To the student of Indian affairs it might at first seem that the gathering
of the great chiefs from all the Indian tribes, wearing war-shirt and
war-bonnet, carrying their coup sticks, tomahawks, spears, bows and
arrows, guns and tom-toms, would necessarily reemphasize to the Indian the
glory of his former prestige, and this impression would gather such
momentum that deleterious results would follow; but an alert and studious
effort was always manifest to inculcate in the Indian mind that this last
great council of the chiefs had for its dominant idea the welfare of the
Indian, that he should live at peace with his fellows and all men, and the
making of a lasting historic record of the fast-fading manners and customs
of the North American Indian. This paramount idea gained such fast hold
of the Indian mind that the council became not only a place of historic
record but a school for the inculcation of the highest ideals of peace.
That the lesson was well taught and well learned becomes strikingly
evident in the peace sentiments of the chiefs expressed in their speeches
at the council, and their impressions of the council now to follow:
[Chief Plenty Coups Addressing the Council]