History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 142

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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stration on his arrival; uttered hardly a word; simply stood sullenly awaiting any disposition the commanding officer saw fit to make of him.

A day or two later the commanding officer held something of a formal coun- cil with the fallen medicine man of the Sioux nation. Sitting Bull entered the council, and seated himself at the left of Major Brotherton, placed his rifle, which he had not been required to give up between his feet, and with a sullen expression tinged with anger or ugliness, remained silent. His dress consisted of a cheap calico shirt, considerably worn in appearance, from long use, and somewhat soiled, a pair of black leggings, a blanket dirty and old, and a calico ·handkerchief was tied in turban fashion about his shapely head so as to protect his eyes which were red and sore. In this silent posture there was nothing what- ever remarkable abont the man to indicate that he was anything more than an ordinary Indian silent and stoical in demeanor. Major Brotherton opened the council .by stating in a positive manner, from which there would be no appeal, the policy the Government would follow in its disposition of the surrendered prisoners, and by which Sitting Bull and his people will be governed. They would be sent to join the other surrendered Sioux at Fort Yates. Fle assured them that the military people would treat them well if they behaved well. There were some manifestations of approval among the chiefs when the major had con- cluded, except Sitting Bull, who gave out no sign whether he was pleased or dis- pleased, evidently expecting to make some modification of the programme when he replied, which he proposed to do and which the major courteously invited him to. Sitting Bull did not immediately respond; he seemed to be ruminating, or gathering his thoughts for an eloquent effort. He then addressed a few words to his Indian attendants, which were not interpreted, then turning to his little son who was with him, he told him to take up his rifle and present it to Major Brotherton. This was done, when the chieftain said :

I surrender this rifle to you through my young son, whom I now desire to teach in this manner that he has become a friend of the Americans. I wish him to learn the habits of the whites and become educated as their sons are educated. I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle. This boy has given it to you and he now wants to know how he is going to make a living. Whatever you have to give, or whatever you have to say, I would like to receive it now, for I do not want to be kept in darkness any longer. I have sent several messengers in here from time to time, but none of them have returned with news. The other chiefs, Crow King and Gall, have not wanted me to come, and 1 have never received good news from here. I now wish to be allowed to live on this side of the line or the other as I see fit. I wish to continue my old life of hunting, but would like to be allowed to trade on both sides of the line. This is my country, and I don't wish to be compelled to give it up. My heart was very sad at having to leave the great father's country. She has been a friend to me, but i want my children to grow up in our own country, and I wish to feel that I can visit two of my friends on the other side of the line, Major Walsh and Captain MeDonald, whenever I wish, and would like to trade with Louis Legare, as he has always been a friend to me. 1 wish to have all my people live together on one reservation of our own on the Little Missouri. [ left several families at Wood Mountain and between there and Qu' Appelle. I have many people among the Yanktonnais at Poplar Creek, and I wish all of them and those at Standing Rock to be collected together upon one reservation. My people have many of them have been bad. All are good now, that their arms and ponies have been taken from them.

( Addressing Major Brotherton.) You own this ground with me and we must try and help each other. I do not wish to leave here until I get all the people I left behind and the Unepapas now at Poplar Creek. I would like to have my daughter, who is now at Fort Yates, sent up here to visit me, and also eight men, now there (mentioning them by name ). and I would like to know that Louis Legare is to be rewarded for his services in bringing me and my people here.

This closed the council. The major simply assured Sitting Bull and the others that the Government wonkl deal with them in the manner best suited to their welfare, and then dismissed them giving them in charge of Captain Clifford

Quite reluctantly, the notorious chief and his party were taken on board the steamboat General Sherman, which had been sent up to Fort Buford for the purpose, and on the 20th of July, 1881, started for Fort Yates, His requests for

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delay could not be granted. A steamboat chartered to carry Indians or mer- chandise for the Government receives a per diem compensation, and a liberal one, therefore the Sherman was expected to make no delay.

There were 187 of the Sitting Bull party, counting women and children. There were over three thousand five hundred of his old guard at Yates and more to come from Keogh. Those who had talked with Sitting Bull found him quite unfriendly but not to the extent of desiring to renew a war with the Govern- ment ; and feeling that he was grossly persecuted. He denied that he had com- mitted an offense for which he deserved punishment-he had only defended his country and himself from their enemies. He was not conquered, but he was destitute and his people were close to suffering for the necessaries of life and he had only taken the only way open to him to provide for them.

A brief halt was made at Bismarck on the way down, and the chiefs were allowed to go ashore, and were taken to a hotel for dinner. Here Sitting Bull saw the first locomotive engine he had ever seen. His life had been passed remote from such devices. The engineer pulled the throttle-valve, and as the engine moved away he drew his blanket closer about himself, and said he didn't want to see it again, and refused to ride upon it. At Bismarck it was discovered that he could write his name and he was besieged by a large number of people of both sexes for his card. Of some he received recompense. He wrote clearly and quite rapidly, but it was observed that he copied from a card that he carried with him. He was now fifty years of age. He appeared to enjoy the attention he received, and strutted as he walked, indicating that he was not averse to being an object of interest. The stay at Bismarck was brief; the date July 31st, and August 3d the Sherman tied up at Fort Yates and there discharged its cargo of human freight.

It was not in the least the intention of the Government to treat Sitting Bull and his people as the prodigal son was treated, but rather to impress upon them that they had been guilty of the grossest ingratitude by turning their arms against the Great Father while at the same time they were being sustained by his bounty ; that their unprovoked depredations upon and murders of white people were deserving of serious punishment, but its infliction might be withheld or greatly modified by their conduct thereafter. They were for a time on pro- bation and under bayonet rule. To such an extent was this the case that when- ever one of them was disinclined to obey orders the bayonet was pressed into service. The rigidity of this rule was noticeably relaxed, however, on the occa- sion of the arrival of the Sitting Bull party at Fort Yates. All the Indians were landed except the famous warrior, his father, Four Horns, and Chief Running Antelope, who remained. These three were ushered into the cabin of the boat where they were introduced to the officers of the fort and their ladies and a number of whites employed at the post. Sitting Bull was very gracious to the ladies and furnished them his photograph without fee or reward, while he made a charge of from $1 to $5 to all others. His favorite daughter was not there to greet him. She had been sent out to a camp some distance off where about two thousand others were being guarded. It was designed to make Fort Yates a permanent camp for Sitting Bull and such of his Indians as could not be trusted to return to their former agencies, for it should be remembered that every one of these people belonged to some tribe of the Sioux nation, and in their tribal organization every tribe had been at peace with the Great Father for many years. There were a large number of Yanktonnais, nearly a thousand of Red Cloud's people, in fact every tribe except the Yanktons were said to be rep- resented.

As the Indians improved in physical strength they began to get restless under the strict regime which had been adopted for the purpose of preserving a proper discipline among them. Sitting Bull was ill-natured; and plans were laid by numbers of them to escape. A quantity of pistols, a few guns and ammunition were found secreted in the camp which had been stealthily brought in by some

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of their visiting friends, and it was deemed best to separate the leader from his people by removing him to some other location. The camp itself, now grown to nearly seven thousand in number, composed of the unfriendly class, was re- garded as a menace to the peace of the border. The military force was regarded as insufficient to prevent a hostile uprising should the Indians be able to act concertedly ; and there was further cause for apprehension of trouble to follow the recent assassination of Spotted Tail who exercised a restraining influence upon the belligerent young men of his tribe, but who might now be won over easily by emissaries from Sitting Bull, who was still defiant and ugly under the restraints which he was compelled to submit to. Finally it was determined to remove Sitting Bull and a few of his closest relatives and chiefs to Fort Randall, and the steamboat Sherman was sent for upon which to transport the party to that post. Sitting Bull was informed of his proposed transfer, and angrily protested against it, and so defiant did he become that a company of troops was detailed to move his camp to the river banks, where he was kept under close restraint until the steamboat arrived. The Indians were disposed to aid Sitting Bull in his refusal to be removed and the result was that every white man employed at the post as well as the soldiers were armed and prepared for a fight should the resistance become serious enough to warrant it. It was suspected that many of the Indians were armed. The steamboat finally came along, the Sitting Bull party was marched aboard with bayonets behind it, and Company H, Seventeenth Infantry went along to keep the peace during the trip. Sitting Bull was interviewed during the voyage by some one curious to get him to relate the story of his remarkable career. Ile was asked: Where were you born and when?

Sitting Bull replied :

I don't know where I was born and cannot remember. I know that I was born or 1 would not be here. I was born of a woman; I know this to be a fact, because 1 exist.

Sitting Bull then held a long conversation with his uncle, Chief Four Ilorns, and after pointing at different fingers for some time, said :

I was born near old Fort George, on Willow Creek, below the mouth of the Cheyenne River. 1 am forty-four years old, as near as I can tell; we count our years from the moons between great events. The event from which I date my birth is the year in which Thunder Hawk was born. I am as old as he. I have always been running around. Indians that remain on the same hunting grounds all the time can remember years better.

"llow many wives and children have you?"

Sitting Bull, running over his fingers and then with thumb and forefinger of one hand pinching and holding together two fingers of his other hand: "1 have nine children and two living wives, and one wife that has gone to the Great Spirit. I have two pairs of twins."

Lieutenant Dowdy: "Tell Sitting Bull he is more fortunate than I am; I can't get one wife."

Sitting Bull was greatly amused at this, and laughed aloud. "Which is your favorite wife?"

"I think as much of one as the other. If I did not I would not keep them. I think if I had a white wife I would think more of her than of the other two."

"What are the names of your wives?"

Sitting Bull. raising the side of his turban and calling a squaw to him, asked her, and then replied : "Was-Seen-By-The-Nation is the name of the old one. The One-That-Had Four-Robes is the name of the other."

"Are you a chief by inheritance, and if not, what deeds of bravery gave you the title>" Sitting Bull : "My father and two uncles were chiefs. My father's name was Jumping Bull. My uncle that is here is called Four Horns, and my other uncle was called Hunting- His-Lodge. My father was a very rich man and owned a great many good ponies in four colors. In ponies he took much pride. They were roan, white and gray. He had great numbers and I never wanted for a horse to ride. When I was ten years oldl I was fan us as a hunter. My specialty was buffalo calves. I gave the calves I killed to the pour whe had no horses. I was considered a good man. My father died twenty-one years as 1 r four years after I was ten years old I killed buffalo and fed his people, and thus hamam . one of the fathers of the tribe. At the age of fourteen I killed an enemy, and beran t. make myself great in battle, and became a chief. Before this, from ten to fourteen, ny

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people had named me the Sacred Standshoty. After killing an enemy they called me Ta-Tan-Ka I-You-Tan-Ka, or Sitting Bull. An Indian may be an inherited chief, but he must make himself a chief by his bravery."

No amount of persuasion could induce Sitting Bull to reveal any thing of his life beyond the age of fourteen.

The party reached Fort Randall and were formally turned over to the com- mandant, who gave them a suitable camping place where they could have suffi- cient freedom and yet be under close surveillance.

THE MESSIAH CRAZE-MILES' STORY

To avoid repetition, the reader is referred to the proceedings of the several treaty commissions which precede this sketch, for many of the incidents in Sitting Bull's career after his return to the United States from British America and to his allegiance to the Great Father, a period of ten years, and this chapter will close with a reference to the final brief war between the Sioux and the Government, and the tragic death of Sitting Bull, which occurred in 1890, soon after the Dakotas had entered upon their careers as states of the American Union.

This last uprising of the Sioux nation occurred after several years of tran- quillity and peace upon the frontiers, when public sentiment was resting in an assurance that the story of the last of hostilities on the part of the Indians had been written more than a decade past. It came like "a thunderbolt from a clear sky." Gen. Nelson A. Miles had continued in active command of the military district of Dakota, which for prudential reasons had been maintained, but with so little ostentation, or performance of legitimate duty, that the general public had ceased to regard it as a dweller on the frontier. Instead of quoting from the official reports of the lamentable affair, which was called the "Messiah Craze," or the "War with the Messiah," we have had recourse to a narrative prepared for publication by General Miles some years later, which explains the origin of the trouble and its brief duration. General Miles had then been called to the command of the Military Division of the Missouri in which the Department of Dakota was a sub-division, when in 1890, there came reports of a threatened Indian war in which all the tribes of the West were to participate. It was not an outgrowth of any alleged delinquency on the part of the Government to fulfill its treaty obligations, nor was it charged that the whites were in any manner trespassing upon the rights of the Indians, but, as the general states it came from so-called prophets, medicine men, as well as intriguing leaders, who were influencing the Indians in a belief that some Divine interposition was about to rescue them and restore to them the hunting grounds, the buffalo, and the freedom of the old wild life of their ancestors. A numerous body of native speakers were travers- ing the Indian country, and explaining to the Indians that the second coming of Christ was at hand. That he was coming to redress the wrongs that had been committed upon the Indian by the white race, and counseling them to prepare to join his forces and aid in achieving the triumph which could not fail under such a leader.

The "Messiah," or rather the person (his name was Hopkins) answering to that sacred title, was a person living in the mountains of Nevada, who had assumed the character, and knowing the Indian character, his credulous nature, his predilection for the supernatural, had enlisted quite a body of leaders under his banner, informing them that he had the authority and power to restore his people to their former condition and possessions, but he would require the active aid and participation of all the Indian tribes to accomplish his mission. He sent chosen representatives to the tribes in Dakota and elsewhere, inform- ing them of his coming, and notifying them of his abode near Walker Lake, Nevada. Upon all Indians to whom this secret was disclosed, the utmost secrecy was enjoined, and this admonition had been faithfully observed. Miles relates

SITTING BULL. The greatest war chief the Indians ever had Killed in 1590

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that "the year before there was any open manifestation of war, three Indians left the large tribes located in Southern Dakota, presumably from south of White River, on a secret mission to the west. Their names were Kicking Bear, Short Bull, and Porcupine. They could neither read nor speak the English language, but they journeyed three hundred miles to the Crow camp in the northwest, thence west to the Shoshones and Utes, and thence to the tribes in Utah and Nevada, and they finally reached the camp of the Messiah, who received them cordially but with severe formality. He proclaimed to them that the prophecy made nearly two thousand years before had been fulfilled, that their own land was to be transformed into the Happy Hunting Ground, and that all the departed Indians were to be restored to life. He told them that he was about to remove eastward, when there would be driven before him vast herds of horses, or ponies, and an immense number of buffalo, and deer, and as he moved east the dead of their race would arise and join him. Ile taught his visitors mystic ceremonies and methods of religious worship that were new to them. The trio of emissaries were enjoined to secrecy but they were to go on and announce to the various tribes what had been confided to them. They returned, visiting the tribes, and safely reached their starting point, but their movements had been so carefully guarded that it was several months after their return that it became known to the agent that they had been absent. The hostile elements-those who could never become reconciled to the new industrial life-welcomed the information brought by the visiting committee, with joyful manifestations. The information aroused the old-time belligerent nature of Sitting Bull and stirred to life his smouldering ambition to free his country from the presence of the white race. Ile declared that they would not wait for the coming of the Messiah but organize and go forth to meet him. He sent out runners to every tribe in the northwest that he knew of, and also to Canadian tribes, appealing to them to rise and leave their reservations, assemble near the base of the Rocky Mountains, and march west until they should meet with the Messiah, and escort him on his crusade of deliverance.

No plan of hostility could have been better devised to kindle anew the natural animosity of the Indians toward the whites. They believed in it, and anticipated the fruits of the great triumph they were to achieve. Miles declares that it was a threatened uprising of colossal proportions, and only the prompt action of the military authorities prevented it from being attempted with much more sanguinary results following than those which attended the repression of the revolt.

That General Miles had come to regard Sitting Bull as the most formidable and dangerous of all the Indian foes his troops would be called upon to meet. i- shown in his anxious and determined efforts to place him under arrest at Standing Rock to prevent his joining with the hostile forces in the Bad Lands. General Miles said :

1 considered it of the first importance to secure the arrest of Sitting Bull and his removal from that part of the country (Standing Rock Agency). My first effort in that direction proved a failure, owing to adverse influence that was used to defeat my purpose I sent a second positive order, directed to the commanding officer of the nearest miltary station, to secure the person of Sitting Bull without delay. This order was sent to the commanding officer at Fort Yates, North Dakota, who detailed a troop of cavalry at 1 : few trusted Indian scouts, under the command of Mai. F. G. Fechet, an experienced, midi cious officer, who executed the order promptly. A few hours delay would have ben pregnant with misfortunes, for Sitting Bull, with some two hundred warriors, had nale preparations to leave that morning and join the great hostile camp which was the assembled in the Bad Lands of South Dakota, the rende vous of the Mesit's Major Fechet moved his camp at night some thirty miles to a close proximity to See Bull's camp, and sent his friendly Indians forward to arrest the materials wir These friendlies proceeded to Sitting Bull's lodge and informed him that he was 1

and must go with them. He protested. but without avail. They had proce h 1 steps when he uttered the war-cry, which aroused h's ielle wers, who rushed to rein ir Then occurred a short, desperate combat in which Sitting Bull was kille 1. w t number of his followers, as well as five of the Indians who made the arrest. Werist

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and his troops reached the sanguinary battlefield by this time and soon dispersed the hostiles.

No further particulars were given by the general, but he adds the following estimate of Sitting Bull as a man and leader. He said :

It was strange that this last encounter of this greatest of Indian chieftains was a tragedy in which he fell by the hands of men of his own race. He was the strongest type of a hostile Indian that this country has produced. His reputation had been made by courage, energy, and intense hostility to the white race in his early days. He had gradually risen to leadership until he became the great organizer and controlling spirit of the hostile ele -. ment. None of the other Indians possessed the power of drawing and molding the hearts of his people to one purpose, and his fall appeared to be the death-knell of the Indian supremacy in that western country.

While this incident created much excitement in the north and at the agency at Standing Rock on Grand River, the Sioux were gathering for war in large force in the vicinity of Pine Ridge Agency and in the Bad Lands on the head- waters of White River, 200 miles away. The Indians had left their agencies, abandoned their little homes and cultivated fields, in many cases destroying their property, and had removed to the great camp of the Messiah in the Bad Lands. Here the ghost dance was being celebrated-the prelude of war, and the doc- trine of the Nevada imposter loudly advocated. Everything that would arouse the Indians, awaken their animosity toward the whites, which had lain dormant for years, was being done, and it needed but the presence and bold counsel of a Sitting Bull to start them on the war path. All tribes of the Sioux west of the river were largely represented.

The hostile attitude of the Indians called for prompt action on the part of the military forces in the country. General Miles explains :

Fortunately a branch of the Northwestern Railroad could be utilized in the disposi- tion of the troops. The large Indian camp was located near the center of the angle formed by the main line and the branch of this railroad. By distributing troops at available points on the two lines, we were enabled partly to envelop the Indians, and at the same time to place a barrier to the west of them, by which their contemplated movement in that direc- tion could be prevented. As soon as a sufficient force was assembled, the troops were gradually moved toward the Indians' position, pressing them back toward their agency. In the meantime the Indians under Big Foot, a noted chief, left their village on the Cheyenne River, at the junction of Deep Creek, with the intention of uniting with the hostile camp. A strong force of cavalry was sent to intercept them, and so far succeeded as to cause them to halt. A parley occurred, but the commanding officer, instead of insist- ing on their disarmament and return to their agency, took a promise that they would do so, and returned to camp. Whereupon the Indians, as soon as night came on, continued their journey toward the Bad Lands. Another force was ordered to intercept them, which was done before they reached the main camp of the hostiles, and a demand was made for their surrender. This they agreed to do, and encamped near the troops that night. The next morning a formal demand was made for their arms, whereupon the Indian warriors came out into the open field and laid their arms on the ground. While they were being searched, and a party that had been sent into camp was searching for arms, a controversy occurred, and the Indians thought they were going to be killed. The fanatical leaders com- menced the "ghost dance," one of their ceremonies being to take up dust and throw it over the warriors under the belief that it would render them invulnerable to the bullets of the enemy. This continued only a short time, when the Indians made a rush for their camps, the troops, unfortunately, heing so placed that some of them were in the line of fire of their comrades. Many of the shots directed at the warriors were thrown straight into the camp of the Indian women and children, and a general melee and massacre occurred, in which a large number of men, women and children were killed and wounded. In fact, the commanding officer reported that the camp or village had been destroyed. The Indians fled in all directions, pursued by the troops, and the bodies of the dead and wounded were found on the prairies, some of them at long distances from the place of the disturbance. I have never felt that the action was justified, and believe it could have been avoided. It was a sad fatality that Indian disaffection and war should finally end in a deplorable tragedy.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 142

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