the commissioners on the 29th submitted a written proposition: First, they were to purchase the license to mine and, also, as incidental thereto, the right to grow stock and cultivate the soil in the Black Hills lying between the north and south fork of the Cheyenne, as far west as the 104th meridian, at an annual rental of $400,000, the United States having the right to terminate the lease at any time by giving two years' notice, the land then to revert to the Indians. That for the absolute relinquishment of the Hills, as a second proposition, they proposed to pay $6,000,000. They were to have the right to build three roads into the Hills, two from the Missouri River and one from the Union Pacific railroad. They also proposed to buy from the Indians what is known as the "Big Horn country," being really the right of way for the Montana road, at $50,000 per year, payable in cows and farming implements. The Indians absolutely refused to consider the cession of the Big Horn country, and the commissioners did not press this branch of the subject upon them. The conference ended on the 29th without any result being reached, and the commissioners reported: "First, that no agreement can be concluded in the Indian country by means of a grand council of chiefs in the presence of the great body of the Indians.

"No agreement can be made unless accompanied with presents, as presents have invariably been distributed heretofore at the signing of treaties or agreements."

"The Indians place upon the Hills a value far beyond any sum that could possibly be considered by the government."

The failure of the commission to treat either for the license to mine in the Hills or for a relinquishment of the Indian title left both parties in a desperate situation. The Indians believed that the Hills were to be taken from them by force, regardless of their natural or treaty rights, and in support of their view they noticed that immediately all military opposition to the occupancy of the Hills by the miners was withdrawn and that venturous men poured into the Hills from every section. Crazy Horse, American Horse, Gall, Black Moon and Sitting Bull were still, as they had at all times been, maintaining themselves back upon the buffalo range of Powder River; generally without any government assistance, though in times of great stress they would allow their young men to go into the agencies and gather up what rations they could secure to help them through the emergency. By the first of the succeeding March (1876) there were fully 11,000 white men in Custer City alone. The Indians could see nothing before them but the loss of their reservation and their final expulsion. They, therefore, largely arrived at the conclusion that the time had come when they must make another positive and formidable stand for their rights, and to undertake this they were greatly encouraged by the success which had attended the efforts of Red Cloud in his war from 1866 to 1868.

 

CHAPTER XLI

 

In the early part of the winter, 1875-6, many Indians from the different agencies went out with the consent of their agents to hunt buffalo in the unceded territory of Powder River. They had the right to do this under the treaty. There was more reason for them to go at this time because there was an insufficient supply of provisions at the agencies. December 6, 1875, the commissioner of Indian affairs sent instructions to the several agents to notify the Indians in the unceded territory to come to the agencies before the 31st of January, 1876, or that they would be regarded as hostile. This letter reached the Cheyenne River agency on the 20th of December and the Standing Rock agency on the 22d. The runner, who was sent by Agent Bingham to notify the Indians to return to the agency, was not able to return himself until February 11, 1876.  He brought back word that the Indians received the word in good spirit and without any exhibition of ill feeling. They answered that they were then engaged in hunting buffalo and could not come in at present, but would return to the agency early in the spring. It does not appear that any of the messengers sent out by any of the agents were able to return to his agency by the time which had been fixed for the return of the Indians. It is very easy to understand why the most friendly Indians should hesitate to traverse a pathless country without fuel and shelter at a time of year when fearful storms endangered human life, and with a knowledge that they would find a limited supply of provisions at the agency. In General Sheridan's report of November 25, 1876, we find that he states that on account of the terrible severity of the Dakota winter the army was compelled to suspend operations. If our soldiers were frost bitten and unable to remain in the field, even with their, comfortable clothing and supply train, we can judge whether it was practicable for women and children to cross this inhospitable wilderness in the dead of winter.

On the 1st day of February, 1876, the secretary of the interior notified the secretary of war that the time given the hostile Indians having expired, and they having failed to appear at the agencies as demanded, he formally turned them over to the military authorities for such action on the part of the army as the secretary of war might deem proper under the circumstances. General Sheridan at once instructed General Crook to reduce these Indians to subjection. On the 1st of March, at the head of an expedition amounting in all to 803 men, Crook started out on the old Bozeman trail, passed the abandoned Forts Reno and Phil Kearney, and thence northeast, scouting Rosebud and Tongue Rivers as far as the mouth of Red Clay Creek, thence turning southeast to Powder River, and on the head of Otter Creek, March 16th, divided his command, sending Colonel Reynolds, with six companies of cavalry with one day's rations, to follow the trail of two Indians seen that day, and to join Crook at the mouth of Lodge Pole Creek, on Powder River, the next evening. Colonel Reynolds moved at 5 o'clock of the 16th and struck the camp of Crazy Horse the next morning. The Indians fled to the Hills, leaving the camp in the hands of the troops, who proceeded to destroy it and its contents by fire. The Indians molested the troops during this operation by firing from rocks, bushes and gullies, but the village was utterly destroyed, when Reynolds drew off  and proceeded to make junction with Cook at the place appointed, when the expedition returned to Fort Fetterman, reaching that place March 26th. The weather was extremely cold; March 11th 23 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, March 12th 26 below, and on the nights preceding and following the attack on Crazy Horse's village it was so cold that the men were not allowed to sleep for fear of the consequences. During the expedition Colonel Reynolds lost four men killed, five men and one officer wounded, and does not report the number of Indians killed. In the village destroyed they found a large quantity of articles of food and clothing which came from the agencies.

With the opening of spring the Indians proceeded to carry out their plan to make a combined resistance against the oppressions of the white men. Their proposition was to assemble a vast army of warriors back toward the Rig Horn Mountains, and when all the conditions were propitious to sweep down u|>on the Black Hills and drive out the invaders. Stealthily, the fighting men slipped away from the agencies until only a few of the headmen, old men, and women and children remained. Spotted Tail and Red Cloud remained at their agencies. Still the government authorities had no adequate conception of the extent of the movement, but contented themselves with the belief that they would be called upon to contend with 500 to 800 hostile warriors, the latter figure being the largest suggested by any authority. General Sheridan resolved to proceed against them with great care and system. He ordered three distinct columns to be prepared to move to a common center. One from Fort Fetterman, under General Crook, to pass up from the south; one under General Gibbons to come down from Fort Ellis in Montana from the northwest, and one under Terry to come from Fort Abraham Lincoln from the northeast. Crook started from Fort Fetterman on the 29th of May with forty-seven officers and 1,002 men present for duty. The expedition marched by the Montana road to the head of Tongue River, where he parked his trains, mounted his infantry on mules and June 16th started on a scout to the head of the Rosebud. "In descending the Rosebud early on the morning of June 17th he ran upon a large force of warriors under Crazy Horse, perfectly prepared for battle. He was aiming for their village, supposed to be about eight miles down the Rosebud, but these Indians had not awaited the attack at their village, but came out boldly and attacked Crook's command. The fight was on both banks of the Rosebud and lasted into the night when the Indians withdrew, leaving thirteen dead warriors. General Crook's loss was nine dead and twenty- one wounded; one of these. Captain Guy V. Henry, Third cavalry, was shot through the face. The ground where this fight took place was so rough, so covered with rocks, trees and bushes, that it was impossible to estimate approximately the force of the enemy, but General Crook was satisfied that the numbers and quality of his enemy required more men than he had, and being already encumbered with wounded, he concluded to return to his train on Goose Creek, which he reached on the 19th and sent back for reinforcements.

The foregoing is General Sheridan's mild report of the battle of the Rosebud, which was really a desperate all day encounter. As the reader will infer. General Crook was licked and was therefore unable to come to help Terry's column a few days later, when he was so seriously needed by General Custer.

The motives actuating the Indians in their warfare and the general policy underlying their methods of campaign are a little difficult to understand from the white man's point of view. Why Crazy Horse withdrew on the night of the 17th cannot be explained from any of the ordinary rules of warfare. In a long day's fighting he had had the best of it, had been aggressive, and held Crook for every moment on the defensive, and there can scarcely be a doubt that had he renewed the attack in the morning, with such reinforcements as he could readily have called to his assistance, he could have annihilated Crook's column. Instead, however, of following up his advantage he stealthily withdrew in the night time, and as speedily as possible united his forces with those of Black Moon and Sitting Bull on the Little Horn. His conduct can best be explained upon the principle laid down by Mr. S. W. Pond in his "Indian Warfare in Minnesota," in which he says, "Indians consider it foolhardiness to make an attack where it is certain that some of them will be killed. Bloody battles are seldom fought by them except when the party attacked rallied and made an unexpected resistance. They occasionally performed exploits which none but brave men would undertake and often fought with desperate valor. Indian wars are prosecuted with the utmost caution on both sides. Even war parties are very careful to keep out of danger." With Crook out of commission it was already becoming manifest that General Sheridan's scheme for crushing the savages between the three columns was likely to miscarry. On the 17th of May General Terry with the Seventh cavalry, under General Custer, containing 600 men and horses, and about 400 infantry, started from Fort Abraham Lincoln, following the course of the Northern Pacific railroad, and reached the mouth of the Powder River on the 9th of June, where he met steamboats with supplies which had been sent around by way of the river. On the 21st of June he had moved up to the mouth of the Rosebud, accompanied by the steamboats. At this point he was met by scouts from Gibbon who had come down from Fort Ellis with his column of 450 men, and who encamped on the north side of the Yellowstone opposite the mouth of the Big Horn. Terry, therefore, determined to detach Custer at this point to go upon a scout up the Rosebud and across to the Little Horn and down that stream to its confluence with the Big Horn, while Terry himself would go on with the steamboats to the mouth of the Big Horn and ferry Gibbon and his column across the river, whence they were to march up the Big Horn and make junction with Custer on the 26th.

General Sheridan says, "Now up to this moment (the 21st of June), there was nothing official or private to justify an officer to expect that any detachment could encounter more than 500 or at the maximum 800 hostile warriors.

How the military authorities could have kept themselves so persistently ignorant of the real situation in the Indian country year after year surpasses comprehension. Manifestly, at no time after Red Cloud took the war path in 1866, during the ten years following, was there less than 1,500 hostile warriors in the unceded country, which during various periods was swelled by from 3,000 to 5,000 additional fighting men. In the report of General Stanley, previously quoted, detailing the numbers of agency and hostile Indians of each band, he seemed to have a clear comprehension of the situation and showed conclusively that about 60 per cent of all of the Tetons were hostile. That Custer, Terry, Crook and Gibbon, who had been constantly in the hostile regions for from three to six years, could have continued in ignorance of the hostile strength seems from the present view point to have been not less than culpable carelessness.

 

CHAPTER XLII

With about 850 men, mounted, and with a large baggage train, Custer got away from the mouth of the Rosebud at noon on June 22d. In addition to the soldiers he had a strong detachment of Indian scouts and guides. About twenty miles up river he struck a heavy Indian trail and found that it led across the divide to the Little Horn. On the afternoon of the 22d they had proceeded twelve miles from the Yellowstone, on the 23d thirty-three miles and on the 24th twenty-eight miles, making seventy-three miles up the Rosebud before the trail turned off toward the Little Horn. By this time the scouts reported that the village was located on the Little Horn and Custer decided that it would be impossible to approach it in the day time. He therefore decided to cross the divide during that night of the 24th, and surprise and attack the village at daylight. At n o'clock p. m., therefore, he moved out from his last camp on the Rosebud, moving in a northwesterly direction along the well defined trail which the Indians had left. At 2 o'clock in the morning the scouts informed him that he would be unable to reach the Little Horn before daylight. They, therefore, went into camp and rested for three hours, and taking breakfast, moved on, crossing the divide and finding themselves in view of the Little Horn valley at 8 o'clock in the morning. Indian spies were discovered all about them and they knew that it would be no longer possible to surprise them in the village. Custer resolved, therefore, to move forward to the attack at once. The Indian camps were located on a broad flat bottom on the west side of the Little Horn, extending for about four miles up and down-the creek, and covering an area one mile in width. While it was to all intents and purposes one camp, there were in fact seven distinct villages embraced in it. These were, beginning at the lower or north end of the village, the Uncpapas, under Black Moon and Gall; next the Oglalas under Crazy Horse; third, the Minneconjous under Fast Bull; fourth, the Sans Arcs under Fast Bear; fifth, the Blackfeet under Scabby Head; sixth, the Cheyennes under Ice Bear, and seventh, the Santees and the Yanktonais, being the remnant of the unsubdued hostiles from the war of the outbreak in Minnesota, under Inkpaduta. Up to this time Custer had maintained his forces in a single column, but at about 9 in the morning, when several miles east of the Little Horn, he halted and divided his command into three columns. Major Reno was given command of Companies M, A and G, Captain Benteen was given Companies H, D and K, Custer himself retaining C, E, F, I and L under his immediate command. In addition to this, Company B, under Captain McDougall, was left in the rear to guard the pack train. Benteen was instructed to proceed directly west, scouting across the valley of the Little Horn to prevent the Indians from escaping in that direction. Reno was instructed to proceed directly forward on the Indian trail, crossing the creek at a good ford, and to attack the village at the south end, that is the Santees and Yanktonais, under Inkpaduta. Custer informed Reno that he would support him. Even yet, with the hostile camp near at hand, no one had any appreciation of the undertaking before them. In approaching the Little Horn Reno passed down the valley of a little creek, while Custer moved along on the north bank of the same stream. About 11 o'clock a. m., Custer motioned to Reno to come over to him, and Reno crossed the creek and Custer told him that the village was only two miles ahead and was running away. "To move forward at as rapid a rate as he thought prudent and to charge afterward, and that the whole outfit would support him." No further communication was had with Custer, but it is manifest that his plan of support was to proceed down the east side of the creek and create a diversion by striking the lower end of the village. Benteen was at this time moving off to the left on his scout, and Custer, having discovered the location of the village, sent a messenger to him to return quickly to join his command. After Reno's last consultation with Custer he moved forward rapidly and crossed the creek about two miles from that point, where he halted for about ten minutes to get his forces in order. It was now nearly 1 o'clock p. m. He was still several miles south of the camp, but there was a large party of warriors directly before him. Reno charged, driving the Indians with great ease down the valley for about two and a half miles, when he discovered that he was being drawn into a trap. He could no longer see Custer or any signs of support; the very earth seemed to grow Indians, who instead of retreating further were running toward him in vast swarms. Seeing that he must defend himself and give up the attack, he dismounted and took a position at the point of a patch of timber which furnished, near its edge, a shelter for the horses, and fought them on foot. He made some progress through the woods, but as he approached the village learned that he was fighting against tremendous odds, at least five to one. The Indians were flanking him and his only hope for escape from total destruction was in flight. There were only a few Indians on the side toward the river, and remounting his men, he dashed across the creek and gained the bluffs on the east side. He lost three officers and twenty-nine enlisted men killed and seven wounded in this attack. This end of the village was in the first instance under the direction of Inkpaduta, hut seeing that the main attack was being made in that direction Gall had been sent from the Uncpapas from the lower village to assist in repulsing the attack at the upper end, and arrived on the ground but a few moments before Reno's retreat, lie gave .directions to Inkpaduta to keep Reno on the retreat, while he returned in all haste where it was evident that Custer was about to attack. After the retreat of Reno the great body of warriors were concentrated in the lower villages. The warriors of the Uncpapas, Oglalas and Minneconjous were ambushed under the hanks and in the grass along the east side of the stream, while the women and children were sent scurrying off across the bottom toward the Big Horn. After leaving Reno, Custer had proceeded back of the brow of the hill, out of sight of the villages, down the cast side of the creek until opposite the lower villages. Here he turned toward the creek and from the brow of the hill saw the women and children hastening away toward the northwest, and evidently convinced that the camp was in full retreat, started in hot pursuit. With waving sabers and loud cheers, the column dashed down the hillside toward the stream, to find themselves almost instantly surrounded by several thousand well armed, howling, desperate savages. The weather was dry and windy, .the air soon full of dust arid smoke, so that the darkness was almost blinding. The general direction of the Indian camp was in the hands of Black Moon, chief of the Uncpapas, but he was killed almost at the beginning of the engagement. What actually occurred there except the sorrowful fact that no one of the 261 .men who rode down that hill with Custer survived, may never be known. Much has been written which undertakes to relate the actual proceedings there, some of it assuming to be upon the authority of Gall, Sitting Bull and other prominent Indians. From an abundance of Indian testimony, taken at different times and places, all in substantial agreement, this writer is prepared to assert that after the first moment every warrior fought for himself. It was almost as dark as night; Custer was evidently wholly taken by surprise, and his column did not last to exceed a half hour at the very utmost. The strong probability is that there was not a man alive ten minutes after they rode into the ambush. That there were more than ten warriors for every soldier in Custer's column, concentrated directly in his path, and who instantly surrounded him, is beyond question. All accounts that the fighting was continued until late in the afternoon are purely speculative and without foundation. That Custer fought bravely there can be no dispute. The most that can be said is that he rode into a trap and that his command was utterly annihilated. The Indian loss was sixty-three killed, several of whom were killed by their own arrows. Some writers have asserted that Custer dismounted his men and fought them intelligently and under orders. This is not supported by Indian testimony, which declares that he had absolutely no opportunity to give orders or to do anything but fight desperately for life after the ambush was discovered.

When Reno had reached the high lands on the east side of the stream, he almost immediately joined his forces with Benteen, who, in obedience to the order sent by Custer, had returned from the scout across the creek and was proceeding down the east bank. Hearing firing down the creek, Captain Wier was dispatched with his company to reinforce Custer, but soon returned, being unable to proceed against the vast Indian force which confronted him. McDougall had come up with his company and the pack train and Reno, the ranking officer, taking command of the united parties, parked the train in a depression on the hill and set about to entrench as well as possible. It was now 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and they were immediately and furiously attacked. They held their ground with a loss of eighteen enlisted men killed and forty-six wounded until the attack ceased at 9 o'clock at night. Assured by this time of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, and giving up any hope of support from Custer, Reno set his men to digging rifle pits and barricaded the camp with dead horses and mules and boxes of hard bread and the wagons and other camp paraphernalia to be ready for an assault in the morning. All night the men worked while the Indians held a scalp dance just below them in the valley and in their hearing. By 2:30 a. m. the camp was reasonably well prepared for defense, and at that moment the attack of the Indians was renewed with a fury seldom equalled. Every rifle seemed to be handled by an expert and skilled marksman and with a range that exceeded that of the carbines of the cavalry. It was simply impossible to show any part of the body before it was struck. As the daylight brightened countless hordes of the Indians were seen passing up the valley through the village and scampering over the high points to places designated for them by their chiefs and which entirely surrounded the entrenched camp. The fire did not slacken until about 9:30 in the morning, when it was discovered that they were making a last desperate attempt. In this attack they charged close enough to the lines to use their bows and arrows, and one man lying dead within the lines was touched by the coup stick of one of the warriors. The attack was gallantly repulsed by Colonel Benteen. The fury of the attack was now over and the Indians were seen going in parties toward the village. In fact their ammunition was quite exhausted.  The soldiers were in a desperate situation for a lack of water and a detachment of volunteers under Colonel Benteen descended to the river and brought up a supply without interference from the Indians. About 2 o'clock in the afternoon the grass in the bottom land was set on fire, creating a dense cloud of smoke between the soldiers and the villages. Under this cloud the Indians packed their tipis and prepared to move away. Between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening they came out from behind the cloud of smoke and were seen filing away in the direction of the Big Horn Mountains, moving in perfect military order. During that night Reno moved his position from the hill down to the stream where he could have an unlimited supply of water, and there entrenched himself to be prepared for any emergency which might befall him When Custer started up the Rosebud at noon on the 22d. Terry embarked on the steamer "Far West" and reached Gibbon's camp, opposite the mouth of the Big Horn, on the morning of the 24th, and by 4 o'clock on the afternoon of that day had carried the entire command across to the south side of the river, and at 5 o'clock in the evening the column, consisting of five companies of the Seventh infantry, four companies of the Second cavalry and a battery of gatling guns, marched out as far as Tullock's Creek, where they encamped for the night. The next morning, that is the morning of the 25th, the day of the Custer battle, at 5 o'clock they pushed on and the infantry made a march of twenty-two miles over country which General Terry says was the most difficult that he had ever seen. The cavalry and the battery were pushed on fourteen miles further, and did not go into camp until midnight. At 4:30 the next morning they were aroused by three Crow Indians, who had been with Custer, and who brought to Terry the first intelligence of the awful disaster on the Little Big Horn. Their story was not credited. The infantry had broken camp before daylight, and soon came up to the cavalry, and on the morning of the 26th moved on to the Little Horn valley. All day Terry tried to establish communication with Custer, but his scouts were constantly driven back by Indians, who, in increasing numbers, hovered about Gibbon's front. At 8:40 in the evening, the infantry, having marched thirty miles on a torrid June day and being quite exhausted, went into camp at a point eleven miles north of the battlefield, and at 10:30 the next morning a junction was made with Reno's command. Custer's dead were buried, the wounded were conveyed to the steamboats and were returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln. The total loss of the military was twelve officers, 247 enlisted men, five civilians and three Indian scouts killed, and two officers and fifty-one men wounded. The Indians lost sixty-three men.

Terry took up his position at the mouth of the Big Horn after he had sent his wounded away, and called upon General Sheridan for reinforcements. Large reinforcements were at once hurried into the Indian country, and Sheridan determined to promptly disarm and dismount all of the friendly Indians about the agencies, lest they be drawn into hostilities. About the end of July offensive operations were resumed, but great difficulty was found in locating the enemy. The fact is that immediately after the battle of the little Big Horn, true to that Indian sentiment which seems to be satisfied after having struck one powerful blow, the Indian army began to dissolve and the warriors filtered back to the agencies. As they passed down by the Black Hills they created a reign of terror there, and for several weeks no small body of white men was safe anywhere in the vicinity of the diggings. Emigrants were massacred, stages and freight trains held up, and outlying camps openly attacked, a very large number of massacres being committed and a good deal of stock run off. Meanwhile the military raced up and down through the Tongue, Powder, Big Horn and Rosebud country, looking for the hostiles, but everywhere the Indians skillfully slipped away and avoided an engagement. General Sheridan says: "It seems to be impossible to force Indians to fight at a disadvantage in their own country. Their sagacity and skill surpasses that of the white race.  It is difficult for me to follow them (Terry and Crook and Miles) in this precarious pursuit of a dissolving enemy." On the 5th of September General Crook reported from Heart River that the trail of the enemy had so scattered that it could not be pursued further. He therefore started for the Black Hills, making Custer City his objective point. On the 14th of September, at Slim Buttes, he struck American Horse and in the engagement the old chief was killed, and the next day Crazy Horse fell upon Crook and harassed him upon the march clear into the Black Hills, but there was no decisive engagement. Gall and Sitting Bull, with a very small detachment of the hostiles, had crossed the Yellowstone and proceeded north toward Canada. It is probable that they did not have more than 100 or 150 warriors with them. On the 26th and 28th of October Terry successfully took the arms and ponies away from the Indians at Standing Rock and Cheyenne agencies, and on the 23d of that month Crook disarmed the Indians at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail. General Miles was sent on a scout north of the Yellowstone in the vicinity of Fort Peck, and on the 21st of October had a council with Sitting Bull in  person. Sitting Bull said he wanted "an old fashioned peace with privileges of trade, especially in ammunition." On the next day he had another council with them, in which Sitting Bull and Gall and several other prominent Indians took part, and while they professed a desire for peace, gave no assurances of good faith, and an engagement immediately followed. The Indians were driven from their camp and across the Yellowstone, a distance of forty-two miles, being rapidly pursued by the troops, and on the 27th five of the principal chiefs surrendered and were at once sent as hostages to Fort Snelling, as surety for the return of the entire camps, composed of about 2,000 souls, to the Cheyenne River agency. Sitting Bull and Gall, with their personal followers, escaped and went into Canada, this closing the campaign of 1876.

CHAPTER XLIII

 

The demand for the opening of the Black Hills to legal settlement by the absolute relinquishment of the Indian title thereto had become imperative. On the 15th of August, 1876, congress passed an act for the appointment of a new commission to treat for the cession of the Black Hills, and on the 24th day of August the following gentlemen were commissioned to perform that important service: George W. Manypenny, Columbus, Ohio; Henry C Bullis, Decorah, Iowa: Newton Edmunds, Yankton, D. T.; Bishop Henry B. Whipple, Faribault, Minnesota; A. G. Boone, Denver, Colorado; A. S. Gaylord, Washington, D. C; General H. H. Sibley, St. Paul, Minnesota; Dr. J. W. Daniels, St. Peter, Minnesota. The commissioners proceeded to the work instantly and four days later met and organized at Omaha, though General Sibley was unable, by reason of ill health, to continue with the commission. On the 7th of September the commission met the chiefs and headmen of the Oglalas, the northern Cheyennes and the Arapahoes, the latter claiming an interest in the territory to be relinquished, and were received with a warm welcome and great earnestness. Red Cloud said to them: "We are glad to see you. You have come to save us from death." The commission say: "While the Indians received us as friends and listened with kind attention to our proposition, we were painfully impressed with their lack of confidence in the  pledges of the government. At times they told their story of wrongs with such impressive earnestness that our cheeks crimsoned with shame. In their speeches and recitals of wrongs which their people had suffered at the hands of the whites, the arraignment for gross acts of injustice and fraud, the description of treaties made only to be broken, the doubts and distrusts of our present professions of friendship and good will, were portrayed in colors so vivid and language so terse that admiration and surprise would have kept us silent had not shame and humiliation done so. That which made this arraignment more telling was that it often came from the lips of men who are our friends and who had hoped against hope that the day might come when their wrongs would be redressed. The old chief said: 'If you white men had a country which was very valuable, which had always belonged to your people, and which the Great Father had promised should be yours forever, and men of another race came to take it away by force, what would your people do? Would they fight?'" One of the duties imposed upon the commission was to see if they could not induce the Indians to leave the Dakota country and take up their homes in the Indian Territory. In the discussion of this proposition, Spotted Tail said: "I hear that you have come to move us. Tell your people that the Great Father promised that we should never be removed. We have been moved five times. I think you had better put the Indians on wheels and then you can run them about whenever you wish." Red Cloud, discussing the Custer war, said: "Rub it out. Tell the white people that this is not an Indian war. It is a white man's war. A great many widows and orphans have been made on both sides. It is time to ask who is to take care of them. This matter has not been begun with judgment. It is displeasing to the Great Spirit."

The commissioners had prepared a treaty in advance which provided that the Indians should accept a reservation beginning on the north line of the state of Nebraska at the intersection of the 103d meridian, thence up that meridian to the Cheyenne River, thence down the Cheyenne to the forks, thence up the north fork of the Cheyenne to the intersection of the 103d meridian, thence north on that meridian to the Cannon Rail and down the Cannon Ball to its mouth, thence down the Missouri to the north line of the state of Nebraska, and westward on that line to the place of beginning. All other lands outside of this reservation were absolutely relinquished. This included not only the Black Hills, but the long contended for buffalo country of the Powder River and the Yellowstone. An entirely new policy was pursued from that of 1875. Instead of assembling all of the tribes in a great council, only the chiefs and the headmen were consulted and they, of each tribe, separately. The treaty further provided that three wagon roads might be built through their reservation to the Black Hills, and that the government should provide the Indians with a stipulated ration, consisting for each individual of a pound and a half of beef, or in lieu thereof one-half pound of bacon, one-half pound of flour and one-half pound of corn, and for every hundred pounds of rations four pounds of coffee, eight pounds of sugar and three pounds of beans. Such rations, or so much thereof as might be necessary, to be continued until the Indians are able to support themselves. Rations to school children were to be issued to them only in case they regularly attended school, and it was agreed to provide them with schools, agents, traders, farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths and other artificers. The Indians agreed to locate at some point convenient to the Missouri River to receive their rations there. The stipulation of the treaty of Laramie, which provided that three-fourths of the adult males should join in the relinquishment of any of their remaining lands was totally ignored. The treaty was presented to Spotted Tail on September 23d, and it was signed by the old chief and forty-two of his leading men. On the 26th it was presented to the Oglalas and signed by Red Cloud, Man Afraid, the younger American Horse and nineteen other of the prominent men. By October nth they had carried it to the lower Yanktonais, where it was signed by a dozen or fifteen men, also by a number of the Uncpapas and Blackfeet, John Grass being the first signer for the latter band. On October 16th it was signed at the Cheyenne River agency by the Sans Arcs, others of the Blackfeet and the Two Kettles and Minneconjous. It was presented at Crow Creek on the 21st of October and signed by White Ghost and a number of his people. On the 24th it was carried over to the Lower Brules and the signatures of nine of their headmen were secured, and finally on the 27th day of October it was signed by the Santees at their agency in northern Nebraska, Wabasha, the son of the famous Mississippi Dakota who was much in our view in the first chapters of this history, being the first signer.

Under this treaty all of the Sioux, except Gall and Sitting Bull and the small bands accompanying them, who were at the time renegades along the Canadian line, at once, or very soon thereafter, became settled agency Indians and remain in that condition until this day. As will be readily understood, the making of a treaty was a forced put, so far as the Indians were concerned. Defeated, disarmed, dismounted, they were at the mercy of a superior power and there was no alternative but to accept the conditions imposed upon them. This they did with as good grace as possible under all of the conditions existing. Immediately following the signing of the treaties two of the commissioners, Dr. Daniels and Arthur G. Boone, started with Spotted Tail and ninety-four persons, representing the Brules and Oglalas, for the Indian Territory to examine the country and if possible spy out a southern home for the Dakota Sioux. They spent some time in the autumn looking over that section, but Spotted Tail was not pleased with anything he found and would not consent to a removal.

Before winter a large portion of the hostile element had come into the agencies and were pretty well provided with rations and clothing by the government. As we have, seen, shortly after the battle of the Little Horn the hostile forces divided. Gall and Sitting Bull going north and Crazy Horse, going to the southwest, skulked about the Big Horn Mountains. Throughout the fall and early winter he kept up a constant communication with the Brules and Oglalas, and in February General Crook had learned enough of his situation to become convinced that if properly approached and solicited he would come in and surrender. Therefore, in February, 1877, he, General Crook, induced Spotted Tail to go out to the hostile camp with a band of about 250 of the sub-chiefs and headmen of the Brules on a mission of peace. In the dead of a severe winter the old chief and his men made this long and dreary expedition to the camp of Crazy Horse, who, by the way, was a son of Spotted Tail's sister. Spotted Tail found large camps of the hostiles on the Little Missouri and Little Powder Rivers, and through his earnest efforts and continuous councils he succeeded in inducing them to bury the hatchet and come into the agencies. He returned to his agency on April 5th after a campaign of hardships and sufferings and cold and hunger lasting over fifty days, but was able to report that he had been entirely successful in his mission. He brought back with him 917 souls, and brought assurances that Crazy Horse with 200 lodges was not far behind. In concluding his report upon this, General Crook says, "This great result has been accomplished mainly by Spotted Tail. He has, though an Indian untutored and uncivilized, been the means of saving hundreds of lives and thousands of dollars of treasure to the government." In consideration of his services Spotted Tail was given the honorary title of head chief of all of the Dakota nations. He was also given the commission and pay of a lieutenant in the regular army.

It was on the 6th of May, 1877, that Crazy Horse with 889 of his people, and 2,000 ponies, came into Camp Robinson and surrendered to General Crook in person; and General Sheridan reported that "The Sioux war is now over. Sitting Bull is north of the Missouri in British America with his own small band and other hostiles, the number of whom cannot exactly be told." After the surrender Crazy Horse remained quietly about Fort Robinson until the latter part of the summer, when he again became uneasy and discontented and gave indications of another outbreak, which led General Crook to conclude that it would be the part of wisdom to place him under arrest and confine him as a prisoner. While entering the guard house he broke loose from those about him and attempted to make his escape by hewing his way with a knife through the circle of sentinels and other bystanders. In the melee which resulted he was fatally wounded and died the same night, September 5, 1877. After his death general harmony reigned and the main body of the Indians became anxious to establish and maintain the most friendly relations with the whites.

Under the Black Hills treaty it was agreed that in the event that the Brules and Oglalas did not elect to take up a new home in Indian Territory they should remove to new agencies near the Missouri River, where it would be convenient to furnish them with their supplies, and from the time Spotted Tail and his men returned from the south in the fall of 1877, preparations were being made for their removal. It was, however, November 1, 1877, before the emigration actually took place. The two camps, Spotted Tail's and Red Cloud's, moved at the same time in parallel columns about forty miles apart. For some reason not explained, Crazy Horse's band traveled with Spotted Tail. When they had moved down about seventy-five miles about 2,000 of the Crazy Horse Indians, bearing with them the body of their late chief, broke away from the Spotted Tail column and came over to Red Cloud's band, and by exhibiting Crazy Horse's body and in other ways attempted to incite them to hostilities, but failing in this a large part of them struck off to the north and back into the Powder River country, while a few of them remained with Red Cloud and the remainder returned to Spotted Tail. On the 25th of November, after great hardship and suffering, Red Cloud reached the Missouri River near the mouth of the Yellow Medicine, midway between the mouth of the White River and the Great Bend, where they settled down quietly and spent the winter. About the same time Spotted Tail and his band arrived at the old Ponca agency, where they took up their residence for the winter. Neither band was satisfied with the locations, and as spring approached began to prepare for another removal. Red Cloud and his people went back and established themselves at the Pine Ridge agency, where they still remain, and Spotted Tail and his people set up at Rosebud.

In fifteen years these Indians had been moved ten times,  sometimes a distance of 300 or 400 miles. The responsibility for these removals could not be charged to the Indians themselves. Locality and love of home is as strongly marked in the American Indian as in the white man. It is not to be wondered at that they had at times been rebellious and were not self supporting. The old maxim that "a rolling stone gathers no moss" was never more applicable, nor is it at all remarkable that the Indian had begun to look with distrust upon all efforts of the government for his existence. No noteworthy event occurred in relation to the Indians of Dakota during the next year or two with the exception of Sitting Bull and Gall, who were in Canada, and the Crazy Horse band, who had gone to them. All of the Dakotas were living peaceably about the agencies,, drawing their rations with punctilious regularity, sending their children to school in constantly increasing numbers and more and more engaging in light labor. They rapidly became fairly responsible teamsters and were employed at all of the agencies to do the hauling of supplies which particularly at Pine Ridge and Rosebud was a considerable proposition. Before the building of the Elk Horn railroad the supplies for Pine Ridge were hauled from the Red Cloud landing near Chamberlain, a distance of 200 miles, and amounted to about 2,000,000 pounds annually.

The conduct of the Indians, particularly those who had so recently been hostile, was most praiseworthy. In 1879 McGillycuddy, agent at Pine Ridge, reports, "This agency has for the past year been without any soldiers or connection with the army whatever, and no military post is in the immediate vicinity. The past year has been the quietest in the history of the Oglalas. Not a crime has been committed by an Indian. This record for a community of over 7,000 people with no law or force to restrain them will compare very favorably with any of our eastern towns of an equal size." An equally good record was made by Spotted Tail's people at the Rosebud. Spotted Tail, however, like many another man nearer the fountain of civilization, allowed prosperity and a constant flattery and praise which be had received from the whites in authority to "swell his head," and he conceived the notion in the summer of 1880 that he was too large a man to take orders from anybody, and set himself up above the agent and any other authority about the reservation. He assumed control of the police force and ordered a large body of it to prevent any who might desire to buy or sell at the two stores of the agency from doing so. The agent at once sent for Spotted Tail, but could not find him. The agent called upon the police to assist him, but they were afraid of Spotted Tail and dared not comply with his orders A large crowd had gathered about the traders' stores, an I but one policeman, Thunder Hawk, reported for duty. The agent instructed Thunder Hawk to gather up a force of volunteers and disperse the crowd, but he was unable to secure assistance. The agent himself then went out to the stores and ordered the crowd to disperse, but he was informed that they were there in obedience to the orders of their chief, Spotted Tail, and that they would not abandon the place without his consent and authority. The agent told the policemen that they had mistaken their duty. That they would not be allowed to take orders from anyone without his approval, and that if they persisted in their disobedience they would be dismissed and disgraced. With the assistance of Thunder Hawk the agent was able to disperse the crowd. Spotted Tail then appeared and informed the agent that the police force belonged to him, and that unless Thunder Hawk was dismissed for disobedience and usurpation he would disband the police at once. The agent told him that if the police were his he did not want them; to disband them at once and that he would reorganize the force by selecting better and truer men with Thunder Hawk at their head. The interview was long and heated and ended in Spotted Tail calling a council, to which he referred the whole matter. Agent Cook, however, before he entered the council, told him that it made no difference what the conclusion of the council might be, that he could not surrender his authority to Spotted Tail or anyone else. The council sustained the agent. The police resumed their duties and Spotted Tail apologized, saying that he had been the agent so long that he had forgotten that the Great Father had sent him a new one."

Early in 1881 the large body of the hostiles in Canada deserted Sitting Bull and returned to the United States under the leadership of Gall, who by this time had gained complete ascendancy in influence over his wily rival. But one subchief and 200 old men, women and children remained with Sitting Bull. Gall immediately came in contact with General Miles on the Poplar River in Montana, and after a stubborn engagement, surrendered with all of his followers, he pledged loyal obedience to the United States authorities and was taken first to Fort Buford and soon after to Standing Rock agency, where he arrived in June, 1881, and from that lime until his death remained at peace with the government.

In July, 1881, starving and in rags, Sitting Bull, feeling that it was useless to longer hold out, appeared at Fort Buford and voluntarily surrendered to the United States troops. He was taken to Fort Randall and held as a prisoner of war for two years, when he was returned to the Standing Rock agency and took up his home near the place of his birth on Grand River, and remained quietly there, except when absent on exhibition throughout the east and visits to Washington, until his death, which occurred during the Messiah excitement in December, 1890. In 1881 Spotted Tail, who, notwithstanding his many excellent qualities, was exceeding lecherous in his life, incurred the jealousy of Crow Dog, a leading subchief of his people, who shot and, instantly killed the old chief near Rosebud agency. Political as well as domestic jealousy entered into the feud which resulted in his death. Spotted Tail was about to go to Washington to consult with the Indian department about the right of way for the Milwaukee and Northwestern railroads, which at that time proposed  to extend across the reservations from Chamberlain and Pierre respectively to the Black Hills. On the 5th of August Spotted Tail called his people into council to learn their views before he left for -the east. The feast attending the council broke up about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The people were scattering out to their camps, and Spotted Tail, mounted on his horse, was some distance in advance. Crow Dog, though a prominent sub-chief who had rendered noteworthy assistance to the agent in the disturbance of the previous year, had not attended the council, but at this juncture was seen approaching the village in his wagon, his wife accompanying him. As he was about to meet Spotted Tail he alighted from his wagon and shot the old chief through the breast. Spotted Tail fell from his horse, but at once rose up, making a few steps toward Crow Dog, at the same time endeavoring to draw his pistol. Crow Dog then jumped into his wagon and drove off toward his camp, some nine miles distant. The crime created intense excitement among the Indians, and while in the greater measure due to domestic jealousy, Crow Dog was incited to the act by Black Crow, a headman who was ambitious to succeed Spotted Tail as chief. Both Crow Dog and Black Crow were arrested and taken to Deadwood for trial, where Crow Dog was convicted and sentenced to be hung

Neither Spotted Tail nor Red Cloud ever acquired progressive views. Both, having risen to the position of important chiefs, were reluctant to surrender any portion of the power thus acquired, and never took kindly to the ways of civilization. In 1882 Red Cloud, as was the case with Spotted Tail a couple of years earlier, acquired rather exalted views of his own importance and sought to set at defiance the authority of the government, but Dr. McGillycuddy was always a bad man to fool with, and he suppressed his ambitions so promptly that he did not again exhibit any particular desire to run things. On May 10, 1883, Sitting Bull and his immediate followers to the number of 153, who had for nearly two years been held as prisoners at Tort Randall, were released and returned to the Standing Rock agency. On the following day Sitting Hull, accompanied by his people, came to the agency office, soliciting a council, whereupon with the greatest sang froid he commenced to harangue by announcing a code of regulations by which he and his people desired to be governed, stating that he did not intend to plant anything that season, but would look around and see how it was done so that he would be prepared to commence next year. He did not want ration tickets, but would draw all of the supplies in bulk for himself and his people. He asked to be placed first on the rolls of the agency, together with other absurdities. He presented a paper which he had prepared in duplicate, asking that his appointment of eleven chiefs and thirteen headmen be confirmed. His request for the appointment of these twenty-four chiefs and headmen, out of a total of thirty-five adults, which constituted his party, did not seem to him unreasonable, arguing that they were all hereditary chiefs, good and true men, true to him and superior to any of the old chiefs of the agency. He said that the Great Father had written to him before he left Fort Randall that he was to return to his own country and live among his people, where he would be the headman, the big chief of the agency. That a good house was to be built for him to live in. That he and his people would have cattle, wagons, horses and buggies. That he might gather his people from all the other agencies, and have everything that he desired. Major McLaughlin listened patiently to his inflated nonsense, when he told him that to be honest with him he must be very frank, and he must therefore say to him that the Great Father never wrote him any such letter as he claimed, in fact never wrote him any letter at all, or made him any such promises as he had stated, or authorized any such promises to be made by anyone. That the Great Father recognized the most industrious Indian who was endeavoring to benefit his condition and .set a good example to his people as his biggest chief, and that he would receive his share of rations and supplies like the other Indians. After hearing the agent's reply he was considerably crestfallen, and said he was greatly surprised at the very beginning. Major McLaughlin then told him the rules and regulations governing the Indian service, and informed him that they would be strictly enforced, and it was better for him to get the right idea from the start than to continue to labor under such foolish ideas as he had just expressed. The agent then had a field of twelve acres plowed for Sitting Bull and his people, and notified him that he must commence planting on the. following day, and at the appointed time he reported with his people ready for work. Here he came upon another disappointment. Instead of bossing the job for his own band the major staked the field off into patches of .equal size for each family, and Sitting Bull was compelled to plant his own plot. Major McLaughlin visited him in the field while at work and found him using a hoe rather awkwardly, but in two days the field was nicely planted. He told the major that he had determined to become a farmer in earnest. No man in all of the Indian country was so capable of forming so just an estimate of an Indian as was Major McLaughlin, and here is his opinion of Sitting Bull, when he became an agency Indian in 1883: "Sitting Bull is an Indian of very mediocre ability, rather dull, and much the inferior of Gall and others of his lieutenants in intelligence. I cannot understand how he held such sway over, or controlled men so eminently his superiors in every respect, unless it was by his sheer obstinacy and stubborn tenacity. He is pompous, vain and boastful, and considers himself a very important personage. The late hostiles at this agency are doing well and are among the best disposed and most industrious farmers here, the noted war chief, Gall, being one of my Indian district farmers."

Crow Dog, the murderer of Spotted Tail, was given trial in Judge Moody's court at Deadwood and was convicted and sentenced to be hung. There was a question about the jurisdiction of the court, and as a test case the question was carried to the supreme court of the United States, which held that under the statute the courts of the United States had no jurisdiction as to crimes committed by one Indian against the person or property of another Indian, nor to any Indian committing any offense in the Indian country who had been punished by the local laws of his tribe. The murderer was therefore set free and returned to the reservation. As a consequence of this decision a very bad state of affairs grew up on the reservation. White Thunder, the best friend the government had at Rosebud agency, was murdered in 1884 by young Spotted Tail and Thunder Hawk, and as they immediately, in accordance with the local laws of the tribe, expiated the crime by paying ponies to the family of the murdered Indian, nothing could be done to punish them for the offense.

About this time a system of Indian courts was created at all of the agencies for the punishment of minor offenses and for the adjustment of difficulties arising among the Indians, which proved to be of great benefit in preserving order and very popular with the Indians themselves. Three of the best and most reliable Indians were selected by the agent to constitute this court in the first instance, but later the Indians in council were permitted to elect their own judges. It is highly creditable to them that they have invariably elected the best men in the tribe to hold these responsible positions for them, and their decisions have given almost universal satisfaction. Though every Indian aggrieved by their decisions has a right of appeal to the agent, appeals are very rare indeed.

On the 1st day of January, 1885, Eggs on Head, a Lower Brule Indian, was killed by two white men on Dry Island in the Missouri River. The men were engaged in stealing timber from the reservation, and the Indian tried to stop them. Angry words followed, which resulted in the killing of the Indian. The murderers were arrested and tried before the United States court at Yankton, but acquitted. At that time it was very difficult to secure a jury in Dakota that would do justice between the white man and the Indian. A good deal of trouble was experienced at this time by the sale of liquor to the Indians on the reservation, but numerous convictions and heavy fines and imprisonments soon broke up the practice.

Red Cloud continued obstinately opposed to education and civilization, and constantly harangued against sending the children to school. As a result very few of the Oglalas were being educated. Agent McGillycuddy resolved to enforce the provision of the treaty which provided that the rations for children of school age should only be issued to them in case they were attending school regularly. Red Cloud lodged complaint against him before the Indian commissioner for withholding his rations, and an investigation ensued, but when the facts were revealed McGillycuddy was justified in his course. Red Cloud, not satisfied with preventing the education of the younger people of his own reservation, started out with a propaganda to the other reservations to discourage the education of the children. Agent McLaughlin, learning of the bad influence he was exerting, hustled him off of the Standing Rock reservation and he was likewise compelled to leave the Cheyenne River reservation and return to his home.

At about this period, 1885. a real revolution look place in the social life of all of the Dakota Indians, and they broke up 1 the old fashioned village life which had been necessary in the t days when they were hourly subject to attack from their enemies, and separated into family camps, selecting homes where each family could have an abundance of timber, pasture, hay and grazing land. This new life relieved them from many of the temptations to evil and mischievous habits to which they were subjected in the days when they were congested in villages. At about this time, too, a majority of the Indians put on white men's dress, had their hair cut, and thus took a long step in the way of civilization. While the progress of the Indians was general at all of the reservations, there was an exception to this general rule in Hump's band of the Minneconjous located on Cherry Creek, an affluent of the Cheyenne, in the interior of the reservation. This band had been among the most hostile in the Red Cloud and Custer wars, and had accompanied Sitting Bull in his flight to Canada, and were among the last who surrendered to the authorities. They numbered about 550 souls, and Hump and his sub-chiefs were most jealous of their rights as headmen and strictly adhered to all of the old-time customs of the savages. Long after all of the other Indians had adopted citizens' dress they adhered to the breech cloth and the blanket, kept up the heathen dances, wore long hair, and lived in the old fashioned, clustered villages. It is only in very recent times that they have adopted more progressive views. In 1885 a movement was undertaken for the reduction of the great Sioux reservation by opening to settlement that portion between the Cheyenne and the White Rivers. This was considered exceedingly desirable by the people of Dakota Territory, as it opened the way to the construction of railroads to the Black Hills. A treaty very advantageous to the Indians and the government alike was negotiated, and as there was no doubt in the mind of anyone that it would be ratified by congress, the railroad companies made active preparations to begin the construction of their lines, but for some inexplicible reason the treaty was not ratified, and as there appeared to be no further probability of the reservation being opened, the Northwestern railway secured access to the Hills by the Nebraska route and in consequence the eastern and western portions of South Dakota are separated by a wide expanse of unsettled territory to this day.

With the progress of time, the value of the agency courts  of Indian offenses became more and more emphasized. In 1887 Major McLaughlin reports that at Standing Rock fifty-two cases were heard and adjudicated by the court without a single appeal, and a large number of minor cases were settled by advice of the court without going to trial. Offenders were punished by close confinement and hard labor and in some instances fines were imposed. The guilty party, if the owner of firearms, was obliged to turn them over to the police court, and if the convict himself had no arms, then his relatives were compelled to turn in theirs. By this means Major McLaughlin reports that seventy-four rifles and five revolvers had come into the possession of the court during the year and were now safely stored in the government warehouse. The major adds, "This court is no respecter of persons, as having recently having had the conceited Sitting Bull before them for assault, the tomahawk with which he attacked his antagonist, Shell King, was confiscated by the court, as was also Shell King's knife, with which he attempted to strike Sitting Bull.

Matters kept on in the even tenor of their way, the Indians slowly making progress, but with very few events which are worthy of note. On Sunday morning, July 29, 1888, Struck by the Ree, familiarly known as Old Strike, the chief of the Yanktons, died at Yankton agency. He was an extraordinary man, possessing honesty and excellent judgment, and he adhered to the provisions of their treaty of 1858 with a fidelity which amounted to a religious zeal. He was almost fanatical in this particular. He was opposed to progress and education, and in council made a strong speech against patronizing the schools, but when the agent showed him the treaty in which he had agreed to provide for schools, he immediately hitched up his team and drove all over the agency compelling the people to send in all their children to school, and the institution was soon filled to overflowing. His influence was not confined to the Yankton branch of the Sioux. . He was often consulted by other chiefs, and messengers sent a long distance to obtain his views on important matters. We have seen how he steadfastly supported the whites during the war of the outbreak. It was announced that he was more than 90 years of age at his death, but as a matter of fact he was precisely 84 years of age, having been born at Yankton on the 29th day of August, 1804, while Lewis and Clark were in council there with his people. He was a Catholic, but at his request his funeral sermon was preached by Rev. John P. Williamson, from the text, "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?"

During this year a new effort was made to secure a treaty for the opening of the reservation, but the commissioners were unable to secure the necessary signatures from the Indians for the purpose, all of the old leaders like Red Cloud, Man Afraid, Gall and Sitting Bull opposing the treaty. In the summer of 1889, however, a new commission was sent out, consisting of General Crook, Governor Charles Foster of Ohio and Senator Hoar, and starting in at the Pine Ridge agency, in spite of the strenuous opposition of Red Cloud, Little Wound and Man Afraid, they secured the requisite signatures, and passing on from agency to agency succeeded in securing a sufficient number of each band to make the treaty valid, and in pursuance of it the lands between White River and the Cheyenne River were thrown open to settlement by executive proclamation in the early spring of 1890. The Indians were to receive $1.25 per acre for all lands disposed of during the first three years, 75 cents per acre for the lands taken during the next two years, and 50 cents per acre for all lands disposed of by the government from the relinquished section thereafter. In consequence of this treaty the Cheyenne River agency was removed from the ceded lands to a point on the Missouri River opposite Forest City, and the Lower Brule agency to a tract of land selected for the purpose on the Missouri River between old Forts Lookout and George.

 

 

CHAPTER XLIV

 

A Paiute Indian named Wovoka, but better known as Jack Wilson, by reason of the fact that he had grown up in the family of Mr. David Wilson near Pyramid Lake, Nevada, was suffering from a fever at the time of the total eclipse of the sun, January 1, 1889. The Paiutes were naturally sun worshipers, and the eclipse always caused great excitement and consternation among them. Jack was a mild, kindly dispositioned fellow, very industrious and trustworthy, and held in high esteem by both Indians and whites. He spoke the English language fairly well and possessed the rudiments of English education. At the time of the eclipse he claimed to have fallen asleep in the day time, and to have been taken up to heaven, where he saw God and all the people who had died long ago engaged in their old time sports; all happy and forever young. It was a pleasant land and full of game. After showing him all, God told him he must go back to earth and tell his people they must be good and love one another, have no quarreling and live in peace with the whites. That they must work and not lie and steal. That they must put away all the old practices that savored of war. That if they faithfully obeyed his instructions they would at last be reunited with their friends in the other world, where there would be no more death or sickness or old age. He was then instructed in the dance which he was commanded to bring back to his people. By performing this dance at intervals for five consecutive days each time they would secure this happiness to themselves and hasten the event. Finally God gave him control over the elements so that he could make it rain or snow or be dry at his will, and appointed him his deputy to take charge of affairs in the west, while governor, meaning President Harrison, would attend to matters in the east and God Himself would look after affairs in the world above. Jack then returned to earth and began to preach as he was directed, convincing the people by exercising the wonderful powers that had been given him. It will be seen at once that Jack's revelation embraced the old pagan superstitions in which he had been reared, together with the tenets of the Christian religion in which he had been instructed during the later years of his residence with Mr. Wilson, who with his family were religious people. Jack at this time was about 35 years of age.

The declaration of his revelation set the Paiutes and all of the adjoining tribes instantly into a great religious fervor, and in a very short period of time knowledge of his professions had been carried to all the Indians in all of the tribes in the continent. It is marvelous how rapidly this sort of news traveled among them, and the reader may be sure that the tale lost nothing in its pilgrimage. The first knowledge of the Messiah craze reached the Sioux in the summer of 1889, by letters received at Pine Ridge from tribes in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Dakota and Oklahoma. As these letters were sent to many Sioux who did not read, they were taken to William Selwyn to be interpreted to them, and, therefore, knowledge of the movement soon came to the agency officials. In the fall of 1889 the matter had so much interested the Pine Ridge Dakotas that a great council was held to discuss the subject, attended by Red Cloud, Man Afraid, Little Wound, American Horse and very many other of the older Indians who still took pride in adhering to the antiquated tribal customs. At this council it was determined to send a delegation to Pyramid Lake to learn more of the new Messiah, and Good Thunder, Flat Iron, Yellow Breast and Broken Arm from Pine Ridge, Short Bull and one other from Rosebud, and Kicking Bear from Cheyenne River agency were elected as such delegates. They at once started on their journey to the west and soon began to write from Wyoming, Utah and beyond the mountains confirming all that had been said of the advent of a redeemer. They were gone all winter and their return in the spring of 1890 aroused an intense excitement among the Sioux, who had been anxiously awaiting. their report. All the delegates believed that there was a man near the base of the Sierras who said that he was the Son of God, who had once been killed by the whites, and who bore on his body the scars of the crucifixion. He was now returning to punish the whites for their wickedness, especially for their injustice toward the Indians. With the coming of the spring of 1891 he would wipe the whites from the face of the earth and would then resurrect all the dead Indians, bring back the buffalo and other game, and restore the supremacy of the aboriginal race. He had before come to the whites, but they had rejected him. He was now the God of the Indians and they must pray to him and call him Father and prepare for his awful coming.

This report was an awful and unjustifiable exaggeration of what Jack Wilson actually taught. The latter took pains to write down his message, and there was absolutely nothing in it to justify the Sioux version. Here is Jack Wilson's message verbatim: "When you get home you must make a dance to continue five days. Dance four successive nights and the last night keep up the dance until the morning of the fifth day, when all must bathe in the river and then disperse to their homes. You must all do in the same way.

"I, Jack Wilson, love you all and my heart is full of gladness for the gifts which you have brought me. When you get home I shall give you a good cloud which will make you feel good, I give you a good spirit and give you all good paint. I want you to come again in three months, some from each tribe.

"There will be a good deal of snow this year and some rain, in the fall there will be such a rain as I have never given you before.

"Grandfather (meaning himself, the Messiah) says when your friends die you must not cry. You must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight. Do right always. It will give you satisfaction in  life.

"Do not tell the white people about this. Jesus is now upon earth. He appears like a cloud. The dead are all alive again. I do not know when they will be here, maybe this fall or m the spring. When the time comes there will be no more sickness, and everyone will he young again.

"Do not refuse to work for the whites and do not make any trouble with them until you leave them. When the earth shakes, at the coming of the new world, do not be afraid, it will not hurt you.

"I want you to dance every six weeks. Make a feast at the dance and have food that everyone may cat. Then bathe in the water. That is all. You will receive good words from me sometime. Do not tell lies."

Manifestly Short Bull, who at once became the leader of the delegation to the Messiah, disregarded the last injunction of the Messiah, not to tell lies.

It was in April, 1890, that the delegates returned to Pine Ridge with their reports. A council was at once called to discuss the matter, but Selwyn, who was himself an educated full blood Sioux and postmaster at Pine Ridge, reported the project to the agent, Major Gallagher, and Good Thunder and two others were arrested and imprisoned for two days The council was not held, but Kicking Bear, who had been off to the Arapahoes, enroute to his home at Cheyenne River, stopped at Pine Ridge and told them that the Arapahoes were already dancing and could see and talk with their dead relatives, while in the dance. The excitement which the agent had thought was smothered by the arrest of the leaders, broke out again with added strength. Red Cloud himself, the great chief of the Ogalas, declared his adhesion to the new doctrine and said his people must do as the Messiah commanded. A great council was held on White Clay Creek, a few miles from the Pine Ridge agency, and the ghost dance was formally inaugurated, Short Bull and others of the delegates acting as priests and leaders in the ceremony. The religious fervor into which these people were at once thrown was unparalleled and beyond all rational explanation. They dreamed dreams and saw visions. The visible presence of their long departed relatives and friends was something real and tangible to them. They were simply laboring under some strange psychologic influence not susceptible of explanation. Before going into the dance the men fasted for twenty-four hours, and then at daylight entered the sweat houses for religious purification, preliminary to painting themselves for the dance. The sweat house is a small circular framework of willow branches driven into the ground and bent over and brought together at the top in such a way that when covered with blankets or buffalo robes the structure forms a dimunitive round top tepee just high enough to enable several persons to sit or stand in a stooping posture inside. The doorway facing the east, and at the distance of a few feet in front of the door way is a small mound of earth on which is placed a buffalo skull with the head turned as if looking into the lodge. The earth of which the mound is formed is taken from a hole in the center of the lodge. Near the sweat house on the outside there is a tall sacrifice pole, from the top of which are strung strips of bright colored cloth, packages of tobacco, or other offerings to the deity invoked by the devotee. Fresh bundles of the fragrant wild sage are strewn on the ground inside of the sweat house, and a fire is kindled outside a short distance away. In this fire stones are heated by the medicine men and when all are ready, the devotees, stripped to the breech cloth, enter the sweat house. The stones are then handed into them by the priests by means of two forked sticks and are deposited by him in the hole in the earth in the center of the lodge. Water is then passed in to him, which is poured over the hot stones until the whole interior is filled with steam and he sits in this aboriginal Turkish bath until his body is dripping with perspiration. During this time the doctors outside are doing their part in the way of praying to the gods and keeping up the supply of hot stones and water until, in their estimation, he has been sufficiently purified physically or morally, when he emerges, plunges into the neighboring stream and resumes his clothing. After this the dancer was painted by the medicine man, the design and color being determined by a previous trance vision. This process occupied most of the morning, so that it was about noon before the circle for the dance was formed. A small tree was planted in the center of the circle with the American flag floating from the top. Around the base of this tree sat the priests. A young woman standing within the circle gave the signal for the performance by shooting into the air toward the cardinal points, four sacred arrows, made after the old primitive fashion with stone heads and dipped in the blood of a steer before being brought to the dance. These were then gathered up and tied to a branch of the tree, together with the bow. During the dance this young woman stood within the circle, holding a red stone pipe toward the west, the direction from which the Messiah was to appear. The performers, men and women, sat on the ground in a large circle around the tree. A plaintive chant was then sung, after which a vessel of some sacred food was passed around the circle until everyone had partaken, when at a signal by the priests the dancers rose to their feet, joined hands and began to chant the opening song and began to move slowly around the circle from right to left. The dance was thus kept up until the performers were utterly exhausted and fell in a trance. This religious excitement spread rapidly to all of the Dakota reservations, but the real disturbance was confined to Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Hump's band of Minneconjous on the Cherry Creek, belonging to the Cheyenne River agency, and to Sitting Bull's band on Grand River, belonging to the Standing Rock reservation. The Indians independent of the religious movement, attendant upon the Messiah craze, had some serious grounds of complaint against the whites at this juncture, and designing men among them took advantage of the religious sentiment to foment hostile sentiments, not perhaps with a view to inciting an outbreak, but rather to secure a reform of the evils and additional supplies. It cannot be said from any evidence yet produced that the reservation Dakotas had any definite plan of resorting to open warfare. The bad condition in the relations between the whites and Indians at this juncture were due to several causes. The signing of the treaty of 1889 by which the great Sioux reservation was broken up bad been earnestly opposed by the old heathen Indians, such as Red Cloud and Sitting Bull, who argued strenuously that the Indians would be more than ever at the mercy of the whites, if this thing was done, and particularly that the rations would be cut off. Under the Black Hills treaty of 1876, it will be remembered that the government bound itself to supply the Indians with full rations, or so much thereof as should be needed, until they became self-supporting. At about this time the Indian department had concluded that the Indians never would become self-supporting or make any progress in that direction so long as full rations were issued to them, and it was therefore resolved to begin a process of gradual reduction of supplies, hoping thereby to induce the Indians to greater effort to supply their own needs. Unfortunately this experiment was taken immediately after the signing of the treaty of 1889, and appeared to be a prompt fulfillment of the prophesies of Red Cloud and Sitting Bull. Again, 1889 and 1890 were the most disastrous years in the history of Dakota agriculture. By reason of the great and far- reaching drought thousands of white settlers were compelled to leave their homes on the fertile and Ordinarily productive lands east of the Missouri, and the feeble attempts of the reservation Indians at agriculture proved a total failure. Thus they .were greatly limited, not only in the ordinary supplies received from the government, but entirely deprived from any returns from their own labor. These conditions produced great distress among them, and in many of the camps the inhabitants were for months on short rations and at the verge of starvation. The situation was one well calculated, independent of any other exciting cause, to drive the Indians to hostility, and supplemented by the Short Bull version of the Messiah theology, the Sioux believed the time had come when with a little assistance on their part the whites would miraculously be swept from the face of the earth. Another serious complication grew out of the change of agents at Pine Ridge agency. In the early autumn of 1890, and while the ghost dance excitement was at its height, Major Gallagher, who had occupied the position for four years, was succeeded by Dr. Rover. Rover's appointment was purely political. He was totally inexperienced in Indian affairs, and upon the test proved to lack tact, judgment and courage. The Indians were quick to perceive his weakness and from the first showed little respect for his authority and within a few days began to treat him with utter contempt, and in the emergency which confronted him the agent called upon the military for support in preserving order upon the reservation. This was the first time since the establishment of the agency at Pine Ridge that the military had been called into requisition. Never before had there been an emergency in which a Dr. McGillycuddy or a Major McLaughlin were so essential to the preservation of peace as at this time. It may safely be assumed that had Dr. McGillycuddy been at the helm there would have been no bloodshed, no soldiers, and the Messiah war would have been wholly averted. From 1879 to 1886 Pine Ridge was in charge of Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy, a man of unflinching courage, determined will and splendid executive ability. Taking charge of these Indians when they had come in fresh from the warpath, he managed them for seven years without a soldier nearer than sixty miles away. Relying on the Indians themselves, he introduced the principle of home rule by organizing a force of fifty Indian police, drilled in regular cavalry and infantry tactics. With these he was able to thwart all the mischievous schemes of Red Cloud, maintain authority and start the Indians well on the road to civilization.

Through the cattlemen on the ceded lands came the first notice to the department of intended danger. The first note to reach the interior department was in the shape of a letter addressed to Secretary Noble by Charles L. Hyde, a citizen of Pierre, dated May 29, 1890, a little more than one. month after the return of the delegates from the west, in which he revealed trustworthy information that a portion of the Sioux were secretly planning an outbreak. Mr. Hyde obtained this information from a young half-breed from Pine Ridge who was attending the government school at Pierre, and who was in correspondence with his relatives at home.

 

 

CHAPTER XLV

 

The department at once sent out instructions to the various agents to use every discreet means to prevent the dancing. This interference only increased the excitement. Short Bull, who had come into great prominence among the Indians, but who had been suppressed by Agent Wright at Rosebud, his old home, had joined the dancers at Fine Ridge, and who demonstrated most progressive ideas, having been in the first place only a sort of John the Baptist in the wilderness declaring the coming of the Messiah at a definite time something more than a year in advance, on the 31st of October, 1800, boldly announced himself as the true Messiah, and declared that inasmuch as the whites had so seriously interfered in the ghost dance that he would at once "start this thing a running."  "I have told you that this would come to pass in two seasons, but since the whites are interfering so much I will advance the time from what my Father above told me to do, so the time will be shorter. If the soldiers surround you four deep three of you on whom I have put holy shirts will sing a song that I have taught you, when some of the soldiers will drop dead, then the rest will start to run, but their horses will sink into the earth. The riders will jump from their horses, but they will sink into the earth also. Then you can do as you desire with them. Now you must know this, that all the soldiers and that race will be dead. There will be only five thousand of them left living on the earth. My friends and relations, this is straight and true."  He then instructed them to gather in a great camp at Pass Creek to await further instructions.

In the story which follows Professor James Mooney's account of the Messiah war in South Dakota is almost literally followed, except that some portions not material to the coherent relation of the part of the Dakotas in it, and some editorial views, have been omitted. Professor Mooney's relation is fair, impartial and exceedingly accurate.

Soon afterward McLaughlin personally visited Sitting Bull at his camp on Grand River and attempted to reason with the Indians on the absurdity of their belief. In reply, Sitting Bull proposed that they should both go with competent attendants to the country of the Messiah and see and question him for themselves, and rest the truth or falsity of the new doctrine on the result. The proposition was not accepted. There can be no question that the leaders of the ghost dance among the Sioux were fully as much deceived as their followers.

As the local agents had declared the situation beyond their control, the war department was at last called on and responded. On November 13th the president had directed the secretary of war to assume military responsibility to prevent an outbreak, and on November 17th troops, under command of General John R. Brooke, were ordered to the front. The general plan of the campaign was under the direction of General Nelson A. Miles, in command of the military department of the Missouri. On November 19th the first troops arrived at Pine Ridge from Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and were speedily reinforced by others. Within a few days there were at Pine Ridge agency, under the immediate command of General Brooke, eight troops of the Seventh cavalry under Colonel Forsyth; a battalion of the Fifth infantry under Captain Capron, and a company of the Eighth infantry and eight companies of the Second infantry under Colonel Wheaton. At Rosebud were two troops of the Ninth cavalry, with portions of the Eighth and Twenty-first infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel Poland. Between Pine Ridge and Rosebud were stationed seven companies of the First infantry under Colonel Shatter West and north of Pine Ridge were stationed portions of the First, Second and Ninth cavalry under command of Colonel Tilford and Lieutenant Colonel San ford. Further west, at Buffalo Gap, on the railroad, were stationed three troops from the Fifth and Eighth cavalry under Captain Wells. Further north on the railroad, at Rapid City, was Colonel Carr with six troops of the Sixth cavalry. Along the south fork of Cheyenne River Lieutenant Colonel Offley took position with seven companies of the Seventeenth infantry, and east of him was stationed Lieutenant Colonel Summer with three troops of the Eighth cavalry, two companies of the Third infantry, and Lieutenant Robinson's company of Crow Indian scouts. Small garrisons were also stationed at Forts Meade, Bennett and Sully. Most of the force was placed in position between the Indians now gathered in the Bad Lands, under Short Bull and Kicking Bear, and the scattered settlements nearest them. Seven companies of the Seventh infantry, under Colonel Merriam, were also placed along Cheyenne River to restrain the Indians of Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations. In a short time there were nearly 3,000 troops in the field in the Sioux country. General Miles established his headquarters at Rapid City, South Dakota, close to the center of disturbance. On December 1st the secretary of the interior directed that the agents be instructed to obey and co-operate with the military officers in all matters looking to the suppression of an outbreak.

Upon the first appearance of the troops a large number of Indians of Rosebud and Pine Ridge, led by Short Bull,  Kicking Bear and others, left their homes and fled to the rough, broken country known as the Bad Lands, northwest of White River in South Dakota, on the edge of Pine Ridge reservation, and about fifty miles northwest of the agency. In their flight they destroyed the houses and other property of the friendly Indians in their path and compelled many to go with them. They succeeded, also, in capturing a large portion of the agency beef herd. Others rapidly joined them until soon a formidable body of 3,000 Indians had gathered in the Bad Lands, where, protected by the natural fastnesses and difficulties of the country, their future intentions became a matter of anxious concern to the settlers and the authorities.

From the concurrent testimony of all the witnesses, including Indian Commissioner Morgan and the Indians themselves, this flight to the Bad Lands was not properly a hostile movement, but was a stampede caused by panic at the appearance of the troops.

The Sioux nation numbers over 25,000, with between 6,000 and 7,000 warriors. Hardly more than 700 warriors were concerned altogether, including those of Big Foot's band and those who fled to the Bad Lands. None of the Christian Indians took any part in the disturbance.

While it is certain that the movement toward the Bad Lands, with the subsequent events, was the result of panic at the appearance of the troops, it is equally true that the troops were sent only on the request of the civilian authorities. On this point General Miles says: "Not until the civil agents had lost control of the Indians and declared themselves powerless to preserve peace, and the Indians were in armed hostility and defiance of the civil authorities, was a single soldier moved from his garrison to suppress the general revolt." Throughout the whole trouble McLaughlin at Standing Rock consistently declared his ability to control his Indians without the presence of troops.

In accordance with instructions from the Indian office, the several agents in charge among the Sioux had forwarded lists of disturbers whom it would be advisable to arrest and remove from among the Indians, using the military for the purpose if necessary. The agents at the other reservations sent in altogether the names of about fifteen subjects for removal, while Royer at Pine Ridge forwarded as a "conservative estimate" the names of sixty-four. Short Bull and Kicking Bear being in the Bad Lands, and Red Cloud being now an old man and too politic to make much open demonstration, the head and front of the offenders was Sitting Bull, the irreconcilable; but McLaughlin, within whose jurisdiction he was, in a letter of November 22d, advised that the arrest be not attempted until later in the season, as at the date of writing the weather was warm and pleasant—in other words, favorable to the Indians in case they should make opposition. The worst element had withdrawn to the Bad Lands, where they were making no hostile demonstrations, but were apparently badly frightened and awaiting developments to know whether to come in and surrender or to continue to retreat. The dance had been generally discontinued on the reservations, excepting at Sitting Bull's camp on Grand River and Big Foot's camp on Cheyenne River. The presence of troops had stopped the dances near the agencies, and the secretary of the interior, in order to allay the dissatisfaction, had ordered that the full rations due under the treaty should be issued at all the Sioux agencies, which at the same time were placed under the control of the military. Such were the conditions on the opening of December, 1890. Everything seemed to be quieting down, and it was now deemed a favorable time to forestall future disturbance by removing the ringleaders.

Agent McLaughlin at Standing Rock had notified the department some weeks before that it would be necessary to remove Sitting Bull and several others at no distant day to put an end to their harmful influence among the Sioux, but stated also that the matter should not be precipitated, and that when the proper time came he would accomplish the undertaking with his Indian police without the aid of troops. As soon as the war department assumed control of the Sioux agencies, it was determined to make an attempt to secure Sitting Bull by military power. Accordingly orders were given to the noted scout, William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, who was well acquainted with Sitting Bull and was believed to have influence with him, to proceed to Standing Rock agency to induce him to come in, with authority to make such terms as might seem necessary, and, if unsuccessful, to arrest him and remove him from his camp to the nearest post, Fort Yates. Cody arrived at Fort Yates on November 28th, and was about to undertake the arrest, when his orders were countermanded at the urgent remonstrance of Agent McLaughlin, who represented that such a step at that particular time was unwise, as military interference was liable to provoke a conflict, in which the Indians would have the advantage, as the warm weather was in their favor. He insisted that there was no immediate danger from the dancing, and that at the proper time—when the weather grew colder— he would take care of Sitting Bull and the other disturbers, whose removal he advised with the aid of the Indian police, whom, in all the years of service, he had always found equal to the emergency. The attempt was accordingly postponed. In the meantime Sitting Bull had promised to come into the agency to talk over the situation with the agent, but failed to keep his engagement. A close watch was kept over his movements, and the agent was instructed to make no arrests except by authority from the military or the secretary of the interior.

There is no question that Sitting Bull was plotting mischief. His previous record was one of irreconcilable hostility to the government, and in every disturbance on the reservation his camp had been the center of ferment. It was at his camp and on his invitation that Kicking Bear had organized the first ghost dance on the reservation, and the dance had been kept up ever since in spite of the remonstrance of the agent. At the same time the turbulent followers of the medicine man took every opportunity to insult and annoy the peaceable and progressive Indians who refused to join them, until these later were forced to make complaint to the agent. In October, while the dance was being organized at his camp, Sitting Bull had deliberately broken the "pipe of peace" which he had kept in his house since his surrender in 1881, and when asked why he had broken it, replied that he wanted to die and wanted to fight. From that time he discontinued his regular visits to the agency. It became known that he contemplated leaving the reservation to visit the other leaders of dissatisfaction at the southern Sioux agencies, and to frustrate such an attempt the agent had gradually increased the number of police in the neighborhood of his camp, and had arranged for speedy information and prompt action in case of any sudden move on his part.

Forseeing from the active movements of the military that the arrest of Sitting Bull was liable to be ordered at any moment, and fearing that such action might come at an inopportune time and thus result in trouble, McLaughlin made arrangements to have him and several other disturbers arrested by the Indian police on the night of December 6th, the weather and other things being then, in his opinion, most favorable for the attempt. On telegraphing to the Indian department, however, for authority, he was directed to make no arrests excepting upon orders from the military authorities or the secretary of the interior. In reply to a telegram from General Ruger. McLaughlin stated that there was no immediate need of haste, and that postponement was preferable, as the winter weather was cooling the ardor of the dancers.

On December 12th the military order came for the arrest of Sitting Bull. Colonel Drum, in command at Fort Yates, was directed to make it his personal duty to secure him and to call on the agent for assistance and co-operation in the matter. On consultation between the commandant and the agent, who were in full accord, it was decided to make the arrest on the 20th, when most of the Indians would be down at the agency for rations, and there would consequently be less danger of a conflict at the camp. On the 14th, however, late Sunday afternoon, a courier came in from Grand River with a message from Mr. Carignan, the teacher of the Indian school, stating, on information given by the police, that an invitation had just come from Pine Ridge for Sitting Bull asking him to go there, as God was about to appear. Sitting Bull was determined to go, and sent a request to the agent for permission, but in the meantime had completed his preparations to go anyhow in case permission was refused. With this intention it was further stated that he had his horses already selected for a long and hard ride, and the police urgently asked to be allowed to arrest him at once, as it would be a difficult matter to overtake him after he had once started.

It was necessary to act immediately, and arrangements were made between Colonel Drum and Agent McLaughlin to attempt the arrest at daylight the next morning, December 15th. The arrest was to be made by the Indian police, assisted, if necessary, by a detachment of troops, who were to follow within supporting distance. There were already twenty-eight police under command of Lieutenant Bull Head, in the immediate vicinity of Sitting Bull's camp on Grand River, about forty miles southwest of the agency and Fort Yates, and couriers were at once dispatched to these and to others in that direction to concentrate at Sitting Bull's house, ready to make the arrest in the morning. It was then sundown, but with loyal promptness the police mounted their ponies and by riding all night from one station to another, assembled a force of forty-three trained and determined Indian police, including four volunteers, at the rendezvous on Grand River before daylight. In performing this courier service Sergeant Red Tomahawk covered the distance of forty miles between the agency and the camp, over an unfamiliar road, in four hours and a quarter; and another, Hawk-Man, made 100 miles, by a roundabout way, in twenty-two hours. In the meantime two troops of the Eighth cavalry, numbering 100 men, under command of Captain E. G. Fechet, and having with them a Hotchkiss gun, left Fort Yates at midnight, guided by Louis Primeau, and by a rapid night march arrived within supporting distance near Sitting Bull's camp just before daybreak. It was afterward learned that Sitting Bull, in anticipation of such action, had had a strong guard about his house for his protection for several nights previous, but on this particular night the Indians had been dancing until nearly morning, and the house was consequently left unguarded.

At daybreak on Monday morning, December 15, 1890, the police and volunteers, forty-three in number, under command of Lieutenant Bull Head, a cool and reliable man, surrounded Sitting Bull's house. He had two log cabins, a few rods apart, and to make sure of their man, eight of the police entered one house and ten went into the other, while the rest remained on guard outside. They found him asleep on the floor in the larger house. He was aroused and told that he was a prisoner and must go to the agency. He made no objection, but said, "All right; I will dress and go with you." He then sent one of his wives to the other house for some clothes he desired to wear, and asked to have his favorite horse saddled for him to ride, which was done by one of the police. On looking about the room two rifles and several knives were found and taken by the police. While dressing, he apparently changed his mind, and began abusing the police for disturbing him, to which they made no reply. While this was going on inside, his followers, to the number of perhaps 150, were congregating about the house outside, and by the time he was dressed an excited crowd of Indians had the police entirely surrounded and were pressing them to the wall. On being brought out, Sitting Bull became greatly excited and refused to go, and called on his followers to rescue him. Lieutenant Bull Head and Sergeant Shave Head were standing on each side of him, with Second Sergeant Red Tomahawk guarding behind, while the rest of the police were trying to clear the way in front, when one of Sitting Bull's followers, Catch-the-Bear, fired and shot Lieutenant Bull Head in the side. Bull Head at once turned and sent a bullet into the body of Sitting Bull, who was also shot through the head at the same moment by Red Tomahawk. Sergeant Shave Head was shot by another of the crowd, and fell to the ground with Bull Head and Sitting Bull. Catch-the-Bear, who fired the first shot, was immediately shot, and killed by Alone Man, one of the police, and it became a desperate hand-to-hand fight of less than forty-three men against more than a hundred. The trained police soon drove their assailants into the timber nearby, and then returned and carried their dead and wounded into the house and held it for about two hours, until the arrival of the troops under Captain Fechet, about half past 7. The troops had been notified of the perilous situation of the police by Hawk Man, who had volunteered to carry the information from Sitting Bull's camp. He succeeded in getting away, assisted by Red Tomahawk, although so closely pursued that several bullets passed through his clothing. In spite of the efforts of the hostiles, the police also held possession of the corral, which Sitting Bull had filled with horses in anticipation of his flight. When the cavalry came in sight over a hill, about 1,500 yards distant from the camp, the police at the corral raised a white flag to show where they were, but the troops, mistaking them for hostiles, fired two shells at them from the Hotchkiss, when Sergeant Red Tomahawk, who had taken command after the wounding of his superior officers, paraded his men in line and then rode out alone with a white flag to meet the troops. On the approach of the soldiers. Sitting Bull's warriors fled up Grand River a short distance and then turned south across the prairie toward Cherry Creek and Cheyenne River. Not wishing to create such a panic among them as to drive them into the hostile camp in the Bad Lands. Captain Fechet pursued them only a short distance and then left them to be handled by the other detachments in that direction. Their wives and their families, their property and their dead, were left behind in the flight. As soon as possible Captain Fechet also sent word to them, by some Indian women, to return to their homes and they would not be molested. To further reassure them, the troops at once began their march back to the post. As a result of this sensible policy, very few of the Sitting Bull band joined the hostiles. They had made no resistance to the troops, but fled immediately upon their appearance.

The fight lasted only a few minutes, but with terribly fatal result. Six policemen were killed or mortally wounded, including the officers Bull Head and Shave Head, and one other less seriously wounded. The hostiles lost eight killed, including Sitting Bull and his son Crow Foot, 17 years of age, with several wounded. During the fight the women attacked the police with knives and clubs, but notwithstanding the excitement the police simply disarmed them and put them in one of the houses under guard.

The warmest praise is given the Indian police for their conduct on this occasion by those who are most competent to judge. Some who thus faced death in obedience to orders had near relatives among those opposed to them. Agent McLaughlin, in one official letter, says that he cannot too strongly commend their splendid courage and ability in this action, and in another letter says: "The details of the battle show that the Indian police behaved nobly and exhibited the best of knowledge and bravery, and a recognition by the government for their services on this occasion is richly deserved. I respectfully urge that the interior department cooperate with the war department in obtaining congressional action which will secure to these brave survivors and to the families of the dead a full and generous reward. Colonel Drum, under whose orders the arrest was made, after stating that Sitting Bull was not hurt until he began struggling to escape and until one of the police had been shot, adds: "It is also remarkable that no squaws or children were hurt. The police appear to have constantly warned the other Indians to keep away, until they were forced to fight in self defense. It is hardly possible to praise their conduct too highly." Notwithstanding the recommendation of the commissioner of Indian affairs, congress has taken no action in recognition of their services on this occasion.

Before the action orders had been sent to the police to have with them a wagon, in order to convey Sitting Bull quickly away from the camp, so as to avoid trouble, but in the excitement of preparation this was overlooked. The police returned to the agency late in the afternoon, bringing with them their dead and wounded, together with two prisoners and the body of Sitting Bull, which was turned over to the military authorities at Fort Yates. The four dead policemen were buried at the agency next day with military honors. Bull Head and Shave Head died in the hospital soon afterward with the consolation of having their friends around them in their last moments. A few days later Rev. Thomas L. Riggs, who never in his life failed the Sioux in time of need, went out to Sitting Bull's camp and buried the dead hostiles. The agent states that the large majority of the Indians were loyal to the government, and expressed satisfaction at what they considered the termination of the disturbance. Couriers were again sent after the fleeing Indians by McLaughlin, warning them to return to the agency, where they would be safe, or suffer the consequences if found outside the reservation. Within a few days nearly 250 had come in and surrendered, leaving only about one-third still out. Most of these soon after surrendered with Hump on Cherry Creek, while the remainder, about fifty, joined Big Foot or went on to Pine Ridge.

 

CHAPTER XLVI

 

On December 18th the Indians who had already fled to the Bad Lands attacked a small party of men on Spring Creek of Cheyenne River. Major Tupper, with 100 men of Carr's division, was sent to the rescue, and a skirmish ensued with the Indians, who were concealed in the bushes along the creek. The government wagons, while crossing the creek, were also attacked by the hostiles, who were finally driven off by reinforcements of cavalry under Captain Wells. On the same date over 1,000 Indians returned to Pine Ridge. News was received that there were still about 1,500 fugitives camped on Cheyenne River in the neighborhood of Spring Creek.

The most dangerous leader of dissatisfaction in the north after the death of Sitting Bull was considered to be Hump, on Cheyenne River reservation. The agent in charge had long before recommended his removal, but it was thought that it would now be next to impossible to arrest him. Hump, with his band of about 400 persons, and Big Foot, with nearly as many, had their camps about the junction of Cherry Creek and Cheyenne River. For several weeks they had been dancing almost constantly, and were very sullen and apparently very hostile. After serious consideration of the matter, the task of securing Hump was assigned to Captain E. P. Ewers of the Fifth infantry, who had had charge of this chief and his band for seven years, and had their full confidence and respect. He was then on duty in Texas, but was ordered forward and reported soon after at Fort Bennett, on the border of the reservation. So dangerous was Hump considered to be, that the civil agents did not think it possible even for the officer to communicate with him. However, Captain Ewers, without troops and attended only by Lieutenant Hale, at once left the fort and rode out sixty miles to Hump's camp. Hump at the time was twenty miles away and a runner was sent for him. Immediately upon hearing that Captain Ewers was in the vicinity he came to him and was told that the division commander desired him to take his people away from the hostiles and bring them to the nearest military post. He replied that if General Miles sent for him he would do whatever he desired. He immediately brought his people into Fort Bennett and complied with all the orders and instructions given him, and subsequently rendered valuable service for peace. Thus an element regarded as among the most dangerous was removed. After coming into the fort, Hump enlisted as a scout under Captain Ewers, and soon afterward, in connection with the same Lieutenant Hale, proved his loyalty by bringing about the surrender of the Sitting Bull fugitives. Subsequently Captain Ewers further distinguished himself by conducting the Northern Cheyenne—who were considered as particularly dangerous, but who regarded Captain Ewers with absolute affection—from Pine Ridge to Tongue River, Montana, a distance of 300 miles, and in the most rigorous of the winter season, without an escort of troops and without the loss of a single life or the commission by an Indian of a single unlawful act.

The Sitting Bull fugitives who had not come in at once had fled southward toward their friends and near relatives of Cheyenne River reservation, and were encamped on Cherry Creek, a few miles above its junction with Cheyenne River at Cheyenne City. As their presence there could only serve to increase the unrest among the other Indians in that vicinity, and as there was great danger that they might attempt to join those already in the Bad Lands, Captain Hurst of the Twelfth infantry, commanding at Fort Bennett, directed Lieutenant H. E. Hale, on December 18th, to go out and bring them in. On arriving at Cheyenne City the officer found it deserted, all the citizens excepting one man having fled in alarm a short time before, on the report of Narcesse Narcelle that the Sitting Bull Indians were coming and had sworn to kill the first white man they met. Having succeeded in frightening the whole white population Narcelle left at once for the fort.

After some difficulty in finding anyone to assist him, Hale sent a policeman to bring back Narcelle, and sent out another Indian to learn the situation and condition of the Indian camp. His only interpreter for the purpose was Mr. Angell, the single white man who had remained, and who had learned some of the Sioux language during his residence among them. While thus waiting, a report came that the Indians had raided a ranch about ten miles up the creek. Not hearing from his scouts, the lieutenant determined to go alone and find the camp, and was just about to start when Hump, the late dangerous hostile, but now an enlisted scout, rode in with the news that the Sitting Bull Indians were approaching only a short distance away, and armed. Although from the reports there was every reason to believe that they had just destroyed a ranch and were now coming to attack the town, the officer, with rare bravery, kept his determination to go out and meet them, even without an interpreter, in the hope of preventing their hostile purpose. Hump volunteered to go with him. The two rode out together and soon came up with the Indians, who received them in a friendly manner. There were forty-six warriors in the party, besides women and children, wagons and ponies. Says the officer: "I appreciated the importance of the situation, but was absolutely powerless to communicate with the Indians. I immediately formed the opinion that they could be easily persuaded to come into the agency if I could but talk with them. While I was trying by signs to make them understand what I wanted, Henry Angell rode into the Circle and took his place at my side. This generous man had not liked the idea of my going among the Indians, and from a true spirit of chivalry had ridden over to 'see it out.' Verily, while such men as Ewers, Hale and Angell live, the day of chivalry is not gone by.

With Angell's assistance as interpreter, the officer told the Indians that if they would stay where they were for one day. he would go back to the agency and return within that time with the chief (Captain J. H. Hurst) and an interpreter, and no soldiers. They replied that they would not move, and having directed Angell to kill a beef for them, as they were worn out and well nigh starving, and leaving Hump with them to reassure them, the lieutenant rode back to Fort Bennett, forty miles away, notified Captain Hurst, and returned with him, Sergeant Gallagher and two Indian scouts as interpreters, the next day. Knowing the importance of baste, they started out on this winter ride of forty miles without blankets or rations.

On arriving Captain Hurst told them briefly what he had come for, and then, being exhausted from the rapid ride, and knowing that an Indian must not be hurried, he ordered some beef and a plentiful supply of tobacco for them, and said that after he and they had eaten and rested they could talk the matter over. In the evening the principal men met him and told him over a pipe that they had left Standing Rock agency forever; that their great chief and friend, Sitting Ball, had been killed there without cause; that they had come down to talk with their friends on Cherry Creek about it, but had found them gone, and were consequently undecided as to what they should do. The captain replied that he had come as a friend; that if they would surrender their arms and go back with him to Fort Bennett, they would be provided for and would not be harmed; that he could make no promises as to their future disposition; that if they chose to join Big Foot's camp, only a few miles up the river, the result would be their certain destruction. After deliberating among themselves until midnight, they came in a body, delivered a number of guns, and said they would go back to the fort. Accordingly they broke camp the next morning and arrived at Fort Bennett on December 24th. The entire body numbered 221, including fifty-five belonging on Cherry Creek. These last were allowed to join their own people, camped near the post. The Sitting Bull Indians, with some others from Standing Rock, numbering 227 in all, were held at Fort Sully, a few miles below Fort Bennett, until the close of the trouble Thirty-eight others of the Sitting Bull band had joined Big Foot and afterward fled with him.

After the death of Sitting Bull and the enlistment of Hump in the government service, the only prominent leader outside of the Bad Lands who was considered as possibly dangerous was Sitanka, or Big Foot, whose village was at the mouth of Deep Creek, a few miles below the forks of Cheyenne River. The duty of watching him was assigned to Lieutenant Colonel E. V. Sumner of the Eighth cavalry, who had his camp just above the forks. Here he was visited by Big Foot and his head men, who assured the officer that they were peaceable and intended to remain quietly at home.

Friendly relations continued until the middle of December, when Big Foot came to bid good bye, telling Sumner that his people were all going to the agency to get their annuities. A day or two later the order came to arrest Big Foot and send him as a prisoner to Fort Meade. Believing that the chief was acting in good faith to control his warriors, who might easily go beyond control were he taken from them, Colonel Sumner informed General Miles that the Indians were already on their way to the agency; that if Big Foot should return he (Sumner) would try to get him, and that otherwise he could be arrested at the agency, if necessary. Soon after, however, the report came that Big Foot had stopped at Hump's camp on the way to the agency, to meet the fugitives coming south from Sitting Bull's camp.

On the receipt of this information, Sumner at once marched down the river with the intention of stopping Big Foot. When about half way to Hump's camp, Big Foot himself came up to meet him, saying that he was friendly, and that he and his men would obey any orders that the officer might give. He stated that he had with him 100 of his own Indians and thirty-eight from Standing Rock (Sitting Bull's band). When asked why he had received these last, knowing that they were refugees from their reservation, he replied that they were his brothers and relations; that they had come to his people hungry, footsore, and almost naked; and that he had taken them in and fed them, and that no one with a heart could do any less.

Sumner then directed one of his officers, Captain Hennisee, to go to the Indian camp with Big Foot and bring in all the Indians. That officer started and returned the next day, December 21st, with 333 Indians. This large number was a matter of surprise in view of Big Foot's statement shortly before, but it is possible that in speaking of his party he intended to refer only to the warriors. They went into camp as directed, turned out their ponies to graze, and were fed, and on the next morning all started quietly back with the troops. As they had all along appeared perfectly friendly and compliant with every order, no attempt was made to disarm them. On arriving near their own village, however, it became apparent that Big Foot could not control their desire to go to their homes. The chief came frankly to Sumner and said that he himself would go wherever wanted, but that there would be trouble to force the women and children, who were cold and hungry, away from their village. He protested also that they were now at home, where they had been ordered by the government to stay, and that none of them had done anything to justify their removal. As it was evident that they would not go peaceably. Colonel Sumner determined to bring his whole force on the next day to compel them. In the meantime he sent a white man named Dunn, who had a friendly acquaintance with Big Foot, to tell him that the Indians must obey the order to remove. Dunn delivered the message and returned, being followed later by the interpreter, with the statement that the Indians had consented to go to the agency, and would start the next morning, December 23d. That evening, however, scouts came in with the word that the Indians had left their village and were going southward. It was at once thought that they intended turning off on another trail to the agency, but instead of doing so they kept on in the direction of Pine Ridge and the refugees in the Bad Lands, taking with them only their ponies and tipi poles. \

The cause of this precipitate flight after the promise given by Big Foot is somewhat uncertain. The statement of the interpreter, Felix Benoit, would make it appear that the Indians were frightened by Dunn, who told them that the soldiers were coming in the morning to carry them off and to shoot them if they refused to go. While this doubtless had the effect of alarming them, the real cause of their flight was probably the fact that just at this critical juncture Colonel Merriam was ordered to move his command up Cheyenne River to join forces with Sumner in compelling their surrender. Such is the opinion of General Ruger, who states officially that Big Foot and adherents who had joined him, probably becoming alarmed on the movement of General Merriam's command from Fort Bennett and a rumor that Colonel Sumner would capture them, eluded Colonel Sumner's command and started for the Pine Ridge reservation. This agrees with the statement of several of the survivors that they had been frightened from their homes by the news of Merriam's approach. Sumner, in his report, calls attention to the fact that they committed no depredations in their flight, although they passed several ranches and at one time even went through a pasture filled with horses and cattle without attempting to appropriate them. He also expresses the opinion that Big Foot was compelled unwillingly to go with his people. The whole number of fugitives was at least 340, including a few from the. bands of Sitting Bull and Hump. Immediately on learning of their flight Colonel Sumner notified General Carr, commanding in the direction of the Bad Lands.

Nearly 3,000 troops were now in the field in the Sioux country. This force was fully sufficient to have engaged the Indians with success, but as such action must inevitably have resulted in wholesale killing on both sides, with the prospect of precipitating a raiding warfare unless the hostiles were completely annihilated, it was thought best to bring about a surrender by peaceful means.

The refugees in the Bad Lands who had fled from Pine Ridge and Rosebud had been surrounded on the west and north by a strong cordon of troops, operating under General Brooke, which had the effect of gradually forcing them back toward the agency. At the same time that officer made every effort to expediate the process by creating dissensions in the Indian camp, and trying in various ways to induce them to come in by small parties at a time. To this end the Indians were promised that if they complied with the orders of the military their rights and interests would be protected, so far as it was within the power of the military department to accomplish that result. Although they had about lost confidence in the government, these assurances had a good effect, which was emphasized by the death of Sitting Bull, the arrest of Big Foot, and return of Hump to his agency, and the steady pressure of the troops from behind; and on December 27, 1890, the entire force broke camp and left their stronghold in the Bad Lands and began moving in toward the agency at Pine Ridge. The several detachment of troops followed behind, within supporting distance of one another, and so closely that the fires were still burning in the Indian camps when the soldiers moved in to occupy the same ground.

As early as December 6th a conference had been brought about at Pine Ridge, through the efforts of Father Jutz, the priest of the Catholic mission, between General Brooke and the leading chiefs of both friendlies and "hostiles." Although no definite conclusion was reached, the meeting was a friendly one. ending with a feast and an Indian dance. The immediate effect was a division in the hostile camp, culminating in a quarrel between the two factions, with the result that Two Strike and his party left the rest and moved in toward the agency, while Short Bull and Kicking Bear retreated further into the Bad Lands. On hearing of this condition of affairs. General Brooke sent out American Horse and Big Road with a large party of warriors to meet Two Strike and go back with him to persuade the others, if possible, to come in. At the same time the troops were moved up to intercept the flight of the hostiles.

On Christmas day the Cheyenne scouts, camped on Battle Creek north of the Bad Lands, were attacked by a party of hostiles led by Kicking Bear in person. The fight was kept up until after dark, several being killed or wounded on both sides, but the hostiles were finally driven off.

But the tragedy was near at hand. Orders had been given to intercept Big Foot's party in its flight from Cheyenne River toward the Bad Lands. This was accomplished on December 28, 1890, by Major Whitside of the Seventh cavalry, who came up with him a short distance west of the Bad Lands. Not having succeeded in communicating with the refugees who had fled there, and who were already on their way to the agency, Big Foot had made no stop, but continued on also toward Pine Ridge. On sighting the troops he raised a white flag, advanced into the open country and asked for a parley. This was refused by Major Whitside who demanded an unconditional surrender, which was at once given, and the Indians moved on with the troops to Wounded Knee Creek, about twenty mites northeast of Pine Ridge agency, where they camped as directed by Major Whitside. In order to make assurance complete, General Brooke sent Colonel Forsyth to join Major Whitside with four additional troops of the Seventh cavalry, which, with the scouts under Lieutenant Taylor, made up a force of eight troops of cavalry, one company of scouts, and four pieces of light artillery (Hotchkiss guns), with a total force of 470 men, as against a total of 106 warriors then present in Big Foot's band. A scouting party of Big Foot's band was out looking for the camp of Kicking Bear and Short Bull, but as these chiefs, with their followers, were already on their way to the agency, the scouting party was returning to rejoin Big Foot when the fight occurred the next morning. It was the intention of General Miles to send Big Foot and his followers back to their own reservation, or to remove them altogether from the country until the excitement had subsided.

At this time there were no Indians in the Bad Lands. Two Strike and Crow Dog had come in about a week before and were now camped close to the agency. Kicking Bear and Short Bull, with their followers, had yielded to the friendly persuasions of American Horse, Standing Bear and others who had gone out to them in the interests of peace, and both parties were now coming in together and had arrived at the Catholic mission, five miles from the agency, when the battle occurred.

On the morning of December 29, 1890, preparations were made to disarm the Indians of Big Foot's band, preparatory to taking them to the agency and thence to the railroad. In obedience to instructions the Indians had pitched their tipis on the open plain a short distance from the creek, and surrounded on all sides by the soldiers. In the center of the camp the Indians had hoisted a white flag as a sign of peace and a guarantee of safety. Behind them was a dry ravine running into the creek, and on a slight rise in the front was posted the battery of four Hotchkiss machine guns, trained directly on the Indian camp. In front, behind, and on both flanks of the Indian camp were posted the various troops of cavalry, a portion of two troops, together with the Indian scouts, being dismounted and drawn up in front of the Indians at a distance of only a few yards from them. Big Foot himself was ill or pneumonia in his tipi, and Colonel Forsyth, who had taken command as senior officer, had provided a tent warmed with a camp stove for his reception.

Shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning the warriors were ordered to come out from the tipis and deliver their arms. They came forward and seated themselves on the ground in front of the troops. They were then ordered to go by themselves into their tipis and bring out and surrender their guns. The first twenty went and returned in a short time with only two guns. It seemed evident that they were unwilling to give them up, and after a consultation of the officers part of the soldiers were ordered up to within ten yards of the group of warriors, while another detachment of troops was ordered to search the tipis. After a thorough hunt these last returned with about forty rifles, most of which, however, were old and of little value. The search had consumed considerable time and created a good deal of excitement among the women and children, as the soldiers found it necessary in the process to overturn the beds and other furniture of the tipis, and in some instances drove out the inmates. All this had its effect on their husbands and brothers, already wrought up to a high nervous tension, and not knowing what might come next. While the soldiers had been looking for the guns. Yellow Bird, a medicine man, had been walking about among the warriors, blowing on a eagle bone whistle, and urging them to resistance, telling them that the soldiers would become weak and powerless, and that the bullets would be unavailing against the sacred "ghost shirts," which nearly every one of the Indians wore. As he spoke in the Sioux language, the officers did not at once realize the dangerous drift of his talk, and the climax came too quickly for them to interfere. It is said one of the searchers now attempted to raise the blanket of a warrior. Suddenly Yellow Bird stooped down and threw a handful of dust into the air, when, as if this were the signal, a young Indian, said to have been Black Fox, from Cheyenne River, drew a rifle from under his blanket and fired at the soldiers, who instantly replied with a volley directly into the crowd of warriors, and so near that their guns were almost touching. From the number of sticks set up by the Indians to mark where the dead fell, as seen by the author a year later, this one volley must have killed nearly half the warriors. The survivors sprang to their feet, throwing their blankets from their shoulders as they rose, and for a few minutes there was a terrible hand to hand struggle, where every man's thought was to kill: Although many of the warriors had no guns, nearly all had revolvers and knives in their belts under their blankets, together with some of the murderous war clubs still carried by the Sioux. The very lack of guns made the fight more bloody, and it brought the combatants to closer quarters.

At the first volley the Hotchkiss guns trained on the camp opened fire and sent a storm of shells and bullets among the women and children, who had gathered in front of the tipis to watch the unusual spectacle of military display. The guns poured in 2-pound explosive shells at the rate of nearly fifty per minute, mowing down everything alive. The terrible effect may be judged from the fact that one woman survivor, Blue Whirlwind, with whom Mr. Mooney conversed, received fourteen wounds, while each of her two little boys were also wounded by her side. In a few minutes 200 Indian men, women and children, with sixty' soldiers, were lying dead and wounded on the ground, the tipis had been torn down by the shells and some of them were burning above the helpless wounded, and the surviving handful of Indians were flying in wild panic to the shelter of the ravine, pursued by hundreds of maddened soldiers and followed up by a raking fire from the Hotchkiss guns, which had been moved into position to sweep the ravine.

There can be no question that the pursuit was simply a massacre, where fleeing women, with infants in their arms, were shot down after resistance had ceased and when almost every warrior was stretched dead or dying on the ground. On this point such a careful writer as Herbert Welsh says: "From the fact that so many women and children were killed, and that their bodies were found far from the scene of action, and as though they were shot down while fleeing, it would look as though blind rage had been at work, in striking contrast to the moderation of the Indian police at the Sitting Bull fight when they were assailed by women." The testimony of American Horse and other friendlies is strong in the same direction. Commissioner Morgan in his official report says that "Most of the men, including Big Foot, were killed around his tent, where he lay sick. The bodies of the women and children were scattered along a distance of two miles from the scene of the encounter."

This is no reflection on the humanity of the officer in charge. On the contrary, Colonel Forsyth had taken measures to guard against such an occurrence by separating the women and children, as already stated, and had also endeavored to make the sick chief, Big Foot, as comfortable as possible, even to the extent of sending his own surgeon. Dr. Glennan, to wait on him on the night of the surrender. Strict orders had also been issued to the troops that women and children were not to be hurt. The butchery was the work of infuriated soldiers whose comrades had just been shot down without cause or warning. In justice to a brave regiment it must be said that a number of the men were new recruits, fresh from eastern recruiting stations, who had never before been under fire, were not yet imbued with military discipline, and were probably unable in the confusion to distinguish between men and women by their dress.

After examining all of the official papers bearing on the subject in the files of the war department and the Indian office, together with the official reports of the commissioner of Indian affairs and the secretary of war and the several officers engaged; after gathering all that might be obtained from unofficial printed sources and from conversation with survivors and participants in the engagement on both sides, and after going over the battle ground in company with the interpreter of the scouts engaged, Professor Mooney arrives at the conclusion that when the sun rose on Wounded Knee on the fatal morning of December 29, 1890, no trouble was anticipated or premeditated by either Indians or troops; that the Indians in good faith desired to surrender and be at peace, and that the officers in the same good faith had made preparations to receive their surrender and escort them quietly to the reservation; that in spite of the pacific intent of Big Foot and his band, the medicine man, Yellow Bird, at the critical moment urged the warriors to resistance and gave the signal for the attack; that the first shot was fired by an Indian, and that the Indians were responsible for the engagement; that the answering volley and attack by the troops was right and justifiable, but that the wholesale slaughter of women and children was unnecessary and inexcusable.

Authorities differ as to the number of Indians present and killed at Wounded Knee. General Ruger states that the band numbered about 340, including about 100 warriors, but Major Whitside, to whom they surrendered, reported them officially as numbering 120 men and 250 women and children, a total of 370. This agrees almost exactly with the statement made to the author by Mr. Asay, a trader, who was present at the surrender. General Miles says that there were present 106 warriors, a few others being absent at the time in search of the party under Kicking Bear and Short Bull. Among those who surrendered were about seventy refugees from the bands of Sitting Bull and Hump. No exact account of the dead could be made immediately after the fight, on account of a second attack by another party of Indians coming up from the agency. Some of the dead and wounded left on the field were undoubtedly carried off by their friends before the burial party came out three days later, and of those brought in alive a number afterward died of wounds and exposure, but received no notice in the official reports. The adjutant general, in response to a letter of inquiry, states that 128 Indians were killed and thirty-three wounded. Commissioner Morgan, in his official report, makes the number killed 146. Both these estimates are evidently too low. General Miles, in his final report, states that about 200 men, women and children were killed. General Colby, who commanded the Nebraska state troops, says that about 100 men and over 120 women and children were found dead on the field, a total of about 220. Agent Royer telegraphed immediately after the fight that about 300 Indians had been killed, and General Miles, telegraphing on the same day, says, "I think very few Indians have escaped." Fifty-one Indians were brought in the same day by the troops, and a few others were found still alive by the burial party three days later. A number of these afterward died. No considerable number got away, being unable to reach their ponies after the fight began. General Miles states that ninety-eight warriors were killed on the field. The whole number killed on the field, or who later died from wounds and exposure, was probably very nearly 300.

According to an official statement from the adjutant general, thirty-one soldiers were killed in the battle. About as many more were wounded, one or two of whom afterward died. All of the killed, excepting Hospital Steward Pollock and an Indian scout named High Backbone, belonged to the Seventh cavalry, as did probably also nearly all of the wounded. The only commissioned officer killed was Captain Wallace. He received four bullet wounds in his body and finally sank under a hatchet stroke upon the head. Lieutenant E. A. Garlington, of the Seventh cavalry, and Lieutenant H. L. Hawthorne, of the Second artillery, were wounded. The last named officer owed his life to his watch, which deflected the bullet that otherwise would have passed through his body.

The heroic missionary priest. Father Craft, who had given a large part of his life to work among the Sioux, by whom he was loved and respected, had endeavored at the beginning of the trouble to persuade the stampeded Indians to come into the agency, but without success, the Indians claiming that no single treaty ever made with them had been fulfilled in all its stipulations. Many of the soldiers being of his own faith, he accompanied the detachment which received the surrender of Big Foot, to render such good offices as might be possible to either party. In the desperate encounter he was stabbed through the lungs, but yet, with bullets flying about him and hatchets and war clubs circling through the air, he went about his work, administering the last religious consolation to the dying until he fell unconscious from loss of blood. He was brought back to the agency along with the other wounded, and although his life was despaired of for some time, he finally recovered. In talking about Wounded Knee with one of the friendly warriors who had gone into the Bad Lands to urge the hostiles to come in, he spoke with warm admiration of Father Craft, and Professor Mooney asked why it was, then, that the Indians had tried to kill him. He replied: "They did not know him. Father Jutz always wears his black robe, but Father Craft on that day wore a soldier's cap and overcoat. If he had worn his black robe no Indian would have hurt him." On inquiring afterward, Professor Mooney learned that this was not correct, as Father Craft did have on his priestly robes. From the Indian statement, however, and the well known affection in which he was held by the Sioux, it is probable that the Indian who stabbed him was too much excited at the moment to recognize him.

The news of the battle was brought to the agency by Lieutenant Guy Preston of the. Ninth cavalry, who, in company with a soldier and an Indian scout, made the ride of sixteen or eighteen miles in a little over an hour, one horse falling dead of exhaustion on the way. There were then at the agency, under command of General Brooke, about 300 men of the Second infantry and fifty Indian police.

The firing at Wounded Knee was plainly heard by the thousands of Indians camped about the agency at Pine Ridge, who had come in from the Bad Lands to surrender. They were at once thrown into great excitement, undoubtedly believing that there was a deliberate purpose on foot to disarm and massacre them all, and when the fugitives—women and children, most of them—began to come in, telling the story of the terrible slaughter of their friends and showing their bleeding wounds in evidence, the camp was divided between panic and desperation. A number of warriors mounted in baste and made all speed to the battleground, only about two hours distant, where they met the troops, who were now scattered about, hunting down the fugitives who might have escaped the first killing, and picking up the dead and wounded. The soldiers were driven in toward the center, where they threw up intrenchments, by means of which they were finally able to repel the attacking party. With the assistance of a body of Indian scouts and police they then gathered up the dead and wounded soldiers, with some of the wounded Indians and a few other prisoners to the number of fifty-one, and came into the agency. In the meantime the hostiles under Two Strike had opened fire on the agency from the neighboring hills and endeavored to approach, by way of a deep ravine, near enough to set fire to the buildings. General Brooke, desiring to avoid a general engagement, ordered out the Indian police—a splendidly drilled body of fifty men—who gallantly took their stand in the center of the agency inclosure, in full view of the hostiles, some of whom were their own relatives, and kept them off, returning the fire of besiegers with such good effect as to kill and wound several others. The attacking party, as well as those who rode out to help their kinsmen at Wounded Knee, were not the Pine Ridge Indians (Oglala), but the Brules from Rosebud under the lead of Two Strike, Kicking Bear and Short Bull. On the approach of the detachment returning from Wounded Knee, almost the entire body that had come in to surrender broke away and fell back to a position on White Clay Creek, where the next day found a camp of 4,000 Indians, and including more than 1,000 warriors now thoroughly hostile. On the evening of the battle General Miles telegraphed to military headquarters, "Last night everything looked favorable for getting all the Indians under control; since report from Forsyth it looks more serious than at any other time." It seemed that all the careful work of the last month had been undone.

The conflict at Wounded Knee bore speedy fruit. On the same day, as has been said, a part of the Indians under Two Strike attacked the agency and the whole body of nearly 4,000 who had come in to surrender started back again to intrench themselves in preparation for renewed hostilities. On the morning of December 30th, the next day after the fight, the wagon train of the Ninth cavalry (colored) was attacked within two miles of the agency while coming in with supplies. One soldier was killed, but the Indians were repulsed with the loss of several of their number.

On the same day news came to the agency that the hostiles had attacked the Catholic mission five miles out, and Colonel Forsyth, with eight troops of the Seventh cavalry and one piece of artillery, was ordered by General Brooke to go out and drive them off. It proved that the hostiles had set fire to several houses between the mission and the agency, but the mission had not been disturbed. As the troops approached the hostiles fell back, but Forsyth failed to occupy the commanding hills and was consequently surrounded by the Indians, who endeavored to draw him into a canyon and pressed him so closely that he was obliged three times to send back for reinforcements. Major Henry had just arrived at the agency with a detachment of the Ninth cavalry, and on hearing the noise of the firing started at once to the relief of Forsyth with four troops of cavalry and a Hotchkiss gun. On arriving on the ground he occupied the hills and thus succeeded in driving off the hostiles without further casualty, and rescued the Seventh from its dangerous position. In this skirmish, known as the "Mission fight," the Seventh lost one officer, Lieutenant Mann, and a private, Dominic Francischetti, killed, and seven wounded.

On New Year's day of 1891, three days after the battle, a detachment of troops was sent out to Wounded Knee to gather up and bury the Indian dead and to bring in the wounded who might be still alive on the field. In the meantime there had been a heavy snowstorm, culminating in a blizzard. The bodies of the slaughtered men, women and children were found lying about under the snow, frozen stiff and covered with blood. Almost all the dead warriors were found lying near where the fight began, about Big Foot's tipi, but the bodies of the women and children were found scattered along for two miles from the scene of the encounter, showing that they had been killed while trying to escape. A number of women and children were found still alive, but all badly wounded or frozen, or both, and most of them died after being brought in. Four babies were found alive under the snow, wrapped in shawls and lying beside their dead mothers, whose last thought had been for them. They were all badly frozen and only one lived. The tenacity of life so characteristic of wild people as well as of wild beasts was strikingly illustrated in the case of these wounded and helpless women and children who thus lived for three days in a Dakota blizzard, without food, shelter or attention to their wounds.

A long trench was dug and into it were thrown all the bodies, piled one upon another like so much cordwood, until the pit was full, when the earth was heaped over them and the funeral was complete. Many of the bodies were stripped by the whites, who went out in order to get the "ghost shirts," and the frozen bodies were thrown into the trench, stiff and naked. They were only dead Indians. As one of the burial party said, "It was a thing to melt the heart of a man, if it was of stone, to see those little children, with their bodies shot to pieces, thrown naked into the pit." The dead soldiers had already been brought in and buried decently at the agency. When the writer visited the spot the following winter, the Indians had put up a wire fence around the trench and smeared the posts with sacred red medicine paint. The Indian scouts at Wounded Knee, like the Indian police at Grand River and Pine Ridge, were brave and loyal, as has been the almost universal rule with Indians when enlisted in the government service, even when called on, as were these, to serve against their own tribe and relatives. The prairie Indian is a born soldier, with all the soldier's pride of loyalty to duty, and may be trusted implicitly after he has once consented to enter the service. The scouts at Wounded Knee were Sioux, with Philip Wells as interpreter. Other Sioux scouts were ranging the country between the agency and the hostile camp in the Bad Lands, and acted as mediators in the peace negotiations which led to the final surrender Fifty Cheyenne and .about as many Crow scouts were also employed in the same section of country. Throughout the entire campaign the Indian scouts and police were faithful and received the warmest commendation of their officers.

On New Year's day, 1891, Henry Miller, a herder, was killed by Indians a few miles from the agency. This was the only noncombatant killed by the Indians during the entire campaign, and during the same period there was no depredation committed by them outside of the reservation. On the next day the agent reported that the school buildings and Episcopal church on White Clay Creek had been burned by hostiles, who were then camped to the number of about 3,000 on Grass Creek, fifteen miles northeast of the agency. They had captured the government beef herd and were depending on it for food. Red Cloud, Little Wound, and their people were with them and were reported as anxious to return, but prevented by the hostile leaders, Two Strike, Short Bull and Kicking Bear, who threatened to kill the first one who made a move to come in. A few days later a number of Red Cloud's men came in and surrendered, and reported that the old chief was practically a prisoner and wanted the soldiers to come and rescue him from the hostiles, who were trying to force him into the war. They reported further that there was much suffering from cold and hunger in the Indian camp, and that all the Oglala (Red Cloud's people of Pine Ridge) were intending to come in at once in a body.

On the 3d of January General Miles took up his headquarters at Pine Ridge and directed General Brooke to assume immediate command of the troops surrounding the hostile camp. Brooke's men swung out to form the western and northern part of a circle about the hostiles, cutting them off from the Bad Lands, while the troops under General Carr closed in on the east and northeast in such a way that the Indians were hemmed in and unable to make a move in any direction excepting toward the agency.

On January 3d a party of hostiles attacked a detachment of the Sixth cavalry under Captain Kerr on Grass Creek, a few miles north of the agency, but were quickly repulsed with the loss of four of their number, the troops having been reinforced by other detachments in the vicinity. In this engagement the Indian scouts again distinguished themselves. The effect of this repulse was to check the westward movement of the hostiles and hold them in their position along White Clay Creek until their passion had somewhat abated.

On January 5th there was another encounter on Wounded Knee Creek. A small detachment which had been sent out to meet a supply train coming into the agency, found the wagons drawn up in a square to resist an attack made by a band of about fifty Indians. The soldiers joined forces with the teamsters, and by firing from behind the protection of the wagons succeeded in driving off the Indians and killing a number of their horses The hostiles were reinforced, however, and a hard skirmish was kept up for several hours until more troops arrived from the agency about dark, having been sent in answer to a courier who managed to elude the attacking party. The troops charged on a gallop and the Indians retreated, having lost several killed and wounded, besides a number of their horses.

In the meantime overtures of peace had been made by General Miles to the hostiles, most of whose leaders he knew personally, having received their surrender on the Yellowstone ten years before, at the close of the Custer war. On the urgent representations of himself and others congress had also appropriated the necessary funds for carrying out the terms of the late treaty, by the disregard of which most of the trouble had been caused, so that the commander was now able to assure the Indians that their rights and necessities would receive attention. They were urged to come in and surrender, with a guaranty that the general himself would represent their case to the government. At the same time they were informed that retreat was cut off and that further resistance would be unavailing. As an additional step toward regaining their confidence, the civilian agents were removed from the several distributing agencies, which were then put in charge of military officers well known and respected by the Indians. Cheyenne River agency was assigned to Captain J. H. Hurst, the Rosebud agency to Captain J. M. Lee, while Royer at Pine Ridge was superseded on January 8th by Captain F. E. Pierce. The last named officer was afterwards relieved by Captain Charles G. Penny.

The friendly overtures made by General Miles, with evidences that the government desired to remedy their grievances, and that longer resistance was hopeless, had their effect on the hostiles. Little Wound, Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses (more properly "Young-Man of-Whose-Horses-They-are-Afraid"), Big Road and other friendly chiefs, also used their persuasions with such good effect that by January 12th the whole body of nearly 4,000 Indians had moved in to within sight of the agency and expressed their desire for peace. The troops closed in around them, and on the 16th of January, 1891, the hostiles surrendered, and the outbreak was at an end. They complied with every order and direction given by the commander, and gave up nearly 200 rifles, which, with other arms already surrendered, made a total of between 600 and 700 guns, more than had ever before been surrendered by the Sioux at one time. As a further guaranty of good faith, the commander demanded the surrender of Kicking Bear and Short Bull, the principal leaders, with about twenty other prominent warriors as hostages. The demand was readily complied with, and the men designated came forward voluntarily and gave themselves up as sureties for the good conduct of their people. They were sent to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, near Chicago, where they were kept until there was no further apprehension, and were then returned to their homes. After the surrender the late hostiles pitched their camp, numbering in all 742 tipis, in the bottom along White Clay Creek, just west of the agency, where General Miles had supplies of beef, coffee and sugar issued to them from the commissary department, and that night they enjoyed the first full meal they had known in several weeks.

Thus ended the so-called Sioux outbreak of 1890-91. It might be better designated, however, as a Sioux panic and stampede, for, to quote the expressive letter of McGillycuddy, writing under date of January 15, 1891, "Up to date there has been neither a Sioux outbreak or war. No citizen in Nebraska or Dakota has been killed, molested, or can show the scratch of a pin, and no property has been destroyed off the reservation." Only a single non-combatant was killed by the Indians, and that was close to the agency. The entire time occupied by the campaign, from the killing of Sitting Bull to the surrender at Pine Ridge, was only thirty-two days. The late hostiles were returned to their homes as speedily as possible. The Brule of Rosebud, regarded as the most turbulent of the hostiles, were taken back to the agency by Captain Lee, for whom they had respect, founded on an acquaintance of several years' standing, without escort and during the most intense cold of winter, but without any trouble or dissatisfaction whatever. The military were returned to their usual stations, and within a few weeks after the surrender affairs at the various agencies were moving again in the usual channel.

Since the close of the Messiah war in January, 1891, but few events of noteworthy interest have occurred in the affairs of the Dakota Indians. Their record has been one of slow but steady progress to better conditions and higher standards of civilization. On April 15, 1892, the Sissetons, having first taken their allotments of land in severalty, their reservation between Lake Traverse and Lake Kampeska was thrown open to settlement and all of the members of the tribe became full citizens. The next year, 1893, the Yanktons negotiated for the sale of their surplus lands, after having taken their allotments in severalty, and in 1895 their reservation was formally opened. In 1896 Gall, the famous war chief of the Uncpapas, died at his home on Oak Creek, of the Standing Rock reservation. An extended  biography of this man, by Dr. DeLorme W. Robinson, will be found at page 151 of the first South Dakota Collections. After his surrender in 1881 he at once became one of the most reliable and progressive Christian Indians of the Standing Rock reserve. He was a good farmer, and owned and cultivated a fertile tract on the Oak Creek bottoms, in a delightful situation and surrounded by every comfort. In August, 1900, Charger, the noted Christian Indian and leader of the "fool soldiers" band, who rescued the Shetak captives in 1862, died at his home near Cheyenne River agency. He lived throughout his years a life of Christian doing and benevolence. Rain in the Face, who attained great notoriety in the Custer war, still lives at his home on the Grand River, and Red Cloud, in his 83d year, blind and decrepit, still maintains an existence at Pine Ridge agency, perforce yielding to the inevitable, but in sentiment as hostile to Christianity, civilization and progress as he has ever been.

At this time the Dakotas are living at nine reservation agencies and four citizen communities, as follows: The citizen communities are the Sissetons in Roberts and Marshall counties, South Dakota, the Yanktons in Charles Mix county, a portion of the Minnesota Santees at Flandreau, South Dakota, and another small band on the Minnesota River in Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota; the agency Indians are the main body of the Minnesota Santees in Knox county, Nebraska, the Spotted Tail Brules at Rosebud, South Dakota, the Oglalas and a portion of the Minneconjous at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the Lower Brules at Lower Brule agency. South Dakota, the Lower Yanktonais at Crow Creek agency. South Dakota, the main body of the Minneconjous, Two Kettles and Sans Arcs at Cheyenne River, South Dakota, the main body of the Blackfeet and Uncpapas, with small bands of Upper Yanktonais and Sans Arcs at Standing Rock agency, North Dakota, which reservation extends over the line into South Dakota, the Upper Yanktonais and the hostile element of the Santees of White Lodge and Inkpaduta's bands at Fort Peck, Montana, the Cut Head Yanktonais and the Sissetons of Standing Buffalo's band, who fled to Canada during the war of the outbreak, at Devils Lake, North Dakota. These Devils Lake Indians have already taken their lands in severalty, and their surplus lands will be opened for settlement during the present year, 1904. For the benefit of the Dakotas the government has established extensive schools for higher education at Flandreau, Chamberlain, Pierre and Rapid City, South Dakota, while elementary schools exist at every convenient point throughout the reservations. In addition to this there are denominational schools under control of the Catholics, Congregationalists, Episcopals and Presbyterians upon the various reservations and under the existing policy of the department, encouraging education among the Indians and absolutely refusing to issue rations to children of school age anywhere, except at the schools where they belong, is having the effect of disseminating education among all of the bands. While many of the old heathen Indians of the old regime remain, they have lost their influence, and the younger generations are essentially Christian. All have accepted the white man's dress and there is not a blanket Indian remaining in all of the bands. While many of the old men still live in polygamy, the custom has been entirely abandoned by the younger generation, and is not likely to be revived, since the government will not recognize an Indian in polygamous marriage. Naturally averse to industry, one of the difficult problems has been to induce them to engage in gainful avocations, but more and more they become industrious and self sustaining. As stock breeders and growers, a business best adapted to the region in which they reside, they are meeting with reasonable success. And while the way up to the higher levels of civilization is and must inevitably be through hardship and sacrifice, they have already made the vicarious atonement and their situation at present is at least hopeful.