CHAPTER XV. THE SIOUX WAR OF 1876.-HOW BROUGHt about.-SITTING BULL AND HIS FOLLOWERS TURNED OVER TO THE ARMY FEBRUARY 1, 1876.-SITTING BULL'S VIEWS.-SEIZURE OF THE ARMS AND PONIES OF THE INDIANS AT RED CLOUD, STANDING ROCK, AND CHEYENNE RIVER AGENCIES.-MILITARY CORRESPOND ENCE AND COMMENTS THEREON....... CHAPTER XVI. ...294-321 OPERATIONS AGAINST THE NORTHERN CHEYENNES.-THEIR SURRENDER. THE SURRENDER OF CRAZY HORSE. THE CHIEF IS STABBED AT CAMP ROBINSON.— TRANSFER OF THE CHEYENNES TO THE INDIAN TERRITORY.-DULL KNIFE'S BAND ESCAPES NORTH.-ITS FATE.-A SAD STORY.......... CHAPTER XVII. .......322-341 THE SIOUX COMMISSION OF 1876.-CORRESPONDENCE OF GENERALS MCKENZIE, CROOK, AND SHERIDAN, IN RELATION TO THE INDIANS AND THE OPERATIONS OF THE COMMISSION. THE REMOVAL OF THE COMANCHE AND KIOWA INDIANS FROM FORT SILL TO THE WICHITA AGENCY.-ILLUSTRATIONS Of the FRANKNESS AND CANDOR OF HIGH MILITARY OFFICERS....... ............342-372 CHAPTER XVIII. THE TRANSFER QUESTION IN THE 45TH CONGRESS.-A JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE CHAPTER XIX. ...... THE UTE INDIANS OF COLORADO. THE TREATY OF 1868, AND THE AGREEMENT OF 1873 WITH THEM. AN EXAMINATION OF THE MANNER IN WHICH EACH PARTY HAS PERFORMED ITS OBLIGATIONS.-THE ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT COMPLICATIONS, ETC....... .395-410 INTRODUCTORY. In the preparation and publication of this work the author has been moved by a sincere desire to render service in the amelioration of the condition of our Indian population, now numbering about two hundred and seventy-five thousand souls. The condition of this population, and the relations existing between the Indians and the white people dwelling on the border, is not satisfactory. This fact no intelligent man will deny. There is diversity of opinion as to the causes which produce the discontent and disorder that prevail, as well as the wars that result therefrom. These border wars began at a very early period, and may be traced through our whole history, and the record is a sickening detail of outrage, robbery, and murder. The careful student of history should have no difficulty in discovering the origin of our Indian complications, as well as the causes that have stimulated conflicts between the white and red man, and which have formed such sad chapters in our annals. It can not be denied, that from the period when the first infant settlements were made upon the Atlantic sea-board by European colonists, until the present time, there have been constant, persistent, and unceasing efforts on the part of the white man to drive the Indian from his hunting ground and his home. When the encroachments of the former became unbearable, they were forcibly resisted by the latter. This was the only mode left to the Indian by which to redress his wrongs, since he had no standing in the civil tribunals of the colonies, and even to this day we have practically denied him the benefit of our courts. Unless we expect from the savage more forbearance than from the civilized man under like circumstances, there should be no surprise that he has resisted the aggressions made upon him. That he was willing, under proper treatment, to have lived in amity with the white man, there is abundant evidence. In 1607, the first permanent settlement in our country was commenced at Jamestown, Virginia, by a colony of Englishmen. A few years thereafter, in a conversation between. Captain John Smith, one of the original councilmen in the colony, and Powhatan, the principal chief of the Indians residing in southern Virginia, the latter said: "I am an old man, and must soon die, and the succession must descend in order to my brothers, and then to my two sisters and their daughters. I wish their experience was equal to mine, and that your love to us might not be less than ours to you. Why should you take by force from us that which you can obtain by love? Why should you destroy us, who have provided you with food? What can you gain by war? We can hide our provisions, and fly into the woods, and then you must, consequently, almost famish by reason of wronging your friends. You see us unarmed and willing to supply your wants, if you will come in a friendly manner, and not with swords and guns, as to invade an enemy. I am not so simple as not to know that it is better to eat good meat, be well, and sleep quietly with my women and children, to laugh and be merry with the English, and, being their friend, to have copper hatchets and whatever else I want, than to fly from all, to lie cold in the woods, feed upon acorns, roots, and such trash, and to be so hunted that I can not rest, eat, or sleep, and so, in this miserable manner, to end my miserable life; and, Captain Smith, this might soon be your fute too, through your rashness and unadvisedness. I therefore exhort you to peaceable counsels." It will, in a few years, be three centuries since the chief Powhatan had the talk with Captain Smith, from which this extract is taken. If the views expressed by the chief had governed the intercourse between the races from that period until the present time, much of the suffering, torture, and premature death that accompanied the colonizing and settlement of our country would have been spared, the civilization of the Indian assured, and the white and red man have dwelt together in harmony and peace. It was no fault of the natives that relations of peace and good will were not successfully cultivated. On this occasion, and in behalf of his race, Powhatan solved the Indian problem; and William Penn justified this solution when he assumed direction of affairs in his province, and established such relations with the Indians that peace and friendship prevailed for more than two-thirds of a century, during which time the Friends held power. In the second chapter of this work, the conduct of this great and good man, in his intercourse with, and his opinion of the native race, will be found, and to the same the reader is respectfully referred. In view of the pacific disposition of the natives, as attested by Powhatan, and the fact that the followers of William Penn lived so many years with the Indians without a single. serious disturbance in his province, coupled with the pledge in the ordinance of 1787 that "the utmost good faith shall be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress," there is in the ever recurring and never ending conflicts between the white man and the Indian, cause for the deepest humiliation. From the organization of the government until the year 1871, the extinction of Indian title to lands was acquired by treaty, and by the same process the new home set apart from time to time for the residence of the tribe was assured to it, with the covenant in the treaty that such new home should be the permanent home of the tribe FOREVER. Such covenants, though solemnly entered into by the government, were not regarded. Whenever the progress of settlement brought the white man's residence near the Indian's home, another treaty was demanded. If the tribe was unwilling to surrender this permanent home," and no other means were found adequate to bring the Indians into negotiation, in due time, through complications of some sort, there was what was termed an "Indian outbreak," rapidly followed by a conflict, terminating in another removal. The effect of these removals, so often repeated, has at all times worked injury to the Indians, and proved fatal to their advancement. Under the operation some tribes have yielded in despair. Others that survived did not recover from or overcome the fatal results for generations. Communities of our own race could not undergo like trials without serious loss in numbers as well as vitality; and, if repeated, as in the case of the Indians, who have so often been removed, they would relapse into a very low grade of civilization. When the facts are considered, there should be no surprise that our Indian wards have not advanced more rapidly. Superadded to the affliction growing out of these frequent removals, other and numerous difficulties have been placed in the path of the Indians. Even the most beneficent measures of the government looking to his advancement have, in many cases, been counteracted by the agencies employed to execute |