‘Cheyenne Medicine Man, Porcupine,’ who claimed to have left his
reservation in November, 1889, and to have traveled by command and
under divine guidance in search of the Messiah to the Shoshone agency,
Salt Lake City, and the Fort Hall agency, and thence--with others
who joined him at Fort Hall--to Walker River reservation, Nevada.
There ‘the Christ,’ who was scarred on wrist and face, told them of
his crucifixion, taught them a certain dance, counseled love and
kindness for each other, and foretold that the Indian dead were to be
resurrected, the youth of the good people to be renewed, the earth
enlarged, etc.
“From the Tongue River agency in Montana came a report, made by the
special agent in charge, dated August 20, 1890, that Porcupine, an
Indian of that agency, had declared himself to be the new Messiah, and
had found a large following ready to believe in his doctrine. Those who
doubted were fearful lest their unbelief should call down upon them
the curse of the ‘Mighty Porcupine.’ The order went forth that, in
order to please the Great Spirit, a six days’ and nights’ dance must
be held every new moon, with the understanding that at the expiration
of a certain period the Great Spirit would restore the buffalo, elk,
and other game, resurrect all dead Indians, endow his believers with
perpetual youth, and perform many other wonders well calculated to
inflame Indian superstition. Dances, afterward known as ‘ghost dances,’
were enthusiastically attended. About the same time the Cheyenne and
Arrapaho agent in Oklahoma reported that during the autumn of 1889 and
the ensuing winter rumors had reached that agency from the Shoshones of
Wyoming that an Indian Messiah was located in the mountains about two
hundred miles north.
“In August, 1890, Agent Gallagher stated that many at the Pine Ridge
agency were crediting the report made to them in the spring that a
great medicine man had appeared in Wyoming, whose mission was to
resurrect and rehabilitate all the departed heroes of the tribe,
restore to the Indians herds of buffaloes, which were to make them
entirely independent of aid from the whites, and bring such confusion
upon their enemies (the whites) that they would flee the country,
leaving the Indians in possession of the entire Northwest for all time
to come. Indians fainted during the performances which attended the
recital of the wondrous things soon to come to pass, and one man died
from the excitement.
“The effect of such meetings or dances was so demoralizing that on
August 22, 1890, when about two thousand Indians were gathered on
White Clay creek, about eighteen miles from the agency, to hold what
they called a religious dance connected with the appearance of this
supernatural being, the agent instructed his Indian police to disperse
them. This they were unable to do. Accompanied by about twenty police,
the agent himself visited the place, and, on hearing of his approach,
most of the Indians dispersed. Several men, however, with Winchester
rifles in their hands and a good storing of cartridges belted around
their waists, stood stripped for fight, prepared to die in defense of
the new faith. They were finally quieted, but the dances continued,
and October 12, 1890, Agent Royer, who had just taken charge of the
agency, reported that more than half the Indians had already joined the
dancing, and when requested to stop, would strip themselves ready for
fight; that the police had lost control, and if his endeavors to induce
the chiefs to suppress the craze should be unavailing, he hoped for a
hearty co-operation in invoking military aid to maintain order.
“About the same time the Cheyenne river agent reported that Big Foot’s
band were much excited about the coming of a ‘Messiah,’ and, armed with
Winchester rifles and of very threatening temper, were beyond police
control. A similar condition of affairs existed among the Rosebud Sioux.
“Agent McLaughlin also reported from Standing Rock October 17th, as
follows: ‘I feel it my duty to report the present craze and nature of
the excitement existing among the Sitting Bull faction of the Indians
over the expected Indian millennium, the annihilation of the white men
and supremacy of the Indian, which is looked for in the near future and
promised by the Indian medicine men as no later than next spring, when
the new grass begins to appear, and is known among the Sioux as the
‘return of the ghosts.’ They are promised by some members of the Sioux
tribe, who have lately developed into medicine men, that the Great
Spirit has promised them that their punishment by the dominant race has
been sufficient, and that their numbers having now become so decimated
will be reinforced by all Indians who are dead; that the dead are all
returning to reinhabit this earth, which belongs to the Indians; that
they are driving back with them, as they return, immense herds of
buffaloes, and elegant wild horses to have for the catching; that the
Great Spirit promises them that the white men will be unable to make
gunpowder in the future, and all attempts at such will be a failure,
and that the gunpowder now on hand will be useless as against Indians,
as it will not throw a bullet with sufficient force to pass through the
skin of an Indian; that the Great Spirit had deserted the Indians for
a long period, but is now with them, and against the whites, and will
cover the earth over with thirty feet of additional soil, well sodded
and timbered, under which the whites will all be smothered; and any
whites who may escape these great phenomena will become small fishes
in the rivers of the country; but to bring about this happy result
the Indians must do their part and become deliverers and thoroughly
organize.
“Sitting Bull is high priest and leading apostle of this latest Indian
absurdity; in a word, he is the chief mischief maker at this agency,
and if he were not here, this craze, so general among the Sioux, would
never have gotten a foothold at this agency.
“On Thursday, the 9th inst., upon an invitation from Sitting Bull, an
Indian named Kicking Bear, belonging to the Cheyenne River agency,
the chief medicine man of the ghost dance among the Sioux, arrived at
Sitting Bull’s camp on Grand river, forty miles south of this agency,
to inaugurate a ghost dance and initiate the members. Upon learning of
his arrival there I sent a detachment of thirteen Indian policemen,
including the captain and second lieutenant, to arrest and escort him
from the reservation, but they returned without executing the order,
both officers being in a dazed condition and fearing the powers of
Kicking Bear’s medicine. Several members of the force tried to induce
the officers to permit them to make the arrest, but the latter would
not allow it, but simply told Sitting Bull that it was the agent’s
orders that Kicking Bear and his six companions should leave the
reservation and return to their agency. Sitting Bull was very insolent
to the officers, and made some threats against some members of the
force, but said that the visitors would leave the following day.
Upon return of the detachment to the agency on Tuesday, the 14th, I
immediately sent the lieutenant and one man back to see whether the
party had left or not, and to notify Sitting Bull that his insolence
and bad behavior would not be tolerated longer, and that the ghost
dance must not be continued. The lieutenant returned yesterday and
reported that the party had not started back to Cheyenne before his
arrival there on the 15th, but left immediately upon his ordering
them to do so, and that Sitting Bull told him that he was determined
to continue the ghost dance, as the Great Spirit had sent a direct
message by Kicking Bear that to live they must do so, but that he would
not have any more dancing until after he had come to the agency and
talked the matter over with me; but the news comes in this morning
that they are dancing again, and it is participated in by a great many
Indians who become silly and intoxicated over the excitement. The dance
is demoralizing, indecent and disgusting. Desiring to exhaust all
reasonable means before resorting to extremes, I have sent a message
to Sitting Bull by his nephew, One Bull, that I want to see him at the
agency, and I feel quite confident that I shall succeed in allaying the
present excitement and put a stop to this absurd ‘craze.’
“Agent Royer, of the Pine Ridge agency, was especially advised October
18th, that Major General Miles, commander of the military division in
which the agency was situated, also chairman of the commission recently
appointed to negotiate with the Northern Cheyennes, would shortly visit
the agency, and that he would have opportunity to explain the situation
to him and ask his advice as to the wisdom of calling for troops.
October 24, 1890, this office recommended that the war department be
requested to cause Sitting Bull, Circling Hawk, Black Bird and Kicking
Bear to be confined in some military prison and to instruct the proper
military authorities to be on the alert to discover any suspicious
movements of the Indians of the Sioux agencies:
“Early in November reports received from the agents at Pine Ridge,
Rosebud and Cheyenne River showed that the Indians of those agencies,
especially Pine Ridge, were arming themselves and taking a defiant
attitude toward the government and its representatives, committing
depredations and likely to go to other excesses; and November 13th this
office recommended that the matter be submitted to the war department,
with request that such prompt action be taken to avert an outbreak
as the emergency might be found by them to demand. On that day the
president of the United States addressed the following communication to
the secretary of the interior:
“‘Replying to your several communications in regard to the condition
of the Indians at the Sioux and Cheyenne agencies, I beg to say that
some days ago I directed the war department to send an officer of high
rank to investigate the situation and to report upon it from a military
standpoint. General Ruger, I understand, has been assigned to that
duty and is now probably at or on his way to these agencies. I have
directed the secretary of war to assume a military responsibility for
any threatened outbreak, and to take such steps as may be necessary to
that end. In the meantime, I suggest that you advise your agents to
separate the well-disposed from the ill-disposed Indians, and while
maintaining their control and discipline, so far as may be possible, to
avoid forcing any issue that will result in an outbreak, until suitable
military preparations can be made.’
“November 15th Agent Royer sent to this office the following telegram
from Pine Ridge: ‘Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and
crazy. I have fully informed you that employes and government property
at this agency have no protection and are at the mercy of these
dancers. Why delay by further investigation? We need protection, and
we need it now. The leaders should be arrested and confined in some
military post until the matter is quieted, and this should be done at
once.’
“A military force under General John R. Brooke, consisting of five
companies of infantry, three troops of cavalry, and one hotchkiss and
one gatling gun, arrived at Pine Ridge November 20, 1890. Two troops of
cavalry and six companies of infantry were stationed at Rosebud. Troops
were ordered to all agencies that were on the Sioux reservation. When
the troops reached the Rosebud agency, about one thousand and eight
hundred Indians--men, women and children--stampeded toward Pine Ridge
and the bad lands, destroying all of their property before leaving and
that of others en route.
“On December 1, 1890, in accordance with department instructions, the
following order was sent to the Sioux agents: ‘During the present
Indian troubles you are instructed that, while you shall continue all
the business and carry into effect the educational and other pursuits
of your agency, you will, as to all operations intended to suppress any
outbreak by force, co-operate with and obey the orders of the military
officers commanding on the reservation in your charge.’
“Sitting Bull’s camp, where the dancing had been going on, was on Grand
river, forty miles from the agency. The number of Indian policemen
in that vicinity was increased and Sitting Bull was kept under close
surveillance. December 12 the commanding officer at Fort Yates was
instructed by General Ruger, commanding the Department of Dakota, to
make it his special duty to secure the person of Sitting Bull, and to
call on Agent McLaughlin for such co-operation and assistance as would
best promote the object in view. December 14th the police notified
the agent that Sitting Bull was preparing to leave the reservation.
Accordingly, after consultation with the post commander, it was decided
that the arrest should be made the following morning by the police
under command of Lieutenant Bullhead, with United States troops within
supporting distance.
“At daybreak, December 15th, thirty-nine Indian police and four
volunteers went to Sitting Bull’s cabin and arrested him. He agreed
to accompany them to the agency, but while preparing to get ready he
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.
Then Sitting Bull refused to go and called on 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
Shavehead 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. Shortly after, when one hundred United
States troops under command of Captain Fechet, reached the spot, the
police drew up in line and saluted. Their bravery and discipline
received highest praise from Captain Fechet. The ghost dancers fled
from their hiding places to the Cheyenne River reservation, leaving
their families and dead behind them. Their women who had taken part in
the fight had been disarmed by the police and placed under guard and
were turned over to the troops when they arrived. The losses were six
policemen killed (including Bullhead and Shavehead, who soon died at
the agency hospital) and one wounded. The attacking party lost eight
killed and three wounded.” Report of Indian Commission for 1891.
Sergeant Joe Thompson, who was with the United States troops at the
time, is at present employed at the Boston and Montana smelter at this
place, and is the drum major of the Black Eagle band. Mr. Thompson had
been in many battles during the campaign of 1876-77, of which I have
not given an account. In one of those battles “twenty-seven saddles
were emptied,” as he said, by one volley from the Indians; and Mr.
Thompson is now carrying with him a scar which he received by a bullet
from the enemy during one of these engagements.
A wonderful change has taken place since then. Now the Northern Pacific
railway runs through the center of the Sioux country, and also the
Burlington railroad passes in sight of the Custer battlefield, and
settlers from the Eastern and Middle states have come and turned
the old battle grounds into productive farms and pasture lands. The
Indian villages have disappeared and thriving towns and incorporated
cities have taken their places. The Indians have been compelled by the
government to stay on their reservations where there are agencies.
[Illustration: AGENCY INDIANS HAVING THEIR PICTURES TAKEN.]
According to the statistics in 1891 there were 32,286 of the Sioux
nation alone, who are gathered at eleven agencies, where there are
schools, mechanical and agricultural institutions, established to teach
the young Indians the arts and customs of the white man. And they are
fast becoming civilized. They are engaged in raising cattle, sheep and
horses, and growing grain and vegetables.
Charles A. Smith, county commissioner of Choteau county, Montana,
stated a few days ago that Indians at Fort Belknap have supplied about
350,000 pounds of beef to the agency this year at $3.87 per hundred,
from which they derived a revenue of about $13,000.
Major Luke C. Hays, agent of the Fort Belknap Indian reservation, said:
“My Indians will, and do work.” That was demonstrated to my
satisfaction some time ago. I have about 1,300 Assinaboine and Gros
Ventres Indians on my reservation, and they are good Indians, although
very much alive.
“This promises to be an unusually busy year on the Belknap reservation.
Last summer the government started to build a canal, tapping the Milk
river at Belknap, where a dam is to be built. Only one mile of this
canal was completed, but work on the remainder will be commenced as
early as practicable this spring. Indians have been hauling rock all
winter for the dam. The canal, when completed, will be ten or fifteen
miles long and will irrigate about 5,000 acres of the Milk river valley
lands south of the river. These lands will grow excellent crops of
grain and hay.
“A new enterprise that will be commenced this summer (1899) is a big
reservoir on Warm Springs creek in the Little Rockies. This reservoir
will cover 160 acres of land and will have an average depth of eighteen
feet. It is designed to furnish a supply of water for irrigating
purposes in the southern part of the reservation.
“These two irrigating systems will cost in the neighborhood of $70,000,
but that money is available. It is not government money in the sense
that the government would not expend it unless appropriated for that
use, for it belongs to the Indians themselves, having been appropriated
for their benefit and in lieu of lands turned over to them by the
government.
“Seeing the success of these Indians, others are endeavoring to go
into the stock-raising business--on a small scale, to be sure--but in
time the stock interests of these two tribes will be considerable.
I have no doubt that in a few years the Indians will become almost
self-supporting.”
The same can be said of other tribes that are in the northern part
of the state of which I have personal knowledge. There is one
non-reservation boarding school for Indians in Montana. It is located
off the reservation at the old Fort Shaw military post in the Sun
River valley and in the center of a well-to-do settlement, and but
twenty-four miles from the city of Great Falls. This school was opened
December 27, 1892; its enrollment in 1898 was 305, average attendance
283. The pupils are recruited from reservation schools, the policy
being to place therein pupils who, by reason of sound physical health
and natural aptitude, are capable of receiving further advantages,
with facilities for special instructions in agriculture, stock
breeding, the mechanical and domestic arts, for normal and commercial
training, and for taking up other subjects as occasion requires. Modern
facilities for instruction have been introduced. The industrial and
literary progress this school has made is wonderful. The report of
the commissioner of Indian affairs will bear out my assertion. Manual
training and industrial education has gone hand in hand with the
intellectual development of the untrained young Indian mind, and has
given good results. The exhibit by the Fort Shaw Indian school at the
Cascade county fair held at Great Falls last October in the way of
carving on woods, shoemaking, plain and fancy needle work, embroidery,
drawing and penmanship was excellent, and would do credit to young
pupils of the same age of any race. There were about thirty of the
young Indian boys and girls accompanying the exhibit, with Dr. Winslow,
the superintendent, in charge. Among the number there was a brass band
of sixteen pieces; they marched through the city dressed in uniform and
playing national airs with as much grace and skill as if they belonged
to some military post.
According to statistics there are 234 schools in all for Indians under
exclusive control of the government. The average attendance during the
year 1897 was 18,676 pupils.
The other day a young Cree Indian by the name of Young Boy, with whom
I was acquainted, and who could speak fair English, came to my office,
sat by a table and began writing in a small account book that he had.
Seeing it was a peculiar looking manuscript, I asked him what he was
writing. He told me that he was writing down what he had been buying
that day, and he read it to me, first in Cree and afterwards translated
into English, and handed it to me. The following is a photograph from
the original writing in the Cree language:
[Illustration: A CREE MANUSCRIPT.]
[Illustration: MO-SEE-MA-MA-MOS (YOUNG BOY). A CREE INDIAN.]
The translation into English is as follows: “To day I paid three
dollars and twenty-five cents for a blanket and three dollars for a
bridle, in all six dollars and twenty-five cents.
YOUNG BOY.”
Again he wrote the Cree alphabet, and, after speaking the letters, he
handed me the manuscript of which the following is a photograph:
[Illustration: THE CREE ALPHABET.]
The Cree Indians are from the Northwest Territory in Canada. Part of
the tribe are in Montana at the present time selling polished buffalo
horns and other trinkets to the citizens.
Recently they held their sun dance near the town of Havre, in the
northern part of this state. To those who have never witnessed this
ancient performance, the following may be of interest: For four days
preceding the dance the tribe gathered about the chief’s tepee, and
at sundown of each day they sang the Indian songs which told of the
past glories of the tribe and listened to the words of the chief
concerning their welfare and exhorting them to eschew the use of whisky
(firewater), extolling the beauties of the ancient sun dance and
discussing other topics.
[Illustration: LITTLE BEAR (CREE CHIEF).]
All their songs were accompanied by the beating of tom-toms,
the blowing of whistles and performing on various other musical
instruments. The preliminary singing and speechmaking continued all
night on the fourth day. The dance began the next night and continued
for three days, during which time no Indian ate or drank anything. The
dancing was done in a huge circular tent, or pavilion, on the crest of
a hill. The dancers performed in stalls that were arranged around the
pavilion, with the band of musicians seated on their haunches in the
center. The ceremonies closed with a grand feast. Chiefs Little Bear
and Little Bird conducted the ceremony. After all was over the Indians
dispersed to their several camps.
The younger Indians of this tribe are considerably advanced in
civilization. The intelligence which Young Boy displayed to me is an
evidence that the Indians are fast becoming civilized in the British
possessions as well as in the United States. For several years peace
and good order have prevailed among all the northern tribes. It will
not be long before the Indians will be self-supporting. The effect of
the march of civilization on the most warlike tribes even indicates
that Indian wars are a thing of the past. And to the West, the nation’s
pleasure ground, with its extensive plains, carpeted with luxuriant
grasses, with valleys unsurpassed in fertility, many of them overlooked
and sheltered by pine-covered mountains in which lies hidden a wealth
of nations, can come millions more of our people and live in peace.
ROBERT VAUGHN.
Feb. 21, 1899.
AN INDIAN LEGEND.