History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 9

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146

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During the proceedings of the commission, Bishop W. H. Hare, of Sioux Falls, leader of the Episcopal Church in South Dakota, took much interest in the opening of the reservation. He requested General Crook to open the proceedings of the commission with prayer and services from the Episcopal prayer book. It was reported that General Crook was unwilling to grant this request, declaring that he was not there for "any such damned nonsense." This offended the dignity and religious sentiment of the good bishop, who thereafter offered no encourage- ment to the Indians to sign the agreement. As his influence was exceedingly strong with the Indians, the proceedings for a time seemed blocked, or at least checked. Senator Pettigrew finally induced Bishop Hare to modify his position somewhat, after which no further opposition was offered by him.

INDIAN CAMP NEAR OAHE, TAKEN ABOUT 1886

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

The secretary of the interior, Noble, promptly refused to listen to the impli- cation or the direct charge that the Government would be less than fair in all dealings with the Indians. The Council Fire came out immediately afterwards advising the Indians not to sign the agreement unless their expenses should be borne by the Government and unless the secretary should agree that no part of the expense should be taken from the money due the natives. The attitude of the Indian Defense Association was so unusual, so independent of the Govern- ment and so officious, that the secretary determined to enforce at once the rights of the Government. It was thereupon announced that the Indians were not an independent nation with which the United States must treat, but were wards of the Government and that all the lands belonged to the United States. He further intimated that dealings with the Indians would be carried on by the Government without the help or interference of the Indian Protective Association. Thus at once the secretary of the interior and the Indian Protective Association, as rep- resented by Doctor Bland, failed to agree on all material points. Doctor Bland with much asperity demanded to know the nature of Secretary Noble's Indian policy and upon being refused such information and being told that such a demand was wholly unbecoming, meddlesome and obtrusive, came out with severe articles in the Council Fire covertly but specifically advising the Indians not to sign the agreement or treaty unless certain important concessions were made.

The Indian commissioners held their first council at the Rosebud agencies on June 3, 1889. Nearly all of the most prominent Indian chiefs and medicine men were present, including delegations from all the other agencies. The sig- natures needed by the commissioners to make the agreement successful and bind- ing were as follows: Rosebud, 1,130; Pine Ridge, 946; Standing Rock, 825; Cheyenne, 563; Lower Brule, 230; Crow Creek, 212; total, 3,906. This number constituted the legal three-fourths of the 5,207 Sioux who were over eighteen years of age. When the commission began independent action it found at once that the Indian Protective Association and others having influence over the natives had circulated among the Indians statements of the case which were prejudicial to the duty and prerogative of the commission and were calculated to influence and prevent the adult Indians from signing the agreement. White Ghost, Drifting Goose and Bull Ghost from the Crow Creek Agency promptly opposed the signing of the treaty. They disclosed the fact that a certain church man had advised them not to sign the agreement at that time and had created considerable opposition and ill-feeling against the commission. White Ghost was an eloquent speaker, had much influence at the Crow Creek Agency, and used his power openly and ably against the commission. He did much to influence the 117 young Indians who had recently graduated from Carlisle University and were regarded with much esteem and respect by the whole tribe. White Ghost, as an orator, was fully the peer of John Glass, the famous Standing Rock orator. He was even more wily as a politician than Red Cloud. He had influence over the 1,200 Indians who were partly civilized and very prosperous on Crow Creek Reservation. Other very strong leaders in opposition to the commission were Sitting Bull, Gall and John Glass. All seemed determined not to sign the agree- ment, and at the start all used every influence in their power to prevent the suc- cessful conclusion of the commission's duties. Gall openly declared in a speech that it was only another attempt of the whites to crowd the Indians from their

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

lands. No doubt another of the strongest influences which prevented the Indians from signing the agreement at the start, was the fact that as long as the con- ferences continued, as long as they refused to sign and as long as they delayed the work of the commission, they were treated royally by the Government, and were given free rations, including plenty of fresh beef and other articles of consumption and wear.

By June 10, 1889, the commission had secured 825 signatures to the treaty, all at the Rosebud Agency. By July they had secured 260 out of 300 at the Lower Brule Agency. At this time, in addition, they had 530 signatures from Pine Ridge and 1,125 from Rosebud. Red Cloud and Sitting Bull were the most determined and immovable in their opposition to signing the agreement. They really favored the old Indian policy of primeval tribal relations, while all the younger Indians who had come more in contact with the whites and had felt the enchantment of civilization, favored the new way of human progress and the alluring customs of the whites. Red Cloud, in spite of all the commission could do, had a large following at Pine Ridge, and all held out against signing the agreement. At this time about two hundred and fifty of the Pine Ridge Sioux adults were abroad with the Buffalo Bill show. It was believed by the commission that all of the males with Buffalo Bill could be influenced by him and would sign the agreement. In a short time the necessary signatures among the Santee and Ponca Indians were secured. By July 15, 1889, the commission had secured 2,495 signatures out of 4,064 that were necessary to make the agreement binding under the law. The condition on this day is shown by the following tables, there being 1,568 more names needed :

Total Indians Three-fourths

Agencies

Males

Signed by July 15, 1889

Rosebud

1,384

1,038

1,200

Pine Ridge

1,260

945

565

Santee

250

187

250

Flandran

Lower Brule

308

231

270

Crow Creek

280

211

130

Cheyenne

755

563

Standing Rock

1,118

829

Totals.

5,435

4,064

2,495

It was learned about this date that several of the South Dakota cities that were aspiring for the state capital were advancing money at the Cheyenne Agency to defeat the ratification of the bill and the signing of the agreement by the Indians. It was stated by several newspapers that this action was taken by the friends of several cities that hoped and expected to, secure the removal of the state capital in the end from Pierre to the James River Valley. On July 27, 1889, the Press and Dakotan said: "The perpetrators will not abate their efforts and the public will condone the wrong in a general verdict that there is nothing really iniquitous in whatever an aspirant for a capital may do. This is a lesson our aspiring towns should have learned from the infamy surrounding the capital deal of 1883 when men were openly bought and publicly bulldozed and other species of infamous manipulation resorted to."

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

By July 26, 1889, the commission had concluded its work at all the agencies ex- cept Standing Rock. At the others they had secured 3,028 names. They thereupon proceeded to Standing Rock, where it was necessary to secure 878 signatures. It seemed at this stage that they were bound to win in spite of the desperate efforts of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and others of the hostiles who still held out stubbornly against every effort to win them over.

The Indians at Standing Rock Agency were the most difficult ones to induce to sign the agreement. For many days John Glass, Mad Bear, Big Head, Bear Face, Deer Heart, Fire Heart and Sitting Bull held out against every inducement that could be offered by the commission and against other efforts of the Govern- ment. Finally the first six mentioned above signed, but Sitting Bull still remained obdurate and defiant. He did everything in his power to break up the council and prevent the chiefs from signing. Finally Gall yielded and signed. At this time word was received that Major Randall had secured many other signatures at the Cheyenne Agency after the departure of the commission. This result was announced and had a subduing effect upon the Indians who still refused to sign at Standing Rock. At last, however, enough signatures were secured to cover the number required, whereupon the work of the commission was over. Sitting Bull held out to the last and left the council angry with the whites and with the Indians who had signed. Thus at last after more than ten years, the hopes of the whites in South Dakota were realized and the great reservation was soon to be opened to settlement. No sooner was the news known throughout the state than celebrations were held in almost every city and town and many schoolhouses to voice the delight that was felt over the result.

It was known during the efforts and works of the commission that Red Cloud had opposed the signing of the treaty owing to the influence of Doctor Bland's Council Fire. This fact became absolutely proved soon after the completion of the work of the commission. No doubt Doctor Bland and the Indian Protective Association were sincere in what they believed were just attempts to protect the legal rights of the Indians; but when their judgment ran counter to that of the Government officials the case assumed an altogether different aspect. They were placed in an attitude not only of opposition, but of hostility, to the attempts of the Government to open the reservation in the interests both of the Indians and the whites. This was one of the first important steps of the Government to inaugurate its new policy of opening to white settlement all the reservations, of allotting tracts of land to the Indians, of breaking up the old tribal relations and of compelling the Indians to disperse their bands, to live on their ranches and to adopt in a large measure the business and domestic customs of the whites.

There was intense rejoicing in the Black Hills, which for so many years had been effectually separated from the eastern portion of the state. While it was not known that the opening would mean the construction of railway lines west of the Missouri River, it was confidently hoped and expected by the inhabitants of the whole state that such would be the result.

In the fall of 1889 all matters were temporarily postponed upon receipt of the news that owing to the lateness of the season and to the hardships that were sure to result to the new settlers, the opening of the reservation would be post- poned until the following year. In the meantime the necessary preliminary work for the opening of the reservation, the ratification of the commissioners' work

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

by Congress, and other necessary steps would be taken. In January, 1890, Chief John Grass and other distinguished Indians, visited Washington and addressed the House Committee on Indian Affairs. They stated that all they wanted was that the promises and agreements just made by the Sioux commission would be faithfully carried into effect. Sitting Bull was intensely angry at this time, because he was not permitted to go to Washington with Grass, Gall, and others. He was angry at the whites and at Grass and Gall as well. He called the latter two traitors who had deserted their tribe and joined the whites. At this time Judge Plowman, of the Black Hills, was called by Crowdog the "Little man with the big voice." By January 16, 1890, the news was received that President Harrison would formally issue a proclamation as to the date when the Big Sioux Reservation would be thrown open for settlement. Knowing that the opening could not be far distant, the opening months of 1890 brought large delegations of "boomers" and "sooners" to all the towns along the Missouri, ready to invade the reservation as soon as the proclamation should announce the opening.

It was at this time that provision for the opening of the Indian Industrial School at Pierre under Prof. Crosby Davis, superintendent, was provided for. The Government appropriated $35,000 for this purpose and the school, it was announced, would be opened as soon as practicable, with from sixty to seventy Indian students enrolled at the outset. It is a singular fact that the number of applicants for teachers' positions in this industrial school was almost overwhelm- ing. Bishop Marty was the author of a prayer book of nearly two hundred pages in the Sioux language which was issued about this time.

The Sisseton Indian Reservation consisting of about one million acres and occupied by about one thousand five hundred Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux Indians, was situated in the extreme northeast corner of the state, a small portion being in North Dakota. It was wedge shaped, about seventy-five miles long north and south and fifty miles wide along its northern end, and its southern extremity was near Watertown. It was set apart at an early date, long before there was any survey by the Government. The Indians themselves, upon being removed from Minnesota, asked for the tract and in general fixed its boundaries. Within a few years prior to 1889, the Indians there took lands in severalty, but left about seven hundred and fifty thousand acres to be sold to the whites. No step to open this land to settlement had been taken, but now in the spring of 1889, a movement to open this land to homesteaders and other purchasers was inaugurated. At this time Gabriel Renville was head chief of the Sisseton Sioux. On May 21 he and nine other head men of the tribe held a council and discussed whether they should then surrender a portion of the reservation to the whites. General Pease was present and took part in the discussion. All enjoyed a huge dinner and then adjourned to a grove where speeches were made and a general discussion of the subject ensued. The white committee which had been appointed to confer with the Indians were Gen. H. R. Pease, A. S. Crossfield and D. W. Diggs. Governor Mellette was also present on this occasion. Rev. Charles R. Crawford, half brother to Chief Renville, was present and offered prayer at the commencement of the proceedings. The first speech was made by Chief Renville. He asked on behalf of the Indians that they be given at once patents for their tracts of land in severalty ; also that their past due annuities, which had been provided for under the Treaty of 1851, amounting to about three hundred and forty-three thousand

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

dollars, should be paid them without further delay. The matter was not con- cluded at this conference; but an agreement was finally reached by December, 1889, whereby the Indians agreed to sell nearly one million acres at $5 per acre, and the Government agreed to pay back annuities to the amount of $350,000 and a bonus of $18,400 per year for twelve years. The Government also ratified a bill allowing $2,600 for the right-of-way of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway across the reservation. It was provided that every resident Indian, regardless of age or sex, should receive 160 acres. It was discussed during the proceedings that in the survey of the reservation the Indians had been cheated out of 48,000 acres of land. It was also shown that during the Civil war Chief Renville and twelve other Indian scouts were not paid for five months of arduous service on behalf of the Government. Chief Renville accordingly asked to have this amount allowed and requested that it be paid in cash and not in shoe-pegs and overalls. When all necessary action had been taken, it was shown that about eight hundred and eighty thousand acres of land were left for sale to the whites, after the Indians had received their allotments. In October, 1890, the President signed the Sisseton and Fort Randall reservation bills. In the Sisseton Reservation 80,000 acres were scheduled to be sold for not less than ten dollars per acre. Early in 1890, 30,000 acres at the Fort Randall Reservation were thrown open to settlement. Late in November, 1889, Eliphalet Whittlesey, sec- retary of the Board of Indian Commissioners; C. A. Maxwell, chief of the land division in the office of Indian affairs ; and D. W. Diggs, of Milbank, were appoint- ing commissioners to negotiate with Sisseton and Wapheton Indians in South Dakota for the sale of their surplus land. .

In the spring of 1889 the Yankton Sioux Indians offered to sell about seven townships of their reservation on the east side of the Missouri and at this time the remaining Indians there selected their land in severalty.

Even before the result of the Sioux commission's work was known, a caravan of Oklahoma land boomers arrived and camped at Pierre in May, 1889, prepared to push into the reservation and select claims as soon as they could legally do so. At this time also a similar movement was inaugurated at Chamberlain and oppo- site Standing Rock Agency. The Indian themselves, seeing the inevitable, though unwilling to admit it, were already engaged in selecting the tracts which they desired to own in case the tribes were divided and the system of allotment was practiced. So great became the pressure that here and there along the Missouri and elsewhere, irresponsible whites began to invade the reservation several months before sufficient Indians had signed the agreement to make the bill bind- ing. While the commission was still at work and the Indian bands were still at their old places on the reservation, white adventurers crossed the Missouri and fastened themselves on the choicest tracts of land. The Government promptly ordered bodies of troops along the Missouri to prevent at all hazards the invasion of the reservation at Pierre, Chamberlain and elsewhere. Notices warning all boomers' to keep off the reservation were posted at conspicuous places along the frontier. The opening of about eleven million acres, much of which was excel- lent land for farming, was an event of great importance to home seekers not only in the United States but in all of Europe. It also meant the payment of an immense sum of money to the Indians in the end. Thus it was believed that prosperity for both the whites and the Indians was sure to follow the opening of Vol. III-5

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

this immense tract of land. No wonder the pressure to enter the reservation was enormous and was pushed beyond legal limits by adventurous men. Secretary Noble issued a warning that all whites must remain outside of the great reserva- tion until they could legally enter. In this notice he called attention to the expe- rience of the Black Hills settlers who had really gone there, many of them, before they had a legal right to do so. He further announced that the Indian police would aid the army in preventing the illegal invasion of the reservation. At this time Fort Bennett was the Government military station at the Cheyenne Reservation. It was an outpost of Fort Sully, five miles away, with the Missouri River between them. In May, 1889, Fort Bennett was ordered abandoned and troops were sent to Fort Sully. In spite of the warning of the Government and the energy of the troops and Indian police, many "boomers" entered the Sisseton and the Big Sioux reservations. However, the most of them were promptly removed by the authorities. Strange as it may seem, the "boomers," though opposed by the press and the soldiers, were encouraged to enter the reservation by the adjacent white communities who desired above all things to see the speedy and extensive settlement of the reservation and were willing that the "boomers" should have amply leeway to secure permanent homes.

Three classes of land claimants at least had to be reckoned with, namely : squaw-men and half-breeds, the full-blooded Indians, and the whites. Many squaw-men and half-breeds lived at Fort Pierre and other towns along the Mis- souri bordering on the reservation. These men determined to have the first selec- tion of land after or before the reservation was opened. As a matter of fact, the whites who claimed possession at Fort Pierre were really speculators or adven- turers who were endeavoring to force out men who had been there a dozen years as squatters and possessed at least a shadow of right to the soil. Generally the newspapers denounced the stampede of new settlers into the reservation, but it must be admitted that the people of the state along the Missouri as a whole, welcomed the appearance of the many white settlers. It did not matter to them that many of the prospective settlers were being deceived as to the value of the soil, the character of the climate and the prospects of success at agriculture. The object desired was the speedy settlement of the reservation, and accordingly the people generally were calloused as to how that was accomplished or executed before the soldiers performed their duty. Scores of squaw-men, "sooners" and "boomers" were ejected from the reservation. The squaw-men with their dusky wives had the advantage, because they were not interfered with by the soldiers. This caused almost an open war between the "sooners" and the squaw-men, to which the soldiers soon put an end.

In the Treaty of 1875 between the United States and the Sioux nation of Indians, provision was made for a strip of land extending from Pierre to the Black Hills to be used as a road for freighters and for the conveyance of the United States mail, to be known as the "Black Hills Trail." Fort Pierre was made the starting point, and the treaty included the temporary transfer of a tract of land one mile square on the land where old Fort Pierre was located. This latter land was entirely occupied by the Northwestern Transportation Company until the completion of the first railway into the Black Hills in 1885, when it was abandoned. Old Fort Pierre was abandoned in 1882, and it then seemed right that all the land there should revert to the Indians, but trappers, squaw-men, and

SOUTH DAKOTA: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE

half-breeds who had lived there long before the fort was in existence, remained after the fort, the trading company and the Government had abandoned the land. About this time the Dakota Central Railway, by an agreement with the Sioux Indians, acquired the right to occupy a section of land at the mouth of Bad River, opposite the City of Pierre, and paid for the privilege by installments. Such agreement and occupation were recognized as valid by an act of Congress approved March 9, 1879. This mile square embraced what is now the site of Fort Pierre on the west side of the Missouri River, on both sides of Bad River at its mouth. That stream divided the tract into two almost equal parts. On the north side was Fort Pierre, a prosperous town in 1889-90, and there resided about twenty families of prosperous squaw-men, half-breeds, etc., who were engaged in raising a few cattle, trading with the Indians and with each other, and cultivating a few acres of corn. They occupied the land by permission of the Indians and the grace of the Government.

By January, 1890, matters at Fort Pierre were seriously complicated and open hostilities were threatened and even commenced. The mile square was divided into two nearly equal parts by Bad River. In the fall of 1889 about twenty families of whites lived on the northern side of the river and had been there for some time by agreement of the Government and the Indians for purposes of barter and trade with the Indians. Already Fort Pierre was a great cattle center and a few fields of corn and other grain were cultivated on the adjacent bottom. When it became clear in the fall of 1889 that the reservation would be opened soon, many speculators crossed the river and squatted on the mile square. The half breeds endeavored to drive them back but stubborn resistance was offered. On the southern side of Bad River was a half breed family named Traversy that owned nearly all the good land in that vicinity. The white squatters and "soon- ers" went en masse to the southern side of the river one night and before the half breeds were aware of their doings, had laid out a town, erected temporary buildings and constructed fences with the intention of permanently occupying the place. Immediately the half breeds organized, assaulted the squatters and "sooners," routed them and chased them back across the river. During this affray, several persons were injured. The prospective squatters were backed by the Fort Pierre white settlers. At once information of what had transpired was sent to the military authorities at Fort Bennett. Four companies were promptly dispatched to the mile square with orders to prevent all settlers from locating west of the river or on the mile square. Tomahawk, a Sioux Indian, concluded that if the Traversy half breeds could hold land there, he certainly could also. He had lived at or near Fort Pierre for about fifty years. Accordingly he laid claim to a strip of land extending across the mile square from north to south, which took in the entire east half of the tract, including Fort Pierre and also including about half of the tract claimed by the Traversy heirs. This act still further complicated matters. The settlers continued to appear on the west side and continued to traffic in town lots in that vicinity. This was about the situation on February 1, 1890.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume III, Part 9

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1146

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1146