their action as hasty and ill-advised. But for the feud between the Upper and Lower Agency Indians, the contest would have been much more serious, and would have lasted much longer. A number of the captured Sioux were hung during the following winter.

1863.

Next year a combined force of Sioux and Blackfeet, numbering some twelve or fifteen hundred warriors, were committing depredations and outrages on the Minnesota settlers. An expedition was sent against them under General Alfred Sully. The Indian camp was discovered, and on Sully's approach the Indians scattered, taking with them whatever they could

September 3.

carry. The troops charged at full

speed, endeavoring to surround and

drive them back to their camp, in the hope of capturing the entire band. Soon the whole force was actively engaged, each man fighting "on his own hook." The battle raged in every direction, and lasted far into the night.

General Sully at length recalled his scattered command, and building large fires remained under arms all night. At daylight next morning it was discovered that the Indians had gone, leaving their dead and wounded, their plunder, and all their property of every description.

LITTLE PAUL.

This battle of White Stone Hill was the severest blow the Sioux had ever received. They lost about 100 killed and wounded, 156 prisoners, 300 lodges, 1000 ponies, and all their supply of meat for the winter, besides other property of value to them. General Sully's loss was 20 killed and 38 wounded.

The policy of removing the eastern tribes to the far West brought on, as we have seen, the Black Hawk and Seminole wars. Our recent troubles with the wild tribes of the plains have been occasioned by the policy of restricting them to fixed places of residence, or reservations, and by the non-fulfilment of our treaty obligations. The rush to the mining regions, and the building of the Pacific Railroad through the Indian country, let in a constant stream of emigration, drove away the buffalo, and was felt to

be a serious injury by the Indians. It is not to be wondered at that they stubbornly resisted. Their right to the country as their permanent home had been solemnly guaranteed to them by the treaty at Fort Laramie in

1851.

These wild tribes have a mode of government apparently patriarchal, but in reality almost republican. Each member of a band does as he pleases, and obeys his chief when he likes. The authority of the chief is based solely upon his prowess in war.

The family is the basis of their organization. The members of a family generally travel, hunt, and fight together, in time constituting with its marriage connections a band varying from two to twenty or thirty lodges. These bands, connected more remotely by blood with other bands, constitute a tribe which may number from two to thirty or forty bands. These tribes again have a still more remote blood connection with other tribes, constituting a nation such as that of the Sioux, which comprises the Yankton, Brulé, Teton, Ogalalla, and other tribes.

Like the rest of his race, the wild Indian of the plains believes in two gods, equal in wisdom and power. The good god who favors and protects him, and the bad god who does all he can to harm him. If an Indian means to steal a horse, or the wife of his friend, it is to the good god that he looks for success. Death, sickness, and every disaster are in the hands of the bad god, and to him the Indian constantly prays for mercy and indulgence. No prayer is necessary to the good deity; he will do his best without being asked. In only two ways can the soul be prevented from entering paradise, by scalping or by strangulation. The first is annihilation, the second closes the only avenue by which the soul can leave the body.

The Indian has no code of morals, no conception of right and wrong; bad and good are the words nearest in meaning to those. He will tell you it is bad to steal from a man of his own band, because he will be beaten and kicked out of the band if detected; but it is good and praiseworthy to steal from all others. The expert thief is held in high honor, and is almost the equal of the brave and skilful warrior. The Indian is a great boaster, and is very fond of "blowing his own trumpet."

For a wife, a certain number of ponies, saddles, buffalo-robes, etc., are paid. These the lover places near the door of his mistress's lodge overnight. If, when morning comes, they have not been removed, his suit has been rejected. But if the ponies have been sent to the herd and the other articles taken, the lover's offer is accepted. There is no marriage-ceremony, or formality of any kind.

"Medicine" is a great word with the Indian. He applies it to everything mysterious and unaccountable. It has a specially religious meaning: whatever he can refer to the good

MEDICINE-CHIEF.

god being "good medicine," while everything the opposite of that is "bad medicine." When things go wrong with him, his medicine is bad; that is, he is for the time in the power of the bad god. Every Indian carries about with him a medicine-pouch, in which is kept some charm that will insure him success in whatever he is about to undertake. In each tribe there is a "medicine chief," who is the authority in spiritual affairs. In battle he must prove the efficacy of his medicine by risking his life where the danger is greatest, to show the perfect safety it insures.

The variety of dialects among the Plains Indians led long ago to the adoption of a sign language, an almost perfect means of communication in constant use to this day.

over

Of the Comanches a recent writer says: "These fierce, untamed savages roam an immense region, eating the raw flesh of the buffalo, drinking its warm blood, and plundering Mexicans, Indians, and whites with judicial impartiality. Arabs and Tartars of the desert, they remove their villages (pitching their lodges in regular streets and squares) hundreds of miles at the shortest notice. The men are short and stout, with bright, copper faces and long hair, which they ornament with glass beads and silver gewgaws."

Catlin says of them: "In their movements they are heavy and ungraceful, and on their feet one of the most unattractive and slovenly races I have ever seen; but the moment they mount their horses they seem at once metamorphosed, and surprise the spectator with the ease and grace of their movements. A Comanche on his feet is out of his element, and