Indians. Every officer’s field-glass was turned in that direction,
and as the long, dark column moved through the midst of light snow,
slowly developing its strength as it made its way towards us over
the distant hills and rolling prairie, I watched it with very great
anxiety. Considering our condition, the large herd of captured stock we
were holding, and the hostile camp we were besieging, and the number
of our wounded, such a formidable reinforcement would, of course, be
a very serious matter and the thoughts ran quickly through my mind as
to the best dispositions to make in order to hold what we had gained
and repel any effort, no matter how strong, to rescue the besieged or
overcome our small but very efficient force. We could use our artillery
and quite a large portion of our troops against any additional enemy
and still keep the fruits of victory already gained. The mysterious and
apparently formidable force drew nearer, when some of the scouts on
the extreme outposts shouted ‘buffaloes!’ and it was a most gratifying
cry. The relief occasioned by this announcement was like that afforded
to the marines by the appearance of a beacon light or like sunlight
bursting through the dark and angry clouds of a storm.
“The snow and cold caused great suffering to our wounded, although they
were made as comfortable as possible, and while the siege continued
detachments were sent some five miles distant up into the Bear Paw
mountains to get poles with which to make travois and stretchers,
knowing that the wounded must soon be transported to the nearest
hospital.
“On the evening of the 4th of October Howard came up with an escort
of twelve men, remaining in our camp over night, and was present next
morning at the surrender of Chief Joseph and the entire Indian camp.
As Chief Joseph was about to hand his rifle to me, he raised his eyes
to the sun, which then stood about 10 o’clock, and said: ‘From where
the sun now stands, I fight no more against the white man.’ From that
time to this he has kept his word. Those who surrendered with Chief
Joseph and those taken outside the camp numbered 400. There were killed
twenty-six in all, and forty-six wounded. The work of securing the arms
of the Indians, burying the dead, and preparing the wounded for their
long journey occupied the entire day; but on the following morning we
commenced our slow and difficult march back to the Missouri river.”
Immediately after the surrender of Chief Joseph, a runner was sent to
Fort Benton with a message to be forwarded to the war department, and
General Terry, on his return from Northwest Territory, who was at Fort
Benton at the time, received the following dispatch:
“Chicago, October 11, 1877.
“_To General A. H. Terry, Fort Benton, M. T._:
“The honorable secretary of war expresses to me his congratulations
to General Miles and yourself, upon the important success achieved
by the capture of Joseph’s band of Nez Perces on October 5th. The
general of the army also desires me to offer his congratulations to
General Miles and his command, and to assure them that the capture
of Joseph’s band is exceedingly important especially on account of
the influence on other Indians in Oregon who have been watching
the result of Joseph’s movements with intense interest. To these
well-merited commendations I again offer my own to General Miles
and the officers and men who have brought about this exceedingly
desirable result.
“(Signed.)
P. H. SHERIDAN,
“Lieutenant General.”
[Illustration: NELSON A. MILES, LIEUTENANT GENERAL COMMANDING U. S. A.]
[Illustration:
(Photograph taken in 1898.)
CHIEF JOSEPH.]
This was the last Indian battle fought in Montana; and the “straw”
which broke the Indians’ back was when Miles captured Chief Joseph.
This brave soldier, who is now the commanding general of the United
States army, is still on the trail of the enemy, for it was but
yesterday, July 25, 1898, that, after a skirmish with the Spanish
troops, General Miles successfully landed the American expedition on
the island of Porto Rico. Those who surrendered with Chief Joseph
numbered 413 by actual count; about 100 escaped into Canada, Chief
White Bird among the number. The killed numbered twenty-six and
forty-six wounded. Among the killed were Chief Looking Glass and
Joseph’s brother. Miles had forty-three wounded and twenty-two killed,
who are now peacefully sleeping safe from battles, pain or sorrow, in a
little dell overlooked by cliffs and ancient mountain pines.
Although those mothers’ sons never had a monument to mark their beds
of clay, nevertheless the high peaks of the Bear Paws, touching the
sky, can be seen from hundreds of miles on all sides and are pointed
out by the passer-by, saying: “There’s where lie twenty-two of American
patriots.”
Most of the Indians were taken to the Indian Territory, but Joseph was
taken to Washington, D. C., to give an account of his wicked ways.
Howard followed Joseph for two months and a distance of nearly two
thousand miles. It cost the regular army one hundred and seventy-nine
lives, and the Northwest half that many of its citizens.
When writing the above article I wrote to General Miles asking him for
permission to quote his letter, or if he would kindly write me another
one on the same subject. In reply, he sent me the following:
“Headquarters of the Army,
“Washington, Jan. 26, 1899.
“_Mr. Robert Vaughn, Great Falls, Montana_:
“Dear Sir: I have your letter of the 9th instant. So far as I know,
you are at liberty to copy the letter referred to in your letter,
but I do not at present recall it and would like to know what it
is, if convenient for you to give me the information.
Very truly yours,
“NELSON A. MILES,
“Major General Commanding.”
After finishing the Nez Perces campaign letter, I sent to General Miles
a copy of it, and in reply received the following communication from
Lieutenant Colonel Maus:
“Headquarters of the Army,
“Washington, March 4, 1899.
“_Mr. Robert Vaughn, Great Falls, Montana_:
“My Dear Sir: Some time ago you kindly sent to General Miles an
excellent article on the Nez Perces campaign, in which you quote
from General Miles’ book. The article is certainly very good. The
general has been too much occupied to write anything further at
this time, but it is believed his book stated very clearly the main
facts regarding this campaign. He says that he does not see any
reason why you should not quote from his book, if you so wish.
“I am sure you are right about the service that was done by the
Montana people. A number of scouts from Montana were under my
charge, as I had command of both the white and Cheyenne Indian
scouts in the location of the Indians after they crossed the river.
By the aid of these scouts word was sent to General Miles regarding
Chief Joseph’s band, as well as the direction in which they were
going, etc., and in time to be of assistance to him in locating
their camp, where we joined him about the commencement of the fight.
“The men of those days were a brave and hardy race, inured to
all kinds of hardships, excellent shots, and made a class of
fighters of which we have no equal for the kind of warfare in which
they were engaged. As civilization advances this type is fast
disappearing.
“I should think it would be very interesting for you to write
the history of those times, in which your state is especially
interested.
“With the kindest regards and the thanks of the general for your
kind wishes, believe me,
“Very truly yours,
“MARION P. MAUS,
“Lieutenant Colonel, Inspector General.”
At the time, Joseph was looked upon as a great general, and, no doubt,
if it had not been for the Benton parties and other citizens aiding
Miles to locate the Indians, Joseph would have carried out his plan and
escaped into Canada.
ROBERT VAUGHN.
Great Falls, Montana, July 26, 1899.
AN ENGLISH TRIBUTE TO THE AMERICAN SCOUT.
The Western pioneer will appreciate the following tribute to the
American scout by that gallant English soldier, General Baden-Powell,
the hero of Mafeking, at one time, the chief scout and “rough rider” in
the British army:
GENERAL BADEN-POWELL
Scouting as a fine art had its origin in America, when the pioneer
settled first upon the shores of the new country which stretched away,
away, to the westward, how far they knew not. What wonders, what
dangers, what secrets were held by that unknown country by the forest
primeval they likewise knew not.
They were surrounded by hostile savages, who came and went like
shadows, who found their way as straight as the flight of a carrier
pigeon through countless miles of trackless forest; who appeared
and disappeared as quickly and completely as the elfs of the fabled
fairy-lands. But the instinct of self-preservation sharpened their
wits; no man sleeps soundly when danger threatens.
They learned first the secrets by which the Indian made his way from
place to place, and tracked his foe for vengeance or his game for
sustenance.
They quickly discovered how by training and vigilance the eye became
quick, the ear alert, and the touch sensitive.
A crushed blade of grass or a weed, a broken twig, a bent bough,
all these things were to the Indian as they are to Sherlock Holmes,
sufficient to construct a theory as to the character and numbers of
those he pursued.
[Illustration: ROBERT S. S. BADEN-POWELL, MAJOR GENERAL ENGLISH ARMY.]
From him the white man quickly learned his lore, but he could add to
it something which instantly made him the superior of the red man, and
that was, a higher order of intelligence and reason, and that conquered
the aborigine and drove him farther and still farther from the lands of
his fathers.
As time passed, some striking figures emerged from the people, as all
history demonstrates men have done in all ages.
Daniel Boone crossed the Alleghanies, behind which the Indians made
their first stand, thinking the white man would not cross that great
breastwork thrown up by nature, and discovered Kentucky.
Then, following Boone, came Crockett, Bridger, Kit Carson and Cody, as
the men who were the acknowledged leaders and chiefs of these wise men
of the mountains, woods and prairies, during successive epochs.
Since these men and their kind made scouting a fine art, the great
soldiers of Europe have acknowledged that they are matchless for the
purposes of fighting in an enemy’s country.
RETURNING OF SITTING BULL FROM CANADA.
It was but a few months after Sitting Bull had established his camp in
the Northwest Territory in the British possessions that the Canadian
government requested the government of the United States to send a
commission to have a council with Sitting Bull and induce him to return
to the United States. Pursuant to this request, a commission was sent
to Fort Walsh, N. W. T., and met Oct. 17, 1877, with General Terry at
the head. Colonel Macleod, who was in command of the Canadian mounted
police, with four officers and forty policemen, were present. The
council was held in the quarters of the commanding officers of the
police force, commencing at 2 o’clock p. m., and lasted one hour and
a half. Sitting Bull desired to have the meeting take place in the
open air, but it was thought judicious by the policemen in charge of
the ceremony to have the council held in a convenient room, where the
act of every participant could be held under strict surveillance and
control. All were seated, and General Terry proceeded to state his
mission. The following account of this remarkable meeting was published
in the Benton Record, October 21, 1877, and was communicated by Captain
J. J. Healy (now of Alaska), who was present at the council. Captain
Healy describes Sitting Bull as follows:
“He is a short, thick-set man, about forty-five years of age, and
weighs, probably, 175 pounds. He is undoubtedly a full-blooded Sioux
Indian, and not a remarkably intelligent looking one at that. He is
minus one toe, having at some time or other had his feet frozen. He
does not speak and apparently does not understand a word of the
English language, and his conversations with the whites are always
conducted through an interpreter.”
GENERAL TERRY’S SPEECH TO THE SIOUX.
“We are sent here as commissioners of the United States, at the request
of the Canadian government, to meet you (interrupted by Sitting
Bull, who objected to a table in front of the speaker. The table was
removed). The president has instructed us to say to you that he desires
to make a lasting peace with you and your people, and that all the
people of the United States may live in harmony. He wishes it for your
sake as well as that of the whites, and if you will return to your
country and leave your hostile life, a full pardon will be given you
for any wrong you may have done in the past. You, or any man among
you, shall be forgiven and permitted to enjoy all the liberties of any
other Indians at the different agencies. We will not tell you what the
president means by saying he will give you a full pardon. Of all the
bands of Indians, yours among them, who were at war about a year ago,
yours is the only one that has not come into the agency. Of those bands
that have come in, not one has been punished, and every man, woman and
child has been furnished food and clothing. It is true these Indians
have been required to give up their arms and ammunition, which were
all sold and the money applied for their benefit. We have already sent
650 cows to one of the agencies, for the use of the Indians. This has
been done to get you to leave your wild life and to help you to support
yourselves. The president will not consent to have you return unless
you give your consent to give up your arms and horses, but he invites
you to come to your and his country, give up your arms when you cross
the line, thence go to any agency he may assign you to, and there give
up your horses (except such as you need for use in civil life), which
will be sold and the money applied to buy cows, which will support you
after the game has left the country. You will also receive clothes the
same as other Indians. We have come many hundred miles to bring this
message. Too much blood has already been shed. It is time war should
cease. You cannot return to your country and your friends unless you
accept these conditions; otherwise you will be treated as enemies of
the United States. Think well of these things, and when you have made
up your minds we are ready to hear your reply.”
The Indians were asked if they wanted to retire and hold a council
among themselves, but they said their minds were already made up and
they were ready to reply.
SITTING BULL’S SPEECH TO THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION.
“For sixty-four years you have kept us and treated us bad. What have
we done? Your people are the whole cause of the trouble; we could
go no place but to this country. Here is where I learned to shoot,
and that is why I came here. What did you come for? I did not give
you the country, but you followed me and I had to leave. You took my
country from me. I was born and raised with the Red River half-breeds,
and wanted to come back. (Sitting Bull here shook hands with Colonel
Macleod and said he would live with him.) You may think I am a fool,
but you are a bigger fool than I am. This house is a medicine house.
You come and tell us lies in it. We don’t like it. Don’t say two words
more, but go back where you came from. I shake hands with these people
(shakes hands with Colonel Macleod); so say no more. You gave that part
of the country and then took it back. I want you to go home and take it
easy as you go.”
[Illustration: SITTING BULL (SIOUX CHIEF).]
THE REE’S SPEECH.
“Look at me. Seven years in the country. For the last sixty-four years
you have treated us bad. I don’t like you. You tell lies. I will keep
peace with these people as long as I live. I shake hands with them. You
come over and tell us lies. Go home, and take it easy as you go.”
SPEECH BY A YANKTON SIOUX WHO WAS IN THE MINNESOTA MASSACRE.
“I don’t wear the same clothes as you do. You come to tell us lies.
You have treated us bad for sixty-four years and have been fighting us
all the time. There were seven different tribes of us. You promised to
take care of us when we were over there, but you did not do it. We like
these people and intend to live with them. I don’t intend to kill any
one.” (Shook hands with Generals Terry and Lawrence.)
SPEECH BY A SQUAW.
“You would not give me time to raise children, so I came over here to
raise children and live in peace.”
(To allow a squaw to speak in council is one of the worst insults that
an Indian can offer.)
CROW’S SPEECH.
After kissing all the English officers, he said: “What do you mean by
coming over here and talking this way to us? We were driven out of your
country and came to this one. I am afraid of God and don’t want to
do anything bad. For sixty-four years you have treated us bad. These
people give us plenty to eat. You can go back, and go easy. I come to
this country, and my grandmother knows it, and is glad I came to live
in peace and raise children.”
After the Crow had spoken, Sitting Bull sat down and said they were
done. General Terry then stated that the commissioners had nothing
further to say. The Indians then left, after shaking hands with the
English officers.
The commission left the following day, and a few days later arrived
at Fort Benton. No disappointment was expressed by the citizens of
Montana that the commission did not succeed. The average citizen was
glad rather than sorry that the old savage, imbued with the blood
of Custer and his companions, decided to remain on British soil. To
live in peace on their reservation--receiving no punishment for what
they had done--board and clothes free--to help to lead them from
savage life, were some of the inducements proffered for the return of
these hostiles. All offers were not only scornfully rejected, but the
commission was treated to studied and offensively displayed insults.
After remaining in Canada nearly three years, and finding that the
Canadian government had no use for him and that his people were
starving, the old fugitive chieftain now sings a different tune and is
anxious to return.
On February 4, 1880, he sent a commission to the agent at Pine
Ridge Agency, indicating that he and his followers wanted to make
arrangements with the United States government so that they could come
back and live in peace, and, as a token of friendship, he sent a pipe
hatchet; in case terms could not be had, it was to be returned. But, to
his disappointment, the government did not wish to make any terms with
him then. His followers kept coming, however, in small parties, and in
a destitute and starving condition, to Fort Peck Agency, in northern
Montana, turning over their guns and what ponies they had left; the
other ponies they had eaten to keep from starving. By May 1st, 1,116 of
the refugees had returned.
Again Sitting Bull made an application to the government, through
the war department, for permission to return, and all the property
he wanted was his horse and gun. After both the Canadian and United
States governments had several communications in regard to the matter,
and after Sitting Bull had been in Canada five years, he was permitted
to return to the United States. He stood his trial and was taken to
Standing Rock agency and kept there as a kind of prisoner of war. Now,
he was not looked upon as a warrior, even by his own people. But it was
not long before he began to gain influence, and many of them looked
upon him as a kind of high priest and dreamer. It appears that he was
determined to be a leader, if not in one thing he would be in another.
The next letter will show him up in his new profession, or whatever you
may call it, for he was one of the prime movers in the Indian Messiah
craze and the floor manager of the ghost dance, which was finally the
cause of his death.
ROBERT VAUGHN.
July 15, 1898.
THE INDIAN MESSIAH AND THE GHOST DANCE.
To give a true history of this phenomenal influence that had taken
possession of the Indians at that time, I will here give the Indian
commissioner’s report, which gives a very correct account of this
remarkable occurrence, also of the establishing at various agencies of
an Indian police system which has been in force since 1877 and now is a
perfect success. It will be seen hereafter that this police force made
the arrest of Sitting Bull at the time of his death:
“The one best thing that marked the vigorous policy and the giving
place to sense for sentiment, was the appointment of Indians to take
care of Indians. Some of them had long since served in the regular
army, indifferently well, but it was not until 1877 that the experiment
of appointing Indian policemen to guard Indians and watch ill-disposed
whites was seriously considered. From the report of the United States
commissioner of Indian affairs in 1880 it appears to have been a
success from the very first. The practicability of employing an Indian
police to maintain order upon an Indian reservation is no longer a
matter of question. In less than three years the system has been
put in operation at forty agencies, and the total force now numbers
one hundred and sixty-two officers and six hundred and fifty-three
privates. Special reports as to the character and efficiency of the
service rendered by the police have recently been called for from its
agents by this bureau, and those reports bear uniform testimony to the
value and reliability of the police service, and to the fact that its
maintenance, which was at first undertaken as an experiment, is now
looked upon as a necessity.
“The discipline of the force is excellent, failure to obey an order
being followed by immediate dismissal. It is made up of the best young
men of the tribes, many of them being members of the native soldier
organization. There are also enlisted two chiefs--White Bird and
Little Big Man, the latter being a northern Indian, and having taken
a prominent part with Sitting Bull in the Big Horn campaign of 1876,
afterwards surrendering at the agency with Crazy Horse.
“A member of the force is on duty all night at the guard house, making
the rounds of the government buildings at intervals of fifteen or
thirty minutes, which precluded the possibility of government supplies
being surreptitiously made away with.”
Says the Sioux agent, 1880: “The Indian police force at this agency
consists of fifty members, all Indians: one captain, two lieutenants,
ten sergeants and corporals, and the balance privates. The force
is in charge of one of the white employes, who also acts as deputy
United States marshal. There is also attached to the force one special
detective and one special interpreter. The members are all armed with
the Springfield and Sharp’s army carbine.
“In the autumn of 1890 we find the once famous disturber of the peace
in Montana, Sitting Bull, established at Standing Rock agency on the
Dakota side of the Missouri. He was now nearly sixty years of age, and
had been fully half that time a formidable leader of wild red men. He
lived in two little cabins in comfort and indolence, but was no longer
rich in property or influence. As observed in his return from the
British possessions he was still a true aborigine and superstitious as
a child. Still he was dauntless in spirit, reckless of results, and
fearless as a lion in the face of danger. It is something to know that
this remarkable figure in the history of Montana fell not by the hands
of those whom he had always counted as his enemies, but at the hands of
his own people. For, gainsay it who will, as time goes forward he will
grow taller, grander in the estimation of men, especially in the minds
of imaginative red men, and it is very well for all, especially the
Indians, to know that his following was not great in the end, and that
he was slain by his own people.
“During the summer and fall of 1890 reports reaching this office from
various sources showed that a growing excitement existed among the
Indian tribes over the announcement of the advent of a so-called Indian
Messiah or Christ, or Great Medicine Man of the North. The delusion
finally became so widespread and well defined as to be generally known
as the ‘Messiah Craze.’