suppºint any REPORT
OF A visiº To
|s P o T T E D TA Lºs
TRIBE OF BRULY SIOUX INDIANS,
º
Y ANK TON AND SANTEE SIOUX,
D O N E A S
(HIPPEW AS OF MIN NESOTA.
October, 1870.
PHILADELPHIA :
M C A L L A & S T A V E L Y, P R N T E R S,
Nos. 237–9 DOCK STREET.
187c.




SEMI-OFFICIAL REPORT.
------------------------------------------>
º PHILADELPHIA, September 23d, 1870.
HoN. J. D. Cox, -
Secretary of the Interior,
Washington, D. C.
MY DEAR SIR:
Yesterday I returned from a visit to the Chippewa Indians of Minneso-
ta, the Santee Sioux, in Nebraska, the Yankton Sioux and the Ponkas,
in Dacota, and the Ogallalla and Upper Brulé Sioux in the Indian Terri-
tory that was set off from Dacota as a permanent home for the various
Bands of Sioux Indians.
Last year when acting as Chairman of The Board of Indian Com-
missioners, Bishop Whipple of Minnesota buoyed up the Chippewas
with the hope that I would visit them. It seems that many of their
Chiefs left their distant homes and came to a central point under the expec-
tation that they would see a friend of the Indian who had the ear of their
great father at Washington. Their disappointment and consequent de-
pression of spirits were so great, that, although thoroughly occupied, I
could not resist the following telegraphic appeal:
“Faribault, Aug. 26.-I have just returned home.-There will be a
great meeting of all Chippewa Chiefs, September 1st, at Crow Wing. You
must come with some member of Commission, Case of life and death
to this people. So come without fail.
(Signed) BISHOP WHIPPLE.”
Learning from you and from members of the Commission that no mem-
ber of that body could accompany me, I telegraphed to the officers of the
American Missionary Association if possible to send a delegate to attend at
Crow Wing. I had learned from you that the Missionary Association
had been called upon to nominate agents for the Chippewas, and to super-
vise their work. They selected Major S. N. Clark, a most competent
person, who started with us from Chicago where he was located as assist-
ant Treasurer of the Association. Bishop Whipple joined us at Faribault,
Minnesota, and we induced the Hon. H. M. Rice, of St. Paul, also to ac-
Company us. -
-


















2
The following copy of the original paper in my possession was signed
by thirty Chippewa Chiefs:
- CRow WING, August 9th, 1870.
To BISHop H. B. WHIPPLE AND Hon. H. M. Ricº:
Dear Friends:–We, the undersigned chiefs of several bands of the
Chippewas of this upper country, would respectfully ask your assistance
in our affairs for the fulfilment of our treaties and other matters with the
Government. We are dissatisfied as we are treated now. We meet here
in open council to day represented from an parts of the upper country.
To give an idea of our wishes, we have appointed our friend Hon. Peter
Roy to go and see you, and give you an insight of our wishes. We shall
expect to see you here on the first of September, when we shall all meet
in council.”
The Hon. Mr. Roy wrote most urgent letters pleading for his people,
calling them “poor unfortunate, God-forsaken human beings, without
homes,” and fearing that through the influence of Railroad proprietors
the Chippewas would be driven from their abiding place, he knew not
where. He said that the two or three hundred Indians that had gone to
the White Earth Reservation had for a part of the time been compelled to
live on acorns and roots, the Government having failed to furnish the sup-
plies that had been promised them.
There would have been an immense gathering if these Indians had been
assured of the presence of the Bishop and Mr. Rice. The latter had noti-
fied them that sickness and other engagements would render it almost
impossible for him to attend, and the Bishop could not reply to them by
reason of absence from the Diocese. -
On the first inst. we met many of the representative men of the Chip-
pewas, who, owing to their pressing need, had left their homes at a ven-
ture. The first day was spent in private conferences among themselves
and with us, and on the 2d inst, we held a public council with them. The
Rev. W. H. vibbert, of Connecticut, accompanied us and acted as Secre-
tary, taking full notes of the Indians' speeches, and also of the advice
given them by the Hon. H. M. Rice, Bishop Whipple, and myself.
These Chiefs asked nothing unreasonable, but they plead most earnestly
for the fulfilment of the treaty stipulations. The chief speakers were
Bad Boy, Chorister, Little Frenchman, Temperance Chief (a Pillager),
young Hole-in-the-Day, and an intelligent Indian woman, called the
Queen. She is the widow of one chief and daughter of another. They
complained that the ears of their Great Father at Washington seemed to


3
be stopped up, therefore their voices did not reach him, and that the
wheels of the wagons conveying their goods could not have been properly
greased or they would not have stuck by the way. They thought that the
President had sent them all that he promised, but it was lost by the way.
One of the chiefs said that many of his young men dressed like white
people, and were pleading for farming implements. Some of them had
dug up the earth with wooden hoes. Both Bishop Whipple and Mr. Rice
were shocked at their poverty, and the chiefs often appealed to the latter
to verify their statements that important treaty stipulations had never
been complied with. This poor forsaken people took courage from the
presence of those who seemed to have forgotten them in their extremity.
We assured them that the annuity goods would soon be received in full
weight and measure, and of good quality. They asked that copies of each
invoice might be sent to them, that they might examine and assure their
people that nothing had been lost by the way. We told them that their
annuities would no doubt be paid next month, and that they would soon
be instructed in farming and in such mechanical work as they needed.
Some of these Indians, with a reasonable opportunity for learning, have
high mechanical skill. Their new agent will, beyond doubt, speedily get
their confidence, and with the promised aid of Bishop Whipple and Mr.
Rice, the Indians will undoubtedly be docile and acquire habits of in-
dustry at an early day.
We obtained from various sources accurate information about their
new Reservation of 36 miles square at White Earth. It is admirably
fitted for a permanent home and will be easy of access, as the Northern
Pacific Railroad will pass within a few miles of it, and will be finished
to that point next summer. By letter we urged on you the importance
of an immediate survey of this Reservation that the Indians may be
located on farms of their own and incited to build and to cultivate
the land. They have already put up eight houses in addition to the
twelve built by the Government. About three hundred acres of ground
are under cultivation, and when proper implements and other appliances
are furnished, the progress of this little community will be very rapid.
The 300 Indians who have remained on this Reservation have persevered
most creditably under great difficulties. They are orderly and rapidly in-
creasing in morality. On July 4th last, they pledged themselves to aban-
don all intoxicating drinks and gambling ; most of them have adopted
the dress of the whites, and the Rev. J. Johnson, an Indian missionary of
the Episcopal Church, has exerted a powerful and most favorable influ-
4.
ence over his brethren. His Church is said to be filled each Sunday with
attentive and devout worshippers.
After considering the whole subject as presented to us by the Indians,
and by many intelligent persons who had thorough knowledge of their
present locations and habits, we reached the following conclusions:
1st. To avoid all seeming constraint or force in moving the Indians from
the various localities in which they now reside.
2d. To urge the fulfilment of treaty stipulations, but not to go beyond
them with Indians outside of the White Earth or the Red Lake Reserva-
tions, as we do not think that these Indians can be happy or permanently
prosperous elsewhere.
3d. To give every facility to Indians on the White Earth Reservation;
to employ no white man there for service that can be performed by the
Indian ; and to draw the best and most industrious Indians away from
their present localities by persuasion, and by liberal assistance when
they are located on the White Earth Reservation. We have great con-
fidence that prosperity, intelligence and morality in the community at
White Earth will enable the influential friends of the Chippewas to in-
duce nearly all of them to move on one Reservation before many years.
When the Northern Pacific Railroad shall have reached this Reserva-
tion, it may be well to make it the residence of the agent and the base of
supplies. We also suggested to you by letter that the land contiguous to
to the White Earth Reservation, on the north and east, be withdrawn
from market for the present, that the Chippewas, before they acquire
fixed moral habits, may be defended from the temptations of the low whites
that usually hover around Indian Reservations. -
On inquiry, we found that the Chippewas who had come to the confer-
ence were entirely without food or the means of procuring it, therefore,
we supplied them, lest they should be disheartened or faint by the way.
We were much gratified and amply repaid for our visit to Crow Wing, as
a great load was lifted off the Indians, by our explanation of the favor-
able nature of the Indian Appropriation Bill of this Session, by the as-
surance that the friends of the Indian were increasing in activity and in-
fluence, by telling them of the favorable disposition toward them of the
President, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and especially by the assurance that a body of Christian men
were to nominate their agents, to supervise their work, to procure for
them Missionaries and Teachers, and to claim for them Christian sympathy
and material assistance in things that a Government never provides.
º


5
Bishop Whipple and Mr. Rice had, after battling long for the Indian,
also become disheartened, but now they thank God, and take courage,
because it seems as if the Indian Ring had been broken, and that appro-
priations to Indians were no longer to be used mainly to increase political
patronage. We all impressed upon the Chippewas the absolute necessity
of a change of life by earning their bread through the sweat of their
brow.
We sent letters of commendation to the Missionary, the Chiefs, and
other Indians at the White Earth Reservation, begging them to persevere
in their good work so creditably performed, and giving them the assur-
ance that the Government would in every proper way co-operate with
them in founding and building up a permanent colony.
At Crow Wing we fortunately met Senator Windom, and at St. Paul
we had an interview with Senator Ramsey, Ex-Governor Marshall, and
also with Gen. Sanborn, a member of the Congressional Peace Commis-
sion, and one of the most intelligent, reliable and ardent friends of the red
man. All these gentlemen seemed to be gratified with the course we had
taken to prevent the Chippewas from settling down into a condition of
despair, and they promised us their cordial co-operation.
UPPER BRULES AND OGALLALLA SIOUX.
The Rev. Mr. Wibbert, acting as Secretary, accompanied me also to the
Missouri Reservations; and the Rev. S. D. Hinman, a most faithful and
intelligent Missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church to the Sioux
Indians, joined us. His services were invaluable because these Indians
revere him highly, and he has a thorough knowledge of their language
and of the Indian character. As Bishop Clarkson and the Board of Mis-
sions of the Episcopal Church have placed the Indian Missions in this re-
gion under my supervision, every facility was afforded me to get accurate
information as to the condition and prospects of the Sioux on the Missouri.
Your personal and written request that the Missionary bodies of the Pro-
testant Episcopal Church should nominate agents for most of the Reser-
vations on the Missouri, and assume the oversight of them, rendered our
visit necessary. Gov. Burbank, of Dacotah, plead most earnestly for us
to visit the Ponkas, as they were almost starving by the entire loss of their
crops through the drought, and also to go to the Whetstone Reservation
to aid in upholding the authority of Capt. Poole, the most worthy agent,
and of Spotted Tail and Swift Bear, the principal chiefs of the Upper
Brulés, who visited Washington a few months since. I was loth to com-


6
ply with the request lest it should seem like an interference with Mr.
Brunot whose visit had been promised. But as he was likely to be delayed
by Red Cloud, my duty became very clear, and the visit undoubtedly
strengthened the hands of the Agent and of the Chiefs who are the friends
of the whites. The non-fulfilment last year of the treaty stipulations,
the delay of the passage of the Indian Appropriation Bill this year until
July 15th, the last day of the session and the non-appearance of the an-
nuity goods, had placed the agent and the friendly chiefs in a very unenvi-
able position. Capt. Poole had received a telegram from Washington
stating that the goods would be at the Reservation on the 15th day of
September, and this had been communicated to the Indians to pacify
them, but on that day he had no tidings of them.
Providentially we were enabled to relieve him from this very awkward
dilemma, which was the more serious, as many of Spotted Tail's people
were almost naked, the nights were growing cold and these Indians were
fretting to go into the interior in search of a permanent location, as that
near the Missouri is wholly inadequate and unsuited to the wants of a
large body of men. On the 15th inst. Spotted Tail and Swift Bear, with their
head-soldiers and other principal men, met us in Council. Some of the
Ogallalla chiefs were also present, and one of them took part in the pro-
ceedings. Gov. Burbank introduced us as Christian friends of the In-
dian, who came solely for the Indian’s good, not using any of their money
or the money of the Government in building and conducting Churches
and Schools, and travelling at our own cost. I had been with the Brulé
Chiefs on their visit to Philadelphia, and saw their great discomfort at the
crowd of idlers who filled the hotel and streets, gazing at them and hedg-
ing up their path. Spotted Tail smiled as he spoke to me, and asked if
I was so annoyed by his people. I replied, “I am glad to say, no, and
that in this and in some other things that I had observed, the whites
might learn good lessons from the Indians, but there were many other
things that the Indian, to his great advantage, might learn from the
whites.” He said that was true, and he had learned much that would be
useful to himself and his people during his visit to the East, and if we
could exchange visits more frequently, and thus become better acquainted
with each other he felt sure that mutual confidence would be acquired.
Swift Bear, the next in authority to Spotted Tail, spoke first. We were
glad to see him at the Council, as he is in deep mourning for the recent
loss of his son. He shuns all society, has laid aside his usual garments,
has been shorn of his scalp-lock, goes barefooted, one very old black blan-
7
ket being his sole covering. This man is the Chief of the Corn Planter
Band, comprising a portion of the Brulés who are rather unpopular with
the wildest Indians, because they cultivate the soil. This band has been
sadly disheartened this year, as owing to the entire absence of rain, their
corn was dried up without maturing, and much of the grass is burnt to
a crisp. - -
Swift Bear made a most sensible speech, or rather, talk, as he remained
seated and used no extravagant rhetoric. He seemed much pleased and
encouraged by our presence, and assured us that he and Spotted Tail con-
tinued the firm friends of the whites. He said that he had tried to im–
press upon the minds of his people that a war with the whites was
madness, and that peace was in every way better than war. He told us
of the impatience of his people for the fulfilment of the treaty stipula-
tions, and seemed to think that our presence would relieve the Chiefs from
the false position in which they were placed, as their Indians were slow to
believe the messages from the Great Father. He complained that the Yank-
tons, although only one band of the Sioux nation, had sold their land to the
whites without asking the consent of their brethren. He also said that
the Sioux had been wronged by placing the Ponkas on a portion of the
Reservation that was wholly ceded to the several Sioux bands by their last
treaty. He however, said that the Yanktons and the Ponkas would be
very useful to the Indians in the Great Reservation, by serving as a bul-
wark to prevent the approach of bad white men who follow the Indians to
defraud and demoralize them.
Spotted Tail followed with a plain sensible talk, saying that although
they had once allowed their squaws to do all the farming, yet that now he
and his people had determined to cultivate the ground, and that as soon
as the annuity goods came, under the authority of the treaty, the Brulés
desired to locate on the White River, where there is good soil, good
water, timber and tillable land. Then they would need a saw-mill,
mechanics and a farmer to teach the Indian, and also the oxen, plows, &c.,
promised in the treaty and confirmed by the pledge of his Great Father,
given to him at Washington. He did not want any surveyor to disturb the
minds of his Indians, until they had possession of the portion they might
select and were cultivating it. From former experiences, his people look
upon the land surveyor as a person hostile to the interests of the Indian.
When they see him measuring, they think that he is either locating a
railroad or preparing to take the land away from the Indians and sell it to
the whites. He said that the President had promised that no bad men


8
should be allowed to enter his country, and that their small rations of
coffee and sugar should be increased. He had asked the President for
authority to hunt buffalo on the Republican River, in accordance with the
treaty, as this animal can be killed with arrows and such weapons as the
Indians have. He said he had told the President if this privilege was
taken from him, then his people ought to have guns and ammunition to
kill the deer, antelope and elk. They are now twenty or thirty miles
from the Agency, and he is anxious to get them farther from the
whisky ranches on the opposite bank of the Missouri River, for the bad
Indians are tempted to steal mules and horses, and to trade them for fire-
water. He complimented Capt. Poole very highly, and abhorred the fre-
quent change of agents, considering it very injurious to the civilization of
the Indian. He said that he did not know how to write, and although he
had a good memory for things that were told him, yet he found it difficult
to make his people believe the good things that were said to him in
Washington. He was, therefore, especially glad that his people heard
to-day the real friends of the Indian confirming all that he had told them.
We assured the Indians who crowded the Council room and clustered
about the windows, that their chiefs had plead for them at Washington,
and not for themselves; that the promise made by their great Father and
by the Secretary of the Interior would be fulfilled in due season. We as-
sured them that the delay which had caused so much uneasiness was for
the Indian's good. That after a great contest at Washington, the friends
of the Indian had prevailed, and that money had been appropriated to en-
able the President to carry out all the treaty stipulations. That the fight
had lasted so long that it was only two moons since the authority was
given to the President; that he had selected some of the best Christian
men in the country to purchase, examine and ship their goods; that this
duty had been well done, and before a month from that time the Indians
would undoubtedly see for themselves, in the quantity and quality of
their goods, that ample justice had been done them. Our visit seemed to
be providential, as it strengthened the hands of the agent and the friend-
ly chiefs, and our promise, as to time, will be more than verified, for
some, if not all the goods, will be at the Agency by the first of October.
We took much pains to impress upon this people, and the other Indians
that we met with, the following points:
1st. That the President could and would do much for them, but there
were some things that he could not do; that he could no more hinder
white people from moving farther and farther into the country, and
9
taking possession of the soil, than he could control the clouds or the Sun ,
that although Indians, from wars and their mode of life, do not increase,
yet that many children are born to the white people and they increase
very rapidly. -
Furthermore, that white people come in ships from the other side of
the great ocean in greater numbers every year than the whole Indian
population of the United States. Railroads must be built to move them
and the products of their farms, the wild game will be consumed or driven
away, therefore the Indian must cultivate the soil or starve.
2d. That the African, the black man, although broken down by long
slavery, has, since he was made a citizen of the United States, taken
courage; he is working very hard, often saving money to buy a farm and
stock it, and that their Chiefs when at Washington no doubt saw one of
that race a Senator of the United States. That the Indian believes him-
self to have a stronger desire for independence, and to be far superior to
the black man; that by equal diligence he can soon become independent
and self-supporting, and then he will be entitled to vote and to send his re-
presentatives to Congress who will speak for him there.
Spotted Tail claimed that the trade with his people should he
exclusively through the half-breeds and the whites who have Indian
wives and are incorporated into the tribe. He said these had
more sympathy with the Indian, and being numerous there would
be more competition than is usual with one or two licensed traders.
This proposal requires much consideration, as these whites and half-
breeds evidently influence the tribe, and unless well managed, they are
likely to be a very troublesome element. The treaty of the Peace Com-
missioners, now fully ratified, extends all its beneficial provisions to per-
sons legally incorporated into the tribe. It is believed that Gen. Harney
and others made such promises to these whites and half-breeds, that their
rejection would be certain to produce much trouble. They have built log
cabins about the Agency, and their numerous children are growing up in
ignorance and irreligion. Half-breeds invariably yield to temptation
more readily than the full-blooded Indian ; therefore education and re-
ligious instruction afford the only hope for this dangerous class. We
understand that no person, whether white or red, who is legally incorpo-
rated into an Indian tribe, and who is receiving rations and claiming all the
privileges accorded to the Indian, will be entitled to vote until he aban-
dons such claims. A few days before we reached the Reservation, a can-
vasser for one of the aspirants to the office of Territorial Delegate in




10
Congress held a political meeting on the Whetstone Reservation, at which
he used whiskey so freely as to intoxicate a number of these “white
Indians.” We hope that this dangerous class will receive the early con-
sideration of the Government. This whisky canvass no doubt occurred
during the absence of Captain Poole, who was compelled to attend a
trial at Bon Homme in a suit which he had brought against some
of the venders of whisky who live opposite his Reservation. The result
of the trial was, as usual, unsuccessful; for it seems impossible to get a
jury in that part of Dakotah from which aiders and abettors of this vil-
lainy can be excluded. From the number of horses and mules that are
constantly traded for whisky, and from the number of barrels of this
poison that we saw on wagons going up the river through Indian Reser-
vations, the Government must either check it or double its military force.
We understand that these Upper Brulé Sioux are more difficult to manage
than any other Indians on the Missouri, except the Onchapas. We,
however, believe that if whisky can be kept from them for a few years
they will improve rapidly, as their Chiefs are sensible, good men, and
have the confidence of and the control over their tribe. Having a natural
aptitude for becoming herdsmen, Indians can soon be induced to take
care of cattle, and to slaughter them from day to day, according to their
actual requirements. This will make a great saving to the Government,
and will soon lessen their disposition to gorge themselves with meat,
served once in five days; or, as in some instances, in ten days. The wild
Indian naturally eats to repletion when meat is before him, and then is in
a starving condition for several days before new rations are issued. .
Captain Poole, the Agent, has passed through a fiery ordeal so nobly
and successfully, that he merits not only commendation, but advancement
also, if there is such a thing as promotion in the Indian service.
Allow us to suggest that the extra rations of coffee and sugar asked for,
be applicable to such Indians as are ready to commence farming opera-
tions, and only to be continued as long as they are industrious and conduct
themselves with propriety. It is easy to perceive that every form of stim-
ulant and encouragement will be necessary to create so radical a change
in this nomadic people, as to induce them to abandon hunting and trap-
ping, and adopt the settled habits of a farmer. So many instances of this
change have already occurred, even with brave warriors and skilful hunt-
ers, who had reached maturity, that there is a good prospect of being.
successful in a majority of cases, especially if the Yankton, and Santee-
Sioux, are sufficiently encouraged to enable the other members of the Sioux
nation to see the benefit of this mode of life fully illustrated.

11
While we were at the Whetstone Agency, one of theinterpreters handed
us a letter from Medicine Bull and Little Pheasant, Chiefs of the Lower
Brulés on the White River Reservation. They ask for an agency at the
mouth of the White River, where they say that they “ have been farming
for the last three years with the little means at hand.” They ask for in-
structors in handicraft and farming, with such appliances as are needful.
They further say, “Please encourage us, as we are the only peoples who
wish to farm of that number.” Little Pheasant was no doubt strength-
ened in this desire for civilization, by a recent visit to the Yankton Reser-
vation. The treaty authorizes each head of a family to select and occupy
320 acres of land in their Reservation, and agrees to supply the necessary
assistance in making his farm productive.
PONKA. INDIANS.
On approaching the Ponka Reservation we were cordially welcomed by
the agent, Major Hugo, by Standing Buffalo, their principal Chief, and
by another powerful Indian called “Pete.” These two Indians did us
good service by carrying us out of a carriage that had broken in the deepest
part of the swift running Niobrara River. As the Governor had given
notice of our intended visit, the Chiefs and other Indians met us for a
conference. The chief speakers were Lone Chief, Standing Buffalo, white
Eagle, Standing Bear, Big Soldier, Black Crow, The Chief, Smoke, and
Big Head. These Indians are as far advanced towards civilization, as
could be expected, where there is no written language, no teacher and no
religious instructor. Their speeches were terse, thoroughly practical, and
sensible. This Reservation is rarely visited, as it is out of the line of reg.
ular travel, hence this almost starving people seemed overjoyed to see those
who they heard had assisted in reforming and benefitting their neighbors,
the Santee Sioux. The first speaker said, that if we had come up through
the floor, it would not seem more strange and marvellous, than this sudden
appearance among them of friends of the Indian. Standing Buffalo said,
“I never before saw any one here to give me good counsel, therefore, I
believe that you are sent by God.” Others said that the Great Spirit must
have sent us, for owing to the entire failure of their crops from drought,
they were looking forward to starvation this winter. They had planted
extensively and wrought their fields well, trying to adopt the habits of the
white man, but it had seemed as if God was against them, for the sun had
burnt up their crops. “Your visit to-day,” one said, “makes us hope that
God will still be for us, therefore, our hearts feel good.”

12
We must do this people the justice to say that they plead even more
earnestly for a Missionary and for schools for their children than for food;
though there is nothing but starvation before them, unless they are
helped far beyond the small appropriation made by Congress at its last
session. Most of them wore medals given by President Buchanan. They
all averred that he had promised Missionaries, teachers, and instructors in
farming, carpentry, and blacksmithing, but that not one of these prom-
ises had ever been fulfilled. They thought it especially hard that plenty
should be passing up the Missouri by their very doors for the wild
Indians, whom they had seen time and again murdering the whites.
The Ponkas were once a large and powerful tribe, but small-pox, wars
and frequent removals, have reduced their number to 747, in all. The
men are tall, noble-looking fellows, very industrious, and in a year or two
of good seasons they could, with proper encouragement, be made entirely
self-supporting. This year they have built more than forty (40) com-
fortable log houses, and this number may be largely increased before the
winter sets in. This tribe is sober, economical, and makes a good use of
all the money it gets. They have introduced into their lodges cooking
stoves, at their own cost, and in other ways are manifesting an earnest
desire for civilization. They are afraid to move upon separate farms, and
thus scatter themselves, as they are in constant dread of the wild Sioux,
who steal their cattle, and scalp them whenever they fall in their power.
No calamity of this kind has befallen them during the present year, as
there is a company of United States soldiers some twelve miles from the
present Reservation, on the usual route of the marauding Indians. They
said: “In our last treaty, the Government pledged itself to protect us
on our own Reservation, and for the first time it is now doing it. We
have tried, at the request of our Great Father, to avoid retaliating when
our horses were stolen and the life of some of our people taken. As
soon as the Government fulfills continuously its agreement to give us
protection, we will at once move upon farms, erect houses, make fences,
and cultivate the soil.” It may be well here to remark that the Brulés,
their next neighbors, now feel more kindly to the Ponkas than ever
before. There have been many intermarriages. A nephew of Spotted
Tail married a Ponka woman, and is now living on their Reservation.
As this small tribe is on the Great Sioux Reservation, there will soon be
good fellowship, and the tribes will amalgamate still further. If the
Ponkas are encouraged they will undoubtedly become good farmers, and
aid materially in civilizing the Sioux; half of them already speak or



13
understand that language. We are clear in the conviction that their
small annuity of five thousand dollars should be paid to them, instead of
its being retained for food, as these Indians do not spend their money for
drink or gewgaws, but for numberless little articles demanded by progress
in civilization. We know that you will not let them starve, therefore we
suggest that wheat can be purchased in the neighborhood for about half
the present cost of flour in Sioux City. This, with a moderate quantity
of bacon, will suffice. All Indians prefer beef; but they consume it so
voraciously that it is a costly article of diet. Cracked wheat can be pre-
pared in their mill; it is very nutritious, and will no doubt be popular
with the Indians, as it makes a mess very similar to the boiled corn that
they keep for winter use. Wheat can be purchased near to the lower
Reservations, affording a market for the products of the neighboring
farmers, thus tending to make them friendly to the Indians, instead of
being inimical, as hitherto.
Although the Ponkas, through fear of the Brulés, are unwilling to
leave their villages at present and settle on farms; yet it is desirable that
the portion of the Reservation near the Agency lying on the Missouri
River should be surveyed, as this fear will no doubt be allayed by the
coming spring. The Indians spoke well of their Agent, Major Hugo, and
their improvement during his administration shows that he must have
been attentive to his business. The saw and grist mills are working
well, and appear to be in excellent order. The cattle all looked well; the
Agent allows the Indians to use the oxen, and they take good care of
them.
Y ANKTON SIOUX.
When I visited this tribe, a year since, there were no Churches, and
schools were just then being commenced on a very small scale. Now the
Presbyterians have a Mission House in which they hold religious services
and a school. It is under the care of the Rev. Mr. Williamson, Jr., a de-
voted missionary, who works in perfect harmony with the other mission.
The Protestant Episcopal Church has a Mission House with a commodious
and appropriate chapel, in which worship is regularly held, and it is also
a School House. These Indians last year were thoroughly heathen, no
man having cared for their souls, while this year we were cheered with a
favorable change in them. As we entered upon the lower part of the
Reserve, near Choteau Creek, we saw a chapel and school house in pro-
cess of erection by Mad Bull, the Chief who is located in that part of
the Reservation.
14
The Rev. Mr. Hinman, in behalf of the Episcopal Church, had agreed
to furnish all the materials and do all the work that was beyond the reach
of the Chief. This Choteau Creek Mission is under the charge of the
Rev. Paul Mazzakute, a Santee Indian Presbyter of more than ordinary
intelligence and spirituality. He is building a house very near to the
chapel. At the other extremity of the Reserve, near Fort Randall, we
saw the beginning of a similar structure that is being erected by White
Swan, an excellent chief, who dresses like the white man, and appears to
be very reliable. The effect of Christianity upon the Santees has been so
manifest that the leading minds among the Yanktons are now craving it
with avidity. The practical effect is already most apparent, as three or
four years since no male member of that tribe could be induced to get
even a pitcher of water; now most of them are good laborers, and many
are farming, building houses, and otherwise manifesting an earnest desire
after Christian civilization. Forty of their young men made a requisition
for clothing, like that worn by the whites. We saw many of them swing-
ing the scythe, like our own farmers, or chopping and hauling logs for
house-building. The contrast between heathenism and Christianity on
this Reserve is most striking. There we passed gray-headed women,
bending beneath more than one hundred weight of fagots that they had
chopped from the fallen trees; then we met an Indian who had gone to
the Santee Mission House for instruction ; he was driving a pair of good
horses of his own, and sitting with his wife on a load of poles that they
had cut for a building to protect his stock. We paused in passing, to con-
gratulate this man on the result of his visit to the Santee Sioux Mission,
and to remind the woman that Christianity alone had lifted her from her
degraded position.
We looked with horror at the poles to which young men had been vol-
untarily tied, by inserting thongs under the muscles of the breast, to pre-
pare for the Sun-Dance. There lay the skulls of buffalos that had been
attached to the muscles on their back in a similar manner, to heighten
their sacrifice. We stood on the very ground upon which these devotees
had incessantly danced for two nights and a day and a half, without food
or drink, looking directly at the sun by day, and at the moon by night.
This self-sacrifice is performed to fulfil some vow made during sickness or
trouble. Other devotees passed us two and two, naked, except a slight
cloth about the loins, the right half of the body and one limb painted
red, the other half of the body and the other leg being colored brown.
They thus parade through the villages periodically for years, in fulfilment



15
of impressions made during a dream. We also saw women howling and
cutting themselves, after their manner, till the blood gushed out, as they
were mourning for the dead. The charms of the Medicine men were here
and there exhibited near the doors of their tepees, inviting those that
were troubled in body and mind to enter and be exorcised through the
agency of drum, rattle, and incantations. -
After viewing all this and more, how strange to enter a Christian
Church and there find more than a hundred of the chief men of the nation
anxious to hear of the better way of life. They gratefully acknowledged
that the promises made to them last year had been literally fulfilled, as
their Church is far more beautiful than they had expected. In addition
to the services of the Rev. Paul Mazzakute the Indian Presbyter, the oc-
casional services of the Rev. S. D. Hinman and the Rev. Philip Johnson,
the Indian Deacon, the Yanktons now have with them permanently the
Rev. J. W. Cooke, formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Daniel Hemans,
a most exemplary and spiritually-minded Santee, who had just returned
from a sojourn in the Mission House at Philadelphia.
These Indians understand that other ministers and teachers will be
added as the work progresses. The chief speakers were Struck by the
Ree, the old wise chief of the Yanktons, Medicine Cow, Lean Elk, and
Ookiye. Mad Bull we had previously conferred with, and White Swan
and Dolorio came from a distance, for a free conference, as soon as they
heard of our arrival. It seemed passing strange to find these men earnestly
looking to Christian people to aid them in shaking off heathenism, that
they might embrace the way of the white man. They seemed delighted
to hear that their great Father at Washington had called upon Christian
people to nominate an agent and to oversee his work. They hoped that he
would make clean work of it and put in good assistants and would teach
them not to rob the Indian of his substance. They said, if men were sent
to teach them farming and mechanical trades, the wild Indians up the
river would soon see the advantages of civilization, soldiers would be un-
necessary, and these benefits would steadily extend from tribe to tribe.
They said that the surveyor had divided the land on the Missouri into
farms of Eighty acres, but that their great Father had thus far sent no
orders to give these farms to the Indians, therefore, they were hindered
from building many houses and fencing the land. The head chief com-
plained that the Superintendent had asked for Three Hundred and Twenty
(320) acres to be reserved for agency purposes, in addition to the One
Hundred and Sixty (160) acres already in possession of the Government.
16
This, he says, is a violation of the Treaty and of the compact made
with the Chiefs at Washington. Out of the Four Hundred Thousand
(400,000) acres of the Reservation, the river front of Thirty-five miles
contains but Thirteen Thousand (13,000) acres of arable land, and the
valleys of Choteau Creek and of another small stream contain only a few
thousand more acres of land fitted for cultivation. As there are more
than three hundred and fifty families, it may be necessary to take up ad-
ditional land, and it would be well if the late Military Reservation of Fort
Randall, lying on the east bank of the Missouri and contiguous to the
northern extremity of the present Yankton Reservation, could be so used.
The gratitude of these men for the interest manifested in them, is ab-
solutely oppressive. It seems hardly credible that Lean Elk and other
men of full maturity should evince as much anxiety to learn, as college
students, who are competing for a prize. Fortunately they have lost con-
fidence in their interpreters, who are usually half-breeds or foreigners,
and we used this fact to stimulate these Indians in mastering the English
tongue. We suggested many minor civilizing agencies to interest the
young braves, such as Base Ball, Croquet, &c. The young men of the
“Stout-heart Club,” were out on a recruiting party, and they made an
imposing display by riding in perfect line, twenty-five abreast, covered
with all their insignia of office. They eclipsed in regalia, the Odd-Fellows
or Free-Masons.
SANTEE SIOUX.
After crossing the river into Nebraska, it was impossible to resist the
depressing influences attendant upon witnessing the devastation caused
by a whirlwind that passed over the Santee Reservation the first of June
last. In its track, huge trees were twisted, splintered and prostrated in
every direction. Small fragments of the new hospital, Mission-house and
the chapel, and their furniture, books, &c., were scattered everywhere.
When we were there last year, these so beautifully appropriate buildings
had made us hopeful for the future of this people. .Now they are utterly
ruined, more than $20,000 worth of property having been destroyed in a
moment of time. The log buildings attached to the Mission-house shared
the same fate. We were soon cheered, however, by meeting the Mission-
ary and his family, though buried in the ruins, yet by God's special
Providence now in the fulness of bodily health, and with faith that God
will bring good out of seeming evil. The new structures, covering about
the same area as the old, are progressing rapidly and are built in the most
solid manner. On our way to the Agency we passed a company of danc-



17.
ing women belonging to the Yankton tribe. Many of the young and more
volatile Santees were out looking at them, and under the excitement of
the moment making them presents. The Chiefs and Head men of the
Santees were very much disgusted at this heathen exhibition on their
Reservation, and especially that the women should so demean themselves.
They said that young and foolish people making them presents during a
moment of excitement, was like people being generous under the influence
of strong drink. As they had been asked to exert a Christian influence
over the Yanktons, they did not like to send the dancers away with
violence, but they begged us to ask the Agent, the Missionaries, and
through them the Yankton Chiefs, to prevent the repetition of such dis-
graceful scenes in the future. They, however, desired us to say that they
would always be glad to see the Chiefs and other men of the tribe, and to
entertain and to teach them all that they knew of a better way of life.
Our conference with the Santee Chiefs at the house of the Missionary,
was deeply interesting. They were sad on account of the delay in divid-
ing their land among them and in providing means for cultivating it. The
religious tone of their talks, which we knew to be in harmony with their
ordinary walk and conversation, made it difficult for us to realize that
they were once a warlike and blood-thirsty race. Few Christians are more
consistent, and few men are more intelligent and practical than Wabash aw,
their Head Chief. With such a man for their leader, this tribe is likely
to progress steadily in Christian civilization. From the Santee catechists
and teachers, evangelists and ministers will no doubt continue to be raised
up and to exert a favorable influence at home, and on the other bands or
tribes of the great Sioux nation.
Philip, a deacon, made an extensive tour early in the spring up the Mis-
souri, and was everywhere well received. As we passed through Faribault,
Minnesota, we saw him and a teacher on an extended Missionary tour, to
all the Santees scattered abroad throughout that whole region. Bishop
Whipple asked them to tarry a few days that they might aid him in pre-
paring some young Christian men for confirmation. Of the little band
of Santees that remained in Faribault under the protection of the Bishop
after the massacre of 1862, every one is intelligent, moral and industrious,
and most of them are religious. Some have horses and wagons, the
fruits of their own industry, notwithstanding the people of Minnesota
were strongly prejudiced against all Indians, and refused to employ them
when white laborers could be had. - -
We also heard a good report from the one or two hundred Santees who,
18
tired of waiting for the division of the land on their Reservation, severed
their tribal connection, abandoned their annuities, claimed citizenship and
each family took up one hundred and sixty (160) acres of good land, on the
Big Sioux River. Although these men were far below the average of the rest
of the Santees in intelligence and virtue, yet they took their Testaments
with them and have maintained their Christian integrity.
Our Sunday at the Santee Reservation was indeed a Christian Sabbath.
At 9 o'clock A. M., we had the service and a sermon in English, at the
temporary residence of the Rev. Mr. Hinman. The whites and the In-
dians who understand our language attended this service; at 10.30 there
was worship and a sermon in Santee at the large house of Wabashaw,
their Chief. In the afternoon we attended a similar service held in the
house of Philip, the deacon. If the people who are skeptical about the
conversion of these home heathen could have been present, witnessing
their reverent worship and hearing them sing such hymns as “Jerusalem
the Golden º’ and “Nearer my God to Thee;” instead of remaining in un-
belief, they would fill the Missionary treasury to overflowing. The
Rev. Christian Taopi, a Santee deacon, though quite sick, was present at
one of the services. That man is a miracle of grace, so humble and de-
voted, and so zealous that during his illness he could not be restrained
from ministering to one whose life seemed to be in still more danger.
Taopi means “wounded man,” he was so named because he was wounded
in a fight with the Chippewas when he was trying to avenge the death of
his father.
The great change in this people was wrought, not only by telling of
Jesus and His salvation, but by just such practical illustrations of the
power and benefits of Christianity as were manifested by our Saviour and
His Apostles. The children were taught and gathered into the fold: the
sick were healed and tender sympathy was manifested towards the sorrow-
ing. The evil spirit in man was not aroused by violently attacking the
superstitious rites that had been handed down from generation togenera-
tion, but Christianity was shown forth as the great loving principle that
seeks to lift up and ennoble the fallen. The better way of life thus man-
ifested, gradually won its way into the hearts of these heathen ; they
willingly parted with their scalp locks, and their weapons of carnal war-
fare and their charms were laid down and Christianity intelligently and
heartily embraced. These Indians when almost starving, (indeed hun-
dreds of them perished with hunger, ) did not look grudgingly upon these
Ministers, Teachers, Churches or Schools with an evil eye, as they invari-

19
ably do under such circumstances when the Indian’s money is spent
or when the general government defrays the expenses of the Mission in
whole or in part. They know that all this work is done by the freewill
offerings of Christian people, therefore it touches the heart and influ-
ences the life. -
The Santee Missionary has introduced the game of croquet on the
ground adjoining his residence, to aid in weaning the young men from
amusements likely to lead them back to the war path or to heathenism,
aud also to show that Christianity does not mar the joy of the young. It
was a beautiful sight to witness scores of young men dressed like our own
people, manifesting great interest and evincing much skill in this game.
Base ball clubs will also be raised here and among the Yanktons, that
they may compete with each other and aid in destroying their dances,
which always have some heathen significancy. -
The ease with which this people, when civilized, can govern themselves,
is beautifully illustrated in the Santee Reserve Police Force as com-
missioned by the agent. Card playing being proscribed, they do not
hesitate to ferret out any violation of the rule and to destroy the cards.
A few days before we reached there, this police had arrested a little band
of low, vicious and desperate whites who were trying to commit some im
moralities on the Reserve.
The Santee women have remarkable skill in needle work and aptitude
in acquiring other forms of handicraft. Our Missionary hopes ere long
to turn their skill and industry to profitable account, as the banks of
the Missouri abound in willows of rapid growth and of a kind well
suited for basket making. With the aid of proper teaching, this branch
of business can soon be learned by the women and children and made very
profitable. The agent spoke of purchasing harness for their ponies to
enable them the better to till their very dry land, but we suggested that a
worker in leather should be procured, as there is much surplus labor,
and these Indians can acquire that art, and shoe-mending very quickly.
The Santees usually wear shoes, and not having been taught to mend
them, they are useless when much worn, hence money is wasted.
If teachers and missionaries are to be sent further up the Missouri, the
expense of living will be still more burdensome to the Church, because
of the great cost of provisions. Tray do obtain an order that all mission-
aries and teachers when fullfiling their office on Indian Reservations, shall
have the privilege of purchasing provisions and other supplies from the
Commissary Department, at the several military posts, on the same terms





20
as officers of the army, i. e., at the cost price. Will you not also direct
the Bureaus of Education and Agriculture to co-operate with Indian
agents, and their helpers, by preparing suitable books of instruction and
by furnishing seed that will mature quickly, before the plant is destroyed
by drought, or by the grass hopper. Surely there are many linguists, prac-
tical teachers, and agriculturists whose services can be secured for the
great work of Christian civilization which you have undertaken.
Allow me, as a fellow-citizen and as a friend of the Indian, cordially to
thank you and through you the President and the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, for the independence of political domination and the merciful dispo-
sition toward our home heathen, now so fully manifested. Wresting as you
have, the Indian Department from the grasp of political cormorants, is an
achievement that merits the gratitude of all virtuous men, and it should
make us still more confident of the ability of the people of this Republic
to create every necessary reform. You may rest assured that the Press
and the best men of both political parties, will fully sustain the adminis-
tration in this merciful measure.
The Indian Appropriation Bill passed on the 15th day of July last, fully
certifies the entire willingness of Congress to uphold you; and many of its
provisions are so favorable, that it has inspired the faint-hearted friends
of the Indian with hopeful zeal.
Yours sincerely and respectfully,
W.M. WELSH,
1122 Spruce St.


21
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.
WASHINGTON, October 11, 1870.
My DEAR SIR : - - -
I have read your most interesting report of your visit to the Santee
Sioux and the Brulés under Spotted Tail, with other tribes, and, since
it is already in type, I would earnestly suggest that you enlarge the edi-
tion so as to put a copy into the hands of the members of Congress and
others who desire information as to the actual condition of affairs among
the Dacotas, Very truly, yours,
J. D. Cox, Secretary of Interior.
WM. WELSH, Esq.
PHILADELPHIA, october 18th, 1870.
HoN. J. D. Cox, Secretary of the Interior.
MY DEAR SIR: In complying with your request, for an extended
circulation of the foregoing report, it seems proper that I should append
a supplemental statement.
Owing to your absence from Washington, the report was made to Judge
Otto, as acting Secretary of the Interior. He was most courteous, and
took immediate action on all matters that seemed to be pressing, and that
were within the range of his powers. Orders were sent to the Surveyor
General of Minnesota to survey promptly the White Earth Reservation,
that the Chippewas might have definite homesteads, and thus be encour-
aged to make permanent improvements. Since my conference with the
Chippewas, referred to in the foregoing report, assurances have been
given me, that several of the bands that at first seemed reluctant to leave
their present abodes, are now ready to move to the White Earth Reserva-
tion, if means of cultivating the soil are provided, and if provision is made
for their maintenance until their crops yield a support. The two agents
for the Chippewas, that were appointed on the nomination of the Mis-
sionary Association of the Congregational churches, have entered upon
their duties, inspiring these neglected and defrauded Indians with hope
that there is a brighter future in store for them and their children. When
I last saw the Chippewas, they were much dejected; not only because of
grievous wrongs to them, but also through fear of the North Pacific
22
Railroad Company. They had been told of its power and of a concerted
plan by which that power was to be invoked in favor of certain spoliators
of Indian Reservations. It was also said that the railroad company had
asked aid of the military authority of that district, owing to an appre-
hension of trouble from the Indians. From the high character of the gen-
tlemen who are managing that railroad, I placed myself in communication
with them under the firm belief that they would co-operate with the new
agents in civilizing the Indian. An assurance was given to me, after a
meeting of the Board of Directors, that the company would aid in
upholding the Indian in his rights—would oppose all attempts at wrong
doing—and would carry freight to and from Indian Reservations for five
years at two-thirds the rate charged to white people, provided the Indians
did not in any way interfere with the railroads or its employes. You can
easily imagine the good effect of these tidings, not only on the Chippewas,
but also upon the Sioux of Northern Dakota.
In my report, it was predicted that Spotted Tail's Upper Brulés, in-
stead of being as hostile as hitherto, to their next neighbors the Ponkas,
would hereafter manifest a more friendly disposition, I was glad to have
this prediction fully verified by the following occurrence : A band of ma-
rauding lower Brulés, instigated no doubt by the proprietors of neighbor-
ing whiskey ranches, stole twenty-five horses, chiefly from the Ponkas, a
few nights after I left there. Some of the Upper Brulés found the rob-
bers, took the horses from them, and obtained permission from Captain
Pool the agent, to restore them to their owners, adding two additional
horses as an evidence of good will. The agent of the Ponkas advised me
that the Indians under his charge, were not only glad to receive back their
horses, but also to have this practical evidence of the good will of their
neighbors, of whom they have hitherto been in mortal fear. This unpre-
cedented act of kindness, made me the more glad that a long delayed
promise had been fulfilled, by an order to issue full, instead of half rations
of coffee and sugar. This may seem trifling, but the fulfilment of all
promises can alone inspire the Indian with confidence, and the habitual
use of luxuries is a powerful civilizing agent. -
The influence of Christianity, even upon the blood-stained veteran
leaders of these warlike Sioux Indians, was forcibly brought to my mind
by a remark of General Sanborn, when I met him a few days since in
Washington. He said, thirteen years ago, he saw Wabashaw, the hered-
itary Chief of the Santee Sioux, who was also their great warrior and
Medicine man, covered with paint and feathers, riding at full speed

23
through the streets of St. Paul, frantically brandishing his scalping knife
under the influence of intoxicating drink. -
When at Bishop Whipple's residence last year, I saw the instruments
of death and cruelty that Wabashaw had used when on the war path.
There lay also his conjuring implements, the drum, and rattles, and pow-
erful charms; all had been laid at the feet of this Apostle to the Indian,
when the great Chief and many of his people renounced heathenism and
embraced Christianity. A few weeks ago I listened to words of great
wisdom and Christian propriety, uttered by him in Council; then on
Sunday I saw a large worshipping assembly in his spacious log-house—the
old Chief and his children reverently engaging in the public servises of the
Church. Then I walked with him to the grave of one of his sons, a
noble Christian lad, who was a chorister of the Church. We examined
together the inscriptions on the tomb-stone, most appropriate to the
grave of a devoted Christian. I also remember how meekly he bore
himself, suggesting that all his authority as Chief would be laid down
as soon as his people are located on farms of their own.
During your absence, a Pi-Ute lad presented himself at the Indian
Office in Washington, begging that he might get an education to fit him
for a Missionary to his people. He had walked most of the way from his
distant home in the region of the Rocky Mountains. The Honorable
William E. Dodge, one of the Special Indian Commissioners, has placed
him at the Lincoln University in this State. The Principal writes thus:
“He is very intelligent, and very earnest in his efforts to learn. When
he came here, he could not tell one letter of the Alphabet from another.
He has already mastered the characters commonly used in printing and
writing, and is making a degree of progress that can be measured daily.”
I have received Editorials, and also resolutions of various religious
bodies, cut from Minnesota newspapers, commending most highly Presi-
dent Grant’s honest and humane policy towards the Indian. This evinces
a radical change; for a year since, the Western Press was most virulent:
and even in religious assemblies, few men dared to speak in favor of
the Indian. -
The two missionary societies of the Protestant Episcopal Church have
been considering the proposal of the President, made to them through you,
that they should nominate agents for most of the Sioux Indians and
the Ponkas. They unanimously resolved that they would accede to the
proposal, provided the agents shall be free to promote the civilization and
Christianity of the Indian, without any partisan domination or interfer.


24
ence. A few days since, at a personal interview, in Washington, the
President of the United States gave me the strongest and most satisfactory
assurances, that no combination of political or personal influence would
induce him to swerve from the Indian policy indicated in his inaugural
address. He is now fully aware that there is an “irrepressible conflict ’’
between the long-established “Indian ring '' and the Indian, therefore
he has determined to free the red man from this worse than African bon-
dage. To aid in civilizing and Christianizing the Indian, he now claims
the help of many of the missionary organizations of the various religious
bodies. The President gave me such strong guarantees of his zeal and
determination in this righteous cause, both by word and deed, that I was
not only fully satisfied myself, but I have been enabled to reassure my
co-workers, although some of them had become a little faint-hearted by
reason of the partisan pressure that was brought to bear upon the Chief
Executive during the recent political campaign. A clause in the Indian
Appropriation Bill of last session, gives added confidence to those who
well know that a chief magistrate cannot oversee the details of work in
the several bureaus. The ten citizens appointed by the President last
year, to serve gratuitously as special Indian Commissioners, have been
continued, and it is now their duty to supervise the expenditures of all
money appropriated for the benefit of Indians, and to inspect all goods
purchased by the Indian Department. The Commissioner of Indian
affairs being also bound by the same law to consult said Commissioners
in making all purchases. This stringent and important law will compel
these Commissioners to render efficient service or to give place to others
if unable to perform the duty. Several of these philanthropic men have
already performed such important services, that the high value of such a
commission has been demonstrated and its perpetuation secured.
The responsible trust that the President has laid upon various Mission-
ary Associations, will oblige them to see to the honest and economical
administration of affairs in their respective agencies, as well as to pro-
mote every civilizing and christianizing agency. My share of this re-
sponsibility induced me to follow out the suggestion made in my report
as to the relative value of bolted flour and of broken wheat grains, as an
article of diet. Physicians and army officers, located among Indians, tes-
tify “that pure wheaten bread always acts perniciously on the health of
the Indian, whilst cracked wheat, besides obviating constipation, is more
healthful, more nutritious, and more economical than white bolted
flour.”

25
After a series of experiments, to some of which you were a party, I am
fully satisfied of the truth of this statement. Being most anxious that
the new agents should economize, I have taken much pains to ascertain
the hygienic and economic effect of a diet composed mainly of broken
wheat grains. O. S. Hubbell, M. D., one of the most distinguished Phar-
maceutists of this city, and a successful manager of a dairy farm in Con-
necticut, kindly furnished me with a dissertation on the subject, from
which I make the following extract :
‘‘I have made very careful analyses of the flour and bran which I get
from the wheat that I send to the mill near my farm.
76 lbs. of flour,
20 lbs. of bran.
“The flour contains of tissue making elements, (Gluten,
Albumen, &c.) . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.65
“I get from every 100 lbs. of wheat about}
“The flour contains of phosphates and other Salines. 70
Say 2 Per Cent. and 35 hundredths,
“The bran contains of tissue making elements. . . . . . . . 3.10
do. do. saline do. . . . . . . . . . 7.05
Say 10 Per Cent. and 15 hundredths.
“That is, for purposes of nutrition, the bran is more than four-fold richer
than the flour, or (being one-fourth the weight of the flour) it has as much
value as the flour itself, so if I feed in accordance with custom, I give my
stock better food than I give my family.
“The analysis of the wheat grain (in its entirety) is so identical with
that of flesh, blood, and milk, that it represents the best type of nutrition
known to man. -
“The wheaten flour of the miller (unfortunately for health and econ-
omy of nutrition) consists chiefly of wheaten starch, while the flesh form-
ing element of the grain, with the blood and bone producing constituents,
are chiefly rejected in the bran and seldom used for human food, through
traditional ignorance and prejudice.
“This wasteful rejection of the phosphatic and saline elements of
wheat is founded on no adequate reason, and is like many of our likes and
dislikes, the result of erroneous impressions.
“Whole wheat flour is doubly nutritious, and can be eaten only in
dºminished quanity, or surfeit will be the result.
“If the Indian can be supplied with pure wheat and be taught how to
use it, he will have the best diet in the power of man to supply, and capa-
ble of maintaining the most perfect health.”


26
I have dwelt thus at length on the subject of food, as in frontier settle-
ments the difference between the cost of flour and wheat is very great.
Thus, the government has no doubt this year paid from 2} to 3 cents per
ib, for flour, whilst I have secured wheat, much nearer the reservations,
at about 1 cent a pound. A mill, costing $30, will, by hand-power, crack
120 pounds an hour, giving a full supply for all the Ponka Indians. Corn
is a very uncertain crop on the reservations in Dakota and Minnesota,
whilst with deep ploughing and early planting, wheat usually gives a
good result, ripening before the drought and the ravages by the grass-
hoppers.
I have no doubt that with judicious management, just such as we apply
to our own business, the cost of beef may also be reduced nearly fifty per
cent. Beef in Texas is worth one cent a pound on the hoof, and the cost of
driving and insuring should not exceed one-half to three-quarters of a cent a
pound. From most of the tribes, Indians can be selected to herd and kill
the cattle without cost to the Government. Beef should be given during
nine months of the year, and pork in the winter season. Texas cattle,
when well driven, will rather gain than lose in weight, but during the first
winter they are little more than skin and bone. The cost of cutting hay
and of herding the cattle during the winter, with the loss in weight and
the risk of death from storms and other casualties, enhances the cost to
the contractor. This season, nearly four cents a pound was paid for beef,
and this is thought to be a low contract as the winter is near. These sug-
gestions may have some value, as the new agents and Superintendents will
undoubtedly desire to co-operate with the Department in lessening the
annual burden of Indian expenditures. It is now evident that if the
President’s policy is fully carried ont, labor will soon be dignified in the
estimation of Indians, and they will, before many years, be not only self-
sustaining, but productive citizens. Some skilful mechanics with a mis-
sionary spirit, have already offered to aid in instructing Indians, and there
is reasonable ground for the belief that such philanthropic work can be
indefinitely extended when the Reservations are under the control of vir-
tuous Agents, whose sole aim is “the civilization and Christianization.”
of Indians.

27
Letters received this morning from three of the reservations referred
to in the foregoing report, advise me of the arrival of the annuity goods
in time to verify the expectations that I held out to the Indians. At the
Santee Reservation the distribution had been made, and the Indians were
convinced that my representations as to time, quality and quantity were
correct; for, instead of “shoddy,” the cloth was strong as well as thick,
and every article held out in full weight and measure | | | The annuity
goods reached the Whetstone Agency on the 9th inst., and preparation
was made to distribute them on the 11th to the Upper Brulés and Ogal-
lallas. This will give me their confidence at a visit I feel constrained to
make early next month, to all the Agencies on the Missouri that the
President has placed under the supervision of the Missionary bodies of
the Protestant Episcopal Church, say at Cheyenne, Crow Creek, Whet-
stone, and at the Yankton and Ponka Reservations.
Nominations have been made for these five Agencies, and will be made
for those to be established for Red Cloud's and Spotted Tail's people.
Recent letters to me testify to the importance of visits by those in whom
the Indian has implicit confidence, and who do not intend to use the
Indians' money, even for schools in which their children are to be taught.
There is abundant evidence of the power of the Gospel upon the Indian
when Christianity, with its necessary accompaniments, is proffered
“without money and without price.”
A letter just received from the Missionary of the Protestant Episcopal
Church to the Yankton Indians, borders on the marvellous. When I vis-
ited them a year since, these Indians were wholly heathen, whilst now,
many of them have just returned from a Convocation composed of min-
isters and laymen, held in a town fifty miles distant. The Secretary
testifies that he was “amazed at the deep and intelligent interest mani-
fested in Christianity and in the mode of its extension, by the Yankton
Indians who were delegates to that Convocation. They seemed to enter
into the spirit of the thing at once ; they talked good sense, and were
eminently practical.” One hundred suits of civilized clothing were sent to
that tribe this year, and I can assure you that they are prepared, not
only to use civilized clothing, but to acquire all the habits of a civilized
people.
There is now every prospect that this administration will be as memora-
ble for showing mercy to the red man, as a late administration was to the
black. You, however, well know that Indian oppressors and spoliators are
quite as virulent and resistant at being hindered from despoiling the red
28
man, as slave owners were when that which they supposed to be their
rights over their fellow-beings was taken from them.
I am satisfied that the President has counted the cost, and that he win
not swerve from this holy purpose, and I am also satisfied that he will be
fully sustained and encouraged by the men who will ere long be solicited
to become leaders of the dominant party.
Yours, sincerely,
- WILLIAM W.ELSH.
INT C T E -
“Our Aborigines fully appreciated the influence of the wheat plant on society, if the
following anecdote, related by Crevecoeur, the old French traveler, has any foundation
in fact: The chief of the tribe of the Mississais said to his people, “Do you not see the
whites living upon seeds, while we eat flesh? That flesh requires more than thirty
moons to grow up, and is then often scarce. That each of the wonderful seeds they
sow in the earth returns them an hundred fold. The flesh on which we subsist has four
legs to escape from us, while we have but two to pursue and capture it. The grain
remains where the white men sow it, and grows. With them winter is a period of
rest, while with us it is the time of laborious hunting. For these reasons they have so
many children, and live longer than we do. I say, therefore, unto every one that will
hear me, that before the cedars of our village shall have died down with age, and the
maple trees of the valley shall have ceased to give us sugar, the race of the little corn
(wheat) sowers will have exterminated the race of the flesh-eaters, provided their
huntsmen do not resolve to become Sowers.”
“The author says, “The culture of the wheat-bearing plant compelled the cultivator
to abandon the wild or nomadic life which it is not unreasonable to suppose he must
have led, and the time which otherwise would have been spent in roaming through the
forests, was now spent in contriving indispensable implements; first and prominent
among these were the plow and harrow-rude beyond question in mechanical struc-
ture, and uncouth in appearance, yet they were the first peaceful, and at the same time
utilitarian products of civilization.”
“These implements compelled man to employ the physical strength of animals, which
have ever since been his constant companions.”—Extract from The Wheat Plant, Cin-
cinnati, 1860.
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