Three Years on the Plains
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Edmund B. Tuttle >> Three Years on the Plains
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All reached Fetterman in safety the next evening, and the dog is still
a hero among the boys of Company D, 18th United States Infantry.
SPEECH OF "WHITE SHIELD," HEAD CHIEF OF THE ARICKAREES.
FORT BERTHOLD, D. T., July 2d, 1864.
I speak for my brothers, the Arickarees, Gros Ventres, and
Mandaris. We all live in peace in the same village, as you see us.
We have a long time been the friends of the white man, and we will
still be. Our grandfathers, the Black Bear of the Arickarees, and
the Four Bears of the Gros Ventres, were at the treaty with our
white brothers on the Platte a long time ago. They told us to be
the friends of our white brothers, and not go to war with our
neighbors, the Dakota Sioux, Chippewas, Crees, Assinaboines, Crows,
or Blackfeet.
We listened to their words as long as they were heard in council.
They have both been killed by the Dakotas; we have none left among
us who heard the talk at the treaty on the Platte.
We want a new treaty with our Great Father. We want him to tell us
where we must live. We own the country from Heart River to the
Black Hills, from there to the Yellowstone River, and north to
Moose River.
We are afraid of the Dakotas; they will kill us, our squaws and
children, and steal our horses. We must stay in our village for
fear of them. Our Great Father has promised us soldiers to help us
keep the Dakotas out of our country. No help has come yet; we must
wait. Has our Great Father forgotten his children? We want to live
in our country, or have pay for it, as our Great Father is used to
do with his other red children. We, the Arickarees, have been
driven from our country on the other side of the Missouri River by
the Dakotas. We came to our brothers, the Gros Ventres and Mandans;
they received us as brothers, and we all live together in their
village. We thank our brothers very much. We want our Father to
bring us guns to hunt with, and we want dresses, coats, pants,
shirts, and hats for our soldiers, and a different dress for our
chiefs. We want a school for our children. Our hearts are good. We
do not speak with two tongues. We like to see our white brothers
come among us very much. We hear bad talk, but have no ears. When
we hear good talk, we have ears.
his
WHITE x SHIELD.
mark
To our Great Father in Washington.
INDIAN TRADING.
A bargain is never concluded so long as anything more can be obtained
by an Indian from a white man. This feature of Indian character is very
old indeed. I remember, when a child, that when one gave his brother a
ball, or anything, and took it back again, he was called "an Indian
giver." Mr. Hinman gives this experience: "If an Indian (not a
Christian) gives, he expects soon to ask more in return. This is the
selfish habit of all heathen, and when they have power, they often
accompany their demands for gifts with threats of killing one's horse,
etc., if their demands are not complied with. They seem to know nothing
of disinterestedness, except among persons nearly related. An Indian
will press you with his pipe one day, and the next, with a polite
speech about not intending to ask pay for his pipe, which he treasured
highly, intimates that he needs a blanket!
"One will offer to assist you to work for a day, and the next ask to
borrow two dollars. They try to get you so indebted to them for favors,
that you cannot decently refuse their requests. In all their speeches
they try to prove to you that you are indebted to them." So one will
ask as few favors of them as possible. He says, "I was surprised at the
Yankton agency, to have some young men offer, without any pay, to cut
all the timber and do all the work on a building for the council-room
for the Mission. The change came sooner under their limited instruction
than I had expected, and almost immediately the chief, 'Swan,' offered
to cut logs and build a house for a chapel-school at his camp, opposite
Fort Randall. The chief, Mad Bull, offered the same for the other end
of the reservation, near Choctaw Creek.
"Among those heathens that have borne Christian fruits with the
Santees, is 'Little Pheasant,' chief of the wild Brule Sioux, who came
down to restore to the Yankton reservation some stolen horses, and
promised Paul Mazakuta to take a list of his men desiring instruction.
God is moving the hearts of these wild Indians in a wondrous way.
"At our Sunday evening service, over a hundred Yankton warriors and
chiefs were present. I preached from the parable of the prodigal son.
At the end of this passage, 'Though the elder brother be still jealous
of the kindness and mercy shown to you, and thinks your people only fit
to go down to the grave with the beasts that perish, yet God is good
and just; and though long lost and wandering so many years, now found
at last, He will lead you safely to his home.' Dulorio, a chief, said,
'Oh, my friends, this is where we all ought to cry Ko (yes) with a loud
voice!' But the chief, 'Swan,' replied, 'True, true, Koda (friend); but
men must not applaud in church. The words they give us ought to be laid
up in our hearts.'
"To-day, twenty-two plows are started in the fields, and two in the
prairies, to break an additional hundred acres for wheat. A little
opposition is shown to dividing the land, but only a few Indians
oppose. It is a great step, and one that many are prepared for; but it
must be executed by a wise and good man. It is _the death-blow_ to
heathenism, barbarism, and idleness, and therefore a medicine
absolutely necessary to restore health and quicken life; but yet it
must be administered by a brave and judicious physician. It is a
revolution of habit and of manner of life to the Indian. And in
Minnesota, the delay in perfecting it, and the lack of moral support
given to those who took farms, caused, as much as anything, the
outbreak of 1862, which was, in the beginning, a triumph of the hostile
party over the working bands. Philip the deacon, Thomas Whipple, and
Alexander Umbeclear, Indian catechists, and two Yankton head soldiers,
who volunteered, are on their mission to the wild Sioux. As far as I
know, there is a very general desire for schools; and God is surely
opening the way for the building up of his kingdom."
RED CLOUD, SPOTTED TAIL, AND THEIR FRIENDS IN WASHINGTON.
History will point to the visit of these great chiefs of the Sioux
tribes at Washington as the most important event in their lives,
because it not only staved off a great war threatened on the plains,
but most likely inaugurated a system of just and fair dealing for the
time to come, that may prevent any more cruel and bloody wars with the
Indians on our frontiers. Hence every incident that took place there is
interesting; and as it is a costly expense to the government, it is
likely to be discouraged in the future, and if boys have another chance
to see some "big chiefs," they will have to go a great way, perhaps to
Nebraska or Dakota, to have a good look at them.
The party belonging to Zin-tak-gah-lat-skah--Spotted Tail--left
Minnesota before Red Cloud's from the Powder River country, and arrived
first in Washington; but their interests were the same, so nothing was
done until General Smith arrived with Red Cloud and reported to the
Secretary of War. He then turned them over, as we say, to the Indian
Bureau, which has a suite of offices, etc. in the Patent Office
building in Washington. The Secretary of the Interior, who is a member
of the cabinet, and General Parker (Chippewa chief), Indian
Commissioner, received them as their charge during their stay in
Washington. Before Red Cloud came, however, Spotted Tail had an
interview with General Parker. He said:
"The government does not fulfill its treaty promises, and that
supplies of goods promised and money owed for lands were not sent
to them at the times agreed on, and that the white man, wherever he
can find many buffaloes and gold, comes on the Indian's land and
takes the Indian's ponies."
Colonel Parker told him of the many difficulties the Indian Bureau had
to contend with in order to get moneys through Congress, and the great
difficulties such a great government as ours had to go through in
conducting all its affairs. But he gave his word to Spotted Tail that
all the promises now made in the treaties would be fulfilled, and that
they should get the provisions as soon as possible. He said that the
Indians must not go to war among themselves, preying on other tribes,
nor must they fight any more against the people of the United States,
nor steal their cattle or horses.
Spotted Tail said, "He was glad that the Great Father was going to
treat them right," but did not commit himself to any policy for the
future. He was too good an Indian to make any professions in advance.
Spotted Tail has of late years committed no offense except killing Big
Mouth in a drunken brawl last winter.
The citizens of Washington have now and then seen Indian delegations at
the Capitol. But these lusty fellows, such as Red Cloud, Swift Bear,
and others, at once attracted attention.
Their large size and well-developed muscle, tall and graceful in
action, especially when speaking in their native eloquence, mark them
as objects of surprise and wonder. Their faces were painted in red,
yellow, and black stripes. Their ears were pierced, men and women, for
large ornaments of silver and bear's teeth. They wore magnificent
buffalo robes, ornamented and worked with beads, horse-hair, and
porcupine quills. Red Cloud wore red leggins beautifully worked and
trimmed with ribbons and beads, and his shirt had as many colors as the
rainbow. His robe--made to tell by characters his achievements in
battle--was quite rich, and worked with seal-skins. His moccasins
pronounced the handsomest ever seen there.
The squaws were ugly, wore short frocks, turned in their toes walking,
and had flat or pug-noses.
It was said as a reason for Red Cloud's not bringing his squaws with
him, "that Congressmen left their squaws at home!"
Red Cloud said that the pale-faces are more than the grass in numbers.
He had come to see the Great Father, and to see if the peace-pipe could
not be smoked on the big waters of the Potomac.
The appearance on the balcony of the hotel of the whole party, watching
the crowds of pale-faces going to and from the Capitol, created much
curiosity, and the Indians remarked to one another that the
horse-thieves in the Indian country had a good many brothers in
Washington! The negroes were especially attentive, and spoke of them as
quite inferior to the colored community. They were assured that Indians
never scalp negroes; which is really true, I found, in my interviews
with different tribes on the plains. The reason I can only guess at:
the curly hair of a negro would not ornament the saddle-bow of an
Indian, in the shape of a scalp token of victory.
_Meeting at the Bureau._
Long before the Indians came, the passages of the department were
filled with a crowd of anxious persons, to inspect the red men as they
passed along, and this, besides being unpleasant to them, interfered
with their passage into the council-chamber. But soon they all got in,
Spotted Tail looking very dignified, with his three companions on one
side of the room, while seated in two rows across were Red Cloud and
his larger number of chiefs and head-men, and the squaws that came with
them.
General John E. Smith, who came with Red Cloud, Colonel Beauvais, of
St. Louis, Colonel Bullock, post-trader at Fort Laramie, and others,
were present.
After the Indians had got comfortably seated and had passed the pipe
around among them a few times, Commissioner Parker, with Secretary Cox,
entered the council-room, and were introduced to each Indian of Red
Cloud's band, having previously seen Spotted Tail and party. As Indians
never speak first, but will sit for hours, Commissioner Parker opened
the meeting, saying:
"I am glad to see you to-day. I know that you have come a long way
to see your Great Father, the President of the United States. You
have had no accident, have arrived here all well, and should be
very thankful to the Great Spirit who has kept you safe.
"The Great Father got Red Cloud's message that he wanted to come to
Washington and see him, and the President said he might come. We
will be ready at any time to hear what Red Cloud has to say for
himself and his people, but want him first to hear the Secretary of
the Interior, who belongs to the President's council."
The Commissioner stepped aside, and Secretary Cox said:
"When we heard that the chief of the Sioux nation wanted to come to
Washington to see the President and the officers of the government,
we were glad. We were glad that they themselves said they wanted to
come. We know that when people are so far apart as we are from the
Sioux, it is very hard to see each other, and to know what each one
wants. But when we see each other face to face, we can understand
better what is really right, and what we ought to do. The
President, General Parker, and myself, and all the officers of the
government, want to do what is right."
[Here Red Cloud gave a significant look at Spotted Tail across the
room.]
"While you are here, therefore, we shall want you to tell us what
is in your own hearts, all you feel, and what your condition is, so
that we may have a perfect understanding, and that we may make a
peace that shall last forever. In coming here, you have seen that
this is a very great people, and we are growing all the time. We
want to find out the state of things in the Sioux country, so that
we may make satisfactory treaties. In a day or two the President
will see the chiefs, and in the mean time we want them to get ready
to tell him what they have to say, and we will make our answer. We
want also to use our influence so that there shall not only be
peace between the Indians and whites, but that there shall be no
more troubles about difficulties between different bands of
Indians."
The Commissioner also said to Spotted Tail that "he thanked him for
being present, and was glad of the good will he had for the whites."
Most thought the conference was ended, but Red Cloud, through his
interpreter, said he had something to say.
Stepping up quickly to the table, and shaking hands with the officials,
spoke up in a firm voice, "My friends, I have come a long way to see
you and the Great Father, but somehow after I got here, you do not look
at me. When I heard the words of the Great Father, allowing me to come,
I came right away, and left my women and children. I want you to give
them rations, and a load of ammunition to kill game with. I wish you
would blow them a message on the wires that I came here safe, all
right."
Secretary Cox said he would now only welcome them again, and would
telegraph Red Cloud's message, and for the rest, he would see what
could be done. To-morrow he would show them what was to be seen about
the city. On the next day (Sunday) white people did no business, and on
next day evening the President would meet the Indians at the Executive
Mansion.
They were invited to have their photographs taken, but Red Cloud
declined.
Red Cloud and Spotted Tail went up to the Capitol, where they climbed
to the dome, taking a view of the city; but what most interested them
was the large mirrors and the marble busts of two Indian chiefs. They
came into the Senate while the Indian Appropriation Bill was under
consideration, and while they were fanning themselves incessantly, the
interpreter explained what they were doing, but the Indians said
nothing. But the greatest event for them was the
_Grand Reception to the Indian Delegations by the President, attended
by all the Foreign Diplomats._
This took place at the White House on the evening of June 6th. It
appeared that the President and Mrs. Grant had arranged with General
Parker to give a surprise-party to the Indians, the diplomatic corps,
the cabinet, and other dignitaries. What they intended to do was
supposed to be a great secret, but it leaked out as early as six
o'clock in the afternoon, and many wanted to see the sight.
The carriages of the foreign ministers, secretaries, and attaches of
legations were driven up to the entrance of the White House with the
ladies and gentlemen of the legation; then came the members of the
cabinet and ladies, and some senators and members of Congress. Soon the
Blue, Green and Red Rooms were crowded. The ladies were dressed in
their gayest costumes, and the gentlemen had on their Sunday clothes.
About seven o'clock the entire Indian delegation drove up, with Red
Cloud, Spotted Tail, with his three braves, in open barouches, and soon
shown into the East Room.
This room was brilliantly illuminated, and bouquets of flowers were
scattered around.
General Parker welcomed the Indians, and told them they were to see the
President and his wife and children, and the members of his great
council, the cabinet, and members also of other nations over the big
waters to the President, and have a hand-shake, "How" and talk, if they
wished. Spotted Tail and braves were seated in the end of the Southeast
Room, and Red Cloud and band, with the squaws, along the east side.
Spotted Tail and his party were dressed in blue blankets, white
leggins, and white shirts, and each had a single eagle's feather stuck
in the back of his hair; all their faces had on war-paint, and all the
beads and other trinkets they could pile on, adorned their persons.
Red Cloud, in his paint, looked awful, and he wore a head-dress of
eagle feathers sewed on red flannel. This was trailed down to his feet,
and attracted much notice from its oddity and beauty. Red Dog, his
lieutenant and orator, had a beautiful head-gear, as also did several
others. It would be impossible to describe the different ornaments worn
by these Indians, but they looked as gay as an actor personating
Richard the Third on the stage.
The squaws wore short dresses and high bodies or shirts, and their
cheeks, noses, and foreheads thickly covered with red paint. Both
parties soon set up a lively jabber in Sioux; but General Parker gave a
sign, and all were as whist as mice.
The folding-doors were opened from the broad passage-way into the East
Room, and soon the President was ushered in with Mrs. Grant, Secretary
Fish and wife, Secretary Belknap and wife, Secretary Cox, wife and
daughter, Secretary Boutwell and wife, Secretary Robeson and Miss
Nellie Grant, Judge Hoar, wife and daughter, Postmaster-General
Cresswell, wife and sister, Generals Porter, Dent, Babcock, and others;
then followed senators, members, and their wives and other ladies.
Next, Minister Thornton, wife and lady friends, with Mr. Secretary
Ford, wife, and other attaches of the British legation; Baron Gerolt,
wife and daughter, M. and Madame Garcia, and indeed all the
representatives of foreign nations on the whole earth but China and
Japan. The diplomatic corps did not wear uniforms, but imitated the
Indians, who had many insignia of rank in tell-tales of scalps taken,
etc., by putting on all their stars and orders, and each wore
swallow-tail coats, white vests, neckties, and gloves and dark pants.
Mrs. Grant was attired in a handsome grenadine, and wore a diamond
necklace, and japonica hair adornings. The other ladies seemed to have
vied with each other to out-dress one another, surpassing even their
gay attire at their winter receptions.
Soon the President with his party had all got into the East Room, on
the west side, the President, with Secretary Fish, General Parker, and
M. Beauvais, the interpreter; next, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Parker, and Mrs.
Fish, distributed so as to see all going on, while the Indians lounged
lazily on the sofas staring at their white brethren, both parties
mutually surprised. Then General Parker made a sign to Spotted Tail
with his braves, and they rose up, one by one, advancing to where the
President and his party were standing, and the introduction,
hand-shaking, etc. began; the Indians, as usual, said "How." Red Cloud
followed with his band, and all said "How, How," shaking hands with
each one present. The ladies seemed to enjoy this very much, laughing
and chatting, and wishing, perhaps, they could speak the Indian
language; for they forgot for a few moments all the restraints of the
situation, and went in for real fun and frolic with these tawny sons
and daughters of the plains and mountains.
Good rounds of hand-shaking indulged in, many questions were put and
answered through the interpreters, and a careful examination was made
of the hair-dressing, the paint on the cheeks, the beads, tin ornaments
of the Indians, and the sparkling diamonds of our own people. The
wonder, remarks, and laughter of each party, as something struck them
as singular or ludicrous, were going on all over the room; for the
order was soon broken up, and all mixed in, pale-faces and Indian
alike, quite indiscriminately.
The scene was novel indeed. Here might be seen the chief of our nation,
leaning on his arm one of the ladies from a foreign court, or a belle
of America mingling in with a group of red-skins, and trying through an
interpreter to converse with them; the ladies anxious to know the
history of Zin-ta-ga-let-skah, or Stinking-saddlecloth, or the
Elk-that-bellows-walking, or Man-afraid-of-his-Horses, etc. Here the
bachelor of the navy was trying to pump an Indian about his canoes, to
please half a dozen pretty girls he had in tow; but the interpreters
being busy, the Indian could only make signs, give a grunt, a stare, or
grin in reply. Mrs. Grant, with some ladies, also tried to have a "say"
with them on her own hook, but gave up soon in despair.
Another signal of General Parker, and the Indians were in their places;
next the whites stood in order, and then the red brethren walked into
the Green, Blue and Red Rooms, and into the presidential state
dining-room.
Here came a new surprise, and a refreshing sight. The state
dining-table was beautifully decorated with ornaments of gold and
silver, dishes, glasses, flowers, bouquets, etc., and was fairly loaded
down with fruits, berries, ice-cream, confections, and wines.
Side-tables were set out with delicacies of the season, and it was seen
that the President, with his amiable wife, had gotten up a strawberry
and fruit festival for the wild men and civilized big bugs of the
nations.
In the mean while, the Indians were ranged round the main table, while
the President and Mrs. Grant and friends proceeded to help the Indians
to all the delicacies they never saw before, and which they must have
regarded as far ahead of a dog-feast, or the simple wild currants and
plums they pick in the Rocky Mountains.
The ladies of the foreign ministers were not backward in their
assistance. Secretary Boutwell helped Red Dog to strawberries and cake,
Judge Hoar and Secretary Robeson paid much attention to the four
squaws, cutting cake, and giving them knick-knacks.
One of the squaws took from the President a French kiss and a bonbon,
and taking her pocket-book from her bosom, put them both into it,
intending to carry it home, three thousand miles, to her papoose, and
then returned it to its hiding-place, amid roars of laughter, in which
President Grant joined as heartily as anybody.
It was noticed that Red Cloud and Spotted Tail ate very freely of
strawberries, cherries, cakes, bananas, etc., and that while Red Cloud
and his party took freely of wine several times, Spotted Tail and his
three braves only partook of the "fire-water" once. All then went in
and did ample justice to the feast till they were satisfied. If one
could imagine a mass of beauty, loveliness, and full dress crowded into
rather a small compass, with thirty Indians, and as many more of the
male sex of our own color, all eating, chatting, and laughing at the
same time, then you have a faint idea of this first great entertainment
to a body representing thirty thousand warriors, as a new feature of
inaugurating peace for bloodshed, rapine, and murder, in the
presidential state dining-room that night.
Then all were marched back into the East Room, seated on sofas, and
promenading up, in and down in front of the Indians and their squaws.
Each Indian was presented with a small bouquet by Misses Nellie and
Jessie Grant, and a number of their juvenile companions. Spotted Tail,
in answer to a question of the President, told him he had eleven
children. The President told the interpreter to inform him that he
would take one of his boys and educate him, and have him cared for by
the government.
Spotted Tail said he would think the matter over.
The President told Red Cloud he would see him in a day or two on
business.
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