USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 53
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
599
Mistaken Policy of the Government.
partment for the month of March that year will show the real condition up to the time the peace commissioners ar- rived at Fort Laramie. Here is the record for the month:
"March 12th .- Mail party from Fort Reno attacked on the Dry Fork of the Cheyenne.
"13th .- Indians captured a train between Fetterman and Laramie Peak sawmill.
"14th .- Indians captured a train near post saw-mill.
"18th .- Indians captured twenty-nine mules of saw-mill train, and killed one man.
"18th .- Indians attacked Bruce's camp, near Box Elder, and ran off sixty head of cattle.
"24th .- Ranches burned, and ranchmen killed, between Forts Laramie and Fetterman."
To these may be added an attack by hostiles on W. E. Talbott, George Spurr, a man named Morse and a Mexican called Joe, who were herding stock for Hook and Moore, on Lone Tree Creek, twenty-five miles from Cheyenne. Morse was shot through the body and also had an arm broken. Word was sent to Fort Russell and a detachment of soldiers was at once sent out after the Indians, but the hostiles made good their escape.
If these Indians were anxious to conclude a treaty of peace, their actions did not so indicate. At this day it seems remarkable that General Sherman should have been so com- pletely in the dark in regard to Indian character. The dep- redations I have mentioned do not include those at South Pass, which will be found in the chapter relating to that country. The peace talk, as far as the Indians were con- cerned, simply meant an opportunity to procure supplies, guns and ammunition. The farce went on, and in due time the commissioners arrived at Cheyenne on their way to Fort Laramie. This commission consisted of Lieutenant General W. T. Sherman, N. G. Taylor, J. B. Henderson, Brevet Ma- jor General Harney, John B. Sanborn, Brevet Major Gene- ral Alfred H. Terry, Brevet Major General C. C. Augur and S. F. Tappan. These commissioners had been appointed under the Act of July 20, 1867. The men selected were able,
600
History of Wyoming.
conscientious and practical, and the country at large had every confidence in them, but there had been so many peace commissions and so little accomplished that neither the white men nor the Indians were disposed to believe that this new effort at treaty making would reach the end desired. In reply to expressed opinions on the subject, it was claimed that this particular commission was clothed with full pow- ers, not only to treat with the Indians, but to settle existing differences without loss of time. The commission arrived at Fort Laramie on April 7th and proceeded at once to invite the hostiles to come in for a talk, at the same time giving as- surances that the government was ready and willing to deal liberally with the red men. The great difficulty in the way was the finding of suitable runners to visit the hostile bands. Reliable men around the fort refused to go out on this dan- gerous errand,as it was said that the Indians would not make a treaty before the Government should withdraw the troops from the Bozeman Road. The commission drew up a treaty which set forth the desire of all parties to end the war, and in which it was mutually agreed that hostilities should for- ever cease. The terms and conditions of the treaty followed. The commissioners waited at Fort Laramie three months, and in the meanwhile a number of bands came in and after the usual smoke and council talk, they signed the treaty and received a supply of provisions, clothing, blankets, firearms and ammunition, but Red Cloud, Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses and the more warlike Indians, while promising to come in. did not. These warriors took their own time. Red Cloud waited, he claimed, for the withdrawal of the troops from the Bozeman road. The troops disappeared in August, but it was not until November that this wily chief turned his footsteps to the North Platte. Winter was coming on and his allied bands were destitute of everything, so he and Thunder Man visited Fort Laramie and on November 6th they signed the treaty. Following Red Cloud were a large- number of Indians who had been waiting to find out what he was going to do. The first signature to this treaty was af-
601
Mistaken Policy of the Government.
fixed on the 29th day of April and the last one was attached on the day Red Cloud signed, thus it will be seen that it took more than six months to secure the signatures of these different bands, and all this time depredations were con- tinued by these Indians, not by organized tribes, it is true, but by prowling savages who made no pretense of acting with their tribes; they were free-booters of the worst sort and there were thousands of them.
As soon as it was known among the Indians that Red Cloud had agreed to make peace, 600 warriors withdrew from his camp in the Powder River country and started south, and on the 28th of July they attacked the paymaster between Forts Reno and Fetterman. There were sixty sol- diers in the escort, and in the first attack two of these were killed. A sharp battle took place and the Indians were finally repulsed after a number of them had been killed, and the paymaster and his escort passed on without further mo- lestation. These Indians, after spending some time in hunt- ing, finally crossed the railroad on August 28th, and a de- tachment from the band attacked Laycock's camp of wood choppers. The men fell back to a place where their arms. were deposited and then opened a telling fire on the savages, killed one of them, when the rest took to their heels. None of the wood choppers were injured. On the same day it was reported at Fort Sanders that three white men were killed on Big Thompson by this band. It was thought that strag- glers from this same band killed Edmond M. Pratt one mile and a half east of Cheyenne and ran off thirty-four head of stock on August 22d. B. J. Evert, Pratt's companion, es- caped and reached Cheyenne. A detachment of soldiers was sent out from Fort D. A. Russell in pursuit of the murderers, but they had made good their escape. Later in the day hos- tiles were reported on the road between Denver and Chey- enne.
On September 15th, a band of Indians made an attack on a party of whites at Cooper Lake, killed one man, cap- tured two more, also one woman. The hostiles went in the
602
History of Wyoming.
direction of Laramie Peak. The commanders at Forts Lara- mie and Fetterman were notified and detachments were sent out from both places to head them off, but the Indians slip- ped through and went into the Sweetwater Country and thus escaped.
In order to take away the last excuse of Red Cloud for continued opposition to making a treaty, the President had on March 2d ordered the abandonment of Forts Reno, Phil. Kearney and C. F. Smith. This order was not carried out until August, as wagons had to be sent out to bring away the stores, and these, in sufficient number, were difficult to procure. The stores which were taken from the three dis- mantled forts were transferred to Fort Steele and other posts and as soon as the troops from these places were with- drawn, the War Department ordered several regiments, which were serving in the west, sent to Omaha, the excuse given being that it was too expensive to maintain so many soldiers in the far west. It was soon discovered that this policy was of the kind known as "penny wise and pound foolish." There was much indignation expressed in Wyo- ming over the transfer of these regiments, and the War De- partment was not long in finding out that another stupid blunder of its own was to be added to the long list which had previously been marked down to the credit of the War Office and those who controlled the army. I have said that the President ordered the abandonment of the three posts to secure a peace with Red Cloud, but this was not admitted by the administration. The reason claimed was that the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad made Montana ac- cessible without the government keeping up the expense of guarding the Bozeman Road. This was not true, as most people going west at that time transported their families and goods in wagon trains, and the Bozeman Road was seve- ral hundred miles shorter than following the line of railway. Disguise it as they would, white people, as well as the Indi- ans, understood the President's order as the acknowledg- ment of defeat, and events proved that the abandonment of
603
Mistaken Policy of the Government.
the Bozeman Road and the treaty of 1868 was the worst pol- icy that could possibly be pursued toward the Indians. General Sheridan, who then commanded the Department of the Missouri, in his official report, dated September 26th, 1868, pointed out clearly the mistakes of that year. I quote from that report:
"The motives of the peace commissioners were humane, but there was an error of judgment in making peace with the Indians last fall. They should have been punished and made to give up the plunder captured, and which they now hold; and after properly submitting to the military and dis- gorging their plunder, they could have been turned over to the civil agents. This error has given more victims to sav- age ferocity. The present system of dealing with Indians, I think, is an error. There are too many fingers in the pie, too many ends to be subserved, and too much money to be made; and it is the interest of the nation, and of humanity, to put an end to this inhuman farce. The Peace Commis- sion, the Indian Department, the military and the Indian, make a balky team. The public treasury is depleted and in- nocent people plundered in this quadrangular arrangement, in which the treasury and the unarmed settlers are the greatest sufferers."
General Sheridan in the above condensed a whole chap- ter of truth in a few lines, and before the year was out, events proved that he was correct and everybody fully real- ized the mistake that had been made in the treatment of the Indians. General Sheridan not only viewed the matter from a practical but a soldier's standpoint. Farther on in this same report he uses this language in justification of his opinions:
"I desire to say with all emphasis, what every officer on the frontier will corroborate, that there is no class of men in this country who are so disinclined to war with the Indians as the army stationed among them. The army has nothing to gain by a war with the Indians; on the contrary, it has everything to lose. In such a war it suffers all the hardships and privation, exposed as it is to the charge of assassination if Indians are killed, to the charge of inefficiency if they are not; to misrepresentation by the agents who fatten on the
604
History of Wyoming.
plunder of Indians, and misunderstood by worthy people at a distance who are deceived by these very agents."
The newspapers of Denver and Cheyenne published se- vere criticisms regarding the movements of the army and were very sarcastic in reference to the peace policy of the government. The Fort Laramie Treaty had just been pro- mulgated but was not bearing very desirable fruit. General Sherman expressed his belief that in time this treaty would be effective, but he evinced a determination to punish all Indians who refused to observe their treaty obligations.
Notwithstanding the treaty and the large amount of supplies furnished the Indians by the government, the In- dian war did not come to an end. During the latter part of August and through September, hostiles committed depre- dations not only in Wyoming but in Montana, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. The Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Kiowas and detached bands of the Sioux made bitter and relentless war on the whites. It was estimated by the War Depart- ment that five thousand head of stock belonging to settlers and the government were run off during the months of Sep- tember, October and November, and that nearly a hundred settlers were foully murdered by the Indians. Is it any wonder that the people had little faith in the peace commis- sion ? It was at last discovered that General Sheridan was right and that the only peace which would last must come after the Indians had been severely punished. Hon. Schuy- ler Colfax, who was on a visit to the west, telegraphed from Denver under date of September 7th to the Secretary of War: "Hostile Indians have been striking simultaneously at isolated settlements of Colorado for a circuit of over two hundred miles. Men, women and children have been scalped daily, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been stolen." The Governor of Colorado also telegraphed Gene- ral Sherman asking for a thousand stands of arms to place in the hands of citizens. The General sent the arms, and he was evidently out of humor at the attitude assumed by
605
Mistaken Policy of the Government.
the people of Denver. He wrote Governor Hunt, under date of September 7th :
"I would make no concessions to clamor, but would as- sure the people of Denver, if they want to fight Indians, they can have all they want. The great bulk of Arapahoes have surrendered to General Sheridan at Fort Dodge. He has one column after the Cheyennes on the Cimarron and an- other towards Beaver Creek. General Grant promises me more cavalry, and now that the Indians are clearly in the wrong I will not prevent your people from chastizing them if they are really in earnest, but it is more than our small army can do to defend every ranch in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska and Kansas. The settlers should collect and de- fend their own property, leaving the regular troops to go af- ter the Indians."
General Sheridan took the field, also General Custer with the Seventh Cavalry. The latter started out in search of Arapahoes and Kiowas, and chased them south and gained a decisive victory over the Indians on November 27th beyond Antelope Hills on the Texas border. There was desperate fighting that fall, and the army, assisted by citizen soldiers, fought the Indians with a determination to bring about a lasting peace. In Wyoming no decisive battles were fought, but the working parties on the railroad were pro- tected.
SIOUX TREATY.
Article 1. From this day forward all war between the parties to this agreement shall forever cease. The govern- ment of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they now pledge their honor to maintain it.
If bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and for- warded to the commissioner of Indian affairs at Washing- ton City, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrest- ed and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.
605
History of Wyoming.
If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation upon the person or property of any one, white, black or Indian, subject to the authority of the United States, and at peace therewith, the Indians herein named, solemnly agree that they will, upon proof made to their agent and notice by him, deliver up the wrong-doer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to its laws; and in case they wilfully refuse to do so, the person injured shall be reimbursed for his loss from the annuities or other moneys due or to become due to them under this or other treaties made with the United States. And the Presi- dent, on advising with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and regulations for ascertaining damages under the provisions of this article as, in his judg- ment, may be proper. But no one sustaining loss while vio- lating the provisions of this treaty or the laws of the United States shall be reimbursed therefor.
Art. II. The United States agrees that the following district of country, to-wit, viz: commencing on the east bank of the Missouri river where the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude crosses the same, thence along low water mark down said east bank to a point opposite where the northern line of the State of Nebraska strikes the river, thence west across said river, and along the northern line of Nebraska, to the one hundred and fourth degree of lon- gitude west from Greenwich, thence north on said meridian to a point where the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude intercepts the same, thence due east along said parallel to the place of beginning; and in addition thereto all existing reservations on the east bank of said river shall be, and the same is, set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them; and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents and em- ployes of the government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon or re- side in the territory described in this article, or in such ter- ritory as may be added to this reservation for the use of said Indians, and henceforth they will and do hereby relin- quish all claims or right in and to any portion of the United
607
Mistaken Policy of the Government.
States or Territories, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid, and except as hereinafter provided.
Art. III. If it should appear from actual survey or other satisfactory examination of said tract of land that it contains less than one hundred and sixty acres of tillable land for each person who, at the time, may be authorized to reside on it under the provisions of this treaty, and a very considerable number of such persons shall be disposed to commence cultivating the soil as farmers, the United States agrees to set apart, for the use of said Indians, as herein provided, such additional quantity of arable land, adjoining to said reservation, or as near to the same as it can be ob- tained, as may be required to provide the necessary amount.
Art. IV. The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct at some place on the Missouri River, near the center of said reservation, where timber and water may be convenient, the following buildings, to-wit: a ware- house, a storeroom for the use of the agent in storing goods for the use of the Indians, to cost not less than twenty-five hundred dollars; an agency building for the residence of the agent, to cost not exceeding three thousand dollars; a resi- dence for the physician, to cost not more than three thou- sand dollars; and five other buildings, for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, miller, and engineer, each to cost not exceeding two thousand dollars; also a school house or mis- sion building, so soon as a sufficient number of children can be induced by the agent to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding five thousand dollars.
The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on said reservation, near the other buildings herein author- ized, a good steam circular saw-mill, with a grist-mill and shingle machine attached to the same, to cost not exceeding eight thousand dollars.
Art. V. The United States agrees that the agent for said Indians shall in future make his home at the agency building; that he shall reside among them, and keep an office open at all times for the purpose of prompt and diligent in- quiry into such matters of complaint by and against the Indians as may be presented for investigation under the provisions of their treaty stipulations, as also for the faitli- ful discharge of other duties enjoined on him by law. In all cases of depredation on person or property, he shall cause the evidence to be taken in writing and forwarded, together with his findings, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
608
History of Wyoming.
whose decision, subject to the revision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall be binding on the parties to this treaty.
Art. VI. If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family, shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege to select, in the presence, and with the assist- ance of the agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which tract, when so selected, certified, and re- corded in the "land book," as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common, but the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as he or they may continue to culti- vate it.
Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head of a family, may, in like manner, select and cause to be certified to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quan- tity of land not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and there- upon be entitled to the exclusive possession of the same, as above directed.
For each tract of land so selected, a certificate, contain- ing a description thereof and the name of the person select- ing it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to it, by the agent, after the same shall have been recorded by him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection, which said book shall be known as the "Sioux Land Book."
The President may, at any time, order a survey of the reservation, and, when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting the rights of said settlers in their improve- ments, and may fix the character of the title held by each. The United States may pass such laws on the subject of alienation and descent of property between the Indians and their descendants as may be thought proper. And it is fur- ther stipulated that any male Indians over eighteen years of age, of any band or tribe that is, or shall hereafter become, a party to this treaty, who now is, or who shall hereafter be- come, a resident or occupant of any reservation or territory not included in the tract of country designated and de- scribed in this treaty for the permanent home of the Indi- ans, which is not mineral land, nor reserved by the United States for special purposes other than Indian occupation, and who shall have made improvements thereon of the value of two hundred dollars or more, and continuously occupied
609
Mistaken Policy of the Government.
the same as a homestead for the term of three years, shall be entitled to receive from the United States a patent for one hundred and sixty acres of land including his said im- provements, the same to be in the form of the legal subdivis- ions of the surveys of the public lands. Upon application in writing, sustained by the proof of two disinterested wit- nesses, made to the register of the local land office when the said land sought to be entered is within a land district, and when the tract sought to be entered is not in any land dis- trict, then, upon said application and proof being made to the commissioner of the general land office, and the right of such Indian or Indians to enter such tract or tracts of land shall accrue and be perfect from the date of his first improve- ments thereon, and shall continue as long as he continues his residence and improvements, and no longer. And any Indian or Indians receiving a patent for land under the fore- going provisions, shall thereby and from thenceforth be- come and be a citizen of the United States, and be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of such citizens, and shall, at the same time, retain all his rights to benefits ac- cruing to Indians under this treaty.
Art. VII. In order to insure the civilization of the In- dians entering into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially of such of them as are, or may be, set- tled on such agricultural reservations, and they therefore pledge themselves to compel their children, male and fe- male, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty children between said ages who can be induced or compelled to at- tend school, a house shall be provided and a teacher compe- tent to teach the elementary branches of an English educa- tion shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians, and faithfuly discharge his or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article are to continue for not less than twenty years.
Art VIII. When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands and received his certificate as above di- rected, and the agent shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence cultivating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to receive seeds and agricultural imple- ments for the first year, not exceeding in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year he shall continue to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.