THE ALARM.
The Indians! The Indians are coming!
How the cry rang out and struck terror to the hearts of the bravest. It
brought to mind the stories of early days, of this great Republic, when
the east was but sparsely settled, and the great west an unknown country,
with the Indian monarch of all he surveyed. The vast prairies, with their
great herds of buffalo were like the trackless seas; the waving forests,
dark and limitless; mountain ranges--the Alleghanies, the Rockies and the
Sierra Nevadas, towering above the clouds; the countless lakes--fresh and
salt, hot and cold; the great inland seas; the gigantic water falls, and
the laughing waters; the immense rivers, little rivulets at the mountain
source, accumulating as they flowed on in their immensity, as silently
and sullenly they wend their way to the sea; the rocky glens and great
canyons, the wonder of all the world. It was in the early day of our
Republic, when the hardy pioneer took his little family and out in the
wilderness sought a new home; a time when the Indian, jealous of the
white man's encroachment, and possessor by right of previous occupation,
of this limitless, rich and wonderful empire, when great and powerful
Indian nations--The Delawares, the Hurons, the Floridas, and other tribes
in their native splendor and independence, said to the pale face, "Thus
far shalt thou go, and no farther." The terror-stricken people were
obliged to flee to places of safety, or succumb to the tomahawk; and on
throughout the Seminole, the Black Hawk and other wars, including the
great Minnesota Massacre of 1862.
[Illustration: Squad Room at Fort Snelling.]
Reader accompany me. The atmosphere is surcharged with excitement, and
the whole country is terror-stricken. The southland is drenched in blood,
and the earth trembles under the tread of marching thousands.
The eyes of the nation are turned in that direction, and the whole
civilized world is interested in the greatest civil war of the world's
history. The levies from the states are enormous, and the stalwarts, by
regiments and brigades, respond to the call for "Six Hundred Thousand
more."
The loyal people of the frontier have long since ceased to look upon the
Indians as enemies, and tearfully urge their husbands and sons to rally
to the colors in the South. What is taking place in the land of the
Dakotahs?
Their empire is fading away, their power is on the wane, their game is
scarce, and they look with disgust and disfavor upon their unnatural
environments. In poetry and in prose we have read of them in their
natural way of living. They have been wronged; their vast empire has
slipped away from them; they laugh, they scowl and run from tribe to
tribe; they have put on the war-paint and broken the pipe of peace; with
brandishing tomahawk and glistening scalping knife they are on the trail
of the innocent.
"Turn out, the regulars are coming!" were the ringing words of Paul
Revere, as he, in mad haste, on April 18, 1775, on foaming steed, rode
through the lowlands of Middlesex; so, too, are the unsuspecting people
in Minnesota aroused by the cry of a courier, who, riding along at a
break-neck speed shouts: "The Indians, the Indians are coming!" All
nature is aglow; the sun rises from his eastern bed and spreads his warm,
benign rays over this prairie land, and its happy occupants, as this
terrific sound rings out on the morning air, are aroused and the cry:
"Come over and help us" from the affrighted families, as they forsake
their homes and flee for their lives, speeds on its way to ears that
listen and heed their earnest, heart-piercing not, of despair, for the
"Boys in Blue" respond.
The people had been warned by friendly Indians that the fire brands
would soon be applied; and that once started, none could tell where it
would end. They were implored to take heed and prepare for the worst;
but unsuspecting, they had been so long among their Indian friends, they
could not believe that treachery would bury all feelings of friendship;
but alas! thousands were slain.
Go with me into their country and witness the sad results of a misguided
people, and note how there was a division in their camp. The hot young
bloods, ever ready for adventure and bloody adventure at that, had
dragged their nation into an unnecessary war and the older men and
conservative men with sorrowful hearts counselled together how best to
extricate themselves and protect the lives of those who were prisoners
among them. The campaign of 1862 is on.