History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 137

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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This concluded the speech-making, and a general shaking of hands and smoking of pipes and cigars was then indulged in, and the Indians mingled together and conversed through their interpreters, where they were unable to understand each other. The council lasted about six hours, and resulted in an agreement to make a formal written treaty of peace; when adjournment was had for refreshments and to give time for the writing of the article of a treaty of amity. In the evening the council reconvened, and the following treaty was read, interpreted and duly signed :

Treaty of amity between the Sioux tribes of Indians known as the Upper Yanktonnais, Lower Yanktonnais, Black Feet, Uncpapa, and Sans Arcs, of the first part, and the Arickarees, Gros Ventres and Mandans, separate nations, united, of the second part. Witnesseth :-

That the chiefs and principal men of all the bands above mentioned, here in council, do mutually and severally agree that from this day forth they will hold each other as friends ; that they will neither make war upon each other, nor in any way manifest enmity by any action whatsoever. They agree to discourage all hostile acts and intentions, either open or covert, on the part of any member of the nation to which they severally belong; and also agree, if any person of the bands over which they have control, or in which they exercise influence, shall at any time commit any depredation, theft, or unfriendly act, on any member or members of the bands herein represented, they will see that such persons receive material punishment for the offense, and that they will make full restitution to the party aggrieved for the wrong done. They also agree that when wrong has been done or complained of by any member to this treaty, that full investigation shall be had, and that every effort shall be made to turn over offenders when discovered to the United States authorities at the

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nearest military post where the band to which the offender belongs shall be encamped. The bands who are parties to this agreement have for a long time been at war; many injuries have been inflicted ; many lives have been lost; many heads have been made sad; and much mourning and sorrow occasioned. They now desire to put an end to all such practices ; they desire to live in concord with each other; to rejoice and sorrow with each other; and to be bound with each other by the same friendly sentiments which now unite them with the whites.

In witness whereof we have each set our hands and seals at the Post of Fort Stevenson,

D. T., on this 17th day of July, 1870.

White Shield, Chief of the Lower Yanktonnais.

Two Bears, Chief of the Arickarees.

Crow Breast, Chief of the Gros Ventres.

Medicine Hatchet, Chief of the Upper Yanktonnais.

Red Cow, Chief of the Mandans.

Belly Fat, Chief of the Uncpapas.

Son of the Stars, Second Chief of the Arickarees.

Fire Heart, Chief of the Black Feet.

Medicine Lance, Third Chief of the Arickarees.

The Bear That Looks Back, Chief of the Sans Arcs.

Lean Wolf, Second Chief of the Gros Ventres.

White Bear, Chief of the Yanktonnais.

Parsons of the Eagle, Second Chief of the Mandans.

Iron Stirrup, Second Chief of the Yanktonnais.

Big Elk, Third Chief of the Yanktonnais.

Witnesses : Col. E. S. Otis, Twenty-second Infantry; Capt. S. A. Wainright, Twenty- second Infantry ; Capt. W. Clifford, U. S. A .; First Lieut. F. F. Parsons, Twenty-second Infantry; First Lieut. W. J. Reedy, Twenty-second Infantry ; Washington Matthews, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A .; G. A. McLoud, M. D .; Charles Pachanean, Interpreter.

The commissioner of Indian affairs, Ilon. E. P. Smith, made a tour of the Indian agencies in the Northwest in the summer of 1873, accompanied by his wife and daughter, possibly to give stronger emphasis to the claim then being made that the new peace policy for governing the Indians, which was being enforced by President Grant, had produced such a favorable change in the situation on our frontiers respecting the Indians, that it was safe even for women to journey among them without fear of being molested by the red men. His itinerary in Dakota extended up the Missouri Kiver to the Grand River Agency, and included the Cheyenne and Crow Creek, all among the most important and populous of the Sioux agencies, and then regarded as the temporary rendezvous for thousands of the refractory element (when hungry ), who could easily be induced to war, and who were even then, in a surreptitious manner, represented with Sitting Bull, who with quite a following was opposing the extension of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the country farther north.

At each of these agencies he held a formal council with the Indians for the purpose of ascertaining their sentiments regarding the new peace policy and to find out by personal observation to what extent they were engaging in industrial employments. As a rule he found them fairly well disposed toward the new order of things; but everywhere he learned that they needed a great deal more than they were receiving from the Government. A number of the leaders among the red men made known their sentiments and wants in formal speeches. These Indian speeches had been a common feature at all councils held with them by the pale faces, and the Indians invariably appear as complainants that the Great Father was not living up to his agreements in furnishing them supplies.

The commissioner concluded his investigations at Greenwood, the Yankton Agency, where he met all the leaders of the tribe and many hundreds of the people, men and women and children. The Yanktons had been known as one of the best disposed tribes of the Sioux, and had made considerable progress in the customs and arts of white people. Here the commissioner made a speech, which was interpreted to his audience, wherein he endeavored to show them just what the new peace policy expected of the Indians, and how they were to be rewarded by submitting and conforming thereto in good faith. The com- missioner said :

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My friends, I have heard of you very often. For two years I have been living with the Indians of Minnesota, and they have often talked to me of the Dakotas, and they wished me to bear friendly words to you. Some of them have been over to Lake Traverse and Fort Totten lately, to make peace with the Dakotas. Some of the Chippewas have lately gone to a new reservation, where they can raise corn, wheat, and cattle. They live in houses and are doing very well indeed. Some will have 150 or 200 bushels of wheat this year. Their children are many of them in schools and are learning to talk English. I have been up the river, looking at the Dakotas there, and am now going to the agencies below, and then to Washington. I have wished to see you, so that when your agents write me at Washington, I may understand them, and know how to answer them. I find that many of the Indians above here are not doing much for themselves. They have been receiving beef and flour, and coffee and sugar, for many years, but are still living in tepees and wearing blankets, as they were years ago. They seem to think that all they have to do is to sit down and that white people will come along and put pork and flour down their throats; so they will live and their children after them. I think the worst thing we can do for a man is to feed him and let him be idle. Let all the people at Yankton be fed and do nothing, and in five years they would be ruined. And the only real difference between the white man and the Indian is due largely to the fact that one works and the other does not. If a poor man has a real friend who wants to help him; his friend will help him only as he helps himself. And if that poor man is lazy and will not work, the best way to help him is to let him go hungry, because it may be that when he is pinched with hunger he will go to work, and that will make a man of him. Of course work alone will not make a man. We must learn to do right, one with another, and love God, and for that we want teachers and missionaries to instruct us. Now you have all the chance to be men that anybody wants. You have land, and water, and timber, and teachers, and preachers, and friends. And besides, you have rations, and clothing, and farmers, and carpenters, to help you; and you have a chance to be men if you are willing to work. But all these will not make you men unless you have stout hearts and take hold with both hands and work.

Now, I want to tell you one thing. After this year the agreement with the Govern- ment to supply you with rations is gone. The little money and clothing you get will be continued longer. Now, what will you do when you get no more rations? How much are you getting out of the ground to put in your tepees to live upon next winter? That is all I will say now.

The first Indian to respond to the commissioner was the second chief, Medicine Cow, an Indian of fair ability, and peacefully disposed at all times. He said :

My friend, I wish to say this morning that when a man has much to say, he will forget much, and I would like to have friends here suggest to me what I may forget. The last time we had a talk when the bishop was here, some things were wrongly interpreted and we misunderstood each other. I wish Mr. Williamson to see that the interpretation is correct. My friend, I am glad to hear what you have said, but I do not think we can do all this that we ought to do at once. I see today the way the white people work, and the way we have done in the past, and I think the way of the whites the best. Our Indian ways are such that I, for my part, do not see how we can live as we have done any longer. Now we are trying to plant, but some years it does not rain. When it does rain, we are thankful to God, and our crops grow. You see these young men here; they can plow and make hay. We remember what our Great Father told us in Washington-to tell our men to plow and work, and that if they would do so, the money paid to white people for labor would be paid to Indians. The young men here are able, I think, to do all the common work-plow, make hay, build houses of logs-but I do not think the agent hires as many Indians as he might. There are Indians now who could fill nearly all these places. I know that those who put on trousers, cut their hair, and work, blister their hands, but the whites do the same thing and we can do it too. The white men alone are not able to herd the cattle. Indians are used to driving cattle on horseback, and they can do the herding well. Our people are very different from the hostile Indians west of us. We do not want to go on the war path. We are raising ponies and sell them for wagons and other useful things. Here are two stores and two missions, and we wish our young men to do all the missionaries and traders wish to have done, and then we shall prosper. These men here grew up on the prairies and get their living by traveling about. The Great Father wished us to settle down and go to work, and we have done it. The Great Father promised to help us. I do not think he has helped us as much as he might have done. We have young men here learning all these trades. They do not feel able yet to take charge of the work. but will be able to do so soon. When I was at Washington the last time, I told the Great Father we could not come to see him every day, but often we wish to say something to him; there is some difficulty, or the whites employed here do not suit us. And he told us that when things did not go right we should let him know, and he would see what could be done. I wish you would remember this, and am glad you are having what I say put in

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writing. I suppose the collection of money for the Indians which the Great Father makes must be a very serious matter, and must take great labor. I consider that our Nation has always been faithful and true to the Government in times of war and peace, and that the Great Father is under obligation to us on that account. Do not think we are particularly proud of this; I do not speak of it for that reason. Nevertheless it is true, and I think that the Great Father should be particularly faithful to us in supplying our wants. You have mentioned many of our advantages. The Great Father has not provided all these for us. Of all we have here, he has given us only eight wagons and twenty-five harnesses. There are eight bands of men here, and when we want to work we have so few imple- ments we almost fight over who shall use them. I see how the white people get a living. On the prairies, far from wood and water, they settle and dig wells, and haul wood, and fix themselves up. I wonder if you think we could go out on the prairie and do as they do with only our hands. I say this because the agent has been having the prairie surveyed, and I wonder if you expect us to go out there and settle without implements. The Great Father has sent food here for the Indians; that is well. Now what arrangement does he make about the white people of the agency? Does he expect them to live from these pro- visions? If so, very well. At other agencies the Indians get larger rations; but I have told our young men to say nothing about it. Sometimes we feel bad-jealous of the hostile Indians because they get more than we do; but I advise them to keep quiet; and say that perhaps in the end the Great Father will do better for us than for them. When a man asks here he does not inquire of one man about us, but from many; from the agent; mis- sionaries, and others. If you do this you will get at the truth. One thing puts us in a little danger. Other tribes are coming here to visit us, and there is danger that some of our young men will be drawn away by them into war parties. When Indians go to Wash- ington and sign treaties there with the Great Father, before God, I consider those treaties binding, and have great respect for them. And I understand that when the Great Father makes promises, he is bound to keep his promises also. When the treaty was made 1 understand that it was promised that we should have this reserve for at least fifty years. If you hear of anyone speaking of removing us elsewhere, do not listen to them. I know railroads are running across the country. Some run entirely across the country ; some only a little way. I speak of this because at Sioux City they are starting a railway which points this way. I think transportation this way should be made by the river. If I was alone 1 should not care about it, but other Indians may make trouble if railroads are run through this country. I have listened to what you have said about the white people do work. We have tried it. Our hands are tender and we have blistered them, but we shall continue to work, nevertheless. It takes about ten thousand dollars of treaty money to run the agency here; but I did not understand the agency was to be run out of money paid for our land. I think all the money paid for our land should be used for agricultural purposes, tools, and farming implements and improvements. I know I feel very much as a nursing child feels towards the nursing mother. I know I can not get along without the help of the Govern- ment yet, and I have confidence that the Government will continue to help us abundantly

Strike-the-Ree, the head chief, and one of the best known Indians in the country at that time, then addressed the commissioner. He had the unlimited confidence of his people, and the burden of his discourse, which is here given. was the lack of something to aid his people in their upward climb to the ways of civilized people. Strike-the-Ree said to Mr. Smith :

I heard last winter that you were coming. I see you here today, and am glad. There are eight bands of us here. I want you to use your efforts to get wagons and oxen for each of the bands. We want harnesses also. Then our women have all burnt their fingers trying to cook as white people do, with Indian utensils. We want stoves. The Santees, many of them, have stoves. I have heard these reports about rations before, but never so directly from the Great Father. I have trembled before when I thought about it. Now it seems as though the heavens were falling over our heads. If the Great Father stops pro viding for us before he helps us to help ourselves better, he might as well exterminile us at once. But one thing he can do to help us to help ourselves. He can distribute cows among us and farming tools. One thing more you can do: the storms came last winter and killed many of our ponies. If you could send us better horses, so that we could raise horses of a better stock, it would help us to get a living. Since the storm we have been frightened, and we all want hay for our ponies, but the question is how to get it We try to borrow scythes, but there are not enough for all of us. If the Great Father would send us a few mowing machines we could easily put up hay enough for our stock. 11I these young men that you see here want to live in houses, but they hardly know how to build them. They start out and cut trees in the woods, but cannot get the logs hauled If some way could be provided for the hauling of the logs, it would be of great advanta to us. And when you send things to help us, we would like to have them issued i in 1 viduals, and not kept stored up for the band. I know we ask for a great many things, but one other thing our young men ask for continually that is guns. There are a great fan

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rabbits in the timber and we want guns to hunt them. The Great Father may be afraid we will not use them for good purposes, but we want them only for hunting. If you cannot give them to us, we will not complain. We look upon you as a man of great influence and power, and come to you with great faith that all you promise will be ful- filled. I do not speak at random. Other men have been here saying they were great men, and have promised great things, and we have never heard from them again. We believe that all you promise will be accomplished.

As Strike-the-Ree spoke in the Dakota language, it will be understood that his remarks were interpreted, and written down at the time by the secretary of the Indian commissioner.

Commissioner Smith then replied to "Old Strike," as follows:

If you have such great expectations respecting me, I must be very careful what ] promise, and I will not be safe if ] promise you a great deal, I fear. I told you this was the last year of the treaty agreement to give you rations. I do not say the Government will give you rations no longer, but that the Government will be under no obligation to give you more. This friend has well said that it is difficult to raise taxes to feed Indians, and your Great Father has no money of his own for this purpose, and can only get what Congress grants and raises from the white people. The great Council meets in winter, and I go to them from the Great Father, and say :

"Here is the writing you have given the Sioux, promising them so much; now give it to them this year."

And the great Council says: "Yes, we agreed to do this, and we must do it;" and they vote the money. Now, next year i shall go and say: "I want money for the Sioux to buy flour and beef."

They will look at the writing and say: "No, that has gone out; we will grant them no more."

Then I shall say: "The Sioux are poor, and want something to eat."

Then they will say: "There are many poor people among the whites and we do not give them anything. These poor white people work ten or twelve hours a day to feed their children ; why cannot your Sioux do the same?"

What shall I say? I shall be glad to say: "I saw eight blisters on this chief's hands;" it will help things very much, and I know this, that I cannot get money except I say: "The Sioux are at work." You speak of the white people on the prairies. These white people came naked into the world, just as you did. They did not come in a wagon, and with their hands on a horse's bridle when they were born, and horses and harnesses did not grow. They have made it all with their hands and heads. Two years ago, on the prairies of Minnesota, I saw a man digging a hole in the ground. He had land, and wood, and five children, and that was all. He dug that little hole and put poles over it, and turf. and that was his house; and then he worked for other men, got food, and made a garden, and finally got oxen. No one gave them to him. He worked and bought them, and plowed more land, and built him a better house, and in five years he will be a rich farmer. No one helped him except God, who helped him to have a good heart and good hands to work. You see your advantage over him. I know you have not been brought up to work, and it is hard for you, but you can learn. I think some of the Yanktonnais are doing well ; per- haps they will outstrip you; but you are doing very well. You are learning. I want to praise you as much as I can. Your agent is going to get sheep, and you will soon have wool for clothing and blankets, and will start a new mode of life. I shall send you two horses to improve your ponies. But it will be better for you to sell horses as fast as you can. Raise them to sell-not to keep. I think your agent can arrange to have some one come right here and buy all you want to sell right here. That will be better than for you to try to keep them. I am going to send you a few cows, not a great many, just a few. They are to be given as presents to those who are doing their best and will take the best care of them. It will be a hard thing to give a few cows to so many people, and I am afraid it will make your agent trouble, because some will think they ought to have a cow when they cannot get one. I am going to send stoves also, but now think I shall instruct your agent to give them to men who will pay for them in work. I shall send some harnesses also in the same way. What I will do about oxen and wagons I cannot tell now. Now I suppose that it seems to you that it is not so much of a present when you earn it, as it would be if I gave these things to you right out; but I give them in this way because it will do you the most good.

Sometime you will find, I think, that this country will not support you. If grasshoppers come one year, and dry weather the next, and flood the next, you will get hungry in three years if you do not raise anything. Now, nobody will ask you to go away from this country at present ; but sometime when you get to be white men and want to do the hest thing for yourselves, we may talk about another country. There is a country south, about thirty days (Indian Territory), where you would get a living much easier than here : where livestock runs out all winter; wood and water are to be had in abundance. You could

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have land there if you wanted it. There are white men all around it who want to get in. and they say it is the best land in the world. But you do not wish to think about that, so it is not worth while for me to talk about it; but there are some who are talking about it. and will go, I think, and those who go first will get the best land. A white man never stays at home when he can do better.

Now. I am glad to have seen you, and I want you to think of one thing: the people who are helped the most are the people who help themselves the most, and the way to help people the most is not to put things in their mouth to eat, but in the hands for use. I would rather give one of you a cow than fifty sacks of flour as far as helping you would be regarded. I am sorry you do not make more of your schools. Your schoolhouses here ought to be filled with scholars. I want you to learn to talk English as fast as possible, and get your blankets off-you cannot work in blankets. I will remember you when I get to Washington, and hope to hear a good account of you. I want you to remember what a hard place your agent has to fill. If not more than half of you are angry with him at one time he will be doing very well.

Commissioner Smith, in this talk to the Yanktons, gave ont the first intima- tion of the half-formed plan of the Government to remove the entire Sioux nation to the Indian Territory, where they were told they would find a better country for farming and stock-raising and as much milder climate than Dakota. This was probably true, and had the plans succeeded it would have relieved Dakota Territory of its entire Indian population save a few Chippewas on the Red River : but whether the territory would have advanced more rapidly without the Indians is not easily proven. The Black Hills were thrown open within three years after this interview with the Yanktons. This was about all the advantage, at that time, the territory could have gained by the removal of the Sioux, while the benefit accruing to the territory from the world-wide advertising of Dakota and its gold fields would have been entirely lost. In addition, the people of the territory have profited largely from the transportation business through the reservation, and still greater prosperity came to those engaged in contracting with the Indian bureau and the military who were maintained in Dakota to protect the settlements against the hostile Sioux. It appears that our Indian population, at least in the first decades of the life of the territory, were indirectly a valuable aid in maintaining the white population. Their removal in 1876, when the moral force of the Government was exerted in that direction in earnest, would have cost the territory all its military posts, Indian agencies, and practically deprived our steamboat interest of the traffic which at the time employed from fifty to seventy-five vessels and several thousand people, and it may have been that a regard for these industrial interests discouraged the prosecution of the plan.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 137

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198