USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I > Part 46
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In Minnesota the first indications of Indian hostility were the acts of certain Sioux chiefs, who visited and harangued the vari- ous branches, advising war against the government. These chiefs had undoubtedly been bought or won over to the Confed- erate cause by emissaries sent among them, and they even visited other tribes, so that mainly through their influence a general attack was finally planned. At this time so apparent and immi- nent was the danger, that the agent of the Overland Mail Com- pany in the northwest telegraphed that war with the Indians
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east of the Missouri river was close at hand. Finally the imps broke loose, as is fully narrated elsewhere. The promptness of Governor Ramsey and of General Sibley saved the state from still greater disaster.
But many of the savages were not conquered. They retreated into what is now the Dakotas and found lodgment among their kindred. Out of the uprising, however, grew one very important result : The whites of Minnesota demanded the permanent removal of the Sioux from the state, and included in the demand the Winnebagoes, who, as a tribe, had little to do with the out- break. So general and emphatic was this demand, that the government complied, upon the ground that, as the Sioux had violated the stipulations of the treaties by going to war, the United States was absolved from fulfilling its agreements to guar- antee the Indians their permanent reservation in Minnesota. Both the Sioux and the Winnebagoes, therefore, were assigned reservations in the present Dakotas. There is no doubt that, had the outbreak of the Sioux not been precipitated-had it been left to take its own course and fully to develop, many other tribes would have participated, and all the white settlements of the northwest would have been broken up, with a still more shocking display of indignity and destruction. The people would not trust the Sioux again, and demanded their removal.
The situation on Red river of the North was for a long time wholly dominated by the savages, who committed many hostile acts. The Chippewas committed many petty depredations, those of Chief Hole-in-the-Day being particularly menacing. The set- tlers of Kansas demanded the removal of the hostiles living there to Indian territory. Commissioner of Indian Affairs W. B. Dole . recommended the diversion of the Sioux annuities to pay for the losses suffered by the Minnesota settlers. The government now realized the unwisdom of not having placed greater barriers between the Indians and the frontiers; but it was too late to rectify the omission.
The Federal authorities were not behind the Confederates in efforts to secure the friendship and assistance of the Indians. Ont of two hundred and one Delaware warriors, one hundred and seventy enlisted in the Union army. Many other smaller tribes of the West did almost as well. A full regiment of Cherokees, thoughi at first listening to Confederate promises and blandisli- ments, finally joined the Union forces in a body. At first the Confederates had the best of the argument with the tribes of Indian territory. Their country was mainly south of Mason and
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Dixon's line, and their location and pursuits united their inter- ests with those of the South rather than of the North. In addition, and this was perhaps the strongest argument with them, they were told that the success of the Federal arms meant freedom to all the slaves held by the Indians, and they were many. Accordingly, probably at first a majority of the five civilized tribes (Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Semi- noles) became adherents of the Confederate canse. The result was internecine war throughout the Indian territory, amid scenes of arson, pillage, murder and ferocity unknown to any other sec- tion of the Union, except to Minnesota in 1862. Nearly all who remained loyal to the government suffered the total loss of their personal property and were driven from their burning homes across the border into Kansas under circumstances of intense cruelty. Several bloody battles between the two factions-Fed- eral and Confederate-occurred. The former were defeated three successive times, and from six thousand to eight thousand of them, at the head of whom was the Creek chief O-poth-le-yo- ho-lo retreated in midwinter to the southern border of Kansas, where for a long time they were fed from government rations by General Hunter. An attempt to return them, made by the gov- ernment with two regiments of soldiers and about two thousand armed Indians, was defeated. Later in the war, when the tide turned in favor of the Federal arms, they were returned to their ruined homes and desolate farms.
"A careful perusal of these reports (of the Indian superinten- dents and agents) and those made during the existence of the present rebellion will, I think, demonstrate that no portions of our people have suffered greater calamities, have met with more overwhelming disasters, or have more heroically battled for the common interests of the country, than have the loyal Indians within its limits."*
Particularly was this true of the Indian territory. The con- flicts there between the Federal and Confederate factions were succeeded by a veritable reign of terror. Neither property nor life was safe. Unscrupulous white men invaded the territory and drove off all the stock they could find. The commissioner of Indian affairs estimated that in four years the five civilized tribes lost three hundred thousand head of cattle ; that the Chero- kees alone suffered the loss of stock to the value of two million dollars, and that all the tribes lost stock worth four million dol-
* From the report of W. P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1863.
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lars. At the close of the war, the whole territory was a scene of almost unparalleled desolation, from which it required many years to recover.
When the war ended the most important question arose as to what should be done with the Indians who had joined the rebel- lion, fought against the government, and violated the treaties by which they held tenures to their lands. It was shown that, at first and for a long time John Ross and others had counseled neutrality on the part of the Indians; but had been practically forced to take up arms against the government by the pressure, proximity and persistence of the Confederate envoys. It was argued that, as the Indians, by fighting against the government, had forfeited their rights under the various treaties, it was right and proper to dispossess them of their lands. Great pressure was brought to bear by home-seekers with this argument as a bludgeon. A new territory of the United States was projected from the Indian country. But congress refused to take the step demanded. In accordance with a generous and pacific policy thie Indians were mere:" required, Ist, to enter into new treaties ; 2d, to bear thereafter ir .. re of the responsibility of government; 3d, to abandon slavery forever; 4th, to cede part of their lands for the use of other tribes ; 5th, to submit to consolidation under one government. They were promised protection from the encroach- ments of the whites.
The Sioux of the Upper Missouri were not associated with the Sioux of Minnesota in the massacre of 1862, but nevertheless were insolent and defiant. They complained that the protection prom- ised them by General Harney in 1855 had not been given, in con- sequence of which they had suffered severely from the depreda- tions of other tribes. So bitter were they against the government, that they refused to accept the presents set to them, and even mur- dered Chief Bears Rib for siding with the government agent. The hostile majority forced the friendly minority to join their ranks. They scattered and were guilty of many barbarous acts against the western settlers. It was estimated that fully one- fourth of the whites living in what is now Dakota fled beyond the borders of the territory. They expected to see in the spring of 1863 a repetition of the horrors of 1862 in Minnesota. General Sully was once more sent against them, and although he managed to save the state from a general massacre, he was unable to crush the savages owing to the rapidity of their movements and the skill with which they conducted their marches. Acting Governor Hutchinson urgently requested that the whole force under Gen-
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eral Sully should be stationed in Dakota territory during the winter of 1863-4. He pointed out that the unconquered hos- tiles from Minnesota had fled into Dakota, where already from twenty-five thousand to forty thousand of their realtives were on the point of a general outbreak, and that thus far the savages of the northwest had not yet been fittingly chastised. The expedi- tion of General Sibley in 1863, in pursuit of the Sioux, did not accomplishi as much as had been hoped ; because the savages scat- tered and could not concentrate for a general engagement, though they were defeated in several smaller movements.
"I believe the battles recently fought by General Sibley and General Sully to be but the beginning of the war with the Indians of the Northwest. I believe an expedition against the Indians next year ( 1864) will be required and even more necessary than the one this year. These hostile tribes must be conquered and . must be compelled to make new treaties before there will be any safety to the white men within this superintendency."* ยท
In the summer of 1865 General Sully conducted an army against the Indians north and east of the Missouri river. They scattered and avoided him. He learned that one of the leading chiefs of the hostiles was Sitting Bull, who became famous, or rather infamous, a few years later. General Sully marched to the vicinity of Devil's lake, Mouse river, Fort Berthold and other points, but did not accomplish as much as had been hoped. He learned that the hostiles within fifty miles of Fort Berthold could put in the field ten thousand armed warriors. It was necessary, therefore, to consider with great care the probable results of an encounter with such a formidable force.
In the Colorado superintendency, the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Comanches, Kiowas, Utahs, Utes and others took up the hatchet and committed many bloody deeds. The guilty bands. were small, moved quickly, and concealed themselves in the mountain fastnesses. The emigrant trails for two hundred miles were the scenes of numerous massacres, and the Indian villages reveled in the plunder captured. It was estimated that two or three million dollars' worth of personal property was thus captured by the hos- tiles. In the summer of 1864, the savages broke loose with redoubled ferocity, whereupon Governor Evans called for and raised a regiment of volunteers, which he divided and sent to many exposed points. After the bands had been cut in pieces a few times, the chiefs sued for peace, but were turned over to the
* Communication of Acting Governor Hutchinson, Yankton, September 23, 1863.
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military authorities by the governor. General Curtis thought they should be given greater punishment.
The tribes of the central superintendency-Pawnees, Omahas, Otoes, Missouris, Iowas, Sacs and Foxes of Missouri and Mis- sissippi, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Chippewas of the West, Munsees, Kansas, Miamis, Weas, Kaskaskias, Peorias, Pianke- shaws, Delawares, Wyandots, and Shawanese, numbering in all about thirteen thousand-remained in the main faithful to the Union and throughout the war were comparatively quiet on their reservations. Many of their warriors enlisted in the Federal service.
The Civil War had no sooner ended that the government sent commissioners to nearly all the western tribes for the purpose of concluding new treaties with them and binding them to peace. Though the commission succeeded beyond their expectations, war was resumed by nearly all of the tribes within a few months after their departure. It was now the custom for large numbers to band together for the avowed purpose of breaking up many of the government posts. This step was caused by the act of the military authorities in taking possession of the Powder river country and in building Forts Phil Kearney, Reno, and C. F. Smith within the Indian country, without their consent, against their protests, and in violation of existing treaties. A bloody war followed, beginning with the slaughter of Fetterman's command in December, 1866. Ninety-six men, sent out to protect a train near Fort Phil Kearney, were ambushed and slain.
In 1865 the Cheyennes strennously objected to the construction of a military road on Smoky Hill river. Two years later a com- mission sent to the Indian country by the president to learn the reason of the objections reported that the opening of the road from Fort Laramie to Montana and the passage of emigrants miners, and settlers through the Indian country were the causes of the hostilities. The march of a large body of troops through their. country in July, 1866, was regarded by the savages as a . declaration of war. It was demanded that the road be abandoned and the soldiers be sent from the Indian country. The Chiving -. ton affair, which was partly justified, drove many to join the hos- tiles. In this emergency General Hancock was sent to the Pow- der river country in 1866 with a large force of infantry, cavalry, artillery and a pontoon train. Against the protests of the Indian agent, he finally destroyed the large Cheyenne village of Chief Roman Nose, situated about thirty-five miles from Fort Larned. The Cheyennes retaliated by taking the war-path and in the end
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killing a total of about three hundred soldiers and citizens and destroying several million dollars' worth of public and private property. In 1868 the Cheyennes were guilty of shocking bar- barities on Saline and Solomon rivers in Kansas. The expe- dition against them under Forsyth was only partly successful. In Montana Major Baker struck a camp of hostile Piegans on Maria's river and killed one hundred and seventy-three of them, among whom were many women and children.
It had been realized for many years by the commissioner of Indian affairs that the reservation system was destined in the end to prove a total failure. It was seen that surrounding the reservations with white settlers meant at no distant day the total destruction of wild game and the constant association of the two races. The Indians were sure to fall a prey to whisky and the wiles of sharpers. It had come to be generally thought by the government authorities that the only remedy was the allotment in severalty of the Indian lands and the requirement that the Indians should work for a livelihood. Steps in this direction had been taken by the government may years before; but had pro- gressed not very far with the Western tribes.
Previous to the Civil War, the government did not have a well-defined, consistent, comprehensive and harmonious Indian policy. A usufruct right, or right of occupancy by the Indian tribes, had been recognized by the highest court ever since the foundation of the government, and they had been treated as inde- . pendent sovereignties as well as dependent wards, which extraor- dinary treatment was the first serious mistake. In spite of their recognized rights, they had been forced by the pressure of the home-seekers to surrender from time to time tracts that had been solemnly guaranteed to them in previous treaties. The incongru- ity and inefficiency of the government's course became sharply marked with the passage of time. "From a glance at the history of our relations with the Indians, it will appear that we have been governed by the course of events rather than by the adoption of a well-settled policy."*
"The wonderful influx of population into Colorado and the subsequent events, indicates the extent of protection afforded. The white man in his greed for gain robbed them of their homes and hunting grounds, and when they dared to complain found justification only in the heartless and brutal maxim, 'An Indian has no rights which the white man is bound to respect :' a senti-
* From the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, April, 1864.
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ment in which the government quietly acquiesced. The testimony of some of the highest military officers of the United States is on record to the effect that in our Indian wars, almost without exception, the first aggressions have been made by the white man, and the assertion is supported by every civilian of reputation who has studied the subject. The history of these Indians, since first brought into treaty stipulations with the United States, is one of almost unmitigated wrongs endured. In peace they have been the frequent victims of murderers and marauders and the constant prey of traders and agents. In war their own barbarities liave, on some occasions, been more than emulated by their white enemies. The United States first creates the fiction that a few thousand savages stand in the position of equality as to capacity, power and right of negotiation with a great civilized nation. They next proceed to impress upon the savages, with all the forms of treaty and the solemnity of parchment, signatures and seals, the preposterous idea that they are the owners in fee of the fabulous tracts of country over which their nomadic habits have led them or their ancestors to roam. The title becomes thus settled; they purchase and promise payment for a portion of territory, and further bind themselves in the most solemn manner to protect and defend the Indians in the possession of some immense remainder defined by boundaries in the treaty; thus becoming, as it were, particeps criminis with the savages in resisting the 'encroachments' of covilization and ' the progressive movement of the age. Having entered into this last-named impracticable obligation, the first step of its non-per -. formance becomes the occasion of disgraceful and expensive war to subdue their victims to the point of submission to another treaty. And so the tragedy of war and the farce of treaty have been enacted again and again, each time with increasing shame to the nation. Probably all will agree that the rapid development of our western frontiers, by which the Indians have been driven from one reservation to another, and dishonest man- agement and execution of treaties by bad agents, have caused most of our Indian wars."*
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The commissioners reported that, Ist, the Indians should be regarded as wards and not as independent sovereignties ; 2d, they should all be gathered in Indian territory ; 3d, every proceeding should be placed in the hands of honest men ; 4th, homes in sev-
* From the report of the special commission to the Indians, appointed by Presi- dent Grant in 1867, William Welsh, of Philadelphia, being chairman, and Felix Brunot, of Pittsburg, secretary.
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eralty should be the ultimate object; ,5th, the expense of this course would not exceed one-fifth that of a hostile course. This report became known as "Grant's Indian Policy." It contem- plated good treatment for small or peaceable tribes and severe treatment for big or hostile tribes. It was also called the "Peace Policy," with the military department to administer the punish- ment, not as war, but as discipline. Indians who left their reser- vations were to be punished, and all were required to live on some reservation.
Owing to the fact that the Sioux claimed and occupied Powder river and Big Horn valleys, the Big Horn Mining Company was not permitted to enter that section, as such a step would be fol- lowed by certain war. The construction of the Central Pacific and the Northern Pacific railways was regarded by the Sioux as an infringement of their rights. At this time the Sioux under Red Cloud were mostly south of Fort Laramie. Sitting Bull with a large following separated from the others and went to Mon- tana ; he was an avowed hostile. In October, 1870, Colonel Mackenzie severely chastised the Comanches on McClellan creek in Indian territory, killing twenty-three and capturing one hun- dred and twenty-four.
The many treaties with the Indians concluded from 1867 to 1871 were not ratified by congress. On March 3, 1871, that body declared "that hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the ter- ritory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation, tribe, or power, with whom the United States may contract by treaty." This was the doom of the Indian treaty system. 'I'lius were the practices of nearly a hundred years overthrown. It meant a new order of affairs, with many difficult problems to solve. In theory there had been over sixty- five independent nations within the borders of the United States. Now all was changed. "The bounty of the government has pauperized them (the Indians), and in some cases has tended to brutalize more than to civilize." Cash annuities were declared to be wrong, because they went in advance to saloon-keepers and sharpers. The government had never secured the Indians, either in life or in property. The policy had been a utopian dream coupled with unpardonable stupidity.
"It belongs not to a sanguine but to a sober view of the situa- tion, that three years will see the alternative of war eliminated from the Indian question and the most powerful and hostile bands of today thrown in entire helplessness on the mercy of the gov- ernment. Indeed, the progress of two years more, if not of
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another summer, on the Northern Pacific railway, will of itself completely solve the great Sioux problem, and leave the ninety thousand Indians ranged between the two transcontinental lines as incapable of resisting the government as are the Indians of New York or Massachusetts. Columns moving north from the Union Pacific and south from the Northern Pacific would crush the Sioux and their confederates as between the upper and nether millstones, while the rapid movement of troops along the northern line would prevent the escape of the savages when hard pressed, into the British possessions, which have heretofore afforded a convenient refuge on the approach of a military expedition .* "Except under extraordinary provocation, or in circumstances not at all to be apprehended, it is not probable that as many as five hundred Indian warriors will ever again be mustered at one point for a fight ; and with the conflicting interest of the different tribes and the occupation of the intervening country by. advancing set- tlements, such an event as a general Indian war can never again occur in the United States."t
On the heels of these rosy views, the Sioux were preparing for war on a large scale. The Red Cloud, Spotted Tail and Sitting Bull bands were independent, insolent, and guilty of many depre- dations in 1873-4. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, and the flocking there of many miners, despite danger from the Indians, occasioned the intense hostility of the Sioux and their allies. Regardless of consequences, the Sioux, Arapahoes, Chey- ennes, Kiowas, Comanches, and others refused to stay on their reservations. The invasion of their country by miners and emi- grants roused them to the point of war. When the army of General Custer reconnoitered the Black Hill country in 1874, the indignation of the Indians was complete. Many expeditions of miners were struck by the Indians and turned back. The with- drawal of the army and the checking of the expeditions, served for a time to prevent any general movement of hostility. It became clear, however, that the Black Hills would have to be pur- chased to meet the demands of miners and settlers, because new discoveries of gold had set all the West aflame. . Notwithstand- ing that soldiers were posted on all the trails approaching the hills, over one thousand miners passed in during the year 1875, and when once there promptly organized for mutual protection. .
The peace measures from 1868 to 1875 were productive of
* From the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1872.
t From the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1873.
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good results, regardless of the invasion of the Indians' rights; but during 1874 and 1875 it was necessary to use compulsion to keep the Indians on their reservations; indeed, these attempts were only partly successful. Strong Sioux and other bands still remained out. So great became the pressure of the miners, that the government ordered a survey of the hills, which was con- ducted under an armed escort commanded by Colonel Dodge.
"From the first settlement of the country by white men until a comparatively recent period, the Indians have been constantly driven westward from the Atlantic. A zigzag, ever-varying line, more or less definitely marked, extending from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and always slowly moving west, has been known as the "frontier" or "border." Along this border has been an almost incessant struggle, the Indians to retain and the whites to get possession ; the war being broken by periods of occasional and temporary peace, which usually followed treaties whereby the Indians agreed to surrender large tracts of their lands. This peace would continue until the lands surrendered had been occu- pied by whites, when the pressure of emigration would again break over the border, and the Indians, by force or treaty, be compelled to surrender another portion of his cherished hunting grounds. Toward the close of the first half of this century the tide of emigration and adventure swept even the frontier away and rushed across the continent. Throughout the vast regions of the West, the adventurous, grasping Anglo-Saxon race is dominant and in possession of the fairest and richest por- tions of the land. Except in the Indian territory and perhaps Dakota, the white exceeds the Indian population. No new hunt- ing-ground remains, and the civilization or the utter destruction of the Indians is inevitable. The next twenty-five years are to determine the fate of a race. If they cannot be taught, and taught very soon, to accept the necessity of the situation and begin in earnest to provide for their own wants by labor in civilized pur- suits they are destined to speedy extinction." *
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