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LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS

HISTORY AND ECONOMICS

OFFICIAL RELATIONS

BETWEEN THE

UNITED STATES AND THE SIOUX
INDIANS

LUCY E. TEXTOR, M. A.

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palo alto, california y l.

Published by the University /

1896

EDITORIAL NOTE.

It is conceded that anything like an ideal general history of the
United States is impossible until the whole field of investigation has
been minutely explored by a host of separate workers. Indeed, it is in
the production of a rapidly increasing monographic literature, compris-
ing the results of such special research, that the American Universities
are rendering a most useful service. The historical Seminary finds here
its proper sphere. In the main, the materials for our social, institu-
tional, and administrative history have yet to be gathered. Especially
is this true of the relations of the Government with the red race. Before
a complete and trustworthy account of its dealings with the Indian can
be written, we must possess a detailed study of each tribe or group ;
and who can doubt that the result of such a labor will be of the great-
est sociological and ethical importance ? It is hoped that the publication
of this tentative study of the Sioux will not be without value as a con-
tribution to that result.

It remains to express the grateful acknowledgments of the Histori-
cal Department to Mr. Joseph Hutchinson, of Palo Alto, through whose
generous appreciation Miss Textor's paper is now published.

G. E. H.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

An Outline of the Indian Policy of the United States.

Introduction, attitude of the United States toward the Indians 11

Land rights of the Indians ; principles upon which they have been

determined 12

Condition of the thirteen States in 1789 15

Attitude of the Indians toward the Government 15

Early national policy : non-intervention, friendship, and civiliza-
tion , 1789-1825 17

Removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi, 1825-1838 21

Monroe's message of January 27, 1825, advocating removal 21

Act of May 28, 1830, authorizing removal 23

Results of removal policy 24

Increase of the public domain between 1845 and 1855 25

Effect upon the Indian question 26

Policy toward the wilder tribes.: concentration upon reservations. . 27.
Policy toward the more civilized tribes: land in severalty and

agriculture 27

Colonization of the California Indians on the old mission plan 28

Peace Commission of 1867, appointed to remove the causes of the

wars between 1860 and 1870 29

Peace policy beginning 1870 32

The Board of Indian Commissioners appointed to assist in dis-
bursements ; 33:

Co-operation of religious societies with the Government 33

The feeding system ; concentration and support of the wilder tribes 34.

Act of March 3, 1871, denationalizing Indian tribes 36

' The more civilized tribes to be taught self-maintenance 3?

Slaughter of buffalo as affecting the Indians and the policy toward

them 38

Results of the peace policy 39

The reform movement, 1882-1895 40

Land in severalty and citizenship 41

VI CONTENTS.

Three steps toward the establishment of law : 46

The growth of the educational idea as seen in increased appropria-
tions and other legislation 50

Evils to be guarded against in the reform movement 54

Further action needed 55

CHAPTER II.
The Sioux from 1803 to 1850.

Purchase of Louisiana, 1803 56

Lewis and Clark Expedition into the new country 57

Number and location of the Sioux as determined by the explorers. 57

Status of the various bands 58

Pike's expedition to the sources of the Mississippi 61

The English and the fur trade of the North 62

Treaties of 1815 with the Sioux, re-establishing peace and friend-
ship 63

Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 1825, denning the territorial boundaries

of the warring tribes 64

Other treaties of 1825, made in the interests of peace 64

Treaty of July 15, 1830, ceding land 65

Treaty of 1836, ceding land to the State of Missouri 67

Treaty of 1837, ceding all lands east of the Mississippi 67

Status of the Sioux in 1850 70

Abundance or scarcity of game an important factor in determining

the national policy 71

CHAPTER III.

The Sioux of the Mississippi from 1850 to 1893.

Lamentable condition of the Mississippi Sioux in 1850 73

Treaties of 1851, ceding land 73

Trouble in regard to the Minnesota reservation 75

Treatment of the Sioux during the early fifties 75

Spirit Lake and Springfield massacres of March, 1857 77

Treaties of 1858 providing for the reduction of the reservation and

the allotment of land in severalty 78

CONTENTS.

VII

Causes of the war of 1862 81

Dispersion of the Sioux 83

Repeated removal of the Crow Creek Indians 83

Condition of these Sioux between 1863 and 1868 84

Treaty of 1868 with Santee Sioux, providing for allotment in sever-
alty and education 85

Patents of Santee Sioux declared of legal effect, June 30, 1884 85

Act of February 9, 1885, throwing Santee reservation open to set-
tlement 85

Act of March, 1889, allotting land to those not hitherto provided

for ,t 86

Flandreau Sioux located upon homesteads 86

Treaty of 1867 with Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux near Fort Wads-
worth, locating them upon reservations 87

Agreement with them ceding rights to all land outside of their

reservations, September 22, 1872 90

Agreement of December 12, 1889, with Lake Traverse Sioux, reduc-
ing reservation 91

Status of Lake Traverse Sioux 93

Incorrect boundary line of Devil's Lake reservation 93

Status of Devil's Lake Indians 94

CHAPTER IV.

The Sioux of the Plains from 1850 to 1893.

Status about 1850 , 95

Increase of white immigration westward 96

Fort Laramie Treaty of February 17, 1851, giving the United States

the right to establish roads through the Indian country 96

Condition of the Sioux during the next few years 97

Grattan massacre of 1854 97

Sioux war of 1855 98

Council of the tribes with General Harney in 1856 99

The so-called " Harney treaty " of 1856, its provisions and results. 100

Events of the next few years ; warlike attitude of the Indians 102

Commission of 1865, appointed to treat with the bands of the Up-
per Missouri 104

Treaty with the Minneconjou. illustrative of the nine Sioux treaties

made by the Commission 105

VIII CONTENTS.

Temper of the Indians as indicated by these treaties 107

Causes of the war of 1866 108

Commission of July 20, 1867, appointed to treat with the Indians . . 110

Treaty of April 29, 1868, settling the Sioux upon a reservation 110

Depredations of the bands not party to the above treaty 116

Order of General Sheridan commanding all friendly Indians to go

to the reservation 116

Invasion of the reservation by the whites 117

Sale of hunting right to land in Nebraska by Red Cloud and Spotted

Tail agencies 119

Failure of the Commission of 1875 to purchase the Blsv:k Hills and

the Big Horn country '. ; 119

Action of the War Department against the Indians not party to

the treaty of 1868 120

War of 1876. . 121

Cession of 1876 of the right to any land west of the one hundred

and third meridian of longitude 123

Fruitless councils with the hostiles ; their retreat to Canada 124

Causes of the stagnation of the Sioux during the seventies 126

Progress between 1880 and 1890 127

Agitation to reduce the reservation 128

Agreement of March 2, 1889, ceding nine million acres of land to

the United States 129

Causes of the outbreak of 1890 131

The Messiah craze ; demoralizing influence upon the Indians 133

Troops ordered to the Sioux agencies 135

Capture of Sitting Bull by the Indian police .". 135

Concentration of the Indians upon the " bad lands " 136

The fight at Wounded Knee creek 136

Visit of a Sioux Commission to Washington and the settlement of

difficulties 137

Significance of the outbreak of 1890 138

CHAPTER V.

The Yanktons.

History of the Yanktons separate from that of the other Sioux of

the Plains 140

Claims ignored in the treaty of 1851 with the Mississippi Sioux 140

Treaty of 1858 providing reservation 141

CONTENTS. IX

Progress during the next thirty years 143

Negotiations of the committee, appointed October 1, 1892, to buy

the unallotted lands 145

Present status of the Yanktons 147

CHAPTER VI.

Status of the Sioux in 1893.

Sioux under the supervision of ten agencies 149

Progress at Sisseton, Santee, Yankton, and Devil's Lake agencies. 149

Crow Creek and Lower Brute agencies 160

Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Fort

Peck agencies 150

Civilization statistics 151

Duty of the Government toward the Sioux 151

Erratum.
Page 94, last line of text, for " Indians " read Citizens.

OFFICIAL RELATIONS

BETWEEN THE

United States and the Sioux Indians.

CHAPTER I.

AN OUTLINE OP THE INDIAN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES.

Probably no one would maintain that the United States,
from the adoption of its Constitution to the present day,
ever intentionally wronged the Indians ; but of the fact
that it has wronged them there can be no question.
This discrepancy is to a certain extent inherent in the
very nature of the case. Not until we understood the
character of the Indians and of our own civilization
could we adopt a consistent attitude. But the mistake
lay in the fact that no attempt was made to understand
either, that we did not throw all the light of reason and
scientific inquiry upon the problem and diligently apply
ourselves to its solution. On the contrary, a policy of tem-
porary expediency was adopted, to relieve evils which,
unless otherwise treated, must remain permanent. It is
true that we did not alwa}rs regard this expediency as
temporary, but we must have so regarded it, if we had
not persistently closed our eyes to the facts of the case.
Happily all this does not refer to the present policy. We

12 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

are now earnestly studying the question, and, whatever
the outcome, will have reason to believe that we have
done our best.

Any discussion of our policy must be preceded by an
inquiry into the recognized land rights of the Indians.
This inquiry cannot be based upon the principles of ab-
stract justice, for man's conception of these must vary
with the age in which he lives, and the nineteenth cen-
tury must find it a difficult matter to pass judgment upon
the views of a less enlightened age. , On the other hand,
since the right of society to prescribe those rules by
which property may be acquired and preserved cannot
be drawn into question, and since the title of lands must
be admitted to depend entirely on the nation in which
they lie, it will be necessary to examine those principles
which the Government has adopted in this particu-
lar case and which must be the basis of our decision.*

" On the discovery of this immense continent the great
nations of Europe were eager to appropriate to them-
selves so much of it as they could respectively acquire.
* * * But, as they were all in pursuit of nearly the
same object, it was necessary, in order to avoid conflicting
settlements and consequent war with each other, to estab-
lish a principle which all should acknowledge as the law
by which the right of acquisition, which they all asserted,
should be regulated as between themselves. This prin-
ciple was, that discovery gave title to the government by
whose subjects or by whose authority it was made against
all other European governments, which title might be
consummated by possession. The exclusion of all other

* Quoted in substance. Introduction to Indian Treaties : U. S.
Statutes at Large, VII, 1.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 13

Europeans necessarily gave to the nation making the
discovery the sole right of acquiring the soil from the
natives, and establishing settlements upon it. It was a
right with which no European could interfere. It was
aright which all asserted for themselves, and to the asser-
tion of which by others all assented. * * * While
the different nations of Europe respected the right of the
natives as occupants, they asserted the ultimate domin-
ion to be in themselves, and claimed and exercised as a
consequence of this ultimate dominion a power to grant
the soil while yet in possession of the natives. These
grants have been understood by all to convey a title to
the grantees, subject only to the Indian right of occu-
pancy."*

The preceding extract from the opinion of Chief Justice
Marshall in the case of Johnson vs. Mcintosh is amply
supported by histor}\ France, Spain, Portugal, and Hol-
land based their claim to American lands upon rights
given by discovery, and no one of these powers gave its
assent to this principle more unequivocally than did
England.f

When the United States came into possession of the
vast territories now included within its boundaries, it
received also the rights by which these territories had
previously been held. J It maintained, " as all others
have maintained, that discovery gave an exclusive right
to extinguish the Indian title of occupancy, either by

* Marshall, C. J., Johnson vs. Mcintosh : Wheaton, VIII, 572 ff.

t See Introduction to Indian Treaties: U. S. Statutes at Large,
VII, 2-6.

J Ibid., 6-7.

14 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

purchase or by conquest ; * and gave also a right to such
a degree of sovereignty as the circumstances of the peo-
ple would allow it to exercise."!

The original rights of the Indians were thus much im-
paired. Nevertheless, the tribes were looked upon as
distinct, independent political communities. The term
"nation" was applied to them, and the Constitution, by
declaring the treaties already made and those to be made
the supreme law of the land, admitted their rank
among those powers . capable of making treaties.} This
inconsistency between fact and theory was recognized in
the case, The Cherokee Nation vs. The State of Georgia.
"It may well be doubted," we read here, "whether those
tribes which reside within the acknowledged boundaries
of the United States can, with strict accuracy, be denom-
inated foreign nations. They may more correctly,
perhaps, be denominated domestic dependent nations.
They occupy a territory to which we assert a title, inde-
pendent of their will, which must take effect in point of
possession, when their right of possession ceases — mean-
while they are in a state of pupilage. Their relations to
the United States resemble that of a ward to his guar-
dian. They look to our Government for protection ; rely
upon its kindness and its power ; appeal to it for relief to

* " Except only in the case of the Sioux Indians in Minnesota, after
the outbreak of 1862, the Government has never extinguished an Indian
title as by right of conquest ; and in this case the Indians were provided
with another reservation, and subsequently were paid the net proceeds
arising from the sale of the land vacated " : Report of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs for 1890, xxix.

t Introduction to Indian Treaties : U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 7.

t See Worcester vs. The State of Georgia : Peters, VI, 519.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY.

their wants ; and address the President as their Great
Father."*

So much for the status of the Indians. We turn now
to our early policy toward them. In order to understand
the attitude of the Government during its first thirty
years, it is necessary to have a clear conception of the-
condition of the thirteen original States. It is true that
they possessed a broad territory of abundant resources,
but it is equally true that their population occupied
only a narrow belt along the Atlantic Ocean. Westward
lay an unbroken wilderness. The valleys of the Tennes-
see and Ohio were one vast solitude, penetrated only by
a few of the most hardy trappers. Even the frontier line
extending from Maine to Georgia was undefended in
many places and afforded the Indians copious opportu-
nity to attack the white settlements. The States, there-
fore, must have keenly suffered in the face of a general
Indian war.f

Yet such a war actually threatened them. The
close of the Revolution found the Indians far from
friendly to the new Republic. During the war with
England there had been a continuous series of conflicts
between the frontiersmen and their dusky neighbors.
The latter had been continually " urged on by the Brit-
ish, who furnished them with arms, ammunition, and
provisions, and sometimes also with leaders and with
bands of auxiliary white troops, French, British, and
tories."t

* The Cherokee Nation vs. The State of Georgia: Peters, V, 1-2.
t For the condition of the States at this time, see McMaster, History
of the People of the United States, I, 3-4.

t Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, 373.

16 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

The peace of 1783 did not much improve the condition
of affairs between these two hostile forms of society.
The Indians continued their murders and depredations,
and the whites their reprisals. The most fruitful sources
of discord were indefinite boundary lines,* the trespass of
the whites upon Indian lands in search of game,f and
the attempt on the part of the States to increase their
territory. On the other hand the Indians themselves
were ready to rise at the least provocation and were
spurred on to hostilities by England J and Spain. §

At this crisis fortune blessed the United States with a
President better fitted than any one of his contempora-
ries to cope with this difficult state of affairs. In addition
to an intimate and practical knowledge of the conditions
of border life, George Washington was endowed with
statesmanship of the highest order. He saw that the
best interests of the two races demanded that they be
kept apart, that inevitable conflict must result from the
contact of the frontiersmen and the natives. Hence
he discouraged the projection of isolated colonies into
the western country, and urged that the barrier inter-
posed between the white and the red men be made con-
tinuous, and the settlements to the east of that barrier
compact.! The policy thus begun was followed by Wash-

* The act of May 19, 1796, provided that Indian boundary lines be
definitely marked. See U. S. Statutes at Large, I, 469. Many of the
treaties made with the various tribes between 1790 and 1820 contained a
like provision. See U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, Index.

t Adams, History of the United States, VI, 70.

i American State Papers, Ind. Affrs., I, 480.

§ Ibid., 378; Lodge, George Washington, II, 92.

II Writings of Washington, X, 307.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 17

ington's successors and found its best exponent in the
Intercourse Laws, which made the most rigid provision
for keeping the two races apart.*

Meanwhile, however, the present condition of affairs
had to be dealt with. War existed on the frontier, and
the Indians were loud in their accusations of ill treat-
ment on the part of our Government and its people, and
fierce in their revenge of the wrongs committed against
them. Washington made use of every " reasonable
pacific measure "f to bring about peace ; and, for this
purpose, endeavored to check the spirit of speculation
in lands, \ and to further the making of treaties which
should definitely settle boundary lines and place the
relations of the Government and the Indians upon a
firm basis. He was above all convinced that peace could
be secured and maintained only by treating the aborigi-
nes with strictest justice.§ But, should it be impossible
to end hostilities by conciliation, he was of the opinion
that " sound policy and good economy" pointed "toa
prompt and decisive effort, rather than to defensive and
lingering operations."!

The principle of non-intervention was thus one of the

* See act of July 22, 1790 : U. S. Statutes at Large, I, 137-8 ; act of
March 1, 1793 : ibid., 329-32 ; act of May 19, 1796 : ibid., 469-74 ; act
of January 17, 1800 : ibid., II, 6-7 ; act of March 30, 1802 : ibid., 139-
46 ; act of April 29, 1816 : ibid., Ill, 332-3 ; act of March 3, 1817 : ibid.,
383 ; act of May 6, 1822 : ibid., 682-3.

t Writings of Washington, XI, 466.

t Ibid., XII, 70.

§ Ibid., XI, 466.

II Ibid. Despite the wisdom of Washington's policy it met with
much adverse criticism. See Abridgment of Debates, I, 341 ff ; Lodge,
Washington, II, 102-3.

18 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

main features of our early policy. This principle recog-
nized, as we have seen, the natural antagonism between
the two races and aimed to keep them apart. But a cer-
tain amount of contact was inevitable and must increase
with the advance of our frontier. It was Washington's
object to make these necessary relations as harmonious
as possible by attaching the Indians to our Government.
In his fifth annual address of December 3, 1793, he said :

" Next to a vigorous execution of justice on the viola-
tors of peace, the establishment of commerce with the
Indian nations, on behalf of the United States, is most
likely to conciliate their attachment. But it ought to be
conducted without fraud, without extortion, with constant
and plentiful supplies, with a ready market for the com-
modities of the Indians, and a stated price for what they
give in payment and receive in exchange. Individuals
will not pursue such a traffic unless they be allured by
the hope of profit ; but it will be enough for the United
States to be reimbursed only."*

These suggestions of Washington were afterwards em-
bodied in the act of April 18, 1796,f authorizing the
establishment of trading-houses "for the purpose of
carrying on a liberal trade with the several Indian
nations," and appropriating $150,000 toward this end.
The act was originally passed for two years, but was
renewed} from time to time until 1822, when the Govern-
ment trading-houses were abolished. §

* James, English Institutions and the American Indian, 36. In
connection with this subject, see also Writings of Washington, XII, 497.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, I, 452-3. Previous to this there had been
passed the act of March 3, 1795, appropriating $50,000 for the purchase
of goods to be sold to the Indians. See Annals of Congress, 1 793-95, p. 1532.

t In 1802, 1803, 1806, and 1815.

$ TJ. S. Statutes at Large, III, 679-80.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 19

The object of the factory system was two-fold : (1) to
secure the friendship* of the Indians by supplying their
wants ; (2) to supplant the British trader whose influence
over the tribes was at that time very great.f These two
ends were not attained. The Indians did not take kindly
to Government trading, and the English trader was not
dislodged. J

* In addition to the establishment of trading-houses there was
other conciliatory legislation, as, for example, the act of May 13, 1800,
authorizing the President to issue such rations as he should judge proper
and as could be easily spared from the army provisions to Indians visit-
ing the " military posts of the United States on the frontiers or within
their respective nations." The President was furthermore empowered
to defray the expenses of Indians visiting the seat of Government and
to give them presents. U. S. Statutes at Large, II, 85.

+ Annals of Congress, 4th Cong., 1st Sess., 231. Later a third argu-
ment was advanced in favor of the factories. It was urged that they had
a civilizing influence ; and Jefferson advocated that they be multiplied
in order that those things might be placed within the reach of the In-
dians which would " contribute more to their domestic comfort than the
possession of extensive, but uncultivated wilds." American State
Papers, Ind. Affs., I, 684.

+ The two chief reasons for this failure were these : (1) The Govern-
ment licensed private traders who competed with the factories. (2) The
advantages of the British trader were such as enabled him to maintain
his supremacy. He had behind him the prestige of his government. Eng-
lish officers of the Indian Department were given military brevet rank,
a fact of no mean importance considering how much Indians are influ-
enced by a showy exterior, and English agents were required to know at
least one Indian language. Furthermore, the British trader was allied
to his customers by marriage, understood them well, sold them goods of
a superior quality, and gave credit. The United States agents, on the
other hand, were often unfitted for their positions and unreliable, were
unable to adapt themselves to the Indians and sold them cheap goods at
an enormous profit. American State Papers, Ind. Affs., II, 66, 79, 204 ;
Wis. Hist. Colls., VII, 270-288; Abridgment of Debates, VII, 180 ff;
Benton, Thirty Years' View, I, 20-1 ; Turner, Indian Trade in Wisconsin,
60; James, English Institutions and the American Indian, 39-42.

20 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

During these years the Government had not been en-
tirely unmindful of civilizing the Indians. In its treaties
with the various tribes it had used its influence to settle
them upon restricted lands so that, no longer being able
to subsist by the chase, they might be forced to farm, and
it had made provision to pay for the ceded lands partly
in agricultural implements.* As early as March 30,
1802, f Congress had passed an act authorizing the Presi-
dent to expend not more than $15,000 per annum " to
promote civilization among the friendly Indian tribes."
Later the educational feature]: was added, and during the
years between 1818 and 1826 the number of children re-
ceiving instruction rose from fifty to twelve hundred. §

Such were the main features of the early Indian policy,
non-intervention, friendship, and civilization. Of the
fact that they were not always consistently carried out
there can be little doubt. But the honest intentions
of the United States can hardly be questioned. That the
Indians sometimes suffered injustice was due largely to
the inability of the Central Government always to control
the conduct of individuals and States. The separate
action of Georgia, as opposed to the Central Government,
gave the first impulse to the removal policy.

The second stage of the national policy was inaugur-

* See treaties in TJ. S. Statutes at Large, VII. A synopsis of those
made between 1789 and 1814 is given in American State Papers, Ind.
Affs., I, Index, lxxii-lxxvi.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, II, 143.

i March 3, 1819, Congress appropriated $10,000 per annum for the
payment of suitable persons to instruct the Indians in agriculture and to
teach their children reading, writing, and arithmetic. U. S. Statutes at
Large, III, 516-17.

§ American State Papers, Ind. Affs., II, 700.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 21

ated by President Monroe in his message of January 27,
1825.* Hitherto the course of the Government, as we
have seen, had been largely determined by expediency.
The United States now began to move upon a definite
system. Already in 1803, the year in which Louisiana
was purchased from France, the thought of colonizing
the Indians in this territory had occurred to the far-
seeing Jefferson. However, it had been vague in the ex-
treme and was associated with no well-defined system
to civilize the Indians, but was simply a desire to increase
their hunting privileges. It was reserved for President
Monroe definitely to inaugurate the removal policy. Its
main points according to the message of January 27,
1825,t were these : (1) Removal of the Indians from the
States and Territories east of the Mississippi ; (2) con-
veyance to them in fee simple of land west of the same
river ; (3) the establishment of an enlightened system of
internal government such as should gradually unite the
tribes ; (4) protection from the encroachments of our cit-
izens. The immediate cause which influenced President
Monroe to deliver this message was Georgia's insistence
that the United States should fulfill its promise of 1802,
and extinguish the title to the Cherokee lands in her
State. \ It was this same desire for more land on the part
of other States which brought about the removal policy.
This fact, however, was not put so boldly at the time.
The reasons given by those who favored a general re-
moval of the tribes were two-fold. They said the pros-

* Statesman's Manual, I, 536-38.
+ 18th Cong., 2nd Sess. , No. 21.

X See Von Hoist, Constitutional History of the United States, I,
433 ff.

22 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

perity of the United States and the welfare of the Indians
depended upon it. All the various arguments which they
brought forward to support their position were afterwards
tersely put by President Jackson in his message of 1830.
He said :

" The pecuniary advantages which it promises to the
Government are the least of its recommendations. It
puts an end to all possible danger of collision between
the authorities of the general and State Governments, on
account of the Indians. It will place a dense and civ-
ilized population in large tracts of country now occupied
by a few savage hunters. By opening the whole terri-
tory between Tennessee on the north, and Louisiana on
the south, to the settlements of the whites, it will incal-
culably strengthen the southwestern frontier, and render
the adjacent States strong enough to repel future in-
vasion without remote aid. It will relieve the whole
State of Mississippi, and the western part of Alabama, of
Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance
rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It will sepa-
rate the Indians from immediate contact with the settle-
ments of the whites ; free them from the power of the
States ; enable them to pursue happiness in their own
way, and under their own rude institutions ; will retard
the progress of decay which is lessening their numbers ;
and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection
of the Government, and through the influence of good
counsels, to cast off their savage habits, and become an
interesting, civilized, and Christian community."*

The message of President Monroe resulted in no im-

* Statesman's Manual, II, 745-6.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 23

mediate legislation, though shortly afterwards the Creek
title to lands in Georgia was extinguished. The removal
policy was not formally adopted until May 28, 1830,
when Congress passed an act whose four main provisioos
were as follows : The President was authorized (1) to
cause certain lands west of the Mississippi " to be divided
into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of
such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to
exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove
there " ; (2) " to exchange any or all of such districts *

* * with any tribe or nation of Indians now residing
within the limits of any of the States or Territories, *

* * for the whole or any part * * * of the terri-
tory claimed or occupied by such tribe or nation " ; (3)
" solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the
exchange is made that the United States will forever
secure and guarantee to them, and their heirs or suc-
cessors, the country so exchanged with them " ; (4) " to
cause such tribe or nation to be protected, at their new
residence, against all interruption or disturbance from
any other tribe or nation of Indians, or from any other
person or persons whatever."*

The foregoing act was supplemented by the Indian
Intercourse Act of June 30, 1834,f whose object was the
regulation of trade and intercourse with the Indian
tribes and the preservation of peace on the frontier.

* U. S. Statutes at Large, IV, 411-412. There were three other
sections authorizing the President to pay for improvements on ceded
lands ; to assist in the removal and render necessary aid in support for
the first year after the removal ; and to exercise the same superinten-
dence over the Indians as hitherto. Still a fourth section appropriated
$500,000 to give effect to the act.

\Ibid., 729-735.

24 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

The removal policy, as a policy, was then complete. It
was not consummated as a fact, however, until 1842, by
which time nearly all the tribes, with the exception of
some unimportant fragments, had ceded their lands in
the States and Territories east of the Mississippi and re-
moved or agreed to remove west of that river.*

There was this difference between the scheme as
planned by Jefferson and the policy as adopted by Con-
gress. Jefferson made provision for a well-defined
system of internal government and looked toward the
civilization of the Indians as its ultimate goal ; Congress
left the tribal government, as before, supreme, and took
no definite steps toward the reclamation of the Indians
from their wandering life. A wide area of land was
given them and each individual was allowed to decide for
himself whether he would be a nomad or a farmer, a
decision which was likely to be influenced by the fact
that the buffalo range was not far off.

The dates of the removal policy may be put down as
1825-38. There were removals before this time,f but
they were determined by the exigencies of circumstances
and made upon no fixed principle. There were removals
after this time, but they were merely the carrying out of
a principle whose spirit was dead, as those, for instance,
between 1838 and 1850, or they were made necessary by
the pressure of a white population -upon the Indian
country, as those of later years.

As a Government measure for the increase of State
territory, the removal policy was a success : as a measure

* See the various treaties of session with the Indian tribes. U. S.
Statutes at Large, VII, Index.

t See Hildreth, History of the United States, VI, 677-8.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY.

for the promotion of the welfare of the Indians, it was a
failure. The latter fact may be most easily seen in a
study of the condition of the Creeks and Cherokees
before and after their removal. They lost faith in civil-
ization, and it was only after long years of hardship and
suffering that they once more reached the plane which
they had occupied in their former homes.

During the years between 1845 and 1855 events oc-
curred which were to give the death-blow to the removal
policy. In 1845 Texas* was admitted to the Union,
and September 9, 1850, sold to the United States a
portion of her territory now included in Kansas,
Colorado, New Mexico, and the " public land strip."!
In 1846 the long disputed Oregon question was
settled, and the United States gained a perfect title
to a large tract of land south of the forty-ninth parallel
of north latitude and west of the Rocky Mountains. I In
1848, by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, Mexico
ceded to the United States lands now California, Nevada,
Utah, and a part of Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. §
In 1853 the so-called Gadsden Purchase was made, and
the United States came into possession of a strip of land
containing forty-five thousand five hundred and thirty-
five square miles, and now forming the southern part
of the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona.!

This immense increase of the public domain had a

* Donaldson, Public Domain, 12.
t Ibid,
t Ibid., 7.
§ Ibid., 12.
II Ibid.

26 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

direct bearing upon the Indian policy. Hitherto the
tribes had been kept upon our frontiers and pushed west-
ward by the advancing tide of civilization. The
removal policy had contemplated the settlement of the
Indians upon lands where they should be free from con-
tact with the whites. But the acquisition of new terri-
tory and the discovery of gold in 1848 so stimulated
immigration that the frontier line was broken. Whites
poured into the Indian country, and with such disastrous
consequences to the natives that it seemed necessary to take
immediate steps to save the border tribes from extinction.
It was thought that this could be done by a partial change
in the relative positions of the various tribes, which would
make it possible to throw open a wide extent of country
for the free spread of the white population westward.
It was for this purpose that the treaty of 1851 was made
with the Sioux of the Mississippi.

Again, with this increase of our territory came a pro-
portionate increase in the magnitude of the Indian ques-
tion. We had now a far greater number of tribes to deal
with than hitherto. Some mechanism of control was
imperatively necessary, and the reservation system was,
in part, devised to meet this need. The plan at first was
simply this : to locate the Indians as rapidly as possible
upon reservations whose extent should be proportionate
to their needs. If they could be induced to apply them-
selves to agriculture, the reservation might be small ; if
the}r must be allowed to hunt, it might be large. In
either case the Indians were to be brought into relation-
ship with the United States through their agents.

Throughout the fifties emigration westward continued,

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 27

stimulated still further by the political troubles in Kan-
sas. During these same years the national policy, per-
force, assumed more definite form. With the wild Indians
of the plains little, as yet, could be done, except to use
every opportunity to settle them upon reservations. But
the growing scarcity of game pointed to a solution. These
tribes would soon be dependent upon the Government
for food and could then be more easily held in
check.

With those tribes who had by this time become some-
what used to an agricultural life, the policy was more
definite. Two evils had marked our past treatment of
them : the assignment of an unnecessarily large extent
of land to be held in common, and the payment of large
money annuities. An attempt was now made to remedy
these evils. The three essential features of the plan were
these : first, the location of the different tribes upon res-
ervations only sufficiently large to satisfy their needs ;
second, the allotment of this land in severalty to the
Indians, requiring them to live upon and cultivate their
individual allotments ; third, the payment of annuities
in the form of stock, agricultural implements, mechanics'
tools, and manual-labor schools.* This policy was first
adopted with the Mississippi Sioux in 1858. f

The Indians of California were treated differently from
all others. Neither Spain nor Mexico had ever acknowl-
edged the usufructuary right of the aborigines to the land
upon which they lived ; and it was held that when Mex-
ico ceded this territory to the United States it had given

* This policy did not receive broad application during these years.
t See TJ. S. Statutes at Large, XII, 1037-41.

28 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

the Government an absolute title.* The United States,,
therefore, made no treaties with the Indians for the ces-
sion of lands, but settled them upon reservations estab-
lished by executive order, which were to be run upon the
old mission plan.f The priests had gathered the Indians
upon tracts of land sufficiently large to yield them sub-
sistence and had compelled them to cultivate the same.
The missions were thus self-supporting and often more
than that. The place of the priest was now to be taken
by the agent, and the Indians were to be fed, clothed, and
civilized, without expense to the Government. But the
plan refused to work, and the California reservations
were a miserable failure. J

The decade between 1860 and 1870 was fruitful of dis-
cord. There were Indian uprisings in all parts of the
country, and some of them were long and terrible. Never
before had the United States had so many men at one time
in the field against the hostiles, never had it fought more
bloody battles with them. It would, of course, be difficult,
if not impossible, to trace out all the specific causes of these
wars. That they were in part due to Indian " bad blood"

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1861-62 ; Sen. Docs.,
37th Cong., 2nd Sess., Vol. I, 637.

t As a matter of fact the Government had not sufficiently investi-
gated the mission plan. It seems to have recognized only its excellen-
cies and to have been totally ignorant of its inherent evils. Moreover it
did not take into consideration the fact that the priest labored for
himself, the agent for the Government, and that there might well be a
difference in the zeal displayed by the two.

+ For a brief sketch of the California reservation system, see Report
of G. Bailey, Special Agent Interior Department, to Hon. Charles C. Mix,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs: Report of Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1858-9, pp. 649-657.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 29

there can be no doubt ; but, on the other hand, this " bad
blood " had been roused by the failure of the United
States to keep its treaty obligations, and by the depreda-
tions of the whites, whose steady stream of immigration
became visibly broader at the close of the civil war.
Finally, June 20, 1867, Congress appointed a Commission*
of seven members and authorized it to make treaties
with the hostile tribes. The end in view was three-fold :
first, the removal of the causes of war ; second, the secur-
ity of our frontiers and the safe building of our western
railroads ; third, the inauguration of some plan for the
civilization of the Indians.

The Commission was also required to select a district
or districts of country sufficiently large to accommodate
all the Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains and
not settled on reservations. These districts were to be
made the permanent homes of such tribes.

The report of this Commission is interesting as a strong
presentation of the Indian side of the question. It held
that the causes of the wars of this decade lay wholly at
the door of the Government, which ha'd failed to keep its
treaty stipulations and to protect the Indians from immi-
grants. The Indians had thus been obliged to take up
arms in self-defense. The Commission made new treat-
ies whose keeping, it said, would insure peace and the
security of the frontiers and western railroads. The

* See U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 17-18. This Commission was
" to consist of three officers of the army not below the rank of Brigadier
General, * * together with N. G. Taylor, Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, John B. Henderson, Chairman of the Committee of Indian
Affairs of the Senate, S. S. Tappan, and John B. Sanborn." The officers
chosen from the army were Generals W. T. Sherman, W. S. Harney, and
Alfred H. Terry.

30 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

terms of these treaties varied with the different tribes,
but, as a whole, were in harmony with the governmental
policy. They provided, in most cases, for the cession of
Indian lands, the settlement of the Indians upon reser-
vations, though with a privilege to hunt elsewhere, and
the payment of annuities in goods.*

Finally, the Commission urged that all tribes east of
the Rocky Mountains should be concentrated upon two
large reservations, and should be provided with a terri-
torial government. The wilder tribes should be allowed
the privileges of the chase for the present, the others
should cultivate the soil ; and all should have annuities
paid to them in the form of goods, only such a portion
of these to be food as was absolutely necessary. f

The tone of this report was in strong contrast to the
conduct of the War Department,} under whose control
the Indians had in large measure fallen. The action of
army officers was in certain specific cases deprecated ;
but the chief blame of our Indian troubles was laid at
the door of our legislation, as being responsible for our
wavering, inconsistent, and unjust Indian policy. The

* The treaty of 1868 with the Sioux is a good example. A synopsis
of it is to be found in Chapter IV of this paper. For the treaties with
the Kiowas and Comanches, Cheyennes and Arapahoes, and Shoshonees
and Bannocks, see U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, pp. 581, 655, and 673,
respectively.

t Report to the President by the Indian Peace Commission, Janu-
ary 7, 1868 : Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 41st Cong., 2d
Sess., 487 ff.

X Three members of the Commission were officers of the army, but a
careful perusal of the report will serve to show that they had little to do
with drawing it up. There is too great a gap between the sentiments of
the report and the conduct of these gentlemen on the field of war.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 31

recommendations of the Committee were such as seemed
to it most likely to insure peace.

But peace did not follow. The condition of the Indians
was at this time peculiarly critical, owing to the gradual
extinction of the buffalo and the steady increase of
western immigration. Many of the bands were depend-
ing upon the annuities due them by the recently made
treaties to keep them from starvation. But there was
delay in the Senate. The treaties made in the fall of
1867 were not ratified until after midsummer in 1868.
The appropriations to carry these treaties into effect
were consequently delayed. This the Indians could not
understand. Moreover, many of them were in desperate
need of food. In the case of some tribes there were
other special grievances. Depredations followed, notably
among the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, the rumors of
which were grossly exaggerated. These depredations
were regarded by the United States as a violation of the
treaties not yet ratified, and preparations were made to
punish the Indians. Thus another war was precipitated.*

* " My opinion is, in regard to the present Indian war, that the
same could have been prevented, had the Government continued to
keep up the supply of subsistence that had been furnished to them dur-
ing the spring and early summer. They had gradually got weaned from
their old habits to that extent that they depended upon the provisions
which I issued to them, and consequently it was not necessary for them
to scatter out in little bands all over the country for the purpose of find-
ing game, thereby running risks of coming in contact with white men,
and also being subjected to temptations when hungry ; but soon after
the supplies were stopped. Had I been allowed to issue the arms and
ammunition to them at the time promised, they would have been con-
tented, from the fact of their having the means to procure game. But
the failure of the Government to fulfill its promises in the latter respect
naturally incensed some of the wilder spirits among them, and conse-

•32 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Meanwhile, October 9, 1868, the Indian Peace Com-
mission had met at Chicago and drawn up a set of seven
resolutions,* repudiating much of their former work and
placing them in harmony with the War Department.
They then adjourned sine die, because, according to Colo-
nel F. S. Tappan, " of their inability, for the want of
means, to do what had been promised the five thousand
or six thousand Indians now on the warpath."f

But a change was at hand, a change associated with
the name of President Grant and known as the Peace
Policy. It was officially inaugurated by the Indian
Appropriation Act of April 10, 1869. J Section IV of

quently the outrages committed on the Saline. * * * The Kiowa and
•Comanche Indians up to the present time have been at peace, but I have no
doubt they will soon join the Cheyennes, and thus create a general In-
dian war. My reasons for believing that the Oomanches and Kiowas
will, this late in the season, engage in this struggle, are that I do not see
how they can possibly do otherwise, in consequence of their having
been instructed some months since to assemble on the Arkansas for the
purpose of waiting to receive their agent and receive their annuities.
They have been waiting for months in a state of destitution, and no
agent or goods had made their appearance up to the latter part of last
month ; they are then told, without seeing their agent or receiving their
goods, to leave and go south immediately, to travel right through the
country where are troops in pursuit of hostile Indians, and with whom
it would be impossible to tell a Kiowa from a Cheyenne. The conse-
quence will be that all the tribes of the upper Arkansas will before long
be engaged in hostilities." Letter from E. W. Wynkoop, United States
Indian Agent, to Colonel F. S. Tappan : Message and Documents, 1868-9,
Abridgment, 1016.

* See Report of the Indian Peace Commission to the President of
the United States : Messages and Documents, 1868-9 ; Abridgment,
1011.

t Letter from Colonel F. S. Tappan, Indian Peace Commissioner, to
Hon. N. G. Taylor, President of the Indian Peace Commission : Ibid.,
1016.

X U. S. Statutes at Large, XVI, 40.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY.

this act provided, " that there be appropriated * * *
the sum of two millions of dollars, or so much thereof as
may be necessary, to enable the President to maintain
the peace among and with the various tribes, bands, and
parties of Indians, and to promote civilization among
said Indians, bring them, where practicable, upon reser-
vations, relieve their necessities, and encourage their
efforts at self-support." This same act made provision
for the first feature of the peace policy. It authorized
the President to organize a board of not more than ten
commissioners, " to be selected by him from men emi-
nent for their intelligence and philanthropy," and " to
serve without pecuniary compensation," whose duty* it
should be "to exercise joint control with the Secretary
of the Interior over the disbursement of the above appro-
priation." Furthermore, $25,000 were appropriated " to
pay the necessary expenses of transportation, subsistence
and clerk hire of said commissioners while actually en-
gaged in said service."!

The second feature} of the peace policy, and that most
characteristic of it, was the bringing of the various reli-
gious denominations of the country into active co-opera-
tion with the Government, by giving them the nomination
of Indian agents. The appointments were to be made
by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The
societies w^ere to be held moralty responsible for the
conduct of the appointees. At this time all superinten-

* For a more careful definition of the duties of this board, see Second
Annual Report, Board of Indian Commissioners, 1870, p. 100, Appendix
27.

\Ibid., Preface.

% Ibid., 4-5.

34 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

dents of Indian affairs and all Indian agents, with the
exception of those in Kansas and Nebraska, were officers
of the army, most of whom had been detailed for duty at
the close of the Civil War, in order to retrench expenses
and economize the public service.

Section XVIII of the Army Appropriation Act of July
15, 1870,* made it unlawful for any officer of the army
of the United States, on the active list, to hold a civil
office, either by election or appointment. On that day,
therefore, many Indian functionaries were relieved from
duty ; and it was proposed to fill their places with per-
sons nominated by the various religious societies. This
principle was adopted to promote harmony between the
agents and missionaries and to purify the Indian service,
" by taking the nomination to the office of agent out of the
domain of politics and placing it where no motives but
those of disinterested benevolence could be presumed to
prevail, "f

The third feature of the peace policy was the feeding
system, which provided for gathering the wilder tribes of
Indians upon reservations and supporting them until
taught to earn their own livelihood. The Government felt
that it was a question of either locating and feeding the
Indians or of fighting them. It chose the former course,
because this involved a less expenditure of money, " re-

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XVI, 319.

+ Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1872, p. 73. For
the year preceding the passage of the act of July 15, 1870, the Indian
superintendents and agents in Kansas and Nebraska had been appointed
by the President upon the recommendation of the two Societies of
Friends. The admirable working of this system led to its extension as
above indicated.

OUTLINE OP THE INDIAN POLICY. 35

duced to the minimum the loss of life and property upon
our frontiers," and allowed " the freest development of
our settlements and railways possible under the circum-
stances."*

The feeding system was two-fold. On the one hand it
involved placing the Indians upon limited tracts of land ;
on the other, keeping them quiet by supporting them.
Neither of these ideas was absolutely new. The reserva-
tion system had existed in theory as far back as 1800,
and had been known under various forms and names
since then. The removal policy and the colonization
plan were simply modifications of it. But, as a feature
of the feeding system, it was of greater magnitude and
had two definite ends in view. It aimed to give the
Government some machinery of control over the Indians,
and to throw open a wide extent of country to the whites.
The policy of subsisting the Indians was adopted as the
cheapest and easiest way of buying off their hostility.
It, too, found a prototype as far back as 1800. On May
13 of that year an actf was passed authorizing the Presi-
dent to issue such rations as he should judge proper, and
as could be easily spared from the army provisions, to
Indians visiting the military posts or living in their res-
ervations. Since then the friendship of the Indians had
been repeatedly purchased by the distribution of gifts.
But in 1870 the plan of subsisting the wilder tribes in
order to keep the peace became a definite feature of the
Indian policy.

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1872, p. 4. This
report contains a most excellent presentation of the peace policy.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, II, 85.

36 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

The feeding system above outlined, and especially the
reservation system, was, of course, a practical recognition
of the dependence of the Indian tribes upon the United
States Government. In theory, however, these tribes
remained sovereign powers until denationalized by the
act of March 3, 1871.* This provided that no tribe with-
in the territory of the United States should be recognized
as an independent nation with which the United States
might treat, f

At first thought the passage of this act might seem to
indicate a complete change in the national policy. In
the hundreds of treaties which the Government had pre-
viously made with the Indians, they had been recognized
as independent nations. Their tribal institutions had
been left untouched, and they had been allowed to gov-
ern themselves as they chose. As a matter of fact, how-
ever, they had never been treated like sovereign powers.
In the making of these very treaties the United States
had used moral coercion, and frequently other and more
effective means, to induce the tribes to yield to its terms.
The relation of the Indian to the Government was in
reality that of a ward under the care of a guardian. The
power of the Indian agent had grown as the strength of
the United States had increased and that of the Indians
had decreased ; it had finally become practically absolute.}

* Revised Statutes of the United States, Sect. 2079.

t This act further provided that " no obligation of any treaty law-
fully made and ratified with any such Indian nation or tribe prior to
March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-one," should be " invalidated
or impaired." Revised Statutes of the U. S., Sect. 2079.

t Evolution of the Indian agent: Report of Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1892, pp. 12-25.

OUTLINE OP THE INDIAN POLICY.

The theory of Indian nationality was therefore a theory
only,* and the act of March 3, 1871, was simply an out-
ward recognition of an internal change which had already
taken place.

The Feeding System was the term used to designate
the policy of the United States toward the wilder tribes.
Toward those more civilized it adopted a different atti-
tude. These were to be taught to earn their own liveli-
hood. They were to be transformed into farmers as
rapidly as possible, were to receive land in severalty, and
were to be furnished with agricultural implements. The
Government proposed to spend as little money upon
them as it could and still advance them in the arts of
civilization.

The policy of the United States, in a nutshell, was
this : The expenditures were to " be proportioned not
to the good but to the ill deserts of the tribe ; " hostile
and potentially hostile tribes were to be supported in
indolence in order to keep them quiet ; well-disposed
tribes were to be " only assisted to self-maintenance/'f
since from them there was nothing to fear.} The ulti-
mate object, however, with both was civilization.

The peace policy served its purpose well. It brought
the Government into vital contact with nearly all the
tribes living within the boundaries of the United States,
and it furnished a system by which these tribes were, in
a certain measure, controlled. The course of events dur-
ing the decade between 1870 and 1880 served materially

* For the real status of the Indians, see Peters, V, 1.
t Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1872, p. 4.
t Cf. appropriations for the wilder with those for the more civilized
tribes. See Index of U. S. Statutes at Large.

38 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

to aid the designs of the Government. The object of the
feeding system was to buy off the hostility of the Indians
by supporting them. The success of this system de-
pended, of course, upon the Indians' need of support.
Hence scarcity of game must further the national pol-
icy. That this scarcity was every year becoming greater
may be seen from the following quotation. Speaking of
the buffalo, Colonel Dodge says :

" Their most prized feeding ground was the section of
country between the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers,
watered by the Republican, Smoky, Walnut, Pawnee, and
other parallel and tributary streams, and generally
known as the Republican country. Hundreds of thou-
sands went south from here each winter but hundreds of
thousands remained. It was the chosen home of the
buffalo.

"In 1872 some enemy of the buffalo race discovered
that their hides were merchantable, and could be sold in
market for a goodly sum. The Union Pacific, Kansas
Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroads
soon swarmed with ' hard cases ' from the East, each
excited with the prospect of having a buffalo hunt that
would pay. By wagon, on horseback, and a-foot, the pot
hunters poured in, and soon the unfortunate buffalo was
without a moment's peace or rest. Though hundreds of
thousands of skins were sent to market, they scarcely
indicated the slaughter. From want of skill in shooting,
and want of knowledge in preserving the hides of those
slain, on the part of these green hunters, one hide sent
to market represented three, four, or even five dead
buffalo.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY.

« * * * In the fall of 1873 I went over the same
ground. Where there were myriads of buffalo the year be-
fore, there were now myriads of carcasses. The air was
foul with sickening stench, and the vast plain, which only
a short twelvemonth before teemed with animal life, was
now a dead, solitary, putrid desert."*

However unjust to the Indians this wholesale slaughter
of buffalo may have been, there can be no doubt that it
fell in admirably with the peace policy. f The Indians
who were dependent upon the chase for a livelihood
were forced to turn to the Government for help, and
were obliged to accede to its demands. A machinery of
control was thus established over them.

The incidental results of the peace policy were perhaps
quite as important as those directly aimed at. The work
of the Board of Indian Commissioners and the missionary
societies co-operating with the Government acted like
leaven upon the people of the country. Hitherto it had
been almost impossible to interest the general public in
the Indian question. In a country where legislation
bears so close a relation to the popular demand, this was
especially unfortunate. But beginning with the early
seventies public interest in the welfare of the red race
rapidly increased. Societies sprang up with the avowed
purpose of agitating the Indian question and influencing
the legislation of Congress. The decade from 1873 to
1883 witnessed the birth of the Boston Citizenship Com-
mittee, the Woman's National Indian Association, the

* Dodge, Plains of the Great West, 131-3.

+ It must be remembered, however, that this same slaughter of buf-
falo often sent the Indians upon the warpath.

40 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Indian Rights Association, and the Lake Mohonk Con-
ference. Propagandic literature* was spread throughout
the country and the seed sown whose fruit was the
reform movement of the next decade.

Even on its weakest side, that of civilization, the peace
policy was not an utter failure. The Indians, seated
upon reservations and started upon an agricultural life,
advanced ;f their progress was neither steady nor rapid,
but was sufficient to encourage the friends of the Indians
to look forward to ultimate citizenship for them. It was
these friends, as yet largely represented by the societies
above named, who began the agitation for " land, law,
and education."

The agitation which brought about the reform move-
ment arose, as before noted, in the seventies. It would
be a difficult matter to separate the agitation from the
movement proper, but the latter may be said to have
begun about 1882. Its central principle was citizenship
for the Indians, with all its attendant duties and privi-
leges. These will be dwelt upon in treating the different
phases of the movement.

The land question was primarily a question of allot-
ment of lands in severalty and the granting of patents
in fee simple. So long as the Indians should hold their
land in common they must lack that incentive to work
which comes from individual gain, and that education
which accompanies individual responsibility. For many
years community of property had been a hindrance to

* Much of this related to specific wrongs which the societies were
endeavoring to right.

t See civilization statistics and the reports of the agents and farming
superintendents : Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 41

the civilization of the tribes. The friends of the Indians
now urged that this hindrance be done away with by
allotment in severalty.

As far back as 1839* an actf had been passed which
provided for individual allotments to the Brothertown
Indians of Wisconsin. Subsequently, by law or treaty,
allotment was extended to other tribes and bands, J pro-
vision being made in some cases to confer the rights of
citizenship upon the allottees when they should have ful-
filled certain conditions. But these acts were sporadic.
The principle involved in them did not become a feature
of the governmental policy until about 1858, and even
then did not receive broad application.

A step forward was taken by the act of March 3, 1875, §
which extended the benefits of the Homestead Act of 1862||
to Indians, and provided further that any homestead
taken by an Indian should not be subject "to alienation
or incumbrance * * * for a period of five years
from the date of the patent issued therefor."!" It also
provided that any Indian taking a homestead should not
forfeit his right to tribal property. The defects of this
act were that it did not provide for taking claims upon

* March 3.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, V, 349-51.

+ " Notably the Ottawas and Chippewas, the Pottawatomies, the
Shawnees and the Wyandottes." Report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1891, I, 40. The Commissioner goes on to say that in most
cases the Indians sold their lands as soon as possible and squandered
what little they received.

§ Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the U. S., I, 78.

II U. S. Statutes at Large, XII, 392-394.

IT Supplement to the Revised Statutes, I, 78.

42 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

reservations, and that it made the time of inalienability
too short. In 1884 one thousand dollars was appropri-
ated* to pay the fees incident to making the land entries,
and subsequently other appropriations were made for the
same purpose. The benefits of the act were thus ex-
tended.

This brief outline of legislation will serve to show that
in the case of individual tribes and Indians the Govern-
ment had allotted lands in severalty, and, in some cases,
had issued patents in fee simple. The friends of the
Indians now demanded that the principle involved in
these measures be made of general application, and it
was in response to this call that the Dawes Land in Sev-
eralty Bill was laid before Congress. The following is
an abstract of the same as given in the report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1887 : f

" The President may, in his discretion, have any In-
dian reservation or any part thereof surveyed or re-sur-
veyed, and the lands of such reservation allotted in
severalty to any Indian located thereon.

"The size of the allotments shall be : To each head of
a family, one-quarter of a section ; to each single person
over eighteen and each orphan under eighteen years of
age, one-eighth of a section ; to each other single person
born prior to the date of the Presidential order directing
an allotment of lands upon the reserve, one-sixteenth of
a section.

" If the reserve is too small to allow the giving of allot-
ments as above, the size of allotments shall be reduced

* Supplement to Revised Statutes of the U. S., I, 450.
t Pp. iv-vi.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY.

pro rata. If any treaty or act has provided for larger
allotments on any reservation, the provisions of such
treaty or act shall be observed. If the lands allotted are
valuable only for grazing, the size of the allotments shall
be doubled. If irrigation is necessary, the Secretary of
the Interior may prescribe rules for a just distribution
among the Indians of the water supply.

" Selections of allotments shall be made by Indians,
heads of families selecting for their minor children, but
agents shall select for orphans. The lands selected shall
embrace the improvements made thereon by the respec-
tive Indians.

s*c *Jc ili rfc *k *k *fc

" If within four years after the President shall have
directed allotments on a reservation any Indian belong-
ing thereto shall have failed to make his selection, the
agent, or if there is none a special agent, may make the
selection for such Indian, and the tract so selected shall
be allotted to him.

" Any Indian not residing on a reservation, or for whose
tribe no reservation has been provided, may settle upon
unappropriated Government land and have the same
allotted and patented to him and his children.

" When the Secretary of the Interior shall have approved
the allotment made, then patents for such lands, recorded
in the General Land Office, shall be issued to the respective
allottees, declaring that the United States will hold said
lands in trust for their sole use and benefit for twenty-
five years, and at the end of that time will convey them,
without charge, to said allottees, or their heirs, in fee

44 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

and free of all incumbrance ; the President, however,
may in his discretion extend the period beyond twenty-
five years.

" After patents have been delivered the laws of descent
and partition of the State or Territory in which the lands
are located shall apply to said lands ; the laws of Kansas
applying to lands allotted to the Indian Territory.

" After lands have been allotted to all Indians of a tribe
(or sooner if the President thinks best), the Secretary of
the Interior may negotiate with that tribe for the sale of
any of their unallotted lands, such negotiation to be
subject to ratification by Congress.

" In case the lands are thus sold, the purchase money to
be paid therefor by the United States shall be held in the
United States Treasury in trust for that tribe, at three
per cent, interest, which interest shall be subject to
appropriation by Congress for the civilization of said
tribe.

" After receiving his patent every allottee shall have the
benefit of and be subject to the civil and criminal laws of
the State or Territory in wThich he may reside ; and no
Territory shall deny any Indian equal protection of law ;
and every Indian born in the United States, who has
received an allotment under this or any other law or
treaty, or who has taken up his residence separate from
a tribe and adopted the habits of civilized life, is declared
a citizen of the United States ; but citizenship shall not
impair any rights he may have in tribal property."*

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1887, pp. iv-vi ;
some of the less important provisions have been omitted in the above
extract. For General Allotment Bill in full, see ibid., 274-7.

OUTLINE OF THIO INDIAN POLICY.

Such were the provisions of the Dawes Land in Sev-
eralty Bill, a bill which was regarded by its supporters
as marking the first step in the final solution of our
Indian problem. Previous legislation had been in large
measure tentative, had not been directed toward a
definite end. True, it had aimed at the ultimate civili-
zation of the Indians, but the measures adopted to bring
about this civilization had lacked breadth and coherence.

The General Allotment Act was definite and compre-
hensive in scope. It made provision for the settlement of
the Indian question. Tribal relations were to be dis-
solved and the Indians were to be made citizens of the
United States as rapidly as possible, and at the end of
twenty-five years were to be left to shift for themselves.
The Government would then have done with them.

The natural corollary of the Dawes Bill was the ulti-
mate break-up of the reservation system. This system
had been in times past an unqualified necessity. It had
served a two-fold purpose ; had protected the less war-
like Indians from the murderous and rapacious whites ;
had facilitated Government control over the more war-
like. It has still a service to perform as a nursery for
the less civilized Indians, until they can be fitted for
contact with the world. But every allotment narrows its
field, and ultimately it will have to go. As citizens, the
Indians must take their places in the current of civiliza-
tion and cannot expect to be separate from its swift
movement.

The cession of surplus lands was, of course, the main
factor in this break-up of reservations. In the year
1889-90 it was estimated that thirteen million acres of

46 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

land were ceded to the Government, and, at the end of
the year, there were agreements pending before Congress
for the cession of four million five hundred thousand

The sincerity of Congress in its attitude toward the new
policy has been attested. When the Dawes Bill was put
into practical working it was found that there were cer-
tain specific cases which it did not cover. Supplementary
legislation was necessary, and, so far as the land question
is concerned, Congress has sought to supply it.f

But the land question does not stand by itself. It is
indissolubly connected with .law and education. The
Indians are citizens only in name if not protected by
United States courts and educated by United States
schools. Hence the second feature of the reform move-
ment was law.

It is not proposed to treat at all fully the past or pres-
ent political status of the Indians under the United
States Government. Such a treatment would demand
more time and space than can be given it here ; but a
few generalizations may be of use. In the early days of
our Republic the autonomy of the various tribes was
recognized in theory and in fact. The first " agents "
appointed by President Washington were addressed as
" commissioners plenipotentiary for negotiating and con-

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1890, xxxviii.

+ The act of February 28, 1891, amended the General Allotment Act
so as to provide for the allotment of the same quantity of land to each
member of the tribe regardless of the age or status of the allottee. See
U. S. Statutes at Large, xxvi, 794.

Numerous other acts were passed, many of them pertaining only to
certain tribes.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 47

eluding treaties of peace with the independent tribes or
nations of Indians * * * south of the Ohio River."*
As our frontiers were pushed westward, and we came
into more vital contact with the red men, it became
necessary, for the sake of peace, to obtain some control
over them ; and to this end the powers of the agents were
gradually increased, still however mainly in the direction
of regulating intercourse between the whites and the
Indians.

Infringement upon tribal autonomy began with the act
of June 30, 1834.f The authority of the governmental
officials was enlarged to extend over the Indians and over
the Indian country. Among other things this" act gave
the agent the power " to procure the arrest and trial of
all Indians accused of committing any crime, offense, or
misdemeanor." The act of March 3, 1847, J and that of
March 27, 1854, § still further extended the powers of the
agent. These encroachments upon tribal sovereignty
were made in the interests of peace and the security of
our frontiers. It was not the purpose to weaken tribal
law, but this result inevitably followed. Thus the Indians
were practically under no restraint but the arbitrary
rule of the agent, and they possessed absolutely no redress
for grievances. It was natural, therefore, that the agita-
tion which began with the peace policy should concern
itself with the question of law.

The appointment of Indian police was the direct out-

* Letter of Washington : Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs
for 1892, p. 14.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, IV, 732.
t Ibid., IX, 203.
§ Ibid., X, 270.

48 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

come of this agitation. In the Appropriation Act of May
27, 1878,* Congress authorized the appointment of fifty
officers and four hundred and thirty privates to maintain
order and prohibit illegal traffic on the reservations. A
force was immediately organized! at thirty different
agencies, and the Indian police showed themselves worthy
of the trust reposed in them. Their duties took a wider
range than was at first anticipated. They made them-
selves active in suppressing disorder and violence and in
preventing trespass and robbery on the part of lawless
whites.

The next step in the direction of law was the establish-
ment of the courts of Indian offenses. Upon the request
of the Secretary of the Interior the Commissioner of
Indian* Affairs formulated certain rules for the abolition
of the sun-dance, the scalp-dance, polygamy, and other
barbarous practices. In accordance with these rules,
courts were organized on the various reservations, each
consisting of three Indian judges appointed by the Indian
Office upon the nomination of the agent, and serving for
one year, subject, however, to removal at any time.
These courts held regular bi-monthly sessions. Some
difficulties were at first experienced in their organization,
largely because no provision had been made to recom-
pense the judges ; but, once organized, they did good
work. The penalties imposed were fines, imprisonment,
hard labor, and forfeiture of rations. The courts were

* Beport of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1878, p. 188.

t One difficulty in the organization of these forces was the small sal-
ary, officers receiving only eight dollars and privates five dollars a
month. It was not easy to find competent men who would serve for such
sums.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 49

established in 1883, but were not recognized by law until
1888, when Congress appropriated five thousand dollars
for the compensation of Indian judges.*

The third step toward law was the Indian Crimes Act,f
passed March 3, 1885. It provided that all Indians com-
mitting " murder, manslaughter, rape, assault with intent
to kill, arson, burglary, and larceny, within any Territory
of the United States, and either within or without an
Indian reservation," should be subject therefor to the
laws of such Territory relating to said crimes ; and that
Indians committing the enumerated crimes within the
boundaries of a State should be tried by United States
courts. The defect of this act lay in the failure to pro-
vide for the reimbursement of the Territories. They were
unwilling to bear the cost of trying the Indians because
they derived no revenue from them.

The three measures here reviewed were crude attempts
to furnish the Indians with law. They were good as far
as they went, but they accomplished little more than the
maintenance of order through the arbitrary power of the
agent. Further legislation was needed, and this need
was accentuated, at the same time that its satisfaction
was made more difficult, by the passage of the General
Allotment Bill. The state of the case was this : omit-
ting the tribes maintaining an advanced government of
their own, those so unenlightened or so situated as to be
unable to comprehend the advantages of civilization, and
those still nomadic and not yet under the charge of any
agent — omitting these, the Indians might roughly be

* Act of June 29, 1888. See U. 8. Statutes at Large, xxv, 233.
+ Ibid., xxiii, 385.

50 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

divided into two classes. The first class included those
already or soon to become citizens of the United States ;
the second, those who must undergo a tutelage more or
less long before the President should deem them ready
for the action of the Land in Severalty Bill. Citizenship
would extend over the first class the jurisdiction of the
courts of the States and Territories in which the members
respectively resided ; but these States and Territories
provided no machinery for the administration of law
upon the reservations. This need would, of course, be
met with the sale of the surplus land and its occupation
by white settlers. In the meantime, however, the need
must continue to exist unless satisfaction could be pro-
vided in another way. The second class of Indians,
those who must remain for some years longer under the
guardianship of the United States, were eventually to
become citizens. To fit them for the duties and privi-
leges which would then be theirs, they ought gradually
to be made familiar with the simpler forms of legal pro-
cedure ; and for this courts were necessary.

It was a question of meeting the needs of one or both
of these classes. After a careful consideration of the
subject, Commissioner Morgan decided that the utmost
that could be done at present was to help the non-citizen
Indians by extending the jurisdiction of the courts of
Indian offenses. With this end in view he enlarged and
modified the regulations under which the courts were
established. Sufficient time has not elapsed to test the
working of the new rules.*

The vital connection which education bears to the rest

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1892, pp. 27-31.

OUTLINE OP THE INDIAN POLICY. 51

of the reform movement is apparent on the surface.
Citizenship does not rightfully belong to the incapable
and the unlettered. The Indians must be made worthy
of their new dignity, and one means to this end is to be
found in an effective school system.

Education had been theoretically a part of the civiliza-
tion policy of the Government for many years. As far
back as March 3, 1819, Congress had passed an act*
appropriating ten thousand dollars annually for the
payment of suitable persons to instruct the Indians in
agriculture, and to teach their children reading, writing,
and arithmetic. February 27 of that same year the
United States had agreed to sell certain lands belong-
ing to the Cherokee Indians for the purpose of raising a
fund to educate their youth. f Subsequently, agreements
had been made with numerous tribes to set aside a por-
tion of their annuities for the support of schools. In
many of the treaties made by the Peace Commission in
1868, the Indians had pledged themselves to send all
their children between the ages of six and sixteen to
school, and the United States had promised to erect a
school-house and employ a teacher for every thirty who
should attend. J

But it was not until 1876 that Indian education, as-
now understood, was begun by the Government. In that
year, in addition to the amounts due the various tribes
by treaty for educational purposes, Congress appropriated
twenty thousand dollars for the support of Indian

* U. S. Statutes at Large, III, 516.

+ American State Papers, Indian Affairs, II, 188.

1 See U. S. Statutes at Large, xv.

52 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

schools. In 1879 an act was passed, authorizing the
Secretary of War " to detail an officer of the army * *
* for special duty with reference to Indian education."*
In 1882 the office of Inspector of Schoolsf was created,
but the incumbent was invested with no powers. I Mean-
while the annual appropriations steadily increased, pass-
ing in 1886 the million point.

The passage of the Land in Severalty Bill had a direct
bearing upon the education question. In withholding
from the Indians for twenty-five years the power to
alienate their lands, it left them in a state of " quasi-
independence " ; and, in exempting their lands from
taxation for the same length of time, it practically ex-
cluded their children from public schools. It thus became
the duty of the Government to make educational provision
for these children, and recent legislation would seem to
indicate that Congress views the matter in the same
light. The duties of the Superintendent of Indian
Schools have been broadened ; § compulsory education

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1879, p. 189.

+ Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1882, p. 190.

X " The first Superintendent died in 1885, and his successor says of
him that he was esteemed an able and excellent man, ' but at the time
of his death he had not determined the functions of his office.' His suc-
cessor was appointed in the following May, and when he made his
report in November, 1885, had found out that ' the duties of the office
were suggested by its title, but not defined by law.' When he resigned
his office to take another position, after a year's faithful effort to find out
what these duties were, he was decidedly of the opinion that they con-
sisted largely of bearing responsibility before the public for acts which
he had no power to originate or determine." Eighteenth Annual Report
of the Board of Indian Commissioners, 1886, p. 65.

§ See U. S. Statutes at Large, xxiv, 464.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 53

has been adopted ; * Superintendents, Assistant Superin-
tendents, and teachers have been put on the classified
list of the Civil Service ; f last, but not least, the annual
appropriations have been exceedingly generous.

The present educational policy began, as before said,
about twenty years ago. Its rapid growth may be
seen from a comparison of the appropriations of 1876
and 1892, that of the latter year being nearly one hun-
dred and fifteen times as large as that of the former. J
The Government has'not itself, however, supervised the
expenditure of all this money. It has given a portion of
it into the hands* of religious bodies for the conduct of
their schools. § In the beginning this course was doubt-
less wise. But with the flight of time has come a grow-
ing sentiment that this union of church and State is
contrary to the spirit of our institutions and in direct
violation to the first amendment of our Constitution,
which provides that " Congress shall make no laws
respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof."! It has been alleged also that
a premium is being put upon " the use of ecclesiastical
power for political purposes in the shaping of legisla-
tion."^ This sentiment was re-enforced by the refusal of

* See U. S. Statutes at Large, xxvi, 1014.

t See Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, I,
156-8. The machinery necessary to enforce these rules is still lacking.

i The appropriations reached their maximum in 1892. Those for
1893 and 1894 have been less. See Report of the Commissioner of In-
dian Affairs for 1894, p. 9.

§ This feature of the educational policy was adopted in 1819. See
American State Papers, Indian Affairs, II, 200-1, 272, 275-7.

II Report of the Board of Indian Commissioners for 1890, p. 92.

H Ibid., 93-4.

54 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

the Bureau of Catholic Missions to submit to Government
regulations imposed alike upon contract and Government
schools. The consequent agitation resulted in a decrease
of the amount appropriated to contract schools in 1893,
and in the passage of an act in 1894, directing the Secre-
tary of the Interior " to inquire into and investigate the
propriety of discontinuing contract schools."* This
would seem to point to the ultimate assumption by Gov-
ernment of the entire control of Indian education.

Such are the lines along which the reform movement
is working. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to justify
a prediction as to its final results, but these will be deter-
mined largely during the next few years. Now, if ever,
the Indians need the friends who have served them so
well during the last two decades. The Land in Severalty
Bill is open to evils which must be carefully guarded
against. Most notable among these are throwing open
the reservations to allotment before the Indians are ready
for it, and settling the Indians upon poor lands. The
first is caused by the rapacity of the whites for surplus
lands ; and the second, by their desire that these lands
shall be of the best.f Manifestly the preventive of these
evils lies in a pure administration of our Indian service.
The Government officers, from the highest to the lowest,
must be men of integrity and ability, and must not be
removed for political reasons. The spoils system must
be entirely abandoned. A step in this direction was
taken by President Harrison, who, by executive order,

* Twelfth Annual Keport of the Executive Committee of the Indian
Rights Association, 8.

t See Twelfth Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the
Indian Rights Association, 37-38.

OUTLINE OF THE INDIAN POLICY. 55

April 13, 1891, extended the Civil Service rules so as to
embrace the appointments of Superintendents, Assistant
Superintendents, physicians, teachers, and matrons. The
welfare of the Indians demands a further extension of
these rules. The agents are as yet selected without any
guarantee as to their integrity or fitness for the positions
which they are to occupy ; and these agents are, and
must remain for some time, most important factors in
the development of the Indians, and upon them largely
depends the preparation of these Indians for citizenship.
Finally, the thorough carrying out of the reform
movement demands a comprehensive system* of educa-
tion. Enough schools must be provided to accommodate
all the Indian youth, and of such a character as to make
it possible to merge them ultimately in our public school
system. f We have attempted a final solution of the
Indian question. The character of the solution, how-
ever, is still a problem. It may be that after all we are
forcing citizenship upon the Indians before they are
ready for it. Even at this late date a change of policy
may be necessary. It is the duty of the American people,
as represented by Congress, to study the results of the
present policy so carefully that their future legislation
shall redound to the welfare of the Indians and to the
honor of the Republic.

* For an outline of such a system, see T. J. Morgan's Indian Educa-
tion.

t The Indian Office is making an effort in this direction by offering
the public schools of the States ten dollars a quarter for every Indian
child within their limits who shall attend.

CHAPTER II.

The Sioux from 1803 to 1850.

It was in the year 1803, during the presidency of
Jefferson, that the United States purchased the Louisiana
Territory from France. It was a country of vast extent,
larger in area than the original thirteen colonies, and of
great resources, but as yet little known. That portions
of it abounded in rich fur-bearing animals was evidenced
by the lucrative trade which the English carried on with
the natives ;" and it was Jefferson's desire to turn this
trade into American channels which prompted the Lewis
and Clark expeditions of the years 1804 to 1806.* He
wished to open a field to the private- American trader
whom the Government trading-houses had dislodged east
of the Mississippi ; and with this end in view he urged
.the exploration of the Missouri to its source and the
search for an overland route to the Pacific. The advance
in the geographical knowledge of our continent was re-
garded as purely incidental, as " an additional gratifica-
tion."!

The expedition was made, and the records of it fur-
nish us with our fir&t reliable information concerning
the location of the Sioux tribes. It will be necessary to
pause here for a moment to draw the distinction between
the terms Siouan and Sioux. Siouan is an adjective derived
from the word Sioux and used to denote the entire lin-

* See Jefferson's Message of January 18, 1803 : Amer. State Papers,
Ind. Affs., I, 684.

+ American State Papers, Ind. Affs., I, 685.

THE SIOUX FROM 1803 TO 1850.

guistic stock of which the Sioux, or more properly the
Dakotas, are the most important division. Sioux is " a
corruption of the Algonkin word nadotve-ssi-wag , ' the
snake-like ones'. * * * The term 'Dahcota' (Da-
kota) was correctly applied by Gallatin to the Dakota
tribes proper as distinguished from the other members
of the linguistic family who are not Dakotas in a tribal
sense."*

Lewis and Clark left St. Louis May 14, 1804, and
ascended the Missouri river to its source, at the same
time exploring much of the surrounding country. They
then crossed the Rocky Mountains, and followed the
Columbia river to the Pacific Ocean, returning to St.
Louis after an absence of two years and four months.
During this expedition they visited the various Sioux
tribes, obtained as much information about them as they
could under the circumstances, and located them as
definitely as was possible with a roving people. According
to Lewis and Clark^ the Sioux were divided into ten
bands, and, to quote the words of these explorers, were
located as follows :

" First, Yanktons. This tribe inhabits the Sioux, Des
Moines, and Jacques rivers, and numbers about two hun-
dred warriors.

" Second, Tetons of the Burnt Woods. * * * This
tribe numbers about three hundred men, who rove on
both sides of the Missouri, White, and Teton rivers.

" Third, Tetons Okandandas(Ogallalas),a tribe consist-
ing of about one hundred and fifty men, who inhabit
both sides of the Missouri below the Cheyenne river.

Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1885-6, 111-112.

58 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

" Fourth, Tetons Minnakenozzo (Minneconjou), a nation
inhabiting both sides of the Missouri above the Cheyenne
river, and containing about two hundred and fifty men.

" Fifth, Tetons Saone. These inhabit both sides of the
Missouri below the Warreconne river, and consist of
about three hundred men.

" Sixth, Yanktons of the * * * Plains, or Big Dev-
ils, who rove on the heads of the Sioux, Jacques, and Red
rivers ; the most numerous of all the tribes, numbering
about five hundred men.

" Seventh, Wahpatone, * * * a nation residing on
the St. Peter's, just above the mouth of that river, num-
bering two hundred men.

"Eighth, Mindawarcarton(Mdewakantonwan). * * *
These possess the original seat of the Sioux, and are
properly so denominated. They rove on both sides of
the Mississippi about the falls of St. Anthony, and con-
sist of three hundred men.

" Ninth, The Wahpatoota (Wahpekute). * * * This
nation inhabits both sides of the river St. Peter's, below
Yellow-wood river, amounting to about one hundred and
fifty men.

"Tenth, Sistasoone (Sisseton). This nation numbers
two hundred men, who reside at the head of St. Peter's."*

The aggregate number of souls in these bands was
about nine thousand three hundred. This was, however,
only approximate ; for it must be remembered that they
were roving bands, moving hither and thither as the exi-
gencies of the hunt or trade might require. The Statis-
tical View of 1806 says that much of the land belonging

* Coues' Lewis and Clark Expedition, I, 97-102.

THE SIOUX FROM 1803 TO 1850. 59

to the Sioux was fertile, and a large part of it well tim-
bered and watered. The Mdewakantonwans, however, were
the only band that cultivated corn, etc. ; and even these
could not properly be termed a stationary people. The
Sissetons, living in a country abounding in valuable fur-
bearing animals, such as the beaver, otter, and martin,
purchased more merchandise in proportion to their num-
bers than any other neighboring tribe ; and disposed of
a large part of this merchandise in their trade with the
Tetons. As a rule, these tribes, together with the Wah-
pekute and Wahpeton, their neighbors, treated their
traders well.*

Certainly as much could not be said of the Tetons,
" the pirates of the Missouri." These, says Clark, " rely-
ing on a regular supply of merchandise through the
channel of the river St. Peter's, * * * view with
contempt the merchants of the Missouri, whom they
never fail to plunder when in their power. "f And this,
he thought, they would continue to do until, in his own
words, " such measures are pursued by our Government
as will make them feel a dependence on its will for their
supply of merchandise."]:

The Yanktons, says Lewis, " are the best disposed
Sioux who rove on the banks of the Missouri, and these
even will not suffer any trader to ascend the river, if
they can possibly avoid it ; they have heretofore, invari-

* Lewis' Statistical View : Coues' Lewis and Clark Expedition, I,
99-100, note.

+ Lewis' Statistical View, 1806 : Coues' Lewis and Clark Expedi-
tion, I, 128, note 67.

t Lewis' Statistical View, 1806 : Coues' Lewis and Clark Expedition,
I, 128, note 67.

60 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

ably, arrested the progress of all those they have met
with, and generally compelled them to trade at the prices,
nearly, which they themselves think proper to fix on
their merchandise. * * * Their trade, if well regu-
lated, might be rendered extremely valuable."* This
band was independent of the other Sioux bands, as, in-
deed, each was of the others.

Such are the important facts concerning the Sioux in
the years 1805-6. On the whole, Lewis and Clark's
classification is remarkably close to that recently made
by Major J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of Eth-
nology, f Several bands of Tetons are omitted in the
former, but, under the circumstances, such a discrepancy
is not surprising.

* Coues' Lewis and Clark Expedition, I, 94, footnote 8. Quoted from
Statistical View, London ed., 1807, p. 18.

t Major J. W. Powell's classification is as follows :

A. Sontee : including Mdewakantonwan and Wahpekute. [Lewis

and Clark's eighth and ninth tribes.]

B. Sisseton. [Lewis and Clark's tenth tribe.]

C. Wahpeton. [Lewis and Clark's seventh tribe.]

D. Yankton. [Lewis and Clark's first tribe.]

E. Yanktonnais. [Lewis and Clark's sixth tribe.]

F. Teton.

(a) Brule\ [Lewis and Clark's second tribe.]

(b) Sans Arcs.

(d) Minneconjou. [Lewis and Clark's fourth tribe.]

(e) Two Kettles.

(f) Ogallala. [Lewis and Clark's third tribe.]

(g) Uncpapa.

Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for 1885-6, 114-15.

There has been much discussion concerning Lewis and Clark's fifth
tribe. Coues says the balance of evidence is in favor of referring it to.
the Yanktonnais: Coues' Lewis and Clark Expedition, I, 101, note 10.

THE SIOUX FROM 1S03 TO 1850.

In the year 1805 Captain Zebulon M. Pike was com-
missioned by the War Department to explore the sources
of the Mississippi and " the internal parts of Louisiana."*
In his report of this expedition we find some interesting
comments on the fur trade. Mr. Jay's treaty of 1794f
had given British subjects the right to trade with In-
dians on American soil, but had not " exempted them
from paying the duties, obtaining licenses, and subscrib-
ing unto all the rules and restrictions of our laws."J
They had accepted the privilege, but not the obligations
accompanying it. As a result they were able to under-
sell our traders ; and, indeed, had quite driven them
from the field. Lieutenant Pike laid the matter before
the Northwest Company, and obtained from it a promise
to observe our regulations in the future. This advantage
was followed in 1809 by the organization of the American
Fur Company, which in 1811 was consolidated with the
Mackinavvr Company and formed the Southwest Com-
pany. But in 1812 the war broke out, and the trade of
the Southwest Company was ruined. The company re-
appeared, however, in 1816, the same year in which
Congress passed a law§ prohibiting foreigners from car-
rying on the fur trade within the territories of the United

* Captain Pike's classification and location of the Sioux tribes agrees
substantially with that made by Lewis and Clark. His judgment of
their numbers is greater and his conception of their morality higher ;
but these are points upon which individual explorers might well differ,
depending upon the extent and thoroughness of the exploration, the
temper of the natives at the time and their reception of the explorers.

t See Treaties and Conventions, 380-1.

t Pike's Expedition, Appendix to Part I, 14.

4 U. S. Statutes at Large, III, 332.

62 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

States. This was aimed at the English and was designed
t© end their influence over our Indian tribes. But it was
soon found that foreign clerks, interpreters, and boatmen
could not be dispensed with ; and, in the summer of
1816, the Secretary of the Treasury issued orders to
Indian agents to license foreigners in these capacities
" on their giving bond with large penalties for good con-
duct in the Indian country."* British traders eagerly
seized this opportunity, passed the American agencies in
the guise of clerks and interpreters, and, once in the
country, took possession of the goods which had made
their way through the lines as the property of an Amer-
ican, whose employee the British trader had presumably
been.f The English, therefore, continued to hold a
monopoly of the fur trade for some years longer ; and
this despite the fact that in 1814 the Government had
" provided for locating trading posts " at Green Bay and
Prairie du Chien, and in 1816 had sent garrisons there.};
Here, as elsewhere, the Government trading-houses
proved a failure. They neither attached the Indians to
the United States, nor counteracted the influence of the
British trader. During these years, therefore, the Sioux
were unaffected by the national policy.

In the war of 1812 the Indians of the Northwest had,
for the most part, sided with Great Britain ; and, at the
close of the war, treaties were made between the United

* Wis. Hist. Colls., II, 103.

+ See Wis. Hist. Colls., IT, 103 ; Minn. Hist. Colls., V, 9 ; Turner,
Character and Influence of Indian Trade in Wisconsin, 57-8. For the
attitude of the English toward these posts, as affecting their relations
with the Indians, see Mich. Pioneer Colls., XVI, 76 ff.

t Turner, Character and Influence of Indian Trade in Wisconsin, 58.

THE SIOUX PROM 1803 TO 1850.

States and the various tribes for the purpose of re-estab-
lishing peace and friendship. These treaties read as
follows :

"Article 1. Every injury, or act of hostility, com-
mitted by one or either of the contracting parties against
the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.

"Art. 2. There shall be perpetual peace and friend-
ship between all the citizens of the United States of
America and all the individuals composing the said

tribe ; and the friendly relations that existed between

them before the war shall be, and the same are hereby,
renewed.

" Art. 3. The undersigned chiefs and warriors, for
themselves and their said tribe, do hereby acknowledge
themselves and their aforesaid tribe to be under the
protection of the United States of America, and of no
other nation, power, or sovereign whatsoever."*

During the years 1815 and 1816 five such treaties were
made with the Sioux ; one with the " Teetons,"f one with
the " Sioux of the Lakes "J (Mdewakantonwan), one with
the "Sioux of the river St. Peter's "§ (Wahpeton), one
with the " Yanctons,"|| and one with the " Siouxs of the
Leaf, the Siouxs of the Broad Leaf, and the Siouxs
who shoot in the Pine Tops "1" (probably Wahpekute).

From this time until 1825 the Government had but
slight dealings with these bands. The United States

* U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 125.

t Ibid.

tlbid., 126.

§ Ibid , 127.

II Ibid., 128.

11 Ibid., 143.

64 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

had not yet extended its frontiers to their territory, and
there were no critical conditions calling for legislation.
It was the almost continuous intertribal warfare between
the Sioux and their inveterate enemies, the Chippewas,
and the wars between the Sioux, Sacs and Foxes, and
Ioways, which next called the attention of the United
States to the western Indians. These constant feuds
interrupted trade and endangered the lives of those citi-
zens living in this part of the country. Sound polity,
therefore, and humanitarian motives regarding the wel-
fare of the Indians prompted the Government to attempt
mediation. Accordingly, commissioners were sent to
Prairie du Chien, and August 19, 1825, a treaty was made
" with the Sioux and Chippewa, Sacs and Fox, Manomi-
nie, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the Ot-
tawa, Chippewa, and Potawattomie tribes."*

By this treaty boundaries! were established between
the tribes, and perpetual peace declared between those
that had been at war.

During this same year three other treaties were made
with the Sioux} to perpetuate friendship with them
and to remove all future dissention concerning trade. In
these treaties the various bands promised to protect the
persons and property of United States traders and agents,

* U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 272 ff. The Sioux were represented
by the "Wahpetong," " Sussitong," " Wappacoota," " Medawakan-
ton " and " Yancton " tribes.

t These boundary lines were not complete because some of the tribes
interested were absent from the council.

$ One with the "Teton, Yanctons, and Yanctonies bands : " U. S.
Statutes at Large, VII, 250 ; one with the " Siouna and Ogallala tribes : "
ibid., 252 ; one with the " Hunkpapas band : " ibid., 257.

THE SIOUX FROM 1803 TO 1850.

to give safe conduct to persons legally authorized by the
United States to pass through their country, and to
apprehend and deliver to United States authorities for-
eigners not so authorized. There were other provisions
of minor importance concerning points which, if not
made clear, might cause future trouble.*

The treaty of Prairie du Chien, which had been made
in the hope of promoting peace between the warring
bands of Indians, did not accomplish its object. In the
report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1829-30,
we read that the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes are still
fighting each other,f and that they will, it is presumed,
continue to do so " until some one or other of the tribes
shall become too reduced and feeble to carry on the war,
when it will be lost as a separate power."J Meanwhile,
however, the United States again attempted mediation,
and this led to the treaty of July 15, 1830. According to
Article I of this treaty, the Indians relinquished a certain
tract of land between the Missouri and Demoine rivers.
This tract was to be assigned or allotted under the direc-
tion of the President of the United States to the tribes
then living thereon, or to such other tribes as the Presi-
dent might locate thereon for hunting or other purposes.
In consideration of this cession the United States agreed
to pay the various tribes certain annuities for ten }^ears,§

* See U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 253, Art. 5. This article pro-
vided for the punishment of individuals for injuries done the Indians,
and for the recovery of stolen property or indemnification therefor.

+ For a graphic account of one of these Indian massacres, see Wis.
Hist. Colls., IX, 323 ff.

t Niles Register, XXXVII, 363.

§ To the Sioux of the Mississippi, two thousand dollars. To the
Yankton and Santee bands, three thousand dollars. To the Mdewakan-

6G RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

and to spend annually for the same number of years
three thousand dollars in educating their children. The
Yankton and Santee bands of Sioux were not represented
at the council at which these articles were drawn up, but
signed the treaty some seven months later. That the
provisions of this treaty were not understood by all the
Indian tribes party to it, is demonstrated by the trouble
which arose when the President assigned the ceded tract
of land to the Winnebagoes. The Sioux then asserted
that, at the council, one of the United States Commis-
sioners had explained to them that this was to be neutral
territory, held in trust by the United States for the tribes
party to the treaty by which it had been ceded.* The
words of Article I, however, bore out the United States,
and the Sioux finally }delded.

During the next few years little was heard of the Sioux.
They were scarcely mentioned at all in the reports of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs except in connection
with the annuities due them by the treaty of 1830. The
United States had grown hardened to the intertribal war-
fare upon its northwestern frontier, a warfare which ap-
parently it was powerless to stop ; and the Sioux were
left to themselves.

It was in behalf of the State of Missouri that the Gov-

tonwan, Wahpekute, Wahpeton, and Sisseton bands of Sioux, "one
blacksmith at the expense of the United States, and the necessary
tools ; also instruments for agricultural purposes, and iron and steel to
the amount of seven hundred dollars." To the Yankton and Santee
bands of Sioux, " one blacksmith at the expense of the United States,
and the necessary tools, also instruments for agricultural purposes to the
amount of four hundred dollars." U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 329.

* See Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1836-7 : Ex.
Docs., 24th Cong., 2nd Sess., Vol. I, 369-70.

THE SIOUX FROM 1803 TO 1850.

eminent next approached them. By the treaty of Prairie
du Chien in 1830, the Indians, as before said, ceded a
certain tract of land with the understanding that it was
to be assigned to the tribes then living thereon, or to be
located thereon in the future by the President. A por-
tion of this tract lay between the western boundary of
Missouri and the Missouri river.* This the citizens of
the State were naturally anxious to possess, and the Fed-
eral Government was induced to treat with the Indians
for its cession. Conventions were held with the various
tribes in the fall of 1836, and the land purchased of them.f
The Sioux sold their right for $1,950, Wabashaw's tribe
receiving $400, J the Yankton and Santee bands $1,000,§
the Wahpekute, Sisseton, and Upper Mdewakantonwan
tribes $550.||

This was the first of a series of cessions. The second
was made in the year 1837, and this time the motives
which prompted the United States to treat were of na-
tional importance. Negotiations were begun in pursu-
ance of the central principle of the removal policy, the
policy of buying up all the Indian lands in the States and
Territories, and massing the Indians on the west side of the
Mississippi. Deputations of chiefs were invited to Wash-
ington to impress them with the strength of our nation,

* See U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 328-9.

t There were three separate treaties with the Sioux.

X U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 510-11.

$ Ibid., 525.

I! Ibid., 527. The next year the Yanktous sold their right to the en-
tire tract of land ceded by the various tribes to the Government in 1830,
with the provision that it shonld remain Indian country. This treaty of
October 21, 1837, with the Yanktons has been omitted from the text for
the sake of simplification. See U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 542-3.

68 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

and to make them sensible of the advantages which flow
from civilization. It was during this visit that the
Mdewakantonwan Sioux ceded to the United States all
their lands " east of the Mississippi river and all their
islands in the said river."* The United States, on its
part, promised to invest the sum of $300,000 in safe State
stocks, and to pay the Indians ''annually, forever," an
interest of five per cent, thereon ; to distribute $110,000
among the mixed bloods ; to apply $90,000 to the pay-
ment of the just debts of the tribe ; to pay $10,000 annu-
ally for twenty years to the chiefs and braves ; to expend
$8,250 annually for twenty years " in the purchase of
medicines, agricultural implements and stock and for the
support of a physician, farmers and blacksmiths ; " to
expend $5,500 annually for twenty years in the purchase
of provisions ; to supply the Indians as soon as possible,
to an amount not exceeding $10,000, " with agricultural
implements, mechanics' tools, cattle and such other ar-
ticles" as might be useful to them ; to deliver $6,000 in
goods to the chiefs and braves.

If we may judge from the above provisions, an attempt
was to be made to start the Mdewakantonwans upon an ag-
ricultural life. They had subsisted hitherto chiefly by
the hunt, although as far back as 1805 they had'been
known to raise small quantities of corn and beans. But
dependence upon the hunt was becoming somewhat pre-
carious. The results of the long continued depredations
of the British half-breeds, who crossed the border and
killed great numbers of buffalo, f were beginning to be

* U. S. Statutes at Large, VII, 538.

t " The British half-breeds of the North Red river still continue their
annual incursions upon the hunting grounds of the Sioux within our ter-

THE SIOUX FROM 1803 TO I860. 69

felt. Other game, too^.was becoming scarce and the trade
in furs had decreased. The annuities were therefore
yery welcome to the Mdewakantonwans. But they showed
little inclination to settle down to agriculture. It would
have been strange indeed if they had shown any. It
would have meant the laying aside of instincts and
habits, and the adoption of an entirely new mode of life.
Moreover, the United States was by no means prompt
in providing agricultural implements, tools, and cattle.
The backwardness of the Mdewakantonwans in taking
hold of farming seems, therefore, most natural, and the
discouragement of the agent a little unreasonable. At
this time, too, the whisky traffic was exerting a most
demoralizing influence over the Indians. The liquor was
introduced largely by factors of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, though our own traders were not without fault.
Suffering from scarcity of game, demoralized by whisky,
and harassed by their fierce enemies, the Chippewas, the
Sioux had a sorry time of it. No wonder the Commis-
sioner wrote in 1847 that there was a strong desire among

ritory, and slaughter large numbers of buffalo, the meat of which is
dried, and used for the subsistence of the traders connected with the
Hudson's Bay Company, and also kill other animals valuable for their
furs. * * * These incursions have led to quarrels and disputes be-
tween them and the Sioux, some of which are said to have been attend-
ed with fatal consequences. The British half-breeds complained of are
represented as numerous, warlike, and well armed, and consequently
come into our territory prepared to resist any attempt on the part of the
Sioux to drive them away." Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
1845-6: Sen. Ex. Docs., 2nd Sess., 28th Cong., I, 454.

The United States sent a detachment of dragoons in 1845 to inform
these half breeds that they would not be allowed to hunt within our ter-
ritories, but this order had little effect.

70 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

them to increase their annuities and that land was prob-
ably purchasable.*

Such is a brief outline of the history of the Sioux from
1803 to 1850. Thus far they had been a factor of com-
paratively slight importance in the determination of the
governmental policy, and had been little affected by it.
Placed on the frontiers of the United States, and remote
from civilized communities of any size, they had been
left free to live as they chose, the Government paying
little heed to them except as it found occasion to make
treaties with the various tribes and bands. Up to this
time no accurate estimate had been made of their num-
bers, and only a few tribes had been at all definitely lo-
cated. With the great body of the Sioux roaming over the
plains of the Missouri the Government had had no rela-
tions whatever,! and its hold upon even the Sioux of the
Mississippi]: was very loose. An attempt, as we have
seen, had been made to start the Mdewakantonwans upon
an agricultural life. But that the Government was not
sanguine as to the result of this attempt may be seen
from these words of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
in 1848: "Of the Sioux it is not probable that many
Avill remain for any considerable period in the Mississippi
regions ; wild and untameable and scattered over an im-
mense extent of country, no effort could concentrate
them ; and living wholly by the chase they will probably

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1846-47: Ex. Docs.,
2nd Seas., 29th Cong., I, 244.

t The treaty of 1815 with the Tetons and those of 1815 and 1837 with
the Yanktons were made by representatives of only a small portion of
these large tribes.

t Mdewakantonwan, Wahpekute, Sisseton, and Wahpeton bands.

TJ1K siorx FROM 1608 TO 1850. 71

follow the buffalo and other game as it gradually disap-
pears towards the Rocky Mountains, either in the direc-
tion of the head-waters of the Platte or of the Missouri
river or both."*

Here it may be noted how large a part the abun-
dance and scarcity of game played in determining the
attitude of the Indians toward the Government and vice
versa. As long as the tribes found it easy to support
themselves by the hunt, so long they felt independent
and disinclined to look with favor upon overtures for the
cession of lands.f In the preamble of the treaty of 1837
with the Mdewakantonwans, it was alleged that they were
influenced to cede this portion of their territory by the
fact that it was becoming valueless to them for the pur-
pose of hunting. And there can be no doubt that the
cession of 1851 was the more easily obtained from the
Mississippi Sioux because they realized that their only
hope for future subsistence lay in farming and annuities.
The inroads of British half-breeds and the pressure of
the white population were bringing about a rapid extinc-
tion of game.

It is well to note this point here, because from the year
1851 it will be necessary to treat separately the Sioux of
the Mississippi and the wilder Sioux of the plains. The
easterly bands had then become absolutely dependent
upon the Government, and their future, once for all, lay
in its hands ; the westerly were still independent, because
still in possession of broad hunting grounds and, as yet,

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1848, p. 300.

t This same question of subsistence by the hunt determined in large
measure their migrations. See Lewis H. Morgan's Indian Migrations,
No. Am., 109: 391.

72 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

not demoralized by the pernicious system of annuities.
Speaking in a broad way, the fate of the former depended
upon the governmental policy ; the conduct x>f the latter
temporarily determined that policy.

This same year, then, may be taken as the turning-
point in the history of the Sioux. They rose from unim-
portance to importance in our national councils. Hith-
erto they had been too remote from the borders either to
affect public policy or to be influenced by it. But during
the forties the spread of the white population had been
rapid beyond all expectation. It was no longer a question
of pushing the frontier-line westward. Settlements leaped
the line and projected themselves into the very heart of
the Indian country. To save the border tribes from ex-
tinction, it seemed necessary to throw open wide tracts of
land as outlets for the eager emigrants ; and, in order
to protect these emigrants, to adopt a conciliatory atti-
tude toward the Indians. The Sioux, numerically of
great strength, warlike in their instincts, and possessing
a vast territory, became an important factor in the ever
more difficult Indian question.

CHAPTER III.

The Sioux op the Mississippi from 1850 to 189o.

The lamentable condition of the Mississippi Sioux
during the latter part of the forties has been described
in the previous chapter. The pressure of the white pop-
ulation and the inroads of the British half-breeds were
bringing about the rapid extinction of game ; and the
Indians were unsuccessful in the small amount of farm-
ing which they had attempted. Starvation stared them
in the face. On the other hand, it became impossible,
indeed it had always been impossible, to enforce the in-
tercourse laws, and emigrants were steadily encroaching
upon Indian lands. It was imperative that something
be done ; and in July and August of 1851 councils were
held with the Mississippi Sioux for the cession of a part
of their territory. Two treaties were made with them :
one with the Sisseton and Wahpeton, the other with the
Mdewakantonwan and Wahpekute bands. By these
treaties they ceded all their lands within the boundaries
of the present States of Iowa and Minnesota, except a
comparatively small district on both sides of the Minne-
sota river.* The Senate struck out the latter provision
and added a supplemental article by which the United
States agreed to pay the said tribes ten cents per acre for

* " All that tract of country on either side of the Minnesota river
from the western boundary of the lands herein ceded, east to the Tchay-
tam-bay river on the north, and to the Yellow Medicine river on the
south side, to extend, on each side, a distance not less than ten miles
from the general course of said river." U. S. Statutes at Large, X, 949.

74 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

the land in the designated reservation, and also author-
ized the President, in the words of the treaty, to " set
apart * * * such tracts of country without the lim-
its of the cession * * * as may be satisfactory for
their future occupancy and home : provided, that the
President may, by the consent of these Indians, vary the
conditions aforesaid if deemed expedient."*

The United States promised to pay the Sisseton and
Wahpeton bands $1,665,000, as follows : $275,000 to be
paid to the chiefs for the subsistence of the tribes during
the first year after their removal ; $30,000 "to be laid
out under the direction of the President for the establish-
ment of manual-labor schools, the erection of mills and
blacksmiths' shops, opening of farms, fencing and break-
ing land, and for * * * other beneficial objects * *
* conducive to the prosperity and happiness of said In-
dians ; " the remainder, $1,360,000, to be held in trust by
the United States and to draw an annual interest of five
per cent, for fifty years. This interest was to be applied
thus : $12,000 to be set apart as a " general agricultural
improvement and civilization fund ; " $6,000 to be used
for educational purposes ; $10,000 to be spent in the
purchase of goods and provisions ; and $40,000 to be paid
as a money annuity.f

The Mdewakantonwan and Wahpekute bands received
$1,410,000, to be applied in substantially the same way.J

* U. S. Statutes at Large, X, 952.

t Ibid., 949-950.

J $220,000 to be paid to the chiefs for the subsistence of the tribe
one year after removal ; $30,000 to be spent for manual-labor schools,
etc. ; $1,160,000 to be set apart as a trust fund, and to draw an annual
interest of five per cent, for fifty years, interest to be applied as follows :
$12,000 to be set apart as a civilization fund ; $6,000 to be used for edu-
cational purposes ; $10,000 to be spent for goods and provisions; $30,000
to be paid as a money annuity. U. S. Statutes at Large, X, 954-59.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 75

Before the treaties had been ratified the whites who
had been hovering on the borders poured into the coun-
try, thus demonstrating once more the inefficiency of the
intercourse laws. The Indians were obliged to remain
on the ceded lands, for the President had not yet as-
signed them a reservation. Inevitable confusion resulted,
and for the sake of both whites and Indians it became
necessary to move the latter. The President then as-
signed to them for five years the reservation which was
to have been theirs by the treaty of 1851. But the In-
dians were much dissatisfied and little inclined to settle
down to agriculture. They felt that it would be a waste
of money to improve land which was to be theirs only a
short time. They begged that the reservation be secured
to them as a permanent home, and this was finally done
in 1854.*

The treatment of the Sioux during these years is a
striking instance of the short-sighted, wavering, and in-
consistent policy of the Government. The Sioux were
to devote themselves to agriculture, but they were in-
duced to cede that part of their territory best suited to
this purpose, and after much delay settled upon a com-
paratively poor reservation. They needed instruction in
the art of agriculture ; they needed tools and cattle ; but
provision was made to apply hardly more than one-half

* The act of July 31, 1854, authorized the President " to confirm to
the Sioux of Minnesota forever the reserve on the Minnesota river now
occupied by them, upon such conditions as he may deem just." U. S.
Statutes at Large, X, 326. This confirmation was never formally made.
U. S. Statutes at Large, XII, 1038. But the Indians were assured that
they might consider the reserve their permanent home. Report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1854-5 : Sen. Docs., 33d Cong., 2nd
Sess., 272.

76 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

of their interest annuity to these ends, and the money so
applied was neither promptly nor entirely nor carefully
spent. The annuities were allowed to fall into arrears,
and especially those portions upon whose wise expendi-
ture the progress of the Indians in agriculture depended.
Few farmers were provided, and these were seldom com-
petent ; while the tools were often of the poorest grade
or inappropriate.* Thus the introduction of the Sioux to
their new life was not propitious. They made little
progress and felt keenly the difference between their for-
mer freedom and their present dependence. This was
the condition of affairs at the time of the Spirit Lake
massacres. And it was the well-known discontent of the
Sioux which led many to believe that they, as a nation,
were concerned in this most unfortunate occurrence.

In the early forties the Wahpekute band was under the
leadership of two chiefs, one of them, Wamdisapa by
name, of notoriously ill-repute. Peace had been made be-
tween the Sac and Fox tribe and the Sioux ; but Wam-
disapa and his followers still continued hostile, and,
moving westward, were gradually separated from the rest
of the Wahpekute band. When the treaty of 1851 was
made, by which the Sioux of the Mississippi ceded a large

* " Have the officers under the President applied those funds so ap-
propriated in the manner stipulated by the treaties ? I can distinctly
say, no ! The treaties say these funds shall be annually expended,
whereas large amounts have been kept back, and are now in arrear, and
after repeated applications to have them expended. These arrears are
not mere petty sums, surplusses or remnants of funds remaining unex-
pended, but large amounts, thousands and tens of thousands, and in
some cases the whole fund appropriated for a special purpose." Report
of P. Prescott, Superintendent farming for Sioux : Report of Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1856-7, p. 606 : Ex. Docs., 34th Cong., 3d
Sess., Vol. I, Pt. I.

THK SIOUX FROM 1860 TO 1893. 77

territory, this remnant of Wamdisapa's band was not rec-
ognized as a part of the Wahpekute Sioux and took no
part in the treaty. Later, when the annuities were being
paid, some of these Indians appeared at the agency and
insisted upon a share. By 1857 the band, now under
Inkpaduta, consisted of only about half a dozen lodges,
but still retained its lawless and predatory habits. It was
this straggling band that committed the massacres of
Spirit Lake and Springfield in March, 1857, killing
about forty-two persons. As soon as the news reached
the agency efforts were made to overtake and punish the
murderers, but these efforts were unsuccessful. The Mis-
sissippi Sioux were then called together and told that
their annuities should cease until the murderers, their
relatives, should have been brought to justice ; and were
required to send out a part}r in search of them. This the
Sioux at first declined to do unless accompanied by
United States troops. They yielded the point, however,
and sent out an expedition to seek the murderers. But
by this time Inkpaduta' s band had divided and the Sioux
party overtook only a portion of it, killing three warriors
and mortally wounding one. Feeling that they had done
their duty they returned home, and the Government re-
sumed the payment of annuities.*

There was a general feeling throughout the country at
this time that we were on the brink of a Sioux war. It
is true that on one occasion a hostile demonstration was
made by the Indians. f But the assertion that the

* For a short, clear account of the Inkpaduta War, see Minn. Hist.
Colls., Ill, 386 ff. See also Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
for 1857-8, pp. 357-9: Ex. Docs., 35th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. II, Pt. I.

t See Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1857-8, p. 388-9 :
Ex. Docs., 35th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. II, Pt. I.

78 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Mississippi Sioux as a nation were in sympathy with Ink-
pachita is utterly without foundation.* The tribal bonds
of these people were very weak and their kinship with
Inkpaduta was a matter of no importance to them. But,
aside from its intrinsic character, the massacre was un-
fortunate as adding another element to the already dis-
turbed condition of these Sioux.

By the act of July 31, 1854,f the President had been
authorized to confirm to the Minnesota Sioux the reser-
vation upon which they were then situated. This con-
firmation was never formally made, but was practically
taken for granted in the treaties of 1858. \ There were
two of these : one with the Lower, the other with the
Upper Sioux ;§ and both provided for the reduction of
this reservation and the assignment of land in severalty.
More specifically, as by treaty with the Upper Sioux July
19, 1858, the terms were these :

Article I provided that so much of the reserve upon
which the Indians were then situated as lay south of the
Minnesota river should constitute a reservation for the
said bands ; should be surveyed and allotted in severalty,
eighty acres to each head of a family or single person
over the age of twenty-one years ; the residue should be
held by the bands in common ; each minor, however,

* The most that can be said is that a few of the younger braves and
those influenced by the Yanktons, who felt that their land rights had
been overlooked in the treaties of 1851, sympathized with Inkpaduta.
Ibid., 359.

tU.S. Statutes at Large, X, 326.

t Ibid., XII, 1038.

§ The Lower Sioux comprised the Mdewakantonwan and Wahpe-
kute, the Upper Sioux the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893.

upon attaining majority should be given eighty acres
thereof. This same article authorized the President at
his discretion to issue patents for these allotments and to
exempt them " from levy, taxation, sale, or forfeiture
until otherwise provided for by the Legislature of the
State in which they " were " situated, with the assent of
Congress."

Article II provided that, if the Senate agreed, a specific
sum should be allowed these Indians for the land north
of the Minnesota river ; or this land should be sold for
their benefit, they to receive the proceeds of the sale.*

Article VIII provided that such members of the Sisse-
ton and Wahpeton bands as should desire to break their
tribal connections and locate outside of the reservation
should be allowed to do so, and should " be vested with
all the rights, privileges, and immunities, and be subject
to all the laws, obligations, and duties, of the citizens of
the United States."f

* " The United States subsequently, by resolution, fixed the price at
thirty cents per acre. This yielded to the lower bands about $96,000
and to the upper about $240,000." Report of Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1863-4, p. 400 : Report of the Sec. of the In., 38th Cong., 1st
Sess., Vol. III.

+ There were six other articles. Article III provided that if the
Indians received payment for the lands north of the Minnesota river
such a sum as should be found necessary, not, however, to exceed
$70,000, should be set aside to pay their just debts and to provide goods
for them.

Article IV provided that all Indian intercourse laws be in force over
the land retained under Article I.

Article V gave the United States the right to maintain military posts
and construct roads on the reservation, due compensation being made.

Article VI provided for the preservation of peace between the
United States and the said bands.

80 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

These treaties are good exponents of the national policy
of these years. The reservation of the Sioux was no
larger than the needs of an agricultural life justified ;
provision was made for the allotment of land in severalty ;
the Secretary of the Interior was given " discretionary
power in regard to the manner and objects of the annual
expenditure " of the money due the bands by former
treaties and to become due by this.

The immediate causes of these treaties were two.
First, the white population of Minnesota was increasing
so rapidly that already the need of more land was felt.
Second, there was a real desire on the part of the Gov-
ernment to advance the welfare of these bands who
seemed now ready for an agricultural life. Of these two
causes, it cannot be denied that the first was of para-
mount importance. To this conclusion we are forced by
the fact that the Government's interest in the welfare of
these Indians was not strong enough to impel it to fulfill
its obligations toward them. The old trouble continued.
The annuities were in arrears. The goods sent were of
inferior quality and not of the kind most needed. Despite
these drawbacks, however, the Indians progressed, and by
1860 it was possible to divide them into two classes — far-
mer and blanket Indians. The farmer Indians were

Article VII provided for the withholding of annuities from intoxi-
cated Indians.

Article IX gave the Secretary of the Interior discretion " over the
manner and objects of the annual expenditure."

U. S. Statutes at Large, XII, 1037-41.

The treaty with the Lower Sioux, made June 19, .1858, did not contain
Article VIII. See U. S. Statutes at Large, edited by G. P. Sanger, 36th
Cong., 79-84. This is the only reference I have made to this edition of
the Statutes.

THK SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 81

those who were devoting themselves to agriculture
and were adopting, to some extent, the habits and cus-
toms of a white community ; the blanket Indians, those
who still clung to the old savage life. It lay in the
nature of the case that these two classes should be
strongly antagonistic. It was a struggle between barbar-
ism and civilization. The policy of the Government
aimed at civilization, and, as far as it went, was well suited
to that end. Land in severalty and education were to
bring home to the Sioux a sense of individual responsi-
bility. But no provision was made for the protection of
the civilized from the blanket Indian. The latter was
left even freer than he had been before, for the power of
the chief over him was weakened and its place supplied
by no other restraint. Except for inefficient intercourse
laws, the Government thus left uncontrolled an element
Avhose pleasure it would be to strike a blow at civilization
at the first opportunity.

There were still other unfortunate circumstances. Al-
most from the first there had been a continual wrangling
over the treaties of 1858. While they were being drawn
up, the Sioux had been led to expect that they would
receive a certain sum of money in cash. In this they
were misinformed, for the treaties contained no such pro-
vision ; but to them the spoken word was as sacred as the
written. There was another misunderstanding which
concerned the amount to be used in payment for depre-
dations. The Lower Sioux fund and about two-thirds of
Upper Sioux fund were exhausted to pay the debts of the
Indians,* although each of the treaties stipulated that not

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1863-4, p. 400
Report of the See. of the In., 38th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. III.

82 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

more than seventy thousand dollars should be used for
this purpose. Add to this the fact that the annuities
were not promptly paid,* and we can readily understand
that the Sioux felt themselves ill-treated. Moreover, the
Civil War was going on, and the Indians were made rest-
less and uneasy by all sorts of exaggerated stories of the
pending fall of the Government. Their faith in the
strength and dignity of their "Great Father" received a
shock, and they felt that their support rested upon an
unstable basis. There can be little doubt that stray
secessionists fostered this feeling ; and the British half-
breeds of the North not only sympathized with the Indians
but stood ready to furnish them with guns, powder, and
ammunition.

The spark which lighted this inflammable material was
the murder of six whites, committed by fourteen intoxi-
cated Lower Sioux, August 17, 1862. Feeling that unless
there was a general uprising they would be pursued and
individually punished, the murderers hastened to their
kinsmen and urged them to take up arms. By the next
morning they had increased their party to two hundred,
and now proceeded to the Lower Agency, sending runners
ahead with the message that all who did not join them
should be punished with death. Many of the farmer In-
dians were thus practically forced to take part. Little
Crow became leader and the work of devastation began.
It is estimated that nearly one thousand whites lost their
lives in the massacres which now took place.

* The financial straits occasioned by the Civil War may serve, at
least in part, to exonerate the Government from blame. The delay was
only four or five weeks, and there was no fixed time for the payment of
the Sioux annuities. They had, however, been paid in July, the year
before, and the Indians naturally expected them in the same month.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893.

Major General Sibley was dispatched to quell the out-
break, and about seventeen hundred persons either sur-
rendered to him or were captured by him. A large num-
ber of the warriors were tried by a military commission
and sentenced to death. Of these thirty-nine were hanged,
an attempt having been made to select those who had
personally committed acts of violence. The remainder of
those who had surrendered, together with some of the peace-
ably disposed Sioux, were removed to Crow Creek, May,
1863.* A small number of those who had continued
faithful to the Government remained in Minnesota.
About two hundred of the Sioux were held as prisoners
of war at Davenport. About six or eight hundred, who
claimed that they had taken no part in the massacres but
had fled from Minnesota to avoid the indiscriminate
vengeance of the whites, were in the vicinity of Fort
Wadsworth, Dakota. The remainder, made up largely
of the really hostile Indians and those who had commit-
ted crimes and feared the punishment of the Govern-
ment, had taken refuge far to the north in or near the
British Possessions. These, together with some of the
Missouri Sioux who had joined them for reasons that
will be stated in the next chapter, continued hostile for
many years, and, though not actively engaged in warfare
during the whole time, were not subdued until the
seventies.

The selection of the Crow Creek reservation proved
most unfortunate. It was not adapted to the purpose of

* These Sioux were nearly all women and children, there being only
about one hundred able-bodied men. The Crow Creek reservation was
selected uuder authority of the act of March 3, 1863: U. S. Statutes at
Large, XII, 819-20. /

84 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

agriculture, and for three successive years the crops failed.
In 1866 these Indians were moved to Niobrara, where
they were joined by those who had been held as prisoners
at Davenport. In the fall of the same year they were
moved to the mouth of Bazile creek, and in 1868 to
Breckinridge, ten miles below the mouth of the Niobrara.*

The condition of the Indians during these years was
very wretched. The act of February 16, 1863,f had an-
nulled all treaties previously made with them so far as
these treaties purported "to impose any future obligation
on the United States." The annuities and claims of the
Mississippi Sioux were thus declared forfeited. The act
of March 3, 1863, 1 had authorized the President to set
apart for them " a tract of unoccupied land outside of the
limits of any State, sufficient in extent to enable him to
assign to each member * * * eighty acres of good
agricultural lands." But five years elapsed before the
Indians were settled upon a reservation, and during this
period they were moved four times. All of these remov-
als were attended with the greatest hardships and suffer-
ings^

Meanwhile these Indians, from this time on generally

* This reserve had been set apart for their use by President Johnson
under the Executive Orders of February 27, 1866, and November 16, 1867:
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1886, p. 340.

t TJ. S. Statutes at Large, XII, 652.

i Ibid., 819. This same act provided for the sale of the Minnesota
reservation and the expenditure of the proceeds for the benefit of the In-
dians in their new homes; but such sale could not take place imme-
diately.

§ For a description of the terrible suffering attending these removals,
see Manypenny, Our Indian Wards, 135 ff. The picture ma)' be some-
what overdrawn, but it is substantially true.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893.

called the Santee Sioux, were wholly dependent upon the
bounty of the Government. The fact that they had no
treaty relations with the United States made them feel
insecure, and they begged that an agreement of some
kind he made with them. This was done April 29, 1868.*
The treaty provided for the allotment of land in several-
ty, for the compulsory education of all children between
the ages of six and sixteen, and the employment of a
teacher for every thirty of such children, and for the dis-
tribution of certain goods. f

Allotments were now made these Indians both under
the act of March 3, 1863, and the treaty of April 29,
1868. Patents were not issued for the allotments and
the allottees-did not become citizens of the United States.
Later, by the act making appropriations for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1884,]; the patents to the land allotted
under the treaty, of 1868 were declared of legal effect;
and the United States promised to hold the land in trust
for twenty-five years, and at the end of that time to deliv-
er it to the Indians or their heirs " free of all charge or
incumbrance."

By the act of February 9, 1885,§ the Santee reservation
was thrown open to settlement.

By Section 7 of the act of March 2, 1889J all allot-
ments made to the Santee Sioux in Nebraska were con-

* U. 8, Statutes.at Large, XV, 635-640.

+ The provisions of this treaty are given at length in connection with
the Sioux of the Plains. See Chapter IV.

i U. S. Statutes at Large, XXII, 433.

$ Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1886, p. 342.

I! Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1889, p. 450.

86 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

firmed ; and it was provided that those who had not
received allotments should be given them upon the re-
serve in Nebraska as follows : " To each head of a family,
one-quarter of a section ; to each single person over eigh-
teen years of age, one-eighth of a section ; to each orphan
child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section ;
to each other person under eighteen years of age now liv-
ing, one-sixteenth of a section."

Thus all the Santee Sioux on the reserve in Nebraska
were provided with land.

A word now about a portion of these Sioux not located
on the reserve. Between 1868 and 1875 about eighty-five
families took up homesteads under the concluding para-
graph of Article VI of the treaty of 1868,* forty-six miles
north of Sioux Falls, Dakota, on the Big Sioux river.
They, of course, became citizens of the United States
and were subject to and protected by the laws of the
United States. But on taking lands the Indians were
obliged to renounce all claims for annuities. f They had

* This provided that any male over eighteen years of age, party to
this treaty, who should settle upon land outside of the reservation and
open to Indian occupation, occupy the same for three successive years
and make improvements thereon to the value of two hundred dollars,
should receive a patent for one hundred and sixty acres and become a
citizen of the United States.

t It has been suggested that this unjust requirement of the Indian
Department was based on the refusal of the House to sanction the treaty
of 1868. I quote Mr. Paine's words to the House : " Let us never again
recognize any constitutional right on the part of the President of the
United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to ne-
gotiate a treaty with an Indian tribe, as a sovereign power, as a foreign
nation. If it be a contract of valid moral obligation, let us fulfill it ; but
let us never again, by any legislation to which this House shall give its
consent, sanctify it as a treaty between sovereign powers.

" Now, if these Indians referred to in the Senate amendment have

THE BXOUX PROM 1850 TO 1S93. 87

a hard time of it for three or four years. Then the Gov-
ernment came to their aid and generously assisted them.
They received also their just share of the proceeds from
the sale of the Minnesota reservation.

All of the San tee Sioux made great progress. They
applied themselves to agriculture and succeeded well.
For a time the United States assisted them with liberal
appropriations, but these were gradually diminished as
the Indians became self-supporting. At present only the
aged and infirm receive rations. The Indian question,
so far as the Santee Sioux are concerned, has been set-
tled.

After the massacres of 1862, six or eight hundred Sis-
seton and Wahpeton Sioux had fled to avoid quick ven-
geance at the hands of the whites. Many were really
innocent and had voluntarily surrendered to General
Sibley. These were located near Fort Wadsworth.
Others of the Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux had remained
in the vicinity of their Minnesota reservation, preserving
their treaty relations with the United States, and doing
much to protect the whites from the hostile bands. With
these two classes the Government made a treaty Febru-
ary 19, 1867.* The chief provisions of this treaty, as
amended by the Senate, were as follows :

Article II gave " the United States the right to con-
struct wagon-roads, railroads, mail stations, telegraph

any just claim against the Government of the United States, let us pay
it fully ; but let us not consent to this Senate amendment, which requires
us to make this appropriation because in 1867 and in 1869 the President
and the Senate agreed by treaty to do it." Congressional Globe, 41st
Cong., 2d Sess., Pt. 6, p. 5008.

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 505-11 ; Ratification advised with
amendments April 15, 1867 ; Amendments accepted April 22, 1867.

8o RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

lines, and * * * other public improvements " over
the lands claimed by these Indians,* including their
reservation, as afterwards designated.

Article III provided that a certain tract of land in the
central eastern part of Dakotaf be set aside for those
members of the bands who had surrendered to the Gov-
ernment and had not been sent to Crow Creek, and for
those who had been released from prison in 1S66.

Article IV provided that a certain tract of land in the
northern part of Dakota| be set apart for all other mem-
bers of the said bands who had not been sent to Crow
Creek, and also for the Cuthead band of Yanktonnais
Sioux.

Article V provided that the two reservations " be ap-
portioned in tracts of (160) one hundred and sixty acres
to each head of a family, or single person over the age of
(21) twenty-one years"; and that every person who

* " Said lands so claimed being bounded on the south and east by
the treaty line of 1851 and the Red river of the North to the month of
Goose river, on the north by the Goose river and a line running from
the source thereof by the most easterly point of Devil's lake to the
Chief's Bluff at the head of James river, and on the west by the James
river, and thence to Kampeska lake." U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 506.

t " Beginning at the head of Lake Traverse [E], and thence along
the treaty line of the treaty of 1851 to Kampeska lake ; thence in a
direct line to Reipan or the northeast point of the Cateare des Prairie
[S], and thence passing north of Skunk lake, on the most direct line of
1851 to the place of beginning." Ibid. See second map.

t " Beginning at the most easterly point of Devil's lake ; thence
along the waters of said lake to the most westerly point of the same ;
thence on a direct line to the nearest point on the Cheyenne river ;
thence down said river to a point opposite the lower end of Aspen island,
and thence on a direct line to the place of beginning." U. S. Statutes
at Large, XV, 506. See second map.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 99

should receive an allotment and should " occupy and
cultivate a portion thereof for five consecutive years *
* * be entitled to receive a patent for the same " so
soon as he should have fifty acres " fenced, ploughed,
and in crop " : provided that such a patent should not
authorize any transfer of any portion of the land except
to the United States ; but the lands should " descend to
the proper heirs of the person obtaining a patent."*

Article VI provided that Congress should, " at its own
discretion, from time to time, make such appropriations "
as should be deemed " requisite to enable said Indians
to return to an agricultural life."f

Article VII provided that an agent be immediately
located at Lake Traverse and one at Devil's lake so soon
as five hundred persons be settled there.

Article VIII provided that " no goods, provisions,
groceries, or other articles — except materials for the
erection of houses and articles to facilitate the operations
of agriculture — * * * be issued * * * unless it
be in payment of labor performed, or for produce deliv-
ered.":

Article IX provided that " no person be authorized to
trade for furs or peltries within the limits of the land
claimed by said bands * * * and that no person,
not a member of said bands, * * * except persons
in the employ of the Government, or located under its
authority, * * * be permitted to locate upon said

* U. 8. Statutes at Large, XV, 50(5.

t Ibid. , 507.

| Ibid. # «

90 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

lands either for hunting, trapping, or agricultural pur-
poses."*

In accordance with the provisions of this treaty these
Indians were located on two reservations : one at Devil's
lake, covering approximately two hundred and seventy-
five thousand acres of good prairie land, the other at
Lake Traverse and containing about nine hundred and
eighteen thousand seven hundred and eighty acres of
equally good land. Here they began once more an agri-
cultural life and became the best exponents of the gov-
ernmental policy of the ensuing years. Land was allotted
them in severalty and annuities paid, as a rule, only for
work done. The Indians progressed rapidly ; and there
can be no doubt that this was largely due to the earnest
efforts of the American Board and the Presbyterian
Board of Missions. This feature of President Grant's
peace policy worked admirably here.

September 20, 1872, an agreement was made with the
Lake Traverse and Devil's Lake Indians, by which they
ceded any right which they might possess to the land
referred to in the second article of the treaty of 1867.
This agreement, as amended by the Senate and ratified!

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 507.

There were two other articles.

Article I provided for the continuation of friendly relations between
the United States and the said bands.

Article X authorized the chiefs and head men to adopt such rules as
seemed best to them " for the security of life and property, the advance-
ment of civilization and the agricultural prosperity of the members of
said bands, and to organize a force for the carrying out of the same and
of such regulations as might be prescribed by the Interior Department."
U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 507.

t May 19, 1873. ♦

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. , 91

by the Sioux, was confirmed in the Indian Appropriation
Act of June 22, 1874.* In consideration of their cession
the bands received eight hundred thousand dollars, to be
paid in ten annual installments, and " to be expended,
under the direction of the President of the United States,
on the plan and in accordance with the provisions of the
treaty, dated February 19, 1867, for goods and provi-
sions ; for the erection of manual-labor and public
schoolhouses, and for the support of manual-labor and
public schools ; and in the erection of mills, black-
smiths' shops, and other workshops * * * and such
other beneficial objects as may be deemed most condu-
cive to the prosperity and happiness of the Sisseton and
Wahpeton bands. "f

Nearly seventeen years elapsed before the Sioux
entered into the next agreement with the United
States. This time it was for the reduction of their reser-
vation as provided in the fifth section of the Land in
Severalty Bill. All the Indians on the Lake Traverse
reservation having received allotments, it was thought
best to throw open the unallotted lands to white settlers.
Accordingly an agreement was made with these Sioux
December 12, 1889, which was ratified March 3, 1891. J:
This agreement provided that there should be allotted to
each individual member of the bands such a quantity
of land as would make, together with that already

* For the agreement as originally made, see Report of the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1872, 122-3. The Senate amended this by
striking out the paragraphs numbered, respectively, third, fourth, fifth,
sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth.

+ Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1872, p. 122.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, XXVI, 1035-8.

92 9 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

allotted, one hundred and sixty acres ; and, in case no
allotment had been made to any individual, then such an
one should receive an allotment of one hundred and
sixty acres. The object of this provision was to equalize
the allotments so that each member of the bands, includ-
ing married women, might have the same amount of
land.* All were to have patents issued to them upon the
" terms and conditions " of the Land in Severalty Bill.

The Indians ceded the land, which should be left
when the above provision should be carried into effect,
to the United States for two dollars and fifty cents an
acre. This money was to be held in the Treasury of the
United States for the sole use of the Sioux, was to
draw three per cent, interest, and was " to be at all times
subject to appropriation by Congress for the education
and civilization of the said bands. "f

The third article of this agreement provided that the
sum of $342,778.37 be paid the Indians, as " being the
amount * * * due certain members * * * who
served in the armies of the United States against their
own people " in the war of 1862, " and of which they
had been wrongfully and unjustly deprived " by the act
of February 16, 1863.^ It was further agreed to pay

* This was also the object of the act of February 28, 1891, which
amended the General Allotment Act so as to provide for the same allot-
ment of land to each member of the tribe, regardless of his age or status.

+ U. S. Statutes at Large, XXVI, 1036.

X See U. S. Statutes at Large, XII, 652. This act annulled the
treaties made with these bands and thus deprived them of their an-
nuities. The sum of $342,778.37 granted these Indians was " at the rate
of $18,400 per annum from July 1, 1862, to July 1, 1888, less their pro
rata share of the sum of $616,086.52 heretofore appropriated for the ben-
efit of said Sisseton and Wahpeton bands."

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893.

them the sum of $18,400 annually from July 1, 1888, to
July 1, 1901, the latter being the date at Avhich the annu-
ities of the treaty of 1851 were to cease.

It has been said that since this reservation was
thrown open to white settlers the Indians have deterio-
rated. But the time has been too brief to justify such a
positive statement. It may be that the necessity of ad-
justing themselves to a new environment has tempora-
rily retarded their progress. But it was an adjustment
which had to take place sooner or later, and, once made,
progress will begin again, and will continue more stead-
ily and rapidly than before.

Allotment at Devil's lake was slower than at Lake
Traverse, but in 1893 nearly all the Indians were living
upon and cultivating land in severalty ; the residue was
held in common. The Devil's Lake Indians had had
some trouble about their boundary line as established by
the fourth article of the treaty of February 19, 1867. The
line was run in 1875, and its correctness was not ques-
tioned until 1883, when it was discovered that it deprived
them of about sixty-four thousand acres of land which
was lawfully theirs. By this time a large number of
whites, believing the land a part of the public domain,
had settled upon it. It was plain that these could not be
removed, but it was equally plain that the Indians ought
to be compensated. No action was taken, however, until
June 30, 1892, when Congress enacted that these bands
be paid for the sixty-four thousand acres at the rate of
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre ; " this amount
to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of
the Interior in the purchase of stock and agricultural im-
plements, and in promoting the comfort and improve-

04 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

merit of said Indians,"* eighty thousand dollars to be
immediately available.

The last reportsf of the Devil's Lake Indians have not
been so encouraging as those of former years. The re-
lapse, however, may have been only temporary. This
certainly is to be hoped, for these Indians will soon have
to look to themselves for support. Except for the unallot-
ted lands on their reservation, they have nothing from
which they can obtain any revenue, and they cannot de-
pend upon the bounty of the Government. But, if we
may judge the future by the past, the outlook is hopeful
rather than otherwise. During the seventies and eighties
these Indians made comparatively rapid progress, evinc-
ing considerable capacity in taking on the habits and
customs of civilized man. The testimony of these years
must incline us to hope that ultimately the Devil's Lake
Indians will take their place as intelligent and self-sup-
porting Indians.

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XXVI, 1010.

t See Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1893, pp. 228-
.30 ; ibid, for 1894, pp. 216-18.

CHAPTER IV.
The Sioux of the Plains from 1850 to 1893.

In 1850 the Sioux of the Plains comprised that part of
the great Sioux family roaming over the country of the
Missouri and Upper Platte rivers. They were a wild
but brave people, wholly dependent upon the chase for
subsistence, and as yet not bound to the United States
by treaty relations. It was, of course, impossible to ob-
tain an accurate knowledge of their number, but the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1853-4 estimated it
to be nearly sixteen thousand — the Brule band containing
about one hundred and fifty lodges, the Yankton three
hundred and seventy-five, the Yanktonnais four hundred
and fifty, the Blackfeet one hundred and fifty, the Unc-
papa two hundred and eighty, the Sans Arc one hundred
and sixty, and the Minneconjou two hundred and
twenty-five.*

Previous to 1850 these Sioux had had little intercourse
with the whites. Living remote from our frontiers, their
wild mode of life had been uninterrupted and uninflu-
enced by civilization. But the rapid territorial growth
of the United States between 1840 and 1850 and the con-
sequent immigration changed their status, together with
that of the other wilder tribes.

The causes which stimulated western immigration have
already been discussed in Chapter I. Right of transit

* For the general location of these bands, see Report of Commission-
-er of Indian Affairs for 1853-4, p. 353 : Sen. Doc, 33d Cong., 1st Sess., I.

96 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

through the Indian country was absolutely necessary to
the immigrants, whose number had increased one hun-
dred-fold since the discovery of gold in California in 1848 ;
and February 17, 1851, a treaty was made at Fort Lara-
mie with eight tribes, of which the Sioux were one.* The
United States obtained from these Indians permission to
establish roads and military posts on their territory, and
in return promised to protect them from the depreda-
tions of the whites, and to pay them in goods annually
for fifty years the sum of fifty thousand dollars, to be dis-
tributed among them in proportion to their population.
In this same treaty boundaries between the various tribes
were established, and the Indians promised to refrain
from hostilities against each other. The Senate amended
the treaty, limiting the annuity to ten years and giving
the President discretionary power to continue it five
years longer. This amendment was subsequently ratified
by allf save the Crows. But since the United States was
dealing with the tribes jointly and not severally, the
failure of the Crows to sign made the ratification invalid
and the amended treaty of no effect.} Despite this fact,
the Government ordered the annuities to be stopped
promptly at the end of fifteen years, and this was one of
the main causes of the war of 1866.

* The other tribes were the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Crow, Assinaboin,
Gros Ventre, Man dan, and Arickaree.

t Only four of the six Sioux chiefs who signed the treaty signed the
amendment. Possibly this would have impaired its validity for them,
even supposing it had been valid in all other respects.

t For this reason the treaty is not to be found in any of our public
statutes. I was able to obtain a copy of it only through the Secretary of
State.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 97

Considering the fact that these Indians were depend-
ent upon the chase for subsistence, and that game rap-
idly decreased in consequence of the steady stream of
immigration, the annuity was miserably small. Many of
the Sioux eked out a living with roots, herbs, and berries ;
some really suffered from starvation. In addition to this,
the Indians were stricken with smallpox, measles, and
cholera, diseases which they claimed, and with some rea-
son, had been introduced among them by the immi-
grants.

Despite their sad plight, the Sioux essentially kept the
treaty of 1851, until the annihilation of Lieutenant Grat-
tan's command in 1854 ; and the circumstances which
led to this unfortunate affair were such as to exonerate
them from blame. On August 18 of that year a com-
pany of Mormon emigrants passed an encampment of
Brule, Ogallala, and Minneconjou Indians waiting near-
Fort Laramie for their annuities. A cow belonging to
one of the emigrants strayed into the Indian village
and was there killed by a Minneconjou, who then took
refuge with the Brules. The Bear, chief of the Brules,
went to Fort Laramie, reported the circumstances and
advised that troops be sent to demand the culprit. Ac-
cordingly, the next day, August 19, Lieutenant Grat-
tan, with a party of twenty-nine men, went to the Indian
camp. But the Bear either could not or would not de-
liver up the offender. Several circumstances unite to
give weight to the former supposition. First, it is not
probable that the Bear would have gone to Fort Laramie
and advised that a detachment of troops be sent to de-
mand the offender, if he had not intended to use such
power as he had to influence his camp to deliver up the

98 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Indian. Second, the chiefs of these western tribes had
very little authority, and that which the Bear had was
counteracted by the conduct of Lieutenant Grattan's
drunken interpreter, whose brutal language incensed the
Indians. However that may be, the culprit was not de-
livered up, and Lieutenant Grattan and his party, armed
and taking with them a twelve-pounder and a mountain
howitzer, made their way into the village and attempted
to take him by force. There they were surrounded and
killed to a man.* Immediately afterwards the Indians
went to the warehouse near by and took from it their an-
nuity goods. f

The Sioux tribes did not regard this massacre as a sig-
nal for a general uprising. As a whole they remained
quiet and peaceable as before. But a few bands, led by
the wilder and younger braves, committed some depre-
dations and made raids upon neighboring tribes ; and
one of them, Wasagahas' band, murdered a United
States mail party in November, 1854. These troubles
were greatly exaggerated, and General Harney with three
regiments was dispatched to put an end to the " Sioux
War." The North Platte was declared the boundary be-

* The above account has been taken from the Reports of the Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs and Reports from the Department of the
West: Ex. Docs., 33rd Cong., 2nd Sess., Vol. I, Pt. II, No. I, pp. 38-40.

t The Commissioner of Indians affairs, in commenting upon this un-
happy event, says: "The Mormons should, under the provisions of the
1 intercourse act,' have applied to the agent, who was in the vicinity, for
redress, and he could, under the law, have paid, out of the annuities, for
the property taken ; but no officer of the military department was, in my
opinion, authorized to arrest or try the Indian for the offense charged
against him." Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1854-5.
Sen. Doc, 33d Cong., 2nd Sess., I, 224.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 99

tween the hostile and friendly Indians, and all, except
those of the Brule band, who had been implicated in the
United States mail murder and those who had committed
depredations upon the whites were ordered to cross to
the south side of the river. For some reason Little
Thunder and his band of Brule Sioux* remained on the
north side, encamped on Blue Water creek. Here they
were attacked by General Harney, September 3, 1855.
Eighty-six Indians were killed, five wounded, seventy
women and children captured, fifty mules and ponies
taken, and an indefinite number killed and disabled.
This Battle of the Blue Water was the only one of mo-
ment in the so-called Sioux War of 1855.f

The next year, at a council held during the first five days
of March, an attempt was made to adjust the difficulties
between the United States and the Sioux. The records
of this council portray most admirably the temper of the
Indians there represented : " The Two Kettle, Lower
Yanctons, Uncpapas, Blackfeet Sioux, Minneconjous, Sans
Arc, Yanctonnais, two bands, and Brules of the Platte."*
The chiefs sincerely deprecated the wrongs which had
been committed by their people, and deeply desired

* There seems to be some question as to whether these Indians had
anything to do with the Grattan massacre. General Harney says he
found in their possession remnants of clothing, etc., carried off by
the Indians on that occasion, and that would seem to implicate them.
On the other hand, the agent, Thomas S. Twiss, invited them to cross to
the South Platte, although he had forbidden the Grattan murderers to
do so. See Ex. Docs., 34th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. I, Pt. II, p. 51; ibid.,
Pt. I, 401.

t For an account of the battle in General Harney's own words, see
Ex. Docs., 34th Cong., 1st Sesa., Vol. I, Pt. 2, pp. 49-51.

J Ibid., Vol. XII, No. 130, p. 6.

100 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

peace. The attitude of General Harney was admirable.
Throughout the council he impressed the Indians with
the idea that the United States was all powerful and
would insist upon the strictest adherence to treaty rights ;
and that every infringement of these would be surely
punished. Finally, he submitted to them a treaty which
was signed by the nine bands named above, and later %y
the Ogallalas, who had not been represented at this
council. The Indians, on their part, promised to deliver
up to the nearest military post all who had " committed
murders or other outrages upon white persons"* and all
stolen property. The chiefs were to be responsible for
the good conduct of their bands, and, if not able to
control them, were to report the fact to the nearest mili-
tary post. The Indians were not to molest, but, on the
contrary, to protect travelers through their country.
Sioux war parties were not to go down to the Pawnee
country. Trade in horses and mules was to be stopped
because it encouraged young men to steal. The Indians
were advised " to raise stock and to cultivate the soil."f

The United States, on its part, engaged to protect the
Sioux from impositions by the whites ; to restore the
annuities, and to set at liberty all Indian prisoners " not
implicated in any murder, robbery, or other high crime
against our people." These were the terms of the treaty,
but the Indians laid quite as much stress upon the sug-
gestions and promises of General Harney, which did not
receive treaty sanction. What these were may be most
clearly seen from his own words :

" Certain chiefs were recognized by the nation, others

* Ex. Docs., 34th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. XII, No. 130, p. 6.
+ Ex. Docs., 34th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. XII, No. 130, pp. 6-7.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893.

101

by the military, others again by the agents, and the
traders, for their own purposes, have most unwarranta-
bly given medals and appointed chiefs. These conflict-
ing interests necessarily weakened the authority of all
these chiefs, and to correct this evil I most respectfully
request that the President will direct and order that
hereafter none other chiefs of the Sioux but those select-
ed in the late council, under the conditions there agreed
upon, be recognized by either the War or Interior De-
partments. This unity of action will greatly tend to
promote the influence of the Government over these
people. That the organization of the Sioux may be more
complete, I proposed to the chiefs to have a certain num-
ber of soldiers in each band to assist them to carry out
my views. They have each given in the number which
they deemed sufficient for that purpose in each band,
and I recommend that these soldiers be regularly named,
and receive from the Government a dress or uniform by
which they will be known ; and that for the time they
may be doing duty under their chiefs in their villages
they will receive their rations. The expense would be
trifling, and their young men would be stimulated and
encouraged to seek these positions. The dress should be
durable and gaudy, particularly the head-dress (they are
fond of feathers). The uniform of the different bands
should be different, and the same should have place in
the different grades of chief, sub-chief, etc. By gradually
causing the interests of a portion of the nation to depend
upon the wishes of the Government, the remainder will
be easilv controlled."*

* Ex. Docs., 34th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. XII, No. 130, p. 3.

102 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

In his council* with these Indians General Harney
recognized certain chiefs as the only head chiefs of their
respective bands, and stipulated the number of soldiers
each chief was to have. He also forwarded to the Presi-
dent an estimate of the amount necessary to fulfill the
agreements made with the Indians, the amount being
sixty-two thousand dollars.

Although General Harney was authorized by the Presi-
dent to make the treaty, it does not appear that it was
ever looked upon as legal. It was never published in
the statutes, and neither party strictly adhered to it. The
plan proposed to remedy the inability of the chiefs to re-
strain their young braves received little encouragement,
and soon died a natural death. It is to be regretted that
the plan was not carried out, for it struck to the root of
the trouble and might have furnished a remedy. As it
was, neither the Harney campaign nor the so-called
"Harney treaty" met with a definite result.

The next few years were uneventful. There were raids
and depredations upon the whites, but none of serious
magnitude. With the exception of several small bands
of Santees on the Minnesota river who did not receive
annuities, there were no actively hostile Sioux. Still,
the security for continued peace was not strong. The
treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 had been made by a
meagre representation of the tribes, and not all of the
Missouri Sioux felt themselves bound by it ; and those
who did not were the most warlike and independent of
their people. They resented the encroachments of the
whites upon their territory and desired to have absolute-

* For the minutes of this council, see ibid., No. 130.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 108

ly nothing to do with the Government. They insisted,
moreover, that those who had signed this treaty should
repudiate their obligations and refuse to receive annui-
ties.

On the other hand, those who had signed the Fort
Laramie treaty were at the mercy of this hostile element.
They repeatedly begged the Government to aid them, but
no attention was paid to their request. Still they con-
tinued loyal until 1862. When, in May of that year, the
agent arrived at Fort Pierre with their annuity goods,
they held a consultation and then, once more, explained
their position. They said : "That General Harney, at
Pierre, in 1856, had promised them aid ; that they were
greatty in the minority ; that that portion of their peo-
ple opposed to the Government were more hostile than
ever before ; that they had, year after year, been prom-
ised the fulfillment of this pledge, but since none had
come they must now break off their friendly relations
with the Government and rejoin their respective bands,
as they could hold out no longer ; that their lives and
property were threatened in case they accepted any more
goods from the Government ; that the small amount of
annuities given them did not give satisfaction ; it created
discord rather than harmony, nor would it justify them
to come in so far to receive them ; that they had been
friends to the Government and to all white men ; had
lived up to their pledges made at Laramie in 1857, as far
as it was possible under the circumstances, and still
wished to do so, but must henceforth be excused unless
their Great Father would aid them."*

* Report of Samuel N. Latta, United States agent, Upper Missouri :
Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1862-3, 37th Cong., 3rd

104 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Meanwhile the travel of the whites through the Indian
country westward continued. Many of them committed
depredations, and, despite the guarantee* of the United
States to the Indians in the treaty of 1851, were left
unpunished. It is, therefore, not surprising that the
fall of 1862 found many of the Missouri Sioux actively
hostile. When they were joined by the Santeef fugi-
tives of Minnesota, the Government had upon its hands
a war of no mean proportions. The number of the hos-
tiles rapidly increased. There being no military posts
on the Upper Missouri to protect the friendly Indians,
they were obliged in self-defense to take up arms. In
1864 war broke out with the Cheyenues and Arapahoes.
More United States troops were sent, but the difficulty of
" conquering a peace " seemed as great as ever. Finally
a Commission^ was appointed by the President to treat
with the bands of the Upper Missouri. The first council
was held at Fort Sully, 'October 6, 1865, with the chiefs

Sess., II, p. 336. The fear of the Indians was justified. Bear's Rib,
chief of the Uncpapas, was, killed by the Sans Arcs for allowing his band
to accept annuities. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for
1862-3: Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 37th Cong , 3d Sess. ,
Vol. II, 184-5.

* The third article of this treaty read as follows : " The United States
bind themselves to protect the aforesaid Indian nations against the com-
mission of all depredations by the people of the said United States, after
the ratification of this treaty." Copy of treaty obtained from the Sec-
retary of the Interior.

t Another name for the Sioux of the Mississippi. From 1860 on they
are often called the Santee Sioux.

1 The members of this Commission were Newton Edmun, Edward
B. Taylor, Major-General S. R. Curtis, Brigadier-General H. H. Sibley,
Henry W. Reed, and Orrin Guernsey.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 105

and head men of the Minneconjou, and on the tenth a
treaty* was made with them.

Article I provided that the Minneconjou acknowledge
the jurisdiction and authority of the United States, bind
themselves to cease all hostilities against it, and use their
influence to prevent other Sioux bands or adjacent tribes
from making hostile demonstrations.

Article II provided that the Minneconjou "discontinue
for the future all attacks upon the persons or property
of other tribes, unless first assailed by them."

Article III provided that " all controversies or differ-
ences arising between the Minneconjou band of Dakotas
or Sioux, represented in council, and other tribes of In-
dians, involving the question of peace or war, * * *
be submitted to the arbitrament of the President, or
* * * persons designated by him, and the decision or
award faithfully observed by the said band represented
in council."

Article IV provided that the Indians withdraw " from
the routes overland already established, or hereafter to
be established through their country" ; and that the
United States pay to them the sum of ten thousand dol-
lars annually for twenty years in such articles as the Sec-
retary of the Interior might direct.

Article V provided that any individual locating perma-
nently on lands belonging to their band be protected
therein " against any annoyance or molestation on the
part of whites or Indians."

Article VI provided that any amendment made by the

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XLV, 695-6.

106 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Senate be binding upon the band without its ratifi-
cation.*

Treaties embracing the same articles, but differing in
the amount of the annuity promised each band,f were
made during the same month of October with the Black-
feet,J the Lower Brule, the Ogallala, the Uncpapa, the
Sans Arc, the Two Kettle, the Yanktonnais, and the
Upper Yanktonnais Sioux. § Those with the last six
bands embraced an additional article which provided, in
the words of the treaty, " that whenever twenty lodges or

families of the band shall have located on land for

agricultural purposes, * * * they, as well as other
families so locating, shall receive the sum of twenty-five
dollars annually, for five years, for each family, in agri-
cultural implements and improvements ; and when one

* This is interesting as showing how completely the theory and
practice of the United States were at variance. These Indians were
theoretically regarded as nations, but a treaty with a nation would not
have contained such an article as this.

t The Blackfeet wrere promised $7,000 annually for twenty years.

The Lower Brul6s were promised $6,000 annually for twenty years.

The Ogallalas were promised $10,000 annually for twenty years.

The Uncpapas were promised $30 for each family annually for
twenty years.

The Sans Arcs were promised $30 for each family annually for
twenty years.

The Two Kettles were promised $6,000 annually for twenty years.

The Yanktonnais were promised $30 for each family annually for
twenty years.

The Upper Yanktonnais were promised $10,000 annually for twenty
years.

t The treaty with the Blackfeet did not contain Article V.

§ These treaties are to be found in the U. S. Statutes at Large, XIV,
see Index.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 107

hundred lodges or families shall have so engaged in
agricultural pursuits, they shall be entitled to a farmer
and blacksmith, at the expense of the Government, as
also teachers, at the option of the Secretary of the In-
terior."*

The treaty with the Lower Brule Sioux provided for
locating the band upon a permanent reservation " at or
near the mouth of the White river," and promised them
Government assistance only when fifty families should
engage in agriculture.!

The above treaties are an excellent indication of the
temper of the Indians at this time. Had the United
States felt that its hold upon the Sioux was firm, it would
have insisted, to a greater or less degree, upon the essen-
tial features of its civilization policy, namely : that the
Indians abandon their nomadic life, settle upon perma-
nent reservations, and apply themselves to agriculture.
But the Commissioners realized that they entertained
no really amicable feeling toward the Government.
" At each council complaints were preferred of ill treat-
ment or fraudulent practices by Indian agents, traders,
and other white men, and all appeared to regard a
restoration of kind relations with the United States in
the light of interest or profit to themselves, and not in-
spired by more humane or generous sentiments. "J The
attitude of all the Missouri Sioux was exemplified by
that of the Minneconjou, of whom the Commissioners

* Ibid., 748.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 700.

t Report of Commission to treat with the Sioux of the Upper Mis-
souri : Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 724.

108 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

said : " It was deemed useless, as well as impolitic, to
make any attempt to enforce conditions upon this wild,
nomadic band, having reference to a future location for
purposes of agriculture and other labor. The mere men-
tion of a possibility that its members would be compelled
eventually to conform to the wishes of the Government
in that respect, and thereby consult their own permanent
interests, was received with unmistakable tokens of dis-
sent, and the Commission therefore declined to press the
point, lest it might endanger the success of the more im-
portant object, that of securing * * * peace."*

The treaties of October, 1865, brought about a cessa-
tion of hostilities.! During that winter the Indians suf-
fered intensely from cold and hunger, but, notwithstand-
ing the temptation to plunder in order to obtain the
necessaries of life, they kept the peace. The summer of
1866, however, found them again in arms. The occasion
was this : In the Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 the Indians
had conceded to the Government the right " to establish
roads, military and other posts within their respective
territories " ;J and the Sioux in their treaties of 1865 had
confirmed this concession when they agreed " to withdraw
from the routes overland already established or hereafter
to be established through their country."§ The same
treaty of 1851 had established definite boundary lines be-

* Report of the Commission to treat with the Sioux of the Upper Mis-
souri : Report of the Secretary of the Interior, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 722.

t The Minnesota refugees of 1862 and a few other Sioux who had
made themselves notorious by murders and depredations upon the
whites were still actively hostile but were few in number.

i Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 : Copy obtained from the Secretary of
the Interior.

§ U. S. Statutes at Large, XIV, 700.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 109

tvveen the various tribes. The Sioux country included
the Black Hills and the Powder River valley, the latter
prized by the Indians as an especially rich hunting
ground.

Meanwhile gold had been discovered in Montana, and
in 186(5, the War of the Rebellion being over, immigra-
tion began to this Territory. Many of the immigrants
went by way of the Powder River valley, and the Indians
seriously objected to this use of their favorite hunting-
ground, as being sure to result in a rapid decrease of
game. Nevertheless, in March of 1866 General Pope or-
dered that military posts be established on this route, and
a few months later troops were sent to Forts Phillip
Kearney, McPherson, and Reno. The wilder and more
independent Sioux were at once aroused, and sent word
to the Government that they would not allow the passage
of immigrants through the Powder River country nor the
establishment of military posts there. The fact that the
Government had this same year stopped their annuities
due under the treaty of 1851 gave them a pretext for tak-
ing up arms. They acknowledged that in that treaty the}*
had granted the United States the right to establish roads
and military posts, but they claimed that the United
States had lost this right when it ordered their annuities
to be discontinued at the end of fifteen instead of fifty
years.* Still they would probably have taken no action
if the Powder River valley had been left intact. Immi-
gration through this country meant a loss of the means
of support, and this they regarded as a sufficient justifi-
cation for war.

* See above, page 96.

110 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

The temper of the Sioux had been clearly indicated in
the councils at which the treaties of 1865 were made.
They had then so strongly expressed their objection to
roads through the Powder River valley that the Commis-
sioners had felt called upon to assure them that such
roads would probably not be made in the near future.
This was unfortunate, for the Indians had demonstrated
again and again that they laid as much stress upon
spoken as upon written words. It was unfortunate also
that the Government persistently closed its eyes to the
true state of the case.

Hostilities began in July of 1866, and December 21
Lieutenant Fetterman's party was killed to a man at Fort
Phillip Kearney. July 20, 1867, Congress authorized the
President to appoint a Commission* to treat with the In-
dians. This Commission met some of the Sioux at Fort
Laramie in the fall of 1867, but Red Cloud refused to be
present unless he were assured that the military garri-
sons in the Powder River valley should be withdrawn.
Since he was the leading chief of the hostiles, nothing was
accomplished. During the following winter, however,
there were no hostilities, and April 29, 1868,f a treaty
was negotiated with the Brule, Ogallala, Minneconjou,
Yanktonnais, Uncpapa, Blackfeet, Cuthead, Two Kettle,
Sans Arc, and Santee bands of Sioux.

Article II provided that a certain district in Dakota be
" set apart for the absolute * * use * * of the
Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes

* The instructions to this Commission are indicative of the govern-
mental policy. See U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 17.

t U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 635-40. Ratification advised Febru-
ary 16, 1869 ; proclaimed February 24, 1869.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. Ill

or individual Indians as from time to time they may be
willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit
amongst them,"* and for the exclusion from the reserva-
tion of all except duly authorized persons. In this same
article the Indians relinquished all claim to any territory
in the United States except that to which their right was
acknowledged in this treaty.

Article IV provided for the construction of certain
buildings. f

Article VI gave to each head of a family the right to
select three hundred and twenty acres, and each member
of the tribe over eighteen years of age eighty acres, to be
the exclusive possession of the person occupying it so
long as he should continue to cultivate it. This same ar-
ticle empowered the " United States to pass such laws on
the subject of alienation and descent of property between
the Indians and their descendants " as might be thought
proper. It further stipulated that any male Indian over
eighteen years of age and party to this treaty, who should
settle upon land outside of this reservation and open to
Indian occupation, occupy the same for three consecutive
years, and make improvements thereon to the value of two
hundred dollars, should receive a patent for one hundred
and sixty acres and become a citizen of the United States.

Article VII provided for the compulsory education of
all children between the ages of six and sixteen years,

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 636.

+ Such as a warehouse, a storeroom, an agency building, a residence
for the physician, and "five other buildings for a carpenter, farmer,
blacksmith, miller, and engineer," also a schoolhouse so soon as a suffi-
cient number of children could be induced to attend school. U. S. Stat-
utes at Large, XV, 636.

112 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

and for the erection of a schoolhouse and the employ-
ment of a teacher for every thirty of such children.
. Article VIII provided that " seeds and argicultural im-
plements for the first year, not exceeding in value one
hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year * * ;;<
for a period of three years more, * * * not exceed-
ing in value twenty-five dollars,"* should be given to each
head of a family who should select land and satisfy the
agent that he meant to cultivate it ; also that such per-
sons should be instructed by a farmer and receive a
second blacksmith when more than one hundred should
have begun the cultivation of the soil.

Article X provided for the distribution of certain goods
in lieu of annuities under previously existing treaties, for
the annual appropriation of ten dollars for each person
who should continue to roam and hunt, and twenty dol-
lars for each person who should engage in farming, to be
paid in goods ; and for the distribution of certain other
goods.f

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 638.

t " And it is hereby expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age
of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon
said reservation and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall
be entitled to receive from the United States, for the period of four years
after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound of meat and
one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their
own subsistence at an earlier date. * * *

" And it is further expressly stipulated that the United States will fur-
nish and deliver to each lodge of Indians or family of persons legally in-
corporated with them, who shall remove to the reservation herein
described and commence farming, one good American cow and one good
well- broken pair of American oxen within sixty days after such lodge or
family shall have so settled upon said reservation." U. S. Statutes at
Large, XV, 639.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO- 1893. 113

Article XI provided that the tribes party to this agree-
ment " relinquish all right to occupy permanently the
territory outside their reservation, * * but yet re-
serve the right to hunt on any lands north of North
Platte and on the Republican Fork of Smoky Hill river
so long as the buffalo may range thereon in such num-
bers as to justify the chase."* The Indians further agreed :

(1) To ''withdraw all opposition to the construction
of the railroads * * being built on the plains."

(2) To " permit the. peaceful construction of any rail-
road not passing over their reservation."

(3) Not to "attack any persons at home or traveling,
nor molest or disturb any wagon trains, coaches, mules,
or cattle belonging to the people of the United States or
to persons friendly therewith."

(4) Not to " capture or carry off from the settlements
white women or children."

(5) Not to "kill or scalp white men, nor attempt to
do them harm."

(6) To "withdraw all pretense of opposition to the
construction of the railroad * * being built along the
Platte river and westward to the Pacific ocean, and * *
not in future " to " object to the construction of railroads,
wagon roads, mail stations, or other works of utility or
necessity which may be ordered or permitted by the laws
of the United States," a just indemnity to be paid for
those built on the reservation. f

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 639.

t " But should such roads or other works be constructed on the lands
of their reservation, the Government will pay the tribe whatever amount
of damage may be assessed by three disinterested commissioners, to be
appointed by the President for that purpose, one of said commissioners
to be a chief or head man of the tribe." U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 639.

114 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

(7) To "withdraw all opposition to the military
posts or roads * * established south of the North
Platte river, or" to "be established, not in violation of
treaties heretofore made or hereafter to be made with
any of the Indian tribes."

Article XII provided that no treaty for the cession of
any portion of the reservation held in common should
be valid " unless signed by three-fourths of the adult
male population ; and that no cession of the tribe * *
be * * construed in such manner as to deprive, with-
out his consent, any individual member of the tribe of
his rights to any tract of land selected by him, as pro-
vided in Article VI of this treaty."

Article XVI provided " that the country north of the
North Platte river and east of the summits of the Big
Horn mountains * * be * * considered
* * unceded Indian territory ; and * * that
no white person * * be permitted to * *
occupy any portion of the same or, without the consent
of the Indians, * * to pass through the same ;
and * * that within ninety days after the con-
clusion of peace with all the bands of the Sioux nation,
the military posts* * * established in the terri-
tory in this article named * * be abandoned and
that the road leading to them and by them to the settle-
ments in * * Montana * * be closed. "f

Article XVII provided " that the execution of this
treaty * * be construed as * * annulling all treaties
and agreements heretofore entered into between the re-
spective parties hereto, so far as such treaties and agree-

* Forts Phillip Kearney, McPherson, and Reno.
+ U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 640.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 115

ments obligate the United States to furnish * * money,
clothing, or articles of property to such Indians * *
as become parties to this treaty, but no farther."*

This treaty marked a decided advance on the part of
the Missouri Sioux. It was their first step from a wan-
dering to a settled life. Each individual might still elect
whether he would be a nomad or a farmer, but special
inducements were offered him to be the latter. The
United States had judged it impracticable to place the
restraints of an agricultural life upon the nation as a
whole, without consulting individual preferences. There
was need of a gradual transition from barbarism to civ-
ilization. Thus even those who should choose to apply
themselves to agriculture were not wholly debarred from
the pleasures of the chase. The right to hunt on the

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XV, 640.

The articles of this treaty not mentioned in the text were as follows :

Article I provided that peace be maintained, and that offenses
against the Indians on the part of the whites and vice versa be punished.

Article III provided that additional arable land be set apart in case
the reservation should not contain enough to allow each authorized per-
son one hundred and sixty acres of land.

Article V provided that the agent reside among the Indians under
his charge and investigate all causes of complaint.

Article IX gave the United States the privilege of withdrawing the
physician, farmer, blacksmith, carpenter, engineer, and miller after ten
years, but bound it, in case of such withdrawal, to pay the Indians an
additional sum of ten thousand dollars annually, to be devoted to educa-
tional purposes.

Article XIII provided that physicians, teachers, carpenter, miller,
engineer) farmer, and blacksmiths be furnished the Indians.

Article XIV provided that five hundred dollars annually for three
years from date be expended in presents and distributed to the ten per-
sons who should grow the most valuable crops.

Article XV bound the Indians to consider the agency their home
and to make no permanent settlement elsewhere. U. S. Statutes at
Large, XV, 635-40.

116 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

North Platte and Republican Fork was guaranteed to all,
and it is to be presumed that farmer Indians, when not
needed at home, might avail themselves of it. On the
•other hand, the effort to push civilization was apparent
in the educational and land-in-severalty clauses, as also
in the provision to confer citizenship upon certain In-
dians who should conform to specified conditions. But
the essential element to the civilization of the Sioux was
either overlooked or neglected, the reservation assigned
to them being largely barren and subject to drought and
the blight of the grasshopper. This attempt to force
an agricultural life upon barbarians, under circumstances
that would have discouraged civilized men, promised little
success.

A few of the wilder bands of Sioux were not party to
the treaty of 1868. They did not wish to enter into rela-
tions with the United States Government because they
felt that such action would result in an abridgement of
their freedom. These bands, and most notably that of
Sitting Bull, formed the nucleus of the hostiles in the
war of 1876.

About two-thirds of the treaty Indians settled upon, or
at least kept within the limits of, the reservation assigned
to them. The remaining third, principally under the
leadership of Red Cloud, continued to roam in the region
of the Powder River and Big Horn valleys. That they
committed some depredations is undoubted, but these
were certainly not grave enough to justify General Sher-
idan's military order of June 29, 1869. It read as fol-
lows : " All Indians when on their proper reservations
are under the exclusive control and jurisdiction of their
agents ; * * * outside the well-defined limits of

THE SIOUX FIIOM 1850 TO 1893. 117

their reservations they are under the original and exclu-
sive jurisdiction of the military authority, and as a rule
will be considered hostile."* This order, although in
direct violation of the treaty of 1868, continued in force
until December, 1876, and under it Indians exercising
the right of chase legally accorded them were again and
again hunted down.

The Sioux manifested much uneasiness during the
winter of 1869-70. They very much objected to the
building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and did not
seem to realize that they had granted this privilege to
the United States in Article XI of their late treaty. More-
over, there were rumors abroad that a party was being
formed ostensibly to visit the Big Horn mountains, but
in reality to explore the Black Hills.f The Chicago
Times stated that this party would comprise about two
thousand men and would be accompanied by three hun-
dred United States soldiers. J The Indians were greatly

* Report of the Sioux Commission of 1876 : Report of the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1876, p. 340.

t These were within the Sioux reservation.

t " Colonel Luke Morrin, Mayor of Cheyenne, is in this city, organ-
izing an expedition to start from Omaha and Cheyenne about the mid-
dle of April, to explore the Big Horn country, three hundred miles
north of Cheyenne. This region of territory is known to be rich in min-
eral and agricultural resources, particularly in gold quartz. The climate
is good ; the country is traversed by large rivers ; is well watered, and
for farming purposes is unequaled. The object of the expedition is to
drive out the Indians and bi'ing the soil under the control of those who
will develop its latent treasures. The expedition will comprise about
two thousand young men, accompanied by a military escort of three
hundred soldiers to be furnished by the Government. All the members
of the expedition will be armed and under the control of a military com-
mander, to be chosen by themselves." Extract from Chicago Times,
February 8,1870: Sen. Docs., 41st Cong., 2nd Sess., Vol. II, No. 89, p. 2.

118 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

excited by these rumors, but Government forbade the
expedition and no serious harm resulted. Shortly after-
wards Red Cloud, together with fourteen other chiefs,
visited Washington,* and was so won by his reception
there that he returned home a staunch friend of the
whites. From this time on he exerted his influence for
peace and brought many of the wilder Sioux into closer
connection with the United States, though it cannot be
said that he ever voluntarily advanced the cause of civ-
ilization.

During the next few years matters went on smoothly
enough. It is true that whites invaded the Indian coun-
ty for prospecting and other purposes, and that there
were conflicts between them and the Indians, but there
was no serious trouble. In 1874 the excitement was
greatly increased by a military reconnoitering expedition
under General Custer, which had for its object the ex-
ploration of the Black Hills. Gold was found and min-
ers immediately rushed in. The military made a show
of keeping out these unlawful intruders, but it was plain
that their sympathy was with them. The Commissioner
of Indian Affairs for 1875 wrote that soldiers were to be
found in every part of the Sioux reservation, and that
thousands of miners and " pilgrims " were' " swarming
over the Sioux country and digging into their sacred
hills for gold." He was able to add that there " had
been no fighting under all this provocation, which five
years " before " would have brought ten thousand paint-

* For an account of Red Cloud's visit, with extracts from the daily
papers, see Report of Board of Indian Commissioners for 1870, pp.
38-51.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 119

ed savages into the field for a war which would not have
cost less than fifty millions."*

June, 1875, the Indians of Spotted Tail and Red Cloud
agenciesf sold their hunting rights to land in Nebraska,
except a small portion on the Niobrara river, receiving
twenty-five thousand dollars therefor.

In this same month of June a Commission was ap-
pointed to treat with the Sioux for the cession of the Black
Hills and the Big Horn country, and three months later
the Commission held a council with them. It was found
impossible, however, to come to terms; the Indians de-
manding more than the Commissioners felt authorized
to pay. \ That the Sioux entertained an exaggerated no-
tion as to the value of these hills to the United States, is
doubtless true. Their imaginations had been worked
upon by the rapid influx of eager miners. But it is also
true that the hills were of inestimable worth to them.
The region would have best answered their paramount
needs in entering upon their new life. It was the finest
part of their reservation and naturally adapted to agri-
culture and herding. The fact that the Indians proba-
bly did not realize this had no bearing upon the ques-
tion of a just equivalent for the cession. The Commis-

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1875, p. 29.

+ For the agreement between these Indians and the United States,
see Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1875, p. 179. Com-
missioners had been appointed in 1873 and in 1874 for the same purpose,
but their negotiations had been unsuccessful. The Indians of the other
agencies were tolerably well settled down and had little practical inter-
est in these hunting grounds. Hence it was not deemed'necessary to
make an agreement with them for the relinquishment of their right.

\ For the report of the Commission, see Report of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs for 1875, pp. 184-200.

120 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

sion, however, did not regard the matter in this light,
and advised Congress to take such steps as should force
compliance with its demands.

There were at this time a number of Sioux roaming
over Western Dakota and Eastern Montana under the
leadership of Sitting Bull and other chiefs of less note.
These Indians had no treaty relations with the United
States Government and desired none. They had strenu-
ously objected to the building of the Northern Pacific
Railroad through their hunting grounds, but had com-
mitted no organized act of hostility. They had, how-
ever, been guilty of various depredations and were
regarded as generally unfriendly to the United States.
November 9, 1875, E. C. Watkins, United States Indian
Inspector, addressed certain complaints against them
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. After speak-
ing of their defiance of law and authority, he stated
that they numbered only a few hundred warriors and
advised that troops be sent against them to " whip them
into subjection."* On November 27 this letter was
transmitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the
Secretary of the Interior,! and two days later by the lat-
ter to the Secretary of War.J December 3 the Secre-
tary of the Interior sent word to the Secretary of War
that he had notified the " Indians that they must remove
to a reservation before the 31st day of January next,"
and that if they neglected to do so they would be regard-

* For the letter of E. C. Watkins, United States Indian Inspector,
to Hon. E. P. Smith, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, see Ex. Docs.,
44th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. XIV, No. 184, pp. 8-9.

t Ex Docs., 44th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. XIV, No. 184, p. 7.

i Ibid., 10.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 121

ed as hostile and a military force " be sent against them
to compel them to obey the orders of the Indian office."*

A large number of Indians were at this time absent
from the reservation, insufficient appropriations having
compelled many to resort to the chase for subsistence.
The same cause had induced a few to join Sitting Bull.
It was midwinter, and most. of these were along distance
from home. The Sioux Commission of 1876, appointed
to purchase the Black Hills, stated in their report that it
did " not appear that any one of the messengers sent out
by the agents was able to return to his agency by the
time which had been fixed for the return of the In-
dians."! I* is certain that the messenger sent from
Cheyenne river was unable to get back before February
11 ;l and he reported that the Indians received the
warning in good spirit and without any exhibition of ill
feeling. They answered that they were hunting buffalo
and could not immediately return, but would visit the
agency early in spring. Other runners also brought in-
formation of the friendly disposition of the Indians. §

The state of the case, then, was this : An order was
issued commanding all Sioux Indians off their reserva-
tions to return by January 31, 1876. | Not sufficient

* Ibid., 10.

t Report of the Sioux Commission : Report of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs for 1876, p. 342.

t See letter of H. W. Bingham, United States Indian Agent, to Hon.
J. Q. Smith, Commissioner of Indian Affairs: Ex. Docs., 44 Cong., 1st
Sess., Vol. XIV, p. 26.

$ Ibid., 22.

II See Letter of Z. Chandler, Secretary of the Interior, to the Hon. Sec-
retary of War : Ex. Doc, 44th Cong., 1st Sess., Vol. XIV, No. 184, p. 10.

122 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

time was allowed the Indians to comply with this order,
and promptly on February 1 they were turned over to the
War Department.*

The campaign was immediately begun, the first action
of importance being the destruction of the village of
Crazy Horse made up of friendly "Indians who had sep-
arated from Sitting Bull and were on their return to their
several agencies."! After this attack inclement weather
forced the troops to return to Fort Fetterman, where they
remained until May. They then took the field again.
June 25 occurred the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which
resulted in the complete annihilation of General Custer's
five companies. The loss of the Indians has been various-
ly estimated as from forty to one hundred.

Meanwhile Congress had taken action upon the report
of the Black Hills Sioux Commission, and, whether upon
the spur of its recommendation or not, had passed an act*

* See Letter of Z. Chandler, Secretary of the Interior, to the Hon.
Secretary of War : Ibid., 17-18.

+ Letter from General H. H. Sibley : Eighth Annual Report Board
of Indian Commissioners, 21. Rev. Thos. S. Williamson also makes this
statement, quoting as his authority Dr. J. W. Daniels, Indian Agent and
Inspector, and one of the Commissioners of 1876 who obtained the ces-
sion of the Black Hills : Minn. Hist. Colls., Ill, 291.

In his report for 1877, p. 15, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
speaks of this camp as hostile, but, since he refers us to the report of the
Secretary of War for a detailed account of the campaign, it is to be pre-
sumed that he obtained his information from this source. The Secretary
of War based his report upon the documents and reports of the generals
and their subordinates; and a careful perusal of these brings to light
many inconsistencies and inaccuracies.

i Indian Appropriation Act, passed August 15, 1876. Quoted in the
report of the Sioux Commission : Report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1876, p. 334.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 123

providing that thereafter no money should be appropri-
ated for the subsistence of these Sioux until they should
relinquish their claim to all land outside their reserva-
tion, and should cede that part of their reservation which
lay west of the one hundred and third meridian of longi-
tude. This last embraced the Black Hills country. On
August 24 a Commission was appointed to treat with the
Sioux. The Indians were at this time in sad straits.
Food was scarce* and hunting off the reservation had
been prohibited. They were more keenly aware than
ever of their dependence upon the United States. Under
these circumstances an agreement! was soon reached.
The Sioux made the desired land cession, and consented
to allow three roads to be built westward through their
reservation. In return the Government promised to
issue rations to the Indians until they should become
self-supporting, and to assist them toward civilization by
furnishing them with " schools and instruction in
mechanical and agricultural arts as provided for by the
treaty of 1868. "J Rations were not to be issued to chil-
dren between the ages of six and fourteen years who did
not regularly attend school, nor to persons who did not
labor, the sick and infirm excepted. Special provision
was made to aid those who should select land in severalty. §

* See Ex. Docs., 44th Cong., 1st Ses3., Vol. XIV, No. 184, pp. 58-9.

t See Articles of Agreement : Report of Commissioner of Indian Af-
fairs for 1876, pp. 349-51.

X Ibid., 350.

§ " Whenever the head of a family shall in good faith select an al-
lotment of land upon such reservation and engage in the cultivation
thereof, the Government shall, with his aid, erect a comfortable house
on such allotment." Articles of Agreement, Article 6 : Report of Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs for 1876, p. 350.

124 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Some of the tribes agreed to visit the Indian Territory,
and, if favorably impressed with the country, to select a
permanent home there. This article was made of no
effect by a provision in the act of February 28, 1877, pro-
hibiting the removal of any Sioux to the Indian Terri-
tory until authorized by Congress.

In the eighth article of the agreement of 1876 the
United States had promised to protect the Sioux in their
"rights of property, person, and life."* But hardly a
month had elapsed before the agency Indians were dis-
mounted and disarmed,! and this despite the fact that
the Government had recognized them as friendly and
had provided them with such insufficient subsistence as
to make recourse to the chase necessary. Some of the
ponies were afterwards sold, the Indians receiving the
proceeds of the sale in the form of cattle, but the returns
were miserably small. %

Meanwhile the war with the hostiles still continued.
In October, 1876, two councils were held with Sitting
Bull, but nothing came of them. Soon after some of the
Indians surrendered. Sitting Bull and a portion of his
following, however, escaped north and crossed over into
Canada, the number of these refugees gradually swelling
to two hundred lodges. June 20, 1877, the United States
was officially notified by the Privy Council of Canada
that these Indians were within the British Possessions,

* Articles of Agreement : Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs
for 1876, p. 351.

+ Abridgment of Message and Documents, 1876-77, p. 385 ; Many-
penny, Our Indian Wards, 314-15.

i The Indians were reimbursed for this loss in 1889. See Report of
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, p. 138.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 125

and was requested to take such steps as should induce
them, and any others who might " similarly cross the
boundary line, to return to their reserves in the United
States territory."* Accordingly, a Commission was ap-
pointed by the President to treat with Sitting Bull for
his peaceable return, but he and his chiefs declined all
proposals and stated that they wished to remain where
they were. The Canadian authorities warned them that
they could expect no help from Great Britain, and that
crossing the line into the United States would be regard-
ed as an act of hostility by both Governments. The
Indians, however, still adhered to their former decision. f
Thus ended the Sioux war of 1876.1

The treaty of 1868 had contemplated the ultimate set-
tlement of all the Sioux of the Plains upon the large
reservation. In 1875 the hunting privilege on the North
Platte and Republican Fork had been surrendered, and
in 1877 the hostile Sioux had either fled to Canada or
submitted to the military. Thus by 1880 all the Mis-
souri Sioux were on the reservation except about four
thousand seven hundred Yanktonnais, who were at Fort
Peck, and one thousand one hundred Northern Sioux,
who had deserted Sitting Bull's camp and were roaming
and hunting just this side of the.boundar}' line between
Canada and the United States.

* Quoted in the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for
1877, p. 17.

t The greater number of these Indians subsequently returned and
proved themselves an element of great disturbance. They were largely
responsible for the Sioux trouble in 1890.

i For official documents relating to this war, see Report of the Sec-
retary of War for 1875-6 and 1876-7 : Ex. Docs., 44th Cong., 1st Sees.,
Vol. XIV, No. 184 ; Messages and Documents, 1876-7, 403-417.

126 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

It was supposed that, once definitely restricted by-
reservation limits, the Sioux would apply themselves to
agriculture and steadily advance in civilization. The
provisions of the treaty of 1868 and those of the agree-
ment of 1876 had looked toward this end. As a matter
of fact, however, the Indians made very little progress
during the next few years. This was owing to several
causes. Sterile soil, drought, and scorching winds made
even fair crops a rarity. Moreover, the Indians were
given no incentive to work. Government had promised
to aid them until they should become self-supporting,
and it fulfilled its obligations to the letter, apparently
not realizing its duty to help them become self-support-
ing. It had entirely forgotten that clause in the agree-
ment of 1876, which provided that no rations should be
issued to children between the ages of six and fourteen
who did not attend school, nor to persons who did not
wrork. Indeed, it failed to provide schools. In 1883
there was not one school among the eight thousand people
on Rosebud reserve ; * and during that year Government
expended only fourteen thousand eight hundred and
ninety-six dollars in the education of these twenty-four
thousand three hundred and eighty Sioux.f

The appointment of Indian agents on the spoils system
was another serious detriment to the welfare of the In-
dians. Frequently the agents were unreliable, more
frequently still utterly unacquainted with their duties
and careless of their responsibilities.

Other causes for the stagnation of the Indians were

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1883, p. 39.
+ Compiled from Statistics in the Report of Commissioner of Indian
Affairs for 1882, pp. 316-347.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 127

the excitement and restlessness resulting from the war of
1876 and the frequent changes in the location of some of
the agencies, those of Spotted Tail and Red Cloud being
removed some three or four times. By 1880 these
removals had ceased and the Indians then found them-
selves under the control of six agencies — Standing Rock,
Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Lower Brule,* Pine Ridge,
and Rosebud. The condition of the different bands
varied, depending upon the character of the Indians, the
soil and climate, and the agent. But, all told, they had
cultivated only three thousand three hundred and sixty-
four acres and owned only nine thousand four hundred
and forty-four cattle and four hundred and » fourteen
swine. f Certainly they had not accomplished much
along two of the main civilizing lines, agriculture and
stock-raising.

Thus far the Sioux had not done very well, but from
1880 to 1890 they made more encouraging progress.
The annual rainfall during the eighties was greater than
usual and crops were correspondingly better. Congress
made increased appropriations for skilled labor. More
and better schools were provided, and competent teachers
employed. At some of the agencies the Indians freighted
the Government supplies and were found efficient and
trustworthy, giving perfect satisfaction to their employ-
ers. This decade also witnessed rapid growth in the
stock-raising industry, the only industry for which much
of the country was fitted. The reforms characteristic of
this period took root here also. Indian police forces and

* Crow Creek and Lower Brule" were consolidated August 22, 1882.
t See Table of Statistics, No. 1.

128 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

courts of Indian offenses were organized and worked
well ; and the enforcement of the Indian Crimes Act of
1885 helped to maintain order.

There was, however, one source of unrest to the Sioux
during these years. This was the constant agitation
which went on for the reduction of their reservation.
However advisable such a reduction may have been, and
events subsequently proved that it was advisable, it was
unfortunate that agitation concerning a measure to which
the Sioux were so strongly opposed should have contin-
ued so long. The Commission* sent to them in 1882
found them little inclined to treat. They stated that
they were perfectly satisfied with the treaty stipulations
under which they were living and desired no change.;
that every agreement with the United States gave them
fewer rights than they had had before. Nevertheless,
some of them signed the agreement presented by the
Commissioners, and this agreement was laid before Con-
gress. At this point the friends of the Indians inter-
posed. They advocated the partition of the Great Sioux
Reservation, but objected to this particular instrument
of partition. They maintained, and with truth, that it
had not been signed by three-fourths of the male adult
population, and that such signatures were necessary ac-
cording to the treaty of 1868 before that treaty could in
any way be modified ; that the consideration for the ces-
sion was inadequate ; that no comprehensive plan had
been outlined for the civilization of the Indians ; and
that unjust and improper means had been used to gain

* For the Report of the Commission, together with other documents
pertaining to the same subject, see Sen. Docs., 48th Cong., 1st Sess.,
•Vol. IV, No. 70.

THE SIOUX FROM 1860 TO 1893. 129

their consent.* Accordingly, the bill was not passed.
The Commission was instructed to continue negotiations,
but it failed to obtain the signatures of the requisite
three-fourths.

In 1887 negotiations were renewed. An agreement
was drawn up whose terms were decidedly more advan-
tageous to the Indians than those of 1882, but it did not
meet their approval. Finally this agreement was amend-
ed and presented by a new Commission.! This time a
three-fourths vote was obtained, and the agreement! was
approved by the President March 2, 1889, and became
law. The terms were exceedingly liberal. The Sioux
ceded to the United States about nine million acres of
land. The remainder of the reservation was to be divided
into six smaller reserves, and each Indian was to have
a claim only to the land in that reserve where he re-
ceived his rations. Land was to be allotted in severalty
according to the Dawes bill of 1887. Thirty school-
houses were to be immediately erected, and the educa-
tional provision of the treaty of 1868 was to continue in
force until 1909. Each head of a family or single person
over eighteen years of age who should take land in sev-
eralty was to be provided "with two milch cows, one
pair of oxen, with yoke and chain, or two mares and set
of harness in lieu of said oxen, yoke, and chain, * * *
one plow, one wagon, one harrow, one hoe, one axe, and

* See Fifteenth Annual Report of the Board of Indian Commission-
ers, 1883, 34-35, 40-41.

t For a full report of the proceedings of this Commission, see Sen.
Ex. Docs., 51st Cong., 1st Sess., No. 51, pp. 15-308.

t See Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1889, pp. 449-
458.

130 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

one pitchfork, * * * and also fifty dollars in cash."*
The money was to be expended under the direction of
the Secretary of the Interior in aiding such an Indian to
erect a house and other buildings suitable for residence
or in the improvement of his allotment. Three million
dollars were to be given the Sioux as a permanent fund
drawing five per cent, interest, one-half of said interest to
be appropriated for " industrial and other suitable educa-
tion," and the other half for such purposes, " including
reasonable cash payments. per capita," as the Secretary
of the Interior should judge would most contribute to
the advancement of the Indians " in civilization and self-
support." The Secretary of the Interior received discre-
tionary power to expend annually not exceeding ten per
cent, of the principal " in the employment of farmers and
in the purchase of agricultural implements, teams, seeds,"
and " in reasonable cash payments." The remainder of
the fund was to be expended for the Indians at the end
of fifty years in such manner as Congress should deter-
mine.

The terms of this agreement were most generous, and
it seemed as though their fulfillment must insure a de-
cided advance on the part of the Sioux. The size of the
reservation had been an impediment to the civilization
of the Indians, as well as a hindrance to the spread of the
whites. The Sioux had been shut in by themselves, had
lacked stimulating contact with a civilized population. It
was a well known fact that the Yanktonnais at Crow
Creek, who were not thus isolated from our people, made

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1889, pp. 454-5.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 131

more rapid progress than their kinsmen nearer the cen-
ter of the great Reservation.*

The fifteen years preceding this agreement had wit-
nessed the steady development of two distinct parties
among the Sioux. There were those who adapted them-
selves to the new order and gradually acquired, at least
to some extent, the habits and customs of civilized life.
These formed the nucleus of the progressive party in
whose ranks were to be found nearly all who had been
Christianized and who were really friendly to the United
States. Opposed to these were those who clung to the
old order and who resisted every advance of civilization.
These were antagonistic to every innovation, and awaited
only an occasion to display their hatred of the Gov-
ernment. It was inevitable that there should be these
two parties. Hardly twenty years had passed since these
Indians had roamed the plains at will and subsisted
almost entirely by the chase. Only those who possessed
most adaptability could adjust themselves in so short a
time to the new environment. The existence of this pa-
gan party was, therefore, most natural, but the fact does
not exonerate the Government from blame ; it should
have made provision to control it. The lack of foresight
on the part of the United States was largely responsible
for the so-called "outbreak" of 1890.

The cession of 1889, despite the liberal compensation,
had not been favored by all the Sioux. There was a small
minority that had bitterly opposed it. Even those who
had signed the agreement had relinquished nine million
acres of land with some reluctance. They doubtless

* This may be seen from a careful comparison of the civilization
statistics in the reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

132 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

realized that a more determined effort was to be made to
civilize them, and they felt a vague unrest as to the
future. This was accentuated by the partial failure of
crops in 1889 and in 1890,* and great mortality resulting
from the grippe, measles, and whooping-cough. The In-
dians said their children were all dying from diseases
introduced by the whites.

This state of affairs made it particularly unfortunate
that the issue of rations should have been cut down at this
time. While negotiations for the cession were pending,
the Indians had asked again and again whether the new
agreement would result in their receiving less rations,
and had been assured that it would not.f Yet large re-
ductions in beef were made at the various agencies,
amounting at Rosebud to two million and at Pine Ridge
to one million pounds. Moreover, various provisions in
the agreement were not promptly fulfilled, among them
those providing for appropriations for education and for
the payment for the ponies taken in 1876-7. Besides

* In addition to this partial failure, the crops at Pine Ridge were
trampled down or eaten by cattle which had broken into the fields
while the Indians were at the agency treating with the Commissioners.
Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, I, 133; Scribner's
Magazine, April, 1891, 446.

1 1 cannot do better than quote the words of the Commission on
this point : " During our conference at the different agencies we were
repeatedly asked whether the acceptance or rejection of the act of Con-
gress would influence the action of the Government with reference to
their rations, and in every instance the Indians were assured that sub-
sistence was furnished in accordance with former treaties, and that sign-
ing would not affect their rations, and that they would continue to
receive them as provided in former treaties. Without our assurances to
this effect it would have been impossible to have secured their consent
to the cession of lands." Report and Proceedings of the Sioux Commis-
sion: Sen. Ex. Docs., 51st Cong., 1st Sess., No. 51, p. 23.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 133

these, there were other causes which added to the gloom
and misfortune of the Indians.*

Matters were in this critical state when the report of a
Messiah spread among the Sioux. f It was said that he
had declared that their term of humiliation and punish-
ment was at an end ; that they were now to become the
dominant race upon the continent, and were to avenge
the wrongs which had been heaped upon them by the
whites. Their dead were to be raised up and their
ponies and hunting grounds restored. It was enjoined
upon all who believed in the Messiah to show their faith
in him by repeated "ghost dances," each dance to be
prolonged until the strength of the dancer was exhaust-
ed, or he swooned.

This strange delusion immediately laid hold of some
of the non-progressive Indians that were superstitious
enough to believe it. Others became converts because

* The disease of blackleg had appeared among the cattle in 1888.
The agreement of 1889 had changed the boundary line between Pine
Kidge and Rosebud, and some of the Indians at the latter reserve had
been obliged to change their location. This caused a certain amount of
discomfort. The census of the Indians had revealed the fact that their
number was decidedly less than that upon which the issue of rations
was based, and this meant a diminution of rations. Report of Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, 133-4.

t It did not originate with them. According to Rev. W. J. Cleve-
land, who made an extended investigation into the matter, the Indians
said that the report came "from the people who wear rabbit-skin blan-
kets, * * * far west of the Yellow Skins, who are far west of the
Utes." Mr. Herbert Welsh thinks that by these may be meant the
Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Arizona because, I quote his words,
" they wear rabbit-skin blankets, live far west of the Utes, and, more-
over, hold the old Aztec tradition of Montezuma, their Savior, return-
ing to free their race." The Meaning of the Dakota Outbreak: Scrib-
ner'8 Magazine, April, 1891, p. 446.

134 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

they felt that in so doing they might find an opportun-
ity to throw off the fetters of civilization. But the num-
ber of those influenced would probably have been very
small had it not been for the Sitting Bull faction. This
was largely made up of those who had fled to Canada in
the war of 1876, had returned four or five years later,
and were now at Standing Rock. Sitting Bull himself
was the chief mischief-maker, and it was largely through
his efforts that the craze gained a firm footing at his agency.

Meanwhile the excitement laid hold of the Sioux at
Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Cheyenne River, though there
were fewer converts than at Standing Rock. Ghost
dances became frequent ; industrial occupations were
neglected, and a general demoralization ensued. Matters
grew worse as the summer advanced. Sitting Bull's
runners were active, hurrying here and there, rousing
this and that band, and always appealing to the lowest
and most ignorant.

As early as June, 1890, there had been rumors afloat
that the Sioux were secretly planning to rise, but the re-
ports of the Indian agents indicated that there were no
grounds for apprehending serious trouble. The proba-
bility of an outbreak grew with the increase of disturbance
during the summer and early autumn, and in No-
vember the attitude of some of the Indians was decidedly
unfriendly. The agents at Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and
Cheyenne River reported that the Sioux were arming,
and November 13 the Indian Office recommended that
the matter be submitted to the War Department. The
action of this department was precipitated by a telegram*
from Agent Royer of Pine Ridge, dated November 15.

See Eeport of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, I, 128.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 135

The telegram seems to have been prompted by no spec-
ial exigency. Agent Royer stated that the Indians were
" wild and crazy " and were dancing in the snow ; and
that the employees and Government property were with-
out protection. He urged that the leaders be arrested at
once. Five days later a military force of five companies
of infantry and three troops of cavalry arrived at Pine
Ridge. Troops were ordered to other Sioux agencies
also. When the detachment sent to Rosebud reached
that reservation, " about one thousand Indians — men,
women, and children — stampeded toward Pine Ridge and
the bad lands, destroying their own property before leav-
ing, and that of others en route."*

During this time Sitting Bull's camp at Grand River,
forty miles from Standing Rock agency, had been the
center of great disturbance. December 15 he was ar-
rested by a force of Indian police. " He agreed to ac-
company them to the agency, but while dressing caused
considerable delay, and during this time his followers
began to congregate to the number of one hundred and
fifty, so that when he was brought out of the house they
had the police entirely surrounded. Sitting Bull then
refused to go and called upon his friends, the ghost
dancers, to rescue him. At this juncture one of them
shot Lieutenant Bullhead. The lieutenant then shot
Sitting Bull, who also received another shot and was
killed outright. Another shot struck Sergeant Shave-
head and then the firing became general. In about two
hours the police had secured possession of Sitting Bull's
house and driven their assailants into the woods."f

* Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, I, 128.
t Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, I, 129.

136 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

Meanwhile " groups of Indians from the different
reservations had commenced concentrating in the 'bad
lands ' upon or in the vicinity of the Pine Ridge reser-
vation. Killing of cattle and destruction of other prop-
erty by these Indians almost entirely within the limits of
Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations occurred, but no
signal fires were built, no warlike demonstrations were
made, no violence was done to any white settler, nor was
there cohesion or organization among the Indians them-
selves. Many of them were friendly Indians who had
never participated in the ghost dance but had fled thither
from fear of soldiers, * * or through over-persuasion
of friends. The military gradually began to close in
around them, and they offered no resistance, and a
speedy and quiet capitulation of all was confidently
expected."*

Among these Indians was Big Foot's band. This left
the bad lands and started toward Pine Ridge agency,
and meeting our troops proposed a parley with them.
Upon being refused they surrendered unconditionally,
but turned over to the military very few arms. Their
teepees were searched and sixty guns were found. A
detachment of troops was then ordered to take the arms
from their persons, and while this was going on a shot
was fired. f " A short, sharp, indiscriminate fight imme-
diately followed, and, during the fighting and the subse-
quent flight and pursuit of the Indians, the troops lost
twenty-five killed and thirty-five wounded, and of the
Indians, eighty-four men and boys, forty-four women,

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, 130.
+ Probably by a crazy Indian.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 137

and eighteen children were killed, and at least thirty-
three were wounded, many of them fatally."* The fact
that so many women and children were killed speaks ill
for our soldiers. According to the Indian accountf these
women and children were indiscriminately massacred
even under the flag of truce ; and there is reason to
believe that there is some truth in this assertion.

The result of the fight at Wounded Knee Creek was
a further concentration of the Indians upon the bad
lands, and January 6, 1891, Major-General Schofield
ordered that army officers be assigned to the Sioux
agencies to exercise " military supervision and control,"
but " without interfering unnecessarily with the admin-
istration of the agents of the Indian Bureau."{ During
the next few weeks there were some skirmishes, but in
less than a month the Indians had returned to their
agencies and all serious trouble was practically over.§

Shortly after a Commission from the Sioux visited
Washington and were given an opportunity to state their
grievances. The difficulties were for the most part
settled by the Indian appropriations made in the acts of

* Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, 130.

t For the Indian account of the fight at Wounded Knee Creek, see
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, Appendix, pp.
179-181. This account, although given wholly from the Indian stand-
point and, therefore, probably a little one-sided, bears the stamp of
sincerity.

i Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, 131.

§ For a full and most excellent account of this so-called Sioux " out-
break," see Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, pp.
123-142.

138 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

January 19* and March 3, 1891. f Congress had then
complied with all its treaty stipulations, and fulfilled the
promises made by the Sioux Commission of 1889, except
that it had not provided for the one hundred and eighty-
seven thousand and thirty-nine dollars which the Com-
mission had advised should be paid the Crow Creek
Indians because the per capita amount of land on their
reserve was less than that on the others, being only two
hundred and sixty acres. J

It has seemed necessary to dwell at some length upon
this so-called " outbreak " of 1890, because its nature
was characteristic of the temper and condition of the
Indians. The first point to be noted is the fact that the
Sioux were no longer a united people. Their experiences
of the last twenty years had broken tribal relations and
community of interests. A sense of individual responsi-
bility and personal independence had begun to dawn
upon them. This was illustrated in the sharp distinction
between the progressive and non-progressive parties.
Furthermore, the great body of the Sioux were friendly
to the Government. Under circumstances which they
would once have eagerly seized upon as an excuse to
take up arms, they remained peaceful and quiet. It is
probably true that a small party under the leadership of

* See U. S. Statutes at Large, XXVI, 720.

t See ibid., 1001-2.

t The Crow Creek and Lower Brute Indians numbered the same, yet
the latter received one hundred and eighty-seven thousand and thirty-
nine acres more than the former. Hence the Commission urged the
former should be given one hundred and eighty- seven thousand and
thirty- nine dollars, that is one dollar for each acre which in justice they
should have received but did not. Report and Proceedings of the Sioux
Commission : Sen. Ex. Docs., 51st Cong., 1st Sess., No. 51, pp. 30-1.

THE SIOUX FROM 1850 TO 1893. 139

Sitting Bull and others were preparing to break away
from their treaty relations in the spring, but this was
made up largely of the wilder element which had come
into the reservation during the last decade and had not
yet adjusted itself to the new environment.

Altogether, considering the unsettled condition of the
Indians consequent upon the rapid changes in their life
during the preceding thirty years, the unfortunate cir-
cumstances which combined to make them hopeless and
despondent, and the peculiar temptations which befell
them to revert back to the old savage life — considering
these things, the wonder is not that there was an out-
break in 1890, but that the proportions which it assumed
were so small. This must afford encouragement rather
than discouragement as to the ultimate solution of the
Sioux problem. The fact that progress has been made
proves capacity therefor. It remains now to surround
this capacity by such conditions as will cause it to bear
fruit.

CHAPTER V.
The Yanktons from 1850 to 1893.

The division of the great Sioux family into the Sioux
•of the Mississippi and the Sioux of the Plains was made
on the basis of their geographical location. That for a
time this location determined the attitude of the Indians
toward the Government, and of the Government toward
the Indians, is apparent on the surface. The Mississippi
Sioux were settled upon reservations and brought to an
agricultural life sooner than the Missouri Sioux, simply
because they came in contact with our civilization earlier.
Not until our frontiers had pushed themselves further
westward were the Sioux of the Plains brought into close
relationship with the United States. The Yanktons, as
being the most easterly band of these wilder Indians,
were the first to be influenced by our civilization policy.
Their history, from 1858 on, is so entirely separate from
that of their kinsmen that it has seemed best to give it a
separate chapter.

In the year 1851 the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Mdewakan-
tonwan, and Wahpekute bands had ceded a large territory
to the United States. The Yanktons insisted that this
territory had in part belonged to them, and that their
right to it should have been recognized in this treaty ;
and they made themselves especially troublesome when-
ever the annuities were paid. Finally, February 19,
1858, the Government made a treaty* with them.

* U. S. Statutes at Large, XI, 743-9.

THE YANKTONS FROM 1850 TO 1893. 141

Article I provided that the Yanktons cede all their
lands to the United States except four hundred thousand
acres in the southeastern part of Dakota,* to be set aside
as a reservation for them.

Article II defined the boundaries of the land ceded.

Article III gave the United States the right to con-
struct roads across the reservation, a fair equivalent to-
be paid for land so used.f

Article IV provided that the United States protect the
Indians in the peaceable enjoyment of their reservation ;
and pay them annually $65,000 for the first ten years,
$40,000 for the next ten years, $25,000 for the next ten
years, and $15,000 for the next twenty years, the Secre-
tary of the Interior to be given discretionary power over
the expenditure of this money, and the annuities to be
discontinued if the Indians should not make " reasonable
and satisfactory efforts to advance and improve their
condition."} The United States further promised to pay
the Indians $25,000 to maintain them during the first
year after their removal and to assist them in beginning
an agricultural life ; to spend $10,000 for educational
purposes, the Indians to send all their children between
the ages of seven and eighteen to school, and those not
doing so to be deprived of a portion of their annuities ;
and to erect " a mill suitable for grinding grain and

* " Beginning at the mouth of the Naw-izi-wa-koo-pah or Chonteau
river ; thence down said river to the place of beginning, so as to include
the said quantity of four hundred thousand acres." U. S. Statutes at
Large, XI, 744.

t This same article provided that the Yanktons remove to their
reservation within a year from the date of the treaty.

i U. S. Statutes at Large, XT, 745.

142 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

sawing timber,"* and make other improvements not
exceeding in value $15,000.

Article V bound the Indians not to destroy any of the
improvements made by the Government, and, in case of
such destruction, to pay for the same with their annuities.

Article VI empowered the chiefs and headmen in
open council to authorize a certain portion of their
annuities, not exceeding in the aggregate $150,000, to be
paid to satisfy their just debts, and to provide for such
of their half-breeds as did not live upon the reservation
or draw annuities ; not more than $15,000 to be used for
this purpose in one year.

Article VIII provided that the Yanktons be secured in
the free use of so much of the Red Pipestone quarry as
they had been accustomed to frequent for the purpose of
securing stone for pipes.

Article IX gave the United States the right to establish
" military posts, roads, and Indian agencies "f upon the
reservation, due compensation to be made for any injury
to the property of the Yanktons.

Article X provided for the exclusion of all but duly
authorized persons from the reservation, and prohibited
the Indians from disposing of any of their land except to
the United States. The Secretary of the Interior was
given discretionary power to cause the reservation to be
surveyed and allotted, each head of a family or single
person to receive a separate farm, with such rights of
possession as the Secretary might deem just.

Article XII provided that annuities be withheld from
those who should drink intoxicating liquors or procure

* TJ. S. Statutes at Large, XI, 746.
tU.S. Statutes at Large, XI, 746.

THE YANKTONS FROM 1850 TO 1893. 143

them for others, and from those who should in any way-
violate the terms of the treaty.

Article XIV provided that the United States be free
from all obligations toward the Yanktons except those
under this treaty and the Fort Laramie treaty of
1851.*

The reservation upon which the Yanktons were settled
contained about ninety -five per cent, of good, arable land
especially adapted to wheat-raising ; the remainder was
suitable for pasture. There was, however, always the
chance that the crops would be eaten or destroyed by
grasshoppers. The Indians showed themselves pos-
sessed of a good deal of adaptability. They at once set-
tled down upon their reservation and made an auspicious
beginning in their new life. Their annuities were small,
but for the first few years they supported themselves eas-
ily by farming and hunting. Throughout the war of 1862
they remained loyal to the Government, and furnished

* Article VII provided that certain persons who had been of service
to the Yanktons receive allotments upon the ceded lands.

Article XI provided that the Yanktons commit no depredations, pre-
serve peaceful relations with other tribes and with the United States,
and deliver to the proper Government officers " all offenders against the
treaties, laws, or regulations of the United States."

Article XIII provided that no part of the annuities be taken to satisfy
claims except those named in this treaty, or those which might arise un-
der it, or under the trade and intercourse laws.

Article XV provided that an agent be appointed for the Yanktons.

Article XVI provided that the expenses of making this treaty and of
surveying the reservation and the Red Pipestone quarry be borne by the
United States.

Article XVII provided that this treaty be binding as soon as ratified
by the Senate and the President.

144 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

fifty scouts* who did us most excellent service. Until
1864 the Yanktons progressed rapidly, but for nearly a
decade of years after that they were in a miserable state.
The Government either failed to keep its treaty promises
or administered the affairs of the Indians so badly that
it amounted to the same thing, f Their agency buildings
were in a dilapidated condition ; their crops repeatedly
failed, either because not planted in time or because de-
stroyed by the grasshoppers ; they suffered from the spo-
liations of the soldiers, and the Government delayed
paying the ten thousand dollars which Congress had
appropriated as indemnity.

With the early seventies came a change for the better.
The United States assisted the tribe with liberal appro-
priations. The Episcopal Church and the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions did good

* These scouts received no compensation but arms, ammunition,
clothing, and rations until thirty years later, when, by the agreement of
December 31, 1892, they were awarded $225 each. See Report of Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs for 1894, p. 448.

+ " Agent Conger found the Yanctons in a very unsatisfactory con-
dition and expressing much discontentment, and complaining that the
Government had not kept its promises to them. * * * He reported the
agency buildings in a dilapidated condition, and everything run down ;
no cattle or stock, farming tools few and in bad condition, and very
small preparation for a crop this year. * * * There is no school on
the reservation, and none has been in existence, although the treaty pro-
vides liberally for one, and the vouchers of late Agent Burleigh are on
file for the expenditure of considerable sums of money for the purpose."
Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1865-6 : Report of the
Secretary of the Interior, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 194.

Being advised of the condition of the Yanktons, Congress ordered
special inquiry to be made into their matters and a report thereon. This
report I have been unable to find, but it seems certain that it resulted in
a better administration of the Yankton affairs.

THE YANKTONS FROM 1850 TO 1893.

145

work. Sheep and cattle-raising were introduced, and
material prosperity increased. After a time a court of
Indian offenses was established and Indian police were
put on duty. When the Land in Severalty Bill was passed,
the Yankton reservation was one of the first made sub-
ject to its action. 167,324.12 acres were allotted to 1,484
Indians, and 851.88 acres reserved for agency, church,
and school purposes. Under the act of February 28,
1891, which provided that all members of a tribe have
equal amounts of land, 1,128 more allotments, embracing
96,762 acres, were made. About one-half of these were
additions to those made under the Land in Severalty Bill.
The surplus lands of this reservation amounted to 167,-
303 acres. Under the provisions of the act of 1887, a Com-
mittee was appointed October 1, 1892, to negotiate with
the Yanktons for the sale of this unallotted land. The
first agreement presented by the Commissioners provided
that Government cause " the land to be appraised under
certain restrictions, and sold to the highest bidder, who
also must be an actual settler." * The land was not to be
sold at less than the appraised value ; and the proceeds
of the sale were to become a permanent fund whose an-
nual interest should be distributed among the members
of the tribe. The Indians favored this proposition, but
before action could be taken upon it a disagreement
arose among the Commissioners, as a result of which one
of them resigned. The appraisement plan was then laid
aside, and a new agreement drawn up. This provided
for the cession of the surplus lands for the gross sum of
six hundred thousand dollars, equal to about three

* Report of E. W. Foster, Yankton Agent: Report of the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs for 1893, p. 312.

146 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

dollars and sixty cents per acre. There was decided
opposition to the second agreement, especially among
the more intelligent Indians. They said that land
in their near neighborhood was valued at ten
dollars and twenty dollars per acre, and that their
own was worth quite as much ; but that they would sell
on the appraisement plan, and only on that plan, fixing
the minimum price at six dollars per acre.* " The Com-
missioners, however, were determined to make a success
of their undertaking, and, when the opposition showed
strength, they became liberal in expending money. They
employed a small army of interpreters, couriers, and mes-
sengers. Councils were called, harangues made, and feasts
given."f In this way enough signatures were obtained,

* "Gentlemen," said they, "you have a wrong conception of our
rights on this reservation. You seem to regard our title to this land as
parallel to that of the Western Sioux to the Great Sioux reservation re-
cently ceded. Their title was simply the right of occupancy. Ours is a
title in fee ; it is the solemn pledge of the Government to protect this
tribe in the peaceable possession of this land as a home forever. Now,
although we have accepted allotments in severalty, and a considerable
body of land is left unallotted, yet we are not compelled to sell it at less
than it is worth. Wild land adjoining the reservation of similar charac-
ter sells from ten dollars to twenty dollars per acre. We believe that
fifty thousand acres of our land would sell on an unrestricted market
for twenty dollars per acre. We believe that within the next ten years
our lands will sell for twenty-five dollars to fifty dollars per acre.
Now we believe that it would be for the best interests of this tribe to sell
these surplus lands at a fair price so that we can have white people for
our near neighbors, and therefore we will agree to cede our lands on the
plan you first proposed, fixing the minimum price at six dollars per acre,
but otherwise we shall oppose a sale." Quoted in Report of E. W. Foster,
United States Indian Agent at Yankton: Report of Commissioner of
Indian Affairs for 1893, p. 311.

+ Report of E. W. Foster, United States Indian Agent : Report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1893, p. 311.

THE YANKTONS FROM 1860 TO 1893. 147

but the worth of some of them may be judged from the
following words of Agent Foster : " Since then those
whose names were attached to the document have asked
me many times what their names are signed to, and many
of those who refused to sign have desired me to ascertain
the terms of the agreement they declined to sign ; but as
no copy of it was left here, and as it was never read in
open meeting but once, and was kept closely sealed from
the public, I have not been able to make any satisfactory
explanation."*

When the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
for 1893 was written this agreement was still on file with
the Secretary of the Interior, and no action had been
taken for its transmittal to Congress. f In addition to
the six hundred thousand dollars to be paid the tribe for
the cession, the agreement provided that twenty dollars
be paid each adult male.

The Yanktons may now be reckoned among the civil-
ized communities of the United States. For the most
part they wear citizens' clothes and live in houses ; they
own their land in fee simple and are fairly successful in
cultivating it ; they have churches and schools ; finally,
they are citizens. But there are still dangers ahead of
them, and the greatest are those that have to do with the
much mooted question of law. Their agent writes that
" their relationship with local State authorities has not
changed. The reservation has been within an organized
county for many years, yet the county authorities decline
to recognize the Indians or any of the residents of the

* Report of E. W. Foster, United States Indian Agent : Report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1893, p. 311.

t Since then the agreement has been ratified. See Report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1894, 444-450.

148 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

reserve as entitled to the rights and privileges of citizen-
ship. The Constitution of the State of South Dakota
expressly disclaims any right or title to any lands owned
or held by an Indian or Indian tribe that are exempt
from taxation, and this is held to disclaim any jurisdic-
tion over the acts, either civil or criminal, of the residents
within an Indian country."* Thus the Yanktons, as
indeed the rest of our Indian citizens, are still hampered
in their development by the lack of proper State legisla-
tion.

* Report of E. W. Foster, United States Indian Agent at Yankton
Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1893, p. 307.

CHAPTER VI.
Status of the Sioux in 1893.

In 1893 the Sioux were under the supervision of ten
agencies.* At all of these the Indians were leading a
more or less settled life, and, except for those at Fort
Peck, had begun to partially support themselves. Pro-
gress had been most marked at Sisseton, Santee, Yank-
ton, and Devil's Lake agencies, and for several reasons.
These Indians were the first to leave off their nomadic
life and to settle down to agriculture.! The reservations
upon which they had been placed had been of fairly
good character ; the soil was rich and fertile and repaid
the toil of cultivation, though the crops were sometimes
ruined by drought and parching winds. The Indians at
these agencies lived in houses and had largely adopted
the habits and customs of civilized life ; all, with the ex-
ception of a few at Devil's Lake, had received allotments

* See second map. Besides these there was a small band of Mdewa-
kantonwan Sioux in Minnesota, not living upon a reservation and having
no treaty relations with the Government. In various Indian appropria-
tion acts the aggregate sum of fifty-eight thousand dollars had been set
aside for these Indians, and October 16, 1886, a special agent was ap-
pointed to purchase lands for them. See Keport of Commissioner of
Indian Affairs for 1891, 1, 110-2.

+ The Yanktons did not settle down until 1858, but that was ten
years before the other Sioux of the Plains were placed upon a reservation.

Sisseton and Santee reservations had been thrown open to settle-
ment under the Homestead Law.

150 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

in severalty and were citizens of the United States. This
as yet meant little to them, since they had not thus far
been educated to an appreciation of their obligations and
privileges. With the Sioux at Flandreau,* under the
control of the Santee agency, it was otherwise. Their
agent spoke of them as sober, steady, industrious, and
law-abiding. They were, moreover, the only Sioux who
were entirely self-supporting.

The Crow Creek and Lower Brule Indians were in a
stage intermediate between the above and the so-called
Sioux of the Plains. They were not quite so far advanced
as the Mississippi Sioux, but were making rapid
progress. Four hundred and ninety families were living
upon and cultivating allotments in severalty. A large
proportion were engaged in agriculture and stock-raising.
The uncertainty of the climate inclined the Indians to
the latter. Nearly all wore citizen's dress.

The rest of the Sioux of the Plains were on Pine Ridge,
Rosebud, Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Fort Peck
reservations. They had made little progress since 1868,
a fact to be attributed partially to the utter unfitness of
their lands for agriculture. The Indian Appropriation
Act of 1893 made provision for the sinking of an artesian
well at Rosebud, one at Standing Rock, and one at Pine
Ridge, these wells to be used for irrigating purposes.
They were, however, still of the future. The Indians
were devoting themselves to stock-raising and were mak-
ing some advance along this line. Fifty-six allotments

* These, it will be remembered, had taken up homesteads under the
sixth article of the treaty of 1868. This would seem to indicate that they
were more enterprising than most of their kinsmen. They had, more-
over, been citizens for about twenty years.

STATUS OF THE SIOUX IN 1893. 151

had been made at Rosebud, but none elsewhere. The
Fort Peck* Indians stood lowest in civilization.

According to the statistics of the Report of the Com-
missioner of Indian Affairs for 1893, the Sioux numbered
twenty-four thousand nine hundred and seventy-one.
There were one thousand nine hundred and ninety living
upon and cultivating allotments in severalty. There
were seventy-eight schools upon the reservations, with
an average attendance of three thousand two hundred
and forty-two children. The support of these schools
cost the Government $371,615.16, and other parties $49,-
768.72. Thus $421,383.88 were spent for the education of
the Sioux during this year. Despite the above figures,!
which are certainly hopeful, it may be questioned whether
the Government did its utmost for the Indians. It
failed to enforce compulsory attendance. Many of the
Indians do not see that education is absolutely necessary
in order that they may become fitted for citizenship.
Neither do they understand its relation to the question
of self-support. Their annuities will cease and they will
then have to care for themselves unless the United States
should voluntarily assist them. This the Government is
not bound to do. But it has a duty in another direction.
It must educate the Indians to an appreciation of their
true condition, and this must be done largely through
schools. While, therefore, the school report of the Sioux
for 1893 is encouraging, it is not all that could be wished.
The enforcement of compulsory attendance, and larger

* These Indians have not been treated in this paper. A history of
their relations with the United States Government would be simply
another illustration of the principles already brought out.

t See Tables of Statistics, numbers 3 and 4.

152 KELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

appropriations for the accommodation of the additional
pupils that will thus be secured, are necessary. This, to-
gether with civil service reform, will smooth the path
which the Indians must tread to ultimate competition
with the whites. The Sioux are a brave people, and
superior to most of their race in mental ability. In the
midst of a proper environment there is no reason why
they should not ultimately become intelligent and self-
supporting citizens. Their future, together with that
of the other Indian tribes, will depend largely upon the
Government's conscientious performance of duty toward
them. The attitude of the American people, as reflected
in Congress, will determine the solution of the Indian
problem.

STATUS OF THE SIOUX IN 1893.

153

TABLE No. 1.
Statistics relating to Indian Schools among the Sioux.*

Number
of Schools

Average
Attendance

Amount Expended in Education

Name of Agency.

By Government

By Religious So-
cieties

Standing River

3
5
1

90
81
28
36
23
59

86,460

430
1,080

81,500

Cheyenne River

Crow Creek . . .

Lower Brul6

5,420

Rosebud

Pine Ridge

350
280

Compiled from the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1880.

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156

RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

TABLE No. 4.

Statistics relating to Schools among the Sioux during the Year
ending June 30, 1893.*

Name of Agency

Devil's Lake

Sisseton and Wahpeton

Yankton

Santee..

Crow Creek and Lower Brul6 . .

Pine Ridge

Rosebud..

Standing Rock.

Forest City

Fort Peck

Number of
Schools

Board-
ing

2
2
3
4
2
2
3
4
1
25

Day

Average At-
tendance

Board-
ing

358
134
142
282
319
232
141
218
135
27

Day

478
390
199
100

1,254

Cost to Gov
ernment

856,473.61
23,452.59
22,108.11
87,764.17
45,694.00
49,006.64
26,005.52
35,448.87
23,412.62
2,249.03

$371,615.16

Cost to
Other Par-
ties

$3,100.00
6,372.64
3,600.00

13,435.63
4,291.45

12,500.00
3,000.00
3,469.00

$49,768.72

* Compiled from the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1893.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. 15&

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160 RELATIONS WITH THE SIOUX INDIANS.

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