History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 154

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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By the treaty of April 19, 1868, the Government stipulated to provide each Indian over four years of age, who should remove to the reservation, with meat and flour for the term of four years after removal. That provision has now expired. Therefore, whatever sup- plies may hereafter be furnished these Indians by the Government will be in the form of a gratuity, and the Government assumes the right and recognizes the duty to so manage this gratuity as to make the most of it in the way of civilization and material benefit for the. Indians.

So far as practicable, therefore, you will be expected to bring the Indians under your charge into conformity with the requirements of the law above referred to. There is min- gled with the different bands of the Sioux a class of persons to whom this law has special application. These are mixed-bloods and white men who, being married to Indian women at the time of the treaty of 1868, were thereby incorporated into the tribe, and those, if any, who have subsequently been adopted by the tribe with the consent of the United States Government. Of this latter elass, namely, the whites who have intermarried, the first requirement will be that the parties claiming to be married, shall go before a clergyman, or priest, or Indian agent, and make acknowledgment of such marriage, unless such parties have heretofore been formally married and be able to produce a certificate to that effeet, and such acknowledgment or certificate must be a matter of agency record.

All able-bodied males, belonging to this class as well as mixed-bloods, must make returns in labor for any favors received from the Government by way of supplies or eloth- ing; and you will therefore notify them, fixing the day upon which this order will go into effect, in any event not later than June Ist, that hereafter there will be no free issue of rations or goods to themselves or families, and that you will open an account with each person or head of a family, to whom you will issue rations and goods only in payment of labor, and also only to the extent of their pro rata share.

They should be encouraged to select land and erect upon it a home and expend in farming. feneing and other improvements such labor as they may be able to perform. If instead of this, or in addition to this, they shall desire to perform labor for the benefit of the agency or of the tribe, the same kind of eredit shall be allowed them.

You will notify all your Indians of the change in their claims upon the Government for supplies, by this expiration of the treaty stipulation, and that before long they will all of them be brought to the same requirement as is now laid upon the white men and half- breeds among them, and that therefore they will find it greatly to their interest to be undertaking in every possible way such efforts as will secure for themselves a home and land for cultivation.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, EDW. P. SMITH. Commissioner.

The authorities had reached the conclusion that the country must be obtained and thrown open to the whites. The only question was as to the best method

JOHN BRENNAN

One of the founders of Rapid city, Black Hills, 1820

Pioneer of I lk Pount Is. 1

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for securing the peaceable assent of the Indian owners. It was deemed essen- tial that the Government should know the disposition of the Indians regarding a sale of the property ; and in order to ascertain their sentiment, the Indian agents at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, in the southern part of the terri- tory, were instructed to canvass the subject with their people, who were more directly interested in the matter than the other Sioux tribes.

The result of the inquiry indicated a willingness to consider a proposition from the Government ; but the Indians had observed so much of the determined efforts of the whites to get into the country regardless of any agreements; and they had also been informed of many recent gold discoveries by these adventurers, fabulous amounts of gold that had been taken out, all of course greatly magnified, that they were disposed to largely exaggerate the value of the country ; so that Spotted Tail himself with all his influential counselors had concluded to demand many mil- lions for the property ; but just how many they had not determined, evidently feeling that they would set the price too low, and having but a vague compre- hension of the meaning of the word "million." Mingled with the Indians were a number of white men, who are referred to in Commissioner Smith's letter, who had married Indian women, and who, working somewhat secretly, urged the Indians to sell and to demand a large cash payment-the latter being made of the first consideration. This effort of the agents at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies led to a grand council of the Indians of all the Sioux tribes for the purpose of considering a sale of the hills. None but Indians were admitted to the council which had been convened by a committee of Indians appointed for that purpose. At this council, after listening to the remarks of every Indian who wished to express himself, it was resolved to make a treaty with the Government for the peaceable relinquishment of the hills in return for a few or many millions of money, and also of assurances of abundant rations and clothing for an indefinite time, but long enough to cover the lifetime of the Indians then living, old and young.

It was therefore plain that nothing stood in the way of a purchase of the hills but an agreement as to the price; the amount to be paid in cash, and the further amount required for clothing and provisions.

THE SIOUX CITY INVADERS

Although the Government had made known its determination to protect the hills country from invasion by whites until it could be lawfully opened to settle- ment ; and after Custer's expedition in 1874. had established military camps and patrols at various points on the Indian reservation for the purpose of intercepting all invading parties, a few bold adventurers managed to elude the vigilance of the military in the fall of 1874 and the following winter. The first party to under- take a journey was organized at Sioux City, in September immediately after Cus- ter's return to Fort Abraham Lincoln, and while the tidings of great gold discov- eries, exaggerated a thousand foll, more or less, were flashing over the country and stared at the reader of metropolitan papers in bold headlines As related by Mrs. Annie D. Tallent, in her excellent and reliable volume entitled "The Black Hills, or Last Hunting Grounds of Dakotahs," published in &m, this expedition appears to have been an outgrowth of a much more formidable expedition partly organized under the leadership, associated with others, of Charles Collins, then a famous newspaper publisher at Sioux City, which organization was forbidden from entering the Black Hills or of trespassing upon the territory of the Sioux Nation under pain of arrest and forfeiture of property. As Collins and the other leaders were thereafter closely watched by the Government, it became need for for the party of which Mrs. Tallent was a member, and whose adventures he to charmingly and vividly describes to observe the utmost secrecy in their prepara- tions and departure. This expedition started from Covington, Neb, off Sioux City on the 6th of October, 1871. and kept on the Nebraska sile tw

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known as the Gordon-Witcher party at the time, though Mrs. Tallent states that its leader at the start and for some time after was Mr. Thomas H. Russell, Gordon and Witcher being selected as leaders after the party had reached beyond the settlements, Gordon especially being better acquainted with the country than any of the others. It passed through the settlements as an ordinary emigrant train bound for the O'Niell settlement in Nebraska, and did not throw off its assumed purpose as long as the habitations of the pale faces were in the van of their line of march. This concealment of the real purpose was deemed necessary to escape the vigilance of the United States troops who were on the lookout for parties who might surreptitiously endeavor to reach the Black Hills. The names of those composing this party, as given by Mrs. Tallent were : Capt. Thomas Russell, Ly- man Lamb, Eph. Witcher, Angus McDonald, B. B. Logan, Dan McDonald, Red Dan or Black Dan McDonald ( there were two of the same name and they were distinguished by the color of the shirt they wore ), James Dempster, James Pow- ers. J. J. Williams, Thomas Quiner, John Gordon, J. W. Brockett, Newton War- ren, H. Bishop, Chas. Long. Chas. Cordiero, Moses Aarons, R. R. Whitney, Harry Cooper, David Akin, John Boyle, Chas. Blackwell, Thos. McLaren, Henry Thomas, D. G. Tallent, Annie D. Tallent and Robert E. Tallent, a son then nine years of age. There were twenty-eight in all. This party went 'in during the forepart of its journey on what was mistakenly called the Niobrara route. Their route was chosen for the purpose of avoiding observation. They did not strike the Niobrara for two or three weeks after starting, and they crossed that river above the Keha Paha, and thereafter moved over on to the Sioux reservation, and appear to have been governed in their future selection of a route, by their desire to avoid the troops and the Indians. This they were enabled to do, meeting with no Indians until they crossed the south fork of the Cheyenne, and this inter- ruption only cost them a liberal donation of provision and tobacco, the Indians being friendly Cheyennes. The party reached French Creek, Black Hills, two or three miles from Custer's abandoned camp, on December 23d, having been two months and three weeks on the way. Much of the route they traveled was covered by deep snows, at times the weather was dangerously cold, and altogether the journey had been quite arduous and marked by much privation and suffering. though their equipment was all that experience and a liberal expenditure could provide. The motive power of the train was sturdy oxen, young, hardy and capable of great endurance, but they reached the hills sadly bereft of their youth- ful appearance and shorn of their strength. One member of the party died en route. The first industry that engaged the attention of the party of this first white settlement in the Black Hills, was the building of an ample stockade of upright pinelogs, sixteen feet high, and within the enclosure seven comfortable log cabins. This stockade and the cabins became quite famous the following and subsequent years when the whites poured into the country.

John Gordon and Eph. Witcher left the party on French Creek during February, 1875, and performed a perilous journey through to the Missouri River. reaching Yankton, March 10th, with two saddle horses and one pack animal, where they gave out the intelligence of their successful trip to the Black Hills, what their party had done in the mines, hindered by frozen ground, and the im- provements they had made. They exhibited considerable placer gold as proof of the richness of the diggings. They were twenty-five days coming out, taking a circuitous route and wading through deep snows to avoid the Indians. Their party had built Fort Defiance in Custer's Gulch, and had worked at prospecting whenever the weather permitted. The winter had been quite favorable for pros- pecting. Their gold was in nuggets and dust, with which they designed to pur- chase supplies, and at the same time recruit a large party in order that their settlement might the better be protected from Indian raids, which were looked for during the ensuing spring and summer. They succeeded in obtaining a year's outfit of supplies, a transportation train, and a large company of recruits, and were well on their way to their destination when they were overhauled by a com-

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pany of United States troops, their train confiscated and partially destroyed, and the men marched back to Fort Randall. Gordon escaped, but was afterwards taken. The particulars of this arrest are related in subsequent pages.

It was not until 1875 that this lawlessness, so-called, became infectious and the reservation was overrun with invaders. A line of stages was put on from Cheyenne, on the Union Pacific to some point in the Black Hills in 1875, and it was openly charged during the summer that this Cheyenne route, though longer and much less desirable than the Missouri River routes, but being a Union Pacific feeder was virtually protected by the authorities.

There was no formal announcement of a modification in the rigid policy of the Government to keep the whites out of the gold fields, but it was discovered, during the fall of 1875. that the vigilance of the military had been relaxed, par- ticularly as to parties moving in from the Union Pacific towns. So apparent had this become that the leading newspapers of Omaha called attention to it as an inducement to parties desiring to enter the hills, to rendezvous either at Laramie or Cheyenne, move quietly forward and they would not be interfered with by the military. A month or so later the same indifference was observed on the routes leading west from the Missouri River in Dakota, though an occa- sional arrest was made in a perfunctory way that the Indians might see that the Government was doing its utmost to keep the whites away. The Indians, how - ever, had seemed, from the beginning of the invasion, more indifferent about the white emigration than the Government, and no Indian opposition had been met with up to this time and for nearly a year later. The leading men among the red people, probably already regarded the Black Hills the same as sold to the Government, and expected an agreement as to price at an early day. It is seen from a perusal of the proceedings attending the negotiations of the Allison com- mission of 1875, that the Indian chiefs made a point of the large amount of gold which the whites had already taken out of the hills which belonged to the Indian owners and which they expected would be paid for by the Government.

PUBLIC MEETING AT THE CAPITOL

The citizens of Dakota very properly took the initiative in organized legiti- mate efforts to secure the peaceable and lawful opening up of the Black Hills country, now that there was manifested a willingness on the part of the Gov- ernment, and the Indian holders to come to an agreement. In order to promote the early accomplishment of a treaty, and also in order to provide for and safe- guard the interests of Dakota people, a public meeting was held at the capitol in May, 1875, at which Governor Editinds presided. The meeting was attended by representatives from the several communities of the territory extending from the Big Sioux River to Fort Randall. At this meeting the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :

Resolved, That it is the unanimous sense of this meeting, which represents also the expressed sentiment of all our territory, that the Black Hills of Dakota and the region beyond. should be opened at the earliest practicable day by treaty with, and fair purchase from, the occupying bands of Indians, and to this action we respectfully urge the Govern ment, as we have heretofore petitioned ;

Resolved, That the treaty made for the above purpose should provide also for the cession to the United States of all that portion of the Great Indian Reserve which includes the Black Hills, from the south line thereof as far north as the forty -fifth parattet of north latitude, or so far north as to include the Cheyenne River and its north branch, that this is most essential to any fair, complete or satisfactory attempt to occupy and develop the rich and varied resources of the Black Hills region. The civil jurisdiction of the Territory di Dakota must be at once extended over that region when opened; the courts of the tront States must have large relations therewith; and the organization of counties and I al government, the communication with the capital of the territory, the carrying of t'nfel States mails, the establishment of transportation lines, the freedom of travel upon t routes, the probable carly demand for railroads and the extension of telegraph now reach its border, as well as the prosperity and rights of the people of the terren and leading states of the Northwest, all justly demand this complete and reas nal

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Resolved, further, That Governor John L. Pennington, Hon. Jefferson P. Kidder, dele- gate to Congress, Hon. M. K. Armstrong, ex-delegate, and Governor Newton Edmunds be and are hereby respectfully requested to personally represent Dakota at Washington City, and use all proper efforts to secure the just interests of the territory in the treaty with the Indians for the opening of the hills.

The necessity of some representatives acquainted with the situation of the communities of Dakota with reference to the Black Hills is apparent when it is considered that, as the treaty was finally made, the Indians were given a broad reservation east of the hills extending to the Missouri River ; covering the country from the southern boundary of the territory to the Cannon Ball River; and unless there had been a determined effort made by Dakotans, there would have been no provision in the agreement or treaty for public roads along the best routes from the Missouri to the gold fields, and Dakotans would have been shut off from all communication with the western part of their own territory except by the roundabout journey by way of the Union Pacific, or by some route to be opened possibly through Northern Nebraska ; and it was more than apprehended that there was a movement on foot, backed by influential parties, to neglect anv recog- nition of the Missouri River routes in the interest of the Union Pacific Railroad.

INDIANS VISIT WASHINGTON

The next step taken by the Government was in April, 1874, by securing a deputation of leading Indians to visit Washington for the purpose of making a treaty. The Indians selected for this purpose were chosen with regard to their representative capacity and influential character. The delegation was in charge of Dr. J. J. Seville, agent at Red Cloud Agency : Maj. E. A. Howard. agent at Spotted Tail or Brule Agency : and Maj. H. W. Bingham, at Cheyenne Agency ; with Louis Bordeaux and William Garnett as interpreters. The names of the Indianfs follow :

Oglalas-Red Cloud, Little Mound, Man-Afraid-Of-His-Horses, Conquer- ing Bear, American Horse, Sitting Bull (not the chief of the Custer battle), Shoulder. Tall Lance. Fast Thunder, Hole-In-The-Dav. Yellow Jacket. Black Bear, Iron Horse Face, Pawnee Killer, Bad Wound and his wife, Ba-pink-len-tah.

Brules-Spotted Tail, Swift Bear, Crow Dog. Crazy. In-The-Lodge. King Thunder, Cut Nose, White Horse. Under-The-Cloud. High Eagle and Fast Thunder represented the Minneconjeaux or Rippling Water band.

Chevenne Agency-Lone Horn, Long Mandan. Bull Eagle, Red Skirt, Charger, White Swan, Spotted Elk, Rattling Rib, and Duck.

The Indians left about May Toth and reached Washington on the 18th and on the roth called formally on the Great Father, President Grant. In this inter- view, which was intended as a friendly call only, Lone Horn or Lone Horse, a chief of the Chevennes, unexpectedly voiced the attitude of the Indians regarding the relinquishment of the Black Hills, in these words :

Lone Horse :

I am glad to see the Great Father and shake hands with him. These are my people. but they are not chiefs, but soldiers, and they can fight. This is a great country. It once belonged to me, but is not mine today. I own a great country out toward the setting sun ; but the white people now want to take it away from me. I never claimed this country before, but I claim it today, and I own it all alone, and I shall not give it up without talking to you about it. I don't want to talk to these other men.

Here the President interrupted the speaker and told him not to make any further remarks at the time. but to defer until the great council to be held with Secretary Delano. Lone Horn was becoming somewhat excited and agitated ; he was evidently anxious to make a favorable impression on the Great Father, butt had not digested his remarks in advance. He was obliged to stop, and the

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interview ended with some diplomatic words from the Great Father. The Indians were disappointed that they had not been permitted to have a more general talk.

PRESIDENT GRANT SPEAKS TO THE SIOUX

At a later day the Indians were presented to President Grant in his private office. While the negotiations were conducted by the secretary of the interior, the present occasion seemed to demand that the Great Father himself, as the President was termed by them, should initiate the negotiations by informing the Indians of the object in bringing them to Washington and of the purpose of the Government to make a treaty for the transfer and relinquishment of the Black Hills. The room was filled with Indians, who had been given especial attention with the design of making the occasion impressive to their minds, as the President intended to make them a speech pregnant with their welfare and desired that they should receive it as indicating the plans that had been formed for their government in the future. Many western governors were present, including Gov- ernor Pennington of Dakota. The President, through an interpreter, addressed the Indians as follows :

I want to say to the Indians today something about the object of bringing them here, and a few words for them to think about, but nothing for them to reply to, at present. I have always been a friend to the Indians, and am very anxious to do what I think best for their good. The country where they now live, as they must be well aware, is entirely incapa - ble of supporting them, should the Government cease to give them aid. By the treaty of 18(S, clothing was granted to them for thirty years, and provisions for only five years The food and provisions, therefore, which has been given to them for the last two years have been a gratuity on the part of Congress. These may be taken from them at any time without any violation of the treaty. They intend now to make some arrangement with the Indians by which they and their children will be secure in the future.

As I said in the beginning, it must be evident to the Indians, if the supplies of found should be withheld by the Government, it would be entirely impossible for the Indians to live where they are. Another thing I would call their attention to is this: They must see that the white people outnumber the Indians now at least two hundred to one, taking all the Indians within the territory owned by the United States. This number of whites is increasing very rapidly ; that before many years it will be impossible to fix any point within the limit, of our territory where you can prevent them from going. It will become necessary that white people shall go from one place to another, whether occupied by Indians or not, thu- same as they go from one state to another. For this reason it is very desirable that, while they have friends here to look after their interests, they should be situated where they would be able to get support beyond any contingency. I do not propose to ask them, with their consent, to leave their homes where they were born and raised, but I want to point out to them the advantages to themselves and their children if they will accept such arrange ments as may be proposed to them. There is a territory south of where they now hve where the climate is very much better, where grass is much better, and where game is more abundant, including large game, such as buffalo, where there is good pasturage for ammals. and where teachers can be sent among the Indians to instruct them in the arts of civilization, and the means of self-preservation and support.

This year we have had great trouble in keeping white people from going to the Black ITills in search of gold, but we have so far prevented them ir im going Every year thos same difficulty will be encountered until the right of white people to go to that e intry is granted by the Indians, and may in the end lead to hostil ties between the white peuple an 1 Indians without any special fault on either side. If such trouble should oc ur and become general, it would necessarily lead to withholding, for the time being at least, the supplies which the Government has been sending. All this trouble we want to avert end want t see the Indians well provided for in such a way that the arrangements will have to be respected by my successor, and by other administrations in the future. Let the Indiar. think of what I have said. I don't want them to say anything today. I don't want them ' talk. I have said I don't want them to say anything today. I want them to talk amon themselves, and be prepared to hear from the secretary of the interler und the commeet of Indian affairs, who are authorized to speak for me, and will be governed by my alvi This is all I want to say to them.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 154

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