Yale University Library
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39002003561678
C<^ v
AN INDIAN VILLAGE.
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS
A HISTORY OF
THE INDIAN WARS OE THE FAR WEST
By J. P. DUNN, Jr., M.S., LL.B.
Jllustraleb
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE
1886
Copyright, 1880, by Harper & Brothers.
All rights reserved.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAQE
Introductory 1
CHAPTER II.
The Acquisition of the Mountains 27
CHAPTER III.
The One Offence of the Pueblos 49
CHAPTER IV.
The Murder of the Missionaries 80
CHAPTER Y.
The Curse of Gold 118
CHAPTER VI.
Oatman Flat 151
CHAPTER VII.
The Rogue River, Yakima, and Klickitat Wars 189
CHAPTER VIII.
Ash Hollow and the Cheyenne Expedition 219
CHAPTER IX.
Los Nabajos 244
CHAPTER X.
Mountain Meadows 278
CHAPTER XI.
The War with the Sfokanes, Cceur D'Al^nes, and Pelouses. . 824
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER NIL page
Death to the Apache ! 356
CHAPTER XIII.
Sand Cheek 396
CHAPTER XIV.
Canon de Ciielly and Bosqxje Redondo 447
CHAPTER XV.
Fokt Phil Kearney 477
CHAPTER XVI.
Punishing the Piegans 509
CHAPTER XVII.
The Tragedy of the Lata Beds 543
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Little Big Horn 584
CHAPTER XIX.
JosErn's Nez Perces 629
CHAPTER XX.
White River Agency 675
CHAPTER XXI.
Cruelty, Pity, and Justice 716
LIST OF AUTHORITIES 757
INDEX 765
ILLUSTRATIONS.
An Indian Village Frontispiece
Map of the Indian Reservations within the United States faces page 1
The Northwest in 1841 " " 84
Santa Anna 28
Traders Approaching Santa Fe. 30
Colonel Zebulon Pike 31
A Trail in the Sierra San Juan. 39
John C. Fremont 48
Kearny's Soldiers Crossing the
Mountains 50
Restoration of Pueblo Hungo
Pavie 53
Casas Grandas — Ruins in Ari¬
zona 55
Ruins of Pueblo Pintado 57
Council in the Estufa at Zuni.. 59
Pueblo of Taos—South Pueblo. 63
Sterling Price 70
Pueblo of Taos—North Pueblo 71
Plan of Storming Pueblo de
Taos 75
Chinook Woman and Child.... 82
Indian Sweat-house 84
Chemakane Mission 91
Old Fort Walla-Walla 97
Medicine-man Destroying Girl
by Necromancy 103
Fort Vancouver in 1850 Ill
John A. Sutter 120
Valley of the American River at
Time of Discovery of Gold.. 123
Piute Squaw and Papoose 126
The Yosemite 130
Yosemite from the Mariposa
Trail 134
Beach Fishing at Cape Mendo¬
cino 136
How the Diggers Fought 139
A Group of Diggers 141
The Ruins of San Carlos de
Monterey 146
View near the Gila 153
Pima Girls 156
Pima Village 160
Antonio Azul 161
Scene of Oatman Massacre.... 169
Irataba, Mohave Chief 175
Pasqual, Yuma Chief 179
A Mohave Dwelling 182
Old Fort Yuma 185
Charles D. Poston 187
General Joe Lane 189
Philip Kearny 192
Mount Shasta from Valley of
Sacramento 197
The Dalles 205
Seattle 209
Spearing Salmon at the Cascades 213
The Cascades 215
ILLUSTRATIONS.
viii
Cheyenne Village 220
Indian Village on the Move... 222
Squaws Curing Robes 228
Sioux Hunting Buffalo 280
On the Oregon Trail 233
Before the Days of Stage Sta¬
tions 237
Bound for Pike's Peak 241
Canons in the Navajo Country. 247
Navaho Squaws Weaving a
Blanket 251
Chapitone 257
Fort Defiance 259
Mesa of Chusca Mountains.... 264
Navajo in War Costume 266
Group of Navahos 269
Washakie 276
Ute Squaws of Utah 278
Snake Indians of Utah 280
President John Taylor 284
Brigliam Young 288
Cactus in Desert 292
John D. Lee 296
Scene of Massacre 303
Kanosh 307
George Q. Cannon 315
Execution of John D. Lee .... 321
The Jesuit Missionary 326
Pend d'Oreille Mission 329
General Isaac I. Stevens 332
View of the Columbia above the
Dalles 337
Charge of Cavalry at Four Lakes 339
Falls of the Spokane 345
Coeur d'Altine Mission 349
An Apache Warrior 360
Black Knife 363
Silver Mines of Santa Rita.... 375
A Record of Mangas Colorado. 382
Papago Chief 384
Apache Crucified by Papagos.. 387
Apaches Watching a Train.... 390
Tubac 393
Apache Boot, Head-dress, etc. . 395
Texan Rangers 399
Old Fort Union 405
Standing off the Cheyennes.... 409
Which Tribe Did It ? 413
Little Raven 418
Friday—a Good Arapahoe 421
George Bent 425
On the Little Blue 428
Indians Attacking Stage 432
Indian Scouts Celebrating 435
The Charge on Black Kettle's
Camp 441
Giant's Arm-chair 449
Canon de Chelly 454
Cliff House in Canon de Chelly. 459
Colonel Kit Carson 463
Near the Head - waters of the
Navaho 469
Moqui Pueblo 473
Prospectors in the Mountains.. 478
Spotted Tail faces 482
On the Bozeman Trail 485
Torture by Prairie Indians.... 489
Fort Phil Kearney and Vicinity. 493
The Last Stand 497
Red Cloud 501
Sioux Village in Winter 505
Blackfeet and Trappers 512
Trader's Camp 515
"No Horses to Spare" 519
Edmonton House 525
Fort Benton 529
Lieut.-general P. H. Sheridan.. 533
Summer Camp on Marias River 539
Map of the Modoc Country... 544
Modoc Squaws 547
ILLUSTRATIONS.
ix
Major-general E. R. S. Canby.. 551
A View of the Caves 555
View of Camp and Lake 557
The Rev. Dr. Thomas 560
General Alvin Gillem 566
Donald McKay, Leader of the
Scouts 572
General Jefferson C. Davis.... 575
Captain Jack and Companions. 579
The Bad Lands 586
Sitting Bull's First Adventure.. 592
Sitting Bull Storms a Crow En¬
campment and Takes Thirty
Scalps 593
Sitting Bull Scalps a Teamster. 594
Sitting Bull Steals a Drove of
Horses 595
Old Fort Reno—Crook's Suppty
Camp 599
Rosebud River. 605
Plan of Custer's Fight on the
Little Big Horn 613
Massacre Monument 619
Major-general George A. Custer. 622
Sitting Bull 625
Young Joseph 630
Ollacut. 635
PAGE
General O.O. Howard 638
Lapwai 643
Plain of the Geysers 653
The Stinking Water 656
General S. D. Sturgis 657
Joseph's Last Battle 661
General N. A. Miles 669
The Snowy Range 677
Ouray 683
Henry M. Teller 686
Captain Billy 689
Southern Utes 693
Jack 696
Colorow 700
Antelope 703
Plan of White River Agency.. 707
Douglas 710
Major T. T. Thornburgh 713
Haunts of the Apaches 718
Effect of Extermination Policy
on Arizona Settler 720
General George Crook ........ 728
General Pope 741
San Xavier del Bac 745
Crook's Battle-field in the Sierra
Madre 751
Alcatraz Island 753
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MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
" Two hundred years ago it required millions to express in
numbers the Indian population, while at the present time
less than half the number of thousands will suffice for the
purpose." This quotation from General Custer is a concise
expression of the most common and, perhaps, most remark¬
able delusion concerning the American Indians. There are
at present in the United States, exclusive of Alaska, about
270,000 Indians. Doubling this number and increasing it
to millions would give a population of 510,000,000 for two
hundred years ago. It may possibly occur to the reader that
an estimate for that period of from nine to ten times our
present total population is somewhat exaggerated. It is ex¬
aggerated. There were never 500,000,000 Indians within
the present bounds of the United States, nor 50,000,000, nor
5,000,000; at the time of the discovery of America by Co¬
lumbus there were possibly 1,000,000, but more probably
there were only about one-half of that number. Some
modern authorities of the highest rank maintain that there
has been no decrease at all since the close of the fifteenth cen¬
tury. What the number may have been at that time is a
matter of conjecture, but there are certain rules of popula¬
tion, and some more or less reliable statistical data, that give
a solution of the problem within limits. The most important
of these is the estimate by the amount of land necessary to
support one man in the pure hunter state, i.e., when subsist¬
ing wholly by the chase. This is an indeterminate quantity,
estimates having ranged all the way from 0000 to 50,000
i
2
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
acres, but tlie most plausible estimate is that of Mr. School¬
craft, whose extensive acquaintance with Indian life and his¬
tory, coupled with a discerning and logical mind, made him
an authority of great weight on such a question. He says,
"Estimates were made by me, while residing in the West,
that it required 8000 acres of land, to be kept in a wilderness
state, in order to support a single Indian by the chase. Con¬
sequently a family of five persons would need 40,000 acres."
Applying this estimate to our territory of 3,010,000 square
miles, or 1,920,600,000 acres (still excluding Alaska), we
should have a population of 240,000; but there are two rea¬
sons why an estimate of this kind cannot be considered
accurate.
Primarily, the Indians can hardly be said to have been in
the pure hunter state. Almost every tribe cultivated maize,
and some cultivated other edible plants. Notably agricult¬
ural were the Pueblo and Pima Indians, of New Mexico
and Arizona, and, in the opinion of the writer, the Navahos
devoted far less attention to agriculture fifty years ago than
they did three centuries before, for they had not, at the
earlier date, the flocks which subsequently furnished their
chief support. Inasmuch as the rudest agriculture will
materially decrease the number of acres required for support,
the number of inhabitants must reasonably be supposed to
have been in excess of the result attained by the method
mentioned. As a second consideration, by the number of
acres required for support in the pure hunter state is meant
the number of acres that will afford a continuing support;
in other words, the hunter must be supported by the natural
increase of the game, so that his preserves will not become
less capable of supporting him. There is evidence tending
to show that a state of evenly balanced supply and demand
did not exist in America, but that the game was slowly de¬
creasing under the slowly increasing demands of the aborigi¬
nal inhabitants.
This is certainly true of the buffalo, the best food animal
of the country, for it formerly existed as far east as the At¬
lantic; and it disappeared east of the Mississippi River before
the whites had fairly come in contact with it. Purchas relates
INTRODUCTORY.
3
that the early Virginia colonists, prior to 1613, had discov¬
ered, "a slow kinde of cattell, as bigge as kine, which were
good meateand Hakluyt published, in 1589, of some ani¬
mals then existing in Newfoundland, " I did see them farre
off, not able to discerne them perfectly, but their steps showed
that their feete were cloven, and bigger than the feete of
camels. I suppose them to be a kind of buffes, which I read
to be in the countreys adjacent, and very many in the firme
land." The supposition has been advanced that these were
musk-oxen, which may possibly be correct. A more certain
testimony is found in the "New English Canaan," by Thomas
Morton, one of the first settlers of New England, published
in 1637. lie says, " The Indians have also made description
of great heards of well-growne beasts that live about the parts
of this lake (Erocoise,) now Lake Champlain, such as the
Christian world (until this discovery) hath not bin made ac¬
quainted with. These beasts are of the bigness of a cowe,
their flesh being very good foode, their hides good leather;
their fleeces very useful, being a kind of woole, as fine al¬
most as the woole of the beaver; and the salvages do make
garments thereof. It is tenne yeares since first the relation
of these things came to the eares of the English." Colonel
Croghan in his journal (1765) mentions buffalo as being very
numerous at different points in Ohio and Indiana, and says
that at the Big Lick on the Great Miami they " came into
a large road which the Buffaloes have beaten, spacious
enough for two waggons to go abreast, and leading straight
into the Lick." Still these animals were so nearly extinct east
of the Mississippi, when the white emigration began moving
over the Alleghanies, that even their former existence there
is not a matter of universal cognizance. In the histories of
forty and fifty years ago mention is sometimes made of old
hunters who remember to have killed buffalo in Ohio, In¬
diana, or Kentucky, but seldom is anything recorded to in¬
dicate that there were ever large numbers of them in these
sections. It is an historical truth that the white man had
little to do with the extinction of the buffalo east of the Mis¬
sissippi, though he may claim a large share in the more recent
work of extermination on the plains and in the Rocky
4
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Mountains.* This excess of demand for food above the sup¬
ply indicates an excess of population over that which has
been estimated from the basis of the pure hunter state.
On the other hand, as one of the largest estimates by any
person whose opinions are entitled to serious consideration,
may be taken the statement of Mr. Jefferson of the number
of the Virginia tribes. On the authority of Captain Smith
and other early colonists he estimates the Powhatan con¬
federacy, which occupied about 8000 square miles, to have
consisted of 8000 souls—one to a square mile. If this were
correct, and similar conditions existed elsewdiere, it would in¬
dicate a population of 3,000,000 for the United States; but
in addition to the consideration that the opinions of the early
settlers were probably exaggerated, there are others which
show this estimate to be neither correct nor a proper basis
for a general estimate. In 16G9 the census taken by order
of the Assembly of Virginia showed the Powhatan confed¬
eracy to number only about one-third of the earlier estimate.
If the natives of Virginia had decreased at the rate of sixty-
six per cent, in sixty years, the Indians would have been ex¬
tinct long ago; for the natives of the entire country else¬
where have suffered from more wars, more disease, and more
whiskey, proportionately, since then, than they did in Virginia
in those years. The more reasonable inference is that the
original estimate was two or three times too large.
The country occupied by the Powhatan confederacy was
one of the most fertile and salubrious regions within our
boundaries. The Indians there subsisted largely on cultivated
plants and vegetable food of natural growth, besides having
the fish and oysters of their numerous streams and inlets,
which, if we may credit the early chroniclers, existed in aston¬
ishing abundance, and were taken by the natives in many in¬
genious ways. Fully one-third of the United States afforded
no such adventitious supplies to the hunter, and in many
* Tlie bison, formerly found in nearly all parts of the Rocky Mountains,
is considered by some a distinct variety, as it has shorter legs, finer fur,
and quicker motion than the bison of the plains. I have found their skulls
at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the sea. There are probably a few still
to be found, but, like those of the plains, they are practically extinct.
INTRODUCTORY.
localities no game was found upon which man could rely for
subsistence. The country of the " Root-Diggers," for exam¬
ple, is known to have been very sparsely inhabited for these
reasons. Furthermore, there were extensive trac'ts of habit¬
able country which are known to have been entirely unin¬
habited, the best authenticated instance being that of the
present State of Kentucky. The Indian town of Lulgebrud,
in Clarke County, the oldest Indian settlement in the State,
was established by some Shawnee refugees about the year
1730.
A native population of 1,000,000, or one to every three
square miles, may be reasonably assumed as a maximum limit,
and 21:0,000 would appear to be a just minimum. Between
these bounds conjecture becomes more vague, but there are
still facts tending towards a convergence between these ex¬
tremes. It is almost beyond doubt that the Indians have de¬
creased somewhat. In the pure hunter state the relation of
births to deaths is such that a slight increase of population is
to be expected under ordinary circumstances, but when to the
ordinary ills of that state are added those of an encroaching
civilization, a decrease becomes almost a matter of certainty.
The known ravages of war, disease, and whiskey, the white
man's most potent allies, justify the common belief that the
American race has been fading away; but, on the other hand,
those agencies have not been nearly so destructive as is ordi¬
narily supposed. The methods of Indian warfare prevent
any great loss to them in fighting—a fact which has often
been expressed of late years in the statement that it costs the
government a million dollars to kill an Indian. The bitter
campaign of 1SG4, against the Arizona Apaches, when the
regular, citizen, and friendly Indian forces of the United
States and Mexico joined in a war of extermination against
the hostiles, resulted only in the death of two hundred and six¬
teen Apaches. Even when surprised, and apparently helpless,
the Indians have usually lost but small numbers. The four
most damaging attacks on the Indians of modern times-
Sand Creek, Camp Grant, Custer's fight on the Washita, and
Baker's surprise of the Piegans on the Marias—averaged only
about one hundred and seventy-five victims each. Small-
6
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
pox, measles, syphilis, malaria, consumption, and whiskey have
been far more destructive than our arms, but even these
have not caused the loss of life that has generally been at¬
tributed to them. Counteracting these destroying agencies
have been the superior sanitary measures of civilization.
Tribes that have adopted wholly or in part protective cloth¬
ing, residence in houses, and the use of medicines, have shown
a great decrease in infant mortality, and often an increase
in numbers. Even among what are still called the wild
tribes, small - pox has been robbed of its terrors by the in¬
troduction of vaccination. The tendency of late statistics
is to show a slight increase at'present in the Indian tribes.
The returns for 1S84 (not including the civilized or taxed In¬
dians) show an excess of 300 births over deaths; in 1883 the
excess was 250 ; in 1882 the excess was 520, but the report
was incomplete. The natural presumption is that the rela¬
tion of births to deaths among the civilized Indians would
add to these numbers.
It is not probable that more than one-half of the total
decrease in the tribes occurred prior to 1S29. At that time
there had been no material contact between the whites and
the Indians in at least one-half of our present territory, and
large numbers of the tribes with whom we had been in con¬
tact still existed. The white population of the country was
then 12,SG6,000. Our great increase in numbers in the fifty-
five years since that time, and the enormous extension of our
settlements, have produced a contact that is fully equal to all
that of the three hundred and thirty-five years preceding.
Our population during the greater part of that time was in¬
considerable; in 1790 it had reached only 3,929,000, of which
ninety-seven per cent, was east of the Alleghanies. In 1829
Generals Cass and Clarke made an elaborate estimate of the
Indians within our borders, placing the number at 313,130.
The additional territory acquired by the annexation of Texas
and the cession from Mexico was estimated to contain 1-15,000,
by subsequent statisticians of merit, making a total for our
present territory of 458,000. If these figures were correct
we should have a decrease of 188,000 in fifty-five years, which
would, on our hypothesis, indicate an original population of
INTRODUCTORY.
7
646,000; but the estimates of Cass and Clarke, as well as the
later ones, are almost certainly above the reality. Their fig¬
ures on the tribes in proximity to the settlements may be ac¬
cepted as trustworthy, but they accounted 80,000 west of the
Rockies, between parallels 44 and 49, which was more than
twice their probable number; and having allowed 20,000 for
those within the Rockies, between those parallels, they esti¬
mated 94,300 to be between the Rockies and the Mississippi,
exclusive of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, which was
also too large a figure. There is scarcely a doubt that the
Indians at that time did not number over 400,000, which, on
the hypothesis mentioned, would denote an original popula¬
tion of 530,000. There are other considerations, which cannot
be elaborated here, tending to show that this estimate is ap¬
proximately correct.
Beginning with these bases of an existing increase, and a
past decrease of only fifty per cent, through nearly four cent¬
uries of war, disease, and debauchery, we may eliminate the
possibility of extermination from the discussion of the Indian
question at the outset. The people who are lamenting " the
vanishing spectre on the horizon," and those who rejoice over
the prospect of extermination, in the belief that " the only
good Indians are dead ones," have very little cause for their
emotions. The probability is that there will be more of the
race a century hence than there are now; there will be, cer¬
tainly, if they receive such treatment as they are usually sup¬
posed to receive under "the humane policy." The only
problems that are worth considering are how these people are
to be brought to a fit condition for citizenship, and how we
are to live peaceably with them until that end is accom¬
plished. In this connection the reader is asked to remember
that it has not been the object of the following pages to
solve or even to discuss these problems. The writer has had
no theory to support. lie has conscientiously endeavored to
search out the true causes, the actual occurrences, and the
exact results of the leading Indian troubles of modern years,
leaving the credit or the blame to fall to whatever individ¬
ual or whatever policy it may belong. From the facts col¬
lected certain principles are deducible, and in this introduc-
8
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
torj, which might with equal propriety be made a conclusion,
these will be briefly summed up.
In all consideration of the Indian question it must be
remembered that the Indian stands in a relation to our gov¬
ernment different from that of any other human being, and
that whatever the results of this distinction may have been,
its object was one of benefit and kindness to the red man.
All the nations that colonized in America recognized in the
Indians the right of possession of the soil, but claimed for
themselves the fee-simple, or actual ownership. The United
States followed the same theory with all its consequences, the
most important of which is that no valid transfer of land can
be made by the Indian, except to our government, without
the government's consent. The settlers in each of the thir¬
teen colonies paid the Indians something for their possessory
right, though all of them claimed the fee-simple under their
charters. The tradition that William Penn alone bought
land of the Indians is wholly erroneous; each colony has
records of similar purchases. The United States has always
done the same, except in the case of the cessions from Mexico
(in which the Indian title was considered to have been extin¬
guished by the Mexican Government), and under its system the
Indian title never rises any higher than a possessory right,
unless there is an express treaty confirmation of ownership in
fee or an issue of patents. By the customary provisions of
organic acts, the Indian reservations are excluded from State
and territorial boundaries. They cannot be taxed ; they are
not subject to the jurisdiction of courts, except as specially
provided ; legal process of courts of the adjoining territory
cannot be served within them. Still the provisions of trea¬
ties, that the lands are reserved to particular tribes and their
descendants forever, mean merely that the possession of them
is so guaranteed ; the ownership still remains in the United
States, in contemplation of law. From respect for their de¬
sire for self-government, we have treated the tribes as inde¬
pendent powers, but we have never conceded the actual title
to any portion of land to be in any tribe, for such land thus
ceded to an independent power would then cease to be a part
of the United States.
INTKODUCTOKY.
9
The theory of their relation to us, which lias always been
adhered to by our courts, was thus stated by Marshall, C. J.,
in the case of the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, 5 Peters, 1:
"The condition of the Indians in relation to the United
States is, perhaps, unlike that of any other two people in ex¬
istence. In general, nations not owing a common allegiance
are foreign to each other . . . yet it may well be doubted
whether these tribes which reside within the acknowledged
boundaries of the United States can, with strict accuracy, be
denominated foreign nations. They may, more correctly,
perhaps, be denominated domestic dependent nations. They
occupy a territory to which we assert a title independent of
their will, which must take effect in point of possession, when
their right of possession ceases. Meanwhile they are in a
state of pupilage; their relation to the United States resem¬
bles that of a ward to his guardian. They look to our gov¬
ernment for protection, rely upon its kindness and its power,
appeal to it for relief to their wants, and address the Presi¬
dent as their great father." The reader will observe that
here is outlined by our highest court the only policy that our
government can justly follow. By our own laws we, who
have assumed control over these tribes, are bound to protect
them, to be kind to them, to relieve their wants. The rela¬
tion of guardian to ward under our laws is not consistent
with the neglect, oppression, mistreatment, or robbery of the
weaker party. Whenever our treatment of a tribe is such as
our own courts would not allow in a guardian, we are self-
condemned. We must be honest, we must not oppress the
Indians, we must not take their property without just com¬
pensation, or we are law-breakers.
In accordance with this theory, and in accordance with
the wishes of the tribes, it has been customary to allow them
to make and enforce their own laws for the punishment of
Indians for injuries to the person or property of other In¬
dians. We have had laws to punish white men for wronging
Indians, and laws to punish Indians for wronging white men,
but the natives have been lefl at liberty to prey upon one
another as their customs might allow. Some of the tribes
have reasonably good laws for their own government, but
10
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
others have such inadequate ones that the feelings of humane
men have often been shocked by crimes for which there was
no earthly punishment. Says Bishop Ilare, "Women are
brutally beaten and outraged, men are murdered in cold
blood, the Indians who are friendly to schools and churches
are intimidated and preyed upon by the evil-disposed, chil¬
dren are molested on their way to school, and schools are
dispersed by bands of vagabonds, but there is no redress.
This accursed condition of things is an outrage upon the
One Law-giver. It is a disgrace to our land. It should
make every man who sits in the national halls of legislation
blush." One of the most aggravating of these offences of
recent times was the murder of Spotted Tail, the Sioux chief,
who had stood by ns in many troubled times, by Crow Dog.
The murderer was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged,
but was released by the Supreme Court [Ex parte Crow Dog,
109 U. S., p. 556) for the reason that our courts had no juris¬
diction of the offence. lie returned to Rosebud Agency in
1884:, and his release has been the,cause of the death of sev¬
eral men since then, especially of White Thunder and Thun¬
der Hawk, on May 29th of that year.
The evil of this system is evident. It has undoubtedly
been the greatest stumbling-block in the way of the Indian's
advancement to civilization and citizenship. The worst ele¬
ment necessarily controls so long as there is no power to re¬
strain the work of intimidation. The system was adopted at
a time when our government was physically unable to en¬
force laws in the Indian country, except for the protection
of its own subjects, but there is no reason for a longer con¬
tinuance of it. The only obstacle is the fact that a change
will be an infraction of treaty rights; but the treaties have
been broken for bad purposes so often, that breaking them
for a good purpose would almost be an apology for our for¬
mer bad faith. This is one of the few evils that may be reme¬
died without creating a new evil. At present a large part of
the law administered on agencies is simply the will of the
agent in charge, if he has power to enforce it. Some agents
prohibit polygamy and other Indian customs; others permit
them. The "laws" are liable to be changed whenever there
INTRODUCTORY.
11
is a change of agents. A quite recent instance of the ab¬
surdities which this results in was an attempt of the agent of
the Uavahos to force that tribe to observe the Sabbath. He
had almost got them into a state of war, when General Pope
interfered and removed the over-zealous law-maker. The
evil has been remedied partially by the establishment of
"courts of Indian offences" on some of the reservations by
the Indian Bureau, but they are probably beyond the au¬
thority of the department, and would hardly be sustained
by our judiciary. The only remedy at all adequate is for
Congress to adopt a code for the government of the tribes,
but in so doing it ought not to interfere with the tribes
that have adopted and enforced adequate laws of their own.
A treaty with an Indian tribe has the same rank and effect
in law as a treaty with a foreign nation. " They are treaties
within the meaning of the Constitution, and, as such, are the
supreme laws of the land" (5 McLean, C. C., p. 344). The
effect of all treaties has been necessarily to nationalize the
tribe treated with, and put its members farther away from
citizenship and allegiance to our government. From this
consideration Congress, on March 3, 1871, passed a law pro¬
hibiting future treaties with Indian tribes, though recognizing
those already made. There is among many intelligent men,
whose friendship for the Indians cannot be questioned, a de¬
sire for still further movement towards the disintegration of
the tribes, and a faster advance towards the citizenship which
must sooner or later be reached. This is a step which to the
white man appears advantageous, but it may at least be said
that no action of that kind should be forced on the Indians.
Aside from their reluctance to abandon the ties that make
them a people and endear to them a related ancestry, there
are matters of a more practical nature which may well cause
us to consider the proposed change maturely. The case of
the Pueblos will serve as an illustration of the fact that im¬
portant benefits do not always result from citizenship. In
the recent case of the United States vs. Joseph, 94 U. S.,
p. 614, an action for the statutory penalty for settling on the
lands of the Pueblo of Taos, the Supreme Court held that
the Pueblo Indians of Hew Mexico were not "Indian tribes"
12
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
under our laws; that they have a perfect title in fee to their
lands through Spanish grants and United States patents; and
a broad intimation is given that whenever the question shall
be presented they will be held to be citizens of the United
States. They have the right to vote, which is of no especial
use to them, as they have always elected their village officers
and have no great interest in others; they have the right to
be taxed ; they have the right to be sued in the local courts,
which will probably give them justice so long as their inter¬
ests do not conflict too seriously with those of their white
neighbors. A number of the Pueblo land grants have been
intersected by railways within the past few years, and on one
of them the Denver and Bio Grande Company has estab¬
lished a station named Wallace. The Indians refused to sell
land for a station or a town site at this point, but, in spite of
their protests, white men went there and settled, and the only
chance for relief is by tedious litigation. The government
cannot interpose as it could if the intruders were upon the
lands of "Indian tribes." Its hands are tied by the citizen¬
ship of the Pueblos. They have gained a questionable ben¬
efit and lost a powerful protector.
The policy of the government heretofore has been to lead
the tribes into the adoption of civilized pursuits as far as pos¬
sible, and then make treaty arrangements by which the mem¬
bers may become citizens on showing a good character and
a stated ability to support themselves. Under this system
some forty thousand Indians have come into citizenship.
The number of taxed Indians, who are in fact citizens, was
found by the census of 1880 to be 66,407, but this includes
the Pueblos and the Mission Indians of California, who have
their right by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, with Mexico.
A majority of the taxed Indians are not qualified for citizen¬
ship, in the sense that they are able to cope with the white
man in the pursuits of civilized life. The Indian Bureau has
had agents at work for over a year past investigating the
property rights of these Indians, and it has been found in
very many instances that they have been defrauded of their
lands either by tax-sales, when their land was not taxable, or
by other devices. On the other hand, there is much plausibil-
INTRODUCTORY.
13
ity in the theory that the ballot is the best weapon that can
be given to a man for the defence of his rights, and the ex¬
perience of the country with the negro certainly shows that
the consciousness of manhood and equality is a strong incen¬
tive to self-improvement. An enactment of June 18, 1881,
that will probably have a decided influence in bringing the
Indian to citizenship, provides that any adult Indian who
abandons tribal relations may take up land under the home¬
stead law, and still be entitled to his distributive share in all
tribal annuities, funds, lands, and other property. The loss
of tribal property rights by one who left the tribe, formerly
acted as a premium for remaining in tribal relations. On the
whole, as to citizenship, it is safe to say that a general natural¬
ization law should be passed by which any Indian who de¬
sires to abandon tribal relations may become a citizen on
manifesting a certain degree of fitness. The requirement of
fitness is no reflection on the Indian; it will operate for his
benefit. The alien in this country is simply a visitor, and
has only the rights of a visitor until he takes steps towards
naturalization. The Indian, theoretically, receives as much
protection as the citizen, and is supposed to have his tempo¬
ral wants, at least, provided for. If the government be true
to its guardianship, the Indian has nothing to gain by the
transition but the simple freedom of citizenship.
As the law stands at present, an Indian who leaves his
tribe, except under treaty provisions, becomes a man without
a country. It was declared in the celebrated Ponca case—
IT. S. ex rel. Standing Bear vs. George Crook (5 Dillon, C. C.,
p. 451)—that an Indian had a clear right of •expatriation, or
abandonment of his tribe; but in Elk vs. Wilkins (112 U. S.,
p. 94) the Supreme Court held that, while a person might
abandon one country, he could not force himself upon an¬
other as a citizen without its consent, and that the laws of
the United States had not made it possible for an Indian to
become a citizen by simply leaving his tribe. This being the
law, and there being no general provision for the naturaliza¬
tion of Indians, an Indian who leaves his tribe remains in the
condition of an alien who has taken no steps towards natural¬
ization, unless he comes within some treaty provision. lie
14
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
may liold and transfer property, sue and be sued, and be in¬
dicted for crime. If illegally deprived of his liberty, he may
be released on writ of habeas corpus. This right was granted
on the application of Standing Bear, above referred to, but
the intimation in that case that a similar rule had not ob¬
tained in England is incorrect. In 1810 a negro woman,
named Saartje Baartman, known as the Hottentot Venus,
who was being exhibited in England on account of her beau¬
ty and physical perfection, was brought before the Court of
King's Bench on a rule for her custodians to show cause why
the writ should not issue for her release. The affidavit on
which the court granted the rule alleged that she had been
clandestinely inveigled away from the Cape of Good Hope
without the knowledge of the British governor, " who extends
his peculiar protection in nature of a guardian over the Hot¬
tentot nation under his government, by reason of their gen¬
eral imbecile state." In other words, she was in the same
state of pupilage as the American Indians. The rule was
discharged on it being shown that she was with the showmen
of her free-will.
The right of Indians in tribal relations to appear in State,
territorial, or United States courts for any purpose, except as
provided by the national statutes, rests on a very uncertain
foundation, for neither the common-law nor any statutes for
the enforcement of ordinary rights extend over the reserva¬
tions. Still, Indians have been allowed in several cases to
sue on contracts made on reservations, for assaults committed
on reservations, and for trespasses on reservation lands. Va¬
rious tribes or nations, as independent governments, have ex¬
ercised the privilege of appearing as parties in the courts for
the enforcement of treaty rights.
While theoretically our provisions for the control and ad¬
vancement of the Indians show good intentions, they have
not received the practical application that would have made
them useful; and the laws themselves are fatally defective
in that there is no adequate provision for their enforcement.
It is much as though we had passed a law against murder or
larceny and prescribed no penalty for the crime. We agree
that white men shall not go on reservations, and pass a law
INTRODUCTORY.
15
giving a penalty of $1000 against each intruder. A white
man enters the reservation ; the military removes him; the
government sues him, and has judgment for $1000; he
owns no property, and goes scot-free. We agree to educate
a tribe; money is appropriated for schools, and expended for
no one knows what; at the end of ten or twenty years it is
discovered that the Indians have learned nothing. IIow did
it happen ? Because the law did not provide for any one
to see that the money was applied to the purpose for which
it was designed. We agree to give the Indians a certain
amount of food, clothing, and other property, and appropri¬
ate money for the purpose, without taking the precautions for
its proper application that any business man would use in
his ordinary affairs. That the Indians get but little of it, as
a rule, is so notorious that it is a standing joke in this coun¬
try. Do Indian agents steal? The reports of dozens of in¬
vestigating committees say they do. Did you ever hear of
one being punished ? Some of them come out of office with¬
out materially increasing their wealth, but not many. The
general result is as Medicine Cow said of Dr. Burleigh,
"When he came here he had only a trunk, but now he is
high up—rich." Dr. Burleigh's services were dispensed with,
and the good people of Dakota, in recognition of his distin¬
guished ability, sent him to Congress. There have been
tried various checks for this malfeasance, but none adequate
to the evil. Every investigation reveals the continuing
wrong. If there is a single report of a Congressional or
department committee on Indian frauds that does not find a
shameful state of robbery and corruption in existence, I have
never discovered it.
The most sensible remedy ever adopted wTas the appoint¬
ment of the Board of Indian Commissioners, as quasi super¬
visors of the Indian Bureau, but it has barely checked the
progress of wrong. Let us notice a few revelations made since
the organization of that body. In 1873 a House committee
made a report, in a volume of eight hundred pages, headed in
large type, " By this investigation and report the committee
hope to do something to rid the Indians and the Indian serv¬
ice of those heartless scoundrels who infest if, and who do so
10
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
much damage to the Indian, the settler, and the government.
It is hardly necessary to say that the hopes of the commit¬
tee were not realized. In 1874 Prof. O. C. Marsh, of \ ale
College, happened at Red Cloud Agency on a geological ex¬
pedition, and was detained there for several days by Indian
hostilities. lie took some observations of the management
of the agency, and obtained samples of the provisions given
to the Indians. On his return he printed charges in the
newspapers and in pamphlet form, besides writing to and
interviewing the authorities. There was an attempt to ignore
the charges, the agent stating that he considered it " one of
the usual effervescences of the moment," but Professor Marsh
pushed the matter, and a commission was sent to investigate.
It reported eight hundred and forty pages of damaging testi¬
mony, recommended the removal of the agent and inspector,
and urged the exclusion of all the contractors from future
contracts. Reference will be made hereafter to other frauds,
but it is worthy of note here that in the month of July, 1885,
there was developed incontrovertible evidence of still existing
rascality. In the count of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe In¬
dians, it was found that there were 1300 Arapahoes instead
of 2366 reported last fall, and 2077 Cheyennes instead of
3005 reported last fall. A mistake of 3000 Indians out of
a reported total of 6271 is impossible. It is simply another
illustration of a game that has been played by the Indian
rings for years: the more Indians reported, the greater al¬
lowance made for their support; and the fewer Indians to
issue to, the more goods left for the agent. No casual visit
of an inspector will disclose a fraud of that kind. The agent
perpetrates it with impunity.
The money loss is the least objectionable part of this
thieving. If we may believe either of the great political
parties, a few millions stolen, more or less, will make but lit¬
tle difference in the aggregate. The greatest evil is that
the Indians are poorly clothed and badly fed or starved, and
unless they are so degraded as to have lost all spirit they
make trouble. It is amusing to hear some people talk of
"fed savages" and "Uncle Sam's pets," in connection with
the reservation system. I doubt if there is a reservation in
INTRODUCTORY.
17
the country on which the average white laboring man would
be content to live and subsist on Indian rations, though the
food is generally better now than it used to be. Take this
description of the fare at Crow Creek Agency in 1863-64:
"Some time about the middle of the winter a large vat was
constructed of cotton-wood lumber, about six feet square and
six feet deep, in connection witli the steam saw-mill, with a
pipe leading from the boiler into the vat. Into this vat was
thrown beef, beef heads, entrails of beeves, some beans, flour,
and pork. I think there was put into the vat two barrels of
flour each time, which was not oftener than once in twenty-
four hours. This mass was then cooked by the steam from
the boiler passing through the vat. When that was done, all
the Indians were ordered to come there with their pails and
get it. It was dipped out to the Indians with a long-handled
dipper made for the purpose. I cannot say the quantity
given to each. It was of about the consistency of very thin
gruel. The Indians would pour off the thinner portion and
eat that which settled to the bottom. . . . The Santees and
Winnebagos were fed from this vat; some of the Indians
refused to eat it, saying they could not eat it, it made them
sick . . . they told the agent that it was only fit for hogs, and
they were not hogs, they said. . . . The Indians reported sev¬
eral deaths from starvation ; they were constantly begging
for something to eat, and I visited the lodges frequently
while they were sick, and found them destitute of food. . . .
From what I saw and know, I am satisfied that the represen¬
tations of Indians as to some of the Indians dying of starva¬
tion were true." This was the testimony of S. C. Haynes,
assistant-surgeon of the Sixth Iowa Cavalry. It was fully
sustained by the testimony of other white men, and even
worse was proven, for it was shown that beeves were used
that had died natural deaths, and that meat was issued which
stank and was full of maggots. But, it may be said, that
sort of thing is all over with now. Is it, indeed? Just last
year the Piegans lived for two months on the bark of trees,
and about two hundred of them starved to death. It is a
glorious privilege to be a "fed savage!"
No one need be surprised at these things. Since the
2
18
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
world lias existed, men put in absolute power over other men
have often been cruel and wicked, and the race has not out¬
grown the quality. You need not go to foreign countries
nor back to the Dark Ages for instances. Tewkesbury alms¬
house, the Georgia penitentiary, the contract labor convicts
of Louisiana, or the Soldiers' Orphans' Home of Indiana will
do well enough. Guard as well as you can institutions where
men rule men absolutely, and you cannot escape some wrong.
But what safeguards have we given the Indians? An agent
is put over them who is at once their master and representa¬
tive, besides representing the government. Isolated from
civilized mankind, he does much as he pleases, and his own
reports are the chief information of his doings that reach the
Indian Bureau and the world at large. Once a year or of-
tener an inspector visits the agency and is entertained by
the agent; sometimes there are other visitors; sometimes
there is a missionary. If the agent and inspector should ac¬
cidentally happen to be in a " ring," where do the govern¬
ment and the Indian appear? We put better safeguards than
these around our county jails. There is a very simple way
in which all this might be much improved. Lor years a
strong party has advocated turning the Indians over to the
War Department, on the plea, which all reasonable men will
concede, that the officers who would have charge of the In¬
dians are more honest than the class of men who are accus¬
tomed to receive appointments; they have been educated by
the government as gentlemen, and taught that no gentleman
can be dishonest; and they are under constant liability to
court-martial for conduct unbecoming officers and gentlemen.
This has been met by the plea that a transfer to the War
Department would involve stationing soldiers on the reser¬
vations who would demoralize the Indians, and that while
under charge of the War Department, which they were until
1819, the Indian affairs were no better managed than since
then by the Interior Department. Admitting a large amount
of truth in both propositions, why not combine the good
features of both departments? To insure morality, let the
Indian Bureau continue in control; but to insure honesty
—to be certain that the morality of the agent is not hypocrisy
INTRODUCTORY.
19
—detail an officer once a month from the nearest post, to
audit the agent's accounts, inspect the management of the
agency, and report. He need not interfere with the duties
of the agent at all. It would add practically nothing to gov¬
ernment expenses. There are only sixty-two agencies. The
officers are close to most of them, and have plenty of leisure
time. But the two departments wTould be hostile! So much
the better. That would insure a knowledge of the truth,
beyond question. It is a wrong both to the government
and the Indians not to put some impartial supervising power
back of the agents.
Admitting the full disturbing force of broken treaties,
dishonest agents, inadequate supplies, lawless white men, and
intractable Indians, the following pages will show that the
large majority of our modern Indian wars have been occa¬
sioned by a wholly different cause. That cause has been
made a part of the " peace policy," and is commonly known
as the concentration or consolidation policy. The peace
policy, as defined by Secretary Delano in an open letter to
L. L. Crounse, on April 15, 1873, has five leading features:
(1) " To place the Indians upon reservations as rapidly as
possible, where they can be provided for in such manner as
the dictates of humanity and Christian civilization require;"
(2) when Indians refuse to go upon reservations, and con¬
tinue their nomadic habits, "accompanied with depredations
and outrages upon our frontier settlements," to punish them
until they are willing to go on reservations and remain in
peace; (3) to see that all goods and supplies shall be fur¬
nished at fair and reasonable prices to the Indians; (4) by
every means, to secure "competent, upright, moral, and re¬
ligious agents;" (5) to establish schools, Sabbath-schools, etc.,
that the Indians may " be prepared ultimately to become
citizens of this great nation."* To the first and second feat-
* The principal means by which these ends were hoped to be compassed
was permitting the various churches to nominate the Indian agents for the
tribes assigned to them. Nearly all the agents were thus nominated for
about fifteen years, but this feature of the policy was discontinued by
Secretary Teller during Mr. Arthur's administration, and the churches
have now no voice in the appointments.
20
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ures has since been added, practically, the policy of bringing
the smaller bands upon the larger reservations, and sometimes
of changing the location of the larger tribes. This concentra¬
tion was not a leading feature of the original peace policy,
as may be inferred from its omission by Mr. Delano. In
1871 Commissioner E. P. Smith said, "Experience, however,
shows that no effort is more unsuccessful with an Indian
than that which proposes to remove him from the place of
his birth and the graves of his fathers. Though a barren
plain, without wood or water, he will not voluntarily ex¬
change it for any prairie or woodland, however inviting."
The views of Commissioner J. Q. Smith, who next held
the office, were totally different, and in 1876 he announced
as the principal feature of his policy, " Concentration of all
Indians on a few reservations." His successor, E. A. Ilayt,
was of the same opinion, his doctrine being, " A steady con¬
centration of the smaller bands of Indians upon the larger
reservations." This policy was followed by him through his
long term of office, and has been adopted, though to a some¬
what less extent, by his successors. By act of March 1,1883,
the President was empowered, in his discretion, to consolidate
either agencies or tribes, "with the consent of the tribes to
be affected thereby, expressed in the usual manner." There
is nothing objectionable in the appearance of this act; it reads
like a rather benevolent design ; but the words do not express
what it really means in its practical application. To express
it properly, the act should read, " The President is author¬
ized and empowered to drive the Indians from their native
homes, and place them on uncongenial and unhealthy reserva¬
tions, whenever sufficient political influence has been brought
to bear upon the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or the Sec¬
retary of the Interior, by men who desire the lands of any
tribe, to induce a recommendation for their removal; Pro¬
vided, that before any tribe shall be removed, the members
shall be bullied, cajoled, or defrauded into consenting to the
removal."
It may be said that this is an exaggeration. Let us see.
The Modoc war was caused by attempting to keep them on
a reservation with the Klamatlis, who maltreated them so
INTRODUCTORY.
21
much that they could not live peacefully or raise food for
themselves; they asked a small reservation of their own, but
the Indian Bureau would not give it to them. The great
Sioux war of 1876 was simply the enforcement of an order
for that nation to abandon the Powder River country, which
we had guaranteed them as a hunting-ground, and to keep
within the bounds of their established reservation, where there
was little or no game. The Rez Perce war of 1877 was
caused by an attempt to force the Lower Nez Perces, whose
nomadic habits were not "accompanied with depredations and
outrages upon our frontier settlements," to go upon the Lap-
wai reservation instead of giving them their old home in the
Wallowa Yalley, which had never been bought from them,
and with which they would have been satisfied. All the
troubles with the Chiricahua Apaches, since 1876, resulted
from an attempt to remove them from their native mount¬
ains to San Carlos Agency, an unhealthy and intolerable
place for mountain Indians, and occupied by bands that were
unfriendly to the Chiricahuas. The wars with Victorio's
Mimbrefios Apaches resulted from the discontinuance of his
reservation at Ojo Caliente, in his native country, where he
had expressed willingness to live in peace, and an order for
the removal of his band to San Carlos. The war with the
Northern Cheyennes resulted from an attempt to make them
stay in Indian Territory, which had proved a very unhealthy
place for them, instead of leaving them with their old allies
the Sioux, where they wished to remain. The disgraceful
affair of the Ponca removal—so repugnant to all sense of
fairness and justice that Judge Dundy, who released the fugi¬
tive Poncas on writ of habeas corpus, condemned it from the
bench, and expressed his pleasure that General Crook had
" no sort of sympathy in the business in which he is forced
by his position to bear a part so conspicuous"—was only a
concentration and removal to Indian Territory. The Ilua-
lapais were removed in 1874 from their old country to La
Paz reservation, on the Colorado River, a place so terribly
unhealthy that they were saved from extermination only by
fleeing in a body. The White Mountain Coyoteros, always
our friends, were removed from their farms to the hot, un-
22
MASSACllES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
healthy valley of the Gila, to save the expense of an agency,
and throw the tribal trade from New Mexico to Arizona,
" where it properly belonged." The tribe became demoral¬
ized ; their advance in agriculture was stopped; a part of
them became wanderers.
All these facts and others will appear more fully hereaf¬
ter, and they show that the translation made above is not ex¬
aggerated. An examination of the arguments of those who
favor concentration will show that the advantages claimed
for it are purely theoretical. There is not a single instance
of benefit resulting from an enforced removal—not one in
which the fair presumption is not that the Indians would
have done as well or better in their native homes. In a ma¬
jority of cases the results have been very bad, and in many
of them the discontent resulting from removal has been so
lasting that the Indian Bureau has been obliged to give up
its project, and return them to the place whence they were
removed. If there were ever a penny-wise and pound-foolish
idea, it is that concentration cheapens the Indian service.
The wars alone that have resulted from it, leaving out of con¬
sideration life and property destroyed, have cost more money
than all that the tribes affected by removals have cost the
government otherwise. In addition to that, several tribes
that were previously self-supporting were made utterly des¬
titute and helpless by removal, and some became hopelessly
demoralized. There is, in reason, no cause why Indians may
not be taught and civilized in one state or territory as well
as in another, and if the presence of Indians be considered
objectionable, there is no justice in moving them from conti¬
guity with one lot of white neighbors to put them near others.
The concentration policy has not a single foundation, either
in fact or in logical argument, to support it. It is almost be¬
yond comprehension how it could have been adopted by rea¬
soning men.
The objections to it from principle are quite as great as
those derived from its expensiveness and inexpediency. Is
it a light thing to drive a people from their native land?
There was never an exile of any other race to whom the
American heart did not warm. There was never even a
INTRODUCTORY.
23
foreign nation struggling for the peaceful possession of its
fatherland with which we did not sympathize. The patriots
of Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, and Greece have always had
our veneration and love. Our school-children are instructed
in their histories, and taught to repeat their inspiring words.
We have proclaimed to the world by our Monroe doctrine
that no foreign government shall interfere with American
liberty on American soil. We profess to place highest in the
category of human virtues the love of native land. How
comes it, then, that Americans can favor forcing our " wards"
to leave the "rocks and rills," the "woods and templed hills"
that they love ? Can we not respect Joseph when he says,
" A man who would not love his father's grave is worse than
a wild animal" ? Can we not even understand poor, worth¬
less, old Homily when he says, " The gravel stones and sand
of Wallula make me happy—my tilicums [adult companions]
are there"? The American Indians do love their country.
They have taught us that in a hundred bloody wars. If any
American will but cast aside the prejudice of race, he must
feel the truth of Wendell Phillips's words, "From Massachu¬
setts Bay back to their own hunting-grounds, every few miles
is written down in imperishable record as a spot where the
scanty, scattered tribes made a stand for justice and their
own rights. Neither Greece, nor Germany, nor the French,
nor the Scotch, can show a prouder record. And instead of
searing it over with infamy and illustrated epithets, the fut¬
ure will recognize it as a glorious record of a race that never
melted out and never died away, but stood up manfully, man
by man, foot by foot, and fought it out for the land God gave
him against the world, which seemed to be poured out over
him. I love the Indian because there is something in the
soil and climate that made him that is fated, in the thousand
years that are coming, to mould us."
I would not carry the feeling of admiration for aboriginal
virtues too far, lest the recollection of the vices of barbarism
cause an undue recoil from the point we should reach. That
many Indians are lazy, drunken, and vicious is undeniable;
that some of their habits are revolting to us is true. But
there is much to extenuate all this. Why should we be hor-
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
rified at their eating snakes, lizards, grasshoppers, dogs, and
the intestines of larger animals, when we swallow snails, oys¬
ters, frogs' legs, sardines, and tripe? Your epicure has his
woodcock cooked without cleaning, and smacks his lips over
calves' brains. This is but custom. An Apache or Havaho
would not touch bear meat or taste of pork. The white man
looks on the Indian of to-day and laughs at the idea of a
"noble red man," but the Indian of Cooper is not wholly
mythical. One might as well seek a Roman Senator in an
Italian pea-nut vender, or a Knight of the Round Table in
an English swell. Take the proudest crusader that ever bore
a lance, strip off his armor, clothe him in rags, and feed him
on slop; where would be the glamour of his chivalry ? There
are plenty of well-authenticated instances of Indian chivalry.
The romance of war and the chase has always been theirs.
If you want the romance of love, a thousand elopements in the
face of deadly peril will supply you with Lochinvars. If you
want the romance of friendship, you may find, in the "com¬
panion warriors" of the prairie tribes, rivals for Damon and
Pythias. If you want the romance of grief take that magnifi¬
cent Mandan, Mah-to-to-pa (Four Bears), who starved himself
to death because of the ravages of small-pox in his tribe, or
Ha-won-je-tah (One Horn), the Minneconjou chief, who was
so maddened by the death of his son that he swore to kill the
first living thing that crossed his path; armed only with a
knife he attacked a buffalo bull, and perished on the horns
of the furious animal. If you seek pure knight-errantry, I
commend you to the young Pawnee Loup brave, Petale-
sharro, who at the risk of his life freed a Comanche girl from
the stake and returned her unharmed to her people—who
afterwards saved a Spanish boy from a similar fate by offer¬
ing a ransom for him, and interposing his own life to force
the release. If you desire the grander chivalry of strength
of mind and nobility of soul, I will pit Chief Joseph against
any barbarian that ever lived.
Just here let me caution the reader that if he wishes to
understand Indian history, he must not be deluded by that
false truth, so popular in America, that "an Indian is an
Indian." There are tribes now existing that have never
INTRODUCTORY.
25
raised a hostile hand against us, though they have been sore¬
ly tried. There are Indians that, so far as race characteristics
and race prejudices are concerned, have no identity with the
typical Indian, except in the fact that they have been mal¬
treated by the whites. Mr. McCormick, of Arizona, well
said in the House of Representatives, "We have Indians
there [in Arizona] of every style and character. We have
Indians that differ as much from each other as Americans
do from Japanese or Chinese. We have a class of Indians
whose tendency is to civilization. We have a large class
whose tendency is to barbarism, who are as wild as the birds
of the air or the beasts of the mountains. We have there¬
fore to pursue a varying course towards the Indians in that
territory and in all our frontier country." This is simple
truth. There is as much difference between a Pueblo and an
Apache, or a Nez Perc-e and an Arapahoe, as there is between
a Broadway merchant and a Bowery rough. When the Nez
Perce captives were brought down the Missouri River, the
people along the stream, who had been used to Indians all
their lives, were constantly remarking, " What fine-looking
men !" " How clean they are !" " How dignified they appear!"
These are extremes, and there are all gradations between
them.
But we have wandered from the subject of concentration.
The worst result of a forced removal is its hinderance to civ¬
ilization. If the Indian is to be civilized, he must first be
brought into a complacent state of mind. You may force a
man to do right, but you cannot force him to think right.
You cannot compel him to be contented. Apparently, then,
it is absurd to begin the work of improving and making-
gentle a mind, by an act of harshness that will be felt longer
and more keenly than anything else imaginable. The Indian
problem is not solved. It will require years of patient effort
to bring these people to a self-reliant, honorable, civilized
manhood. It is extremely impolitic to do anything need¬
lessly that will increase the difficulties in the way. If not
impeded, humanity and charity will solve the problem, but
the " peace policy " of the past eighteen years will not do it.
It is no humanity to offer a man a theoretically better home,
26
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and kill him because he will not accept it. It is no charity
to give a man a nickel with one hand, and rob him of five
dollars' worth of property with the other. It is no Chris¬
tianity to starve a man, and offer him a Sunday-school by way
of extreme unction. Let us be honest and fair with the In¬
dian, and temper our justice with religion and education.
The missionary and teacher are working nobly, though the
fields are white with the harvest^nd the harvesters are but
few. Religion is within the reach of most of the tribes. The
schools at Carlisle, Hampton, Forest" Grove, Chilocco, Genoa,
and Albuquerque are doing much towards the education of
the rising generation. If the government and the people
will supplement these efforts by the observance of common
honesty and good faith, if an intelligent effort is made to
prevent wrong and remove disturbing causes, by the close
of the century the Indian will be almost lost in the American.
CHAPTER II.
the acquisition of the mountains.
About half a century has elapsed since the idea of pos¬
sessing and settling the Rocky Mountain region began to
develop in the minds of the American people. Before that
time it existed only as a speculative belief of far-sighted men,
or a daring hope of adventurous ones. We then owned but
little of our present western territory. On the south and
west our boundary was the present eastern border of Texas,
with the line of the " Panhandle " carried north to the Ar¬
kansas River, thence up the Arkansas and the continental
divide to parallel forty-two of north latitude, and west on it
to the Pacific. We have since acquired on' that side all of
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah,
the greater portion of Colorado, and parts of Wyoming, Kan¬
sas, and Indian Territory. On the north our line was wholly
unsettled west of the summit of the Rockies—we claiming as
far north as the Russian possessions, and England claiming
as far south as California, but both offering to take less.
Meantime the disputed territory was under a joint occupancy
by the traders of both countries.
The causes which operated on the public mind in regard
to occupying this mountain region were- various, though they
afterwards blended to a certain extent. First may be men¬
tioned the Texas agitation. Large numbers of Americans
had settled in Texas, under grants of the various Mexican
governments, but they did not revolutionize with the facility
of the natives, and the two races did not harmonize. In
1833 the Americans, who numbered over 20,000, determined
to separate from the State of Coahuila, of which they formed
a part, and seek admission as a separate State into the Mex¬
ican republic. This did not meet with favor when submitted
28
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to Santa Anna, then President, and lie managed to put the
Texans off until he had an opportunity, between insurrec¬
tions, to throw his troops into their country. Open hostili¬
ties followed in 1835 and 1836, and in the latter year Texas
declared and virtually established her independence. The
State became a bone of contention in our politics at the first,
and remained one until the dissolution of the Whig party.
There was a feeling of friendliness to the struggling Texans
SANTA ANNA.
which was naturally strongest in the South and West, whence
chiefly they had emigrated, but when the real political mo¬
tives in the controversy are reached, all feelings and all inter¬
ests are found to be subordinated to one consideration—the
extension of slave territory. The South wanted "the Lone
Star admitted to the galaxy of her sister States," and broadly
threatened secession if the desire were not gratified. It was
claimed that Texas was needed to preserve the equilibrium
north and south of Mason and Dixon's line. With the South
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS
29
this consideration outweighed every other. Martin Yan
Buren, who had until then been the popular candidate for
nomination, ventured, shortly before the Democratic conven¬
tion, to write a public letter in which he took a position
against annexation. The South abandoned him at once, and
was strong enough to defeat him in the convention. The
Whigs took the position that any intervention on our part
against Mexico was an outrage on a sister republic; that
Houston and his followers had gone to Texas to stir up a
rebellion; and that the whole affair was "the consummation
of the perfidious treason of Aaron Burr." It is true that
Tyler extended the offer of annexation to Texas, which was
accepted, but it was after his veto of the bank bill had caused
the desertion of his party and the resignation of his cabinet,
excepting Webster. The position of the Whigs was unfort¬
unate for them, as it forced them to oppose the brilliantly
successful Mexican Avar, to object to the occupation of New
Mexico and California, and to advocate compromise with
England in the Oregon matter. The Democratic party, on
the other hand, having no legitimate reason to offer for the
acquisition of slave territory only, drifted into the advocacy
of the acquisition of territory in general, a position naturally
attractive to the American people, and which soon became
very popular.
A second instrumentality in moulding public sentiment
was the Santa Fe trade. This had been carried on for a
number of years in a desultory and generally unsuccessful
way. There had even been one or two traders, though of
small importance, who reached Santa Fe before the expedition
of Lieutenant Pike. This officer was sent up the Arkansas
Biver in 1806 with instructions to penetrate to the sources
of the Bed Biver, for which those of the Canadian fork were
then mistaken. He missed both but readied the Bio Grande
and prepared to winter there, supposing it to be the Bed
Biver. Being only seventy or eighty miles from the northern
Mexican settlements, his presence was soon discovered and
a force was sent to remove him. On being informed that he
was in Mexican territory, and that an escort had been sent to
convoy his men and baggage out of the country, he consented
30
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to leave, it being agreed that they should go by way of
Santa Fe. Arrived there, however, the governor sent Pike
and his men to the commandant-general at Chihuahua, who
seized most of his papers and returned the party to the
United States by way of San Antonio de Bexar. Their glow¬
ing reports of the country excited general attention, and in
1812 a considerable party of traders started across the plains,
following the directions given by Lieutenant Pike. They
TRADERS APPROACHING SANTA FE.
reached Santa Fe just in time to get the benefit of a revolu¬
tion in favor of the royalists. Their goods were confiscated ;
they were seized as spies, and imprisoned in the caldbozos of
Chihuahua. At the end of nine years the Mexican repub¬
licans, under Iturbide, regained the ascendancy, and the luck¬
less traders were released. Two of them returned home in
1821, and two small expeditions were sent out in the same
year, both of which were successful. The trade was a very
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
31
profitable one, as all other New Mexican supplies were
brought in by way of Yera Cruz, at such enormous expense
that common calicoes sold for two and three dollars per yard.
These expeditions were therefore kept up from year to year,
notwithstanding the hardship and peril, though 011 a rather
small scale and with varying success, until the year 1831.
In that year Independence, Mo., became the starting-place
for the Santa Fe trains, and the trade began to assume
greater proportions. In 1822 the goods sent out amounted
to $15,000, and the men employed were fifteen, besides the
sixty proprietors. In
1831 the goods exported
were valued at $250,000.
There were eighty own¬
ers and three hundred
men employed. In 1843
the trade had come under
the control of thirty pro¬
prietors, who sent out
half a million dollars'
worth of goods and
employed four hundred
men. These caravans
moved across the plains
in military order, usual¬
ly four wagons abreast.
They were escorted by
troops on only two oc¬
casions prior to 1843.
The published narratives of the traders afforded the principal
information concerning the regions traversed, and their pros¬
perity demonstrated that the mountain country was by no
means worthless.
The fur trade of the North-west was a large factor in the
determination of our boundaries. The fur-traders, French,
English, and American, were ever the pioneers in the North.
In British America Frobisher established a trading-post on
Lake Athabasca in 177S. In 1789 Mackenzie followed down
the river bearing his name to the Arctic, and in 1793 he
COL. ZEBULON BIKE.
32
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
gained the Pacific overland. On liis recommendation there
followed a union of the North-west and Hudson's Bay com¬
panies in the occupancy of the explored country, which con¬
tinued until their consobdation in 1821. In 1805 the North¬
west Company sent one Baroque with an expedition to occupy
the Columbia country, but he did not cioss the mountains.
After the Louisiana purchase, in 1803, the United States sent
out the Lewis and Clarke expedition to explore the new ter¬
ritory, which was then almost unknown. They returned in
1800, and their reports quickly begot an active interest in the
fur trade with this region. In 1S08 the American Fur Com¬
pany was organized, with head-quarters at St. Louis. They
established posts on the sources of the Mississippi and Mis¬
souri, and Major Henry, one of their agents, established Post
Ilenry on the Lewis Iliver, the first trading-post located by
white men in the Columbia basin. In 1810 Astor started his
overland expedition from St. Louis to Oregon. The estab¬
lishment of Astoria, its terrible misfortunes and final dis¬
graceful sale and surrender by Mr. Astor's Canadian associ¬
ates, need only be referred to here. Their publication in
Irving's "Astoria" in 1S3G had a wide-spread effect in the
formation of public opinion, not so much bj7 acquainting the
people with the country as by arousing the national prejudice
against England. This last has always been a potent factor
in our affairs, and was never more so than at this time. It
was known that England desired to have Texas remain inde¬
pendent and without slavery. It was currently believed that
she was planning to obtain California. A Southern congress¬
man did not much misrepresent the American feeling when
he said, "It were worth twenty years' war to prevent Cali¬
fornia falling into the hands of the English."
The British flag floated over Astoria, then called St.
George,-until 1818. P1 that year there was a nominal sur¬
render of the country, a d the American flag was once more
raised, but Astoria remained in the possession of the consoli¬
dated "Honorable Hudson's Bay Fur Company" until 1845.
At the time of its final surrender by the British it had be¬
come a formidable stockade fort, 250 feet by 150, with two
bastions, and walls twelve feet high. It was garrisoned by
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
33
sixty-five men, and by way of armament had two 18-ponnders,
six 6-pounders, four 4-pound carronades, two 6-pound coe-
liorns, and seven swivels. By the agreement of 1818 there
was to be a joint occupation for ten years of "any country
that may be claimed by either party on the North-west¬
ern coast of Amc.ica, westward of the Stony Mountains;"
and this agreement was extended indefinitely in 1827, with
the privilege of termination at any time by either party on
one year's notice. The occupation, that resulted was prac¬
tically the occupation of the British fur companies, for the
Americans did not succeed in permanently establishing a
trading-post in the whole Columbia country. When one
was set up, the British companies quickly ruined its trade by
setting up a rival and underselling. They were even success¬
ful in causing the failure of trading expeditions such as lyn¬
cher's and Capt. Bonneville's.
In 1832 a novel expedition for Oregon left Cambridge,
under N. J. Wyeth. There were twenty-two of them, all
equipped for an ideal frontier life. They wore uniforms,
and had prepared themselves for the hardships of Western
life by camping out for ten days on an island in Boston
Harbor. In company with a party of experienced trappers,
led by William Sublette, they reached the head-waters of the
Snake Biver and established Fort Hall. The Hudson's Bay
Company soon after established Fort Boisee and ruined their
trade. In 1839 Mr. Wyeth, who had returned home a less
romantic but wiser person, announced the truth that "the
United States as a nation are unknown west of the mount¬
ains." But while the British companies succeeded in monop¬
olizing the fur trade of the Columbia country, the Americans
were pushing up to its borders. In 1823 Ashley had his
men on Green River and the Sweetwater. In 1824 he es¬
tablished a trading-post in the G"eat Salt Lake basin, to
which he conveyed a six-pound ca* on in 1826, and wagons
two years later. The return of $jl80,000 worth of furs by
Ashley's company in a single year aroused great interest in
the trade, and caused the organization of the Rocky Mount¬
ain Fur Company, which carried its trade through all Cali¬
fornia. Private enterprise reached out into every corner of
O
O
34 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the wilderness. Posts were established all along the foot¬
hills—Bent's Fort on the Arkansas, St. Train's on the South
Platte, Laramie on the North Platte, Union, Clark, Berthold,
and others on the Missouri. In 1834 John Jacob Astor sold
his interest in the American Fur Company to Pierre Chou¬
teau, Jr., of St. Louis, and his associates. The company
known as P. Chouteau, Jr., & Co., was organized soon after¬
wards, and eventually secured the control of both the fur
trade and the Santa Fe trade. The information concerning
the western mountains and plains which reached the people
through the fur-traders was of course considerable. It would
be impossible to estimate it with accuracy as to quantity, but
its value will be easily appreciated by those who remember
the "Great American Desert" of earlier days, as portrayed
in the geographies of Morse, Cummings, and others, indi¬
cated by those little dots which are the geographical symbols
of sterility and starvation, and comparable in size only to the
Great Sahara. Lieutenant Pike, in his account of his explo¬
rations, had reported the great plains as a providential desert
barrier which would restrain the American people from thin
diffusion and ruin. He said, "Our citizens being so prone to
rambling and extending themselves on the frontiers will,
through necessity', be constrained to limit their extent on the
west to the borders oL the Missouri and Mississippi, while
they leave the prairies incapable of cultivation to the wander¬
ing and uncivilized aborigines of the country." Lieutenant
Long, in 1818, improved on Pike's account only by placing
the beginning of the desert some two hundred miles farther
westward. Even so lately as 1843 George McDuffie, of
Georgia, announced in the Senate of the United States his
understanding that the country for "seven hundred miles
this side of the Pocky Mountains is uninhabitable."
A fourth agency in the occupation and settlement of the
mountain country, and the last one I shall consider, was mis¬
sionary work in Oregon. Away back in 1817, Hall J. Ivelly,
a Boston teacher, became impressed with the idea of coloniz¬
ing Oregon, converting the Indians, and establishing a new
republic on the Pacific coast. For this end he worked ar¬
dently, memorializing Congress for co-operation repeatedly,
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
35
and issuing several pamphlets treating of his project. In
1829 he formed a society to carry out his views, which had
then become definite in a plan for an overland expedition.
In 1831 he induced the Legislature of Massachusetts to incor¬
porate "The American Society for Encouraging the Settle¬
ment of Oregon Territory." Several hundred names were
enrolled on the emigration books, among others, Captain
Bonneville and N. J. Wyeth, when opposition sprung up.
It seems to have been customary in those days to suspect ev¬
ery pioneer leader of being another Aaron Burr. Kelly's
motives were assailed, the press misrepresented the difficul¬
ties of the undertaking, and the expedition was broken up.
But several of the members went out, of whom Bonneville
and Wyeth have already been mentioned. John Ball, Calvin
Tibbitts, and others went also in 1832. They reached Ore¬
gon, established the first school among the Indians, under the
auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, and did the first farm¬
ing in that region in 1833. The Methodist Board of Missions
was to have sent two missionaries with this party, but on its
being broken up the ministers selected were sent to Liberia
instead. Kelly tried vainly to reconstruct his company, and
finally, in desperation, started for Oregon himself, by way of
Mexico. At Vera Cruz the revenue officials appropriated
most of his goods, although they were not subject to duty,
and though he was travelling under a passport from our de¬
partment of State, endorsed by the Mexican Government.
At Monterey, Cal., he induced Ewing Young and a small
party to accompany him, and sailing thence arrived at Fort
Vancouver in 1S3L The Monterey party settled perma¬
nently, and formed the nucleus of the subsequent settle¬
ment. The estate of Ewing Young, which escheated in de¬
fault of heirs, gave the provisional government of Oregon its
first and, for some time, only funds. Kelly's health was im¬
paired and his spirits depressed by misfortune. lie soon re¬
turned to the East, and went down to death in poverty, worn
out by exposure, and in premature decay.
There wTere others besides Kelly who were advocating a
settlement in Oregon at an early day. The idea of a seaport
on the Pacific coast, which should be the western terminus on
30
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
our continent of a line of trade with Asia, had. originated
with Thomas Jefferson. He foresaw a vast Oriental traffic
across America, and tried to have the country explored long
before he sent out Lewis and Clarke. Some of his worship¬
pers followed up the thought, particularly Colonel Benton,
who wrote newspaper articles favoring the settlement of the
North-west as early as 1819. In 1S20 Dr. Floyd, of Virginia,
endeavored to get action towards that end in the House of
Representatives. In 1825 Benton introduced in the Senate
a bill for the occupation of the Columbia, which received
fourteen votes. While philosophers were still speculating
and enthusiasts arguing, a romantic event occurred which
brought about the desired end. In 1832 a deputation of four
Nez Perce Indians visited St. Louis. They were no usual
visitors there, and they had come on a strange errand. Some
trapper had told their tribe of a wonderful Book that the
white men had—a Book which told all about the Great Spirit,
the happy hunting-grounds, and the trail that led to them—
and they had come after it. From away in their mountain-
girt valleys beyond the Columbia they had searched out a
pathway, over mountains and plains, through the fierce tribes
of their deadly enemies, until they reached the great village
of the white man. They found there, as Indian Superintend¬
ent, Gen. William Clarke, who had visited their country
twenty-seven years before. He received them kindly. They
were feasted, and loaded with presents, but they failed to ob¬
tain the Book. It was not printed in a language which they
could understand, and no missionary volunteered to return
with them. The two older Indians died at St. Louis, and
the younger ones returned to their homes, ascending the Mis¬
souri to the mouth of the Yellowstone by the first steamboat
that traversed those waters. It was sent up by the American
Fur Company, and bore also the celebrated George Catlin,
whose work among the Indians is known to the world.
When the Nez Perces bade farewell to General Clarke they
were full of sadness at the failure of their mission, and por¬
trayed, in their graceful imagery, the disappointment which
their tribe would feel. A young clerk overheard the con¬
versation. It was one of those happenings which seem to be
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
37
the work of some great guiding hand. lie wrote an account
of the entire circumstance to friends in Pittsburg, who
showed the letter to Catlin on his return. Catlin felt sure
there was some mistake about it, for he had become ac¬
quainted with the Nez Perces 011 the boat, and they had not
spoken of their mission to him, but 011 corresponding with
General Clarke he found it to be true. They had come solely
to obtain the Book, and they had failed. The young clerk's
letter was then published. It touched the hearts of Chris¬
tian America. The Methodist Board of Missions at once
sent out Jason and Daniel Lee and others. The American
Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions sent Samuel
Parker and Marcus Whitman, M.D., who were to have gone
with the Lees but missed the convoy of the American Fur
Company, and did not reach the American rendezvous 011
Green River until 1835. Ilere they luckily met a party of
Aez Perces whom Mr, Parker accompanied to their home,
lie remained with them until 183G, and then returned home
by way of the Sandwich Islands. Whitman saw a great duty
placed before him, and he undertook it without hesitation.
Having persuaded two of the Aez Perce boys to accompany
him, he returned to the East to prepare for his life-work. In
the following spring he married Miss Narcissa Prentiss, and
having secured as colleagues Rev. II. II. Spalding and wife,
a newly-married couple who were about going as missionaries
to the Osages, they started on their bridal tour to Oregon.
But taking women among the Indians was a new project,
and was looked on as foolhardy by experienced frontiersmen.
They had to turn a deaf ear to warnings of danger from the
time they started until they left the settlements. The Amer¬
ican Fur Company at first refused to convoy them, but finally
consented. At Council Bluffs they found that the company's
party had started six days before them, but accompanied by
W. II. Gray, who had joined them as agent for the proposed
mission, they followed on and overtook it at Loup Fork.
They crossed the South Pass six years before Fremont "dis¬
covered it," and in July reached the place of the annual fair
of the Indians and traders, midway between South Pass and
Fort Hall. Here they met their Aez Perce friends, and ac-
38
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
companied by them and some Hudson's Bay Company men,
they proceeded on their journey. They reached Fort Walla-
Walla in September; the missions at Wailatpu and Lapwai
were soon established, and the Book was given to the JSTez
Perces and their neighbors.
It had been usual for these trading parties to leave their
wagons at Fort Laramie, but Dr. Whitman insisted on taking
his through. lie succeeded in getting it as far as Fort Hall,
then under British control, and there, after many objections
and representations of the impassability of the trail by the
Hudson's Bay men, he compromised by making a cart of it.
At Fort Boisee the convoy rebelled. They said that if he
wanted to take the wagon farther he must take it apart and
pack it on horses, as the road was absolutely impassable. The
cart was accordingly left till a future time. It appeared to
be a part of the policy of the British companies to prevent
wagons passing beyond Fort Hall, thus building up the im¬
pression that there could be no overland route to Oregon.
They succeeded with party after party following Whitman,
and in 1ST2, when one hundred and twenty-seven emigrants
had reached Oregon, of whom thirty-four were white women,
thirty-two white children, and twenty-four ministers, no wag¬
on had passed Fort Ilall except the doctor's cart.
In October, 18T2, Dr. Whitman was at Fort Walla-Walla,
attending a patient, when word was brought of the arrival of
a party of British settlers at Fort Colville. Prior to that time
the representatives of England were trappers and attaches of
the fur companies only. The people of the fort were at din-
* ner when the news was announced. General joy prevailed,
and a young priest, in the excess of his enthusiasm, tossed up
his cap and cried, " Hurrah for Oregon ! America is too late,
and we have got the country." Dr. Whitman was the only
American present. To him that cry was an expression of
the British policy. They were planning an actual occupa¬
tion of the country as a basis of future action. A few mo¬
ments' talk confirmed this opinion, and he was taunted with
his inability to prevent it. On the instant he determined t.o
defeat the scheme. Winter was at hand, but he must act at
once. The latest information he had was that Lord Ashbur-
A TRAIL IN THE SIERRA SAN JUAN.
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
41
ton, on the part of the English, and Daniel Webster, on the
part of the Americans, were negotiating a treaty for the set¬
tlement of the disputed boundary. Any delay might pre¬
vent his reaching Washington before a treaty was signed.
In two hours he was at Wailatpu, twenty-five miles away; in
twenty-four hours he was started for Washington ; in eleven
days he was at Fort Ilall, six hundred and forty miles on his
journey. Here he made a mistake. Deterred from the usual
South Pass route by anticipations of severe weather, he and
his companion, Mr. Lovejojq undertook a long detour to
Bent's Fort by way of Fort Uintah, Fort Uncompahgre, Taos,
and Santa Fe. Instead of being a better route, it took them
into the desert of Eastern Utah and Western Colorado, and
forced them to cross the lofty San Juan Mountains, where
Fremont's fourth expedition narrowly escaped destruction af¬
terwards. They succeeded in reaching Bent's Fort on Janu¬
ary 3,1843, after appalling perils and exposure, and, pressing
on alone, Dr. Whitman reached St. Louis, clad in furs, with
fingers, ears, nose, and feet frost-bitten, after four months in
the saddle. From there he took the stage to Washington,
and reached his destination on March 3d. He found that the
Ashburton treaty had been signed before he left Oregon, but
Oregon had been left out. The line had been determined
only to the Rocky Mountains. He was too late for that
treaty, but in good time for the next one. lie furnished the
government with explicit and reliable information concern¬
ing the country, and in the summer led back an emigrant
train of two hundred wagons.
As soon as Whitman reached the settlements he had spread
broadcast his report of the country, by word and in printed
circulars, and notified the people that an emigrant company
would leave Westport, Missouri, in the June following. Eight
hundred and seventy-five emigrants met him there and accom¬
panied him, while others followed in their trail. In 1846 the
American population of Oregon was fully 10,000, and of oth¬
er nationalities not to exceed one tenth of that number, living
under a local government which was established in 1843. It
was this emigration that decided public sentiment on the
Oregon question. It settled the mooted questions of the agri-
42
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
cultural value of Oregon and the feasibility of overland emi¬
gration, besides binding the Mississippi Valley to the Colum¬
bia by ties of blood and friendship. The government had
understood well enough that emigration would settle the
Oregon question, beforehand, but how to get the emigration
was another matter. Congress had been discussing the bill
"for the occupation and settlement of Oregon" while Whit¬
man was making his long ride, and the plan of inducing " fifty
thousand rifles" to settle on the Columbia, by giving each set¬
tler 640 acres of land and 160 additional for his wife and
each child, had met with favor, until Mr. Choate pointed out
its infringement on the joint-occupation agreement, and told
the Senate that America could not afford to sully her honor,
however much she advanced her interests. Congress had no
other inducement to offer. Dr. Whitman got the emigration.
It is true that Linn, Benton, and others had shown Oregon to
be much more desirable than it had been believed to be, a
few years back, but other congressmen had controverted their
propositions, and the matter was left in doubt. Whitman
solved the doubt, lie accomplished what the statesmen, with¬
out him, had been unable even to plan for. That is the meas¬
ure of his work and the just measure of his praise.
Meantime, the Democratic party had asserted the right of
the United States to the whole of Oregon, in their platform
of 1844, and the campaign in which " Fifty-four, Forty, or
Fight" was a rallying-cry had resulted in the election of Mr.
Polk by a majority of sixty-five of the two hundred and
seventy-five electoral votes. Mr. Polk, in his message, advised
giving the agreed one year's notice of the termination of joint
occupation, and an armed occupation of the country. The
question received a long consideration in Congress, during
which it was made manifest that the only land really in
controversy was that between parallel 49 and the Columbia
River, for the United States had repeatedly offered to com¬
promise on 49, and England had as often offered to compro¬
mise on 49 to the Columbia and by it to the ocean. A
bill ordering notice finally passed in April, 1846, bearing, by
amendment, a pacificatory preamble and a provision leaving
the time of serving the notice at the discretion of the Presi-
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
43
dent. It was served at once, and England came to terms
forthwith. Mr. Pakenham offered to compromise on 49.
Here was a dilemma. England offered all America had
asked, but could Mr. Polk, after the declarations of the late"
campaign and subsequent debate, consistently accept it? He
did so secretly, and threw the responsibility of a public accept¬
ance on the Senate. The Senate accepted it by a full vote
of the Whigs and the compromise faction of the Democrats.
The treaty establishing the present line was signed on June
15, and proclaimed as a law of the land on August 5, 1846.
The meaning of the treaty as to what was " the channel sepa¬
rating Vancouver's Island from the mainland" was not final¬
ly settled until 1872, and then under arbitration, by Emperor
William of German}7.
It should be borne in mind that although the Democratic
platform of 1S44 declared in favor of "the reoccupation of
Oregon and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practica¬
ble period," the great political parties were not thoroughly
united either for or against these propositions. The Whig-
platform did not mention either subject, and many Whigs in¬
sisted that they were not in issue between the parties. The
fact is that there was serious question in the minds of many
thoughtful men as to the policy of extending our territory to
so great an extent. To some it appeared that the occupation
of these vast regions would create a detrimental diffusion of
our population, for they could not foresee the wonderful in¬
crease our population was destined to have. Others feared
the extension of slavery, for they could not foresee that slav¬
ery was to be blotted out forever. Others feared the union
of distant sections with no means of ready communication, for
they could not foresee the rails and wires of to-day. Others
thought the country impracticable of settlement and worthless,
for they could not foresee the discovery of the enormous min¬
eral wealth which now makes the mountains to resound with
the hum of labor. The two objections last mentioned were the
more serious. When we remember that the first railroad reached
the Mississippi in 1854, we are not so much surprised that ten
years earlier a railroad to the Pacific was viewed by many as
chimerical. At that time it took months to get letters across
u
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the continent by the swiftest couriers, and the transportation of
supplies was proportionately slower. The difficulty of trans¬
porting armies, with their subsistence, to the frontier of such
domains, might well appal a statesman. The feasibility of
even a wagon-road to the Pacific was not yet settled. Who
then could foresee that in forty years three lines of railroad
should cross the Ilocky Mountains, and half a dozen span the
great plains? It is true that at that time a transcontinental
railroad was widely discussed, but it was from a wholly specu¬
lative standpoint. With the information then had, I doubt
if a more sensible statement of the situation was made than
the following in the New York Evening Post, in 1SI6: 5£ I
apprehend it would require the whole white population
west of Independence, Missouri, to act as mere servants of the
line, allowing it was now built and in operation ; and to pre¬
vent the Indians and storms from destroying the road would
require an army of 10,000 soldiers, laborers besides. It will
be time enough for the Government of the United States to
make railroads beyond St. Louis when the people shall have
completed roads from ISTew York to St. Louis or the Missis¬
sippi River. . . . Such a railroad will be, but not within forty
years." There was just one thing that prevented the accom¬
plishment of this prediction, and of it no one dreamed then.
It was the mineral wealth of the Rocky [Mountains. Without
it there had not been a rail laid in the mountains to-day.
Nevertheless, John Plumbe had begun his survey of a road
from Lake Michigan to the Pacific in 1836, fifteen years be¬
fore a road reached Chicago, had received aid from Congress
in 1838, and was still appealing to the people to buy stock
long after the above extract was written.
As to the value of the territory to be acquired or held, the
popular notion of the country east of the mountains has been
mentioned. In regard to Texas, it was contended by those
who opposed the annexation that the country was not worth
enough to compensate us for her debt of $10,000,000, which
we were to assume. The country west of the mountains was
generally estimated a desert. In the year 1839 Robert Green-
how, translator and librarian to the Department of State, pre¬
pared an exhaustive memoir on this question, for the use of
TIIE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
45
Congress. He had all the information in the country at his
disposal, and he favored our claim to Oregon. His statements
may therefore be taken as at least not underestimating the
country as it was then known. He says of the California
coast: " The soil and climate appear to be favorable to the
growth of every vegetable substance necessary for the subsist¬
ence and enjoyment of man ; but no large portion of the terri¬
tory will probably be found fruitful without artificial irriga¬
tion. Of the interior of California little is known." Oregon
he divides into three parts; the first reaching from the coast
to the Cascade Mountains; the second, from the Cascade range
to the Blue Mountains; the third, the remaining country, to
the Boekies. Of the first he says: "The climate of this re¬
gion is more favorable to agriculture than those of the other
parts of Oregon, although it is certainly adverse to great pro¬
ductiveness." Of the second he quotes Wyetli, that "the
agriculture of this territory must always be limited to the
wants of a pastoral people." Of the third he says that the
climate is "sufficient to render any attempts at cultivation in
this region entirely fruitless." He continues : " The country
east of the Rocky Mountains, for more than two hundred
miles, is almost as dry and barren as that immediately on the
western side." The whole matter is summed up as follows:
"In what other pursuits besides the fur trade British capi¬
talists may advantageously employ their funds in Northwest
America, is, therefore, an interesting question at present.
From what has been hitherto learned of those countries, they
do not offer prospects of a speedy return for the investment
of capital in any other way. They contain lands in detached
portions which will immediately yield to the industrious cul¬
tivator the means of subsistence, and enable him, perhaps, to
purchase some foreign articles of luxury or necessity. But
this is all; they produce no precious metals or commodities,
no gold, nor silver, nor coffee, nor cotton, nor opium, nor are
they, like India, inhabited by a numerous population, who
may be easily forced to labor for the benefit of a few." With
such information before them, and lacking the gift of proph¬
ecy, our statesmen certainly had little reason to desire the
territory on account of its intrinsic value.
46
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
But back of all these questions was a more serious question
with many patriots. Was our form of government adequate
for the wants of so great domains, with their conflicting inter¬
ests, and might not the undue extension disrupt the whole
union? Washington thought there was danger of losing our
territory west of the Alleghanies when we extended only to the
Mississippi. Jefferson always favored more than one govern¬
ment within our present boundaries. In a letter to Mr. Astor,
expressing his regret at the failure of the Astoria venture, he
tells how it had been his hope to see the Pacific coast covered
with "free and independent Americans, unconnected with us
hut by the ties of blood and interest, and enjoying, like us,
the right of self-government." Jackson early advised the
limitation of our boundaries until our territory was more
densely populated. Benton wrote the first newspaper article
calling attention to the importance of occupying Oregon, but
at the first he wanted it occupied as Jefferson had. In fact,
he says he took his idea from Jefferson. In this vein he said,
on March 1, 1825: "The ridge of the Pocky Mountains may
he named without offence as presenting a convenient, natural,
and everlasting boundary. Along the hack of this ridge the
western limits of the republic should he drawn, and the statue
of the fabled god Terminus should he raised upon its highest
peak, never to be thrown down. In planting the seed of a
new power on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, it should be well
understood that, when strong enough to take care of itself,
the new government should separate from the mother empire
as the child separates from the parent at the age of manhood."
Mr. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, referred to this sentiment
with approval, in 1844, when Benton had changed his mind,
and when he saw in the Pacific Ocean a more satisfactory
boundary. Of Oregon, McDuffie, of Georgia, said in the
Senate, in 1843 : " If there was an embankment of five feet to
be removed, I would not consent to expend five dollars to re¬
move that embankment to enable our population to go there.
I thank God for his mercy in placing the Rocky Mountains
there." Mr. Webster said, in 1845, when opposing the ad¬
mission of Texas: "The government is very likely to be en¬
dangered, in my opinion, by a further enlargement of the ter-
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
47
ritorial surface, already so vast, over which it is extended."
In 1847, in a speech at Springfield, after disclaiming any sym¬
pathy with Mexico, lie said : "Mexico had no ground of com¬
plaint in the annexation of Texas; we are the party to com¬
plain—w-e did not want Texas." This feeling was not caused
by any want of sympathy on the part of the citizens of the
United States for those of other parts of America. The an¬
nouncement of the Monroe doctrine, in 1823, and the popular
favor which it received, preclude such a supposition. It was
a doubt of the elasticity of the Union, which was well for¬
mulated by the venerable Genevan, Albert Gallatin, thus:
" Viewed as an abstract proposition, Mr. Jefferson's opinion
appears correct, that it will be best for both the Atlantic and
the Pacific American nations, while entertaining the most
friendly relations, to remain independent, rather than to be
united under the same government." The statesmen were
not yet ready for the bold position of Stephen A. Douglas—
"I would make this an ocean-bound republic, and have no
more disputes about boundaries, or Ged lines' upon the
maps."
The people were less timorous, perhaps because less
thoughtful. When the question was submitted to them they
warmly supported the extensions. The defeat of Mr. Van
Buren, as a candidate for nomination, and of Mr. Clay, as a
candidate for election, by Mr. Polk, who wras then a compara¬
tively unknown man, showed how strongly the people were
attached to the principle. Mr. Polk had therefore no occa¬
sion for hesitancy in his policy after the Mexican war was
begun, and he acted promptly and wisely. One of the first
steps of the war was to despatch an army under General
Kearny to occupy New Mexico and California, in order
that if the war should close with a treaty on a uti pos¬
sidetis basis we should hold those states. New Mexico was
taken without opposition. California had been partially con¬
quered by Commodore Stockton and Lieutenant Fremont
when Kearny reached it. Insurrection broke out afterwards,
but their united forces soon disposed of it; and when
the Mexican war ended, with the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, in consideration of $15,000,000, we were left
48
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
JOHN C. FREMONT.
in possession of all
of our present western
territory except the
strip south of the
Gila Iiiver in Arizona
known as " the Gads¬
den Purchase." This
we bought of Mexico in
1853, for $10,000,000.
There was an insur¬
rection in New Mexico
after General Kearny
left it, but it was, in
its nature, rather an
Indian massacre than
a war movement by
a military force. An
account of it forms the
chapter following.
CHAPTER III.
the one offence of the pueblos.
On the 30th of June, 1846, the advance of the "Army of
the West," under Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, marched from
Fort Leavenworth for New Mexico. Two troops of dragoons
followed in July, and overtook the first division at Bent's
Fort. The remainder of the army, consisting of a regiment
of mounted volunteers from Missouri, under Colonel Price, and
the Mormon battalion of 500 men, did not march until early
autumn. None of the troops followed the regular Santa Fe
trail, which led in an almost direct line from Independence
to the Mexican settlements, but left it at the Arkansas, and
followed up the river to Bent's Fort. The first division, as it
invaded New Mexico, numbered 1658 men, including six com¬
panies of dragoons, two batteries of light artillery with sixteen
pieces, two companies of infantry, and a regiment of cavalry.
The dragoons were regulars and the rest raw recruits. They
straggled across the plains very much at will, and took posses¬
sion of New Mexico without a struggle. The Mexican gen¬
eral, also governor and despot, Armijo, had collected some¬
thing over 5000 men, and partly completed fortifications at
Apache Canon, the natural approach to Santa Fe. His posi¬
tion there was almost impregnable—a breastwork, thrown
across the road where it bangs in mid-air, with a solid rock
wall on one side and a precipice on the other, that could be
taken only by a direct assault, under a flanking fire from both
sides of the canon—but he and his army retired as the Ameri¬
cans advanced. This has been usually mentioned as an in¬
stance of Mexican cowardice, but there is a bit of secret history
back of it. There accompanied the expedition a Mr. James
Magoffin, an old Santa Fe trader, well acquainted all through
the Mexicos, who wrent, with Lieutenant-colonel Cooke, in ad-
4
50
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
kearny's soldiers crossing the mountains.
vance of the army, from Bent's Fort, on a little mission to
Santa Fe. He "operated upon Governor Armijo," and se¬
cured from him a promise to make no stand at the cation.
Armijo's second in command, Colonel Diego Archuleta, was
determined to fight, but Magoffin got rid of him by informing
him that Kearny's mission was only to occupy the country east
of the Rio del Norte, and that the country west of the river
might easily be seized by him, Archuleta, and held under
an independent government. The original intention had been
as Magoffin stated, and as he still believed it to be, but Kear¬
ny had subsequently received different orders. Kearny was
notified that the coast was clear; he made a hurried march,
and passed the point of danger in safety. Magoffin, for his
services, received $30,000 from the government, which, he
said, barely covered his " expenses" in this and a similar move
attempted in behalf of Colonel Doniphan, in Chihuahua.
The conquest of New Mexico might otherwise have been
stopped at Apache Canon, a place which was destined to be
the scene of a decisive battle, but not yet—not until 1862,
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
51
when the Southern Confederacy was stretching out a brawny
arm to seize the mountains.
Armijo's army was disbanded at Santa Fe, and he fled to
the south, leaving the invaders to enter the New Mexican
capital, the oldest city in the United States, in peaceful tri¬
umph, on August 18. Five weeks later, General Kearny (he
had received his commission en route) marched with 300 dra¬
goons to conquer California. On October 12 the Mormon
battalion reached Santa Fe. They were undisciplined, poorly
equipped, and much worn. They had received permission to
bring their families with them, and were badly encumbered
with women and children. About one hundred of the more in¬
efficient men, with all of the women except five of the officers'
wives, were sent to the pueblo on the Arkansas (present
Pueblo, Colorado), where they remained all winter. The re¬
mainder, under Lieutenant-colonel Cooke, marched for Cali¬
fornia on October 19, taking a route south of the Gila River.
Cooke was instructed to report on the practicability of this
route for a railroad. His report was favorable, so far as
natural obstacles wrere concerned, and was largely the cause
of the Gadsden purchase. Southern interests prevailed in the
administration of 1853, and a Southern Pacific railroad would,
of course, have been a desirable institution, when slavery
should be carried across the continent under the Southern
theory of the Missouri Compromise. On December 14 and 16
Colonel Doniphan's command, of 856 men, started on the
conquest of Chihuahua. The advance, 500 strong, met and
routed a force of 1220 Mexicans at Braeito, and this was
the only battle fought on New Mexican soil during the con¬
quest. The remainder of the army left in New Mexico, after
these detachments had marched, was under command of
Colonel Sterling Price, subsequently a noted leader of the
Confederacy.
From a military standpoint, the expedition into NewMexico
was in many respects remarkable. An " army " of less than
1700 men was sent to reduce, reorganize, and occupy a terri¬
tory large enough for an empire—a long-settled territory,
protected by regular troops. It marched across a waste coun¬
try, peopled only by hostile savages, hundreds of miles beyond
52
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
its base of supplies, leaving no force to protect its communica¬
tion. It was so poorly supplied that its rations from Bent's
Fort to Santa Fe were calculated barely to bold out by rapid
and uninterrupted marches. Having reached its destination,
the entire territory was "annexed," and its people declared
citizens of the conquering nation, thus taking from the in¬
vaders the conqueror's right to levy supplies, although at that
time the army was completely destitute of means. Having
brushed away these trifling obstacles, the army divides into
bands, each of which moves on to conquer equal empires be¬
yond.
Before leaving Sante Fe, General Kearny, under authority
of the Secretary of War, organized a provisional government,
with Charles Bent as governor. This appointment was prob¬
ably the best that could have been made. Mr. Bent was one
of the pioneers of the Santa Fe trade, and had wide experience
all along the frontier. He and his brothers had afforded a hos-
©
pitable shelter to hundreds of weary wayfarers at their fort on
the Arkansas. This structure, built in 1829, was one hundred
feet square, with adobe walls thirty feet high. It had bastions
at the northeast and southwest corners, armed with cannon.
On the inside the apartments were built against the walls, in
the Mexican fashion, and in the centre was the robe-press or
storehouse for furs. In 1846 it justified Colonel Cooke's as¬
sertion that it was "in reality the onl J fort at the West." In
1880 it was " a rude and wild corral, deserted and decaying."
It may also be mentioned, in this connection, that Charles
Bent introduced the custom of furnishing the draught-oxen
of the plains with iron shoes. Besides being a man of prac¬
tical knowledge, Bent was a man of talent, energy, and patri¬
otism. He had married a Spanish lady, and established his
residence at Don Fernandez de Taos, where Kit Carson, Judge
Beaubien, the St. Trains, and other pioneers had also settled.*
The community over which Bent was called to rule was com¬
plex. The Americans were trifling in number, outside the
military. The people generally may be classed as Mexicans,
* This town is now plain Taos, as Santa Fe de San Francisco has become
only Santa Fe, and San Francisco de Asis is known to us simply as San
Francisco.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
53
Pueblos, and wild Indians, though there existed in abundance
every imaginable gradation in blood and habits between these
classes. The wild Indians were treated with, to some extent,
but were not under control. They were at first very friendly
to the Americans because of their enmity to the Mexicans;
but when the country passed under American rule, and the
government was put under obligations to protect its Mexican
citizens, their friendship went with the cause of it. The large
majority of the Mexicans were then, as now, in the state of
peonage, a sort of cross between slavery and service, owned
and controlled by a few grandees, or ricos, as they are called.
They were avaricious, revengeful, fickle, and treacherous. The
Pueblos were the most interesting and, indeed, the most re¬
liable class of the three.
RESTORATION OF FliKELO HUNOO PAVIE.
They are not a nation or tribe, as is the too common im¬
pression, but include a number of tribes, speaking six distinct
languages. They are, as the name signifies, Indians who live
in permanent towns. Most of them were Christianized, after
a fashion, at an early date, and they are sometimes, accordingly,
spoken of as the Christian or Catholic Indians. The term is
misleading, for a Catholic New Mexican Indian is not neces¬
sarily a Pueblo, nor is a Pueblo necessarily a convert. At the
time of our conquest they inhabited the twenty-six villages
which they still occupy. Of these the seven villages of the
Moquis are separated from the rest, being situated in that
northeastern portion of Arizona which is cut off by the Little
54
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Colorado River. The original name of the Moquis was Ilapeka.
They received the name Moqui, which means "death," many
years ago, at a time when smallpox was ravaging their villages.
Zuili is also within the bounds of Arizona, just on the edge of
the Pacific slope. It is a well-built town, covering some ten
acres of land, and having a population of about 3000. The
other villages are situated in the valley of the Rio Grande,
extending over two hundred miles, interspersed with Mexican
towns, from Taos, on the north, to Ysleta, on the south. Of
the origin of these Indians nothing certain is known. They
were there, and living in their pueblos, when Alvar Nunez and
his three companions, the sorry remnant of the Floridan ex¬
pedition of Pamtilio Narvaez, passed through the land, from
the Gulf of Mexico, seeking their way to the Spanish settle¬
ments. This was prior to 1538, and was the first time that
white men had reached their country. They were then, as
now, an agricultural people, raising grain and vegetables.
They also manufactured pottery and cotton fabrics, but this
latter art they now appear to have lost. There is no trace of
even the rudest forms of poetry or music among them. Some
have thought the Pueblos to be of the same stock as the Incas
of Peru, a theory whose only support is that they are sun-
worshippers, and communicate to some extent by knotted
cords. The opinion that they are the remains of a former
Aztec settlement of the country has received much support.
They have traditions of an early government by the Monte-
zumas, and are said still to preserve the sacred fires instituted
by them. On the other hand, these people were utterly un¬
known in Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest, and
many of the best authorities doubt that the Aztecs came from
the North at all.
There is a general tendency to believe that they are a dis¬
tinct people, having no connection with any of the other
civilized aborigines of America. The best evidence of this
is found in the hundreds of ruins, lying principally to the
southwest of the present villages, similar to them in struct¬
ure, and which cannot be identified with any other archi¬
tecture. These ruins extend over a territory more than four
hundred miles in length, from northeast to southwest, and
CASAS GUANDAS—RUINS IN ARIZONA.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS. 57
RUINS OF PUEHLO FINTADO.
varying in width from fifty to one hundred miles, besides some
scattered ones outside these limits. They are usually collected
in groups, some of the cities having evidently contained thou¬
sands of inhabitants. The largest building yet discovered is
three hundred and fifty feet by one hundred and fifty, sur¬
rounded with embankments, moats, outer walls, and reservoirs.
It stands in the centre of a city near Salt River, some twenty
miles above the town of Phoenix, Arizona. There are also
buildings which appear to have been joined, surrounding
courts of such magnitude that no roof could have covered
them. All through this country are the ruins of immense
acequias (irrigating canals—sometimes written zequici), some
of which can yet be traced through lengths of fifty miles or
more. Their grade is so perfect that modern engineers have
been unable to gain an inch of fall to the mile over theirs.
Another fact showdng a knowledge of engineering is that many
of their towns and works are laid out with regard to the points
of the compass. The ledges of rock in this country abound
in hieroglyphs. Pottery and stone implements are found in
quantities, but no implements of iron and no bones of large
dQmestic animals have been discovered in these ruins. The
people who built these towns must have had all this land under
cultivation, and must have been more advanced in the arts and
sciences than the Pueblos. This, however, does not show that
58
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the Pueblos are not their descendants, for they may have retro¬
graded. As I have already mentioned, they have lost the art of
manufacturing cotton fabrics since the whites knew them, and
this is an art which the prehistoric race had, for cotton cloth
has been found in the cliff dwellings, six feet below the
present surface of the floors. It is also quite probable that
they have had and lost the art of writing. In the Pueblo of
Zufii is said to be preserved a book of dressed skins, the pages
of which are covered with figures and characters of all shapes,
in red, blue, and green. They say it is a history of their
tribe, which has moved fourteen times, this being their fif¬
teenth settlement. The last man who could read it died
many years ago, and it is now kept as a sacred relic. A more
enticing field for some American Champollion could hardly
be imagined.
The common characteristic of the ancient and modern races
is the pueblo itself, which is a large building, of many rooms,
capable of accommodating numerous families. Some of
them are built of stone, some of adobes, and some are caves
cut in the cliffs, with artificial structure added where neces¬
sary. They range from two to eight stories in height; the
walls of each succeeding story set back from those of the one
below, making a succession of terraces to the top of the build¬
ing. There are no entrances through the lower walls. The
interior is reached by mounting from terrace to terrace on
ladders, and then descending through trap-doors. At night
the ladders are pulled up, and the inmates rest out of reach
of their enemies. Each story is divided into tiers of rooms,
the outer ones lighted by narrow windows; the inner ones,
which are used chiefly as store-rooms, being dark. In each
pueblo is a large room called the estufa, which serves as a
council-chamber, a place of worship, and a public hall. Some
of these pueblos have furnished a habitation for hundreds of
people for centuries. In general, the religion of this people
is an odd mixture of Catholicism and paganism, but the dif¬
ferent villages vary widely in their tenets. In government
and laws the villages are entirely independent. They hold
yearly elections of their officers, who are a governor or ca¬
cique, a judge or alcalde, a constable, and a war captain, the
COUNCIL IN THE EST UFA AT /.INI.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
61
last having no authority in time of peace. They have also a
council of wise men in each village, who act as advisers to
the governor.
The Pueblos are ignorant and superstitious, as compared
with modern civilized peoples, but they are industrious, hon¬
est, sober, frugal, brave, and peaceable. When first conquered
by the Spanish they were reduced to a grievous state of
slavery, which they endured restlessly till 1680. In that
year, roused by persistent attempts to force Catholicism on
them, they rebelled and drove the Spanish out. They held
their country for thirteen years before they could be recon¬
quered. Though then forced to accept the Spanish faith,
they were treated more liberally, but several revolts occurred
afterwards. At the time of the American conquest they
were practically in harmony with the Mexican population,
and accepted the new government with equal resignation.
Notwithstanding the good grace with which the people
had submitted, many of them were sore over the cowardly
manner in which the country had been surrendered, and
were ready for the machinations of designing men. Such
men were there, and, as the various bodies of troops left for
other points, they began to plot. This was only natural.
When a Mexican has nothing else to busy him he gets up an
insurrection. Indeed, some of them would neglect a profita¬
ble business for this purpose. The leaders in this project
were the disappointed Colonel Diego Archuleta and his friend
Tomas Ortiz, men of talent and enterprise, made doubly
desperate by intemperance and unlucky gambling. They
were supported by a number of prominent ricos and priests,
and had enlisted the aid of the Taosan Indians, as well as the
Mexicans. The rising was to have been on the 19th of De¬
cember, but, owing to defective organization, it was postponed
to Christmas Eve. At dead of night the church bells were to
be rung, and, at that signal, the conspirators were to sally forth,
seize the artillery, and murder every American and friendly
native in the province. Three days before the time of at¬
tack the plot was revealed to the Americans. An ex-officer
of the Mexican army was arrested, and a list of the disbanded
soldiers of Armijo was found on him. Several others sup-
02
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
posed to be implicated were arrested, but Ortiz and Archu¬
leta escaped to the south and reached Mexico. Early in
January Governor Bent issued a proclamation calcidated to
quiet the people. The insurrection was believed to have
been suppressed by these measures, but the leaderless organi¬
zation remained like a giant blast in the midst of the social
fabric, ready to explode at the touch of any spark. The ex¬
plosion came on January 19, 1817.
Early in the morning of that dajr a large number of Pue¬
blos assembled at Don Fernandez and insisted on the release
of three of their tribe^ notorious thieves, who were confined
in the calcibozo. The sheriff, Stephen Lee, seeing no means of
resistance at hand, was about to comply with their demand,
when the Mexican prefect, Cornelio Vigil, appeared and for¬
bade him, at the same time denouncing all the Indians as
thieves and scoundrels. This was the needed spark. The
Indians sprang on him with the fury of devils, killed him,
cut off his limbs, cut him to pieces, and then released the
prisoners. Lee escaped in the confusion, but was followed
and killed. The blood of the Indians was now at fever heat,
and the slumbering impulses of savagery came into control
again, as they were incited to further action by the Padre
Martinez and others of the original conspirators. They has¬
tened to the house of Governor Bent, who had been in Fer¬
nandez for several days. He was yet in bed, but was aroused
by his wife and warned of the imminent peril. lie quickly
realized the situation. Telling his wife it was useless to at¬
tempt fighting such a mob single-handed, he sprang to a win¬
dow which opened into an adjoining house and asked for as¬
sistance. The Mexicans there told him it was useless to hope
for aid — that he must die. At the same time he was
wounded by two arrows from Indians who had mounted the
housetops. lie withdrew into his room and the Indians be¬
gan tearing up the roof. With all the calmness of a noble
soul he stood awaiting his doom. His wife brought him his
pistols and told him to fight, to avenge himself, even if he
must die. The Indians were exposed to his aim, but he re¬
plied: "Ho; I will not kill any one of them ; for the sake
of you, my wife, and you, my children. At present, my
PUEBLO OF TAOS SOUTH PUEBLO.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
65
death is all these people wish." As the savages poured into
the room he appealed to their manhood and honor, but in
vain. They laughed at his plea. They told him they were
about to kill every American in New Mexico and would be¬
gin with him. An arrow followed the word—another, and
another—but the mode was not swift enough. One, more
impatient, sent a bullet through his heart. As he fell,
Tomas, a chief, stepped forward, snatched one of his pistols,
and shot him in the face. They took his scalp, stretched it
on a board with brass nails, and carried it through the streets
in triumph.
James W. Leal, a private in the La Clede Rangers, fared
even worse. lie was on furlough, and had been appointed
prosecuting attorney for the northern district. They seized
him at his house, stripped him naked, and marched him about
the streets, pushing arrows into his flesh, inch by inch, as they
dragged him along. They conducted him again to his house,
where they made a target of him, and amused themselves by
shooting at his eyes, his nose, and his mouth. They tore
away his bleeding scalp, and left him writhing in agony while
they went in search of other victims. Several hours after
they began their fiendish work they returned and finished it
by shooting him to death with arrows. His body was thrown
out, and the hogs had eaten part of it, when Mrs. Beaubien,
the Spanish wife of Judge Beaubien, learned of it, and had
some men bury the remains. Meanwhile the Beaubiens were
in deep affliction. There had been at their house another
member of the La Clede Rangers, Robert Cary by name, but
he had gone to Santa Fe on the day previous with Judge
Beaubien. The Indians, supposing him to be there still, went
to the house, where they were met by Narcissus Beaubien, the
judge's son, a promising youth of twenty, who had just fin¬
ished his education in the States. They murdered him, proba¬
bly mistaking him for Cary. They also murdered Pablo Ilar-
vimeah, a friendly Mexican. General Elliott Lee, of St. Louis,
was in Fernandez at the time. He fled to the house of a
friendly priest, who concealed him under some sacks of wheat.
The Indians searched for him some time before they discov¬
ered his hiding-place. They were then about to drag him
5
06
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
forth and kill him, but the priest interceded and persuaded
them to go away. They returned several times, with renewed
determination to have his life, but the padre succeeded in sav¬
ing him. The only other American who escaped from the
place was Charles Towne. His father-in-law, a Mexican,
mounted him on a swift mule, and he brought the news of
the massacre to Santa Fe.
The insurrection was now under full headway. Messengers
were sent in every direction to urge the people to rise against
the Americans. The Rio Abajo (the lower river country, as
distinguished from the Rio Arriba, or upper river country)
was especially called on for aid. On the evening of the same
day eight Americans were captured, robbed, and shot, by the
insurgents, on the road near Mora, a town of some 2000 in¬
habitants, situated about seventy-five miles east of Santa Fe,
near the road to the States. They were Romulus Culver, L. L.
"Waldo, Benjamin Praett, Louis Cabano, Mr. Noyes, and three
others in company. On the same day also two Americans
were killed on the Colorado, and shortly afterwards several
grazing camps were attacked, the guards killed, and the cattle
run off. These outrages were by Mexicans, and are not prop¬
erly within our province. I will mention, however, that Cap¬
tain Ilendley, who was stationed near Mora, attacked the
Mexicans there on January 24. He was killed and his force
repulsed. On February 1, Captain Morin, with 200 men, at¬
tacked and destroyed the town, with everything in it; but
Cortez, the Mexican leader there, escaped. Let us now return
to our Indians.
Twelve miles above Don Fernandez the road through the
Vcille ch Taos crosses the Arroyo Hondo (Deep Creek. Arroyo
means a small river, but is commonly used in the "West to
indicate any land subject to overflow, from a dry gulch to a
river bottom). At this place Simeon Turley, an American,
had established a mill and a distillery. These buildings, with
the stables and outhouses, were enclosed in a square corral.
On one side, at a distance of about twenty yards, ran the
stream ; on the other the ground was broken, and rose abrupt¬
ly, at a short distance, forming the bank of the ravine. At
the rear was a little garden, to which a small gate opened from
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
67
the corral. Turley was not apprehensive of danger, and,
indeed, had personally little cause to be. He had married a
Mexican woman. He was well known and generally liked.
He was celebrated for his generosity and humanity ; no needy
man was turned unaided from his door. He had even been
warned of the intended revolt, but had paid no attention to the
warning. On the morning of the 19th one of his employes,
named Otterbees, who had been to Santa Fe on an errand,
rode up to the mill at full speed. lie reined his panting
horse only long enough to tell them that the Indians had
risen and massacred Governor Bent and others, and then gal¬
loped on. Even then Turley did not anticipate any moles¬
tation, but there were eight white men, mostly American
trappers, at the mill, and on their solicitation the gates of the
corral were closed and preparations made for defence. In a
few hours a large crowd of Pueblos and Mexicans, armed with
guns, bows, and lances, made their appearance, and, advancing
under a white flag, demanded the surrender of the place and
the men. They told Turley that they would spare his life,
but that the other Americans must die; that they had killed
the governor and all the Americans at Fernandez, and not one
was to be left alive in Hew Mexico. It was a hard choice for
Turley. On one side was his life, his family, and his property.
On the other were the lives of eight of his countrymen. He
did not hesitate for an instant. His answer was: " I will never
surrender my house or my men. If you want them you must
take them." The enemy drew off, consulted for a few min¬
utes, scattered, and began their attack. Under cover of the
rocks and cedar bushes, which were abundant on all sides,
they surrounded the corral and kept up an incessant but in¬
effectual fire on the mill. The defenders did better. They
had blocked the windows, leaving only loopholes, and from
one of these there sped a ball with unerring aim at every
assailant who showed himself. During the day several were
killed, and parties were kept busy bearing the wounded out of
the canon. Nightfall brought no material change in the condi¬
tion of the besieged. They wasted no ammunition in the dark,
but passed the night in running bullets, cutting patches, and
completing the defenses of the place. It was the last night
on earth for all but two of them.
68
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The attacking party originally numbered about five hun¬
dred, and was constantly growing. They kept up a continual
fire during the night at the upper part of the buildings, while
a part of them effected a lodgment in the stables and out¬
buildings. One squad reached a shed which joined the main
building and attempted to secure an entrance by breaking
through the wall, but its combined strength of logs and
adobes resisted all their efforts. When morning broke, this
party still remained in the shed, which proved unavailable,
however, as a point of attack. Finding that they could not
injure the besieged from that position, they began running
across the open space to the stables beyond, and several had
done so in safety before the men in the mill noticed them.
The next who attempted to cross was a Pueblo chief. lie
dropped dead in his tracks near the centre of the open space.
An Indian at once dashed out and attempted to drag his body
in. A rifle cracked, the Indian leaped into the air, and fell
across the body of his chief, shot through the heart. A
second followed, and a third, only to meet the same fate.
Then three Indians rushed to the place together. They had
laid hold of the chief's corpse by the head and legs and lifted
it up, when three puffs of blue smoke came from the loopholes,
three rifles rang out, and three more bodies were added to the
ghastly pile. Then a great shout of rage went up from the
besiegers, and a rattling volley was poured into the mill. Until
then no one in the mill had been injured, but from this vol¬
ley two men fell mortally wounded. One was shot through
the loins and suffered great agony. lie was removed to the
still-house and placed on a pile of grain, which was the softest
bed at hand. The conflict then lulled a little.
In the middle of the day the assailants, growing more
furious at their baffled attempts, renewed the attack more
fiercely than ever. The little garrison stood to their defence
as coolly and bravely as before, and their rifles spoke death to
every Indian or Mexican who exposed himself. But their
ammunition was failing, and, what was worse, the enemy had
succeeded in firing the mill. It blazed up fiercely and threat¬
ened destruction, but the inmates succeeded in quenching the
flames. While they were thus occupied the assailants entered
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS. 09
the corral and vented their rage by spearing the hogs and
sheep, which had been gathered there for protection. As
fast as the flames were extinguished in one place they broke
out in another. The assailants were constantly increasing in
numbers. It was evident that a successful defence was hope¬
less. The besieged therefore determined to fight until night,
and then each one make his escape as best he could. Just at
dusk two of the men ran to the wicket-gate that opened into
the garden, in which were a number of armed Mexicans. They
rushed out at the same time and discharged their rifles full in
the faces of the crowd. In the confusion that ensued one of
them threw himself under the fence, and from there he saw
his companion shot down and heard his cries for mercy, min¬
gled with shrieks of pain, as the assassins pierced him with
their knives and lances. lie lay motionless under the fence
until it was quite dark, and then escaped to the mountains.
After travelling day and night, with scarcely an hour's rest, he
finally succeeded in reaching a trader's fort, half dead with
hunger and fatigue. Turley also succeeded in reaching the
mountains unseen. There he met a Mexican with whom he
had been on intimate terms for years. He was mounted.
Turley offered him his watch for the use of the horse, the
animal itself not being worth one third as much, but was re¬
fused. Still the inhuman hypocrite affected compassion for
him and promised to bring him assistance if he would remain
at a certain rendezvous. He then proceeded to the mill and
informed the Indians of Turley's whereabouts. A large party
of them hurried to the place and shot him to death. One
other man made his escape and reached Santa Fe in safety.
The others, Albert Turbush, William Hatfield, Louis Tolque,
Peter Roberts, Joseph Marshall, and William Austin, perished
at the mill. Everything about the place that the victorious
party desired they carried off, and the rest was burned. On
the morning of the 21st all that remained of Turley's mill was
a smouldering ruin —the smoking ashes of a bloody funeral
pyre.
The news of the murders at Hon Fernandez was brought
to Colonel Price on the 20th, and on the same day he inter¬
cepted some of the messengers sent by the insurgents to the
70
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Bio Aba jo, on whom were found letters which showed their
plans in full. All the Americans in Santa Fe were thrown
into a fury of excitement and
indignation when they heard
of the horrible treatment of
their universally beloved gov¬
ernor. Colonel Price reviewed
the troops, and announced to
them that he would inflict
summary punishment on the
guilty. He at once sent or¬
ders to Major Edmonson to
come up from Albuquerque
with his regiment of mount¬
ed Missouri volunteers and
garrison Santa Fe. Captain
Burgwin, who was at the same place with two companies
of dragoons, was instructed to leave one company at Santa
Fe and join Price in the field with the other. Felix St. Train,
Bent's partner, organized a company of mounted volunteer
"avengers," which was joined by merchants, clerks, teamsters,
and mountaineers, to the number of fifty. Without waiting
for the troops from Albuquerque, Price marched for Taos on
the 23d, with 353 infantry, four 12-pound howitzers, and St.
Train's company. On the next day they met the insurgents
near La Canada, about 1500 strong, seemingly anxious for a
fight, but a brief cannonade and a gallant charge put them to
flight. A detachment of them undertook to destroy the
wagon-train, but Captain St. Train's force beat them off. Our
loss was two killed and seven wounded; the insurgents left
thirty-six dead on the field. On the 28th the command
reached Luceros, and was there joined bv Captain Burgwin
with two companies, one mounted, and Lieutenant Wilson of
the 1st dragoons, with a 6-pounder, increasing the command,
rank and file, to 479 men.
The succeeding day it was learned that the enemy, 650
strong, were posted in the canon leading to the town of Em-
budo. As the road through the canon was impassable for ar¬
tillery and wagons, a detachment of 180 men, under Captain
STEKLING PRICE.
PITEBLO OF TAOS NORTII PUEBLO.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
73
Burgwin, including St. Vrain's volunteers, was sent to dis¬
lodge them. This detachment reached the enemy's position
and found them posted on both sides of the narrow gorge,
screened by forests and masses of rock. The Americans dis¬
mounted and charged up both sides of the canon, in open order,
firing rapidly. The enemy broke at once and fled towards
Embudo, with a speed which made pursuit vain. The detach¬
ment occupied Embudo that night, and rejoined the main body
at Trampas on the 31st. Their loss at Embudo was one killed
and one—Dick, the colored servant of the late governor—se¬
verely wounded ; the insurgents lost twenty killed and sixty
wounded. The march from Trampas was one of great hard¬
ship, the road being up Taos mountain and down into the
valley beyond. The troops had to wade through deep snow,
two and three feet of it at the summit, and break a road for
the wagons. They had no tents, and their blankets were car¬
ried on their backs. They bore their trials with the uncom¬
plaining patience of veterans, although many were frost-bit¬
ten, and all were jaded. The exposure of this march proved
to be as fatal as the arms of the enemy, for numbers con¬
tracted fevers which resulted in death; among these were
Lieutenants Lackland and Mansfield.
The command marched up the valley, passing through Don
Fernandez de Taos without any opposition, until, on the after¬
noon of February 3, they reached the pueblo where the enemy
were strongly fortified. The village was entirely surrounded
by adobe walls and strong pickets, the enclosure being almost
a rectangle in shape, about 250 yards long and 200 yards wide.
In the northeast and southeast corners were the two large
houses, or pueblos proper, rising like pyramids to heights of
seven and eight stories, and capable of sheltering 800 men
each. In the northwestern corner was the large adobe church,
opening to the south in a corral. Between each of these
buildings and the walls was an open passage-way. There were
also a number of small buildings within the enclosure, mostly
to the north of the small stream which enters near the south¬
west corner and passes out on the east side. The exterior
wall and those of the buildings were pierced for rifles, and
every point of the exterior wall was flanked by projecting
buildings at the angles.
74 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The little army halted before this stronghold of the ancient
time. Its inhabitants hurled their jeering defiance from their
housetops, or peered with curious eyes through their narrow
windows at the deluded foe who had expected to injure them.
They were face to face; the oldest civilization of the United
States and its newest; the one confident in its numbers and
its massy walls, the other in its engines of war, its discipline,
and its valor. There they fought their battle out, and settled
their differences forever. The artillery was unliinbered, and
played on the west side of the church for two hours and a
half, but with no perceptible effect. At the end of that time,
as the men were suffering from the cold, and the ammunition-
wagon had not come up, the Americans retired to Fernandez
for the night. Colonel Price, in the meantime, had thoroughly
reconnoitred the village, and decided on his plan of attack.
The Indians on the housetops mistook the withdrawal for a
retreat, and, with insulting gestures and epithets, told the
Americans to come on if they wanted to be killed. The invi¬
tation was accepted early on the following morning, the vil¬
lage being surrounded and work begun in earnest. Captain
Burgwin, with the dragoons and two howitzers, was stationed
on the west side, opposite the church. Captains Slack and St.
Vrain, with the mounted men, were placed on the east side,
to prevent the escape of fugitives to the mountains. The
balance of the command was on the north side, with the re¬
maining two howitzers and the 6-pounder. The batteries
opened upon the village at nine o'clock, and continued firing
till eleven. Finding it impossible to breach the walls with
the cannon, the troops charged on the north and west sides.
They gained the shelter of the church walls, and some began
their attack on the thick clay barrier, while others mounted a
rude ladder and fired the roof. The artillery meanwhile plied
the village with grape and shell. The battle was becoming
more exciting. The soldiers cut holes through the church
walls and threw in lighted shells with their hands. The In¬
dians and their allies maintained a rambling fire on them from
the church and the bastions. Captain Burgwin, with Lieu¬
tenants Mcllvaine, Royall, and Lackland, climbed over into the
corral at the front of the church, and tried to force the door.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
77
In this exposed position the gallant captain received a bullet
wound which disabled him, and from which he died on the
9th. The fatal shot is supposed to have been fired by a Del¬
aware Indian desperado, well known on the frontier as " Big
Negro," who had joined the insurgents, and afterwards made
his escape to the Cheyennes and Comanches. lie claimed to
have killed five Americans at the pueblo. The officers who
followed Burgwin found their efforts fruitless, and retired
behind the wall. At half - past three in the afternoon the
6-pounder was run up within sixty yards of the church, and in
ten rounds made a practicable breach of one of the holes cut
by the axe-men. The gun was brought within ten yards, and
three charges of grape and a shell were thrown in. Then the
storming party poured in, under cover of the dense smoke
which filled the church. They occupied it without opposi¬
tion, no Indians being seen except a few who were hurrying
out of the gallery, where an open door admitted the air. An¬
other charge was made at once on the north side, and the ene¬
my then abandoned the western part of the town altogether.
Some took refuge in the two large houses, while others tried
to escape to the mountains on the east. They might better
have tried any other place, for here were the " avengers,"
who were only desirous of an opportunity to earn their title.
Fifty-one of the fugitives fell by their hands, and only two
or three escaped. Among those killed was Jesus de Tafoya,
one of the leaders, who was wearing Governor Bent's coat and
shirt. He was shot by Captain St.Vrain. When night fell,the
troops moved quietly forward and occupied the deserted build¬
ings of the Indians. In the morning the Indians, men and
women, bearing white flags, crucifixes, and images, came to
Colonel Price, and on their knees begged for mercy. They
had lost about 150 killed, besides the wounded, out of a force of
some 650, and the colonel thought that their punishment was
almost enough. He granted their prayer, on condition that
they surrendered a number of the leading offenders, especially
their chief Tornas, who has been mentioned in connection with
Governor Bent's murder, and who had taken an active part
throughout.
The principal Mexican leaders of the insurrection were Ta-
78
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
foya, Pablo Chaves, Pablo Montoya, and Cortez, the leader at
Mora. Chaves was killed at Embudo, and Tafoya at the
pueblo. Montoya, a man of considerable influence, who styled
himself the Santa Anna of the North, was tried by court-
martial and hanged in the presence of the army, at Fernandez,
on February 7. Tomas was shot by a sentinel while trying to
escape from the guard-house at the same place. Fourteen of
the insurrectionists were indicted for the murder of Governor
Bent, and tried at Taos. They were all convicted and ex¬
ecuted. Antonio Trujillo and several others were sentenced to
be hanged on convictions of treason, but were pardoned by the
President on the ground that Mexican citizens could not com¬
mit treason against the United States while actual war existed
between the two countries. The army returned to Santa Fe,
and there, on the 13th, the bodies of Governor Bent and Prose-
cuting-attorney Leal were buried with civic, masonic, and
military honors. After a third interment, the remains of
Governor Bent now lie in the .Masonic Cemetery at the
New Mexican capital, beneath a handsome monument and
honorable epitaph.
On no other occasion have the Pueblos proven hostile to
the Americans, and in this instance the Taosans only were
guilty. Even in the insurrectionary troubles of the succeed¬
ing summer the Pueblos took no part. For what they did
they -were not really very blameworthy, except for their savage
cruelty. What feelings of patriotism they had attached them
to the Mexicans, and their Mexican leaders had persuaded
them that they could easily drive out the Americans, capture
Santa Fe, and repossess the country. Insurrection was an
every-day affair with the entire community, and assassination
was the popular method of warfare. Fiendish as their crime
was, it was little worse than was perpetrated on soldiers of
our army by Mexicans in the course of the war; and the recol¬
lection of it, even as an historical fact, has been almost blotted
out by their faithful and trustworthy conduct in the years
that followed. At the time of our concpiest the number of
the Pueblos wras between ten and eleven thousand, but they
have now declined to about nine thousand, besides having de¬
generated somewhat physically. The cause of their decadence
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
79
is probably their continuous intermarriage in the same pueblo,
the young men very rarely seeking wives from other villages.
They have been judicially recognized as citizens of the United.
States, but they have not exercised the right of suffrage, un¬
der the laws of New Mexico.* The old Spanish grants were
confirmed to them in 1858 by Congress, and on these they pur¬
sue in peace their quiet agricultural life. The only troubles
that have ruffled their quietude in late years were some slight
religious dissensions, for which they were not much to be
blamed. In 1868 a new policy was inaugurated for the con¬
trol of the Indians, and under it the various tribes were as¬
signed to the different churches for missionary work. This
was done with the best of intentions, but the military impar¬
tiality with which the allotment was made seemed to indicate
a desire to give each denomination a fair show at the heathen,
rather than to gratify any sectarian preferences of the In¬
dians themselves. In the distribution the Pueblos fell to the
Campbellites, and afterwards, on their failure to act, to the
Presbyterians. Calvinism would not hinge with even the
crude Catholicism of the Pueblos, and a period of "rum, Ro¬
manism, and rebellion" ensued. In 1872 the caciques of
fifteen pueblos protested against their established church, and
in 1874 appealed to the government. The matter was satis¬
factorily adjusted and peace has since reigned supreme.
* An attempt Las recently been made to tax them, and a delegation of
their leading men visited Washington a short time since to protest against
this privilege of citizenship.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
We will now leave New Mexico for a time and see what is
being done in Oregon. As we make this change of position
let ns examine the country and its inhabitants, in a general
way. Suppose we can rise in the air to a convenient height
and take a bird's-eye view of the entire region. We are now
over the southeastern corner of the mountain country. Directly
north from us runs the great continental divide, until it reaches
about the 41st parallel of latitude, just west of the site of the
future city of Cheyenne; there it turns to the left and trends
northwest to our boundary. The foothills, which occupy only
a narrow strip of country between the main range and the
plains as far north as parallel 41, bear gradually to the east
above that point, thus leaving a great triangular body of com¬
paratively low mountain land, east of the continental divide,
for the northeastern corner of our region. It will eventually
form Western Dakota and nearly all of Wyoming and Mon¬
tana. West of the divide the country is separated into four
great natural divisions. The farthest from us is the imme¬
diate slope of the Pacific, cut off from the great central basins
by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, which
follow the general contour of the coast-line. This division
will hereafter make California and the western parts of Ore¬
gon and Washington Territory. At about parallel 42 of north
latitude we see an immense, transverse water-shed crossing the
central mountain region from the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada.
To the north of it the country is drained by the tributaries of
the Columbia, a noble stream, which breaks its way through the
Cascade Mountains and flows to the Pacific. Idaho, with the
eastern parts of Oregon and Washington Territory, will be
carved from this section. On the south side of the transverse
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
81
water-shed lie the great Utah basin and the valleys of the
head-waters of the Rio Colorado, separated by the Wahsatch
Mountains at about longitude 1110 west of Greenwich (the
western line of Wyoming) as far south as 37-J0 of north lati¬
tude, where this water-shed turns to the west at a right angle
and continues to the Sierra Nevada. The Utah basin includes
the future state of Nevada and western Utah. The land drained
by the Colorado system will be known after some years as
Eastern Utah, Western Colorado, and Arizona. The artificial
divisions of the mountain country, as we look at it, are very
simple. All the country east of the divide is embraced in
Missouri Territory and New Mexico, which are separated by
the Arkansas River. West of the divide likewise there are
two sections, Oregon and Upper California, separated by par¬
allel 42 of north latitude.
There are few whites in the country as yet. There is a
little settlement at Pueblo, on the Arkansas, a considerable
colony of Mormons southeast of the Great Salt Lake, and a
few ranches in California. Aside from the scattered forts and
trading-posts, we see no more establishments of white men ex¬
cept in Oregon, where they are almost wholly west of the Cas¬
cade range. The natives find their tribal boundaries to a
large extent in the natural ones mentioned above. On the
neighboring plains to the east of us are the Kiowas and
Comanches. North of them, on the plains near the moun¬
tains, are the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, ranging from the
Arkansas to the Platte. To the north again, along the border
of the foothills, is the numerous Sioux or Dakota family, ex¬
tending to our northern boundary and far to the east. Parts
of the great northeastern triangle are inhabited by the Crows
and the Assinaboines,who are of the Dakota family; the Black-
feet, who, like the Cheyennes, are a branch of the great Algon¬
quin family of the East; and the confederated Minnetarees or
Ilidatsa, Ricarees (Arikaras, Rees) or Black Pawnees, and
Mandans, the latter a strange tribe, believed by many to be
descendants of Madoc's Welsh colony of the twelfth century.
The southeastern part of the triangle is a common battle¬
ground for the surrounding tribes, who, though nearly all
related, are hostile — a veritable dark and bloody ground,
6
82
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
over which the besom of destruction swept again and again
both before and after the whites entered it. On the Pacific
coast the principal families are the Chinooks and Nasqual-
las, of Oregon, and the California Indians. From the Bio
Colorado to our point of observation, the Pima nation
dwells, and the tribes of Apaches and Navahos, whose lan-
C1IINOOK WOMAN AND CHILD.
guage identifies them with the extensive Athabascan family
of British America. In the lapse of years they, as well as
the Umpquas of western Oregon, have been separated from
their northern brethren, and are also much changed in char¬
acter, our New Mexican neighbors being very demons in their
daring and fierceness, while the Tinne, or northern Athabas-
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
83
cans, are mild and timid. Nearly all the remainder of the
mountains is held by the great Shoshonee stock, which in¬
cludes many tribes. Of these the Shoshonees proper, or
Snakes, live on the Snake River, south of the Salmon Moun¬
tains ; the Bannocks (Bonacks, Panocks) south of the Snakes,
on the same stream; and the various tribes of the Utahs
(Youtas, Ewtaws, or Utes) hold the Utah basin and the head¬
waters of the Colorado. The Modocs of Southwestern Ore¬
gon are related to them, as are also the Kiowas and Co-
manches. These latter tribes have separated from their rela¬
tives ove*r the most natural roadway across the mountains,
southeast from the Dalles of the Columbia to the South
Pass. (It now forms the route of a proposed railway to con¬
nect Oregon with the Gulf of Mexico, the building of which
is only a question of time.) It is the same road that Dr.
Whitman followed with his emigrants. We will follow it
into his missionary field of Eastern Oregon, the only part of
the central region not occupied by the Shoshonees.
We find Eastern Oregon subdivided in two parts by the
Blue and the Salmon Mountains, really one range, which is
cut by the Lewis or Snake River. These mountains form the
northern limits of the Shoshonees, except that the lower Nez
Perces own the country as far south as the Powder River.
At present, however, they are across the mountains, with their
brethren, receiving " The Book " from Mr. Spalding. North
and west of these mountains is the mission field, in which
there are three principal Indian families. Nearest the Brit¬
ish possessions is the Selish (Salish, Saalis) or Flathead fami¬
ly, including the Flatheads proper (to whom belong the Spo-
kanes), the Coeur d'Alenes (Pointed Hearts or Skitsuish), the
Kalispels (Pend d'Oreilles), and some small tribes grouped
about forts Colville and Okanogan. None of these Indians
practice flattening the head, as their name would imply; that
is a custom confined to the tribes of the Lower Columbia and
the coast, and by them allowed only to the higher classes.*
* This habit has been discontinued, old settlers stating that they have not
known of a case in the last thirty years; a reform unquestionably due to
the precept and example of white mothers who settled among them. The
Nez Perces had formerly a custom of piercing the cartilage of the nose, and
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
To the south of the Selisli is the Sahaptin or Saptin family,
including the Nez Perces and the Walla-Wallas, the latter em¬
bracing the Klickitats (Tlickitacks), Des Chutes, Yakimas, and
Pelouse (Palus, Paloose). Still south, below the Columbia,
is the Wailatpu family, including the Cayuses (Kayouse, Cail-
loux, Caaguas, Skyuse*) and the Moleles (Mollallas), a proud
and insolent people, quite wealthy, especially in horses.f
We follow the emigrants' road through the Grande Ronde,
over the Blue Mountains and down Walla-Walla Creek. The
INDIAN SWEAT-HOUSE.
first white settlement we find is the mission at Wailatpu (the
Place of Wild Rye), the home of Dr. Whitman, close by the
village of the Cay use chief Tilokaikt (Crawfish that Walks
Forward). The establishment and its surroundings indicate
peace and prosperity. It covers a triangular piece of ground
of about four hundred feet to the side, in a bit of bottom-land
between Mill Creek and Walla-Walla Creek. The wooden build¬
ing at the southern apex is the mill. The rest of the buildings,
along the northern line, are in order, at the east a story and
putting a bone through the puncture until it healed. This was abandoned
so long since that many modern writers have been puzzled to know the
origin of their name.
* The word is probably Cailloux, the French for flints,
f An Indian pony is called a cayuse throughout the western country north
of parallel 42. South of that it is a bronco.
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ife!
W|
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s.*
Jtoof
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V
£fc
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-j
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s5
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THE NORTHW
ESI
I
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
87
a half house, called the mansion ; eighty yards west, the black¬
smith-shop; at the end of the.line, the doctor's house, fronting
west. This last is quite commodious. The main building is
18 x 62 feet, with adobe walls. At the south end is the libra¬
ry and bedroom ; in the middle the dining and sitting room,
18x2-1; on the north end the Indian room, 18 x 26. Joining
the house on the east is the kitchen, 18 x 26, with fireplace in
the centre and bedroom in the rear. Joining the kitchen on
the east is the schoolroom, 18 x 30. On the southeastern side
of the mission are the mill-pond and Walla-Walla Creek.
Along the north side runs the waste-water ditch from the
mill, which also serves for irrigating.
The mission has no immediate white neighbors. Twenty-
five miles wrest, at the mouth of the creek, is Fort Walla-Walla,
a Hudson's Bay Company's post (present village of Wallula).
It is a strong-looking stockade, built of driftwood taken from
the Columbia, with log bastions at the northeast and south¬
west corners, each provided with two light cannon and small
arms. Down the Columbia, at the Dalles, is the nearest of
the original Methodist missions, lately transferred to the
American Board, and others are west of the Cascade range,
especially in the Willamette or Wallamet Valley, where most
of the pioneer settlers have established themselves. On the
north side of the Columbia, just above the mouth of the Wal¬
lamet, is Fort Vancouver, headquarters of the Hudson's Bay
Company, a substantial stockade enclosing two acres of land,
with hewn-timber houses, well armed and manned. One hun¬
dred and twenty miles northeast of Wailatpu, where Lapwai
Creek debouches into the Kooskoosky or Clear-water River,
Mr. Spalding and wife are laboring successfully with the Hez
Perces. Away to the north, near the Spokane River, sixty-
five miles south of Fort Colville, is Cimiakin (Chemakane,
Ishimikane), another mission of the American Board, where
Messrs. Walker and Eells, with their helpers, are making last¬
ing conversions.
In order to understand the real condition of affairs which
exists under the seeming peaceful exterior of the country, we
must go back a little. Whitman's missionary party had been
kindly received by the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company,
88
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and, having been put on their guard as to its designs, they re¬
mained on friendly terms for some years. But a time came at
length when they were forced to go in opposition to it, or
throw away all patriotism, and they took the former course,
as we have seen. The company realized that its control of
the fur trade, and of the country in general, depended on
England's retaining its sovereignty. It desired England to
retain control, simply because it would make more money in
that event. To maintain the immense profits which they
reaped from the trade, its managers used every means, fair
and foul. They gave the Indians rum, because it was a prof¬
itable commodity. They countenanced and maintained In¬
dian slavery, because it gave control over the natives. They
strenuously opposed agriculture, even by British missionaries,
because agriculture spoiled good hunting-grounds, and, if
learned by the Indians, would give them an easier mode of
support than hunting. They paid the Indians very little for
furs, and allowed no one to pay more than their established
"tariff." They sold the Indians guns and ammunition, be¬
cause it made their hunting more successful. When it be¬
came evident that the Americans were forcing the settlement
of the country, the company fought every step of their prog¬
ress, and yet reaped the advantages of civilization as well as
savagery. At first it owned nearly all the cattle in the coun¬
try, and would let the settlers have them only on terms that
they and all their increase should belong to the company, sub¬
ject to its recall at any time ; and, if they died, to be paid for
by the borrower. In order to obtain cattle of their own, the
Methodist missionaries, with Mr. Ewing Young (one of the
party brought into Oregon by Ilall J. Kelly), organized the
Wallamet Cattle Company, and brought in stock from Cali¬
fornia. As soon as they got their cattle in, the Hudson's Bay
Company organized the Puget Sound Agricultural Company,
which was maintained out of the fund established by the cor¬
poration for the purpose of fighting hostile interests, and
began selling cattle lower than the other company could.
In 1842 the American settlers, with great difficulty, succeeded
in getting a mill started at the falls of the Wallamet. The
company at once put up an opposition saw and grist mill at
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
89
the same place. Some parties settled at those falls, and forth¬
with Dr. McLaughlin, chief factor of the company, claimed
the land as his, warned the trespassers off, and laid off the
town site of Oregon City.
Dr. McLaughlin, however, had too much conscience for
the company. He had, indeed, carried out their instructions
up to this point, but they desired him to go further. They
insisted that he must no longer furnish supplies on credit to
needy American settlers, and he, after explaining to them
that he could not, in common humanity, obey them, told the
directors : " If such is your order, gentlemen, I will serve you
no longer." He served them no longer, and his place was
filled by James Douglass (afterwards Sir James), who was
more complaisant. About the same time McKinley, their
factor at Fort Walla-Walla, who was a little friendly with the
Americans, was removed, and his place filled by one McBean,
who proved thoroughly reliable, from a company standpoint.
By misrepresentations American immigrants were prevented
from bringing their wagons farther than Fort Hall, until Dr.
Whitman broke their blockade in 1843, and after that Cap¬
tain Grant, the factor at that place, and others, used all their
powers of persuasion to turn the immigration into California.
Among those, it is claimed, whom they succeeded in turning
into those then unknown deserts was the Donner party,
whose frightful sufferings and enforced cannibalism have
since furnished a theme of horror to many writers. At the
same time Sir George Simpson, at Washington, and other
emissaries elsewhere, were representing to our government
the desert nature of the country and slandering our settlers.
In short, they tried to do in Oregon what they had done in
British America, where, by an English authority, they "hold
a monopoly in commerce and exercise a despotism in govern¬
ment; and have so used that monopoly and wielded that
power as to shut up the earth from the knowledge of man,
and man from the knowledge of God." From these facts it
is only a fair inference that the Jesuit priests, who came into
Oregon in 1838, were brought there by the Hudson's Bay
Company to counteract the effect of the Protestant missions.
Certain it is that the Jesuits came under their convoy, and,
90
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
from first to last, received such sympathy and assistance as no
Protestant missionary, British or American, ever received at
their hands.
The motives of the Jesuits need not be questioned. Fa¬
ther De Smet probably states them truly in a letter written
to their Belgian friends for further assistance. lie says:
" Time passes; already the sectaries of various shades are pre¬
paring to penetrate more deeply into the desert, and will
wrest from those degraded and unhappy tribes their last hope
—that of knowing and practising the sole and true faith."
Aside from this apprehension of heresy, there was no need of
their concentrating on Oregon. If they were merely solicitous
for the eternal welfare of Indians, there were thousands of
them elsewhere to whom no missionary had yet spoken. The
fact cannot be evaded that they made their war on Protes¬
tantism, not heathenism. The results of their labors might
reasonably have been anticipated. In a short time the simple
natives were involved in the same sectarian controversy that
had deluged all Europe in blood. The priests told the In¬
dians that if they followed the teachings of the Protestants
they would go to hell. The Protestants extended the same
cheering information in regard to Catholicism. The priests
used, in teaching, a colored design of a tree surmounted by a
cross, and called " the Catholic tree." It showed the Protes¬
tants continually going out on the limbs and falling from
their ends into fires, which were fed with Protestant books
by the priests, while the Catholics were safely climbing the
trunk to the emblem of salvation above. Mr. Spalding was
equal to the emergency. He had his wife paint a series of
Bible pictures in water-colors, the last and crowning one of
which showed the "broad way that leadeth to destruction,"
crowded with priests, who were tumbling into hell at the ter¬
minus, while the Protestants ascended the narrow path to
glory. The Indians became divided among themselves, and
bitter controversies became common. The priests gained
steadily. Churches, nunneries, and schools sprang up at
French Prairie, Oregon City, Vancouver, the Dalles, Umatilla,
Pend d'Oreille, Colville, and Ste. Marie. They had potent
allies in the French - Canadian interpreters and other em-
CHEMAKANE MISSION. (FROM THE PAINTING EY STANLEY.)
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
93
ployes of the company. When the Indians appealed to these
to know which was the true religion, they were informed that
the priests had the genuine article. So it went on until the
Indians were in a lit state of mind for the crime which fol¬
lowed. They became restless and turbulent. Some of the
Protestant missionaries left the country. Even the indomita¬
ble Dr. Whitman called his Cayuses together several times,
and told them he would leave whenever a majority of them
said he should, but the majority remained with him.
In the summer of 1847 the newly-appointed Jesuit Bishop
of Oregon, F. N. Blanchet, returned with a reinforcement of
thirteen clergymen, of different ranks, and seven nuns ; eight
priests and two nuns also arrived overland the same season.
The bishop proceeded up the river, and on September 5
reached Fort Walla-Walla, accompanied by the superior of
Oblates and two other clergymen. On September 23 he was
met there by Dr. Whitman, who, according to Father Brouil-
let, showed that he was agitated and wounded by the bishops'
arrival. He said : "I know very well for what purpose you
have come." The bishop replied: "All is known. I come
to labor for the conversion of the Indians, and even of the
Americans, if they are willing to listen to me." The bishop
and his party remained at the fort enjoying the hospitality of
the company. On October 26, Ta-wai-tau (Young Chief), a
Catholic Cayuse chief, arrived and held a conference with the
bishop. On November 4 a general council was held, at which
Tilokaikt, who owned the land on which Whitman's mission
stood, was present. The Protestants say the Indians were
given to understand that the priests would like to have Whit¬
man's place; the Jesuits say it was offered to them and they
refused to take it. On November 27 the bishop and party
left for the Umatilla, a few miles below, to occupy a house
offered them by Young Chief at his and Five Crows' village,
which was twenty-five miles southwest of Wailatpu.
Two days have passed. It is half-past one o'clock of
Monday, November 29. Nothing appears to mar the usual
quiet which prevails at the Wailatpu mission. The only
sounds distinguishable are the rumbling of the mill, where
Mr. Marsh is grinding, and the tapping of a hammer in
94
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
one of the rooms of the doctor's house, where Mr. Ilall is lay¬
ing a floor. There is, too, the low.hum of the school, which
Mr. Sanders has just called for the afternoon. Between the
buildings, near the ditch, Kimball, Hoffman, and Canfield are
dressing an ox. Gillan, the tailor, is on his bench in the man¬
sion. Mr. Rogers is in the garden. In the blacksmith's
shop, where Canfield's family lives, young Amos Sales is ly¬
ing sick. Crockett Bewley, another young man, is sick at
the doctor's house. The Sager boys, orphans of some unfor¬
tunate emigrants, who with their younger sisters had been
adopted by the doctor, are scattered about the place. John,
who is just recovering from the measles, is in the kitchen,
Francis in the school-room, and Edward outside. In the
dining-room are Dr. Whitman, Mrs. Whitman, three of the
little Sager girls—all sick—Mrs. Osborne, and her sick child.
As the doctor reads from the Bible several Indians open the
door from the kitchen and ask him to come out. He goes,
Bible in hand, closes the door after him, sits down, and Tilo-
kaikt begins talking to him. As they converse, Tamsaky
(Tumsuckee) steps carelessly behind the doctor, and the other
Indians gather about, seeming much interested. Suddenly
Tamsaky draws a pipe-tomahawk from beneath his blanket,
and strikes the doctor on the head. His head sinks on his
breast, and another blow, quickly following, stretches him
senseless on the floor. John Sager jumps up and draws a
pistol. The Indians in front of him crowd back in terror
to the door, crying, " He will shoot us," but those behind
seize him and throw him to the floor. At the same time
knives, tomahawks, pistols, and short Hudson's Bay Company
muskets flash from beneath their blankets, and John is shot
and gashed until he is senseless. His throat is cut, and a
woollen tippet is stuffed in the wound. With demoniac yells
the Indians rush outside to join in the work there. The
sounds of the deadly struggle are heard in the dining-room.
Mrs. Whitman starts up and wrings her hands in agony, cry¬
ing, " Oh, the Indians, the Indians! That Joe [meaning Joe
Lewis] has done it all." Mrs. Osborne runs into the Indian
room with her child, and they, with Mr. Osborne, are soon
secreted under the floor. Mrs. Hall comes screaming into
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
95
the dining-room, from the mansion. With her help, Mrs.
Whitman draws the doctor into that room, places his head 011
a pillow, and tries to revive him. In vain ! he is unconscious,
and past all help. To every loving word and sympathetic
question he faintly whispers, " No."
Outside is a scene of wild confusion. At the agreed sig¬
nal all the members of the mission had been attacked. Gil-
lan was shot on his bench; Marsh was shot at the mill; he
ran a few yards towards the house and fell. Sanders had
hurried to the door of the schoolroom, where he was seized
by a crowd of Indians, thrown to the ground, shot, and
wounded with tomahawks. Being a powerful man, he threw
oil his assailants, regained his feet, and tried to run away, but
was overtaken and cut down. Hall snatched a loaded gun
from an Indian and escaped to the bushes. The men work¬
ing at the ox received a volley from pistols and guns, which
wounded them all, but not mortally. Kimball fled to the
doctor's house, with a broken arm. Canfield escaped to the
mansion, where he hid until night. Hoffman lunged desper¬
ately among the Indians with his butcher-knife, but was soon
cut down ; his body was ripped open and his vitals torn out.
Rogers was shot in the arm, and wounded 011 the head with
a tomahawk, but managed to get into the doctor's house.
Several women and children have fled in the same direction.
To this place, the Indians, who have been running to and fro,
howling wildly as they pursued their prey, now assemble, led
by Joe Lewis and Nicholas Finlay, French half-breeds, Tam-
saky and his son Waiecat, Tilokaikt and his sons Edward and
Clark. Joe Lewis enters the schoolroom and brings into the
kitchen the children, who had hid in the loft. Among them
is Francis Sager, who, as he passes his brother John, kneels
and takes the bloody tippet from his throat. John attempts
to speak, but in the effort only gasps and dies. The trem¬
bling children remain huddled together, surrounded by the
savages, who point their guns at them and constantly cry,
" Shall we shoot ?" On the other side of the house an In¬
dian approaches the window, and shoots Mrs. Whitman in the
breast. She falls, but creeps to the sofa, and her voice rises
in prayer for her adopted children and her aged father and
90 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mother. The fugitives up-stairs hear her and help her up to
them. There are now gathered in that upper chamber Mrs.
Hays, Mrs. Whitman, Miss Bewley, Catharine Sager and her
three sick sisters, three half-breed girls, also sick, Mr. Kimball,
and Mr. Rogers. Hardly have they closed and fastened the
doors, when the war-whoop sounds below; the Indians break
in the lower doors and windows and begin plundering, while
Tilokaikt goes to the doctor, who still breathes, and chops his
face to shreds with his tomahawk.
The people up-stairs have found an old gun, and the In¬
dians, as they start to go up, find it pointed in their faces.
They retire in great alarm. A parley is held, and Tamsaky
goes up. He assures the fugitives that he is sorry for what
has been done, and advises them to come down, as the young
men are about to burn the house. lie promises them safety.
They do not know of his part in the tragedy, and follow him.
As they enter the dining-room Mrs. Whitman catches sight
of the doctor's mangled face. She becomes faint, and is
placed on the sofa. They pass on through the kitchen, Mrs.
Whitman being carried on the sofa by Joe Lewis and Mr.
Rogers. As they reach the outside Lewis drops his end of
the sofa and the Indians fire their guns. Mr. Rogers throws
up his hands, cries, " Oh, my God, save me!" and falls groan¬
ing to the earth. Mrs. Whitman receives two balls and ex¬
pires. The Indians spring forward, strike her in the face,
and roll her body into the mud. They heighten the terror
of the wretched survivors by their terrible yelling, and the
brandishing of their weapons. Miss Bewley runs away, but
is overtaken and led over to the mansion. Mr. Kimball and
the Sager girls run back through the house and regain the
chamber, where they remain all night. Darkness has now
come on, and the Indians, having finished their plundering,
and perpetrated their customary indignities on the dead, re¬
tire to Finlay's and Tilokaikt's lodges to consult on their
future action. The first and great day of blood is ended.
It may easily be imagined that the night was one of gloom
and horror to the unfortunate captives, and yet it afforded
security to some of those who were in peril. Under its
friendly cover Mr. Canfield escaped and made some progress
OLD FORT WALLA-WALLA. (FROM THE PAINTING BY STANLEY.)
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES. 99
towards Lapwai, which he eventually reached in safety. Mr.
Osborne, with his family, stole forth from their place of con¬
cealment under the doctor's house, and reached Fort Walla-
Walla on the following day. Mr. Hall reached the same
place early in the morning, nearly naked, wounded, and ex¬
hausted. He was put across the river by McBean, the factor,
and was never heard of afterwards. It is probable that in¬
formation of the massacre was sent that night to the other
Cay use villages, Camaspelo's and the one on the Umatilla.
The other chiefs were consulted before the affair occurred,
and Five Crows (called by the whites Hezekiah, which
Brouillet mistakes for Achekaia) was then head chief of the
tribe. On the next day Mr. Ivimball was shot as he went
from his concealment in the chamber for water for himself
and the sick children. The young Indian who shot him af¬
terwards claimed his eldest daughter for a wife, as a recom¬
pense for this murder. On the same day they killed Mr.
Young, a young man who had come up from the saw-mill,
twenty miles away. In the evening Vicar-general Brouillet
arrived. On Wednesday Brouillet and Joseph Stanfield
buried the victims. This Stanfield was a French Catholic
who had been employed at the mission, and was without
doubt deeply implicated in the massacre, though he escaped
conviction. Later in the day, Brouillet, having made a sym¬
pathetic call on the widows and orphans, returned to the
Umatilla. On the way he met Mr. Spalding and notified
him of the massacre. Spalding struck off into the woods and
reached Lapwai, after six days of terrible exposure and suf¬
fering, without shoes, blanket, or horse. On Saturday night,
and repeatedly afterwards, the three oldest of the girls
were dragged out and outraged. On the Monday follow¬
ing, young Bewley and Sales were murdered. On Thursday
Miss Bewley was taken to the Umatilla and turned over to
the tender mercies of Five Crows. At the same time the
other two of the older girls were taken as wives by the sons
of Tilokaikt (called Edward and Clark Tilokaikt by the
whites), in pursuance of an agreement which had been made
at the Umatilla. One of these young braves, whose Indian
name was Shumahiccie (Painted Shirt), became very much
7
100
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
attached to his enforced bride, a beautiful girl of fourteen,
and wanted her to remain with him when the other captives
were surrendered. lie said he was a great brave and owned
many cattle and horses; he would give them all to her, or, if
she did not like his people, he would forsake them and live
with the pale faces. But he pleaded in a hopeless cause.
His hands were stained with the blood of her elder brother,
and she had lived with him until that time only because he
had threatened to kill her younger sisters if she did not.
The news of the massacre reached the settlements west of
the mountains on December 7, by a messenger of the Hudson's
Bay Company. Mr. Ogden, of the company, at once started
for Fort Walla-Walla, and on December 23, by his efforts, an
arrangement was effected for the surrender of all the cap¬
tives, in exchange for a considerable amount of goods, includ¬
ing guns and ammunition. On December 29 the captives at
Wailatpu, forty-six in number, arrived at the fort. On Janu¬
ary 1, Mr. Spalding and wife, with the other whites from
Lapwai, came in. The FTez Perces offered to protect them
and the mission, if they would remain, but affairs were so un¬
settled, and Mr. and Mrs. Spalding were in such anxiety for
their daughter, that they decided to leave. All of these,
together with the five fugitives already at the fort, started
down the river on January 2, and arrived in safety below.
On December 8, Governor Abernethy had convened the
provisional legislature at Oregon City and prepared at once for
a levy of troops. A company of forty-two men was organized,
and started within twenty-four hours, and Captain Lee with ten
of the men reached the Dalles on the 21st. This being the last
settlement on the river, below the missions, and the families
having gone below, the volunteers remained for a time to pro¬
tect the houses. When the captives were brought down the
river there was no further call for their immediate presence
above, so they remained there until the last of the reinforce¬
ments, under Colonel Gilliam, arrived, on February 23. Cap¬
tain Lee was then sent on a scouting expedition among the
Des Chutes, who were the nearest hostiles. He found them
on the 2Sth, and a skirmish ensued in which half a dozen
Indians were killed, with no loss to the whites. The main
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
101
body, 160 men, then moved towards Wailatpn. On the
30th they were attacked by an equal number of Indians,
who were driven back with a loss of twenty men, forty
horses, and a large amount of goods. A few days later an
attempt was made, under pretence of treating for peace, to
entrap them on the prairie between Mud Spring and Uma¬
tilla, by about 500 Indians, under Nicholas Finlay, the Wai-
latpu murderer, but the troops formed a hollow square and
continued their march, very little damage being done on either
side. They reached Wailatpn, established Fort Waters at that
point, and held a talk with the friendly Indians who came in,
mostly Nez Perces, including Catnaspelo, of the Cayuses.
Their words were ail to the effect that they were not impli¬
cated in the massacre and would not protect the m.urderers.
One of the speeches was by Joseph, chief of the lower Nez
Perces and half-brother to Five Crows. We shall have occa¬
sion to speak of him hereafter. lie said: "Now I show my
heart. When I left my home I took the Book (a Testament
given him by Mr. Spalding) in my hand and brought it with
me; it is my light. I heard the Americans were coming to
kill me. Still I held my Book before me and came on. I
have heard the words of your chief. I speak for all the Cay¬
uses present and all my people. I do not wish my children
engaged in this war, although my brother (Five Crows) is
wounded. You speak of the murderers; I shall not meddle
with them ; I bow my head; this much I speak."
As the troops advanced into their country, part of the hos¬
tile Cayuses retired into the neighboring mountains; the re¬
mainder fell back on the country of the Nez Perces. The
troops, after several skirmishes, succeeded in driving them
across the divide, and capturing their horses and cattle to the
number of 500 or more, but the Indians escaped. Small gar¬
risons were kept at Fort Waters and the Dalles until Sep¬
tember, 1848, and the tribes of the murderers, not daring to
return to their old homes, were forced to pursue a wandering
life among the mountains. In the spring of 1850 they pur¬
chased peace by surrendering five of the leading offenders,
including Tilokaikt and Tamsaky, all of whom were tried,
convicted, and, on June 3 of the same year, hung at Oregon
102
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
City. They all embraced the Catholic faith, and were baptized
by Bishop Blanchet a few hours before their death.
The buildings at Wailatpu were all burned by the Indians,
and to-day their places are marked by mounds of earth, into
which the adobe walls sank as the elements wore upon them,
except that on the site of the doctor's house a residence was
afterwards erected by an old friend and co-laborer of his.
A few rods away, on a hillside, is the common grave of the
victims. The visitor who runs over to the site of the mission,
from the little town of Walla-Walla, finds still, as living remem¬
brancers of those Christian pioneers, two or three weather-
beaten apple-trees and a rank growth of scarlet poppies, which
have run wild from the old garden.
During the massacre at Wailatpu and the succeeding
troubles, no employe of the Hudson's Bay Company, no rela¬
tive of such employes, no Catholic, and no one who professed
friendship for Catholicism, was in any way injured. A heated
dispute arose afterwards as to the relation of the company and
the Jesuits to the murderers. Preliminary to a view of this
question, it may be remarked that very little instigation would
have been necessary to induce the Indians to act as they did.
Sickness, from ills which were new to the Indians, was very
prevalent and unusually fatal. Mr. Spalding says: "It was
most distressing to go into a lodge of some ten fires and count
twenty or twenty-five, some in the midst of measles, others in
the last stage of dysentery, in the midst of every kind of filth,
of itself sufficient to cause sickness, with no suitable means to
alleviate their inconceivable sufferings, with, perhaps, one well
person to look after the wants of two sick ones. They were
dying every day, one, two, and sometimes five in a day, with
dysentery, which very generally followed the measles. Every¬
where the sick and dying were pointed to Jesus, and the
well were urged to prepare for death." Although sickness
was equally prevalent among the Americans—" Suapies " or
" Bostons," as the Indians called them—the Indians professed
to believe that they were being poisoned, and, in view of their
peculiar superstitions, it is probably true that they did. Dr.
Whitman was treating many of them, and his treatment was
generally,made useless by their failure to follow his directions.
MEDICINE-MAN DESTROYING GIRL BY NECROMANCY. (FROM A SKETCH BY CAPTAIN EASTMAN.)
THE MURDER OE THE MISSIONARIES.
105
The idea prevails with many Indian tribes that the recovery
or death of a patient depends on the good or bad will of the
doctor, and it is not unusual, therefore, for Indians to murder
unsuccessful practitioners, as, for instance, Tamouehe, an old
war-chief of the Utes, is remembered by early settlers of New
Mexico to have killed two medicine-men, " under whose able
treatment," respectively, his first and second wives had died.
Among the Oregon Indians this was a common practice, and,
as this point has been controverted and left unsettled by pre¬
vious writers, the following testimony is cited in confirmation
of the statement. In 1843, Mr. Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay
Company, related the following event as occurring at a meet¬
ing for worship at the Dalles: "There was in the outskirts
of the congregation an Indian woman who had been for many
years a doctress in the tribe, and who had just expended all
her skill upon a patient, the only son of a man whose wigwam
was not far distant, and for whose recovery she had become
responsible by consenting to become his physician. All her
efforts to remove the disease were unavailing; the father was
doomed to see his son expire. Believing that the doctress had
the power of preserving life or inflicting death according to
her will, and that instead of curing she had killed his boy, he
resolved upon the most summary revenge. Leaving his dead
son in the lodge, he broke into the congregation with a large
butcher-knife in his hand, and, rushing upon the now terrified
doctress, seized her by the hair, and with one blow across her
throat laid her dead at his feet."
Major Alvord, who had enjoyed the fullest opportunities
for investigation, reported thus to the government in 1853:
" A universal belief prevails among all the tribes (of Oregon)
that the medicine-man possesses wonderful faculties of con¬
juration, and a god-like power of killing those against whom
he shall hurl his direful charms or glances. Ilis mere look, if
inimical to the victim, can kill. They will hide or avert their
heads in his presence to escape his glances. Such is the fixed
faith of these poor Indians, and I have had occasion to wit¬
ness frequent instances among the Waskows, in my immediate
vicinity. If once possessed with the idea that they are sub¬
jected to the dire frown of their medicine-man, they droop
10G
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and pine away, often refuse to eat, and die of starvation and
melancholy, if not of necromancy—thus confirming and veri¬
fying, with their neighbors, a belief that this portentous power
is actually possessed. The natural consequences of such deep-
rooted faith in these powers is that when a death occurs it is
often attributed to the doctor, who is murdered by the rela¬
tions of the deceased to avenge the fate of the victim. All
the murders which I can hear of among them occur in this
manner, and three doctors have been killed, in the last four
months, in different tribes, within the distance of forty miles
of this post (the Dalles). . . . The doctors are often killed
for the mere failure to cure a patient, though it is always
attended with a belief, on the part of the bloody avengers, in
his having exercised a malign or necromantic power. In a
recent case, a doctor of the Wishrams, when the smallpox
was raging, was foolish enough to threaten openly what havoc
he would spread among them, making use of the pestilence to
magnify his office; and, to surround his person with greater
elements of power, boasting that he held the fearful quiver in
his own hands, ready to hurl the arrows of death in any direc¬
tion. The people rose in a body and hung him in the most
barbarous mode. Tying his hands and feet, they put a rope
around his neck, threw it over the pommel of a saddle, and,
starting the horse, his life was taken in this shocking manner.
. . . It will be asked if these murders of the doctors are sanc¬
tioned among the Indians. The answer must be that the
punishments inflicted are very inadequate and inefficient. A
council of the head men is called by the chief, and he decides
that a certain number of horses and blankets will be turned
over by the murderers to the family or the relations of the
deceased. It is remarkable that the murderer never attempts
to run away, and, indeed, generally comes forward and con¬
fesses his crime. . . . Strenuous exertions have been made by
the missionaries, and the commanding officer of this post
(Alvord himself), to induce the chief to cause punishment for
murder to be made by hanging. As yet no such punishment
has been inflicted. On the contrary, the effect of our advice
has, it would seem, fallen thus far upon one of the doctors,
instead of being used for their protection. ... 1 am informed
THE MUEDEE OF THE MISSIONAEIES.
107
that but two murders in twelve years have occurred among
the Nez Perces, but they were doctors."
In 1857, Special Agent Browne reported of the Indians on
the Grande Itonde reservation (between the Willamette and
the coast) as follows: " They are unable to account for it, why
they should die off more rapidly here, than at their old homes,
and whenever death occurs they attribute it to ' bad medicine,'
or an evil influence put upon them by the government or its
agents. Their own medicine-men are called upon to counter¬
act this bad influence, and if the patient dies it is considered
that the operator is in league with other bad spirits, and they
kill him. Sometimes they put to death the medicine-men of
other tribes. This gives rise to frequent and bloody quarrels,
in which many are wounded or killed. It is almost impossi¬
ble for the agent to preserve order among them. They tell
him he has nothing to do with their customs, and insist upon
it that he shall take no part in their quarrels."
In 1881, Mr. Bash, an English settler in Oregon, relates the
following as occurring on the Siletz reservation (on the Ore¬
gon coast) and coming to his notice : " Some mistiness on the
moral law yet remains. For instance, a murder was com¬
mitted by three of them a month or two ago. It took place
on the northern and remote part of the reserve, far away from
the agency itself. Here lived one who, being a quack doctor,
claimed the character of a mighty medicine-man, having power
to prescribe for both the bodies and souls of his patients. To
him resorted many of his neighbors, whose faith in his charms
and spells was boundless. lie undertook the cure of the wife
of one Charlie, and the poor thing endured his remedies pa¬
tiently. But the woman grew worse and worse. Charlie and
his friends debated the case, and at last concluded that if the
medicine-tnan could not cure the woman, according to his con-
y O
tract, and that she died, it would prove to them that the doc¬
tor was a humbug, and deserved to die the death. The catas¬
trophe arrived, for the woman died. A council was held and
due inquiry made. The decision was fatal to the doctor, and
Charlie and two friends undertook to secure that no one else
should be misled and defrauded by the quack. Proceeding to
his house, away up north by Salmon Biver, near the sea-coast,
108
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the three fell on the medicine-man with clubs, and, despite
threats, prayers, and entreaties, they beat him to death."
This instance, for which, by the way, the Indians were arrested
and punished, is the more satisfactory evidence of the custom
from the very evident fact that the writer wdio recorded it did
not know such a custom to exist. Some further instances
will be found in subsequent chapters.
With such superstitions, and in the midst of general sick¬
ness, it was constantly reported among the Indians that Whit¬
man was poisoning them to get their land for the Bostons. It
is conceded that Joseph Lewis, Nicholas Finlay, and others
were circulating, confirming, and magnifying these reports.
The question still remains whether the employes of the Hud¬
son's Bay Company and the Jesuits were doing the same thing.
This is the definitive point in controversy, and it bids fair to
take rank with other noted questions of sectarian persecution.
It has been formally investigated and reported on by the Con¬
gregational Association of Oregon, the Old School Presbytery,
the Cumberland Presbytery, the U. P. Presbytery, the Meth¬
odist Conference of Oregon, and other denominational bodies.
They agree in holding the Hudson's Bay Company and the
Jesuits to some extent responsible. Newspaper articles,
pamphlets, and volumes have been written on this subject,
which is far too extensive for full consideration in the space we
can give it. As to the Hudson's Bay Company, it can only be
added here, to what has already been said, that the messenger
who carried the news of the massacre down the river gave the
Indians at the Dalles a magnified report of the outbreak, and,
under the instructions of McBean, the factor at Walla-Walla,
gave the whites no intimation of it; on the contrary, he told
them that four French employes of the company had died,
and that he was going below to get others to take their places.
Also, on August 21, 18J8, during the operations against the
Cayuses and other hostiles, by the provisional government,
the troops seized at Wascopum 1080 pounds of powder, 1900
pounds of balls, 300 pounds of buckshot, and three cases of
guns, consigned by the Hudson's Bay Company to the Jesuits,
and at the same time the friendly Indians there sent away their
women and children, and hid in the mountains, giving as their
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
109
reason for so doing that the Cayuses had told them the French
priests were going to furnish them plenty of ammunition, and
they were going to kill all the Bostons and friendly Indians.
As to the Jesuits, the evidence is partly circumstantial and
partly statements by the Indians. The consideration of the
former would consume an undue amount of space; the latter
is objected to by Father Brouillet. He says: "If, in most
parts of the States of the Union, the testimony of Indians is
never admitted as proof against the whites in any court of
justice, it would be here inconsistent to make it the base of
public opinion." It is sufficient for present purposes to say
that the Protestants have made a case on which most un¬
prejudiced persons would respond "guilty," though some
might add " but not proven." While passing this question, it
may safely be affirmed, however, that the proven action of the
Jesuit priests at the time was certainly not prompted by any
motives of humanity. In proof of this I will quote but two
witnesses. The first is Father Brouillet himself. lie says:
"I left [Umatilla] on Tuesday the 30th of November, late in
the afternoon, for Tilokaikt's camp, where I arrived between
seven and eight o'clock in the evening. It is impossible to
conceive my surprise and consternation, when, upon my ar¬
rival, I learned that the Indians the day before had massacred
the doctor and his wife, with the greater part of the Ameri¬
cans at the mission. I passed the night [in Tilokaikt's camp]
without scarcely closing my eyes. Early the next morning I
baptized three sick children [Indians], two of whom died soon
after, and then hastened to the scene of death, to offer to the
widows and orphans all the assistance in my power. I found
five or six women and over thirty children in a situation de¬
plorable beyond description. Some had just lost their hus¬
bands, and others their fathers, whom they had seen massacred
before their eyes, and were expecting every moment to share
the same fate. The sight of those persons caused me to shed
tears, which, however, I was obliged to conceal, for I was the
greater part of the day in the presence of the murderers, and
closely watched by them, and, if I had shown too marked an
interest on behalf of the sufferers, it would only have endan¬
gered their lives and mine. . . . [He then goes to assist in bury-
110
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ing the victims.] I assure you, sir, that during the time I was
occupied in burying the victims of this disaster I was far from
feeling safe, being obliged to go here and there gathering up
the dead bodies, in the midst of assassins, whose hands were
still stained with blood, and who, by their manners, their
countenances, and the arms which they still carried, suffi¬
ciently announced that their thirst for blood was yet unsati-
ated. Assuming as composed a manner as possible, I cast
more than one glance aside and behind at the knives, pistols,
and guns, in order to assure myself whether there were not
some of them directed towards me. Having buried the dead,
I hastened to prepare for my return to my mission, in order
to acquaint Mr. Spalding of the danger which threatened him ;
because on Monday evening [the 29th], when he supped with
us, he said that it was his intention to return to Dr. Whit¬
man's on the following Wednesday or Thursday; and I wished
to meet him in time to give him a chance to escape. . . . [He
then pays another visit to the captives and starts for the Uma¬
tilla, followed by his interpreter and one of Tilokaikt's sons.
On the way Tilokaikt's son "fortunately" empties his pistol
and forgets to reload it. About three miles out they meet
Mr. Spalding, who at once begins talking.] While Mr. Spald¬
ing was asking me those different questions, I had spoken to
my interpreter, telling him to entreat the Indian, in my name,
not to kill Mr. Spalding; which I begged of him as a special
favor, and hoped that he would not refuse it to me. I was
waiting for his answer, and did not wish to relate the disaster
to Mr. Spalding before getting it, for fear he might, by his
manner, discover to the Indian what I had told him; for the
least motion like flight would have cost him his life, and prob¬
ably exposed mine also. [To the empty pistol? The Indian
goes back to the village. Spalding is informed of the massa¬
cre and takes to the woods. Shortly afterwards a party of
Cayuses come up in pursuit. Brouillet returns to the Uma¬
tilla mission and all the priests remain there till the 19th, not
daring to leave Young Chief's camp for fear of the Indians.]
On the 11th of December we had the affliction to hear that
one of the captives had been carried off from the doctor's
house by the orders of Five Crows and brought to him, and
FORT VANCOUVER IN 1850. (FROM THE PAINTING BY SOIION.)
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
113
we learned that two others had been violated at the doctor's
house."
From this it appears that this very cautious man was re¬
strained from doing anything in behalf of the captives solely
by personal timidity; that, although so frightened, he remained
in the Indian village over-night and about the mission in the
morning, doing what under the circumstances was of no bene¬
fit to any one, when he might have left the savages he so feared
at any time; that during nearly twenty-four hours after he
learned of the massacre he sent no word of warning to any
one, although he might have gone himself or sent his inter¬
preter—a peculiarly significant fact, in connection with his
constant fear for the safety of Mr. Spalding, whom he had
left at the Umatilla, and who was expected at Wailatpu at any
moment; that before giving Spalding any warning he begged
the Indian with the " fortunately " unloaded weapon not to
kill him, and the Indian at once went for assistance. Let us
now look at a companion to this picture of cowardice, hypoc¬
risy, or want of sense, as you may choose to call it. I quote
from the deposition of Miss Lorinda Bewley.
" Q. When did the priest [Brouillet] arrive [at Wailatpu] ?
"A. Wednesday, while the bodies were being prepared
for the grave. The bodies were collected into the house on
Tuesday evening.
" Q. Did the Indians bury a vial or bottle of the doctor's
medicine ?
" A. They said they did. Joe Stanfield made the box to
bury it in, and the Indians said they buried it.
" Q. Why did they bury it ?
" A. They said the priests said it was poison. Stanfield and
Nicholas were their interpreters to us.
" Q. How did they obtain this vial ?
" A. The Indians said the priests found it among the doc¬
tor's medicines, and showed it to them, and told them that if
it broke it would poison the whole nation.
*******
" Q. Where did you spend your time when at the Uma¬
tilla?
" A. Most of the time at the house of the bishop; but the
114:
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Five Crows, most of the nights, compelled me to go to his
* lodge and be subject to him during the night. I obtained the
privilege of going to the bishop's house before violation on
the Umatilla, and begged and cried to the bishop for protec¬
tion either at his house or to be sent to Walla-Walla. I told
him I would do any work by night and day for him if he
would protect me. lie said he would do all he could. Al¬
though I was taken to the lodge, I escaped violation the first
four nights. There were the bishop, three priests, and two
Frenchmen at the bishop's house. The first night the Five
Crows came, I refused to go, and he went away, apparently
mad, and the bishop told me I had better go, as he might do
us all an injury, and the bishop sent an Indian with me. lie
took me to the Five Crows' lodge. The Five Crows showed
me the door and told me I might go back, and take my clothes,
which I did. Three nights after this the Five Crows came
for me again. The bishop finally ordered me to go; my an¬
swer was, ' I had rather die.' After this, he still insisted on
my going, as the best thing 1 could do. I was then in the
bishop's room ; the three priests were there. I found I could
get no help, and had to go, as he told me, out of his room.
The Five Crows seized me by the arm and jerked me away
to his lodge.
" Q. IIow long were you at the Umatilla?
"A. Two weeks, and from Friday till Monday. I would
return early in the morning to the bishop's house, and be vio¬
lently taken away at night. The bishop provided kindly for
me while at his house. On my return one morning, one of
the young priests asked me, in a good deal of glee, how I liked
my companion. I felt that this would break my heart, and
cried much during the day. . . . When the tall priest [Brouil-
let], that was at the doctor's at the first, was going to Walla-
Walla, after hearing of Mr. Ogden's arrival, he called me out of
the door and told me if I went to the lodge any more I must
not come back to his house. I asked him what I should do.
He said I must insist or beg of the Indian to let me stop at
his house; if he would not let me, then I must stay at his
lodge. I did not feel well, and towards night I took advantage
of this and went to bed, determined I would die there before
THE MUKDER OF THE MISSIONARIES. 115
I would be taken away. The Indian came, and, on my refus¬
ing to go, hauled me from my bed and threw my bonnet and
shawl at me, and told me to go. I would not, and at a time
when his eyes were off I threw them under the table and he
could not find them. I sat down, determined not to go, and
he pushed me nearly into the fire. The Frenchmen were in
the room, and the bishop and priests were passing back and
forth to their rooms. When the Indian was smoking, I went
to bed again, and when he was through smoking he dragged
me from my bed with more violence than the first time. I
told the Frenchman to go into the bishop's room and ask him
what I should do; he came out and told me that the bishop
said it was best for me to go. I told him the tall priest said,
if I went, I must not come back again to this house; he said,
the priests dared not keep women about their house, but if
the Five Crows sent me back again, why come. I still would
not go. The Indian then pulled me away violently without
bonnet or shawl. Next morning I came back and was in
much anguish, and cried much. The bishop asked me if I
was in much trouble. I told him I was. He said it was not
my fault, that I could not help myself; that I must pray to
God and Mary. He asked me if I did not believe in God ; I
told him I did."
This deposition was taken December 12, 1818, and Miss
Bewley's statements are neither denied nor explained in
Brouillet's defence, which was published more than four years
afterwards, although he was fully aware of the story she had
told of her wrongs. lie refers to it only in the extract quoted
above, but his excuse for all other actions is fear. The Prot¬
estants say, the action in regard to Miss Bewley was part of
an attempt to implicate Five Crows, the head chief, and force
him to join the hostiles. Let us accept fear, then, as the true
cause, it being more favorable to the Jesuits, and what a de¬
fence it is ! Think of it! Six white men—four of them priests
of the God of the widow and the orphan—to stand by thus
and see a defenceless girl so treated by her brutal ravisher;
to counsel and command her to submit, even after the savage
had desisted ; to say to her: " How did you like your com¬
panion ?" " If you go to the lodge any more you must not
8
116
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
return here." "Are you in much trouble?" What a con¬
trast is this with the noble pioneers of their order, who carried
the cross through the Mississippi valley! What a contrast
with the New Mexican padre of our last chapter, who saved
an American soldier under surroundings of far greater danger
to himself than these! What a contrast with hundreds of
heroic deeds by the Christian fathers, all through the history
of the frontier! And how deplorable that, in the minds of
many, a foul blot has thus been put on the fair fame of an
entire Church!
And what was the sequel of all this? The Indians, as we
have seen, were made wanderers, until five of the most blame¬
worthy expiated the crime of all. The Jesuits succeeded to
the missions of the Northwest. Mr. Spalding, indeed, returned,
some time afterwards, to the Nez Perces, on their invitation,
but he was not sustained by the American Board, and, through
various influences, abandoned the field in despair. He is re¬
membered by their old people with the kindliest regard, even
to this day. The Hudson's Bay Company, in the course of
the adjustment of damages under the treaty, filed its claims
for itself and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, against
the United States, for £1,025,350, of which £200,000 was for
the right of trade in Oregon; £300,000 for the right of free
navigation of the Columbia River; and the remainder for
losses, improvements, and 160,000 acres of land which they
claimed to have pre-empted ! They were allowed $650,000, or
about thirteen per cent, of their claim, at the final adjustment
in 186J, and that is quite as much as they were entitled to.
Considering their action in Oregon, some have said they
should have had nothing; but why not? Their action only
adds another chapter to the history of frontier troubles for
which England was responsible, and which Americans have
patiently endured. On the bank of the Ohio River, eight
miles below old Fort Henry (now the city of Wheeling) was
erected, many years ago, a little monument with this inscrip¬
tion: "This humble stone is erected to the memory of Cap¬
tain Foreman and twenty-seven of his men, who were slain
by a band of ruthless savages—the allies of a civilized nation
of Europe—on the 25th of September, 1777." There are
THE MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
117
hundreds of graves, all through our territory, over which
similar legends might most appropriately be written.*
* A movement lias been inaugurated in Oregon for erecting a monu¬
ment to tlie memory of Dr. Whitman. Mr. W. H. Gray, of Olney, Cor¬
responding Secretary of the Pioneer and Historical Society of Oregon, lias
been designated as the custodian of subscriptions. The Presbyterian Church,
as is generally known, re-established its missions some years later, and, with
other Protestant denominations, is now working successfully in this region.
CHAPTER Y.
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
Two months had passed after the tragedy at Wailatpu,
and the volunteers were still at the Dalles, when an event
occurred that revolutionized the Pacific coast, changed the
course of affairs throughout the United States, and visibly
affected the entire world. It was the discovery of gold in
California, or rather the discovery that it existed in quantity.
The Spaniards had long known that there was gold in the
country,and Mr. Dana, with Wilkes's exploring expedition, had
picked up auriferous rock in Oregon and on the Sacramento,
but no one thought it to be in paying quantity, and no atten¬
tion was paid to it. The Mormons claim to have worked the
placers before Marshall made his discovery, but their story is
either untrue, or so adulterated with untruth as to deserve no
credence, besides being contrary to other evidence. The ac¬
count of their discovery, as published in September, 1851, by
George M. Evans, the professed discoverer, is, in substance, as
follows: "During the month of October or November, 1845,
in a house or groggery on Pacific Street, San Francisco (as it
is now called), a Mexican, who was called ' Salvador,' was shot
because he had a bag of gold dust, described as about one
thousand to two thousand dollars, and would not tell where
he got it. At last, when dying, he pointed in the direction
of San Jose Mountains, and said,' Lejos, lejos' (' beyond, be¬
yond'). [Evans then relates how, in consequence of this
event, he looked casually for gold at a sand point of a small
island opposite the entrance to Stockton, then called Lindsley's
Lake, and found some particles. This was in 1846, and the
gold found was sent with other specimens to Peale's Museum.
Also, in August, 1847, Evans, with Major Reading and T. W.
Perkins, found gold in more abundance,in the mountains be-
THE CUKSE OF GOLD.
119
tween San Diego and the Gila River, but were driven away
by hostile Indians.] When the Mormon battalion was dis¬
banded in 1847, a number of the Mormons came to San
Francisco, and among them was one Henderson Cox and one
Beardsley, who boarded in the same house with me. They
having worked in the Georgia mines, told me, in conversation
on the subject, that they were about prospecting for a road
(since called the Mormon Pass) for the Mormons to return to
Salt Lake, and in so doing would prospect the streams in
their route (this was in the end of August or first of Septem¬
ber, 1847). I then described the death of Salvador, and where
I found the gold, and gave them a chart of the country from
memory. In the following January I returned to San Fran¬
cisco from the journey above referred to, when I received an
invitation to go to Mormon Island, so named afterwards by
Henderson Cox. On the 19th of January, 1848,1 went there,
and with the bounty they gave me and what I worked out
myself I had $19,000 on the 8th of February, 1848. On the
9th of February, I, with Henderson Cox, Beardsley, Beers,
two shepherds, and a number more were in the lower end of
the mill-race, when Marshall, the overseer, and his little girl
came in, and the child picked up a pretty stone, as she called
it, and showed it to her father, who pronounced it gold. He
was so excited about it that he saddled his horse and that day
rode to Sutter's Fort to tell Captain Sutter—but he did not
believe it worth notice, and for a while the idea died away.
The Mormons wishing to keep their discoveries a secret from
people not Mormons, worked out the gold and said nothing
more. On the 1st of April, 1848, the first mail from San
Francisco to Salt Lake was started, and a number of the Cal¬
ifornia Star was printed purposely for that mail containing
a special article, written by Dr. Fourgend and myself, concern¬
ing the minerals and metals of California, and among other
mentioned metals was gold—but as the printer and publish¬
ers were [not] Mormons, the full facts were not stated. It
was not until the 12th of May, 1848, that the existence of
gold in quantity in California was publicly made known in
San Francisco by Samuel Brannan, High Bishop of the Mor¬
mons, and of Vigilance Committee notoriety. Beardsley and
120
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
JOIIN A. SUTTER.
Henderson Cox were killed at the foot of the Sierra Nevada
in September, 1848. Marshall died either four days before
he arrived home in the Eastern States with a barrel of gold,
or four days from the coast." It would hardly be anticipated
that any person could be found so silly as to believe this story
of earning a thousand dollars a day at Mormon Island on
February 8th, and, on February 9th, being in the mill-race at
Sutter's saw-mill, twenty-five miles away, working for wages,
except he had first educated his faith by swallowing the reve-
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
121
lations of the angel Moroni and other Mormon supernaturals.
Yet some have believed it, and a clond has been thrown on
the just claims of Mr. Marshall, the discoverer.
The story of Marshall's discovery in the race at Sutter's
saw-mill has been told too often to need repetition. Sutter
and Marshall agreed to keep the matter quiet until the grist¬
mill near Sutter's Fort was finished, but soon after the dis¬
covery Sutter sent down to Colonel Mason, military governor
of California, at Monterey, and desired to preempt the land on
which the saw-mill and the race were situated, near the fut¬
ure town of Coloma. He was informed that the country was
held by conquest, and that there were no laws for pre-emp¬
tion, but that there was no probability that he would be dis¬
turbed in possession. The messengers who brought his letter
also brought some of the newly-discovered metal with them,
to ask if it was gold. Lieutenant Sherman, now familiarly
known as "Old Tecumseh," who was acting as adjutant-gen¬
eral for Mason, bit the metal, and gave his opinion that it
was. They went back, and it was soon known among the
Mormon hands that there was gold in the river. They want¬
ed to dig for it at the saw-mill, but Marshall threatened to
shoot them if they attempted it, so they prospected down the
river and discovered the rich placer known as Mormon Island.
They informed their fellow Mormons at Sutter's grist-mill,
nineteen miles below, and they struck for higher wages.
Sutter conceded their price, and they struck again, and so on
till they wanted ten dollars a day. Then he stopped, and the
mills were left to decay, while the Mormons went to work at
the island, where they made from forty to one hundred dol¬
lars per day. Their accumulations soon began to circulate as
far as San Francisco. Brannan & Co., the principal merchants
at Sutter's Fort, reported to Governor Mason that they had
taken twenty-six thousand dollars' worth of gold, between
May 1st and July 10th, in exchange for goods. At that time
" High Bishop Brannan " had nothing to say about Mormon
discoveries previous to January 28tli. On June 1st, Mr. T.
O. Larkin, of San Francisco, wrote the Secretary of State : " It
is now two or three weeks since the men employed in these
washings have appeared in this town with gold, to exchange
122
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
for merchandise and provisions. I presume near twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000) of this gold has, as yet, been so
exchanged." The excitement grew intense. Ilalf of the
houses in San Francisco were locked up. Merchants and pro¬
fessional men went with the mechanics and laborers. Sol¬
diers deserted their posts, and sailors their ships. One ship-
captain, seeing his men were bound to go, went with them,
furnished the tools, and took a percentage. Travellers arrived
on the coast, jocosely wrote home that the Californians had
gone stark mad, and the next day were hurrying to the mines
themselves. The news reached the East, and the adventurous
and far-seeing began to come. The reports, startling at the
first, grew constantly in magnitude, and were soon fully con¬
firmed by a long despatch from Governor Mason, which was
made a special message to Congress by the President. The
messenger brought with him two hundred and thirty ounces
of the gold. Doubt was removed, and the emigration over¬
land and by sea became a great flood.
The event was looked at in strangely different ways.
Some thought it a good thing; others very bad. The ques¬
tion of the effect of the extraordinary increase of gold in cir¬
culation was gravely canvassed by thoughtful men. Some
thought it would alter the relative worth of gold and silver
and unsettle all values; others said there were channels al¬
ready opened into which it would naturally flow, without
affecting the existing circulation. Even the local effect was
variously speculated upon. Benton, the gifted and erudite,
the friend and champion of the West, said in the Senate:
" I am a friend to a gold currency, but not to gold mining.
That is a pursuit which the experience of nations shows to
be both impoverishing and demoralizing to a nation. I re¬
gret that we have these mines in California; but they are
there, and I am for getting rid of them as soon as possible.
Make the working as free as possible. ... If you want reve¬
nue, raise it from the permits—a small sum for each—and
upon the coinage. In that way it would be practicable to raise
as much as ought to be raised. But revenue is no object com¬
pared to the great object of clearing the ground of this at¬
traction, which puts an end to all regular industry, and com-
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
125
pared to the object of putting the gold into circulation. I
care not who digs it up. I want it dug up. I want the
fever to be over. I want the mining finished. Let all work
that will. Let them ravage the earth—extirpate and extermi¬
nate the mines. Then the sober industry will begin which
enriches and ennobles a nation." Mr. Benton said this be¬
cause he had just demonstrated to the Senate that placers were
transient things. lie neglected to include this speech in his
"Abridgment of the Debates," or to refer to it in his "Thir¬
ty Years' View."
But this is not a history of the gold discoveries of Cali¬
fornia, and we must leave the subject, enticing though it be.
What effect did this discovery have on the Indians? It was
fraught with greater evil for them than any other one event
in the history of America, except the discovery of America
itself. Gold is a magnet that draws with irresistible force.
Ho power has yet been found able to counteract its attrac¬
tion. Cold, hunger, and every imaginable peril will not keep
men from seeking it. Ho government has been able to hold
its subjects from the spot where it could be found. The
Hnited States has repeatedly found itself helpless, and early
adopted the policy, when gold was found on Indian reser¬
vations, of treating for the lands as quickly as possible, and
moving the Indians away. As General Carleton put it, " The
miners will go to their country, and the question which comes
up is, shall the miners be protected and the country be de¬
veloped, or shall the Indians be suffered to kill them and the
nation be deprived of its immense wealth?" Through every
nook and corner of the mountains the intrepid prospector
has pursued his search, hiding from the Indians if he could,
fighting if he must; dying, perhaps, but never giving up
the search till he did die. When his search was successful,
a new mining excitement broke out, a new district was pop¬
ulated, new roads were opened, and the Indians fell back.
Indians seldom trouble a mining camp. They attack the
stage, the emigrant-wagon, and the supply-train, and thus in¬
directly harass the miners; but the camp itself is not inter¬
fered with. Miners are usually "bad medicine" for Indians.
In "make-up" the early California population, as to its
126
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
effect on the Indians, may be divided into three classes, and
it is a fair type of all new mining regions of the West.
First, there was a large number of mountain men, i.e., trap¬
pers and restless spirits who had adopted wild life from
choice. Many of them had lived with Indians, imbibed In¬
dian superstitions, and adopted Indian customs. With them
the killing of a hostile Indian, or one who from his tribal
connection ought to be hostile, was an honor. They would
PIUTE SQUAW AND PAPOOSE.
steal the horses of unfriendly Indians, carry off their women,
and scalp their dead without the least qualms of conscience.
And why not ? Their adopted brethren, the Indians, did the
same things themselves. Second, there was a still larger per¬
centage of desperadoes — villainous wretches whose sole re¬
deeming feature was their bravery, and some lacking even
that—to whom robbery was a business and murder a virtue.
Does the reader think the statement a strong one? He may
read the proof of it in the proceedings of a thousand vig-
THE CURSE OF GOLD. 127
ilance committees, and if justice had been done he might
have read it in .ten thousand more. These men have made
life a hell for the timid in every frontier settlement in the
West. White men they oppressed as far as they dared, and
Indians they treated as they found convenient. The very
best of them committed crimes which were legally punish¬
able with death, perpetrated indignities on persons they dis¬
liked, terrorized whole communities, and obtained a halo of
romantic glory simply because people dared not talk about
them. The third class, and it included the majority of the
people, were men of decent character and sentiment, but
they had little sympathy for the Indians in general. It was
but a short time since the great removal of the tribes to the
Indian territory, and the sentiment against the red man was
still strong in the Mississippi Valley. Many had seen instances
of the frightful cruelty of the Indians, and many had been
attacked on their overland journey when they had given no
cause for it. Besides, they had absolutely no time to consid¬
er abstract questions of right and wrong. If white men be¬
came too troublesome they favored lynching, and if Indians
were troublesome they favored the speediest and most effect¬
ual way of stopping them. To know who was to blame
was of minor importance ; the point was that the communi¬
ty could not and would not be kept from the pursuit of
wealth by anybody. It was on the same principle that a
great railroad magnate once set fire to a wrecked freight
train. He destroyed much valuable property, but he cleared
the track. lie had to take one of two evils, and so did they.
Men of the first and second classes wronged the Indians; the
Indians retaliated, usually on the innocent, because they were
more convenient and less dangerous; the entire community
was involved, and frequently innocent Indians suffered. Such
is the oft-repeated history of the mining regions of the
West.
There was less of this in California than in other mining
localities. The reason was that a part of the Indians submit¬
ted to the indignities put upon them, and the rest got out of
the way. A few resisted and were killed. The reader of
California story sometimes wonders that he does not find any
123
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
record of the events of Indian wars. The reason is that there
were none in the gold fields. There was one exception. In
extreme northern California, above and on both sides of
Yreka, there were Indians who would and did fight, but the
troubles with them are properly a part of the Oregon wars,
and will be considered in a subsequent chapter. South of
these, throughout the State, was the great body of California
Indians. In these there was no fight, and the so-called wars
with them were pure farces. They were degraded and brutal
sensualists. There were probably never a dozen warriors
among them who would not rather have eaten a substantial
meal than killed an enemy. They had no arms but bows
and arrows, which were not dangerous at over fifty yards.
They were divided into numerous small tribes, of dissimilar
languages, and with no faculty for union. They were most
arrant cowards. Even in their battles among themselves they
displayed no bravery. They usually began war by challenge;
heralds then met and arranged the time and place of the
conflict; the armies advanced against each other, jumping
about, with shouts and gestures, to distract the aim of the
foe. Frequently, by agreement, armistices occurred, during
which children from the opposing armies ran to the ranks of
the other side and picked up arrows for use again. The bat¬
tle generally terminated with the first blood drawn. They
seldom scalped the dead, but occasionally ate pieces of their
flesh, or cut off the head, hands, or feet for trophies. Their
prisoners were exchanged or killed, they being almost the
only Western Indians who did not practise slavery. With all
his childish timidity, the California warrior could meet death
with stoical fortitude, if it were inevitable, and he had one
habit which was always aggravating, and often as dangerous
to the white man as open war. lie would steal—steal any¬
thing, at any time, and under almost any circumstances.
It has often been a subject for jest that the people of
the frontier punished horse-stealing more severely than mur¬
der, but the people of settled countries do not realize that
horse-stealing may mean death, and a cruel, lingering death
at that. The emigrant who lost his stock on the plains was
hopelessly stranded. If no one came along to help him, he
THE CUKSE OF GOLD.
129
and his family were almost certainly doomed to die. If other
emigrants did find him, he still, usually, lost his wagon and
goods, for those prairie ships could add but little to their
cargoes. Other losses might be equally serious. Provisions
ran short on that long overland trip, and on the latter part of
it, through what is now Nevada, money, often, would not buy
food from other emigrants. There are men yet living who
managed to get through that last stretch, only because they
were Masons or Odd Fellows, and were given aid as Brethren
after money had been refused. Even in the mines, stealing
provisions was a grievous injury. At times any kind of meat
cost one dollar per pound, and flour, sugar, coffee, and other
supplies the same. Occasionally they got as low as twenty-
five cents the pound, but not often. Theft might almost be
equivalent to murder there. Indeed, Indian theft was fre¬
quently accompanied by murder, when the latter could be
accomplished by stealth, or was thought necessary. It is not
at all surprising that California miners had no love for In¬
dians. It was a very natural thing.
The first trouble with Indians in California began on Mor¬
mon Island. A miner took some liberties with the squaw of
an Indian chief; the chief objected, and was promptly killed.
There were a few hostilities. A few whites were killed and
some Indians. It was represented that troops were necessaiy,
and a militia regiment was organized under " Col. William
Rogers." He took what supplies he wanted from Ringgold
merchants and others, and began his campaign. Ilis com¬
mand had no engagements with the Indians, but succeeded in
"protecting the settlers," and piling up an immense bill of
expenses which the State paid. By the winter of 1850-51
a remarkable misunderstanding of the situation had been
brought about by men who were charged with scheming to
bring on a war, and many citizens of California believed
there was serious danger on the frontier. A local author
stated that " thousands of miners were hemmed within nar¬
row and unproductive limits during the whole of last winter
(1850-51), because of the peril of explorations beyond popu¬
lous settlements." On March 1, 1851, Governor McDougal
wrote the President: " The valley of Los Angeles, of the
130
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
San Joaquin, of the tributaries of the Sacramento, and the
country around the main sources of that river, and the north¬
ern coast, contain an Indian force estimated at not less than
one hundred thousand warriors, all animated by a spirit of
bitter hostility, and whom a pacific and forbearing policy en¬
courages into renewed acts of outrage. Rendered bold by
impunity and encouraged by success, they are now every¬
where rising in arms, and every day brings the report of
THE YOSEMITE. [BY HILL.]
some new outbreak." Unfortunately for the success of his
appeal for authority to call out the militia, for service as
United States troops, the governor neglected to tell what the
outbreaks referred to were.
His estimate of "one hundred thousand warriors" is the
most preposterous statement made in connection with Cali¬
fornia Indian wars that has come to my notice. Superin¬
tendent Beale comes next with his anticipations of trouble,
THE CUESE OF GOLD.
131
in 1853, in changing the hereditary mode of life of " one
hundred thousand persons." In 1856 Superintendent Hen¬
ley succeeded in getting the number of California Indians
down to 61,600. He professed to give a statement by reser¬
vations and counties, and in proof of his accuracy it is note¬
worthy that he dealt only in round numbers. Every number
he gives, even of the residents at the reservations, ends in at
least two ciphers. In reality the number of Indians, men,
women, and children, in California, at any time after the dis¬
covery of gold, did not exceed 20,000. Hon Antonio de Al-
cedo, the best Spanish authority, based his estimate on the
returns of the Spanish missionaries in 1802, and stated the
mission Indians at 14,931, the mustees and mulattoes at 1300,
and the wild Indians at 16,000, making a total of 32,231.
Mr. Schoolcraft adopted these figures in his census of 1850,
but he neglected to take into consideration the ravages of
small-pox in the year 1839, and their general rapid decline
during the past decade. Forbes, in his "History of Upper
and Lower California" (London, 1839), estimated the convert¬
ed Indians at 18,683, and others 4342. Duflot de Mofras,
an attache of the French legation in Mexico, estimated the
mission Indians in 1834 at 30,620, but he made his estimate
in 1842, when he visited California. This was after the mis¬
sions had been taken away from the priests, and the mission
Indians reduced to 4450, and Mofras's sympathies were proba¬
bly excited by exaggerated stories. He is not a very reliable
statistician in other matters. lie estimated the population of
the Antilles at 3,500,000, for instance. As a fair offset to
Mofras, we have Captain Wilkes, U. S. TL, who travelled
through California in 1841. lie says, "The number of In¬
dians is variously stated at from twelve to fifteen thousand;
but it is believed by some of the best informed, that their
number, since the small-pox made its ravages among them, is
not much more than one-half of this number, or eight or nine
thousand. The principal part of these are the tribes on the
Sacramento." lie estimated the entire population of Alta
California, whites, Indians, and mixed, to be about 15,000.
The war department, in its estimate of 1848, put the number
of wild Indians at 3000, and made the total for California,
9
132
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
10,930, but in this estimate the mission of La Purissima
Concepcion is omitted, apparently by mistake. Under the
priests, it was said to have 1000 Indians. With this correc¬
tion the war department's aggregate harmonizes reasonably
with Alcedo's estimate, for it is agreed by all testimony that
the number of Indians decreased very rapidly during the
latter part of the Mexican occupation (1822-47), especially in
the country about San Francisco, which was almost wholly
depopulated. Said a decrepit Indian of Dolores to agent
Johnston, in 1849, "I am very old; my people were once
around me as the sands of the shore—many—many. They
have all passed away—they have died like the grass—they
have gone to the mountains. I do not complain—the ante¬
lope falls by the arrow. I had a son—I loved him—when
the pale-faces came he went away—1 know not where he is.
I am a Christian Indian—I am all that is left of my people—
I am alone." By the census of 1.860, in which, by mistake,
the officials returned all the Indians in the State, instead of
those subject to taxation, the number of California Indians
was 17,798. In 1870 the census return was 7241, and the
latest returns of the Indian Bureau at that date fixed the re¬
maining Indians at 12,414; but it is quite probable that these
two sums would give an over-estimate of the whole number,
as some Indians were probably counted in both. By the cen¬
sus of 1880, the taxed Indians of California were returned at
16,277, but by the statistics of the Indian Bureau, for the
same year, the total of the Indians for that State was only
10,666, of whom 4648 were on reservations and 6018 not
under agents. In 18S4 the Indian Bureau returned 11,317
Indians in California, of whom 6759 were not under agents,
and 4738 were on reservations. The character of the Indians
was as much misrepresented by Governor McDougal as their
number. The valley tribes, it is true, always represented the
mountain tribes to be extremely fierce and warlike. They
were so only in comparison with the valley tribes. They
made some forays, ran off some cattle, and now and then
killed a settler, but their most violent crimes were really
crimes of stealth. Their murders were the murders of the
Thug, not of the bravo. There were then in California, at
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
133
the time Governor McDougal wrote, 3000 to 4000 " warriors,"
mission and wild, poorly armed, disunited, and of little or
no spirit.
The national government did not furnish any more troops
for California, but did send its quota of arms for 100,000
militia. Militia regiments had been raised and were about
to take the field, when the general government altered its
plans. Three commissioners were appointed to treat with the
California tribes, and the militia were ordered to be held sub¬
ject to their orders. The treaties they made were simply
agreements for the Indians to go on reservations. The In¬
dian titles were never extinguished in California as they were
in the other States. Most of the tribes made the agreement
gladly, but some of the mountain tribes feared to come in, on
account of anticipated punishment, or because they preferred
their mountain lairs, and these were treated as hostiles.
Catching these Indians and bringing them in constituted the
" war of '51 and '52." The Mariposa battalion did this work
in the country bordering the San Joaquin Yalley. Captain
Kuykendall's company brought in the Chowchillas, a tribe of
the Kaweah family, who had been among the most active hos¬
tiles. Their chief, Jose Rey, had openly declared for war,
and the tribe had committed several outrages. Before the
organization of the militia a party of volunteers had marched
against them, surprised their camp, killed twenty-three of them
and mortally wounded Jose Rey, after which the Chowchillas
had wisely kept out of the way of the whites. Captain Kuy-
kendall succeeded in surprising their camp again, and killing
a number of them, his loss being one man wounded by an ar¬
row. After that the Chowchillas kept hid until they were
nearly starved, and then came in and accepted the terms of
the commissioners.
Captain Boling's company brought in the Yosemites (Yo-
semitys, Oosainites), the dreaded " Grizzly Bears," the terrible
tribe that made their home in the wonderful canon valley
that perpetuates their name, the warriors whom the lowland
tribes warned the whites especially to shun. Dr. Bunnell, a
member of the company, has given a minutely detailed ac¬
count of their work, and the sole hostility offered by these
134 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
YOSEMITE FROM THE MARIPOSA TRAIL.
dangerous Indians, during several weeks that the company
passed in searching the valley and neighboring country in
parties of two and three, consisted in rolling down some
rocks at two soldiers, by which one of them was knocked
down a declivity and badly bruised. At no time did they
offer to use a weapon, but kept their village concealed near
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
135
the border of Lake Tenieya until they were finally discovered
and captured. At their capture there was not an offer of
resistance, the miserable wretches throwing up their hands
and crying "pace! pace!" (peace! peace!). The war in and
around the Sacramento Yalley was of substantially the same
character. Said Commissioner McKee, whose opportunities
for knowing were unsurpassed," The late war in that section
was, I am told, a greater piece of tomfoolery and humbug
than even the former on the Fresno and the San Joaquin.
The State has been involved for some eighty or one hundred
thousand dollars more without the slightest necessity, or
accomplishing the least good." The stores of the Indians
(caches of acorns) were destroyed whenever found, and the
Indians were obliged to come in or starve. The militia were
disgusted. Says Dr. Bunnell, " We had discussed the matter
in camp, and contrasted the lack of spirit exhibited by these
people with what we knew of the warlike character of the
Indians of Texas and of the North-western plains. In these
comparisons, respect for our captives was lost in contempt.
'The noble red man' was not here represented. The only
ones of the Pacific slope, excepting the Navahos, Pimas, and
Maricopahs, that bear any comparison with the Eastern tribes
for intelligence and bravery, are the Youmahs of the Colo¬
rado River, the Modocs, and some of the Rogue and Colum¬
bia river tribes, but none of these really equal the Sioux and
some other Eastern tribes."
When these fierce savages were all subdued, an improved
reservation system was put in force by the government, in
1853. There were five reservations. Klamath reservation,
on the river of that name, was occupied by the extreme
northern tribes,not the ones of whom we have been treating;
it cost about sixteen thousand dollars a year, was fairly well
managed, and quite successful. The largest of the reserva¬
tions of our Californians was Nome Lackee, west of the Sac¬
ramento, in the foot-hills of Tehama County. It had no
game, no acorns, no fishery, and no rain, and hence, being use¬
ful for nothing else, was eminently fitted for a reservation.
Adjunct to Nome Lackee was Nome Cult, a pretty valley of
about 20,000 acres, about sixty miles south-west of the for-
136
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mor, and across the Coast Range. The Indians did very well
at this place, till the agent and employes got their relatives,
friends, and partners to come in and settle there. Before
long that place became too good for Indians, as we shall see
presently. Mendocino reservation, below the cape of that
name, on the Noyo River, was an excellent place. There were
BEACH FISHING AT CAPE MENDOCINO.
fish and mussels enough there for all the Indians located
there, if it had not been that some white friends of the agen¬
cy started a saw-mill and filled the river with logs, so that a
fish could not get through. Tejon reservation, near the base
of the Sierra Nevada, where it joins the Coast Range, in
Southern California, was a nice, dry place, where the In¬
dians were never bothered by rain or crops. There were also
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
137
farms at Tule River and Mattole Valley, and finally, as public
land was very scarce in California, the United States rented
the farms of Mr. Vinsonlialler and Mr. Campbell, which were
called respectively Fresno reservation and King's River farm.
Farming was supposed to be begun on a broad and liberal
scale at these places, which were fitted up, on paper, regard¬
less of cost. Tejon absorbed about $30,000 per year; Fresno
the same; Nome Lackee nearly $50,000; Nome Cult about
$10,000; and Mendocino $48,000. About $50,000 more
went annually for the other reserves and general purposes,
and by November, 1858, the sum of $1,173,000 had been in¬
vested in the California reservations.
The management of these reservations was under one of
the ablest Indian rings ever known in America. Not a reli¬
able report went in to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for
five years, but thfeir work was so well done that they received
compliments for their able accounts of their labors. The
total number of Indians was scandalously exaggerated, as we
have seen, and the number at the reservations in like manner.
So far as can be learned, not more than 2000 Indians were
subsisted at the reservations at any time, and they drew prin¬
cipally on the oak-trees, the manzanita bushes, and the clover
fields for their rations. The great majority of the Indians
were quietly earning their living as vaqueros and farm¬
hands, or picking it up in the mountains, as they had before
the government began civilizing them. Fabulous numbers
of acres were reported to be under cultivation, and magnifi¬
cent crops were always just about to be harvested when
blight or mildew or smut or drought intervened and ruined
o o
them. A small army of employes was on hand to instruct
the Indians and defend the agency in case of outbreak, and
the agent or employe who failed to get a claim of his own,
and have it fenced and improved by Indian labor, was a man
of no enterprise.
In 1858, in consequence of repeated charges and protesta¬
tions by army officers and citizens, special agent Bailey was
sent out to investigate affairs in California. He did not seem
to grasp the whole truth, but he was not in the ring, and he
told the truth as he saw it. He showed that the salaries
138
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
alone of the employes amounted to $81,889.48, besides sub¬
sistence for themselves and families, which would bring the
amount to over $100,000; that there was no such number of
Indians on the reservations as reported ; that the value of the
crops was much less than a quarter of the salaries of the em¬
ployes ; that the only contented Indians were off the reserva¬
tions ; that friends and relatives of the agent and employes
had been allowed to settle in the Nome Cult and create dis¬
turbance there; and that the Indians were neither being
taught anything nor civilized in any respect. The Commis¬
sioner of Indian affairs reported that the California reserva¬
tions were a failure. lie gave among other reasons of the
failure, the statement that the Indians had not been "suffi¬
ciently thrown on their own resources." It is difficult to see
how they could have been thrown on their own resources
more fully, unless the acorn, berry, and grass crops could have
been destroyed. After a year or such a matter a change was
made. A new superintendent was appointed ; the appropria¬
tion was cut down to $50,000 a year; and Tejon, Fresno,
King's Valley, Nome Lackee, and Mattole, with all their im¬
provements, were abandoned in the course of a few years.
There was more "Indian war" in California in 1858, and
several years succeeding. At Nome Cult over one hundred
and fifty Indians were cruelly murdered by the whites, who
had been allowed to settle on the reservation. No charge of
aggression, except cattle-stealing, was given as an excuse, and
this proved, on investigation, to be false. The real cause was
that the Indians drove away from the reservation the cattle
of the settlers, which had been roaming the reservation and
consuming the acorns, on which the Indians depended mainly
for subsistence. Armed parties went to the rancherias in the
open day and shot down the wretched "Diggers," without
regard to age or sex. Then they called on the State govern¬
ment for aid,, and, organized as militia, roamed the country
round, killing every Indian they could find. At King's River
the settlers drove the Indians away because the government
did not support them, and they were an annoyance to the
community. The Indians fled to Fresno, where there was not
food sufficient for those already there. Then these kind-
HOW THE DIGGERS FOUGHT.
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
141
hearted people of King's River hauled over the acorns which
the Indians had collected there, and sold them to the govern¬
ment for food for its proteges. At Mattole Station the set¬
tlers killed a number of Indians because they considered them
a burden. In the neighborhood of Humboldt Bay the set¬
tlers made the same complaint; the State sent out militia, who
took those that would consent to go to Mendocino, and killed
the refractory. Life at Mendocino was not appreciated as
A GROUP OP DIGGERS.
highly bv them as it should have been, and some of them re¬
turned to their old haunts. Highly indignant at this outrage,
a party of settlers attacked their camp at night, using lire-
arms at first, and knives when the battue grew more exciting.
In the morning sixty corpses of men, women, boys, girls, and
infants, ornamented with bullet wounds, stabs, and gaping
throats, showed that justice had been done. There were other
wars, but these samples will suffice. It is perhaps better to
142
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
call them wars, because the word massacre has come by usage
to mean such a murder as Indians would commit, and an In¬
dian who was not wholly lost to self-respect would not do
such things as these.
There is another chapter in the history of California
that is as disgraceful as the treatment of the so-called " wild
tribes." It is the story of the Mission Indians. This does
not include accounts of assassination under the name of war,
of midnight surprises and noonday butcheries, of women cut
to pieces and children brained. It is the record of a slow ad¬
vance of a superior race, driving the natives from their an¬
cient homes with remorseless power, and crushing them back
into the mountains and the desert. There is no need of go¬
ing fully into the story of their wrongs here—it has been re¬
corded ably in various publications that are within the reach
of almost every reader; neither is it properly within the
province of this work, except as an illustration of some of the
most serious flaws in our Indian system. Under the old
treaty system the Indians lost their rights easily enough, but
they were still recognized to have rights. That they were
often deceived, defrauded, and intimidated into making trea¬
ties against their interest is unquestionable, but still a treaty
was necessary, and their consent must be obtained in some
way before their lands could be taken. Since the abrogation
of the treaty-making power, there has been a constant ten¬
dency towards the concentration of absolute power over the
Indians in the Executive Department. This is bad policy, in
the abstract, for the fewer steps that are required to get In¬
dian lands, the more easily it will be accomplished. When
all the obstacles are centred in one man it will be most easy
to overcome them. If from good or bad intent, in weakness
or in ignorance, he abolish a reservation and return the land
to the public domain, the evil is undone with the utmost dif¬
ficulty. White men become vested with rights and cling to
them tenaciously. In some instances the courts might remedy
the wrong, but courts give relief only to suitors whose claims
are properly presented. As a rule, Congress is the only source
of relief, unless the Executive sees the mistake and endeavors
to retrace its steps, a move not often easily accomplished.
THE CUESE OF GOLD.
143
In the country obtained by cession from Mexico, the
tribes are in a far more helpless situation than those of other
sections, for they have not been recognized as having even
a possessory title to the lands on which they lived. From
these, however, are to be excepted those to whom specific
grants had been made by the Spanish and Mexican govern¬
ments for their settlement and support. The policy of Spain
was theoretically the same as our own. The Indians were
in a state of pupilage, and were to be redeemed to Christian
civilization by the government. The close connection of the
Catholic Church with the government, and its well-known
missionary proclivities, made this a more hopeful task for
Spain than it has proven for Protestant countries. A devoted
agent for the work in Alta California was found in Father
Junipero Serra, a Franciscan monk, who was sent into that
unknown region in 1769 by the Spanish authorities, their
colonization previous to that time having been confined to
the peninsula. Beginning with' the Mission of San Diego,
in 1769, Serra and his co-laborers established the missions of
San Carlos de Monterey, San Antonio de Padua, San Gabriel,
San Luis Obispo, San Francisco (Dolores), San Juan Capis-
trano, Santa Clara, and San Buena Ventura, in the order
named, by 1782. After Serra's death, in 1784, the work was
continued by the order, and the missions of Santa Barbara,
La Purissima Concepcion, Santa Cruz, Soledad, San Jose, San
Juan Bautista, San Miguel, San Fernando Bey, and San Luis
de Francia, were founded within the century. Santa Inez
was established in 1804, San Bafael in 1819, and San Fran¬
cisco de Solano in 1823; the latter two never attained any
great importance. Under the care of the Franciscans the
missions grew strong and rich. There was no starvation
then. Great herds and flocks supplied meat and clothing,
while the wonderful vines and other vegetable growth of
California added luxuries to their subsistence. The Indians
were happy, contented, religious, and growing steadily into the
ways of the civilized world. The priests had instructed them
in the mechanical arts until there were skilled workmen at
all the missions capable of doing almost any kind of work.
The intentions of Spain towards the Indians must be
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
gathered chiefly from the laws concerning them, of which it
has been well said, " All of them manifest the great anxiety
which the rulers of Mexico have felt, to collect the natives
together in communities and subject them to municipal reg¬
ulations, to secure to them the ability to pay the tribute im¬
posed upon them for the supply of the national treasury, to
induce them to forget their ancient religious rites and em¬
brace the Catholic faith, to reform their idle and roving pro¬
pensities and make them industrious and useful subjects."
The chief purpose of the colonization was to make the coun¬
try valuable to Spain. It was the object of every European
power, that established colonies anywhere, to secure from
them a money return to the mother-country. The natives
especially were assets of the State, which it was desirable to
make available as speedily as possible. The Church did not
receive the treatment at the hands of Spain that might have
been expected. At the suppression of the Jesuits, just prior
to the entry of the Franciscans into California, the govern¬
ment took control of the "Pious Fund " belonging to that or¬
der, in trust for Church purposes, but it was swallowed up
eventually by the State. The disadvantages to the Church
of an alliance with the State were similar to those in England,
under Henry VIII., though the property was not taken in
the same forcible way. That a secularization of the Missions
was early contemplated was shown by the establishment of
the pueblos of Los Angeles and San Jose, and the presidios
of San Diego, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco.
It is also reasonably certain that Spain contemplated granting
the ownership of the Mission lands to the Indians of the
respective Missions, but this was not done until after Mexico
had asserted her independence, and then in such a way that
the title has not held good, except in case of some of the San
Juan Capistrano lands.
Both Spain and Mexico taxed the Missions heavily, and
in carrying out the secularization policy, by the edict of 1834,
Mexico appropriated the greater part of the property. Each
Indian head of a family was given a small tract of land ; one-
half of the movable property w:as ordered to be divided
among the emancipated people; and everything else was
THE CUESE OF GOLD.
145
taken by the government. Some of the Franciscans left the
country; others remained, and lived among their beggared
and helpless flocks; one, at least, starved to death. The af¬
fairs of the Missions went from bad to worse until they were
financial ruins. Many of the Indians scattered, and resumed
their old mode of life. The greater part of the Missions
themselves were sold by the State, but in an irregular and
illegal way. Under our control there was a very slight im¬
provement. By a decision of the land commission in 1856,
the Mission buildings and a few acres of land about them,
such as were considered to be devoted to the immediate use
of the priesthood, were set off to the Catholic Church, on the
ground that they were sacred property, which was inalien¬
able under the Spanish law. The remainder of the Mission
lands were treated as belonging to the government, but this
decision was not a final one, although it has been followed
through all its consequences.
There was never a grimmer satire on justice than this.
The Indians, whose labor had made the buildings, tilled the
lands, and created the orchards and vineyards, were left with
absolutely nothing. The Church obtained the buildings, al¬
ready well advanced towards ruin, but was left with a beg¬
gared laity, and with no mode of recuperation except the
purchase of additional lands for a renewal of the Mission
work. This was not resorted to, and time, with neglect, has
since almost completed the work of destruction that the Mex¬
ican Government began. Many of the Indians remained in
their former homes, considering, with the stupid, unresisting
nature that has always characterized them, that they were
appendages to the land. They had worked for the priests
for no compensation but support, and they did the same for
the holders of the ranchos. Adam Johnston wrote, in 1850,
" They think themselves the property of the owners of the
respective ranchos where they reside, as much as does the
negro of the South to the owner of his cotton plantation.
Indeed, the owner of a rancho looks upon them as his prop¬
erty, and in estimating the value of his lands, he always
counts upon the services of his fifty or one hundred Indians,
as the case may be, to enhance its value." Mr. Johnston
146
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
called the attention of the government to the fact that the
Mexican authorities held the Mission lands in trust for the
Indians, and suggested that our government should do the
same, but the suggestion was not adopted. They could have
been provided for at that time easily and with little cost, but
the government neglected to do it. It always moves slowly
to the relief of friendly Indians, and the Indians understand
THE RUINS OR SAN CARLOS HE MONTEREY.
it well. It is no wonder that Indian agents have had cause
to complain again and again of hostile tribes advising peace¬
able ones to go to war if they wished to get presents from
us. Our "wards" have had to' fight very frequently before
the "guardian" paid any attention to their wants.
In 1852 B.D.Wilson, of Los Angeles, reported the con¬
dition of these Indians to the Interior Department, but still
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
147
nothing was done for them. They lived as best they could
among the white settlers, or retired into the mountains. If
they had any rights no one regarded them. White men
pre-empted lands that they had held for years, and even
their villages, which had been in their actual occupancy long
enough to give them a title by prescription against any one
but the government, were swallowed up by these cormorants.
It is a fact that since the war of the rebellion, whole villages
of these people have been driven from their homes by offi¬
cers of the law, under proceedings to quiet title to land, and
forced to seek new homes where they could find them. They
did not know enough to defend the rights which they might
possibly have sustained, and there was no one to do it for
them. It was not until 1883, and then on the recommenda¬
tion of a woman,* that the government even employed at¬
torneys to defend the rights they did have. There is not
much doubt that the valleys of Pala and San Pasqual might
have been held by the Indians there, if any attention had
been given to the defence of their claims. The pueblos there
had been established under the Mexican secularization law
of 1834, and the lands had been parcelled out to the Indians,
under the law, by the prefects and priests. They had lived
there continuously afterwards, but unfortunately had failed
to have their rights passed upon by the land commission,
appointed under the act of 1851 to adjust private land claims
in California.
In 1869 Superintendent Whiting recommended that these
valleys be reserved to the Indians, and an Executive order to
that effect was made in 1870. This caused general indigna¬
tion among the white people who wanted those lands, and a
remonstrance against it was forwarded to Washington. It
O O
is said that most of the signatures to this paper were ap¬
pended by a monte-dealer named McCan and two confeder¬
ates. Even the dead protested against the reservation of
these lands; at least the names of people who had been bur-
* Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, by whose death, on August 12, 1885, the In¬
dians of America lost one of the most active and intelligent friends they
ever had.
10
148
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ied for years were signed to the remonstrance. The obnox¬
ious order was revoked; the whites preempted the lands that
Mexico had given to these Indians; and our " wards" were
made wanderers. Congress refused to do anything for the
Mission Indians because they were citizens, and the people of
California would let them have nothing because they were
not citizens. The agent at the land office in Los Angeles in-
n O
formed them that they could not preempt land because they
were not citizens. In 1S73 three of them applied for regis¬
tration as voters, but the Clerk of Los Angeles County re¬
fused them, on the ground that they were not citizens. They
appealed to the United States Commissioner at that point,
and he transmitted their affidavits to the District Attorney at
San Francisco, in whose office they probably still repose.
Yet the Supreme Court of California held, in 1865 (People
vs. Antonio, 27 Cal. 404), that the statute of that State for the
punishment and protection of Indians did not apply to In¬
dians who had " been living for years among white men," or,
in other words, to the Mission Indians. They were subject
to punishment under the same laws as white men, and yet by
the statutes of California they could testify neither for nor
against a white man. They had all the disadvantages of
both the state of pupilage and the state of citizenship, and
none of the advantages of either. Theoretically this was an
impossibility; practically it was true. It is doubtful if even
under the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments they have
any enforcible rights. That many of them were citizens of
Mexico at the time of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is un¬
questionable, and under that treaty they became citizens of
the United States; but prior to the amendments each State
could prescribe the qualifications of its electors, and the Su¬
preme Court has held that the amendments do not apply to
Indian tribes, so that the benefit of the amendments to In¬
dians debarred of citizenship by State laws is very uncertain.
Moreover, the Executive Department has virtually declared
them in a state of pupilage again, by various orders establish¬
ing reservations for them, from 1875 to 1883.
The attention of the government was called to these peo¬
ple many times. In 1865 J. Q. A. Stanley, of Los Angeles,
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
149
offered to act as distributing agent to them, without compen¬
sation, and the government graciously accepted his offer. He
reported, several times, the constant and shameful encroach¬
ments of white men, and begged the authorities to do some¬
thing for the protection of the Indians; especially to secure
them lands for homes. Mr. Whiting, Superintendent of Cal¬
ifornia in 1869, urged not only the provision for the future
but also a remedy for the recent past, hie said, "It seems
to me that while the government assumes to act as guard¬
ian for the Indians, and the latter are treated as minors, the
settlers should never be allowed to acquire title (from the
guardian) to lands conceded to have been donated to the
neophytes by a former government. If these Indians are
recognized as minors in law, and incapable of transacting
business of a complicated nature, no laches of theirs can de¬
prive them of their legal rights. ... It is quite certain that
since my last annual report, and since it was known that I
contemplated establishing a reservation for the Mission In¬
dians, all of the best lands claimed by the Indians at Pala
and San Pasqual, and especially the watering-places, have
been taken up and occupied by settlers. The immigration
has crowded off the Indians, and left thousands without a
home. By sharp practice, and under various pretences, they
have also been deprived of their horses, their working-oxen, »
their cows and stock cattle. Illicit traffic in ardent spirits
unquestionably aided in the accomplishment of these wicked
robberies." And yet such people as these settlers profane
words, in some sense sacred, by talking of entering Indian
lands "in good faith," and establishing "happy homes."
The Pala and San Pasqual reservations were thrown open by
fraud. The white robbers dwell in Pala, San Pasqual, and
Temecuela to-day, some of them in houses that the Indians
built. The Indians have no title to bar entrance even to
their present lairs in the mountains, except the thin covering
of an Executive order, revokable at will.
It is hardly possible, if we are to retain any faith what¬
ever in a common humanity, that these wrongs can be pushed
any farther. The reports of B. C. Whiting, in 1871, of John
G. Ames, in 1873, and of Helen Hunt Jackson, in 1883, with
150
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
various unofficial publications, have brought these things
home keenly to people who are capable of shame over a
national disgrace. The national authorities have shown a
disposition to do something. Under Mrs. Jackson's recom¬
mendation, attorneys have been employed to defend their
remaining interests, and possibly a long-deferred justice may
still rescue something from the chaos of their rights. One
thing is certain. Our laws should not be left so that any
one man, or dozen men, can take away from these, or any
other Indians, their homes, and permit white men to acquire
vested rights therein. There is a Winnebago reservation
case on the nation's hands to-day, and a possibility of others.
It is not the probability of wrong that makes the laws bad;
it is the possibility. If the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus were suspended for a week, or a day, it would cause
intense indignation throughout the land, not because exten¬
sive wrong would probably be done, but because possibly it
might. Under the Constitution no white man's property can
be taken from him without due process of law. In parity of
justice, before any rights could possibly be taken from our
" wards," the legislative, executive, and judicial departments
should all pass on the expediency and fairness of the act. It
has ever been, and now is, too easy to do a wrong to these
people, and too difficult to right one. If the former had
always been as difficult as the latter, we should not, as a na¬
tion, have had to apologize for half of the injustice that has
been done.
CHAPTER VI.
oatman flat.
If an American who was not acquainted with the country
might be seized by some supernal power and suddenly placed
in Southwestern Arizona, he would never suspect that he was
within the boundaries of the United States. Its soil, its veg¬
etation, its sierra outlines, its dry, phantasmagoric atmosphere,
its animal life, and its inhabitants, are all strange. Towards
the Gulf of California the country for many miles is dry, bar¬
ren, and desert, with no plant life but the cactuses, and even
these seem depressed and hopeless, except when an angel's visit
of rain brightens them. A little farther back come ranges of
granite mountains, still more desert than the plains, for on
their sides no vegetation appears, nor any soil to support veg¬
etation. White and glistening, they rear their crests like the
skeletons of mountains whose flesh had dropped away. Still
farther back more vegetation shows, but it is strange to the
average American. There is a broken carpet of grass in many
places, brown and dead in appearance. Here and there is a
mezquite, a palo verde, or a patch of sage. The Spanish
bayonet thrusts out its sharp leaves. The century plant rears
its lance-like stem and floats its graceful flowers. The prickly
pear spreads its flat, jointed limbs in the heated air. Most
striking of all, the saguarra, or pitahaya (petahyah), the giant
cereus of the naturalists, sometimes solitary and sometimes in
small forests, raises its fluted column from thirty to sixty feet,
and lifts its stove-pipe arms above the other plants. Its color
is green; the surface is smooth, and armed with clusters of
thorns, as in the other cactuses. This plant is of great value
to the natives. Its flowers form a bright-colored circle around
its top, and give place to a ring of fruit, each as large as a hen's
egg and much resembling a fig. From the juice of this they
152
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
make a syrup of which they are very fond ; the pulp is pressed
in cakes for winter use. Within the dead trunks are found
rod-like threads of wood fibre, which, bound together, serve
to reach the fruit. Water is scarce in this land. There can
hardly be said to be any streams except the Colorado and the
Gila, and the latter is dry at times in some parts. Their val¬
leys, with fringes of willow, cottonwood, and mezquite, form
a pleasant contrast to the table-lands. The chief reliance of
the natives for water is on the natural tanks, which occur at
well-known places in the rocks, or in beds of clay. There are
also a few springs, which form pools ordinarily, but in very
dry seasons these fail, and the Indians are forced to dig to the
underlying rock, and gather the water drop by drop. Since
the whites have made a thoroughfare of the country they have
sunk wells at many points.
This region was inhabited by two classes of natives. South
of the Gila were the Pimas, Maricopas, and Papagos. They
are all of good disposition and have long been friendly to
their Mexican neighbors, whose settlements join them on the
southeast. The Pimas and Maricopas live in the Gila valley,
occupying a strip of country about twenty miles long and four
miles wide. These two tribes are on terms of the closest
friendship and intercourse, but speak different languages and
maintain entire independence in government and religion.
They live in villages and support themselves by agriculture.
Their fields, which are watered by irrigating ditches from the
Gila, produce good crops of wheat, corn, melons, pumpkins,
and cotton. The cotton they weave into excellent blankets,
an art which they had when the Spaniards invaded their
country. While of a quiet nature, these people are brave
warriors, and have beaten the Apaches so often that those
scourges of the desert retain a salutary dread of them. In
the tribes of both nations there are legends of their wars, in
which the Pimas and their allies obtained all the victories and
celebrated them right royally. On one occasion, it is said, the
Pimas spread flour on the ground for three miles, as a car¬
pet for their victorious chief. The Papagos live to the south
of these, and are, in fact, merely converted Pimas, their name
being an adaption of bajpconia, the Pima word for baptized.
VIEW NEAR THE GILA.
OATMAN FLAT.
155
They say they originally lived still farther south, but were
driven back, by the Spaniards into their desert home, Com¬
monly called Papaguepia or Papagoria. They are on friendly
terms with the Mexicans, and have long assisted them in light¬
ing their common enemies, the Apaches. Their principal
settlement is at San Xavier del Bac, an old mission, estab¬
lished by the Jesuits in 1668. The stately old cathedral there
was preserved by them after the Jesuit power passed away in
Mexico, and it remains to-day, a splendid monument of Sara¬
cenic architecture, that would be an ornament to any city in
the country.
In customs the Cocopahs resembled these tribes. They
were a small band, numbering some three hundred warriors,
who lived along the Colorado, next above the Gulf of Cali¬
fornia. They are agricultural, and raise excellent crops in the
valley of the Colorado, which overflows nearly every year,
usually in July. Their pumpkins and melons are especially
large and fine. The previously mentioned tribes are quite
decently clothed, but the Cocopahs make no pretensions to
dress. Their men wear a light breech-cloth, and the women
two little aprons of bark, one before and one behind. The
Cocopahs and Maricopas were both originally parts of the
Yuma nation, but seceded from it. The secession of the Co¬
copahs was not opposed; that of the Maricopas was, and a
bitter war followed, in which the Yumas were aided by the
Cocopahs. The Maricopas fled to the Pimas, who agreed to
let them settle in their country, if they would adopt an agri¬
cultural life, and make no war except in defence, or to revenge
aggressions. To this the Maricopas agreed, and have since
kept their agreement. All these tribes were enemies of the
Colorado River tribes above the Gila, and of the Apaches,
and all remained so except the Cocopahs, who, in 1854, made
a treaty of peace with the tribe next above them, known as
the Yumas. The Cocopahs also differed from the others in
the loose virtue of their women. They, like the Yumas, were
well-made and handsome, but the comeliness of their women
served only to attract the passion of their white neighbors, and
bring upon themselves the diseases that have well nigh de¬
stroyed them. They spend half their time in the Colorado,
156 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
swimming, or sitting immersed near the banks, their heads
plastered over with fresh mud.
PIMA GIRLS.
The nation of the Yumas (Sons of the River), according to
their statement, includes live tribes : the Cuchans, the Mahaos,
the Mohaves, the Hah-wal-coes or Ilualapais, and the Yam-
pais or Yavipais. The Cuchans, who are commonly known as
the Yumas, lived next above the Cocopahs, to whom they were
very similar in habits. In 1S50 they numbered about four hun¬
dred and fifty warriors. Above them on the Colorado were the
OATMAN FLAT.
157
Chem-e-liue-ves (Chim-me-wah-wahs, Ivem-ah-wi-vis) a branch
of the Pi-Utes, who are found in large numbers west of the Col¬
orado in California. Above the Chem-e-liue-ves, and north of
Bill Williams Fork, were the Mo-ha-ves. Their name is from
two Yuma words: hamook, three, and habi, mountains, refer¬
ring to the third mountain range, at which their territory
begins. The name is written Ilamockhaves, Yamockhaves,
Yamajabs, Tamatabs, Jamajabs, Amochaves, and Mojaves.
They are a large tribe, closely related to the Yumas, and very
friendly with them. These two tribes intermarry, and both
are related, by numerous marriages, with the Coaliuillas of the
Colorado desert, and the Diegenos (Indians of San Diego) of
Southern California, with whom they are on terms of intimate
friendship. The habits of the Mohaves are generally similar
to those of the lower tribes, but they make much better
houses, and appear rather more intelligent. Above the Mo¬
haves, occupying the country in the great bend of the Colorado
to the south, were the Yampais. The Tonto Apaches lived
east of these, in the neighborhood of Bill Williams Mountain.
The Yampais and Tontos have been called the same by some
authorities, and both are generally considered mongrels—con¬
necting links between the Apaches and the river tribes. The
Tontos were not of the bold, roaming disposition that charac¬
terized the other Apaches. They are small, not well-formed,
and in their manner of life degraded. All of the tribes men¬
tioned were foot soldiers when they came under our rule.
They had some horses and mules, but not many, and they
were prone to use them for food in times of scarcity. The
lance was a weapon little used by them. Their arms were
bows, arrows, and clubs. The last named is a weapon seldom
used by other Indians, but those of the Colorado River were
never without it. It is simply a stick cut from a kind of live-
oak that grows in the mountains—one of the few species of
American woods that will sink in water after it has been sea¬
soned.
It is to this section of Arizona that we must next trans¬
fer ourselves, but in 1850-51 there was no Arizona. The
country south of the Gila belonged to Mexico until the Gads¬
den purchase of December 30, 1853, and that north of the
153
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Gila was a part of the Territory of New Mexico. The land
south of the Gila, after its purchase, was sometimes called
the Gadsden Purchase and sometimes Arizuna. The Terri¬
tory of Arizona was set oft' from New Mexico in 1863, and
the northwest corner of the tract, then included in its bounds,
was afterwards ceded to Nevada. In 1850-51 the region was
still in the condition in which it had been for the past century.
The tribes north of the Gila were in what appears to have
been their.aboriginal condition. They had not acquired guns,
nor had they contracted the vices and diseases of civilization.
They had not even become expert horsemen and learned the
use of the lance, as had their relatives a little farther east, from
contact with the cavaliers of Spain. They still revelled in the
independence and filth of absolute savagery. The country
was almost wholly unknown. Kearny and Cooke had gone
across it on their marches to California, and mail-carriers had
made their way through by the same routes or by the north¬
ern road, which circled two hundred miles above its starting¬
-point, through Southern Utah. At this time Captain Sit-
greaves was on his exploring expedition down the Colorado,
and Bartlett, with the Mexican Boundary Commission, was
locating the eastern portion of the line. The few emigrants
who pushed through to California by the southern road had
to rely chiefly on the Mexicans and friendly Indians for in¬
formation, assistance, and protection. There was a small
force stationed on the Colorado, at the mouth of the Gila,
called Camp Yuma. Port Yuma was afterwards established
in the same locality.
In the year 1849 a project was originated in the western
part of Illinois for a settlement in the neighborhood of the
mouth of the Gila River. Among those who determined to
join this party was Royse Oatman, a man forty years of age,
who had lived in the West since childhood. For a long time
he was a successful merchant at La Iiarpe, Illinois, but, like
many others, was brought to ruin by holding a large amount
of wiid-cat-bank paper when the collapse of 1812 came. After
his failure he went to Pennsylvania, expecting to settle among
relatives who lived in the Cumberland Valley, but the East
had lost its charms for him, and he returned to Illinois. Here
OATMAN FLAT.
159
he began farming, near Fulton, but, in the course of his work,
so injured himself by overlifting that his health failed. In
consequence of the seeming hopelessness of recovering, or even
being relieved from suffering, in a northern region, owing to
his extreme sensitiveness to cold and damp, he joined the pro¬
jected colony, hoping to find the climate a balm for his ail¬
ment. He was accompanied by his family, consisting of a
wife and seven children. The colony, numbering some eighty
souls, rendezvoused at Independence, Missouri, and on Au¬
gust 10, 1850, started on their long overland journey. One
week's travel revealed the fact that the members were uncon¬
genial, owing to differences of religious opinions. A part threat¬
ened to turn back, but the differences were smoothed over by
the commendable diplomacy of some of the better-balanced
heads. By the time the colony reached the junction of the
north and south roads, at Santa Fe pass, the quarrels had be¬
come so acrimonious that the company divided. The larger
party took the northern road. The smaller, consisting of
twenty persons, with eight wagons, moved on to the Bio
Grande and took Colonel Cooke's route to the south.
Slowly the little train crawled along, over mountain and
plain, through canons and across valleys, down into Mexico,
across to the sources of the Santa Cruz, up through the old
Spanish towns of Santa Cruz and Tubac, and, as the year
closed, filed into Tucson, the city that disputes with Santa Fe
the honor of bging the first permanent white settlement with¬
in the borders of the United States. There the}7 halted for a
month. The Mexicans received them kindly and begged them
to remain, as had also the inhabitants of the lower towns.
The repute of American arms was so great, and the conflict
of the Mexicans with the Apaches was so continuous, that
American settlers were desirable. Part of the train concluded
to stop for a year, at least, and rest. The Oatman, Wilder,
and Kelly families decided to go on. Their cattle were in poor
condition, and there was no opportunity to improve them
much at Tucson. The Apaches had destroyed all the crops,
and supplies were scarce at any price. The three families
moved on into the " ninety-mile desert," the stretch of dry,
hard, gravelly land, with its scant growth of mezquite and
160
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
cactus, that separates Tucson from the Pima villages. Dreary
and tiresome as it is now, it was far more so then, for there
were then 110 wells in it, and the traveller had no chance to
obtain water, except that during some seasons there were pools
at the Picacho, a peak midway of the desert. In this deso¬
late region the Coyotero Apaches began to threaten them,
and each night they had to place a guard, who frequently
wakened the others to resist attacks. On the 16th of Febru¬
ary, discouraged, destitute, and almost worn out, they reached
the lands of the Pimas. To add to the gloominess of their
prospects their provisions were now so reduced that it ap¬
peared impossible for them to hold out through the one hun¬
dred and ninety miles yet to be traversed before reaching
Camp Yuma.
They remained at the Pima and Maricopa villages until
March 11, and then the Oatmans started on alone. The mo¬
tives that actuated the party to this division have never been
PIMA VILLAGE.
OATMAN FLAT.
161
satisfactorily explained. It is stated by Lorenzo Oatman-that
Wilder and Kelly determined to remain, and risk obtaining
support by trade with
the Indians, while his
father believed that
starvation, or death at
the hands of the In¬
dians, would result from
tarrying. On the other
hand, it has been said
that there was no good
reason for the Oatmans
going on alone, and it
is certain that Wilder
and Kelly started after
them about ten days
later. While in a state
of indecision as to their
course, Dr. Le Conte,
the scientist, accompa¬
nied by a Mexican
guide, arrived at the
villages. He reported
that he had passed
through the country between there and Camp Yuma twice,
within the past few months, and that he had seen no signs
of Indians anywhere. This information decided Oatman to
go on. The road continues down the river to the Maricopa
Wells, and then leaves it. The river bends to the north,
and after a long detour of one hundred and twenty miles,
around two ranges of granite hills, comes back to the same
general course about fifty miles to the west. The road cuts
across the country between these two points, which is known
as the Desert of the Gila Bend. For seven days the Oat¬
mans plodded along across this and down the Gila beyond.
Their cattle, which were now reduced to one yoke of oxen
and two yokes of cows, were almost exhausted. The roads
had been made very bad by a recent rain. When they came
to one of the numerous hills on the road, they were obliged
ANTONIO AZOL.
162
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to unload the two wagons and carry the goods, piece by piece,
to the top. The cattle were frequently unable to pull up even
the empty wagons without assistance.
On the seventh day, Dr. Le Oonte overtook and passed
them. He was touched by their sad condition, and promised
to send assistance to them as soon as he reached Camp Yuma,
then about one hundred and thirty miles distant. lie pushed
on rapidly, and that night camped thirty miles ahead of them.
At daybreak, while preparing for the day's ride, Le Conte was
surprised to see twelve Indians stalk into his camp. He and
the guide seized their weapons and stood on their guard. The
Indians professed friendship, and tried to divert their atten¬
tion in order to gain an advantage. After some time their
visitors went on their way, and soon after the two men dis¬
covered that their animals, which had been left in the valley
below, had been driven off, probably during the visit of the
Indians. The doctor ordered his guide to go on to Camp
Yuma for horses, while he remained and guarded the packs,
but the guide had not gone long before the doctor remem¬
bered the Oatmans and his promise. He placed a card con¬
spicuously on a tree near the road, informing them of his mis¬
fortune at the hands of the Apaches, and promising to pro¬
ceed at once to the fort for help. The Oatmans never reached
this point.
On the evening of the 18th they came to the Gila, at the
head of what is now called Oatman's Flat, one hundred and
eighteen miles east of Fort Yuma. They attempted to cross,
but the stream was swollen and rapid. After a hard struggle
they succeeded in reaching a little sand island that still raised
its crest above the waters. Darkness had fallen. The ani¬
mals were mired. They determined to camp for the night
on the island. The surroundings were depressing. The night
was cold, and the wind blew in fitful blasts, at times driving
the waters of the river almost over the island. The hour was
late before a fire was started and the little allowance of food
to which they were reduced was doled out. None of them
could sleep. The parents sat apart and conversed in low
tones. The children grouped around the little fire and con¬
sidered the situation in their childish way. The rush of the
OATMAN FLAT.
163
river and the moan of the wind, as it whirled through the
gullies and swept over the distant hills, turned their thoughts
to the dangers that might be lurking in the wilds about them.
They talked of the Indians, although they had seen none and
no indications of any since they started. Each had his crude
idea of the course he would pursue, and Olive, the second girl,
a child of twelve years, said that she, at least, would not be
taken by those miserable brutes. "I will fight as long as I can,
and if I see that I am about to be taken I will kill myself,"
she said, defiantly. The dreary night passed away. With
the first rays of the morning they made ready to leave their
dismal camp. They gained the opposite bank and made prep¬
arations to ascend the hill of the mesa, which is elevated about
two hundred feet above the flat. The ascent is over a hill
formation, caused by the wash of water that is common all
through the West. The upper strata, to a thickness of twenty
feet, are harder than those beneath. As the ground has washed
from below, the upper part has broken and fallen, making a
perpendicular wTall,from the base of which the detritus forms
a sloping descent to the plain below. The mesa is covered
with a growth of saguarras, which appear from below to stand
as sentinels along its border.
Up tins hill the Oatmans were obliged to carry all their
goods, the teams being unable to pull the empty wagons with¬
out assistance. The day was spent thus and in resting, with
the intention of moving on at night. The full moon atforded
ample light, and they hoped to make the journey easier for
their cattle by resting in the heat of the day. One of the
wagons was taken up the hill and drawn about a mile beyond,
to the summit of a swell in the mesa, beyond which one yoke
of the cattle could pull it. As the sun set Oatman turned
back for the other wagon, which, with the unloaded goods, re¬
mained at the top of the hill. Here the family gathered to
eat a few morsels of dry bread and a cup of bean soup before
starting. The depression of the night before had scarcely
abated. Oatman, especially, was weighed down by gloomy
apprehensions. For an hour on the preceding night he had
wept bitterly, and during the afternoon he had sunk down by
the wagon and groaned out: " Mother, mother, in the name
11
164
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
of God, I know that something dreadful is about to happen!"
Ilis manhood appeared to have failed him completely. As they
packed the wagons, he moved about listlessly, buried in his
gloomy thoughts. Lorenzo, who was assisting his father,
glanced down the road through the flat, and, to his horror,
saw a number of Indians leisurely approaching them. lie
spoke to his father, who turned hastily. As his eyes fell on
the Indians the climax of his terror was reached. Ilis face
flushed deeply, and then paled to a ghastly hue. His form
stiffened, and the muscles of his mouth twitched convulsively.
Several minutes passed before he regained any command of
himself. Even then his every movement betrayed his fears.
Doubtless it was the result of his presentiment, for he had
been known before as a man of coolness and courage. He
had also often met and dealt with Indians, and was deeply
impressed with the belief that if treated kindly and firmly
they would seldom do any injury. Although this theory has
often been successfully tested, it must be remembered that
the firmness is more important than the kindness. An In¬
dian despises a man who fears him, and will often mistreat
such a one, when he would not annoy a man that put on a
bold front.
The Indians, nineteen in number, came up to them. They
were naked, except their small breech-clouts. Repulsive in
features, filthy of person, and with dishevelled hair, they
formed a wild and barbarous group. Each carried a bow and
arrows and a club. Oatman motioned them to sit down, and
spoke to them in Spanish. Some of them understood that
language, and replied to him with vehement protestations of
friendship. They asked for tobacco and a pipe, to smoke in
token of amity. Oatman prepared one, took a whiff, and
passed it to them. They then asked for something to eat.
Oatman told them that he had scarcely anything; that if he
gave them food he would be robbing his children. By this
time they had gauged the party with whom they were dealing,
and knew that they would meet no serious resistance. They
ignored his excuses, and increased the vehemence of their de¬
mands until their clamors became furious. Oatman took
some bread from the wagon and gave it to them, telling them
OATMAN FLAT.
165
that lie was bringing his family to starvation by doing so.
They devoured it and demanded more, but he refused. They
then gathered on one side and consulted in their own tongue,
while the family hurried on with their packing. Mr. Oatman
and Lorenzo were handing in the goods at the back of the
wagon. Mrs. Oatman was inside arranging them. Olive and
Lucy, her older sister, were on the side nearest the Indians,
arranging some of the property. Mary Ann, a child of seven,
sat 011 a stone in front, holding the halter of the foremost yoke.
The remainder of the children were on the opposite side of
the wagon. They were almost ready to start. A few min¬
utes more, and they would leave their disagreeable visitors
forever, they hoped.
The Indians came closer to them. They scanned the
horizon and looked carefully up and down the road, as though
in expectation of some one. Then, with wild yells, they
leaped upon the hapless group before them. Of all weapons
known to man, the club is most fitting to the brutal nature.
It was the first weapon to which man laid his hand in the
primordial dawn. It is the weapon of some of the higher
apes to-day. The ragged hole left by the rifle-ball, the gap¬
ing cut of the stiletto, and the broad gash of the lance or the
sabre are shocking to the sight, but they have nothing of the
horror and repulsiveness of the crush of the war-club, that
distorts the features till they lose the semblance of humanity.
This was the weapon of the Tontos, for such these Indians
were, and they plied it with the ferocity of devils and the
excitement of madmen. Oatman was beaten to the ground
and his skull crushed by repeated blows, as he writhed and
groaned in his torment. Lorenzo received a blow on the
back of his head that brought him to his knees, and another
that tumbled him over, dazed and helpless. Mrs. Oatman
leaped from the wagon and clasped to her bosom her young¬
est child, a boy of two years. The savages dashed upon her
with tiger bounds, pounding out the life of mother and child
at once, while her screams for help startled the desert echoes
and were mockingly thrown back from the bleak hills. Lucy
had been seized by the hair at the first, and beaten until she
was no.t only dead, but almost unrecognizable. The smallest
166
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
girl, less than four years old, was despatched at one blow.
Eoyse, her next older brother, was the last to fall of those
that died. lie had stood farthest away. He saw the others
killed and stood nerveless, overcome with horror. As the
savages came upon him he gave one piercing shriek, and a
moment later was struggling in unconscious convulsion, un¬
der the stroke of the club. The other two children, Olive
and Mary, were spared. This was the predetermined inten¬
tion of the Indians, for Olive was drawn to one side by one
of them, and Mary was seized by another, at the outset.
The work of plunder began. They tore the canvas cover
from the wagon, broke open boxes, and rifled the clothing of
the dead, taking what they wanted and strewing the rest
over the ground. As they came to Lorenzo he showed some
signs of life. They removed his hat and shoes. Two of
them seized him by the feet, dragged him to the edge of
the bluff, and hurled him over. Down, twenty feet, to the
slope, he fell. Down, over the ragged rocks, he rolled.
During part of this time he had a dim consciousness of his
surroundings, but no power of motion. He heard the shrieks
of his brothers and sisters, and the despairing cry of his
mother. He felt the Indians searching him, and knew that
they were dragging him over the ground. Then came the
weird feeling of a wandering consciousness. At one moment
he seemed to move between great rows of pictures hung in
the distant air. At another his senses were shocked by the
din of unearthly and discordant noises. Again, he was lulled
by strains of heavenly music that soothed him into ecstatic
rest. At the same time he was conscious that he lay on the
rocky slope, in the bright moonlight, with the blood flowing
from his ears and nose. Then darkness came.
When he next gained consciousness the mid-day sun was
beating upon his face. His head throbbed with a madden¬
ing pain. He tried to open his eyes, but could not. As his
mind cleared, he rubbed away the clotted blood that locked
his eyelids, and looked about him. His clothing was in
shreds. He put his hand to his head, and felt his scalp torn
from his skull and stiffened like parchment. Up the slope
he saw the stains of blood that had marked his fall, and re-
OATMAN FLAT.
167
alized how he had reached his present place. His thoughts
wandered back to the tragedy enacted on the mesa above.
An uncontrollable impulse came upon him to look again on
the faces of the kindred who lay there. It was so short a
distance, and yet how great. Faint and dizzy, he crawled up
the rocky slope. Ilis strength failed—he fainted ; his con¬
sciousness returned—he crept on ; up—up—up, full fifty feet
he struggled, and then, looking across a gully that broke
the edge of the mesa, he saw the wagon lifting its bare ribs
in the parched air. It brought the full horror of the place
back to him. His desire to look 011 the features of the dead
was gone. Ilis only thought was to get away from the horri¬
ble spot. He crawled along the slope to the road, and down
the road to the river, every muscle aching, every nerve
strained, and his head pulsating with pain and delirium. The
Gila, muddy and warm, how he drank of it and bathed his
bruised body ! It brought relief. He slept. When he
awoke it was night. With the aid of a stick that he found
by the riverside, he gained his feet and began to walk. The
road crosses the Gila twice at this bend, to avoid the bluff
that juts out from the south side. Lorenzo avoided crossing
by making his way over the bluff. He walked all through
the night and the following morning. Hear mid-day he
reached a pool of warm, muddy water, of which he drank
deeply, and fell asleep in the glowing sunshine. After a
short sleep he awoke, partially delirious, and continued his
journey.' In the middle of the afternoon, as he was crossing
a high, barren table-land, his strength suddenly vanished and
he fell in a faint.
When he recovered, near evening, his ears wrere filled
with a strange noise that seemed to be approaching him.
Before he could rise to his feet he was surrounded by a pack
of coyotes, growling, snarling, and licking their lank jaws in
anticipation of the feast before them. Here was a new dan¬
ger, for the coyote, though cowardly to an active enemy, is
fierce and desperate as its congener the gray wolf to the help¬
less. Lorenzo started to his feet with a yell, the first utter¬
ance he had made since the massacre, striking one of them as
he rose. At this they fell back a little and he started on his
168
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
march again. They followed him. Twilight came, and
darkness. They pressed upon him, surrounding him on all
sides with a circle of glistening fangs and glaring eye-balls,
but fear brought him a new strength. He gathered stones
and threw at them till they fell back again. He hurried on,
tormented by the horrible thought that he might faint and
be devoured. For hours they dogged his footsteps, but at
length they abandoned the pursuit, and by midnight he had
the satisfaction of hearing their howls die away in the dis¬
tant hills. Towards morning he had another season of
troubled sleep, after which he started on once more. About
noon, as he was passing through a dark canon, he came in
sight of two Pima Indians. They hastily drew their bows at
sight of this strange being, but when he raised his hand and
spoke to them, they rode up to him. One of them was an
Indian with whom the Oatmans had been acquainted in the
village. Quickly as they saw who was before them they dis¬
mounted and embraced him, with expressions of pity and
sympathy. They spread their blankets under a tree, for a
couch, and brought him a gourd of water and a piece of their
ash-baked bread — all that they had. They rode on to the
scene of the massacre, telling him to remain until they re¬
turned and they would convey him to their villages.
He slept till evening. On awakening he became fearful
that the two Indians might prove treacherous. The awful
tragedy of a few hours back made him distrust a dark face.
He left the canon and continued his march through the night
and to the middle of the morning. On the crest of a hill,
overlooking a long, winding valley, he crept under a bush
and slept for two or three hours. When he awoke he felt
completely exhausted from hunger and pain. Fie had a
desire to sleep longer, but fought it off. As he lay there,
thinking over his hopeless situation, he looked down across
the valley, and saw objects moving on the road. He was
sure they were Indians. For an hour, in the tortures of sus¬
pense, he watched the specks moving towards him, straining
his aching eyes to their utmost, and at length, as they crossed
a little hill, he saw that they were wagons. A great flood of
gladness came over him, and he swooned away. When he
SCENE OF OATMAN MASSACRE.
OATMAN FLAT.
171
recovered the wagons of the Wilders and Kellys were stand¬
ing near him, and Robert Kelly was approaching him. In a
few minutes he was surrounded by friends, and breaking his
weary fast on a bowl of bread and milk. On hearing his
story the two families turned back to the Pima villages, to
stay until they should be reinforced by others travelling in
the same direction. The two men, with a number of Pimas,
went on to the scene of the murder, and covered the remains
of the victims with stones to protect them from the wolves.
Two weeks later six wdiite men who were going to Camp
Yuma arrived, and the two families journeyed on with them.
Lorenzo, who had already recovered somewhat from his suf¬
ferings, was cared for at Yuma by Dr. Hewitt, the post-sur¬
geon, until his health was restored.
While Lorenzo was making his weary way along the road,
his sisters, Olive and Mary, were being driven across the des¬
ert north of the Gila by the Indians. As soon as the work of
plunder was completed the savages moved away a short dis¬
tance, made a fire, and prepared a supper of bean soup and ash-
baked bread. The girls could not eat. After the meal the
Indians diverted themselves by terrifying little Mary. They
would threaten and scowl at her until, in an agony of nervous
fear, she would run to her sister's arms, sobbing wildly. Then
they would brandish their clubs and frighten her into silence.
For an hour they remained at this place, from which the chil¬
dren could see the bows of the wagon, in the moonlight, mark¬
ing the spot of the massacre. They were oppressed with grief
and suspense. The events of the past hour were so horrible
that older persons might well have been overwhelmed by
them. All their kindred—father, mother, sisters, and brothers
—they had seen fall beneath the clubs of their captors. For
themselves was absolute uncertainty as to their future fate,
with all the apprehensions of torture that their childish knowl¬
edge of Indian customs could bring them. Another element
of torture was soon to be added — it was bodily suffering.
The Indians took from them their hats and shoes, and started
on their march. An Indian led; the two captives followed;
the other Indians formed the rear-guard. Across the desert
they hurried, the tender feet of the captives being bruised at
172
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
every step. Sharp stones gashed them, and cactus thorns
pierced them cruelly. After several hours Mary sank down
and refused to go farther. Blows and threats had no effect
upon her. She said she had rather die than live. At length
one of the Indians threw her across his back, and the march
was resumed. Olive became so faint and weary that she felt
she could not go on, but the fear of being separated from her
sister gave her superhuman energy. At noon of the follow¬
ing day they halted until the cattle were brought up, killed,
and cut in pieces. In the afternoon they again started, and
journeyed until ten o'clock at night. During this time the
sufferings of the girls were lessened by having pieces of skin
tied upon their feet. At daybreak they continued their
march.
Near noon, as they were passing through a dark canon, a
band of eleven Indians appeared, and approached them in
great excitement. One of them drew his bow and let fly an
arrow at Olive, which pierced her dress but did not harm her.
As he fitted another to his bow the captors sprang forward
and placed themselves before the girls, while one of them
seized the would-be assassin. It appeared that this man had
lost a brother in a recent attack upon some whites, and had
sworn to avenge himself upon the first white that he met.
The captors, however, had other uses for their captives, and
finally succeeded in getting rid of the avengers, though not
until there had almost been a general battle. They travelled
until midnight. In the morning they hurried on till they
came to a village of low, thatched huts. The captives, suf¬
fering and exhausted by two hundred miles of cruel march¬
ing, were placed on a pile of brush, around which all the in¬
habitants of the village, about three hundred in number,
whirled in a dance of exultation and savage joy. Throughout
it they took every means of humiliating the captives, by strik¬
ing them, throwing dirt upon them, and spitting in their faces.
Their insults had but little effect on the wretched girls, who
had now reached the stage of indifference and desperation.
The only apprehension that troubled them was the fear of
torture. This was dispelled on the succeeding day. The
jubilee and feast were over. A night's rest had somewhat
OATMAN FLAT.
173
refreshed the captives and eased their pains. They were set
to work at the employments which must henceforth engage
them. Their fate was now clear. They were slaves.
It would be difficult to imagine a more oppressive slavery
than that in which they existed. The Tontos were a people
of the most degraded character, with customs which added
weight to the natural brutality of savagery. They had broken
off from the tribes to the southeast during the flowery days of
the Spanish power, and taken refuge in the wilderness, while
their brethren remained to fight the invaders. From the
Coyoteros, so they told the girls, they had received an Apache
name which means unruly, but this name had been corrupted
by the Mexicans into the word tontos, which means stupid or
foolish. They were a connecting link between their fierce
relatives on the east and the agricultural Mohaves on the
west; they had neither the wild, warlike habits of the one,
nor the good-natured indolence of the others. Their women
were obliged to do all the work, as in most of the tribes, and,
to make their lot more unenviable, the Tontos had a theory
that young females should not subsist on meat any more than
was absolutely necessary to prevent starvation. In conse¬
quence their women of all ages were dwarfed and dried up,
while their young girls frequently died from want of food.
To these enslaved and half-starved squaws the Oatman girls
were sub-slaves, and they found them most cruel mistresses.
They delighted in inventing new and unnecessary tasks, and
at the least provocation beat the helpless children unmerci¬
fully. The girls quickly learned that the children of the tribe
were their masters also, for the slightest complaint from one
of these youngsters was the signal for a severe beating. All
this, and their constant menial labor, had to be undergone on
the most stinted allowance of food. Even in feast times the
savages would contemptuously throw them refuse scraps of
food, saying: "You have been fed too well; we will teach
you to live on little." They would have died of starvation if
they had not appropriated for themselves, at every possible
occasion, the roots and other food that they were ordered to
gather for their owners.
Late in the fall of 1851 a party of Mohaves visited the
174
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
village on a trading expedition, and some talk was had about
a purchase of the captives. When about a year had elapsed
from the time of their capture, a second delegation of Mo-
haves, live men and the daughter of the chief, came to the
Tonto village to negotiate for them. The question of sale
was in dispute for some hours, but on the morning after the
arrival of the Mohaves the Tontos concluded to accept the
price offered, which was two horses, three blankets, some vege¬
tables, and some beads.
Another long and weary march was before the girls, but
what they suffered now was not a result of spite. The chiefs
daughter walked all the way, carrying a roll of blankets that she
shared each night with the captives, while the two horses that
remained to the party were carrying the gentlemen. For
eleven days they trudged along, over rugged mountains and
across dusty deserts, until they reached the Mohave valley,
on the Colorado River. A beautiful valley it appears to the
wayworn traveller across the desert, with the broad river
gleaming beyond through its fringe of willows and cotton-
wood, and patches of grass relieving the brown, dead color
that has become so tiresome. Ilere dwelt the new owners of
the slaves. As masters they were far preferable to the Ton¬
tos. They seemed to lack much of that savage trait of tortur¬
ing for the pleasure of seeing pain. They lived in rude but
comfortable huts, made of logs set on end, thatched on three
sides, and covered with mud roofs. These were usually sur¬
rounded by rows of cottonwood-trees and plots of grass, and
near them were placed cylindrical osier granaries in which
they stored their edibles. The Mohaves raised wheat, corn,
melons, and vegetables. They did not till the ground, but
planted everything in hills scraped up by their fingers, the an¬
nual overflow of the Colorado keeping the valley in a state of
great fertility. The girls were obliged to work much as be¬
fore, but they had more to eat and were beaten less.
One day the Mohaves heard the girls singing, and were
curious about this accomplishment of their slaves. At their
request the girls sang several songs. Afterwards they were
frequently importuned to sing, and were usually rewarded for
complying with strings of beads, pieces of red flannel, and
OATMAN FLAT.
175
other gifts that have a value to the savage. The flannel was
valuable to the girls also, enough of it being acquired to make
additions to their very limited wardrobes. The Indians often
asked them questions
about the whites; and
though they usually
concluded their inter¬
views by telling the
captives that they were
outrageous liars, like all
the Americans, they lis¬
tened with apparent in¬
terest to the descriptions
of the white man's hab¬
its. The idea of a heaven
above the stars struck
them as an especially
foolish thing, because
the heavenly hosts
would necessarily all
drop out. They also
questioned the girls
closely as to their contentment with their lot, and professed to
be fearful that they would attempt to escape. Finally, they
imparted the unwelcome information that they were about to
tattoo the girls' faces, so that they would know them wherever
they found them. The Mohaves tattoo their own women only
when they marry, marking them with vertical blue lines on the
chin, but Miss Oatrnan stated that their markings were differ¬
ent from those of the Mohave women, and that they were not
treated as wives by their owners.
The chief labor of the girls, through the summer, was col¬
lecting mezquite (pronounced mez-kee-tay' by the natives)
beans and storing them in the granaries. There are two kinds
of mezquite. The common, or straight-pod, is very similar to
the common honey-locust in growth, foliage, and the armor of
sharp spines. It occurs as a shrub, in dense thickets, or as a
tree from ten to forty feet high. It is invaluable to the inhabit¬
ants of Arizona for fuel, principally furnished by the roots,
IRATABA, MOHAVE CHIEF.
176
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
which remain intact long after the tree has disappeared,
and are found everywhere. The pods or beans, when ripe,
contain a sweet, mealy pulp, which, when dried and powdered,
is used for sweetening pinole (ground parched corn), or as a
food direct. The other is called the tornillo, or screw-pod
mezquite. It is similar to the first, except that the beans are
twisted in a close spiral, resembling a screw. During the
spring, when the winter supplies had been exhausted and the
new growth was not matured sufficiently for food, there was
ordinarily destitution among the Mohaves. Their chief reli¬
ance was in gleaning the mezquites from which beans had
been gathered in the preceding autumn. The summer of 1853
brought a failure of crops to them, and they looked forward
to the approaching winter with well-grounded fears of a fam¬
ine. The unhappy slaves were taxed to their utmost to gather
provisions, and the failure to return in the evening with loaded
baskets was sure to be paid by a beating. Mary was fast fail¬
ing under this barbarous life, and the starvation which was
peculiarly their lot. She wasted away to gauntness, and be¬
came more and more feeble. As starvation became more im¬
minent, those of the Indians who were able to travel made a
journey of sixty miles in search of food. Mary tried to ac¬
company them, but gave out and went back. The party
secured a tolerable supply of food, but it was soon exhausted.
The Indians were growing so desperate that savage selfishness
prevailed. Each one provided strictly for himself and ate all
he could get. They would let their nearest kin starve, and
then rend the air with the dismal howling that their customs
make appropriate in time of death.
Mary became helpless and Olive was distracted. She was
obliged to go away to procure food, yet she feared to leave
her sister. The Indians would give Mary nothing to eat, and
some of them advocated killing her in order that Olive might
have more time to procure food for them. When Olive found
anything to eat the Indians would take it from her, if they
saw it. Whole days passed when neither of them had a mor¬
sel. Their pangs of hunger were almost beyond endurance,
and their strength was ebbing. Olive could remain on her
feet but a short time, while Mary was fast approaching death.
OATMAN FLAT.
177
She fixed all her thoughts on a future life—a reunion with
her father and mother, her sisters and brothers, in a beautiful
land where pain and want would never come. Every day, so
long as her strength would permit her, she sang the hymns
that were used in the Sabbath-schools of thirty-five years ago.
Wan and weak, with flesh wasted and skin drawn tightly over
her bones, with unnatural fires gleaming in her eyes, her voice
would carry, pure and clear, the words of "Jesus, lover of
my soul," or, " The day is past and gone," until she seemed
some supernatural being, striving to throw off the covering
that held her, and rise above the earth. The Indians, even
those who thought it an injury to themselves for her to live,
would gather about her and stand enchained by the weird
sight, although close by their relatives were dying unheeded.
At times some of them would be overwhelmed with unknown
emotions, and give way to outbursts of weeping and moaning
as they looked on the dying girl. Death came at last, and she
passed to the abode of spirits peacefully and quietly, as if
sinking to sleep. Instead of burning her body, as is their
custom, they gave Olive the privilege of burying her remains
in the little garden-spot that had been set off for their use.
Oppressed by a terrible feeling of loneliness, Olive lived on
through the famine. The next year was one of plenty, but it
brought her a new torture. When the growth of the year
had advanced sufficiently to furnish the Mohaves with food,
and they had recovered strength and spirit, they decided to
make an expedition against the Cocopahs. This was the first
one that they had undertaken since the purchase of the cap¬
tives, and Olive was informed that in case any of the warriors
were killed she would be sacrificed, in accordance with their
custom, which requires a warrior who falls in battle to be fur¬
nished with a slave in Ilippoweka—the spirit-land. For five
months the war-party was absent. For five months Olive was
tortured by the constant contemplation of the thread on which
her life depended. There seemed hardly a possibility that all
the war-party would return, for the Cocopahs were reported
to have been joined by new and powerful allies since the
Mohaves last attacked them. At length, one day, as she was
gathering roots, she saw a messenger coming to the village.
178
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
He brought news, but of what? She knew not what to do.
For a moment she thought of flight, but abandoned that
chance as hopeless. In desperation she went to the village to
learn her fate. She sat in silence through the convening and
opening of a council, that Indian decorum made necessary
before the news was told. At length the messenger spoke.
The Mohaves were returning in triumph with five prisoners.
Hone of them had been killed. Tears of joy and relief rolled
down the poor girl's cheeks, and she bowed her head in thank¬
fulness for her deliverance.
Soon after this, Olive was forced to behold a shocking
spectacle. The captive Cocopahs were all young girls but one,
who was a woman about twenty-five years of age and unusual¬
ly beautiful. She appeared almost frantic with grief. Olive
succeeded in communicating with her, and learned that her
distress was caused by her separation from her husband and
infant child. Their village had been attacked in the night,
and the Cocopahs had fled. As she ran along, her husband
took the child from her arms and ran ahead. She followed,
but was overtaken. After remaining in the Mohave village
for a week, she made her escape in the night. She swam down
the river for several miles and concealed herself in a willow
thicket during the day. In this way she swam about one
hundred and thirty miles down the Colorado, in less than a
week, travelling only at night. She had passed almost through
the country of the Yumas, when one day a Yuma warrior dis¬
covered her lying under a shelving rock near the river. lie
secured her, and, as obliged by the intertribal relations,
brought her back to the Mohaves. The Mohaves crucified
her. That is one thing that the Arizona Indians have learned
from missionaries, at any rate, and they seem to think it an
improvement on their own barbarities. She was raised to the
cross-beam, about eight feet above the ground, and her hands
fastened by driving coarse wooden pegs through them. Sim¬
ilar pegs were driven through her feet. Her head was tied to
the upright by strings of bark stuck full of thorns. The
other captives and Olive were then brought before her and
told to behold the fate that awaited them if they attempted to
escape. For two hours the unfortunate lived, the Mohaves
OATMAN FLAT.
179
meanwhile dancing about her, shooting her with arrows, and
mangling her body with burning brands. After death they
took her down and burned her body on a funeral pyre.
After this Olive gave up all thought of escape. She lived
on in the usual way, though with one improvement; the Mo-
haves had been awakened to the necessity of greater care in
their planting, by the famine of 1853, and there was no more
suffering from want of food. In February, 1856, she was
startled to hear that a Yuma Indian had arrived in the village
with a message from the fort, demanding her release. This
PASQUAL, YUMA CHIEF.
assistance had come from an unexpected source. When Lo¬
renzo Oatman reached Camp Yuma, his story attracted the
sympathy of a number of officers and men, who desired to at¬
tempt the rescue of his sisters, but the garrison was soon to
move and there was no time for any protracted search. Colo¬
nel Iieintzelman, the commander, sent out a small force un¬
der Captain Davis and Lieutenant Mowry, but they failed to
find the captives. In June the garrison removed to San
Diego, except about a dozen men, who were left to guard the
ferry. In a short time these men were driven away by the
Yumas, who retained control of the ferry for several months.
12
180
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
A cliief named Antonio Garra, a man of resources and ability,
undertook to unite the Yumas and Coahuillas, of Southern
California, in an alliance to sweep the Americans from the
country. This failed through the treachery of Juan Antonio, a
Coahuilla chieftain, in whom Garra trusted. Colonel ITeint-
zelman was sent back to chastise them, a work that required
over a year. By October, 1852, Garra was killed and the
Yumas subdued. Lorenzo had gone to San Francisco with
Dr. Hewitt. He remained there and in the mines for three
years, trying to devise some plan to rescue his sisters; but
though he received much sympathy, he could get no material
assistance. In October, 1851, he went to Los Angeles, still
intent on this object. He joined several parties of prospec¬
tors organized to search for gold beyond the Colorado, and
one of them penetrated the country bordering on Bill Will¬
iams Fork in 1855, but without getting any trace of the cap¬
tive girls. In December of the same year he searched in
Southern California for them, but with no success. He then
tried the newspapers, by which he succeeded in arousing pub¬
lic sympathy somewhat, and in learning that his sister was
reported to be a captive among the Mohaves. Thereupon he
prepared a petition to Governor Johnson, of California, for
men and means to recover her, which was signed by many of
the people of Los Angeles county. The governor replied
that he had no authority to grant the request, and referred
him to the Indian Department. He prepared a memorial to
the Indian Department and forwarded it about the first of
February, 1856.
During this time an unknowm friend was at work. In 1853
there came to Fort Yuma, as carpenter, a Mr. Grinnell, who
was known to the Indians as " Carpintero" on account of his
occupation. He was a nephew of Henry Grinnell, whose
princely philanthropy fitted out the Advance and Rescue for
De Haven's search after Sir John Franklin's exploring party.
A similar spirit of humanity actuated the humble carpenter,
and led him to take a lively interest in the fate of the Oat-
man girls. lie continually questioned emigrants and Indians
for tidings of them. One night in January, 1856, a friendly
Indian, named Francisco, came to his tent and asked him:
OATMAN FLAT.
181
"Carpintero, what is this you say so much about two Ameri¬
canos among the Indians?" Grinnell informed him that the
whites well knew of the existence of the girls and would cer¬
tainly make war upon the Indians unless they were surren-
' dered. Producing a copy of the Los Angeles Star, in which
Lorenzo had made his first published appeal for assistance,
Grinnell translated the article to Francisco, and, still appear¬
ing to read, told him that a large army was being prepared
which wrould annihilate the Mohaves and all tribes who as¬
sisted them in concealing the captives. Francisco was visibly
impressed. Grinnell kept him in his tent all that night, and
in the morning took him to Colonel Burke, who commanded
the fort. Francisco said You give me four blankets and
some beads, and I will bring her in just twenty days, when the
sun is there," indicating about four o'clock in the afternoon.
Burke thought it was some trickery on the part of the
Indian, but Grinnell said to give him the goods and charge
them to him. The goods were furnished and Francisco de¬
parted.
The arrival of Francisco caused no little tumult in the
Mohave village. A council was called and Olive was shut
up in a distant part of the valley. Francisco urged her re¬
lease eloquently, but the Mohaves were not yet acquainted
with the power of American arms, besides feeling strong in
their remote location. Late at night the council broke up
with a refusal to surrender her, and an order to Francisco to
cross the river and return no more on penalty of torture.
He crossed the river but did not abandon his purpose. All
night he argued with the chiefs on that side and in the morn¬
ing they asked him to return with them, saying they would
do all they could to procure her surrender. They went back,
and, after some consultation, another council was called, which
Olive was permitted to attend. The Mohaves had devised a
new project. They stained her skin and ordered her, on pain
of death, not to speak to Francisco in American, Mohave, or
any other language that he could understand. To him they
represented that she was an Indian of a distant tribe. She
summoned all her courage and told him who she was and
what they had ordered her to do. Francisco sprang from his
1S2
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
A MOHAVE DWELLING.
seat in fury. He launched upon the Mohaves a most ve¬
hement and eloquent address. He reproached them for their
attempted deception ; told them the whites knew that the
girl was there ; that they would destroy the Mohaves and the
Yumas if she were not given up; that the Yumas had
fought the Americans for many months and knew that they
were more powerful than all the Indian tribes; that he had
come to them out of mercy for his own tribe; and that they
had endangered their own lives and those of their friends the
Yumas by this treachery. To Olive he gave the following
note, which she deciphered with much difficulty:
OATMAN FLAT.
183
"Francisco, Yuma Indian, bearer of this, goes to the Mohave nation to
obtain a white woman there, named Olivia. It is desirable she should
come to this post, or send her reasons why she does not wish to come.
"Martin Burke, Lieut.-Col. Commanding.
"Headquarters, Fort Yuma, Cai„, 27th January, 1S5G."
The Mohaves wanted to know what was in this letter.
Olive told them, and also informed them that the Americans
would certainly send an army to destroy them if they did
not let her go with Francisco. The Mohaves began to be
cowed. They proposed that they should kill Olive and that
Francisco should report her as dead, but this Francisco refused
to do. The night dragged on in that fierce debate, where
a feather's weight might give the captive liberty or doom
her to death. After sunrise Francisco and Olive were told
to retire, and when called back they were informed that the
Mohaves had decided to surrender her. Unable to repress
her emotion, Olive burst into tears. She was not allowed to
take any mementoes'with her. They took away even the
beads and cloth that had been given to her and Mary for
singing. She had only the privilege of a last visit to her sis¬
ter's grave. There were few preparations to make. They
got breakfast, secured a little food, and started. They were
accompanied by Francisco's brother and two cousins, who
had come with him, and by the chief's daughter, who went to
the fort to obtain a horse that Francisco had promised to her
father.
The twentieth day arrived and found Grinnell waiting
patiently. He had been the subject of many jests by his
comrades, who thought that Francisco had cleverly worked
on his sympathies to the extent of the goods furnished him.
At noon three Yumas appeared and announced that Francisco
was coming. " Is the girl with him ?" asked Grinnell, eagerly.
" Francisco will come here when the sun is there," answered
the Indians, indicating the point Francisco had designated,
and no more satisfaction could be had from them. The sun
crept down the west never so slowly. As the hour neared,
Grinnell's strained eyes caught sight of three Indian men
and two women approaching the ferry, on the opposite side
of the-river. He sprang forward with the glad shout:
181
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
" They have come; the captive girl is here !" Olive, who did
not wish to come to the fort in her scanty bark dress, was
quickly furnished with clothing by an officer's wife, and was
soon presented to the commander amid wild enthusiasm.
Men cheered, cannons boomed, and the assembled Yumas,
carried away by the general joy, gave vent to shrill whoops.
There remained a yet more affecting meeting. Two days af¬
ter sending his memorial to the Indian Department, a friend
handed Lorenzo a copy of the Los Angeles Star containing a
brief statement of Olive's recovery. lie mounted a horse
and hastened to the editor. The report was reliable. It was
based on a letter from Colonel Burke. A kind friend fur¬
nished him with transportation and accompanied him to Fort
Yuma. Ten days of riding, along the western slope and
across the Colorado desert, and the brother and sister were
clasped in a fond embrace. What a meeting ! Five years be¬
fore they separated amid the groans of their dying kindred,
in the moonlight, on the desert. JSTow they meet, the sole
survivors, after weary days and nights of hardship and de¬
spair, in safety, and surrounded by friends. Tears came un¬
bidden to the eyes of strong men who stood about them, but
they were not ashamed to weep.
There remains but little more to tell. Lorenzo and Olive
returned to Los Angeles, and thence went to Southern Ore¬
gon, to live with a cousin who heard of their trials and in¬
vited them to make his home their own. They afterwards
attended school in the Santa Clara Valley, in California, and
in 1858 removed to Yew York. Francisco received praise
and reward from the whites, and this led the Yumas to make
him a chief. lie was commonly known as El Sol Francisco,
possibly from his indicating the time of his return by the
sun. lie was very arrogant in his new station, but remained
friendly to the whites while he lived. In 1857 the Yumas
and Mohaves determined on a grand expedition against the
Maricopas. They raised a large band, including a number
of Yampais and Diegenos, and attacked the Maricopa villages
about the first of September. They burned some houses, and
killed some women and children, but a swift vengeance over¬
took them. The Pimas and Maricopas hastily congregated,
OLD FORT YUMA.
OATMAN FLAT.
187
and were reinforced by Papagos until their numbers were
about equal to those of the invaders. At Maricopa "VVells
they fought a great battle, in which the river Indians were
defeated with a loss of over two hundred warriors. Out of
seventy-five Yuma warriors who went to battle only three
returned alive. Francisco fell on this field, killed, it is said,
by his own men, who thought he had brought disaster on
them by befriending the whites. The Yumas and about half
of the Mohaves still remain along the Colorado. They are
not under charge of any agent, and are subdued to a state of
abject servility. The remainder of the Mohaves and most of
the Chemehueves are on the Colorado River reservation and
are commonly known as the Colorado River Indians. The
Tontos remained at large for many years, but at length, re¬
duced by war and disease to less than seven hundred, they
were placed on the White Mountain reservation in Arizona.
They never acquired any weapons, except a few knives and
lances, and were never formidable. The Pimas and Marico-
pas have had a reservation set off for them, including their
cultivated lands on the Gila, and still remain there. The
Papagos have a reser¬
vation of 6000 acres,
including San Xavier
del Bac. These three
tribes have always re¬
mained friendly, and
have been at times the
only bulwarks of the
whites against the hos¬
tile Apaches. They of¬
fered to raise a regiment
for the Union during
the civil war, but the
government contented
itself with furnishing-
them arms to fight the Apaches. They have often served
as scouts and guides.
After the remains of the Oatmans were covered up by
Wilder and Kelly, they were dug out bj^ coyotes, and lay
CHARL1CS D. ROSTOV
188
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
scattered until the arrival of Dr. Webb's party of the Mexican
Boundary Commission, a few months later. They were then
reinterred. A second time they were dug up by the desert
scavengers and scattered over the mesa. In 1851 they were
again gathered by Mr. Boston, an early settler of Arizona, and
buried in the flat below the scene of the massacre. A small
enclosure marks the spot, and a board with a rudely carved
inscription tells the traveller that there are buried the remains
of the unfortunate family whose terrible calamity gave a name
to Oatman Flat.
CHAPTER VII.
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS.
Oregon was organized as a territory in 1848 by Congress,
and its territorial government went into operation in the fol¬
lowing spring, on the arrival of the governor, General Joe
Lane, an Indianian who had won distinction in the Mexican
war. Under the organic act, it embraced the country west of
GENERAL JOE LANE.
the Rocky Mountains north of parallel 42. The part of this
north of parallel 46 to its intersection with the Columbia, and
north of the Columbia thence westward to the ocean, was
organized as Washington Territory in 1853. At the time of
190
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the organization of Oregon, the part afterwards erected into
Washington Territory was still virtually in the hands of the
Hudson's Bay Company, except that a few families had set¬
tled in 1814 at Tumwater, now a suburb of Olympia, and one
or two more at the latter place. Its first governor, Isaac I.
Stevens (the Brigadier-general Stevens of the Union army
who fell at Bull Run), arrived, overland, in the fall of 1853,
with a surveying-party, examining the country which they
traversed with regard to its availability as a railroad route.
To these territories we must now return, for, while a restless
peace has been maintained in Washington and Northern Ore¬
gon for several years, trouble has arisen in the South.
Along the southern boundary, extending into both Cali¬
fornia and Oregon, were several warlike tribes, who, though
not very friendly among themselves, were in general sympathy
in their hostility towards the whites. On the Rogue River were
several bands of the Shasta family, sometimes known by the
names of their chiefs, but almost always called " the Rogue
River Indians." There were two principal clans of them, the
Upper and Lower Rogue Rivers; the former were led by
" Joe," whom they called Apso-kah-hah (the Horse Rider) ; the
latter were under " Sam " (Ko-ko-kah-wah—the Wealthy), a
wily and avaricious old man, who generally restrained them
from hostility to the whites, and managed to reap a heavy
harvest of presents and profits for himself. South of these,
on the Klamath River, were the Lutuami or Klamaths (Klamet,
Ivlamac, Clammat, Tlamath), the several tribes included under
the name having no close relationship. Those nearest the
ocean, called the Lower Klamaths (Eurocs, Youruks or Poh-
liks), were a dark people, inferior to their relatives above, a
distinction which is always marked between the tribes who
subsist on fish and roots and those who eat flesh. Above
them, on the river, were the Upper Klamaths (Cahrocs, Kali-
ruks or Pehtsik), a finely formed, energetic, and cleanly race.
The Modocs (Moadocks, Moahtockna), formerly included in
the Klamaths, but really a branch of the Shoshonee stock, lived
about the lakes in which the Klamath heads, and others near
them, extending to the bounds of the Bannocks and Pah-Utes.
In their own language they are called Okkowish, their com-
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 191
moil name (pronounced Mo'-ah-dock') being a Shasta word
which means strangers or enemies, a coincident signification
that has doubtless caused them to be blamed for many wrongs
which they did not commit. South of the Klamaths were the
remainder of the Shastas (Tshastl, Chasta, Shasty, Saste, Shas-
teeca), of whom a part were friendly, especially a band of the
Scott's River Indians (Ottetiewas), under their chief, Tolo, who
was called by the whites " Old Man " or " Charley." The
Shastas, Rogue Rivers, and Scott's Rivers have all one lan¬
guage, and had formerly one head chief, who was accidentally
killed a short time before the discovery of gold in California.
After his death a contest arose as to the chief command be¬
tween John, the old chief's son, Sam and Joe of the Rogue
Rivers, and Scarface of Shasta, Tolo remaining neutral.
When the whites began to come in they separated, each
aspirant retaining supreme control of his own faction. These
bands were further subdivided under various sub-chiefs, and
with them had confederated the Umpquas, who lived north of
the Rogue Rivers.
These Indians had never been friendly to the Americans.
Away back in 1834 the Umpquas attacked a trading party of
fourteen men under Captain Smith, of Smith, Sublette, &
Jackson, and killed eleven of them. In 1835 a party of eight
was assailed in the Rogue River Valley ; Daniel Miller, Edward
Barnes, Mr. Sanders, and an Irishman called Tom were killed ;
the other four escaped, badly wounded. In 1838 they attacked
the first party sent out by the Wallamet Cattle Company to
bring in stock from California, but were beaten off after
wounding Mr. Gay, one of the survivors of the party of
1835. In 1845 the Klamaths attacked Fremont's third ex¬
ploring expedition, in camp, at Klamath Lake, and killed
three men before Kit Carson's trained ear caught the sound,
and the party was awakened to win safety in a hand-to-hand
conflict. In the spring of 1851 the Rogue Rivers killed two
men on Grave Creek, and two or three on Rogue River, in
consequence of which Major Phil. Kearny, the same gallant
cavalier who fell at Chantilly, was sent against them with a
detachment of regulars. He defeated them in two, actions;
the men fled to the mountains and about thirty women and
192
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
children were captured. He was taking these prisoners into
California when he was met by General Joe Lane, who
confidence, they came in, and a treaty was made. Just
about this time, unfortunately, the commission received in¬
structions to discontinue its labors, and the treaty was never
ratified. Nevertheless, the Iiogue Rivers committed no fur¬
ther serious depredations for about two years.
The other tribes were not so quiet. In June, 1852, the Pitt
River Indians killed four men who were locating a wagon road,
and in August the Modocs massacred an emigrant party of
thirty-three persons, of whom several were Californians who
had gone out to assist the emigration. Volunteer companies
were at once organized at Yreka and Jacksonville and de¬
spatched to the scene of the affair, near Tule or Rhett Lake.
The California company, under Captain Ben Wright, reached
Bloody Point, on the lake, just in time to relieve an emigrant
train of sixteen wagons which had been surrounded by the
Indians for several hours. At the approach of the volunteers
the Indians took to their canoes and continued the fight from
the lake, which is shallow, full of islands, and bordered with
a heavy growth of tule reeds. They soon discovered that
they were playing an unequal game, and after losing a dozen
or more warriors they retired out of range. The next day the
volunteers found and buried the bodies of eighteen murdered
rHlI.II' KEARNY.
persuaded him to permit
them to return with him
to the Rogue River. Lane
arrived at Rogue River
shortly after the commis¬
sioners who were treat¬
ing with the various tribes
arrived at the same place.
The Indians had refused
to make any terms with
Major Kearny; but when
they saw their women and
children returning, under
charge of a " tyee" in
whom they had great
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 193
emigrants and settlers. They remained in the locality for
three months, together with the Oregon company, under
Captain Eo'ss, which had arrived after the battle and consoli¬
dated with the Yreka Company, with Captain Wright com¬
manding. They employed their time in escorting emigrant
trains through the more dangerous places, and concluded an
otherwise meritorious campaign by a most disgraceful massa¬
cre. It was on the morning that they left for home that they
had, as one of their number reported it, " a smart engagement,
in which we killed about forty of them, impressing upon the
minds of the balance, no doubt, the opinion that we had
avenged the wrongs their tribe had committed towards the
whites, at least during that season." In reality Wright sent
out a captured squaw by whose representations forty-eight of
the Modocs were induced to come to the camp to have a feast
and make a treaty. The original plan was to poison the food
given to the Indians, and so be rid of them, but it did not suc¬
ceed. Some say that the squaw got an inkling of what was
going on and notified the warriors, who thereupon refused to
eat. Others say that they ate, but the poison did not operate ;
that Wright used to swear afterwards over the way he had
been imposed on by the druggist. At any rate, the feast part
of the programme passed and they sat down to talk. While
the talk was going on Wright opened fire with his revolver,
killing two of the principal Indians. At this prearranged
signal his men fired, their rifles having been charged afresh
for the occasion, and thirty-six more of the Modocs fell. The
remaining ten managed to escape before the volunteers could
reload. Wright broke camp and returned to Yreka in triumph,
his men carrying the scalps of the Indians on their rifles. lie
reported that he had demanded the return of stolen property
of the Modocs, and, on their failure to surrender it, had pun¬
ished them. A general welcome was extended by the citizens
of Yreka, and the legislature of California paid the volunteers
for their services, but Wright met his punishment four years
afterwards, when the Rogue Rivers killed him, at his agency,
with twenty-three others. The Modocs never forgot this out¬
rage, and the bad faith shown bore fruit long afterwards, as we
shall see hereafter.
194
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
From these conflicts no very peaceable disposition had
been produced in either whites or Indians, but, aside from
this, there was a continuing cause which was the chief occa¬
sion of both the wars that followed. In 1852 President Fill¬
more said, in his message to Congress: " The Senate not hav¬
ing thought proper to ratify the treaties which had been ne¬
gotiated with the tribes of Indians in California and Oregon,
our relations with them have been left in a very unsatisfac¬
tory condition. In other parts of our territory, particular dis¬
tricts of country have been set apart for the exclusive occupa¬
tion of the Indians, and their right to the lands within those
limits has been acknowledged and respected. But in Cali¬
fornia and Oregon there has been no recognition by the gov¬
ernment of the exclusive right of the Indians to any part of
the country. They are, therefore, mere tenants at sufferance,
and liable to be driven from place to place at the pleasure of
the whites." What the President thought "liable" to occur
was at that time occurring. During the controversy with Eng¬
land, as to the ownership of the country, and afterwards,
strong representations of future benefits had been held out to
emigrants, by statesmen who favored an occupation of Oregon,
and these had been made good by Congress, by allowing each
actual settler before 1850 to pre-empt three hundred and twenty
acres of land, with an equal amount for his wife, if married,
while settlers from December 1,1850, to December 1,1853, took
half that amount. As there was no restriction in regard to what
lands were to be taken, the settlers naturally took the best they
could find, and, as gold was discovered at various points, farms
were opened about the diggings, and all of the better part of
the country was overrun by the enterprising immigrants. In
the meantime treaties were not ratified, and the Indians failed
to receive the promised consideration for the lands of which
they had been dispossessed. Of course, the same possessory
title remained in them as had always been recognized in the
eastern tribes, and disinterested persons, particularly the army
officers, regarded them as being imposed upon. In 1852,
Brevet Brigadier-general Hitchcock, commanding the Pacific
division, wrote: "As matters now stand the United States
troops are placed in a most delicate and awkward position.
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 195
The whites go in upon Indian lands, provoke the Indians,
bring on collisions, and then call for protection, and complain
if it is not furnished, while the practical effect of the presence
of the troops can be little else than to countenance and give
security to them in their aggressions ; the Indians, meanwhile,
looking upon the military as their friends, and imploring their
protection." The courts, of necessity, took much the same
view of the question as the military authorities. In 1851
several Klickitats were indicted for malicious trespass, for de¬
stroying some timber in the Wallamet Valley, which a settler,
named Donald McLeod, had prepared for a house. They
maintained that it was their own timber, grown on their land,
and that they had warned McLeod not to attempt to settle
there. The United States District Judge held that they had a
possessor}' title to the land, not yet extinguished by the gov¬
ernment, and that the action would not lie. Another attempt
to have the Indians punished for trespass was made by one
Bridgefarmer. lie had built a fence across an Indian trail,
and they had torn it down and followed their customary high¬
way. It resulted as the other case had.
The situation was one from which warfare was certain to
result. The settlers had come to get their three hundred and
twenty acres of land and go to farming, but no matter where
they settled they were on Indian land. They saw other set¬
tlers peaceably established on their farms, under the same
circumstances, and they settled also. But they went to inex¬
cusable lengths in their appropriations. Is early all of the In¬
dians had adopted agriculture to some extent, and particularly
the cultivation of the potato, of which they were very fond.
In many tribes each family had its little patch, of a quarter
of an acre or more, which was carefully tended and quite pro¬
ductive. In pre-empting farms many of these were enclosed
by the settlers, and so notorious had this evil become, in
1853, that Lieutenant Jones, commanding Steilacoom bar¬
racks, gravely writes: "The practice which exists throughout
the territory, of settlers taking from them their small potato
patches, is clearly wrong and should be stopped." One is al¬
most inclined to ask what he was there for, but it is well to
remember that military interference, in the United States, has
13
196
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ever been regarded as the climax of evils, and no officer could
be expected to do more than call the matter to the attention
of the government.
The Indians of Oregon had, from the first, treated the
Americans remarkably well. The Whitman massacre was the
first serious trouble that had occurred, and, in Northern Ore¬
gon, almost the only one. But as the Indians saw their lands
being taken without compensation, their treaties unfulfilled,
and the men who " spoke with authority " to them being con¬
stantly changed, and unable to carry out their agreements, they
lost all confidence in their white friends. One Rogue River
chief said: "We have waited and. waited, because the agents
told us to be patient; that it would be all right by and bv.
We are tired of this. We believe Uncle Sam intends to cheat
us. Sometimes we are told there is one great chief and some¬
times another. One superintendent tells us one thing, and
the great chief removes him. Then another superintendent
tells us another thing, and another great chief removes him.
Who are we to believe? Who is your great chief, and who
is to tell us the truth ? We don't understand the way you act.
With us, we are born chiefs; once a chief we are a chief for
life. But you are only common men, and we never know
how long you will hold your authority, or how soon the great
chief may degrade you, or how soon he may be turned out
himself. We want to know the true head, that we may state
our condition to him. Let him come here himself and see
us. So many lies have been told him that we think he never
hears the truth, or he would not compel us to suffer as we do."
The Rogue Rivers chafed more than the others, because
there were more miners in their country, and consequently
more aggression. The road from California to Oregon lay
across their lands; placers had been found on them; and
miners and settlers had flocked in. Jacksonville was a flour¬
ishing town; villages had sprung up at several points; farms
were opened all through the Rogue River Valley. The In¬
dians saw but one chance for relief. On August 4,1853, they
began remedying the evil by killing Edward Edwards in his
house, on Stewart's creek ; and rapine and destruction were
the order from that time forward. On the next day Thomas
MOUNT SHASTA FROM VALLEY OF SACRAMENTO.
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 199
Wills was killed within three hundred yards of Jacksonville,
and, on the 6th, Richard Nolan was murdered about a mile
from the same town. By this time the alarm had been
sounded everywhere, and the people gathered together for
protection, while the torch was applied to their buildings and
haystacks, and their stock was being driven off to the moun¬
tains. Captain B. R. Alden, commanding at Fort Jones, in
Northern California, was notified, and at once repaired to the
scene. He brought ten regulars, all that were available at the
fort, and some volunteers from Yreka, who, together with the
volunteers at Jacksonville, made a force of about two hundred.
On August 11 this force had prepared for a night attack
on the Indians, who were strongly posted near Table Rock,
but at dusk a messenger appeared, at full speed, announcing
that a band of Indians was raiding the valley and that the
families there were in imminent danger. As he spoke his
words were verified b}r the red glare of burning buildings on
the western sky, and the volunteers, without waiting for or¬
ders, hurried to the defence of their homes. The force could
not be collected again for work till the 16th, and then the
Indians had retired into the mountains, firing the pine forests
behind them.
On the 20th, while preparations were being made for an
extended chase, General Lane arrived and took command.
At daybreak of the 22d the troops moved forward in quest of
the savages. For two days and a half they searched through
an almost impassable country, where nearly all traces of the
trail had been destroyed in the forest fires. Near noon of the
24th, General Lane, who was in advance, heard a sound of
voices, about four hundred yards away, in a dense forest. The
troops were quietly dismounted, and, dividing into two parties,
made their attack. The Indians quickly recovered from their
first surprise and took positions behind logs and trees, from
which they returned the fire vigorously. The battle was thus
carried on for nearly four hours, and during it General Lane,
Captain Alden, and three others were badly wounded and
three killed, the Indians losing eight killed and twenty
wounded, of whom seven died. While General Lane was at
the rear, having his wound dressed, the Indians called to the
13*
200
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
troops that they wanted to make peace. Two men went to
talk witli them, and, on learning that General Lane was in
command, they wanted him to come also. lie went over, and,
as there was no prospect for a victory over the Indians, lie
made arrangements by which they were to come to Table
Rock and make peace. Both parties remained on the ground
over-night, good faith being mutually observed, and in the
morning the Indians moved off. They appeared at Table
Rock as agreed, and a treaty was concluded there on Septem¬
ber 10. The Indians were by no means conquered, but
treated on equal terms, being influenced by their confidence
in General Lane more than by any other consideration.
Discontent soon became an active force again, for all the
old causes were in operation. Force seemed to be the only
arbiter for which either party had any respect. There were
murders committed by Indians, and murders committed by
white men. On January 16, 1854, a party of citizens from
Yreka undertook to chastise a party of Shastas for an alleged
theft of cattle, but were driven back with a loss of four men.
Over on the Oregon side, at daybreak of the 28th, a party of
thirty miners, under a discharged sergeant of dragoons,
named Abbott, attacked three lodges of friendly Indians at
the mouth of the Coquille ; killed sixteen, and wounded four.
These Indians had only three good guns among them, and
the number of warriors in the district was less than half of
that of the whites. The assassination of some thirty men is
attributed to the Shastas, Rogue Rivers, and Modocs between
the treaty of September 10, 1853, and the outbreak of 1855.
It may safely be assumed that at least as many Indians were
murdered by whites, for there were many white men among
the pioneers who, when a safe opportunity presented, shot an
Indian as they would a wolf. In addition to these home af¬
fairs, the whites were greatly inflamed, all through the coast,
by the barbarous massacre of an emigrant party of nine men,
two women, and eight children on August 20. This crime
was committed near Fort Boisee by the Snake Indians. Be¬
fore it occurred there had been murders all along the emigrant
trails, and, in the summer, a company of militia had been sent
out under Captain Jesse Walker. lie attacked the Modocs at
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 201
their rancherias on Tule Lake, forced them to take to the
water, and destroyed their buildings and all their provisions.
From August 18 to September 4 there was more or less skir¬
mishing between them, and, on the latter date, the Indians,
being wholly out of provisions, made peace, and promised to
rob and kill no more. He then marched against the Pah-
Utes and chastised them at Warner's Rock, but was unable
to bring them to terms. But troubles in Oregon were be¬
ginning to be more important than those along the trails.
Until 1855 the Klickitats (Robbers) had been friendly to
the whites. In 1S51 they had tendered their services during
the Rogue River troubles, but had not been used. In 1853,
sixty of their warriors, armed and mounted, had gone to as¬
sist General Lane, but they did not arrive until the treaty of
Table Rock had been completed. These Indians, though not
great in numbers, were among the most powerful and influen¬
tial of the tribes, well supplied with fire-arms, and very ex¬
pert in their use. From their home on the eastern slope of
the Cascade Mountains, north of the Columbia, they had sal¬
lied forth, at about the time the missionaries came into the
country, and fallen on the weaker tribes below. They first
attacked the Cowlitz, Chinooks, and other inferior tribes along
the Columbia, and in five years had reduced them to tribu¬
taries. In 1841 they began raiding south of the Columbia,
west of the Cascades, where the coast tribes, reduced by dis¬
ease, were unable to resist them. They subdued the Clacka¬
mas, Yamhills (Che-am-ills, meaning bald hills, now hope¬
lessly corrupted in the form given), Santiams, and other tribes
of the Wallamet Valley, and forced them to pay tribute.
The Umpquas next fell before their conquering arms, and the
Klickitats controlled the country from the Columbia to the
Rogue River Mountains, exercising possession and claiming
title by right of conquest. In their palmy days they main¬
tained a state more nearly approaching regal magnificence
than did any savage tribe of America. Casino, one of their
chiefs, was frequently attended on his travels by a hundred
slaves, and, on visiting Fort Vancouver, it is said, his slaves
carpeted the way from the landing to the fort, a quarter of a
mile, with furs, and, on returning, the Hudson's Bay men
202
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
carpeted the same path with blankets and other goods. In
1851 treaties were made with the coast tribes at Shampoag, in
which the Klickitats were entirely ignored, notwithstanding
their possessory title had been judicially recognized, as before
mentioned. Nevertheless they retained their actual sover¬
eignty. They maintained an extensive trade in furs and
slaves with all the neighboring tribes, roamed the country at
will, and exacted tribute on all fish and furs taken in their
territory, as well as on all increase of stock. Their chief
highway was through the valley of the Wallamet, and here,
during the winter season, they usually kept their families.
As the country settled up, their excursions became annoying
to the whites, and, in 1853, Governor Palmer represented to
the government that the property of the whites, as well as
that of their subject tribes, suffered at their hands. In the
spring of 1855, reduced by disease to a comparatively small
band, they were compelled to remove to their original home,
and from that time they were ready for war.
Several of the tribes east of the Cascade Mountains were
dissatisfied with the treaties which had been made with
them, for their lands, by Governor Stevens, in the spring of
1855. They did not understand the bargain as the whites
did. Chief among these were the Yakimas (Black Bears),
a strong tribe of Washington Territory, whose country lay
just north of the Klickitats. They were closely united by
intermarriage and interest with both the Klickitats and the
"King Georges," or British, and carried on an extensive
commerce through all the northern country from the coast
to the Kocky Mountains. Their chiefs, Kamiaken, Owahi,
Skloo, and others, had signed the treaty of Walla-Walla under
strong pressure from Governor Stevens, and almost immedi¬
ately repudiated it. The Indians claimed that the chiefs who
signed it had been bought up, a practice occasionally resorted
to by the representatives of the government; they were in¬
dignant and alarmed. To the representations of the Hud¬
son's Bay people, that the Americans would take their lands,
the Yakimas lent a credent" ear. In fact, they had only to
look across the mountains to see the lands of other tribes
taken without recompense, while disease was sweeping the
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 203
expelled owners from the face of the earth. Disaffection
was rife everywhere, and there was scarcely a tribe from the
British possessions to California but had its grievance. Mor¬
mon emissaries aided in diffusing enmity, nor was their part
merely that of advisers, for in the succeeding war guns and
ammunition bearing Mormon brands were captured from the
Indians. The more intelligent and resolute chiefs urged a
o O
union of all the tribes for war. Among these none was more
influential than Leschi, a Nasqualla chief, who, with half a
dozen of his tribe, crossed the mountains and preached a cru¬
sade to the interior tribes. "Bold, adventurous, and elo¬
quent, he possessed an unlimited sway over his people, and,
by the earnestness of his purpose and the persuasiveness of
his arguments, carried all with him who heard him speak.
He travelled by day and night, caring neither for hunger nor
fatigue; visited the camps of the Yakimas and Klickitats;
addressed the councils in terms of eloquence such as they had
seldom heard. He crossed the Columbia, penetrated to South¬
ern Oregon, appealed to all the disaffected there. He dwrnlt
upon their wrongs; painted to them, in the exuberance of
his imagination, the terrible picture of the 'jpolakly illeha,'
the land of darkness, where no ray from the sun ever pene¬
trated ; where there was torture and death for all the races of
Indians; where the sting of an insect killed like the stroke of
a spear, and the streams were foul and muddy, so that no living
thing could drink of the waters. This was the place where
the white man wanted to carry them. He called upon them
to resist like braves so terrible a fate. The white men were
but a handful now. They could all be killed at once and
then others would fear to come. But if there was no wrar,
they would grow strong and many, and put all the Indians in
their big ships, and send them off to that terrible land where
torture and death awaited them." On the other hand, there
were chiefs in all the tribes who opposed war; some tribes
refused to take any part in the matter, and others acted as
auxiliaries to the whites. The Nez Perces were particularly
faithful. They escorted back to Walla-Walla Governor Ste¬
vens, who had gone to treat with the Blackfeet and other
tribes, and for whose safety there was much apprehension.
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
They also organized for active work against the hostiles
when they should be called upon.
A union in sympathy, at least, was effected between a
majority of the tribes, but before any definitely arranged
plans for simultaneous action were matured the impatient
tribes of the North opened the contest. The Colville mines
were discovered in the summer of 1855, and the usual rush
for the new diggings ensued. Among others who started was
a Mr. Mattice, who had been operating a coal-mine on the
Dwamish. lie had just crossed the mountains, by Snoqua-
limie Pass, with a considerable amount of money and pro¬
visions, when a party of Indians, supposed to be Yakimas,
killed him and carried off his property. About the same
time his partner, Fantjoy, was also murdered by the Indians,
and thereafter miners were cut off at every opportunity. In
September, Indian agent Bolen went from the Dalles into
the country of the Yakimas, and had a talk with Ivamia-
ken, Owahi, and other chiefs. On the next day, as he was re¬
turning, three Indians came up with him, and, while two
talked to him, one fell behind and shot him in the back.
He was scalped and his body partially burned. As soon as
this outrage was heard of, a plan was formed to send 100
men into the Yakima country from Fort Steilacoom, while
Major Pains (afterwards a Confederate general), commanding
at Fort Vancouver, advanced by way of the Columbia, and
to unite the two forces in the enemy's territory. The force
from Steilacoom was confronted in the mountains by an
overwhelming body of Indians, and retired to the western
slope. Under instructions from Major Pains, Major Ilaller
advanced from the Dalles, with 100 men on October 3. On
the 6th he was surrounded in a position where he had neither
wood nor water, and was forced to retreat, reaching the Dal¬
les on the 10th. lie lost three killed, nineteen wounded, thirty
pack animals, and was obliged to cache a mountain howitzer,
which, however, was afterwards recovered. Major Pains then
came up and took the field in person, with 350 regulars. He
pushed forward to the Catholic mission on the Yakima, had
a few skirmishes with the Indians, and burned some of their
stores, but failed to accomplish any satisfactory result.
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 205
In the South, war was precipitated by a foolish and fiend¬
ish attack on the friendly Rogue Rivers of Old Sam's band.
Some of the whites decided that sub-chief Jake's ranche was
a harbor for unfriendly Indians, who had been burning fences
and buildings, and also for friendly ones who had been guilty
of pilfering, so, early on the morning of October 8, a party of
them under u Major" James Lupton attacked it. They left
behind them, as proof positive of their prowess, the bodies of
THE DALLES.
eight men (four very aged) and fifteen women and children,
besides several whose bodies were thrown into the river.
They also fired into sub-chief Sambo's camp, killing one wom¬
an and wounding two boys. This latter party was on the
way to the reservation, the men having gone ahead. A
large number of the remaining friendly Indians lied in terror
to Fort Lane, where the troops saved them from destruction
in the war of extermination that followed. The rest joined
206
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
"John" (Te-cum-ton—Elk-killer), the hostile fourth chief
of the tribe, and at once began retaliating. On the 9th
they burned every house from Evans' Ferry to Jump-off-Jo
Creek, and robbed and destroyed every wagon along the road.
They killed eighteen people, of whom six were women and
children, at Jewett's Ferry, Evans' Ferry, Wagoner's Ranch,
and neighboring points. This descent is known as the "Wag¬
oner massacre." On the next day they killed Misses Hudson
and Wilson, on the road between Crescent City and Indian
Creek, and thenceforward a most sanguinary war was waged
by both whites and Indians on unprotected parties of strag¬
glers, while both parties oppressed the friendly Indians who
desired only to remain on the reservation in peace, the whites
murdering them at every opportunity, and the Indians de¬
stroying their houses and other property. Among other atroc¬
ities a party of volunteers, on December 23, 1855, surrounded
the camp of some Indians, whom they had visited the day
before, and knew to be friendly and unarmed, with the ex¬
ception of a few bows and arrows; they killed nineteen men,
and drove the women and children out into the severe cold,
from the effects of which the little remnant that gathered at
Fort Lane were all suffering with frozen limbs. The openly
expressed policy of the volunteers, and of many of the citizens,
was the extermination of all neighboring Indians.
At the North the volunteers blundered as badly as in the
South. A company of them, under Nathan Olney, an In¬
dian agent, had organized on the call of Major Rains, and
pushed up the Columbia early in the winter. They reached
Fort Walla-Walla on December 3, and on December 5 met the
band of the Walla-Walla chief Pio-pio-mox-mox (Yellow Ser¬
pent, Serpent Jaune). This chief had formerly been a good
friend of the Americans. lie had assisted Colonel Fremont
in California; he had refused to join the hostile Cayuses after
the Whitman massacre; he was emphatically the chief of the
Columbia country whose influence was most worth having.
Rut he had recently plundered Fort Walla-Walla (still a Hud¬
son's Ray Companj^ post), and was understood to be in S3rm-
patliy with the hostiles. He advanced under a white flag and
desired to treat, but a question arose over the terms, and the
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 207
whites told liim lie must go back and fight. This he refused
to do, so he and four of his men were held as prisoners, still
repeatedly refusing to leave the camp and fight, still promis¬
ing to return the property plundered from Fort Walla-AValla,
and still insisting on peace. On the 7th, the volunteers were
attacked by about three hundred Indians and fought them on
the march all day. At evening an attempt was made to bind
Yellow Serpent and his companions, but they refused to
submit to this indignity; they drew knives and attempted to
resist, but were shot down, except one young Indian who
made no resistance. Yellow Serpent's scalp and ears, and
the scalps of the others, were sent into the settlements as tro¬
phies. This action settled the question with many hesitating
Walla-Wallas, Umatillas, Cay uses, Pelouses, and Des Chutes,
who forthwith joined the hostiles. On the 8th, the attacking
force numbered nearly six hundred, but they were driven
across the Columbia with little loss to either side. Aside
from this these volunteers accomplished nothing beyond cre¬
ating dissatisfaction among the friendly Cay uses and Nez
Perces, who had acceded to their terms, and who accused
them of taking their property wrongfully. After two months'
service this company was disbanded, but a large force of vol¬
unteers was kept in the field in various parts of Oregon, most
of them still determined on the policy of extermination.
In the latter part of January the Indians about Puget's
Sound suddenly began war, having been incited to it by the
chiefs Leschi, Kitsap, Stahi, Kelson, and others. So unlooked-
for was this outbreak that a number of unsuspecting settlers
were cut off while supposing themselves in entire safety, and
much valuable property was destroyed before any organiza¬
tion could be made for mutual protection. Some of the set¬
tlers took refuge on shipboard, and others in the town of
Seattle. The Indians, meantime, devastated all King County,
and even attacked Seattle. It was a situation, seemingly, of
great peril, with active hostilities thus in progress from the
Sound to Northern California, but the sources of safety were
among the Indians themselves. They were hopelessly divided.
There was not a tribe in which there were not some chiefs
and some warriors who favored the Americans, and preferred
208
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
peace, while the great majority of the Flatlieads and Kez
Perces were of this mind. This enabled the army officers
afterwards to accomplish by diplomacy what could only have
been accomplished with the greatest difficulty by war. Be¬
sides, these Indians were not the Indians of the East. Per¬
haps three thousand warriors in Oregon could be counted as
hostile, but one thousand Shawnees, Delawares, Seminoles,
Sioux, or Apaches would have done ten times as much damage.
Major-general John E.Wool, who succeeded General Hitch¬
cock in the command of the Department of the Pacific, had
little sympathy with the extermination policy, and less with
the plan of sending troops into the country of the hostiles
while the settlements were left unprotected. He disregarded
the voluminous plans which Governors Stevens and Curry
prepared for carrying on the war, refused to make a winter
campaign, declined to recognize the volunteers as United
States troops, insisted that their presence in the field was
wholly unnecessary, concentred the regulars at Fort Van¬
couver, and used as many of them as he considered necessary
in protecting the friendly Indians, who remained on the res¬
ervations, from the aggressions of the whites. Governor
Palmer took substantially the same view of the matter as
General Wool, and also urged the establishment of the Grande
Konde and Siletz reservations near the coast; and, in conse¬
quence, petitions of the Oregon Legislature were forwarded
to Washington, asking the removal of both. They further
charged against Palmer that he was a "Know-nothing Whig,"
and had been guilty of not voting the Democratic ticket at
local elections; while they characterized E. R. Geary, whom
they recommended for his successor, and whom Palmer had
discharged from the office of secretary for abetting the opposi¬
tion, as a "sound, consistent, and reliable national Democrat."
Governor Palmer was succeeded, for other reasons, by George
L. Curry, as Governor, but was retained as Superintendent of
Indian Affairs. A spicy wrangle ensued between Wool and
Governors Stevens and Curry, which was protracted for
months in the newspapers and in their official reports. It
must have been painful to the governors, in after-times, to
learn that Wool's reports had uniformly gone to the Secretary
SEATTLE.
THE EOGUE EIVEE, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WAES. 211
of War endorsed, "Respectfully submitted. I fully approve
the views of Major-general Wool. Winfield Scott."
The regular troops and the volunteers acted independently
of each other, the former endeavoring to bring the war to a close
by treaty, making what the settlers considered undue conces¬
sions to the Indians, and the others trying to accomplish the
extermination project, or, at least, to make "an indelible im¬
pression." Neither did anything of importance during the
winter, but the Indians had more success. On February 22,
1856, at dawn, when most of the volunteers of the force en¬
camped on Rogue River, three miles above its mouth, were
gone to a " Washington's-birthday ball" at the mouth of the
river, the hostiles surprised the camp and killed Captain
Ben Wright, special agent, Captain Poland, and twenty-two
others, among whom was Mr. Wagoner, whose family had
been murdered in the preceding October. Charles Foster
alone escaped from the camp, and succeeded in reaching a
place of safety, after hiding all day in the bushes. He esti¬
mated the attacking party at three hundred. They also sacked
and burned all the ranches along the river, the wdiites who
escaped fleeing to Port Orford and the mouth of the river,
where they fortified themselves, and remained on the defensive
for a while.
As the spring opened, and General Wool got ready to act,
Colonel Wright, of the 9th Infantry, went up the Columbia
and took charge of the campaign. lie passed the Cascades,
leaving only a command of nine men, under Sergeant Kelly,
to protect the portage. The river from the Cascades to the
Dalles was the key to the Columbia country, as it afforded the
only connection between eastern and western Oregon. The
river here breaks through the Cascade range. From Celilo
to Dalles City, fifteen miles, it rushes through a narrow chan¬
nel of basaltic rock with an impetus that makes navigation
impracticable; then comes a stretch of quiet water for forty
miles; and then between five and six miles of rapids, known
as the Upper, Middle, and Lower Cascades. The mode of
passage is now, as it was from the earliest days, by boats,
making portages at the Cascades and the Dalles. In 1855-6
the intermediate forty miles was traversed by two little
14
212
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
steamers, the Mary and the Wasco. The force left by
Colonel Wright was located in a block-house at the Middle
Cascades. On May 26 Wright left the Dalles, and on the
same day a party of Yakiinas under Kamiakin, assisted by
some of the supposed friendly Indians, attacked the settle¬
ment at the Cascades. They first fired on the steamer Mary,
lying at her landing, and killed one man and wounded three.
The boat was run out into the stream, before they could ac¬
complish their purpose of boarding and destroying it, leaving
the captain and mate on shore, and steamed up to the Dalles,
picking up a number of families on the way. The Indians
next turned their attention to the citizens, a part of whom
were killed and a part escaped to the block-house at the Mid¬
dle Cascades. The block-house was attacked and fired on all
that day and the succeeding night, but without damage. A
messenger reached Wright, five miles above the Dalles, and
he countermarched on the 27th. The portage was cleared,
after a warm skirmish, and on the morning of the 28th the
besieged block-house was relieved. In this affair, known as
the " Cascade massacre," seventeen whites, including one
soldier and several women and children, were killed.
Colonel Wright found there was satisfactory evidence that
some of the supposed friendly Cascade Indians had aided in
the massacre, and ordered a military commission, by which
their chief, Chimoneth, and eight braves were found guilty
and hanged. lie then resumed his march against the hostiles,
leaving detachments to guard the fisheries, and a stronger
force at the Cascades—the latter under an officer with whom
the American public is now well acquainted, Lieutenant P. H.
Sheridan. One of his first duties wras to report on the mur¬
der of six Indians, the father, wife, niece, and little child of
Spencer, a friendly chief, and two friendly Vancouver In¬
dians in company with them, by six white men. These In¬
dians were bound, short cords with slip-nooses were placed
about their necks, and then, by pulling on both ends of the
cords, they were, to borrow an expression from Balzac," deli¬
cately strangled between the head and the shoulders." The
younger woman was also outraged.
By May 23 Governor Stevens appears to have had hopes
SPEARING SALMON AT TOE CASCADES.
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 215
THE CASCADES.
that General Wool's plan would be as dismal a failure as the
winter campaign had been. On that date lie wrote to the Sec¬
retary of War: " It is not to be disguised that the tribes east of
the mountains thus far consider themselves the victors. When
Colonel Wright commenced his march into the Yakima coun¬
try', early this month, they practically held the whole country
for which they had been lighting. Hot a white man now is
to be found from the Dalles to the Walla-Walla; not a house
stands; and Colonel Wright, at the last despatches, was in
the Nahchess, in presence of twelve or fifteen hundred war¬
riors, determined to light. Colonel Wright met the hostiles
on the 8th of May, and made an effectual [ineffectual] attempt
to treat with them till the lltli. On the evening of the 11th
he despatched an express to the Dalles for reinforcements.
His force probably now numbers some four hundred and sev¬
enty-five effective men." .Nevertheless the Indians would not
fight, and Wright was unable to bring on a general engage-
216
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
merit. But while they were able to avoid the troops, the
Indians were distressed by the loss of their supplies and their
fisheries. After numerous talks, in which the sub-chiefs were
promised preference over the hostile head-chiefs, bands of the
hostiles began coming in and agreeing to live at peace, it being
understood that their lands were not to be taken away from
them. In this way the summer was passed.
At the same time, Lieutenant-colonel Buchanan, assisted
by Superintendent Palmer, was pursuing a similar course in
the South, but the hostiles there were more pugnacious. John,
their leader, said the whites would kill him if they got him in
their power, and declared he would never surrender. On
May 27 his band surrounded the camp of Captain Smith at
Big Bend, on the Rogue River, and held him besieged for
thirty-six hours, although Smith had ninety men and a how¬
itzer. Their situation was one which would have resulted in
their total destruction if assistance had not arrived, but word
had reached the troops below, and a detachment under Cap¬
tain Augur was sent to relieve the beleaguered company. lie
routed the Indians by a dashing charge, in which he lost two
killed and three wounded. Smith's company had been with¬
out water for twelve hours, and had lost eight killed and
eighteen wounded. This was the only engagement in the en¬
tire war that was worthy of being called a battle. On June
21 all of the friendly Indians who had been near Port Orford,
and all the Lower Rogue Rivers, were gathered together and
removed by steamer to their new reservation of Grande Ronde,
between the Wallamet and the coast. The hostiles then con¬
cluded to treat also, and John's band surrendered on June 29.
By July 19 all the remaining Indians, to the number of twelve
hundred and twenty-five, were on the way to the Grande
Ronde, where they remained until the spring of 1857, and
were then removed to the Siletz reservations on the coast. In
the North a few of the hostiles fled to the interior, but, by the
efforts of Lieutenant-colonel Casey, the main body were paci¬
fied and put on the several small reservations set off for them
along the Sound, a few being held as prisoners. Late in the
fall arrangements were concluded with the interior Indians,
by which they were permitted to retain their former territory,
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS. 217
the army officers recommending that the treaties made by
Governor Stevens be not ratified. No whites were to remain
east of the Cascade Mountains but those who had ceded rights
from the Indians, except the miners at Colville, and these
were to be punished if they interfered with the Indians.
Military stations were established among the tribes, however,
and maintained, although they occasioned some dissatisfaction.
Lieutenant Sheridan was put in command of the one in the
Yakima country.
This war was little more than a succession of massacres
and outrages on both sides, so far as collisions between the
hostile parties were concerned. The loss of life was not
great, but the destruction of property was enormous, on the
southern coast, on the Columbia, and on the Sound. Not
only was there serious loss from destruction, but also from
the desertion of property. A gentleman who passed over the
road from Cowlitz Landing to Olympia, in 1857, wrote : " Not¬
withstanding this region was exempt from any actual collis¬
ion with the Indians, the effects are nearly the same as in
other parts of the territory. All along the road houses are
deserted and going to ruin ; fences are cast down and in a
state of decay; fields, once waving with luxuriant crops, are
desolate; and but little, if any, stock is to be seen on the
broad prairies that formerly bore such inspiring evidences of
life." It was a costly war, and, as usual with Indian wrars,
the loss and injury had fallen heaviest on the innocent, both
red and white.
The treaties for the cession of land, which were largely the
cause of the hostilities by the interior tribes, were very exten¬
sive, the land relinquished being about equal to all of New
England, with the State of Indiana added. They were di¬
vided as follows : the Wallamet Valley tribes, 7,500,000 acres,
for $198,000; the Walla-Wallas, Cayuses, and Umatillas, 4,012,-
800 acres, for $150,000 ; the Yakimas, Pelouses,Klickitats, and
others, 10,823,000 acres, for $200,000; the Nez Perces, 15,-
480,000 acres, for $200,000; the Des Chutes, 8,110,000 acres,
for $435,000; the Flatheads, Kootenais, and Upper Pend
D'Oreilles, 14,720,000 acres, for $485,000. The sums paid, in
aggregate, look rather large, but, viewed with reference either
218
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to the price per acre or the number of grantors, they are tri¬
fling. Viewed with reference to the result they are supposed
to accomplish, the subsistence of the Indians till they are ini¬
tiated in civilized methods of support, they are ridiculous.
The treaty with the Rogue Rivers of September 10,1853, by
which 2,180,000 acres was relincpiished for $60,000, was about
on a par with them—three cents an acre, more or less—and it
was ratified. The grantors, at the time of the treaty, num¬
bered nearly two thousand ; four years later they had dwin¬
dled away to nine hundred and nine, and $10,000 of the pur¬
chase-money was still to come, in sixteen annual payments
of $2500 each. In other words, the Indians were getting
$2.75 each per year. Of course they had their reservation
lands, and the usual treaty adjuncts of schools, blacksmith-
shop, etc., but, if the Indian profited much by his education, he
certainly would not find much consolation in reflecting on his
treaty. An annual income of $2.75 can hardly be considered
a princely recompense for the surrender of a principality.
There is no greater foundation than this for the oft-repeated
claim that these treaties of Governor Stevens were made on a
grandly liberal basis.
CHAPTER VIII.
ash hollow and the cheyenne expedition.
In 1S56, eight years after our last look at the eastern
edge of the mountain country, there had not been much
alteration in its appearance in the matter of settlements.
There still remained the two pueblos on the Arkansas, one
at the mouth of the Fontaine Que Bouille, the present city
of Pueblo, Colorado, and the other some thirty miles farther
up the stream, called Hardscrabble. The former was estab¬
lished in 1840, and the latter two or three years later. Their
character may be gathered from the following extract from
a letter of Indian agent Fitzpatrick, in 1847 : " About seven¬
ty-five miles above this place [Fort Bent], and immediately
on the Arkansas River, there is a small settlement, the princi¬
pal part of which is composed of old trappers and hunters;
the male part of it are mostly Americans, Missouri French,
Canadians, and Mexicans. They have a tolerable supply of
cattle, horses, mules, etc., and I am informed that this year
they have raised a good crop of wheat, corn, beans, pumpkins,
and other vegetables. They number about one hundred and
fifty souls, and of this number there are about sixty men,
nearly all having wives, and some have two. These wives
are of various Indian tribes, as follows, viz., Blackfoot,
Assineboines, Arickeras, Sioux, Aripohoes, Chyennes, Snake,
Sinpitch (from west of the Great Lake), Chinock (from the
mouth of the Columbia), Mexicans and Americans. The
American women are Mormons: a party of Mormons having
wintered there, and, on their departure for California, left
behind two families. These people are living in two separate
establishments near each other; one called 'Punble' [Pueb¬
lo ?] and the other ' Hardscrabbleboth villages are fortified
by a wall twelve feet high, composed of adobe (sun-dried
220 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
brick). Those villages are becoming the resort of all idlers
and loafers. They are also becoming depots for the smug¬
glers of liquors from New Mexico into this country; there¬
fore they must be watched."
CHEYENNE VILLAGE.
There were also the trading-posts, as formerly, but the
chief trace which the white man had left was by the wearing
of thousands of wagon-wheels along the Platte and the Ar¬
kansas. There was also a well-marked road along the foot¬
hills from north to south. The country was still occupied
by the same Indian tribes, but their boundaries were fixed to
a certain extent. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes, by the
treaty of Fort Laramie, in 1851, held the lands east of the
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 221
mountains, between the North Platte and the Arkansas, as
far as the junction of the South Platte on the former, and the
old Santa Fe road crossing (near Dodge City) on the latter.
To the south of the Arkansas were the Kiowas and Comanch-
es, and north of the Platte were the Sioux. These Indians
belong to the plains, but their conflicts with the settlers of
the mountains and foot-hills are within our province. The
Arapahoes have lived in this general locality from the period
of our earliest knowledge of them. They call themselves
Atsina (" Good Hearts"). They are also called the Fall River
Indians and the Gros Ventres of the South. In origin they
are allied to the Caddoes. Their number in 1822 was esti¬
mated at 10,000, which was probably about three times their
real number, and in 1842 at 2500.
The Cheyennes, though closely confederated with the
Arapahoes, are of entirely different stock. They belong to
the great Algonquin family, and, when first known to the
whites, lived on a branch of the Red River of the North.
Here, about a century ago, they became embroiled with the
Sioux through a collision between two of their hunting par¬
ties. The Sioux were far the stronger, and the bloody war
that resulted seemed so certain to destroy the Cheyennes
that they retired west of the Mississippi. Their powerful
foe still pursued and oppressed them, so they determined to
move again; this time to the west of the Bad Lands, where
they hoped to rest in peace. The main body of the nation
started in the spring, leaving a large party which was to re¬
main for four months, to hunt and to keep back the Sioux.
When these last went after the others the Sioux followed on
their trail, and overtook them on the Big Cheyenne. The
Cheyennes were besieged for many days; at length their
warriors made a night sortie, while the squaws and children
escaped across the river; many of the warriors were killed,
but the remnant reached the main band. The Cheyennes
located along the eastern border of the Black Hills, and grew
in wealth and numbers. They acquired horses, and joined
their neighbors in raiding the Mexican settlements. Their
men ranked among the best warriors, and their squaws were
the most chaste women of the plains. In 1822 they were
222
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
estimated at 3250, and in 1S47 at 5300. These numbers
would be more nearly correct if reversed. Their number
did not exceed 3000 in 1847, and they were then complaining
of their decrease. Previous to this date differences had
arisen among them, growing out of their southern journeys
for the purposes of trade and war, and they separated into
two bands, one remaining about the North Platte, in coali¬
tion with the Ogallalla Sioux, and the others ranging gener-
IXDIAN VILLAGE ON THE MOVE.
ally on the Arkansas. The Arapahoes also separated into
north and south bands, on account of a factional fight, and
both bands allied themselves to the Cheyennes. Although
these tribes were dissimilar in many respects, their confed¬
erations proved close and lasting ones. They fought each
other's battles and shared each other's triumphs; treated
together, went on reservations together, and still remain in
the same close communion.
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 223
Although living thus, each tribe retained its own lan¬
guage, and very few of either learned the language of the
other. Their means of communication wTas the universal
sign language of the Indians, which has been brought to a
remarkable state of cultivation by the Indians of the plains.
This distinctiveness of language is probably due to the char¬
acter of the Arapahoe tongue, which is harsh and guttural,
and very difficult to learn or understand. It has even been
said that two Arapahoes have difficulty in understanding
each other in the dark, when signs cannot be used, but this
is doubtful, and, if true, is due to the constant use of the
sign language and not to scantiness of vocabulary. Sign
language is used among all savages, and, to a greater or less
extent, by all civilized peoples. Among them all it is in
many respects similar, and, what is more remarkable, dupli¬
cate signs for the same idea are often duplicated in the same
way in different continents. This indicates that certain signs
are the natural expressions for certain thoughts, and that
such communication is in fact less artificial than vocal lan¬
guage. The experiment of bringing Indians and deaf-mutes
together has often been tried during visits of Indians to the
East, and they always communicate readily, the signs being,
of course, ideographic. A very wonderful demonstration of
the extent of natural meaning in signs and expression was a
test exhibition by President Gallaudet, of the National Deaf
Mute College, at Washington, in which he related intelligi¬
bly to a pupil the story of Brutus ordering the execution of
his two sons for disobedience, without making a motion with
hands or arms, or using any previously determined sign or
other communication, but simply by facial expression and
motion of the head. To illustrate the natural sign theory,
let us take the expression of peace or friendship. To the
savage the obvious natural thought would be to show that
he had no weapons, which is easily done by exposing the
empty hands. When one is mounted, or it is inconvenient
to lay down the weapons, the same thought is conveyed by
exposing the opened palm of the right hand ; this is some¬
times supplemented by moving the hand towards the party
communicated with, signifying that although armed, you are
224:
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
disarmed as to liim. This is the sign that Logan made to
O O
the white hunters on the Juniata, more than a century ago,
at the same time further expressing the thought by spilling
the powder from the pan of his ritie, and they understood
him at once.
On the other hand the long-distance signal of friendship,
when mounted, is an illustration of purely artificial signs.
The person desiring to communicate the message of amity
turns his horse and rides him back and forth two or three
times, over a space of forty or fifty paces. If the approaching
party be friendly, he clasps his hands above his head, or in¬
terlocks the fingers as far as the first joints, and rests his
hands on his forehead, as though shading his eyes from the
sun. The first answer is possibly derived from the white
man's habit of shaking hands, but this is not certain ; the
Natchez Indians used it in 1682 in saluting La Salle's party,
as they descended the Mississippi. The second answer is of
uncertain origin, but is also ancient ; an Illinois chief used it
on the occasion of a visit by Father Marquette, who mistook
it for a sign of reverence indicating that he was dazzled by
his visitor. Another artificial sign is that for white man,
which is made by drawing the horizontal, flattened hand, palm
down, or the index finger alone, across the forehead from left
to right, just above the eyebrows. Other signs are derived
from the verbal expressions of ideas. Thus, the common
Indian expression of deceit is to say one has a double or
forked tongue; this is expressed in sign language by touch¬
ing the left breast with the right hand, and carrying it thence
to the mouth, from which a forward motion is made with
the hand closed, excepting the first and second fingers, which
are extended and slightly separated. So, with the Klamaths,
the word for crazy or mad is from a root signifying a whirl¬
ing motion, and the sign is a rotary motion of the hand close
to the head.
The signs for the different tribes usually correspond with
the tribal name, though they are sometimes indicated by
reference to their mode of dressing the hair, or other tribal
peculiarities. The Crows are designated by bringing the flat¬
tened hands to the shoulders, and, by a wrist movement, imi-
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 225
tating a bird flapping its wings. The Arapahoes or " Good
Hearts" are designated by touching the left breast with the
fingers. They are also called " Smellers " by some bands, and
the corresponding sign is seizing the nose with the thumb
and index finger, or touching the first finger to the right side
of the nose. The Cheyennes are usually called " Cut-arms "
or " Cut-wrists," from the mutilations they practise in the
sun-dance and other religious ceremonies, and are designated
by drawing the first finger of the right hand, or the bottom of
the flattened hand, across the left arm, as though gashing it.
They are also called " Dog-eaters," which is signified thus:
make the sign for dog, by extending the hand in front of
and below the hip, and drawing it back, marking with the
extended first and second fingers the upper contour of an
imaginary dog, from head to tail; then make the sign for
eating, by bringing the thumb together with the first and
second fingers, above and a little in front of the mouth, and
moving them quickly to the mouth several times. A mo¬
tion of the hand or the first finger across the throat, as if
cutting it, indicates the Sioux or "Cut-throats"—the Coupes-
Gorges of the French trappers. The Brule (Burnt) Sioux,
or Si-can-gu ("Burnt Thighs"), are designated by rubbing
the palm of the hand, fingers down, in a small circle on the
upper part of the right thigh. This band received its name
from being caught in a prairie fire about the year 1763.
The Nez Pel •ces and Caddoes are both designated by passing
the extended index finger from right to left under the nose,
referring to their ancient practice of piercing the nose. A
forward motion of the index finger towards the left, in a sin¬
uous course, indicates the Shoshonees or "Snakes."
There is a tradition among the plains Indians that the
sign language originated with the Kiowas, who were original-
o o o O ' O
ly the go-betweens in the commerce of northern and southern
Indians and Mexicans, but this is not within the range of
possibility. They could not have communicated it so univer¬
sally over the continent, and it is certain that the language
existed in many places before there was any extensive com¬
merce on the plains. There is little doubt that they extend¬
ed and improved it, as other tribes in other localities have
226
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
done also, so that no tribe at present uses purely natural
signs. It is certain that there are divergencies in meaning
in many cases; that some tribes have carried the language to
greater perfection than others, and that many signs are alto¬
gether conventional. The reader must also remember that
what would appear natural to one accustomed to signs, might
not appear so to one who had given the matter no thought.
A slight, unintentional gesture may entirely alter the mean¬
ing that an amateur sign-talker is desirous of conveying.
Thus, Baillie-Grolnnan undertook to say to an Arapahoe,
" How has it come to pass that the bravest of the brave, the
man of all men, the dearest friend I have among the Arapa-
hoes, has grown such a flowing beard ?" but only succeeded
in informing the gentle savage, " that his face was like a
young maiden's, and his heart that of an old squaw."
For communicating at long distances the Indians have
devised many ingenious expedients. When a party is search¬
ing for anything, its discovery is usually communicated by
riding rapidly in a circle; the same sign is also used as a sig¬
nal of danger, or when it is desired for the party communi¬
cated with to be on the alert. Horsemen riding to and fro,
passing one another, inform the beholder that an enemy is
at hand. If riding back and forth abreast, the meaning is
that game is discovered. Blankets are frequently used in
long-distance signalling. The discovery of buffalo is an¬
nounced by facing the camp and spreading the blanket, the
upper corners being held in the out-stretched hands. Instruc¬
tion to pass around a place is given by pointing the folded
blanket in its direction, drawing it back towards the body,
waving it rapidly in front of the body only, and then throw¬
ing it out to the side on which the party signalled is desired
to go. When it is desired to signal the discovery of some¬
thing sought, and the discoverer has no blanket, the infor¬
mation is communicated by throwing a handful of dust in
the air. A novel mode of signalling at night, in use among
the Sioux, is by fire-arrows, which are prepared something
like sky-rockets, by attaching moistened powder to the arrow¬
heads. The meaning given to various flights of these arrows
is always agreed upon for special occasions. Another very
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 227
common mode of signalling is by columns of smoke, some¬
times rising steadily, and sometimes in puffs, made by cover¬
ing the fire briefly with a blanket. Perhaps the most ingen¬
ious method ever used was signalling by the reflections of the
sun on hand-mirrors, which was highly perfected among the
Sioux. General Dodge once saw .a Sioux chief put his war¬
riors through a long drill, giving his directions entirely by.
the reflections of a small glass. This system has never been
communicated to the whites, though the Indians say they
have no further use for it, having abandoned war. It was
much used in their operations against Fort Phil Kearney.
The government of western tribes is rather complex.
They have usually a head chief, whose power in ordinary
matters is supreme, but still not sufficient to crush an organ¬
ized opposition of large extent. Below him are sub-chiefs,
who control various bands of the tribes and have absolute
control over their immediate followers. Any change of the
settled policy of the tribe, or matter affecting the common
interest, is controlled by the council, or assembly of all the
warriors who choose to attend. The police power is in the
hands of certain chosen men whom they call "soldiers," from
their analogy to the warriors of the whites. Says Parkman,
in speaking of the Sioux soldiers," The office is one of con¬
siderable honor, being confided only to men of courage and
repute. They derive their authority from the old men and
chief warriors of the village, who elect them in councils oc¬
casionally convened for the purpose, and thus can exercise a
degree of authority which no one else in the village would
dare to assume. While very few Ogillallah chiefs would
venture without risk of their lives to strike or lay hands upon
the meanest of their people, the ' soldiers,' in the discharge
of their appropriate functions, have full license to make use
of these and similar acts of coercion." With the Cheyennes
this bod}^ is enlarged and performs many other duties, par¬
taking of the nature of a fraternity rather than an official
organization. They are called " dog-soldiers," which is equiv¬
alent to Cheyenne soldiers, the name of the tribe being an
Anglicism of the French chien, or rather of the feminine
form, chienne, which was given them on account of their
15
228
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
fondness for dogs as food. The name is always pronounced,
and formerly was frequently written, Shian. Of this body
General Dodge says, " Among these 'dog-soldiers' are many
boys who have not yet passed the initiatory ordeal as war¬
riors. In short, this guild comprises the whole working force
SQUAWS CURING ROBES.
of the band. It is the power which protects and supplies the
women and children. A war-party is under the command of
the chief. The home, or main camp, with its women and
children, horses, lodges, and property of every kind is under
the control and protection of the 'dog-soldiers.' From them
emanate all orders for marches. By them the encampments
are selected. They supply the guards for the camp, desig¬
nate the hunting-parties and the ground they are to work
over, and when buffalo are sought, they select the keen-eyed
hunters who are to go in advance and make all the arrange-
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 229
ments for the surround. One of the most important func¬
tions of the ' dog-soldiers' is the protection of the game. . . .
Crimes against the body politic, or violations of the orders of
the chief, are punished severely : sometimes by death, at oth¬
er times by beating and destruction of property. In these
cases the chief acts; but he must have at least the tacit con¬
sent of the Council, and the active assistance of the 'dog-sol¬
diers.' Nearly all crimes against individuals are compound¬
ed by the payment of damages, the amount of which is
assessed generally by the chief, assisted in important cases
by two or more prominent men. A violation of the 'dog-
soldiers' ' rules is at once met by a sound beating." The in¬
dependence of this organization and its ability to defy the
power of the chiefs has caused the name of " dog-soldiers"
to be applied, in some instances, to bands of renegades; but
this is a perversion of the real meaning of the term, and it
is never used in that sense by the Cheyennes.
Between the Cheyennes and Arapahoes and the white
trappers of early days there was peace or war as happened
to suit the parties respectively. In 18-11 the Indians had
become quite hostile, and a severe engagement occurred be¬
tween Cheyennes and Sioux and sixty men under Mr. Frapp,
of St. Louis, on Snake River, in which the Indians lost eight
or ten warriors, and the whites four, besides their leader.
Fremont found them hostile at the times of his several ex¬
peditions, but avoided trouble by threatening the vengeance
of the "Great Father" in case of any injury to his party.
In 1815 Colonel Kearny marched along the foot-hills from
Fort Laramie to Fort Bent, and summoned the Indians to a
grand council. When convened, he informed them that any
future injury to the whites would be severely punished, and
showed his power by parading the dragoons, tiring a howitz¬
er, and sending up a rocket. The Indians were much im¬
pressed and promised good behavior, which promise they
kept for many months. During the summer of 18-17 the
Kiowas, Apaches, Pawnees, and Comanches were at war with
the whites, and doing much damage; it was estimated that
they killed 17 men, destroyed 330 wagons, and run off 6500
head of stock. In the winter, efforts were made to bring
230
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
SIOUX HUNTING BUFFALO.
the Cheyennes and Arapahoes into a coalition against the
whites, but Lieutenant-colonel Gilpin (afterwards governor
of Colorado) marched two companies of cavalry into the
midst of their villages, and camped there all winter. This
movement, with their enmity to the Pawnees, determined
them in the course of friendship, and they abandoned all in¬
tercourse with the hostile tribes. Before this time a party
of Arapahoes, under circumstances of base treachery, had
murdered two trappers named Boot and May. Their tribe
was much frightened over the anticipation of vengeance by
the whites, and hastened to send a valuable present of horses
to Fort Laramie in atonement. Bordeaux, the trader there,
declined to accept them. Still more terrified, they sent in
offering to surrender the murderers, but Bordeaux declined
this also. They then returned to their lodges in despair, ex¬
pecting a terrible punishment, but weeks passed, and no dra¬
goons came, so their courage rose again. They grew more
insolent and bold, and this feeling spread to the neighboring
tribes until all were ready for the hostilities which broke out
in 185d, beginning with the Sioux.
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 231
The Sioux were the most extensive of the western na¬
tions. Their name in their own language is Dakota, the
word Sioux being an abbreviation of Nadowessioux, which
is a term of contempt given them by their Algonquin ene¬
mies, the Chippewas. They also call themselves O-ce-ti Sa-
kow'-in, or the Seven Council Fires. Their tradition is that
in the far past they were all of one council fire, but separated
on account of intestinal strife. These council fires, as usu¬
ally counted, are: (1) The Mde-wa-kan-ton-wan, or Tillage of
the Holy Lake; (2) the Wah-pe-ku-te, or Leaf-Shooters; (3)
the Wah-pe-ton-wan, or Tillage in the Leaves ; (4) the Sis-se-
ton-wan, or Tillage in the Marsh; (5) the I-hank-ton-wan-na,
or End Tillage; (6) the I-hank-ton-wan, or End Tillage; (7)
the Te-ton-wan, or Prairie Tillage. Some count only six
fires, esteeming the 5th and 6th, which are commonly called
Tanktonnais and Yanktons, to be the same. The first four
are called by the other Sioux I-san-ti, or, as it is commonly
written, Santee, meaning People of the Leaves, on account of
their forest homes. The French called them Gens du Lac.
"We have to deal only with the last division, though in all
the Sioux wars there were always more or less of the other
sections among the hostiles. The ending of the names above
given signifies a village, from ton-wan-ycin—to form a village,
to dwell. Ordinarily the last syllable is dropped, and the In¬
dians referred to are called the Sissetons, the Tetons, etc.
As to pronunciation, the letter n in these names, preceded
by a or o, has the French nasal sound. The Tetons (the word
means Boasters or Arrogant Ones) or prairie Sioux have also
seven principal divisions: (1) The Si-can-gu, Brule, or Burnt
Thighs; (2) the I-taz-ip-co, Bowpith, Sans Arcs, or Nobows;
(3) the Si-ha-sa-pa, or Blackfeet; (4) the Mi-ni-kan-ye (Min-
ne-con-jous) or Those who Plant by the Water; (5) the Oo-
hen-on-pa, Two Boilings or Two Kettles; (6) the O-gal-lal-
las, Wanderers or Dwellers in the Mountains; (7) the Unk-
pah-pahs (Oncpapas), or Those who Camp by Themselves.
The student is cautioned not to be misled into the belief
that the 6th tribe is of Irish origin, by the fact that their
name is put "O'Gallalla" in one of their treaties with the
government. The country of the Tetons was west of the
232
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Missouri, north of the Platte, and east of the mountains ; the
Yanktons and Yanktonnais held the eastern side of the Mis¬
souri from Sioux City to about the line of the Northern
Pacilic railroad; the Santees were in Minnesota and Eastern
Dakota, gradually retiring before the settlements.
In the late summer of 1851 a large number of Brules,
Ogallallas, and Minneconjous were camped below Fort Lara¬
mie, waiting for their annual presents. On August 18th an
ox belonging to some Mormon emigrants was taken and
killed by a Minneconjou, who was camped with the Brules.
The whites said it was stolen, and the Indians that it had
given out and been abandoned. The Bear (Mah-to-I-o-wa),*
chief of the Brules, came to the fort, reported his version of
the story to Lieutenant Fleming, commanding, and said that
if a detachment were sent for the Indian he would be sur¬
rendered. Lieutenant Grattan, with eighteen men and two
howitzers, was sent after him. The Indians were camped
between Gratiot's and Bordeaux's trading-houses, distant re¬
spectively five and eight miles from Fort Laramie, between
the Oregon road and the river. The Ogallallas were nearest
the fort and the Brules farthest from it, with the Minnecon¬
jous between. The Brule camp was semicircular in form, with
the convex side to the river, and was bordered by a slight,
abrupt depression, heavily grown with bushes. The Bear
came out, but either could not or would not surrender the
accused, as he had promised. Grattan then moved forward
towards the centre of the camp, where the teepee of the ac¬
cused stood, with the intention of taking him by force, and
as he did so the warriors of the camp and many from the
other camps pressed angrily forward and massed around the
teepee and in the bushes, to resist the attempt. At this show
of resistance, Grattan ordered his men to fire, and their guns
were scarcely discharged before their commander and the
greater part of themselves fell dead from a return volley,
* "The Bear " is not a full translation of this name, that being the sig¬
nification of Mali-to. Mr. Reed translated it "The Bear that Scatters,"
but I-o-wa means a pen, or pencil, or other instrument for writing. The
name has been printed, perhaps as a result of illegible writing, "Mah-to-
Lo-wan." Lo-wan is the Sioux verb "to sing."
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 233
while the remainder were surrounded by a thousand or more
of infuriated warriors, and exterminated in an inconceiva¬
bly short time. Only one man escaped, and he died of his
wounds two or three days later. The Indians menaced the
fort for a time, but withdrew without accomplishing any
damage, and the fort was soon afterwards reinforced by troops
ON THE OREGON TRAIL.
from Fort Filey. The Bear was killed in this affair, and Lit¬
tle Thunder succeeded to the chieftainship. The band sepa¬
rated from the other tribes, though accompanied b}^ many of
their warriors, and struck the whites whenever opportunity
presented. Their principal successes were the destruction of
a mail party and the murder of Captain Gibson. The latter
was leading a train of Missourians up the Platte in June,
1855, when, at Deer Creek, thirty miles below the North
Platte bridge, two Indians rode up and asked where the cap¬
tain was. lie was pointed out, and while one shook hands
231
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
with him, the other shot him dead, after which they fled.
Several days later an emigrant party was attacked at the
same place by eighteen Indians, who lanced one man and one
woman, and drove off sixteen head of horses.
On August 4, 1S55, Kansas matters having become more
quiet, General Harney marched from Fort Leavenworth with
thirteen hundred men for the country of the hostiles. As he
rode out of the fort he remarked to Mr. Morin, "By God, I
am for war—no peace," and he experienced no change in his
sentiments. lie had learned Indian fighting thoroughly in
the Black Hawk, Seminole, and other wars, and believed in
decisive measures. lie had brought the Seminole hostilities
to a close by hanging thirteen of the hostile chiefs. The In¬
dians are not long in learning the character of an opponent,
and they knew what to expect from Harney. Billy Bowlegs
used to say, "Ilarnty catch me, me hang; me catch him, he
die." The command reached Fort Kearney without incident,
and having replenished their supplies continued their march
on the 21th. On September 2d they reached Ash Hollow,
a celebrated point in the early history of the plains. It is
the lower valley of Ash Creek, a tributary of the Platte, in
North-western Nebraska, and was afterwards the location of
old Sidney Barracks; it must not be confounded with the
town of Sidney, that lies to the south-west, on Lodge-pole
Creek. Here information was received that the hostile Brules
were encamped in force on Bluewater Creek (Me-ne-to-wah-
pah), a stream on the north side of the Platte and two miles
above Ash Hollow. General Harney at once prepared for
an attack. Colonel Cooke, the former commander of the
Mormon battalion, was sent at three o'clock in the morning,
with four companies of cavalry, to cut off their retreat. Un¬
der the guidance of Joe Tesson, an old trapper, the command
approached the creek several times, but found a succession of
villages for four miles up the stream. About sunrise they
succeeded, without attracting attention, in reaching a position
half a mile above the upper village, in the bed of a dry
gulch which opened to the creek. At half-past four Harney
moved forward with the infantry. As he approached the
lower village, the Indians struck their lodges and began re-
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 235
treating up the creek, while Little Thunder came forward
and began a parley. To this Harney wras not averse, know¬
ing that their retreat was cut off. lie told the chief that his
warriors had insulted our citizens and murdered our troops,
and now, these warriors, whom he said he could not control,
must be surrendered or they must fight. While they were
talking, a commotion among the more distant Indians an¬
nounced to the soldiers that the cavalry had been discovered.
Little Thunder returned to his warriors, and, without waiting
for any answer to his demand, Harney advanced, firing. At
the first volley the dragoons rode out of the defile and charged
down the valley. As they came in sight, the infantry gave
one wild yell and dashed forward. The Indians saw their
danger and fled towards the bluffs on the west side of the
valley, pursued by the infantry, while the cavalry directed
their course to cut off the fleeing Indians. The battle then
became a chase, the Indians urging their fresh ponies to their
utmost speed, and throwing away everything that could ham¬
per their flight. The dragoons pursued them from five to
eight miles, until scattered and far beyond the support of the
infantry; they then turned back to camp. In this engage¬
ment the Indians lost eighty-six killed, of whom a number
were women and children, five wounded, and seventy prison¬
ers, women and children, besides fifty horses and mules capt¬
ured, a large number killed, and all their provisions, robes,
camp utensils, and equipage destroyed. In the camp was
found a lot of the plundered mail, some of the clothing tak¬
en at the Grattan massacre, and two white women's scalps.
The loss to the troops was four killed and seven wounded.
Such a dreadful blow had never before been struck at the
plains Indians, and it produced a valuable result. Harney
marched 011 to Fort Laramie, and thence across the country to
Fort Pierre, but before he left Laramie he sent word to the
Indians that the murderers must be surrendered. After he
started, the Indians came in numbers to Fort Laramie, and
asked permission to camp in the neighborhood. This was
granted, and soon after the garrison was surprised to see five
warriors in full war costume approach the fort, chanting
their death - songs. They were a part of the murderers
236
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
whose surrender had been demanded, and came, as they said,
to throw their lives away for the good of the tribe. They
were Red Leaf, Long Chin, two brothers of the dead chief
Mahto-Iowa, and Spotted Tail. Of the remaining two mur¬
derers, one had fled and one was too sick to be moved.
After these had surrendered, Red Plume and Spotted Elk,
two leading men, came in and offered themselves as hostages
for the peace, and all seven, with their squaws, who had ac¬
companied them, were sent to Fort Leavenworth for further
proceedings. The Sioux of the plains were evidently con¬
quered, and Harney was entitled to the credit of quieting
them, for this action on the Bluewater, which has since be¬
come commonly known as the fight at Ash Hollow, was the
only engagement that occurred. At Fort Pierre, General
Harney held a council with all the Sioux bands, in March,
1856, at which they all agreed to be peaceable in the future.
They made reparation for all property stolen, and agreed to
surrender the man who killed the cow and the man who
killed Gibson. At this time General Harney also authorized
the appointment of a native police force, the first instance of
the kind among the Western tribes.
The people—especially those of the West—accorded Gen¬
eral Harney the praise which the results of his campaign
merited, but the War Department appeared inclined to ques¬
tion the means rather than to admire the end. There ap¬
pears to have been bad blood between Lieutenant-general
Scott and General Harney, for some reason not satisfactorily
explained, and it was understood throughout the army with¬
out much delay that Scott objected seriously to the killing
of women and children that had occurred at Ash Hollow.
Colonel Cooke, in his official report, which was not published
for a j'ear after Harney's, and then on express Congressional
call, says, "I will remark that in the pursuit, women, if rec¬
ognized, were generally passed by my men, but that in some
cases certainly these women discharged arrows at them."
Colonel Sumner, in his final report of the Cheyenne expedi¬
tion, two years later, goes more bluntly to the point, saying,
" I have the pleasure to report, what I know will give the
Lieutenant-general commanding the army the highest satis-
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 237
faction, that in these operations not a woman nor a child has
been hurt." The matter drifted along until the summer of
1857. Harney had then received orders to take command of
the expedition into Utah, and was making his preparations,
when he received a summons to appear before a court-martial
in Washington, and the command of the Utah expedition
was turned over to Col. Albert Sidnej' Johnston. For a
time things looked gloomy for Ilarney; but he had friends,
and he was a fighter in a political way as well as on the field.
BEl'OUE THE HAYS OF STAGE STATIONS.
Soon there was felt in the case the power of William II. Rus¬
sell, of the firm of Majors, Russell & Co. The greatness of
these names is but a memory now in the West, and in the
East they are forgotten, though people who knew Washing¬
ton City thirty years ago may remember Mr. Russell, the
great contractor, who daily dashed along Pennsylvania Ave¬
nue behind four blooded grays. They were the great
freighters of the plains, who, for several years before the re-
238
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
hellion, controlled all transportation of a public nature from
the Missouri to the mountains. They commenced business
early in the'50's with twenty wagons and two hundred oxen,
from which they grew until, in 1859, they employed 5000
wagons, 20,000 oxen, 10,000 horses and mules, and 4000 men.
They inaugurated and owned the famous Pony Express, by
which, with its 1000 fleet horses and 100 trusty men, the
mail was carried from St. Joseph to Sacramento. What a
change came over them! The failure of Congress to pass
the appropriation bills, in the spring of 1860, paralyzed their
business, which then amounted to $8,000,000 a year. Pus-
sell was arrested as a .defaulter, and died so poor that his
friends paid his funeral expenses. Mr. Waddell of the firm
died penniless; A. B. Miller was recently living in Denver,
Colorado, in reduced circumstances; and Majors, the only
one of them that came up again, is a millionaire in Salt Lake
City. But to resume, Russell was very influential with the
administration, so much so that he procured the appointment
of Gen. Joe Johnston as quartermaster-general of the army
after the death of General Jesup. He induced Buchanan to
put a summary end to the court-martial, by making Ilarney
a brigadier-general, a rank he already held by brevet, and
putting him in command in the West. Ilarney went out to
Utah, but after a brief stay went on to Oregon, where he
was soon quarrelling with Scott again over the occupation of
the island of Ilaro and the cashiering of Lieutenant De Hart.
Terrorizing as was the blow struck on the Bluewater to
the Sioux, it seemed to have no effect on the Cheyennes and
Arapahoes. It was too late in the season of 1855 to pro¬
ceed against them, and the expedition which was planned,for
the spring of 1856," to compel them to release the captives
held by them, restore the property taken, and deliver up the
criminals," was given up because the troops were needed in
Kansas again. Immunity from punishment only made the
Indians more bold. On August 24, 1856, a war-party of
eighty Cheyennes attacked a mail-party within a few miles
of Fort Kearney, and severely wounded the conductor. Capt.
G. II. Stuart was sent in pursuit of the marauders with forty-
one men, and overtook them at about four o'clock on the
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 239
following afternoon. Dividing his force, he charged their
camp from two sides. The Indians fled, but were hotly pur¬
sued, and suffered a loss of ten killed, eight or ten wounded,
twenty-four horses and mules and much other property capt¬
ured. On this same day another party of Cheyennes attacked
a train of four wagons on Cottonwood Creek, about thirty
miles below Kearney. This train belonged to A. W. Babbitt,
Secretary of Utah, who was conveying a large amount of
public money and valuable property to Mormondom. The
Indians here killed two men, wounded one, carried off Mrs.
Wilson, and killed her child. On the 30th a party of Chey¬
ennes and Arapahoes attacked a small party of emigrants
eighty miles above Kearney, killed one woman, wounded one
man, and carried off a child four years of age. On Septem¬
ber 6th a party of Cheyennes and Arapahoes attacked a Mor¬
mon train on the Platte, and killed two men, one woman and
a child, besides carrying off a woman. These particulars of
outrages committed by the Cheyennes, long after the Sioux
had made peace, are mentioned because an impression has
been created by certain Indian-ring gentlemen, who will be
mentioned more expressly hereafter, that the Cheyennes were
ever friendly to the whites. Many well-meaning but poorly
informed people have been drawn into this delusion. Mr.
Loughridge, of Iowa, in descanting on the "Sand Creek mas¬
sacre," even went so far as to say that the Cheyennes "had
done more to make travel across the plains safe to the whites
than any other class of people." Major-general Persifer F.
Smith wrote from Fort Leavenworth, on September 10,1856,
" This tribe must be severely punished, . . . but no trifling or
partial punishment will suffice, and as no one can be spared
from this neighborhood I will postpone extensive operations
until the spring." The beauty of a winter campaign was
not yet appreciated.
In the summer of 1857, Col. E. Y. Sumner was sent
against them with six companies of cavalry and three of
infantry. On Jul}7 29th, while marching down Solomon's
Fork, the cavalry, which was about three miles in advance
of the infantry, came suddenly upon some three hundred
warriors, drawn up in line of battle across the valley. The
240
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
troops wheeled into line and charged at once. " The In¬
dians," says Colonel Sumner, "were all mounted and well-
armed ; many of them had rifles and revolvers, and they
stood with remarkable boldness until we charged and were
nearly upon them, when they broke in all directions and we
pursued them seven miles. Their horses were fresh and very
fleet, and it was impossible to overtake many of them. There
were but nine men killed in the pursuit, but there must have
been a great number wounded." The loss to the troops
was two killed and nine wounded. On July 31st Sumner
found their principal village, from which they had fled in
great haste, leaving one hundred and seventy lodges stand¬
ing, and in them a large amount of supplies of every kind, all
of which were destroyed. Sumner then continued his search
for the Indians, but they separated into small parties and
avoided him, a move which they accomplished more easily
because his troops had no provisions but fresh beef, the cat¬
tle being driven as they marched. Early in September he
received orders to break up the command and detach all
but two companies of dragoons to join the expedition into
Utah. lie obeyed with reluctance, for he said he thought
the Cheyennes had " not been sufficiently punished for the
barbarous outrages they have recently committed." The
punishment was severer than it seemed, for the buffalo did
not range in their country that summer, and the movements
of the troops prevented them from making any preparation
for the ensuing winter by hunting elsewhere.
For three or four years their behavior was quite exempla¬
ry, and this change of heart came at an opportune season, for
in the next year was made the discovery of gold, which caused
the settlement of the eastern slope of the mountains. In the
summer of 1858 a party of about one hundred men, mostly
Georgians and Cherokee Indians, led by Green Russell, started
from the Missouri to look for gold on the eastern slope of
the Rockies. They found indications, but no paying placers,
and all but thirteen of them started back in disgust. On the
next day Russell struck pay in Cherry Creek, and soon after
in Dry Gulch, both on the plains near Denver. They took
back enough gold to interest every one mt1io learned of it,
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 241
and in the spring of 1859 a considerable emigration began.
Among those who turned from previously intended courses
to look at the new diggings was John Gregory. He knew
that placers on the plains were
very certain to mean deeper de¬
posits in the mountains, and made
his search in the tangled ravines
of the foot-hills, which resulted in
the discovery of Gregory's Gulch.
From that time the future of the
mines was assured. The wildest
stories were current concerning
the wonderful riches of the re¬
gion. Benton's jest about the
"ankle-deep" and "knee-deep"
gold in California was put in the
shade by some genius who re- |
ported that the gold on Pike's ®
Peak was in layers on the surface, §
and was collected by parties of ^
men who slid down the mountain <»
on a harrow, each tooth of the p
harrow cutting up a long shaving
of gold. Within three years there
were probably 80,000 immigrants
to the "Pike's Peak" country, of
whom, however, a large number re¬
turned to their homes, or went else¬
where.
Concerning these settlers there
is one very extraordinary thing to
be noticed — the Indians never
complained of any bad treatment
at their hands. The cause of the
mutual good feeling was partly
due to Ash Hollow and Sumner's expedition, but more than
anything else it was due to the fact that the whites were
locating on ground which lay between the territory of the
mountain tribes and those of the plains, and was never per-
242
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
manently occupied by either. The consequence was that the
settlers neither interfered with the Cheyennes and Arapa-
hoes nor the Utes, but had their friendship sought by each
party for the purpose of acquiring arms and ammunition to
light the other. While the Indians fought each other the
prospectors made their way all through the foot-hills and
the mountains of the main range. To this day the hunter
and prospector find their old workings and the decaying
boards of their flumes in the ravines on the western slope
of the Snow Mountains, which are the main divide in Colo¬
rado. In time of war, when all provocations were summed
up, the Indians accused the whites, in a general way, of in¬
truding on their lands and driving away the buffalo, but in
the " weak piping time of peace " they had nothing to say of
this. On February 18, 1861, the Arapahoe and Cheyenne
chiefs made a treaty at Fort Wise, which contained this un¬
common clause: "In consideration of the kind treatment of
the Arapahoes and Cheyennes by the citizens of Denver and
the adjacent towns, they respectfully request that the proprie¬
tors of said city and the adjacent towns be permitted by the
United States government to enter a sufficient quantity of
land to include said city and towns, at the minimum price of
$1.25 per acre." The Senate struck out this clause, but in
the capacity of a solemn declaration by the Indians it stands
unimpaired by the amendment. Of course it cannot be said
to be conclusive proof that the Indians were particularly anx¬
ious to do something for their white friends. It was, more
probably, the result of a few presents by the town companies
to induce the Indians to recommend a favor that injured
them in no respect; but in. the absence of any accusation of
mistreatment by the whites, it is satisfactory evidence of the
real state of feeling.
This treaty is a celebrated one, and the reader will find
himself repaid in remembering some of its provisions, for it
was the foundation of the subsequent troubles with the
Cheyennes. By it the southern tribes of Cheyennes and
Arapahoes ceded all their lands except a triangular tract,
bounded on the west, practically, by meridian 28° 30'west of
Washington, on the north-east by the Big Sandy, and on the
ASH HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION. 243
south-east by the Purgatoire or Las Animas. It recited that
these tribes were very desirous of adopting an agricultural
life, and made provisions for such a change. Finally it pro¬
vided that right of wa}7 should be had across their lands for
"all roads and highways laid out by authority of law." In
this phrase there was a world of significance. Whether or
not the chiefs understood that the right to build a railroad
would be claimed under it is uncertain, but whether they did
or not it is certain that their warriors wanted no railroad, no
such cession of lands as had been made, and no agricultural
life. They said that they preferred to remain hunters, and
would do so; that the buffalo would last a hundred years.
Dissatisfaction was expressed at once, and depredations fol¬
lowed soon afterwards. They threatened to kill their chiefs
if they did not repudiate the treaty. The war of the rebel¬
lion had its weight in increasing the hostile feeling, and at
length the Kansas Pacific road was begun, directly through
their country. All these things worked towards war, and
culminated in the open hostilities of 1864.
16
CHAPTER IX.
LOS NABxYJOS.
Of all the interesting Indians of the Far West none are
more interesting than the Havahos. The name is a Spanish
one, in their orthography Habajos or Havajos, and signifies
ponds or small lakes. Their country, which abounds in these,
most of them full in the rainy season and dry the remainder
of the year, was originally called Havajoa, and the Indians,
in the old Hew Mexican records, were called " Apaches de
Havajoa," which has gradually given place to the present
form. The Apaches proper call them Yu-tah-kah, and they
call themselves Tenuai or " men," a title which nearly all the
American tribes take to themselves in their respective lan¬
guages. Their home, from our earliest knowledge of them,
has been in the northwestern corner of Hew Mexico and the
northeastern corner of Arizona. It may, in a general way, be
described as lying between parallels 35 and 37 of north lati¬
tude and 107 and 111 of west longitude ; or east of the Moqui
villages, north of Zuni, west of the divide between the Rio
Grande and the Pacific slope, and south of the Rio San Juan.
Across it, from southeast to northwest, is a ridge of high land
which takes a mountainous shape at the northern end. It is
there known as the Sierra Tunicha; farther south as the
Chusca; still to the south and east as the Mesa de Lopos; and
terminates at the southeast as the Sierra San Mateo. In the
southern part is a low range called the Zuni Mountains, and in
the northwest a more rugged chain known as the Calabasa
(Calavaser) Mountains.
The country is partially drained to the north by the San
Juan, of which the Chelly and Chaco are the principal tribu¬
taries; on the southwest the drainage is to the Colorado
Chiquito, by the Rio Puerco (Hog River) of the West and
LOS NABAJOS.
245
Cottonwood Fork. Much of it is not drained at all, the sur¬
face water gathering in ponds during the wet season and pass¬
ing off by evaporation. The higher land presents a succession
of high peaks, sterile valleys, timbered table-lands, and fields
of lava, with an occasional oasis. The lower lands have a yel¬
lowish composite soil, with outcroppings of sandstone, gypsum,
and some coal. It is readily washed, converting the face of
the land into a series of mesas (table-lands) separated by ar-
royos and canons, with now and then a streamlet, to which
the ground imparts a color varying from a rich cream to a
dark buff. These are all called rios, though elsewhere they
would be called brooks. In the rainy season, they at times
develop suddenly into raging torrents, sweeping away dams
and other obstructions, and then as quickly subside to their
former feeble state. The vegetable growth is chiefly the wild
sage or artemisia, with a fair allowance of cactus, and a sprink¬
ling of pines, cedars, and pinons. On the mountains are some
extensive forests of pines of large growth, with scrub oak,
and rarely the valley of some mountain brook shows a fertility
of soil and luxuriance of vegetable growth that makes it a
paradise, as compared with the hot, dusty, dreary deserts
about it.
The Navahos are well-formed, of good countenance, and
light-colored, as compared with the average Indian. It has
been claimed by some savants that they are a degenerated
Pueblo people, an idea which has also been advanced in re¬
gard to the Nez Perces, the Natchez, and some other tribes
that showed a marked degree of civilization, but, with due re¬
spect to the authors of the idea, there is little ground for the
belief. The surest test of origin is language, and the lan¬
guage of the Navahos identifies them, as well as the Apaches
and Lipans, with the Athabascan family of British America.
Neither of these three southern tribes has any traditional ac¬
count of occupying the old pueblos or casas that are found in
their country, and the buildings themselves show a gradual
decay, through centuries, without repair or occupancy. The
dwellings of the Navahos, which they call kogans, are rude,
conical huts of poles, covered with brush and grass, and plas¬
tered over with mud. They refuse to make any more sub-
246
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
stantial buildings on account of their nomadic habits and cer¬
tain superstitions, which cause the destruction of their hogans,
at times. With these facts in view, it is far more probable
that there was an emigration of Athabascans from the North,
and a partial adoption of the customs of the people they con¬
quered, than that there was an emigration from the South, of
a civilized race, which has fallen back into complete savagery,
while, at the same time, the remainder of this Southern civilized
race has retained all its civilization except the dwellings, that
constituted its most desirable feature. The Navahos are of a
more peaceful disposition than their cousins, the Apaches and
Lipans—even more so than their timid relatives, the Tinne of
the North. They devote their time to pastoral and agricultu¬
ral pursuits almost exclusively. At the time of our conquest
they possessed about 200,000 sheep, 10,000 horses, and many
cattle. Their chief crop was corn, of which they sometimes
raised 60,000 bushels in one year; it was estimated that they
had 5000 acres under cultivation, in 1855. They irrigated
very little, but secured crops by deep planting, the corn being
placed about eighteen inches under the surface, and earing out
soon after it came above the ground ; in consequence of which
their fields present, an unfamiliar appearance to an American.
In addition to corn, they raised wheat, peas, beans, melons,
pumpkins, and potatoes, and had numerous peach and apri¬
cot orchards.
They dressed much more comfortably than other Indians.
The men wore a double apron coat, like a shortened poncho,
opened at the sides and fastened about the waist by a belt.
It was of woollen cloth and frequently much ornamented.
The legs were covered with buckskin breeches, close-fitting,
adorned along the outer seams with brass or silver buttons.
They extended to the knee, and were there met by woollen
stockings. The feet were covered with moccasins, and often
leggings, reaching to the knee, were worn. The attire was
finished by a blanket thrown over the shoulders, as a mantle,
and a turban or leather cap, surmounted by a plume that
gave it the appearance of a helmet. They formerly carried a
lance and a shield, which, with their costume, gave them the
appearance, at a distance, of Grecian or Roman warriors. The
CANONS IN T11E NAVAJO COUNTRY.
LOS NABAJOS.
249
costume of the women was a sleeveless bodice, loose above,
but fitting neatly at the waist, a skirt reaching below the
knees, and moccasins, in summer; in winter they added leg¬
gings and a blanket. The bodice and skirt were usually of
bright colors, the latter terminating in a black border or
fringe. The costumes of both sexes have become more or less
nondescript of later years, but many still retain their ancient
fashions. They manufacture all their clothing, including
their blankets. The blankets have been the wonder and ad¬
miration of civilized people for many years. They are very
thick, and so closely woven that a first-class one is practically
water-tight, requiring four or five hours to become soaked
through. The weaving, which is all done by women, is very
tedious, two months being consumed in making a common
blanket and sometimes half a year for a fine one. They are
worth from fifteen to a hundred dollars, varying with the
quality of the wool and the amount of work put on them.
They formerly manufactured cotton goods also, importing the
cotton bolls from Santa Fe, according to Senor Donancio
Yigil, but this has been discontinued for many years. They
make some pottery, similar to that of the Pueblos, of whom
they probably learned the art. They have numerous silver¬
smiths, who work cunningly in that metal, and these have made
remarkable advances in art of late years, since they added
modern tools to their kits. They are singularly imitative,
and will acquire a practical knowledge of any kind of work
in a very short time.
Their superstitions are peculiar. They never touch a corpse
if possible to avoid it. If a person dies in a hogan, they
either burn it or pull out the poles and let it fall on the body ;
if on the open plain, they pile stones over the corpse and leave
it. In consequence, they do not scalp or mutilate their vic¬
tims, and, in fact, have little pleasure in killing, though they
have a Spartan admiration for adroit thievery. They have a
great aversion to the hog, and neither eat its flesh nor permit
it to live in their country. This, with a few other peculiari¬
ties, has caused some to insist on their Israelitish origin. Per¬
haps some future sage may see in it evidence of relation to
Bismarck. They are averse to bear meat also, on account of
250
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
some religious scruple, and seldom kill the animal except it be
in self-defence.
The most striking characteristic of the Navahos is their
treatment of women. The life of an Indian scpiaw, ordinari¬
ly, is one of drudgery, with very few pleasures to relieve its
monotony. She is so completely a slave that her husband has
the right not only of selling but also of renting her. She
does all the work, while her husband looks after the amuse¬
ments for the family. In occasional instances women hold
higher positions, but it is usually through some gift of proph¬
ecy or other "medicine" power; this is especially the case
with the tribes of Oregon and Washington. There have also
been a few tribes that admitted women to the council.
William Penn mentions a council at which several women
were present, and among them one, to whom remarkable defer¬
ence was paid, known as " the ancient wise woman." He
asked them if this were their custom. They replied that " it
was, and that they never decided on any important matter
without consulting their women, and that some women were
wiser than some men." The Mohawks paid unusual attention
to the opinions of the squaws, but with them their councils
were held separately. In some tribes women have attained
the supreme command, and in others, where they cannot be¬
come chieftainesses, they may have the right of naming the
chief. Thus, Catharine Brant, widow of Joseph Brant, the
Mohawk chief, named two successors in office to him. With
the Navahos there is an equality of sex which is a close ap¬
proximation to the " woman's rights " doctrine. The husband
has no property in the wife, though he has invariably to pay
her parents for her when he marries. The marriage cere¬
mony consists simply in eating a meal together, and the tie is
as lightly severed as made, when either wearies of it. The
women hold their property independently, and in case of
divorce an equitable division of goods is made, the children
going with the mother. Incompatibility cf temper is an ex¬
cellent ground for separation. It is much on the principle
of the French social system, where a woman is not free until
she is married.
In consequence, women are well treated, and escape much
NAVAHO SQUAWS WEAVING A BLANKET.
LOS NABAJOS.
253
of the drudgery that falls commonly to the lot of squaws.
The men do the greater part of the out-door work, and the
women look after the affairs of the house. If a Navaho wants
his horse saddled, he does it himself, if he has no peon. Man
and wife eat together. Stranger still, it is a common thing
in their country to see a man carrying a pappoose—an ex¬
tremely rare condescension in other tribes, though sometimes
seen among thelites and Shoshonees. The women appear to
have a special interest in the sheep. The flocks are looked
after by the young girls, who employ their leisure moments
in spinning a loose yarn that is used for the filling of blankets.
They make very pretty and romantic shepherdesses. The
sheep are never disposed of without the consent of the wom¬
en ; in fact, a Navaho never makes a bargain of any kind
without consulting his wife or wives. They never strike their
women. If a man quarrels with his wTife, or she becomes care¬
less of his wishes, or abandons him, he solaces his grief and
assuages her anger by killing some gentleman of an adjoining
tribe, or other outsider, which makes everything pleasant
again. The doctrine of "free love" goes with "woman's
rights" in their case. None of the women are chaste, and the
nation has been badly infected with venereal disease, but they
claim to be nearly rid of this, through the efficacy of their
treatment, which consists of a decoction of herbs taken inter¬
nally, an ointment made from a peculiar kind of clay, and
sweat baths. In consequence of their better usage the women
are much above the average squaw in looks. They are tall,
straight, and well-formed. As a rule they are healthier than
the men, which is probably due to their out-door exercise as
shepherdesses in youth. Their treatment of women is the
result of their religion. Their only god, Whai-la-hay, is a
woman, and, according to their tradition, she taught them to
weave blankets and mould pottery. Hence they are grateful
to the sex. Besides, after death, the Navaho shade has to
light his way through a guard of evil spirits and get across a
great water, neither of which he can do without the assistance
of Whai-la-hay, and that they do not receive unless they have
treated their women well. There appears to be some connec¬
tion between this goddess and Ari-Zuna, the sun-maiden, the
254:
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
beloved of Montezuma, who figures more or less extensively
in the different religions of Mexico. In calling her their only
god, I mean the only one of a beneficent disposition. They
have a masculine devil, called Chin-day, to whom they devote
much attention in endeavors of propitiation. They also repair
at stated seasons to a mountain in their country, called
Polonia, for the purpose of worshipping the spirits of their
ancestors, who are supposed to have a certain subordinate
power.
Another characteristic of the Havahos was their form of
government, or, rather, their lack of government. When they
came under our control they numbered about 12,000, of whom
2500 were warriors, but notwithstanding their numbers, and
the extent of country they occupied, they had scarcely any
central controlling power, and what power there was, was on a
democratic basis. The patriarchal form of government ob¬
tained among them, a man having as absolute control over his
children, while they lived with him, as of his slaves, but, once
a warrior, a man was his own master, and once married, a wom¬
an was largely her own mistress. Head chiefs were made
and unmade with little ceremony, and the pledges of a head
chief appeared to have little weight, either while he was in
office or afterwards. Every man had personal liberty of action,
by virtue of being a warrior. If he distinguished himself in
war, or acquired riches which enabled him to maintain a fol¬
lowing, he became known as a chief. The head chief was
really a war chief, with no perceptible authority in time of
peace, and neither he nor any other governing power of the
tribe could compel the surrender or punishment of a man of
any influence among them. On account of this lack of ex¬
ecutive power, there was no enforcement of law and little
law to enforce. Religious scruples were the chief restraining
power. Some men, from a naturally bad disposition, became
vagabonds, and lived wholly b}7 theft, plundering their own
nation as well as others. Of these the remainder appeared to
be in perpetual dread, without any power of restraining them.
Major Backus once asked a Navaho chief how they punished
their people for theft. "Hot at all," he replied. "If I at¬
tempt to whip a poor man who has stolen my property, he
LOS NABAJOS.
255
will defend himself with his arrows and will rob me again.
If I leave him unpunished, he will only take what he requires
at the time."
This lack of government was the source of all their
troubles with the Americans. We were obliged to consider
them a tribe and to treat with them on that basis. When a
treaty was broken it was necessary to treat them as a tribe in de¬
manding satisfaction, but they were unable as a tribe to make
the reparation we demanded. There were two other causes
that prevented any lasting peace for many years. One was
that they thought they outnumbered us. The reason they
gave for this belief was that, in the beginning, a beaver dug
a hole in the earth, from which there came live whites and
seven Navahos, ergo, they are the more numerous. It required
a score of years to satisfy them that figures could lie in regard
to population. The other was hostile feeling between them
and the Mexicans. The two nations had fought for centuries,
and, as neither of them was afflicted with honesty, they were
continually in conflict after they passed under our control.
The blame of this is put on one or the other, as writers favor
or oppose the Indians. The fact is, that each robbed and
abused the other at every opportunity. When it came to rep¬
aration, it is reasonably certain that the estimates of damage
done by the Navahos, especially as to the amounts of stock
stolen, were generally exaggerated ; and it is equally certain
that, in the restitutions which the Indians were compelled to
make, they culled the worthless animals from their herds to
return. The Mexicans took the larger number of captives;
the Navahos stole the more property. The territorial records
from the time of our occupation to January 1, 1867, show
the New Mexican losses from all Indian tribes to have been
123 persons killed, 32 wounded, 21 captured, 3559 horses
stolen, 13,173 cattle, and 294,7-10 sheep, of a total value of
$1,377,329.60; or an average of 6 killed, 1 captured, and
$70,000 worth of stock stolen annually. The Apaches, Co-
manches, and Utes were, of course, responsible for a share of
this, but the Navahos came in for at least one third of it.
What does not appear on the records, and it is very essential
for showing the burden of guilt, is how much the Mexicans
256
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
stole from the Navahos. The fighting between them was not
serious. The Navahos are not dangerous as warriors, although
they have been so represented in the diseased literature of
frontier life. The idea, so far as it had any basis, came from
the Mexicans, and was due not so much to the bravery of the
Indians as to the cowardice of their foes.
The relations of the United States with the Navahos begin
with the occupation of New Mexico by General Kearny.
The general, by his " annexation," assumed the protection of
the New Mexicans from Indians, and gave them frequent
promises, in public and private, to that effect. lie did not
remain there long enough to discover that a feud of centuries
was not to be disposed of abruptly, but he did receive a taste
of their predatory warfare. While visiting the settlements
below Santa Fe, on the Kio Grande, with a detachment of
troops, the Navahos swooped down on the valley, in sight of
the command, and drove off a large number of horses and
cattle, a part of which belonged to the command, before the
troops could reach them. An expedition was sent against
them under Colonel Doniphan, in October, but it did not re¬
turn until after Kearny had left for California. It entered
the country of the Navahos in two columns; one, under Major
Gilpin, took the route up the Chama, by way of Abiqui, down
the San Juan, and over the Sierra Tunicha; the other, under
Doniphan, went up the Puerco of the East and spread over
the country in three commands, gathering up the Indians as
they moved. About three fourths of the Navaho nation were
thus brought together at Ojo del Oso (Bear Spring—Ojo, lit¬
erally " an eye," is commonly used by the Mexicans to signify
a spring instead of the purer Spanish fuente or rnanantial),
and a treaty was made with them without any hostilities. The
stealing went on as usual as soon as the soldiers were out of
the country. Early in the following spring (1817) Major
Walker marched against them with a force of volunteers, and
penetrated as far as the Canon de Chelly, but did not even
succeed in making a treaty. In 1848, Colonel Newby, with
a large force of volunteers, entered their country and made
another treaty, which was promptly broken on his depart¬
ure.
LOS NABAJOS.
257
In 1819, Colonel J. M. Washington marched against them,
with seven companies of soldiers and fifty-five Pueblo In¬
dians. He was accompanied by Antonio Sandoval, chief of a
band of about one hundred and fifty Navahos, who ever re¬
mained friendly to the Americans, and by Francisco Josta
(Ilos-ta, the Lightning), Governor of the Pueblo of Jemez.
The cause of the expedition was that since their last treaty
the Havahos had stolen 1070 sheep, 34 mules, 19 horses, and
78 cattle, carried off several Mexicans, and murdered Micento
Garcia, a Pueblo Indian. The Navahos were first found on
the Tunicha, a tributary of the San Juan, where Narbona,
Jose Largo, and Archuletti, three of their chiefs, met Colonel
Washington and Agent Calhoun in council. They agreed to
meet at the Canon de Chelly to form a permanent treaty, and
were about to separate, when one of the stolen horses, owned
by a Mexican volunteer then present, was noticed in the
possession of the Indians, and a demand for it was made.
The Navahos refused to surrender it, and Colonel Washing¬
ton directed that one of theirs should be seized. At the at¬
tempt the Navahos fled and were fired on. Narbona, who
was then head chief, was killed, and six others were mortally
wounded. The command moved on and reached the Canon
de Chelly on September 6. On
the following morning, Mariano
Martinez, representing himself
as head chief, and Chapitone,
second chief, with a number of
their people, came into camp
and sued for peace. It was
granted, on condition that they
gave up the stolen property and
surrendered their Mexican cap¬
tives and the murderers of Gar¬
cia. They gave up three Mexi¬
cans and part of the stolen prop¬
erty, agreeingto deliver the remainder at the Pueblo of Jemez
within thirty days. The canon was explored for a distance of
nine and a half miles above its mouth, and it was learned that
the previous idea of an impregnable fortress in it was errone-
CHAPITONK.
258
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ous. The command then returned by way of the Pueblo of
Zuni, which is situated seventy-five miles south of the canon.
Not only was the property not delivered at Jemez, but a
party of Navahos hurried to the settlements before the troops
returned, and ran otf a large herd of mules from within sight
of Santa Fe. Shortly afterwards, Chapitone was brutally
murdered by some Mexicans, near Ciboletta.
Not discouraged by past experiences, Colonel Sumner and
Governor Calhoun met a large party of warriors and chiefs
at Jemez, in the winter of 1851-2, and proposed another
treaty. The Indians ridiculed the proposition at first, but
after an exciting council they agreed to ratify the treaty
with Colonel Washington, which they said Martinez and
Chapitone had no authority to make. The treaty was vio¬
lated continually during the same winter, and, in the spring
of 1852, Colonel Sumner marched against them, but being
unable to bring on a general engagement, he employed his
time in building Fort Defiance. This was the most effective
stroke made against the Navahos for years, and had a percep¬
tible effect in restraining them. It was located in the heart
of their country, sixty miles north of Zulu, fifteen miles
south of the Canon de Chelly, fourteen miles from the La-
guna Negra (or Negrita), a deep and cool lakelet of dark
water, much frequented by the Navahos, and three miles
west of the present line of Arizona. It is in the highlands
about the sources of the Rio Puerco of the West, at the base
of a rocky range, which rises five hundred feet or more above
the surrounding table-land, known as the Bonito Hills.
Through these hills breaks the Canoncito Bonito (Pretty Lit¬
tle Canon), an abrupt gorge with perpendicular walls, and at
its mouth is the fort. The canon is half a mile long, averag¬
ing one hundred yards in breadth, with a level grassy floor.
Near its head are two springs that feed a little stream which
supplies the fort. This place and several fertile valleys of
the vicinity had long been favorite haunts of the Navahos.
The fort was simply a group of barracks, stables, and offices
around a parade-ground, 300 by 200 yards in extent. There
were no stockades, trenches, block-houses, or other fortifica¬
tions. The buildings were principally of pine logs with dirt
FORT DEFIANCE.
LOS NABAJOS.
261
roofs, though a few of them were of adobes. There was one
stone building for the officers.
In May, 1853, Romano Martin was robbed and murdered
by Navahos. The murderers were not surrendered when de¬
manded by Governor Lane, and a campaign was being pre¬
pared for, when Colonel Sumner was relieved by General
Garland and Governor Lane by Governor Meriwether. The
new governor extended a general amnesty, after a talk
with the chiefs, and matters proceeded much as usual. In
1854 a Navaho killed a soldier at Fort Defiance. Major Ken-
drick, the officer in command, demanded the offender with
such sternness that the Indians concluded something must be
done. The chiefs agreed to surrender the guilty party, and
a day was appointed for his execution by hanging. Rather
strangely, the Indians asked the privilege of doing the hang¬
ing, which was granted to them, and on the day appointed
they brought forward and hung the alleged murderer in the
presence of the troops. It was learned two or three years
later that the man executed was a Mexican, who had been a
slave among them for many years, and that the murderer,
who was a man of influence among them, was still living.
In 1855 Governor Meriwether met with the FTavahos, for a
talk, at Laguna Negra. Sarcillo Largo, their head chief, rep¬
resented that his people would not obey him, and resigned
his office at the council, whereupon the chiefs elected Man-
uelita to the position. The council proceeded quite boister¬
ously, but a treaty was agreed on, the Indians promising to
surrender offenders and keep within certain reservation lim¬
its, except that they had the privilege of gathering salt at the
saline lake near Zuni. Presents were then distributed, as is
usual at treaties, a custom that may account for the great
readiness of the Ravahos to make them. This treaty was
not ratified by the Senate, but that was immaterial, for the
plundering wTent on just as if the treaty were in full force.
It is but just to say, however, that these depredations were
claimed to be—and to a very large extent certainly were—the
acts of a small portion of the tribe. The real offense of the
nation as a whole consisted chiefly in shielding the wrong¬
doers and exercising no control over them. The result was
262
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
that while the mass of the nation was peaceable from inclina¬
tion and the necessities of a largely agricultural life, the war¬
like and vicious members were exercising their violent ardor
at will, and the force of American resentment was held in
light esteem.
In the early part of July, 1858, a Navaho of prominence
and influence had a difficulty with his wife. lie desired her
to accompany him on a visit, instead of which she went to a
dance. Her husband repaired to the baile and reduced her
costume to an ultra-fashionable style, by tearing every stitch
of clothing from her. This failed to bring her to a sense of
her conjugal duty, and it was about as far as Navaho customs
permitted him to go in the way of direct coercion. The usage
of the nation presented, as his next proper step, the killing
of some outsider. He went to Fort Defiance on the following-
c5
morning, July 12, with the avowed intention of selling two
blankets that he carried with him. He was there for three or
four hours, and had just sold one of the blankets to a camp-
woman (an American compromise between a sutler, a laun¬
dress, and a vivandiere), when Jim, a negro boy belonging to
Major Brooks, the post commander, passed to the rear of the
camp-woman's quarters. He said nothing and did nothing to
the Indian, nor had he ever before seen him. As he came
out on the other side, with his back turned, the Indian, who
meantime had jumped on his pony, let fly an arrow that
passed under his shoulder-blade and penetrated his lung. The
Indian fled at once. The boy, without making any outcry of
any sort, undertook to pull the arrow from the wound, but
broke it near the end, leaving the head in his body. The
surgeon was unable to extract it, and four days later Jim was
dead. On the day after the assault, Sarcillo Largo, former
head chief, was sent for, and the assassin demanded. Excuses
were made and action postponed from day to da}q until, on
July 22, Sarcillo and Huero (Juero or Huerero, literally, the
Blacksmith—named Huero Miles by the soldiers on account
of the analogy of his position to that of Lieutenant-colonel D.
S. Miles, recently placed in command in that district) were
summoned, and notified that they must produce the murderer
within twenty days.
LOS NAB A JOS. 263
Preparations for a campaign were kept up, and Indian
Agent Yost came up from Santa Fe to act in conjunction
with the military. He was escorted by Captain McLane, with
a dozen men, and, at Covero, was joined by Captain Bias
Lucero with his company of Mexican spies, fifty in number.
As this party approached Bear Spring (Ojo del Oso), on
August 29, they found an encampment of Navahos at that
point and attacked it. The spring lies to one side of the
travelled road and is approached through a valley, about two
hundred yards wide, on either side and at the extremity of
which rise steep hills, covered with pine-trees. Down this
the troops advanced and opened fire at long range, while the
Indians deployed on both sides, under cover of the timber
that skirted the valley. The firing was kept up until six
Indians were killed and several wounded, when Captain Mc¬
Lane was struck in the side by a ball, and fell. It was sup¬
posed that he was mortally wounded, but he afterwards recov¬
ered, the ball having struck a rib and glanced off. A part of
the command charged, and captured twenty-five ponies and a
number of blankets, and the party then proceeded onward to
Fort Defiance, where Colonel Miles arrived two days later and
took command. On September 1, Juan Lucero, a Navalio
chief, came to the fort to see if Major Brooks were not satis¬
fied with the injury done to the Indians at Bear Springs, but
was informed that he was not, and would not be until the
murderer was surrendered, dead or alive. A block-house was
built on the hill east of the fort, as an additional defence, the
garrison being comparatively small. The Indians were now
satisfied that something would really be done, and Sarcillo
came in and promised to surrender the murderer. Sandoval,
the friendly chief, made a desperate effort to keep on good
terms with both parties. Every day he would rush breathless
to the fort and announce his discoveries; now the murderer
was at Ojo del Oso; now he was in a cave near Laguna He-
grita; now he had fled to the Sierra Tunicha. On the morn¬
ing of September 8, he announced, with great haste and bustle,
that the murderer had been caught in the Sierra Chusca on
the preceding day. Soon after, Sarcillo Largo arrived, and
stated that the murderer had been desperately wounded and
IT*
264
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
MESA OF CHUSCA MOUNTAINS.
had died during the night. Could he have a wagon to bring
the body in ? lie could not; but a mule was furnished him,
and after much delay and display, a corpse was produced.
Every one in the garrison who had seen the offender was
called to identify him, and each one unhesitatingly testified
that this was the body, not of the murderer, but of a Mexican
captive who had often visited the post. The surgeon gave
his opinion that the wounds on the corpse had been inflicted
that morning. All of this was afterwards substantiated by the
Indians themselves, but, at the time, the chiefs protested that
LOS NABAJOS.
265
the body was the one called for. Colonel Miles declined to
hold any council with them, and active hostilities were pre¬
pared for.
On the next morning Colonel Miles went on a scout with
three companies of mounted rifles, two of infantry, and Lu-
cero's spies. They entered the Canon de Chelly on the 11th,
and marched through the lower half of it, occasionally killing
or capturing an Indian, but meeting with no material resist¬
ance. When they camped for the night, in the canon, the
Indians gathered on the heights above and began tiring at
them. The attack did no harm, for the walls of the cailon
were so high that the arrows lost their force and dropped
horizontally on the ground, but it was thought better not to
take any risks. Among the prisoners taken was the father of
the leader of the attacking party, and to him notice was given
that he would be hung if the firing were not stopped. He
communicated his peril to his son, who withdrew his warriors,
and left the soldiers in peace. On the next day they reached
the mouth of the canon, and were much relieved to be out of a
place where the Indians could have done them much damage,
if they had known how. At the mouth of the canon, Nak-
risk-thlaw-nee, a chief, approached under a flag of truce and
proposed peace, but was informed that there could be no peace
until the murderer was surrendered. The command then
moved to the southwest twelve miles, over the Sierra de La-
guna, a range of red sandstone hills, to the ponds where the
principal herds of the vicinity were pastured. Here six thou¬
sand sheep were captured, and the troops camped, as they had
been doing, in the corn-fields of the Indians. In the early
morning of the 14th the Indians attacked the picket of the
herd, but were driven off after wounding four men, one mor¬
tally. On the same day a bugler wandered away from the
command and was killed. The troops returned to the fort
on the 15th, having killed six Indians, captured seven, and
wounded several, bringing with them six thousand sheep and
a few horses.
On the evening of the 25th Captain John P. Hatch, with
fifty-eight men, started for the ranch of Sarcillo Largo,
which was situated nine miles from the Laguna ISTegra. They
200
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
marched all night, and approached the Indians early in the
morning, through an arroyo that crossed their wheat-fields,
getting within two hundred yards of their hogans before they
were discovered. About forty Navahos, all armed with guns
and revolvers, hastily assumed the defensive. Captain Hatch
brought his men within fifty yards of them, dismounted, and
opened fire. The Indians stood gallantly until they emptied
their rifles and revolvers, and then retreated, leaving six dead ;
the wounded, including Sarcillo Largo, escaped. There were
captured fifty horses and a large number of robes, blankets,
saddles, etc., of which all that could not be carried off were
piled on the wheat-
stacks, near the houses,
and the whole burned.
Strangely enough, the
Indians neither killed
nor wounded any of the
soldiers, which was due
to their being unaccus¬
tomed to firearms. With
their bows and arrows
they would certainly
have inflicted more in¬
jury. The Indians had
just purchased their
arms for war with the
Americans, and had not
yet learned to use them.
Where did they get
them ? The cloven foot
of Mormonism is again
apparent; Utah was the
only possible furnisher.
The Mormon settle¬
ments joined the Na-
vahos on the northwest, and the Saints extended their hands
in fellowship to them as to other Indians. A year after this
fight their criminal dealings with the Navahos were shown
beyond question. On September 20, 1859, Captain J. G.
v
NAVAJO IN WAR COSTUME.
LOS NABAJOS.
267
Walker reported from Fort Defiance that he had met a party
of Pah-Utes, eighty miles west of the Canon de Chelly, while
exploring the San Juan Elver, who said that they had been
sent out to invite the Navahos to a great council of Indians,
at the Sierra Panoche, for the purpose of a union against the
Americans. Sierra Panoche is a mountain southwest of the
Calabasa range, and eighty miles east of the Colorado Kiver.
The Mormons had agreed to furnish all needed arms and am¬
munition for a general war against the United States. Cap¬
tain Walker says: "That this report is substantially true I
have every reason to believe, as the Pali-Utahs, to confirm
their story, exhibited various presents from the Mormons,
such as new shirts, beads, powder, etc. I was further con¬
firmed in this opinion by meeting, the next day, a deputation
of JSTavajos on their way to Sierra Panoche, to learn the truth
of these statements, which had been conveyed to them by a
Pali-Utah whom I saw in the Canon de Chelly afterwards,
who had been sent as a special envoy from the Mormons to
the Navajos. He had in his possession a letter from a Mor¬
mon bishop or elder, stating that the bearer was an exemplary
and regularly baptized member of the church of the Latter-
Day Saints." This report was confirmed by the Indian
agent at Fort Defiance, the Indians in that vicinity having
been visited for the same purpose, during Walker's absence,
by an Indian who said "the Mormons had baptized him into
their church, and given him a paper certifying that he was a
Latter-Day Saint and a good man."
On the 29th Colonel Miles went out on another scout,
taking three hundred men, as before. On the first day they
overtook a party of Indians with their herds, in the Chusca
Valley, twenty miles northeast of the fort, and captured nine
horses and one thousand sheep. On the night of the 30th, a
detachment of one hundred and twenty-six men, under Cap¬
tain Lindsay, was sent to attack the camp of Ka-ya-ta-na's
band, which was at a laguna fifteen miles distant. The de¬
tachment reached the pond at about three o'clock in the
morning, found the Indians gone, and followed on their trail.
At daybreak they discovered them encamped in a deep canon.
The descent was very difficult. A.s the soldiers were making
268
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
their way down, in single file, the foremost having just
gained the bottom, three Indians rode up. With quick ex¬
clamations of astonishment and alarm, they wheeled their
horses and fled to warn their people. There were but a
dozen men down, but seeing that no great advantage could
be gained without a sudden rush, Captain Lindsay boldly
charged down the canon with this handful. After a hard
gallop of five miles they succeeded in overtaking the Indians
and heading off their stock, amounting to seventy horses and
four thousand sheep. Captain Lindsay took station, with his
little band, on a wooded knoll in the canon, and held the stock
till the remainder of his command came up. The property
in the camp which had been so hastily deserted, consisting of
blankets, robes, and other supplies, was all destroyed. The
Indians lost eight men killed; the troops four killed and one
wounded.
Thus a series of expeditions was kept up, leaving the In¬
dians no time for repose. On October 4, Major Brooks con¬
voyed a number of trains towards Albuquerque and then cir¬
cled through the Navaho country from Ojo del Gallo, in the
western edge of the Rio Grande Valley. They had one en¬
gagement,in which, it was reported, twenty-five Indians were
killed or badly wounded. On the morning of the 17th the
post herd was attacked by three hundred mounted Navahos,
who succeeded in killing two men and driving away sixty-
four horses and mules. On the 18th Colonel Miles started
out with two hundred and fifty soldiers and one hundred and
sixty volunteer Zuni Indians, who were to be recompensed
by a small ration and what they could capture. The cupidity
of the Zunians prevented an engagement with the Indians,
but one hundred horses were captured and the houses of
Manuelita's band were destroyed. On the 23d Lieutenant
Ilowland, with twenty soldiers and forty of Bias Lucero's
Mexicans, marched south from the fort to Colites Mountain.
At daybreak of the next morning he surprised the ranch of
the chief Ter-ri-bio, capturing sixteen women and children,
four men, including Terribio, ten horses, and twenty goats
and sheep. An extensive expedition in two columns was
then planned and was being carried out, when the Navahos
GROUP OF NAVAIIOS.
LOS NABAJOS.
271
sued for peace, and, on December 4, an armistice was granted
to give them an opportunity to treat.
On December 25,1858, a treaty was made, with conditions
satisfactory to all parties. Eastern and southern limits were
fixed which were not to be passed by the Navahos, except that
Sandoval and his band retained their former location. They
were to make indemnification for depredations on citizens
or Pueblo Indians, since August, 1858, by returning the prop¬
erty taken or its equivalent in sheep, horses, or cattle. For
the future the whole tribe was to be held responsible for the
wrongs committed by any member, and reprisals were to be
made out of any flocks, if satisfaction were not promptly
given. All Mexican, Pueblo, and Navaho captives, who de¬
sired to return to their people, were to be surrendered. The
assassin of the negro boy, Jim, being represented to have fled
out of their country and beyond their power, his surrender
was waived, but they agreed not to permit him to return un¬
der any circumstances. The right of the United States to
send out military expeditions and establish posts in their
country was formally recognized. Finally, the Navahos were
earnestly urged to appoint either a head chief or some central
power which could act for the tribe. This treaty lasted
nearly five months, being broken hopelessly before the Senate
had an opportunity to ratify it. It marks the close of the
hostilities occasioned by the murder of the boy Jim, an im¬
portant epoch in Navaho history.
Before leaving the subject, it may be well to correct an
oft-repeated error connected with it. It has been said that
the murder of Jim was in revenge for the killing of some
cattle, some days prior, by the soldiers, but this is not true.
The commander of the post had selected certain convenient
grazing-grounds for the post-herds, and these the Indians had
been ordered to keep away from, for the reason that there
was no more grass than was needed for the post, and to avoid
annoyance from the mixing of the herds. Manuelita refused
to obey this order, and defiantly stated that he would pasture
his cattle on these grounds. He was informed that if he did
they would be shot. lie drove them in and they were killed.
This matter was smoothed over, and the Indians were visiting
272
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the post as usual, for some time before Jim was murdered.
The murderer had nothing to do with the cattle, and, accord¬
ing to the Indians themselves, committed the crime solely on
account of his trouble with his wife. lie gained his point, for
she accompanied him, as he had desired, when he returned to
their camp with information of what he had done. He se¬
cured his domestic happiness and the tribe paid for it.
CHAPTER X.
mountain meadows.
During these years whose happenings we have been re¬
cording, there has been a community existing in the centre
of our region that we have barely noticed. Their history, at
any period, is a subject which a conscientious writer ap¬
proaches unwillingly, for it involves a certain consideration
of the merits of Mormonism and the Mormons, and that means
wholesale denunciation, almost always of the Mormons, and
very frequently of their enemies. Sweeping accusations
must be made, and these, he knows, weaken alike the testi¬
mony of a witness, the plea of an orator, and the statement of
an author. It is repugnant to man to believe that the ma¬
jority of mankind are evil, and it is contrary to ordinary ex¬
perience that any large class or sect of men should be radical¬
ly bad. Besides this, all candid men will admit that the
Mormons have at times been treated badly; that the killing
of Joseph Smith, their prophet, was one of the most disgrace¬
ful murders ever known in this country; and that they were
driven from their homes in Missouri and Illinois under cir¬
cumstances of cruel severity. But candid men must also ad¬
mit that past suffering is no excuse for continuing crime, and,
leaving out of consideration all of their offences that preceded
or followed it, it has not fallen, nor shall fall, to the lot of any
man to record a more atrocious crime than that of the Moun¬
tain Meadows. For this crime all Mormondon has voluntari¬
ly shown itself responsible, offering no excuse but fanaticism
and revenge; and, worse than nothing as these excuses are, the
moral obliquity of the deed is, if possible, increased by the
desire of plunder, which was also an actuating motive.
To themselves, the Mormons are, of course, justified in any
act that is approved by their priesthood. They are the chosen
274
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
people whose inheritance is the earth, and in spoiling the
Gentiles they are simply taking their own. They are the ap¬
pointed agents of a vengeful God, and can do nothing but
their duty in obeying his mandates, as pronounced by his
holy prophets. They are under a " higher law " and the di¬
rect control of an inspired guide. They carry the higher-
law theory farther than even the extreme Jesuits, and in this
dogma centre all the objectionable features of their religion.
When any sect receives a dispensation which permits its mem¬
bers to transgress the laws of man, and the commonly recog¬
nized laws of God, "for righteousness' sake"—whenever it
publicly confesses that it owns no obligation of truthfulness,
or honesty, or humanity, to outsiders—it has put itself out¬
side the pale of our civilization, and can no longer justly com¬
plain of the lawlessness of any person. More than that, none
of its members can consistently ask to be believed in any state¬
ment, except its truth be otherwise established, and this is the
only safe rule of procedure with the testimony of Mormons
or persons who have ever been Mormons. It will be made
manifest, in the course of this chapter, that Mormon declara¬
tions and oaths are worth less than the breath in which they
are uttered, or the paper on which they are written. It does
not follow that everything said against them is to be believed,
nor that they cannot tell the truth when it is to their interest
to do so; but it is evident that their statements must be re¬
ceived with the utmost caution. Put it in what language you
may, no really harsher criticism of their veracity can be made
than their own claims of obedience to a " higher law."
When the Mormons left Nauvoo it was not certain where
they were going. They profess to have moved under divine
guidance, which all may believe who choose. The common
understanding was that they were going to California, and a
statement to that effect was commonly made in newspapers
at the time. It is known also that Governor Ford, of Illinois,
gave Brigham Young a copy of Fremont's report of his second
and third expeditions, and recommended him to go to some of
the larger valleys of the Wahsatch. However that may have
been, a party of explorers went out in 1847 and selected a place
and a path for the mass of the people, who did not seem ready
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
275
to trust divine guidance without an exploring expedition ahead.
The Great Basin, in which they settled, was not wholly a desert,
as they have claimed and as has been too commonly believed.
Colonel Fremont had examined it carefully several years before
the Mormons came, and he said of it: "Partly arid and sparse¬
ly inhabited, the general character of the Great Basin is that
of a desert, but with great exceptions, there being many parts
of it very fit for the residence of a civilized people; and, of
these parts, the Mormons have lately established themselves
in one of the largest and best. Mountain is the predominat¬
ing structure of the interior of the basin, with plains between
—the mountains wooded and watered, the plains arid and
sterile. . . . These mountains had very uniformly this belt of
alluvion, the wash and abrasion of their sides, rich in excel¬
lent grass, fertile and light, and loose enough to absorb small
streams." Much of the land then considered sterile has since
been made fruitful by irrigation, but it is erroneous to sup¬
pose that cultivation and improvement have been more rapid
in Utah than in other equally sterile parts of the West. The
contrary is the case.
The Indians who inhabited this country wTere diverse in
character, although originally of the same stock and speaking
dialects of the same language—the Shoshonee or Snake.
They have three principal divisions, the Snakes proper, the
Bannocks, and the Utes, but these relate only to race. In
tribal government they were separated into more than a hun¬
dred small bands, each entirely independent. The country
was divided among them in small districts, the boundaries be¬
ing fixed by natural monuments. Only the principal divis¬
ions can be noticed here. The Eastern Snakes ranged from
the South Pass to Bear River and Wind River; they numbered
one hundred and twenty-five lodges, and subsisted largely on
buffalo meat, for which reason they are called Kool-sa-ti-ka-ra,
or Buffalo Eaters. They have been very reliable in their
friendship to Americans, their chief, Wash-i-kee (Gambler's
Gourd), otherwise known as Pina-qua-na (Smell of Sugar),
having attained a wide notoriety on this account. lie was a
half-breed, tall, well-formed, superior to his people, and
exercising strong control over them. The Took-a-ri-ka, or
18
270
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
WASHAKIE.
Mountain-Sheep Eat¬
ers, ranged high up
on the mountains,
usually, and had little
to do with the whites.
They were an extraor¬
dinary people, build¬
ing their rude houses
above timber line on
the mountain heights,
and seeming doomed
to so cheerless a life
that the Canadian
trappers gave them
the name " les dignes
de pitie," or, the ob¬
jects of pity. On the
Salmon River was a
mixed band, largely
of their people, which
numbered fifty lodges. Its principal chief was Qui-tau-i-wa
(Foul Iland), and his sub-chiefs were " Old Snag," an Eastern
Snake, and " Grand Coquin," a Bannock. Their friendship was
always questionable. The Western Snakes were in two main
bands, one under Am-a-ro-ko (Buffalo Meat under the Shoulder),
ranging on Camas Prairie, and the other under Po-ca-ta-ra
(White Plume), ranging in the Goose Creek Mountains and
on the Humboldt. They numbered about one hundred and
fifty lodges, and were 011 good terms with the Mormons, but
not with other whites. They are commonly called Sho-sho-
kos, or "White Ivnives," from the white flint knives they
formerly used. A large band of the Bannocks ranging west
of the Blue Mountains were known as the War-ra-ri-kas, or
"Sunflower-Seed Eaters. They numbered one hundred and
fifty lodges, were commanded by Pa-chi-co (Sweet Root), a
mighty medicine man, and were hostile when favorable oppor¬
tunities occurred. In the neighborhood of Fort Boisee were
one hundred lodges of Bannocks, under Po-e-ma-chee-ah
(Hairy Man), who were the most friendly of their race tow-
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
277
ards the Americans. Ranging about Salt Lake, especially on
Bear River, was a band led by " Long Beard " and Pag-e-ah
(The Man who Carries the Arrows), numbering about fifty
lodges, and known variously as Ho-kan-di-ka, the Salt Lake
Diggers, Southern Snakes, Mormon Snakes, or Cache Valley
Indians. They were the worst of all these Indians, so far as
Americans generally were concerned, but were hand-in-glove
with the Mormons. Commonly associating with these were
the Mo-pe-as, so called after their chief Mo-pe-ah (Bunch-of-
Hair-in-the-Forehead), who boasted himself a friend of the
Mormons. They numbered sixty lodges. The Utes were
much the largest division, and held the country to the south
of the other two, occupying practically all of Nevada, Utah,
and the mountainous part of Colorado, with a considerable
portion of Northern New Mexico. The eastern bands, the
Tabequaches, Mohuaches, Grand Rivers, Capotes, Uintas, and
others occupying the country east of the Wahsatch Moun¬
tains, were the best warriors among them; they were less in¬
fluenced by the Mormons, and most friendly to Americans.
The Pah-Utes, or Water-Utes, of the Sierra Nevada, and the
western part of Nevada, commonly called the Monos and the
Was hoes, were also good warriors. Of intermediate grade
were the Gosi-Utes (Goships, Goshoots) of Eastern Nevada,
the Sanpitches (Sinpichi, or, as now corrupted in Utah, San
Petes), Timpanagos, and others of Eastern Utah. The lowest
as warriors were the Pah-Utes, or Pi-Utes of Southern Utah
and the desert portions generally, several bands of miserable
beings, who were getting into a more wretched state each
generation, through starvation and their defenceless condition.
They were decreasing in numbers, in stature, and in physical
strength, and were constantly preyed upon by their neigh¬
bors. Their food consisted of snakes, lizards, roots, ber¬
ries, grass-seed, worms, crickets, grasshoppers, and, in short,
anything that could be chewed, swallowed, and partly di¬
gested.
The Mormons had but little trouble with Indians, for they
approached them as brothers and equals, without any desire
to force civilization upon them. The negroes, the descend¬
ants of accursed Ham, were originally barred from the Mor-
278
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mon heaven, though latterly a revelation has been made which
lets them in, but the Indians were always brothers. They are
"Larnanites," the "remnant" of the lost tribes of Israel, lin¬
eal descendants of Abraham, sprays from the " fruitful bough
by a well, whose branches run over the wall," who are to be re¬
claimed by Mormon righteousness, and in due time to become
" a fair and delightsome people." The Mormons brought to
the Indians a religion and customs differing in but one essen-
o O
tial respect from what they already had, and that was obedi-
UTE SQUAWS OF UTAH.
ence to the Mormon prophet. This duty was largely bought
by presents (usually purchased with United States'funds) and
protection, and was further induced by missionary work and
intermarriage. Their protection of the Indians who adhered
to them was sufficient to prevent any punishment for their
crimes. The case of the murderers of Lieutenant Gunnison
will illustrate this. Gunnison had wintered at Salt Lake in
company with the remainder of Captain Stansbury's party,
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
279
and all had been treated kindly by the Mormons. Gunni¬
son repaid their kindness by serving as a volunteer in their
Indian war during the winter, and by eulogizing them in his
reports. But in 1S53 he was on a mission which the Mor¬
mons did not wish accomplished, that of selecting a route for
a Pacific railroad by way of Salt Lake, and he, with seven of
his party, were killed by the Indians near Sevier Lake. In
1851 Colonel Steptoe reached Salt Lake with a body of sol¬
diers, captured the murderers of Gunnison, and brought them
to trial. A clear case was made against them ; the judge
charged the jury that they must either be found not guilty or
guilty of murder; and the Mormon jury returned a verdict
of manslaughter. The highest possible sentence, three years'
imprisonment, was pronounced, but the murderers escaped " by
oversight" of their jailers, and regained their tribes, where
they remained undisturbed. The Mormons announced that
they had treated Gunnison's party well, as he testified himself,
and that they had done all they could to bring his murderers
to justice, to which facts they still point with pride.
The war in which Lieutenant Gunnison assisted was the
only real trouble that the Mormons ever had with the In¬
dians. At that time there were but two settlements in the
beautiful borders of Utah Lake, one on the American Fork,
and one on Provo River. The Indians there, a band of Pah-
Utes, did not appreciate good treatment, and from begging
went to robbing. Finding they were not punished, they at¬
tributed their safety to the cowardice of the Mormons, and
became so bold as to shoot people who tried to hinder them
from taking what they wanted. They little dreamed of the
claws of the velvet paw they had been playing with. The
people on the Provo sent for assistance, and one hundred and
fifty men went to them from Salt Lake. They found the
Indians posted in the brush and cotton woods along the Provo,
and fought them there for two days. Then Sunday came, and
the Saints rested, as is their custom, while the Indians fled.
On Monday secular occupation was resumed. The Indians
at the southern end of the lake were first proceeded against,
and about thirty of their warriors killed. They then returned
to their first opponents, who had fled up a canon, and killed
2S0
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
all but seven or eight of their men. Some fifty women and
children were taken prisoners and distributed among the set¬
tlements, but afterwards allowed to join other bands if they
so desired. After this there was no trouble that could be
dignified by the name of war. Brigham Young was govern¬
or and ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The agents,
farmers, and interpreters were all Mormons. It was repeat¬
edly charged that all the government annuities were repre¬
sented to the Indians to be Mormon gifts, and numerous offi-
SNAKE INDIANS OF UTAH.
cial reports of this, based on the statements of the Indians
and other evidence, show their truth. Pocatara told Super¬
intendent Lander that "whenever he should feel certain that
the White Father would treat him as well asBig-um (Brigham
Young) did, then he would be the kindest friend to the Amer¬
icans that they had ever known." The hostile Indians in Utah
were often accompanied and led by painted whites, and emis¬
saries were kept constantly at work among the more remote
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
281
tribes. While the troops were fighting Indians, who were
furnished with Mormon guns and ammunition, in the Yaki¬
ma country, the people of Southern California were holding
mass-meetings and denouncing the Mormon bishop, Tinney,
who had been among the San Luis Rey and Carvilla Indians,
telling them that the Mormons and Indians must act together
against their common enemies, the Americans. While the
Pelouses were receiving aid and bad counsel from Salt Lake,
an Indian emissary to the Ravahos, bearing letters which cer¬
tified his conversion and membership of the Mormon Church,
was taken in New Mexico, and confessed that he was sent by
the Mormons to urge the Navahos to war. And so, in almost
every war in the Rocky Mountains, the same complaint has
been made, down to the last outbreak of the Utes in Colorado,
when Ouray certified to its truth. To these charges no de¬
fence is made, except the denunciation of their authors as liars.
As might naturally be supposed, the Mormons did not feel
kindly towards the people who had expelled them from their
homes in the East and murdered their "prophet," and their
friendship was not increased by the treatment which their mis¬
sionaries occasionally received. But there was a more potent
cause for their disloyalty than persecution, or mere allegiance to
a Church which asserted and maintained temporal power. The
Mormons are chiliasts, and for thirty years have been look¬
ing for the millennium to be ushered in very soon, their mil-
lenarian doctrines being perhaps the strongest feature of their
religion as presented in missionary work. The millennium,
by prophecy, is to follow at once on the disruption of the
Union, which is to be caused by civil war, and "Zion" is to be
set up on the ruins of this nation, with headquarters in Jack¬
son County, Missouri. The principal basis of this belief is
the following prophecy of Joseph Smith, said to have been
delivered in 1832, and certainly published as early as 1854:
" WAR.
"Verily thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come
to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually
terminate in the death and misery of many souls. The days will come that
wars will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that place: for, be¬
hold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States; and
the Southern States will call upon other nations, even the nation of Great
282
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Britain, as it is called, and tliey shall also call upon other nations, in order
to defend themselves against other nations: and thus war shall be poured
out upon all nations. And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves
shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshalled and disciplined
for war. And it will come to pass, also, that the remnant which are left of
the land [/. c., the Indians] shall marshal themselves and shall become ex¬
ceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation. And
thus, with the sword and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the earth shall
mourn, and with famine and plagues and earthquakes, and the thunder of
heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning, also, shall the inhabitants of the
earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of an
Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath nttide an end of all na¬
tions; that the cry of the saints and of the blood of the saints shall cease to
come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaotli, from the earth, to be avenged
of their enemies. Wherefore stand ye in holy places, and be not moved
until the day of the Lord come; for, behold, it cometli quickly, saith the
Lord! Amen."
It would be difficult to find, in the entire range of proph¬
ecy, a prediction more remarkably fulfilled in many respects,
and more possible of explanation and delay as to the unful¬
filled portions. The best proof of its earthly origin will be
found in unfulfilled prophecies from the same source, by those
who are curious enough to examine them. Its effect on the
loyalty of the Mormons was necessarily disastrous. They
could not feel an attachment for a country whose destruction
must precede their entry into millennial bliss. When the
civil war began, " We told you so " was heard wherever a Mor¬
mon was found ; and when that war was concluded without
embroiling "all nations," the ready interpreter showed that
the time was not yet full. It has been expected to break out
again at every national election, especially those of 187G and
1881, each failure of fulfilment being only the result of mis¬
interpretation. They cling to it still with more than "Mil-
lerite" patience, and its fulfilment is only a question of "a
few more years." Then will come the time mentioned by
Isaiah, when "Seven women shall take hold of one man, say¬
ing, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel:
only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach "
—the reproach referred to being childlessness, by Mormon in¬
terpretation ; the men Mormons, and the women Gentiles.
Decided changes took place in the Mormon community
after the exodus from Xauvoo. There was a weeding out of
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
283
a majority of the weaker brethren, to begin with, leaving the
assemblage in Utah fairly united in credulity and fanaticism.
Relieved of any prohibitory power, polygamy was openly an¬
nounced as a doctrine in 1852 at Salt Lake City, and in the
following year abroad. This caused a split in the Church, and
an extensive desertion at all points outside of Utah. The
dissenters maintained that the doctrine was an introduction
of Brigham Young's, and in proof cited the express prohibi¬
tions of it in the " Book of Mormon," and also in the "Doc¬
trines and Covenants," the latter adopted in open conference
after Smith's death. The Brighamites showed that in fact it.
had been practised and taught by Smith and other leaders.
Moreover, both sides proved their claims by the solemn state¬
ments of the principal men of the Church, made at different
times, and thus it was demonstrated that the principal men,
including Smith and President Taylor, were unblushing liars,
no matter whether the doctrine were new or old. It is fairly
assured, however, that the doctrine was privately promul¬
gated from about 1811. Under this doctrine a woman may
possibly attain salvation, but never an " exaltation," when not
the wife of a saint, and, as a corollary to this proposition, it
is both lawful and commendable to induce any woman, mar¬
ried or single, to leave her sinful relatives and seek the
higher heaven in company with a Mormon. The doctrine
was at first treated rather as a matter of privilege; but as
months passed away, and its peculiar fitness to their theory of
pre-existent spirits, anxiously waiting for earthly bodies, was
seen, it became more and more a thing of duty. It reached
its grossest form during the reform period of 1855-6.
The "Reformation" was the result of distress. The re¬
moval across the plains involved large losses ; the work of
the last two years had been rendered unprofitable by drought
and grasshoppers; the Saints were reduced to a condition of
general poverty. The leaders accounted for it as a punishment
sent on them for sin and want of faith. Under the preach¬
ing of men who, in charity, may be called demented, the peo¬
ple were wrought up to an extravagant pitch of religious
frenzy. Men were exhorted everywhere to repent, confess
their sins, and be rebaptized, for the day of the Lord was at
2S4
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
hand; and from all
that land there rose
a wail of, "Unclean!
unclean!" It floated
out over the desert,
and over the moun¬
tains, and from the ex¬
treme southern settle¬
ments it was echoed
back, " Unclean ! un¬
clean !" Men and
women bared their
hearts' darkest cor¬
ners to the public con¬
gregations, and many,
whom suspicion itself
had marked pure,
confessed the perpe¬
tration of horrible
crimes. Polygam y
took on its most re¬
volting shape; children of twelve and thirteen years were
married to gray-haired elders; whole families of girls were
wedded to one man; nncles united with nieces; in at least
one instance half-brother and sister were married; men met
in the streets and exchanged daughters; divorce and remar¬
riage became so common that some women had eight 01* ten
husbands in almost the same number of months. All of the
people were rebaptized, and started anew on their peculiar
path, determined to gain heaven at any cost.
Out of this groaning for sin there arose the most villain¬
ous of all the doctrines of the Mormon Church—that of the
" blood-atonement." It is, in brief, that there are certain sins
which are unpardonable, except the blood of the sinner be
shed ; and the people were exhorted: " Let your blood be
shed, and let the smoke ascend, that the incense thereof may
come up before God as atonement for your sins." The chief
of these unpardonable sins is the " shedding of innocent
blood," which means the blood of Mormons, and possibly of
PRESIDENT JOHN TAYLOR.
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
285
Gentiles who have not reached years of accountability, and
whose parents have not been guilty of injuring Mormons or
associating with people who have. Adultery, under certain
circumstances, procurement of abortion, and the " violation
of a sanctified oath " are also unpardonable, and for these of¬
fences many of these enthusiasts gladly submitted to death.
But it did not stop there. They were not satisfied with
throwing themselves under the wheels of Juggernaut, but
must also have the privilege of sacrificing others to save
them from their sins. "It is to save them," said Brigham
Young, in a sermon reported in their Church organ, the Deseret
News, on October 1, 1856, " not to destroy them. It is true
that the blood of the Son of God was shed for our sins, but
men can commit sins which it can never remit." Again, on
February S, 1857, he said : " I could refer you to plenty of
instances where men have been righteously slain in order to
atone for their sins. I have seen scores and hundreds of peo¬
ple for whom there would have been a chance (in the last
resurrection there will be) if their lives had been taken, and
their blood spilled on the ground as a smoking incense to the
Almighty, but who are now angels to the devil, until our el¬
der brother, Jesus Christ, raises them up, conquers death, hell,
and the grave." These are but brief selections from the
many blood-seeking sermons of those days, and the zealous
churchmen took eager hold of this doctrine which the world
had been growing out of for a score of centuries.
Just after the Church was fairly encompassed in this blaze
of zeal, it was announced, on July 24, 1857, to the great gath¬
ering of Mormons at Cottonwood Park, where they had met
to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of their exploring
party in the Basin, that there was an army under way for
Utah, escorting the new territorial officers. It was true.
Crime in the guise of religion had become so rampant in
Utah, and its repression by the people there so hopeless, that
an external executive agency had to be sought. The courts
had been overawed by armed mobs and the judges had tied.
A lawyer who protested against such proceedings had been
murdered. Indian agent Hurt had reported something of
their connection with the Indians, and, believing his life in
286
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
danger, had slipped away through the mountain passes,
guided by Indian friends. lie resigned, declining reappoint¬
ment. Such troubles had been growing since 1851, and al¬
most every Gentile official that went there had died suddenly,
or been driven away 011 account of "immorality." In his
message of 1857, President Buchanan said: "Without enter¬
ing upon a minute history of occurrences, it is sufficient to
say that all the officers of the United States, judicial and ex¬
ecutive, with the single exception of two Indian agents, have
found it necessary for their own personal safety to withdraw
from the territory, and there no longer remains any govern¬
ment in Utah but the despotism of Brigham Young."
Whether the officials had been blameworthy or not is imma¬
terial ; the fact remains that Utah was in a state of confusion
and lawlessness, and it was necessary to send troops with the
new officials, who should act as a posse comitatus on their call.
From the official instructions given at the time it is easily
seen that, in the eyes of the administration, the state of af¬
fairs in Utah was very similar to what had recently existed
in Kansas, with the difference that the trouble was over an¬
other question. But in reality the situation was very differ¬
ent. In Utah the people were united, but they wanted 110
government except that of their own leaders, no matter what
the United States desired. The majority of them were ready
for war. They had been apart from the Gentiles long
enough to let the delusion of divine aid grow up again, and
the belief was general, as it was in Missouri, that one should
" chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight." The
leaders were not so pugnacious. The plan they adopted was
to hold the army back until they were ready to move, and
then desert the northern part of the territory, destroying
everything behind them—to make a second Moscow of Salt
Lake City. For this active preparations were made; grain
was hoarded up and cached in the mountains; hiding-places
were sought out; and all the people prepared for a journey.
The Mormons in California were recalled, and all returned to
Utah. Fort Bridger and Fort Supply, under control of Mor¬
mon Indian agents, were vacated and burned down, in order
that they might not furnish shelter to the troops when they
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
287
came. The JSTauvoo Legion was brought into active disci¬
pline, and a general martial spirit pervaded the entire com¬
munity, such as is shadowed in this verse from one of their
favorite songs:
" Old squaw-killer Harney is on the way
The Mormon people for to slay;
Now, if he comes, the truth I'll tell,
Our boys will drive him down to hell."
General Harney did not come until after the difficulty
was adjusted. lie was succeeded by Colonel Albert Sidney
Johnston, wrho reached the army in the early winter. Ho re¬
sistance being anticipated, Captain Yan Yliet, a discreet offi¬
cer, was sent ahead to purchase supplies for the army and ex¬
plain its purpose to the Mormons. He arrived at Salt Lake
early in September and found them preparing for war. He
was treated with consideration, but could purchase no sup¬
plies. They told him that they had been persecuted, robbed,
and murdered in the East, and now would resist all persecu¬
tion at the outset; "that the troops now on the march for
Utah should not enter Salt Lake Yalley." Yan Yliet called
their attention to the fact that resistance could only be tem¬
porary ; that if the army were kept out over winter the gov¬
ernment would send an overwhelming force which would
crush them. Young replied: "We are aware that such will
be the case, but when those troops arrive they will find Utah
a desert; every house will be burned to the ground, every
tree cut down, and every field laid waste. We have three
years' provisions on hand, which we will cache, and then
take to the mountains, and bid defiance to all the powers of
the government." On Sunday Yan Yliet attended their serv¬
ices, and when Elder Taylor, now President, after presenting
the probabilities to them, "desired all present who would ap¬
ply the torch to their own buildings, cut down their trees
and lay waste their fields, to hold up their hands, every hand
in an audience numbering over four thousand persons was
raised at the same moment." He also stated that, " The Al¬
mighty had appointed a man to rule over and govern his
Saints, and that man was Brigham Young, and that they
would have no one else to rule over them,"
288
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
On September 14 Yan Yliet left Salt Lake City, and on
the 15th Young issued a proclamation, in which he recited
the wrongs and misfortunes of the Mormons, and " forbid—
First, All armed forces of every description from coming into
this territory under any pretence whatever. Second, That all
the forces in said territory hold themselves in readiness to
march at a moment's notice to repel any and all such invasion.
Third, Martial law is hereby declared to exist in this territory
BRIGHAM YOUNG.
from and after the publication of this proclamation ; and no
person shall be allowed to pass or repass into, or through, or
from this territory without a permit from the proper officer."
A copy of this was sent to Colonel Alexander, commanding
the advance of the army. On September 21 Yan Yliet met
the advance, on his return, and reported his failure. On Sep¬
tember 29 Young again addressed the commanding officer,
calling his attention to his disregard of the former proclama-
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
289
tion, and adding: "I now further direct that you retire forth¬
with from the territory by the same route you entered. Should
you deem this impracticable, and prefer to remain until spring
in the vicinity of your present encampment, Black Fork, or
Green River, you can do so in peace, and unmolested, on con¬
dition that you deposit your arms and ammunition with
Lewis Robinson, Quartermaster-general of the Territory, and
leave in the spring as soon as the condition of the roads will
permit you to march." This was accompanied by a note from
"Daniel H. Wells, Lieutenant-general commanding Nauvoo
Legion," stating, " I am here to aid in carrying out the instruc¬
tions of Governor Young." The army was then in what is
now the southwestern corner of Wyoming, straggling over a
hundred miles or more of country, and not yet apprehensive
of actual resistance; Colonel Johnston was at Fort Laramie;
the supply trains were not guarded. On October 5 the Mor¬
mons, under Lot Smith, one of their great " war-captains," at¬
tacked and destroyed a train on Green River, another on the
Big Sandy, and a number of wagons belonging to the sutler
of the 10th infantry, also on the Sandy, making a total loss
of seventy-five wagons, with their contents, and several hun¬
dred animals. About the same time it was learned that the
mountain passes were barricaded and held by Mormon troops.
It was considered impracticable to force them in the winter,
so the army went into winter camp.
During the long summer days that the Mormons passed
in preparation for war, an emigrant train, known on the road
as Captain Fancher's train, was passing through Utah. It
reached Salt Lake City in August, and took the "southern
route " which led through Provo, Nephi, Fillmore, Beaver, and
Cedar City, and at the last-named place joined the Spanish
trail from Los Angeles to New Mexico, which ran thence
southwest to the coast of California. These emigrants num¬
bered originally fifty-six men and sixty-two women and chil¬
dren, most of them being from Carroll, Johnson, Marion, and
other northern counties of Arkansas. At Salt Lake City they
were joined by several disaffected Mormons. They had thirty
good wagons, about thirty mules and horses, and six hundred
cattle. Dr. Brewer, of the army, who met them on the Platte,
290
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
in June, said it was "probably the finest train that had ever
crossed the plains. There seemed to be about forty heads of
families, many women, some unmarried, and many children.
They had three carriages, one very fine, in which ladies rode."
Slowly this long line wound its way up the Jordan, around the
sedgy border of Utah Lake, through Juab Valley, and down
the long, dreary stretch of road from the Sevier to Little Salt
Lake. At Beaver they were joined by a Missourian, who had
been held in custody there for some alleged offense, and he
urged them to hurry on beyond the power of the Mormons.
They passed through settlements from day to day, but they
were friendless as in the voiceless desert. They wished to
buy grain and hay to recruit their failing stock, but the edict
had gone forth for all supplies to be "hid up" in the moun¬
tains, and there was no grain to be bought by their money.
One man did trade them a small cheese, but he was seen by
the special policeman who was detailed to watch the train, and
was " cut off " from the church for it. Sell supplies to these
Gentiles? Oh, no! They were but a portion of the mob that
would soon be battering at the gates of Zion. Pumor wearied
her countless wings in incessant flight, carrying before them
the reports of their evil deeds, which grew and spread until
their original inventors might have blushed for them. It was
O
said that they were taking property bj' force; that they broke
down and burned fences; that they insulted men; that they
ravished Mormon women ; that they were a part of the mob
that drove the Saints from Missouri; that they boasted of hav¬
ing the pistol with which the Prophet Joseph was killed ; that
they were connected with the recent murder of the apostle,
Parley Pratt; that they threatened to return from California
with enough men to destroy all the Mormon settlements; that
they poisoned an ox with strychnine, causing the death of
some Indians and one white man ; that they poisoned the spring
at Corn Creek with arsenic, causing the death of twenty Pali-
Vant Indians; that they were, in short, a crowd of hardened,
godless wretches, whose sins could never be washed away ex¬
cept in their own blood. The chief hierarch of Southern Utah
announced that he believed there was not "a d d drop
of innocent blood among them." The charges made against
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
291
them were to the people of Southern Utah as words of certain
truth, for the fanaticism and bigotry of Northern Utah was
only lukewarmness in the southern settlements. Men scowled
and women glared their righteous hatred at the doomed party,
and little children peered through half-opened doors, in curi¬
ous fear, at the wicked people who had raised their hands
against God's anointed. True, they saw none of this evil-
doing as the emigrants passed them, but their belief in it was
not shaken by that. They had Mormon testimony to its truth,
and that was sufficient.
The emigrants kept on as fast as they could conveniently.
They crossed the Great Basin ; they climbed up the southern
rim ; and on this border of Mormondom they stopped for a
few days to let their cattle revel in the rank, coarse mountain
grass, before they went on into " the Ninety-Mile Desert."
The location of the Mountain Meadows, their stopping-place,
is in the southwestern corner of Utah, in the present county
of Washington, about eight miles south of the village of
Pinto. The place is a pass—sometimes called a valley—about
five miles in length and one in width, but running to a rather
narrow point at the southwest end. At about its centre,
lengthways, is the " divide " between the Basin and the Pa¬
cific slope, the ascents being very gradual, and at each end is
a large spring, the waters of the eastern one flowing into the
Basin, and those of the western one to the Santa Clara, and
thence to the Rio Yirgen. At the eastern spring was the
house and corral of Jacob Hamlin, Mormon sub-agent for the
Pah-Utes, who, with some assistants, all Mormons, was pastur¬
ing cattle on the meadows. The train passed his place on the
3d of September, and camped at the western spring on the
4th. The spring, which is a large one, is in the southern end
of the narrow part. The bank rises from it to a height of
about eight feet, and from its top there reaches a level stretch
of some two hundred yards. Beyond this there comes an ir¬
regular ridge or row of hills, fifty or sixty feet in height, back
of which is a valley of considerable extent, which opens into
the main Meadows three or four hundred yards below the
spring. The emigrants were camped on the level ground just
north of the spring. They were now on the edge of the Pa-
19
292
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
CACTUS IN DESERT.
cific slope, and must have felt the gladness of the wayworn
traveller who knows that another stage of his journey is fin¬
ished. Just across there, to the southwest, was golden Cali¬
fornia—they could almost see it—a few more miles of desert,
a few more days of dust and alkali water, and they would be
through.
In the chilly dawn of Monday, September 7, as they were
grouped about their camp-fires, preparing and eating their
breakfasts, they were stunned by a volley of guns from the
little gully through which the waters of the spring ran away.
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
293
Seven of their number were killed, sixteen were wounded,
and the remainder thrown into confusion ; but it was only for
a moment. They were brave men, and they had lived too long
on the frontier not to be ready for an Indian attack on short
notice. The women and children were hastily placed in the
shelter of the corralled wagons, and the rifles of the men were
soon replying effectually to those of their foes. This was dis¬
couraging to their assailants, for they had counted on a massa¬
cre, not a fight. They were not warriors of much eminence.
On the contrary, Captain Campbell afterwards classed them as
"a miserable set of root-diggers," and said, " nothing is to be
apprehended from them but by the smallest and most careless
party." They were Pah-Utes from the neighborhood of Cedar
City, under Moquetas, Big Bill, and other chiefs; and others
from the Santa Clara settlements, extending thirty-five miles
below, under Jackson and his brother; Upper Pi-Edes, under
Iva-nar-rah, and Lower Pi-Edes under Tal-si-Gob-beth ; but at
this time they were all directed and controlled by John D. Lee,
sub-agent, Nephi Johnson, interpreter, and two or three others,
all disguised as Indians. It required all their efforts to keep
the Indians at their work. Several were killed early in the
engagement, and two of their war-chiefs had their knee-joints
shattered by rifle-balls, from the effects of which both died.
The Indians moved back to safer quarters, and, after driving
away all the cattle that were out of range of the spring, vented
their rage by shooting the remainder that they dared not
attempt to drive away. An occasional shot was fired at the
emigrants, as a reminder that they were still in the neigh¬
borhood. White reinforcements were sent for at once, after
the first repulse, and began to arrive on the following day.
Tlrey stopped out of sight of the emigrants to camp. Occa¬
sionally they would put on a little paint and go take a shot
at the wagons; then they would return and amuse themselves
by pitching quoits. The little party of the besieged mean¬
while were improving their time. They drew their wagons
close together, chained them wheel to wheel, and banked up
earth to the beds, making a fortress which they could easily
hold against all the Indians within a hundred miles of them.
On Wednesday night a young man named Aden, a son of
29L
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Dr. Aden of Kentucky, with one companion, stole out of the
valley and started to Cedar City for aid. At Richards'
Springs they met three Cedar City men, William C. Stewart,
Joel White, and Benjamin Arthur. As their horses drank
from the spring, Stewart shot and killed Aden, and White
wounded his companion, but the latter escaped and made his
way back to the camp. The emigrants now began to realize
the desperation of their situation. Aden might surely have
hoped for assistance if any one could, for his father was known
to have saved the life of a Mormon bishop of the neighbor¬
hood ; yet he was assassinated by a Mormon. There could be
little doubt that the white men, of whom occasional glimpses
had been caught by them, were Mormons, and that they were
aiding the Indians. They prepared a statement of their situ¬
ation, giving their reasons for believing that the Mormons
were their real besiegers, and directed it to Masons, Odd
Fellows, the leading religious denominations, and to "good
people generally." This they intrusted to three of their best
scouts, who, on Thursday night, slipped down through the
arroyo of the spring-branch, across the strip of valley, and off
towards California. The paper implored assistance, if assist¬
ance could reach them, and, if not, that justice might be meted
to their murderers.
While these men were endeavoring to slip through the
meshes of the net that was drawn about them, a strange scene
was to be witnessed just over the little divide of the Meadows.
There were now fifty-four white men in the attacking party
and about two hundred Indians, all of whom were satisfied that
no direct assault on the camp could be successful. The reso¬
lute defence of the emigrants had made a change of proced¬
ure necessary, and they were now obliged to obtain " coun¬
sel " from those in authority, and the approval of the Lord.
Up to this time every step had been taken in that way. George
A. Smith, one of the Twelve Apostles, had gone through the
settlements and arranged the preliminaries; the day after the
train passed through Cedar City a Church council was held,
at which women were present, and, after due consideration, it
was decided, by a unanimous vote, to be the will of the Lord
that the Fancher outfit should be exterminated. The manner
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
295
selected was an Indian massacre, but this had failed. A coun¬
cil of the Mormons in the Meadows was held on Thursday
evening, and the orders from President Haiglit of Cedar City
were read. . They directed that the emigrants should be de¬
coyed from their stronghold and exterminated. Haight was
lieutenant-colonel of the militia, and had received his direc¬
tions to this effect from Colonel Dame, commander of the
militia of the district, which was known as "the Iron militia."
The men in the Meadows were all members of it, and were
commanded by Major John Iligbee. There was some feeble
remonstrance to the orders, so, after a little talk, they all
knelt, with elbows touching, in "a prayer circle," and asked
for divine guidance. On the still night air of that mountain
pass, one voice after another rose in fervent prayer, asking
God to say to them whether or not they should betray .and
murder one hundred and twenty of their fellow-men. The
last voice ceased; a moment of silence ensued; then Major
Iligbee announced, in confident tone, " I have the evidence
of God's approval of our mission. It is God's will that we
carry out our instructions to the letter." In that declaration
the " higher law " stands out in all its naked enormity. Mere
polygamy is a virtue compared with such a devils' faith. The
council remained in session until daybreak, and all the minu¬
tiae of the following day's work were arranged for. A hasty
breakfast was despatched, and the preparation for the Lord's
work was begun at once.
The Indians were concealed in a thicket a mile and three
quarters from the camp, on the road back to the Basin. The
Mormons procured two wagons, with which they moved on
towards the western spring. They stopped out of gun-shot,
and John D. Lee and William Bateman advanced under a
white flag. An emigrant came out to meet them. They
talked over the situation. Lee said that the Indians were
much excited, on account of injuries done them by former
parties, and could scarcely be controlled, but he had got them
to promise that no harm should be done to the emigrants if
they surrendered to the Mormons. Part of them had left al¬
ready. It would be necessary to make a form of surrender¬
ing; the guns could be placed in the wagons brought by the
296
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Mormons, together with the sick, wounded, and small chil¬
dren ; the men must march unarmed, each accompanied by a
Mormon, to make the Indians believe they were captives. To
this the emigrants consented. They were putting themselves
wholly in the power of the Mormons, but it was all they could
do. There was no escape without Mormon aid. Even if the
JOHN D. LEE.
Indians left them, their stock was all gone, and they were un¬
able to move. Perhaps they thought the Mormons would be
satisfied with getting their property and would save their
lives, blaming what had happened to the Indians. Perhaps
they did not suspect the Mormons any longer. No one
knows. The book is sealed till the last day. The wagons are
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
297
driven up ; the corral is opened ; the guns are loaded in, also
the sick, the wounded, and the smaller children ; the wagons
drive on. The women and older children follow, on foot.
The men, part of whom have just finished burying two of
their number, who had died of their wounds, making ten
deaths at the spring, come last.
It is just after noon, and the day is bright and clear.
Tramp, tramp, tramp ; they march down from the camping-
place. The men have reached the militia, and give them
three hearty cheers as they take their places, murderer and
victim, side by side. Tramp, tramp, tramp. They are round¬
ing the point of the ridge which has served as a screen for
the Mormons and Indians for the past week. A raven flies
over them, croaking. What called him there ? Does he
foresee that he shall peck at the eyes of brave men and gentle
women who are looking at him? Tramp, tramp, tramp.
The wagons with the wounded and the children are passing
the hiding-place of the Indians. How quietly they lie among
the gnarly oak bushes ! but their eyes glisten, and their necks
stretch out to see how soon their prey will reach them. The
women are nearly a quarter of a mile behind the wagons, and
the men as much farther behind the women. A half-dozen
Mormon horsemen bring up the rear. Tramp, tramp, tramp.
The wagons have just passed out of sight over the divide.
The men are entering a little ravine. The women are oppo¬
site the Indians. They have regained confidence, and several
are expressing their joy at escaping from their savage foes.
See that man on the divide! It is Higbee. lie makes a mo¬
tion with his arms and shouts something which those nearest
him understand to be: "Do your duty." In an instant the
militiamen wheel, and each shoots the man nearest him ; the
Indians spring from their ambush and rush upon the women ;
from between the wagons the rifle of John D. Lee cracks, and
a wounded woman in the forward wagon falls off the seat.
Swiftly the work of death goes on. Lee is assisted in
shooting and braining the wounded by the teamsters Knight
and McMurdy, and as the latter raises his rifle to his shoulder
he cries; " 0 Lord, my God, receive their spirits, it is for thy
kingdom that I do this." The men all fell at the first fire
298
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
but two or three, and these the horsemen ride down, knock
over with their clubbed guns, and finish with their knives.
Their throats are cut, that the atoning blood may flow freely.
The women and older children are not hurried out of the
world quite so quickly as the others. Some are on their
knees begging for life. Others run shrieking over the Mead¬
ows. They receive but two answers—the tomahawk crashing
through the skull, and the knife plunging through the heart.
These are all left to the Indians, for fear there may be " in¬
nocent blood" among them, which no Mormon may shed.
There is alarm on this account already, for one of the emi¬
grants had carried his infant child in his arms, and the bullet
that pierced the father's heart went through the babe's brain.
It is decided, however, that it was accidental and that no
criminal wrong is done. Several of the Mormons run to the
Indians, to see that they do their work properly. Among
them is Lee. It is discovered that two of the girls are miss¬
ing. Some one saw them run to a ravine fifty yards away.
Lee and one of the Cedar City chiefs run to the place and
find there the Indian boy, Albert, who lives with Ilamlin.
He says the girls came there, and shows where they hid in
the brush. They drag them forth and brutally ravish them.
This was the only act on that field that was not inspired.
Was it wrong, under the Mormon code of morality? The
question is too subtle for me to answer; certainly it was not
punished. Lee next tells the chief the girls must be killed.
The chief answers: "No, they are too pretty to kill; let us
save them but he meets a grim refusal. The unhappy child
that Lee holds, with the terror of death upon her, flings her
arms round his neck and promises to love him as long as he
lives, if he will spare her life. The wolf has keener fangs
but no more merciless heart, lie throws her head back with
his arm, and with one stroke of his keen bowie-knife severs
her neck to the spine. The chief brains the other with his
tomahawk.
This finished the slaughter at the Meadows, but there re¬
mained a little more to do. The trail of the three scouts,
who went out on the night before, had been discovered, and
Ira Hatch, with a party of Indians, was sent after them. The
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
299
fugitives were found sleeping, in the Santa Clara Mountains,
and, from the volley fired at them, two slept on in death. The
third fled with a bullet-hole through his wrist. He met two
Mormons, who were much afflicted over his sad plight, and
persuaded him that he could not get across the desert. They
induced him to turn back with them, promising, to smuggle
him through Utah. They soon met Hatch's party and the
man was killed; but they did permit him to pray first. The
paper calling for assistance, which he carried, was in Mormon
custody for some time, and is said to have been destroyed by
John D. Lee. The man killed by Hatch's party brings the
number killed to one hundred and twenty-one—ten at the
camp, young Aden at Richards' Springs, one hundred and
seven on the Meadows, and the three messenger scouts. The
main massacre was on Friday, September 11, 1857. There
has been some confusion as to this, arising from a failure to
consult calendars. Judge Cradlebaugh fixed the date as Sep¬
tember 10; Dr. Forney as "Friday, September 9 or 10;" all
the Mormon witnesses, and Lee, in his confessions, fixed the
day of the week as Friday, and the second Friday in Septem¬
ber was the 11th, in the year 1857. On the evening of the
same day the surviving children, seventeen in number, rang¬
ing in age from three to eight years, were taken to Hamlin's,
and afterwards divided out among Mormon families.
The property still remained to be disposed of. A part of
it was given to the Indians, and for this, Lee as Indian agent,
in his report of November 20, 1857, charged the government
over fifteen hundred dollars. The bodies of the dead were
searched by Higbee and Klingensmith, the Bishop of Cedar
City, and the money found is supposed to have been kept by
them. The remaining property was put in Klingensmith's
custody temporarily, and afterwards, on instructions from
Brigham Young, was turned over to Lee and sold by him for
the benefit of the Church. The bodies were stripped entirely
naked, and fingers and ears were mutilated in tearing from
them the jewelry, to them no longer valuable. The bloody
clothing and the bedding on which the wounded had lain were
piled in the back room of the tithing-office at Cedar City for
some weeks, and when Judge Cradlebaugh examined the
300
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
room, eighteen months later, it still stank of them. These
goods were commonly known as " property taken at the siege
of Sevastopol." Carriages and wagons of the emigrants were
in use long afterwards, and some of the jewelry is said to be
worn yet in Utah. The value of all the property taken, as
nearly as it can be ascertained, was over $70,000. People
in Arkansas who saw the organization of the train estimated
its value at $100,000.
It was for many years a hotly debated question whether
Brigham Young was connected with this crime or not. To
those who were familiar with the subordination of the Mor¬
mon Church, its system of espionage, its compulsory confes¬
sional, its obedience to "counsel," and its prompt punishment
of everything contrary to the will of those in authority, his
guilt was a matter of course. But many did not believe it.
In 1875 he published a deposition in which he acknowledged
himself accessory after the fact, saying that, within two or
three months after the affair, Lee began giving him an ac¬
count of it, and, says the deposition, " I told him to stop, as,
from what I had already heard by rumor, I did not wish my
feelings harrowed up by a recital of detail." Lee and Ivlin-
gensmith say they reported it fully to him, and Hamlin says
he did also. To Lee, by his account, Young professed to be
much shocked by the killing of the women and children, but,
after considering it over-night, he said : " I have made that
matter a subject of prayer. I went right to God with it, and
asked him to take the horrid vision from my sight, if it were
a righteous thing that my people had done in killing those
people at the Mountain Meadows. God answered me, and at
once the vision was removed. I have evidence from God
that he has overruled it all for good, and the action was a
righteous one and well intended. The brethren acted from
pure motives. The only trouble is that they acted a little
prematurely; they were a little ahead of time. I sustain you
and all of the brethren for what they did. All that I fear is
treachery on the part of some one who took a part with you,
but we will look to that." There is testimony also that he
was accessory before the fact, and his proclamation, that "Ho
person shall he allowed to pass or repass, into or through or
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
301
from this territory without a permit from the proper officer,"
surely indicates that he was in an aggressive mood at the time.
But this is now immaterial. He has passed beyond human,
punishment, and his moral guilt is sufficiently established out
of his own mouth. On occasions of self-gratulation he some¬
times exposed his methods. On August 12, I860, he said, in
the Tabernacle : " All the army, with its teamsters, hangers-on,
and followers, with the judges and nearly all the rest of the
civil officers, amounting to some seventeen thousand men,
have been searching diligently for three years to bring one
act to light that would criminate me; but they have not been
able to trace out one thread or one particle of evidence that
would criminate me; do you know why? Because I walk
humbly with my God, and do right so far as I know how. I
do no evil to any one; and as long as I can have faith in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ to hinder the wolves from tear¬
ing the sheep and devouring them, without putting forth my
hand, I shall do so. I can say honestly and truly, before God
and the holy angels and all men, that not one act of murder or
disorder has occurred in this city or territory that I had any
knowledge of, any more than a babe a week old, until after the
event had transpired ; that is the reason they cannot trace any
crime to me. If I have faith enough to cause the devils to eat
up the devils, like the Kilkenny cats, I shall certainly exercise it.
Joseph Smith said that they would eat each other up as did
those cats. They will do so here and throughout the world.
The nations will consume each other and the Lord will suffer
them to bring it about. It does not require much talent or
tact to get up opposition in these days; you see it rife in
communities, in meetings, in neighborhoods, and in cities;
that is the knife that will cut down this government. The
axe is laid at the root of the tree, and every tree that bring-
eth not forth good fruit will be hewn down."
His guilt is most fully shown in the subsequent course of
himself and the Mormon Church. It was unquestionably the
intention of the Mormon Church to keep the participation of
white men in the massacre a secret, and lay the blame on the
Indians. On January 6, 1858, after he was acquainted with
the general facts, according to his deposition, Brigham Young
302
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
reported to Commissioner Denver: "On or about the mid¬
dle of last September a company of emigrants, travelling the
southern route to California, poisoned the meat of an ox that
died, and gave it to the Indians to eat, causing the immediate
death of four of their tribe, and poisoning several others.
This company also poisoned the water where they were en¬
camped. This occurred at Corn Creek, fifteen miles south of
Fillmore City. This conduct so enraged the Indians that
they immediately took measures for revenge. I quote from
a letter written to me by John I). Lee, farmer to the Indians
in Iron.and Washington counties. 'About the 22d of Sep¬
tember, Captain Fancher and company fell victims to the In¬
dians' wrath near Mountain Meadows. Their cattle and horses
were shot down in every direction ; their wagons and prop¬
erty mostly committed to the flames.' Lamentable as this
case truly is, it is only the natural consequence of that fatal
policy which treats the Indians like the wolves, or other fe¬
rocious beasts." This plan was, perhaps, as ingenious as any
that could have been adopted, but there is no possibility of
keeping such a crime secret. A murder by a single hand,
under carefully planned circumstances, seldom fails to come
to light, but with a crime of this magnitude the exposure of
the truth is only a question of time, and a short time at that.
On October 2,1S57, eleven men, partly Mormons,who were
secretly escaping from Utah, passed through Mountain Mead¬
ows and saw the fruits of divine guidance. One of them af-
wards described it, on the witness-stand, thus: "Saw two
piles of bodies, one composed of women and children, the
other of men ; the bodies were entirely nude, and seemed to
have been thrown promiscuously together; they appeared to
have been massacred. Should judge there were sixty or sev¬
enty bodies of women and children ; saw one man in that
pile; the children were aged from one and two months up to
twelve years; the small children were most destroyed by
wolves and crows; the throats of some were cut, others
stabbed with knives; some had balls through them. All the
bodies were more or less torn to pieces, except one, the body
of a woman, which lay apart, a little southwest of the pile.
This showed no signs of decay, and had not been touched by
SCENE OF MASSACRE.
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
305
the wild animals. The countenance was placid and seemed
to be in sleep. The work was not freshly done—supposed
the bodies had been here fifteen or sixteen days." These
men went on to California and told their story. A meet¬
ing of citizens at Los Angeles examined the testimony, de¬
cided that the Mormons had committed the crime, and called
on the President for protection. The report flew on wings
of the wind to every part of the country, which was already
excited over the resistance offered to the army. IIow secret
the brethren in Utah kept it! On December 31, fifteen brief
weeks after it occurred, William C. Mitchell, of Dubuque,
Arkansas, wrote to Senator Sebastian of that state: " Two
of my sons were in the train that was massacred, on their
way to California, three hundred miles beyond Salt Lake
City, by the Indians and Mormons. There were one hun¬
dred and eighteen unmercifully butchered; the women and
children were all killed with the exception of fifteen infants.
One of my sons, Charles, was married and had one son,
which I expect was saved, and at this time is at San Bernar¬
dino, I believe in the limits of California. I could designate
my grandson if I could see him. . . . Four regiments, together
with what regulars can be spared, is too small a force to whip
the Mormons and Indians, for rest assured that all the wild
tribes will fight for Brigham Young. I am anxious to be in
the crowd—I feel that I must have satisfaction for the inhu¬
man manner in which they have slain my children, together
with two brothers-in-law and seventeen of their children."
The people of the neighborhoods whence the emigrants
went were satisfied with the evidence they had. The press
announced the organization of volunteer companies in a
dozen counties of Missouri and Arkansas. The government,
however, did not decide so quickly. Many wild reports con¬
cerning the situation in Utah had been current—reports of
battles in which seven or eight hundred on a side had been
killed—of the army being captured and the officers hung—
and possibly this was only a canard too. It was decided to
investigate first, and Dr. Forney, Superintendent of Utah, was
instructed to look into the matter. The Western men did not
let the case drop, however. On March 18, 185S, Mr. Gwin,
306
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
of California, introduced a resolution of inquiry in the Senate,
asking what steps had been taken to punish the murderers of
the one hundred and eighteen emigrants. He said he knew
the Indians were guilty, and it had been charged, and was be¬
lieved, that the Mormons were, but at any rate the guilty
should be punished. On June 22,1858, Dr. Forney reported :
"It affords me great pleasure to inform you, and the friends
of the children in question through you, that I learned to-day
where the children are. In my inquiries about the children
I met a gentleman who lives at or near where the massacre took
place. This gentleman, Mr. Hamlin, has one of the chil¬
dren, and informs me that all the children (fifteen) in question
are in his immediate neighborhood in the care of whites.
These unfortunate children were for some days among In¬
dians ; with considerable effort they were all recovered, bought
and otherwise, from the Indians." Forney was as impartial
a man as the Mormons could have asked for—in fact, he was
prejudiced in their favor. lie evidently believed Hamlin,
of whom more anon, but, as he went south and gathered facts,
here and there, the truth gradually forced itself upon him,
and on May 1, 1859, when he had recovered sixteen of the
children, he wrote: "Four of the oldest of the children
know, without doubt know, enough of the material facts of
the Mountain Meadow affair, to relieve the world of the white
hell-hounds who have disgraced humanity by being mainly
instrumental in the murdering of at least one hundred and
fifteen men, women, and children, under circumstances and
manner without a parallel in human history for atrocity."
Dr. Forney had cause to change his mind, outside of the
evidence of the children. He went first among the Pah-Vant
Indians under chief Kanosh, at Corn Creek—the Indians who
had been poisoned by the emigrants and taken vengeance on
them. He found that none of them had been poisoned by the
waters of the spring; that the spring ran so strong that a bar¬
rel of arsenic would not have poisoned it ; that an ox belong¬
ing to Dr. Ray, a Mormon living at Fillmore City, had died
about the time the emigrants were camped at Corn Creek, from
eating a poisonous weed—a not unusual occurrence—and some
Indians who ate of the ox were poisoned, but they had made
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
307
n^ ^ ^
little more to the
K A NOSH.
awful infamy of
this affair, all the Mormons who had had custody of these
children put in claims for the purchase-money expended in
buying them from the Indians, as well as for their mainte¬
nance, the total claimed amounting to over $7000. Of this
amount Forney paid $2961.77 for what he considered proper
charges, and reported as to the rest that he "cannot conde¬
scend to become the medium of even transmitting such claims
to the department."
In the spring of 1859 a company of dragoons and two
companies of infantry, under Captain R. P. Campbell, passed
through the Meadows and buried the remains. Theirs was
the last view of the Lord's work. Dr. Charles Brewer, in
charge of the burying-party, reported : " At the scene of the
first attack, in the immediate vicinity of our present camp,
marked by a small defensive trench made by the emigrants,
a number of human skulls, and bones and hair, were found
scattered about, bearing the appearance of never having been
buried; also remnants of bedding and wearing apparel. On ex¬
amining the trenches, which appear to have been within the
20
308
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
corral, and within which it was supposed some written account
of the massacre might have been concealed, some few human
bones, human hair, and what seemed to be tbe feathers
of bedding, only wTere discerned. Proceeding 2500 yards
in a direction JNT. 15° "VV., I reached a ravine fifty yards
distant from the road, bordered by a few bushes of scrub
oak, in which I found portions of the skeletons of many
bodies—skulls, bones, and matted hair—most of which, on
examination, I concluded to be those of men. 350 yards
farther on, and in the same direction, another assembly of
human remains were found, which, by all appearance, had
been left to decay upon the surface—skulls and bones, most
of which I believed to be those of women, some also of chil¬
dren, probably ranging from six to twelve years of age. Here,
too, were found masses of women's hair, children's bonnets,
such as are generally used upon the plains, and pieces of lace,
muslin, calicoes, and other material, part of women's and chil¬
dren's apparel. I have buried thirteen skulls, and many more
scattered fragments. Some of the remains above referred to
were found upon the surface of the ground, with a little earth
partially covering them, and, at the place where the men were
massacred, some lightly buried, but the majority were scattered
about upon the plain. Many of the skulls bore marks of vio¬
lence, being pierced with bullet-holes, or shattered by heavy
blows, or cleft with some sharp-edged instrument. The bones
were bleached and worn by long exposure to the elements, and
bore the impress of the teeth of wolves or other wild animals.
The skulls found upon the ground near the spring, or position
of the first attack, and adjoining our camp, were eight in num¬
ber. These, with the other remains there found, were buried,
under my supervision, at the base of the hill, upon the hill¬
side of the valley. At the rate of 2500 yards distant from the
spring, the relative position and general appearance of the re¬
mains seemed to indicate that the men were there taken by
surprise and massacred. Some of the skulls showed that fire¬
arms had been discharged close to the head. I have buried
eighteen skulls and parts of many more skeletons, found scat¬
tered over the space of a mile towards the lines, in which di¬
rection they were, no doubt, dragged by the wolves. No
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
309
names were found upon any article of apparel, or any peculi¬
arity in the remains, with the exception of one bone, the up¬
per jaw, in which the teeth were very closely crowded, and
which contained one front tooth more than is generally found.
Under my direction, the above-mentioned remains were all
properly buried, the respective localities being marked with
mounds of stone." Major (since General) Carleton afterwards
erected a monument in the Meadows, of a large pile of rocks
surmounted by a rude wooden cross, between twelve and fif¬
teen feet in height, bearing the inscription: "Vengeance is
mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." On one of the stones he
caused to be engraved : " Here lie the bodies of one hundred
and twenty men, women, and children, from Arkansas, mur¬
dered on the 11th day of September, 1857." It is said that
the cross and the inscribed stone mysteriously disappeared
the first time Brigham Young came into the southern settle-
O O
ments.
On June 29, seventeen of the children having been recov¬
ered, fifteen of them were sent East, overland, in spring-wagons,
escorted by soldiers. Every possible provision wTas made for
their comfort, and four women were sent with them to attend
to their wants. Two boys about seven years of age, John C.
Miller, known to the Mormons as John Calvin Sorel, and
Milum Tackett, who was known to the Mormons as Ambrose
Miram Taggit, were retained as witnesses. Those returned
were Mary Miller, called by the Mormons Mary Sorel; William
Tackett, known to the Mormons as William Taggit; Prudence
Angeline Dunlap and Georgiana Dunlap, known to the Mor¬
mons as Angeline Huff and Annie Huff; Sophronia Jones,
called by the Mormons Sophronia Huff; T. M. Jones, called
by the Mormons Ephraim W. Huff; Kit Carson Fancher, called
Charley Fancher by the Mormons; his cousin Tryphena Fan¬
cher, called Annie Fancher by the Mormons, and supposed by
them to be Charley's sister; Betsy Baker, Sarah Jane Baker,
William Baker, Rebecca Dunlap, Louisa Dunlap, Sarah Dun¬
lap, and Joseph Miller, called by the Mormons Samuel Dun¬
lap. They wrere met at Fort Leavenworth by Mr. Mitchell,
whose great bereavement by this horrible affair has been men¬
tioned. His little grandchild was not among the saved, as he
310
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
had hoped. With heart bowed down by the completeness of
his loss, he bore the little ones tenderly on to Carrollton and
gave them into the arms of their friends. It was a sad day
in the little county-seat. Nearly every one had lost some rela¬
tive in the massacre, and bitter tears were accompanied by
bitter curses on the murderers. The two boys kept as wit¬
nesses were afterwards taken to Washington, and then re¬
turned to their homes. In addition to these children, two
others were made orphans at the Mountain Meadows, although
they were not there; they were Alfred Rush and his sister
Martha—now Mrs. Campbell—who live at present in Texas.
The misfortunes of these children did not end with their re¬
turn. In attempting to justify themselves the Mormons have
forged most shameful lies about them, and have so often re¬
peated them that they have obtained credence with outsiders.
It was told, and currently believed in Utah, that Idaho Bill, a
noted desperado who served a long term in the Utah peni¬
tentiary for horse-stealing, was Charley Fancher, and yet it can
be proven by a large number of witnesses, whose characters
are above reproach, that this boy was raised by his uncle, II.
B. Fancher, in Carroll County, Arkansas, and died at his house
some years ago. It was told that the children were sent to the
poor-house in St. Louis. There was just one of them that
went to St. Louis, but not to the poor-house. Sarah Dunlap,
blind from her birth, and with one arm shattered and crippled
for life by a Mormon rifle-ball, went to the Institute for the
Blind in that city. They were all raised by their relatives
and friends, and most of them still live in the neighborhood
of their former homes. William Baker, Betsy Baker, now
Mrs. Terry, and Sarah Baker, now Mrs. Gladden, live at Har¬
rison, Arkansas; Rebecca Dunlap, now Mrs. Evans, is at
Hampton, Arkansas; Louisa Dunlap, now Mrs. Lynton, is at
Scottsville, Arkansas; her sister Sarah lives with her. Samuel
Dunlap is at Lead Hill, Arkansas. Tryphena Fancher is the
wife of J. C. Wilson, of Rule, Arkansas. The Huff children
live in Eastern Tennessee. William Tackett is at Protem,
Missouri; Milutn Tackett lived for some years in Texas, but
is now in Arizona.
There is nothing in the character of any of them that any
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
311
one need apologize for, and if there were, the Mormons should
be the last ones to upbraid them for it. Whatever any of
them may lack of the comforts or the accomplishments of life
is due to the Saints. They have the money, the cattle, the
jewelry, and the other property that should have gone for the
education and maintenance of these orphans. Is it not enough
that they should have been made to eat the bread of charity,
and to make their own ways over the rugged paths of strug¬
gling poverty, without being weighted down with slander ?
There is something, too, most strangely inconsistent in the
fact that while the whole country has raved about the murder
done at the Mountain Meadows, and clamored for the punish¬
ment of the criminals, nothing has been done for the relief of
the unhappy survivors, whose property, as well as protectors,
was swept away on that bloody day. It is true that Congress
passed a law donating 320 acres of land to each of them, but
any citizen can have that for little more than the taking, and
besides, as one of them writes to me, "Public lands in this
country (Arkansas) are almost worthless, and but few of them
are able to emigrate." Congress ought to make the Mormon
Church disgorge the $70,000, or more, that it took from these
people, with usury, and if it be not able to do so, it ought to
make good the loss from the public treasury. It is notorious
that the Church received the greater part of the proceeds of
that butchery. It has been proven b}r the testimony of Mor¬
mon witnesses. It was done at a time when the Mormon
Church was in armed resistance to the government. It was
done when the government was not enforcing its laws in that
portion of its territory. The wronged people are unable to
obtain redress by any authorized means. They are poor; and
it would take fortunes to prosecute their claim. Why should
the Mormon Church be allowed to retain the plunder, while its
victims still live in poverty ? If it is permitted so to do, the
government should make them whole. If the "Gentiles" of
Utah wish to make an issue on which they will have the sym¬
pathy of the whole American people, let them demand the
righting of this wrong. It is a far more urgent cause than
preventing the Mormons from hanging a flag at half-mast on
the Fourth of July. Ay! it is far more worthy of attention
312
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
than prohibiting a half-dozen female cranks from living with
a male fanatic, that the Mormon Church should give back to
the rightful heirs the property that it took with bloody hands,
011 September 11, 1857.
At the same time that Forney was pursuing his inquiries,
Judge John Cradlebaugh, one of the associate justices of the
Supreme Court of Utah, came south to hold court there, and
to aid in investigating the massacre. lie was accompanied
by Brigham Young, who was "extending every assistance in
ferreting out the perpetrators of the crime." John D. Lee
says that while on this trip Young said to a congregation of
the faithful, at Cedar City: " I am told that there are many
of the brethren who are willing to swear against the brethren
who were engaged in that affair. I hope there is no truth in
this report. I hope there is no such person here under the
sound of my voice. But if there is I will tell you my opin¬
ion of you, and the fact so far as your fate is concerned.
Unless you repent at once of that unholy intention, and keep
the secret of all that you know, you will die a dog's death,
and be damned, and go to hell. I do not want to hear of any
more treachery among my people." Inasmuch as Young ad¬
mits in his deposition that he was familiar with the facts of
the affair long before this; inasmuch as apostates from that
section corroborate Lee's statement; inasmuch as no one was
brought to justice at the time, we may fairly believe this
statement to be true. There was evidence obtained, neverthe¬
less, and apostates in the South promised that, if Judge Cra¬
dlebaugh would hold court with enough troops at hand to
protect the witnesses and the court, they would insure the
conviction of nearly all the guilty parties. Warrants wrere is¬
sued for thirty-eight of the assassins, but just then another
complication occurred. A great outcry had been raised be¬
cause troops had been stationed near the court in Provo, dur¬
ing some recent Danite trials, and General Johnston received
instructions that the troops must be used only as a posse comi-
tatus, on due call of the executive department. He notified
Judge Cradlebaugh of this fact, and the judge, having had
experience in holding a court of justice in a Mormon commu¬
nity, without protection, very sensibly dropped the Mountain
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
313
Meadows investigation for the time. Indeed, it was a matter
of necessity, for no witness would have dared to testify with¬
out protection.
Investigation was smothered temporarily, but the affair
was too horrible for any ban of Church or State to keep it
down, especially among such a people as the Mormons; for
from their intense superstitions it is but a step to others, and
they are believers, with scarcely an exception, in spirits, gob¬
lins, ghosts, visions, trances, and other supernatural phenom¬
ena. It is admitted, by the most bitter anti-Mormons, that a
thrill of horror was felt by many Mormons, especially in the
northern settlements, as the truth concerning the Fancher
train was gradually revealed in mysterious whispers; but that
was little to the feelings of those in Southern Utah from
whose consciences the impressions of the teachings of earlier
and better days had not been wholly effaced. The war feel¬
ing quieted down, and they realized that the day of the Lord
had not yet come. They saw their leader openly pretending
friendship with the officers of justice, who were searching,
not for priests of the atoning blood, but for murderers. They
saw men of their neighborhoods riding away on midnight ex¬
peditions, and heard reports of other murders that appeared
more like the deeds of pirates than of priests. They heard
of the attack on Shepherd's train, in Hedspeth's cut-off, where
a child of eighteen months was wantonly tossed on the rocks
and its limbs broken, three of the attacking party being recog¬
nized as painted whites. They heard of Lieutenant Gay's
party, intentionally led into an ambuscade by a Mormon guide.
They heard of a white woman of one train, ravished by five
men, and then shot, who lived long enough to tell the next
party that her assailants were all painted whites. They heard
of the attack on Miltimore's train, in Lander's cut-off, where
five were killed, three carried or driven off so that they were
never found, and one child of five years was left with its legs
and ears cut off, scalped, and its eyes gouged out, and that
these Indians, by the affidavits of those who escaped, all spoke
good English—that some had light hair and several had beards.
Was the atoning blood always to flow? Was there to be no
end of sacrifices ? It was not strange that the Mormons came
314
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to believe the Meadows were haunted. It was not strange
that men told in low tones how the spirits of the dead met
nightly at the old camp and re-enacted the bloody tragedy. It
was not strange that the lives of those who neither dared to
speak while living, nor to die without speaking, became hide¬
ous nightmares. It was not strange that a lad of Beaver
drank deeply of rum, without staggering, and horrified his
acquaintances with recitals of the visions that he saw. It
was not strange that young Spencer, the school-teacher at St.
George, wasted to a skeleton, and, after writing piteously to
his bishop and to Brigham Young for some assurance that
could drive away the terrors that haunted him, died in grew-
some tortures of remorse. It was not strange that, from time
to time, as opportunity offered, Mormons escaped from the
territory, apostatized, and relieved their guilt-laden souls by
confession. But it was strange that the Mountain Meadows,
whose verdant heath had induced its name, became barren
and sterile, and to this day remains the abode of desolation.
And what did the Mormons all this time? They bent
every power to show that the massacre was the deed of In¬
dians who had been incensed by outrageous conduct of the
emigrants. They slandered the victims in the most vindic¬
tive manner. They said the relatives of the surviving chil¬
dren refused to receive them, saying that "they were the
children of thieves, outlaws, and murderers, and they would
not take them, they did not want anything to do with them,
and would not have them around their houses," and that in
consequence the children were sent to " the poor-house in
St. Louis." There was not a Mormon of any prominence who
did not know the truth about the massacre, and not one who
did not take part in this deception. George Q. Cannon, late
Representative in Congress, wrote articles to prove the In¬
dians guilty. Brigham Young maintained it for years, and
then swore that he knew the truth within three months after
the crime occurred. William II. Hooper, for some time Repre¬
sentative in Congress, asserted it again and again in the most
solemn manner; he denounced the enemies of his people as
the basest of liars, and extolled the Mormons as " the most
peaceful and persistently industrious people on the conti-
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
315
GEORGE Q. CANNON.
nentand jet it was
proven that lie traded
boots and shoes for
forty of the cattle
taken at the Mead¬
ows, soon after the
murder was done.
The Mormons, from
the first, assumed an
air of injured inno¬
cence. While the
army was in winter
quarters, Colonel
Kane, an old friend
of the Saints, went
into Utah, by way of
California, to negoti¬
ate with them. Under
his care Governor
Cummings started to
Salt Lake City, accompanied by two servants, on April 5. He
received military salutes as he passed the Mormon troops;
the walls of Echo Canon were made light with bonfires in his
honor, and on April 15 he was duly installed in his office and
received ceremonial calls from leading Mormons. The people,
who were all moving from the northern settlements, were
begged to come back. L. W. Powell and Ben McCulloch
were sent as commissioners to treat with them, and it was
agreed that the army should not be further resisted, it being
understood that it would not camp close to any town or city.
The army entered the Basin and went into camp in Cedar
Valley, three miles west of Utah Lake, and thirty-six miles
south of Salt Lake City. The government resumed operations.
Haight and Lee came to Salt Lake City as Senator and Repre¬
sentative, and each received a young wife from the hands of
Brigham. All the murderers retained respectable standing in
the community and in the Church—Lee, Haight, and Dame
all being bishops for years.
But conscience did not die, and people did not forget. In-
316
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
stead of growing faint with age, the color of the crime seemed
to heighten. The civil war did not result in the destruction of
the Gentile men, and seven women did not take hold of one
man. Gentiles kept settling in Salt Lake City, and apos¬
tates no longer fled. The younger generation of Saints did
not hold to the faith of their fathers with much steadfastness.
Something more of conformity to the ideas of the world at
large was necessary, and the more extreme doctrines of the
Church were put in the background. Lee was " cut off" from
fellowship; so were Bill Hickman and other Danites. Lee
went on a "mission" outside the limits of Utah. He kept
a ferry on the Colorado, down in the deserts of Arizona, where
for convenience he was known as Major Doyle. In January,
1874, the Gentiles held a public meeting in Salt Lake City,
and a committee of forty-five drafted a memorial to Congress,
showing the utter perversion of justice in the territory. Con¬
gress passed a law which took the selection of jurors out of
the control of the Mormon Church, and it was left with no
refuge but the perjury of witnesses, and such Mormon jurors
as came on in regular order. In the same year Lee came up
to Panguitch, on the Sevier, to visit some of his younger
wives (he had eighteen, besides one whom he married " for her
soul's sake," and did not count). While there, Deputy-Mar¬
shal William Stokes received warrants for the arrest of Lee,
Ilaight, and others. lie located Lee, and went after him with
a posse of four men. The object of their search was found
concealed in a log chicken-coop, and taken away peaceably,
after much talk and threatening. He was brought to trial in
the following summer.
The trial was a farce. Three of the jurors were Gentiles,
and nine were Mormons who took their seats by dint of sturdy
swearing. Men who had lived in Utah for years and never
heard of the massacre—men who resided in the southern set¬
tlements before and ever since the crime, and formed no opin¬
ion about it—men who long lived in the same town with Lee
and never heard much about him—men who had seen the
monument in the Meadows and never asked what it was for,
were accepted as jurors. They were "counselled " beforehand
that Lee was not guilty. The prosecution made a much
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
317
stronger case than had been anticipated. They had witnesses
who, it had been supposed, would not dare to return to Utah.
The Mormons tried to get hold of them by arresting them on
various charges, but the United States Marshal ordered his
deputies to prevent their removal for any cause, and they did
so. Philip Klingensmith, ex-Bishop of Cedar City, who had
fled into Nevada and thence to California, went on the wit¬
ness-stand and told the whole story. He was corroborated by
other witnesses. The defence tried to prove the old stories
of poisoning the spring and the ox, but under cross-examina¬
tion the perjured witnesses broke down. The Church authori¬
ties became alarmed and decided to sacrifice Lee, but no op¬
portunity for communicating with the jury was allowed them.
The jury went out, and these nine Mormons, who knew noth¬
ing about the case, and had formed no opinions, proceeded to
demonstrate from facts within their own knowledge that Lee
could not have been guilty. The Gentiles held out for two
days, and consented to a disagreement. Then came an era of
excitement. The Mormons and their friends through the coun¬
try claimed that they were vindicated, but the evidence that
had been sent out over the wires every day, and printed in
every corner of the country, was too strong to be cried down in
that way. Public sentiment grew bitter. There were still
many who believed that Brigham Young was innocent, but Lee
had been proved guilty and should have been punished; he
had been saved from punishment by Mormon jurors.
The second trial was a worse farce than the first. In fatal
foil}7 the Mormon authorities permitted themselves to be per¬
suaded that they could sacrifice Lee and better their own
standing. They forgot that in so doing they must give the
lie to their professions of nineteen years. They forgot that
they must give testimony which would implicate themselves.
They forgot that though a prosecuting attorney may promise
immunity, he cannot prevent cross-examination or restrain
public opinion. They forgot everything except that the
country demanded the punishment of John D.Lee, and they
dared no longer refuse it. Of course, Lee was not informed
of this. He passed the fourteen months that intervened be¬
tween his two trials relying on the protestations of friendship
318
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
of the leading men. The first thing was to fix the jury. A
list of the venire was obtained, and submitted, by the defend¬
ant's attorneys, to a Mormon committee of professed friends
of Lee, who were to mark with a dash (—) those who would
convict, with an asterisk (*) those who would rather not con¬
vict, and with two asterisks (* *) those who would not con¬
vict under any circumstances. There was no trouble in get¬
ting that jury. The defence thought they knew who they
wanted, and the prosecution seemed willing to humor them.
Every juror was a * * man. The jury was impanelled and
the testimony began. Then the defence realized that they
were entrapped. The depositions of Brigham Young and
George A. Smith, which had been objected to by the prosecu¬
tion in the former trial, were now offered by the prosecution.
Mormons who previously had known nothing of the massacre,
and had aided Lee in the former trial, now became possessed
of remarkable memories—as to Lee. Samuel Knight, who
lived at Hamlin's, and drove one of the wagons at the mas¬
sacre, but who formerly knew nothing about the matter, now
recollected that he saw Lee shoot a woman in his wagon. lie
saw a number of white men at the place, but no one that he
knew except Lee. Nephi Johnson, another shining example
of previous ignorance, now remembered enough as to Lee and
Ilaight and two or three who were dead, but as to others his
memory was fatally defective. Finally, under cross-examiua-
tion, he said : "I don't want to bring in new names." He was
further tortured sufficiently to cause him to drop the facts
that the few Mormons who objected, at the councils, did not
dare to say anything; that persons had been injured for not
obeying counsel; that the whole matter was talked over after¬
wards, and it was decided to keep it secret. Jacob Hamlin
recollected that Lee told him all about the massacre, within a
few days after it occurred; he recounted Lee's story to the
jury. On cross-examination he remembered that he reported
the matter fully to Brigham Young and George A. Smith,
"pretty soon after it happened," and that Brigham Young
said: "As soon as we can get a court of justice, we will ferret
this thing out, but till then don't say anything about it." In
accordance with this injunction he kept quiet until the sec-
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
319
ond trial. He said : "It is the first time I ever felt any good
would come of it. I kept it to myself until it was called for
in the proper place. ... I had an idea that if I came here
that it would be a pretty good place to tell it." This man's
story to Dr. Forney has been given. To Judge Cradlebaugh
and various military officers who investigated the affair he pro¬
fessed to know nothing that would implicate any white man.
lie did not feel called upon to speak at Lee's first trial. He
gave to the jury the statement of the Indian boy Albert, who
saw the massacre and the killing of the two girls, yet this boy
told Dr. Forney that it was all done by Indians. The infer¬
ence is irresistible that Hamlin induced him to lie about it,
and this although anti-Mormons concede Hamlin to be an un¬
usually honorable Mormon. This boy Albert, by the way,
first revealed the fact that the children were brought directly
to Hamlin's house on the evening of the massacre. The good
people, who had bills for purchasing them from the Indians,
had probably forgotten to instruct him on that point.
When Lee heard the testimony of these men he knew
that the Church had abandoned him and he was lost. He
broke down completely and was taken to his cell, where he
paced the floor, cursing the Mormon leaders. The defence
offered no testimony; their witnesses of the previous trial
had forgotten everything. The jury was out three hours, and
brought in a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree.
The prisoner was brought to the bar, and, after a few impress¬
ive words, Judge Boreman informed him that, under the stat¬
ute, he had his choice of being hung, shot, or beheaded. Lee
said: "I prefer to be shot." He was accordingly sentenced,
and on March 23, 1877, the sentence was executed in the
Mountain Meadows, at the scene of the massacre. At the
last moment Lee confessed to his attendant minister, Mr.
Stokes, that he killed five of the emigrants with his own
hands. This was his fourth confession, each one differing
from all the others, and yet each one lifting the veil from
around the affair enough to give a glimpse of its actual hor¬
rors. He made a short speech, declaring his faith in Mor-
monism, as originally taught by Joseph Smith, and his as¬
surance of a place in the Mormon heaven, but stated that
320
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Brigham Young was leading the people astray. He closed,
and sat down on his coffin. A prayer was offered, the word
was given, five rifles were discharged, and he fell back with¬
out a struggle.
So justice was done—not rightly justice either, for this
man was not convicted as men are required to be convicted
under our laws. The jury that pronounced him guilty had
morally no more right to do so than the Sultan of Turkey
had legally. They were murderers as truly as Lee was.
John D. Lee was not a victim to justice. He was murdered
by his accomplices for their own safety—as much so as if
they had shot him themselves. Personally they attained
safety, though not as they expected. The greater criminals
of the active participants hid for a time in the mountains,
and are now probably in foreign countries. Brigham Young
died peacefully in his home, five months after Lee's execu¬
tion. The remainder were not molested. But in the public
eye the Mormon Church stands as the guilty criminal, and it
seems destined to expiate the crime. In that respect the
Mountain Meadows massacre has had a mission. It is the
one complete and unanswerable exposure of Mormon deceit,
hypocrisy, and crime, under the " higher law " dogma. Every
other crime charged against them they can defend, not hav¬
ing admitted their guilt, but in this one they have been
forced, step by step, from an indignant denial to a defiant
confession. They cannot evade it; their apologists can make
no explanation of it; and in its lustration their denials of
other crimes become faint and sickly. It is admitted that
they are industrious and thrifty, but the American people
realize that thrift has its crimes as dark as any of those of
dissipation. Jonas Chuzzlewit was thrifty; so was Judas
Iscariot. It is true that, according to their standard of virtue,
they are fairly virtuous, but the people understand that, un¬
der the " higher law," their virtue is, to the civilized world,
crime. They understand it so well that the American heart,
which warms most quickly to any persecuted for religion's
sake, is icy towards the Saints. Only a few weeks since, a
murderous attack was made on one of their meetings in
Tennessee, and a bitter local persecution followed. Had the
EXECUTION OF JOHN D. LEE.
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
323
people assailed been Buddhists, or Brahmins, or Youdooists
the country would have been in an uproar of indignation.
What comment did it receive? Generally, none; and occa¬
sionally a growl that it would be well to follow the example
elsewhere. The Mormons are right in their superstition that
a Nemesis stands, ever threatening them, on the mountains
of Southern Utah. She does stand there, and in her out¬
stretched hands, for the ash - branch and the scourge, she
holds a blight and a curse over the doomed theocracy, while
from her ghastly lips there comes the murmur of those words,
which no prophet can still: " Vengeance is mine, I will repay,
•saith the Lord."
21
CHAPTER XI.
THE WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, C(EUR D'ALENES, AND PELOUSES.
While the commissioners were negotiating with the Mor¬
mons, an extraordinary outbreak occurred in the eastern part
of Washington Territory, which hitherto had been a scene of
peace between the red man and the white. It had been the
boast of the Spokanes and the Coenr d'Alenes that they had
never shed the blood of a white man. In the winter and
early spring of 185S, however, it was represented that there
was much restlessness among the northern tribes, especially
in the neighborhood of the Colville mines, and Brevet Lieu¬
tenant-colonel Steptoe, who commanded at new Fort Walla-
Walla, determined to make an excursion in that direction.
The new fort, which had been established as a military post
after the last war, was on Walla-Walla Creek, thirty miles
east of the old fort, the latter being now used as an agency
by the quartermaster's department. In addition to looking
after the northern inquietude, Colonel Steptoe also desired to
investigate the recent murder of two American miners by a
party of Pelouse (Paluce, Galousse) Indians, and, if possible,
to bring the murderers to justice. These Indians lived just
to the north of the Snake River, and were directly in his line
of travel. Steptoe left Fort Walla-Walla on May 6th with
one hundred and fifty-seven men, dragoons and infantry, the
latter acting as gunners for two howitzers which were taken.
They marched across the rolling prairies between the Walla-
Walla and the Snake to the mouth of the Pelouse, where the
crossing of the Colville road was located. From this point
they proceeded northward and eastward to the divide be¬
tween the Snake and the Spokane, and over the Grand Pla¬
teau of the Spokane, the Pelouses keeping out of their sight.
While winding through the prairie hills that skirt In-
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 325
gossomen Creek, on Sunday, May 16th, the command was
suddenly confronted by about twelve hundred warriors, Pe-
louses, Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes, Yakimas, and others, hideous
in their war-paint, armed and defiant. This was a complete
surprise, for no hostilities had been expected, except there
should be some little altercation with the Pelouses. The lit¬
tle command moved on slowly, menaced by the hooting and
yelling savages, who seemed desirous of provoking an attack.
It approached a small ravine that led around the base of
some hills, which were covered with Indians, when, seeing
their intention to attack at that point, Colonel Steptoe turned
his troops aside and encamped on one of the little water¬
courses common to this section, which are flowing in the
spring and in pools during the drier season. The dragoons
remained in the saddle until dark, an attack being expected
at any moment from the howling mob, which continued to
heap insults upon them. Towards evening several of the
chiefs came to the camp to talk, and asked the reason of this
invasion of their country. Colonel Steptoe assured them
that he had no hostile feeling towards the Spokanes or any
other of the friendly tribes; that they had always been our
friends, and he desired them to so continue; that he "was on
his way to Colville to have a friendly talk and preserve
peace there. The chiefs said they were satisfied with this,
but they would not consent to let him have canoes at the
Spokane, without which the crossing could not be made.
The colonel therefore decided to fall back to the fort, and,
having passed the night without molestation, began his re¬
turn march in the morning.
On the evening of the 16th, Father Joset, one of the
Jesuit missionaries, had arrived at the camp of the Indians
from the Cceur d'Alene Mission. In the morning he came
up with the troops and talked over the situation with Colo¬
nel Steptoe, the Indians having assembled again and being
massed on the flanks and rear of the column in a threaten¬
ing manner. He proposed a talk with the chiefs, to which
the colonel replied that his pack-animals wTere too wild for
him to stop long. Father Joset said they could talk while
marching, and the colonel responded that he would see them
326
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
in that way willingly. Joset then went for the chiefs, but
could find only Vincent, the head chief of the Coeur d'Alenes.
They came back together, and Vincent received an assurance
that the troops were desirous only of returning to the fort in
peace. lie returned to the Indians, who, according to Father
Joset, agreed to go to their homes, and the priest with sever¬
al chiefs did so, but a few minutes later the Indians opened
THE JESUIT MISSIONARY.
fire on the rear guard, just as they filed into the valley of a
small tributary of Ingossomen Creek. The firing was caused
by Mil-kap-si, a Coeur d'Alene chief, who became infuriated,
probably because he was not consulted, and struck Victor
and Jean Giene, two other chiefs, who were in favor of going
home. One of his relatives said to him, "What are you
doing? You strike your own people! There are your ene¬
mies," pointing to the soldiers, whereupon the Indians com-
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 327
raenced firing. The troops fell back for three miles more,
under a constant fire. They were hampered by their pack-
train. The country gave every advantage to the Indians.
The stock of ammunition was low, and the raw recruits, of
whom there were a number in the command, were firing
wildly. It was decided to fall back to Ingossomen Creek,
where a good position, with wood and water, could be had,
and there make a stand. Two companies under Captain Tay¬
lor and Lieutenant Gaston were thrown out as flankers, be¬
tween whom and the Indians a succession of charges and
countercharges was kept up, with loss to both sides. About
noon Gaston fell, and his company was driven back in confu¬
sion. Half an hour later Captain Taylor was brought in,
shot through the neck and mortally wounded. The troops
were now close to the crossing of the creek, and Colonel
Steptoe at once took position on a small hill, to hold the In¬
dians at bay until night.
The provisions were placed in the centre of the top of
the hill, which was flat, and around them the horses and pack-
animals were picketed in a circle. In a much larger circle,
along the crest of the hill, in skirmish line, were the dis¬
mounted men and the howitzers, one at the front and one at
the rear. The situation was growing more desperate every
minute. The Spokanes were massed on the north, the Coeur
d'Alenes on the east, and the Pelouses on the west, covering
all the neighboring heights. They took advantage of every
hillock, depression, and tuft of grass to work along closer to
the hill. The soldiers lay flat on the ground, having no oth¬
er protection, while the Indians crept closer and closer, and
two or three times made ineffectual attempts to charge the
hill. The officers crawled from one point to another on
their hands and knees, giving orders and encouraging' the
men. Two of the companies were armed with musketoons,
which were of no use for this sort of work, and the car¬
tridges of the remainder were nearly all gone. The wound-
ed were constantly increasing in number. The soldiers were
becoming dispirited. At length darkness came, and brought
them some relief; but they could not relax their vigilance,
and they had before them the certainty that another day's
21*
328
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
fighting would result in the destruction of the entire force.
A hurried consultation concluded with a decision to retreat
with all expedition to the Snake River, and make sure of a
crossing before the Indians could reach the same point.
Everything that could impede flight was abandoned. The
howitzers were buried; the supplies, except such as each man
carried, were left on the ground; the disabled animals were
left picketed; and between nine and ten o'clock, stealthily, but
in good order, the force moved down the hill at the rear,
across the creek, and away. Most of the night they rode at a
gallop, nor did they stop till they reached the Snake, ninety
miles below. There they were met by Timothy's band of
friendly Nez Perces, who assisted them in crossing the river.
They could not have crossed without their aid. In this af¬
fair they lost two officers, five men and three Nez Perces
Indians killed, thirteen wounded, and one missing. The In¬
dians admitted a loss of nine killed and forty wounded, but
there must have been more; there were twelve dead ones
counted at one point where the two flanking companies met
in a cross-charge.
The attack on the troops caused much excitement in the
"West, for war by these tribes, hitherto so peaceable, seemed
certain proof of a general outbreak. The expectation of a
great war was the more reasonable because no cause could be
given for the attack on Steptoe. To this day, with all inves¬
tigation made and reasons suggested, it is impossible to say
certainly why the Spokane and Cceur d'Alene Indians joined
in this assault. It was known that there was discontent and
dissatisfaction among them, for some cause, but no one antic¬
ipated open hostilities, except, it may be, Father Joset. He
stated that he had anticipated trouble, and had started sev¬
eral days before to warn Colonel Steptoe of it, but returned
because Chief Vincent feared that the Pelouses would kill the
young men who went with him, and charge the Americans
with the deed, after which it would be impossible to restrain
the Coeur d'Alenes. This priest was accused of furnishing
powder to the Indians—a quite improbable story, but believed
by many who had not forgotten the Whitman massacre, and
explained all Indian disturbances by the influence of the Jesu-
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 329
PEND D'OREILLE MISSION.
its and the Hudson's Bay Company. He did give some color
to this report by attempting to put the blame of the outbreak
on the Protestant Nez Perces, who were the best friends the
whites ever had .in the North-west. He circulated every tale
the guilty Indians invented concerning them, and related
some experiences of his own which, to say the least, are im¬
probable. In a letter to Father Congiato, of June 27,1858,
he says, " Towards the beginning of x\pril it was learned that
an American had been assassinated by a Nez Perce. Imme¬
diately rumor commences to circulate that the troops were
preparing to cross the Nez Perce to obtain vengeance for
this crime." In a letter to Father Iloecken, of June 17th,
ten days earlier, he says Vincent told him the Pelouses and
Nez Perces killed the two miners, who were the only Ameri¬
cans killed by the Indians in that locality. As a matter of
fact, it was well known all through the Indian country that
330
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the Pelouses killed them. Again he says, in his account of
his attempted journey of warning to Steptoe, "In the mean
time I saw several Nez Perces. Their conversation was gen-
erally against the Americans. One of them said in my pres¬
ence, 'We will not be able to bring the Coeur d'Alenes to
take part with ns against the Americans; the priest is the
cause; it is for this we wish to kill the priest.'" Does a
would-be assassin usually notify a desired victim thus? Was
an Indian ever known to do such a thing? Aside from its
unreasonableness, the Nez Perces were not at war with the
Americans, but were acting as auxiliaries to them. Again
he says, concerning his visit to Colonel Steptoe with Vincent
just before the tiring began, "One of the Indians [Vez Per¬
ces] who accompanied the troops gave Vincent a blow over
the shoulders with his whip, saying to him, 'Proud man, why
do you not tire?' then accused one of the Coeur d'Alenes
who had followed Vincent of having wished to tire upon a
soldier." Such a thing would be very unnatural for a mem¬
ber of a small command, surrounded by an enemy that out¬
numbered them ten to one. Besides, nothing of the kind
occurred. Every effort was made by the entire command to
avoid a fight, and the soldiers did not return the fire of the
Indians for several minutes. Finally, he taxes credulity by
this : " The Coeur d'Alenes say, also, that it was cried to them
from the midst of the troops, ' Courage! you have already
killed two chiefs;' that one of the Vez Perces who had fol¬
lowed the troops came back to say to his people, 'It is not
the Coeur d'Alenes, but, indeed, the soldiers who killed the
two Nez Perces."' The intended presumption is, of course,
that one of the Vez Perces made the encouraging call from
the hill, but the fact that one-third of the killed, on the side
of the troops, were Vez Perces, is sufficient evidence of the
feeling between them and the attacking party. The offence
of Father Joset may be summed up in this, that in trying to
get his wards out of a bad scrape, in which they were placed
by their own fault, he strained facts a little in their favor
and became a trifle mixed. The hostile Indians took the same
line of defence. Milkapsi sent word to General Clarke con¬
cerning a proposed talk: " Tell your friends, the Lawyer's
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 331
band, to be quiet; if you come with a good mind, let none
of them be along. I want to have a good talk with the sol¬
diers, but I can't when they are along; I don't want to hear
any more of their lies." The Lawj^er wTas celebrated for
his constant friendship to the Americans, and was known
all over the North-west as an unusually reliable Indian. This
talk deceived no one, though it made people distrustful of
both Indians and Jesuits, but there is no ground for suppos¬
ing that the Jesuits, or any of them, used any influence to
bring on hostilities. There is no doubting that Joset tried
to prevent the attack, or that he and the other priests were
of much service in finally adjusting the difficulty.
The Mormons were a disturbing element, and in all
probability gave active assistance to the Indians, as wTell as
incendiary instructions. On November 27, 1857, George
Gibbs, Esq., whose name is sufficient guaranty of the truth of
his statements, wrote: " A very curious statement was recent¬
ly made me by some of the Indians near Steilacoom. They
said that the Klickitats had told them that Choosuklee (Jesus
Christ) had recently appeared on the other side of the mount¬
ains ; that he was after a while coming here, when the
whites would be sent out of the country, and all would be
well for themselves. It needed only a little reflection to con¬
nect this second advent with the visit of Brigham Young to
the Flathead and Nez Perce country." Between the Ore¬
gon Indians and Utah were the Snakes, who were in so
close connection with the Mormons that the first knowledge
of Utah affairs at Fort Walla-Walla was usually through the
Indians. On December 1, 1857, Captain Kirkham wrote
from that point: " The Snakes tell our Indians that they
are well supplied with ammunition, and that they can get
from the Mormons any quantity they wish; and they fur¬
ther tell our Indians that the Mormons are anxious to sup¬
ply them—to wit: the Nez Perces, the Cay uses, and Walla-
Wallas, with everything that they wish. I would not be
surprised if the Mormon influence should extend to all the
tribes in our neighborhood, and if they are determined to
fight we may have trouble among the Indians on the coast
again." These, with numerous similar complaints from oth-
332
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
er points, caused General Clarke, commanding the Depart¬
ment of the Pacific, on January 1,1858, to recommend that
all Indians be detached from Mormon influence and control.
A singular confirmation of Captain Kirkhaui's report was
made in the following summer, when a band of Bannocks
GENERAL ISAAC I. STEVENS.
committed some depredations on the Mormons of Northern
Utah, and gave as a reason for this extraordinary proceeding
that the Mormons had sold arms and ammunition to their
enemies, the Nez Perces; that the Nez Percbs had stolen
their property; and that now they were getting reparation
from the original source of the evil. It was learned posi-
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 333
tively that the hostile Indians had large supplies of am¬
munition, which they could have obtained only from the
Mormons or the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fort
Colville. The company's agent exchanged ammunition with
the Indians for some of the property abandoned by Colo¬
nel Steptoe, but on complaint at their head-quarters both
the purchase of plunder and the sale of ammunition wrere
stopped.
The chief basis of discontent was in the treaties agreed
on by Governor Stevens wTith the various tribes, but which
had not yet been ratified. The exact nature of the discon¬
tent was in controversy. One set of officials kept insisting
that the Indians were angry because the treaties were not
ratified and carried out, while another set, equally numerous,
insisted with equal vehemence that the Indians were angry
because they feared that the treaties would be ratified. On
October 19,1857, Colonel Steptoe reported from Fort Walla-
Walla, "It is my duty to inform the general that Mr. J. Boss
Browne, acting, I believe, as agent of the Indian Bureau,
did, in a recent conversation with ' Lawyer,' the Nez Perce
chief, assert that Governor Stevens's treaty of Walla-Walla
would certainly be ratified and enforced. ... I will simply
add that in my opinion any attempt to enforce that treaty
will be followed by immediate hostilities with most of the
tribes in this part of the country." This information was
received with some indignation by General Clarke. lie had
taken command of the department in June, and soon after
had a consultation with Indian Superintendent Nesmith in
regard to this very matter. Mesmith told him there were
two causes for the hostile feelings then existing. One was
that while the Indians understood that amnesty had been
granted to the murderers of agent Bolen by Colonel Wright,
there was still an endeavor on the part of some civil officers
to apprehend them. The other was a fear that the treaties
with Governor Stevens wTould be enforced, although they held
them void, on the ground that the chiefs who made them
had no authority to do so. On this information the general
used his influence to have the treaties left inoperative, and
permitted the Bolen murderers to remain at large. " It is
334
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
under these circumstances," he wrote, in complaint to army
head-quarters, "that Mr. J. Ross Browne makes (with what
authority I know not) the declaration to the Indians that the
treaties will certainly be ratified and enforced."
Mr. Browne was a special agent of the Interior Depart¬
ment, who was sent into Oregon and Washington to inspect
the condition of the reservations, and who incidentally re¬
ported on the causes of the wars of 1856. He believed that
the war resulted from the irrepressible conflict between sav¬
agery and civilization. He said, " The treaties were not the
cause of the war. I have already shown that the war had
been determined upon long before. If Governor Stevens is
to blame because he did not so frame the treaties as to stop
the war, or stop it by not making treaties at all, then that
charge should be specifically brought against him. My own
opinion is, that he had no more control over the course of
events than the Secretary of War in Washington." Mr.
Browne was a pleasing writer and a man of discernment, but
like most men who have a fixed idea, to begin with, he was
inclined to bend everything to it. Still there was much of
truth in his views, as, indeed, there is in everything he has
written on the Indian question, but he is at times carried
away by enthusiasm. It is not to be supposed that he was
alone in his views of the treaties. A large party in the North¬
west had the same opinions, and so had several persons who
reported specially on the subject. For example, Lieutenant
Mullan, who accompanied Colonel Wright in the campaign
of which an account follows, after personal investigation,
wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on September 5,
1858: " To this day the labors of Governor Stevens are dis¬
regarded and uncared for, and the treaties containing the sol¬
emn promises of the Indian on the one side, and binding
obligation of the government on the other, lie among the
dusty archives of Congress, while a war rages in every quar¬
ter of the North-west coast. The Indians feel that their rights
have been trifled with by promises made by agents armed and
vested with authority to act, which the government has not
ratified. And will it, I ask, longer remain in this passive
mood ? Will it longer act inertly [!] while lives are sacrificed
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 335
and millions squandered, and still longer hesitate to act? For
one, I trust not. Let these be ratified."
The cause of this conflict of opinion is found in the fact
that the Indians were not agreed as to the treaties. The
more friendly Indians, chiefly FTez Perces, wanted the treaties
ratified, partly because they thought the whites desired it, and
partly because they were ready to adopt a quasi-civilized life.
These Indians were more often seen by " visiting statesmen,"
and were more communicative ; in consequence of which their
ideas were more apt to be taken as an expression of Indian
sentiment by casual visitors. The military, on the other hand,
were largely in contact with the Indians who desired to re¬
tain their wild life, and were acquainted with their views.
The objections of those who opposed the treaties were not
to a continuance of friendship, or a surrender of part of their
lands, but to the surrender of the entire country of certain
tribes and a removal to other locations. Unquestionably those
who opposed the treaties were much more numerous than the
others. Their view was thus set forth by Garry, the Spokane
chief, in a message carried to General Clarke by Father Con-
giato: "When you [Clarke] meet me, we walk friendly, we
shake hands. Two years after you met me, you, American,
I heard words from white people, whence I concluded you
wanted to kill me for my land. I did not believe it. Every
year I heard the same. Flow you arrived, you my friend,
you, Stevens, in Whitman Valley; you called the Indians to
that place. I went there to listen to what should be said.
You had a speech—you, my friend Stevens, to the Indians.
You spoke for the land of the Indians. You told them all
what you should pay them for their land. I was much pleased
when I heard how much you offered; annual money, houses,
schools, blacksmiths, farms, and so forth. And then you said,
all the Cayuses, Walla-Wallas, and Spokanes should emigrate
to Layer's [Lawyer, or Ilal-al-ho-sote, the Yez Perce chief]
country ; and from Colville and below all Indians should go
and stay to Camayaken's [Kam-i-a-ken, the Yakima chief]
country; and by saying so you broke the hearts of all the
Indians; and hearing that, I thought that you missed it.
Should you have given the Indians time to think on it, and
336
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to tell you what portion of the land they wanted to give, it
would have been right. Then the Indians got mad and be¬
gan to kill the whites. I was very sorry all the time. Then
you began to war against the Indians. When you began this
war all the upper country was quiet. Then every year we
heard something from the lower Indians. I told the people
hereabout not to listen to such talk. The governor will come
up; you will hear from his own mouth; then believe it.
Now this spring I heard of the coming of Colonel Steptoe.
I did my best to persuade my people not to shoot him. He
goes to Colville, I said, to speak to the whites and to the In¬
dians. We will go there and listen to what he shall say.
They would not listen to me, but the boys shot at him; I
was very sorry."
This difference of opinion among the Indians naturally
resulted in perpetual misunderstanding. One Indian would
tell a special agent that he wanted the treaties ratified, and
would be assured that they should be ratified. Another would
explain his objections to the treaties to some officer, and be
assured that they should not be ratified. These Indians would
then come together and find themselves in a conflict of fact,
which showed that some one was deceiving them. Suspicion
and discontent grew apace. The treaty Indians wanted the
goods and money that had been promised them, but not paid ;
the opponents of the treaties watched with jealous eye every
appearance of an encroachment on their lands. One thing
that they desired, and they insisted on it at their council with
Stevens, was that "the soldiers should not come north of the
Nez Perces River." They did not object much to small par¬
ties, but they wanted no large ones, and no cannon. The
stream they referred to is the Snake, or Lewis Fork of the
Columbia. The Indians called it the Nez Perces, the Pelouse,
and the Snake, in the parts which flowed through the coun¬
tries of those tribes respectively. The whites applied the
name "Snake" to it throughout its length, and gave the
name Pelouse to its first large affluent, above its mouth, on
the north side, otherwise known as Flag River.
With all these causes for discontent, there was still no
satisfactory reason for the attack on Steptoe, and this the
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 337
VIEW OF TIIE COLUMBIA ABOVE TOE DALLES.
Indians themselves admitted. Says Father Joset to Father
Iloecken : "Vincent arrived. I ashed him what provoca¬
tion they had received, 'None; all the fault is on our side.'
'You are the murderers of your own people, not the Ameri¬
cans.' 'It is true. I would rather die as the Americans, as
our people are dead. I had no intention to fight, but at seeing
the corpse of my brother-in-law I lost my head. What will be
the consequences? If we are pardoned we will faithfully re¬
store all that has been taken ; if not, we will remain home,
and if we are attacked we will defend ourselves to the last, and
when we are all killed the Americans will have our lands.
Fools that we are, we have always doubted the truth of what
the Father told us; now we have seen it. The Americans do
not want to fight us.'" Again he says to Father Congiato,
"The next day I asked those that I saw,'What provoca-
338
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tion have you received from the troops?' 'None,' said they.
'Then you are only murderers, the authors of the death of
your own people.' ' This is true; the fault can in no way
be attributed to the soldiers; Malkapsi is the cause of all
the evil.' " There were some, however, who claimed that the
soldiers were the aggressors, because they had come into their
country and brought cannon with them.
One thing, of course, is to be remembered—there were all
degrees of offending, from the active hostile to the almost
neutral, just as there are in every Indian war. The worst of
them all were Kamiaken, his brothers Skloom and Shawawai,
Owhi and his son Qualchian, the Yakima malcontents of 1856,
who had been roaming among the tribes, exciting discontent
and committing depredations where they could. Kamiaken
was the most influential of them all. He was a man of un¬
usual stature and remarkable strength. No man in the tribe
could bend his bow. lie was rated the best orator from the
Cascades to the Rockies, and appears to have been inspired
by a patriotic hope of throwing off the supremacy of the
whites. In later years, wdien his plans were miscarried and
his hopes of a great combination of the Indians against the
common foe dashed to the ground, he refused to return to
his own country, and, apparently broken-hearted, passed the
rest of his days east of the Columbia. The Pelouses were
next in culpability. They were a tribe of about five hun¬
dred, living along the north side of the Snake River. They
were in three bands: Que-lap-tip, with forty lodges, camped
usually at the mouth of the Pelouse ; So-ie, with twelve lodges,
was located thirty miles below on the Snake; Til-co-ax (Tel-
ga-wax, Til-ca-icks), with thirty lodges, lived at the mouth of
the Snake. The remaining Indians in the country between
the Snake and the Columbia, some half-dozen bands, were
commonly called Spokanes by the whites, but the Indians
gave that name only to the band that lived about the forks of
the Spokane River. This was the location of that old land¬
mark " the Spokane House," an old Hudson's Raj' Company
fort, which appears on the old maps. The chief of this band
was the celebrated Garry, often called Spokane Garry, who
had been sent by Sir George Simpson to the Red River set-
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 341
tlements for education at the age of twelve years. lie lived
there five years. At this time he was about forty-five years
of age, was intelligent, spoke English well, and had more con¬
trol over his Indians than any chief in the North-west. lie.
and his band usually dressed in the fashion of civilization
and were still Protestants in religion. Their conversion was
the work of Reverends Walker and Eels, who established the
Mission of Ishimakin (Cheinakane, Cimiakin) while Whitman
and Spalding were laboring among the Cayuses and Nez Per-
ces. This Mission was on a little tributary of the Spokane
a few miles west of Garry's village, and was abandoned after
the Whitman massacre. There was considerable coolness be¬
tween the Spokanes and their then allies the Coeur d'Alenes,
whose country joined them on the east, on account of re¬
ligious differences, but they lived at peace with each other.
The latter numbered about one hundred lodges and were un¬
der Vincent, who has been mentioned.
The Indians must be punished—that was evident—and
active preparations were begun for putting a large force into
the field. The priests came down and waited on General
Clarke, to explain the situation and offer their services in
smoothing " the wrinkled front of war." Father Joset and
Father Congiato, who was at the head of the Jesuit Mis¬
sions, were sent back to the hostiles with instructions to tell
them that the general did not ask permission to send troops
through their country—that was his right; that he did not
ask them to permit the road to be built through their coun¬
try from the Missouri—that was the right of the govern¬
ment; but if they desired peace they must drive Kamiaken
and all other hostiles of other tribes from their country, re¬
turn all the property taken from Steptoe's troops, and surren¬
der the men who first fired on the troops in disobedience to
their chiefs. To these terms, especially the surrender of the
prisoners, the Indians were not ready to submit. Their re¬
plies were written down and sent back by the priests. Po-
lot-kiti (Saulotken, a Spokane) said, " The practice of the In¬
dians is different from what you think; when they want to
make peace, when they want to cease hostilities, they bury
the dead and live again on good terms. They don't speak
342
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
of more blood. I speak sincerely, I, Saulotken, let us finish
the war; my language shall not be twofold ; no; I speak
from the heart. If you disapprove my words you may de¬
spise them. I speak the truth ; I, Indian; I don't want to
fight you. You are at liberty to kill me, but I will not de¬
liver my neighbors. If it should be my practice, I would do
according to it, and deliver them. But that's a practice of your
own." Milkapsi said, "I feel unwilling to give you up my
three brother, for I think though we fought, I won't begin
to make peace. I want you to begin if you want to make
peace; come into my country." Garry said, "You ask some
to be delivered up. Poor Indian can't come to that. But
withdraw this one word, and sure you will make peace."
In fact, the Indians were more defiant than these messages
would indicate. Agent Owen, who was among the hostiles
on the Spokane, and could not get away without endangering
his life, wrote on July 16th, "I have just returned from one
of the blackest councils, I think, that has ever been held on
the Pacific slope. Five hundred fighting men were present,
elated with their recent success; the dragoon horses were
prancing around all day ; the scalp and war dance going on
all night long." He reported the Indians as saying, " Let
Steptoe come; bring plenty of men ; it will be dark, too
dark to see; father and son will fall together. We will meet
him on Snake Biver; burn the grass around and before him.
We want more fine horses; the soldiers are the people we
want to take them from. Steptoe may want peace; has he
sent you here to ask for it ? If so let ns know on what
terms. We will consider his proposition; perhaps we will
make peace."
Preparations for the campaign were not delayed while
the Fathers were on their mission. All available troops were
brought up from California, and the 6th and 7th infantry
were ordered across from Utah. Colonel George Wright,
commanding at the Dalles, was put in command of the main
column, which was to move from Fort Walla-Walla. At the
same time a smaller column, having for its base Fort Simcoe,
on the Yakima, was to scour the country north and west of
the Columbia, and drive all the hostiles to the other side. It
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 343
required some weeks to prepare for the march, as the stock
of supplies at Fort Walla-Walla was very low and everything
had to be transported overland. A steamboat had been run¬
ning on the Columbia above the Dalles, but it had recently
gone over the cascades, and there was left no available means
of transportation by water. The friendly Indians along the
river were talked to and presented with medals. Among
others thus munificently rewarded was Spencer, the unfortu¬
nate chief whose family had been so mercilessly murdered
during the last war, and who yet had remained firm in his
friendship to the whites. On August 4th a treaty of alliance,
offensive and defensive, was made with the Nez Perces under
Lawyer, Timothy, Joseph, Eagle from the Light, Captain
John, and others, and thirty of them volunteered to accom¬
pany the expedition. On the 7th the column moved. It
consisted of five hundred and seventy regulars besides the
friendly Indians and one hundred employes, with two six-
pounders and two howitzers. They struck the Snake at the
mouth of the Toukannon, three miles above the mouth of
the Pelouse, and there built Fort Taylor and established a
ferry. One company was left as a garrison, with most of
the supplies, and the remainder, aiter spending three days
in crossing, marched on northward. They found the grass
burned for about twenty miles back from the river, but be¬
yond that it was undisturbed. No resistance was offered to
them, though they occasionally caught sight of parties of the
hostiles, until September 1st.
The troops were then camped on the south side of the
Four Lakes, ten or twelve miles south-west of Lahto or Ned-
whuald Creek, a tributary of the Spokane. The largest lake
is at the west, the second in size is two miles or more east of
it; between them lie the two smaller ones, which are about
equal in extent, one of them half a mile north of the other.
At the north-western corner of the second lake is a high hill,
on which the Indians were seen in force on the morning of
the 1st. Colonel Wright at once prepared to advance against
them. Two companies of dragoons, under Major Grier, were
sent around the hill on the west side to cut off retreat; two
companies of riflemen, one howitzer, and the.Nez Perces were
22*
344
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
thrown to the right between the hill and the lake; and four
companies of infantry, under Captain Keyes, charged the hill
from the south-west. The Indians retired before him, and
on gaining the summit it was seen that the woods on the
north-eastern base were full of Indians, while on the open
plain to the north-west were four or five hundred mounted
warriors, riding furiously to and fro, and apparently eager
for a fight. The riflemen dashed through the woods on the
east, driving the Indians before them to the open plain.
Captain Iveyes's command advanced steadily down the hill
until they passed the dragoons, who dismounted and followed
in the rear, leading their horses, until well on the plain.
They then mounted and charged the Indians, who fled in
every direction and were soon out of reach. They had lost
about twenty killed and a number wounded. The troops
had met with no casualty of any kind.
On the 5th the troops moved northward again. They pass¬
ed the lakes, and, two miles beyond, entered the open prairie,
where the Indians soon appeared, moving to intercept the
force before it reached the next timber. They fired the grass
on both sides and in front, quickly surrounding the little
army with smoke and flame, under cover of which some sev¬
en hundred warriors opened fire on them. An advance was
ordered, and the dragoons rode through the flames, chasing
the Indians back to the forests. The pack train with its
guard moved forward as speedily as practicable, and at every
available point the howitzers opened fire, driving the Indians
from their cover. The command was kept as much concen¬
trated as possible, and charges were made from the lines at
every opportunity. In this way the troops marched north
for five miles, and north-east seven, going into camp below the
mouth of the Lahto, after a march of twenty miles without
water, fourteen of it under fire. The fighting lasted seven
hours, and resulted in a loss to the hostiles of two chiefs and
many warriors, including two brothers of Garry. The only
casualty to the troops was one man wounded.
The Indians were now much discouraged. On the morn¬
ing of the 7th they called across the Spokane that Garry
wanted to talk with the colonel. An interview w7as granted,
FALLS OF THE SPOKANE.
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 347
in which Colonel Wright told him, "I did not come into this
country to ask you to make peace; I came to fight. Now,
when you are tired of the war, and ask for peace, I will tell
you what you must do. You must come to me with your
arms, with your women and children, and everything you
have, and lay them at my feet; you must put your faith in
me, and trust to my mercy. If you do this I shall then dic¬
tate the terms upon which I will grant you peace. If you do
not do this, war will be made on you this year and next, and
until your nation shall be exterminated." Garry went away,
and soon Polotkin, who had led in the battles of the 1st and
5th, and had been conspicuous in the fight with Steptoe, came
over with nine warriors. This chief was held as a prisoner,
and also one of his men, who was recognized as having been
recently at Walla-Walla with Father Pavalli, and was strong¬
ly suspected of being one of the murderers of the two miners.
On the 8th the march up the Spokane was continued.
After proceeding nine miles, a great dust was observed in
front and to the right, and Major Grier was despatched to¬
wards it with three companies of dragoons and the Nez Per¬
cys, Colonel Wright following with a part of the infantry.
The dragoons found the commotion to be caused by the In¬
dians driving their herds into the mountains; they charged,
and after a brief skirmish succeeded in capturing eight hun¬
dred horses. The command then went into camp on the riv¬
er. The case of the Indian taken with Polotkin was examined
into, and it being found that he was one of the murderers,
he was hung at sunset. On the next day Colonel Wright,
finding it impracticable to keep the captured horses with him,
many of them being very wild, selected a few to replace bro¬
ken-down animals in the command, and ordered the rest shot.
The slaughter took up that day and the next, and during its
progress the troops also killed a large number of cattle and
destroyed several barns full of grain, and many caches of
camas and other roots, berries, and other supplies. The
horses belonged to and constituted almost the entire wealth
of Tilcoax, the Pelouse chief, so that the blow fell in a good
place. He had never been friendly, and for more than two
years he and his young men had been stealing horses and cat-
348
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tie from the settlements, as he boldly admitted to Colonel
Steptoe. On the 10th a messenger came from Father Joset
saying that the hostiles were " down and suing for peace,"
which caused a cessation of the work of destruction for the
time.
The army moved on up the Spokane, without any resist¬
ance, to the north-western extremity of Coeur d'Alene Lake,
and thence around the north-eastern side of the lake, over
one of those most difficult of all highways, a mountain Indian
trail. It was encumbered with fallen trees and bowlders be¬
low, and obtrusive branches above, to such an extent that the
expedition was obliged to move in single file almost the en¬
tire distance to the Mission, which is thirty-one miles from
the outlet of the lake. This Mission wras established in 1841,
on St. Joseph's River, but owing to overflows in that valley
it was removed, in 1846, to its permanent location, on the
right bank of the Coeur d'Alene River, a sluggish stream
one hundred yards wide and twenty-five feet deep. The
Mission is on a small hill, a fragment of an east and west
spur of the Bitter Root Mountains, looking towards the north;
below it is a small prairie, a mile in width and three in
length, which at this time was under cultivation in crops of
wheat, oats, barley, and vegetables, and dotted here and there
with houses and barns. The principal building, the Church
of the Sacred Heart, was quite an imposing edifice for such a
location. The church proper was forty-six feet wide and
sixty feet long, with thirty feet more in length, supported by
heavy pillars. It was designed by Father Ravalli, formerly a
professor of chemistry and philosophy in the Jesuit College
at Rome, and was two years in construction. The only work¬
men were the priests and a few Indians, having for tools a
saw, an auger, an ax, and an old jack-plane. To the left of
the church was the house of the priests, and again to the left
were the storehouse, hospital, workshop ahd a building for
the use of the Indians. The lake about which the country
of the Coeur d'Alenes lies is some fifteen miles west of the
Mission. It is irregular in shape, thirty miles long, varying
in width from one to five miles. It is embosomed in beauti¬
ful mountains. The shores that are protected from the pre-
CIEUR D'ALENE MISSION. (FROM THE PAINTING BY STANLEY.)
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 351
vailing winds shelve rapidly ; the exposed ones are shallow,
with a pebbly beach extending a short distance out. It has
two principal feeders, the St. Joseph's and the Cceur d'Alene,
both deep streams with scarcely any current. This is caused
by the nature of the outlet of the lake, the Spokane River,
which at a point ten miles west of the lake is confined in a
narrow rock canon, where it has an abrupt fall of eight or
ten feet, known as the Upper Falls. Above this natural
dam the water is really back-water, extending for a consider¬
able distance up the principal feeders. It also causes quite
extensive marshes, and in the spring season produces general
overflows, the water having no ready outlet. The streams
and lake abound in trout and are great resorts for water¬
fowl, as also are the marshes. The hills, which were largely
covered with forests of pine and fir, abounded in large game.
Such was the home of the Cceur d'Alenes, a tribe of about
five hundred, of whom one hundred and thirty could bear
arms. Their country was not easily accessible, and they
were very jealous of intrusion, not even permitting the
French Canadians of the Hudson's Bay Company to enter
it. Probably for this reason they received their name Cceur
d'Alene—Heart of an Awl, or, as it is more commonly ren¬
dered, Pointed Heart. They were brave and warlike, and
had many horses and cattle.
On the 17th, some four hundred Indians having assem¬
bled at the Mission, a council was held and Colonel Wright
imposed his own terms, which were that they should surren¬
der the men who began the attack on Steptoe; give up all
property, public or private, in their hands, that had been
taken from the whites; permit whites to pass through their
country unmolested; and give a chief and four men, with
their families, as hostages. These terms were accepted, and
on the next day the march around the lake was resumed.
The Cceur d'Aldne and St. Joseph's were both ferried, and
from the latter, which enters the southern extremity of the
lake, the troops marched south-west to the Lahto. There, on
the 23d, the Spokanes were met in council. Garry and Polot-
kin were both present. There were with them some Calispels
or Pend d'Oreilles (this name was probably Pendues Oreilles,
352
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
or Hnng Ears, originally), and members of other small tribes.
Milkapsi was there also. He had lost all his haughtiness,
and begged to be admitted to peace with the rest. His
prayer was granted, but Colonel Wright took occasion to re¬
mind him of his letter to General Clarke, and call his atten¬
tion to the fact that the whites were not asking for peace.
The Spokanes were all very penitent, and made fervent
promises of future good behavior. They were treated with
on the same terms as the Cceur d'Aleties.
While these movements were being made, Major Garnett
had marched up the Yakima in search of the" few hostiles
who were 011 the west side of the Columbia. They were
chiefly Yakimas, with a few Pelouses and other renegades.
On the morning of August 15, 1858, Lieut. J. K. Allen, a
popular and efficient young officer, with fifteen men, sur¬
prised the camp of Iva-ti-ho-tes, one of the hostile chiefs, and
captured twenty-one men, fifty women and children, seventy-
five horses, fifteen cattle, and all their other property. Lieu¬
tenant Allen was killed in the surprise; it is probable that
in the darkness, it being at three o'clock in the morning, he
was accidentally shot by one of his own men. Three of the
warriors captured were found to have been in the party that
murdered the two miners, and were shot. Another of the
murderers had been killed while trying to escape during the
surprise. It was ascertained of these Indians that twenty-
five in all were engaged in the attack on the miners. On
the 21st a detachment of sixty men went up one of the
branches of the We-nat-che Kiver, and, with the assistance
of Ski-nar-wan, a friendly chief, succeeded in entrapping five
more of the murderers, all of whom were shot. Another was
found alone in the forest, and killed by the soldiers. A great
terror fell upon all the wrong-doers. One of the murderers
of Agent Bolen committed suicide. Six of the murderers
of the two miners fled into the fastnesses of the Cascade
Mountains; the remainder escaped across the river and joined
Kamiaken.
On the evening of the 23d, Owhi, the hostile Yakima
chief, came into Colonel Wright's camp on the Lahto. He
said he had come from the lower Spokane, and had left his
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, CCEUR D'ALENES, ETC. 353
son Qualchian there. Qualchian was an Indian that Colonel
Wright wanted. He had been actively engaged in murders
and robberies since 1855, besides stirring up discontent among
the friendly Indians. In the preceding June he had been se¬
verely wounded in an attack on some miners on the We-nat-
che, but had recovered quickly and at once resumed his evil
course. Owhi was put in irons, and word was sent to Qual¬
chian to come in at once ; that if he did not come his father
would be hung. He arrived at nine o'clock the next morn¬
ing, and at half-past nine was hung. From this camp three
troops of dragoons were sent to Steptoe's battle-ground. They
brought in the two abandoned howitzers, and also the remains
of Captain Taylor and Lieutenant Gaston, which were con¬
veyed to Fort Walla-Walla for burial.
On the 25th a number of Pelouses came into the camp.
They represented that they had been with the hostiles, but
that Kamiaken had fled over the mountains and they had se¬
ceded from him. The colonel seized fifteen of them, all of
whom, on investigation, were found to have left their own
country and waged war against the United States. In the
troubles of 1856, which he had settled so leniently as to arouse
the resentment of the Oregonians, Colonel Wright had prom¬
ised these Indians severe punishment if found again with the
hostiles. He accordingly hung six of the worst ones and
kept the remainder in irons. On the 26th the command pro¬
ceeded south-westerly to the Pelouse. Here, on the 30th, all
of the Pelouses remaining in the country were met in coun¬
cil. Colonel Wright addressed them, reproaching them severe¬
ly for their thefts and murders, and demanded the murderers
of the miners among them. One man was produced, and
hung at once. All the property taken from the whites was
then restored. The prisoners seized as Pelouses were brought
out, and three, who were found to be renegade Yakimas and
Walla-Wallas, were hung. A chief and four warriors, with
their families, were demanded as hostages, and surrendered.
It was then announced to the Indians that no treaty would
be made with them at that time, but if they did as command¬
ed, a treaty would be made in the following spring; they
were ordered to allow whites to pass through their country
354
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
unmolested, and to apprehend and deliver into custody any
of their nation guilty of theft or murder. This they agreed
to do, and, after warning them that if lie ever had to come
into their country again he would annihilate them, Colonel
Wright dismissed them. The objects of the expedition being
now accomplished, half of the troops were left temporarily at
Tort Taylor, and the remainder rendezvoused at Fort Walla-
Walla, where they were reviewed on October 5th by Colonel
Mansfield, Inspector-general of the Army.
Thus ended one of the most remarkable Indian campaigns
ever known. In it two battles and a number of skirmishes
occurred, all resulting in the defeat of the Indians with heavy
losses; about one thousand horses and many cattle were cap¬
tured, and either destroyed or confiscated ; enormous quantities
of supplies of the hostiles were destroyed; eleven murderers
and robbers were executed; the Indians who commenced the
hostilities were surrendered; three large tribes and several
small ones were reduced to abject submission ; hostages were
given by each tribe for their good behavior; and all this with¬
out the loss of a man. The expedition of Major Garnett re¬
sulted in the punishment of ten of the murderers, and greatly
aided in the successful issue of Colonel Wright's movement,
but it met with some loss, chiefly in the untimely death of
Lieutenant Allen. Still a further and more signal result of
this war was yet to come. Lawyer wrote from Walla-Walla to
Governor Stevens, then in Washington, as follows: "At this
place, about three years since, we had our talk, and since that
time I have been waiting to hear from our big father. We
are very poor. It is other people's badness. It is not our fault,
and I would like to hear what he has to say. If he thinks
our agreement good our hearts will be thankful. Colonel
Wright has been over after the bad people, and has killed
some of the bad people and hung sixteen ; and now I am in
hopes we will have peace." The letter was submitted to the
Department of the Interior. There was a general move in
favor of the ratification of the treaties. Lieutenant Mullan,
who was with Stevens in the railway exploration, reiterated
his prayers to the department in that behalf. Superintend¬
ent Nesmith, who had strenuously opposed them, now wrote
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, C(EUR D'ALENES, ETC. 355
that "after a careful investigation of the subject" he was
satisfied that the treaties ought to be ratified, the country-
thrown open fully for settlement, and the Indians removed
to reservations. The Indians, completely cowed, were ready
to do anything to please the whites. With every force favor¬
ing the movement there was no longer reason for delay, so,
on March 8, 1859, the Senate ratified the treaties with the
Dwamish and their allies, the S'lvlallams, the Makahs (of Cape
Flattery), the Walla-Wallas, Cayuses, and Umatillas, the Ya-
kiinas, Pelouses, Klickitats, and their allies, the Nez Perces, the
Des Chutes, Wascoes, and their allies, the Qui-nai-elts, the Flat-
heads, Kootenais, and Pend d'Oreilles, and the Molels. Thus,
Governor Stevens was vindicated at last, to his own satisfac¬
tion, and the North-west was put at peace for many years.
Nevertheless it is true that peace could not have been made
in 1856 if these treaties had been insisted on, and that war
would have resulted from any attempt to enforce them dur¬
ing two years afterwards. The trouble was not that the gen¬
eral provisions of the treaties were not good, but that they
provided for removing part of the tribes entirely from their
native homes to the country of others. In fact this provision
was not enforced for years after the treaties were ratified,
and it produced trouble when it was enforced, as we shall see
hereafter. There is little room for doubting that Garry was
right in his theory, that in this particular Stevens " missed
it."
23
CHAPTER XII.
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
No more serious phase of the Indian problem has pre¬
sented itself to the American people than that offered by
the Apache tribes. Aided by the desert nature of their
country, they have resisted the advance of the whites lon¬
ger than any other Indian nation. They have fought with
bravery and inconceivable cunning. They have committed
atrocities that devils alone would seem capable of, and have
been subjected to atrocities that devils might blush to com¬
mit. They have made their name a terror and a thing of
execration to a section of country five times larger than all
New England. They have kept miners for years from treas¬
ure deposits that have been regarded as of fabulous richness.
They have gained the reputation of being the most treacher¬
ous, cruel, and inhuman savages that have been known in the
United States. People who have been willing to extend
sympathy and assistance to other Indians, have stood aghast
at the murderous work of the Apaches, and given their opin¬
ions that nothing but the extermination of the tribe could
ever rid Arizona and New Mexico of a constant liability to
outrage and devastation. In noteworthy connection with
this reputation is the fact that the Apaches are among the
least known of the Indian tribes. Not only has their hostile
attitude prevented white men from associating with them,
but even when brought in contact with the whites they main¬
tain a jealous reserve as to their habits, particularly those of
a religious character. By way of example, it is commonly
believed that they do not bury their dead, and never touch a
dead body except in case of necessity ; yet Colonel Cremony,
who had excellent opportunity for knowing, insists that they
bury their more prominent men, at least, with great cere-
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
357
moiiy, though he was unable to learn exactly what the for¬
malities were.
The Apaches, as has been previously mentioned, speak
the same language as the Navahos and Lipans; and all
Southern Indians using this common tongue are often called
Apaches. The Apaches proper call themselves " Shis In-
day," or People of the Woods, a rather strange name for a
tribe living in a country where three trees constitute a bosque
or forest, but taken by them probably because the principal
timber growth of the region is on the mountains which have
long afforded them safe retreats. They were in nine tolera¬
bly distinct tribes through the earlier part of the present
century, though by confederations and factional separations,
in the course of their long warfare, some of this identity has
been lost. At the beginning of our intercourse with them
they were best divided as follows: Chirieahuas (Chiricagiiis),
Gilenos, Mimbreflos, Mescaleros, Jicarillas (Xicarillas, Hicko-
rias), Pinalenos, Mogollons, Coyoteros, and Tontos. These
names refer chiefly to their geographical positions. The
Chirieahuas lived in South-eastern Arizona, about the Chiri-
cahua Mountains. They are sometimes called Cochees, from
their noted chief Cochise or Cheis, who was gathered to his
fathers several years since, much to the relief of neighboring
settlers. East of these, in the mountains about the head¬
waters of the Gila, was a small band of about two hundred
warriors, known as the Gilenos or Gila Apaches. The name
Gilenos is also sometimes used generically, including two or
three additional tribes. North-east of these, in South-western
New Mexico, lived the Mimbrenos or Mimbres (Miembres
—Willows) Apaches, otherwise known as the Copper Mine
Apaches, from the fact that they infested the celebrated
copper mines of Santa Rita del Cobre. To the east, beyond
the Rio Grande, and west of the Pecos, dwelt the Mescaleros,
who derived their appellation from their extensive use of the
mescal (maguey, American aloe, or century-plant) for food,
and in the manufacture of the intoxicating drink known by
the same name. The Jicarillas lived in the mountains of
Northern New Mexico, above Taos, and were closely associat¬
ed with the Southern Utes. North-west of the Chirieahuas
358
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
was a tribe sometimes called the Pinalenos or Pinal (Penole)
Apaches, and sometimes the Arivapas (Aribaipais), from the
Rio Arivapa which flows on the south-west of the Pinal
range to the Gila. The Mogollons (Mogayones) lived direct¬
ly north of these in the Mogollon Mountains and the deserts
about them. Westward along the Gila River, and through
the country north of it, roamed the Coyoteros, the most con¬
siderable of the tribes, who are said to have their name from
their habit of eating the coyote or prairie wolf. It is possible,
however, that the name is a corruption of Garroteros (club
men) which was formerly applied to some of the western
tribes. The Tontos, who lived chiefly in the rough country
south and west of Bill Williams Mountain, say that they
broke off from the Coyoteros many years ago, and that their
Indian name, which means " unruly," has been corrupted into
the Spanish word tonto, which means " stupid."
No little confusion has arisen from the numerous names,
of different languages, given to these and kindred tribes.
The Indians east of the Pecos, called Llaneros or Apaches,
are properly Lipans. They have always been confederated
with the Comanches and Kiowas in our dealings with them,
and are now located in Indian Territory with those tribes.
The Faraones or Taracones, mentioned in old Spanish books,
were probably Navahos; the word Yutajenne is given as the
Apache synonym of the name, and yutajenne or Yutakah is
the Apache name for the Navahos. The Yampais or Yavi-
pais are now known as Apache Mohaves. The Cajuenches
were probably the same as the Cuchanos or Yumas. The
Hualapais (Ilualpies, Wallapais) have been called Apache
Yumas since 1868, when that name was given them by Gen¬
eral Gregg, who was then commanding in Arizona.
The Apaches were always known as wild Indians. It is
doubtful if the Spaniards ever obtained any control over
them, and certain that the Mexicans never retained any.
Between these two peoples there was almost continuous war.
The condition of the people of the Northern Mexican settle¬
ments was such that there was little chance of successful
opposition to the Apaches. They were poor, and hardly
more advanced in knowledge than their Indian enemies.
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
359
The central government exacted heavy taxes from them, hut
did nothing for their protection. The supreme power in
their settlements was in the hands of the ricos or wealthy
men, who often resisted the government and often contended
among themselves. Some of the ricos were of quite pure
Spanish blood, but the great mass of the people were the
mongrel Mexicans, and these were nearly all in the state of
peonage or bondage for debt. As a general rule it was found
cheaper and more consonant with the warlike spirit of the
Mexicans to buy peace of the Apaches than to fight them.
Instead of uniting and making an effort for common defence,
it was usually the case that when the State of Chihuahua was
at war with the Indians, the State of Sonora would be at
peace, and vice versa. The property and even the captives
taken in the one State would be purchased in the other.
General Carasco, military governor of Sonora after the Mexi¬
can war, on one occasion broke into this system. Sonora was
at war with the Apaches, and Chihuahua was not only at
peace but also was issuing rations to them quarterly at the
village of Janos, near our border. Carasco advanced on this
place by night marches, and succeeded in surprising them
during the feasting that ensued upon the issue of rations.
He killed a number and took ninety prisoners. Medina, the
governor of Chihuahua, made complaint to the general gov¬
ernment of this breach of inter-state customs, but the authori¬
ties sustained Carasco. This was a fortunate decision for the
Northern Mexicans, for Carasco did more to protect their
frontier than any ruler they had for years. He impressed
the poor as soldiers, and forced the rich to supply the means
for keeping them in the field. His methods were unpopular,
however, and he was poisoned.
Many anecdotes are related by travellers of the poltroon¬
ery of the Mexicans in their contests with the Apaches. It
is not strange that they appeared cowardly. They were poor,
without organization, and with nothing in life to stimulate
them to bravery. They were obliged to support themselves
mainly by agriculture and stock-raising, and these pursuits
put them continually on the defensive, while they scattered
the people so as to make defence difficult. The Americans
MASSAC'KES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
who went into the Apache country prior to our conquest
were 011 a different footing from the Mexicans. They were
chiefly trappers or traders, and though many of them had
Mexican wives or mistresses, quite as many had their mar¬
ital companions from
among the Indians,
while their business in¬
terests were quite di¬
verse. The traders had
more cause for sympa¬
thy with the Mexicans
than the trappers, and
yet the traders were
so seldom attacked that
the Mexicans accused
them of having treated
secretly with the Apa¬
ches. Their immunity
was really due to con¬
stant preparation for at¬
tack; the Apaches nev¬
er attack except by sur¬
prise. The trappers
acted with one side or
the other, or remained
neutral, as their tempo¬
rary interests demand¬
ed.
In lsdT the Mexi¬
cans of both Sotiora
and ('hihuahua were at
war with the Apaches,
and both were becom¬
ing desperate over the
successful incursions of
the enemy. Chihuahua promulgated a law called the Pro-
tja'to tl< Giornt, or project for war, by which the State
offered one hundred dollars for the scalp of an Apache war¬
rior, iifty for the scalp of a squaw, and twenty-live for that
AN Al'AIHK WALlUolt.
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
3G1
of a child. Sonora was also paying a bounty for scalps,
and both gave to the captor any booty he might take from
the Indians This liberality was produced mainly b}7 the
many atrocities of Juan Jose, a Mimbres chief, who had
been educated among the Mexicans, and used his knowledge
of their customs to great advantage in his warfare. One
favorite scheme of his was robbing the mails, for the pur¬
pose of obtaining information as to the plans of the Mex¬
icans. At this time there were several parties of trappers
on the head-waters of the Gila, and the captain of one of
these, a man named Johnson, undertook to secure a number
of Apache scalps. It is said that in addition to the scalp
bounty he was induced to this by pay from the owners of the
Santa liita copper mines. At any rate he made a feast and
invited to it a number of Mimbrefio warriors, who accepted
his hospitable bidding. To one side of the ground where his
feast was spread he placed a howitzer, loaded to the muzzle
with slugs, nails, and bullets, and concealed under sacks of
flour and other goods. In good range he placed a sack of
flour, which he told the Indians to divide among themselves.
Unsuspicious of wrong, they gathered about it. Johnson
touched his lighted cigarrito to the vent of the howitzer, and
the charge was poured into the crowd, killing and wounding
many. The party of trappers at once followed up the attack
with their rifles and knives. A goodly number of scalps
were secured, that of Juan Jose among others, but the treach¬
ery was terribly repaid. Another party of fifteen trappers
was camped on a stream a few miles distant. The surviving
Mimbrenos went to these unsuspecting men and murdered
every one, of them. Their vengeance did not stop at this.
The copper mines of Santa liita were furnished with supplies
from the city of Chihuahua by guarded wagon-trains {con¬
ducted) that brought in provisions and hauled back ore. The
time for the arrival of the train came and passed, but no train
appeared. Days slipped away; provisions were almost ex¬
hausted; the supply of ammunition was nearly gone. Some
of the miners climbed to the top of Ben Moore, which rises
back of the mines, but from its lofty summit no sign of an
approaching conducta was visible. Starvation was imminent.
362
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The only hope of escape for the miners and their families
was in making their way across the desert expanse that lies
between the mines and the settlements. They started, but
the Apaches, who had destroyed the train, hung about them,
and attacked them so persistently that only four or five suc¬
ceeded in reaching their destination.
The scalp bounty was not always so effective in procuring
the death of Apaches as in this case. A few years after our
conquest, when the vigilance committees of California had
filled Arizona with the most villainous collection of white
men that ever breathed, there was enacted a comic tragedy in
which the principal performer was John Gallantin. He was
a desperate scoundrel, and had gathered about him a band of
cut-throats whose infamous characters were excelled only by
his own. The governor of Chihuahua undertook to make
these men useful to the State by paying them thirty dollars
for each Apache scalp they secured. They brought scalps in
profusion, but the Apache raids were nowise diminished. On
the contrary, large numbers of Mexicans and friendly Indians
were assassinated and scalped in the midst of the settlements.
The suspicions of the Chihuahuans were excited, and Gallantin
was at length discovered taking the scalps of some Mexicans
whom his people had murdered. This accounted for the ex¬
traordinary activity of "the Apaches," and Gallantin and his
band left the country. They gathered up some twenty-five
hundred sheep as they went along, and with these made their
way to the Colorado at the mouth of the Gila. They were
met with professions of great friendship by the Yumas, who
were then (1851) commanded by Caballo en Pelo (Naked
Horse), a chief of great prowess. Having placed themselves in
favorable positions in the camp of the desperadoes, the Yumas
suddenly fell upon them and murdered the entire party. The
scalp-bounty system was not given up by the Mexicans, and,
what is more remarkable, man-hunters were allowed to pursue
their occupation on our side of the line for the scalp markets
of Chihuahua and Sonora. In 1870 Lieutenant Drew was
visited by such a party from Janos, Chihuahua, who coolly
proposed to massacre the Indians who were then under his
protection, preparatory to going on a reservation. He said,
BLACK KNIFE. (FROM THE PAINTING BY STANLEY.)
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
365
" These people do not care a straw for the depredations com¬
mitted in this or any other country ; they work for the money
a scalp brings, and one from a friendly Indian is worth as
much as one of any other." Orders were soon after issued
which lessened this business as an international commerce.
When the Americans invaded the country during the
Mexican war, the Apaches welcomed them as allies, though
their professions of friendship were not much believed. At
San Lucia Springs, near the Santa Kita mines, General Kear¬
ny was met by Mangas Colorado (Eed Sleeves—in defective
Spanish), chief of the Mimbrenos, who vowed eternal friend¬
ship to the Americans. It was noticed, however, that they
kept shy of howitzers, and that one of them wore a shirt made
of a Henry Clay campaign flag, which doubtless signified a
dead American somewhere. The Apaches were overwhelmed
with admiration of our soldiers and their weapons. Said one
of their chiefs to General Kearny, as they prepared to leave,
u You have taken New Mexico and will soon take California;
go, then, and take Chihuahua, Durango, and Sonora. We will
help you. You fight for land; we care nothing for land;
we fight for the laws of Montezuma and for food. The Mex¬
icans are rascals; we hate and will kill them all." This feel¬
ing, though somewhat advantageous to us during war, was a
disadvantage as soon as peace was made. We were bound
by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to protect our newly-ac¬
quired Mexican citizens, and also to prevent our Indians from
depredating in Mexico. Americans who settled in New Mex¬
ico lived, of course, in the Mexican settlements, and had inter¬
ests much in common with the Mexicans. The Apaches in
the neighborhood of these settlements were not very trouble¬
some for several years, but the western bands pursued their
old vocation of plunder with unabated vigor. The settlers
below the Gila, and the emigrants who passed over the south¬
ern road, retained their lives and property only by eternal
vigilance.
After the massacre of the miners, the Mimbrenos held pos¬
session of the Santa Kita mines for a dozen years undisturbed.
The place became known as their great stronghold, and no
white men were able to break through its surrounding wilds.
366
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
In 1850 there came an invasion. The American half of the
Mexican Boundary Commission, under charge of Mr. J. R.
Bartlett, decided to make the copper mines their head-quar¬
ters for a time, and a force of three hundred men took pos¬
session of the place. The Mimbrefios, under the leadership
of their great war-chief Cuchillo Negro, or Black Knife, were
disposed to resist at first, but thought better of it, and re¬
ceived the Americans with professions of friendship. A short
time after the commission was established in these quarters,
there came along three Mexican traders, who had been among
the Pinal Apaches, and purchased of them a young Mexican
girl named Inez Gonzales. This girl, who was about fifteen
years old, had been a captive for nine months. Iler parents
lived at the town of Santa Cruz, whence she had started in
company with her aunt and others, with an escort of soldiers,
to attend the feast of San Francisco at Magdalena. They
were ambushed by the Pinalenos; the men were killed, and
the women and children carried away. The Mexicans were
taking her to Santa Fe, probably to sell her or to keep her for
immoral purposes, as was the common practice with female
slaves. Mr. Bartlett had no hesitancy as to releasing her,
inasmuch as the United States had expressly agreed, in the
treaty of Guadalupe Ilidalgo, to release all such captives and
to suppress the traffic in them. Inez was returned to her
parents by the commissioner when he arrived in Santa Cruz.
She subsequently became the mistress of Captain Gomez, who
commanded the troops in Northern Sonora. He married her
on the death of his wife, and after his death Inez married the
Alcalde of Santa Cruz, her social standing not having been at
all affected by her romantic adventures.
The release of this captive did not directly affect the In¬
dians, but a few days later two Mexican boys, who were held
as slaves by the Mimbrefios, took refuge in the tent of Colo¬
nel Cremony, with the commission, and appealed to him to
save them from their masters. These children, Saverro Are-
dia and Jose Trinfan, had heard the Indians speaking of the
release of Inez, and determined to seek the same protection.
Protection was given to them. There were some indications
that the Apaches, thwarted in recovering them, might murder
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
367
them, and on account of this Mr. Bartlett sent them away at
night, under guard, to the camp of General Conde, the
Mexican commissioner. Conde at once forwarded them into
Mexico. The Mimbrenos were very indignant at this sum¬
mary release of their property—a rather inconsistent inter¬
ference, too, at a time when the Fugitive Slave Law had just
gone into operation—but after holding a council, and being
informed that they could not help themselves, they concluded
to accept about two hundred and fifty dollars' worth of goods
for the two boys.
As this institution of slavery in the West has been the
cause of much trouble with the Indians, a glance at its feat¬
ures and extent will be advantageous in considering the diffi¬
culties between the two races. The system obtained with all
the tribes of the Rocky Mountains, and also with the Kio-
was and Comanches who sprang from mountain stocks. In¬
stead of dooming their captives to death, or adopting them
into their tribes, as the Eastern Indians did, they held them
for barter and the performance of menial duties. The slave
was the property of his immediate captor, but in case he was
taken by a band he was the property of the tribe. Owner¬
ship was frequently changed by sale or gambling. The slave
was wholly subject to the caprices of his owner, even to his
life. "Women," says Captain Johnson, speaking of the Apa¬
ches, " when captured, are taken as wives by those who cap¬
ture them, but they are treated by the Indian wives of the
capturers as slaves, and made to carry wrood and water; if
they chance to be pretty, or receive too much attention from
their lords and masters, they are, in the absence of the lat¬
ter, unmercifully beaten and otherwise maltreated. The most
unfortunate thing which can befall a captive woman is to be
claimed by two persons. In this case she is either shot or
delivered up for indiscriminate violence." This latter abrupt
method of deciding controversies was adhered to by the Apa¬
ches to prevent quarrels among themselves. Other property
was treated similarly. If a horse were claimed as booty by
two warriors, they must adjust their differences speedily or
the animal was shot.
The case of Inez Gonzales was not an exceptional one,
308
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
•wherein Mexicans who had been captured by Indians were
bought and held as slaves by Mexicans. It was the almost
universal rule. In the preceding summer, Indian agent Cal¬
houn released four Mexicans, three boys and a woman, all of
whom had been bought by Mexicans from the Apaches. He
reported: "The trading in captives has been so long tolerated
in this Territory that it has ceased to be regarded as a wrong;
and purchasers are not prepared willingly to release captives
without an adequate ransom. In legislating upon this sub¬
ject it should be distinctly set forth under what circum¬
stances captives shall be released, and limiting the expenditures
that may be incurred thereby. Unless the Mexicans are paid
for such captives as they have purchased, and have now in
possession, but very few of them will be released ; nor will it
answer well to allow captives to make their election as to a
release, for their submission to their masters is most perfect,
and they are well instructed as to proper replies to interroga¬
tories. ... I may, in conclusion, mention that there are a
number of Indian captives held as slaves in this Territory,
and Congressional action may be necessary in relation to them,
and I respectfully submit the question for appropriate con¬
sideration." The Mexicans could never see any great evil
in slavery. Their system of peonage, or bondage for debt,
amounts to life servitude in most cases, for wages are so low
that a peon ordinarily earns only enough for his subsistence.
There was no public sentiment against the subjection of
women to the pleasures of their owners, for virtue is almost
unknown among them. It is the common mode, to this day,
for one who desires a Mexican mistress, to select the girl and
make arrangements with her parents by the payment of a
small sum monthly.
The Americans wdio settled in the country held very simi¬
lar ideas in regard to Mexicans and Indians, both of whom
•were considered as inferior races. The trapper or trader who
desired a squaw purchased one, and the settler who wanted
servants very commonly purchased them. They took to the
system so naturally that legislation was made necessary to
prohibit it. Many of the more reckless characters engaged
in the business of catching and selling slaves, as is illustrated
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
369
in the following extract from the journal of Colonel Cooke:
"I had lately a conversation with old Weaver, which was not
official. lie said,' The Tontos live in that range over there ;
I never see them with more than one or two lodges together;
they are a band of the Coyoteros, and are called fools for their
ignorance. When I went over once, from the Pi mas to the
Cochanos and Mochabas [Mohaves], I met some lodges and
had a fuss with them.'—'What sort?'—' Oh, we killed two or
three and burned their lodges, and took all the women and
children and sold them.'—-'What!'—'Yes, I have often
caught the women and children of Digger Indians and sold
them in New Mexico and Sonora. Mr. of Tucson told
me a squaw I sold him ran off, and was found dead, famished
for water I s'pose, going over from the Pimas to the Colora¬
do.'-*-' What! have you no feeling for her death, trying to
return to her father and mother you tore her from ?'—' I
killed her father and mother, as like as not; they stole all
our traps; as fast as we could stick a trap in the river, they'd
come and steal it, and shoot arrows into our horses; they
thought we would leave them for them to eat, but we built a
big fire and burned them up.' " The weaker tribes of course
suffered most in this business. The wretched Diggers of the
Salt Lake Basin were especially the victims of it, in an early
day, as was often testified to by travellers. Farnham says,
"These poor creatures are hunted in the spring, when weak
and helpless, by a certain class of men, and when taken are
fattened, and carried to Santa Fe and sold as slaves. A 'like¬
ly girl,' in her teens, often brings three or four hundred dol¬
lars. The men are valued less."
The Diggers fell under the control of the Mormons,
and to their honor be it said that they made an effort to
ameliorate the condition of these captives. The evil to
be remedied is thus set forth in the preamble of an act
passed in January, 1852 :
'' Whereas, from time immemorial, the practice of purchasing Indian
women and children of the Utah tribe of Indians by Mexican traders has
been indulged in and carried on by those respective people until the In¬
dians consider it an allowable traffic, and frequently offer their prisoners
or children for sale; and
370
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
" Whereas it is a common practice among tliese Indians to gamble
away their own children and women; and it is a well-established fact
that women and children thus obtained, or obtained by war, or theft, or
in any other manner, are by them frequently carried from place to place,
packed upon horses or mules, lariated out to subsist upon grass, roots, or
starve, and are frequently bound with thongs made of rawhide, until
their hands and feet become swollen, mutilated, inflamed with pain, and
wounded; and when with suffering, cold, hunger, and abuse they fall sick,
so as to become troublesome, are frequently slain by their masters to get
rid of them; and
" Whereas they do frequently kill their women and children taken pris¬
oners, either in revenge, or for amusement, or through the influence of tra¬
dition, unless they are tempted to exchange them for trade, which they
usually do if they have an opportunity; and
"Whereas one family frequently steals the children and women of an¬
other family, and such robberies and murders are continually committed
in times of their greatest peace and amity, thus dragging free Indian women
and children into Mexican servitude and slavery, or death, to the almost
entire extirpation of the whole Indian race; and
" Whereas these inhuman practices are being daily enacted before our
eyes in the midst of the white settlements, and within the organized coun¬
ties of the Territory; and when the inhabitants do not purchase or trade
for those so offered for sale, they are generally doomed to the most misera¬
ble. existence, suffering the tortures of every species of cruelty, until death
kindly relieves them and closes the revolting severity:
" Wherefore, when all these facts are taken into consideration, it be¬
comes the duty of all humane and Christian people to extend unto this
degraded and down-trodden race such relief as can be awarded to them," etc.
The act following this argumentative recital provides that
any white person having a captive in his possession, shall go
with it before the select-men, or the probate judge, and bind
the captive to some proper person, in the discretion of the
select-men, for a term of not over twenty years. The person
to whom he is bound is required to send him to school three
months in the year, from the age of seven to sixteen, and to
clothe him in a suitable manner. The select-men are also
empowered to obtain such captives from the Indians for the
purpose of binding them out.
In the North slavery prevailed everywhere, and was
abetted and encouraged by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Said Mr. Slocum, of slavery in Oregon, " The price of a
slave varies from five to fifteen blankets. Women are val¬
ued higher than men. If a slave dies within six months of
the purchase, the seller returns one-half the purchase-money.
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
371
Many instances have occurred where a man has sold his
own child. . . . The slaves are generally employed to cut
wood, hunt and tisli for the families of the men employed
by the Hudson's Bay Company, and are ready for any extra
work. Each man of the trapping parties has from two to
three slaves, who assist to hunt and take care of the horses
and camp. They thereby save the Company the expense of
employing at least double the number of men that would
otherwise be required on these excursions. ... As long as
the Hudson's Bay Company permit their servants to hold
slaves, the institution of slavery will be perpetuated." Slav¬
ery wTas, in fact, more extensive in Oregon than anywhere
else in the West, and more similar to the African and Orien¬
tal systems. Stanley says of Casino, the celebrated Klickitat
chief, "In the plenitude of his power he travelled in great
state, and was often accompanied by a hundred slaves, obedi¬
ent to his slightest caprice." The same authority says, "It
is a very common practice of the Shaste, Umpqua, and Rogue
River Indians, to sell their children in slavery to the tribes
inhabiting the banks of the Columbia River. During my
tour through the Willamette Valley in 1818, I met a party
of Tlickitats (Klickitats) returning from one of these trading
excursions, having about twenty little boys, whom they had
purchased from the Umpqua tribe." The Oregon Indians
also preyed upon the degraded tribes of California in this
trade, and the Modocs, Klamaths, and Pitt River Indians ob¬
tained the reputation of fierce and cruel slave-drivers in pro¬
curing captives for sale to their Northern neighbors.
All through the Rocky Mountains, except in what we
have called the north-eastern triangle, this system of human
slavery extended, and it had obtained such a root that it was
very hard to extirpate. In Colorado it was brought to a sum¬
mary end, so far as white slave-holders were concerned, in
1865, through the efforts of the government. Indian Agent
Head, accompanied by Deputy Marshall E. R. Harris, visited
all owners of Indian slaves and informed them that they must
be released. Says Mr. Head, " I have notified all the people
here that in future no more captives are to be purchased or
sold, as I shall immediately arrest both parties caught in the
24
372
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
transaction. This step, I think, will at once put an end to
the most barbarous and inhuman practice which has been in
existence with the Mexicans for generations. There are cap¬
tives who know not their own parents, nor can they speak
their mother tongue, and who recognize no one but those
who rescued [!] them from their merciless captors." In New
Mexico and Arizona the slaves have not yet been fully eman¬
cipated. There were twenty Mexican slaves released from
among the Navahos in 1883. In 1866 the number of Indians
held as slaves and peons by the whites was estimated officially
at two thousand. There are undoubtedly many Indian slaves
held among the Mexicans in those Territories now, but the
system of peonage, and the fact that they are kept in fear of
expressing discontent, makes it difficult to release them. In
Northern Mexico there are numbers of Indians, of our tribes,
still held in slavery, and the officials of Arizona reservations
are continually besieged with appeals to restore to our In¬
dians their captive kindred.
The condition of these slaves was as shocking as pro¬
claimed in the Mormon document quoted above. The fe¬
male captives were nearly always subjected to indignities,
both among the Indians and the whites, and among the latter
they were frequently made public prostitutes for the gain of
their owners. Among the Indians there was also the con¬
stant liability of sacrifice for religious purposes. At the deatli
of any person of prominence it was customary to kill one or
more captives, who should serve as slaves to the deceased in
the spirit world, as has been recounted herein, in the narra¬
tive of the captivity of Olive Oatrnan. Walker (Wacca), the
noted Ute chief, who died in 1855, and was buried on a high
mountain about twelve miles south-east of Fillmore, Utah,
was accorded full honors of this kind. Four Pi-ede slaves,
three children and one woman, were buried in the grave with
him. Three of them were killed and thrown into the grave;
the other was thrown in alive. Among the Chinooks the
burial custom was to bind a slave hand and foot and tie him
to the corpse, after which they were deposited together in the
place of sepulture; after three days the victim was stran¬
gled by another slave. The particulars of the treatment that
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
373
might be anticipated by captives were known to both races,
and, as may be imagined, the whole system tended to make
their hatred intense. When people are killed, and out of the
way, warfare may to some extent be forgotten, but when rela¬
tives and friends are held in slavery, there is a constant press¬
ure to rescue them or be revenged. This was a feeling com¬
mon to both sides, and in regard to women it was perhaps
more strong with the Apaches than with the Mexicans. The
Apache women were noted for their chastity. In this re¬
spect they were far superior to the Mexicans, and equal, if
not superior, to any Indians on the continent. The fate to
which their captive wives and daughters was doomed often
caused poignant sorrow among them. Of course there was
not the same effort made by the whites to restore Indian
slaves to their tribes that there was to recover Mexican or
American slaves. The " axiom " of Aristotle, that " Barbari¬
ans are designed by Nature to be slaves," is one that has al¬
ways been adopted by superior races when thrown in contact
with inferior ones.
The forcible purchase of the Mexican boys by the Bound¬
ary Commission, was not forgotten by the Mimbrenos, who
considered it an invasion of their rights. The relations of
the parties were soon further complicated through the killing
of an Apache by Jesus Lopez, a Mexican teamster. The
Apaches insisted that the Americans should hang this man,
who undoubtedly deserved hanging. Mr. Bartlett objected
to performing such summary justice, but promised to have
the offender tried at Santa Fe. The Indians contended, with
much show of reason, that he ought to be hung there, where
the crime was committed. After a lengthy discussion, in
which it was urged that the Apaches had recently killed
an American on the road between Janos and the mines, for
which they had made no reparation, the matter was arranged
by paying the mother of the murdered man thirty dollars,
and twenty dollars per month thereafter, being the amount of
the murderer's wages. Three weeks later the Indians began
stealing the horses and mules belonging to the Commission.
They vehemently denied that they were guilty, at first, but
soon a pursuing force overtook one of the bands of thieves,
374
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and found it commanded by Delgadito (the Slender), a Mim-
brenos chief, who had slept in the Commissioner's camp only
two nights before. In the course of a month nearly two hun¬
dred horses and mules were taken, and at the end of that
period the advancement of the work caused Mr. Bartlett to
move on with his almost dismounted command. The Mira-
breflos considered his departure as a victory for them, and
always thought that they drove the Americans away.
During the stay of the Commissioner's party, a number
of miners had settled at the Pino Alto gold mines, north-west
of the Santa Rita mines, and these remained there when the
copper mines were abandoned. They grew in numbers, and
the Mimbrenos were unable to dislodge them. After several
years Mangas Colorado tried to accomplish this end by deceit.
He would approach a miner and tell him in a confidential
way of wonderful gold mines to which he would escort him,
out of personal friendship, only they two must go alone. Ho
one risked a trip with the kind-hearted chief, but after several
weeks some of the miners happened to compare notes, and
the probable treachery was revealed. The next time Mangas
appeared at the mines, he was tied up and soundly whipped.
It would have been far more politic to have killed him. He
never forgave this injury—the greatest that could be inflicted
on an Indian—and he certainly avenged it on a royal scale.
For years he was the greatest and most vindictive leader of
the Apaches. He united himself by marriage with Cochise
(Cheis), the principal chief of the Chiricahuas, and also made
a marital alliance with the Navahos that gave him great in¬
fluence in that tribe. Murders and robberies innumerable
were committed under his leadership. He succeeded for a
long time in keeping together larger bodies of warriors than
had ever been known among the Apaches, and in devastating
all the regions through which they roamed.
During all this time the Jicarillas were disturbing the
peace on the northern side of the Rio Grande settlements.
In October, 1849, they committed the massacre of the White
party which attracted wide-spread attention at the time. Mr.
White, with his wife and child, was coming to Santa Fe, where
he had formerly been a merchant, in company with a wagon
SILVER MINES OF SANTA RITA.
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
377
train belonging to Mr. Aubrey. They had passed the coun¬
try considered dangerous, and the Whites started ahead, accom¬
panied by a German named Lawberger, an unknown Ameri¬
can, a Mexican, and a negro. While camped between Hock
Creek and Whetstone branch, a party of Jicarillas approached
them and demanded presents. White refused, and drove them
out of camp. Presently they returned, and were again refused
and ordered out. Instead of going they opened fire, killing the
negro and Mexican. The others tried to fly, but were killed,
excepting Mrs. White and the child, who were taken prison¬
ers. The dead bodies were laid along the road, bnt were not
scalped or stripped, and the Indians concealed themselves.
A party of Mexicans soon came along, and began plundering
the wagons. The Indians fired on them, but succeeded only
in wounding one boy, who was left for dead. lie lay quiet
until the Indians went away, and then came to Santa Fe and
reported the occurrence. A company of dragoons, with Kit
Carson as guide, followed the Indians for three or four days
before they found them. They made an attack and killed
several, but the Indians murdered Mrs. White and the child
before they fled. A severe snow-storm came on, from which
both sides suffered severely, and rendered farther pursuit im¬
possible. In 1851 these Indians murdered a party of eleven
persons who were carrying the mail. After some further hos¬
tilities they entered into a treaty with Agent Calhoun, and
went on reservations near Fort Webster and Abiquiu, but the
treaty was not ratified. Mr. Meriwether, who succeeded Mr.
Calhoun in August, 1853, found the Jicarillas on his hands,
with no money to provide for them. lie told them he could
do nothing for them, and turned them out. As they had made
no provision for winter, they proceeded to support themselves
by theft. In a few months their depredations became so in¬
sufferable that the troops were sent after them. Lieutenant
Bell had a successful skirmish with them on March 5th, but on
March 30th Lieutenant Davidson's command of sixty men was
attacked by two hundred Jicarillas and Utes, and only nine¬
teen men escaped, most of them wounded. A large force of
regulars and volunteers was then put in the field, and, on
July 30th General Garland reported that the Jicarillas had been
378
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
subdued and had sued for peace. There was one band, how¬
ever, that escaped and took refuge among the Utes; these
renegades with their allies destroyed the settlement on the
Arkansas, and were punished as recorded in the sketch of the
Utes hereafter.
The Mescaleros, to the south-east of the Rio Grande settle¬
ments, were the Apaches for whose civilization there seemed
the best prospect. They were more devoted to agriculture
than the others, and consequently had more to lose by war.
They exercised the ancient prerogative of thieving to a limit¬
ed extent for some years, but in the winter of 1854—55 their
depredations became so extensive that they could not be tol¬
erated. Captain Ewell, of the 1st Dragoons, was sent against
them with one hundred and eighty men. The Mescaleros
met them on the Pefiasco, on the night of January 17th, and
fought them all the next day as they advanced. The troops
lost three killed, and the Indians were seen to bear away fif¬
teen dead bodies. The Mescaleros retreated in the direction
of the Guadalupe Mountains. On February 23d a party of
fifteen warriors attacked a grazing camp of four soldiers, sur¬
prising them and pulling their tent down upon them, but the
soldiers extricated themselves and drove the Indians off with
heavy loss. The Mescaleros then concluded that their mission
was not fighting the Americans. They came to Agent Steck
at Fort Thorne, and begged for peace. Peace was granted, and
a reservation was given them in their own country, between
the Pecos River and the Sacramento Mountains. The Mesca¬
leros thereafter behaved quite well until the Texan invasion,
early in the civil war, but the Mexicans gained in blood-thirsti¬
ness what the Indians had lost. In February, 1858, a militia
party from Messila, known as the " Messila Guard," attacked a
peaceful Mescalero camp close by the village of Dona Ana,
and pursued the Indians into the houses of the Dona Anans,
where they fled for refuge. Eight or nine Indians were
killed and one child taken captive. The citizens of Dona
Ana denounced this affair as a riotous and wanton outrage,
though they seemed to object more to the disturbance of them¬
selves than to the wrong done the Indians. In April these
same valientes attacked the Mescalero camp on the reserva-
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
379
tion near Fort Thorne, killed seven and took several prison¬
ers. The garrison was promptly called to arms, and after a
brief chase captured thirty-live of the attacking party, includ¬
ing Juan Ortega, their leader. The military authorities were
now thoroughly indignant. The officers at the fort knew
that these Indians had been peaceable and well-behaved, so
that Mexican affidavits of outrages committed by them were
not effective; and the prisoners were held, notwithstanding
the writs of habeas corpus that were issued for their release.
General Garland also determined to withdraw his troops from
Fort Thorne and let the valiant Messilans have their fill of
Indian fighting. This called forth a petition from the peo¬
ple, in which assertions of their own valor and prayers for
protection are ludicrously blended. General Garland left two
companjes to protect settlers innocent of outrage, but in¬
formed others that they "have no claims to the protection of
the military, and will receive none."
The eastern Apaches remained at peace until the begin¬
ning of the war of the rebellion. They were not making any
material progress towards civilization, except in the matter
of becoming drunkards. The intercourse laws could not be
enforced in New Mexico because there were no "Indian
lands." The Mexicans had treated the Indian title as extinct,
and we had taken the Mexican title, in consequence of which
our legislators assumed that the Indians, who actually held
the country, and had held it from the " time when the mem¬
ory of man runneth not to the contrary," had no title what¬
ever. To make this absurdity more serious in its results, none
of the treaties made with the Apaches were ratified, and there¬
fore the reservations designated for them did not come with¬
in the protection of the intercourse laws. The result was
that the most of the property that the Jicarillas and Mescale-
ros got hold of went for aguardiente. The Western tribes
continued their piratical warfare. Several expeditions were
sent against them, but none resulted in any permanent advan¬
tage or any material punishment to the Indians.
At the opening of the war a Pandora's box of evils was
opened over every square mile of New Mexico and Arizona.
Among the officers of the army were many Southerners, and
380
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
these did not hesitate to return to the South. Some tried to
take their soldiers with them, but these attempts were gener¬
ally unsuccessful. Immediately after came an order with¬
drawing the troops from the frontier posts. This meant a
desertion of nearly all the country, for life in it had only been
made possible by the presence of the soldiers. The overland
mail company abandoned its line through the two territories
(one at that time), thus putting an end to all communication.
The Western Apaches seemed to have awakened to new life.
They pursued their work of murder and robbery with such
daring that 110 safety was possible. Men were killed and
'ranches plundered in the midst of well-settled districts. The
Indians seemed to be everywhere.
This activity was occasioned in the first place by a mili¬
tary blunder. In the spring of 1861 some Apaches stole a
cow and a child from the Mexican mistress of an American,
and, 011 complaint of the latter at Fort Buchanan, seventy-five
men were sent to demand the property of the Chiricahuas,
who were accused of the theft. The party went to Apache
Pass and camped, with a white flag flying over the tent of the
commander. Under its protection Cochise and five other
chiefs came in to talk. They professed absolute ignorance of
the theft, and stuck to it, on account of which obduracy orders
were given to seize them. Cochise seized a knife, slit the
canvas, and escaped, carrying with him three bullets. One
chief was knocked down and spitted on a bayonet while
attempting to follow. The other four were bound. The
Indians at once began hostilities by killing some prisoners.
The captive chiefs were hung in retaliation, and the Apaches
attacked the troops. The latter were badly whipped, and
obliged to return to the fort. The abandonment of the posts
by the troops soon after on the order of recall was believed
by the Indians to have resulted from their hostilities, and they
were satisfied that they need only fight if they desired to rid
themselves of the Americans. The Arizona settlements, which
were at that time all within the Gadsden Purchase, and chief¬
ly in the Santa Cruz Valley, were made desolate. At first
ranches were destroyed one after another, and travellers way¬
laid and murdered. Having accomplished this work thor-
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
3S1
oughly, the Apaches began operations against the strongholds
of their enemies. The silver mines east of Tnbac were held
for a few weeks; but it was necessary to arm the peons to ac¬
complish this, and arming them forced the Americans in
charge to stand guard constantly, to preserve their lives from
their employes. The mines were abandoned as soon as their
business affairs could be arranged. Tubac was deserted soon
afterwards. Tucson dwindled away to a village of two hun¬
dred souls.
What was lacking in the desperate nature of the situation
was added by the invasion of the Texans. They occupied
all of the southern part of New Mexico, and all of what is
now Arizona that was occupied by the whites. On the south¬
east they occupied Fort Stanton, the only post in the Mesca-
lero country. All the Apache tribes except the Jicarillas
were within the region held by them, and the Jicarillas were
the only Apaches that remained at peace. It is worth re¬
membering that but for the friendly attitude of the Jicarillas
and the Utes, New Mexico must almost certainly have fallen
into the hands of the Texans. The Mescaleros, who had been
behaving well previously, became involved in a quarrel with
the Confederate soldiers, and a fight resulted in which several
were killed on both sides. The Mescaleros then began an
Ishmaelitish war, sparing no one. The settlements which had
grown up on the Rio Bonito were quickly devastated, and the
war was carried to the villages of the Rio Grande country.
On the south-west Mangas Colorado prevented the settlers
from suffering the pangs of ennui. Most of the Mimbres
went to war immediately after he was flogged by the miners,
and the Cliiricahuas and Gilenos made common cause with
them. On the morning of September 27, 1861, a force of
over two hundred warriors attacked the mining village of Pino
Alto, but fortunately for the people Captain Martin had ar¬
rived the night before with a detachment of the Arizona
Guards, a volunteer organization, and after several hours' hard
fighting the Indians were driven off with considerable loss.
Soon after one hundred and fifty warriors attacked a large
wagon train, one day out from Pino Alto, and besieged it for
fourteen hours. The train escaped destruction by the timely
382
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
arrival of the Arizona Guards, who escorted it to the Miinbres
River.
Any long continuance of this state of affairs must have
been ruinous to New Mexico; but aid was at hand. The Col¬
orado Volunteers marched down from the North, turned back
the Texans, and joined Canby in driving them from the Rio
Grande. At the same time General Carleton, with a column
of three thousand Californians, was advancing by way of Fort
Yuma, driving all hostiles before him, and opening communi¬
cation through to the coast. The combined forces of Mangas
Colorado and Cochise made a desperate resistance to his ad¬
vance at Apache Pass,
in the Chiricahua Moun¬
tains, but the Califor¬
nians were supplied
with howitzers and
shells, and the Apaches
found that their posi¬
tions, which they had
made almost impregna¬
ble to direct attack, af¬
forded them no protec¬
tion from these new
missiles of their white
foes. They fled with a
loss of sixty-six killed;
the Californians had
two killed and three
wounded. Just after this engagement Mangas Colorado was
seriously wounded while trying to cut off a messenger that
was carrying back news of the fight at the pass. He was
taken to the village of Janos, in Northern New Mexico, by
his warriors, and put under charge of a physician there,
with notice that if he did not recover, every one in the
place would be killed. He recovered. A short time after
his recovery, early in 1863, he was captured by Captain Shir-
land of the California Volunteers, and killed while attempting
to escape. It is said that the sentinel stin'ed him up with a
heated bayonet and then shot him. It was time for him to
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
383
die. He was about seventy years old, and had secured all the
revenge to which one man is entitled. Ilis skull is said to
ornament the phrenological museum of Prof. O. S. Fowler.
General Carleton arrived at the Rio Grande settlements in
September, 1862, and relieved Canby, who went to take a glo¬
rious part in the great struggle in the South. Carleton, being
rid of white enemies, devoted his attention to the subjugation
of the Indians. He first sent Col. Kit Carson, with five com¬
panies of New Mexican volunteers, to occupy Fort Stanton,
from which he was to operate against the Mescaleros and any
Navahos that were in that region. Captain McCleave, with
two companies of California Volunteers, was sent into the
Mescalero country by way of Dog Canon (Canon del Perro),
from the south-west. Captain Roberts, with two companies
of Californians, wTas sent into the same region from the south,
by way of the Hueco (Wacco) tanks. The orders to each
command wTere: "The men are to be slain whenever and
wherever they can be found. The women and children may
be taken prisoners, but, of course, they are not to be killed."
Carson took possession of Fort Stanton with no material
hinderance. McCleave encountered the Apaches at Dog
Canon, which was one of their greatest strongholds. There
were about five hundred of them—over a hundred warriors—
and they were completely routed by the Californians. They
fled to Fort Stanton and surrendered to Carson, who took
them under his protection, rather against the sanguinary in¬
structions of Carleton, and sent five of their chiefs to Santa
Fe to treat for peace. General Carleton required them to go
on a reservation at the Bosque Redondo, on the Pecos River.
The spokesman of the Mescaleros was Gian-nah-tah (Always
Ready), known to the Mexicans as Cadete, or the Volunteer.
He was a son of Palanquito, their former head chief, who
died soon after they were first treated with, in 1S55. Gian-
nah-tah said, "You are stronger than we. We have fought
you so long as we had rifles and powder; but your w7eapons
are better than ours. Give us like weapons and turn us
loose, we will fight you again ; but we are worn out; we
have no more heart; we have no provisions, no means to
live; your troops are everywhere; our springs and water-
384
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
holes are either occupied or overlooked by your young men.
You have driven us from our last and best stronghold, and
we have no more heart. Do with us as may seem good to
you, but do not forget we are men and braves."
The Mescaleros were sent to the Bosque Redondo with
the promise that if they should remain there peaceably until
the war was finished, so that they would not be confused
with the hostiles, they should be given a reservation in their
own country. At the
Bosque they came under
charge of Colonel Cre-
mony, formerly with the
Boundary Commission, to
whose intelligent labor
the world is indebted for
much of its knowledge of
Apache customs. It may
be mentioned, by-the-way,
that he collected a valua¬
ble vocabulary of the
Apache language and for¬
warded it to the Smith¬
sonian Institution over
twenty years ago, but it
has not yet been publish¬
ed. The Indians came to
the Bosque rapidly; by
spring four hundred Mes¬
caleros were on the reser-
papago chief. vation, and the remain¬
der were reported as hav¬
ing fled into Mexico or joined the Gila tribes. The disposal
of the Mescaleros gave some opportunity for proceedings
against the Mimbrenos. An expedition was sent into their
country in January, 1863, which resulted in the defeat and
capture of Mangas Colorado, with a loss of twenty of his
warriors. Fort West was established in the Pino Alto coun¬
try, and scouting parties were kept in the field. By the lat¬
ter part of April, forty of the band had been killed, includ-
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
3S5
ing a brother and one of the sons of Mangas. The attention
of the greater part of the troops was turned to the Navahos
during the year 1863 and the early part of the next year.
By March, 1864, there were 3600 Navahos and 450 Apaches
at the Bosque. By the twentieth of that month 2600 more
Navahos were reported captured and on their way. Events
were occurring in Arizona, however, that soon carried the
seat of active operations to that territory. In 1862 Pauline
Weaver, the pioneer prospector of Arizona, discovered the
placers on the Colorado near La Paz, and in 1863 he found
the district that bears his name, south-west of Prescott, and
the remarkable mines of Antelope Peak. In the spring of
1863 a party of prospectors under Captain Walker, an old
California mining celebrity, left the Rio Grande settlements
and went into the same region. The new mines attracted
many people, to whom General Carleton gave all the protec¬
tion and assistance in his power.
In the summer of 1864, his hands were comparatively free
in New Mexico, and the troops were centred on the western
Apaches. The extermination policy then received as full and
fair a trial as could possibly be given to it. The forces were
adequate, for every one joined in the movement. On April
20th General Carleton detailed his plans to Don Ignacio Pes-
quira, Governor of Sonora, saying, "If your excellency will
put a few hundred men into the field on the first day of next
June, and keep them in hot pursuit of the Apaches of Sono¬
ra, say for sixty or ninety days, we will either exterminate the
Indians or so diminish their numbers that they will cease
their murdering and robbing propensities and live at peace."
To Don Luis Perrazas, Governor of Chihuahua, a similar re¬
quest was forwarded. The miners in the new districts of
Arizona agreed to keep a force in the field if the government
would furnish provisions, and this General Carleton did. The
Pimas and Maricopas were furnished with American leaders,
and given , over two hundred muskets, with ammunition.
The governors of Arizona and New Mexico were requested
to aid, and did so. To Governor Goodwin, of Arizona, Carle¬
ton wrote: "Pray see the Papagos, Pimas, and Maricopas, and
have that part of the programme well and effectually executed.
386
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
You will be able to secure the efforts of the miners without
trouble. Let us work earnestly and bard, and before next
Christmas your Apaches are whipped. Unless we do this,
you will have a twenty years' war." For his own part Carle-
ton located a force of five hundred men on the Gila, north of
the Chiricahua Mountains, to operate from that point. Could
a plan be more perfect? Here was a combination of the
military, citizens, and friendly Indians of two nations against
the Apaches. They all went into it heartily, with a sincere
hatred of the enemy, and wdth many old scores to pay off.
The oft-repeated orders were to kill every male Indian capa¬
ble of bearing arms, and capture the women and children. It
is not possible to give here even a synopsis of the fights that
occurred. The brief mention of the encounters with Indians
in the general orders for the year covers six such pages as
these, in fine print. The results of the year's work, so far as
they could be obtained, w7ere officially summed up thus: In¬
dians killed, 363—wounded, 140; soldiers killed, 7—wounded,
25 ; citizens killed, 18—wounded, 13 ; recovered from Indians
12,284 sheep, 2742 horses, 35 mules, 31 cattle, and 18 burros;
taken by Indians, 4250 sheep, 26 horses, 154 mules, and 32
cattle. The greater part of the damage done was to the Yav-
alios, who, to the number of over two thousand, were sent to
the Bosque Rodondo, taking with them most of the sheep that
were reported as captured. For the Apaches alone the re¬
turns sum up, 216 Indians and 16 whites killed; 146 horses
captured by Indians, and 54 recovered ; 17 cattle taken by In¬
dians, and 21 taken from them; 3000 sheep taken by Indians,
and 175 recovered. The loss to the whites was not fully re¬
ported, and the Indians were much damaged in addition to
this by the destruction of their crops. Yearly all the Apa¬
ches planted to some extent in the sheltered valleys of their
wildernesses.
This war was conducted on strictly extermination princi-
. pies. It is true that removal to the Bosque was named as an
alternative, but only thirty western Apaches ever reached the
Bosque, from all sources. The troops were constantly stimu¬
lated to activity. Failure was the only offence that could be
committed, and success was approved, no matter how obtained.
APACHE CRUCIFIED BY PAPAGOS.
DEATH TO THE APACHE! 389
By way of example, the general orders for 186-1 contain the
following: "January 21th.—A party of thirty Americans and
fourteen Pima and Maricopa Indians under Col. King S.
Woolsey, aid to the governor of Arizona, attacked a band of
Gila Apaches, sixty or seventy miles north-east of the Pima
villages, and killed nineteen of them and wounded others.
Mr. Cyrus Lennon, of Woolsey's party, was killed by a wound¬
ed Indian." That does not read badly, but it is not the whole
truth. This party started out to hunt for stock supposed to
have been stolen by the Indians. They were signalled by a
party of Coyoteros and Pinals, who dared them to come and
fight. Woolsey sent an interpreter to them to tell them that
he did not wish to fight, but to make peace. On his invita¬
tion thirty-five of them came into the camp with their arms.
The chief, Par-a-muck-a, insolently ordered Woolsey to clear
a place for him to sit upon, as he was a great chief. Woolsey
calmly folded up a blanket and handed it to him. He then
told the Apaches that he would make a treaty with them and
give them certificates of good conduct such that no white
man would ever molest them. His men were gathered about
in preparation for the treaty. Woolsey drew his revolver
and gave Par-a-muck-a the ^Arizona certificate of a "good In¬
dian" at the first shot. His men signed on the bodies of the
others. Only one Indian—a lame man who could not run
away—affixed his signature. He did it with his lance, on the
person of Mr. Lennon. This is historically known as " the
Pinal treaty," and the place is appropriately called " Bloody
Tanks."
This occurrence is not mentioned in any spirit of " mawk¬
ish sentimentality," but merely to show that the extermina¬
tion policy had a fair trial. These Indians would undoubt¬
edly have murdered their new white friends if they had
obtained the opportunity. They are entitled to no compas¬
sion on the ground of treachery used against them. The
Apache makes war by treachery. His object is to harm his
enemy but to escape uninjured, and he thinks that a man
who walks up to open danger is a fool. He will go into dan¬
gerous places himself, but he goes by stealth. He never at¬
tacks except by surprise. lie is brave, but he has no ambi-
390
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tion to die a soldier's death. Apache glory consists strictly
in killing the enemy. A wounded or helpless Apache will
fight like a demon to protect his friends, but a sound Apache
would never take such risks to hear away a
wounded compatriot as a Sioux or Cheyenne
warrior would. Of necessity, this war¬
fare had its effects on the Apaches, in
the way of making peace seem more
endurable, but they were
neither exterminated nor con¬
quered. In April, 1S65, In¬
spector-general Davis held a
parley with Victoria, Acos-
ta, and other chiefs, among
whom were Pasquin, Cassari,
and Salvador, the sons of
Manga's Colorado. The In¬
dians were very destitute, and
wanted peace, but they did
not wish to leave their coun-
APACHES WATCHING A TRAIN.
DEATH TO THE APACHE!
391
try. The iron rule, of removal to the Bosque, staggered them.
They agreed to send four fchiefs to inspect the reservation
and report to the tribe, but none of them came back, as they
promised, and the war went on as before.
At the close of the war of the rebellion the United States
was divided into five Military Divisions, and these were sub¬
divided in nineteen Departments. New Mexico was put in
the Department of the Missouri, commanded by Major-gen¬
eral Pope, which was a part of the Military Division of the
Mississippi, commanded by General Sherman. Arizona was
in the Department of California, commanded by Major-gen¬
eral McDowell, which was a part of the Military Division of
the Pacific, commanded by Maj.-gen. II. W. Ilalleck. The
extermination theory was believed in by General Ilalleck, so
far at least as the. Apaches were concerned. lie said, " It is
useless to negotiate with these Apache Indians. They will
observe no treaties, agreements, or truces. With them there
is no alternative but active and vigorous war, till they are
completely destroyed, or forced to surrender as prisoners of
war." The hostile Apaches were nearly all in Arizona, which
was commanded by Brigadier-general Mason, and the war
there was prosecuted much as before, or, if possible, more bit¬
terly. Both sides were becoming more and more exasperated,
and vented their spleen in ways that only served to make
matters worse. The Indians were adopting the practice of
mutilating the dead, which was formerly contrary to their
customs. The whites frequently killed inoffensive Indians
on general principles. In 1868 a man named Mitchell cause¬
lessly killed Waba Yuma, head chief of the Ilualapais, and
that tribe, which had been peaceable, went to war. They had
been'looked upon with the contempt that frontiersmen com¬
monly feel for peaceable Indians, but they proved vicious
enemies. General McDowell reported that, " the officers
from Prescott say they would prefer fighting five Apaches
to one Hualapais."
In the mean time trouble had come at the Bosque. The
question of a permanent reservation at that point became a
political one, and everything connected with it passed into
the realms of misrepresentation, so that the truth is hard to
25*
392
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
reach. It is clear, how,ever, that the reservation crops failed,
or were destroyed by insects, year after year. It is also clear
that the Navahos and Apaches did not get along well to¬
gether. The Navahos were the stronger in numbers, and ap¬
peared to have the ear of the commanding officer. After the
Mescaleros had been at the Bosque for two years, the land
which they had been cultivating was taken from them and
given to the Navahos, while they wTere assigned to another
location. This was done to prevent quarrelling, but to the
Mescaleros it appeared an act of favoritism. There could be
no harmony between them and the Navahos. They had long
been at war, and their customs were totally different. The
Mescaleros claimed the fulfilment of General Carleton's prom¬
ise that they should have a reservation in their own country;
indeed, Agent Labodie testifies that they had looked forward
to this all the time, and had used their influence in bringing:
7 O o
in their own hostiles solely for that purpose. They were not
removed. The Bosque reservation for all Apaches and Nava-
hos had become General Carleton's pet scheme. On Novem¬
ber 3,1S65, the entire tribe of Mescaleros left the Bosque and
went to their own country. They went to war because they
knew that leaving the reservation would be considered an act
of war, and that they must fight or go back. One of their
leading men, Ojo Blanco (White Eye*), had left several weeks
prior to this time with a small party. After several years of
desultory warfare, during which the anti-Bosque party had
gained their point, and the tribes were returned to their for¬
mer homes, the Mescaleros were settled on a reservation in
their own country.
The military operations of the '60's were not devoid of
results. New Mexico had a season of comparative quiet, in
the better settled parts, and Arizona was yielding to the
progress of civilization. The valley of Santa Cruz was again
filled with ranchemen. Tubac was reoccupied, and Tucson
* The'Apache words for "white eye" are Pin-dah Lick-o-yee, and this
is the name they use to designate Americans, in their own language. We
are "white eyes," not "pale faces," to them. They also use the word
Americano in common with other tribes who are more or less versed in
Spanish.
D,EATII TO THE APACHE!
395
regained its lost population. The mining regions on the Col¬
orado and about Prescott were held by the whites. Yet, in
fact, there was merely a change in the'seat of war. The
Apaches held mountain fastnesses, as yet unknown, from
which they sallied forth to raid into the very heart of the
settlements. No one dared to travel the roads unarmed, and
small parties were not safe when they had arms. Horses
were run off in broad day from within half a mile of Pres¬
cott. Men who were not vigilant were liable to be killed
anywhere. No Apache tribe was subdued. The later years
of this period found them at war from the Pecos to the Col¬
orado. The bitterness and want of confidence which had been
instilled into the Indians by this system of warfare are re¬
sults which are not subject to measurement, but it must, in
fairness, be admitted that they did follow in some degree.
On the whole the policy of extermination in Arizona, coupled
with concentration in New Mexico, proved a dismal failure,
after a full and fair trial. The army oflicers began to realize
this, and Indians who were willing to make peace were per¬
mitted to gather about Fort Goodwin, Camp Grant, and in
the White Mountains. This marked the beginning of a new
era in Arizona, which will be considered in a subsequent
chapter.
APACIIE HOOT, HEAD-DRESS, ETC.
CHAPTER XIII.
sand creek.
On the night of November 28,1864-, about seven hundred
and fifty men, cavalry and artillery, were marching eastward
across the plains below Fort Lyon. There was a bitter, de¬
termined look on their hard-set features that betokened ill
for some one. For five days they had been marching, from
Bijou Basin, about one hundred and fifty miles to the north¬
west, as the crow flies, but some fifty miles farther by their
route.. When they started the snow was two to three feet
deep on the ground, but, as they progressed, it had become
lighter, and now the ground was clear. The night was bitter
cold; Jim Beckwith, the old trapper who had been guiding
them, had become so stiffened that he was unable longer to
distinguish the course, and they were obliged to rely on a half-
breed Indian. About one third of the men had the appear¬
ance of soldiers who had seen service; the remainder had a
diversity of arms and equipments as well as of uniforms,
and marched with the air of raw recruits. About half a mile
in advance were three men, the half-breed guide and two of¬
ficers, one of the latter of such gigantic proportions that the
others seemed pygmies beside him. Near daybreak the half-
breed turned to the white men and said: "Wolf he howl.
Injun dog he hear wolf, he howl too. Injun he hear dog and
listen ; hear something, and run off." The big man tapped
the butt of his revolver in an ominous way, and replied:
"Jack, I haven't had an Indian to eat for a long time. If
you fool with me, and don't lead us to that camp, I'll have
you for breakfast." They found the camp. There were
one hundred and twenty Cheyenne and eight Arapahoe
lodges in it, stretched along the bank of a shallow stream,
which crept sluggishly down a broad bed of sand. On each
SAND CEEEK.
397
side of the camp, ranging out perhaps a mile, was a herd of
ponies, the two numbering about eleven hundred. It was be¬
tween daybreak and sunrise ; the Indians were just beginning
to move. A squaw heard the noise of the approaching horses,
and reported that a herd of buffalo was coining. Others ran
out, who quickly discovered that the rumbling was the tread
of horses, and that a large body of troops was approaching.
In a moment all was confusion. Men, women, and children
ran here and there, getting their arms in readiness or prepar¬
ing for flight. The principal Cheyenne chief hastily ran up
an American flag over his teepee, with a white flag above it.
A white trader, who was in one of the teepees, came out and
hastened towards the soldiers. At the same time two detach¬
ments of cavalry were galloping towards the herds, and some
of the Indians were running in the same directions.
Firing began between these parties. The white trader
seemed confused, and stopped. A cavalryman said : " Let
me bring him in, major," and, starting from the ranks, galloped
towards him, but a bullet from the camp tumbled him from
his horse, and the trader turned and ran back. The herd of
ponies on the farther side of the camp became alarmed and ran
towards the camp, the soldiers cutting off only about half of
them. The main body of troops pressed forward, firing as
they came, led by their giant commander, who rode through
the ranks, calling out: "Remember our wives and children,
murdered on the Platte and the Arkansas." The Indians
were beginning to fall rapidly under the deadly fire. Part of
them caught the straggling ponies which had reached the
camp, and fled. The remainder, warriors and squaws, with
some children, retired slowly up the creek, fighting as they
went. They continued thus for about three quarters of a
mile, to a point where the banks rose from three to ten feet,
on either side of a level expanse of sand, some three hundred
yards wide. Along the banks the Indians made their stand,
protected by them on one side, and on the other by heaps of
loose sand which they had scraped up. Most of the troops
were now in confusion, each doing about as he liked. About
one half of them were firing on the line of Indians in the
creek bed, and squads were riding about, killing stragglers.
398
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
scalping the dead, and pursuing the flying. No prisoners
were being taken, and no one was allowed to escape if escape
could be prevented. A child of about three years, perfectly-
naked, was toddling along over the trail where the Indians
had fled. A soldier saw it, fired at about seventy-five yards
distance, and missed it. Another dismounted and said : " Let
me try the little ; I can hit him." He missed too,
but a third dismounted, with a similar remark, and at his shot
the child fell. At the creek bed the fight was at long range
and stubborn. A private was firing at an Indian who
climbed up on the bank from time to time, and made derisive
gestures at the soldier's fruitless efforts. "Let me take that
gun of yours for a minute, colonel," said the soldier. The
colonel handed him his rifle, an elegant silver-mounted one,
presented him by the citizens of Denver; the Indian showed
himself again; the rifle cracked and he dropped dead. The
squaws were fighting along with the men. One had just
wounded a soldier with an arrow, and a comrade put his rifle
in rest, remarking, " If that squaw shows her head above the
bank again, I'll blow the whole top of it off." An officer,
standing by him, said: "I wouldn't make a heathen of my¬
self by shooting a woman." The words had hardly dropped
from his lips when the same squaw sent an arrow through
the officer's arm, and his philanthropic remark changed to a
howl of " Shoot the ," and the soldier did it. The
Indians could not be dislodged by the small arms, hut towards
noon two howitzers were brought into action and they broke
the line. The Indians fell hack from one position to another,
the combat becoming gradually a running fight, which was
kept up for five miles or more, and abandoned by the pur¬
suers a short time before dusk. The soldiers then gathered
at the Indian camp, where they remained until the second day
following. Most of the corpses were scalped, and a number
were mutilated as bodies are usually mutilated by Indians,
with all that implies. Near evening, on the day after the
battle, Jack Smith, the half-breed who had guided the soldiers
to the camp, and a son of the white trader who was in the
camp, was shot by one of the men. He had tried to run
away during the fight, but had been brought back. The
TEXAN RANGERS.
SAND CREEK.
401
colonel commanding was warned that he would probably be
killed if the men were not ordered to let him live. lie re¬
plied : "I have given my orders, and have no further instruc¬
tions to give." There were, at the time, seven other prisoners
in the camp, two squaws and five children, who were taken to
Fort Lyon and left there. They were the only prisoners taken.
When the camp was broken, the buffalo-robes were confiscated
for the sick, the soldiers took what they wanted for trophies,
and the remainder was burned. The Indians lost three hun¬
dred, all killed, of whom about one half were warriors and the
remainder women and children. The whites lost seven killed
and forty-seven wounded, of whom seven afterwards died.
This was " the massacre of the friendly Cheyenne In¬
dians at Sand Creek, by the Colorado troops, under Colonel
John M. Chivington," or " the battle on the Big Sandy, with
the hostile Cheyennes and Arapahoes," as you may be pleased
to consider it. That is to say, it is a statement of what oc¬
curred there, as nearly as the truth can be arrived at, without
favor or reservation. It is but just to add that the great ma¬
jority of the troops who participated in it say it was not so
bad as here represented, and that the witnesses of the action
and events connected with it, who subsequently denounced it,
make it no worse, notwithstanding the fact that many, who
knew nothing of the facts in the case, have added much
to the statement above given. The number killed was the
point most in controversy in the investigations of the matter,
ranging from about seventy, in Major "Wynkoop's estimate, to
six hundred, in Colonel Chivington's original report. The
Indians conceded a loss of one hundred and forty, of
whom sixty were warriors, and the testimony of all who
counted bodies, after the battle, indicates the number stated
above. Concerning this affair there has been much of
exaggeration, much of invective, much of misunderstand¬
ing, and much of wholly unfounded statement. Indeed, so
much has been said in regard to it that the controversy is
far more extensive than the original trouble, and the histori¬
cal shape that it has assumed is the creation of the contro¬
versy, not the fight. How that twenty years have passed
away—that the Indian is only a memory where he then
402
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
roamed—that a new generation has taken the place of the
old—let ns try calmly to unravel the thread of truth from the
fantastic fabric which has so long concealed it; and to do this
we must first know something of the actors on that field.
Who was Colonel Chivington? In 1840 he was a rough,
uncouth, profane child of nature, just stepped across the
threshold of manhood. lie lived in Warren County, Ohio,
about two miles south of the line of Clinton. At a log-roll¬
ing in the neighborhood a good old Methodist brother re¬
proved him, one day, for profanity, and the sturdy youth an¬
swered defiantly: "I will swear when I please and where I
please." But he brooded over the rebuke, and a few days
later he went to his reprover's house, determined to swear
there, before his family. He did not do as he intended.
Some unknown power beat down his resolution, and the curse
died trembling on his tongue. He went away, but the mys¬
terious influence followed him ; his eyes were turned inward
on his guilty soul; he could not rest. He struggled against
it, but in vain, and soon he sought at the altar the pardon for
his sins. Scoffers may smile at the change of heart by divine
grace, but sure it was there wras a change in him. He be¬
came an industrious, orderly man ; he joined the Methodist
Church and lived consistently with its discipline; he ap¬
prenticed himself to a carpenter and thoroughly learned
the trade. Towards 1850 he determined to move West and
enter the ministry, and this he did, working meantime at his
trade. At the end of the second year of his clerical service
be was transferred to the Missouri Conference and continued
his labors there. It was a troubled field for him, for he was
peculiarly a Northern man. Mobs collected at various times
to hinder his preaching, but his apparent abundance of " mus¬
cular Christianity " kept him from serious trouble, and his
intended disturbers often remained to hear him preach.
Ilis kindly nature helped him to preserve peaceful rela¬
tions, also. One day he met an old planter, hauling logs, with
his team mired down. Chivington dismounted, tied his
horse, waded into the mud, and helped him out. The planter
desired to know to whom he was indebted, and, on being told,
exclaimed: "Come right home with me. A preacher that
SAND CEEEK.
403
will get off in the mud to help a stranger won't steal niggers."
They were good friends thereafter. A few years later Chiv-
ington was in Kansas, taking an active part with Lane and
his friends in the border war. After the Kansas troubles were
settled, we find him serving acceptably, for two years, as a
missionary to the Wyandot Indians, and afterwards, as in¬
terpreter and guide, travelling through the West with the
Methodist bishops who were establishing missions among the
Indian tribes. Soon after the beginning of the war he went
to a quarterly meeting at Denver, being then a Presiding
Elder in Western Kansas and Colorado, and, while there,
preached to the soldiers at their barracks. They liked his
style and urged him to stay with them. Governor Gilpin
offered him a chaplaincy, but he said that if he went with the
soldiers he wanted to fight, so he was made a major instead.
There is one point in his character that must not be lost
sight of, if his history is to be understood. lie was, like
other Kansas free-soilers, an uncompromising Union man,
and had no use for a rebel, white or red. His dislike to any¬
thing savoring of treason got him into trouble time and
again, but he never held back on that account. On one occa¬
sion, after the war, he seriously disturbed his domestic peace
by peremptorily shutting off some reminiscences from his
brother-in-law, an ex-confederate.
And what of the Colorado troops ? They included men
from all ranks and classes in life; many of them are promi¬
nent and respected citizens of Colorado now. About two
thirds of those at Sand Creek were one-hundred-days' men, of
the 3d regiment; the remainder were veterans, mostly of the
1st regiment. These last had established a military reputa¬
tion beyond all cavil, and, without referring to other services,
a brief sketch of their work in New Mexico will satisfy the
reader that no equal body of men ever did greater or more gal¬
lant service for the Union. In the early part of 1862 General
Sibley invaded New Mexico with an army of twenty-five hun¬
dred, including a large number of Texan Rangers, having evi¬
dently in view the conquest of the entire mountain country.
Our government had been paying little or no attention to the
Far West; its hands were full in the East. Even the official
26
404
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
communications in some departments had not been replied to
in a year past. The Confederacy was more watchful. Full in¬
formation of the situation in the West had been given to its
leaders by officials, civil and military, who had been located at
various Western points, and had hastened to the South as soon
as the war opened. The United States troops in the country
were few in number. The Indians were ready for war when¬
ever an opportunity presented itself. The Mexicans were
supposed to be friendly to the South, and the lower classes
were known to be ready for rapine and pillage, at any time
and against anybody. The Mormons were in ecstasy over the
apparent fulfilment of their late Prophet's war prophecy, and
were willing to help on the " Kilkenny-cat fight." Besides,
they were still sore over the troubles of 1857, and had no love
for the national government. The Secession element in Cali¬
fornia was quite strong, especially in the southern part, which
was to have been a slave state under the Calhoun plan. These
facts at once determined the policy of the South, and the in¬
vasion was begun. If it had been successful—what an awful
possibility!—the South would have had a coast-line impossi¬
ble of blockade, the entire line of Mexico for external com¬
munication, the mines to fill her depleted treasury, and an
extensive country which could have been reconquered only at
immense cost of life and money. The Texans entered New
Mexico from the south. They took Fort Fillmore without
resistance, and marched up the Kio Grande unchecked, until
they reached Fort Craig, where General Canby awaited them.
They decided not to attack the fort, and were flanking it, to
go forward, when Canby came out and attacked them at
Valverde. They rather worsted him, and he retired to the
fort, while they pursued their march up the river. They oc¬
cupied Santa Fe, and found that the Mexicans were not near¬
ly so glad to see them as they had anticipated; still, little dis¬
couraged, they pushed on towards Fort Union, some sixty-five
miles northeast, on the edge of the plains, the arsenal and sup¬
ply depot for that section.
Governor Gilpin, all this time, had been moving in the
mining camps of Colorado, and, on February 22, the 1st Colo¬
rado regiment, under Colonel Slough, left Denver through
OLD FORT UNION.
SAND CREEK.
407
snow a foot deep. They reached Fort Union on March 11,
after a journey of great hardship, and were there armed and
equipped. They pressed forward, and, on the 23d, reached
the mouth of Apache Canon, the location of "Pigeon's Ranch,"
or, more properly, the ranch of M. Alexandre Valle; the Texans
had by this time reached the opposite end of the canon. In
this canon, where Armijo had failed to meet Kearny, the
Greek miner met the Greek cowboy. It was a contest the like
of which never occurred elsewhere. The Southerners had
adopted as their favorite name, " Baylor's Babes the Colora-
doans gloried in their chosen title of " Pet Lambs —grim sat¬
ires these, as well on the plainsmen who charged McRae's Bat¬
tery with revolvers and bowie-knives, as on the mountaineers
who never learned what it was to be whipped. On the 26th
the advance of the Texans met two hundred and ten cavalry
and one hundred and eighty infantry under Major Chivington,
and, in the words of a local writer, it " was more like the shock
of lightning than of battalions." Said M. Valle, who witnessed
the tight, "Zat Chivington, he poot down 'is 'ead, and foight
loike tnahd bull." Both detachments reeled back from this
hard bump, and on the 28th, the main forces having arrived,
they went at it again. The Texans surprised the Coloradoans'
camp, but the Lambs stood their ground, and, after a desperate
tight, the Babes were forced to retire, and they retired to a lit¬
tle surprise-party at home. While they had been making their
attack, Chivington had led a force of one hundred men up the
precipitous side of the canon, along a rugged and dangerous
path, and down on the Texan rear-guard of some six hundred
men. It was a desperate charge to make, but it resulted in a
brilliant success, and the Texan train of sixty-four wagons and
two hundred mules, with all their supplies and ammunition,
were destroyed. The Texan invasion was ruined. Sibley be¬
gan his retreat, and Slough fell back on Fort Union for his
supplies, but only fora breathing space. On April 13 the Colo¬
radoans had joined General Canby and begun a pursuit of the
retiring Texans, which was kept up for one hundred and fifty
miles; a pursuit so disastrous to the pursued that one half of
their original force was left behind, dead, wounded, and pris¬
oners, together with all their stores, public and private. So
much for the Colorado troops.
408
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The Cheyennes we know something of already. The vil¬
lage attacked was that of Black Kettle (Moke-ta-ve-to), the
principal chief of the southern Cheyennes, and the few lodges
of Arapahoes were under Left Hand (Na-watk), second in
rank of the southern chiefs. There had been trouble in these
tribes ever since the treaty of Fort Wise, in 1861. The war¬
riors denounced the chiefs for making the treaty, and were
particularly opposed to the construction of the Kansas Pacific
Railroad through their lands, as they knew it would drive
away the buffalo. The chiefs were threatened with death if
they undertook to carry out its provisions, and so the intense
desire of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes for an agricultural
life, which is recited as the cause of the treaty, had to go un-
gratified. The first serious troubles, after Sumner's campaign,
occurred after this treaty was made, and all the succeeding
troubles grew out of it. The Cheyennes began committing
minor offences in 1861, and, as they were unpunished, they
gradually grew bolder, until, in 1S63, Agent Lorey reported
that the Cheyennes were dissatisfied, and that the Sioux were
urging them to open war. In other words, the war feeling
had grown so strong that it was necessary to treat with them
anew. Governor Evans went out, by agreement, to treat
with them, on the head-waters of the Republican, but they
failed to come as agreed. The governor sent his guide, a
squaw-man named Elbridge Gerry (a grandson of the signer
of the Declaration of Independence, of the same name), in
search of them. lie returned after an absence of two weeks,
and reported that they had held a council and decided not to
treat. One chief, Bull Bear (O-to-ah-nac-co), the leader of the
"Dog-soldiers," had offered to come in, but his warriors would
not allow him to do so. The Cheyennes afterwards confirmed
this statement fully; they said they were going to remain at
peace, but would make no treaty that they had to sign ; that
they were going to have their lands; and even if a railroad
was built through their country, they would not allow any
one to settle along it. The chiefs who had signed the treaty
of Fort Wise said they were obliged to repudiate it or their
warriors would kill them. Minor depredations were com¬
mitted during the remainder of 1863 and the early part of
SAND CREEK.
409
1804, and, during the winter, word was received, from spies
among them, that a coalition was being formed among all the
plains tribes, to drive the whites out of the country. This in¬
formation proved true, for in the spring and summer of 1864,,
the Sioux, Comanches, Kiowas, (Jheyennes, and Arapahoes
were engaged in active hostilities. The reader will note here,
that no one has ever pretended that any of the eighteen hun¬
dred Southern Cheyennes, except the six hundred at Sand
Creek, were not open enemies at the time.
The effect of this warfare on the whites was distressing.
Nearly every stage was attacked, emigrants were cut off, and
the settlements were raided continually. The overland trains,
on which the entire settlements depended for supplies, were
deterred from moving by fear of attack. On June 14 Gov¬
ernor Evans applied for authority to call the militia into the
United States service, or to call out one-hundred-daj^s' men,
which was not granted. Matters became worse. All the set-
STANDING OFF THE CHKYFNNKS.
410 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tleinents from the Purgatoire to the Cache la Poudre, and for
two hundred miles on the Platte, were in consternation. The
settlers left their crops and built block-houses for mutual pro¬
tection. Those near Denver fled to that place. The gov¬
ernor was besieged with petitions for arms and authority to
organize for protection. On August 8 all the stage lines were
attacked. On August 11 Governor Evans issued a proclama¬
tion, calling the people to organize for self-protection, and un¬
der this several companies were formed which were considered
sufficient for the defence of the settlements. But they could
not protect the settlements from famine. On August 18
Governor Evans despatched Secretary Stanton: " Extensive
Indian depredations, with murder of families, occurred yester¬
day thirty miles south of Denver. Our lines of communi¬
cation are cut, and our crops, our sole dependence, are all in
exposed localities, and cannot be gathered by our scattered
population. Large bodies of Indians are undoubtedly near
to Denver, and we are in danger of destruction both from the
attack of Indians and starvation. I earnestly request that
Colonel Ford's regiment of 2d Colorado Volunteers be imme¬
diately sent to our relief. It is impossible to exaggerate our
danger. We are doing all we can for our defence." There
was no favorable answer received to this, and, on September 7,
a second despatch followed: "Pray give positive orders for
our 2d Colorado Cavalry to come out. Have notice published
that they will come in detachments to escort trains up the
Platte on certain days. Unless escorts are sent thus we will
inevitably have a famine in addition to this gigantic Indian
war. Flour is forty-five dollars a barrel, and the supply grow¬
ing scarce, with none on the way. Through spies we got
knowledge of the plan of about one thousand warriors in camp
to strike our frontier settlements, in small bands, simultaneous¬
ly in the night, for an extent of three hundred miles. It was
frustrated at the time, but we have to fear another such at¬
tempt soon. Pray give the order for our troops to come, as
requested, at once, or it will be too late for trains to come this
season." The troops were not sent, but, in the mean time, au¬
thority had been given by the War Department to raise a
regiment of one-hundred-days' men, and the 3d Colorado was
SAND CEEEK.
411
organized and impatiently waiting for arms and equipments,
which they did not get until a short time before their march
to Sand Creek.
But were the Cheyennes responsible for all this? Quite
as much so as any of the tribes. They began stealing stock
early in the spring, and, on April 13, a herdsman for Irving,
Jackinann, & Co. reported that the Cheyennes and Arapahoes
had run off sixty head of oxen and a dozen mules and horses
from their camp, thirty miles south of Denver. Lieutenant
Clark Dunn was sent after them with a small party of soldiers.
He overtook them as they were crossing the Platte, during a
heavy snow-storm. A parley was commenced, but was inter¬
rupted by part of the Indians running off the stock, and the sol¬
diers attempting to disarm the others. A fight ensued, in'which
the soldiers, who were greatly outnumbered, were defeated,
with a loss of four men, the Indians still holding the cattle.
After this fight, there was not a word nor an act from any
member of the Southern Cheyennes indicative of peace, until
the 1st of September, when the Indian agent at Fort Lyon re¬
ceived the following:
"Cheyenne Village, Aug. 29, 1S64.
" Major Colley,—"We received a letter from Bent, wishing us to make
peace. We held a council in regard to it. All come to the conclusion to
make peace with you, providing you make peace with the Kiowas, Co-
manclies, Arapahoes, Apaches, and Sioux. We are going to send a mes¬
senger to the KioAvas and to the other nations about our going to make
peace with you. We heard that you have some [Indian prisoners] in Den¬
ver. We have seven prisoners of yours which we are willing to give up,
providing you give up yours. There are three Avar-parties out yet, and
two of Arapahoes. They have been out for some time, and are expected
in soon. When wTe held this council there were few Arapahoes and Sioux
present. We want true news from you in return. That is a letter.
"Black Kettle, and other chiefs."
This letter was written for the chiefs by Edmond Guer-
rier and George Bent, Cheyenne half-breeds. Black Kettle
was head chief of all the Southern Cheyennes, and conceded
by all to be the most friendly of the chiefs towards the
whites, with, possibly, the exception of Bull Bear. Yet, by
this letter, he and the other chiefs admit fully that they were
hostiles; that three Cheyenne war-parties Avere then out;
that they were in coalition with the other tribes, and would
412
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
consult them before treating; that they would treat only if
all the other tribes treated. Indeed, why should the Chev-
ennes deny that they were hostile? They had been raiding in
every direction; had run off stock repeatedly; had attacked
stages and emigrant trains ; had killed settlers; had carried
off women and children ; had fought the troops under Major
Downing ; had defeated those under Lieutenant Dunn and
Lieutenant Ayres; and had been evading other bodies of
troops all summer. They attacked the settlements on the
Little Blue, and, after killing the men, they carried off Mrs.
Ewbanks, Miss Roper, and three children. It was almost cer¬
tainly they who killed Mr. and Mrs. Hungate and their two
babies at Running Creek. They carried off Mrs. Martin and
a little boy from a ranch on Plum Creek. General Curtis
prepared two or three times to march against them, but was
diverted from his purpose by rebel raiders from Arkansas,
lie sent General Blunt after them, and they ambushed his
advance-guard at Pawnee Fork and almost annihilated it.
On November 12, after Black Kettle had gone to Sand Creek,
a party of Cheyennes and Arapahoes approached a govern¬
ment train on Walnut Creek, east of Fort Larned, and, after
protesting friendship and shaking hands, suddenly fell upon
the teamsters and killed fourteen of them, the only person
who escaped alive being a boy who was scalped and left for,
dead. lie recovered, but became imbecile, and died from the
effects of the injury.
The Cheyennes never denied that they were hostiles ; that
they were was a discovery of the Indian ring, perpetuated by
Indian worshippers. When they sent in the letter quoted
above Major Wynkoop went out to them, and brought in
Black Kettle, his brother White Antelope, and Bull Bear, of
the Cheyennes, and Neva and other Arapahoes, representing
Left Hand, for a talk with Governor Evans. They said
then : " It was like going through a strong fire or blast for
Major Wynkoop's men to come to our camp; it was the
same for us to come to see you." From this talk I quote the
following: "Gov. Evans. 'Who committed the murder of
the Ilungate family on Running Creek V Neva. ' The Ara¬
pahoes; a party of the northern band who were passing
WHICH TRIBE DID IT V
SAND CEEEK.
415
north. It was Medicine Man or Roman Rose and three oth¬
ers. I am satisfied, from the time he left a certain camp for
the North, that it was this party of four persons.' ' Agent
Whitely. ' That cannot be true.' Gov. E. ' Where is Ro¬
man Nose?' Neva. 'You ought to know better than me;
you have been nearer to him.' Gov. E. 'Who killed the
man and the boy at the head of Cherry Creek?' Neva (after
consultation). 'Kiowas and Comanches.' Gov. E. 'Who stole
soldiers' horses and mules from Jimmy's camp twenty-seven
days ago ?' Neva. ' Fourteen Cheyennes and Arapahoes to¬
gether.' Gov. E. 'What were their names?' Neva. 'Pow¬
der Face and Whirlwind, who are now in onr camp, were the
leaders.' Col. Siioup. ' I counted twenty Indians on that
occasion.' Gov. E. 'Who stole Charley Autobee's horses?'
Neva. ' Raven's son.' Gov. E. ' Who took the stock from
Fremont's orchard and had the first fight with the soldiers
this spring north of there?' White Antelope. 'Before an¬
swering this question I would like for you to know that this
was the beginning of the war, and I should like to know
what it was for. A soldier fired first.' Gov. E. ' The In¬
dians had stolen about forty horses; the soldiers went to re¬
cover them, and the Indians fired a volley into their ranks.'
White Antelope. 'That is all a mistake; they were coming
down the Bijou and found one horse and one mule. They
returned one horse, before they got to Gerry's, to a man, then
went to Gerry's expecting to turn the other one over to some
one. They then heard that the soldiers and Indians were
fighting somewhere down the Platte; then they took fright
and all fled.' Gov. E. ' Who were the Indians who had the
fight?' White Antelope. 'They were headed by the Fool
Badger's son, a young man, one of the greatest of the Chey¬
enne warriors, who was wounded, and though still alive he
will never recover.' Neva. 'I want to say something; it
makes me feel bad to be talking about these things and open¬
ing old sores. . . . The Comanches, Kiowas, and Sioux have
done much more injury than we have. We will tell what
we know, but cannot speak for others.' Gov. E. ' I suppose
you acknowledge the depredations on the Little Blue, as you
have the prisoners then taken in your possession.' White
416
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Antelope. 'We [the Cheyennes] took two prisoners west of
Fort Kearney, and destroyed the trains.' . . . Neva. 'I know
the value of the presents which we receive from Wash¬
ington ; we cannot live without them. That is why I try so
hard to keep peace with the whites.' Gov. E. 'I cannot say
anything about those things now.' Neva. 'I can speak for
all the Arapahoes under Left Hand. Eaven has sent no one
here to speak for him ; Eaven has fought the whites.' " Lit¬
tle Eaven (Oh-has-tee) was head chief of the Southern Arapa¬
hoes, and was notoriously hostile. Even Major Wynkoop con¬
ceded that he had, during the summer, killed three men and
carried off a woman.
But even if most of the Cheyennes had been hostile, were
not the Indians at Sand Creek friendly ? It is usually diffi¬
cult to disprove an Indian's protestations of friendship in a
satisfactory way, but if ever it was done it was here. Black
Kettle had admitted his hostility, as shown above. So had
his brother, White Antelope. War Bonnet, a chief who was
killed there, was identified as one of the most active hostiles
in the attack on General Blunt at Pawnee Fork. The testi¬
mony shows, without contradiction, that there were at least
two hundred warriors in the camp, and it would be very dif¬
ficult to point out a Cheyenne warrior who had been friendly.
It had been the plea of the chiefs, all along, that they de¬
sired to carry out the treaty of Fort Wise, but were deterred
by fear of their warriors. But more satisfactory than the es¬
tablished reputation of these Indians was the testimony of
scalps, women's and children's dresses, and stolen goods, which
were found in profusion in the teepees. Perhaps medical
testimony will be most convincing as to the condition of
the scalps. Dr. Caleb S. Birtsell, Assistant Surgeon, testified :
" While in one of the lodges dressing wounded soldiers a sol¬
dier came to the opening of the lodge and called my atten¬
tion to some white scalps he held in his hand; my impres¬
sion, after examination, was that two or three of them were
quite fresh; I saw, in the hands of soldiers, silk dresses and
other garments belonging to women." Major Anthony, com¬
manding at Fort Lyon, considered that there were three In¬
dians in the camp who were friendly, Black Kettle, Left
SAND CREEK.
417
Hand, and One Eye, and these he desired to be spared.
Black Kettle escaped unhurt; Left Hand received a wound
from the effect of which he afterwards died ; and One Eye
was killed. He was in the camp as a spy; placed there, on
a salary of $125 per month and a ration, by Major Wynkoop,
to watch these " friendly " Cheyennes, and continued in the
same position by Major Anthony.
And this brings us to another equally serious question.
Although these Cheyennes at Sand Creek had been hostile,
were they not at Sand Creek under a promise of protection
by the military? To this the testimony answers clearly, "No."
That is a rather startling statement to one who is familiar
only with the current version of Sand Creek, but it is true,
nevertheless. Both the congressional and departmental in¬
vestigations were peculiar. The former was conducted by a
committee of men whose minds were made up before they
began; the style of their questions, the inaccuracy of their
findings, and the fact that they condemned every one for
prevarication who differed from what they expected in testi-.
mony, prove this. The latter was conducted by Major Wyn¬
koop, who had been displaced by Major Anthony at Fort
Lyon but a short time previous to the fight, who was one of
the leading prosecuting witnesses, and who was, immediately
after the investigation, appointed to the Agency, a position
which is very rarely forced on men against their wishes.
There was also a military commission appointed, which took
testimony at Denver and Fort Lyon ; it was presided over by
Colonel Tappan, of the 1st Colorado Cavalry, who was recog¬
nized as a personal enemy of Chivington. This was the only
one of the tribunals before which Chivington appeared and
was given opportunity to cross-examine or produce witnesses.
The reports of the other investigations were made without
any knowledge of its proceedings ; in fact, its proceedings
were not published for two years after the reports were made.
In the testimony at both of the earlier investigations, scheming
and jealousy crop out at many points. The prosecuting wit¬
nesses who were out of office charged the prosecuting wit¬
nesses who were in office with stealing from the Indians, and
selling them their own goods. The fullest latitude was given
418
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to hearsay, and expressions of opinion were courted. But
the most striking thing in all that testimony was the adroit
manner in which several witnesses confused the relations of
Black Kettle's Cheyennes, to Fort Lyon, with those of Little
Haven's Arapahoes. Their real relations were explained to
the Committee on the Conduct of the War, clearly enough to
have been understood by men who were not blinded by prej¬
udice, but the committee only carried on to perfection the
work which the witnesses had begun. The testimony of all
LITTLE RAVEN.
the witnesses, taken together, shows that the Indians who
came to the fort and were subsisted by Major Wynkoop were
six hundred and fifty-two of the Southern Arapahoes, under
their head chief, Little Raven. That this chief had been hos¬
tile is not questioned; Major Wynkoop himself blames hiin
and his warriors for all the depredations committed by the
Arapahoes. On November 2 Major Anthony arrived and
assumed 'command; he found these Arapahoes camped two
miles from Fort Lyon, with all their arms, and coming daily
to the fort for provisions; he told them they must surrender
SAND CREEK.
419
their arms, and they gave up a lot of old and worn-out wea¬
pons, which, they said, were all they had. After ten days he
concluded that he was exceeding his authority in this, re¬
turned their arms to them, and told them to go away. They
went; Major Wynkoop says that Little Haven's band went
to Camp Wynkoop, and Left Hand's joined the Cheyennes.
The Arapahoes who went with Left Hand numbered about
forty.
The most satisfactory evidence in regard to this is not in
the testimony of any one, but in the official report of Major
Anthony, made at the time, when there was no " Sand Creek"
to attack or defend. On November 6, in a letter to head¬
quarters, after recounting his disarming the Arapahoes, he
says : " Nine Cheyenne Indians to-day sent in, wishing to see
me. They state that six hundred of that tribe are now thir¬
ty-five miles north of here, coming towards the post, and two
thousand about seventy-five miles away, waiting for better
weather to enable them to come in. I shall not permit them
to come in, even as prisoners, for the reason that if I do I
shall have to subsist them upon a prisoner's rations. I shall,
however, demand their arms, all stolen stock, and the perpe¬
trators of all depredations. I am of the opinion that they
will not accept this proposition, but that they will return to
the Smoky Hill. They pretend that they want peace, and I
think they do now, as they cannot fight during the winter,
except where a small band of them can find an unprotected
train or frontier settlement. I do not think it is policy to
make peace with them now, until all perpetrators of depre¬
dations are surrendered up, to be dealt with as we may pro¬
pose." This, then, was the true state of affairs ; on November
6 there was not a Cheyenne at Fort Lyon ; there were six
hundred and fifty-two Arapahoes under the hostile chief Lit¬
tle Raven, who was then playing friend; there were six hun¬
dred Cheyennes under Black Kettle, thirty-five miles north,
proposing to come in. And what was done in regard to the
Cheyennes ? They came on down after some further parley¬
ing; they were not allowed to come into the fort at all, or
camp in the vicinity of the post. They were told that they
might go over on Sand Creek, forty miles away, and camp,
27
420
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and if the commandant received any authority to treat with
them he would let them know. They were not in the camp
two miles from Fort Lyon at any time ; they were never dis¬
armed ; and they were never held as prisoners.
Neither did these Indians have any promise of immunity
from Governor Evans or Colonel Chivington, as is intimated
by the committee. They met but once, at the council in
Denver, on September 28. It has been stated over and over
that the Cheyennes came to Sand Creek, in response to Gov¬
ernor Evans's circular, calling on the friendly Indians to take
refuge at the forts—friendly Cheyennes and Arapahoes at
Fort Lyon. This statement is absolutely and unqualifiedly
untrue. The circular wras dated June 27. Three months later
the chiefs appeared in Denver to talk peace, in consequence
of the circular, but were plainly told it was too late for any
treaty. Governor Evans said to them : " Whatever peace
they make must be with the soldiers, and not with me;" and
the entire talk was on that basis. I quote again: "White
Antelope. 'How can we be protected from the soldiers on
the plains?' Gov. E. ' You must make that arrangement with
the military chief.' White Antelope. ' I fear that these new
soldiers who have gone out may kill some of my people while
I am here.' Gov. E. ' There is great danger of it.'" Again,
Governor Evans said : "I hand you over to the military, one
of the chiefs of which is here to-day, and can speak for him¬
self to them if he chooses." The chief referred to was Colonel
Chivington, Commander of the District—it should be noted,
however, that Fort Lyon was not in Chivington's district. He
said : " I am not a big war chief, but all the soldiers in this
country are at my command. My rule of fighting white men
or Indians is to fight them until they lay down their arms and
submit to military authority. They are nearer Major Wyn-
koop than any one else, and they can go to him when they get
ready to do that." If any one can torture those utterances
into promises of immunity he is welcome to do so.
Some five weeks later the messengers of the Cheyennes
arrived at Fort Lyon and were turned away, as above stated.
They did not arrive there until after Major Wynkoop was
superseded by Major Anthony. They did not make any ar-
SAND CEEEK.
421
rangement with Major Wynkoop; it was impossible for them
to do so, as he was not in command. More than that, Major
Wynkoop never, at any time, had any authority to make any
treaty with them, and the Indians knew it. White Antelope
said, in the council: " When Major Wynkoop came, we pro¬
posed to make peace. He said he had no power to make a
peace, except to bring them here and return them safe." The
Cheyennes went over to Sand Creek and camped, not antici¬
pating any trouble, because there were no soldiers near them,
except the garrison, and it was too small to risk an attack.
Indeed, they were ready for an attack from it, and sent word
that, " If that little red-eyed chief wants a fight, we
will give him all he wants." The chief referred to was Major
Anthony, who was af¬
flicted with sore e}7es
at the time. The In¬
dians were not al¬
lowed to visit the
fort, and none of
their friends or sup¬
posed allies, except
on first being blind¬
folded. This was un¬
der general orders
which were adopted
a few weeks pre¬
viously, after a Sun¬
day - morning per¬
formance by friend¬
ly Indians at Fort
Larned. On that oc¬
casion the Indians
had drawn supplies
for the week, and
some squaws were ' „
A FRIDAY A GOOD ARAPAHOE.
executing a dance
for the edification of a part of the officers and men, when
the braves stampeded the cattle belonging to the post, with
all the horses and mules, and succeeded in getting away
4:22
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
with them. At the first whoop of the stampede the dancers
jumped on their ponies and scampered away, demonstrating
that the affair had been planned in cold blood. Major An¬
thony testified that he had no friendly relations with these
Cheyennes; that he should have attacked them before Chiv-
ington came if his force had not been too small; that he told
Chivington it was only a question of policy whether they
should be attacked or not, as it would probably cause an at¬
tack by the large band, which was not far distant. So far as
the propriety of attacking these Indians was concerned, there
is not the least question but that Chivington was justified in
his attack, under all the rules of civilized warfare. They were
hostiles, and there was no truce with them. There is another
matter—it seems almost absurd to mention it, but it were well
to prevent any further misunderstanding—and that is the dis¬
play of flags by Black Kettle, which some persons have seemed
to lay much stress upon. The uniform testimony of the
soldiers was that they saw nothing of the kind, but that is
immaterial. No one of common understanding would profess
that the display of a flag of any kind was cause for stopping
troops in the midst of a charge, and especially in the midst
of a surprise of an enemy's camp.
Having now shown the propriety of the attack, we arrive
at the question of the propriety of the manner in which it
was made, a question much more difficult of solution. One
point is certain —every one in authority felt that the Indians
ought to be punished. Major Wynkoop testifies that Governor
Evans at first objected to seeing the chiefs at all, but finally
consented to hold the council which has been mentioned. His
feelings on the'subject were exposed to the Indians at the
council in these words: " The time when you can make war
best is in the summer time; when I can make war best is in
the winter. You, so far, have had the advantage ; my time
is just coming." He told them, as before stated, that they
would have to talk to the military authorities, and his action
was approved by the Indian Bureau. The military had no
desire for peace at the time. It is quite true that the field
orders of General Curtis directed hostilities only against hos¬
tile Indians, and expressly stated that " women and children
SAND CEEEK.
423
must be spared," but "hostile Indians" meant Indians who
had been hostile, and neither he nor any other commander in
the West was in favor of treating till the Indians had been
punished. On the day of Governor Evans's council with the
chiefs, General Curtis telegraphed the District Commander:
" I fear agent of the Interior Department will be ready to
make presents too soon. It is better to chastise before giving
anything but a little tobacco to talk over. No peace must be
made without my directions." The last telegram Ohivington
received from him, before marching, was: "Pursue every¬
where and punish the Cheyennes and Arapahoes; pay no at¬
tention to district lines. No presents must be made and no
peace concluded without my consent." The reader will ob¬
serve that General Curtis is not by these directions made re¬
sponsible for killing the women and children, or deciding that
the Sand Creek camp was hostile, but his desire to punish the
Indians was clear and decided. And it was so all through the
West. A few weeks later, when Colonel Ford wanted to make
peace with the Kiowas and Comanches, General Dodge, his
Department Commander, telegraphed him: " The military
have no authority to treat with Indians. Our duty is to make
them keep the peace by punishing them for their hostility.
Keep posted as to their location, so that as soon as ready we
can strike them." So, in New Mexico, General Carleton had
instructed Colonel Kit Carson : " If the Indians send in a flag
and desire to treat for peace, say to the bearer that when the
people of New Mexico were attacked by the Texans, the Mes-
caleros broke their treaty of peace, and murdered innocent
people, and ran off their stock ; that now our hands are untied,
and you have been sent to punish them for their treachery and
their crimes; that you have no power to make peace ; that
you are there to kill them wdierever you can find them ; that
if they beg for peace, their chiefs'and twenty of their prin¬
cipal men must come to Santa Fe to have a talk here; but tell
them fairly and frankly that you will keep after their people
and slay them until you receive orders to desist from these
head-quarters." On September 19 Curtis writes to Carleton :
"General Blunt is at or near Fort Earned looking out for In¬
dians, and may co-operate with you in crushing out some of
424
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the vile hordes that now harass our lines of communication."
On October 22 Carleton writes to Blunt, hoping he will effect
a union with Carson, "so that a blow may be struck which
those two treacherous tribes will remember." On January 30,
1865, Curtis writes to Governor Evans: " I protest my desire
to pursue and punish the enemy everywhere, in his lodges es¬
pecially ; but I do not believe in killing women and children
who can be taken."
It is equally certain that the desire of punishing these In¬
dians was increased, with loyal people, by the belief that their
hostility was produced by Southern emissaries. How far their
hostility was so produced will never be definitely known, but
there was reason for the belief, without doubt. Soon after
the beginning of the war the insurgents had occupied Indian
territory and enrolled many Indians in Confederate regiments.
The loyal Indians tried to resist, but, after two or three en¬
gagements, about seven thousand of them were driven into
Kansas. From the men among them three regiments were
organized, and the women and children were subsisted out of
the annuities of the hostiles. In the latter part of 1862, John
Ross, head chief of the Cherokees, announced officially that
the Cherokee nation had treated with the Confederate States,
and, as is well known, there were several regiments of Indians
in the regular Confederate service, besides numbers in irregu¬
lar relations, among whom were Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws,
Chickasaws, Osages, Seminoles, Senecas, Shawnees, Quapaws,
Comanches, Wachitas, Kiowas, and Pottawattamies, and none
of them regained friendly relations with the United States
until the treaty of September 21,1865. On the south of Col¬
orado the Comanches and Kiowas were at war, with Southern
sympathies. The Mescaleros had taken the war-path on the
advance of the Texans. To the north it was the same. The
Sioux troubles all originated in Minnesota, and concerning
them our Consul-general in Canada, Mr. Giddings, wrote at
the time: " There is little doubt that the recent outbreak in
the Northwest has resulted from the efforts of secession agents
operating through Canadian Indians and fur-traders." The
war feeling was so strong among the Sioux that the friendly
Yanktons, in 1862, refused to receive their annuities unless a
SAND CREEK.
425
force of soldiers was brought, to protect tliem from the other
Sioux, who insisted on their becoming hostile. As the Min¬
nesota Sioux were driven west the feeling spread everywhere,
and in the winter of 1868-64 ripened into the coalition
"to clean out all this country," while the government had its
hands full with the South. With the Indians on all sides of
them moved to war by Southern emissaries, the natural sup¬
position is that the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were at war
from the same reason, and especially as the Sioux, Comanches,
Kiowas, and Apaches were their friends and allies, while the
Pawnees, Kaws, and Osages, their hereditary enemies, were in
the service of the United
States. It was certain
that the South had hopes
of opening hostility in
this region, for, in 1S63,
nineteen rebel officers
were killed by friendly
Osages, and on their per¬
sons were found papers
authorizing them to or¬
ganize the sympathetic
in Colorado and Dakota.
White Wolf, a friend¬
ly Arapahoe, informed
Agent Whitely, in the
latter part of August,
that the Cheyennes had
" declared their inten¬
tion to take all the forts on the Arkansas when joined by the
Texan soldiers," and this indicated that some one had told
them a move in that direction was contemplated. Finally,
George Bent, half-breed Cheyenne, son of Colonel Bent, had
served under Price in Missouri, had been captured, and, after
being paroled, had joined the Cheyennes. lie had taken part
in their depredations, and helped write their letter to Colley,
and was reported and believed to be a rebel emissary to them.
Chivington spoke of them as "red rebels" in official corre¬
spondence, long before the Sand Creek fight, and to men of
GEORGE BENT.
42G
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
his feelings there was just this one crime of treason that
could add anything to the atrocity of Indian warfare.
There are two reasons given for killing women and chil¬
dren, and for mutilation, which are worthy of consideration.
First, as a matter of policy, it is believed by frontiersmen
that Indians should be fought just as they tight. They look
contemptuously on the policy of treating them according to
the rules of civilized warfare. They believe that the only
way to make Indians sign a treaty which they will keep, is,
when at war with them, to kill them at every opportunity,
destroy their property, and make their homes desolate; in
short, to make them sutler. The plains Indians have given
more cause for this belief than other tribes. They have re¬
peatedly shown a disposition to go to war in the spring, when
their ponies were getting fat, and subsistence was easily had,
but as winter came on, and hardship began, they were ready
to treat. They have had cause, too, to laugh at the silly
whites, who bought their friendship with presents, while the
blood of slaughtered innocents was hardly dried. They took
advantage of the white man by killing his helpless people,
while, for the safety of their own, they relied 011 the white
man's ideas of warfare. Their women took advantage of him
by fighting, as they did at Sand Creek, Ash Hollow, and many
other places, along with the men, and, when the battle went
against them, proclaiming their sex and claiming immunity.
There is not a bit of doubt that killing women and children
has a very dampening effect on the ardor of the Indian. In
this very case of Sand Creek they said " they had always
heard that the whites did not kill women and children, but
now they had lost all confidence in them." Their "loss of
confidence" grows a trifle amusing, when it is remembered
that they had been killing women and children all summer
themselves. Scalping and mutilation also strike terror to the
Indian heart. Their religious belief is that the spirit in the
next world has the same injuries that are inflicted on the body
here. For this reason they almost invariably mutilate corpses,
besides taking the scalp, which is almost an essential for en¬
trance to the happy hunting-grounds. The greatest acts of
daring ever shown by plains Indians have been in carrying
SAND CEEEK.
427
off the bodies of their dead to prevent these misfortunes.
That the Sand Creek affair inspired them with terror is beyond
question. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes got over into Kansas
and Indian Territory as quickly as possible, and stayed there.
A party of Sioux raided down into Colorado once afterwards,
but when they heard that the Colorado troops were after them
they scampered off as though the evil spirit were at their
heels.
Secondly, is the matter of vengeance. There is a certain
amount of justice in the theory of meting to a man in his
own measure, and the people of Colorado had old scores to
pay in the accounts of murder, robbery, and rape. The treat¬
ment of women, by any Indians, is usually bad, but by the
plains Indians especially so. When a woman is captured by
a war-party she is the common property of all of them, each
night, till they reach their village, when she becomes the spe¬
cial property of her individual captor, who may sell or gam¬
ble her away when he likes. If she resists she is " staked
out," that is to say, four pegs are driven into the ground and
a hand or foot tied to each, to prevent struggling. She is
also beaten, mutilated, or even killed, for resistance. If a
woman gives out under this treatment, she is either tied so
as to prevent escape, or maimed so as to insure death in case
of rescue, and left to die slowly. That there may be no ques¬
tion of the guilt of these Sand Creek Cheyennes, I quote the
statement of Mrs. Ewbanks, who was captured at the same
time as the prisoners surrendered by them, as taken down by
Lieutenant Triggs, of the 7th Iowa Cavalry, and Judge-advo¬
cate Zabriskie, of the 1st Nevada Cavalry. "Mrs. Lucinda
Ewbanks states that she was born in Pennsylvania ; is twenty-
four years of age; she resided on the Little Blue, at or near
the Narrows. She says that on the 8th day of August, 1864,
the house was attacked, robbed, burned, and herself and two
children, with her nephew and Miss Roper, were captured by
Cheyenne Indians. Her eldest child, at the time, was three
years old ; her youngest was one year old ; her nephew was
six years old. When taken from her home was, by the In¬
dians, taken south across the Republican, and west to a creek,
the name of which she does not remember. Here, for a short
428
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ON THE LITTLE BLUE.
time, was their village or camping-place. They were travel¬
ling all winter. When first taken by the Cheyennes she was
taken to the lodge of an old chief, whose name she does not
remember. lie forced me, by the most terrible threats and
menaces, to }'ield my person to him. lie treated me as his
wife. He then traded me to Two Face, a Sioux, who did
not treat me as a wife, but forced me to do all menial labor
done by squaws, and he beat me terribly. Two Face traded
me to Black Foot (a Sioux) who treated me as his wife, and
because I resisted him his squaws abused and ill-used me.
Black Foot also beat me unmercifully, and the Indians gener¬
ally treated me as though I was a dog, on account of my
showing so much detestation towards Black Foot. Two Face
traded for me again. I then received a little better treat-
ment. I was better treated among the Sioux than the Chey¬
ennes ; that is, the Sioux gave me more to eat. When with
SAND CREEK.
429
the Cheyennes I was often hungry. Her purchase from the
Cheyennes was made early last fall (1864), and she remained
with them (the Sioux) until May, 1865. During the winter
the Cheyennes came to buy me and the child, for the pur¬
pose of burning us, but Two Face would not let them have
me. During the winter we were on the North Platte the
Indians were killing the whites all the time and running off
their stock. They would bring in the scalps of the whites
and show them to me and laugh about it. They ordered me
frequently to wean my baby, but I always refused ; for I felt
convinced if he was weaned they would take him from me,
and I should never see him again."
Mrs. Ewbanks's daughter died in Denver, from injuries
received among the Indians, before her mother was released.
Iler nephew also died from his injuries, at the same place.
Miss Roper, who was surrendered with the children, had ex¬
perienced the same treatment that no white woman was ever
known to escape at the hands of the plains Indians. Mrs.
Martin, another prisoner surrendered by them, was taken by
the Cheyennes on Plum Creek, " west of Kearney," as testi¬
fied by herself and admitted by White Antelope in the coun¬
cil. Mrs. Snyder, another captive, had grown weary of the
friendship of these Cheyennes, and hung herself before Ma¬
jor Wynkoop arrived. These things were known to the peo¬
ple of Colorado, and two thirds of the troops who went there
were citizen-soldiers, raised for the express purpose of fight¬
ing Indians. Be it known, also, that these offenses were
committed without any provocation from settlers, beyond oc¬
cupying the lands which the chiefs of the Cheyennes had re¬
linquished in treaty. There is absolutely not on record, from
any source, a single charge, let alone an instance, of aggres¬
sion or injury to any Cheyenne or Arapahoe, by any settler
of Colorado, prior to Sand Creek. The sole troubles had
been with the soldiers in chastising the Indians for past of¬
fences. The people of Colorado did want revenge, and these
men, who had been cooped up all summer in towns and block¬
houses, whose crops were ruined, whose stock had been run
off, wdiose houses had been burned, who had been eating
bread made of forty-five-dollar flour, wrho had buried the
430
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mutilated bodies of their neighbors, in helpless wrath, who
had heard the stories of the women captives — these men
marched to Sand Creek, with the fire of vengeance in their
hearts, and quenched it in blood.
Let us now look for a moment at the report of the Joint
Committee on the Conduct of the War. It states, first, that
these Indians wished "to deliver up some white captives they
had purchased of other Indians." The Indians did not pre¬
tend to have purchased them. They admitted in the council
that they had captured them, and the captives themselves tes¬
tified to the same, as shown above. It states that after the
council these Indians went to Fort Lyon, where they " were
treated somewhat as prisoners of war, receiving rations and
being obliged to remain within certain bounds." As has
been shown, the Cheyennes were never treated as prisoners
of war, received no rations, and did not remain within any
bounds. The Indians who did so were Little Raven's Ara-
pahoes, who were hostile, by the declarations of the Arapahoe
chiefs in the council, and the testimony of Major Wynkoop.
These Indians went away before the Cheyennes came, but
eight lodges of them, under Left Hand, who was friendly,
went to the Cheyennes and camped with them at Sand Creek.
This wrongful and unjust confusion is kept up all through
the report. It states that " all the testimony goes to show
that the Indians under the immediate control of Black Ket¬
tle and White Antelope, of the Cheyennes, and Left Hand, of
the Arapahoes, were and had been friendly to the whites, and
had not been guilty of any acts of hostility or depredation."
Not only does the testimony show the opposite to be true,
but also there is no testimony whatever to that effect. There
was testimony to the friendly character of these chiefs, but
not to that of their Indians, and, in fact, no Indians could be
separated out as theirs, for at the time of their letter, and the
council, and afterwards, the Cheyennes were all together, and
all under their " immediate control." Even when the party
at Sand Creek came in ahead, it was reported by them that
the remainder of the tribe was a short distance back, waiting
for good weather.
It states that "a northern band of the Cheyennes, known
SAND CREEK.
431
as the Dog Soldiers, had been guilty of acts of hostility; but
all the testimony goes to prove that they had no connection
with Black Kettle's band," and that " Black Kettle and his
band denied all connection with or responsibility for the Dog
Soldiers." As shown in a former chapter, the Dog Soldiers
were not a separate band, but were a department in the tri¬
bal government. Black Kettle and his band did not deny
connection with them or responsibility for them ; many of
the band at Sand Creek were Dog Soldiers. Bull Bear, the
leader of the Dog Soldiers, was at the council in Denver as
one of Black Kettle's sub-chiefs. The only time that any of
the Indians had an opportunity to make a statement which
could go to the committee, was at the council in Denver, and
there the Dog Soldiers were mentioned but once, and in this
passage : " Black Kettle. ' We will return with Major Wyn-
koop to Fort Lyon ; we will then proceed to our village and
take back word to my young men, every word you say. I
cannot answer for all of them, but think there will be but lit¬
tle difficulty in getting them to assent to help the soldiers.'
Major Wynkoop. ' Did not the Dog Soldiers agree, when
I had my council with you, to do whatever you said, after
you had been here?' Black Kettle. 'Yes.'" The com¬
mittee is far more kind to Black Kettle than he is to him¬
self. It had determined that he should not be connected
with them. Senator Doolittle pressed this question on John
S. Smith, one of the most bitter of the prosecuting witnesses:
" Is the northern band the same that are commonly called
the Dog Soldiers?" Smith, who had been among them
twenty-seven years, answered : " No, sir; the Dog Soldiers
are mixed up promiscuously; this is a band that has pre¬
ferred the North Platte and north of the North Platte, and
lives over in what is called the bad land, mauvais terre
The same fact was shown by Major Wynkoop in his cross-
examination, by Chivington, before the Military Commission,
as follows: " Q. Will you explain what the Dog Soldiers are
and how they are controlled? A. I understand that the Dog
Soldiers are a portion of the warriors of the Cheyenne tribe,
and presume that they are controlled by the head men."
It states that " these Indians, at the suggestion of Governor
432
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Evans and Colonel Chivington, repaired to Fort Lyon and
placed themselves under the protection of Major Wynkoop."
Enough of the council proceedings has been quoted to show
the falsity of this. They told the Indians that they could
not treat with them, but that they must go to the military,
and when they got ready to lay down their arms and surren¬
der as prisoners of war they might go to Major Wynkoop.
But, in fact, the Cheyennes did not even send in their mes¬
sengers until after Major Wynkoop wras suspended. They
INDIANS ATTACKING STAGE.
were never under his protection at all. It states that Jack
Smith, the half-breed son of John S. Smith, was in Black
Kettle's camp, at the time of the attack, as a spy, employed
by the government. As shown above, he guided the troops
to the camp to make the attack. This man was the only
prisoner killed after the fight, and it was in evidence before
the committee that he had led an attack on a stage a short
time previously. That he was present he did not deny, but
said he approached the stage for some information, and, on
being fired oiq fired back in self-defence. But it is not nec-
SAND CREEK.
433
essary to particularize further. The report abuses every one
who, in telling the truth, happened to differ from the precon¬
ceived judgment of the committee; it distorts and colors ev¬
ery matter of fact involved so as to injure Chivington and
his men; it omits or glosses over all the injuries to the peo¬
ple of Colorado ; and, having arrived at a proper pitch of in¬
dignation and misrepresentation, it assails Colonel Chiving¬
ton in a gush of sanguinary rhetoric, that reads more like the
reputed address of Spartacus to the gladiators than the im¬
partial judgment of rational men.
But, outrageous as was the report of the committee, it was
dignified, just, and proper by the side of the ornamental mis¬
representation that outsiders have added. It has been said
that Sand Creek " brought on the general war of 1865, wdiicli
cost the government $35,000,000 and much loss of life," and
this statement has become a part of the " history" of the af¬
fair. Sand Creek brought on that wrar just about as much as
the battle of Gettysburg brought on the late civil war. It
was an event in the war, and no amount of misrepresentation
can make it anything else. Leaving the Cheyennes out of
consideration altogether, the general war had been in prog¬
ress since the early spring of 1864. But, as a matter of fact,
it did not even aggravate the war. It has already been shown
that the Cheyennes had been at war all summer, and no other
tribe went to war on account of it. On January 12, 1865,
on receipt of orders to investigate Chivington's action, Gen¬
eral Curtis despatched to Washington : " Although the colo¬
nel may have transgressed my field orders concerning Indian
warfare, and otherwise acted very much against my views of
propriety in his assault at Sand Creek, still it is not true, as
Indian agents and Indian traders are representing, that such
extra severity is increasing Indian war. On the contrary, it
tends to reduce their numbers and bring them to terms. . . .
I will be glad to save the few honest and kindly disposed,
and protest against the slaughter of women and children; al¬
though, since General Harney's attack of the Sioux many
years ago at Ash Hollow, the popular cry of settlers and sol¬
diers on the frontier favors an indiscriminate slaughter which
is very difficult to restrain. I abhor this style, but so it goes,
434
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
from Minnesota to Texas. . . . There is no doubt a portion
of this tribe assembled were occupied in making assaults on
our stages and trains, and the tribes well know that we have
to hold the whole community responsible for acts they could
restrain, if they would properly exert their efforts in that
way." Again, on January 30, he wrote to Governor Evans:
"Let me say, too, that I see nothing new in all this Indian
movement since the Chivington affair, except that Indians
are more frightened and keep farther away. By pushing
them hard this next month, before grass recruits their ponies,
they will be better satisfied with making war and robbery a
business." On the same day he wrote Major-general Hal-
leck : " There is no new feature in these Indian troubles ex¬
cept that Indians seem more frightened." General Curtis
commanded the department; he had all the information as
to the state of the hostilities that could be had; he evidently
was not inclined to defend Chivington ; and therefore his
testimony on this point ought to be conclusive.
Said Hon. Mr. Loughridge to the House of Representa¬
tives: "Some of the few captured children, after they had
been carried many miles by the troops, were taken from the
wagons and their brains dashed out. I gather this from the
records and official reports, and blush to say that its truth can¬
not be questioned." Mr. Loughridge might well blush for
other reasons. There is not one word in all the testimony,
records, and official reports, to substantiate this statement.
The nearest and only approach to it, in the report of the
Joint Committee, is this statement by Lieutenant Cannon,
who accompanied the expedition : " I heard of one instance
of a child, a few months old, being thrown into the feed-box
of a wagon, and, after being carried some distance, left on the
ground to perish." In the testimony taken by the Military
Commission, Lieutenant Cramer and Private Louderback give
similar hearsay evidence, in almost the same words. Only
one witness was examined, at any time, who professed to have
personal knowledge of this abandonment, and that was Ser¬
geant Lucian Palmer, who was introduced by the prosecution,
before the Military Commission. He said: "They [the two
squaws] took care of it [the pappoose in question] the first
INDIAN SCOUTS CELEBRATING.
SAND CREEK.
437
day after we left Sand Creek ; they had it in bed with them
the night we stopped this side of Sand Creek ; they left it
themselves, as no one else had anything to do with it, to my
knowledge." Thus the prosecution disposed of the feed-box
story, and left Mr. Longhridge without even that faint sup¬
port for his slander. It was distinctly testified, by every wit¬
ness who was questioned on the subject, that no one was killed
after the fight except Jack Smith. It was also established,
without contradiction, that the two squaws (wives of white
men) and five children, who were said, by every witness ex¬
cept those mentioned, to have been the only prisoners taken,
were conveyed to Fort Lyon and left there. These are but
samples that show the extraordinary extent to which this de¬
lusion has been carried. The wealth of epithets and invec¬
tives that has been gathered to damn the reputation of this
man Chivington, by people who have, at best, but superfi¬
cially examined his case, constitutes a veritable treasury of
vituperation. If everything that was said against him by the
witnesses were true, and much of it, on its face, was not, he
is still the colossal martyr to misrepresentation of this cen-
tury.
The sequel to Sand Creek throws some valuable light on
the character of the case. On October 14, 1865, a treaty was
made with the Cheyenne chiefs on the Little Arkansas, on
which occasion John S. Smith and Major "Wynkoop were
figuring prominently. The treaty, in its original draft, went
out of the way to attack Chivington and the troops, and this
feature the Senate omitted by amendment. The treaty was
made on behalf of the entire tribe, but the majority of the
Dog Soldiers were not present and never formally accepted
its provisions. The most striking feature of it is that, while
they wTere assigned a reservation with the privilege of roam¬
ing over their original territory, these friendly Indians were
prohibited from camping within ten miles of a main trav¬
elled road, night or day, and were pledged not to go to any
town or post without permission of the authorities there.
Special remuneration was given to every one who had lost
relatives or property at Sand Creek, and annuities of goods
and money to the tribe in general, to the amount of $56,000
438
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
annually until they moved to the reservation, and $112,000
annually afterwards. Thefts, murders, and other offences
were perpetrated by Indians in the following summer, and, so
far as could be learned, they were committed by a party of
Dog Soldiers, numbering some two hundred lodges, who had
joined with about one hundred lodges of Sioux, under the
chief Pawnee Killer. In the spring of 1867 General Han¬
cock started with an expedition into the plains with the in¬
tent of making a peaceful demonstration of power, which
would induce all doubtful and hostile Indians to go on reser¬
vations. Agents of the Indian bureau were invited to ac¬
company the expedition, to assist in talks with the Indians,
and did so.
Thej- found the band of Dog Soldiers and Sioux on Paw¬
nee Fork, about thirty miles above Fort Larned. After ne¬
gotiating, and making several appointments for councils,
which they did not keep, the Indians slipped away one dark
night with all their property that they could carry. Spring
was not their season for treating. The next heard of them
was that they had burned several stage stations on the Smoky
Hill route and killed, after torturing, three station keepers at
Lookout Station, near Fort Ilays. On receipt of information
of this, General Hancock destroyed what was left of their vil¬
lage, and troops were kept in search of the Indians all sum¬
mer, under command of General Custer. There were a num¬
ber of engagements between them, and considerable loss of
life, with no material advantage to either side. At the same
time a severe pen-and-ink contest was being waged between
war people and peace people in the East, and the peace people
got the upper hand. The result of it all was that at the end
of the season Custer was under arrest on a charge of leaving
Fort Wallace without orders, while the Indians, who had had
no opportunity to lay in supplies for the winter, made an¬
other treaty, in which the whole tribe, Dog Soldiers included,
joined. This time they took a reservation wholly within
Indian Territory, a triangular tract bounded by the Kansas
line and the Cimarron and Arkansas rivers. They were to
receive a suit of clothes for each Indian, and $20,000 annu¬
ally, besides teachers, physicians, farmers, millers, carpenters,
SAND CEEEK.
439
blacksmiths, and other guides to civilization. It was not
agreed that they were to be given any arms or ammunition,
and this the reader will remember. They agreed not to mo¬
lest any coach or wagon, carry off any white woman or child,
nor kill or scalp any white man ; to surrender any wrong¬
doer for punishment, and not to interfere in any way with
the building of the Kansas Pacific Railroad.
In the spring of 1868 it was learned that arms and am¬
munition were being issued* to Indians, and a military order
was made prohibiting it. The agents raised a cry that the
Indians could not hunt the buffalo without arms and ammu¬
nition (they prefer the bow and arrow for this, and seldom
used anything else); the peace people joined in the chorus
that the Indians were being starved, and the order was re¬
voked. On August 1 the Arapahoes received 100 pistols, 80
Lancaster rifles, 12 kegs of power, a keg and a half of lead,
and 15,000 caps. On August 10 Colonel Wynkoop, our old
acquaintance, who had been promoted, and appointed Indian
Agent after the investigations, wrote: "I yesterday made the
whole issue of annuity goods, arms, and ammunition to the
Cheyenne chiefs and people of their nation; they were de¬
lighted at receiving the goods, particularly the arms and am¬
munition, and never before have I known them to be better
satisfied, and express themselves as being so well contented
previous to the issue. . . . They have now left for their hunt¬
ing-grounds, and I am perfectly satisfied that there will be no
trouble with them this season." What hunting-grounds had
they left for? On September 10, just thirty days later,
Colonel Wynkoop, in explaining that the Indians had gone
to war because " their arms and ammunition " had not
been issued promptly, writes: " But a short time before the
issue was made a war-party had started north from the Chey¬
enne village, on the war-path against the Pawnees; and
they, not knowing of the issue, and smarting under their sup¬
posed wrongs, committed the outrages on the Saline River
which have led to the present unfortunate aspect of affairs."
It was rather unfortunate. The inference from his letter is
that it was all right for them to use their weapons, furnished
for the purpose of hunting, in making war on the Pawnees,
MO
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
who had been, for several years, our most valuable allies and
friends on the plains; but that they should attack the whites
was unfortunate. Two hundred Cheyenne, four Arapahoe,
and twenty Sioux warriors raided down the Saline and the
Solomon, killing, ravishing, burning, and torturing. They
carried off two young women, who were afterwards recovered
from Black Kettle's band, if he can be said to have had any
particular band, by threatening to hang some of their princi¬
pal chiefs, who were captives. Much of the plundered prop¬
erty was found in Black Kettle's camp.
Wynkoop then proposed to locate the friendly Indians
near Fort Larned, in order to separate the good ones from the
bad ones, Larned being about as near to the seat of war as
they could be placed; but General Sherman would have
nothing of that kind. He said the Indians who were peace¬
able should stay on their reservation, where they belonged.
Never was a better opportunity for friendly Indians to
separate themselves from the bad ones and let themselves
be known : and they did it. After some hard fighting in the
summer and fall, notably the eight days' fight between Gen¬
eral Forsyth's party and four hundred and fifty Cheyennes,
aided by Sioux and Arapahoes, on the Arickaree fork of the
Hepublican, the bad Indians went into winter quarters, and a
winter expedition was sent against them under Custer, who
was reinstated for the occasion. The reservation was vacant.
The good Cheyennes were not visible. The entire southern
tribe was camped away south on the Waehita, on lands where
they had not even the right to hunt, with the hostile Kiowas,
Arapahoes, Comanches, and Apaches, forming an almost con¬
tinuous camp for twelve miles. Custer followed the trail of
a returning war-party into Black Kettle's camp, and, in the
early dawn of November 27, surprised the Indians, while
they were sleeping off the effects of the previous night's cele¬
bration over fresh scalps and plunder. Here, as at Sand
Creek and Ash Hollow, women fought with the men, and
a number of them were killed, but their fighting did no
good. 103 Indians were killed, and 53 squaws and chil¬
dren wrere captured, together with 875 ponies, 1123 robes,
535 pounds of powder, 4000 arrows, and arms and goods
THE CHARGE ON BLACK KETTLE'S CAMP.
SAND CREEK.
443
of all descriptions, constituting all their possessions. What
could be advantageously kept was retained, and the re¬
mainder, including 700 ponies, was destroyed. The entire
Indian force attacked Custer, but he succeeded in getting his
troops and captives safely away. And what did the irre¬
pressible Wynkoop after this affair? He affirmed that the
Cheyennes were martyrs ever, and that on this occasion they
were peaceably on their way to Fort Cobb to receive their
annuities when attacked! He also resigned his position as
Indian Agent, feeling, probably, that it would be forced on
him again. But Hancock and Custer were bigger game than
poor Chivington. Their brother officers and officials exam¬
ined their cases more carefully than they did that of the vol¬
unteer colonel, and Custer himself ventilated the matter in a
series of articles in the Galaxy that made some people open
their eyes.
After the war, Chivington returned to his old home in
Ohio and settled on a small farm. A few years later his
house was burned, and he afterwards moved to Blanchester,
Clinton County, where he purchased the Press, and edited
it for two or three years. In 1883 he was nominated on the
Bepublican ticket for Representative to the legislature, and in
the campaign " Sand Creek" was used for all it was worth.
It began in the contest for the nomination and was continued
until Chivington withdrew from the race. It was believed,
and still is, by good judges of politics, that he would have
been elected by a majority of five hundred or more, but there
was a large Quaker population in Clinton, and, as is well
known, the Society of Friends considers itself the special
guardian of the Indian. lie had an up-hill fight on his
hands, and the opposition was very bitter. I can but think
another thing influenced his determination. While this
fight was being pressed upon him, he received an urgent let¬
ter from Colorado, asking him to attend and address a meeting
of old settlers, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement
of the state. There he would find old friends, who knew the
true history of Sand Creek, and felt as he did. He went.
There were hearty welcomes given to distinguished pioneers
by the people assembled in Jewell Park on that day, but none
444 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
so demonstrative as Colonel Chivington's. The chairman in¬
troduced him with these words: "We all remember the In¬
dian wars of 1864 and '65, and with what joy we received the
news that some of them at least had met the reward due to
their treachery and cruelty. The man who can tell you all
about those wars, who can tell you all you want to know of
the Indians, and who can give you the true story of Sand
Creek, is here. I have the honor, ladies and gentlemen, to in¬
troduce Colonel Chivington, one of Colorado's 'Pet Lambs.'"
lie began his speech amid enthusiastic cheers, but as he
proceeded the attention grew breathless. He told his story
in a simple, straightforward way, and nods of assent and ap¬
proval, from all parts of the pavilion, silently indicated that
he need not prove the truth of his statements to the people
gathered there. He did not reply to the thousand charges
made against him, nor did he assume an argumentative style
until he closed in these words: " But were not these Indians
peaceable ? Oh, yes, peaceable ! Well, a few hundred of them
have been peaceable for almost nineteen years, and none of
them have been so troublesome as they were before Sand Creek.
What are the facts? IIow about that treaty that Governor
John Evans did not make with them in the summer of 1863?
He, with Major Lorey and Major Whiteley, two of his In¬
dian Agents, and the usual corps of attaches, under escort, went
out to the Kiowa to treat. When he got there, they had
gone a day's march farther out on the plains and would not
meet him there, and so on, day after day, they moved out as
he approached, until, wearied out, and suspicious of treachery,
he returned without succeeding in his mission of peace. He
told them by message that he had presents for them, but it
was not peace and presents they wanted, but war and plun¬
der. What of the peaceableness of their attack on General
Blunt's advance-guard, north of Fort Earned, almost annihilat¬
ing the advance before succor could reach them ? What of
the dove-like peace of their attack on the government train
on Walnut Creek, east of Fort Earned, under the guise of
friendship, till the drivers and attaches of the train were in
their power, and at a signal struck down at once every man,
only a boy of thirteen years barely escaping, and he, with the
SAND CREEK.
445
loss of his scalp, taken to his ears, finally died. What of
the trains captured from Walnut Creek to Sand Creek on
the Arkansas route, and from the Little Blue to the Kiowa
on the Platte route, of supplies and wagons burned and
carried off, and of the men killed? What of the Ilungate
family? Alas! what of the stock of articles of merchandise,
fine silk dresses, infants' and youths' apparel, the embroidered
night-gowns and chemises? Ay, what of the scalps of white
men, women, and children, several of which they had not had
time to dry and tan since taken ? These, all these, and more,
were taken from the belts of dead warriors on the battle-field
of Sand Creek, and from their teepees which fell into our
hands on the 29th day of November, 1864. What of the
Indian blanket that was captured, fringed with white-wom¬
en's scalps? What says the dust of the two hundred and
eight men, women, and children, ranchers, emigrants, herders,
and soldiers, who lost their lives at the hands of these In¬
dians? Peaceable? Now we are peaceably disposed, but de¬
cline giving such testimonials of our peaceful proclivities, and
I say here as I said in my own town, in the Quaker county
of Clinton, State of Ohio, one night last week, I stand by
Sand Creek."
Said the Rocky Mountain News, of the following day,
"Colonel Chivington's speech was received with an applause
from every pioneer which indicated that they, to a man, hearti¬
ly approved the course of the colonel twenty years ago, in the
famous affair in which many of them took part, and the man
who applied the scalpel to the ulcer which bid fair to destroy
the life of the new colony, in those critical times, was beyond
a doubt the hero of the hour." This is the simple truth.
Colorado stands by Sand Creek, and Colonel Chivington soon
afterwards brought his family to the Queen City of the Plains,
where his remaining days may be passed in peace.
What an eventful history! And how, through it all, his
sturdy manhood has been manifest in every action. Through
all the denunciation of that Indian fight, he has never wavered
or trembled. Others have dodged and apologized and crawled,
but Chivington never. He has not laid the blame upon su¬
perior officers, as he might do. lie has not complained of
446
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
misinformation from inferior officers, as he might do. He
has not said that the soldiers committed excesses there which
were in no manner directed by him, as he might do. lie has
simply stood up under a rain of abuse, heavier than the shower
of missiles that fell on Coeur de Leon before the castle of
Front de Boeuf, and answered back: "I stand by Sand
Creek." And was it wrong? To the abstract question,
whether or not it is right to kill women and children, there
can be but one answer. But as a matter of retaliation, and a
matter of policy, whether these people were justified in kill¬
ing women and children at Sand Creek is a question to which
the answer does not come so glibly. Just after the massacre
at Fort Fetterman, General Sherman despatched to General
Grant: "We must act with vindictive earnestness against the
Sioux, even to their extermination, men, women, and children.
Nothing less will reach the root of the case." Was it right
for the English to shoot back the Sepoy ambassador from
their cannon? Was it right for the North to refuse to ex¬
change prisoners while our boys were dying by inches in
Libby and Andersonville? I do not undertake to answer
these questions, but I do say that Sand Creek is far from be¬
ing "the climax of American outrages on the Indian," as it
has been called. Lay not that flattering unction to your souls,
people of the East, while the names of the Pequods and the
Conestoga Indians exist in your books; nor you of the Mis¬
sissippi Valley, while the blood of Logan's family and the
Moravian Indians of the Muskingum stain your records; nor
you of the South, while a Cherokee or a Seminole remains to
tell the wrongs of his fathers; nor yet you of the Pacific
slope, while the murdered family of Spencer or the victims of
Bloody Point and Nome Cult have a place in the memory of
men-—your ancestors and predecessors were guilty of worse
things than the Sand Creek massacre.
CHAPTER XIV.
canon de ciielly and bosque redondo.
We left the Navahos in their chronic state of war, that is to
say, the state of robbing their neighbors and being robbed by
theni while the troops were absent, and of making peace when
the troops marched against them. From the mass of conflict¬
ing testimony taken in 1865, in regard to the Indian history
of New Mexico, and from other sources, it appears that one
side made aggressions about as often as the other, the common
opinion being that the Navahos captured the greater number
of sheep, and the Mexicans the greater number of slaves. The
Navahos were preferred to other Indians for slaves on account
of their tractable nature, intelligence, light skins, and the vo¬
luptuousness of the females. Dr. Louis Kennon, whose op¬
portunities for observation had been good, testified, " I think
the number of Navajo captives held as slaves to be underesti¬
mated. I think there are from five to six thousand. I know
of no family which can raise one hundred and fifty dollars
but what purchases a Navajo slave, and many families own
four or five—the trade in them being as regular as the trade
in pigs or sheep. Previous to the war their price was from
seventy-five to a hundred dollars, but now they are worth about
four hundred dollars. But the other day some Mexican In¬
dians from Chihuahua were for sale in Santa Fe. I have been
conversant with the institution of slavery in Georgia, but the
system is worse here, there being no obligation resting on the
owner to care for the slave when he becomes old or worthless."
Of course the Mexicans grumbled continually about the awful
incursions of the savages, but there was little disposition on
the part of the military to use any great violence against
the Navaho nation. They understood the situation, hav¬
ing had the best of opportunities for hearing the Navaho
448
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
side of the question ; many of the officers had Navaho mis¬
tresses.
Occasionally there would be a rupture between the In¬
dians and the soldiers, the most noted of these being the tight
at Fort Fauntleroy, in September, 1861. This trouble arose
over a horse-race, on which there had been very heavy bet¬
ting. The soldiers backed a horse ridden by Lieutenant Ortiz,
one of the post officers, and the Indians the other. The In¬
dians' horse ran off the track after running about one hundred
yards, the result, it was said, of a broken bridle, and they
claimed a draw. The commanding officer, on the refusal of
the winners to draw the race, gave orders that the Navahos
should not be allowed to enter the post. The winners filed
into the post, whooping and hallooing, with fifes screeching
and drums beating, and as they did so a shot was fired, and an
Indian killed. Who fired the shot is not certainly known,
but it was said to be a sentinel, past whom the Indian was
trying to make his way. The soldiers armed themselves, and
attacked the Indians in a confused way, without any orders.
Says Captain Iiodt, of the 1st Hew Mexican Cavalry: "The
Havahos, squaws, and children ran in all directions, and were
shot and bayoneted. I tried my best to form the company I
was first sergeant of, and succeeded in forming about twenty
men—it being very hard work. I then marched out to the
east side of the post; there I saw a soldier murdering two lit¬
tle children and a woman. I hallooed to the soldier to stop.
He looked up, but did not obey my order. I ran up as quick
as I could, but could not get there soon enough to prevent
him from killing the two innocent children and wounding
severely the squaw. I ordered his belts to be taken off and
him taken prisoner to the post. On my arrival in the post I
met Lieutenant Ortiz with a pistol at full cock, saying, 'Give
back this soldier his arms, or else I'll shoot you, G—d d—n
you,' which circumstances I reported to my company com¬
mander, he reporting the same to the colonel commanding,
and the answer he received from the colonel was ' That Lieu¬
tenant Ortiz did perfectly right, and that he gave credit to
the soldier who murdered the children and wounded the
squaw.' Meantime the colonel had given orders to the offi-
giant's arm-chair.
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE EEDONDO. 451
cer of the day to have the artillery (mountain howitzers)
brought out and to open upon the Indians. The sergeant in
charge of the mountain howitzers pretended not to understand
the order given, for he considered it as an unlawful order;
but being cursed by the officer of the day, and threatened, he
had to execute the order or else get himself in trouble. The
Indians scattered all over the valley below the post, attacked
the post herd, wounded the Mexican herder, but did not suc¬
ceed in getting any stock; also attacked the expressman, some
ten miles from the post, took his horse and mail-bag, and
wounded him in the arm. After the massacre there were no
more Indians to be seen about the post, with the exception of
a few squaws, favorites of the officers. The commanding offi¬
cer endeavored to make peace again with the Navahos by
sending some of the favorite squaws to talk with the chiefs;
but the only satisfaction the squaws received was a good flog¬
ging. An expressman was sent shortly after the affairs
above mentioned happened, but private letters were not al¬
lowed to be sent, and letters that reached the post-office at
Fauntleroy were found opened, but not forwarded. To the
best of my knowledge the number of ISTavahos killed was
twelve or fifteen; the number wounded could not be ascer¬
tained."
In the winter of 1860-61, Colonel E. E. S. Canby (soon af¬
terwards General Canby) proceeded against the Navahos and
inflicted severe punishment upon them until February, 1861,
when an armistice of three months was agreed upon, and later
this was extended to one year. In September Governor Con¬
nelly, Colonel Canby, and Superintendent Collins had a long
talk with thirty of their leading men, in which the usual as¬
surances of their peaceful intentions were given, but the peace
was not lasting. They were not, in fact, in a condition that
encouraged peace. Owing to constant hostilities, they had
planted but little for three years, and much of what they had
planted had been destroyed by the troops, as also many of
their herds; they were obliged to steal or starve, and adopted
the former alternative. In 1862 their agent reported that
they had " driven off over one hundred thousand sheep, and
not less than a thousand head of cattle, besides horses and
29
452
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mules to a large amount." In these depredations he said they
had "murdered many persons,and carried off many women
and children as captives." In consequence of this plundering,
Governor Connelly made a call for militia in September, and
some independent expeditions were also organized, but the
latter were stopped by the authorities for the reason that these
irresponsible companies invariably attacked friendly Indians
and hostile ones indiscriminately. General Carleton assumed
command of the district at this time, and took charge of all
military operations. Ilis forces were chiefly occupied with
the Mescalero Apaches during the winter, but in the spring of
1863 he was ready for the Navahos.
General Carleton's plan was to remove all who would con¬
sent to the Bosque Redondo, on the Pecos Biver, in Eastern
New Mexico, and to place the others with them as fast as they
were captured. This plan had the merit of sparing the inno¬
cent the horrors of war, at least. That General Carleton was
actuated by motives of humanity in adopting it can scarce¬
ly be questioned, lie said : "They have no government to
make treaties; they are a patriarchal people. One set of
families may make promises, but the other set will not heed
them. They understand the direct application of force as a
law; if its application be removed, that moment they become
lawless. This has been tried over and over again, and at great
expense. The purpose now is, never to relax the application
of force with a people that can no more be trusted than the
wolves that run through the mountains. To collect them to¬
gether, little by little, on to a reservation, away from the haunts
and hills and hiding-places of their country; there be kind
to them; there teach their children how to read and write;
teach them the arts of peace; teach them the truths of Chris¬
tianity." If there were an}7 fault in this plan it was only in
their removal from their native country, but for the purpose
of separating the peaceful from the hostile during the war
this coidd not very well be avoided. The Navahos were
given ample warning of General Carleton's intentions. He
notified part of the chiefs himself, and sent messengers among
them to inform them that they might have until the 20th day
of July, 1863, to come in, but that "after that day every Na-
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE EEDONDO. 453
vaho that is seen will be considered as hostile, and treated ac¬
cordingly."
Quite a number of Xavahos accepted the proffered terms,
and against the others the troops were kept operating from
Forts Stanton, Craig, Can by, Defiance, and the post at Los
Pinos; and the troops at all other posts were ordered to be con¬
stantly on the lookout for prowling bands of Navahos, which
were liable to appear in any part of the country. They went
everywhere in their expeditions. One band of a hundred and
thirty warriors even penetrated the Mescalero country, south¬
east of the Ilio Grande settlements, and, passing north, drove
off cattle and sheep from the Bosque Bedondo ; they were fol¬
lowed by a few troops and some Mescaleros, and the property
was retaken, with other plundered goods. The orders to the
soldiers, everywhere, were to kill every male Navaho capable
of bearing arms, whenever and wherever he might be found;
women and children were to be captured and held as prisoners.
These orders were often repeated, and the officers were urged
to the utmost activity by praise to the successful, and re¬
proaches to the unsuccessful. The following, issued to Col¬
onel Bigg, commanding at Fort Craig, on August 4, 1863, is
a sample of the instructions: " I have been informed that
there is a spring called Ojo de Cibolo, about fifteen miles west
of Limitar, where the Navahos drive their stolen cattle and
'jerk' the flesh at their leisure. Cannot you make arrange¬
ments for a party of resolute men from your command to be
stationed there for, say, thirty days, and kill every FTavaho
and Apache they can find ? A cautious, wary commander,
hiding his men and moving about at night, might kill off a
good many Indians near that point." Such orders seem harsh,
and yet they afforded the only means of bringing the Navahos
to terms. The great difficulty was to get any opportunity to
fight them. They were separated in small bands, under their
patriarchal system, and, being constantly on the move through
a country with which they were thoroughly acquainted, they
were usually able to avoid the soldiers, for whom they kept a
vigilant watch. After a few weeks of slight success, the sol¬
diers were further stimulated to activity by a bounty of twenty
dollars for each good horse turned over to the quartermaster's
454 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
CANON DE CIIELLV.
department, and one dollar for eacli sheep. The principal
offensive force was that operating from Fort Canby, under
Colonel Kit Carson, but, notwithstanding the ability and activ¬
ity of that noted Indian fighter, the results obtained during
the summer and fall of 1863 Were not important, and Carleton
consoled the colonel with the hope: " As winter approaches
you will have better luck." Still, as winter approached, suc¬
cess did not increase very materially, and the Kavahos were still
able to keep out of the way of the troops. It was therefore
decided to strike them in the Canon de Chelly, which was re-
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE REDONDO.
455
puted to be their greatest stronghold, and Colonel Carson was
ordered to prepare for this movement, which was to be made
in January.
The Canon de Chelly is one of the most remarkable works
of nature in the United States. The Rio Chelly may be found,
not very accurately traced, on any fair-sized map of Arizona,
in the northeastern corner of that territory. Its headwaters
are in the Sierra Tunicha, of Northwestern New Mexico, and
it flows thence almost due west, for some thirty miles, then
swings abruptly to the north, and empties into the Rio San
Juan near the northern line of Arizona. The line of its west¬
ern flow indicates the position of the canon, which extends
throughout that distance, the northward bend of the river
being just beyond its mouth. The main canon is counted as
beginning at the union of three small streams, each of which
has a canon of its own. They are the Cienega Negra (Black
Meadow), or Estrella (Star), on the southeast, the Palo Negro
(Black Timber), or Chelly Creek, on the east, and the Cienega
Juanica, or Juanita, on the northwest. The most easterly en¬
trance used by the Indians is near the head of Chelly Creek;
by it, the bottom of that stream is reached above the junction
of the others. It is not accessible for animals. The Cienega
Negra enters about three miles below the head of the Chelly
proper, and the Juanica half a mile lower. At places above
the entrance of the last-named stream the chasm is so narrow
that one might almost leap across it, but the beholder invol¬
untarily recoils from the dizzy view of over one thousand feet
of unbroken descent to the yellow floor beneath. About half
a mile below the Juanica there is another descent, where the
wall of the canon, there only seven hundred feet high, is broken
and sufficiently sloping to permit a zigzag descent to pack-
animals. Below this point the walls increase in height to
fifteen hundred feet, and the width of the canon from two
hundred to three hundred and fifty yards. The next approach
is by a side canon that enters on the south side, about eleven
miles below the Juanica ; it is commonly known as Bat Canon,
but the Indians and Mexicans call it Canon Alsada, or Canon
of the High Rock, from a natural obelisk, one thousand feet
high, with a base of one hundred and fifty feet, that rises ma-
29*
45G
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
jestically at the month of the canon, a hundred feet distant
from the wall. This needle leans so much that it seems about
to topple over. The Alsada entrance is the one commonly
used in approaching from Fort Defiance, and the trail is cut
deep in the sandstone by thousands of feet of men and animals
that in past generations have followed it. The descent here
is along ledges on the canon wall, so narrow that animals are
always driven ahead, for fear they may slip and carry the owner
over. Occasionally, below this point, there are lateral openings
in the canon walls, but none of them extend more than a few
hundred yards back, and there is no other entrance until about
three miles above the mouth, where the Canon del Trigo
(Wheat Canon) enters from the north. Below the Trigo the
walls sink rapidly, and the canon opens out into a rolling
country, barren and unprepossessing.
The formation is all sandstone, which is the " country
rock" for miles in every direction. From above, at almost
any point, the traveller comes suddenly on this mighty chasm,
without any warning of its presence in the rock plain over
which he is passing. The sudden view of the awful depths is
startling beyond description. From below, the stupendous
height of the walls, which often project above the head of
the beholder, cannot be fully comprehended. The floor of
the canon is comparatively smooth and very sandy, the general
appearance being that of a river of sand flowing between the
rock walls and circling around occasional islands of green.
There is no detritus along the foot of either wall, as is com¬
mon in other canons. The rocks are apparently disintegrating
and gradually filling the chasm, but the only agents in this
work are the wind and the loose sand, and their progress is so
slow as to be almost imperceptible. The particles of sand,
whirled along in the air, are constantly eating away the walls
and detached blocks of stone, and in the course of centuries
have made a very wonder-land of weird shapes and fantastic
sculpturing. The amount of water in the canon depends
wholly on the season. In years of drought there is none
above the surface, but the sand is moist, and the Indians ob¬
tain what water they need by digging. In moderate seasons
there is an occasional show of running water, which sinks again
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE liEDONDO. 457
in the sand. In wet seasons there is a considerable stream,
and about a mile below the Canon Alsada there is seen a mag¬
nificent fall of water from the top of the canon, sheer a thou¬
sand feet, swaying in the wind and breaking by the resistance
of the air, until it is completely lost in a fine mist at the bot¬
tom. The Navahos say the stream has decreased of later
years, and the remains of ancient acequias indicate the truth
of their tradition. There is a slight growth of underbrush
throughout the canon, with grass at intervals, and now and
then the corn-fields and peach-orchards of the Indians.
This place was inhabited long before Columbus set his
sails to seek the Indies. Along its walls are perched the
strange cliff-dwellings of that ancient and unknown race
which once peopled the present deserts of Arizona. Some of
them are on ledges only forty or fifty feet above the canon
floor, with parts 011 the floor, and others are six or seven hun¬
dred feet higher. How the higher ones were constructed is
an unsolved problem, for there appears now no way of access
to man but by ropes from above, or by broken flights of lad¬
der-like steps cut in the rock at various places, and these houses
are built of stone and heavy wooden beams. The timber in
them is in excellent preservation, and the whitewash on the
interior walls looks as though it had been put on within a year,
yet the Navahos say that these buildings were there, just as
they are now, when their forefathers came into the country.
The architecture is that of the Pueblos, with similar masonry,
the usual fragments of pottery, and the universal estufa. The
Navahos have never used them, and, so far as is known, have
never been able to reach some of them, to which, indeed, there
appears no feasible approach, except possibly by balloon. The
enterprising archaeologist would probably find them just as
the cliff-dweller left them when he departed on his last migra¬
tion.
This canon was not explored throughout until 1859, al¬
though the troops had often been in its vicinity, and the Na¬
vahos thought it afforded them an inaccessible retreat in time
of war. Still it was not a place of retreat to which they all
gathered, as was generally supposed, nor were there any for¬
tifications in it, as rumor had declared. It is not probable that
458
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
there were ever more than a thousand Indians living in it, for
no large numbers were ever found there, and there was not
the grass in it to support the large herds that they owned.
Nine tenths, at least, of the Navaho nation made their homes
at such other points in their extensive territory as afforded
pasturage for their flocks; the Canon de Chelly was merely
the residence of a small portion of the tribe; but none of the
whites knew just what was there, and the great chasm was re¬
garded in all circles as the mysterious stronghold of the Na-
valios. The first recorded entrance into it by troops was made
in September, 1849, by Lieutenant Simpson, of Colonel Wash¬
ington's expedition, escorted by Major Kendrick, with sixty
men. They entered at the mouth, went a short distance up
the Canon del Trigo, and then ascended the main canon for
nine and a half miles, in search of the fortifications of the
Navahos. To confirm the stories of the guides about an im¬
pregnable fortress 011 a plateau so high that fifteen ladders
were required to reach it, they found nothing but the cliff
houses, and, on returning, announced that the mystery of the
Canon de Chelly was solved. In 1858, Colonel D. S. Miles
entered it at the Canon Alsada and marched to the mouth
without any casualties, but he was so impressed with the ad¬
vantages it afforded for attack from the summits of the walls
that he reported : " No command should ever again enter it."
In July, 1859, Captain Walker, commanding an expedition
against the Navahos, entered the canon half a mile below the
entrance of the Juanica, and marched to the mouth. Two
weeks later he returned to the head of the canon and explored
it to the point of his former descent. In view of these ex¬
plorations it seems remarkable that General Carleton should
have written, after Carson's expedition : " This is the first
time any troops, whether when the country belonged to Mexico
or since we acquired it, have been able to pass through the
Canon de Chelly, which, for its great depth, its length, its
perpendicular walls, and its labyrinthine character, has been
regarded by eminent geologists as the most remarkable of any
'fissure' (for such it is held to be) upon the face of the globe.
It has been the great fortress of the tribe since time out of
mind." In reality, however, this misinformation was uni-
CLIEF HOUSE IN CANON DE CHELLY.
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE EEDONDO. 461
versa!. No officer who entered the canon (judging from their
reports) had any definite knowledge of what his predecessors
had done. Carson surely should have been acquainted with
the history of so famous a place, but, with an inaccuracy that
is strikingly illustrative of the unreliability of traditional his¬
tory, he reported that his troops had " accomplished an under¬
taking never before accomplished in war-time—that of passing
through the Canon de Chelly from east to west."*
Colonel Carson started from Fort Can by on January 6,
1864, with a force of three hundred and ninety officers and
men, for the mouth of the caiion. Just before starting he sent
Captain Pfeiffer, with one company, to operate from the east¬
ern end. The depth of the snow on the divide between Fort
Canby and the Pueblo Colorado was so great that his com¬
mand was three days in reaching the latter place, a march that
was usually made in one day. He had started his supply-train
on the 3d, expecting that the oxen would be recuperated by
the time of his arrival, but the train had taken five days in
making the twenty-five miles, and had lost twenty-seven oxen.
Reorganizing, and leaving part of the train, he pushed on to
the caiion, which he struck on the 12th, about six miles above
the mouth. On the night of the 11th he sent out Sergeant
Andres Herrara, with fifty men, as scouts. In the morning
this party found a fresh trail, and, following it rapidly, they
overtook the Indians just as they were entering the canon, and
attacked them ; they killed eleven and captured two women
and two children, with one hundred and thirty sheep and
goats. On the 13th Carson divided his force into two com¬
mands: one, under Captain Berney, was sent up the north
side of the caiion, and the other, under Cttptain Carey, ac¬
companied by Carson, moved up the south side, with the view
of ascertaining the topography of the country and the position
of the Navahos, if they had undertaken to make a stand. The
latter party found and captured five wounded Indians at the
scene of Herrara's fight. On the 14th they returned to the
mouth of the caiion and found Pfeiffer there, he having come
* Carson's report has never been published. I quote from the manuscript
copy on file in the office of the War Department, at Washington, to which
the department has courteously afforded me access.
462
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
through the canon successfully, without any casualty to his
command ; they had killed three Indians, and brought in nine¬
teen women and children prisoners.
While returning to camp, Carson was approached by three
Indians, under a flag of truce, who asked if they might come
in with their families and surrender. lie told them that they
might if they came by ten o'clock the next morning, but not
later. About sixty came in by the appointed time and acceded
to the terms of surrender and removal to the Bosque. Says
Carson : " They declared that, owing to the operations of my
command, they are in a complete state of starvation, and that
many of their women and children have already died from this
cause. They also state that they would have come in long ago,
but that they believed it was a war of extermination, and that
they were equally surprised and delighted to learn the contrary
from an old captive whom I had sent back to them for this
purpose. I issued them some meat, and as they asked per¬
mission to return to their haunts and collect the remainder of
their people, I directed them to meet me at this post [Fort
Canby] in ten days. They have all arrived here according to
promise, many of them, with others, joining and travelling in
with Captain Carey's command. This command of seventy-
five men I conferred upon Captain Carey at his own request,
lie being desirous of passing through this stupendous canon.
I sent the party to return through the canon from west to
east, that all the peach-orchards, of which there are many,
might be destroyed, as well as the dwellings of the Indians."
About three thousand peach-trees were destroyed in the canon ;
and one hundred and ten Navahos came in with Carey's com¬
mand. On January 23 Carson reported the results of the ex¬
pedition as follows: " Killed, 23 ; captured, 34; voluntarily
surrendered, 200; captured 200 head of sheep."
This expedition has passed into the realms of romance, like
many other events in New Mexican history, and the facts have
been lost sight of in the rosy coloring of imagination. Illus¬
trative of this I quote the following from a popular biography
of Kit Carson, that is introduced by what purport to be cer¬
tificates to its accuracy by such well-known New Mexicans
as Colonel Ceran St. Vrain and Judge Charles Beaubien:
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE EEDONDO.
463
COLONEL KIT CARSON.
"The Navajo Indians were very troublesome. For a whole
decade they had defied the government, and now, enlisted
as savage cohorts of the rebels, they were especially dan¬
gerous. They numbered several thousand warriors, and
roamed over an immense tract of country. General Carleton
selected Carson to command two thousand picked men, con¬
sisting of Californians, Mexicans, and mountaineers, to oper¬
ate against these Indians. The campaign was a most brilliant
one. After a succession of skirmishes, Carson succeeded in
getting the enemy into a bed or ravine, and had his own forces
so disposed as to command every approach, and in doing this
compelled the surrender of ten thousand Indians, being the
largest single capture of Indians ever known. The entire
tribe, men, women, and children, was disposed of by this mag¬
nificent operation. This greatly increased the fame of the
464
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mountain leader, and the official reports to the War Depart¬
ment very justly sounded his praises in flattering terms, but
none too extravagantly." This leads to the thought that if
there be anything more unreliable than traditional history it
is written history.
There is a generally prevailing impression, in regard to the
results of Carson's expedition, similar to the above statement,
and possibly derived from it. The great success of the expe¬
dition was not in immediate effect, but in the ulterior results
of the campaign, which Carson, with his keen foresight, an¬
ticipated. He said, in his report of January 23, 1864: "But
it is to the ulterior effects of the expedition that I look for
the greatest results. We have shown the Indians that in no
place, however formidable or inaccessible in their opinion,
are they safe from the pursuit of the troops of this command,
and have convinced a large portion of them that the struggle
on their part is a hopeless one. We have also demonstrated
that the intentions of the government towards them are emi¬
nently humane, and dictated by an earnest desire to promote
their welfare ; that the principle is not to destroy but to save
them, if they are disposed to be saved. When all this is un¬
derstood by the JSTavajoes, generally, as it soon will be, and
when they become convinced that destruction will follow on
resistance, they will gladly avail themselves of the opportuni¬
ties afforded them of peace and plenty under the fostering
care of the government, as do all those now with whom I
have had any means of communicating. They are arriving
almost hourly, and will, I believe, continue to arrive until the
last Indian in this section of the country is en route to the
Bosque Bedondo." This prediction proved substantially a true
one. The Navahos came in so fast that General Carleton's re¬
sources were taxed to the utmost to support them. By Febru¬
ary 20, 750 had surrendered at Los Pinos and been forwarded
to the Bosque. On February 24, 1650 were reported surren¬
dered at Fort Canby. On February 24, 1300 more were re¬
ported from Los Pinos. By March 11, 1500 more had come
in at Fort Canby, and Carleton notified Carson that he could
not take care of more than one additional thousand. By July
8, there were 6321 at the Bosque, and 1000 more at Fort
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE REDONDO.
465
Canby. The war was evidently ended ; Fort Canby was or¬
dered abandoned in August, and the troops sent into Ari¬
zona. Carson was sent to the plains to light Kiowas and
Comanches, with 200 Ute warriors, who had volunteered to
go if allowed what they could capture.
The evil qualities of the removal and concentration began
to show as soon as success had been attained. The number
of Uavahos had been underestimated by Carleton. Carson
maintained that there were at least 12,000 of them, and, if
any credit can be given to subsequent statistics, he was right,
but Carleton insisted that there could not possibly be over
8000; there must not be; it would spoil the Bosque system
if there were. The greatest number ever at the Bosque Re-
dondo was between nine and ten thousand ; the remainder of
the nation lurked in their old haunts, or fell back to the des¬
ert regions of Arizona and Utah, to avoid the troops. Of
course, under the system of voluntary surrender, the worst
Indians, the ones whose surveillance was most desirable, did
not come in ; but the removal of the others left them plenty
of room in their own country, and this, with the fear of the
troops, kept them quiet. The troops attacked them when¬
ever they met them, for several years afterwards. The ex¬
pense of caring for the exiled Navahos was very great. The
Rew Mexicans offered to relieve the government of a por¬
tion of this burden by a system of " binding out," but the
offer was declined ; and also all the Navahos who had been
kept at the army posts, " for whatever purpose," were re¬
quired to be sent to the Bosque. There was difficulty be¬
tween the Navahos and the Mescaleros at their new home.
They had been enemies of old, and there was nothing to bring
about a reconciliation. Their customs differed. The Mesca-
lero women were chaste, but had no part in the control of
the tribe ; the Navaho women were very dissolute, and exer¬
cised a strong influence in the tribal government. The Mes¬
caleros were the bolder warriors, but they were far inferior
in numbers. The tribal jealousies were aggravated by petty
aggressions and hectoring. The Apaches accused the Nava-
hos of trampling down their crops, and otherwise annoying
them. The reservation authorities made the matter worse by
466
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
removing the Mescaleros from the land they had been culti¬
vating, and giving it to the Navahos. The Mescaleros then
claimed the fulfilment of the promise to them of a reserva¬
tion in their own country, and when this was refused they
went without permission, and began hostilities.
Agriculture at the Bosque did not result successfully; the
crops usually promised well enough, but something always
spoiled them. One time it was drought, another cut-worms,
another bad irrigation, or overflows, or hail-storms. The In¬
dians were, of necessity, a great expense to the government.
The cost of feeding them for seven months, March to Sep¬
tember inclusive, in 1S65, was $152,356.9S. The cost for a
year previous to this time averaged higher than this, but the
exact figures cannot be given, on account of the large amount
of stores transferred from other departments and not reported
as to value. All this time it was well known that they could
support themselves in their own country. The principal
cause of their helplessness in their new homes was that they
were a pastoral, not an agricultural, people. In their own
country their chief food is goats' milk and the roots of certain
herbs of wild growth. Their flocks had been largely destroyed
during the war. Tradition puts the number of sheep killed by
soldiers at fifty thousand, but the Navahos say that the Utes
and Mexicans stole the greater part of them. The Bosque
did not afford grazing facilities for the sheep and goats they
still had, and these gradually decreased in number. It has
been proven since then that they can and will take care of
themselves, very easily, if they can get ample pasturage; and,
unless stock-raising is to be considered a less civilized pursuit
than agriculture, there is no reason why any forcible attempt
should be made to change the natural bent of their industrial
instincts.
The fitness of the Bosque Redondo for a reservation is
something that has been the subject of great controversy and
of misrepresentation on one or both sides. The following
description of it, given by Captain Thomas Claiborne in 1859,
when there was talk of establishing a military post there, may
fairly be considered as impartial: "The Bosque Redondo is
an elbow of the river [Pecos] ; the molts of cottonwoods are
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE REDONDO. 467
mostly on the left bank of the Pecos, extending for perhaps
six or seven miles, in clusters. The river is very crooked, and
stretched from side to side of the valley, which, midway of
the Bosque, is two miles or over wide. The appearance of
the Bosque in that desert country is very agreeable. The
lower half of the valley is tillable, the upper is filled with
drift sand. A secondary mesa, twelve hundred yards wide
and a mile and a quarter long, lies on the right bank of the
river, about midway the Bosque, about thirty feet above the
river-bottom, and is curtained by sand-hills about twenty-five
feet higher than itself. A kind of red-top grass grows in the
lower bottoms, mixed with bunch grass; the hills are covered
with brown sedge grass; the mesa above spoken of is well cov¬
ered with mesquite grass. The water of the river is bad and
the surrounding country is most desolate. The place is alto¬
gether unfit for a post." That the water of the Pecos at this
point is alkaline, and charged with certain salts, is unquestiona¬
ble; this comes from the Aqua Regra, which debouches into the
Pecos at Giddings's Banch, above the Bosque. The water of
the Aqua Negra, however, has always been used, more or less,
at Giddings's Ranch, both by men and animals, without bad
results, though it is somewhat diuretic. Dr. Warner, physi¬
cian at Fort Sumner, testified that the water of the Pecos at
the Bosque is wholesome. Cadete (Gian-nah-tah), the Mesca-
lero chief, testified: "It is not good, too much alkali, and is
the cause of the sickness in the tribe and losing our animals."
The Ravahos sometimes said the water was all right, and
sometimes that they thought it was bad, but they always
unanimously expressed a preference for their old country.
The head of the opposition to the Bosque was Dr. Mat¬
thew Steck, a well-known settler in New Mexico, at that time
Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Fie favored giving the
Mescaleros a reservation in their own country, as had been
promised them, and opposed the removal of the Ravahos to
the Bosque. lie advocated his views in IFew Mexico, and,
when he found he could do nothing there, he went to Wash¬
ington to secure the same ends. Carleton complained bitterly
of this attempted interference with his plans, and insisted on
the enforcement of the ultra-humane policy; that is, on com-
30
468
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
pelling the Indians to do what the white man in authority—
in this case himself—may think to be best for them. lie said:
" Dr. Steck wants to hold councils with the Navajoes ! It is
mockery to hold councils with a people who are in our hands
and have only to await our decisions. It will be bad policy
to hold any councils. We should give them what they need,
what is just, and take care of them as children until they
can take care of themselves. The Navajoes should never leave
the Bosque, and never shall if I can prevent it. I told them
that that should be their home. They have gone there with
that understanding. There is land enough there for them¬
selves and the Apaches. The Navajoes themselves are Apaches,
and talk the same language, and in a few years will be homo¬
geneous with them." He was proven to be mistaken as to
the two tribes becoming homogeneous ; whether he was wrong
in other regards is a question about which people will differ;
in brief, it is simply the question whether the concentration
policy is the right one—whether it is better to place Indians
where they do not wish to be, oblige them to do things which
they do not wish to do, and force them to abandon the pur¬
suits by which they had formerly supported themselves.
General Carleton also accused Mr. Steck of acting from inter¬
ested motives, but he did not specify in what regard.
In the winter of 1864-65, the Navahos at the Bosque were
reduced to terrible straits through the destruction of their
crops by cut-worms. There was want all through that por¬
tion of the country from various causes. Neither the War nor
the Indian Department wras able to relieve them adequately.
There was no relief from natural sources, for the acorns, ce¬
dar-berries, wild potatoes, palmillas and other roots, mescal
and mesquite, on which they could rely in their old home in
times of famine, were not found at the Bosque. Cattle and
sheep were issued to them for food, "head and pluck," and
the blood of the slaughtered animals was ordered to be saved
to make " haggis and blood-puddings" for the orphan chil¬
dren. To add to their distress these people, who make the
most serviceable blankets in the world and usually have plenty
of them, were destitute, by the ravages of their enemies, of
both blankets and clothing. They had no houses, and, as sub-
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE REDONDO.
469
stitutes, holes were ordered to be dog, in which they might
be sheltered from the wind. In spite of all his efforts and in¬
genuity, General Carleton knew that they must suffer, and, on
'October 31, 1864, he directed the commandant at Fort Sum¬
ner to explain his good intentions to the Indians. " Tell
them," he said, " to be too proud to murmur at what cannot
be helped. We could not foresee the total destruction of their
corn crop, nor could we foresee that the frost and hail would
come and destroy the crop in the country; but not to be dis¬
couraged ; to work hard, every man and woman, to put in
NEAR THE HEAD-WATERS OF THE NAYAHO.
large fields next year, when, if God smiles upon our efforts,
they will, at one bound, be forever placed beyond want, and
independent. Tell them not to believe ever that we are not
their best friends; that their enemies have told them that we
would destroy them; that we had sent big guns there to at¬
tack them ; but that those guns are only to be used against
their enemies, if they continue to behave as they have done."
With all his good intentions, General Carleton was inex¬
cusable, under analogy of the laws that are daily administered
in every state and territory of the Union. There is no excuse
470
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
known for failure under such circumstances. When a man is
restrained of his liberty, or deprived of any right, for the pur¬
pose of benefiting him, there is no extenuation except he be
in fact benefited, or, at least, not injured. Good intentions
never excuse a wrong; and though, as a war measure,placing
the Navahos at the Bosque may be justified, keeping them
there against their will, in time of peace, is clearly an infringe¬
ment of natural right. Our government must actually bene¬
fit the Indians by the reservation system in order to justify
itself. Still, General Carleton stuck to his theory, and said
that if the Navahos were moved from the Bosque at all they
ought to be sent to Kansas or the Indian Territory. In 1865
the worms destroyed the crops again, and on July 18, after
giving directions for husbanding all food, Carleton instructed
the officer in command : "You should tell the Indians what a
dreadful year it is, and how they must save everything to eat
which lies in their power, or starvation will come upon them."
The Indians had been slipping away from the place in small
parties since midwinter of 1864-65, and in July a large party,
under Ganado Blanco (White Cattle), broke away forcibly, but
they were pursued and driven back. In August Carleton con¬
cluded to let the few Coyotero Apaches on the reservation
return to their own country, as they desired. In the summer
of this year a commission, consisting of Senator Doolittle,
Vice-President Foster, and Representative Boss, visited New
Mexico, and made a full investigation of the Indian affairs
there, but nothing resulted from it.
In 1865 Felipe Delgado succeeded Mr. Steck as Superin¬
tendent ; he was in harmony with General Carleton, and re¬
ported that, " It is fair to presume that next year their [the
Navahos'] facilities will be greater," etc. He had the good
sense to recommend the purchase of sheep for them. In 1866
the crops failed again—this time, as Superintendent A. B.
Norton and their agent reported, from bad seed, improper
management, and overflows of the Pecos. There were re¬
ported to be 7000 Indians on the reservation, and the cost
of keeping them was estimated at $1,500,000 annually. In
1S67 the crops failed, from bad management and hail-storms,
as reported; the Comanches attacked and robbed the Na-
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE REDONDO. 471
vahos several times; and many of their horses died from
eating poisonous weeds. There were 7300 Indians reported
as on the reservation, and their property had become reduced
to 550 horses, 20 mules, 910 sheep, and 1025 goats. In 1868
Superintendent Davis reported: "The Navahos were lo¬
cated several years ago upon a reservation at the Bosque
Redondo, by the military, and after expending vast sums
of money, and after making every effort for more than four
years to make it a success, it has proved a total failure.
It was certainly a very unfortunate selection for a reserve;
no wood, unproductive soil, and very unhealthy water, and
the Indians were so much dissatisfied they planted no grain
last spring, and I verily believe they were making prepara¬
tions to leave as the Apaches did."
Fortunately for all concerned, General Sherman and Col¬
onel Tappan, Peace Commissioners, reached New Mexico in
May, 1868. They satisfied themselves that the Navahos
would never become self-supporting or contented at the
Bosque Redondo, and, on June 1, entered into an agreement
with the tribe by which they were to be removed to their for¬
mer country. The reservation then given them was included
between parallel 37° of north latitude and a parallel drawn
through Fort Defiance, for north and south lines, and parallel
of longitude 109° 30' and a parallel drawn through Ojo del
Oso, as east and west lines. The Indians were to receive five
dollars annually, in clothing, for each member of the tribe, and
ten dollars for each one engaged in farming or mechanical
pursuits. Each head of a family was entitled to select
one hundred and sixty acres of land, if he desired to
hold in severalty, and in such case he was to receive one
hundred dollars in seeds and implements the first year, and
twenty-five dollars each for the second and third years.
Buildings of the value of $11,500 were to be erected, and
the Navahos pledged themselves to compel all their chil¬
dren between the ages of six and sixteen to attend school. A
separate school-house and teacher was to be provided for every
thirty pupils; $150,000 was to be appropriated at once to the
Indians, part of which was to be expended in the purchase of
15,000 sheep and goats and 500 cattle, and the remainder to
472
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
be used for the expenses of their removal and in such other
ways as should appear most beneficial.
Under this liberal treaty the tribe was removed in 1868,
and since then there has been a continuous improvement in
their condition. They had very bad luck with their crops
for several years, but their herds increased steadily. By
1873 they were reported to have 10,000 horses and 200,000
sheep and goats. In 1872 an Indian police force was or¬
ganized at the agency, on recommendation of Captain Ben¬
nett, and placed under command of Manuelito, their war-
chief, providing, for the first time in their history, for a
control of offenders by tribal authority. It was discon¬
tinued in 1873 for a short time, but was soon put in force
again, with beneficial results. A few years later the Indians
abandoned it on account of the small pay given to the police¬
men. About fifteen men are now employed, and they appear
to' be all that are needed. In 1876 the Navahos were report¬
ed as self-supporting, notwithstanding they had lost 40,000
sheep by freezing during the past winter. In 1878 their
agent said: " Within the ten years during which the present
treaty with the Uavahos has been in force they have grown
from a band of paupers to a nation of prosperous, industrious,
shrewd, and (for barbarians) intelligent people." They were
reported at that time as numbering 11,800, and owning 20,000
horses, 1500 cattle, and 500,000 sheep; they were tilling 9192
acres of land, and obtained ninety-five per cent, of their sub¬
sistence from civilized pursuits.
In fact, they were increasing so rapidly that there was an
urgent call for more room, and, as there was desert land to
spare in all directions, it was given to them. By executive
order of October 29, 1878, there was added to their reserva¬
tion the land between the northern line of Arizona, parallel
110° of west longitude, parallel 36° of north latitude, and the
western line of the reservation. Still there was a call for
more land, and on January 6,1880, they were given a strip fif¬
teen miles wide along the eastern side of the reservation, and
one six miles wide along the southern line. In the latter year
three windmill pumps and fifty-two stock pumps were put in
at different points on the reservation, which have stopped
MOQUI PUEBLO.
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE EEDONDO.
475
much of their wandering in search of water, and added great¬
ly to the value of their grazing-lands. Their march of im¬
provement has not stopped, and in 1884 the nation, estimated
at 17,000, cultivated 15,000 acres of land and raised 220,000
bushels of corn and 21,000 bushels of wheat; they had 35,000
horses and 1,000,000 sheep. In 1884 the reservation was ex¬
tended west to 1110 30', and the northern boundary was made
the Colorado and San Juan rivers. By this addition the
reservation encloses the Moqui Pueblo reservation on two
sides, and the agencies for the two have been consolidated.
This order, increasing the reservation by 1,769,600 acres in
Arizona and Utah, was supplemented by one taking away
46,000 acres in New Mexico; the reservation as now estab¬
lished includes 8,159,360 acres, mostly desert land.
With their advancement in wealth the Navahos have
made but little progress in civilization, and their condition is
one that might well call for more extended mission work
than has been done among them. The government is main¬
taining an industrial school at present, and the Presbyterian
Church, to which they were assigned, has established a mis¬
sion school two or three times, but it has been discontinued
through the failure of Congress to furnish a suitable build¬
ing. The Navahos, however, have repeatedly asked to have
schools established, and the Presbyterian Board of Foreign
Missions has recently decided to establish a school, whether
the government complied with its promises or not. There
were twenty-five reported, in 1884, as being able to read, but
the report is not very reliable; only five were reported as
able to speak English in 1883. Their manners, customs, and
religion are practically unchanged, except that they have
adopted civilized clothing to a large extent. They still plant
with sharpened sticks, but this has been conceded by farmers
to be the best way of planting in their country; seed must
be planted deep in order to obtain moisture to insure growth,
and ploughing only makes the ground dry. They never wash
their sheep, and still chop the wool from them with case-
knives, pieces of tin, or anything else that will cut, obtaining
about one pound from each animal.* Their horses are seldom
* A large number of sheep-shears were sent to them in 1885, and will
probably be used.
476 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
used except in travelling; three fourths of them are never
broken, and are of no use whatever, except in the purchase
of wives. Attempts have been made to introduce improved
looms among them, but the women adhere tenaciously to
their old modes. About fifty of the men were induced to
build houses, in 1884, but the vast majority still adhere to
their temporary hogans, and desert them when a death occurs.
Their morals are as loose as ever, except that the consump¬
tion of liquor has decreased materially. These are the chief
signs of advancement, and yet it has been said repeatedly
that the fSTavahos afforded the best material for civilization
among our Indian tribes. After forty years of our guardian¬
ship they are still barbarians—self-supporting while kept sep¬
arate from the whites, but as helpless and as easily swindled
as children, except in the most ordinary business dealings,
and scarcely better fitted for the duties of citizenship than
when we first knew them. They were always among thieves,
and thus far Christianity and civilization have passed by on
the other side. Possibly that is why they are now so pros¬
perous.
CHAPTER XY.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
Until the close of the War of the Rebellion, the great
northeastern triangle of the mountain country,lying between
the continental divide and the plains, had been subject to lit¬
tle encroachment from the white man, but civilization had
been pressing up about it on all sides. On the east, the
Sioux had been pushed back gradually until the great out¬
break of 1862, in Minnesota, and then, by one stroke, forced
into the confines of Dakota. At the south, the mining settle¬
ments of Colorado had grown populous and strong enough to
entirely dispossess the Indian. On the southwest, the Saints
had planted themselves immovably, and converted what hunt¬
ing-grounds there were in that section into farms. On the
o o
west, the gold-hunters had crowded up to the continental di¬
vide and were moving down its eastern slope. They had ad¬
vanced from the Pacific coast, passing from one point to an¬
other in wild stampedes, as new discoveries of the precious
metal were made, but always growing in numbers and always
pressing towards the east. The discovery of the Colville
mines was followed in 1857-58-59 by the Frazer River excite¬
ment, which carried a large population into the Northwest.
Then came the rush for the Salmon River mines in 1861-62,
sending the adventurers into Southeastern Washington, to such
an extent that in 1863 Idaho was organized as a territory, in¬
cluding the new settlements. The overflow from the Salmon
River country, across the divide, began in 1861, and the
prospectors soon found ground that was worthy their time and
attention. In the following year the wonderful placers of this
section became known, and there ensued a rush for the new
Golconda that surpassed anything ever known in the North¬
west. The richness of the mines justified the great immigra-
478
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tion ; it is estimated that the placers of Alder Gulch alone
produced $50,000,000 of gold in the four years following
their discovery. Helena, Virginia City, Bozeman, and other
camps sprang up, with populations that produced nothing
but gold, and which must be supplied with everything else
from the outside.
There were two ways of reaching the Montana settle¬
ments from the East: one was by following the established
FROSPECTOtiS IN THE MOUNTAINS.
emigrant road through the South Pass, to Fort Hall, and
thence north; the other was by boat, on the Missouri and
Yellowstone rivers, to the head of navigation, and thence
through the country of the Crows to the mines. Both these
routes were very circuitous, being over five hundred miles
longer than the direct road which was physically practicable,
from Fort Laramie to Bozeman, along the eastern base of the
FOIiT PHIL KEARNEY.
47 9
Big Horn Mountains. Several parties had gone into Mon¬
tana by this route, which was at first called " Bozeman's
Route," and afterwards, when definitely located, " the Mon¬
tana Road." Besides the extra distance, the South Pass
route, which was virtually the only road used by emigrants
with teams, required crossing and recrossing the continental
divide, a very considerable hardship to the Way-worn emi¬
grant. For these reasons it became desirable to open a di¬
rect road, and preparations for it were commenced in 1865,
by negotiating with the Indians for the right of way.
The country through which the proposed road was pro¬
jected belonged, when first known to the whites, to the Crows,
or, as they call themselves, Absaroka or Upsaroka. It is
sometimes called by the same name, which is then translated
"the land, or home, of the Crows." The tribe is a branch
of the Dakota family, numbering about three thousand five
hundred, and is in three divisions; the Ki-kat-sa, or Crows
proper, commonly known as the Mountain Crows; the Alla-
ka-weah, and the Ah-nah-a-ways, who live farther to the east,
and are termed the River Crows. These Indians are tall,
well-formed, expert horsemen and good hunters. The fur
traders had troubles with them at times, and gave them the
reputation of rascals and thieves, but of later years they have
been faithful and honorable friends of the whites. The}-
had all the fighting they could attend to from their cousins,
the Sioux, who waged relentless war upon them. On this
account they cultivated the friendship of the whites, from
whom they could procure arms and ammunition, and even
had several reputable white chiefs, among whom were the
celebrated Bridger and Beckwith. By the time that the
early emigration to the mountains began, a large portion of
the southern and eastern parts of the northeastern triangle
had been deserted by the Crows as a habitation, though still
held in common with the Sioux as a battle-ground and hunt¬
ing-ground. By 1865 the Sioux, with their allies the North¬
ern Cheyennes and Arapahoes, had gained control of these
sections, and the Crows were virtually expelled from the
country east and south of the Big Horn Mountains.
That part of the country, thus gained by the Sioux, which
480
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
lies between the Black Hills, the Big Horn Mountains, and
the Yellowstone Biver, was known as the Powder Biver
country, from its principal stream, whose valleys, together
with those of the Tongue Biver and the Bosebud, constituted
the best hunting-ground remaining to the Sioux. For over
thirty miles north from Fort Beno this country is much like
the great plains, with little vegetable growth except sage¬
brush ; north of that it is more fertile, covered with grass,
and abounding in all the vegetable growth of the latitude.
The monotony of evergreen forests is broken bv groves of
cottonwoods, willows, ashes, and red-birches. All kinds of
berries, with grapes, cherries, and plums, grow wild, in pro¬
fusion. The streams are clear and wholesome, instead of
muddy and alkaline, as in the lower country. This beautiful
region extends along the eastern and northeastern bases of
the Big Horn Mountains, in a strip of varying width. Off to
the northeast, at an average distance of perhaps twenty miles,
begin the "bad lands," and the country takes on a dreary
and desolate aspect. In this entire region large game was
still abundant. The most extensive herds of buffalo yet re¬
maining pastured there. Elk, deer, and antelope were to be
met with everywhere. The terraced buttes were the favorite
home of the big-horn. Bears rioted among the fruits and
berries. Of small game, such as rabbits, grouse, and water¬
fowl, there was an abundance that can scarcely be imagined.
Naturally enough, the Indians did not desire to lose this sports¬
man's paradise, but the government did not appear to know it.
It was the era of peace—in Washington. The Indians,
in the annual reports, were doing nothing but defending
themselves from the encroachments of lawless whites. They
were ready and willing to do anything, if they could only se¬
cure schools and churches. Mr. Bogy, the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, sat back and smiled sarcastically at reports of
hostilities. The peace people were busy, working themselves
into a white heat over the wrongs of the Cheyennes. The
entire country looked contemptuously on the strength of the
red men. What! we, who had just put down the greatest
rebellion the world ever knew, to be terrified by a few half-
starved Indians? Oh, no! The army was cut down to its
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
481
lowest possible figure, and much of it was employed in the
late insurrectionary states. Its arms were chiefly old-fash¬
ioned muzzle-loaders, notwithstanding the wonderful im¬
provements that had been made in weapons during the war.
The Indians were better armed. On one occasion a cattle
guard excused themselves for not firing on Indians who
<D cD
were attacking their herds, because the Indians had revolvers,
while they had nothing but muzzle-loading muskets, and
would be at the mercy of the Indians if they discharged
them. "Judicious men" were sent out to treat with the
Sioux for the right of way through to Montana. They met
at Fort Sully, and, from October 10 to October 28, made trea¬
ties with the Minneconjous, Lower Ernies, Two Kettles,
Blackfoot Sioux, Sans Arcs, Oncpapas, and Ogallallas, by
which these Indians agreed to " withdraw from the routes
overland already established or hereafter to be established
through their country," and not to interfere " with the per¬
sons or property of citizens of the United States travelling
thereon." The chief striking features about these treaties
were the small number of signatures appended to them, and
the absence of names of prominence among these. The
Ogallalla treaty had but three signers—Long Bull, Charging
Bear, and Man that Stands on a Hill—neither of whom, as
was notorious, had any control over the tribe. In the mean
time General Connor had marched into the Powder River
country to chastise the Indians who declined to treat, but he
had little success, and was forced to be content with establish¬
ing Fort Reno on the head-waters of Powder River.
The matter drifted on through the winter, the opposition
growing somewhat less during that annual period of starva¬
tion, when the presents from the Great Father looked so
much more enticing. The leader of the anti-cession party
was Red Cloud (Mock-peah-lu-tah), who was at that time
known only as the chief of the Bad Faces, one of the three
bands into which the Ogallallas were divided. He was a
warrior, not of hereditary rank, who was raised to the leader¬
ship on his merits, and was already exerting a wide influence.
His influence "was largely due to his medicine powers, which
were not of the ordinary stripe. In common with many
482
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
other Indians, he professed the power of seeing spirits, but, in
excess of them, he claimed direct communication with the
Great Spirit, who guided him in all matters of importance.
Shrewd in all things, he was especially keen in his foresight.
He realized that the building of the road meant the destruc¬
tion of the game in their best hunting-ground, and the reduc¬
tion of his people to the beggarly condition of the Indians
who hung about the government posts. lie bitterly opposed
the treaties from the first. An able second was found in Ta-
shun-kah-Ko-ke-pah (Man Afraid of his Horses), the warlike
chief of the Ilonc-pah-te-lah band of Ogallallas. The name
does not mean that he fears his horses, as it is often under¬
stood, but that he is fearful of losing them. It wTas given
him because, on occasion of an attack by the Shoshonees, he
abandoned his family in order to save his herd of ponies.
The most influential of the chiefs that favored the trea¬
ties was Spotted Tail (Sin-ta-Gal-les-sea), who, like Bed Cloud,
was not of hereditary rank, but a warrior who had risen by
his courage and ability. He and his coadjutor Standing Elk
(As- hah-kali-nah-zhe) will be remembered as among the
Brules who surrendered themselves, for the safety of their
tribe, after the battle of Ash Hollow. When a young man of
twenty, Spotted Tail cpiarrelled with one of the boldest and
fiercest chiefs of his tribe, about a young girl, whom both ad¬
mired. Meeting one day alone, outside the camp, the chief
demanded of him that he should abandon his pretensions to
the lady, on pain of instant death. The young brave did not
stop to bandy words. Burning with rage and hatred, he
snatched his knife from its sheath and defied his rival's prow¬
ess. The chief's keen blade had flashed in the air as quickly
as his own ; with a bound he was upon the presumptuous
youth, and they were in the struggle for life or death. A
few hours later an Indian, who passed that way, found them
locked in each other's arms and covered with gaping wounds;
the chief was dead, and Spotted Tail was senseless. He soon
recovered from his wounds, and at once rose to prominence.
It is pleasing to know, also, that he married the girl for whom
he fought so well, and through life treated her with such
kindness and affection as are rarely known among these In-
SPOTTED TAIL.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
483
dians. On the death of the head chief the tribe put aside the
hereditary claimants, and elected Spotted Tail, by an almost
unanimous vote, to the highest command. He had proved
an able chief and remained friendly to the whites, but at the
present juncture the sentiment against the road was so strong
that his authority was reduced to a nominal control, even of
his own tribe.
In the spring the commission located itself at Fort Lara¬
mie, being still engaged in efforts to get signers to its treaties,
and especially to conciliate the Ogallallas. The idea preva¬
lent among officials, both in the East and the West, was that
there must be peace, and accordingly it was said with assur¬
ance that there would be. According to the statement of
Special Agent Chandler, " Commissioner Taylor repeatedly
asserted that he was sent there by the government for the
purpose of making a treaty, and it should be accomplished, if
made with but two Indians," as could be " proved by numer¬
ous officers and citizens at and near this post, who heard him."
Every effort was made to induce the Indians who opposed the
road to consent to it, but in vain. Colonel Taylor promised
" that the travel on said road should be confined strictly to
the line thereof, and that emigrants and travellers generally
should not be allowed to molest or disturb the game in the
country through which they passed ;" but this offer, so evident¬
ly impossible of performance, did not deceive the Indians, and
they still refused to treat. So certain, however, were all par¬
ties that the right of way would be granted, that the military
occupation of the country began wdiile the negotiations were
pending. Colonel H. B. Carrington was ordered up from
Fort Kearney, with about two thousand men, of whom eight
companies wrere assigned to the new route. They numbered
about seven hundred men, five hundred of them raw recruits.
This command passed through Laramie in June, while the
negotiations were going on, and marched directly for the
Powder River country.
As soon as the destination of these troops was announced
to the Indians, Red Cloud, Man Afraid, and their followers
withdrew from the council and refused to return. The only
ones of the Prairie Sioux who remained and agreed to abide
48 4
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
by the treaties were the Lower Brnles, with a few stragglers
from other tribes. At that time they numbered about two
thousand live hundred, but a year later Spotted Tail, Stand¬
ing Elk, and Swift Bear, the treaty chiefs, had with them only
one hundred lodges, mostly of old women and squaws, the
young men having gone to swell the ranks of Red Cloud.
Included among the Indians that treated was the mixed band
under Big Mouth and Blue Nose,Which had lived about Fort
Laramie so long that they were known as the " Laramie
Loafers." They numbered about six hundred, but less than
a hundred of them were men, and more than a hundred
were half-breed children. So rapid was the defection of war¬
riors to the hostile camps, that, within two weeks after the
passage of the troops, Spotted Tail and Standing Elk told the
whites that their young men had left them and gone to the
Powder River country, and that parties who went far from
home had best " go prepared, and look out for their hair."
The commissioners were right in insisting that a treaty
should be made and the road opened. There was no existing
treaty with the Sioux by which the United States relinquished
the right of opening roads through their country, as has some¬
times been stated. The United States does not often make
treaties of that kind with Indians, and it is doubtful whether
it ought at all. The reason for the law of eminent domain
extends to the right of way over Indian lands, whether re¬
served or not, as it does to that over the property of the citi¬
zen, and the Indian should submit to it as the white man does.
After land is reserved for the use of Indians, however, the
lawr of eminent domain comes in conflict with another do<rma
of public policy, which is that the Indians should be kept
separate from the whites until they become civilized. The
damage done by the intrusion is held superior to the benefit
resulting from the road, but in such cases right of way is al¬
most invariably obtained by treaty. When a new railroad is
to be built, it is pushed through the country with very little
regard for the feelings of property owners. It may spoil the
old spring, ruin the orchard, and wipe the beloved homestead
out of existence, and this although in fact the road may be a
mere speculation, and not a necessity at all. To this the white
FORT P1IIL KEARNEY.
485
man must submit; why then should a much-needed road be
left unmade for fear of spoiling the hunting-preserves of the
red man ? Certainly the Montana road ought to have been
opened; the wrong done was in failing to report the actual
feelings of the Indians to the government. If we may judge
by the letters of Commissioner Bogy, he was in absolute igno¬
rance of the condition of affairs. It was understood in Wash¬
ington that the treaties were properly made and that every¬
thing was going on smoothly. The troops received assurances
to that effect.
The detachment for the Powder River country was mov¬
ing on. The soldiers were splendidly furnished with every¬
thing except arms, ammunition, and horses. Nearly all of
them were armed with old, muzzle-loading, Springfield mus¬
kets; though the regimental band had Spencer breech-loading
carbines, and a few of the officers had Henry rifles. Of am¬
munition only a small amount was taken from Fort Kearney,
ON THE BOZEMAN TRAIL.
31*
486
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
in the expectation that a supply could be obtained at Fort Lara¬
mie, but unfortunately there was none there of proper make
and calibre. There was no cavalry in the command, and only
two hundred horses available for cavalry purposes. On these
two hundred infantrymen, armed with muskets, were mounted.
Verily this expedition was on a strictly peace basis. The In¬
dians were proceeding on a different theory. On the morning
after the command reached Fort Reno, one hundred and sixty-
seven miles northwest of Fort Laramie, the peaceful Sioux
ran off all the sutler's horses and mules. They were pursued,
but none of the stock was recovered; the only thing the pur¬
suers captured was a pony, so heavily laden with the presents
recently distributed at Fort Laramie that he could not keep
up in the chase. On July 14 the troops, who had then
reached Piney Creek, received notice from the Indians that
they must leave the country; that Fort Reno would not be
disturbed, but that no new forts could be built. On the next
morning the new fort was located at the mouth of Little
Piney Creek. It was named Fort Phil Kearney, in honor of
the distinguished cavalry officer, though the orthography does
not indicate it.* Preparations for defence were at once be¬
gun by mowing the parade-ground and pbtting up signs to
" Keep off the grass."
On the morning of the 17th, at daybreak, part of the post
herd were stampeded, and the party that went in pursuit was
surrounded by a large force of Indians, who killed two and
wounded three of the soldiers. Later in the day, the same
party of Indians came upon the travelling trading establish¬
ment of Louis Gazzous, commonly known as "French Pete,"
an old trader with a Sioux wife, and killed all the men, six in
number. From that day until the 29th, five emigrant trains
were attacked, fifteen men killed, and much stock run off, part
of it from Fort Reno. On the 29th Carrington appears to
have awakened to the fact that the hostile Indians were doing
some damage. lie telegraphed the Adjutant-general of the
army, on that day, for Indian auxiliaries and additional force.
On the 31st he requested reinforcements of General P. St.
* The family name is Kearny, but both the Nebraska post, which was
named after Stephen W., and this one, are universally spelled Kearney.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
487
George Cooke, commanding in that district. On August 3,
Fort C. F. Smith was located on the Big Horn, ninety-two
miles northwest of Phil Kearney, by two companies sent from
the latter point. During August the hostilities were chiefly
horse and cattle stealing. Only three men were killed on the
line, one of them being Grover, the artist-correspondent. In
the latter part of August General Ilazen visited and inspected
the post. lie stated that two companies of regular cavalry
had been ordered up from Fort Laramie, and a regiment of
infantry was on the way from St. Louis. In September more
than a dozen men were killed on the line, about five hundred
horses, mules, and cattle were run off, and five mowing-ma¬
chines, with much other property, were destroyed.
During all this time active work was continued on the
fort, which was being constructed on an extensive and elabo¬
rate plan. Large parties of men were kept busy cutting tim¬
ber and hauling it in ; others were working on the stockades
and buildings; saw-mills were running at full speed ; hay was
being cut and stored for the coming winter. The timber was
cut about seven miles from the fort, and the men detailed to
cut and bring it in were called "the wood train." It was
used in such enormous quantities, and so much of their time
was consumed in Indian attacks and alarms, that from seventy-
five to one hundred men were employed almost constantly gn
this branch of the work. By the last of October the fort was
enclosed. It stood on a little plateau, elevated fifty 01* sixty
feet above the surrounding bottom lands, in the point at the
mouth of the Little Piney. Its length was sixteen hundred
feet, northwest and southeast, parallel to the Big Piney. The
northwestern part of it, or fort proper, was eight hundred
feet in length by six hundred in width, and surrounded by a
stockade of heavy pine logs, which were eleven feet long and
planted three feet in the ground. The logs were hewn to a
touching surface of four inches, loop-holed, and pointed. At
the eastern and western angles were block-houses. Enclosed
in this stockade were quarters for the troops, cavalry stables,
store-houses, and a few other buildings. The southeastern
half of the fort was of the same length, and of nearly equal
width, where the two parts joined, but narrowing to about
488
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
four hundred feet at the southeastern end. It was enclosed
in a rough cottonwood stockade, and was used for a corral,
teamsters' quarters, stables, shops, and similar purposes. The
amount of work in all this was very great, there being fort}'-
two distinct buildings in the fort proper, while the stables and
other buildings of tire corral extended entirely around it, ex¬
cept at the gates, abutting on the stockade.
The country about the fort is hilly. Some six miles west
of it the Big Piney comes down in a northeast course, till it
passes Piney Island; then it turns to the southeast and flows
in a direct line for over six miles, to the mouth of Little Piney,
where it swerves and flows away almost due east. Forth of
the fort, on the opposite side of the Big Piney, is Lodge Trail
Bidge, trending northwest and southeast, and forming the di¬
vide between Piney and Peno creeks. The latter is a tribu¬
tary of Goose Creek, which, in turn,flows into Tongue Piver.
East of the fort is Little Piney Creek, then a few low hills,
then Starling Creek, and bejmnd it Lake De Smet. South¬
east of the fort is an island of seven or eight acres in Little
Piney, and beyond the creek rises a high knoll called Pilot
Hill, which was used for a lookout station.. South of the fort
are two or three hills, and then the Big Horn Mountains, ris¬
ing in successive ridges till they culminate in Cloud Peak,
lqiles to the south. To the west is Fort Ridge, seven hundred
feet above the valley, separating the head-waters of the Big and
Little Piney. It is so called from the supposed remains of an
Indian fort on its summit. Just to the northwest of the fort
begin the Sullivant Hills, which extend away in that direction
to the Big Piney. Beyond them the creek is divided by the
large island called Piney, which was' the principal place for
cutting timber. Beyond the creek in this direction are Peno
Head and Rocky Face Ridge, two branches of a spur of the
Big Horn. Between these and Lodge Trail Ridge are the
head-waters of Peno Creek. The Montana road crosses the
country described from southeast to northwest, running south
of Lake De Smet, north of Pilot Hill and the fort, crossing the
Big Piney just above the fort, swinging around the north¬
eastern slopes of Lodge Trail Ridge, and down Peno Creek.
The amount of work done by the force at Phil Kearney
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
4S9
was astounding, but the Indian fighting was limited, and of a
defensive nature. In one sense it was right enough that such
should have been the case, for Carrington was sent out to
build forts, and the work he did was in the line of his duty;
but he might, at least, have kept scouts enough out to have
known when thousands of warriors were in his immediate
vicinity. The men were obliged always to go armed to their
work, and accompanied by an escort guard. The wood trains
TORTURE BY PRAIRIE INDIANS.
were attacked repeatedly, in the woods and on the road, and
several men were killed in these assaults. Private Johnson
was cut off from his party and no trace of him found after¬
wards, which %vas almost conclusive evidence that he had been
taken alive and reserved for torture. The Sioux have an un¬
pleasant method of torture. They fasten a man, naked, to
the ground, lying on his back, with arms and legs stretched
out and fastened to pegs ; then they build afire on his stomach,
490
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and keep it up till he dies, occasionally touching a burning
brand to other portions of his body, gouging out an eye, or
otherwise adding to the agony of the victim. Private Smith
was scalped and left for dead in the pinery, but recovered suf¬
ficiently to drag himself to the block-house, built for the pro¬
tection of the axe-men, there to die. Two other private sol¬
diers were cut off near the same place, and scalped before the
eyes of their comrades. The men grew impatient, and longed
for the time when they might quit carpenter-work, and seek
revenge. The Indians grew bolder. Sometimes they con¬
tented themselves with attacking the wood train ; sometimes
they rode tantalizingly near the fort and challenged the sol¬
diers to fight; two or three times they charged the picket
that was kept on Pilot Hill to watch their movements. On
these occasions a shell or a canister would be dropped among
them, and the guard, which was on duty with horses saddled
and bridled, would rush to the relief of the threatened watch¬
men. The simple expedient of placing a block-house or a
small stockade on the hill, which would have made the picket
perfectly secure, did not occur to any one. Carrington said
he desired to assume the offensive, but wanted reinforcements,
and these, though long-promised, were slow in coming. The
only ones that reached the fort at all were sixty men of Com¬
pany C, 2d cavalry, armed with Springfield muskets and old-
fashioned Star carbines, who arrived in November.
Among those at the fort who were impatient for a fight was
Brevet Lieutenant-colonel William J. Fettennan, a soldier by
birth, instinct, and profession, who joined the command at the
fort in November. lie had his first opportunity on December
6. The wood train was attacked two miles from the fort, and
forced to corral for defence. Fetterman was sent, with
thirty-five cavalry and a few of the mounted infantry, to re¬
lieve the wood party, and drive the Indians across Lodge Trail
Ridge, in which direction they usually withdrew, while Car¬
rington, with twenty-five mounted infantry, crossed the Big
Piney, to intercept the Indians on Peno Creek. Fetterman's
party put the Indians to flight and chased them for about
five miles, when they faced about and attacked the troops.
Nearly all the cavalry fled, leaving Fetterman, assisted by
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
491
Captain Brown and Lieutenant Wands, with a dozen men, to
face over a hundred warriors. They stood at bay until Car-
rington's force came in sight, when the Indians retired. In the
mean while Lieutenant Bingham, joined by Lieutenant Grum-
mond, with two or three men from Carrington's command,
pursued a single dismounted Indian into an ambuscade, two
miles from the remainder of the troops, where Bingham and
Sergeant Bowers were killed. In this affair Red Cloud com¬
manded in person. He had lookouts on. all the neighboring
hills, signalling the progress of affairs, and it is probable that
he had planned a more extensive ambuscade, but that his
plans miscarried.'
The Indians made their arrangements better the next
time. It was Friday, December 21, 1866. The morning
was bright and pleasant, though there was snow on the hills.
There was still little of the humdrum of army-post life about
Fort Phil Kearney. The office building and one of the com¬
pany quarters were not yet finished, and there were touches
to be added at many points, before this chief architectural
feature of the Powder River country was in condition to ad¬
mit of Indian fighting. A force of some ninety men started
to the pine woods for more material, little dreaming that the
pine woods, the ravines, and the brush coverts all around
were full of bloodthirsty warriors. About eleven o'clock an
alarm was given, and the lookout signalled: "Many Indians
on wood road; train corralled and fighting." A detachment
was at once organized for their relief. At the same time
Indian pickets were seen on the neighboring hills, and a score
or more appeared at the crossing of the Big Piney, but these
were quickly dispersed by a few shells. Colonel Fetterman
asked permission to take command of the relief party, which
was granted. Lieutenant Grummond volunteered, and was
put in charge of the cavalry. Captain Fred II. Brown joined
of his own motion. lie had been at the post all summer, as
regimental quartermaster, and was then engaged in closing
up his business before going to Fort Laramie, whither he had
been ordered. lie was an enthusiastic Indian-fighter, and was
particularly ambitious to get Red Cloud's scalp. Wheatley
and Fisher, two frontiersmen who were at the post, went
492
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
with Brown, making the entire party eighty-four men. The
soldiers were of different companies; fifty of them had Spen¬
cer carbines and revolvers; the remainder carried Springfield
muskets, except the two civilians and one of the officers, who
had Ilenry rifles.
The corralled train, at which the fighting was going on,
was south of the Sullivant Hills. Instead of proceeding di¬
rectly to it, the command took a course back of these hills,
across Big Biney Creek, on the southwestern slope of Lodge
Trail Ridge, to cut off the Indians who were attacking the
train. As they moved along, Indians appeared on their front
and on their flanks, retiring before them, out of range, across
Lodge Trail Ridge, whose crest Fetterman reached fifteen or
twenty minutes before noon, and occupied, with his men de¬
ployed in skirmish line. At the same time the lookout sig¬
nalled that the Indians had left the train, which had broken
corral and moved on towards Biney Island. The train re¬
turned to the fort after dark without having been subjected
to an}^ further annoyance. Fetterman's halt on the crest of
Lodge Trail Ridge was of very brief duration. His men dis¬
appeared over the summit and firing began soon after, which
grew more and more rapid until, at noon, there was an almost
continuous rattle of musketry. This was heard plainly at the
fort, and conveyed the intelligence that a hard fight was in
progress in Beno Creek Valley. The people at the fort grew
anxious. Surgeon Ilines, with one man, was sent to the
wood train, with instructions, if it were safe, to join Fetter-
man. lie found the wood train undisturbed, and started
across the country to Beno Creek, but found many Indians
on Lodge Trail Ridge, preventing him from further progress.
He went back for reinforcements, and Captain Ten Eyck,
with seventy-six men, all that were considered available, was
sent out. The anxiety of all who were on the fort side of
the ridge was intense. The relief party galloped on, but they
seemed to crawl. Instead of taking the road they went
straight to the ridge and ascended it. The firing was be¬
coming less and less in volume. Who was giving way ?
What was silencing the guns ? They knew at the fort which
side had a small supply of ammunition. Just before Ten
\ *r>
FORT PHIL KEARNEY
AND
VICINITY
A. Fort Phil Kearney.
B. Saw Mill.
C. Pilot Hill.
D. Wood Camps.
E. Fetterman's Farthest Advance.
F. Grummond's Body Found.
G. Scene of the Massacre.
H. Point where Wood Train was
Attacked.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
495
Eyck reached the summit of the ridge, at a quarter before
one o'clock, two or three straggling shots were fired in the
valley beyond; after that came silence. The struggle was
evidently ended.
The relief party looked from the summit over the valley
of Peno Creek. No soldiers were to be seen. The whole
valley was filled with frenzied savages, who shook their weap¬
ons at the new arrivals, and challenged them to come down.
A sergeant was despatched to the fort to report the situation
and ask for a howitzer, which was not sent. For some cause,
probably their losses, the Indians then began to withdraw
from the valley of their own accord, and the relief party de¬
scended to the battle-field. The fight had taken place on a
little ridge, three quarters of a mile in length, five to six miles
from the fort, on the east side of Peno Creek, running parallel
to it and to Lodge Trail Ridge, but beyond the latter. The
road runs along its summit, rising to it opposite the north¬
western extremity of Lodge Trail Ridge. Just beyond this
point, on the road, a large number of Indians had been closely
grouped when Ten Eyck's party first came in view, and here
was the first intelligence of the ill-fated command which
rode so gallantly from the fort but two hours before. Clus¬
tered on a space less than forty feet square were the bodies
of Captain Brown, Colonel Fetterman, and sixty-five of the
men. A more horrible sight could not be imagined. They
were stripped naked, scalped, and so terribly gashed and
mangled as to be almost unrecognizable. Years afterwards
the Sioux showed a rough, knotty war-club of burr-oak,
driven full of nails and spikes, which had been used to beat
their brains out. It was still covered with brains and hair,
fflued to it in clotted blood. But with all the mutilation
there were no signs of a struggle here. No empty cartridge
shells were found around the bodies, though there were a few
full cartridges. A few yards away the bodies of several of
their horses were found, all heading towards the fort. All
the appearances indicated that they had been suddenly over¬
whelmed by a rush of greatly superior numbers. Bullet-
holes through the left temples of Colonel Fetterman and
Captain Brown, from weapons held so close that the powder
4:96
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
had burned into their faces, showed that these officers had
" saved a shot for themselves," as they had often said they
would do, rather than fall into the hands of the Indians.
A messenger was sent to the fort for wagons, and his re¬
port, though meagre and indefinite, caused the hearts of the
garrison to sink. After dark Ten Eyck's party returned,
bringing forty-nine of the bodies, and the announcement that
all were killed. No advance had been made, however, be¬
yond the point where the bodies lay grouped, so that, while
reasonably certain of the death of the others, there was no ab¬
solute assurance. The painfulness of the uncertainty was in¬
creased by the fact that among the bodies still unaccounted
for was that of Lieutenant Grummond, the only married man
of the detachment, whose wife was at the fort and in delicate
health. The night of mourning and suspense passed away,
and morning came. A party went out to learn the fate of
the remaining members of Fetterman's command. They ad¬
vanced cautiously to the point gained on the day before, and
then on down the ridge. On the road, a quarter of a mile or
more beyond the first pile of bodies, was found the corpse of
Lieutenant Grummond. Still beyond, where the road made
its abrupt descent to Peno Creek, were found the remains of
half a dozen of the oldest and most experienced soldiers, with
many empty cartridge shells scattered about them; and a lit¬
tle to one side, behind a pile of rocks, were the bodies of
Wheatley and Fisher, with more than fifty empt}' shells by
their sides, telling that they had not died tamely. Within a
few hundred feet in front of this position were found ten
dead ponies and sixty-five great gouts of blood, which had
flowed from the death - wounds of as many Indians. No
ponies and no blood-spots were found elsewhere. The bodies
here were scalped and mutilated as the others, the mutilations
being so shocking that they have never been made public,
further than the general announcement that the bodies were
gashed with knives, chopped with hatchets, and shot full of
arrows; the rest is covered up in the statement that, "No
such mutilation is on record." The bodies were brought in,
and lay in ghastly array until the next Wednesday. The
weather turned so intensely cold, on the night after the mas-
THE LAST STAND.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
499
sacre, that the men who were digging the great grave for this
heap of sla^n had to be relieved every half-hour, and the
work went but slowly. On Wednesday they were laid away
in their common resting-place, fifty feet long and seven feet
deep, in the little cemetery at the foot of Pilot Ilill.
Just what happened after Fetterman's command passed
the top of Lodge Trail llidge no one can say, for no man
lived to tell it. The movement was in disobedience of or¬
ders, as directions were given, at least twice, not to pass the
ridge. Ho one is left to tell why those orders were disobeyed,
or how the snare was closed about the gallant band, or who
attempted to fly, or who fought doggedly to the death. As
read in the position of corpses, the record of cartridge shells,
and the register of blood - stains, and confirmed by the In¬
dians, it would seem that Fetterman moved down to the road
with little resistance; that he advanced up the ridge beyond
Peno Creek, leaving a part of his force at the crest to guard
his rear, and followed down the road with the remainder;
that at the farther end of the ridge the battle raged for al¬
most an hour ; that meantime a large force of the Indians,
who numbered about two thousand, gathered in his rear at the
other end of the ridge ; that the ammunition of the majority
of the soldiers became exhausted ; that a retreat was deter¬
mined on ; that Wheatley, Fisher, and five or six of the older
soldiers decided to remain where they were, either from the
knowledge that retreat under such circumstances was certain
death, or from a voluntary determination to stay behind and
"stand off" the Indians until the others escaped; that the
remainder, as they rode back, found themselves suddenly con¬
fronted by a force that made escape impossible; that Brown
and Fetterman shot each other, and the rest were cut down
by the savages. Only six of the entire command appeared
to have been killed by bullets, a fact which indicates that
their ammunition had been expended, and that the Indians
could not be kept from coming to close quarters.
The Indians say that this massacre was accomplished by a
special expedition, organized among the Minneconjous, under
the direction of their head chief, High Back Bone. It was
their intention to kill all of the garrison and destroy the fort,
500
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
their hope being to decoy nearly all of the soldiers out, and, hav¬
ing massacred tliein, to attack the great stockade on all sides,
as a small force would be unable to defend it. In addition
to the Minneconjous, nearly all the warriors of the Upper
Brules, Ogallallas, Sans Arcs, Oncpapas, Two Kettles, Black-
foot Sioux, Northern Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, and strag¬
glers from several other tribes, were on the war-path at the
time, but only a part of them engaged in this affair. The
party, as stated by the Indians, was composed of 350 lodges
of Minneconjous, 100 lodges of Cheyennes, 100 of Arapahoes,
3 of Crows, and a part of the Ogallallas and Brules, num¬
bering in all about 2000 warriors. It will be observed
that the percentage of warriors to a lodge, in a war-party, is
much greater than under ordinary circumstances. When
out for war the old men and women are left at home with the
younger children. Only active squaws, and children old
enough to be of service, accompany a war-party at any time,
and very frequently only warriors go. The Indians say that
Red Cloud was not in the attack, but had gone towards Fort
Buford with his own band, the Oncpapas, and the others.
They concede a loss of four Minneconjous, three Brules,
three Ogallallas, one Cheyenne, and one Arapaho, killed, and
about sixty wounded, of whom several died and many were
permanently maimed. They lost twelve horses killed, and
fifty-six so severely wounded that they died within twenty-
four hours. This estimate is unquestionably below the real¬
ity. There is scarcely a doubt that each of the sixty-five
blood-spots on the field meant a dead Indian. Wounded In¬
dians leave a battle-field with wonderful celerity, and one who
cannot move, until he has bled freely, may safely be counted
as dead or mortally wounded.
The tragedy was over, but who was to be blamed for it.
There was a murmur from all the land, partly of rage against
the Indians, and partly of disapproval of the military mis¬
management that had made such a slaughter possible. A
thorough investigation was ordered by General Grant. The
off-hand impression was that the officer commanding at the
post was in fault. He was at once superseded by Brevet Brig¬
adier-general Wessels, then commanding at Fort Reno, who
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
501
had orders to investigate. There was much said about Car-
rington at the time that was unjust and absurd—so much that
it enabled him to pose as a martyr later on. The most re¬
markable statement was made by Indian Commissioner Bogy,
who hastened to explain the affair without waiting to learn
the facts. He demonstrated that the Indian force must have
been small; that the only hostiles in that part of the country
were a part of the Ogallallas, under Red Cloud, with a few
individuals from other tribes; that the idea of the wood train
being attacked by
thus^ " These In^ ^ ^ ^
dians, being in ab¬
solute want of guns and ammunition to make their winter hunt,
were on a friendly visit to the fort, desiring to communicate
with the commanding officer, to get the order refusing them
guns and ammunition rescinded, so that they might be en¬
abled to procure their winter supply of buffalo. ... I regret
the unfortunate death of so many brave soldiers, yet there
can be no doubt that it is owing to the foolish and rash man¬
agement of the officer in command at that post."
The matter of guns and ammunition was referred to be¬
cause, in the preceding autumn, General Sherman had or-
32*
RED CLOUD.
502
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
dered Indian traders to discontinue the sale of weapons and
ammunition to the Indians. This procedure raised the wrath
of the Indian ring, for the greatest profit in the Indian trade
is from this source. Commissioner Bogy explained how cruel
and unnecessary the order was, as follows: "No Indian will
buy two guns. One he absolutely needs; and as he has no
means of taking care of powder, he necessarily will take, when
offered to him, but a very limited quantity. It is true that
formerly they hunted with bows and arrows, killing buffalo,
antelope, and deer with the same; but to hunt successfully
with bows and arrows requires horses, and as the valleys of
that [the Powder River] country are now more or less filled
with white men prospecting for gold and silver, their means
of subsisting their horses have passed away, and they now
have but few horses. I mention these facts so as to place be¬
fore the country, as briefly as possible, the condition as well
as the wants of the Indians." This statement, made so posi¬
tively by Mr. Bogy, needs some correction. At that time,
and for years before and afterwards, every plains Indian would
buy as many guns and revolvers as possible, and would take
all the ammunition he could get. Bows and arrows were still
their favorite weapons for hunting buffalo, and were always
carried, no matter how well armed they were otherwise.
There were no white men prospecting in either the valleys
or hills of the Powder River country, and the Indians had
as many horses as ever, besides what they had stolen from
the whites. Otherwise Mr. Bogy's statement appears proper
enough. His theories about the Fetterman massacre are
equally correct. Ilis proposed remedy for any evil that might
exist was to send out "a commission of judicious men."
The press, as usual, gave circulation to numerous wild sto¬
ries concerning the affair, and made impossible pictures of
the massacre. One even went so far as to report that the
massacred men fell at the gates of the fort, begging for as¬
sistance, while the people on the inside dared not open the
gates for fear the Indians would rush in. The commission
which investigated the matter exonerated Carrington alto¬
gether, and the responsibility drifted over to his superior of¬
ficer, General Cooke, commanding in the Department of the
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
503
Platte ; at least, the latter was relieved by General Augur
soon afterwards. Carrington was a good enough civil engi¬
neer, but he was a dress-parade style of officer, who would
have been more in place as a teacher in a military school.
He built a very nice fort, but every attack made on him and
his men, during the building, was a surprise. There is noth¬
ing to indicate that he ever knew whether there were a thou¬
sand or only a hundred Indians within a mile of the fort.
He seems to have disapproved of Indians. Perhaps he would
have ostracized them socially, if he could have had his way.
It is no excuse for this want of watchfulness to say that he
had asked for reinforcements and not received them. He
might have spared men enough from some of the ornamental
work about the fort to have attended to that. Besides, he
had been authorized, on August 11, to enlist fifty Indian
scouts, on cavalry pajr and allowances. The fact is, that re¬
inforcements were not asked for the purpose of defending
the fort and the work about it, but for an expedition of of¬
fence that had been instructed by General Cooke. There is
nothing to show that Carrington apprehended any danger
near the post. On December 19 he telegraphed Fort Lara¬
mie: "No special news since last report. Indians appeared
to-day and fired on wood train, but were repulsed. They are
accomplishing nothing, while I am perfecting all details of
the post and preparing for active movements." That was all
he said—no call for reinforcements; no worry about arms;
all complacency and promise. Two days later he telegraphed :
" Do send me reinforcements forthwith. Expedition now with
my force impossible. ... I hear nothing of my arms that
left Leavenworth September 15. The additional cavalry or¬
dered to join me has not reported. ... I need prompt rein¬
forcements and repeating arms. I am sure to have, as be¬
fore reported, an active winter, and must have men and arms.
Every officer of this battalion should join it. . . . Give me
officers and men; only the new Spencer's arms should be
sent; the Indians are desperate; I spare none (!) and they
spare none." No more complacency; no more promise; only
a recollection that he had asked for arms, ammunition, and
reinforcements long before. It is but fair to say that no one
504:
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
fully realized and understood the feelings and intentions of
the Indians; the news of the massacre came like a thunder¬
bolt in the night, waking the whole nation from a sleep. But
Carrington should have known more about the Indians in his
immediate vicinity, and probably would, if he had paid more
attention to them than tiring shells into the woods to scare
them away. There was fault everywhere. The Indian agents
were wrong in misrepresenting the feeling of the Indians; so
were the treaty commissioners. Carrington and Cooke were
wrong in permitting the troops to go into a hostile country
equipped as they were. Cooke, and officers higher up, were
wrong in not seeing that arms, ammunition, and reinforce¬
ments were furnished when regularly called for.
After General Wessels took command at Phil Kearney, he
undertook a winter campaign against the hostiles, but the
weather was so intensely cold that it had to be abandoned.
Neither side was able to make any movements of importance
for several months. It was known that the Indians had at¬
tacked Fort Buford, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, five
days after the massacre at Phil Kearney, and for two months
it was commonly believed that the garrison had all been
killed. Then messengers came through with the glad news
that the one company of soldiers stationed there had beaten
Red Cloud's army off, and held them back, until the cold
drove them to their winter camps. In the spring a peace
commission was sent out. It met Man Afraid of his Horses
and others on June 12. They all said they had reformed, and
were going to join Spotted Tail's Brules; they wanted am¬
munition for hunting. They got no powder, and they fell
from grace, if they had ever attained it. Hostilities, were
kept up all summer, with such vigor that the frontier was in
continual alarm. The troops on the line of the Montana road
had actually to fight for their wood and water, but they had
one day of bloody revenge. On August 2 Major Powell, of
Fort Phil Kearney, was guarding a wood train, on the road
to the pinery, around the south side of the Sullivant Hills.
He had divided his force, keeping thirty men in reserve in a
little fortress, made of fourteen iron wagon-beds placed in a
circle; the remainder were to retreat to this if attacked. Sud-
SIOUX VILLAGE IN WINTER.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
50T
denly 800 Indian warriors swept down from the hills. The
forces of the soldiers were separated ; all fled to the fort
except the reserve, in the corral of wagon - beds. At this
the Indians rode, but the errors of 1866 had been reme¬
died. The soldiers had breech-loading arms and plenty of
ammunition. The Indians broke under their rapid and deadly
fire, and drew off. Back in the hills were 1200 more of
Red Cloud's warriors, who joined with the first attacking
party and charged again, led by the great chief in person.
The corral was a blaze of fire from the moment they
came within five hundred yards, and the fire was far more
effective than the Indians were used to, because they were
massed together and hard to miss. Closer and closer they
came, but there was no sign of giving way at the corral, and
no cessation of that awful fire. The nerve of the Indians
gave way, and they fled again. For three hours they kept at
it, their courage always failing at the critical moment. Then
they withdrew, and soon the little garrison w7as relieved by a
party from the fort. They had lost but three killed and two
wounded. The loss of the Indians was very heavy. A chief
told Colonel Dodge that they had 1137 killed and wounded—
but this is incredible. The Indians called it the " medicine
fight," suspecting that their white friends had worked in
some supernatural assistance.
In the fall the commission made up its report, and decided
that the government had no right to put a road through the
Powder River country. It cited Supreme Court decisions
that have no bearing on the case, and made of importance
ancient treaties that never existed. Nevertheless, their ideas
prevailed. The country, and particularly the army, -was anx¬
ious to have the Pacific Railroad completed, and the Indians
would agree not to interfere with it, in consideration for our
surrendering the Powder River country. With the railroad
built, Montana would be more accessible from the south than
from any other direction, and the Bozeman road would be of
comparatively little use. Accordingly a treaty was made, at
Fort Laramie, on April 29, 1868, relinquishing all claims to
the country east of the Big Horn Mountains, in which all the
chiefs joined, though the wary Red Cloud did not affix his
508
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
name until November 6, when he had satisfactory assurance
that the white man would keep his promises. In the summer
of 1868 the troops abandoned the Montana road, whose open¬
ing had cost so much money and life, and the Sioux burned
down the forts which had been planned with such mathemati¬
cal nicety, and constructed in such architectural perfection.
We gave up an unquestionable right, though perhaps not
then worth asserting. A few years later we broke our faith
and reasserted it. Then the work had to be done again.
CHAPTER XVI.
punishing the piegans.
Of all the tribes within the Rocky Mountain region, the
people of the Sakitapix or Blackfoot nation are most like the
Eastern tribes, and this similarity is natural, for they are most
probably an offshoot of the Algonquin family, and formerly
lived much farther east. There are traces of their migration
from above the sources of the Mississippi to the Upper Sas¬
katchewan country, in which they lived when the era of cred¬
ible history began with them. The two great branches of the
Saskatchewan (Kisiskachewan—a Cree word, meaning swift
current) rise in the Rocky Mountains, one about fifty miles
and the other one hundred and eighty miles north of our line;
they unite near longitude 105° West, and the main stream
flows thence two hundred miles east to Lake Winnipeg. The
home of the Blackfoot nation was between and about the two
forks of the stream, when, before the whites had any acquaint¬
ance with them, the nation was separated by a great feud that
arose on the death of their head chief, in battle with the As-
sinaboines. The older warriors followed the black banner of
the hereditary claimant to the chieftaincy, but the younger
ones generally ranged themselves under the red or bloody flag
of a warrior who claimed succession by reason of prowess and
ability. The supporters of the black-flag interest were de¬
feated, and moved south to the Missouri. The migration was
in the fall, after the prairies had burned over, and the black
color received by their moccasins and leggings caused them to
be called Satsika (Siksika), or Blackfeet, by the Crows. The
victorious portion received the name of Kena (Kanaans) or
Bloods. The Blackfeet were again divided through the ambi¬
tion of a chief named Piegan (the Pheasant) who claimed the
position of chief. He was defeated, and separated from the
510
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tribe, with his adherents, who were thereafter called Piegans
(Peigans, Pagans, Pecaneaux). Later, the Gros Ventres of the
North confederated with the Blackfeet. They were a band
of Arapahoes who seceded from their tribe early in the current
century, and after some ten years of wandering, during which
they suffered severely at the hands of the Crows and Ivoote-
nays, they were relieved and taken into friendship by the
Blackfeet.* In 1853 the numbers of these tribes were vari¬
ously estimated as follows: Blackfeet, 250 to 500 lodges;
Bloods, 350 to 400 lodges; Gros Ventres, 360 lodges; or a
total of from 6500 to 12,000 souls. The lower estimates are
probably more nearly correct. Their number at present is
not definitely known, owing to the fact that they are partly
in British America, but the most recent estimates are from
6000 to 7000. Those now in the United States are reported
at 2300, and are consolidated under the name of Piegans;
for comparison with the earlier population, 1100 Gros Ven¬
tres, who are now separated from the Piegans, must be
added to this number.
These Indians were of high reputation as warriors, and
esteemed themselves superior to the surrounding tribes, with
whom they waged continual war. The men are tall Apollos,
with large eyes and straight black hair. They pluck the beard
from the face, and often remove the hair from the head, ex¬
cepting the scalp-lock. Usually they were well clothed in
garments made of dressed skins. The women are short and
inclined to corpulency. The organization of the nation is
quite complicated. Each tribe is divided into bands, and each
band has a chief and a mina maska, or priest of the sun. Each
tribe has a general council, called the Exkinoya, which meets
once a year, when the tribe is assembled for the sun-dance
and other religious ceremonies and festivities. The men are
divided into seven ranks or degrees, according to their prow¬
ess, their skill, and their wisdom. Only members of the
seventh or highest class are allowed in the Exkinoya, in which
the legislative and judicial power of the tribe are centred.
* The Blackfoot Sioux have no connection with this nation. The simi¬
larity of name is purely accidental.
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
511
The sixth class includes the band chiefs, and entrance to it
requires both valor and statesmanship. It is charged with the
execution of the tribal laws. In enforcing orders, use is made
of the entire police or " soldier" force of the tribe, including
all unmarried warriors. The fifth class has charge of hunting
and the moving of camps. The four lower classes mark merely
the advancement of the warrior, as evinced by his deeds and
ability. Four years is the ordinary time of probation required
in each class, but this rule is sometimes broken over. Their
chiefs are to some extent elective, but they have much regard
for hereditary rank, especially if coupled with ability. In
religion they are sun-worshippers, their deity being personified
under the name of Napea. To this god they formerly offered
annually a sacrifice of a young virgin, but this practice was
long since abandoned, and of later years they have satisfied
themselves with the mutilations of the sun-dance. Their re¬
ligious nature is well developed, and their men have that pe¬
culiar dignity that is characteristic of the Indian in his wild
state.
The Blackfeet have long had the reputation of being
among the most treacherous and bloodthirsty of our savages,
but it came chiefly from the statements of the tribes with
whom they fought. This reputation has been widely extended
through the "yellow-backed novel," that generally condemned,
and more generally read, school-book of American youth, in
which the Blackfeet are always at war and always very dan¬
gerous. As a matter of fact there was never any general or
formal war between these people and the Americans. Their
relations have been of a very friendly nature, Appleton's
Encyclopaedia to the contrary notwithstanding. In the early
days of the fur trade they often fought with American trap¬
pers, but at that time they had no treaty with us, and consid¬
ered the trapper an invader of their country, who wTas no
better than a thief, for he came to take the furs which they
were accustomed to gather and sell to the Hudson's Bay
Company. In the struggle for supremacy between the rival
fur companies, the Americans formed associations with the
Nez Forces, Crows, and other enemies of the Blackfeet, and
the latter, with other tribes, naturally fell under the influence
512 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
BLACKFEET AND TRAPPERS.
of the British company, though there is little to show that
they preferred the English personally to the Americans. The
tight recounted by Irving, between them and Sublette's and
other trappers, including Wyeth's party, which was brought on
by the treachery of a Flathead and a half-breed, allies of the
Americans, is a good example of the manner in which they
were almost forced into a hostile attitude. Their early hostil¬
ity to the trappers was also increased by the killing of one of
their warriors by Mr. Lewis, of Lewis and Clarke's expedition.
From similar causes, and from the fact that in stealing horses
the Blackfeet made little distinction in owners, the unfriendly
feeling became such that the American Fur Company was
obliged to maintain a force of sixty or seventy men at its post
on the Marias River.
The Blackfeet were cruel, in the manner of Indians, but
not more so than their neighbors. An illustrative instance of
this fact is recorded by Mr. Cox, who happened among the
Flatheads at a time when they were torturing some Blackfoot
prisoners. lie says: " Having been informed that they were
about putting one of their prisoners to death, 1 went to their
camp to witness the spectacle. The man was tied to a tree;
after which they heated an old barrel of a gun until it became
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
513
red-hot, with which they burned him on the legs, thighs, neck,
cheeks, and belly. They then commenced cutting the flesh
from about the nails, which they pulled out, and next sepa¬
rated the fingers from the hand, joint by joint. During the
performance of these cruelties the wretched captive never
winced, and instead of suing for mercy, he added fresh stimu¬
lants to their barbarous ingenuity by the most irritating re¬
proaches, part of which our interpreter translated as follows:
'My heart is strong. You do not hurt me. You can't hurt
me. You are fools. You do not know how to torture. Try
it again. I don't feel any pain yet. We torture your relations
a great deal better, because we make them crj' out loud, like
little children. You are not brave ; you have small hearts,
and you are always afraid to fight.' Then, addressing him¬
self to one in particular, he said, ' It was by my arrow you
lost your eye;' upon which the Flathead darted at him, and
with a knife in a moment scooped out one of his eyes; at the
same time cutting the bridge of his nose nearly in two. This
did not stop him ; writh the remaining eye he looked sternly
at another, and said, ' I killed your brother, and I scalped
your old fool of a father.' The warrior to whom this wras
addressed instantly sprang at him and separated the scalp from
his head. He was then about plunging a knife in his heart,
until he was told by the chief to desist. The raw skull, bloody
socket, and mutilated nose now presented an horrific appear¬
ance, but by no means changed his tone of defiance. ' It was
I,' said he to the chief, ' that made your wife a prisoner last
fall; we put out her eyes; we tore out her tongue ; we treated
her like a dog. Forty of our young warriors—' The chieftain
became incensed the moment his wife's name was mentioned ;
he seized his gun, and, before the last sentence was ended, a ball
from it passed through the brave fellow's heart, and termi¬
nated his frightful sufferings. Shocking, however, as this
dreadful exhibition was, it was far exceeded by the atrocious
cruelties practised on the female prisoners; in which, I am
sorry to say, the Flathead women assisted with more savage
fury than the men."
On the other hand, while the Blackfeet were savages, they
occasionally performed acts of unexpected generosity. Shortly
33
514:
MAS&ACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
before the arrival of Governor Stevens's party in the Black-
foot country, in 1353, a feud had arisen between the Blackfeet
and Gros Ventres, on account of the murder of a Gros Ventre
warrior by a member of the former tribe. The Gros Ventres
retaliated, and open war resulted, during which several Gros
Ventres were captured by the enemy. They expected death
by torture, but the Blackfeet fed them, treated them kindly,
gave them horses, and sent them to their homes. This humane
action paved the way for'the reconciliation of these tribes, and
a treaty between them and the tribes west of the main range,
which Governor Stevens was desirous of effecting, and the
Indians all agreed to meet him in council two years later. At
this time, also, it was made apparent by the testimony of white
men who had been among them, that the reports of their evil
disposition had arisen from their hostile attitude towards the
tribes with whom the Americans had been on terms of friend¬
ship. Mr. Doty summed up their feeling in 1853, thus:
"Their present disposition towards the whites is unquestion¬
ably friendly. Undoubtedly a party of white men may travel
through this country in perfect safety. The only danger
would be that the Indians might take them for Indian enemies
and rush upon them in the night. Their horses might be
stolen, unless under the protection of a chief or an influential
white man, one who is friendly and well known to them. The
only white inhabitants of this country are the traders and em¬
ployes at the American Fur Company's post, Fort Benton, and
at Mr. Harvey's, or the opposition fort. These are on friendly
terms with the Indians, as is evidenced by the fact that they
are constantly sending traders with large quantities of goods
to remote points in the Blackfoot country, who are not only
permitted to go and come without molestation, but are treated
with much kindness and hospitality at the camps. The horses
at this post [Benton] are always turned out to pasture without
a guard, and are seldom or never stolen. So far as has been
ascertained, their present relations with the Hudson's Bay
Company are simply those of a limited trade, which is en¬
tirely confined to a portion of the Blackfeet and Blood bands.
These Indians procure in the northern part of their territory
a considerable number of small peltries, and in the summer—
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
515
at which season they go farthest north—trade them at one of
the Hudson's Bay Company's posts 011 the Saskatchewan River
—' Chesterfield House,' I think. This trade is carried on for
two reasons: First, because the Indians are paid there a
higher price for their small peltries than is given by American
traders. Secondly, they procure at that post an abundance of
whiskey; and it is undoubtedly this latter consideration that
induces them to go."
trader's camp.
At this time the Bloods and Blackfeet occupied the coun-
try about the head-waters of the Marias and Milk rivers, as far
north as latitude 50° ; the Piegans were in the country be¬
tween Milk River and the Missouri, on the Marias and Teton
rivers; the Gros Ventres occupied the country between Milk
River and the Missouri, from the mouth of the former to the
country of the Piegans. All this region was well supplied
with game, and the natural growth of grass afforded ample
516
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
pasturage for the horses, of which these tribes owned many—
about ten to each lodge. In character the land is much the
same as the ordinary foot-hill country on the eastern slope
of the Rockies, requiring irrigation for successful cultivation.
The names given to its natural formations are usually Canadian
French, instead of English or Spanish, as at the South. A di¬
vide or watershed is called a coteau ; a table-land, or mesa, is
always a plateau ; a hill is a butte; a gulch, ravine, or arroyo
is a eoulie. The name teton (a breast) is also sometimes given
to hills, and the probability is that the Teton tribes had their
name from the French fur-traders.
In October, 1855, Governor Stevens met with the tribes
on the Upper Missouri, near the mouth of Judith River. The
Indians attended, as they had promised two years before.
There were represented the Bloods, Blackfeet, Piegans, Gros
Ventres, Flatheads, Pend d'Oreilles, Kootenays, and Rez
Perces. Common amity was declared by the United States
and these tribes, and the Indians also agreed not to make war
against any other tribe except in self-defence. A great com¬
mon hunting-ground was agreed upon, east of the main range,
between the Mussel-shell and the Yellowstone, to which all
the tribes were to have access, but in which none were to re¬
side. White men were given the right of travelling unmo¬
lested everywhere, and the government was conceded the
privilege of making roads of any description, through any
part of the country. All the land north of the Mussel-shell
and Missouri rivers, between the main range and a line drawn
north from the mouth of Milk River, was declared to be " the
territory of the Blackfoot nation, over which said nation shall
exercise exclusive control." In consideration for the rights
relinquished, the government was to pay the Blackfoot nation
§20,000 annually for ten years; the further sum of $15,000
annually, for ten years, was to be expended "in establishing
and instructing them in agricultural pursuits, and in educating
their children, and in any other respect promoting their civil¬
ization and Christianization."
Under this treaty the Indians preserved a strict peace with
the whites, though there was a disposition to carry on war
with the Crows and Assinaboines. The Bloods were at first
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
517
determined to pay no attention to their promises, as to these
Indians; but on finding that the Piegans and Gros Ventres
were standing firmly by the treaty, they abandoned their de¬
signs, and thereafter the only troubles between the tribes were
occasioned by young men who would not listen to the advice
of their chiefs and older warriors. These gradually decreased
in frequency, and faith with the government was so admirably
preserved that, in 1860, the Blackfeet were pronounced "the
most peaceable nation on the Missouri River." Their annui¬
ties were brought up on boats each year, and distributed to
them. Farming was tried by the agency people, but without
success. The climate was too dry to permit successful farm¬
ing without irrigation, and there was no money to be applied
to making ditches. The money promised for schools might
well have been used for that purpose, for they had no schools
and no missions. It would be interesting to know what be¬
came of that $150,000. The Indians subsisted as before,
wholly by the chase. One chief tried to cultivate eight or ten
acres, but his crops failed, and he quit in disgust. This appears
from the official records to have been the only step made tow¬
ards that education for which $15,000 annually was agreed
to be expended. Just at the close of the ten years, in October,
1865, the agent for the Blackfeet reported: " The moral con¬
dition of the Indians in this country is truly lamentable. JSTot
one spark of civilization appears to have dawned upon their
ignorant minds, and their capacity for improvement, if they
ever had any, seems to have risen and set in total darkness."
And yet he closes the same paragraph with the following sen¬
tence, which is one of the most touching expressions extant of
the fervent, unconquerable faith of the average Indian agent:
"Let us hope that success will yet crown our efforts to ame¬
liorate the condition of these unfortunate and degraded savages,
and place them and their children on the road to a better,
brighter, and more glorious future." There has been a sorry
crown for all the efforts made thus far.
During our civil war even the state of peaceful savagery
into which the Blackfeet had lapsed was disturbed. The
troubles with the Sioux prevented the Blackfoot annuities
from reaching their destination. The tribes fell out among
33*
518
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
themselves and fought one another. The Sun River farm, as
the agricultural experiment in their country was called, fell
into decay, but the agency farmer made a comfortable living
by keeping hotel and trading with the Indians. The gold
discoveries of 1862-63 attracted a large white population to
the southern borders of the Blackfoot country, and the new¬
comers furnished the Indians with all the whiskey they would
pay for. There was still no war with the whites, who ran
through the country at will, without molestation. In the spring
of 186d the Blackfeet showed their good-will by offering to
aid General Sully in fighting the Sioux. In May of this year
the white population had so increased that Montana was cut
off from Idaho and organized as a separate territory. In De¬
cember, 1864, trouble arose with the Bloods. A band of four¬
teen of them stole the horses of twenty white trappers, who
were hunting near the Little Rocky Mountains. Nine of the
trappers followed them, overtook them at daylight, killed two
of them, and recovered the horses. From that time on, bad
feeling increased among the Bloods. In April, 1865, they
stole forty horses from Fort Benton. On May 10 they stole
all the horses and mules from Sun River farm, and that school
for agricultural instruction was abandoned. On May 22 a
party of drunken white men at Fort Benton attacked a party
of Bloods, who came there, and killed three of them. Three
days later a large party of Bloods attacked ten white men,
who were cutting logs on the Marias, and killed every one of
them. These hostilities were all confined to a small portion
of the Bloods, whose homes were properly in British America.
The Blackfeet proper, the Gros Ventres, and the Piegans all
remained at peace, a matter of no little importance at that
time, on account of the large amount of freighting that was
being done from the mouth of Milk River to Fort Benton,
there being two hundred and fifty wagons steadily engaged
in this business.
In the fall of 1865 Agent Upson made a new treaty with
the Sakitapix, which was never ratified, the Indians, it was
claimed, having gone to war before the treaty reached Wash¬
ington. There was not, in fact, any war, except one between
the Piegans and Gros Ventres, resulting from reciprocal horse-
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
521
stealing. There were no troops in the country to protect any¬
one or enforce any order. The country contained many law¬
less white men. The better class of whites formed vigilance
committees to protect themselves against both white and In¬
dian marauders. The Gros Ventres had preserved a closer in¬
timacy with the whites than the Piegans had, and in January
two white men who happened to be in company with Gros
Ventres were killed by Piegans. With horse-stealing, inter¬
tribal war, occasional raiding by the Bloods, and no troops,
things went from bad to worse until the feeling of the white
population was that the Blackfoot nation, excepting the Gros
Ventres, was at war, but, in truth, the Blackfeet proper had
gone into British America prior to the treaty, and had noth¬
ing to do either with the treaty or the subsequent troubles.
A militia organization of five or six hundred men was made,
for the protection of the settlements, but they never took the
field against any of these Indians. In April, 1866, a party,
supposed to be North Piegans, burned the buildings at the
Sun Kiver farm. In June, 1866, Little Dog, head, chief of the
Piegans, who had labored faithfully to preserve peace, re¬
turned to the Indian agent twelve horses that had been stolen
from the whites. As he was returning to his camp he was
ambushed by some of his own warriors, and he and his son
were killed. There were several other acts of violence dur¬
ing the year, but hostilities were brought to a close b}*- the or¬
ders stopping the sale and issue of ammunition, on account of
the Sioux war over the Montana road, coupled with the non-
issuance of supplies that had been expected under the new
treaty. The Indians, with their usual improvidence, had made
no adequate preparations for the winter of 1866-67, and they
suffered much from want in that season, in consequence of
which they were in a more peaceable condition in the follow-
ing year. Both military and Indian authorities who inves¬
tigated the situation in 1867 pronounced the apprehensions of
war without foundation, which was true enough then. Peo¬
ple were travelling the road from Helena to Fort Benton, and
thence to Cow Island, without being troubled in the least.
There was a party of ten emigrants killed in this year, but
within the British line, and by Bloods. The fact is that no
522
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
considerable portion of the Blackfoot nation had been hostile
to the whites since 1853, nor were at any subsequent period.
In 1867 the Gros Ventres were separated from the Blackfoot
nation and placed with the River Crows, where they have
since remained.
The years 1867 and 1868 passed with a peaceful condi¬
tion of affairs in the Blackfoot nation. The whiskey-trade
flourished at Fort Benton as it had never flourished before.
Some of the Bloods and Blackfeet stole horses and sold them
to the Hudson's Bay Company, but the southern bands re¬
turned many stolen horses to the whites, so that a reasonable
balance was preserved. Three annual appropriations, of $7000
each, were made under the treaty of 1865, and in the fall of
1868 another treaty was made, which was not ratified, but for
several years appropriations of $50,000 were made for the
education and civilization of the nation. So far as subsistence
was concerned, they were supposed to be taking care of them¬
selves, but in reality what they did receive, which was not
very much, was in supplies. The lawless part of the white
population continued to act in a way that would bring on war
if the Indians had any spirit. While the Piegans were at
Fort Benton, in 186S, after signing the treaty, two white men
assaulted and shot at Mountain Chief, the principal chief of
the tribe, which produced a very angry feeling among them.
Special Commissioner Cullen tried to have these men arrested,
but, rather than take any part in such an unusual proceeding,
the sheriff and justice of the peace at that point resigned
their offices. The Indians soon after stole eighty horses from
the whites at Diamond City, and other points, on account of
which eighteen Piegans were seized by Cullen and held until
the horses were returned. An attempt to enforce the inter¬
course laws was repressed in a most effective way. The prin¬
cipal witness who had been subpoenaed to testify in the mat¬
ter of a seizure of two bales of buffalo robes, that had been
purchased with whiskey, was followed by men from Fort Ben¬
ton and hung until he was nearly dead, in consideration of
which he agreed to leave the country in silence.
The year 1869 was ushered in with a bad state of feeling,
which had been produced by the evil deeds of bad men on
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS. 523
both sides, and this feeling grew worse during the summer.
That part of the Indians were stewing horses was not even
questioned by the tribes. The chiefs said it was done by men
whom they could not control, and that they could not return
the horses, because they were run off into British America
and sold. Edmonton House and Mountain House, both on
the Saskatchewan, were the two posts of the Hudson's Bay
Company at which this traffic was carried on principally. It
was shown by the affidavits of half a dozen white men, who
had lived in the vicinity of these posts, that the trade was a
regular and notorious one. It was shown that the factors of
the company well knew that the horses were stolen, and that
Hickland, the chief trader at the Mountain House, encouraged
the thievery, and told the Indians what kind of horses he
wanted them to get for him. All of the best of these horses
were kept by the officers and employes of the company.
Wells, Fargo, & Co. involuntarily supplied our neighbors over
the line with seventy-three animals during 1868 and 1869.
An officer of the company drove a fine pair of grays, bearing
the " W., F., & Co." brand, and another pair was used in one
of the company's grist-mills. From other parties there were
reported stolen, during the summer and fall of 1869, two hun¬
dred and twenty-seven horses and mules, nearly all of which
went into British America. It was also shown that the com¬
pany sold the Indians arms and ammunition, in any quantity
desired. The only way in which our government could reach
this evil was by punishing the Indians, but there was another
evil which might have been mitigated, at least, if proper at¬
tention had been given to it.
The misconduct of white men still continued, and gave the
Indians a ready excuse for their misdeeds. In fact, nearly all
of the horse-stealing occurred after barbarities which had been
committed by these lawless people. All of the government
authorities saw this wrong, and tried to have it righted, but
the force which was authorized was directed against the In¬
dians, and the settlements were left to purge themselves by
natural progress. General Sully, Superintendent of Indian af¬
fairs, wrote, on August 3,1869: " There is a white element in
this country which, from its rowdy and lawless character, can-
524
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
not be excelled in any section, and the traffic in whiskey with
Indians in this territory is carried on to an alarming extent.
This frequently causes altercations between whites and Indians,
resulting often in bloodshed ; and as they occur in sections
where the civil authorities acknowledge themselves to be pow¬
erless to act, nothing but military force can at present put a
stop to it. . . . From reliable reports, that increase daily, it is a
wonder to me that open war with the Indians has not broken
out already. . . . Nothing can be done to insure peace and
order till there is a military force here strong enough to clear
out the roughs and whiskey-sellers in the country." General
Hardie, who was sent out by General Sheridan to investigate,
testified to the same thing, in these words : " There are un¬
principled and unscrupulous men of all classes who speak and
act without reference to the truth and right, in pursuit of their
private ends or the gratification of their passions. . . . There
are plenty of lawless and unprincipled men upon the border
who supply Indians with whiskey surreptitiously, if not open¬
ly, in defiance of the law." General De Trobriand, command¬
ing in Montana, said : " There is in the territory a certain num¬
ber of people whose pecuniary interest is intimately connected
with the Indian trade, licit or illicit. Therefore they are
averse to any Indian policy which can hurt their purse."
With these surroundings in view, the rise of the Piegan
troubles of 1869 are simple of explanation. The Piegans of
Mountain Chief's band, still smarting under the attack on him,
were openly hostile; and they were aided and abetted by the
bands of Bear Chief, Bed Horn, and some others. On July
16, 1869, some of these Indians, while stealing horses, killed
two white men near Fort Benton. In retaliation the whites
there hung two suspected Piegans, and, a few days later, mur¬
dered an old man and his nephew, who were generally known
to be innocent and inoffensive people. Depredations at once
grew numerous. Horses were stolen everywhere. A freight
train was attacked on Eagle Creek; one man and twenty oxen
were killed before the Indians were driven off, with a loss of
four of their warriors. On August 17 great excitement was
caused by the murder of Malcolm Clarke, and the wounding of
his son, at their ranch, twenty miles above Helena. It was re-
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
527
ported that the place had been attacked by hostiles, and wild
rumors of war prevailed for a time, but the opinion soon gained
ground that the murder was due to a family quarrel. Clarke
had married a Piegan woman, and was killed by a nephew of
hers, named Peter, a notorious ruffian, of a very quarrelsome
disposition. He was shunned by his own people on account
of having killed his father-in-law, Bear's Head, a brother of
the Chief, Heavy Runner. There were some twenty Piegans
present at the time, among them Pal, a son of Mountain Chief,
who, in the melee, shot one of Clarke's sons. Another son of
Clarke escaped unharmed, as did also Miss Clarke, an estimable
young woman, who leaped through a window and fled during
the quarrel. Young Clarke, who was left for dead by the In¬
dians, afterwards recovered. The excitement in the settlements
cooled down for a time, but in September it was raised again
by the murder of James Quail, near Silver City. It was re¬
ported at the time that he was scalped and mutilated, and no
doubt was entertained that the Piegans were guilty of the
crime. Later reports established the untruthfulness of the
report of scalping and mutilation. His horse was found near
him, and, as it was known that he had a valuable watch and
four or five hundred dollars with him, the presumption arose
that he had been murdered by some white man. Still, many
believed that Indians had committed the crime, and it was
reported as talked among the Piegans that a warrior named
Little Eagle was the murderer. There were two stage-rob¬
beries in the early fall, but it was definitely learned that they
were the work of white bandits. The horse-stealing lessened
perceptibly after the Clarke tragedy. It was learned later on
that the hostile bands had left the vicinity of the settlements
about September 1, part of them going to the Yellowstone,
and part to the North. The friendly Piegans remained on
the Marias.
The military authorities had been called on for assistance,
by the Indian Bureau, in August, and again in October. They
investigated carefully at the outset, and gave General Sully
full opportunities to have the murderers surrendered, and
stolen property given up, before taking any steps. It was
determined to do nothing until the hostiles returned to the
528
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Marias, which they were expected to do in January or Feb¬
ruary, but for some cause they came back about the middle
of December. Within ten days after their return a party of
ten hunters was attacked near the head of Sun River Valley,
thirty mules were stolen from a government contractor at
Dearborn, and the cabin of a wood-chopper, near Camp Cooke,
was robbed, the last resulting in a fight. It was decided to
strike them at once, as this could be done without interfering
with the peaceable Indians. The Blackfeet were all in British
America. The Bloods were in two parties, one across the
British line, and one above the Red Coulie, on the Marias.
The Piegans were on the same stream, but lower down, and
in separate bands, the hostiles being located at the Big Bend.
The camps of Heavy Runner, Big Lake (Big Leg), Little
Wolf, and The Boy were ordered to be left unmolested, as
these chiefs had proven themselves friendly. Only the
camps of Mountain Chief, Bear Chief, and Red Horn were
to be struck. The expedition was put in charge of Colonel
E. M. Baker, of the 2d Cavalry, at Fort Ellis. He left that
post on January 6, with four companies of cavalry, and pro¬
ceeded to Fort Shaw, at which point he was reinforced by
two companies of mounted infantry, and departed thence to
the north on the 19th.
The weather was intensely cold, and, as the success of the
expedition depended largely on its secrecy, the marching was
done at night after reaching the Teton River, on the 19th.
On the night of the 20th the command proceeded to the
mouth of Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Teton. On the
night of the 21st they marched across the country towards
the Big Bend of the Marias, but were unable to reach it.
They lay all that day in a ravine, on the Dry Fork of the
Marias, and at night marched on again. About eight o'clock
on the morning of the 23d they reached the camp of Bear
Chief and Red Horn, consisting of thirty-seven lodges, in the
valley of the Marias. The attack was a complete surprise.
Smallpox had broken out among the Indians, causing them
to omit even the slight precautions that they would have
naturally observed in a secure winter camp. The herd of
ponies, over 300 in number, was cut off and secured. 173 In-
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
529
FORT BENTON.
dians, including Red Horn, were killed. Only 9 escaped from
the place. All the rest, men, women, and children, were either
killed or captured. Leaving Lieutenant Doane with a detach¬
ment to destroy the camp, Colonel Baker hastened down the
river in search of Mountain Chief's camp, which was said to
be four miles away, but he found nothing until he had gone
sixteen miles, and then only seven deserted lodges. These
were destroyed, and the command then marched to the post
of the Northwest Fur Company, near the Red Coulie, where
the Blood chiefs were summoned, and required to give up
the stolen horses in their possession, after which the troops re¬
turned to their quarters. The captives that had been taken
were released at once, on learning that the smallpox was
among them, and found their way to other camps. Thus far
the details of the " Piegan War" are as stated above, by the
concession of all parties concerned, but beyond this there is
some controversy, and the matter has been left in that unde-
34
530
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
cided state which forces a recourse to the calculation of prob¬
abilities.
The principal point in dispute was the age and sex of the
persons killed. The report from the Indians was first re¬
ceived, it having been collected from them by Lieutenant
Pease, their agent, and was as follows : " Of the 173 killed on
the 23d, 33 were men ; of these, 15 only were such as are called
by them young, or fighting, men ; these were between the ages
of twelve and thirty-seven ; the remaining 18 were between
the ages of thirty-seven and seventy; 8 of the latter were
between the ages of sixty and seventy ; 90 were women—
35 between the ages of twelve and thirty - seven, and 55
between the ages of thirty-seven and seventy ; the remain¬
ing 50 were children, none older than twelve years, and many
of them in their mothers' arms. Out of 219 belonging to Red
Horn's camp, only 46 survived; among them are 9 young
men who escaped during the attack, and 5 who were away
hunting. The lives of 18 women and 19 children (none of
them more than three years of age, and the majority of them
much younger), some of whom were wounded, were spared
by the soldiers. Red Horn himself was killed. At the time
of the attack this camp was suffering severely with small¬
pox, having had it among them for two months, the average
rate of deaths among them having been six daily." The
original report of Colonel Baker was limited, in this regard,
to the statement: "The result of the expedition is 173 In¬
dians killed, over 100 prisoners, women and children." He
never furnished a detailed report of the sex and age of the
killed, such as General Sherman said was " proper and usual,"
any further than the following, by telegraph : "I am satisfied
that the following numbers approximate as nearly to the ex¬
act truth as any estimate can possibly be made. That the
number killed was 173. Of these there were 120 able men,
53 women and children; that of captives (afterwards re¬
leased), there were of women and children 140." At least, no
further report was submitted to the House of Representatives,
which called on the War Department for all papers and cor¬
respondence connected with the affair. On February 3,
General De Trobriand wrote, presumably from the infor-
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
531
mation he had been able to acquire by that time: " The exe¬
cution was made against 36 lodges, and there 173 were killed ;
about 100 squaws and pappooses were captured, and, after the
action, turned loose unhurt."
It is apparent that both the first and second statements
are exaggerated, and probable that the information on which
the third was based was somewhat colored. As to the first,
if the Indians had been dying at the rate of six a day, for
two months, the camp would have been completely depopu¬
lated before the troops reached it. As to the second, the esti¬
mate of 120 able men, out of a total of 313, is a proportion
that was never known to exist in any winter camp in the
country. As established by all preceding and succeeding es¬
timates and censuses of the Blackfoot nation, the ordinary
proportion of warriors was two to each lodge, a lodge being
estimated at severi people. The variations from this propor¬
tion in any recorded enumeration are very slight. We would
therefore naturally expect, in a village of 37 lodges, 259 peo¬
ple, of whom 71 would be warriors. Smallpox might have
decreased this total to 219, as stated by the Indians, but there
is scarcely a possibility that there should have been only 29
fighting men belonging to the band, as stated by them, i. e.,
15 killed, 9 escaped, and 5 absent. The fair inference from
all considerations, it being remembered that Colonel Baker's
statement purports to be an estimate only, and that the exam¬
ination of a camp in which there was smallpox would proba¬
bly be brief, is that about 60 of the killed were warriors,
and 113 women and children. The number of nominal cap¬
tives was not probably more than 85.
The attack on the Piegans created a sensation in the East,
or, more properly, a sensation was created by a letter of Yin-
cent Colyer's, concerning it, which found its way into print.
What Lieutenant Pease had reported merely as the statement
of the Indians, this letter stated as fact, in these direct terms :
"The facts were received to-day from Lieutenant W. B.
Pease, United States Army, the agent of the Blackfeet, and
is endorsed by General Sully, United States Army." This
was a palpable misrepresentation. Lieutenant Pease ex¬
pressly stated the sources of his information, and General
532 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Sully's endorsement said : " The report that Lieutenant Pease
sends is entirely what the Indians say of the affair, and of
course it is natural to suppose it is prejudiced in their own
favor. It is the Indians' side of the question, and, as I am
here as their only representative, I consider it my duty to
give them a hearing." On Mr. Colyer's letter the action of
the troops was severely criticised in Congress, as it would
probably have been also on the facts, for the criticism was
addressed to the manner of making war which involved the
killing of women and children. Said Mr. Voorhees: " When
the Indians were a power in this land we made war on them
according to civilized warfare. We struck them in manly
battle. Now, when they are poor, broken, and miserable
remnants, corrupted and demoralized, it is proposed to change
our mode of warfare, and smite not merely the warrior, but
the woman and the babe in her arms. I ha-ve thought much
on this subject, and the more I think of it the more it fills
me with horror. If, however, we are to change the policy of
the government, let it go forth to the country now; ... if
the administration is to call home its peaceful agents who are
endeavoring to civilize the Indians, and to send instead the
sword and the fagot into their midst, when they are in their
lodges, in the dead of winter; to strike them when dying of
disease, sparing neither mother nor babe, till the scream of
the last expiring infant shall be heard in its helpless agony
on the gale, then avow it, avow it here, avow it boldly, and
say that Indian warfare in these days means extermination—
extermination without regard to age, sex, condition, or health,
or anything else that usually protects non-combatants in
war."
Mr. Mungen said : " In looking at the accounts of the
inhuman sacrifices of those 'savages' who were women and
children, I cannot see in it any mercy, or justice, or humanity,
or Christianity, or any godlike attributes. As for the sav¬
ages who murder and destroy our women and children, I
would fight them to the last, but I would not torture even
them ; and I certainly would not jump upon a little Indian
child, having the smallpox, and kill it." The debate, which
was in Committee of the Whole, resulted in nothing but a
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
533
call for the correspondence from the War and Interior depart¬
ments, it having been shrewdly treated as a Democratic at¬
tack on General Sheridan, by the friends of the administra¬
tion, although a Republican began the criticism and others
aided in it. There was an attempt made also to interpose
General Hancock, then commanding the Department of Da¬
kota, as the responsible superior officer. In truth, General
Sheridan was the responsible superior, he having sent Inspec¬
tor-General Hardie to Montana to investigate, and, on receiv¬
ing his report, having issued instructions to him, on January
15, in these words: "If the lives and property of citizens
of Montana can best be protected by striking the Indians, I
want them struck. Tell Baker to strike them hard."
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL P. II. SHERIDAN.
534
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Neither General Sheridan nor any other officer advocated
or defended any unnecessary killing of women and children,
although they justified the attack. Colonel Baker reported :
" I believe that every effort was made by officers and men to
save non-combatants, and that such women and children as
were killed were killed accidentally." General De Trobriand
reported: " Quarter was given to all known in time as
women and children." General Sheridan, after referring to
women and children who save themselves during the bom¬
bardment of cities by hiding in cellars, said : " Should any of
the women and children of the Piegans have lost their lives,
I sincerely regret that they had not similar places of refuge,
though I doubt if they would have availed themselves of
them, for they fight with more fury than the men." General
Sherman said : "There is 110 question at all of responsibility,
save and except only as to whether Colonel Baker wantonly
and cruelly killed women and children unresisting, and this I
never believed." With all this unanimity of sentiment, and
though Baker may not have directed it, it seems impossi¬
ble that so many women and children should be necessarily
killed, whether the number was 53, as estimated by the mili¬
tary, or 140, as claimed by the Indians, 01* a medium between
these extremes, as is most probable. 173 Indians are too
many to be necessarily killed out of thirty-seven lodges, es¬
pecially when the only casualty to the attacking party was
one man killed. Whether the results justified it is another
question, but there is hardly room for doubt that but for the
determined stand of all the officers in defence of the action,
the attack on the Piegan village would have rested in the
same category with Sand Creek.
To the conservative mind the justice of the criticisms
made will depend largely on the question whether there was
or was not existing a state of war. If there were, the mili¬
tary view that a single effective blow is the most humane
way of ending a war, is certainly worthy of consideration.
If not, the movement should have been confined to the
arrest of criminals. As to this there was a difference of
opinion. On August 18, when the first reports of the kill¬
ing of Clarke reached him, General Sully telegraphed: "I
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
535
fear we will have to consider the Blackfeet in a state of war."
With subsequent reports his opinions changed, and on Janu¬
ary 13 he thought that all difficulties might be ended by the
seizure of Mountain Chief and half a dozen of his warriors.
On October 6, General De Trobriand said : " The first fact,
which I think must be admitted by all, is that there is actu¬
ally no Indian war in the territory," and he then favored the
arrest of a few men, as an adequate measure. With the dep¬
redations in December his opinions changed, and in Janu¬
ary he favored chastising the hostile bands. General Hardie,
at the latter period, thought a single severe blow " would
be more sparing of blood, and better on all accounts," but he
reported the facts and the opinions of both sides impartially,
with the question: "Under all the circumstances, how far
should the opinion of General Sully, as to scope of operations,
govern the military V To this General Sheridan replied
by the telegraphic instructions above quoted, and the attack
was made in pursuance of his order. In connection with the
question as to the propriety of indiscriminate attack, it is to
be remembered that Mountain Chief and the worst of the of¬
fenders, as conceded by all, escaped altogether. It is also
noteworthy, as a probable result of the criticism, that there
has not occurred since that time any such indiscriminate at¬
tack. However just may be the feeling of some that this
method is the more effective, and therefore the more hu¬
mane, the general sentiment of the country is against it. As
Mr. Yoorhees said : " It cannot be justified here or before the
country; it cannot be justified before the civilization of the
age, or in the sight of God or man."
Since the infliction of this severe punishment there has
been no trouble reported from the Piegans, though they have
had ample cause for it. While this result is to some extent
attributable to that punishment, it is more largely explained
by other things. Indians are usually obedient to their own
laws; the lawlessness that white men object to arises from the
fact that their laws differ from ours, and from the fact that
our laws have not covered offences committed among them.
The Indian, tribes have been left to regulate their own behav¬
ior so long as they did not interfere with the whites. If a
536
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
tribe had good laws the results were always beneficial, but with
those whose laws were of a barbarous type there have occurred
many crimes, from our stand, for which there was no redress.
The Blackfeet, as has been mentioned, had a remarkably com¬
plete tribal organization, and when this was supplemented by
a code of good laws, which they were induced to adopt in
1875, a most admirable state of quietude resulted. Their code
prohibits intemperance, polygamy, sale of women, theft, and
assault. Murder is punished by death. Their police force
has executed these laws effectively. Not only this, but they
have arrested a number of Indian and white criminals, who
had committed crimes in the settlements and undertaken to
escape across the reservation.
The Sakitapix have not advanced much in civilization, but
what advance they have made has been due to their own
efforts. They were assigned to the Methodist Church for
missionary work, but none has been done among them. An
alleged government school has been reported as being in oper¬
ation at their agency for some fifteen years, at an expense of
$1200 a year, paid out of their appropriations, and satis¬
factory results have been reported from year to year; but
in 1884 comes the statement that sixteen of the Blackfoot
nation—think of it, sixteen !—can actually read, and that four¬
teen of these have learned all of that during the past year.
We have then, presumably, two children taught to read as the
result of the work of the fourteen years previous, and an out¬
lay of some $17,000. It is a great achievement to get $8500
worth of reading into one child's head. lie ought to become
an elocutionist of high degree—an ornament to any reserva¬
tion. The chances are about one hundred to one that the In¬
dians have been robbed by their agents, but it is also evident
that the aid given them by the government has been inade¬
quate. It is a fact that ought to be considered a reproach to
the nation that peaceable tribes, as a rule, have received little
assistance, no matter what their needs may be or their services
have been. As to this nation, the statistical tables have fur¬
nished information which on its face is unreliable, but still is
enough to show something of their sufferings from want. The
deaths have repeatedly been in excess of the births, and in 1884
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
537
the terrible disproportion was reached of 247 deaths, chiefly
from starvation and its concomitant ills, against 46 births.
It has not needed statistical tables to prove their wretched
lot; again and again the newspapers have published the item:
" The Piegans are reported to be starving, notwithstanding
the assistance furnished them by the government," and simi¬
lar brevities. It is notorious that we have been starving these
people, and it is true that Congress, which waxed so furious
over the slaughter of a few dozens of women and children, is
largely responsible for the death of a much greater number,
by the more lingering and more cruel mode.
There has been no excuse for this neglect. The matter
has been called to the attention of Congress several times, in
the most urgent language, and Congress, in response, has cut
down their appropriation. From 1871 to 1878 the appropria¬
tion was $50,000 annually; in the latter year it was cut to
$40,000; in 1881 it was cut again to $35,000. All the ex¬
penses of the reservation, including the pay of from six to
eight employes and teachers, were paid out of this sum. At
the same time their other sources of support have been decreas¬
ing even more rapidly. The buffalo, which was formerly their
main reliance, is entirely gone, and other game has so de¬
creased that it can no longer be counted on for material sup¬
port. The situation has been growing worse constantly until,
in 1884, R. A. Allen, who took charge of the agency on April
1 of that year, reported as follows: "When I entered upon
the duties of agent I found the Indians in a deplorable condi¬
tion. Their supplies had been limited, and many of them
were gradually dying of starvation. I visited a large number
of their tents and cabins the second day after they had re¬
ceived their weekly rations, looked through them carefully,
and found no provisions, except in two instances. All bore
marks of suffering from lack of food, but the little children
seemed to have suffered most; they were so emaciated that it
did not seem possible for them to live long, and many of them
have since passed away. To feed these Indians, about 2300
in number, from April 1 to June 30, I had 19,080 pounds
bacon, 44,700 pounds beef, and 62,565 pounds flour, being
only 1^ ounces bacon, 3^ ounces beef, and less than 5 ounces
538
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
flour per day for each individual. I had no beans, rice, hom¬
iny, salt, nor any other articles of food, except sugar, tea, and
coffee (of which I had only enough for the sick and infirm) to
give them, the supply of such articles having been exhausted
before this time, nor have I yet [August 14] received any. In
the fore part of May I was reduced to such a strait that I was
compelled to issue over 2000 pounds of bacon which had been
condemned by a board of survey the past winter, but which
I found not to be in as bad condition as had been supposed.
In the latter part of June and fore part of July, so great was
their destitution that the Indians stripped the bark from the
saplings that grow along the creeks and ate the inner portion
to appease their gnawing hunger." Do you grasp the dread¬
ful import of these words? Here, in free America, in the
year of grace 1884, when a surplus of so many millions had
accumulated in the national treasury that financiers were
frightened, this occurred, and nothing was done to relieve
their sufferings. If the people had understood this, and had
known how to reach the Piegans, they would doubtless have
responded as cheerfully and as liberally to their cry of distress
as they have to the calls of the famine-stricken elsewhere, but
tliey did not. We have been trusting our authorized repre¬
sentatives to look after such things, and they have not done it.
We ought to have known it, or rather it ought never to
have occurred. There is something radically and horribly
wrong in the management of Indian affairs to make such
a thing possible. The Board of Indian Commissioners
ought to assume the responsibility of calling on the people
for aid in such a case, and it would be well if standing com¬
mittees were appointed in each state and territory where In¬
dians live, to see that such destitution is promptly reported to
the Board.
An adequate relief of these Indians is not merely a matter
of humanity and charity. We owe it to them to put a stop
to this worse than inquisitorial cruelty. We confirmed to
them by treaty, in 1855, all the land north of the Mussel-shell
and Missouri rivers, from the mouth of Milk River to the
main range of the Rockies, and to them, in common with
other tribes, hunting-grounds between the Yellowstone and
SUMMER CAMP ON MARIAS RIVER,
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
541
the Mussel-shell, from the Rockies to Twenty-five Yard Creek.
Under the unratified treaties of 1866 and 1868, and the execu¬
tive orders of July 5, 1873, and August 19, 1874, we took
from them all the land between the Mussel-shell and the Ma¬
rias, as well as their hunting-grounds below—the best hunting-
grounds they had—for which we gave them nothing but the
annuities mentioned. By Act of Congress of April 15, 1874,
the reservation was made to include only the land north of
the Missouri and the Marias, from the western line of Dakota
to the main range of the Rockies, and the eastern part of this
was reserved for the Gfros Ventres and River Crows, who are
located there. It is true that the reservation wras increased by
executive order of April 13, 1875, but nearly all the increase
was restored to the public domain by executive order of July
13, 1880. We took their land because we had power to do so ;
they were the wards of the nation, and the nation could do as
it pleased. If an ordinary guardian should thus appropriate
his ward's property the courts would not be slow in forcing
him to disgorge, but there is no court, except the people, to
supervise the doings of the Indians' guardian. Did the Black-
feet object to this ? Certainly they did, but their protest
availed them nothing. Not only did these orders take away
their lands, but they left the reservation buildings outside the
reservation, and new ones had to be built out of the miserable
pittance—four cents a day to each individual—provided for
their education, civilization, and support. Would not justice
have been better here than the humanity that was exercised?
But, it may be asked, why do not these Indians do some¬
thing for themselves? They have done all they could. In
1879, their agent reported: "Some of the most influential
chiefs set an example to the rest by going into the field and
working themselves, instead of simply standing by and seeing
their squaws work." In 1882, he reported: "In all the work
the agency requires the Indians are an efficient help, such as
cutting and hauling firewood, also saw-logs from the mountains,
and hauling in hay from the nearest hay-field, which is some
ten miles from the agency. Our hay crop will be about one
hundred tons. The Indians use their own ponies in hauling,
and soon become fair teamsters." The trouble is that there is
512
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
nothing for them to do by which they can support themselves.
They are in an isolated position, where there is no call for un¬
skilled labor from neighboring settlements. Farming has been
tried on their reservation for over twenty years, and it has
usually failed from drought or grasshoppers. In the few years
that crops have looked hopeful, the Indians have been driven
by starvation to eat them long before they matured, or the
Indians from the British side of the line so preyed upon them
that they were forced to abandon cultivation and come in to
the agency, in order to protect their few remaining horses.
Congress has been informed a number of times that farming
in this country was hopeless without irrigation, and that no
funds had been provided for making irrigation ditches or pro¬
curing implements, but Congress has just as often failed to do
anything. How long is this to continue ? There seems to be
no help for it from the government. A deaf ear has been
turned to the prayer of the living and the groan of the dying
alike. The government too seldom moves until accumulated
wrongs have brought 011 bloodshed. In this case we have been,
and now are, writing one of the most damning pa^es in our
Indian history. We are making either spectres to haunt our
firesides, or demons to revenge their shameful wrongs. The
time may come when they will light the frontier with the red
torch of war. If it should, will any white man be able to say
that their warfare "cannot be justified before the civilization
of the age, or in the sight of Clod or man"?*
* Since the above was written, in August, 1885, it was reported that
some of the Piegans (by which name the entire Blackfoot nation is now
known) had been stealing horses, and had fought with white pursuers.
Possibly the report was false. It is only surprising, however, that they
have not stolen everything they could lay hold of.
CHAPTER XYIL
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LATA BEDS.
No other tribe of American Indians ever leaped into no¬
toriety so suddenly and unexpectedly as the Modocs, and no
tribe has excited more interest since their appearance before
the public. They were almost unknown in the East until
1873. There had never been more than four or five hundred
of them since the whites knew them, and as they occupied
a country which was not very desirable, and were known to
be warriors who could not be bullied or intimidated, they
were not much disturbed by adventurers. They were pecul¬
iar people; good-natured, as a rule, but high-tempered; in¬
dustrious, and yet as haughty as the laziest Indians on the con¬
tinent. rlfhey had more of that commendable pride which
makes men desire to be independent and self-supporting than
any of their neighbors. They were inclined to be exclusive
in their social relations, but even among themselves there was
little merry-making. They took a more serious view of life
and its duties. Stubbornness and strong will were tribal char¬
acteristics. In feature they are rugged and strong, the cheek¬
bones large and prominent, the hair thick and coarse, the face
heavy and not much wrinkled in old age. Their vitality is
remarkable. The tribe lost about one hundred and fifty mem¬
bers by small-pox in 1847, and they were often at war with
other tribes and with the whites, yet they number now about
the same as when we first knew them, while other tribes, for¬
merly stronger than they, have passed almost out of existence.
There was no trouble with them, of any consequence, from
1856 to 1872. They lived in comparative peace, and the
civilized world went on in its hurry and bustle, all uncon¬
scious of their existence. They hunted and trapped in their
mountain wilds. They paddled their dug-out canoes over
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
their lakes and streams, dragging their seines or seeking for
water-fowl. In these same canoes they gathered the wocus,
an aquatic plant peculiar to their lakes, with a pericarp like a
poppy capsule, full of farinaceous seeds. This they threshed
out and made into flour, or parched entire. They dug lmce
and caiuas and other roots. They dwelt in their curious coni¬
cal houses, half underground and half covered with dirt, un¬
molested and unmolesting.
ellen:
\ fjclamath Take
JACKSONVILLE
KERBYVILLi
Althoii.se
CRESCFNT CITY
f itixwhinsvillc
^YREKAjjj WY—Tljgi
ytFt.'Jones "
IRLEANi
.Triniflad)
. ITt.Gastoi
yy TTumbpitf
HUMDOIUDT f
SHASTA <3
MAP OF TIIE MODOC COUNTRY.
On October 14, 1864, a treaty was made with the Kla-
maths, the Modocs, and the Ya-hoos-kin band of Snakes, by
which they surrendered all their lands and accepted a reserva¬
tion in Lake County, Oregon, in the military district known
as the District of the Lakes. The Wohl-pa-pe Snakes and the
O-che-o Pi-utes were afterwards placed on the same reserva¬
tion. In the ordinary delay of Indian business, the Senate
did not ratify the treaty until July 2,1866. Two amendments
were made to it which were simply grammatical corrections,
not affecting the substance in any respect. It was then turn¬
ed over to the active and vigilant Indian Bureau, in whose
care it reposed for three years and a half. On December 10,
1869, it was submitted to the Indians for consent to the
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
545
amendments. By that time trouble had arisen and a part of
the Indians had become suspicions. Captain Jack, or Ivrent-
poos (Kient-poos), thought that the treaty had been materially
altered. The testimony of the other chiefs satisfied him, how¬
ever, and it was accepted by all of them. On February IT,
1870, it was proclaimed—only five years and four months after
it had been made. Thus do we attend to business of impor¬
tance. The Indians, in the mean time, had all moved to the
reservation, and settled down to work in good earnest, build¬
ing cabins and enclosing plats for cultivation. Annuity goods
were issued to them in the fall of 1867 and thereafter, though
it appears that Captain Jack's band did not receive their
portion. In a short time trouble arose. The Klamaths and
Modocs were ancient enemies. The former were in two di¬
visions, one under Captain George, and one under La-Lake,
called respectively the Muck-a-lucks and the La-Lakes. The
recognized head chief of the Modocs was Schonchin ; but only
a small portion of them acknowledged his authority, and his
rank was contested by Captain Jack, on grounds of lineage
and tribal choice. The reservation was on land which had
formerly belonged to the Klamaths. The Klamaths began
to devise and practise petty annoyances on the Modocs. They
called them " strangers " and " beggars," who had come to the
land of the Klamaths for support. They " hectored and bul¬
lied them, obstructed their fishing operations, insulted and
beat their women whenever they could do it safely, and, in
short, did everything that savages are so ingenious in doing to
make another tribe miserable."
The Modocs complained to the agent, but the annoyance
was not stopped. Schonchin endured the insults with the
fortitude of a Stoic, but Jack's royal blood was not so tame,
lie left the reservation, taking a considerable number of the
tribe with him. The agent then undertook to remedy the
evil by moving the Modocs. lie put up new reservation
buildings in Sprague River Valley, in the eastern end of the
reservation, and to this point, known as Yainax Agency, Schon-
chin's Indians removed. Jack and his Indians were also in¬
duced to return to the same place. They went to work on
their new location, but they did not escape their tormentors.
35
5IG
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
By some blunder a band of Klamaths was located at the same
place. After enduring the old annoyances for some time,
they again complained to the agent that their treatment was
unbearable. The agent, Captain Ivnapp, could see no better
remedy than to move them again, and accordingly selected
another location. The Modocs looked at it and declined to
accept it, saying it was nothing but a trap to put them in the
power of the Klamaths. They had lost their little crops, and
failed to gather enough food for their support, on account of
these annoyances and their removals, and were reduced almost
to starvation. As no other relief was proposed, Jack an¬
nounced his intention of leaving the reservation, and a major¬
ity of the tribe went with him. They went to their old
homes on Lost River and about Tule Lake, into which Lost
River empties. The lake is also known as Rhett Lake and
Modoc Lake. Once afterwards they were induced to return
to Yainax Agency by Agent Meacham, but soon after a mem¬
ber of the tribe became sick and died. He was attended by
a Klamath doctor, whom Jack either killed or caused to be
killed, as is common with the Indians of the North-west.
The Klamaths insisted that he should be arrested and tried
for this offence, in consequence of which he again left the res¬
ervation, and was followed by two-thirds of the tribe. After
some negotiation it was agreed that they might remain off
the reservation so long as no complaints were made of them.
Besides Jack's Indians there was another band of Modocs
off the reservation, living in Northern California, and known
as the Hot Creek Indians, who had little to do with any of
the others. They numbered about forty-five. There was also
a little band of nine or ten warriors, with their women and
children, led by the Curly-headed Doctor. They had broken
off from Jack's band, but still fraternized with its members
to some extent. They were the worst of the Modocs, and paid
very little attention to the authority of any one. The con¬
duct of the Modocs off the reservation has been a matter of
some controversy, but it is pretty well established that what¬
ever lawlessness can be attributed to them was committed by
Curly-headed Doctor's little band. The charges of bad con¬
duct against any of the Modocs off the reservation finally
MODOC SQUAWS.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
549
settled down to these: that they seared women and children
by boisterous conduct when they came to the houses of the
settlers; that they killed cattle; and that they used and car¬
ried off hav belonging to certain settlers. Major Elmer Otis
investigated these charges in the spring of 1872. It was tes¬
tified by some settlers that Jack and his band claimed their
old home on the theory that they were not bound by the
treaty, and demanded compensation from those who settled
on these lands; that they were insolent and threatening; that
they were guilty of thefts and of stealing cattle. On the
other hand, one settler testified that he had never paid any¬
thing for settling on their lands, and did not believe that any
one was asked to pay ; that the Indians were no more insolent
to whites than whites are to whites; that from inspection of
the trails made by marauders, he believed that the Klamatlis
were the parties who were guilty of killing the cattle. An¬
other settler testified that he had lived near the tribe for ten
years, and did not consider that there was any danger to set¬
tlers from them ; that the parties whose hay was taken had
agreed to pay the Indians for cutting hay on lands claimed
by them and had failed to do so. It may be mentioned, in
this connection, that the general charge was made, all through
the Modoc troubles, that the Indians were influenced by " low
whites," who advised them to resist removal to the reserva¬
tion. This position is hardly tenable. On his trial, when
there was every inducement to state anything that would ex¬
cuse him, Captain Jack solemnly denied that he had ever been
advised to resist by any white man. He denied always that
he or his tribe had been guilty of wrong-doing, and said that
if any thefts had been committed, the Klamaths or Curly-
headed Doctor's men were the guilty parties. Certain it is
that all these Modocs lived off the reservation, without caus¬
ing any serious trouble until the winter of 1872. They roam¬
ed over a large extent of country at will. On the 4th of
July they usually turned up at Yreka, in California, where
their friends and advisers, Judge Roseborough and Judge
Steele, resided; and on the national birthday in 1871, when
that town was destroyed by fire, the Modocs did good service
at the engine and elsewhere, in aiding to fight the flames.
550
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
No complaints were made of their conduct anywhere, except
those mentioned, which were by some of the settlers near their
usual homes.
During all this time an effort was being made by the
local military and Indian authorities to have a small reserva¬
tion set off for these people, where they might live without
the continual annoyance of the Klatuaths. It was their desire
to have their lands in severalty and become citizens, though
it was questionable whether all of them were sufficiently ad¬
vanced in the white man's ways for that. They had, as all
Indians had, a true friend in Gen. E. It. S. Can by; command¬
ing the Department of the Columbia. He had served con¬
tinuously in the army since 1830; had won notice in the
Seminole and Mexican wars; had stood firmly for the Union
in New Mexico, at the outbreak of the civil war, when his
senior officers went over to the South ; had led the forces that
drove the Texan invaders from the mountains; had com¬
manded at the capture of Mobile; and had compelled the
surrender of the*rebel forces in the Southwest. During his
long service he had many dealings with Indians, and had
treated them with uniform fairness and honesty. One tribe
had named him "the Indian's Friend." lie said, on February
7, 1872, "I am not surprised at the unwillingness of the
Modocs to return to any point on the reservation where they
would be exposed to the hostilities and annoyances they
have heretofore experienced (and without any adequate pro¬
tection) from the Klamaths; but they have expressed a desire
to be established upon Lost Diver, where they would be free
from this trouble, and the superintendent informed me last
summer that he would endeavor to secure such a location for
them." The land they wanted was about three miles loug by
one mile wide, bordering on Lost Diver. There were less
than two thousand acres of it, and it was not occupied by
settlers. In addition to the reasons mentioned, they wanted
their reservation on Lost Diver because that stream and Tule
Lake abounded in fish, a staple food of theirs. " There are
black, silver-sided, and speckled trout, of which first two spe¬
cies specimens are taken weighing twenty-five pounds; buffa¬
lo fish, from five to twelve pounds ; and very large, fine suck-
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAYA BEDS. 551
MAJOR-GENERAL E. R. S. CANBY.
ers—such only in name and appearance, for they are not
bonier than common fishes. In spawning time the fish
school up from the lake in extraordinary numbers, so that
the Indians have only to put a slight obstruction in the river,
when they can literally shovel them out."
Superintendent Meacham desired and urged that a sepa¬
rate reservation be established for them, but in the spring of
1872 he was relieved by F. B. Odeneal, who appointed two
agents to hold a council with the Modocs and report. lie
accepted all complaints against them as true, and enlarged
them, without seeing the tribe himself; he reported that the
leaders of the Modocs off the reservation were " desperadoes,"
and foes to civilization. "As well," says this eloquent and
552
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
judicious man, "might we expect our own youth to grow up
in the practice of Christian virtues under the tutorship of
the ' road-agents' of Montana, or the guerillas of Mexico, as
to think of instilling any good into the minds of the Modocs
while under the exclusive control, as they have been, of their
present leaders." lie advised that the leaders be arrested
and the others compelled to go on the Klamath reservation.
This advice was taken by the Indian Bureau, although Gen¬
eral Canby had reported, but a few weeks before, that the
previous Commission had "authorized the Modocs to remain
where they were until the superintendent could see them.
This has been understood as a settlement of the question un¬
til some permanent arrangement could be made for them ;
and unless they have violated some subsequent agreement, I
do not think that the immediate application of force as asked
for would be either expedient or just. They should at least
be notified that a new location has been selected for them, and
provision made for their wants."
Troops had already been placed in the vicinity of the Mo¬
docs, on account of the complaints before mentioned, and to
them was assigned the task of bringing the Indians to the
reservation. The instructions from General Canby to the
officer commanding the District of the Lakes, were: "If the
military force is to be used, it will only be in aid of the In¬
dian Department and after peaceable means have been ex¬
hausted, but you should be prepared for the possibility that
the attempt to remove them may result in hostilities, and be
able to act promptly in that event for the protection of the
frontier." It was thought necessary, however, by the com¬
manding officer, to surprise their camp, which was on Lost
River—at that point a deep stream three hundred feet wide.
Jack's Indians were located on one side and the Doctor's on
the other. In the night of November 28th, Captain Jackson
with forty men and ten citizens quietly made their way to
the camp. On the 30th the captain reported concerning the
outcome of this strategic movement. "I have the honor to
report that I jumped the camp of Captain Jack's Modoc In¬
dians yesterday morning soon after daylight, completely sur¬
prising them. I demanded their surrender and disarming,
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
553
and asked for a parley with Captain Jack. Captain Jack,
Scar-faced Charley, Black Jim, and some others, would neither
lay down their arms nor surrender, and some of them com¬
menced making hostile demonstrations against us, and finally
opened fire. I immediately poured volley after volley among
the hostile Indians, took their camp, killed eight or nine war¬
riors, and drove the rest into the hills. During the engage¬
ment I had one man killed and seven wounded, three of the
last severely and perhaps dangerously. The band that I at¬
tacked was on the south side of the river; another small band
011 the north side was attacked by a party of ten or twelve
citizens, and their surrender demanded ; but when the firing
commenced in Captain Jack's camp, these Indians opened on
the citizens and drove them to the refuge of Crawley's ranch.
One citizen was killed during the fight, and two others com¬
ing up the road, unconscious of any trouble, were shot; one
(Mr. Nuss) mortally wounded, and the other (Joe Pennig)
badly. My force was too weak to pursue and capture the In¬
dians that made off, owing to the necessity of taking imme¬
diate care of my wounded, and protecting the few citizens
who had collected at Crawley's ranch. . . . From the best in¬
formation I can get, Captain Jack, Scar-faced Charley, and
Black Jim are killed or mortally wounded." Neither one of
them was killed, but the Curly-headed Doctor's band was
made furious. The leadership of this band was shared, to
a certain extent, by Hooker Jim (Hooka, Jooka, Ilocker,
Hawkey), who was probably the worst man of the lot. There
was no control over them by any one. They acknowledged
Jack to be chief of the tribe, as they had always done, but
they did what they chose, without regard to his orders.
They at once began attacking the scattered settlers, and with¬
in forty-eight hours had killed twelve men. No women or
children were killed by either Indians or soldiers, except one
Indian child, reported as accidentally shot. With the killing
of these settlers Captain Jack and his band proper had no
connection. Judge-Advocate Curtis said, at the trial, "I do
not accuse Captain Jack of any participation in those murders.
I acquit him of them entirely. I know almost to a demonstra¬
tion that he was ignorant of their occurrence until after the}7
5 54
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
had taken place. I have investigated that matter somewhat
since I have been here, and I do not believe he was concerned
in them or knew of them in advance."
It was at once realized that the surprise was a mistake.
Lieutenant-colonel Wheaton, commanding the district, placed
the blame on Superintendent Odeneal and his agents. There
is no room for doubt that the fighting qualities of the Mo-
docs were underestimated by the military as well as by the
agents of the Indian Bureau. Captain Jack's band moved at
once to the Lava Beds, on the south side of Tule Lake, where
they were soon joined by Ilooker Jim's party, who had added
six more to their list of victims. This now celebrated strong¬
hold of theirs covers about fifty square miles of country in
Northern California, partly in Siskiyou County and partly in
Modoc County. It is what is known in scientific parlance,
as also locally in the West, as a pedregal (pay-dray-gahT), a
name adopted from the Spanish, meaning a stony place. It
is impossible to give any adequate idea of the place by words.
The rock is volcanic, and appears to have been broken in frag¬
ments again and again by explosions, as the lava was cooling;
after each explosion the fragments dropped back into the
gradually solidifying lava, to be again thrown up and again
fall, until the whole became cool, and the explosive element
lost its force. If you will go to the end of a slag dump at
a blast-furnace, where the refuse has been tumbled from the
slag pots, chilled outside and molten within, bursting, shoot¬
ing in the air, hissing, crackling, rolling, and flowing, there to
cool and solidify—if looking at such a ragged surface you can
imagine with what ease an ant could make its way over it,
yon will have an idea of the progress of a man across the
Lava Beds—only you must remember that an ant has three
times as many legs as a man, and that its feet have the power
of suction, by which it is enabled to walk as easily on a win¬
dow-pane or a ceiling as on a floor. There are rocks, from
the sharp-edged pebble that cuts through a cowhide boot, to
the bowlder as large as a church. They are in heaps, of all
sizes and shapes. This is the surface; but it is cut in every
direction by innumerable chasms and crevices, some of them
a hundred feet deep, with occasionally a wholly subterranean
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
555
passage, through which a man can pass from one point to an¬
other. Such is this mighty peel regal, and in the northern end
of it, near Tule Lake, the Modocs had established their camp,
in what were called the Modoc Caves.
Against the Modocs, in this Gibraltar, troops were soon
preparing to move. In the middle of January they were on
A VIEW OP THE CAVES.
the ground, anxious for the attack. There were four hun¬
dred of them, two hundred and twenty-five regulars, all well-
armed and equipped, with a battery of howitzers. They were
confident and determined. Said their commander: "If the
Modocs will only try to make good their boast to whip a
55G
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
thousand soldiers, all will be satisfied." Over in the chaotic
heap of lava were fifty Modoc warriors, and about one hun¬
dred and seventy-five women and children. They were armed
with muzzle-loading rifles and revolvers. On the morning of
the 17th, the advance into the pedregal was begun by three
hundred of the troops, including twenty Indian scouts, the
remainder being employed in guarding the stores and as a
reserve. The advance was well planned, but the nature of
the country had not been realized. It is impossible to real¬
ize it without going over the ground. The movements con¬
templated could not be made. The junction of detachments
was prevented by deep chasms. The troops could move only
at a snail's pace. Constantly before them were the Modocs,
picking their shots and firing carefully. They were not ex¬
posed to a return fire, for they were behind lava bowlders,
shooting through crevices. The troops had no targets but
puffs of smoke. After hours of painful creeping they would
gain the place of the smoke, but nothing would be found.
A hundred yards away would be another puff, spitting out
its leaden missiles. All day the troops heroically advanced
under these difficulties, protected to some extent by the dense
fog that rested over the lake and the Lava Beds until two
o'clock, now lifting a little and now settling again—an almost
constant phenomenon of the place. At evening the soldiers
were withdrawn. They brought out their wounded, twenty-
eight in number, but ten dead were left behind, after strenu¬
ous attempts to bring them away. Officers and men now
understood that they had a serious task before them, and
Colonel Wheaton reported: " In the opinion of any expe¬
rienced officer of regulars or volunteers, one thousand men
would be required to dislodge them from their almost im¬
pregnable position, and it must be done deliberately, with a
free use of mortar batteries." He asked for three hundred
more men and four howitzers.
On receipt of reports of this attack, the authorities at
Washington decided to "give the peace men a chance." Pity
it had not been done three months earlier. The Modocs were
now confident and well supplied with ammunition. They
obtained powder and lead from cartridges found on the field.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
559
They captured also some breech-loading guns. They swore
afterwards that they obtained caps from the Klamaths. They
had been made suspicious by the surprise of their camp in
November. They had been kept in a continual state of dis¬
trust by the people in their neighborhood. In December the
band of Hot Creek Indians, who had no connection whatever
with the troubles, had started for the Klamath reservation,
under care of authorized agents. At Link River, Oregon,
they were met by an Indian agent, who informed them that
the citizens were collected beyond, to mob them. On hear¬
ing this the Indians became frightened and scattered into the
mountains. It was with the utmost difficulty that a portion
were gathered and placed on the reservation. The remainder
fled to the Lava Beds and joined Jack's Indians. The Mo-
docs testified that whites told them they would be executed,
and that one, Nate Beswick, informed them that the commis¬
sioners wanted to get them out to kill them. They swore
(those who were tried and others) that the Klamaths encour¬
aged them to fight, and furnished them with ammunition.
General Gillern says he learned, on what he considered good
authority, that Sam Blair, a man of the neighborhood, sent
word to them," That he had an order in his pocket from the
governor of Oregon to hang the nine Indians engaged in
killing the citizens as soon as they came in." Notoriously,
almost all the Pacific slope was clamoring for their extermi¬
nation, and Governor Grover, of Oregon, on February 10th, in
a pathetic open letter to the commissioners, protested against
any settlement of the matter on terms which did not include
the surrender for trial of the men who massacred white set¬
tlers "on the 29th and 30th of November last," although they
" had not been attacked by the soldiery or otherwise mo¬
lested." The reader will remember that Captain Jackson's
surprise was at daybreak on the 29th.
On January 30th instructions were given for the suspension
of hostilities, and a commission was ordered. It was made up
of A. B. Meacham, Jesse Applegate, his nephew Oliver Apple-
gate, agent at Yainax,.and Samuel Chase. They were all men
whom the Modocs distrusted and disliked except Meacham.
Nothing could be done under the circumstances. The Mo-
560
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
docs were afraid to meet where they would be in the power
of the whites, and the commissioners declined to meet where
they would be in the power of the Modocs. So they dawdled
along until the 1st of March, by which time General Canby
had arrived, and the authorities at Washington had been made
to understand that the Commission would be useless until its
personnel was altered. It was decided to change it, and Judge
Roseborough, of Yreka, Rev. E. Thomas, of Retaluina, and
TIIE REV. DR. THOMAS.
L. S. Dyer, of the Klamath Agency, were substituted for the
Applegates and Chase. The Commission, as it now stood,
was unexceptionable from the peace people's stand-point—also
from the stand-point of unbiased people; the Indian-haters
did not like it—"too much milk-and-water and all that."
Five weeks wTere consumed in completing these changes, and
during this time a change was going on among the Modocs
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
561
also. This statement will be disapproved both by those who
have decided that all the Modocs were always good, and by
those who have ordained that all the Modocs were always bad ;
nevertheless it is true. There were in the Modoc camp eight
men known as "the murderers," which meant that they were
the men who killed the settlers, after the surprise by Captain
Jackson. These men knew that they were considered guilty
of murder by the white people, and that all the people who
lived about them wrere in favor of trying, convicting, and
hanging them. They knew also that if they made peace, and
had a reservation set off for them on Lost River, it was very
questionable whether the United States could protect them.
The offences had been committed within the State of Oregon :
o '
Lost River was within the State of Oregon; and the people
and authorities of Oregon, while always very ready to claim
monetary recompense from the General Government for in ju¬
ries by its " wards," were ever jealous of any interference
with its jurisdiction over those wards. These things were
explained to the Indians by the Commission, or members of
it, from time to time. The explanation was necessary in or¬
der to try to induce them to move elsewhere. It was pro¬
posed to them that they should be temporarily located on
Angell's Island, in the Pacific, and subsequently placed on a
reservation in Arizona or Indian Territory. They agreed to
this at first, but there still remained the trouble that they
must surrender to the soldiers, to begin with. They were
afraid to do this. They knew that the soldiers, both regulars
and volunteers, "had bad hearts towards them," on account of
the deaths of their comrades. Consequently " the murderers"
objected to surrender and urged war, and they were gradually
bringing the other Indians over to their views.
It was a situation where two parties were desirous of peace,
on a basis of amnesty for the past and harmony for the fut¬
ure, but neither dared trust the other. The Indian-hater may
say that the idea that they were afraid to trust our commis¬
sioners and officers is preposterous, but it is not. Just around
the lake, in constant view when the fog lifted, was Bloody
Point, where Ben "Wright invited them to make a treaty, and
murdered thirty-eight of them, in 1852. Just there, on the
36
562
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
edge of the Lava Beds, were sons and nephews, neighbors and
friends of men who took part in that "lesson to the Modocs."
In command of a part of those volunteers was General John
Ross, who led the Jacksonville volunteers that operated with
Ben Wright. It is idle to talk of the Modocs having no rea¬
son to fear bad faith, especially in consideration of the fact
that a part of them were afterwards murdered while they
were prisoners. On March 6th Captain Jack sent a message
to the commissioners then present by his sister Mary. lie
said, "I am very sad. I want peace quick, or else let the sol¬
diers come and make haste and fight. ... I am nearly well;
but I am afraid of the soldiers on the road. There are so
many soldiers around. There are soldiers on Lost River, on
Clear Lake, and Bernard's soldiers. Wouldn't they be afraid
if they were in the same situation ? . . . I wish to live like the
whites. Let everything be wiped out, washed out, and let
there be no more blood. I have got a bad heart about those
murderers. I have got but a few men and I don't see how
I can give them up. Will they give up their people who
murdered my people while they were asleep? I never asked
for the people who murdered my people. I only talked that
way. I can see how I could give up my horse to be hanged;
but I can't see how I could give up my men to be hanged. I
could give up my horse to be hanged, and wouldn't cry about
it; but if I gave up my men I would have to cry about it.
I want them all to have good hearts now. I have thrown
away everything. There must be no more bad talk. I will
not. I have spoken forever. I want soldiers all to go home.
I have given up now and want no more fuss. I have said
yes, and thrown away my country. I want soldiers to go
away so I will not be afraid."
Of course the soldiers could not be sent away. It would
have been inconsistent with the position the government had
taken—inconsistent with the usages of every civilized nation
—to withdraw its forces pending a treaty, while the submit¬
ting force remained as it was. Besides, there was the fear
that the Indians intended treachery. It was impossible that
the Commission should overcome these obstacles, but it hoped
on. If the Modocs had felt that they were whipped—if they
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
563
had realized the hopelessness of their struggle—they might
have submitted to the chance of life or death that they saw
in a surrender; but they did not. They had more and better
arms and more ammunition than before. Their confidence in
the strength of their position was unbounded. The Klamaths
were promising to assist them. It was reported that the In¬
dians of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho were on the verge
of declaring war. It was evident, however, that the Modocs
were not united; that there was a war party and a peace par¬
ty. Jack and part of his followers wanted peace; the mur¬
derers wanted war, and Schonchin John, Scar-faced Charley,
and others leaned towards them. The commissioners were
satisfied that Jack was under duress; that he was in fear of
the others. Others thought that he was trying to gain time;
but he had no object to gain by that. Certain it was that he
acted like a man in great trouble: he was sad and gloomy;
much of the time he was weeping. Finally the Modocs of¬
fered a new solution ; they would take the Lava Beds for a
reservation. This could not be accepted. To the whites it
meant establishing a den for wild beasts, from which they
could issue for rapine and plunder; to the Indians it meant
a home in a castle where no sheriff's posse could arrest them
for killing the people in November. The commissioners were
satisfied that no permanent settlement of the trouble could be
made if the Indians remained in that part of the country,, and
so matters drifted along until the second week of April.
Captain Jack sat on a rock in the Lava Beds. His heart
was bowed down. He had talked with the commissioners
and was no nearer a solution of his troubles. lie had been
informed that the soldiers could not be sent away. He had
been told that his people could not remain in the Lava Beds.
He could find no answer to the arguments of the murderers,
for from his stand they were not much to be blamed. They
had not killed the settlers till the soldiers had surprised his
camp. They had not killed women and children. They had
fought the soldiers like brave men. If he surrendered they
would probably be hanged, and that was a dreadful death ; it
killed both the body and the soul. The rope closed up a
man's throat so that his spirit could not come out, and take
564
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
np its journey to the happy hunting-grounds. It must die
in his body. lie could not feel satisfied that the soldiers
would not shoot all the Modocs when they came out, as they
had done twenty-one years before. The murderers came
around him. They saw that the time for argument was past,
and the time for appeal to passion had come. They taunted
him. Hooker Jim said, "You are like an old squaw; you
have never done any fighting yet; we have done the fighting
and you are our chief. You are not fit to be a chief." Then
came George, another of the murderers, and said, "What do
you want with a gun ? You don't shoot anything with it.
You don't go any place to do anything. You are sitting
around on the rocks." After a while Scar-faced Charley
came up. He was a Rogue River Indian, of the Tipsie Tyee's
(Bearded Chief) band, who had joined the Modocs many years
before, after the separation of his tribe. He had been with
Captain Jack's band, and was the oldest of his warriors. He
said, "I am going with Hooker Jim. I can fight with them.
You are nothing but an old squaw." Jack winced a little
when they called him a squaw. They brought a dress and a
squaw's bonnet and put them on him. They mocked and
jeered their squaw chief. He had sat there through the
morning, bearing it all. Now the fog had parted and risen,
and the sun was shining on them. He rose and threw the hu¬
miliating garments from him. With blazing eyes he turned
on his tormentors and hissed: " I will show you that I am
no squaw. You say you want war. We will have war, and
Krent-poos will not be the one who asks for peace." He had
fought his temptation and it had proved too strong for him.
The perplexity pushing on one side and the eight devils tug¬
ging on the other had started him in the evil path. The
dormant savage in him waked with renewed strength. His
good angel fled from him, as Yivian from old Merlin, who lay
in the dark spell "of woven paces and of waving hands,"
shrieking back, " Oh, fool!" From that hour on his heart
was bad.
Arrangements were being made with the commissioners
for another meeting. Judge Steele, of Yreka, an old resi¬
dent, in whom the Indians had the utmost confidence, who
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAYA BEDS.
565
had been the arbiter of their petty troubles for many years,
acted as one messenger to them. Riddle, the interpreter, and
Toby, his squaw wife, acted also on behalf of the Commission.
At Steele's last visit to the cave the Indians became angry,
and his life was saved only by Captain Jack and Scar-faced
Charley standing guard over him during the night. lie told
the commissioners that the Modocs meant treachery and re¬
fused to go to their camp again. As Toby left the cave, on
the occasion of her last visit, a Modoc named William—they
called him "Whim"—followed her and warned her to keep
away, and to keep the commissioners away; that the In¬
dians were going to kill them. The commissioners were in a
quandary. There had been acts that appeared evidences of
treachery before, but they had come to nothing. They had
consulted the Commissioner of Indian Affairs then, and he
had replied, on March 5th, " I do not think the Modocs mean
treachery. The mission should not be a failure." An agreed
meeting had not been attended by the Commission on April
8th, because the lookout had discovered twenty armed Mo¬
docs in ambush near the place of conference. On the 10th,
Bogus Charley came from the Modocs, proposing that Gen¬
eral Canby and the commissioners, unarmed, should meet an
equal party of Modocs, unarmed, at the council tent, about
three-quarters of a mile from General Gillem's camp, and on
the day after they would all come in and surrender. The
Commission discussed this plan. They all felt that the meet¬
ing would probably be dangerous. Mr. Thomas said they
ought to go; that it was a duty which they could not consci¬
entiously evade. General Canby thought that the importance
of the object justified some risk. He believed that the In¬
dians would not kill them, though he considered them capable
of it, because it was not to their interest. Meacham and Dyer
insisted that the meeting ought not be held ; that it was go¬
ing to certain death.
Riddle told them that the Indians meant to kill them, pos¬
sibly not that day, but probably then ; that if they went they
must free him from all responsibility. Meacham then pro¬
posed that they should go armed, and add John Fairchild, a
frontiersman of the neighborhood, to the party, but Dr. Thorn-
566
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
as protested that this would be a breach of faith. Meacliam
then proposed that in case there appeared indubitable evi¬
dences of treachery, they should agree to anything that the
Indians might ask, until they could make their escape. Dr.
Thomas replied," I will be a party to no deception under any
circumstances ; this matter is in the hands of God." General
Canby said, " I have dealt with Indians for thirty years, and
GENERAL ALVIN GILLEM.
I have never deceived an Indian. I will not consent to it—
to any promise that cannot be fulfilled." Riddle insisted
that the commissioners accompany him to General Gillem's
tent, and there, again, he repeated his warnings, and called
Gillem to witness that he washed his hands of the whole mat¬
ter. He added that if they were determined to go, he would
go with them rather than be called a coward. Gillem thought
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
567
the Indians would not dare to commit the anticipated treach¬
ery. Canby and Thomas said they would go. Meacham and
Dyer said they would go also rather than subject themselves
to a charge of cowardice, or have the Commission fail for want
of action on their part. Before starting, Meacham and Dyer
gave John Fairchild what valuables they had about them, and
indicated their last wishes, as men preparing for death. Each
of them also put in his pocket a small derringer pistol. Some
have said that Canby and Thomas were foolhardy to do as
they did. To those who are incapable of understanding lofty
motives it must ever appear so. They went to their fate
drawn by a destiny as irresistible as that which led Krent-
poos to his, but of an opposite nature. They knew that the
trouble had been caused by the wrong-doing of white men,
and their consciences would not permit them to throw their
personal safety in the balance on the question of going. They
felt bound to leave no stone unturned in their attempt to
right this wrong peacefully.
The place of meeting was at what was called the peace
tent, or council tent. It was in a little open space at the foot
of a high bluff, in the edge of the pedregal. The approach
was sufficiently level and clear to permit of riding a horse
into it, and a tent had been placed there for the use of the
Commission. Thither the little party of peace-makers started
at eleven o'clock. General Canby and Dr. Thomas, with Bos¬
ton Charley, who came to the camp that morning, walked
ahead; Meacham, Dyer, and Toby rode; Riddle and Bogus
Charley, who had been in the camp over night, came last, on
foot. At the tent they found six Modocs: Captain Jack,
Schonehin John, Ellen's Man, Black Jim, Hooker Jim, and
Shack-nasty Jim. It was at once noticed that they were
armed with revolvers, but as they had been armed at previ¬
ous councils, no remark was made concerning this. Twenty
or thirty feet from the tent a small fire of sage brush had
been made, and around it was a row of stones, in a half-circle.
On these the party seated themselves, excepting Dr. Thomas,
who reclined on the ground. They talked together about
the proposition for this meeting and the surrender on the
morrow. Captain Jack made a speech, the substance of
568
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
which was that he did not want anything from the Presi¬
dent, but wanted the soldiers taken away. As he concluded,
Hooker Jim stepped back and fastened Meacham's horse,
which had been left loose. He took Meacham's overcoat
from the pommel of the saddle and put it on, remarking, "I
am Meacham." This was understood as a bid for an objec¬
tion on which a quarrel might be based, but Meacham mere¬
ly said, " Take my hat, too." Jim replied, in Modoc, " I will,
presently." General Canby, apparently understanding the
meaning of this by-play, arose and began to speak. He told
them how he had dealt with other Indians, and had been
named by them " the Indian's Friend how he had met
those Indians afterwards and been thanked by them for his
just treatment of them; how he hoped that in some future
time the Modocs would thank him for getting them happy
homes. He said he could not send away the soldiers—that
the President had sent them there—but that whatever the
commissioners promised should be done, and the citizens
should not interfere. Dr. Thomas rose to his knees, rested
his hand on Meacham's shoulder, and, with uncovered head,
said," I believe the Great Spirit put it in the heart of the
President to send us here to make peace. I have known
General Canby fourteen years, Mr. Meacham eighteen years,
and Mr. Dyer four years. I know all their hearts are good,
and I know my own heart. We want no more war. I be¬
lieve that God sees us, what we do; that he wishes us all to
be at peace; that no more blood should be shed."
Jack said that he did not want to leave that country;
that he did not know any other country. If he could not
have a reservation on Lost River, he would take one on Wil¬
low Creek and Cottonwood Creek. Meacham tapped him on
the shoulder, and said, " Jack, let us talk like men, and not
like children. You are a man that has common-sense; isn't
there any other place that will do you except Willow Creek
and Cottonwood?" Schonchin interrupted, and told him to
hush; that he could talk a straight talk; to let him talk. As
he began, Jack stepped back to the horses. Schonchin said,
" Give us Hot Creek for a home, and take away your sol¬
diers." The commissioners tried to explain that they would
THE TJKAGEDY OF THE LAYA BEDS.
569
have to see first whether they could get lands there, but
Schonchin cried, very excitedly, " Take away the soldiers and
give us Hot Creek, or stop talking." Just then two Indians,
Barncho and Slolox, jumped up from some rocks fifty yards
away, and came running forward, each carrying three guns.
At the same time Steamboat Frank and another Indian ap¬
peared from another direction. The commissioners turned,
and one said,£' What does this mean, Captain Jack?" As he
did so Jack stepped forward, cocking his revolver; said, uAt-
we" (all ready); and levelled his revolver at General Canby,
within three feet of his face. The cap snapped at the first
attempt, but quick as thought it was cocked again. At the
second the ball struck General Canby under the eye, and he
fell back.
At the word each of the Indians sprang at his appointed
victim. Dr. Thomas was shot in the left breast by Boston
Charley. He rose and ran, followed by Boston Charley and
Bogus Charley. At about seventy yards he fell, killed by a
rifle shot from Bogus. Schonchin John fired at Meacham, at
a distance of three or four feet, and missed him. Meacham
ran back, drawing his pistol. Schonchin and Black Jim fol¬
lowed him, firing, and Meacham fired back once. He had
gone about fifty }^ards when a ball struck him in the head
and he became unconscious. General Canby also sprang to
his feet and fled after the first wound: the ball had ranged
down and come out at the back of the neck. He ran about
as far as Dr. Thomas, when Ellen's Man shot him with a rifle,
and Captain Jack killed him by a stab in the neck. Dyer
ran, pursued by Hooker Jim, who fired as he ran. At about
two hundred yards, Dyer faced on his pursuer and pointed
his derringer at him, whereupon Jim ran back and Dyer es¬
caped. Riddle was followed by Shack-nasty Jim and Barn¬
cho, who were joined by Ellen's Man after Canby fell. They
were all firing at him, but he escaped with the touch of a
rifle-ball on his ear. Toby was struck across the back with a
rifle by Slolox, who was trying to get possession of her horse,
but was saved from further violence by Captain Jack, who
ordered that she should not be injured. By this time the
wild excitement of the assassination was over. The Indians
570
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
quickly stripped all the clothing from the bodies and started
to move away. Boston Charley ran back and began to scalp
Meacham, but Toby cried out, " Soldiers ! soldiers !" and they
all fled. The soldiers were not yet in sight. She used this
stratagem in order to prevent the mutilation.
The soldiers were coming, however, at a double-quick;
the camp had received the alarm before the assassination
began. Around on the east side of the lake, where Major
Mason's command was posted, two Indians had appeared, un¬
der a flag of truce, at a little after one o'clock. Lieutenant
Sherwood and Lieutenant Doyle went out two or three hun¬
dred yards to meet them. The Indians said they wanted to
talk to the " Little Tyee " (Major Mason), but were informed
that no one there could talk to them. Scar-faced Charley
and another Indian, who were concealed in the rocks, then
opened fire, inflicting wounds in Lieutenant Sherwood's arm
and thigh, from which he died three days later. This treach¬
ery was signalled to General Gillem's camp. A message was
being prepared to send to Can by when the firing was heard,
and the signal officer reported that the commissioners were
being murdered. The soldiers sprang to their arms at the
sound of the shots, and advanced towards the council tent on
a run. In a few minutes Dyer appeared, almost exhausted,
reporting that all the others were killed. A little farther
on Diddle reached the lines. The soldiers hurried on to the
scene of the tragedy. About seventy yards from the tent
were found the bodies of Canby and Dr. Thomas, stripped of
everything. The former had two bullet wounds through his
head and a cut in the neck; the latter had several wounds
in his body. A little farther on was Meacham, also stripped.
He had one bullet wound under his right eye, one in the side
of the head, one through his right arm, a grazing shot on the
temple, a finger shot from his left hand, one ear cut, and a
long knife-wound on his head, where Boston had begun to
scalp him. It was not expected that he would live, but,
after four bullets had been extracted from his head, he grew
better and rapidly recovered. The soldiers advanced a short
distance beyond the council tent, and then withdrew, bearing
the remains of the victims in Sadness to the camp.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
571
There has never been an occurrence in any of our Indian
wars that excited such wide-spread indignation as this act of
treachery. The high esteem in which both General Canby
and Dr. Thomas were held, their disinterested efforts in be¬
half of these Indians, and the atrocity of the assassination
stirred public feeling to its depths. The Modocs were the
objects of universal execration, and their outlandish names
quickly became household words. For a time there was but
one sentiment, and that was that the tribe should be extermi¬
nated. The soldiers had the same feeling, but extermination
was not so easily accomplished. The entire force moved for¬
ward on the 14th, in the face of a stubborn resistance by the
Indians, to positions from which the mortar batteries could
reach the caves. The stronghold was shelled during the 15th
and 16th. On the morning of the 17th the troops advanced
again and took possession of the cave, all of the Indians hav¬
ing moved away, except a small rear-guard, which was driven
out by a dashing charge. The famous retreat was found to
be a long crevice, extending for more than a mile in a north
and south direction, connected at various points with deep
sink-holes. All along it were fragments of bursted shells,
and here and there the body of an Indian. The body of one
man was literally torn to pieces. It was learned afterwards
that the man had picked up a shell and was trying to bite off
the fuse when it exploded. Another man was killed by the
same explosion. Altogether there were eleven bodies found,
three of them men, as the product of the three days' work.
There were no wounded reported. No quarter was given.
The loss to the troops, from the morning of the 14th, was six
men killed and fourteen wounded. In addition to this the
Indians had cut off Eugene Ilovey, a young citizen, killed
him, and captured four horses. The Indians took a new
position about four miles south of their old place, but kept
closely hidden for several days.
Prior to this time the troops had been reinforced by a
party of sixty Warm Springs Indians, under Donald McKay,
their interpreter. They proved invaluable assistants, the only
objection to them being that they absolutely refused to do
anything on Sundays. Supposed discoveries of the new hid-
572
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ing-place of the Modocs were made on several occasions, but
they were not found until the morning of the 23d. Early
on the 26th, a party under command of Captain Thomas of
that many of the men were inspired with a dread of the foe,
which had been dealing death among them from its hidden
fastnesses. The skirmishers kept lagging until the column
was upon them, and the flankers continually edged in from
the sides, notwithstanding the orders of the officers. The
base of the sand-hill was reached by noon, without sight of
the enemy, and the party stopped for luncheon. They were
in comparatively low ground. On all sides of them but the
front, which was occupied by the sand-hill, were rough lava
ridges, from four to six hundred yards distant. Two men
were sent to reconnoitre the ridge to the east of the sand¬
hill. When about half-way to it, two shots were fired at
them from the rocks to which they were going, and imme¬
diately fire was opened from the lava ridges all about them.
A large portion of the men became panic-stricken. They
rushed to and fro, crying, "We are completely surrounded,"
and paid no attention to commands. A number sought hid-
DONAXD McKAY, LEADER OF THE SCOUTS.
\
the 4th Artillery was
sent on a reconnois-
sance to a sand-hill in
the centre of the Lava
Beds, to ascertain the
practicability of taking
the pack-train with the
mortar battery to that
point. The command
consisted of six officers,
sixty-four men, and
thirteen of the Indian
scouts, under McKay.
They marched in col¬
umn of twos, with
a company deployed
across the front, and
flankers on either side.
It was soon apparent
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
573
ing-places, and sneaked away as soon as the engagement of
the Indians with the others gave them opportunity. The
rest, with the officers, at first pushed up the sand-hill.
Lieutenant Wright was ordered to advance with one com¬
pany and occupy the ridge to the west. Lieutenant Cranston,
with five men, volunteered to take the ridge to the north.
All of this party were killed, the position of their bodies
indicating that they had died while bravely trying to accom¬
plish the task they had undertaken. The main body, now
reduced to less than thirty men, soon started to follow Lieu¬
tenant Wright, but Wright's command had gone to pieces,
and no trace of them could be found. The others reached a
little hollow about fifty yards from the ridge, supposing it to
be occupied by Lieutenant Wright's men, but on calling for
them received a volley of rifle-shots for an answer. By death
and desertion they had been cut down to only twenty, and
these saw that they were lost. Captain Thomas said, " We
are surrounded. Let us die like brave men." They shel¬
tered themselves as best they could behind rocks and sage
bushes, but they were helpless. There were twenty-one In¬
dians here. They separated and, by paths known only to
them, gained positions on two sides—fourteen on one side and
seven on the other—from which they maintained a deadly
cross-fire, they being in perfect safety. About the time the
firing began, the Warm Springs Indians, who had been scout¬
ing, came up and tried to join the troops. They were mis¬
taken for Modocs and fired upon. They used every device
to show who they were, but in vain. They captured an es¬
caping bugler and made him sound the whole list'of bugle
calls, but the soldiers did not understand. Being under two
fires the scouts could do nothing but keep concealed. All
of them escaped unhurt. In the mean time Major Green,
with all available forces, was hastening in the direction of
the firing. They reached the place in time to save but few
of the party. Captain Thomas (son of Gen. Lorenzo Thomas),
Lieutenant Iiowe (son-in-law of General Brady), Lieutenant
Wright (son of Gen. George Wright), and Lieutenant Cran¬
ston were dead. Lieutenant Harris was mortally wounded.
Dr. Semig, who had performed his duties everywhere, regard-
574
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
less of flying bullets, received a wound in the leg which
necessitated amputation below the knee. Eighteen enlisted
men were killed and seventeen wounded, several mortally.
The troops held the ground through the night, but the Mo-
docs crept through the lines to scalp and rifle the dead. In
the morning the Indians retired and the troops withdrew to
the lake. All the wounded and the greater part of the dead
were brought in. Over twenty of the soldiers of Captain
Thomas's command straggled into camp, reporting that they
had been "cut off." Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, who arrived a few
days later to take General Canby's place, denounced them as
" cowardly beef-eaters."
When Davis took command of the troops, he found them
so dispirited over this series of failures and losses, which left
always the same desperate task before them, that he consid¬
ered it injudicious to move activelj7 at once. There was much
raillery at the time at the army's want of success; but the
outside world had no idea of the situation, or of the high
order of courage in the common soldiers that it called for.
There have been many thousands of men who dared to march
up to the cannon's mouth, but what if such marching be re¬
quired to be done by inches, when there is no opportunity for
harming the cannoneer, and with the certain knowledge that
when the cannon was reached it would be whisked away to
another safe position,there again to belch out its iron death?
The Modocs added not a little to the apprehensive feeling by
keeping perfectly quiet. They gave no intimation as to what
part of that wilderness of stone they occupied. They might
be hidden in its nearest edge; they might be resting peace¬
fully in the centre. No one knew. On May 6th two friend¬
ly squaws were sent into the pedregal. They returned after
two days, almost exhausted, and reported that the Modocs had
moved towards the southeast. On the evening of the 8th
some Warm Springs Indians were sent out. They confirmed
the report of the squaws, and also reported that fifteen or
twenty Modocs had attacked and captured a supply-train of
four wagons, attended by an escort equal in number to the
attacking party, on the east side of Tule Lake. The casual¬
ties to the escort were three men wounded. Two squadrons
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAYA BEDS. 575
of cavalry, with the Indian scouts, were at once sent in that
direction. They discovered some signs of Indians near a
small, dry lake, and pitched their camp there for the night.
At daybreak the next morning (the 10th) the Indians attacked
them. The troops were surprised, but the men seized their
guns and returned the fire so gallantly that the Indians began
to retreat. They were followed for three miles, fighting all
the way, till they reached the Lava Beds. The troops follow¬
ed them in at a distance, and at the same time detachments
were thrown in on the other sides, the plan being now adopted
of making permanent camps in the pedregal. By this means
576
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the Indians were kept continually on the watch, which, owing
to their small number, was a great hardship to them.
There was a more serious trouble than this in the Modoc
camp. Over at the dry lake there had occurred a quarrel be¬
tween Hooker Jim and Jack, in which the murderers sided
-with Jim. The bad feeling then created grew with the hard¬
ships of the fighting, and these warriors began to think that
Jack was tyrannical. The quarrel became so bitter that-the
band separated about the 15tli. Thirteen warriors, with sixty-
two women and children, composed the murderers' party;
thirty warriors, with fifty-two women and children, followed
Jack. Both parties left the Lava Beds, thereby throwing
away their greatest protection as completely as did Roderick
Dhu when he cast down his targe and bared his breast to
Fitz-James's blade. The trail of the murderers' party was
soon discovered. Ilasbrouck's cavalry followed it, and over¬
took them after a hard march of fifty miles. For seven miles
or more a sharp running fight was kept up, and then the In¬
dians scattered for safety. The cavalry horses were so ex¬
hausted that further pursuit was abandoned for that night.
Some Indians captured in this chase said the band desired to
surrender. Messengers were sent to them in the morning.
They asked for terms, but none were given, except safe con¬
duct to General Davis's quarters. On May 22d they all
came in and laid down their arms. Hooker Jim volunteered
to go to Jack's camp and secure his surrender; he wanted
eight men to go with him for protection,'but only three were
allowed. lie was assured, through a mistake of the interpret¬
er, it is said, that they would have immunity from punish¬
ment. Under this arrangement Hooker Jim, Bogus Charley,
Shack-nasty Jim, and Steamboat Frank were furnished with
horses and Springfield rifles, and started on their search for
Jack's band, which, it was believed, had either gone south to¬
wards Pitt River, or east towards Goose Lake. The latter
supposition proved correct. The four scouts found them, on
the 28th, on "Willow Creek, one of the head-waters of Lost
River, east of Wright's Lake. The scouts had a stormy in¬
terview with Jack, in which he denounced them as cowards
and squaws, who had induced him to go into this war and
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAYA BEDS.
577
deserted him in the hour of peril. He said that he would
never surrender; that he would die with his gun in his
hand.
The scouts returned to the troops, who were moving in
the same direction. At two o'clock the next day the com¬
mand surprised Jack's band in the canon of Willow Creek,
near the crossing of the old emigrant road. Boston Charley
came out and held up his hands in token of surrender. He
was permitted to come into the lines. Seven women were
captured also, including Jack's sister Mary, commonly known
as " Queen Mary," or " Princess Mary." The rest escaped by
running down the cation, which is about forty feet deep and
impossible of access to horses. On the next morning the
troops followed their trail over hill and valley, through canons
and across beds of sharp lava rocks, to a bluff bordering on
Langell's Valley. As they approached the bluff four shots
were fired from it, and immediately after two warriors came
bounding down the rocks, crying, "We surrender; don't
shoot!" Five warriors came in. With these Dr. Cabanisse,
who was well acquainted with the Modocs, went into the
rocks to make arrangements for the surrender of the rest.
He remained with them overnight. In the morning twelve
warriors, including Schonchin and Scar-faced Charley, surren¬
dered. Jack, with three warriors, fled in the night. There
were nine others who scattered in different directions.
On June 1st, an hour or so before noon, a Warm Springs
scout, with Colonel Perry's squadron of the First Cavalry,
struck a fresh trail three miles above the mouth of Willow
Creek. The squadron followed it, and in a short time found
and surrounded the Modocs, who occupied a small pedregal.
A warrior bearing a white flag appeared from among the
rocks. He said that Jack desired to surrender. The scouts
went in to meet him. He came out cautiously, glared about
him for a few moments, and then, with the hopeless, desperate
air of a man
" Who had thrown, and had missed
His last stake,"
he came forward and extended his hands to the scouts. His
only remark was, "My legs have given out." lie was taken
37
578
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to the camp at Applegate's ranch, near Clear Lake. The
news of the capture had been carried before them, and was
received with enthusiasm and rejoicing. Jack was the cen¬
tre of attraction. Dressed in old, dilapidated clothes, and
wrapped in a faded army blanket, it was still the universal
sentiment that he looked every inch a chief. He stood apart,
silent as a statue. The Indians said he was insane.
There surrendered with Jack two warriors, fifteen squaws,
and seven children ; the remainder of the band were captured
during the two days following, excepting Long Jim and his
father, who were caught on the 11th. The Modoc war was
ended. In it the whites had lost in killed eight officers, thir¬
ty-nine enlisted men, sixteen citizens, and twTo Warm Springs
scouts; in wounded sixty-seven. This wras the loss to the
army proper. To it should be added eighteen killed and about
as many wounded, for the settlers who were attacked in No¬
vember. The loss of the Modocs from the massacre of the
commissioners to the close of the war was five warriors. Three
were killed during the advance on the cave—two by the ex¬
plosion of a shell, and one by a rifle-ball; one was killed at
the dry lake, and one during the attack on Thomas, of the
26th. Their other killed were all women and children. The
cost of the war was over half a million of dollars. The quar¬
termaster-general reported the cost to his department at
$355,000. We paid Oregon and California $76,000 for the
services of their militia. Then there were the claims for de¬
stroyed property and other contingent expenses. The reser¬
vation that the Modocs asked for was of less than 2000 acres.
If they had been settled in severalty the cost, including the
value of the land, would have been about $10,000. An agen¬
cy might perhaps have come as high as $20,000. Beyond
dispute, the Modoc war would have been prevented at a cost
of not to exceed one-twentieth of the outlay that occurred.
It is, in fact, usually cheaper to be fair and honest with In¬
dians, just as in other affairs in this world.
Governor Grover was on hand, demanding that the Mo¬
docs should be turned over to the civil authorities for trial.
General Davis was not in favor of " the law's delay," and de¬
cided to hang eight or ten of them without any formality of
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS. 579
CAPTAIN JACK AND HIS COMPANIONS.
judge or jury. While the scaffolds were being prepared, a
telegram came from Washington, directing their trial by a
Military Commission. The Commission sat from July 5th to
July 9th, at Fort Klamath, Oregon. The prisoners arraigned
were Captain Jack, Schonchin John (Schonchis), Black Jim,
580
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Boston Charley, Barncho,aZ«as One-eyed Jim, and Slolox,tfZm«s
Lolocksalt, alias Cok. Ellen's Man was dead. The charges
were murder and assault to kill, in violation of the rules of
war. The prosecution made a clear case by the testimony of
Riddle, Toby, Meacham, Dyer, Shack-nasty Jim, Hooker Jim,
Bogus Charley, Steamboat Frank, William, Lieutenant Ander¬
son, and Surgeon McEldery; the defence introduced Scar-
faced Charley, Dave, and. One-eyed Mose, who testified that
the Klamaths furnished them gun-caps and were guilty of
other acts of treachery. This may have been introduced in
mitigation of their offence, or from an ignorant belief that
they could shift the guilt to others. There is another possi¬
bility, which is very strong. Jack may have intended his de¬
fence solely for futurity. lie may have been actuated by the
same desire of a justification by posterity that moved Robert
Emmet to the words, " Let not my epitaph be written till
other times and other men can do me justice." He did not
deny his guilt; he admitted that he had done wrong. He
did not hope for a realization of his motives by his judges.
He told them as much. The members of the Commission
were strangers to him ; they did not know his past surround¬
ings or the events that had driven him on. He saw around
him the men he had attempted to assassinate, the whites he had
fought, and his enemies the Klamaths, who had urged him
on. In the midst of them he saw the men who had brought
him to ruin and betrayed him, sitting as his accusers. What
room had he to hope for mercy there? He addressed the
Commission. He tried to tell how he had been adopting the
customs of the whites; how he had treated them generously;
bow he had dealt so fairly with all men that no one called
him mean except the Klamaths. He said, " I have always
lived like a white man, and wanted to live so. I have always
tried to live peaceably and never asked any man for anything.
I have always lived on what I could kill and shoot with my
gun and catch in my trap. Riddle knows that I have always
lived like a man, and have never gone begging; that what I
have got I have always got with mv own hands, honestly. I
should have taken his advice. He has always given me good
advice, and told me to live like a white man ; and I have al-
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAYA BEDS.
5S1
ways tried to do it, and did do it, until this war started. I
hardly know how to talk here. I don't know how white peo¬
ple talk in such a place as this; but I will do the best I can."
The Judge-Advocate said, in a kindly way, " Talk exactly as
if you were at home, in a council." Jack went on to tell how
he and his people had become fearful of treachery on account
of Captain Jackson's surprise, on account of the treatment of
the Hot Creek Indians, on account of the threatening word
sent to him by white men, on account of the misrepresenta¬
tions of the squaw messengers. He told how his warriors re¬
fused to obey him; how they attacked the settlers without his
knowledge; how they taunted him; and, as he came to the point
where he gave way under the awful pressure that was brought
upon him, he broke down. His throat choked up; he could
speak no further. At his request the Commission adjourned
to the next day, with permission to him to continue then. On
the next day he resumed his address, but the flood of tender
feelings that had overwhelmed him on the preceding day
had given way to the stoical desperation which characterizes
his race when the shadow of death is over them. In a few
curt sentences he pointed out the guilt of the four informers,
and sat down.
The Judge-Advocate submitted the instructions and de¬
tailed report of Captain Jackson, showing that he had acted
in accordance with his instructions when he surprised the
camp on Lost River. He acquitted Jack of any complicity
in the attack on the settlers immediately following this oc¬
currence, and submitted the case without argument. There
could be but one result. The prisoners were found guilty on
both charges and sentenced to be hanged. A strong influ¬
ence was exerted with President Grant for a commutation of
the sentence. The Rational Association to Promote Univer¬
sal Peace, the American Indian Aid Association, and many
individuals, petitioned in their behalf. One good Quaker
brother offered, if the President would commute their sen¬
tence to imprisonment 011 some ocean island, to go there and
devote his life to their enlightenment and salvation. For the
information of the President, the Judge-Advocate, II. P. Cur¬
tis, reported that Barncho and Slolox were common soldiers,
582
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
who appeared to have acted under the orders of their chief;
that they were ignorant and devoid of perception—in short,
little above the level of the brute; that they did not seem to
understand the nature of their trial or appreciate their dan¬
ger; and that Slolox, from choice, sat on the floor during the
trial, much of the time asleep. Under this statement the sen¬
tences of Barncho and Slolox were commuted to imprison¬
ment for life on the Island of Alcatraz, in the harbor of San
Francisco. The others were executed at Fort Klamath on
October 3, 1873, in accordance with the sentence. They
were all hanged from one long scaffold. They mounted it
firmly, and with no tremor stood through the preliminary
proceedings, though Jack showed the signs of internal tor¬
ment in his face. He had asked for delay that morning, but
on being assured that it could not be granted—that he must
die—he said, " I am ready to go to the Great Father." The
orders for execution and the reprieve for Barncho and Slo¬
lox, which had arrived the night before, were read from the
scaffold. The chaplain prayed fervently and the signal was
given. As the drop fell, an involuntary cry of horror went
up from the throats of over five hundred Klamaths, who
had assembled to witness the execution. From the stockade,
where the Modoc captives stood, in full view of the scene,
rose shrieks and wails of anguish. It was over. The white
man's justice was satisfied.
The decision of the President was just. It seems wrong
that these men should be hanged for the very offence for
which Ben Wright and his men were feted and rewarded,
but the wrong done was in failing to punish the white as¬
sassins. If criminals were to be pardoned because equally
guilty men have escaped, there wyould be an end to all pun¬
ishment. They knew they were committing a crime. Few
criminals have a keener sense of their offending than did
Captain Jack. He would not have debated so long before
taking the fatal step if he had not known its evil nature. It
wTas right that he should be hanged—and yet we killed him
much as you would kill the mad dog that bites the hand ex¬
tended to caress him, and we had helped to make him mad.
Was it strange that the son of Dr. Thomas said, "The wick-
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
583
edness of white men caused my father's death ?" The re¬
mainder of the tribe, excepting those who were murdered
while prisoners, were sent east. Most of them were located
at the Quapaw Agency, where, under chief Bogus Charley,
they have become models of industry and good-behavior.
Several of the worst men were sent to Fort Marion, at St.
Augustine, Florida, and put under charge of Captain Pratt,
of training-school fame. Under his labors they were con¬
verted to Christianity, and if testimony can be believed they
underwent an actual change of heart. In 1879 Steamboat
Frank, the unhanged murderer of 1873, was installed as pas¬
tor in the Modoc church on the Quapaw reservation. It is
well that by penance and good works they should expiate
their wrong-doing, but great must be the grace that has come
upon them if the face of Krent-poos does not haunt them.
Unfortunate man! Drawn by forces whose power we can
scarcely imagine, he fell—fell hopelessly. Who shall re¬
proach his memory? It was a divine wisdom that taught
us all to pray," Lead us not into temptation," for if the right
temptation come, in open strength, or hidden under deceptive
covering, who shall withstand it ?
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
Tiie Sioux war of 1876 was more like the wars between
civilized nations, in its inception, than any conflict that ever
occurred between the whites and the Indians. There were
the same violations of compacts on both sides, the same dip¬
lomatic skirmishing, and the same deliberate preparation for
wholesale killing, that the civilized world has decided to be
proper when two nations have reached so belligerent a feel¬
ing that peace is no longer satisfactory to either. On paper,
our relations with the Sioux remained as they were established
in 1S68, when we abandoned the Montana road. There was
then set off to the western tribes, as a reservation, all of Da¬
kota Territory west of the Missouri River and south of
parallel 46—practically, the southwest quarter of the terri¬
tory. This reservation, by the treaty, " is set apart for the
absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians
herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual
Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the
consent of the United States, to admit amongst them ; and the
United States now solemnly agrees that no persons except
those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except
such officers, agents, and employes of the government as may
be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge
of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass
over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this
article, or in such territory as may be added to this reservation
for the use of said Indians; and henceforth they will and do
hereby relinquish all claims or right in and to any portion of
the United States or Territories, except such as is embraced
in the limits aforesaid, and except as hereinafter provided."
The subsequent provision referred to is Article 16, as follows:
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
585
"The United States hereby agrees and stipulates that the
country north of the North Platte River and east of the sum¬
mits of the Big Horn Mountains shall be held and considered
to be unceded Indian territory, and also stipulates and agrees
that no white person or persons shall be permitted to settle
upon or occupy any portion of the same; or without the con¬
sent of the Indians, first had and obtained, to pass through the
same." The land covered by this article is " the Powder
River country," and the article closes with the agreement that
the Montana road, and all the posts along it, shall be aban¬
doned.
During these eight years material changes had been tak¬
ing place in other respects which altered the relations of the
two races. The completion of the Pacific Railway, and the
wonderful advance of minor lines into the plains, had carried
an enormous population into the West. Kansas, Iowa, Ne¬
braska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Eastern Dakota
were filling up rapidly, and assuming the appearance of long-
settled countries. The whites were strong in their numbers
and their facilities for transportation. They had grown used
to. the Indian as the loafer and drunkard, and had no great
fear of him in any character. Among the whites were many
miners who looked with longing eyes on the Black Hills (a
literal translation of the Sioux name, Pah-sap-pa), which lay
wholly within the reservation. This tract of mountain coun¬
try was almost unknown. It was partially surrounded by the
Bad Lands, which formed a barrier that the emigrant shunned.
The Indians went into the Hills but little. They considered it
a "medicine" country, inhabited by their supernaturals, and
not to be rashly invaded, though they occasionally hunted in
its borders, or cut lodge-poles in its pine woods. Lieutenant
Warren (afterwards a Confederate general) attempted to go
into it in 1857, but when in the neighborhood of Inyan Kara,
a peak on the western side, he was met by a delegation of
Sioux chiefs and warned back. They said it was sacred ground.
It was commonly believed that there was gold in the Black
Hills, even before gold was discovered in California. In 1847,
Parkman recounted how his trapper friend, Reynal, had stood
on .one of those mountains and said: " Many a time, when I
586
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
TIIE BAD LANDS.
"was with the Indians, I have been hunting for gold all through
the Black Hills. There's plenty of it here; you may be cer¬
tain of that. I have dreamed about it fifty times, and I never
dreamed yet but what it came out true. Look over yonder
at those black rocks piled up against that other big rock.
Don't it look as if there might be something there? It won't
do for a white man to be rummaging too much about these
mountains; the Indians say they are full of bad spirits; and
I believe myself that it's no good luck to be hunting about
here after gold. Well, for all that, I would like to have one
of those fellows up here, from down below, to go about with
his witch-hazel rod, and I'll guarantee that it would not be
long before he would light on a gold mine."
No one knew whether there was gold in the Hills or not,
but there grew up that strong faith in its existence which
miners always have in regard to a country difficult of access.
Man ever hopes for much from the unknown. Imagination
THE LITTLE BIG HOKN.
587
furnishes the only statistics by which it may be judged, and
imagination is liberal. The first recorded discovery of gold
in the Black Hills was made by Toussaint Kensler, a half-
breed who had worked in the placers of Alder Gulch, Mon¬
tana. He had been under arrest for murder, but escaped, and
for a long time was not seen in the haunts of men. He then
reappeared at the agencies on the Missouri, with several goose-
quills full of gold dust, and a fossil skull which he said he had
found in the Bad Lands, when returning from these diggings
that he had discovered. He was rearrested, convicted, and
hung for the murder, but he left a map which shows a full
acquaintance with the country he claimed to have examined.
He said he found the gold on what is now called Amphibi¬
ous Creek, a tributary of the South Fork of the Cheyenne,
about ten miles above its mouth. The Indians sometimes
brought in pieces of rock, bearing gold, and trappers occa¬
sionally reported discoveries of the metal. It is quite prob¬
able that Wetmore, the man who started the story of the
"Lost Cabin," that great ignisfatuus of the miners, obtained
the gold, which he brought home, from the Black Hills.
The interest in the country grew so strong that influence
was brought to bear on the government, and an exploring ex¬
pedition was ordered. It consisted of over twelve hundred
men, with four Gatling guns and a large supply-train, accom¬
panied by sixty Indian scouts, all under command of General
George A. Custer. The movement was called a military re-
con noissance, and said to be a military necessity; but the ex¬
pedition certainly devoted more time to investigating the
mineral and agricultural resources of the region than to any¬
thing else. It was accompanied by a number of miners and
prospectors, who carefully examined the country along the
lines of march and exploration. Custer mentions one in¬
stance in which they excavated to a depth of eight feet in
their exploitations. They demonstrated the existence of gold
beyond all reasonable questioning, but owing to some con¬
troversy that arose afterwards, the government sent another
party to the Hills, in the following year, for the express pur¬
pose of investigating the gold indications. If this fact does
not lift the thin disguise of military necessity from the first
588
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
expedition, one could hardly imagine what -would. The Cus¬
ter expedition did not return until September, and the reports
from it were so golden-hued that the excitement grew fever¬
ish. Parties were organized to go into the Hills, treaty or no
treaty, and some of them did go. The Indians complained,
and threatened to attack them if they were not removed.
The military authorities denied for a time that any one had
gone in, but on December 21 it wTas conceded that one party
of twenty-one had evaded their watchful eyes. A company
of cavalry was sent after them, but returned, after almost
perishing from cold, without finding them. They remained
in the Hills all winter and greeted many others in the spring.
There was no little dissatisfaction among the Indians over
this invasion, and war was seriously contemplated. The far-
sighted Red Cloud sent men to ascertain the probable num¬
ber of buffalo, and their report showed that no reliance could
be put on this food supply for any great time. The slaugh¬
ter of buffalo in the past six or eight years had been prodig¬
ious. Careful investigators have estimated it at a million
a year. It may have been less than that, but it was enor¬
mous. The buffalo had disappeared from the eastern side of
the mountains altogether. The plains of Kansas, Colorado,
Nebraska, and Dakota, which had once been alive with them,
no longer shook beneath their migrations. The valleys of
the Arkansas, Platte, Cheyenne, and their tributaries were de¬
serted. The buffalo range was limited to the Powder River
country. Red Cloud took in the situation. lie decided for
peace. In January, 1875, he and Spotted Tail expressed a
desire to visit Washington and make arrangements for selling
the Black Hills. To this request the government acceded.
In the spring, miners began to flock into the Hills. The In¬
terior Department called on the military to put them out.
The troops made several trips for this purpose, brought out
the gold-hunters, and turned them over to the civil authorities
for trial. The civil authorities turned them loose, and they
went back. Each time they went back their numbers were
greatly increased. During the summer Professor Jenuey
made his exploration of the Hills, to settle the question of
the existence of gold. He had no difficulty in learning that
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
589
there was gold, from the miners who were there extracting it.
The Ilills contained probably a thousand miners in the fall of
1875. Custer City had been laid out, and people were com¬
ing in, with but little show of resistance.
It has often been claimed that the Black Hills question
had nothing to do with the Sioux war of 1876, but the claim
is partisan and untrue. In June, 1875, a commission was ap¬
pointed by the President to secure from the Indians the
right of mining in the Black Hills. They met with all the
Teton tribes, the Northern Cheyennes and Arapahoes, and
representatives of the Yanktons and Yanktonnais, September
17,1875, at the plain north of Crow Butte, eight miles east of
Red Cloud agency, on White River. They found the In¬
dians in two parties, as to the sale. The larger party favored
sale, but demanded sums ranging from thirty to fifty millions
in payment. The smaller party, nearly all young men, op¬
posed selling, on any terms. Their dissension became so bit¬
ter that a fight would probably have ensued but for the ef¬
forts of Young Man Afraid of his Horses, the leader of the
"soldiers," or police force. The form in which the Indians
who were willing to sell put their demand was, " Subsistence
for seven generations ahead, or so long as we live." Their
argument, as repeated by all the chiefs who spoke, was sub¬
stantially as made by the Cheyenne chief, Little Wolf. He
said: " You are here to buy the gold regions in those Black
Hills. There has been a great deal stolen from those Ilills
already. ... If the Great Father gets this country from us,
it is a rich country and we want something to pay us for it.
We want to be made rich too. There is gold and silver and
a great many kinds of mineral in that country. The Great
Father gets that for the whites. They will live on it and be¬
come rich. We want him to make us rich also." They re¬
fused absolutely to sell the Powder River country, and it was
dropped from consideration on the first day. They dwelt
much on the value of Pah-sap-pa. It was their " house of
gold." It was " worth more than all the wild beasts and all
the tame beasts in the possession of the white people." Said
Crow Feather: "Even if our Great Father should give a
hundred different kinds of live-stock to each Indian house
590
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
every year, it seems that would not pay for the Black Hills.
I was not born and raised on this soil for fun. Ho, indeed.
... I hope the Great Father will look and see how many
millions of dollars have been stolen out of the Black Hills,
and when lie finds it out, I want the Great Father to pay us
that." They offered to allow one road, and only one, which
they designated as "the thieves' road." This, on inquiry,
was found to be Custer's trail, over which several parties of
miners had gone into the Hills. Little Bear claimed that
white men had been in the Hills for four years, and Lone
Horn said seven. The commission offered to lease the coun¬
try at $4:00,000 per year, so long as the whites should use it,
or to give them $6,000,000 in fifteen annual instalments for
their title, which propositions the assembled Sioux received
with derisive laughter. The commission was obliged to re¬
turn unsuccessful. It reported: "We do not believe their
temper or spirit can or will be changed until they are made
to feel the power as well as the magnanimity of the govern¬
ment." It recommended that the government set its own
price, and force the Sioux to accept it. In justice to the
commission, it should be remembered that the same chiefs,
who demanded $50,000,00 in the morning, would be begging
for a shirt in the evening, and that it was believed that white
men had urged them to ask this large sum. However, irre¬
spective of all other questions, it is evident that the Sioux
valued the Hills highly, part of them because they desired
the country itself, and part of them on account of what they
hoped to obtain for it. There appears no reason for suppos¬
ing that either party would be contented to see it taken by
the miners without payment to them, or for a much smaller
payment than they considered it worth.
At this time the Sioux nation could hardly be said to have
the same divisions that were formerly recognized. The Teton
Sioux had become divided into four main bodies after the
treaty of 1868, and had mixed largely with the Yanktonnais
and Sissetons. Their agencies had all been on the Missouri
until 1874:, and then, on stated grounds of the contaminating
effects of the settlements, Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agen¬
cies were removed to the southeast of the Black Hills. With
THE LITTLE BIG HOEN.
591
the usual care that marks the transaction of Indian business,
both agencies were located in Nebraska, off the reservation.
At Red Cloud agency there were supposed to be 9100 Ogal-
lallas and 3700 Cheyennes and Arapahoes. There was no such
number of genuine Ogallallas. The tribe had been reinforced
by other Sioux, attracted by Red Cloud's fame. At Spotted
Tail (Whetstone) agency there wrere reported 8400 Brules and
1200 Minneconjous. At Cheyenne River agency, on the Mis¬
souri, there were 7600 Two Kettles, Sans Arcs, Minneconjous,
and Blackfeet Sioux. At Standing Rock agency, on the Mis¬
souri, were 7300, of whom 4200 were Yanktonnais, and the
remainder Oncpapas and Blackfeet Sioux. At Fort Peck
agency (Milk River), Montana, were 6000 Indians, sometimes
called Tetons, but not, in fact, for 2000 of them were Assina-
boines, and the remainder Yanktonnais and Sissetons, except
about 400 who were Tetons proper. These were all the Te¬
tons except the roaming tribes, which were estimated at 3000,
as follows: Black Tigers, 150; Long Sioux, 200; Shooters,
900; Tatkannais, 700; Oncpapas, 450; White Eagles, 200;
Yellow Livers, 350. These Indians lived in the Powder River
country, and roamed extensively, all of which they had the
right to do, under the treaty of 1868. The most celebrated
chiefs of these bands were Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
Crazy Horse was an Ogallalla, although the Indians with him,
in the spring of 1876, were chiefly Northern Cheyennes and
Minneconjous, numbering not more than five or six hundred.
Sitting Bull's band was still smaller, consisting of only thirty
or forty lodges in times of peace, but in war times increasing
rapidly.
Sitting Bull (Ta-tan-kah-yo-tan-kah) was a born fighter. He
is said to be a half-breed Oncpapa, though he signed the treaty
of 1868 as an Ogallalla. At this time he was somewhat broken
by disease, but he was still of fine physique. His hair was
brown, his complexion light, his face badly scarred by small¬
pox. There was probably no other Sioux who could make so
proud a showing of individual prowess as he. About the
year 1870 a Yanktonnais Indian brought to Fort Buford an
old roster of the 31st Infantry, which had, on the blank sides
of the leaves, a series of portraitures of the doings of a mighty
592
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
warrior. They were quite skilfully executed, in brown and
black inks, with coloring added for the horses and clothing.
The totem in the corner of each pictograph, a buffalo bull on its
haunches, connected with the hero by a line, revealed the fact
that it was a history of Sitting Bull, who, with a following of
sixty or seventy warriors, had been depredating in the neigh¬
borhood for several years. The Yanktonnais finally admitted
that he had stolen it from Sitting Bull, and sold it for a dollar
and a half's worth of supplies. The first twenty-three pictures
SITTING BULL'S FIRST ADVENTURE.
showed his slaughter of enemies of all descriptions, men,
women, and children, Indians, teamsters, mail-men, frontiers¬
men, railroad hands, soldiers. lie was as impartial as death
itself. The next twelve show his exploits as a collector of
horses, a pursuit in which he displayed good taste and an in¬
satiable craving for horse-flesh. lie may fairly be considered
one of the ablest horse-thieves the country ever produced.
The last two pictures show him as leader of the Strong
Hearts, a Sioux fraternity for war purposes—Knights of the
Terres Mauvaises, as it were—storming two Crow villages.
THE LITTLE BIG HORN. 593
In one of these tights thirty scalps were taken. These pict¬
ure records are usually accurate. Ordinarily they are made
on buffalo robes, and kept by the hero for display among his
own people, who are acquainted with the facts of which he
boasts. In this case the pictorial history was confirmed by
knowledge that the whites already had of this doughty war¬
rior.
While, therefore, Sitting Bull was not a chief of any par¬
ticular prominence during times of peace, he had a record as
a fighter, and a reputation as a skilful commander, that made
him a loadstone to the discontented Sioux of the agencies.
Even the agency Sioux who were not discontented were not
averse to the society of their roaming brethren. Every sum¬
mer they would slip away in small parties for a few months'
sport with the bad Indians. Sometimes they would massacre
a few Crows, or Blackfeet, or Arickarees. Sometimes they
would practice shooting at the miners of Montana. Some¬
times they would gather some cattle and horses from the set¬
tlers in Wyoming. These statements are not flights of fancy.
The official records for seven months, from July 1, 1875, to
the spring of 1S76, show seventeen attacks on the whites in
38
594
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Yellowstone Valley alone, nine men killed, ten wounded, and
a large amount of property stolen. These depredations caused
general complaints from whites and friendly Indians. The
Crows, especially, who were trying to adopt civilization, suf¬
fered severely from these attacks. We were under obliga¬
tions to protect them, and all other tribes that had accepted
reservations in good faith, but we neglected to do so for many
years. It was an established custom of the early days for the
whites to stand neutral when two or more Indian tribes were
at war among themselves. Each tribe would object to any
interference except as an ally to it, and interference could
therefore result only in making one or all the tribes hostile.
It was clearly politic for the whites to stand back and permit
them to enjoy themselves; so the mountain tribes and plains
tribes kept up a perpetual warfare, as they had done from tra¬
ditional times.
As the country became more settled these wars became
more annoying. If a band were disappointed in its search
for Indian enemies, it was liable to take some lonely settler
as a substitute. Many such affairs occurred, one of the most
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
595
SITTING BULL STEALS A DROVE OF HORSES.
celebrated being the Rawlin's Springs massacre of June 28,
1873. On that occasion a party of Arapahoes went on the
war-path against the Crows, but hearing that les Corbeaux
were on the alert, they turned to try the Utes. Near Raw¬
lin's Springs they crossed the Pacific Railroad, and chanced
to meet a lone teamster driving four mules. They attacked
him, but he fired on them and escaped. A party at once
started after the Indians, who, on being overtaken, claimed to
be friendly Utes. They would have gone unharmed, on that
theory, had they not happened to have some stolen horses
which were recognized by the whites. These were de¬
manded, and during the controversy that ensued the Arap¬
ahoes undertook to run, firing back with their pistols as
they went. The whites opened fire, killed four of them,
and returned in triumph with eight captured horses. As
we placed the more tractable tribes on reservations and en¬
deavored to lead them into civilized ways, our duty of
protection became stronger. The reservation Indian who
honestly desired to work had to go to the field with his
rifle in one hand and his hoe in the other. They complained
bitterly. The Crows said: "We might just as well go out
and kill white men as to try to be good Indians, for we get
590
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
neither protection nor reward for being good." The depre¬
dations of the roaming Sioux were infractions of the treaty,
justifying hostilities 011 our part. The only bad-looking feat¬
ure of our sudden resolve to make them behave was that it
came so quickly on the heels of the failure of the commission
to purchase the Black Ilills and the Powder River country.
This feature is the more striking because the reservation
Sioux refused to consider the sale of the latter, on the ground
that the roaming bands would not consent to it. It was also
pretty well established that the roaming bands were not guilty
of all the depredations, and that Indians from the reserva¬
tions were doing their share of these misdeeds, yet Sitting
Bulks band got credit for nearly every wrong committed, a
false reputation to which, however, they had little objection.
It was determined that the roaming tribes, or, as they were
often called, " the hostiles," should be forced to go 011 the res¬
ervations. This determination was the immediate result of a
report 011 their behavior by Inspector Watkins, on November
9, 1875. On December 6 of the same year, after considera¬
tion of this report by the Interior Department, orders were
sent to all the Sioux agencies to notify " Sitting Bull's band
and all other wild and lawless bands" that "unless they shall
remove within the bounds of their reservation (and remain
there) before the 31st of January next, they shall be deemed
hostile, and treated accordingly by the military force." This
notice was given, and the roaming bands refused to comply
with it. They were then turned over to the military, and for
this they were ready. Sitting Bull coolly sent word to Gen¬
eral Terry to come on. "You need not bring any guides,"
he said ; "you can find me easily. I will not run away." It
was the original intention to strike the Indians before the
spring opened, while their ponies were in bad condition and
the weather prevented them from travelling, but movements
from General Terry's department were made impracticable
by the cold. General Crook prepared an^(expedition from
Fort Fetterman, from which point,- it was supposed, the
troops could operate at any time.
The expedition was composed of ten troops of cavalry and
two of infantry (700 men), with a large train, it being neces-
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
597
sary to carry all forage for the horses and pack animals. The
command marched down Tongue River almost to the Yellow¬
stone. A trail was discovered, and Colonel Reynolds, with
nine troops of cavalry, pushed forward over it, on the night
of March 16. In the morning they discovered the camp of
Crazy Horse, near the mouth of Little Powder River. The
situation of the village, beneath the precipitous bluffs of the
river, made it impossible to charge at once. The horses had
to be conducted to the valley through almost impassable
gorges, a work which required two hours, and even then Cap¬
tain Moore's battalion of dismounted men, which had been as¬
signed a position on the eastern side, had not been led to the
designated point by the commander. Only two officers and
five men advanced to where they had been ordered. At nine
o'clock Captain Egan charged the camp, with one company,
while Captain Noyes, with another, drove off the herd. Both
movements were successfully executed, though Egan was put
on the defensive before the supporting column came up. On
its arrival the Indians fled to the rocks, and the soldiers began
destroying the camp. One hundred and ten lodges, with nu¬
merous buffalo robes and property of all kinds, were burned.
The troops lost four killed and six wounded ; the Indian loss
was trifling. Immediately after destroying the village, the
troops retired rapidly to Lodge Pole Creek, twenty miles
away, where they expected to meet Crook, but he had not
arrived. The soldiers had now been thirty-six hours in the
saddle, or fighting, and were much exhausted. Supperless and
blanketless, they rested as well as they could during the in¬
tensely cold night. Ro guard was stationed with the captured
herd, in consequence of which nearly all of them escaped and
were retaken by the Indians. The cold grew so intense as to
make further operations impossible. The thermometer re¬
peatedly fell to thirty degrees below zero, and on several oc¬
casions went below registry. The command returned to Fort
Fetterman, and the troops were distributed to their posts.
This movement and its results have been subjected to
spicy criticism, beginning with some sharp talk by the Indian
Department. In his report General Crook said that the vil¬
lage was a "perfect magazine of ammunition, war material,
598
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
and general supplies. . . . Every evidence was found to prove
these Indians in copartnership with those at the Red Cloud
and Spotted Tail agencies, and that the proceeds of their raids
upon the settlements had been taken to those agencies and
supplies brought out in return." This raised the wrath of the
Indian Bureau. Agent Howard, of Spotted Tail agency, re¬
ported at once : "Ho proceeds of raids upon settlements have1
been brought here ; 110 supplies taken north in return. No
arms have been sold by the agency trader to Indians for more
than two years, and but little ammunition ; and, for two
months, none of either. ... I respectfully suggest that Gen¬
eral Crook be requested to produce some of the abundant
evidence which he found." Agent Hastings, of Red Cloud
agency, was more savage. He said : " I learn from one of the
half-breed scouts, who was with Crook's expedition against
the hostile camp, that it was a complete failure, with the ex¬
ception of the killing of an old squaw and two children, and
the destruction of about forty lodges, with a loss to the troops
of four killed and six wounded. Seven hundred Indian
ponies were captured, but were recaptured 011 the following
day, with the exception of about seventy head. A dozen or
more officers have been placed in arrest for cowardice, and the
command have returned to the railroad. . . . Five pounds of
powder, twenty of lead, and six boxes of percussion caps
comprised all the ammunition that was found in the aban¬
doned camp." The truth probably lies between these ex¬
tremes. While some of the statements of the latter extract
are exact, its tone is so venomous as to destroy confidence in
others. On the other hand, General Crook's statement savors
more of opinion than of demonstration. It is difficult to con¬
ceive of any evidence that could possibly be in the Indian
camp which would prove that the proceeds of raids 011 the
settlements had been taken to the agencies and traded for
goods. If such were the fact, the evidence would be at the
agencies, not at the camp.
The plan adopted for the campaign was an advance in
three columns, as soon as the weather permitted. General
Crook was to march north from Fort Fetterman, with fifteen
troops of cavalry and four companies of infantry, 1300
OLD FORT RENO—CROOK'S SUPPLY CAMP.
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
601
men; Colonel Gibbon was to come east from Fort Ellis,
Montana, with four troops of cavalry and six companies of
infantry, 400 men ; General Custer was to move west from
Fort A. Lincoln, with the 7th Cavalry, six companies of in¬
fantry, and three Gatling guns, 1000 men, besides the train
men. This plan was followed, except that General Terry
commanded the last force, Custer having been deposed by or¬
der of General Grant. Tbe trouble between them was occa¬
sioned by Custer's testimony before the celebrated Ileister
Clymer committee, in the Belknap investigation. Clymer
learned that Custer had reported his suspicions of certain
transactions to the War Department, and that orders had
been given that the transactions referred to be not interfered
with. He at once summoned Custer, by telegraph. This was
in the middle of March, and Custer was preparing to start his
column early in April. He protested, and asked to be ex¬
amined by deposition, but without effect. Mr. Clymer was
gunning for big game, and did not propose to feel around in
the dark by means of interrogatories. Custer had to go on
to Washington. The main point elicited from him was that
certain government contractors had turned over to him a
large amount of grain, in sacks which bore the Indian De¬
partment's mark. He suspected that the sacks had been
stolen from the Indian Department through a conspiracy be¬
tween the Indian ring and the contractors, and reported the
matter through his superior, General Terry, in accordance
with military etiquette, at the same time refusing to receive
the grain. lie received peremptory orders to take the grain,
which orders, he naturally believed, came down from the
Secretary of War. This belief, however, was erroneous, as
Custer learned of General Terry, on his return. Terry had
given the orders himself, under certain instructions intended
for the protection of the government. Custer at once tele¬
graphed this fact to Clymer, and asked that the telegram be
made part of his testimony, but the evil had already been
done.
Grant was furious. lie considered the attack on Belknap
as an attack on himself and his administration, as well as an
unjustifiable assault on his personal friend. The same qual-
602
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ity of persistence that made Grant successful as a general,
got him into trouble as an executive. lie stuck to his friends
in rough weather just as when the sky was smiling. lie al¬
ways fought it out on the line he had begun with—an excel¬
lent policy if tlie line be correct, but very bad otherwise.
The verdict of history will probably be that Grant was an
honest man who fell an easy prey to tricksters. The partisan
effort to defend his administration, and the partisan effort to
involve Grant personally in its corruption, will both fail un¬
der the test of time. Whether, in fact, Belknap was guilty in
the Fort Sill tradership affair, or whether the folly of his
wife occasioned his ruin, is not very material. It is beyond
doubt that he was saved from impeachment solely by the
legal theory of the defence, that a man out of office cannot
be impeached, for of the twenty-five Senators who voted " not
guilty," twenty-three explained their votes as being wholly
on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. Whether guilty or
not, there is clearly no reason why any one who knew any
material facts should not be called as a witness, or why any
witness should be reproached for telling what he believed.
Custer was in disgrace at court. In court opinion the
probability of his antipathy to the administration was height¬
ened by the fact that he was a Democrat in politics. He
had joined that party soon after the war, on account of a feel¬
ing that the Southern States were treated unjustly. He now
felt that he was misunderstood, but Grant refused to see him
or hear any explanation. Three times Custer called at the
White House and failed to obtain an audience. During the
last call, as lie waited in the anteroom, General Ingalls noti¬
fied the President that Custer desired to speak to him, but
Grant said he did not wish to see him. Custer then sent in
a note stating that he desired the interview solely to correct
certain unjust impressions which he believed were held con¬
cerning him. Grant still declined to see him. Custer started
for his post. At Chicago he was overtaken by a despatch,
through General Sheridan, ordering that he should stop and
await further orders, while the expedition went on without
him. A telegraphic correspondence ensued, which disclosed
the fact that the instigator of the order was Grant, and that
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
603
Custer's offence as a witness was the cause of his hostility.
The first concession obtained was that Custer might go on
to his post, and remain there on duty. This did not satisfy
the warrior. He appealed personally to Grant by telegram,
saying: "I appeal to you as a soldier to spare me the humili¬
ation of seeing my regiment march to meet the enemy and I
not to share its dangers." This message General Terry
kindly endorsed: " I do not know the reasons upon which
the orders already given rest; but if those reasons do not for¬
bid it, Lieutenant-colonel Custer's services would be very
valuable with his command." This brought Grant around
one step more, and Custer was permitted to go with his regi¬
ment, under Terry.
Unfortunately for Custer, the press got hold of the mat¬
ter, and it became the subject of partisan dispute. The worst
thing that can befall a man is to become a political martyr
for the benefit of an opposition. His temporary friends can¬
not assist him, and usually care nothing for him, except as a
viaduct for attack, while to the other and powerful side he
becomes an object of execration. The Democratic papers at¬
tacked Grant for his treatment of Custer, and the Republican
papers, as in duty bound, abused Custer, in defence of Grant.
Between his policy friends and his unreasonable enemies
poor Custer was well-nigh ruined.
The expeditions finally started. Crook met the enemy
first. He moved to the hostile country, and, on June 8, es¬
tablished a large supply camp on Goose Creek. This he left
under a strong guard, and marched on the 16th in search of
the enemy, with nearly one thousand men. lie had mounted
his infantry on the train mules, and supplied each man with
four days' rations. The Indians were believed to be on the
Rosebud, about sixty miles away. Crook advanced for forty
miles and went into camp. His Crow scouts refused to make
a night march, having secured some buffalo during the day,
and being determined to feast before they fought. The next
morning an advance of seven miles wras made, after which
the troops camped at the mouth of a deep and rocky canon
with steep, timbered sides. The scouts were out ahead. Sud¬
denly the reports of guns were heard, and soon the scouts
604
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
came racing over the hills, chased by a large force of Sioux.
The soldiers were quickly formed in line of battle, and the
right centre was advanced to the summit of the bluffs, the
position of the camp being untenable except these were held.
In this general position the fight was carried on from eight
in the morning until two in the afternoon. At the latter
hour the left wing was ordered to retire, or connect with the
main body. This movement was effected with considerable
loss, the Sioux at once occupying the deserted position, and
pouring a heavy fire into the retiring troops. Their advance
was checked by a charge of the infantry and Indian allies
from the left centre. Orders were then given for an ad¬
vance, the purpose being to strike the Indian village, which
was supposed to be about six miles ahead, but this was aban¬
doned on account of the shortness of the supply of ammuni¬
tion, and the discovery that the advance would have to be
made through a canon where the troops would be at the
mercy of the enemy. After a brief pursuit of the Indians,
who were now withdrawing, General Crook went into camp
on the field. The loss to the troops was nine killed and
twenty-one wounded. Eleven dead Indians were found on
the field. The surprise of the village being now impossible,
the wounded needing care, and the enemy being in much
greater force than had been expected, Crook determined to
fall back on his supply camp, which he did without further
molestation.
Communication had not yet been established with the
other two columns, and this withdrawal took Crook out of the
range of practicable communication. Terry and Gibbon had
communicated on June 1. On the 7th Terry established his
supply camp at the mouth of Powder River. From this
point Major Reno made a scout up Powder River to the
mouth of the Little Powder, about one hundred and fifty
miles, thence across to the Rosebud, and down it to its mouth.
He could find nothing of Crook and nothing of the Indians,
but on the Rosebud he found a heavy Indian trail, about
nine days' old, which he followed for a short distance. In
the mean time the main command had proceeded up the south
bank of the Yellowstone to a point opposite Gibbon's camp,
THE LITTLE BIG HOEN.
607
the steamer Far West moving up the river at the same time.
A conference was held, and it was determined to make a
grand surround, it being now reasonably certain that the In¬
dians were between the Rosebud and the Big Horn, probably
on the Little Big Horn. Gibbon was to cross the Yellow¬
stone near the mouth of the Big Horn, march to the mouth
of the Little Big Horn, by June 26, and then up the last-
named stream. Meanwhile Custer was to march up the
Rosebud with the 7th Cavalry, to the trail discovered by
Reno. Beyond that point Custer had virtually carte blanche,
by his written orders, but it was understood that if the trail
were found to lead to the Little Big Horn he would pass it
and continue southward long enough to allow Gibbon, who
had all the infantry, to reach the mouth of the Little Big
Horn. This he could not do before the 26th. This under¬
standing is substantially set forth in Custer's orders, as the
views of General Terry, with the desire that Custer should
"conform to them" unless he should "see sufficient reason
for departing from them." It was evidently the object of
the movement to get the Indians between the two forces, but
it is equally evident that either command w-as supposed to be
large enough to safely engage all the hostiles. The object of
division of forces was to prevent the escape of the Indians,
to surround the hostiles, and bring the campaign to a close at
one blow. Ho one, as yet, had any suspicion of the number
of Indians they were to meet.
Custer moved up the Rosebud on the afternoon of the
22d twelve miles, and encamped. On the next day he ad¬
vanced thirty-three miles, striking the lodge-pole trail that
Reno had found. On the 24th he followed this trail for
twenty-eight miles, still up the Rosebud, and went into camp.
The scouts were kept ahead. At half-past nine a council
was called, and Custer announced his intention of crossing the
divide to the Little Big Horn that night, in order to avoid de¬
tection by the hostiles. At eleven o'clock the regiment
moved on, up one of the small feeders of the Rosebud, tow¬
ards the Little Big Horn. The divide between these two
streams is only about twenty miles across at this point, but
by the course followed, up the tributary of the Rosebud, and
G08
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
down a tributary of the Little Big Horn, it was thirty-three
miles from Custer's camp, 011 the evening of the 2-fth, to the
Indian village. At two o'clock in the morning, after making
ten miles, the column again halted until live o'clock in the
morning, the scouts reporting that the divide could not be
crossed until daylight. Coffee was made, and the troops
moved 011. At eight o'clock the first Indians were seen. It
was then evident that no surprise could be made, but it was
determined to attack the village, at any rate. The regiment
was divided into four commands. Custer took five compa¬
nies; Major Reno had three; Captain Benteen had three;
and Captain McDougal, with one, was placed in charge of the
pack train. Benteen was ordered to ride with his detachment
to some bluffs 011 the left front, and to report if he could see
anything of the village from there. lie reached these bluffs,
but could see nothing, and went on to some others beyond,
making an offing of some ten miles. The rest of the command
kept on down the creek until half-past twelve. Custer then
sent word to Reno that the village was only two miles ahead and
the Indians were running away. Reno says his orders were
" to move forward at as rapid a gait as prudent, and to charge
afterwards, and that the whole outfit would support me."
lie rode at a fast trot for two miles, crossed the river at a
ford, halted ten minutes to gather his battalion, and moved
011 down the valley with his men in line of battle. The
small number of Indians who appeared fled before him for
two miles and a half, making scarcely any resistance.
" I soon saw," says Reno, " that I was being drawn into
some trap, as they certainly would fight harder, and especially
as we were nearing their village, which was still standing; be¬
sides, I could not see Custer, or any other support, and at the
same time the very earth seemed to grow Indians, and they
were running towards me in swarms, and from all directions.
I saw I must defend myself, and give up the attack mounted.
This I did, taking possession of a point of woods, and which
furnished, near its edge, a shelter for the horses; dismounted,
and fought them on foot, making headway through the
wood. I soon found myself in the near vicinity of the vil¬
lage, saw that I was fighting odds of at least five to one, and
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
609
that my only hope was to get out of the wood, where I would
soon have been surrounded, and gain some high ground. I
accomplished this by mounting and charging the Indians be¬
tween me and the bluffs, on the opposite side of the river.
... I succeeded in reaching the top of the bluff, with a loss
of three officers and twenty-nine enlisted men killed, and
seven men wounded." Benteen had struck the trail of the
main body, just in advance of the train, and come on at a trot,
lie met a messenger with orders to McDougal to bring on the
train as rapidly as possible. A mile farther on he met an¬
other messenger with the order: " Benteen, come on ; big vil¬
lage; be quick; bring packs. P. S. Bring packs." Says
Benteen : " A mile or a mile and a half farther on, I came in
sight of the valley and Little Big Horn. About twelve or
fifteen dismounted men were fighting on the plain with In¬
dians, charging and recharging them. This body (the Indians)
numbered about nine hundred at this time. Colonel Reno's
mounted party were retiring across the river to the bluffs.
I did not recognize till later what party this was, but was
clear that they had been beaten. I then marched my com¬
mand in line to their succor. On reaching the bluff I re¬
ported to Colonel Reno, and first learned that the command
had been separated, and that Custer was not in that part of
the field, and no one of Reno's command was able to inform
me of the whereabouts of General Custer."
The two united commands, numbering three hundred and
eighty men, now moved down the river, keeping on the
bluffs. Firing had been heard in that direction, and the in¬
ference was that Custer was engaged. On reaching the sum¬
mit of the highest bluff nothing could be seen of him, and no
more firing was heard. Reno stopped until the pack train
came up, meanwhile sending Captain Weir, with one com¬
pany, to open communication, but he quickly sent back word
that he could make no progress; that the Indians were sur¬
rounding him. A heavy fire from his force showed that his
enemies were not imaginary. It now seemed certain that
Custer had been driven back and had retired down the river.
Weir was called back, and the whole force moved to Reno's
first position after retreating across the river, which was the
39
610
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
most available point for defence yet found. Here tliey were
rejoined by scout Ilerndon and thirteen men, who had be¬
come separated from the command in the timber. The place
was a small depression, surrounded by the crests of the hills
that formed it. The animals were scarcely placed in the de¬
pression, and the men stationed on the crests, when the In¬
dians attacked them in strong force They maintained an in¬
cessant fire from six till nine o'clock in the evening, during
which the troops lost eighteen killed and forty-six wounded.
All through that night the soldiers worked at their in-
trenchments, making rifle-pits and barricading with dead ani¬
mals. Below them, in the valley, the Sioux were holding a
scalp-dance over those already fallen, and the wild sound
came plainly on the night air to the little band, who knew
that their scalps would be in demand on the morrow. Day
broke at half-past two, and the attack was renewed at once,
by a part of tbe enemy. The remainder came in crowds,
riding up the valley from the scene of their orgies of the
night, until all the elite of Sioux chivalry had taken their
places about the tiny fortress. For seven hours they main¬
tained a continuous fire of rifles, themselves out of reach of
the carbines of tbe cavalrymen. At half-past nine they
made a desperate charge, advancing close enough to use their
bows and arrows, but were driven back by a counter-charge
from the lines, led by Captain Benteen. They then charged
on the other side, but were repulsed by a like counter-charge
under Major Reno. It was now ten o'clock, and the men,
especially the wounded, were suffering for water. Volunteers
were called for, and a party was soon scrambling down to the
river, under cover of the fire of their comrades. They se¬
cured enough to moisten the lips of all, but they left half a
dozen brave men on their road. The Indians then began
moving to the valley, presumably either to get something to
eat or more ammunition, and the soldiers hastened to get a
good supply of water before they should return. They did
not come back. At two o'clock they fired the grass in the
valley, and under cover of the heavy smoke began prepara¬
tions for their final departure. About sunset they emerged
from the clouds of smoke and filed away in the direction of
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
611
the Big Horn Mountains. Reno moved his position that
night, so as to secure a full supply of water, but the Indians
had gone to stay. The only arrival during the night was
Lieutenant De Rudio, who had become separated from the
command in the timber, where he had been hiding ever
since. In the morning Terry and Gibbon came up. They
had seen nothing of Custer.
Until this time no one had felt any serious apprehension
for Custer's command. Reno and Benteen supposed he had
fallen back, down the river, and united with Terry. Terry
and Gibbon had received word by the Crow scouts that Cus¬
ter had been defeated, but did not believe it. Captain Ben¬
teen was sent out with a company of cavalry to make a
search. lie struck the broad trail that Custer had left, and in
that trail was read the record of their progress to death, as
plainly as though it were written in words. From the point
where Reno crossed the river, Custer had marched rapidly
down the north bank, keeping back of the crests of the bluffs,
for a little more than three miles. Then his trail swung
around to the river, but did not cross it. It turned back on
itself and still bore down the river. The fighting began at
^this turning-point, as was shown by the bodies of men and
iiprses first appearing there. Custer had probably intended
to strike the lower end of the village, but, not knowing its ex¬
tent, had attempted to cross the river near the middle of the
village. He had been ambushed and driven back. He had
been pressed so closely that there was no opportunity for a
stand. Three quarters of a mile back from the river Captain
Calhoun's company had been thrown across the line of retreat
as a rear-guard. They died at their posts. Stretched across
the trail in irregular line, with Calhoun and Lieutenant Crit¬
tenden in place at the rear, were the bodies of all the compa¬
ny—dead, where they had been stationed, in the attempt to
save the remainder of the command. Under cover of this
check, the rest of the force had* fallen back a mile farther and
gained a better position; but' the remorseless Sioux were on
their heels. The force was now disposed in something like
military order. The centre, on a small ridge, was held by
Yates's company. On the left was Keogh's company, with its
612
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
right flank resting on the ridge. On the right was Smith's
company. Captain Tom Custer's company was probably in
the right centre.
The brunt of the attack came first on Keogh's company,
which went down, as Calhoun's had, in line. There was no
chance to aid them. The Indians were pressing on every side.
It has been learned from Sitting Bull that at this point the
Indians captured most of the horses, by circling the hill to the
right (of the Indians) and driving them away from the rear.
The superior forces of the Indians, and the shrewdness and
daring of their fighting, can be judged from this movement.
They knew where the horses were and that they wanted only
these to make their prey secure. The plains Indians have
not the nerve to ride to certain death, but they charge as gal¬
lantly as any cavalrymen that ever rode, when they are confi¬
dent of success. They had trampled down Keogh's men like
ripened grain, as they dashed to the rear to secure the horses.
The attack now came on the left centre—from the front, rear,
and left flank. The fire poured in on the little ridge must
have been terrific. Custer fell there, with nearly all his offi¬
cers. Around his body were those of Captain Yates, Colonel
Cook, and Lieutenant Riley. Close by were Boston Custer,
the general's brother, Autie Reed, his nephew, and Kellogg,
the Herald correspondent, all civilians who had accompanied
the expedition. Around these were the bodies of Yates's com¬
pany. Just beyond was the corpse of Tom Custer, the gener¬
al's brother, with part of his men; and a little farther on lay
Captain Smith. The positions of the bodies showed that the
remnants of Custer's and Smith's companies, their officers all
dead, and themselves surrounded on three sides by the foe,
had fallen back through a ravine to the river, leaving twenty-
three dead along the line of retreat. Near the river they
stopped. They had all the surviving uncaptured horses with
them. It is probable either that the sight of the village, ex¬
tending yet below them, showed them there was no chance
for escape, or that they were here met by some new force.
Here, at least, they died.
The only man of the entire command that escaped was
" Curly," a Crow scout. When Custer was surrounded on the
A — Calhoun's Company killed.
B — Keogh's " "
C.D Yates's, Custer's, and Smith's Cos.killed.
£ — Last stand of the remnant.
^^ylvEyo's FORT
#""'4
\<p
a A "k p
\Seno's Advance"
\ <oi'i
-%/
/ A.
PLAN OF CUSTER'S FIGHT ON THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
015
hill, he slipped down a ravine, let down his hair in Sioux fash¬
ion, changed his paint, secured a Sioux blanket, and succeeded
in getting among the enemy during a charge. He mounted
the horse of a fallen warrior and made his escape during the
confusion of the battle. He says he did not leave Custer un¬
til the fight on the hill was almost ended. He saw Custer
sink to a sitting posture, from a shot in his side, and then fall
back, struck by a second bullet. It has been reported as hav¬
ing been claimed by some of the hostiles who fled into British
America, that Custer was the last to fall; and that he died,
sabre in hand, shot by Bain in the Face. The story is hardly
credible. Custer was not the last to fall, beyond question.
The evidence that has been obtained all goes to show that he
was not even the last officer who fell on the ridge, but that
Lieutenant-colonel Cook survived the others. Curly says that
as he rode away, when nearly a mile distant, he looked back
and saw a dozen or more soldiers, in a ravine, fighting the
Sioux, who hemmed them in on all sides. This was after
Custer's death, as the position of the bodies and the trail itself
proved. The opinion most prevalent among Dakota people,
to whom the talk of the Indians drifts, sooner or later, is that
no one knows certainly who killed Custer—that he died by
some bullet that could never be identified among the hun¬
dreds that were flying.
Of course it is possible that Bain in the Face shot him;
but the real basis of this story was the imprisonment of this
Indian, and his probable desire for revenge. In 1873 Custer
had been sent with an expedition to protect a surveying-party
of the Northern Pacific Bailroad Company, from the Missouri
to Montana. They crossed the country which had been guar¬
anteed the Sioux, by the treaty of 1868, and which was conse¬
quently occupied by " hostiles." On this expedition the troops
were attacked by the Sioux, and, at the time of the attack, two
non-combatants were killed while separated from the com¬
mand. They were Dr. Ilonzinger, the veterinary surgeon,
and Mr. Baliran, the sutler of the 7th Cavalry. They were
elderly men, of scientific tastes, and were searching for fossils,
in which the bad lands abound. Their slayer was unknown ;
but, eighteen months later, while Custer was in winter quarters
616
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
at Fort Abraham Lincoln, lie was discovered at Standing Rock
' o
agency. The Sioux were there drawing rations, and, as usual,
held dances in which they recounted their prowess. In one
of these Rain in the Face, a young brave, described how he
had killed these two men, and displayed articles that had be¬
longed to them. Unfortunately for him, Reynolds, the scout
—Lonesome Charley Reynolds, he was called ; a brave man
with a pathetic history, who fell in Reno's first skirmish on
the Little Rig Horn — was looking on, and understood the
story. He notified Custer, who sent a company to arrest the
man. They brought him out, after many threats and much
begging by the Indians, and took him to Fort Lincoln. His
arrest caused much anxiety to the Sioux, who expected him to
be hung. He was a great brave, and so were his five broth¬
ers; one of them, Iron Horn, being a chief of prominence.
He had especially distinguished himself in the sun dance—the
Sioux test of endurance—by remaining suspended for four
hours and refusing to be cut down, although the judges decid¬
ed that he had passed the test.* He confessed his guilt to
Custer, and was retained in the guard-house. In the spring
of 1875 some white hay-thieves, confined in the same place,
made their escape by cutting through the side of the building,
and Rain in the Face slipped out after them. When next
heard from he was with Sitting Bull, and sent in word to his
tribe that he was awaiting an opportunity for vengeance.
It is to be regretted that Major Reno and General Terry
should have felt it necessary to reflect on the course of Cus¬
ter in attacking the Indians before the other troops were within
supporting distance, and equally so that Custer's friends should
have returned the attack by accusations of disobedience and
cowardice against Reno and Benteen. There was no occasion
for either. The affair is pardonable on one account, and one
* The tortures of the sun dance are about the same as those of the Man-
dans, described and illustrated by Catlin. The suspension test is made by
hanging the candidate on cords passed under various muscles or sinews, un¬
til the flesh gives way under the strain and he falls to the ground. Some¬
times weights are attached to the limbs to hasten the desired result. Rain
in the Face was hung by cords passed under the muscles at the base of the
shoulder-blades.
THE LITTLE BIG HOKN.
617
only; and all of its minor happenings fall under the same ex¬
cuse. No one with Custer's command, or with Terry or Gibbon
or Crook, had any thought that there was so large a force of
hostiles; and none of them had any reason to suspect its real
strength. The roaming Indians were reported by the Indian De¬
partment to number 3000,which meant a fighting force of 600—
possibly 800. The information from other sources did not indi¬
cate any excess over this figure. On March 22, General Crook,
reporting the attack on Crazy Horse's village, said: " Crazy
Ilorse had with him the Northern Cheyennes and Minnecon-
jous, probably in all one half the Indians off the reservation."
This camp consisted of 110 lodges, or less than 600 people.
From this statement it would appear that the military expect¬
ed a hostile force of not to exceed 1200, or a fighting force of
about 250. Agent Howard, of Spotted Tail agency, replying
to Crook's report, said, on April 1: " Very few, if any, of these
Indians have been north this season, and I have heard of none
who wrere in copartnership with those of the North." Agent
Hastings, of Red Cloud agency, in a similar communication, on
April 3, said : " The agency Indians appear to take but little
interest in what has transpired north; but the disastrous re¬
sult may have a tendency to awaken the old feeling of superi¬
ority. I have experienced no difficulty whatever in taking
the census, but have been somewhat delayed on account of the
weather." There was in these reports no cause to anticipate
that the hostiles would be materially reinforced from these
agencies. General Sherman, whose position put him in pos¬
session of all the information that could be had, referring to
Custer's departure on June 22, said: "Up to this moment
there was nothing official or private to justify an officer to ex¬
pect that any detachment could encounter more than 500, or,
at the maximum, 800 hostile warriors." There was nothing,
after that moment, from which Custer or any of his officers
had any reason to change that estimate, until they were fairly
within the clutches of the enemy.
This was a wide miscalculation. The Indians from all the
Sioux agencies began slipping away to the hostiles as soon as
spring gave signs of approach, and when Custer struck them,
there were together, as nearly as can be judged, about one
618
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
half of all the Sioux in Dakota. As soon as the fight on the
Little Big Horn had shown what the real state of affairs was,
the military authorities insisted on taking control of the agen¬
cies, and, on July 22, the Secretary of the Interior acceded to
the demand. The soldiers at once took possession of the
agencies, and made a careful census of the Indians remain¬
ing 011 the reservations. At Bed Cloud, instead of 12,873
Indians, there were 4760. At Spotted Tail, instead of 9610,
there were found to be 2315. At Cheyenne Biver, instead of
7586, there were found 22S0. At Standing Bock, instead of
7322, there were found 2305. In other words, there were
25,800 less Indians at these four agencies than belonged there,
according to the reports of the Indian Bureau. These, with
the 3000 roaming Indians, who were always off the reserva¬
tions, make 28,800, to which there could safely be added a
considerable number as representatives from other agencies,
notably from Fort Peck. It is certain that a large portion of
the Indians, off the reservations when the censuses were taken
by the military, had left after reports of the Little Big Horn
fight reached them and stimulated them to a desire for war,
but, deducting one half for this, we may still count at least
3000 warriors for that engagement. Beno says, of the horde
that surrounded his intrenchment on the 26th: "I think we
were fighting all the Sioux nation, and also all the desperadoes,
renegades, half-breeds, and squaw-men between the Missouri
and Arkansas, east of the Bocky Mountains, and they must
have numbered at least 2500 warriors." This is more prob¬
ably an underestimate than an overestimate. The hostiles had
assembled at this point, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and all the
rest. The Indians say so, and the scouting that had been done
previously had shown that all the hostiles were in that neigh¬
borhood. The two main bodies joined about the 23d, as was
shown by a heavy trail into the valley, about five days old,
discovered by Captain Ball, on the 28th. The village ex¬
tended three miles down the river, and in addition to the
lodges there were a large number of brush shelters, such as
are commonly called wick-i-ups in the West. Officers who
estimated from the size of the village thought there were at
least 3000 warriors.
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
619
MASSACRE MONUMENT.
The belief has been held by some military men that the
Indians were not expecting an attack when the soldiers struck
them, but this theory is not supported by the facts. The in¬
ference from all the evidence is irresistible that Custer ad¬
vanced into a remarkably complete and well-planned ambus¬
cade. The Indians had ample notice of his approach. He did
not advance on them rapidly. At five o'clock in the morning,
when he re-began his march, he was twenty-three miles from
the village. At half-past twelve, when Reno was ordered to
charge, they were still four miles from it. In seven hours
and a half they had advanced nineteen miles. They first saw
Indians at eight o'clock, and at their rate of marching they
were then about fifteen miles from the village, with the In¬
dians still nearer. If we suppose these first Indians seen to
have been the first Indians who saw the troops, it is evident
that they could have notified the village with ease by ten
o'clock. No one at all acquainted with Indian methods will
believe that the troops were out of sight of Indian scouts at
620
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
any time after eight o'clock. There are two facts going to
show that they desired the troops to suppose that the village
had not been alarmed. Tliej7 did not make any signal-fires
for communication, as they usually do. These would have in¬
formed the soldiers that their presence was known to all the
Indians in the vicinity. Secondly, Trumpeter Martin (the last
white man who saw Custer alive), who brought back the mes¬
sage to Benteen, says he left the general at the summit of the
bluff overlooking the village, and that, as he turned, " General
Custer raised his hat and gave a yell, saying they were asleep
in their teepees and surprised, and to charge." It is known
that only a part of the village was visible from any point on
the bluff that the soldiers reached before the fight, but the
part Custer saw was quiet. It must have been kept quiet in¬
tentionally, for the warriors were at that time waiting for
Custer below, and under such circumstances there would nat¬
urally have been an appearance of activity in the village,
whatever its size might have been. Custer drew the correct
conclusion on his theory of the number of Indians there. If
there had been only from five to eight hundred warriors, and
they had been notified of the coming of the troops, the squaws
would have been taking down the lodges and packing at that
time. The only inference that could be drawn was that they
were surprised, and Custer acted on it, as they probably
desired that he should.
The Indians were in at least two bodies before the fight
began, one at the upper end of the village, and one at the
ford where Custer attempted to cross. When Reno retired
across the valley from the timber he was pursued by all the
Indians there, who followed him until he reached the top of
the bluff. His heaviest loss occurred while ascending the bluff.
From the summit he heard firing, down the river, where Cus¬
ter had gone. Custer was on the retreat from the time he was
attacked, as is shown by the trail. Consequently, an over¬
whelming force of Indians was fighting each party at the same
time. The number of Indians fighting Reno was estimated
by Benteen at 900, and by Reno to be at least that number.
So far as is known, the remainder, numbering probably 2000,
were fighting Custer. The record of time given by Reno
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
621
also shows that they were fighting simultaneously. Custer
ordered Reno forward at half-past twelve. His own com¬
mand followed Reno's to a point near the ford, and then
moved rapidly three miles down the river, in all five miles.
He must have been engaged by two o'clock, and probably
was fighting from half-past one. It was half-past two when
Reno reached the top of the bluff and was joined by Ben-
teen. It is not probable that Custer's fight lasted long
after that time. There has been published an account of
this massacre, purporting to come from a trapper named
Ridgely, who was a prisoner in the Sioux camp and es¬
caped during the jubilee on the night of the 25th, in which
it is stated that the fight with Custer lasted only fifty-five
minutes. This story contains numerous errors, and is there¬
fore unworthy of belief except as corroborated. In this par¬
ticular it is corroborated by Reno and Benteen, who say the
firing had ceased when they advanced on the bluffs, and Cap¬
tain Weir was sent beyond to learn Custer's whereabouts.
This movement was made shortly after Reno and Benteen
united, and before the pack train had come up. Another fact
which shows conclusively that Custer's fight was short, was
the small number of Indians killed. The estimates of their
killed, in the entire affair, by the officers engaged, were from
forty to one hundred. The Indians conceded a loss of thirty-
five. Most of these were killed by Reno's command in the
fight on the 26th.
With these points in mind, it is easy to see the plan of the
Indians. They knew that a force of about six hundred men
was approaching. They saw Benteen's detachment leave the
others and ride to the left. They arranged their forces, part
at the end of the village nearest the soldiers, and part at the
first accessible ford below the approach to the upper end of
the village. If the soldiers reunited they might possibly
charge through at either place, but if they did they would
be surrounded on all sides. If they came in two detachments
there would be enough warriors at both points to overwhelm
them. At the upper end a few Indians remained among some
scattered teepees, above the main village. As the soldiers
advanced these were to retreat, and draw their pursuers into
622
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the midst of the main body at this point. They failed in this,
because Reno became suspicious of their action, and, seeing
nothing of Custer, who, he understood, was to follow him,
halted before reaching their ambuscade. They then advanced
on him, passing constantly to his rear, to surround him, where¬
upon he cut through them to the bluffs. At the other end
MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER.
Sitting Bull had his main force at the ford, with a strong band
advanced six hundred yards on the right bank, and concealed
in the timber. Sitting Bull so states, and his statement is
verified by the fact that Custer, instead of falling back by the
road over which he advanced, retired farther down the stream.
This he would not probably have done from choice, for it took
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
623
him away from Reno and Benteen, and placed him in very
bad ground, much cut up by ravines. lie wras struck in the
rear by this band, turned down the river, and hurried on by a
force vastly outnumbering him, until completely swept away.
It has been quite commonly believed that Custer reck¬
lessly charged his command into a force that outnumbered
him from five to ten times over, and that his recklessness was
more or less due to his trouble with General Grant. That
this last made him more anxious for action is probably true.
One can readily see how the soldier, who has unwittingly been
drawn into the muddy pool of politics, wrould wish for an open
field and the enemy before him. The people understood that,
and they looked on the attack as some of " Custer's dash," but
they did not blame him, for it was that same " dash " that car¬
ried him into their hearts long before. There was another
consideration, too, that might well have palsied the tongue of
criticism—the terrible loss to the Custer family. The general,
his two brothers, his brother-in-law, Captain Calhoun, and his
nephew, were certainly sacrifices enough to have expiated any
common mistake. But this estimate, though it may be in¬
tended to be a kindly one, is unjust to Custer's memory. In
fact, there has been injustice done to all the officers engaged in
the battle, and it has arisen chiefly from the efforts of them¬
selves or their friends to evade the supposed fault in the affair.
There was not fairly any fault in it. It is evident that Custer
attacked a force which he believed, and had every reason to
believe, was about equal to his own. In that belief he con¬
cluded logically that the Indians wrere surprised when he saw
their quiet camp. With that belief his division of his force
into detachments, to strike on two sides, was a most excellent
plan. He had not overrnarched his command. His advance
was only sixty-one miles, from five o'clock on the morning of
the 24th, to the time of the fight, or about thirty-two hours.
It is plain enough that Terry's plan was to get the Indians
between Custer and Gibbon, but this was not from any sup¬
position that either command was not large enough to handle
the Indians singly. It was for the purpose of preventing their
escape. Terry had no more knowledge of the number of
the Indians than Custer had, and neither Terry nor Custer
624
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
can justly be blamed for relying on what information they
had.
On the other hand, Reno and Benteen are equally justifia¬
ble. Reno saw that he was being drawn into a trap, and fell
back in time to save the greater part of his command. It was
most fortunate that he did so as quickly as he did. Army
officers, in blaming one another for failures, almost invariably
weaken their common defence, and this case is no exception.
Custer's biographer, Captain Whittaker, in assailing Reno for
falling back, labors to prove that the number of all the In¬
dians at the village, including squaws and children, was about
4500. If this were correct, the maximum number of warriors
that could fairly be counted would be 1500. The number as¬
sailing Reno, by the estimates of both Reno and Benteen,
was about 900. The result of Whittaker's argument, there¬
fore, would be that Custer was driven back by a party smaller
than that assailing Reno, and Custer had two companies more
than Reno. Benteen's course is also attacked by Captain
Whittaker, but in this his premises are incorrect. His argu¬
ment is based on the time consumed in Benteen's movements,
and his time and distances are fixed by the time when Ben¬
teen watered his horses, which he assumes to have occurred
when crossing the river. The horses were watered at a mo¬
rass, some distance back on the main trail. The unjustness of
the estimate of our officers has been increased by an under¬
estimate of the Indian leaders. That they were men of ability
to handle their forces is certain. That was a matter of noto¬
riety all through the campaign of 1876. No more complete
evidence of their skill could be given than the fact that neither
of the three armies searching for them secured any knowledge
of their numbers or position in advance. Crook had no idea
of their strength until they fought him and turned him hack
on the 20th of June. Custer did not suspect it until they
swarmed about him on the 25th. Terry and Gibbon did not
believe it possible for Custer to have been defeated, when the
Crow scouts brought them word of it. It is a task requiring
much tact and skill for a commander to conceal 15,000 people
from the scouts of armies which are on all sides of him.
The struggle with the Sioux was protracted. The hostiles
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
625
of the Little Big Horn separated into two bands, Sitting Bull's
Indians remaining in the west, and Crazy Horse's moving tow¬
ards the east. The war spirit wTas awakened throughout the
Sioux nation, and warriors were constantly leaving the reser¬
vations. Colonel Merritt intercepted and drove back a party
of 900 Cheyennes, that had started from Red Cloud, but
many others gained the hostile camps. In a short time small
parties were raiding in all directions. Reinforcements and
supplies for the troops were hurried forward, but autumn
had arrived before they were ready for active operations. On
September 29, Captain Mills, of Crook's command, with 150
men, surprised the camp of American Horse (Wa-se-chun-Ta-
shun-kah, i. <?., Washington Taslmnkah) at Slim Buttes, Da¬
kota. American Horse was mortally wounded, four of his
men killed, and a dozen captured. The Indians lost their
lodges, supplies, arms, ammunition, and 175 ponies. A num¬
ber of articles belonging to the 7th Cavalry were found in
this camp. In October, after a desperate and fruitless attack
on a large supply train, escorted by Colonel Otis, Sitting Bull
626
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
met Colonel Miles with propositions for peace. Miles, who
had been put in command of the active troops in Dakota, told
him that he could have peace if he would go on a reservation,
or camp near the troops, where he would be in subjection to
the government. Sitting Bull said he would come in and
trade for ammunition, but wanted no rations or annuities, and
desired to live free, as an Indian. The council dissolved with
the assurance to the Indians that non-acceptance of the gov¬
ernment's terms would be considered an act of hostility. Both
parties took positions for action, and a battle ensued, in which
the Indians were routed, and chased for over forty miles. On
the 27th more than 400 lodges surrendered. Sitting Bull,
with his band proper, escaped to the North, and was after¬
wards joined by several others. One band of 119 lodges, under
Iron Dog (Shon-ka-Ma-za) gained the Yanktonnais reservation
and dissolved. Just previous to this time the Indians on the
reservations were disarmed and dismounted. The same policy
was pursued towards all the hostiles that came in subsequently.
Bed Cloud, who had remained at his agency, was deposed for
his hostile bearing, and Spotted Tail was put in charge of all
the Indians at both agencies.
Late in the fall a new expedition was fitted out by General
Crook. The cavalry with this force (ten troops), under Colonel
Mackenzie* surprised the camp of Dull Knife, a Cheyenne
chief, at daybreak, on November 25. The Indians escaped
with heavy loss, but their village of 173 lodges was destroyed,
and 500 ponies were captured. Owing to cold wreather, oper¬
ations were thereafter suspended in this department, but were
maintained in the Department of Dakota. On December 7
Lieutenant Baldwin, with 100 men, attacked Sitting Bull's
camp of 190 lodges, and drove him across the Missouri into
the bad lands. On the 18th Baldwin surprised their camp
and captured all its contents, together with 60 horses. The
Indians escaped across the Yellowstone in a state of destitu¬
tion. Hearing of the reverses of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse
sent him word to join his camp, as he had plenty of men and
supplies; but General Miles learned of this from spies, and
kept a force between the two bands which prevented their
union. On Dec. 29, Miles started with 436 men and two can-
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
627
nons against Crazy Horse, who had his winter camp on the
Tongue River. The Indians abandoned their village on his
approach, and were driven up the river from January 1 to
January 7. On the evening of the 7th, the advance captured
a young warrior and seven Cheyenne women and children,
who were relatives of one of the Cheyenne head men. The
Indians made a desperate attempt to recover them that even¬
ing, and on the following morning 600 warriors engaged Miles.
This fight occurred on a spur of the Wolf Mountains. The
ground was covered with snow and ice, and a blinding snow¬
storm came on during the action. The Indians were driven
back over three rugged bluffs, which horses could not cross,
and which men could surmount only with great difficulty.
They then fled, having lost heavily, and went through the
Wolf Mountains in the direction of the Big Horn range.
Communication was opened with them through the cap¬
tives. On February 1 Miles sent word to them that they must
surrender unconditionally or he would attack them again. In
March, after consultation, they concluded to submit, and left
nine men as hostages for their surrender, either to Miles or at
the agencies. 300, under Two Moons, Hump, and other chiefs,
surrendered to Miles on April 22. Over 2000, under Crazy
Horse, surrendered at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies
in May. Sitting Bull fled into British America with his little
band, and was there joined by Iron Dog, Gall, and other chiefs.
Crazy Horse remained on the reservation near Camp Robin¬
son, until September. It was then learned that he was trying
to bring about another war. He was arrested, but tried to es¬
cape, while on his way to the guard-house, by running amuck
through the crowd, striking with his knife at all who opposed
him. He received a fatal wound, and died on September 7.
The only band remaining at large was Lame Deer's. They
were Minneeonjous, with some renegades, who broke off from
Crazy Horse's band when he determined to surrender, num¬
bering in all 51 lodges. Colonel Miles surprised and routed
them, on the morning of May 7, on the Rosebud, near the
mouth of Muddy Creek. They lost 14 killed, including Lame
Deer, all their supplies, and 450 ponies. The remaining In¬
dians scattered, and Miles was soon after called away to stop
628
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the Hez Perces, who were retreating through Montana. On
September 26, 1876, the "hostile" feeling having become
somewhat subdued, the Sioux concluded the agreement by
which they surrendered the Black Hills and the Powder
River country to the government, and accepted in lieu there¬
of a substantial ration for each member of the tribe until they
should become self-supporting.
Sitting Bull's party was visited in British America by a
commission, with the object of inducing them to return and
surrender. They returned a defiant refusal to the emissaries
of the government which " had made fifty-two treaties with
the Sioux and kept none of them," declaring their intention to
become subjects of her majesty. The new situation did not
long suit them. The British government gave them protec¬
tion merely, with no assistance, and this on the understanding
that they would not be allowed to depredate across the line.
One by one they concluded to come back to the flesh-pots of
the republic. They kept coming in small parties and surren¬
dering to the troops until, on July 20, 1881, Sitting Bull, with
his little band, reduced to 45 men, 67 women, and 73 children,
surrendered at Fort Buford. Two days later all the captive
hostiles, numbering 2829, were turned over to the agent at
Standing Rock. There has been no trouble of any impor¬
tance with the Sioux since 1877, and they are reported to be
making remarkable progress in civilization.
CHAPTER XIX.
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCES.
The meanest, most contemptible,least justifiable thing that
the United States was ever guilty of was its treatment of the
Lower Nez Perces. It will not be necessary to tell the read¬
er of the preceding pages that the conduct of the Nez Perces
had been of uniform friendship and kindness towards the
Americans. Their call for missionaries, their support of the
settlers against the overbearing Hudson's Bay Company, their
offer of protection to the Lapwai Mission when Whitman had
fallen a victim to the Cayuses, their protection and escort of
Governor Stevens's party in 1855, their stand for peace when
the other tribes were for war in 1855 and 1856, their rescue
of Steptoe's party in 1858, their assistance to our troops
against hostile Indians, have all been recorded. They also
rejected proposals for hostilities from the Mormons, both be¬
fore and during the civil war. It may also be remembered
that their friendship was of older date than the matters
treated of in the foregoing chapters; that they gave Lewis
and Clarke a reception which brought joy to the hearts of
those weary explorers; that they furnished them food and
refused pay for it; that they cared for the horses and other
property while the expedition made its way down the river,
and returned them safely in the spring. It is true that there
was some difference of opinion among these Indians in re¬
gard to adopting the white man's religions and customs, but
not one whit as to remaining his friends. Our history ran
its cycle of a hundred years with the record of but one
American's blood being shed by a Nez Perce—a case of man¬
slaughter, about the year 1862. Seventy years of friendly
intercourse—seventy years in which the Indians patiently en-
630
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
dared what they justly considered hardships, for their friend¬
ship to the white man—seventy years of self-sacrilice, of for¬
bearance, of sacred faith on their part—before the folly or
weakness or dishonesty, whichever it may have been, of our
governmental agents roused them to madness, and the worms
we so knavishly trod upon turned to sting us.
The Nez Perces, while one in feeling, were composed of
YOUNG JOSEPH.
several independent, confederated tribes. The most common
method of dividing them, used by the whites, was into the
Upper and Lower Nez Perces, a distinction referring to their
lands, as the names imply. The chief of the Wal-lam-mute-
kint (Wal-lam-wat-kin) band, which was usually called the
Lower Nez Perces, was Joseph, the chief who came to meet
the Oregon volunteers after the Whitman massacre, and said
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEECfiS.
631
to them, " When I left my home I took the Book in my hand
and brought it with me; it is my light. I heard the Ameri¬
cans were coming to kill me. Still I held my Book before
me and came on." There was never any head chief who
claimed full control over all the bands, and none in whom we
recognized such power, except those who had been appointed
through our agency. The first one was appointed by Elijah
White, their first agent, a man who meant well enough, but
wdio was probably mistaken in his idea that he had discov¬
ered the Northwest passage around all Indian troubles. He
appointed Ellis head chief in 1842; but Ellis had no control
over the tribe, and after his death, in 1847, there was no head
chief until 1855. The authority of Lawyer as head chief was
formally recognized in the treaty made by Governor Stevens
in 1855, but it was never understood by the Indians that this
gave him any authority to dispose of their lands. As a mat¬
ter-of-fact he was arbitrarily appointed by Governor Stevens
for the purposes of the treaty, and wras never acknowledged
by half of the Indians. Among the Indians, the Lower Nez
Perces wTere conceded to own the country south and east of
the Blue Mountains, and wrest of the Snake River, as far
south as the Powder River, a tributary of the Snake. It is
true that the other bands had the privilege of hunting and
fishing there, just as the Lower Nez Perces had the privilege
of roaming over or camping in the upper country, but the
right of control—their highest idea of a fee-simple—of both
sections was never disputed to be in the bands respectively.
The Lower Nez Perces moved to the upper country when
Whitman and Spalding came, in order to receive " the Book"
from their hands, but there was no change in the ownership
of the lands; and afterwards, when jealousies arose between
Joseph and Big Thunder, a chief of the Upper Nez Perces,
Joseph was unceremoniously ordered to return to the land
where he belonged, and he did so.
Joseph and his people seemed to love that country of
theirs. It was not the most attractive region in the world
to the white man, but it suited them. On one side of it the
Snake surges and foams over its rocky bed. On the other
the Blue Mountains rise majestically, and along their eastern
632
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
base the Grande Itonde River sweeps through its great arc to
the Snake. Between them is a rugged country impossible of
cultivation. Through it, towards the east, runs the Imnaha
(Immaha), down a narrow, rugged vale; through it towards
the northwest flows the Wallowa (Wall-low-how, Way-lee¬
way—the Winding Waters), with a valley larger and better
than that of the other stream. The valley of the Wallowa
was the very best of the land claimed by the Lower Nez
Ferces, and it was not much to be desired. Captain Whipple
reported of it, on August 2S, 1875, " The valley is only fit
for stock-raising, as a business, and not desirable for that in
consequence of the long winters; but the Indian horses would
live through where the white man's cattle would perish." It
was even so worthless that Americans did not desire it. Says
Captain Whipple, " The average American is not, as a rule,
slow to take advantage of eligible openings to secure land
'claims' which may probably become valuable, but none of
them seem anxious to locate them in Wallowa Yalley. . . .
The population is less than it was a year ago. Since the val¬
ley was restored to settlement, three families have disposed
of their improvements for a trifle, and moved away; nor do
I believe any others have come in. Not a man has taken a
claim in the valley since that time. One of the most enter¬
prising, reliable, and best citizens in the settlement, has told
me, within the past week, that he thought the people of the
valley were disappointed to learn it was not to be taken for
an Indian reservation; that he regretted it for one; that
he should sell out at first opportunity, and settle in a more
promising locality. This shows how the white people who
reside here regard this valley. On the other hand, the In¬
dians love it."
A strange man was old Joseph, a sturdy, strong-built man,
with a will of iron and a foresight that never failed him but
once—when he welcomed the Americans to his country. He
had some strange notions too, one of which was that " no
man owned any part of the earth, and a man could not sell
what he did not own." lie was an aboriginal Ilenry George
in his idea that ownership in land should be limited to occu¬
pancy, and, if we may judge by the converts that gentleman
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEECfiS.
633
is making, he was not without reason. Joseph continued
friendly to the whites, but he grew suspicious of their trad¬
ing abilities, and bade his people be careful how they made
bargains; the land he would look after himself. Surely the
white man would not get it away from him. He was very
careful, indeed. He would not join in the treaty with Gov¬
ernor Stevens until his own land was reserved out of the
cession. To be candid, he and his tribe claimed that he did
not sign the treaty at all, though his name is affixed, but they
evidently mean that he never signed a treaty ceding his land,
which is true. After the ratification of the treaty, in 1S59,
the other Indians received presents from the government and
annuity goods; they had tools and bright clothing and guns,
but Joseph and his people took none. lie said to them,
" These presents are the price of the land which is sold. If
we take the pay, the white man will say he has bought our
land also." So, for all those years after the treaty the Lower
Nez Perces refused to receive any of the annuity goods, con¬
tented to know that the land of the Winding Waters was
their own. Foolish Indians! to think that they could escape
our clutches in that way.
In 1863 the whites had so encroached on the lands of the
Nez Perces, and whiskey was doing so much damage, that
another treaty was considered necessary. Calvin II. Hale,
Charles Ilutchins, and S.D.IIowe negotiated it. The Upper
ISTez Perces accepted their present reservation of Lapwai, in
Western Idaho. The Lower Nez Perces refused to join in
the treat}7. They had seen nothing to make them believe
that their own course was not the best. The other tribes had
been getting very few of the fine things that Governor Ste¬
vens had promised them, and what they did get was in gew¬
gaws that they did not want; for the Nez Perces always asked
for substantial and useful goods. It must be confessed that
the Lower Hez Perces twitted them a little, too, which was
annoying, though natural. Agent Ilutchins said of this in
1863, "The old men of the tribe look with sorrow on the
fact that they cannot rebut these flings by pointing to real
evidences of the good faith of the white man's chief." But
Joseph's band did not save their land by refusing to join.
634 MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The Upper Uez Perces sold all their land except the reserva¬
tion, and that took away all the land of the Lower Nez Perces.
Do you not understand it? It is the simplest thing in the
world. Governor Grover discovered the way—the same Gov¬
ernor Grover that tried so hard to prevent the Republican
party from stealing the government in 1876, by stealing the
vote of Oregon himself—who was sent to the Senate for his
distinguished services. This is the process. In 1855 Joseph
joined with other chiefs in the treaty by which they sold a
certain amount of land ; hence the land that they did not sell
belonged to all of the tribe in common. By joining in that
treaty, Joseph acknowledged the tribal organization ; hence
the tribe had authority to bind him afterwards. A majority
of all the chiefs, counting all the bands together, joined in
the treaty of 1863, and sold all their land except the Lapwai
reservation ; hence they sold Joseph's land. You may be
inclined to call that thieving; it is also idiocy.
There is no pretence that the Upper Uez Percds intended
to sell the land of the Lower Nez Perces, or claimed any
power to do so, or that the commissioners understood that
they were purchasing it. It does not appear that any one an¬
ticipated such a result at the time, for this construction was
not adopted for years afterwards. Old Joseph went to his
grave in 1871, in blissful ignorance of the fact that his land
was not his land. Captain Whipple says, "Uniformly and
with vehemence, to his last hour, lie asserted to his children
and friends that he had never surrendered claim to this (Wal¬
lowa) valley, but that he left it to them as their inheritance,
with the injunction never to barter it away." His son says,
" I saw he was dying. I took his hand in mine. He said,
' My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my
spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. When
I am gone, think of your country. You are the chief of these
people. They look to you to guide them. Always remember
that your father never sold his country. You must stop your
ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your
home. A few years more, and white men will be all around
you. They have their eyes on this land. My son, never for¬
get my dying words. This country holds your father's body.
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
635
Never sell the bones of your father and your mother.' I
pressed my father's hand, and told him I would protect his
grave with my life. My father smiled and passed away to
the spirit land. I buried him in that beautiful valley of
OLLACUT.*
Winding Waters. I love that land more than all the rest of
the world. A man who would not love his father's grave is
worse than a wild animal."
This son was worthy his father's legacy. His name was
In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat — the Thunder-Travelling-Over-the
* This cut was originally published as a portrait of Joseph, Ollacut
having been mistaken for his brother by the artist.
03 6
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Mountains. To the Americans he was known as Young
©
Joseph, and to the world, since 1877, he is Chief Joseph the
Yez Perce. He was six feet in height, well-formed, of serious
and noble countenance. lie was grave and thoughtful, as be¬
comes a ruler. He was shrewd and cautious, as becomes one
who transacts business for a nation. lie was exact and reso¬
lute, as becomes one who must preserve peace between two
factions prone to misunderstanding and jealousy. Nearest
and dearest to him, after the death of his father, was his
brother Ol-la-cut, a little younger than himself, tall, handsome,
and gay. Both of these youths were students in Mrs. Spal¬
ding's school in the happy olden time. Probably the good
seed which was sown then ripened into good deeds after¬
wards ; possibly it accounts for their honorable conduct when
war came. If so, it were well worthy of record in some Ely
volume. The white men grew more numerous in the West.
They came into the Nez Perce country to search for gold,
and many of them remained there. They did not treat the
Indians well, but the young chieftain ruled his people so wise¬
ly that no warfare occurred. Says Joseph, " They stole a great
many horses from us, and we could not get them back because
we were Indians. The white men told lies for each other.
They drove off a great many of our cattle. Some white men
branded our young cattle so they could claim them. We had
no friend who would plead our cause before the law coun¬
cils." Still there were no hostilities. In 1871 an Indian was
killed by a white man. The Indians took no revenge, but in¬
sisted that the whites should leave their country. Troops
were sent into the country for the protection of both parties.
In March, 1875, a white man named Larry Ott killed a Nez
Perce in a quarrel, and the grand - jury returned no bill
against him. In August, 1875, one Benedict shot at some
drunken Indians who came to his house at night demanding
© ©
admittance, and killed one and wounded another. This man
was accused of selling liquor to the Indians. In the spring,
also, one Ilarry Mason whipped two Indians; the council of
arbitration chosen in this matter—three white men—decided
against the Indians. In June, 1876, a settler named Finley
killed a brother of Joseph. None of these offences were pun-
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCffS.
637
ished, and for none did the Indians take revenge, still urging
only that the whites should leave their lands.
The question of title had drifted along until 1873, when
the Interior Department took steps to set the Wallowa off as
reserved land for the Lower Nez Perces. The improvements
of the eighty-seven squatters who were to be bought out
were appraised at $67,860. For eighteen months the matter
rested in that way, all parties satisfied, but in the spring of
1875 Congress refused to confirm the purchase and reserva¬
tion. Why it did so is beyond imagination, except it may
have been from the influence of Governor Grover, who had
put his fine-spun theory before the Government in the sum¬
mer of 1873. As we have seen, the disappointment was al¬
most as great to the settlers as to the Indians. Some of my
readers may not understand the theory of settling for the
purpose of being bought out. If a man discover where a
reservation is to be located, he cannot do better financially
than to locate upon it. Appraisers for government purchases
are usually liberal. The Indians were cast down in spirit.
When Joseph learned of the decision, Captain Whipple says
"he looked disappointed, and after a short silence he said he
hoped I could tell something of a possible doubt of their be¬
ing obliged to relinquish this valley to the settlers. I told
him the case was decided against the Indians by higher au¬
thority than that of any army officer. This declaration did
not make the countenances of the Indians more cheerful.
They all realize that after they go to Lapwai reservation, or
one similar, they will be obliged to give up their horses,
which constitute their main wealth, and that as a community
they will cease to exist."
The outlook for the Lower Nez Perces was gloomy, but
there was yet one ray of hope. There were still a few people
in Oregon who remembered the good services of the Nez
Perces in the past, and did not wish to see them robbed. Iiev.
A. L. Lindsley, celebrated for his mission work in the North¬
west and in Alaska, with others, asked that a commission be
appointed to investigate the matter and make some equita¬
ble settlement with the Indians. Gen. O.O. Howard, com¬
manding the District of the Columbia, endorsed the proposi-
638
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS,
tion, and suggested that lie be made a member of the Commis¬
sion. A commission was appointed, and General Howard was
made a member. They came to Lapwai to talk with Joseph
above this were several small bands under the authority of the
young chief Hush-hush-cute (Hus-es-cruyt, Ilus-ses-kutte—the
Bald Head). There was also the band of Looking Glass, on
whose land the Lapwai reservation had been located, and who
retained their home in common with the "treaties" who had
been put with them. These bands were sufficiently confed¬
erated in interest, and sufficiently sensible of Joseph's abil¬
ity, to make him the common leader of the " non-treaty"
party. The Commission talked with them in November, 1876,
in the mission church at Lapwai, but Joseph nonplussed the
commissioners. They say, " An alertness and dexterity in in¬
tellectual fencing was exhibited by him that was quite re¬
markable." It was remarkable. They were unable to answer
his arguments. He said " that the Creative Power, when he
made the earth, made no marks, no lines of division or sepa¬
ration on it, and that it should be allowed to remain as then
made. The earth was his mother. He was made of the
earth and grew up on its bosom. The earth, as his mother
GENERAL O. O. HOWARD.
and the other "non-
treaties" that had never
been able to understand
Governor Grover's log¬
ic. There was White
Bird's band, which oc¬
cupied the country ad¬
jacent to the Salmon
River. There was a
band that roamed over
the rugged country be¬
tween the Salmon and
the Snake, under the old
chief and "medicine¬
man" Too-hul-hul-sute.
There was a small band
on Ashotin Creek, north
of Joseph's country, and
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
639
and nurse, was sacred to his affections, too sacred to be valued
by or sold for silver and gold. lie could not consent to sever
his affections from the land that bore him. He was content
to live upon such fruits as the Creative Power placed within
and upon it, and unwilling to barter these and his free habits
away for the new modes of life proposed by us. Moreover,
the earth carried chieftainship (which the interpreter explain¬
ed to mean law, authority, or control), and therefore to part
with the earth would be to part with himself or with his self-
control. He asked nothing of the President. He was able
to take care of himself. He did not desire Wallowa Yalley
as a reservation, for that would subject him and his band to
the will of and dependence on another, and to laws not of
their own making. He was disposed to live peaceably. He
and his band had suffered wrong rather than do wrong. One
of their number was wickedly slain by a white man during
the last summer, but he would not avenge his death. But
unavenged by him, the voice of that brother's blood, sanctify¬
ing the ground, would call the dust of their fathers back to
life, to people the land in protest of this great wrong."
The commissioners knew that Joseph's statements were
true. His brother had been killed, as stated, in a quarrel
about some stock, by a man named Finley, and the Indians
had refused even to appear as witnesses against the murderer
in court. Joseph said, "When I learned that they had killed
one of my peo'ple I was heart-sick. When I saw all the set¬
tlers take the murderer's part, though they spoke of bringing
him to trial, I told them that the law did not favor murder.
I could see they were all in favor of the murderer, so I told
them to leave the country. As to the murderer I have made
up my mind. I have come to the conclusion to let him es¬
cape and enjoy health and not take his life for the one he
took. I am speaking as though I spoke to the man himself.
I do not want anything in payment for the deed he commit¬
ted. I pronounce the sentence that he shall live." The
causes for removal given by the Commission were not brought
into prominence in the council. They were not of a nature
that would admit of consistent urging. The first was of a
religious character. A part of the Hez Perces had become
64:0
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Catholics; a part, adhered to " Mr. Spalding's religion;" and
a part had become believers in a form of spiritualism which
had recently been introduced in Eastern Oregon by Smo-hal-
lie, a chief who dwelt with a little band of followers across
the Columbia from Wallula, the village on the site of old
Fort Walla-Walla. lie was a small and deformed sorcerer,
but the abnormally large head that surmounted his humped
shoulders had evolved the mystic faith of the "Drummer-
dreamers," which threatened to stop the progress of good,
old-fashioned, orthodox conversion. They were a queer lot.
Their young men saw visions and their old men dreamed
dreams. They taught that land ought not be divided up, or
forced by cultivation to yield more than its natural fruits;
that schools and churches were innovations of the devil; and
that a savior would be raised up in the East who would bring
their dead to life, expel the white man from the country, and
restore the Indians to their own. This last was probably a
relic of the story of the second coming of Christ, which Brig-
ham Young had left in their country twenty years before.
These theories seem odd, but the Indians defended them in
a way that was hard to answer. Said General Shanks to
Joseph, "Do you want schools and school-houses 011 the Wal¬
lowa reservation?" " No," said Joseph, " we do not want
schools or school-houses on the Wallowa reservation." " Why
do you not want schools?" "They will teach us to have
churches." "Why do you not want churches?" " They will
teach us to quarrel about God, as the Catholics and Protestants
do on the Nez Perce reservation, and at other places. We
do not want to learn that. We may quarrel with men, some¬
times, about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about
God. We do not want to learn that." These tenets appar¬
ently stood in the way of an adoption of our customs, but
there is certainly nothing about them that is either criminal
or improper, notwithstanding they so impressed Father Wil¬
bur in that way that he recommended that the Indians be
" brought within the Christianizing influences of the reserva¬
tion," even if force were necessary to accomplish the removal.
Apropos of this, are not the Indians entitled to a share in the
temporal comforts of spiritualism, considering the immense
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEKCffS.
641
amount of service their disembodied spirits have to perform
as "controls" in the white man's seances? Our spiritualistic
brethren have not had any tribe assigned to them for mission¬
ary labor—in fact they do not appear to be ardent missiona¬
ries—and, in consequence, the red man has been obliged to
get along without any rappings, or materializations, or dark
cabinets.
Another objection was that they went every year to the
"buffalo illahie "—the Powder Elver country—to procure
their winter's supply of meat. They did not disturb any one
in going or coming, but it made the " treaty " Indians jealous
and restless to be thus reminded that they had sold their
birthright for a mess of pottage. Their unhappiness was in¬
creased by the fact that they did not always get the pottage.
A fellow named Langford had taken and held possession for
months of the old mission claim of six hundred and forty
acres, on which the agency buildings were situated, and shut
down the mills, forcing the treaty Indians to sell their grain
at a sacrifice and buy flour. One Finney claimed and occu¬
pied six hundred and forty acres of the reservation; one
Colwell claimed and occupied seventy-five acres; one Ean-
dall claimed fifty acres, and had a permit to place a stage
station on the land. The deeds which had been promised the
Indians for their twenty-acre lots had never been issued to
them. There was due them $1665 for services and for horses
furnished the Oregon volunteers in 1856, which it had been
definitely agreed should be paid in the treaty of 1S63. It
was only thirteen years since that treaty had been executed,
and the governmental agents had not had time to attend to
these minor details. It is quite possible that these things
made the "treaties" jealous of the "non-treaties" also. In
connection with the objection to the " non-treaties " going to
hunt buffalo, it is interesting to remember that the Sioux and
their allies were doing the same thing, and that we had kindly
guaranteed them the right to do so, because they were strong,
and fought back, and made our occupation of the buffalo il¬
lahie so uncomfortable that we were glad to abandon the
Montana road and leave them as they were.
Now why did these JSTez Perces object to going on the
41
012
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Lapwai reservation ? The first reason was that they preferred
their own country, and, in connection with this feeling, they
knew that the money, goods, and the rest that were so glibly
promised them in the councils, in payment for their country,
would not be forthcoming. They had the experience of their
" treaty" brethren constantly before them in proof of that.
The second reason was that they desired personal liberty to
go from one place to another. They knew that going on a
reservation meant staying there, except on permission of the
authorities, and also a practical dissolution of their tribal or¬
ganization. After the wrong was consummated, when Joseph
had been permitted to go to Washington and talk to our wise
men, he said, "I have asked some of the great white chiefs
where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he
shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where
they please. They cannot tell me." The third reason was
that their chief wealth was in herds of horses, from the in¬
crease of which they had a plentiful support, with but little
labor, and these they would have to give up if they went on
the reservation. Why? Because, on the reservation, twenty
acres of land, and no more, were allotted to each head of a
family, ont of which he was to make his living. Stock-raising
on twenty acres is necessarily a limited business. The care
of these herds, the visits of the Indians to the settlements
to trade, and their annual buffalo hunts, are what constituted
the "nomadic habits" that the Commission objected to.
The "judicious men " came to a conclusion at last. They
revamped that false and fallacious theory of Governor Gro-
ver's, that Old Joseph's joining in the treaty of 1855 " implied
a surrender of any specific rights to any particular portion of
the whole reserve." They adopted his monstrous proposition
that from the treaty of 18G3 a contract should be implied
which neither of the contracting parties contemplated and
neither had a right to make. The thing is too absurd for
serious argument. Joseph disposed of it, though he did not
put his case so strongly as he might, in this manner: "Sup¬
pose a white man should come to me and say, 'Joseph, I like
your horses, and I want to buy them.' I say to him, 'No, my
horses suit me; I will not sell them.' Then he goes to my
•iv.wavi
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCfiS.
645
neighbor, and says to him, 'Joseph has some good horses. I
want to buy them but he refuses to sell.' My neighbor an¬
swers, ' Pay me the money and I will sell you Joseph's horses.'
The white man returns to me and says,' Joseph, I have bought
your horses and you must let me have them.' If we sold our
lands to the Government, this is the way they were bought."
In short, the Commission recommended that if the Lower Nez
Perces did not peaceably take up their residence on the Lap-
wai reservation within a limited time, that they should " be
placed by force upon the reservation, and, in satisfaction of
any possible rights of occupancy which they may have, the
same aid and allotments of land granted to the treaty Nez
Perces should be extended to them on the reservation." The
same commission recommends that the Umatilla reservation
—the peaceful home of the Cay uses, Umatillas, and Walla-
Wallas for twenty years past—be vacated, because it "would
be eagerly purchased," was "of the best quality of land,"
and was " occupied by a mere handful of Indians who are in¬
capable of developing its rich treasures." By all means, put
all Indians on lands that have no rich treasures to develop.
Then nothing will be lost. To be sure, there are a few mill¬
ions of acres, with undeveloped treasures, that can be had for
the pre-emption, but they are not quite so convenient.
But, it will be said, surely the commissioners did not un¬
derstand the real state of affairs. Go softly. General Howard
had been looking over the matter ever since he was put in
command of the Department of the Columbia. Papers con¬
taining full statements of the historic services of the Nez
Perces, of the rights of the " non-treaties," and of the influ¬
ences actuating them, had passed through his hands and re¬
ceived his endorsement and approval. In his report of Sep¬
tember 1, 1875, he had said, " I think it a great mistake to
take from Joseph and his band of ISTez Perce Indians that
[the Wallowa] valley. The white people really do not want
it. They wished to be bought out. I think gradually this
valley will be abandoned by the white people, and possibly
Congress can be induced to let these really peaceable Indians
have this poor valley for their own." Lieut.-Col. H. Clay
Wood was another member of the Commission who was
646
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
fully posted. On August 1, 1876, lie reported at length on
"The Status of Young Joseph and his Band of Nez Perce
Indians," and gave his opinion that the government had so
far failed to comply with its agreements in the treaty of 1855,
that none of the Hez Perces were bound by it. Let us also
record, to his honor, that he made a minority report, as com¬
missioner, recommending that although Joseph's band would
have to be moved eventually,yet that "until Joseph commits
some overt act of hostility, force should not be used to put
him upon any reservation." The other commissioners were
D. II. Jerome, William Stickney, and A. C. Barstow. What
previous knowledge they had of the matter I cannot say; but
there was leaven enough for the whole lump in the two mil¬
itary members.
The Commission made its report, and the Department of
the Interior, acting on its recommendations, ordered the non-
treaties to be placed on the Lapwai reservation. By virtue of
his office, General Howard was the agent to enforce this or¬
der. He met the non-treaties in May, and found, as he must
have anticipated, that they were unwilling to go to the reser¬
vation. He held three councils with them—the last on May
7th. Too - hul-hul-sute, the too-at (" Drummer-dreamer"
priest) and chief, was their spokesman. He talked boldly, and
as word came back to word he said, "The Indians may do
what they like, but I am not going on the reservation." How¬
ard threatened him with arrest. "Do you want to scare me
with reference to my body ?" asked the old man. lie was
arrested and led out of the council. The Indians murmured.
Should they kill Howard and the rest ? They were well-
armed and self-conlident. Joseph bade them not. The posi¬
tion of the government was now plain to the Indians. They
must go to the reservation or fight. They decided to go.
Would you have done so, reader? Would you have swal¬
lowed the injustice, and meekly agreed to go, without striking
one blow at least for liberty and right ? I remind you that
the Nez Perces had never fought the white man, and Joseph
was not the man to begin. He sa}7s, "I said in my heart that
rather than have war I would give up my country. I would
give up my father's grave. I would give up everything
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
647
rather than have the blood of white men upon the hands of
my people." The Indians were given thirty days from May
14th, in which to gather their cattle and move; llush-hush-
cute's band had thirty-five. They say it was not time enough,
but that was of no consequence. We must have firmness in
dealing with Indians, even if wre have nothing else.
The Indians went to make their preparations. They
looked on their old home, and their love for it doubled under
the realization that they must leave it. Too-hul-hul-sute's
spirit burned because of his imprisonment for the offence of
telling his determination in the council. There was a warrior
whose father had been killed by a white man, five years be¬
fore, who brooded over the unavenged wrong. There were
the two warriors who had been whipped by Harry Mason.
There were the kinsmen of the murdered men. They assem¬
bled at Rocky Canon. Several hundred of their horses and
cattle were missing. They held councils. A desire to resist
removal sprang up and spread rapidly. They determined,
over Joseph's counsel, to fight the soldiers when they came.
It was the desire of a part that the settlers should not be mo¬
lested, in the hope that they would remain neutral, but the
others overruled them; they said it was the settlers that had
brought all the trouble. They bought arms and ammuni¬
tion where they could. They practised military movements,
in which they were already quite proficient. General Shanks
says, that "Joseph's party was thoroughly disciplined; that
they rode at full gallop along the mountain side in a steady
formation by fours; formed twos, at a given signal, with per¬
fect precision, to cross a narrow bridge; then galloped into
line, reined in to a sudden halt, and dismounted with as much
system as regulars." June 13th arrived ; the thirty days were
up; the soldiers had not arrived. Over on Salmon River
three Indians killed an old hermit ranchman named Hevine.
The taste of blood whetted their appetites. On the morning
of the 14th they killed three more, and in the afternoon
another. They mounted the horses of their victims, and
hurried to Camas Prairie, where the main body of Indians
was encamped. They rode through the camp displaying the
spoils of their bloodshed, and calling on others to join them.
CIS
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Joseph and Ollacut were not in the camp; they had placed
their teepees away from the others on account of Joseph's
wife, who was sick. White Bird, the next in rank and in¬
fluence, gave way. lie rode through the camp, crying, "All
must join now. There is blood. You will be punished if
you delay." Seventeen warriors joined the three, and they
hastened back to the Salmon River. Eight more fell vic¬
tims to them, including Harry Mason, who had whipped the
two Indians. On the night of the lJtli another party at¬
tacked the people of the Cottonwood house—a ranch on the
road between Mount Idaho and Fort Lapwai—who were try¬
ing to escape to Mount Idaho. Two men and a boy were
killed and the others badly wounded, two men subsequently
dying of their injuries. It is said that two women were out¬
raged. Joseph denies it, by implication. It may have been
done without his knowledge. He was not there. He pro¬
tested against hostilities until they had gone so far that war
was inevitable; then he took command, and the Indians
moved to White Bird Canon, where they prepared to fight
soldiers.
They had not long to wait. Colonel Perry was hurry¬
ing down from Fort Lapwai with ninety men. lie reached
Grangeville, four miles from Mount Idaho, on the evening of
the 16th, was joined by ten citizens, and marched on through
the night to White Bird Canon, sixteen miles away. He
reached the head of the canon at daybreak, and began his de¬
scent of the broad trail, to surprise the Indians and prevent
their escape across the Salmon. Down in the canon Joseph
watched his approach through a field-glass. Some of the In¬
dians became nervous, and suggested that it would be better
to move across the Salmon, where the soldiers could not reach
them. Joseph said, "We will fight them here." A party
of mounted warriors were put in ambush behind a hill on
the south side of the canon. The rest, under Joseph, were
crouched on the ground, squarely across the trail, hidden be¬
hind rocks and in hollows. On came the soldiers until well
within range, when every bush and rock poured out its fire.
At the same time the party of mounted warriors appeared 011
the left. The foremost ranks deployed to engage the force
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
649
in front, and the rear wheeled to meet the flank movement.
Men were falling; the Indians were moving np on the hills,
making: towards the rear; some one cried to fall back to the
O J
next ridge. The next ridge was gained, with the enemy on
their heels. There was no time to stop. The attempts of
the officers to rally the men were only momentarily success¬
ful. The Indians were pressing along the sides of the canon
to gain the head and cut off retreat. Part of the command
reached the ascent and hurried out. The remainder, under
Lieutenant Theller, were cut off. They saw the bar across
the way, and wheeled into a ravine to the left. The Indians
were upon them in a moment, thinning them out with their
murderous fire, through which only a few stragglers made
their way unscathed to the summit. Across the rugged coun¬
try the Indians pursued the flying troops for twelve miles;
but the soldiers were out of that dreadful canon now and
had regained their wits. The officers obtained control, and
the retreat of the sixty-five who escaped from the canon was
conducted in order. Four miles from Mount Idaho Joseph
withdrew his men. He had fought and won his first battle.
The military reputation of the Nez Perces was altered.
It would require more men to whip thera. Reinforcements
were started from all neighboring points. Skirmishing and
minor engagements continued. A detachment was sent to
arrest Looking Glass, who had not yet joined the hostiles, and
bring him in. ILis camp was destroyed and seven hundred
and twenty-five ponies captured, but the Indians all escaped
and went to Joseph. Lieutenant Rains, with ten men and a
scout named Foster, was sent on a reconnoissance. The party
was surrounded and every man killed. A company of vol¬
unteers, under Captain Randall, was attacked on the Mount
Idaho road; two were killed and two wounded. The re¬
mainder would have been killed if relief had not arrived.
On July 11th General Howard and his assembled troops
were in sight of the enemy, who had crossed the country to
the Lapwai reservation, and taken position on the Clearwater
to give him battle. Howard had four hundred fighting men
besides his teamsters and train men. He had a howitzer and
two Gatling guns. Joseph had about three hundred war-
650
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
riors, with the squaws for assistants. The soldiers advanced
in line of battle, leaving the supply trains unguarded. Jo¬
seph saw this and sent thirty warriors to attack them. The
glass of an officer caught this movement just in the nick of
time. A messenger was sent back to hurry them into the
lines, and a company of cavalry galloped to their protection.
The Indians gained the smaller train first, killed two packers,
and disabled their animals, but the fire of the cavalry drove
them off. The large train gained the lines uninjured. All
that afternoon the battle raged, with its charges and counter¬
charges, its feinting and fighting. All night both parties
strengthened their breastworks and kept up a desultory fire.
In the morning the battle was renewed and kept up, with no
perceptible advantage to either side until the middle of the
afternoon. Then a fresh company of cavalry appeared to
reinforce Howard. The artillery moved back to meet them,
and, having made a junction, they struck the enemy's line on
the left and charged down it. The Indians fought stubbornly
for a few minutes, gave way, and fled. The victorious troops
pressed after them so hotly that the artillery covered their
camp, beyond the Clearwater, before their lodges could be
struck. The Indians, however, made their escape with their
herds, and sufficient supplies for their purposes, and, before
the troops could cross, a large body of warriors was seen on
the right front, apparently returning for an attack. "While
preparations were being made to meet this force, the remain¬
der of the Indians continued their flight; and when the prep¬
arations of the soldiers were complete, the returning warriors,
having accomplished their purpose by this feint, were found
to have disappeared. In the morning the troops continued
the pursuit of the retreating Indians, who were still in sight
from the heights, only to fall into an ambuscade by the Nez
Perces rear-guard and be thrown into confusion. Night
found the Indians safely encamped, in an almost impregna¬
ble position, at the entrance to the Lolo trail. Joseph had
fought his second battle, against heavy odds, and though
beaten had brought off his forces most creditabl}7.
"What was to be done? There was another trail which
formed a junction with the Lolo, fifteen miles back of Jo-
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEKCfiS.
651
seph's position ; send a detachment, by a masked movement,
to that point, to cut off his retreat and strike him from the
rear. General Joseph was not so easily trapped. The de¬
tachment was hardly under way, on its pretended march to
Lapwai, before Joseph's camp was broken, and the Indians
were falling back beyond the dangerous point. It "was at
first intended to follow him closely, but that plan was aban¬
doned. A small force, which was started up the trail, ran
into the rear-guard ratlier disastrously, and then that ubiqui¬
tous rear-guard dropped back on the settlements and carried
off a lot of horses. The settlers were sure that as soon as the
soldiers were started on the trail the Rez Perces would be
back, by some other route, devastating the settlements. "What
a wonderful trail that was for a highway ! It begins on Lolo
Creek, a tributary of the Clearwater, crosses the Bitter Root
Mountains, and comes to the lowland again by the Lou-Lou
fork of the Bitter Root River on the east. Any mountain
trail, especially any Indian trail, is bad enough, with its sharp
rocks, its fallen timber, its slippery pitches, and its roaring-
torrents; but this one seems to have been made for its ster¬
ling impassable qualities. Says General Sherman, "This is
universally admitted, by all who have travelled it—from Lewis
and Clarke to Captain Winters—as one of the worst trails for
man and beast on this continent." The Nez Perces came
safely across it. In the valley of the Lou-Lou they were
confronted by a hastily prepared fort, held by Captain Rawn
with a few regulars and some volunteers. Looking Glass
talked to them. "We will not fight the settlers if they do
not fight us. We are going by you to the buffalo country.
Will you let us go in peace?" Rawn refused to let them
pass, but the volunteers rebelled. The Rez Perces had al¬
ways been "good Indians" on the Bitter Root. The settlers
had no grounds for complaint in their conduct, as they had
passed annually to and from the buffalo country. They de¬
cided that, in the expressive frontier phrase, " they had not
lost any Indians," and consequently were not hunting for
any. The ISTez Perces might go by, and God speed them out
of the country. The Indians not only passed in peace, but
they stopped at the villages of Stevensville and Corvallis and
G52
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
traded with these pacific whites. They also left a spy at
Corvallis, who stopped until Howard had come up and passed
on, and then sped away on his cayuse to General Joseph with
full particulars.
Meantime a potent ally of the white man had been at
work. The telegraph had ticked its message of alarm all
through the country to the east, and the troops at the various
posts were on the alert. General Gibbon, with one hundred and
ninety cavalrymen, had hastened from Helena across to Fort
Missoula, on the Bitter Root, but arrived too late to intercept
the Indians. They had gone on to the south, up the Bitter
Root valley, past Ross's hole, and into the valley of the Big
Hole River. Gibbon followed on their trail. He came close
up to them on August 8th, while they were all unsuspecting.
He waited through the night, and in the stillness of " the hour
before the dawn " he swept through their camp in a furious
charge, completely surprising them. Surely now the Nez
Perces were whipped. Not a bit of it. They rallied and re¬
took their camp. They drove the soldiers back to a wood¬
ed point where, behind rude barricades and in hastily dug
trenches, they defended themselves through the following
day. At eleven o'clock that night, having captured Gibbon's
howitzer, they withdrew, leaving Gibbon wounded, and his
command so crippled that it could not pursue. Joseph had
fought and won his third battle. Howard joined Gibbon
here, and in the presence of officers and men, his Bannock
scouts scalped and mutilated the bodies of the Nez Perce
dead. There were many dead, men, women, and children, but
worst of all Looking Glass, their ablest diplomat, lay stark
upon that field. The Nez Perces neither took scalps nor
mutilated during this wTar. They were neither civilized nor
the allies of civilization. They were only defrauded Indians.
A few days later they captured an Indian scout attached to
Howard's command, and said to him, "Your men kill our
women and children ; your men are worse than the Indians."
"No, no," said the scout, " my chief is kind. I saw him and
his officers bury'the women and children with their own hands.
They don't wTant to hurt the women and children." Then
his captors released him unharmed.
PLAIN OF THE GEYSERS.
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
655
Sunday, August 19th, Joseph had crossed the continental
divide again into Idaho, and camped on the great Camas prai¬
rie which lies west of the National Park, on the Yellowstone.
He had captured two hundred and fifty good horses, replen¬
ished his supplies and put his forces in excellent condition.
Howard's forces were one day's march behind him. They
camped on the prairie also. A detachment had been sent
ahead, under Lieutenant Bacon, to hold Tacher's Pass, the
most accessible roadway across the divide into the park. The
sentinels and pickets were properly posted and the weary sol¬
diers slept peacefully. In the faint starlight swarthy forms
crept through the long grass. Hobbles were cut and bells
were removed from bell-mares. Off to the east a troop of
horsemen came in sight, riding back over the trail of the Nez
Perces. They rode in column of fours, regularly and with¬
out haste. "It must be Bacon's men coming back," said the
pickets. They came within hailing distance and were chal¬
lenged. Their answer betrayed them. The picket opened
fire. Then arose a wild yell that startled the soldiers from
their sleep, and a confused discharge of small-arms, after
which all the horses and mules that were not fastened were
seen scampering away with a crowd of Indians after them,
yelling like demons. Fortunately enough horses and mules
were left to mount three companies of cavalry. They hurried
out into the night after the Indians, came up with part of
them, and recovered half a hundred of the lost animals. Be¬
fore morning the Indians were back after these, and stam¬
peded a part of them. Then they went on with their retreat,
leaving the soldiers with one dead and six wounded men to,
care for; also to wait till more horses and supplies could be
obtained from Virginia City. We must credit General Jo¬
seph with a successful surprise.
On went the Nez Perces through Tacher's Pass, where
Bacon had missed them, and into the park; on through the
pleasant open country of the western portion to the region
of the hot springs, the geysers, and the sulphur lands. Here
they met Cowan's party, consisting of Mr. Cowan, his wife,
sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and two others. Three of the
men were left for dead; one and the two ladies were carried
656
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
away. Horrible fate!—carried into Indian captivity. Gen¬
eral Howard says they were "afterwards rescued." Joseph
says, " On the way we captured one white man and two
white women. We released them at the end of three days.
They were treated kindly. The women were not insulted.
THE STINKING WATER.
Can the white soldiers tell me of one time when Indian
women were taken prisoners and held three days, and then
released without being insulted? Were the Nez Perce
women who fell into the hands of General Howard's sol¬
diers treated with as much respect? I deny that a Isez
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
657
Perce was ever guilty of such a crime." On went the In¬
dians, down by Yellowstone Lake, over the Yellowstone Riv¬
er, burning Baronett's Bridge behind them, and then, after
a feint in the direction of the Stinking Water, they slipped
through a narrow canon to Clark's Fork, and down it to the
Yellowstone again. By this movement Joseph avoided Colo¬
nel Sturgis, who had been warned, and come over from the
Powder River country with six companies of cavalry (three
hundred and fifty men)
and some friendly
Crows. Deceived by
Joseph's movement, and
by the messages he had
received, Sturgis hast¬
ened to block up the
trail down the Stinking
Water. He discovered
his mistake quickly,
however, and took up
the chase at once. On
September 13th he over¬
took the Nez Perots on
the alkaline, sage-brush
plains across the Yellowr-
stone. The rear-guard
of the Indians engaged
the troops, while the remainder turned into the narrow valley
of Canon Creek; but a detachment under Captain Benteen
circled around the fight and pressed the retreating herds so
closely that over four hundred ponies had to be abandoned.
The Indians then reunited at the mouth of the canon, post¬
ing themselves wherever there was a chance for shelter.
There was but one way of reaching them, and that was direct
pursuit. All day the Indians dropped back, fighting for ev¬
ery foot of ground, and at dark the exhausted soldiers with¬
drew to camp at the mouth of the canon. In the morning
Sturgis was reinforced by a large party of Crow Indians,
who pressed the Fez Perces so vigorously that five hundred
more of the ponies were abandoned. March as they would,
42
GENERAL S. D. STURGIS.
658
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the soldiers could not lessen the distance between themselves
and the Nez Perces, who retired up the Mussel Shell River,
and then, circling back of the Judith Mountains, struck the
Missouri at Cow Island on the 23d. Joseph had fought his
fourth battle, had held in check a greatly superior force, and
brought off his people in comparative safety.
Cow Island is the limit of low-water navigation on the
Upper Missouri, one hundred and twenty-three miles below
Fort Benton, which is the high-water limit. The boats that
run up to it are little steamers that have, in addition to or¬
dinary steamboat machinery, long wooden arms, which are
thrust out and worked by steam windlasses, to push the boat
off from sand-bars and snags. Their navigation is much like
that of those big water-beetles, which swim where there is
water enough, and crawl where there is not. The landing is
close by the mouth of Cow Creek. There was no settlement
at the place; only a landing, with a little intrenchment near
by, held by twelve soldiers and four citizens. The Nez Per¬
ces attacked it, but drew off at night, after wounding two of
the garrison and burning all the freight at the landing. Ma¬
jor Uges came down from Fort Benton with a small force,
and followed them for a day or two, but wisely abandoned
the pursuit after a skirmish with them. The Indians moved
on leisurely to the north. They were now coming into a
beautiful country, a " very Eden " it has been called, lying
about the Bear Paw and Little Rocky Mountains. It is a
country of romance also, the reputed locality of the cele¬
brated " Lost Cabin of Montana," that miners have been
crazy over for the last decade. They established their camp
in a crescent curve of Snake Creek, a tributary of Milk Riv¬
er, thirty-five miles south of the British line. They had rid
themselves of every force that had attacked them, but the
telegraph and the messengers of the whites had done their
work again. From Fort Keogh, away over on the Yellow¬
stone, Col. Nelson A. Miles was coming with nine companies
of mounted men, a company and a half of infantry, a com¬
pany of white and Indian scouts, a breech-loading ILotchkiss
gun, and a 12-pounder Napoleon. They reached Carroll, on
the Missouri, below Cow Island, and learned of the events at
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCfiS.
659
the latter place. On the evening of the 25th three hundred
and seventy-five men began their march from Carroll to cut
off the retreating Nez Perces. Joseph did not know of this
new and powerful enemy. He was resting quietly only one
day's march from his bravely-earned safety. If he had only
known—but he had no telegraph wires.
On the morning of the 30th the camp of the Indians
was attacked by the soldiers. The Nez Perces knew of their
coming only long enough to gaiii the ravines which led into
the creek valley along the bluffs. Their herd, to the num¬
ber of eight hundred, was cut off by one battalion of cavalry,
while two more, with the scouts, charged the camp. These
barely reached the village before they recoiled under the fear¬
ful fire of the Indians, with one-fifth of their force killed and
wounded. For four days and nights the forces remained fac¬
ing each other. The whites controlled the situation. They
were unwilling to attempt the capture of the camp by storm,
for that would involve a heavy loss of life, but they had the
Indians surrounded and were damaging them with shells.
The Indians could not escape through the lines without
abandoning their wounded and helpless. Says Joseph, "We
could have escaped from Bear Paw Mountain if we had left
our wounded, old women, and children behind. We were
unwilling to do this. We had never heard of a wounded
Indian recovering while in the hands of white men." IIow
deftly does this spiritualistic heathen strike us, and how keen¬
ly do his blows cut! There was only one power on earth
from which they could hope for aid. Over the British line
was Sitting Bull, who had been fighting Miles all summer.
Perhaps this chief, who had said, " There is not one white
man who loves an Indian, and not a true Indian but hates
a white man," actuated by enmity to the whites, would come
to the rescue. So they sent messengers, improved their
defences, and held their ground, occasionally parleying with
Colonel Miles; but Sitting Bull did not come, and on the
morning of October 5th they surrendered—those who were
left. Ollacut had fallen here at Snake Creek, and so had the
old Dreamer-drummer, Too-hul-hul-sute, with twenty-seven
others. White Bird had fled in the night with a band which,
660
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
it was afterwards learned, numbered one hundred and five.
They reached British America. Joseph, be it understood,
surrendered on honorable terms. Colonel Miles says, " I
acted on what I supposed was the original design of the gov¬
ernment to place these Indians on their own reservation, and
so informed them, and also sent assurances to the war parties
that were out, and those who had escaped, that they would
be taken to Tongue River, and retained for a time, and sent
across the mountains as soon as the weather permitted in the
spring." The Indians understood also that they were to re¬
tain what stock they still had. General Howard had come
up and was present at the surrender. The negotiations were
conducted through his Nez Perce scouts. He issued direc¬
tions to Colonel Miles to send the Indians to his department
in the spring, unless he received " instructions from higher
authority." " Thus," says General Sherman, " has terminated
one of the most extraordinary Indian wars of which there is
any record. The Indians throughout displayed a courage and
skill that elicited universal praise; they abstained from scalp¬
ing, let captive women go free, did not commit indiscriminate
murder of peaceful families, which is usual, and fought with
almost scientific skill, using advance and rear guards, skirmish
lines and field fortifications."
Of course the Nez Perces were sent back to the Lapwai
reservation, as Colonel Miles had agreed. Well, no. They
were sent to Fort Lincoln; then to Fort Leavenworth, where
they remained for a few weeks; and then to the Quapaw
Agency in Indian Territory. Says Commissioner Ilayt, in
his report of November 1, 1877, "Upon the capture of Joseph
and his Indians, the first question that arises is,'What shall
be done with them?' Humanity prompts us to send them
back and place them on the Nez Perce reservation, as Joseph
and his followers have shown themselves to be brave men
and skilfuL soldiers, who, with one exception, have observed
the rules of civilized warfare, and have not mutilated their
dead enemies. There is, however, an insuperable difficulty in
the way, owing to the fact that at the beginning of the out¬
break of the Nez Perce war, twenty-one whites in the imme¬
diate vicinity of Joseph's home were murdered in cold blood
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
663
by the Indians, and six white women were outraged. Be¬
cause of these crimes, there would be no peace nor safety for
Joseph and his Indians 011 their old reservation, or in its vi¬
cinity, as the friends and relatives of the victims would wage
an unrelenting war upon the offenders. But for these foul
crimes these Indians would be sent back to the reservation
in Idaho. How, however, they will have to be sent to the
Indian Territory ; and this will be no hardship to them, as the
difference in the temperature between that latitude and their
old home is inconsiderable." How complacently does this
gentleman sit in his easy-chair in Washington, and thrum the
heartstrings of this outraged people. " Humanity," indeed !
What did honesty and common decenc}7 prompt? Was it
nothing that these warriors laid down their arms on Colo¬
nel Miles's promise, in General Howard's presence, that they
should be returned to Idaho? Cannot a commander in the
field plight the faith of this nation and have his word re¬
spected ? "Foul crimes!" What men were " murdered in
cold blood ?" and what " six white women were outraged ?"
There seems to be a feeling here that an Indian should never
shoot any one but a soldier. Had the soldiers done them any
injury ? Had any one injured them directly except these set¬
tlers who located 011 their lands and "wished to be bought
out?" Had Harry Mason and Finley and the rest done
them no wrong? But suppose there were here twenty-seven
cold-blooded crimes, how many times over did the whites ex¬
ceed that number in this trouble? What of the four Indians
murdered before they lifted a hand ? What of the stock-
stealing? What of the scalping and mutilation, on three dif¬
ferent occasions, by Bannock and white scouts ? What of the
treatment of captured women ? What of our cold-blooded
steal of their country ? What of our cold-blooded violation
of Colonel Miles's agreement ? What of the one thousand or
more of horses that they had when they surrendered, which
were to be returned to them, and of which Joseph says only,
" Somebody has got our horses?" What of the cold-blooded
refusal of the authorities to return the Indians to Idaho, when
Joseph told them he would never have surrendered if Colo¬
nel Miles had not promised this—when he begged them to
664
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
keep that promise? ¥e have too much "humanity;" it
might be profitable to experiment with honesty and good
faith for a time.
But passing the coloring of the commissioner's statement,
what truth was there in his two reasons for locating the Nez
Perces in Indian Territory; namely, that there would be no
hardship from the change of climate, and the existence of a
thirst for revenge in Idaho ? To avoid question as to the
truth of Joseph's sad story, we will take up only official state¬
ments. In his report of November 1, 1878, Commissioner
Ilayt says, " The number of prisoners reported by the War
Department, December 4th last, was as follows: 79 men, 178
women, and 174 children, making a total of 431. A few scat¬
tered members of the band were subsequently taken by the
military and also sent to Fort Leavenworth. . . . The number
reported to have been turned over to the inspector and agent
was 410, three of whom—children—died on the route. In¬
spector McNeil reported that the camping-place selected by
the commandant for these Indians, and where he found them,
was in the Missouri Biver bottom, about two miles above the
\
fort, 'between a lagoon and the river, the worst possible place
that could have been selected; and the sanitary condition of
the Indians proved it.' The physician in charge said that
' one-half could be said to be sick, and all were affected by the
poisonous malaria of the camp.' After the arrival of Joseph
and his band in the Indian Territory, the bad effect of their
location at Fort Leavenworth manifested itself in the prostra¬
tion by sickness at one time of 260 out of the 410, and within
a few months they have lost by death more than one-quarter
of the entire number. A little care in the selection of a
wholesome location near Fort Leavenworth would have saved
very much sickness and many lives." In addition to the facts
mentioned, the agent, II. W. Jones, reported that they had
been without medicine, and concluded thus: "I am now glad
to be able to say that their sickness is abating, and I believe
the worst is over. They now number 86 men, 168 women,
and 137 children." Was this all due to the malaria from the
Missouri bottom-lands ? Let us see.
In June, 1879, the Nez Perces were removed to a new
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCES.
665
reservation, just west of the Ponca agency (strange that these
two shamefully mistreated tribes should be thrown together),
on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River. The philosophic
Agent Whiteman reported of them on August 31,1879:
"The location, I think, is a healthy one, and the Indians are
as healthy as could be expected. There is this fact about the
Nez Perces, which, perhaps, is hardly ever considered, viz.,
that most of the young, able-bodied men and women were
engaged in their late war with the government, and many of
them were killed and wounded, and a large proportion of the
Nez Perces brought to the Indian Territory were old people
and children, which accounts in a great measure for the many
deaths which have occurred among them. I have also ob¬
served both among the Nez Perces and Poncas, who came
from northern climates, that lung diseases are very prevalent.
I think that seven Indians out of every ten have their lungs
diseased so badly that they could not live in any climate; and
while I do not desire to depreciate the fearful ravages made
by malaria on Northern Indians in the Indian Territory, yet
I give it as my opinion, which I believe will be borne out by
statistics, that more Indians die from pulmonary diseases in
the Northwest than die from the effects of malaria in the In¬
dian Territory .... The Nez Perces number at this time
three hundred and seventy." It is to be regretted that Mr.
Whiteman did not explain why, under his theoiy, the Indians
of the Northwest were not extinct many years ago. On
August 31,1880, Agent Whiting reported : " The old Ponca
saw-mill was-removed to the Nez Perce reservation in July
last, and we are now sawing out lumber for the purpose of
erecting houses for the Indians, and I hope to have them all
comfortably housed before cold weather." The statistical ta¬
bles for the same year show nine births and twenty-one deaths
for the year, but give the total remaining on the reservation
at only three hundred and forty-four.
On September 6, 1881, Agent Jordan reported: "The
Nez Perces located at Oakland comprise three hundred and
twenty-eight souls, and I am sorry to be compelled to report
that there has been a large amount of sickness and many
deaths among them during the last year. This arises from
666
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the fact that they have not become acclimated, and are to a
great extent compelled to live in teepees, the cloth of which
has become so rotten from long wear and the effects of the
weather as to be no longer capable of keeping out the rain,
by which they were soaked during the last spring. The
tribe, unless something is done for them, will soon become
extinct. . . . They are greatly in need of a church in which
to hold services, and for want of one are compelled to meet
under an arbor covered with branches and leaves. They
keep the Sabbath-day holy, abstaining from all kinds of
work, and the service at the arbor is attended by every mem¬
ber of the tribe, whether a communicant or not. . . . Poor as
they are, they have contributed forty-five dollars with which
to buy the lumber, etc., necessary to build a house for their
pastor. . . . Love of country and home, as in all brave people,
is very largely developed in this tribe, and they long for the
mountains, the valleys, the streams, and the clear springs of
water of their old home. They are cleanly to a fault, and
most of them have adopted the dress, and as far as possible
the habits, of the white man. They keep their stock in good
order, and are a hard-working, painstaking people. I hope
by the time winter comes on to have them all in comfortable
houses." This is enough to show the justice of Mr. Hayt's
statement that a removal to Indian Territory would be " no
hardship" to them. It is probably enough for all present
purposes. Picture to yourself these wretched people, sick,
destitute, with 110 decent shelter, longing for the clear waters
and balmy breezes of their stolen home. God help the vic¬
tims of our " humanity." In all seriousness, it would have
been far more humane to have put them in some peniten¬
tiary, where they could at least have had medical attention,
and shelter from the rain and snow.
Comment on Mr. Ilayt's climate proposition is needless.
How about the revengeful whites? It does not appear that
the government took any active steps to find what the senti¬
ment of their former white neighbors was. Mr. Ilayt's the¬
ory was evidently put on paper before investigation, for it is
dated less than a month after the surrender. There was sub¬
sequently much difference of opinion, in a speculative way,
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCES.
667
as to what the feeling was. In 1883 Rev. A. L. Lindsley
set about ascertaining it definitely. lie prepared a series of
questions, which he submitted to prominent residents of the
Wallowa and Salmon River country, and from their answers
drew the following conclusions: " There appears to be no ac¬
tive ill-will cherished towards these Indians, nor any opposi¬
tion to the return of the exiles. There was a general agree¬
ment, in Judge Leland's opinion, who thought the aggrieved
whites will take revenge. This will excite the Indians to re¬
taliation ; and that again will probably occasion another out¬
break, or at least create public disturbances. There is only
one way of prevention : to surrender to the authorities of
Nez Perce County the survivors of the thirty-two Indians
who were indicted for outrage and murder committed before
the war began. It is known that a number of these are still
living; some of them are with White Bird, who is in Can¬
ada, and some with Joseph. The Attorney-general of the
United States answered a former demand for them by ad¬
vising a suspension of all action in the case, with which the
Idaho court complied. It is a suspension only; the return
of these indicted men free will not escape the notice of the
court. Even if it should, there are men who would excite a
popular demand for justice. There is great reason to fear,
however, that there are men in Kamiah Prairie and Mount
Idaho who would not wait for the court to take action if
these indicted Indians return free. A frequent remark used
to be heard that certain Indians would be'shot on sight.'
Agent Monteith and others have no doubt that some men
would carry out their threats. One of them is well known—
'lie don't think he'd hunt 'em up to kill 'em; he thinks it
mean to shoot even an Indian in the dark; but it wouldn't
be safe for any of them to come where he is.' I must re¬
strain my pen and assume much. The sum is this: that the
peace can be preserved in the return of these Indians by the
surrender of the indicted ones to the Idaho authorities—or
sending them off to join White Bird in Canada. What the
full effect of the alternative would be it would be difficult
to estimate."
I submit that there is here no desire for revenge which
668
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
would justify the nation in breaking its faith with these In¬
dians. I submit that au American who is sufficiently civil¬
ized to admit that it is "mean to shoot even an Indian in the
dark," is humane enough not to have harassed the wretch¬
ed remnant of these victims when he had been informed of
their sufferings in exile. But supposing it were otherwise,
what force was there in this plea? Is the nation to be pre¬
vented from being just because a score of men threaten to be
lawless? Where was our army? There was no trouble in
finding soldiers when it was anticipated that the Indians
would rebel under the outrage put upon them. There had
been no trouble in finding soldiers to station in the South
when it was claimed that negroes were deprived of the right
of suffrage. There had been no trouble in finding soldiers
when strikers interfered with the property of capitalists. Is
it unlawful to protect Indians, or was the government afraid
of these desperate people of the West? If the latter, would
it not have been well to have appointed a committee of "ju¬
dicious men" to beg them not to become murderers? There
remains another matter for consideration back of this. Sup¬
posing that the blood-thirst}7 people of Idaho could have been
satisfied only by leaving the Hez Perccs in Indian Territory,
and that it were necessary to satisfy them, why were these
Indians left in such destitution? (The alternative of sur¬
rendering the indicted Indians is not considered, because the
government could not honorably have adopted it.) Why
were not their ponies returned to them? What became of
the lumber that was sawed for them in 1880? How did it
happen that they must deepen their poverty by purchasing
lumber for their pastor's house in 1881, while they sat under
the drippings of their rotten teepees? Why were they not
paid for their share of the Nez Perccs lands, if the govern¬
ment must persist in holding them bound by the treaty of
1863? They had certainly received none of the purchase-
money before they were sent to Indian Territory.
It was not possible that Mr. Ilayt's flimsy reasons for
keeping them in exile should long be regarded by any one
but himself, although the lack of information concerning their
case was not supplied in the Indian Bureau for years. In
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEECfiS.
GG9
1882 Commissioner Priee said of Joseph's band: "Not in the
least excusing or attempting to palliate the crimes alleged to
have been committed by them, it is but fair to say that their
warfare was conducted with a noticeable absence of savage
barbarity on their part, and that they persistently claim that
when they surrendered to General Miles it was with the ex¬
press stipulation that they should be sent back to Idaho.
Whether this alleged stipulation be true or not [General
Miles had said officially that it was], it is a fact that their un¬
fortunate location near Fort Leavenworth, when in charge of
the military, and the influences of the climate where they are
concerted effort will be taken to avenge wrongs alleged to
have been perpetrated by these people so many years ago.
The band now numbers only about three hundred and twen¬
ty-two souls, and the reservation in Idaho is ample to ac¬
commodate them comfortably, in addition to those who are
already there, who are substantially self-supporting and who
have enough to spare a portion for their less fortunate breth¬
ren, and, as I understand, are willing to give them such aid.
The deep-rooted love for. the 'old home' which is so con¬
spicuous among them, and their longing desire to leave the
warm, debilitating climate of the Indian Territory for the
GENERAL N. A. MILES.
now located in the In¬
dian Territory, have
caused much sickness
among them ; their
ranks have been sadly
depleted, and it is claim¬
ed that if they are m uch
longer compelled to re¬
main in their present
situation, the entire
band will become vir¬
tually extinct. It is
now about five years
since the surrender, and
a sufficient time has
probably elapsed to jus¬
tify the belief that no
670
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
more healthy and invigorating air of the Idaho mountains,
can never be eradicated, and any longer delay, with a hope
of a final contentment on their part with their present situa¬
tion, is, in my judgment, futile and unnecessary. In view of
all the facts, I am constrained to believe that the remnant of
this tribe should be returned to Idaho, if possible, early next
spring, and I respectfully suggest that this matter be submit¬
ted to Congress at its next session, with a recommendation
that an appropriation be made sufficient to meet the necessa¬
ry expenses of a removal thither.''
No immediate action was taken on this recommendation,
but in the succeeding year the work of undoing this great
wrong was begun. When the agency school broke up for
vacation in May, 1883, the teacher, James Reuben, started for
Idaho with twenty-nine of the exiles, mostly widows and or¬
phans. James Reuben, by-the-way, was a Nez Perce, who
had been educated and converted through the labors of Miss
McBeth,a lady who went among the Nez Perces many years
ago, and has devoted her life and her fortune to their advance¬
ment. Success has attended her devotion, and her preachers
and teachers have done excellent work among other bands.
It was, indeed, chiefly to the efforts of native missionaries,
whom she had prepared for the work and sent out, that the
rapid growth of Christianity among Joseph's band in the In¬
dian Territory was due. The remainder of the band was
still left there to suffer and mourn. On August 15, 1884,
Agent Scott reported : " They are extremely anxious to return
to their own country. They regard themselves as exiles.
The climate does not seem to agree with them; many of them
have died; and there is a tinge of melancholy in their bear¬
ing and conversation that is truly pathetic. I think they
should be sent back, as it seems clear they will never take
root and prosper in this locality." Whether this report moved
the government, or whether the pleadings of their friends in
Oregon at last induced the authorities to abandon the cruel
injustice of the past eight years, I do not know; but last
spring the remnant of the band, now numbering only two
hundred and sixty-eight, were sent back to their mountain
homes. Joseph and a few others were placed at Colville
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEECfiS.
671
Agency, in Washington Territory, and the remainder were
put with their brethren on Lapwai reservation. The return
of the exiles was a great occasion at Lapwai. The Indians
collected from every part of the reservation to greet them.
Addresses of welcome were made by Silas Whitman and James
Lawyer, native preachers, and then, says a witness of the scene,
"an earnest response was made by 'Tom Hill,' on behalf of
the returned wanderers. His heart was too full for him to
command his words, but as it was, he made a most impressive
speech, delivered with matchless oratory. He touched on
their long confinement in a dreary land, a land of many sor¬
rows; spoke feelingly of their constant longings for their
mountain home, which they had given up all hopes of ever
seeing again; humbly acknowledged the goodness and mercy
of God in permitting some of them to stand once more on
the banks of the Lapwai in the presence of so many old-time
friends ; referred gratefully to the interposition of the Church
and the law in their behalf, and closed with the announce¬
ment that their only desire now is to be henceforth law-abid¬
ing people and believers in the God of heaven. At the close
of the speech hand-shaking began, which lasted for over an
hour. Headed by your correspondent (Rev. G. L. Deffen-
baugh), the long procession of our people filed past, and took
the hand of every man, woman, and child. Friend met with
friend, fathers and mothers with their long-lost sons and
daughters. It was very touching to watch the play of feat¬
ures as the mind went through the process of identifying the
face of a relative or friend, and then, after the decision was
made, to hear the glad expressions, 'Is this you?' mention¬
ing the name; 'Is it you, father?' or 'Is that you, brother?'
Only one who had a heart of stone could have stood by and
not entered with spirit into the joys of the occasion. But to
one standing near the end of the line a different scene pre¬
sented itself. Some having taken the hands of all present,
and missing the faces of those they had hoped to see, gave
vent to their sorrow in uncontrollable weeping. Certainly,
the most cruel-hearted Indian-hater could not have stood by
unaffected." And Joseph could not share in even this small
recompense for past suffering. It was feared that local preju-
672
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
dice would make it dangerous for him to come. Joseph—ah
no! he had been guilty of fighting like a man for justice and
for the right. lie was a criminal—in Idaho.
Who is to be blamed for all this wickedness and wrong:?
Incidentally, various persons who have been mentioned, but
the greatest responsibility is apparently with the Commission
of 1876, sent out to arrange for an equitable settlement with
these Indians, who, with the exception of Lieutenant-colonel
Wood, reported that the Indians ought to be sent to the reser¬
vation, by force, if necessary. Their names are Gen. O. O.
Howard, D. II. Jerome, William Stickney, and A. C.Barstow.
It has been mentioned that in 1875 General Howard took
the position that the Lower Nez Perces ought to have the
Wallowa country. Why he changed his mind in 1876 does
not appear. Joseph says that when Howard came back he
said," I will not let white men laugh at me the next time I
come." Whether Joseph means that he used these words, or
merely thus indicates his own guess at the generaPs motives,
the chances are that he struck the correct theory. In the
spring of 1879, when there appeared in the North American
Review Joseph's statement of his case—the most magnificent
piece of Indian eloquence that was ever known, with the
exception of the much disputed speech of Logan—General
Howard rushed into print with a reply. Therein he promised
a book on the subject, which appeared in 1881. If the exist¬
ence of the publications be not sufficient evidence of his sen¬
sitiveness to public opinion, the inquiring reader will find am¬
ple confession of it in the pages of both productions. I do
not find that his part in the work of the Commission is brought
prominently forward in either. If there is any mention of
the fact that he was a member of the Commission, in his book
I have failed to discover it. I do find his objection to the
public holding responsible an "army officer who is subject to
the requisition of the Indian Department," and his statement
that " the Indian management did not belong to my depart¬
ment." I do find him giving a summary of Governor Gro-
ver's letter, the ideas of which the Commission adopted, and
then adding these words, " So much for our ideas of justice.
First, we acknowledge and confirm by treaty to Indians a sort
JOSEPH'S NEZ PERCYS.
673
of title to vast regions. Afterwards we continue, in a strictly
legal manner, to do away with both the substance and the
shadow of title. Wiser heads than Joseph's have been puz¬
zled by this manner of balancing the scales." Who would
read these words and imagine that their author had sat as a
judge in this case, and recommended the injustice over which
he sighs.
I do not presume to criticise General Howard's conduct
of the campaign. It is quite probable that he did the best
he could—possibly as well as any one would have done. He
had for an enemy the hardest fighting Indians on the continent,
led by the ablest uneducated chief that the world ever saw. I
do criticise him for his part in the Commission, where he could
probably have induced a recommendation of fair and honor¬
able treatment of these Indians, instead of the mistreatment
that was recommended. I do criticise him for writing in
1879, those cruel words: "Let them settle down, and keep
quiet, in the Indian Territory, as the Modocs have done, and
they will thrive as they do." I do criticise him for evading
the real issue in his attempted defence. I do criticise him
for trying to make a defence. I would that he had been no¬
ble enough to say, " I was mistaken." I would that he had
said to the government and the people, "When I recommend¬
ed the removal of these Indians, I thought they would go
without fighting. I thought that they would have real ad¬
vantages on the reservation which would compensate them
for their loss of freedom. I did not imagine that they would
be roused to madness by the wrong we were doing. I did
not think that the plighted faith of Colonel Miles and myself
would be broken. I did not dream that the Indians would
be taken to swampy bottom-lands and shelterless plains to die
of unknown diseases. I was wrong, and I wish to have my
wrong righted, as far as possible, by having them sent back
to their mountain homes." If he had said this, the wrong
would probably have been righted long ago.
The great majority of the American people desire that the
Indians should be treated fairly and honorably—not because
they are Indians, but because they are men, and we desire
that all men should be so treated. It can but be humiliating
43
674
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
that onr second century should begin with such a wrong
against that race, which, it must be confessed, has suffered at
our hands, despite the wishes of the people. Yet there is
nothing to relieve its monstrosity. It was not committed by
rude and lawless men of the border, but by men selected from
the nation for their supposed fitness for the work. It was
not done when public sentiment might have been supposed
to sustain harsh and unjust measures, but in the day of " ad¬
vanced ideas" and under the lauded "humanitarian Indian
policy" of our government. How tarnished are the tinsel
vauntings of the admirers of that policy, in the light of this
case! Taking it all in all, from the first time an Indian was
kidnaped on the New England coast, and sold into slavery,
down to the present day, Conestoga, Sand Creek, Bloody
Point, and all, the treatment of the Nez Perces is the worst
crime that the white man has perpetrated upon the red man.
Heedless of this beam in our own eye, we have groaned over
the wrongs of the Bulgarian Christians, waxed indignant at
the harrying of the Russian Jews, and raged about England's
treatment of the Irish. Look to your hands! They are red
with innocent blood and dark with the stains of plunder.
We may seek to justify ourselves by shallow casuistry, but if
the time shall ever come when a just God shall judge be¬
tween us and the Lower Nez Perces, what answer can we
make ?
CHAPTER XX.
white river agency.
"The Utes most go!" Ilow that cry resounded through
Colorado in 1879 and 1880. "The Utes must go!" Every¬
body said so. If any one had been rash enough to dispute
the proposition he would have been denounced as an enemy to
public peace and prosperity. The newspapers kept the words
standing for head-lines. People talked it, met together and
resolved it, and finally accomplished it. It was a sentiment
that arose several years before and gained strength steadily.
Its original basis was that their reservation was rich in miner¬
als and included the best agricultural and grazing lands in the
state; that the Utes did not and would not develop these re¬
sources ; and that the whites desired to develop them. At
first this feeling was not so strong, because the whites were
not numerous; and there were hundreds of acres of arable
land that had not been taken up, and thousands of acres of
mineral land that had not been prospected. But Colorado
and all the adjoining territory were destined to a mighty rev¬
olution. It originated in the obscure mining-camp of Slab-
town, or Oro City, in California Gulch, on the head-waters of
the Arkansas River. The place first attracted attention in
the time of the Pike's Peak excitement, when hardy gold-
hunters were searching all through the ranges nearest the
plains for deposits of the yellow metal. California, Stray
Horse, and Iowa gulches were discovered; the towns of Oro,
Malta, and Granite were established ; and a population esti¬
mated at 10,000 occupied the region. In the course of four
years they took out about $13,000,000 of gold; but after
that the placers decreased in value, and were gradually aban¬
doned until, in 1874, they were practically deserted. Work
was prosecuted on them at intervals, however, and ranches
676
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
which had been established along the Arkansas and its tribu¬
taries were still occupied.
During the placer mining in California Gulch, the miners
had been much annoyed by a peculiar heavy substance, resem¬
bling clay, that clogged their rockers and interfered with their
work. In 1878 it was ascertained that this stuff was carbo¬
nate of lead, and that it carried enough silver to make it valu¬
able. It was already known that there were large deposits of
it above the town. Then ensued the most remarkable min¬
ing excitement ever known in America. Times were hard in
the East. The country was still suffering from the financial
disorders of 1873 and 1875. Railroads afforded speedy and
cheap transportation almost to the mines. Why not try the
West? In August, 1877, the camp of Slabtown was com¬
posed of a score of shanties. In June, 1878, it had a popu¬
lation of 400. In October, 1878, the city of Leadville had
6000 inhabitants; in April, 1879, it had 12,000, with addi¬
tions coming at the rate of from 300 to 500 per daj^. But
this represented only a fraction of the people coming West.
The rival railroad lines across the plains had placed before
the public everywhere their most alluring prospectuses of
the country bordering on their lines, and beyond their ter¬
mini, inducing thousands, who had been originally awak¬
ened to the desirability of Western fields of labor by the
Leadville discoveries, to go to other points. It was as well
that they did, for Leadville was already overloaded, and the
neighboring country for miles was staked out in mining
claims, that were worth less, actually, than the cost of sur¬
veying them, though their market value was for a time quite
respectable. The same thing occurred in many other places.
There were hundreds of acres that looked like overgrown
prairie-dog towns, so covered were they with the dumps of
sanguine prospectors, who had about as much knowledge of
mining as they had of the precession of the equinoxes. " Got
any indications?" some new arrival would ask. "Nothin'
very good, but you've got to dig for it if you find it. That's
the way George Fryer struck it." Then the inquiring tender¬
foot would seek the most convenient unclaimed spot, adjust
the red flannel rag around his neck, worn to prevent pneumo-
THE SNOW RANGE.
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
679
nia, and begin digging. lie had the same answer stored away
for any one who asked him the reason of his faith.
The immigration increased until the summer of 1880, be¬
fore it began its gradual return to a natural basis. Every train
over the Union Pacific, Kansas Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka,
& Santa Fe roads was uncomfortably overloaded. It ap¬
pears, from the best data that are obtainable, that by railroad
and wagon there came into Colorado on some days as many
as five thousand people, and very seldom less than one thou¬
sand. Many of these returned, after a short stay, but the ma¬
jor part remained, or pressed on into the wilder country be¬
yond. The influx of humanity was like a rising river. It
filled the eastern valleys, crept up the mountain ranges, and
poured into the valleys beyond. Onward, ever onward, it
moved, gaining strength continually, until it was beating
against the barrier of the reservation lines. Then the senti¬
ment that "the Utes must go" gained strength rapidly. It
was told in mysterious whispers that the reservation was a
very treasure-house; the Elk Mountains were full of silver;
there were placers on all the rivers. It was known that there
were large deposits of coal and iron, and gold generally goes
with iron. The impossibility of verifying the stories made
them ten times greater, and increased credence in an ecpial
ratio. What was the use of having the Utes there? There
was plenty of land elsewhere, not rich in mineral, that would
do just as well for them. Blank blank the Utes, any way.
They were a miserable, lousy lot of savages, and a detriment
to the country. Still, the sentiment did not obtain universally
until the outbreak of 1879; then the whole state was put in a
furor. The Utes were strong in numbers, well-armed, well sup¬
plied with horses, and were warriors of no mean repute. They
could cross either the Saguache or the Snow range, and strike
the eastern settlements by a dozen different routes. The north¬
ern and southern settlements were at their mercy. Information
wras meagre and contradictory. There were hundreds of wild
rumors. The only way to be safe was to be prepared for any¬
thing. Accordingly, men abandoned their work and organ¬
ized for defence, at dozens of points, where there was, in fact,
no danger at all. After the trouble was all over, it was learned
680
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
that two or three hundred Indians, who had no intention of
fighting except on their own lands, had thrown into confusion
a hundred thousand people; but the scare had settled the mat¬
ter. There were few who knew who the Utes were, or cared
what they were. It made no difference what were their rights
or what had been their wrongs. They were an injury to
the interests of the entire state. If the United States did
not remove them the people of Colorado would. The Utes
must go!
There is no doubt that the Utes had been treated badly;
there is no doubt that at least nine tenths of the charges made
against them were unfounded. On the other hand, it is clear
that their mistreatment had little, if anything, to do with the
outbreak. The country of the Utes was not affected by any
of the transcontinental thoroughfares. It lay south of the
South Pass routes, and north of the road through the Spanish
settlements. To the settlements on their borders they had been
of so little trouble that no treaty with .them was considered
necessary until 1863. In the early days of the West some
bands of them engaged in marauding, jointly with their allies,
the Kavahos and Apaches. On Christmas Day, 1851, a hundred
Utes and Jicarillas, under Tierra Blanco, destroyed the settle¬
ment on the Arkansas, above the mouth of the Huerfano, kill¬
ing fifteen men, capturing two women and some children, and
running off all the stock of the settlement. Colonel Fauntle-
roy marched against these Indians from Fort Massachusetts,
which had been established as a threat, for the preservation of
peace, in the San Luis valley. Ilis force consisted of two com¬
panies of regulars, two companies of volunteers, and Kit Car¬
son's scouts. They surprised the Utes on the night of April
2S, 1855, on the Arkansas, near Chalk Creek, about twenty
miles above Poncha Pass.* The Indians had been holding a
* This pass leads from Sail Luis Park to the South Arkansas valley.
The name was originally Punclta or Punche, the Ute word for a small plant,
that they use for kil-li-kin-nick, which grows abundantly in the pass. When
the post-office was established at Poncha Springs, in 1879, some backwoods
philologists thought the word was the Mexican poncho, a blanket cloak; and
the Post-office Department, with an admirable spirit of compromise, named
it Poncha, which does not mean anything.
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
681
scalp-dance all night, and were struck at daybreak. Forty
were killed, many wounded, six children were made prisoners,
and all their property was captured. This blow had a very
salutary effect on them. There were afterwards some petty
depredations by the southern tribes, occasional disturbances
with the Colorado miners, and some rather serious troubles on
the Utah side, arising from Mormon influence, but never any¬
thing in the way of a general war. It has been claimed that
as many as forty men were killed by them from 1860 to 1879 ;
but many of these were people who wefe found dead, or had
disappeared, and their taking off was blamed to the Utes in the
absence of any other known cause. It should be remembered,
also, that the plains Indians often entered this country, on war
expeditions, and were at times mistaken for Utes. The Ara-
pahoes engaged in the Rawlin's Springs massacre claimed to
be Utes, and were supposed to be until after that affair was
over. On the whole, the Utes may be called friendly, and
were so regarded; but they were not admirers of civilization,
and, with the exception of a few of the New Mexican bands,
never showed much disposition to adopt " the white man's
road." They preferred to live by the chase.
In 1863 the Tabequache Utes made a treaty accepting, as
a reservation, a part of the lands they had always held in
Western Colorado. There was some dissatisfaction, because
payments were not made to them as they should have been ;
but it was smoothed over, and peaceful relations were main¬
tained. In a few years it was thought best to put all the
eastern Utes together. A treaty to effect this purpose was
made with the principal bands on March 2, 1868, by Kit Car¬
son, N. G. Taylor, and Governor Ilunti; and the western part
of Colorado, included between longitude 107°, a line fifteen
miles north of latitude 40°, and the southern and western
boundaries of the territory, was set apart to be theirs forever.
There were seven principal bands. The Yam pas (Bear Rivers)
and Grand Rivers were located in the northern part of the
reservation, with their agency on White River. The Tabe-
qu aches and Uncompahgres were in the central part, with their
agency at Los Pinos. The Wee-mi-nu-ches, Mu-a-ches, and
Ca-po-tes, who were Southern Colorado and New Mexican In-
682
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
dians, were located in the southern part of the reservation.
They had their agency at Los Finos, with the Tabequaches
and Uncompahgres, until the San Juan cession, in 1873, and
then a separate agency was established for them in their own
country. A number of these southern Indians, principally
Muaches (Maquaches), had land under cultivation on the Rio
La Plata and other tributaries of the Rio San Juan, of which
they retained possession for several years, but were then for¬
cibly dispossessed by settlers who claimed that the Indians
had no rights off the reservation. The annuities promised in
this treaty were not paid until after unreasonable delay. The
lines established were claimed by the Indians to be fraudu¬
lent. They said the lines were explained to them as being
on the tops of the mountains, i. e., the continental divide, but
the line as surveyed cut off the beautiful valleys of the Gun¬
nison, Tomichi, and other streams. It took away also Middle
Park and North Park, which they said they did not sell.
Worst of all, the whites continually invaded the reservation.
It had been the great desire of the Utes to have a country that
was absolutely their own, and accordingly the following strong
promise was put in the treaty : " The United States now
solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein author¬
ized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employes
of the government as may be authorized to enter upon In¬
dian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law,
shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in
the territory described in this article." The Indians consid¬
ered this treaty as giving them the fee-simple of these lands.
The first proceeding of part of the bands was to move off the
reservation, which they said they intended to keep for a
hunting-ground. They abandoned this plan, after remon¬
strance by their agents, and located on their reservation, with
the privilege of hunting outside of it.
Looking back through the years, it seems questionable
whether the men who negotiated this treaty, or the senators
who ratified it, had any expectation that these agreements
would be kept, so repeatedly had similar ones been broken.
The Utes had scarcely received their first payments before the
mines of the San Juan country were discovered, and great
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
683
crowds of people went to them, notwithstanding they were
wholly within the Ute reservation. The Indians complained,
and soldiers were ordered to remove the intruders. Before
the enforcement of the orders began, the President was "in¬
formed that their chief,
Ouray (Ure, Uray—The
Arrow), had expressed
a willingness to nego¬
tiate for the sale of a
portion of the reserva¬
tion," and the orders
were countermanded.
Who vouchsafed this
information does not
appear from the pub¬
lished records. A com¬
mission was at once sent
to the Utes (in 1872),
and they utterly refused
to sell. The miners
remained undisturbed,
and in the following
year Felix Brunot was
sent to talk to the In- ouray.
dians. He persuaded
them that he came from pure friendship for them, and in¬
duced them to make a cession of the San Juan and San Mi¬
guel countries, a block of land sixty-five miles wide by
ninety-five miles deep. This left them a strip fifteen miles
wide along the southern line of the state, and one twenty
miles wide along the western line up to ten miles north of
parallel 38, above which the reservation stood as formerly.
This cession was made on the express understanding that it
was not to include any farming lands, but only the mines
on the mountains. Most of the farming lands on the reser¬
vation were in the southern part. The Tabequaches and Un-
compahgres had only a limited amount of arable land—a strip
on the San Miguel, the Uncompahgre Park, and a small tract
on the Uncompahgre Biver. Ho one, white or Indian, thought
684
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
at that time that the lands on the Gunnison and the Grand,
in the western part of the reservation, which are now farmed
so profitably, were worth anything for agriculture.
The Utes said they thought the north line of the proposed
cession would cut off part of the Uncompahgrd Park. To
meet this objection it was agreed that, if it did, an offset
would be made to exclude it from the cession. This under¬
standing was inserted in the treaty in these words: "Pro¬
videdthat if any part of the Uncompahgre Park shall be
found to extend south of the north line of said described
country, the same is not intended to be included therein, and
is hereby reserved and retained as a portion of the Ute reser¬
vation." This agreement was ratified by Act of Congress,
April 29, 1874, "treaties" with Indians being at that time
prohibited by law. The former agreement as to the exclusion
of white persons from the reservation was reaffirmed, but the
Indians agreed to allow one road, across the southern part of
the reservation, to the ceded lands. The Utes made this ces¬
sion with much hesitancy, and'chiefly in the hope that it would
avoid an)7 further trouble from miners, but they still feared
that the miners wrould want more. Said Ouray to Brunot:
" The lines in regard to the mines do not amount to anything;
it is changing them all the time—taking a little now and a
little again —that makes trouble. You said you do not know
anything in regard to these lines [those established under the
treaty of 1868], and it may be the same in regard to lines you
make. There are many men talk about it to us; they say they
are going to have the lines as they want, whether the Utes like
it or not. It is common talk ; everybody tells it to the Utes.
The miners care very little about the government. It is a long
way off in the States, and they say the man who comes to
make the treaty will go off to the States, and it will all be as
they want it." True old Arrow! He went straight to the
mark.
This treaty was not complied with by us in three impor¬
tant particulars, not to mention minor ones. In the first place,
the Utes were to receive $25,000 annually forever, in com¬
pensation for the cession, but Congress provided for this by
placing bonds to their credit, the interest on which was to
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
685
meet these payments, and the first instalment did not fall due
for one year. Consequently the first, or cash payment, was
not provided for. After several years of protestation and
bickering this was made good, but by this time there had been
twice that amount withheld from the annual payments under
"the discretion of the President." The amount thereafter
continuously due the Utes, under this agreement, fluctuated
from $65,000 to $90,000. At the time of the outbreak it was
$65,000. In the second place, the south line of the cession
was run so as to cut off a large amount of farming and graz¬
ing lands. Sapavanari, a young Uncompahgre chief, went
with the surveying-party, to protect them from interference,
" until he saw with his own eyes " that the line was cutting off
some 15,000 acres of farm lands, including some of the Ute
farms. Then he left them, fearing that he would be com¬
promised with his tribe, and his tribe compromised with the
government, if he did not protest against the line. The In¬
dians said that as the agreement was explained to them they
were to have ten miles more on the south side, and twenty
miles more on the west side, than was given them. In the
third place, the north line of the cession was run through the
centre of Uncompahgre Park, and no offset was made to cover
the part cut off. This fact was pointed out to the surveyor,
J. W. Miller, and he promised to correct it, but, instead of
doing so, went on to Washington, had his survey approved,
got his money, and dropped out of the controversy. The
Indians were greatly disappointed, and begged to have justice
done them in this matter. After much correspondence the
authorities concluded to humor them by complying with the
treaty, and on August 17, 1876, President Grant issued an
order withdrawing from the public domain four miles square
of the cession, including the part of the Park that had been
cut off, and adding it to the Ute reservation.
By this time a number of settlers had located in this part
of the Park, which was the only convenient farming land in
the neighborhood of Ouray, the principal mining-town of the
San Juan country. They declined to remove except at the
point of the bayonet. Some of their attorneys advised them
that the President had no right to add to a reservation after
686
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
it had been established by Congress, and one, C. H. Mclntyre,
prepared and forwarded to the Interior Department a brief
maintaining this proposition. It seems to have escaped Mr.
Mclntyre's notice that this had nothing to do with the ques¬
tion. The reservation as established by Congress included all
of the Uncompahgre Park. The trouble was that an execu¬
tive officer had wilfully failed to comply with the provisions
HENRY M. TELLER.
made by Congress, and this the Executive Department not
only had the right, but was in duty bound to rectify. Under
Mr. Mclntyre's profound logic, a United States deputy sur¬
veyor had abrogated an Act of Congress. Troops were or¬
dered to remove the intruders in the spring of 1877, but
II. M. Teller, of counsel for the settlers, since Secretary of
the Interior, of Backbone Land-grant fame, wrote a touching
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
687
letter to Secretary Schurz, detailing the hardships that this
would cause to these people, who " went on the land in good
faith," and Mr. Schurz weakly allowed them six months of
grace, in which to harvest their crops and move. None of
them agreed to move—their attorney, even, did not promise
it—in order to obtain this kind concession of the rights of a
third party, and none of them did move. In the spring of
1878 another order was made for their dispossession, but by
this time the Park was full of defiant settlers. They refused
to move, and said that if the soldiers put them off before the
commission, which had been sent to treat for the four miles
square, had been heard from, they would kill Indians and pre¬
cipitate an Indian war. This threat so terrified the Ute agent,
J. B. Abbott, that he withdrew the troops.
The commission arrived in August, 1878, headed by Gen¬
eral Hatch. Their mission was to purchase the four miles
square and also the southern strip, below the San Juan cession.
At first the Indians refused to talk to them. They had not
yet received the first payment for the San Juan cession. They
said they would not talk of selling land to people who would
not pay for what they had already bought. Finally, on prom¬
ise that this should be made right, they went into council.
There was no difficulty about the southern strip. The south¬
ern Utes had already proposed to take another reservation,
"provided the government would pay them the previous in¬
debtedness," and this the commission did, to the amount of
$15,534, letting the remainder stand. In this transaction the
southern Utes gave up over 1,800,000 acres of land and took
a reservation of something over 700,000 acres, with the under¬
standing that they should have compensation for the excess of
1,100,000 acres. This was left out of the treaty by the com¬
missioners, but shows in the minutes of the council, as the In¬
dians claimed. (During the past summer, by the way, they
have been reported as reduced to starvation and becoming des¬
perate.) The four miles square was more troublesome. The Utes
wanted all of the Park because it was their best, almost their
only, winter range for their stock—they had about six thousand
horses, besides cattle and sheep. In addition to this, it con¬
tained a hot spring which was valuable to them for medicinal
688
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
purposes. It was urged by the commission that the President
wanted to give the miners some land, on which to raise vege¬
tables. Said Ouray : " I can't see that the President wants it;
the settlers want it." It was urged that the settlers and their
backers were making strong claims to the government. Said
Ouray: "If the government wants to take it and break the
treaty, all right." It was urged that the land was not of im¬
portance, but that it was very desirable to end all difficulty.
Said Ouray: "I don't think that would end it. They would
want more." The value of $10,000, the price offered, was
dwelt upon. Said Sapavanari: "We don't want to sell it;
don't want money." The commissioners said they were talk¬
ing for the good of the Indians, not the white men. Said
Ouray : " If you were talking for the Indians, you would put
the settlers out." The commission abandoned the task, in
despair, but a delegation of Utes was brought on to Washing¬
ton in the following winter, and the purchase was accomplished.
The Utes wanted one thing distinctly understood, and they
had it put on record ; it was that they consented to this sale,
not because they desired it, but because the government did.
They wanted the $10,000 paid in cash, but were informed that
they would have to wait until it was appropriated by Congress.
They got it several years later.
While all these things are true, and while they are very
dirty spots on our enlightened Indian policy, it is not true, as
some have inferred, that they caused the Ute outbreak. They
were all settled several months before it occurred. The In¬
dians simply agreed to submit to these wrongs, and as disturb¬
ing forces they were removed. Moreover, the Indians who
made the outbreak were not materially affected by these
wrongs. Soon after the establishment of the reservation the
Indians divided themselves into three groups, with independ¬
ent governments, corresponding to the three agencies. The
smaller tribes, principally Pah-Utes, who were afterwards
placed on the reservation, joined one or the other of these
groups. Ouray was treated as head chief of all the Utes, by
the whites, but he did not, in fact, have general authority. The
Southern Utes did not recognize him at all. Their head chief
was Ignacio, a Muache, who was aided by several sub-chiefs,
WHITE RIVER AGENCY. 089
including Ka-ni-a-che (The One Who was Taken Down),
An-ka-tosh (the Red), and others. Ignacio would have noth¬
ing to do with Ouray. This was chiefly owing to the fact
that, by the Brunot agreement, Ouray was to receive $1000
annually for his services, an arrangement at the time
unknown to the other Indians. The Los Pinos and White
River Utes did not even claim any interest in the southern
and western strips of land. When the commission of 1878
desired to purchase these
lands, they said they
would agree to whatever
Ignacio said ; that they
had no claim to the low¬
er country. The Tabe-
quaches, Uncompahgres,
and others of the Los
Pinos agency recognized
Ouray's authority fully.
Among their minor
chiefs were Sha-va-no
(Chavanaugh, Shawana
—Blue Flower), Guero
(Wa-ro—Light hair), and
Captain Billy, of the
Tabequaches, and Un-
com-mute (Un - kum-
good, Uncom, Uncah,
Unqua), and Sapavana-
ri,* of the Uncompah¬
gres. The White River Utes recognized Ouray's authority to
* There is some confusion about this name. Inofficial reports it is often
mistaken for the Spanish Saponiere (Xaboniere—a soap-maker), Sapona-
vero (which may be translated "genuine soap "), or Saponaria (soapwort).
The agent at Ouray writes me, on August 13, 1885: "I have made inquiry
and learn that' Sappovanaro' means anything white, and I am free to confess
there are many of the Utes who seem to know more about it than ' Old Sap'
himself. One says ' something white, all same pony or paper,' and another
explained by pointing to a white toad-stool. The interpreter says it means
a water-cloud or water-spout. Sappovanaro says the name was given him by
Kit Carson, and was taken from the Mexican Indians." In his correspond¬
ence Mr. Carson spelled the name Sa-pa-wa-ne-ri.
44
CAPTAIN BILLY.
690
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
a very limited extent; in ordinary affairs not at all. They were
in two factions; one led by Douglas, and the other by Jack.
Among the lesser chiefs were Colorado (Red), commonly called
Colorow, Piah (The Black-tailed Deer), Sa-rap (The Rainbow),
Sail-patch (White Ilot), and Johnson. These Indians had no
real interest in the San Juan cession, the south-line dispute,
or the four miles square. The first concerned both of the
other groups; the second affected only the Southern Utes;
and the last was the affair of the Los Pinos Indians. The
White Rivers took very little interest in these matters. They
received no part of the money for the San Juan cession, and
claimed no interest in it. The lands ceded did not belong to
them. They said the other bands were fools for selling their
land, and that it was good enough for them if they were
cheated. The Uintah Utes were not on this reservation.
Their chief was called Tabby (Taw-vi), and they were located
on a reservation in Utah.
The trouble with the White River Indians arose from
disagreements with their agent, N. C. Meeker. He was best
known as the leader of the colony that settled the town of
Greeley, Colorado, under the patronage of Horace Greeley,
and was, for a long time, a correspondent of the New York
Tribune, over the initials N. C. M. Ilis reputation for hon¬
esty was excellent, but he prided himself on his practical
qualities, and greatly overestimated his ability to civilize
savages. He said, in a letter to Senator Teller, on December
23, 1878: " When I get round to it in a year or so, if I stay
as long, I shall propose to cut every Indian down to bare
starvation point if he will not work. The ' getting around to
it' means to have plenty of tilled ground, plenty of work to
do, and to have labor organized so that whoever will shall be
able to earn his bread." A friend characterized him thus:
" A man of the Puritan stamp, an enthusiast in whatever work
he undertook, he had given his whole soul to the work of
civilizing the Utes. It is a waste of words to say that he was
honorable and upright in all his dealings with them, for his
life has been public and his character beyond reproach." Ad¬
mitting this to be true, the fact still remains that he did not
understand the Indian character, and could not manage them.
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
G91
He took charge of the agency in May, 1878, and began oper¬
ations by moving the agency to Powell's Yalley, on White
River, fifteen miles below the old agency. The Indians op¬
posed this because they used this valley for a winter camp, it
affording the best pasturage for their horses. Meeker studied
the situation, and adopted the plan of playing one of the
factions against the other. He first took up the Douglas
faction, which was recognized as " the government," although
Jack's party was the larger. The feeling had become such
that whatever one faction favored the other would oppose.
The next difficulty, after moving the agency, to which the
Indians yielded a reluctant assent, on being assured that the
commissioner would be "a heap mad" if they did not, was
to get their consent to the appropriation of $3000 of their
money, for an irrigating ditch. This was never obtained di¬
rectly, but was taken for granted, because a part of the In¬
dians were employed in the work, on the theory that by taking
part in the work they consented to the appropriation, "as
much so as, when a man marries a woman, they consent."
The Indians who assisted in the work, for which they re¬
ceived in all $303, were twenty - five men of the Douglas
faction. Jack's party not only refused to work, but also ob¬
jected to the others working, on the grounds that it was the
white men's business to do all the work, and that the Indians
at Los Pinos did not work. After being threatened with re¬
port to the commissioner, he withdrew this objection, and all
his party, with a number of the others, went on a hunting ex¬
cursion off the reservation, as had been their custom every
summer.
To understand what Meeker was contending against, it
must be borne in mind that the ITtes had not yet emerged
from " the hunter state." They subsisted on game to the ex¬
tent of fully fifty per cent., and derived most of their money
from the products of the chase, particularly buckskin. Deer
were yet very numerous in the mountains of Colorado, and
the greater part of them made their way beyond the divide
in the summer. Their habit is to spend the winter months
in the foot-hills, bordering on the plains, but in the spring to
run back into the mountains, ranging as far as the beginning
092
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
of the desert lands in Western Colorado. Elks were quite
abundant, and a small herd of buffalo remained in Middle
Park. The Indians roved where they chose, but their best
hunting-grounds lay between the reservation and the divide,
in Middle Park, in North Park, and in the country west of
it. This country, they claimed, belonged to them under the
treaty of 1808, being west of the Continental Divide. North
Park is east of it, but is drained to the north by the North
Platte. They also hunted buffalo on the plains east of Den¬
ver, where these animals were quite numerous until 1875.
Their last visit to the plains was in 1878. They prided them¬
selves on being "peaceable," but their visits were regarded
by settlers with much the same dread that Eastern people
have of a camp of gypsies or a colony of tramps. Undoubt¬
edly they committed some trespasses and frightened some
timid people in 1879, but the reports that were made concern¬
ing them were so wildly exaggerated as to deserve the name
of falsehoods. The principal charge that was urged against
them was that they were setting out fires by which the for¬
ests were destroyed and the improvements of settlers put in
jeopardy. It was explained by some that this was a custom
of theirs, the object of which was to drive the game so that it
could be more easily killed. The charge and explanation
were untrue and absurd. The Utes never had such a custom.
The existence of millions of acres of virgin forests ought to
have been sufficient proof of it. No people preserve game
more carefully than Indians, and none know better than they
that continuous fires would drive it away. Their hunting
was like the white man's; the chief object was to induce a
deer to stand still long enough to be shot. There were great
and destructive forest fires that summer, but the Indians
were responsible for very few of them. Major Thornburgh,
commanding at Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, investigated this
charge thoroughly, by writing to reliable settlers, and by send¬
ing out men to look for evidence of it, but the reports, with¬
out exception, were that the Indians had killed no cattle, of¬
fered no violence to settlers, and set no fires. One man went
over their trail and satisfied himself that no fires originated
from their camps. They did set fire to the grass at several
WHITE EIYER AGENCY.
places in Middle Park, "to make good grass next year," but
they claimed that Middle Park belonged to them, and repeat¬
edly ordered settlers and others to leave it. They ordered
the miners out in 18G9, the first year after the treaty.
The truth is that nearly all the fires were occasioned by
the carelessness of white men, and particularly from the care¬
lessness of men in the " tie camps," i. e., men who were
cutting ties for the Denver, Pio Grande, and South Park
railways, which were then being pushed through the moun¬
tains. It was notorious that most of these fires occurred in
localities where there were no Indians. Many a prospector,
SOUTHERN UTES.
694:
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
who never saw a Ute, saw hundreds of acres of pine con¬
sumed. I resided in a district that was nearly all burned
over in 1879, and there was not an Indian in it, though it
was within fifty miles of the reservation. Old settlers said
there had not been a mountain fire in the region for seven¬
teen years before. They also said the year was unusually
dry, and that fires travelled and caught easily. It is true,
however, that, owing to the reports, the whites generally be¬
lieved that the Indians were firing the forests at other places,
to drive out the miners. It is true also that the Indians
killed large quantities of game, as was complained, but so did
every one. A man who failed to shoot at a deer because it
was against the law would have been laughed at. Yenison re¬
tailed, in season, at four and five cents the pound, while beef
was fifteen to twenty. There was not a mountain stream in
which dynamite was not exploded to kill trout, if there were
any trout in it. So with the forests. The United States law
against cutting timber on public lands was no more regarded
than if it had not been on the statute-books. The forests of
stumps are there to-day to prove the statement. The people
of Middle Park sent a memorial to General Pope, in 1877,
representing that the Indians were slaughtering the game,
" when a white man is not allowed to kill a pound more than
he can use to sustain lifebut if the people of Middle Park
were any more virtuous or law-abiding, in this respect or any
other, than the rest of the people in Colorado, no one ever
discovered it. It was not many months later that half the
county officials of Grand County (Middle Park) conspired to
murder the county commissioners, and did murder them. It
is notorious that two of the signers of that memorial have
committed suicide on account of their participation in that
crime, and that Grand County to-dav is a slumbering volcano
of hate, remorse, distrust, and revenge, as a result of that aw¬
ful tragedy enacted on the shore of Grand Lake. Let it be
distinctly understood that there were reputable, law-abiding
people in Middle Park, and elsewhere in Colorado—plenty of
them—but to all such representations of uniformly proper
whites and uniformly villainous Indians, coming from any fron¬
tier settlement, I say : " In the name of the Prophet—Bosh !"
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
695
While the Utes behaved comparatively well in their sum¬
mer excursions, it cannot be questioned that these trips were
a serious impediment to their civilization. Of course they
would not settle 'down to farming while they could live by
hunting. That would have been unnatural. But, worse than
that, there were no restrictions to trade with them, off the
reservation. There were four stores on Bear River, and
many at other points, where they could obtain guns, ammu¬
nition, whiskey, or anything else that they were able to pay
for. They were also thrown in contact with the worst class
of whites, and there were some very bad white people for
them to come in contact with. Aside from the ordinary riff¬
raff, there were a number of cattle-men about the reservation
with more property than character. Two of these, who were
the subjects of repeated complaints by the agent, were the
Morgan brothers. They had large herds of cattle near the
reservation, and were accused of permitting them to mix with
the herd belonging to the White River agency, for the pur¬
pose of claiming the unbranded increase (mavoricks) of the
agency herd. They were also charged with taking branded
cattle and burning their brand, a double box (□□), over the
"I I)" of the Indian Department. They were not the only
ones. When the outbreak came, and the agency herd was
scattered and uncared for, about twelve hundred of them
disappeared. It was supposed at the time that the Indians
had taken them. It was afterwards learned that they were
stolen by white men, rebranded, and sold to the government
for beef. I had the honor to be acquainted with Wes
Travis, one of the men engaged in this robbery—since suc¬
cumbed to the combined powers of bad whiskey and death—
and have heard him tell, with great gusto, how he and a com¬
panion, after finishing the cattle job, killed an Indian that
they met when coming out of the reservation. They cut him
open, removed his intestines, filled him with stones, sewed
him up, and dumped him into a deep hole in Grand River.
Morgan's partner, W. B. Ilugus, and John Gordon, alias Sam¬
uel Lemon, were brought to trial for this affair, in Denver,
but they had the good fortune to be acquitted. The Morgans
escaped from the country.
096
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The complaints made against the Utes, in the summer of
1ST9, flew on wings of the wind, growing as they went. The
only palpable foundation for them was the alleged destruction
of some property by
''''' ^ ^
JACK.
confederated bands
make war against the people of the United States, or in any
manner violate this treaty in any essential part, said chief shall
forfeit his position as chief, and all rights to any of the bene¬
fits of this treaty : But, provided further, Any Indian of these
confederated bands who shall remain at peace, and abide by
the terms of this treaty in all its essentials, shall be entitled
to its benefits and provisions, notwithstanding his particular
chief and band may have forfeited their rights thereto."
Meeker, although he had no personal knowledge of what was
occurring off the reservation, joined in these complaints. On
March 17 he reported that part of the Utes were going
north "probably to supply ammunition to the liostiles," i. e.,
certain Sioux who were said to be on the war-path, and asked
that the military send the Indians back to the reservation.
Jack was several times confronted with reports of wrong-do-
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
097
ing, and the statement that his party wanted to go to war.
Being conscience clear, he, with three others, went to Denver
to see Governor Pitkin. lie complained of this treatment
and asked for Meeker's removal ; bnt being there confronted
by Meeker's letters, complaining of some things of which he
had no knowledge, and of others that he could meet only by
denial, he became disheartened and went back to the agency.
In this interview he backed up his claim of Meeker's evil
deeds by the statement that Meeker wanted their children
to go to school and learn to work, neither of which the Utes
wanted. Meeker had also promised him a wagon, and failed
to give it to hinij which satisfied him that Meeker could not
be trusted. At the agency he got no satisfaction, and became
impressed with the idea that Meeker was responsible for
everything that was said about the Utes in the newspapers, a
theory which the other Indians soon adopted. A more op¬
pressive burden could not be placed on any man's shoulders
than such a responsibility. The Colorado press was sensa¬
tional, to say the least, and the contents of the papers were
frequently communicated to the Indians by their white ac¬
quaintances.
In the mean time a new trouble had arisen. Powell's Val¬
ley had been subdivided by Meeker with a view to its perma¬
nent settlement by the Indians. One street crossed it length¬
wise, and another at right angles to the first. The agency was
located at the crossing, but the cross-street was as yet on paper
only. Several small plots had been marked off for Indians
who desired to work. The first one provided for was John¬
son, a chief with "three cows and two wives," who showed a
commendable disposition to civilize. A log-house was built
for him, near the agency buildings, and for several months he
was the " brag Indian " of the place. Ilorses were broken for
him, and fed from the agency supplies to keep them in condi¬
tion for work; but, finally, Meeker discovered that Johnson
was using these horses to race with the other Indians, whose
ponies were picking a precarious living where they could find
it. Johnson stock fell rapidly thereafter. Instead of culti¬
vating the land set off for him, Johnson used it to pasture his
ponies, of which he had about a hundred and fifty. Early in
698
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
September Meeker undertook to plough up a large amount of
land near the agency, including that set off to Johnson and
two or three others. These Indians objected, and could nei¬
ther be talked out of their objections nor induced to take oth¬
er locations. They got their guns, and ordered the ploughing
stopped. The ploughing went on. In a few minutes a gun
was tired in a clump of bushes near by, and a bullet whizzed
unpleasantly near the ploughman's ears. Meeker then stopped
the work and appealed to Douglas ; but Douglas said the men
who claimed land wanted it, and that Meeker should plough
in some other place. Having exhausted his influence in that
quarter, Meeker thought he would try the otjier faction. lie
sent for Jack, who came at once with his retainers. A council
was held, and the conclusion reached that Jack and his men
cared nothing about it, but that Meeker might plough a strip
one hundred feet wide and half a mile long. lie told them
that this would do 110 good; that he wanted at least fifty acres,
besides meadow land. He understood that they consented to
this, but on the following morning the work was stopped again.
Jack was sent for once more and another council wras held.
They finally decided that Meeker might have the land if he
would give Johnson a stove, move his corral, dig a well, and
help build a house, to which the agent consented. lie said,
however, " that it was the wish of all the Indians that plough¬
ing might be stopped, and that no more ploughing at all shall
be done; but that the conclusion which they reached was
based upon the danger they ran in opposing the government
of the United States."
This influence wore off and the bad feeling of the Indians
grew. Two days later (September 10) Johnson assaulted
Meeker in his own house, drove him out, and beat him badly.
Meeker would probably have been killed but for the interfer¬
ence of the employes. He sent at once for military aid, and
telegraphed the commissioner: "Ploughing stops. Life of
self, family, and employes not safe; want protection immedi¬
ately. Have asked Governor Pitkin to confer with General
Pope." On the same day he wrote to W. N. Byers, of Den¬
ver, in regard to Johnson's attack, and added : "I think they
will submit to nothing but force. How many are rebellious I
WHITE EIVEE AGENCY.
699
do not know; but if only a few are, and the rest laugh at their
outrages, as they do, and think nothing of it, all are compli¬
cated. I didn't come here to be kicked and hustled out of my
own house by savages, and if government cannot protect me,
let somebody else try it. Yon know the Indians and under¬
stand the situation. Please see Governor Pitkin," etc. Prom
that time to the outbreak, work at the agency was at a stand
still. The feeling of the Indians, with very few exceptions,
was that they would do no work; that the ploughing must
stop; that Meeker was their enemy; that the soldiers were
coming to have the land ploughed, to arrest Johnson, China¬
man, Bennett, and others, and, probably, to make everybody
work; that the soldiers ought not to come. Meeker's feeling-
may be inferred from his telegram to the commissioner, of
September 17: "There is no particular change, either for
worse or better. No ploughing is done, nor will until it can
be done in safety. It remains to be seen whether the business
and industries of this agency are to be conducted under the
direction of the Indians or of yourself."
In response to Meeker's application for protection, Major
T. T. Thornburgh marched from Fort Fred Steele with a hun¬
dred men—three companies of cavalry and one of infantry.
This post is in Wyoming, at the Union Pacific Railroad's cross¬
ing of the Platte. The road, which was the only ordinary ap¬
proach to the agency, runs to the southwest, crossing the Si¬
erra Madre at Bridger's Pass; thence south, bearing east, to
the crossing of Bear River, at the mouth of Elk Head Creek.
From this point its general course is southwest, striking the
reservation at Milk Creek. On the 26th, Thornburgh was met
at Bear River by a party of five Utes, including Jack and
Colorow. They wanted to know why he was coming. lie
explained that the agent had sent for him ; that the Indians
had been acting badly. They denied everything, and asked
that the soldiers should not come on the reservation. They
proposed that he should leave the soldiers and go to the agen¬
cy, with four or five companions, to investigate the truth of
the charges. Major Thornburgh informed them that his or¬
ders were to go on, but that he would find a good place to
camp, closer to the agency, and leave his men there while he
700
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
went on. After some conversation, by which he thought they
were brought into a pacific state of mind, they went away.
They returned to the agency and asked Meeker to stop the
soldiers, but he said it
was none of his busi¬
ness. Finally he yield¬
ed to their importuni¬
ties, and, on the 27th,
sent a letter to Thorn-
burgh advising him
that it would be the
better course to come
on alone. To this
Thornburgh replied on
the 28th that he would
discontinue his march
on the 29th, and come
on with five men. On
the 29th, in the morn¬
ing, the command
reached Milk Creek
and entered the reser¬
vation. The road, after
colorow. Milk Creek is passed
half a mile, enters a
canon, the sides and top of which are covered with oak brush.
It is called lied Canon. An Indian trail runs along the ad¬
joining ridge, or " hog-back," and joins the road near the creek.
The Indians were in ambush along the tops of the canon. Just
as the troops were beginning to enter it, shortly before noon,
the advance guard, under Lieutenant Cherry, discovered some
Indians moving over a hill, half a mile in advance, and sepa¬
rated to reconnoitre. After flanking the canon about two hun¬
dred yards, the ambuscade was discovered and at once reported.
Cherry was ordered to make a reconnoissance on the right,
and, if possible, communicate with the Indians, on the suppo¬
sition that hostilities might be averted by a parley. At the
same time Jack started from the Ute position to talk with
the soldiers; but when Cherry's command galloped off to the
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
701
right a body of Indians went out to oppose the movement,
and both parties deployed. An Indian fired, and the fighting
began on both sides.
Captain Payne's company was at once thrown out on the
left and Captain Lawson's on the right, in skirmish line. The
wagon train, which was crossing a small plateau, between one
and two hundred yards from the stream, was ordered to park.
The Indians pressed the troops hotly. They were in strong
force. Major Thornburgh saw that they were massing to cut
off his retreat, and ordered his men to fall back on the wagon
train. The movement was executed in excellent order, but in
the midst of it the commander was shot and instantly killed.
Captain Payne took command, being next in seniority. He
set the entire force at work fortifying. Wounded horses
were killed for temporary shelter for sharpshooters. Boxes,
bundles of bedding, sacks of corn and flour, and everything
available were piled up for cover, while pick and shovel were
plied to make the protection more substantial. The men
worked desperately—the groans of the dying, the agonized
cries of the wounded, and the incessant cracking of the In¬
dians' rifles serving only as incentives to greater activity. To
add to the peril of the situation, the Indians fired the grass
and sage brush, and the wind was hurrying the roaring flames
upon the little band. They worked on with feverish haste.
The fire reached them, and stretched out its forked tongues to
lick them up. There was no water within reach. They
dropped their tools, and smothered the flames with blankets,
blouses, and sacks. Some of the wagons took fire; but, under
cover of the stifling smoke, these were extinguished also.
The greatest danger was now past. By burning the brush
the Indians had deprived themselves of cover for close ap¬
proach, and were compelled to do their firing from the sur¬
rounding bluffs, at a distance of from four to six hundred yards.
They commanded the situation, but could inflict no material
damage. So long as the soldiers remained in their trenches
they were safe from the bullets that were poured in on them.
The news of the attack was carried to the agency, twenty-
five miles below, by an Indian messenger who arrived at about
one o'clock. The Indians did not breathe a word about it to
'702
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
the whites. They had held another council with Meeker, on
the arrival of the messenger from Thornbnrgh, in regard to
the advance of the soldiers, just as though nothing had oc¬
curred. Meeker prepared a note to Thornbnrgh, as follows:
" I expect to leave in the morning with Douglas and Serrick
to meet you ; things are peaceable, and Douglas flies the Unit¬
ed States flag. If you have trouble in getting through the
canon to-day, let me know in what force. We have been on
guard three nights, and shall be to-night, not because we know
there is danger, but because there may be. I like your last
programme; it is based on true military principles." This
message was dated September 20, 1 p. m. He little dreamed
that Thornbnrgh was then lying cold and stark at the mouth
of the canon. The "last programme" referred to was Major
Thornburgh's letter of the 28th, in which he informed Meeker
that he would bring his troops "within striking distance" of
the agency on the 29th. He said : " I have carefully consid¬
ered whether or not it would be advisable to have my com¬
mand at a point as distant as that desired by the Indians who
were in my camp last night, and have reached the conclusion
that, under my orders, which require me to march this com¬
mand to your agency, I am not at liberty to leave it at a point
where it would not be available in case of trouble." Meeker
received this message at noon on the 29th. Previous to that
hour, it seems certain that he was deceived in regard to Thorn¬
burgh's intentions. On the day of the attack, the 29th, he
telegraphed Washington : "Major Thornbnrgh, 4th Infantry,
leaves his command fifty miles distant, and comes to-day with
five men. Indians propose to fight if troops advance. A talk
will be had to-morrow. Captain Dodge, 9th Cavalry, is at
Steamboat Springs, with orders to break up Indian stores and
keep Indians on reservation. Sales of ammunition and guns
brisk for ten days past. Store nearest sent back 16,000 rounds
and 13 guns. When Captain Dodge commences to enforce
law, no living here without troops. Have sent for him to
confer."
Meeker knew that Red Canon, to which he refers in the
one o'clock message, was less than twenty-five miles from the
agency, and within the reservation. If he knew that Thorn-
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
708
burgh was within a day's march of it, he was trying to de¬
ceive the Indians. If lie had not received Thorn burgh's mes¬
sage of the 28th, before writing his telegram to Washington,
of the 29th—which is most likely—he probably misunderstood
Thornburgh's intentions, but communicated his understanding
to the Indians. The Indians were misinformed by him in
either event, and undoubtedly thought they were misinformed
intentionally, for they were fully posted concerning Thorn¬
burgh's movements, by their scouts, and believed that Meeker
was hostile to them. With this belief they decided to meet
treachery with treachery. It is not within the range of cred¬
ibility that the attack and massacre were planned before the
26tli. If they had been, Ouray would have known it sooner.
There was no evidence of it at the agency. According to
Meeker's statement, guards were first posted on the night of
the 26th. It was the opin¬
ion of Mrs. Meeker, Josie
Meeker, and the employes
that the plot was arranged
on the 28th, when the sol¬
diers had passed the fifty-
mile limit. There was a
war-dance that night, in
Douglas's camp, which con¬
tinued till daybreak the next
morning. The action of the
Indians on Monday was
marked by deep cunning;
their behavior at the coun¬
cil deceived Meeker com¬
pletely. lie despatched his
note to Thornburgh by Wil-
rner Eskridge, a man em¬
ployed at the agency as a
sawyer. lie was accom- antelope.
panied by two Indians—
Antelope (Wah-sitz) and Ebenezer. After going two miles
the Indians murdered Eskridge, and hastened back to the
agency. In the mean tim-e the other Indians had managed to
704
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
get into the store-room and secure all the agency guns, without
attracting attention.
The people at the agency were wholly unsuspecting. Mrs.
Meeker and Josie were washing dishes in their house. Mrs.
Price was washing clothes outside. Shaduck Price, post-
farmer, and Frank Dresser, laborer, were in a wagon, throw¬
ing dirt on the roof of the new building. Arthur Thompson,
laborer, was on the roof, spreading the dirt. Meeker and
William II. Post, storekeeper and carpenter, were in the
larger storehouse. The other employes were scattered about
the place, engaged in their various duties. As Ebenezer and
Antelope returned, about twenty Indians, armed with guns,
started up from the river. They met Douglas, who was walk¬
ing towards his teepee, and all came on to the buildings to¬
gether. They began firing as soon as they reached the new
building—Ebenezer, Antelope, and others having by that time
secured positions for attacking the other men. At the first
volley Price was killed and Thompson fell from the building.
Frank Dresser was wounded in the leg, hut managed to run
to Meeker's house through a rain of bullets. Mrs. Price
picked up her little boy and ran to her room. Dresser fol¬
lowed her. She gave him Price's gun, which lay on the bed.
As he came out, the windows of the dining-room were broken
in. lie fired through the window and mortally wounded
Johnson's brother. The Indians then left them and began
plundering the stores. The inmates of the house went into
Josie's room and hid under the bed, but as soon as their wits
cleared they saw that this position afforded no safety. They
then ran into the milk-house, a small adobe building close at
hand. Ilere they remained all the afternoon undisturbed,
Frank Dresser, the three women, and the children. They
had the entrance barricaded, however, so that they could not
see what was being done outside. For half an hour the fir¬
ing was kept up quite steadily; then there were intervals of
quiet, broken by volleys. It is probable that some of this
firing was from the explosion of cartridges in the burning
buildings, and the rest was drawn by some of the employes
wTho had secured weapons and were fighting for their lives.
Mrs. Price tells their story thus: "We were in the milk-
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
705
house until nearly sundown. They set Meeker's house on
fire first. The house sat east and west, with wings built on
the south and north sides. The south wing was Josie's bed¬
room, and. on the north was my bedroom. In the east part
of the house was a room used as a dining-room and kitchen,
and on the north of that the milk-house. They set Josie's
room on fire first, and we stayed until we began strangling
in the milk-house, and had to go out. We ran into Meeker's
house. I do not think it is ten feet to the corner of my bed¬
room. We opened both doors and thought of secreting our¬
selves under the bed of Mr. Meeker. I said : 'No, that will
not do.' We looked out to the north. The blinds were open.
They were busy taking out goods; they were taking the blan¬
kets, shirts, and everything else they could. I said : ' Let's
try and escape to the north, in the sage brush; it will not do
to stay here ; they will be here in a minute.' Frank said,
' Let's go while they are so busy,' and we went. I ran out¬
side of the fence; Josie, Mrs. Meeker, and Frank opened the
gate and went irito the field, and I crossed over through the
wire-fence. They then saw us; we had not got more than
ten or fifteen steps from the corner of the fence north before
they saw us and fired. They came running, on foot and po¬
nies, and fired at all of us, and hit Mrs. Meeker. The bullets
whizzed by my head and hit beside me. They shot at Frank
Dresser, and, as he would take a step, the dust would flv.
The last I saw of him lie was about a quarter of a mile from
the agency, in the field, still running. The Indians took us,
and said we had to go with them. As I was going, I said I
had read so much about their treatment of captives, that I
was afraid they would want to burn me. They said: 'No
kill white squaw; heap like them.' I said, 'You are going
to burn me,' and they said, ' No burn white squaw.' Then
they took me on through the brush to the river."
Mrs. Price's captor was Ahu-u-tu-pu-wit, a small, ill-favored
Uncompahgre. Josie Meeker says of her capture: " One
called to me and said, ' Come to me ; no shoot you.' I said,
' Going to shoot?' ILe said, 'No.' I said, 'Better not.' He
said, ' Come to me.' And then they took me down to the
camp." This was Persune, a Yampa warrior. Douglas tried
45
706
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
to take his captive from him, but Persune pushed him away.
They had an angry dispute, after which Douglas wTent away
and took Mrs. Meeker, whom no one else had claimed. The
Indians moved that night about twelve miles to the south,
and camped on Pi-ce-ance Creek, on the Great Hogback of the
Roan or Book plateau. They had all been drinking. They
were laden with plunder and flushed with success. That night
the three women were " taken for squaws " by their respect¬
ive captors, and were so held during their captivity. Mrs.
Price wras also outraged by Johnson.
The news of these affairs came to the settlements slowly.
There were weary days of suspense, in which no trustworth}7
tidings could be had, and no assurance as to the extent of the
war. Ouray was on a hunting expedition with his band. A
messenger brought him word of the outbreak, and he returned
at once to Los Pinos to report to the agent. A letter to the
White River chiefs was prepared and signed by Ouray, direct¬
ing them to stop fighting. This wras carried by Joseph Brady,
miller at Los Pinos, accompanied by Sapavanari. On receipt
of Ouray's message the Utes agreed to obey his directions.
Brady also communicated with the soldiers, who were now
under command of Colonel Merritt. The remnant of the
original command had held their fortification alone, without
further loss, until the morning of the 2d, when Dodge's
company of colored soldiers arrived. These had marched
from Grand River on September 27, on orders to report at
White River agency. On the 1st of October they found a
paper, on a sage bush by the road, with the words : " ILurry
up. The troops have been defeated at the agency.—E. E. C."
A few miles farther they reached the village of Hayden,
which was deserted, but while here a party of citizens came
up, and the facts of the situation were learned. The command
moved on down Bear River and went into camp as usual, to
deceive the Indian spies, if any should be watching. At half-
past eight they packed up again. The train was sent to the
supply camp on Fortification Creek, and the remainder of the
force, forty in number, took an Indian trail for Milk Creek.
They reached the intrenchment at daybreak, without moles¬
tation, and did gallant service there. Merritt arrived with
PLAN OF WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
(As Described by Chief Douglas.)
\f
!/
N
X
w
©
M
□
1
ft
□
Land which Meeker
A. Agent's house. G. Granary.
C. Corral. LI. Hay corral.
D. Douglas's teepee. J. Johnson's house and lodge.
E. Employe's quarters. M. Milk-house.
FF. Ploughed fields. N. New building.
SS. Stores. W. Well.
///. Fences of enclosed fields.
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
709
reinforcements on the morning of the 5th. He found the
<D
besieged men in good trim. Ho more killed had been added
to the thirteen who fell on the first day, though several had
been struck. The wounded numbered forty-three, nearly all
of the wounds being slight. The Indians were preparing to
fight Merritt when Brady arrived with Ouray's order. No
fighting was done afterwards, except that Lieutenant Weir
and Captain of Scouts Humme were killed, and the scouting
party of Lieutenant Ilall, from which they had detached
themselves, was attacked. The Indians claimed that this re¬
sulted from ILumine's shooting at some Indians that he met,
and this is the only evidence extant on the subject. On the
9th word was received at Los Pinos that the White Rivers
would fight no more, and that the Southern Utes would not
join in any hostilities.
On the 11th Merritt advanced to White River agency.
All along the road were ghastly evidences of savage fury. In
a gulch, six miles from the agency, lay the body of Carl Gold¬
stein, a contractor who was taking supplies to Meeker. A
hundred yards awTay was Julius Moore, one of his teamsters,
with two bullet-holes in his breast, and his body hacked and
mutilated. A little farther down the canon the soldiers came
to the old coal-mine, in which was found the body of Henry
Dresser, engineer at the agency. He lay on his back, with
his head pillowed on his folded coat. By his side was a Win¬
chester rifle containing eight cartridges. In one of his pock¬
ets was Meeker's message to Thornburgh, with which Esk-
ridge had started. It is evident that Dresser had escaped
from the agency wounded. He found Eskridge's body, and,
remembering that he bore a message, had taken the letter
from his pocket to carry it forward. He had become weak,
and crawled into the cave to rest, but his life was spent. The
Indians had not found him. Two miles from White River Esk-
ridge was found, naked, with a bullet-hole through his head.
The agency was a scene of overwhelming desolation. All
the buildings but one were burned down. No sign of life
was near, and the absence of life was emphasized by the hap¬
hazard scattering of articles of all kinds over the ground, in¬
dicating a season of riotous pillaging before the burning. Ly-
710
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
ing here and there were the bodies of the victims. Father
Meeker lay naked, on his back, one hundred yards from the
ashes of his house. A bullet had pierced his brain, and the
left side of his head was mashed in with a club. A barrel
stave was driven into his mouth. Around his neck was a
chain, by which he had probably been dragged from the store¬
house. These indignities to him meant that their hatred was
directed chiefly towards him. Frank Dresser's corpse lay
over in the fleld, with a bullet through the heart. George
Eaton, one of the la¬
borers, lay naked, shot
through the left breast.
From some strange
fancy, the Indians had
placed a bundle of pa¬
per bags in his arms,
after stripping him.
The wolves had been
eating him. These
bodies, with those of
Thompson, Price, and
the others, were all
picked up and buried.
The first object to
which the government
directed its attention,
after the outbreak was
checked by Ouray,
was the recovery of
the captive women.
This was undertaken
by General Charles Adams, special agent of the Indian De¬
partment, who, with an escort of fifteen Utes, started from
Los Pinos for the hostile camp, on October 21, to secure their
release. A stormy council was held on his arrival. Part of
the Indians wanted to give up the captives and make peace.
The rest wished to kill Adams and go on with the war. It
was understood that the Uintahs, Shoshonees, and others prom¬
ised assistance, but this was largely a result of Mormon mis-
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
711
representations. There were a few members of other tribes
who would have aided the hostiles, but the majority favored
preserving the peace. The Mormons unquestionably tried to
help on the war. There were two of their emissaries in the
hostile camp while Adams was there. The friendly Utes
always said that the Mormons promised aid, and the hostiles
would neither admit nor deny it. There was found, be¬
hind the breastworks of the Indians who besieged the force
on Milk Creek, the body of an unknown white man, in the at¬
titude of tiring, just as he had been killed. He did not be¬
long in that locality. The chances are about ten to one that
he had a Mormon brand on his soul. Opposing these influ¬
ences were Ouray's authority, the apprehension of being
worsted by the soldiers, and the influence of a little knot of
friendly Indians. Prominent among these were two squaws,
Susan and Jane. Susan was a wife of Johnson and a sister
of Ouray. She felt under obligations to the whites. Years
before, when Governor Evans presided over the affairs of Col¬
orado Territory, she had been captured by the Arapahoes.
They wTere making preparations to burn her, when she was
rescued by soldiers and taken to Fort Collins. Anxious to
get to her people, she slipped away from the fort and nar¬
rowly escaped recapture by the Arapahoes, who were looking
for her. She was saved by a ranchman, who hid her under
some cabbages in his wagon when he saw the Arapahoes
coming. She was taken to Central City, furnished with a
horse, and returned in safety to her people. She not only
treated the captives kindly, but also went boldly into the
council, an almost unheard-of thing among the Utes, and in¬
sisted on their release. Jane was the wife of Pah-vitz. She
had been cured of a serious illness by Mrs. Meeker, and had
been treated kindly by her and her daughter. She manifested
her gratitude by numerous acts of friendship.
There was another influence that affected the Indians. It
was their rage over some pictures that they claimed to have
found on the body of some dead person, but this was directed
more particularly towards Meeker. The story is somewhat in¬
coherent, and possibly was not correctly understood. It was
to the effect that they had found, on this body, pictures of
712
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Meeker, Mrs. Meeker, Josie, and Mrs. Price, each showing a
wound in some mortal part, and each covered with blood.
Meeker's showed a wound in the head, Josie's in the breast,
and the others similarly. These, the Indians said, had been
sent to make bad feeling against them. Whenever the subject
was introduced they became furious. Some thought there
was nothing in it, but Miss Meeker and Brady were both of
the opinion that there was, because the story was repeated so
often, by different Indians, and always the same. Captain
Payne offered two possible explanations. One was that in his
trunk, which was captured by the Indians, there was a picture
of an Indian that had been given him a short time before by
one of the scouts. When Thornburgh's body was recovered
this picture was lying on his breast, held by a small stone.
The Indian was not known to Payne, but was said by the Utes
to be one of the Uncompahgres. This occurrence, however,
has so little identity with the story that it may be left out of
consideration as an explanation. The second was that a team¬
ster found on a bush a sheet of paper bearing rough drafts of
the bodies of three or four men, with holes through them, that
might have been meant for representations of bullet-wounds.
Under the figures were wavy lines like writing. This was
brought to Payne on the night of the attack at Milk Creek.
The only objections to this are that the pictures were recog¬
nized by the Indians as those of the persons mentioned, and
that this picture did not fall into the hands of the Indians.
On the other hand, it may have been in the possession of the
Indians before it was found, and the identity of the figures
may have been indicated by some of the signs used in their
system of pictography. It is possible that the body referred
to may have been that of Eskridge, and he may have had in
his pockets photographs, which had been defaced, as photo¬
graphs sometimes are, by pencil or ink marks.
But to resume: the tribe at length decided that the cap¬
tives should be given up, and there remained no objection ex¬
cept from Persune, who had become madly infatuated with
Miss Meeker. lie implored her to remain with him ; prom¬
ised that she should never do any work; that all his posses¬
sions should be hers, and similar rash vows. lie wept like a
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
713
MAJOR T. T. THORNBURGH.
child, but his prayers and tears were of no avail. The other
Indians regarded all this as a good joke on Persune, and after¬
wards, when the news of her death, while a Treasury clerk
in Washington, came to them on Uintah Valley reservation,
they nudged one another slyly, winked significantly, and said
that Persune ought to put on his mourning paint for his wife.
General Adams, with the captives, reached Merritt's camp on
the night of the 23d, and conveyed them thence to Los Pinos.
The captives then claimed that they had not been subjected
to indignity, and General Adams stated afterwards that this
714
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
was bis reason for urging the withdrawal of the troops. They
did not make a full statement of their treatment to any of the
officials until their depositions were taken at Greeley, on No¬
vember 4, and then very reluctantly, and under promise that
the newspapers should not have information of it. The pub¬
lic did not learn the facts for several weeks.
The storv of the remainder of the Ute trouble is mainly
the record of the tedious sessions of two commissions. The i
government demanded the surrender of the parties guilty of
the massacre and the attack on Thornburgh, but could get no
legal evidence of their identity. The white survivors could
not testify to the killing of any white man by any Indian. The
Indians denied everything, except what favored them. They
had learned the white man's maxim: "No man can be com¬
pelled to criminate himself," and had evidently added to it the
words, "or any of his friends." Not a man could be found
who knew any one that had been implicated. The chiefs who
undoubtedly led in the attacks swore that they were not pres¬
ent, or, if present, were trying to preserve the peace. Finally,
General Hatch demanded the surrender of the parties against
whom there was the greatest show of evidence; vis.: Douglas,
Johnson, Antelope, Ebenezer, Persune, Ahu-u-tu-pu-wit,
Johnny (Douglas's son-in-law), Sah-witz (Sawa-wick, Sow-er-
wick, Serwick, Serrick), Crepah, Tim Johnson, Thomas (an
Uintah), and Pah-vitz. The proceedings were also delayed
by the death of Ouray, on August 24, 1880, and of Ka-ni-a-
che, who was struck by lightning two days after the death of
Ouray. In one sense the death of Ouray furthered the final
adjustment of the difficulty. lie did not wish to move, though
he finally consented to it, and he did not wish to leave his
tribe. He had repeatedly said : " Ouray will never leave the
great mountains." lie and his tribe had the clear right to re¬
main and retain the reservation, under the treaty. They had
not only not been hostile, but also had prevented a general war.
If Ouray had desired war—if he had even refused to interfere
with the White Rivers—the frontier settlements would have
been damaged incalculably. Inspector Pollock well wrote
from the San Juan: "Saltpetre would not save this country
but for the counsel of Ouray." No commissioner with a sen-
WHITE RIVEE AGENCY.
715
timent of decency or honesty could advise forcing him or his
people to give up the reservation, and yet the rabble forgot his
services, and could no longer see a distinction between good
and bad Indians. Their skins are all of the same color, are
they not? They are when the white man wants their prop¬
erty, at any rate.
The work of the commission was further complicated, and
perhaps hastened, by the invasion of the reservation by armed
bands of prospectors, and gangs of railroad graders. In the
fall of 1880 war was almost precipitated by the murder of
Young Johnson, a son of Shavano, by a drunken teamster, and
the lynching of the teamster by the Indians. An adjustment
was at length arranged, on the basis that none of the Indians
should be punished, but that they should all move to new
reservations. Strict justice would have required that the
guilty Indians should be punished and the peaceable ones
allowed to retain the reservation, but this would not have been
satisfactory to either party. The Indians did not wish to be
punished, and the whites wished to get the reservation. Under
the circumstances, the solution arrived at was perhaps the best
that could have been made. The Southern Utes were given
land in severalty on the Animas, Florida, and other streams in
Southern Colorado. The White Hi vers were sent to the
Uintah agency. The Los Pinos Indians were put on a new
reservation on Green River, east of and adjoining the Uintah
agency. It was stated by the Indians, accepted by the com¬
mission, and adopted by the government, that the guilty par¬
ties had fled beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. Of
course this was a fiction. Those parties are all on the reser¬
vations in Utah; at least, they were eighteen months ago. But
there was no special object to be gained by their surrender.
There was not evidence to convict them, and the tribe w7as
willing to purchase immunity by the surrender of the reserva¬
tion. It is rare that any tribunal has an opportunity to settle
a question so satisfactorily to all parties concerned, and, being
so settled, it is to be hoped that our differences with the Utes
are henceforth, forever, res judicata.
CHAPTER XXL
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
On July 20, 1867, was passed "an act to establish peace
with certain hostile Indian tribes," providing for the crea¬
tion of a board of peace commissioners. As members of this
board, there were named in the act N. G. Taylor, J. B. Hen¬
derson, J. B. Sanborn,-and S. F. Tappan, to whom the Presi¬
dent was empowered to add four army officers. He named
Generals Sherman, Harney, Terry, and Augur. The discus¬
sion connected with the emancipation and citizenship of the
negroes had educated the people to a just appreciation of the
natural rights of all men, and an awakening public conscience
pointed to the Indian as a victim of past injustice. The
"peace policy of General Grant," as it was commonly called,
received the approval of a great majority of Americans. The
labors of the peace commissioners were considered so valua¬
ble, and the advantages to be gained by authorizing a com¬
mittee of citizens to aid in the conduct of Indian affairs were
so evident, that by an act of April 10, 1S69, a permanent
Board of Indian Commissioners was organized. It was com¬
posed of ten civilians, who received no compensation for their
services, but had their expenses paid, and were to assist in
procuring and maintaining peace with the Indians, for which
purposes an appropriation of two million dollars was made.
Unfortunately for the Indian, the feeling in his favor wan¬
dered off into the channel of abstract compliment. From a
demon he was raised to the position of a temporal deity by
the extremists who were now given an opportunity to aid
him. The gentlemen who wrote the reports of the commis¬
sioners revelled in riotous imaginations and discarded facts, as
a part of the old and offensive regime which was henceforth
to be abandoned. Take, for instance, this picture of the In-
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
717
dian's character from one of the reports: " His only compro¬
mise is to have his rights, real or fancied, fully conceded. To
force he yields nothing. In battle he never surrenders, and
is the more excusable, therefore, that he never accepts capitu¬
lation at the hands of others. In war he does not ask or ac¬
cept mercy. He is then the more consistent that he does not
grant mercy." This statement is astounding, in the face of
the fact that for over three centuries the Indian had been
yielding to force, surrendering, accepting mercy, and compro¬
mising his rights, if he ever had any. It is hardly possible
that the commissioners ever read carefully the balderdash
that has been printed over their names. Certainly the four
military members of the peace commission did not realize to
what they were assenting; it has been quoted to them at
times when it must have been very embarrassing, from a
logical stand-point, as, for example, in the case of Wendell
Phillips's open letter to General Sherman during the Modoc
war. These officers knew, as any sane man does, that the In¬
dian is not an angel. lie is merely an uncivilized man who
has some good qualities and some bad ones, like other mor¬
tals. What he needs is honesty and justice, more than admi¬
ration or maudlin sympathy, and what success the peace poli¬
cy has had has been in the line of the extension to the red
man of that justice and reasonable aid to which Americans
generally believe he is entitled.
The earlier years of commission work were devoted to
the plains Indians and to those in the more settled parts of
the country. During this time the extermination policy was
pursued in Arizona. In June, 1869, Major-general Thomas
relieved General Halleck, in command of the Military Divis¬
ion of the Pacific, and General Ord succeeded to the com¬
mand of the Department of California. General Ord was
an enthusiastic exterminator, so far as the Apaches were con¬
cerned. He writes, in September, 1869: "I encouraged the
troops to capture and root out the Apache by every means,
and to hunt them as they would wild animals. This they
have done with unrelenting vigor. Since my last report over
two hundred have been killed, generally by parties who have
trailed them for days and weeks into the mountain recesses,
718
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
over snows, among gorges and precipices, lying in wait for
them by day, and following them by night. Many villages
have been burned, large quantities of arms and supplies oi
ammunition, clothing, and provisions have been destroyed, a
large number of horses and mules have been captured, and
two men, twenty-eight women, and thirty-four children taken
A
HAUNTS OF THE APACHES.
prisoners; and though we have lost quite a number of sol¬
diers, I think the Apaches have discovered that they are get¬
ting the worst of it." A more profitable result was obtained
in Western Arizona, where the less nomadic bands of the
Apaches were located. These Indians wrere more closely
surrounded by white neighbors and nearer to the locations
of the troops; besides which they were of a more peaceable
character than the other tribes. There were several bands
that were quite agricultural in their pursuits, notably that of
CliUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
719
Miguel, who kept back in the mountain valleys and took lit¬
tle or no part in any of the wars. Miguel's village, with a
white flag flying over each lodge, was found in the heart of
the White Mountains by Captain Barry, whose forces were
on an exterminating expedition, but these Indians showed so
much sincerity in their professions of peace that even the
Mexican scouts said they could, not Are 011 them. For these
Apaches the White Mountain reservation was first estab¬
lished, and to it others gathered as they learned that they
could surrender and remain at peace in their own country.
Although extermination was not being satisfactorily ac¬
complished in Arizona, the legitimate object of war was be¬
ing obtained. The Apaches were gradually being brought
to a realization that peace was a better mode of life than
war. They were learning that their enemies could invade
their homes, destroy their property, and keep them in con¬
stant apprehension of death. Some of them were ready to
live peaceably at places where they could be protected, but
for this result, which ought to have been the primary object
of the war, there had been no adequate preparation. Indians
who desired to surrender could go to the White Mountains,
but Indians living elsewhere, who desired to make peace and
settle in their old homes, had no one who could talk to them
with authority. In February, 1871, a party of Indian wom¬
en came to Camp Grant, near the junction of the San Pedro
and Arivapa rivers, in search of a captive boy. They were
treated kindly, and through them communication was had
with Es-kim-en-zin, the chief of their band. They were
Arivapa or Pinal Apaches, about one hundred and fifty in
number. The chief said that they wished to make peace.
Lieut. Eoyal E. Whitman, commanding the post, told them
to go to the White Mountains. They were not willing to do
this; some of their number had been there and found the
locality unhealthy ; the Indians there were people with whom
they had never mixed. More than this, their home was on
the Arivapa. They said, " Our fathers and their fathers be¬
fore them have lived in these mountains, and have raised
corn in this valley." Lieutenant Whitman told them that he
had 110 authority to make a treaty or to promise them a per-
720
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
manent home at that place, but that they might surrender to
him, and he would feed and protect them as prisoners until
the authorities could be heard from. To this they agreed.
They came in about March 1st, and were immediately fol¬
lowed by other small tribes, bringing the number, by March
5th, to about three hun¬
dred. Whitman ex¬
pressed a full account
of the matter to Divis¬
ion head-quarters, and
six weeks later received
an answer. The answer
was that his communi¬
cation had not been en¬
dorsed in accordance
with official etiquette,
and it was returned
therewith. There was
no comment on the con¬
tents. The fate of three
hundred people was of
less importance than the
manner of addressing a
report.
Lieutenant Whit¬
man had located the
Arivapas half a mile
from the post, and
counted them every oth¬
er day. Their number
gradually increased till
it reached five hundred
and ten. They were
very destitute and al¬
most naked, but it was found that they were willing to work
to obtain clothing, so they were set to gathering hay. They
cut it with their knives and brought it in on their backs, but
by this slow method they furnished the post with one hundred
and fiftv tons in less than two months, besides gathering large
EFFECT OF EXTERMINATION' POLICY ON ARIZONA
CEUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
721
quantities of mescal for their own use. As the weather grew
wTarmer they were allowed to move four or five miles farther
up the Arivapa, to some land that they wished to cultivate, and
here they were counted and rationed every third day. About
April 1st Captain Stanwood arrived aud took command of the
post, with instructions to hold and feed any Indians he might
find there as prisoners of war. He examined the status of
the Arivapas and left them as they were. On April 24tli he
started to the south, on a scout, leaving Lieutenant Whitman
in charge of the post, with fifty infantry. The Indians were
well-behaved, and the system of counting made it impossible
for them to go any great distance from their camp. The
ranchmen in the neighborhood were on friendly terms with
them, and had made some contracts for their services in the
coming harvest.
On April 28th a large party of Americans, Mexicans, and
Papago Indians left Tucson, with the avowed determination
of killing these Arivapas. Captain Penn, commanding at
Fort Lowell, sent word of this movement to Lieutenant Whit¬
man by a messenger, who arrived on the morning of April
30th. Whitman at once sent two men to the Indians to tell
them to come in, but in an hour the messengers returned and
informed him that it was too late. The camp was strewn
with the mutilated bodies of women and children, and their
lodges were burning. The post-surgeon, Doctor Briesly, with
twelve men, was at once despatched to the place with a wag¬
on, to bring in any wounded that might be found. Doctor
Briesly said, "On my arrival I found that I should have but
little use for wagon or medicine; the work had been too
thoroughly done. The camp had been fired, and the dead
bodies of some twenty-one women and children were lying
scattered over the ground ; those who had been wounded in
the first instance had their brains beaten out with stones.
Two of the best-looking of the squaws were lying in such a
position, and from the appearance of the genital organs and
of their wounds, there can be no doubt that they were first
ravished and then shot dead. Nearly all of the dead were
mutilated. One infant of some ten months was shot twice,
and one leg hacked nearly off. While going over the ground,
46
722
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS,
we came upon a squaw who was unhurt, but were unable to
get her to come in and talk, she not feeling very sure of our
good intentions."
The next morning Lieutenant Whitman went out with a
party to bury the dead. He says, " I thought the act of car¬
ing for their dead would be an evidence to them of our sym¬
pathy at least, and the conjecture proved correct, for while at
the work many of them came to the spot and indulged in
their expressions of grief, too wild and terrible to be de¬
scribed. That evening they began to come in from all di¬
rections, singly and in small, parties, so changed in forty-eight
hours as to be hardly recognizable, during which time they
had neither eaten nor slept. Many of the men, whose fami¬
lies had all been killed, when I spoke to them and expressed
sympathy for them, were obliged to turn away, unable to
speak, and too proud to show their grief. The women whose
children had been killed or stolen were convulsed with grief,
and looked to me appealingly, as though T was their last hope
on earth. Children who, two days before, had been full of
fun and frolic kept at a distance, expressing wondering hor¬
ror. I did what I could; I fed them, and talked to them, and
listened patiently to their accounts. I sent horses into the
mountains to bring in two badly-wounded women, one shot
through the left lung, and one with an arm shattered. These
were attended to, and are doing well, and will recover. Their
camp was surrounded and attacked at daybreak. So sudden
and unexpected was it, that no one was awake to give the
alarm, and I found quite a number of women shot while
asleep beside their bundles of hay which they had collected
to bring in on that morning. The wounded who were unable
to get away had their brains beaten out with clubs or stones,
while some were shot full of arrows after having been mor¬
tally wounded by gunshot. The bodies were all stripped.
Of the whole number buried, one was an old man and one
was a well-grown boy—all the rest women and children. Of
the whole number killed and missing—about one hundred and
twenty-five—only eight were men. It has been said that the
men were not there—they were all there. On the 28th we
counted one hundred and twenty-eight men, a small number
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
723
being absent for mescal, all of whom have since been in. . . .
About their captives they say,' Get them back for us; our
little boys will grow up slaves, and our girls, as soon as they
are large enough, will be diseased prostitutes, to get money for
whoever owns them. Our women work hard and are good
women, and they and our children have no diseases. Our
dead you cannot bring to life, but those that are living we
gave to you, and we look to you, who can write and talk and
have soldiers, to get them back.' I will assure you it is no
easy task to convince them of my zeal when they see so little
being done. I have pledged my word to them that I never
would rest easily, day or night, until they should have justice,
and just now I would as soon leave the army as to be ordered
away from them, or to be obliged to order them away from
here. But you will know the difficulties in the way. You
know that parties who would engage in murder like this,
could and would (and have already) make statements and
multiply affidavits without end in their justification. I know
you will use your influence on the right side. I believe with
them, this may be made either a means of making good citi¬
zens of them and their children, or drive them out to a.hope¬
less war of extermination. They ask to be allowed to live
here in their old homes, where nature supplies nearly all their
wants; they ask for a fair and impartial trial of their faith,
and they ask that all their captive children living may be re¬
turned to them. Is their demand unreasonable?''
Unhappily for the good repute of Arizona, the press, and
apparently the people, justified or apologized for this mon¬
strous crime. The frontier press does not always represent
the feeling of a majority of the community in these matters.
It is sensational on all subjects, and it is down on Indians on
all occasions, on the supposition that this course is popular.
It is popular in time of war. Misrepresentation may then be
carried as far as in politics, or farther, for then there is but
one side to be heard. But there is no community so de¬
praved as to favor assassination in time of peace, and this wTas
downright assassination. Whatever provocation there exist¬
ed was in the offence of other people. The massacre cannot
even be justified on the theory that it was an application of
724:
MASSACEES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
lynch law, for lynching is resorted to for the purpose of just
punishment, irregularly of course, but still for the exclusive
purpose of punishment. The accompaniments of this deed
showed that no such motives actuated these murderers. The
camp was plundered, women were ravished, and the children
carried away were sold for the profit of their captors. Lust
and plunder are not motives consistent with the savage jus¬
tice that sometimes makes lynching almost excusable. It
seems unjust to charge this wrong against the American peo¬
ple, for most of the perpetrators were Mexicans and Indians,
and there were Americans near by who would have given
protection to the victims if it had been in their power. It
ought to rank as a crime committed by criminals.
The offence of the people of Arizona was in defending it,
and the method of defence was worse than the abstract wrong
of defending a wicked and shameful action. The papers of
Arizona attacked "Whitman, charging him with being a deb¬
auchee and a consorter with Indian women. Even if these
charges had been true, they did not make the massacre any
less wrong; and they did not weaken Whitman's statements,
for these were confirmed in every particular by other men.
But the charges were not true, if we may believe the solemn
statements of the officers, men, contractors, and employes of
the post. Men of all classes, who voluntarily stated that they
had come to Camp Grant prejudiced against the Apaches,
swore that these Indians were peaceable and well-behaved,
and that the charges against Lieutenant Whitman were false.
One hundred of the participants in this affair, Americans,
Mexicans, and Papagos, were indicted and brought to trial
that year, in the December term of the United States Dis¬
trict Court. The jury remained out for twenty minutes and
returned a verdict of " not guilty." It is such verdicts as
this that are bringing the jury system into disrepute. Never¬
theless, the prosecution had some effect. It is a great step
towards civilization even to have men indicted for murder.
It tends to repress the light-hearted assassin. There is only
one consideration that affords any shadow of excuse for Camp
Grant: the Apaches made war similarly. With them it was
the highest science of war to lull an enemy's suspicions and
CKUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
725
then murder him. Under similar circumstances hostile Apa¬
ches would probably have committed the Camp Grant mas¬
sacre and gloried in it. This consideration is more than off¬
set by the inexpediency of the act. This horrible warfare
had to be ended in some way, and the military had the task
to perform. There were but two ways of doing it; one^was
to exterminate the Indians; the other was to require both
sides to observe the laws of civilization until confidence was
restored. Years of warfare had shown the first to be imprac¬
ticable. It was suicidal to place any obstacle in the way of
attaining the second. As a matter of expediency, carrying
away the children was worse than the murders, for this was a
continuing wrong. Of the twenty-nine children taken, two
escaped and five were recovered from Arizonians. The re¬
mainder were sold into slavery in Sonora.
An unfortunate misunderstanding occurred, soon after the
massacre, that resulted in another attack on these Arivapas,
and apparently gave them reason to believe that there were
110 white men who could be trusted. The grief-stricken rem¬
nant of the tribe gathered again in the valley, under promise
of protection, and assurance that the soldiers had no part in
the bloody work. Among them was Eskimenzin, the chief
who first came to the post. In the massacre he lost two
wives five children, and about fifty of his tribe. He came
back during the burial and assisted in this mournful task,
although nearly crazed with grief over his loss. As the In¬
dians slowly returned, they camped in small parties, fearing
to get together lest another attack should be made. On one
of these parties, consisting of Eskimenzin and the remnant of
his family, a party of soldiers suddenly came while returning
from the White Mountains, about a month after the massacre,
and by mistake, in the confusion of the moment, fired upon
them. Ho one was killed, but Eskimenzin lost all confidence
in the protectorate. ITe fled to the mountains with his re¬
maining people, and killed a white man as he went.
The Camp Grant massacre naturally raised a whirlwind
of indignation in the East among those who advocated peace,
and even conservative people who had not been inclined to
Indian-worship recoiled at this atrocity. In July, President
726
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Grant gave Mr. Vincent Colyer plenary powers to go into
Arizona and adjust the Indian troubles there as appeared
proper to him. His advent as a representative of the govern¬
ment was heralded by the Arizona press with the same fiery
defiance that used to characterize the Mormon papers when
the government proposed to take a hand in Utah affairs.
Still the government was not observed to tremble, and Mr.
Colyer's policy was enforced. The Arizona papers simply
weakened their cause by their absurd threatenings. Mr. Col¬
yer was notoriously ultra in his peace theories, and evidently
did not understand the situation in Arizona and Hew Mexico,
but he was quite as correct as his' assailants. There were in
reality a large number of Indians there who were sufficiently
humbled by war to be ready for reservation life, under con¬
trol of the Indian Department. There were also many who
had not been humbled, who had never been conquered, and
who considered themselves the superiors of white men in all
respects except numbers and equipments. It was as errone¬
ous to suppose that the latter class would live peaceably on
reservations, as it was barbarous to continue war against the
well-disposed. Ho warlike Indian ever submitted to reserva¬
tion restrictions until he had been whipped. He cannot be a
savage ruler and an humble pupil at the same time. lie can¬
not feel that fighting is the only work that a man ought to
do, and yet take kindly to ploughing. His spirit must be
broken in some way, or his nature changed, before he will
submit to it. The right or wrong of breaking his spirit is
another question ; the fact remains that he must be born again
into civilization, if he ever attains civilization.
It is but just to say that Mr. Colyer did not have full op¬
portunity to talk with either the Indians or the people. The
Indians were afraid to come in, being apprehensive of treach¬
ery, and Colyer did not care to interview the white popula¬
tion on account of the violent tone of the press. His changes
of the location of the Indians were rather extensive, and none
of them produced good results. The more peaceful portion
of the Mitnbrenos had been living at and about Canada Ala¬
mosa (Cottonwood Valley), and for these he selected a reser¬
vation in the Tularosa valley, to which the hostile Mimbre-
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
727
nos with their allied Chiricahuas were also expected to come.
None of the Indians wanted to go there, and many refused
to go. Cochise, the Chiricahua chief, who had surrendered in
September, 1871, with a band of about two hundred, went
back to his old haunts in. the spring of 1872, when the remov¬
al occurred. More than six hundred others followed their
example. Less than half of the sixteen hundred Apaches
gathered at Canada Alamosa consented to go to Tularosa val¬
ley, and these wTere -wretched and discontented. The water
there was bad, the climate was cold, and the Indians were
frightened by superstitions. They had warning legends of the
destruction of the ancient races who once inhabited the ruins
there, and they viewed the sickness which prevailed among
them with great alarm. By fall their discontent was so great
that the reservation was recommended to be abandoned, and
the Indians placed on a reservation at Ojo Caliente, near their
old home, which was done in 1874. Mr. Colyer established
a reservation for the Pinaleilos and Gilenos at the mouth of
the San Pedro River. It contained about one hundred square
miles, extending west from the San Pedro and south from the
Gila. These Apaches remained there for about a year, and
then, on account of sickness, the proximity of settlers, and the
inadequate supply of water, were established on a reserva¬
tion on the Gila, south of and adjoining the original White
Mountain reservation, and known as the San Carlos division.
The Indians who had assembled in the White Mountains
were gathered about Camp Apache (known at various times as
Camp Ord, Camp Mogollon, and Camp Thomas), in the north¬
ern part of the present reservation, and these were left as they
were. The Chiricahua reservation, in Southeastern Arizona,
extending from the Mexican line to the Peloneillo Mountains,
and including the Chiricahua range, was established in the fol¬
lowing year by General Howard, as special agent. A very
satisfactory reservation was set off for the Yampais, or Apa¬
che Mohaves, about Camp Verde, by Mr. Colyer; no other
changes were made by him, except in the treatment of the
hostiles.
As to these, his plans came in conflict with, those which
had been adopted by General Crook, who had taken coin-
728
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
mand of the Department of Arizona on Jane 4,1871. Gen¬
eral Crook was the beau-ideal Indian-fighter of the frontiers-
men at that time, and continued to be until his recent fair
treatment of the Apaches has made him objectionable to the
more rabid exterminationists—not that his treatment was not
formerly fair; there has been no change in his expressed
opinions concerning the Indians, though his opinion of their
white neighbors in Arizona appears to have lowered some¬
what. He was not an exterminator. His policy was to sub¬
due the Indians and
i ,i then treat them hon-
illating policy satisfies him we are afraid of him, he chooses
the latter, also as requiring less labor and being more conge¬
nial to his natural instincts. I am satisfied that a sharp, active
campaign against him would not only make him one of the
best Indians in the country, but it would also save millions of
dollars to the Treasury, and the lives of many innocent whites
and Indians." General Crook had begun preparations for an
active campaign against all hostiles when Colyer arrived, but
Colyer's powers were made superior to his, and Colyer desired
to try coaxing. Later on, Crook was given power to proceed
GENERAL GEORGE CROOK.
estly. He said in
September, 1871," I
think that the Apa¬
che is painted in
darker colors than
he deserves, and that
his villainies arise
more from a mis¬
conception of facts
than from his being
worse than other In¬
dians. Living in a
country the natural
products of which
will not support him,
he has either to cul¬
tivate the soil or
steal, and as our vac-
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
729
against all who failed to respond to Colyer's appeals, but find¬
ing that the prosecution of his plans would interfere with the
negotiations of the peace agents, he undertook no active hos¬
tilities, and contented himself with pursuing and punishing,
as far as possible, parties who made raids on the settlements.
Mr. Colyer's plans for the procurement of peace were given
a fair trial for over a year, and they failed. The hostiles
did not come in, and they did not remain quiet. From Sep¬
tember 1, 1871, to September 4, 1872, they made fifty-four
separate attacks on the whites in Arizona, with recorded re¬
sults as follows: soldiers killed, 3; citizens killed, 41; citi¬
zens wounded, 16; government horses and cattle stolen, 68;
same stolen from citizens, 489. The actual depredations were
slightly in excess of this statement. It may be remarked,
parenthetically, that this damage and fourteen months' delay
in obtaining peace, were caused by the Camp Grant massa¬
cre ; but for that affair Mr. Colyer would not have been sent
to Arizona, and General Crook would have conquered the
hostiles in 1871. In view of the results mentioned, General
Crook announced in September, 1872, his intention of pro¬
ceeding to "punish the incorrigibly hostile."
For the first time in the history of that part of the coun¬
try, the fair and sensible manner of dealing with the Apaches
was adopted. Its results have proven this, and have shown
General Crook to be the right man in the right place. It
must be remembered that he had left to him a legacy of the
hatred of three centuries between the peoples whom he had
to pacify; that a large portion of the white population were
as barbarous in their modes of warfare as the Apaches them¬
selves ; that Arizona was still a refuge for the criminal and
lawless men of other states and territories; that war and
pillage had been bred into the Apaches, until they were the
most savage and intractable Indians in the country; that
large bands of their nation still infested Northern Mexico,
and had almost impregnable strongholds there; that Mexico
pursued war in the old way, and still paid bounty for Apache
scalps, no matter where procured; that slavery still existed
in Mexico, and it was next to impossible to recover Indians
once carried across the line. During the winter a vigorous
730
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
campaign was prosecuted against the Tontos, Coyoteros, Yam-
pais, and Hualapais, and by the summer of 1873 they were
subdued. Del-Shay's band of Tontos were captured in the
Sierra Ancha by Captain Randall, on April 22d, with that
notorious chief himself, who had played fast and loose with
Mr. Colyer, and earned a reputation for unblushing treachery
by his dealings with others. Jemaspie's band of Hualapais
surrendered to Captain McGregor, in the Santa Maria Mount¬
ains, on June 12th. Lieutenant Babcock handsomely whipped
the Tontos under Natatotel and Naqui-naquis, on June 16th,
and forced their surrender. Soon afterwards Captain Burns
captured two hundred Yampais, the last organized band in
Northern Arizona, and peace was practically established.
The Hualapais, or Apache Yuinas, numbering about eight
hundred, were gathered at Beale's Springs, whence the In¬
dian Department moved them, much against their wills, to
the Colorado River reservation. When the removal was first
proposed to them, they fled to the mountains and said they
would resist to the death, but, through fear of the soldiers,
they came back and were removed. The Indians at this res¬
ervation were unfriendly to them, and the climate was unen¬
durable to these people of the mountains. In four months
nearly all of them were afflicted with an epidemic eruptive
disease; many of their children were nearly blind from a dis¬
ease of the eyes, brought on by the heat and dust; and half
of their horses had starved to death. The troops stationed
there suffered almost as much as the Indians. After a year's
residence there the Hualapais left the place in a body and
went back to their old homes, but without committing any
depredations. They lived there on friendly terms with the
whites for a time, and were then removed to San Carlos,
through the intercession of General Crook. The Yampais,
or Apache Mohaves, and part of the Tontos, numbering near¬
ly two thousand, were located on a reservation about Camp
Verde. The Binalenos, with a few stragglers from other
tribes, in all about twelve hundred, were sent to San Carlos,
where they still remain. There were about sixteen hundred
Apaches, known as the White Mountain Apaches, grouped
about Camp Apache. It was estimated that about one thou-
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
731
sand renegades, one-third of whom were warriors, still re¬
mained at large in various parts of the Territory, but there
were not probably more than one-third to one-half of that
number. Against these an unceasing war was waged.
The Indians placed on the reservations were kept under
rigid surveillance. Each warrior was furnished with a metal
check marked with his number and the name of his tribe.
The officers in charge kept record of them and their families
by these numbers, and as a full description of each man was
recorded, and rations were issued on these checks, it was im¬
possible for them to leave the reservation undetected. The
remarkable success of General Crook in conquering these
tribes so quickly was obtained by fighting Apaches with
Apaches. The friendly White Mountain Indians and Huala-
pais were used against the others. They acted in the best of
faith, rendering services that were invaluable. They knew
the country as well as the hostiles, and could interpret all
their signals, besides being adepts in the ruses of Apache
warfare. After being brought on the reservation they were
still used as police, with such gratifying results that the In¬
dian police system has since been extended to all reserva¬
tions. The Apaches were informed that their welfare would
rest mainly with themselves; that white people punished
their own offenders, and they must do the same. This was
especially beneficial in the case of the Apaches, because they
are thoroughly democratic in their tribal government. They
have no hereditary chiefs; each warrior has a large amount
of independence, and the rivalry between various aspirants
for power usually affords any wrong-doer a certain amount
of backing. The only way in which the guilty could be cer-
tainly singled out was by making the Indians the agents of
the law. There were, of course, many who awaited only an
opportunity to resume their old life, and the machinations of
these could be detected and repressed by the Indians alone.
In the spring of 1873, certain of these conspired to kill all
the whites at San Carlos and make their escape. On May
27th the attempt was made prematurely, resulting in a fail¬
ure. Chan-Deisi, a malcontent chief, tried to spear Agent
Larrabee, but was prevented by Yomas, another Indian. He
732
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
then shot and killed Lieutenant Almy. The bands of Cochi¬
nay and Chuntz, to which he belonged, at once fled to the
mountains, and for over a year they were hunted by the
troops and the reservation Apaches. Many of the Indians
became worn out, and begged to return to the reservation,
but they were met with the reply that they could come only
when they brought Cochinay, Chuntz, and Chan-Deisi, dead
or alive. One by one they joined the troops in hunting
down their fugitive kindred. Cochinay was killed on May
26,1874; Chan-Deisi was killed on June 12th; and Chuntz
on July 25th. Del-Shay, the Ton to chief, tried to play treach¬
ery at the Yerde reservation, to which he had been permitted
to remove, by murdering all of the whites there. lie had
them surrounded, and would have killed them but for the
prompt resistance of the police and other Indians. He was
brought to bay and killed by his own people on July 27th.
The punishment of these chiefs is conclusive evidence that
a new era had dawned upon the Apaches.
The Apaches under General Crook's supervision were also
giving other evidences of reformation. They were farming
extensively and building houses for themselves. At Yerde
they made an excellent irrigating canal at no expense to the
government. The White Mountain Indians, in .1874, raised
300,000 pounds of corn and 5000 pounds of beans, besides de¬
livering 750 tons of hay to the post and making five miles of
irrigating ditches. Everywhere they were quiet, except the
few renegades, who were hunted diligently. For the first
time in its history Arizona was at peace. The Indians were
all on reservations that suited them, except the Hualapais,
and they had seen the hopelessness of war. The whites also
were satisfied, except that class who prey upon their fellow-
men, and search out the helpless because they are the more
easy and profitable victims. Governor Safford said, in his
message of January 6,1875, "At no period in the history of
Arizona have our Indian affairs been in so satisfactory con¬
dition. Comparative peace now reigns throughout the Ter¬
ritory, with almost a certainty that no general Indian war will
ever occur again. General Crook, in the subjugation of the
Apaches, has sustained his former well-earned military repu-
CEUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
733
tation, and deserves the lasting gratitude of our people." Let
it be remembered that this result was effected neither by the
extermination policy nor by the so-called peace policy. It
was the work of a man who said, "Vengeance is just as much
to be deprecated as a silly sentimentalism." Ilis policy was
simple justice to red and white alike. Bear this in mind, as
we proceed, and consider how fully its abandonment answers
the question, Why did not this state of affairs continue?
The little cloud, like a man's hand, was already in the sky.
In his report of August 31, 1874, General Crook said, "There
are now on the Verde reservation about fifteen hundred In¬
dians; they have been among the worst in Arizona; but if
the government keeps its promise to them that it shall be
their home for all time, there will be no difficulty in keeping
them at peace, and engaged in peaceful pursuits. I sincerely
hope that the interests that are now at work to deprive these
Indians of this reservation will be defeated; but if they suc¬
ceed, the responsibility of turning these fifteen hundred Apa¬
ches loose upon the settlers of Arizona should rest where it
belongs." Although this was said of the Verde reservation
only, it may be applied to the other Arizona reservations.
The Indians were all at peace on reservations that suited
them, and the responsibility of driving them to desperation
by taking them from their native homes and placing them
among enemies, in unhealthy and unpleasant localities, must
rest where it belongs. We must turn our eyes to the Indian
Bureau—our humanitarian, sympathetic, religious, peace and
civilization Indian Bureau. It has been charged time and
again that the Indian Department has been controlled by a
corrupt ring, which manages to keep its hold on men of ev¬
ery profession and every party who are appointed to repre¬
sent the government in this branch of its interests. It has
been charged that they have had such a control over Congress
that they can turn it whither they will, and break down any
man who tries to stand up for honesty and justice. Consid¬
ering the professions that various Indian Commissioners have
made, it is but too evident that the control of that department
has been in the hands either of men who " stole the livery of
Heaven to serve the devil in," or of arrant fools who have
734
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
been played upon like shepherds' pipes by the land-grabbers,
who have secured the spoils. For present purposes it is im¬
material which is the correct alternative.
In 1874 the reservations of Arizona passed from the con¬
trol of the War Department to that of the Indian Bureau, and
the latter inaugurated what it was pleased to call " the policy
of concentration." In other words, it began taking away from
various tribes the lands on which they were peacefully settled,
and which had been promised them for their future homes.
The interests that were at work to get the Verde reservation
did get it, notwithstanding General Crook's hopes, and he was
forced into the humiliating position of seeing the Indians
taken away from the lands that had been promised them
through him. lie told the agent sent to remove them that
he would give him all the assistance in his power except force;
he would not use his soldiers to compel a removal. The In¬
dians did not wish to go, but they went peaceably. They
were informed that the President ordered their removal,
and they had learned that what the President said must be
obeyed. They gave up their houses, their irrigating ditches,
and their fields, and went, because they dared not refuse.
General Crook did not remain to see the undoing of his work,
lie was relieved, on March 22, 1875, by Colonel Kautz, and
sent to the Department of the Platte, where the Sioux were
beginning to be troublesome. Colonel Kautz held the same
opinions as to the propriety of keeping faith with Indians
that General Crook did, and managed to preserve peace for
some months longer. To the statement of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs: "I believe now no one in the territory
questions the wisdom of the removal of the Verde Indians,"
Colonel Kautz bluntly replied: " So far as my observation
goes, I have seen no one who endorses it, except those con¬
nected with the Indian Department."
The next outrage committed by the Indian Bureau was
the removal of the White Mountain Indians—that is, those
who had been about Camp Apache, in the northern part of
the White Mountain reservation—to the neighborhood of San
Carlos agency. The advantages claimed to be gained by this
were better and more extensive farming lands, a mild climate,
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
735
excellent roads, a saving of the expense of an extra agency,
and " last, but not least, to the people of the territory, it would
avert the trade with these Indians from New Mexico to Ari¬
zona, where it properly belongs." The disadvantages were
that these were mountain Indians, who were unused to the
hot, stifling climate of the Gila Valley; that the region of the
new location had proven so unhealthy to the soldiers at Camp
Goodwin that the post had to be removed; that the Indians
would be placed in close proximity to the white settlement
of Pueblo Yiejo; and that the Pinal Apaches, already at San
Carlos, were their enemies by feuds of many years' standing.
There were other considerations that would seem serious to
some persons, though these humanitarians, who were desirous
of having trade go in its proper channels, did not trouble
their minds about them. A large majority, if not all, the In¬
dians were bitterly opposed to the removal, and they had
been good friends to us. These were the Indians on whom
Mexican scouts had not felt willing to fire; who had helped
General Crook to subdue the hostile Apaches; who were liv¬
ing on the little farms that had long supported them ; who
had raised greater crops than all the other Apaches together.
Every inducement to move was used with them, except actual
force, and that was refused by the military authorities. They
were threatened with force, however, and their agency build¬
ings were burned down by the representatives of the peace
policy. Under these kindly arguments nearty half of the In¬
dians consented to go. Their state of mind may be imagined
from the fact that, on the way, they had a fight among them¬
selves, in which five were killed and ten wounded—" Not a
great loss where so much lead was expended," said the philo¬
sophic special agent, L. E. Dudley, who effected the removal.
In the fall of the same year (1875) large numbers of these In¬
dians left San Carlos and went to the Chiricahua reservation,
stating that they were unable to live at the former place on
account of the hostility of the Pinals. That winter they had
a falling-out with the Chiricahuas; a Southern Chiricahua
chief was killed ; and our White Mountain Coyoteros had to
flee from that reservation to escape the indiscriminating
vengeance of his tribe.
736
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
The bands of Pitone, Eskyinlaw {alias Diablo), and Pedro,
a majority of all the White Mountain Indians, refused to re¬
move to San Carlos. They said that General Howard, as
agent of the Indian Department, had promised them that they
might remain there so long as they were peaceable; that they
had not only been peaceable, but also had fought other In¬
dians, in aid of the Americans. They did not want to leave
their farms or their native mountains, and they begged Col¬
onel Kautz to interpose for them at Washington. He did so,
and his plea was met with the answer of " hostility of the War
Department to the peace policy." Search you now the his¬
tory of the whole world and find a more wanton act of tyranny
than the removal of these Indians from their homes. They
would have saluted a Gesler's hat without a murmur; they
would have paid a tax on tea without much remonstrance ; a
foreign lord might have lived in their Dublin Castle without
making them desperate. It is almost questionable whether
Nero would have been capable of treating his friends and
allies as the humane gentlemen treated these unfortunate
bands, and yet men ask why the Apaches cannot be made
peaceable. No war resulted in this case, because the soldiers
could not be induced to compel the removal of the three ob¬
durate bands. But it came finally. There are some Indians
into whose necks it will not do to grind your heels too far.
The next victims of humanity were the Chiricahuas.
There were, on the Chiricahua reservation, in Southeastern
Arizona, the Northern Chiricahuas, under Tah-za, a son of old
Cochise, who had died in peace on the reservation some
eighteen months before, the Southern Chiricahuas, whose head
chief was Juh (IIoo, Who), and a mixed band of Mogollons,
Mimbres, and Coyoteros. The management of these warlike
bands by the Indian Bureau had been criminally inefficient,
and its faults had been pointed out repeatedly. To begin with,
their reservation had been made to join the Mexican line, giv¬
ing every opportunity for raiding from either side. It will be
remembered that there were large bands of predatory Apaches
in Northern Mexico, and that the Mexicans were still pursuing
the old, treacherous system of warfare. The authorities of
Sonora complained that the Chiricahuas committed depreda-
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE. 737
tions within their borders, which was true in a number of cases.
The agency people did not keep count of their Apaches,
as General Crook was doing, and there were no restric¬
tions imposed upon them that were sufficient to keep them on
their reservation. On the other hand, the Mexicans were con¬
stantly coming on the reservation to sell whiskey, or in search
of scalps. On July 23, 1875, a party of Chiricahuas who were
gathering acorns on the reservation, fifteen miles north of the
Mexican line, were fired upon by a party of Mexican soldiers.
Notwithstanding these acts of lawlessness, there were no
troubles with the whites, on our side of the line, during the
four years, from 1872 to 1876, that the Indians were located
there. In April of the latter year two white men were killed
by two Indians at Sulphur Springs, a mail station on the reser¬
vation. The killing was not justifiable, and yet the victims
were not entitled to the slightest sympathy. Their death re¬
sulted from a violation of the laws of the United States. The
Indians were hunting in the Dragoon Mountains, about thirty-
five miles from the agency, owing to the fact that their sup¬
ply of food was exhausted, and the agent had sent them out to
procure some for themselves. They obtained whiskey from
Mr. Rogers, the station-keeper at Sulphur Springs, who had
several times been warned against selling it to them. They
got drunk and had a fight among themselves, in which two
men and a child were killed ; a part of the band then returned
to the agency, leaving a chief named Eskina (Skinya), with a
dozen warriors and their families. Two of these, a sub-chief
named Pi-hon-se-nay and his nephew, went to Sulphur
Springs for more whiskey. Rogers sold them small quantities
two or three times, and then refused to let them have more,
they being drunk. They watched their opportunity, killed
Rogers and an employe named Spence, stole the whiskey,
ammunition, and horses at the place, and returned to camp.
Eskina's entire party got drunk and decided to go on the war¬
path, which they did, with the result of an American killed,
another wounded, and four horses stolen on the next day. A
company of cavalry was sent after them, but failed to capture
them. Early in June, after committing other depredations,
Eskina and his men came to Tahza's camp and tried to induce
47
738
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
him to join them. Tahza and his people refused, and a fight
ensued, in which six men were killed and three wounded.
Pi-hon-se-nay was shot in the shoulder by Tahza, and Eskina
was killed by Tahza's youngest brother.
In the mean time Governor Safford had been consulted by
the Indian Bureau, and had recommended the removal of all
the Chiricahuas, either to Ojo Caliente, in New Mexico, or to
San Carlos. Removal to Ojo Caliente had been proposed to
them the year before, and they had replied that they " would
sooner die than live there." The department, instead of cut¬
ting off the southern part of the reservation and asking for
troops to guard the Mexican line and punish the guilty In¬
dians, decided to send the innocent ones to San Carlos, the
guilty being at large. Tahza reluctantly agreed to go, but said
he could not answer for the other bands. On June 7, Juh,
Geronimo (Ileronemo—Jerome), and Nolgee, who. had sided
with Eskina in the fight, agreed to go also, but on the same
afternoon they fled with all their people and went into Sonora.
320 of the Chiricahuas went with Tahza to San Carlos, in June;
a small band, under Gordo, had gone to Ojo Caliente just after
Rogers and Spence were killed; the remainder of the 965 In¬
dians reported to be on the reservation, which was three or
four hundred more than were in fact there, went to war. By
October the hostiles had stolen 170 head of stock and killed
20 persons—probably more; because a number of prospectors
who were known to be in the mountains were never accounted
for.
The evil did not stop there. In the spring of 1877 Mr.
E. A. Hayt, the man of many removals, became Commissioner
of Indian Affairs under Secretary Schurz. His policy was "a
steady concentration of the smaller bands of Indians upon the
larger reservations." It was found that about 250 of the
Chiricahua renegades had taken refuge on the Ojo Caliente
reservation, and made raids from there, assisted by some of the
Hot Springs Indians ; hence the Hot Springs reservation must
be broken up, and the Indians removed to San Carlos. A force
of "103 Indian police was sent over from San Carlos, and the
available troops stationed in New Mexico were concentrated
about the reservation. Geronimo and other renegades were
CKUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
739
found there and arrested. None of the Indians wished to
leave Ojo Caliente, but there was no chance for resistance.
Very few escaped, the principal party being some 40 war¬
riors led by Victorio, a chief who made himself unpleasantly
notorious later on. 453 of them arrived at San Carlos in
May. There had been reported 2100 Indians at this place in
1875, and 1600 in 1876, but it was evident that no such num¬
ber had been there. On September 2, 300 of these Hot
Springs and Chiricahua Apaches escaped from San Carlos.
They were pursued by the agency Indians, but only 30
women and children were brought back. The remainder
made their way to New Mexico, attacked a settlement there,
killed 8 persons, and ravaged the neighboring country.
Troops were hurried after them, and on September 10 a fight
occurred, in which 12 of the hostiles were killed and 13
captured. On October 13, 190 of them surrendered at Fort
Wingate, and 50 came in afterwards. All these were taken
to Ojo Caliente to await orders for their final disposition. It
■was decided to take them all back to San Carlos, against which
they protested, saying they were willing to go anywhere else,
and a number took their chances on a break for the moun¬
tains rather than go ; 80 of them got safely away. In De¬
cember 67 of these came to the Mescalero reservation and
asked leave to stay there, which wTas granted.
In February, 1878, Victorio and his band, who had been
in Mexico, surrendered at Ojo Caliente, but announced their
intention to resist any attempt to take them to San Carlos.
In April it was decided to remove them to the Mescalero res¬
ervation, but they refused to go, and fled to the mountains.
Towards the last of June they went to the Mescalero agency,
of their own accord, and promised to remain there. Their
wives and children, who were at San Carlos, were sent for, and
there appeared to be a prospect of their final settlement, when,
most inopportunely, the judge, prosecuting attorney, and other
officials of Grant County appeared at the Mescalero reservation
on a hunting excursion. Victorio and others of his band were
, under indictment in Grant County, and they took this to be a
move for their arrest. They left the reservation, taking with
them all the Chiricahuas who had taken refuge there, and
740
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
made a most destructive raid through Southwestern New Mex¬
ico and Southeastern Arizona, until they were chased into
Mexico by the soldiers a few weeks later.
Yictorio's stay in Mexico was short. On September 4,
1879, he suddenly appeared near Ojo Caliente with 60 war¬
riors ; they killed the post herders, and captured all the horses
of the cavalry stationed there. Major Morrow, with the 9th
Cavalry, was sent after them, but was able to accomplish but
little. Victorio roamed the mountains of Southern New
Mexico, depredating in all directions, and spreading terror
everywhere. About 200 Mescaleros were induced to join
him, and he wTas further reinforced by at least 100 rene¬
gade Comanches and other warriors from Mexico. When
dislodged in one mountain range they would fall back
to another which afforded a position of equal strength, and
if too hard pressed they would scatter in small bands, to
unite at some well-known rendezvous. In April, 1880, Col¬
onel Hatch, who had returned from his labors with the Colo¬
rado Utes, disarmed all the Indians remaining on the Mescalero
reservation and then took up the chase of Victorio. The hos¬
tile bands were driven back through the San Mateo, the
Mimbres, and the Mogollon mountains. The Arizona forces,
under Colonel Carr, turned them to the south, and they were
soon driven into Mexico. This outbreak occasioned an un¬
usual loss of life to the scattered herders of New Mexico.
These people, mostly Mexicans, had formerly been left un¬
harmed by the Apaches, who secured provisions from the
herds and frequently obtained arms and ammunition from the
herders. The Mescaleros, Comanches, and other renegades,
who had joined Victorio, abandoned his shrewd policy of
maintaining friendly relations with these convenient commis¬
saries, and killed them at every opportunity. The result, as
nearly as could be ascertained, was that of 73 persons killed
during the outbreak 53 were Mexicans, of whom a large per¬
centage were herders. It was claimed that the number of
persons killed was in excess of this, and it is probable that a
correct list would reach 100.
The bitterness of this warfare, against such desperate odds,
set the people of Arizona and New Mexico to thinking of the
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
cause of it all. Said General Willcox, commanding the De¬
partment of Arizona: " It is believed by many that Victorio
was unjustly dealt with in the first instance, by the abrupt re¬
moval of his people from Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, to San
Carlos; and that such removal, if not a breach of faith, was a
harsh and cruel measure, from which the people of New Mex¬
ico have reaped bitter consequences." General Pope, of the
Division of the Missouri, was even more pointed in his re¬
marks, and his opinion in this case is the more weighty as he
was never an admirer of the Apaches; he had unreservedly ex¬
pressed his opinion that
they were " idle vaga¬
bonds, utterly worthless
and hopeless," and again,
that they were " a squal¬
id, untrustworthy peo¬
ple, robbers and thieves
by nature." He said :
"This outbreak of Vic¬
torio, and the severe
campaign against him,
still in progress, involv¬
ing the loss of many of
our men, and the mur¬
der by Indians of about
seventy persons, mainly
Mexican herders, were
due to the determined
purpose of the Interior
Department to effect the removal of the band to the San
Carlos agency in Arizona. There is already a large num¬
ber of Indians collected at that agency, mainly Indians of
Arizona. Victorio and his band have always bitterly objected
to being placed there, one of the reasons given by him be¬
ing the hostility of many of the Indians of the agency. lie
always asserted his willingness to live peaceably with his
people at the Warm Springs (Ojo Caliente) agency, and, so far
as I am informed, gave no trouble to any one while there.
I do not know the reasons of the Interior Department for in-
742
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
sisting upon the removal to San Carlos agency, but certainly
they should be cogent to justify the great trouble and severe
losses occasioned by the attempts to coerce the removal. The
present is the fourth time within live years that Yictorio's
band has broken out. Three times they have been brought
in and turned over by the military to the Indian Bureau
authorities. Both Victorio and his band are resolved to die
rather than go to the San Carlos agency, and there is no
doubt it will be necessary to kill or capture the whole tribe
before present military operations can be closed successfully.
The capture is not very probable, but the killing (cruel as it
will be) can, I suppose, be done in time. I am trying to sepa¬
rate the Mescaleros from Yictorio, and yet hope to do so, but
there is not the slightest prospect that Yictorio or his band
will ever surrender under any circumstances. He and others
of his band are understood to be indicted for murder in the
courts in Hew Mexico, and they are well aware of it, and pre¬
fer being shot in battle to being hung. It is proper to repre¬
sent this state of facts, that the work still before the troops in
Hew Mexico may be clearly understood, and prosecuted to the
end if the authorities in Washington so desire and direct.
Although I entertain strong convictions on the merits of the
controversy which has resulted in this Indian war, I do not
consider it my duty to express them in this report, but I think
it would be well for the Secretary of the Interior to ascertain
what were the engagements entered into and the promises
made by the agents of that department from the time of
General Howard's mission to this band of Apaches down to
the late outbreak. It is probable that much would be de¬
veloped by such investigation to extenuate, at least, the feel¬
ing, if not the conduct, of the tribe."
It will be observed that neither of these officers goes back
to the original source of the trouble — the removal of the
Chiricahuas. Two drunken Indians killed two whiskey smug¬
glers, and forthwith the Indians who happened to live on the
same reservation, who had no connection with the killing,
were ordered to be removed from their homes; fugitives from
this reservation took refuge at Ojo Caliente, and forthwith the
Indians there, guilty and innocent alike, were ordered to be
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
743
removed ; fugitives from Ojo Caliente invaded the Mescalero
reservation and induced half of that tribe to go to war; New
Mexico and Arizona reaped a harvest of five years of savage
murdering and plundering—nay, more, for this war was not
stopped until 1882, and the dissatisfaction caused by these re¬
movals has had its weight in every outbreak since then. In
this connection it may be well to look at other parts of the
country, where the success of the concentration policy was
being demonstrated in 1879. In the spring the much-abused
Poncas were snatched by writ of habeas corpus from the hands
of the military, who, in accordance with the wishes of the
Indian Bureau, were dragging them back to Indian Territory,
from their homes in Dakota. Later in the year the Northern
Cheyennes were fighting with a desperation that was blood¬
curdling—fighting soldiers, with knives made of pieces of
stove-pipe, and slungskots made of fragments of the stove in
their prison—to escape being taken back to Indian Territory.
In the Indian Territory were Joseph's Nez Perces, sickening
and dying in their rotten teepees. In Arizona the Hualapais
would have starved to death, or into hostility, if the War De¬
partment had not relieved them. South of these, the Papagos
were relapsing into barbarism for want of proper teachers;
their school-houses were stripped of windows and doors, and
the grand old cathedral of San Xavier del Bac was robbed of
its consecrated vessels. And yet the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs was on hand, with the annual recommendation for
more concentration. If concentration wrere beneficial, why
were not some of its good effects shown on the tribes that had
been concentrated at the cost of life, treasure, and broken
faith ? It is a perversion of the English language to call such
a system a peace policy.
In January, 1880, Juh and Geronimo came voluntarily to
the White Mountain reservation, with 108 Chiricahua rene¬
gades. They were induced to leave the fastnesses of the
Sierra Madre, in Northern Mexico, by Lieutenant Haskell
and Interpreter Jeffords, who went to their haunts and
reasoned them into returning. Victorio depredated and
fought Mexican troops for a few months, and in August
crossed into Texas, one hundred miles below El Paso del
7 U
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Norte. He was twice driven across the Rio Grande by Col¬
onel Grierson, and then remained in Mexico, at war with the
people there. He was killed by the Mexican troops some
weeks later. In July, 1881, Nane, with 15 warriors, who
bad been with Victorio, crossed the Rio Grande and made
his way into New Mexico, when he was joined by some 25
Mescaleros. He then made a rapid and bloody raid across
Southern New Mexico, falling upon herders and prospectors,
who had no warning of his coming, and murdering them with¬
out mercy. He was chased back into Mexico by the troops,
in the latter part of August. In Arizona there were two out¬
breaks during the year: one, among the White Mountain In¬
dians, was caused by the arrest of a medicine-man, named
Nockay-Delklinne, who was holding dances for the purpose
of bringing dead warriors to life, with the ultimate design of
repeopling the country and driving out the whites. It was
considered advisable to suppress him, although it did not ap¬
pear that he had succeeded in reviving any of the departed—
it would have been a splendid time to tell the Indians he
was a humbug, and let him prove it; his arrest only made
them think the whites were afraid of his powers. While re¬
moving him, the Indian scouts with the command took up his
cause, and a fight ensued, in which the medicine-man and five
soldiers were killed. The Indians then killed all the whites
they could find, and attacked Camp Apache, to which Colonel
Carr's party had retired. They killed in all ten soldiers and
eight citizens. On the approach of reinforcements they fled,
but, with the exception of about a dozen, who escaped and be¬
came outlaws, they were driven back to the reservation with¬
out any fighting. Five of the scouts were tried by court-
martial ; three were hung, and two were sent fo prison on
Alcatraz Island. On the night of September 30, a number of
Chiricahuas, under Juh and Nachez, broke away from the res¬
ervation. The reasons given for this were that the agency
authorities would not help them make an irrigating ditch, and
treated them worse than the other Indians in various respects.
They were driven into Mexico early in October, after a sharp
fight at Cedar Springs.
In April, 1882, a number of the liostiles from Mexico made
SAN XAVIEll DHL BAC.
CEUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
747
their way quietly to the San Carlos agency, and induced all
the remaining original renegade Chiricahuas, and also Loco's
band of Ojo Caliente Indians, to leave the reservation and run
for Mexico. They were pursued by the troops from several
posts, and struck by two detachments; Lieutenant-colonel
Forsythe attacked them at Horse Shoe Canon, in Hew Mexi¬
co, and Major Tupper followed them into Mexico and whipped
them badly in the Hatchet Mountains. They fled, leaving
five dead warriors and two squaws, but carrying off others;
and two days later were ambushed by Lieutenant-colonel
Garcia, of the Mexican army, who inflicted severe punishment
upon them. On July 6, a part of the White Mountain In¬
dians at San Carlos, under Han-tia-tish and Ar-shay, known as
the Cibicu Indians, from their former location on Cibicu Creek,
killed four of the Indian police and escaped from the reserva¬
tion. They committed several robberies and killed six peo¬
ple within ten days. On the 17th they were overtaken and
terribly punished at the "Big Dry Wash," on the old Moqui
trail, a wild, desolate canon, two hundred feet deep, with rocky
side canons and forbidding surroundings. They left sixteen
dead, including Han-tia-tish, and lost all their property. They
scattered in the night, and, under cover of a heavy hail-storm,
which obliterated their trails, straggled into the reservation
completely destitute, and sated with war.
Some important changes in the affairs of the Arizona In¬
dians were'made in 1882. One of the most noticeable was
the treaty effected with Mexico, on July 29, by which troops
of both countries were authorized to pursue fleeing savages
across the line in "unpopulated or desert parts." This made
the punishment of the hostiles a possibility for the first time.
Before that they had only to reach the Mexican line to be
safe ; our troops could pursue them no farther. Another im¬
portant change was the return of General Crook to the com¬
mand of the department. Ho dereliction can fairly be charged
against Colonel Kautz or General Willcox, who had command-
.
ed there since Crook left; but nature has made a difference in
men, and General Crook is one whose character has made him
phenomenally successful in the management of Indians. Most
important of his qualifications is his habit of keeping strict
748
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
faitli with the Indians; they are never contented under the
control of a man whom they cannot trust. Next to this is the
possession of common - sense, a qualification in which some
people who have held responsible positions have been sadly
lacking. Consider this statement, made by him in 1879:
" During the twenty-seven years of my experience with the
Indian question I have never known a band of Indians to
make peace with our government and then break it, or leave
their reservation, without some ground of complaint; but un¬
til their complaints are examined and adjusted, they will con¬
stantly give annoyance and trouble." He does not say that
the Indians are always right nor that they are always wrong;
but he does not leave room for a single case of their making
war from " pure deviltry." This language was not called
forth, however, by the mistreatment of Indians at the hands
of lawless whites, or by the dishonesty of Indian agents; it
was used in regard to the attempted removal of the Northern
Cheyennes to the Indian Territory. Concerning this he fur¬
ther says: " In the present case, the Cheyennes claimed that
they had been wronged, and had become desperate as a pack
of wolves. The army had orders to take them back to the
Indian Territory, and had no option in the matter. It seems to
me to have been, to say the least, a very unnecessary exercise of
power to insist upon this particular portion of the band going
back to their former reservation, while the other fragments
of the same band, which surrendered to the troops on the
Yellowstone, or escaped to the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail
reservations, had been allowed to remain North unmolested."
And who were these Cheyennes that must be hounded back
to the chills, fever, and starvation that they had run away
from ? He says: " Among these Cheyenne Indians were
some of the bravest and most efficient of the auxiliaries who
had acted under General Mackenzie and myself in the cam¬
paign against the hostile Sioux in 1876 and 1877, and I still
preserve a grateful remembrance of their distinguished ser¬
vices, which the government seems to have forgotten." Do
you think that any of the concentration humanitarians will
ever rank with this stern Indian-fighter in the lists of humane
men ?
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
749
Immediately after General Crook's return there came about
a reasonable harmony between the representatives of the In¬
dian Bureau and the War Department in Arizona, which had
not existed during his absence. Just how this was effected
has not been made public, but the fact was soon notorious.
He then talked to the Indians, publicly and privately, until
he learned the state of their feelings. He found them sullen,
distrustful, and, as they confessed, on the verge of going to
war. Conflicting statements had been made to them till they
had lost confidence in every one ; they had been told that they
were to be disarmed, attacked by troops, and removed from
Arizona. He explained to them that their enemies, who want¬
ed their reservation, were trying to get them to make war;
and that they would certainly lose their reservation and every¬
thing else if they did. He showed them that their well-being
must depend mainly on themselves, and secured their co-oper¬
ation in reinstating all the old measures he had used so suc¬
cessfully ten years before, but which had since been discon¬
tinued. Every male Indian capable of bearing arms was re¬
quired to wear constantly a metal tag with his number and
the designation of his band. The police were reorganized,
and frequent roll-calls were required. He next obtained per¬
mission for six or seven hundred of the White Mountain In¬
dians to leave the hot valleys of the Gila and San Carlos rivers,
and return to their old homes in the northern part of the res¬
ervation. To obtain this privilege he became personally re¬
sponsible for their good behavior; and the Indians agreed to
be self-supporting after they got their first year's crop. Both
of these promises have been kept, notwithstanding that the
Indians had to use sharpened sticks for planting and case-
knives for harvesting implements. The lot of these Indians
was so much more pleasing to many of the red men than that
of the "fed savages" at the agency, that over one third of the
forty-five hundred Indians there (not counting the Chiricahuas)
have gathered in the northern part of the reservation, and are
supporting themselves with very little assistance. To the offi¬
cers explicit orders were given to give and require "justice to
a]l—Indians as well as white men." There were to be no
wrongs and no mistakes. The orders were : "There must be
750
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
no division of responsibility in this matter; each officer will
be held to a strict accountability that his actions have been
fully authorized by law and justice, and that Indians evincing
a desire to enter upon a career of peace shall have no cause of
complaint through hasty or injudicious acts of the military."
Having adopted these means for the preservation of peace
on and about the reservation—means which have proven com¬
pletely successful, without any exception — General Crook
next turned his attention to the hostiles in Mexico. They
were the worst product of the bad faith and bad policy of
the past six years, and the most difficult to dispose of. Their
native homes could not be restored to them. There wras noth¬
ing that could be offered them except fair treatment on the
White Mountain reservation, and that had little attraction to
savages whose tastes led them to piratical lives, and who had
experienced our fair treatment. He tried to open negotiations
with them, but succeeded only in learning that a raid was im¬
minent. All that could be done was to prepare for it as well
as possible, for which purpose pack-trains were put in readi¬
ness and the troops stationed at the most available points. In
March the Chiricahuas began operations. A party of fifty
warriors, under Geronimo, swept through Sonora to obtain
stock, while Cliato (Flat Hose—a mule had kicked him in the
face and flattened his nose), with twenty-six men, dashed
through Arizona and Hew Mexico, chiefly to obtain ammuni¬
tion. The latter party killed about a dozen persons in Arizo¬
na, circled through Mexico, and crossed back near the Hatch¬
et Mountains. The atrocity committed by them that attract¬
ed the greatest attention was the murder of Judge McComas
and wife, and the capture of Charley McComas, on March 28.
On the day previous to this terrible tragedy an event oc¬
curred which led to the final overthrow and capture of the
renegades. It was the desertion from Chato's party of a war¬
rior named Pe-nal-tishn, commonly called "Peaches." He
made bis way to San Carlos, was there arrested, and was in¬
duced by Genera] Crook to guide the troops to the stronghold
of the Chiricahuas. General Crook made hasty visits to So¬
nora and Chihuahua, and secured promises of co-operation
there. He stationed troops along the line to watch for any
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
751
future raiders, and, with 193 Apache scouts, 42 men, and 9
officers, started for the hiding-place of the Chiricahuas. It
was situated in the Sierra Madre, the range that separates So-
nora from Chihuahua, one of the roughest mountain countries
in America, but covered with forests of pine and oak, and fur¬
nished with an abundance of good water. Here were a series
of natural and almost impregnable fortresses which the Mex¬
ican troops had never been able to reach, and which Crook
might not have penetrated if the Chiricahuas had not been
crook's battle-field in the sierra madre.
wholly unsuspicious of his approach. As it was, his forces
moved quietly into the mountains; his scouts located Chato's
camp; and the party would have surrounded it but for the
haste of some scouts, who fired on two Indians. The camp
was at once attacked, and the Indians were defeated, with a
loss of about a dozen killed and five captured. There was
now no hope of securing the Indians by pursuing them, for
they scattered, as usual, and the pursuing force could not scat¬
ter to follow them. The only chance of getting them was to
752
MASSACRES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
induce them to surrender, if possible. Communication was
obtained, through the captives, and they were soon satisfied
that they had better surrender on the terms offered, which
were substantially an agreement to overlook the past and start
with a clean page on the White Mountain reservation. Al¬
most all the renegades came in under this arrangement, among
them Geronimo, Nachez (a son of Cochise), Chato, and Bonito.
Juh had fallen out with the band and gone away to the South,
with one man and two or three squaws, before Crook arrived.
By an agreement made between the War and Interior de¬
partments, in July, 1883, the Chiricahuas were placed under
the exclusive control of General Crook ; and the police au¬
thority of the entire reservation was put in his hands. By
his permission the renegades selected lands for themselves on
Turkey Creek, near Camp Apache, and, with the aid of the
soldiers, began cultivation. In 1884, Geronimo and Chato
had farms which were among the most creditable on the res¬
ervation. The prejudice of the Apache men against labor
was never so strong as that of the average Indian, and on the
reservation no disgrace attached to a man who worked. In
1884 more than one half of all the labor was performed by
men and boys. The results of the Indian work on the reser¬
vation for that year were 3,850,000 pounds of corn, 550,000
pounds of barley, 540,000 pounds of beans, 20,000 pounds of
potatoes, 50,000 pounds of wheat, 200,000 pumpkins, and
90,000 melons, besides garden stuff; and this, notwithstanding
that the Apaches on the Gila lost nearly all their crops by
freshets, and those in the northern part of the reservation lost
about one third of theirs by late rains and early frosts. They
also supplied large quantities of wood and hay, made ditches,
and performed other labor. There was only one appearance
of trouble during the year, and this was occasioned by Ka-e-
te-na (The Looking-glass), a young chief of a Mexican tribe,
who was with the renegades at the time of their surrender.
At one of their dances he made a speech which was calculated
to raise hostile feeling; for which offence he was arrested by
Chiricahua police, convicted by an Apache jury, and sentenced
to three years' imprisonment, in irons, at Alcatraz Island, in
San Francisco Bay.
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
753
With such a record, continued till the recent outbreak of
Geronimo, that outbreak was naturally unexpected. Theories
of its cause should not be hastily formed; and yet the only
one thus far announced—detection in the manufacture of tis-
win, and flight from fear of punishment—is not improbable.
Tiswin, or p'tis wing, is a fermented drink of native manu¬
facture, somewhat resembling beer. Its basis is usually corn,
but other materials are sometimes used. It had long been a
favorite drink with some of the tribes; and on the reservation,
owing to the enforcement of the intercourse laws, it was the
-
ALCATRAZ ISLAND.
popular intoxicant. Es-kim-en-zin, the unfortunate Camp
Grant chief, was a large manufacturer of it, and had grown
quite wealthy from selling it to the other Indians. The re¬
sults of its use were practically as deplorable as those resulting
from liquors sold by the whites, in consequence of which de¬
termined efforts have been made of late years to break up the
manufacture. Through the aid of the Indian police these ef¬
forts have been very successful, and but few who have made
it have escaped punishment. If this were the cause of the
outbreak, the escaped Indians apparently deserve severe pun¬
ishment for their crimes; but in any event, General Crook is
4S
754
MASSACKES OF THE MOUNTAINS.
entitled to the confidence of the people that he will do what
is just.
It is hardly to be supposed that there will never be any
more troubles with the Apaches, for there are causes which
will produce trouble, if not removed, and our government is
slow of motion. There are coal mines on the southern part
of the reservation, that are very valuable, on account of the
scarcity of fuel in Arizona, which certain white men have
been trying to secure. It has been thought possible by some
that difficulty in regard to these might best be avoided by
leasing them. A proposed law for that purpose was submit¬
ted to Congress in 1882, and bills to cut off the parts of the
reservation containing them have since been introduced; but
no action has been taken on any of them. Possibly a good
solution would be to make miners of the Apaches. They are
industrious and quick to learn, and could dig coal as well as
plant corn. The whites would then be supplied with coal and
the Indians would have the benefit of the mines, besides being
initiated in a new field of industry. The Apaches are anxious
to obtain the release of their people now held in Mexico, some
of whom were captured within the past five years. The Mex¬
ican captives, held as hostages for the return of these, were
released by General Crook in 1883; but the Apache captives
are still slaves. The government cannot neglect this matter
and retain the respect of civilized men. There were indica¬
tions of a rupture between the military and Indian authori¬
ties in Arizona under the late administration ; but the firm
stand of Commissioner Atkins against disarming the Apaches
indicates that he is in harmony with General Crook. It would
be folly to disarm them, even if it could be accomplished.
They would be left subject to the outrages of the Arizona
outlaws, who prey on every one, and also at the mercy of the
rabid exterminationists. In 1883 a company of "rangers"
was organized, to attack the peaceable Indians at San Carlos,
and marched nearly to the reservation. Ho time was wasted
in begging these men to be law-abiding. The Indians were
notified that they would be expected to defend themselves;
and the rangers, on learning this, concluded that they had not
lost any Indians. They marched back to Tombstone without
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
755
making an attack. There has been much talk of removing
the Apaches from Arizona, which, if it were attempted, would
produce war; it wrnuld be a terrible war too. The Apaches
cannot be driven about like cattle. On the other hand, if-the
policy of the past three years is followed to its proper limits—
if the Apaches are treated fairly, and all disturbing causes are
removed, as far as possible—there is no reason why these de¬
mons of the past should not continue to develop into a quiet,
self-sustaining people.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
Owing to tlie great extent of territory covered in this book,
it has been thought best to classify the authorities, in order that
those who desire to investigate any subject herein discussed
may be directed at once to the evidence relating to it. It is
hoped that those who are interested in Indian affairs, or in local
history, will thus be relieved of needless search through irrele¬
vant documents. In furtherance of this object, many authori¬
ties consulted by the author are omitted altogether, only those
being mentioned which are considered of material value. The
Executive Documents referred to are documents of the House
of Representatives. Up to 1861 the same documents will usu¬
ally be found in the Senate Documents for the same years, as
also Senate Documents referred to, prior to 1861, will usually
be found in the Executive Documents. Some authorities have
been used in almost every chapter; and these, to avoid repeti¬
tion, will, except as to matters of unusual importance, be men¬
tioned but once, and
In General :
Historical and Statistical Information respecting the Histozy, Condi¬
tion, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, etc. Henry
R. Schoolcraft. In 5 vols. Philadelphia, 1851-55 ; also a sixth volume of
same, under title Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge, etc. Philadelphia,
1860.
Reports of Generals of the Army, and accompanying documents :
1846-84.
Reports of Commissioners of Indian Affairs, and accompanying docu¬
ments: 1849-84.
Reports of Pacific Railroad Surveys, Ex. Docs. 1854-55, vol. xi. (in 11
parts); same in Sen. Docs., vol. xiii.; also Supplemental Report, Ex. Docs.
1859-60, vol. xi. (in 2 parts); same in Sen. Docs. 1858-59, vol. xviii.
The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America. Hubert
Howe Bancroft. In 5 vols. New York, 1875.
All Ratified Treaties, prior to 1843, are in U. S. Stats, at Large, vol. vii.
For those of later date, see vol. ix. U. S. Stats, at Large, and subsequent
volumes.
758
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Report of Joint Special Committee on Condition of Indian Tribes, un¬
der Joint Resolution of March 3, 1865. Washington, 1867.
Report of Special Commission appointed to Investigate the Affairs of
Red Cloud Indian Agency. Washington, 1875.
Report of Committee on Indian Affairs on Indian Frauds, House Rep.,
No. 98, 1872-73.
The Legal Position of the Indian. G. F. Canfield, in Am. Law Rev.,
vol. xv. . p. 21.
The Red Man and White Man in North America, etc. G. E. Ellis.
Boston, 1882.
Indian Titles to Land; in Commentaries on American Law, vol. iii.,
pp. 379^100. James Kent.
CHAPTER II.
THE ACQUISITION OF THE MOUNTAINS.
Thirty Years' View of the American Government. Thos. Benton.
New York, 1871.
Commerce of the Prairies, etc. Josiah Gregg. New York, 1844.
Oregon. AV. Barrows. Boston and New York, 1884.
A History of Oregon, etc. W. H. Gray. New York, 1870.
Oregon and California in 1848. J. Quinn Thornton. New York, 1849.
The American Statesman: A Political History, etc. Andrew W. Young.
New York, 1855.
Discussion of the Oregon Question; in Congressional Globe, First Sess.
29th Congress, pp. 44-692, and Appendix.
CHAPTER III.
THE ONE OFFENCE OF THE PUEBLOS.
The History of Mexico and its AVars, etc. John Frost, LL.D. New
Orleans, 1882.
The Conquest of New Mexico and California, etc. Gen. P. St. G. Cooke.
New York, 1878.
El Gringo; or, New Mexico and her People. AY. AY. II. Davis. New
York, 1857.
Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. Geo. F. Ruxton.
New York, 1848.
Report of Colonel Price. Ex. Doc. No. 8,1847-48, pp. 520-538.
CHAPTER IV.
MURDER OF THE MISSIONARIES.
Gray's Oregon (supra cli. ii.).
Barrow's Oregon (supra ch. ii.).
Protestantism in Oregon : Account of the Murder of Dr. AVhitman, etc.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
759
Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet, S. J. New York, 1853. Reprinted in Ex. Doc.
No. 38,1857-58.
Portraits of North American Indians (with biographical notes). J. M.
Stanley. In Smithsonian Mis. Coll., vol. ii.
The Ely Volume. T. Laurie, D.D. Boston, 1881.
Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer. P. H. Burnett. New
York, 1880.
Papers and Correspondence relating to Indian Affairs on the Pacific,
from War and Interior Depts. Ex. Doc. No. 76, 1856-57, vol. ix.
CHAPTER V.
THE CURSE OF GOLD.
Mormon Discovery of Gold. Geo. M. Evans. In Hunt's Merchants'
Magazine, vol. xxxi., p. 385.
Memoirs of Gen. Wm. T. Sherman, by himself. New York, 1875.
Thornton's Oregon and California (supra ch. ii.). Appendix.
American Adventure. Blackwood's Magazine, vol. lxvii., p. 34.
Discovery of the Yosemite, and the Indian War of 1851, etc. L. II.
Bunnell. Chicago, 1880.
Ex. Doc. No. 76, 1856-57 (supra ch. iv.).
Correspondence on California Indian Affairs. Sen. Doc. No. 4, Special
Sess., 1853.
Correspondence and Reports on California Agencies. Sen. Doc. No.
46,1859-60 (vol. xi.); also Ex. Docs., 1856-57, vol. ix., pp. 136-145.
Report of Special Agent Bailey. Ex. Docs. 1858-59, vol. ii., pt. 1, pp.
649-657.
The Coast Rangers. J. Ross Browne. In Harper's Magazine, vol. xxiii.,
p. 306.
Mission Indians. Report of J. G. Ames. Ex. Docs. 1873-74, vol. iv.,
pt. 1, p. 397.
Mission Indians. Report of B. C. Whiting. Ex. Docs. 1871-72, vol. iii.,
pt. 1, p. 1107.
Mission Indians. Helen Hunt Jackson. In Century, vol. xxvi., pp. 1,
199, 511.
CHAPTER VI.
OATMAN FLAT.
Captivity of the Oatman Girls, etc. R. B. Stratton. New York, 1858.
Adventures in the Apache Country. J. Ross Browne. New York, 1874.
Recovery of Miss Oatman. Sen. Doc. No. 66,1855-56, p. 67.
Personal Narrative of Explorations, etc. J. R. Bartlett. Vol. ii., p. 203.
New York, 1854.
Lieutenant Sitgreave's Expedition. Sen. Docs., 1852-53, vol. x.
Notes on the Tonto Apaches. Capt. Charles Smart. In Smithsonian
Report for 1867.
Ex. Doc. No. 76, 1856-57 (supra ch. iv.).
760
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
CHAPTER VII.
THE ROGUE RIVER, YAKIMA, AND KLICKITAT WARS.
Gray's Oregon (supra cli. ii.).
Ex. Doc. No. 76, 1856-57 (supra ch. iv.).
Military Reports. Sen. Docs. 1856-57, vol. iii., pp. 147-203.
Papers and Correspondence, with affidavits. House Mis. Doc. No. 47,
1858-59, vol. i.
Local Legislative Action. House Mis. Docs. Nos. 64, 77, and 78,1855-56;
also House Mis. Docs. Nos. 71 and 116, 1857-58.
Report of J. Ross Browne on Indian "Wars of Oregon. Ex. Doc. No.
38, 1857-58, vol. ix.
Report of J. Ross Browne on Indian Reservations of the Northwest.
Ex. Doc. No. 39, 1857-58, vol. ix.
CHAPTER VIII.
ASII HOLLOW AND THE CHEYENNE EXPEDITION.
Correspondence and Evidence concerning Grattan Affair. Sen. Doc.
No. 91, 1855-56, vol. xiv.
Harney's Report. Ex. Docs. 1855-56, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 49.
Cooke's Report. Sen. Doc. No. 58, 1856-57, vol. viii.
Sign Language. In First Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology.
Washington, 1881.
Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language. Rev. S. R. Riggs.
In Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. iv.
Cheyenne Troubles of 1856. Sen. Docs. 1856-57, vol. iii., pp. 106-112.
Sumner's Expedition. Sen. Docs. 1857-58, vol. iii., pp. 96-99.
The Oregon Trail, etc. Francis Parkman. Boston, 1866.
The Plains of the Great West and their Inhabitants. R. I. Dodge.
New York, 1877.
City of the Saints, etc. R. F. Burton. New York, 1862.
CHAPTER IX.
LOS NABAJOS.
Report of 1867 on Condition of Indian Affairs (supra ch. i.). Appendix.
El Gringo (supra ch. iii.).
Historical Sketch. Sen. Docs. 1858-59, vol. i., pp. 540-543.
An Account of the Navajoes of New Mexico. Major Backus. In
Schoolcraft's Hist, and Stat. Inf. (supra), vol. iv., p. 209.
Military Reports. Sen. Docs. 1858-59, vol. ii., pp. 278-329; also, Sen.
Docs. 1859-60, vol. ii., pp. 256-354.
Lieutenant Simpson's Memoir of Washington's Expedition. Sen. Doc.
No. 64. 1849-50, vol. xiv.
The Undeveloped West. J. H. Beadle. Cincinnati, 1873.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
?61
CHAPTER X.
MOUNTAIN MEADOWS.
Correspondence and Evidence from War and Interior Departments.
Sen. Doc. No. 42, 1859-60, vol. xi.
Military Reports. Sen. Docs. 1859-60, vol. ii., pp. 121-255.
Trial of Gunnison Murderers. Ex. Docs. 1855-56, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 167.
Emissaries to Indians. Ex. Doc. No. 38, 1857-58.
Emissaries to Indians. Ex. Doc. No. 76, 1856-57.
Emissaries to Indians. Sen. Docs. 1859-60, vol. ii., p. 339.
Judge Cradlebaugli's Account. Congressional Globe, 1862-63. Appen¬
dix, p. 119.
Mormonism Unveiled, etc. (Autobiography, trials, and confessions of
John D. Lee.) W. W. Bishop. St. Louis and Cleveland, 1882.
Life in Utah. J. H. Beadle. Philadelphia, 1870.
Western Wilds and the Men who Redeem Them. J. II. Beadle. Cin¬
cinnati, 1878.
CHAPTER XL
WAR WITH THE SPOKANES, ETC.
Lieutenant Mullan's Topographical Memoir. Ex. Doc. No. 32,1858-59,
vol. x.
Father Hoecken's Account of the Attack on Steptoe. Sen. Docs. 1858—
59, vol. ii., p. 127.
Military Repprts and Papers. Sen. Docs. 1858-59, vol. ii., pp. 330-415.
Indian Bureau Reports and Papers. Sen. Docs. 1858-59, vol. i., pp.
566-635.
CHAPTER XII.
DEATH TO THE APACHE.
Cooke's Conquest of New Mexico {supra ch. iii.).
Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies (supra ch. ii.).
Bartlett's Narrative (supra ch. vi.).
Report of 1867 on Condition of Indian Tribes {supra ch. i.). Appendix.
Life Among the Apaches. John C. Cremony. San Francisco, 1868.
Across America and Asia. Raphael Pumpelly. New York, 1870.
Colyer's Report. Ex. Docs. 1871-72, vol. iii., p. 454.
El Gringo {supra ch. iii.).
CHAPTER XIII.
SAND CREEK.
Evidence. Report on Conduct of the War, 1864U65, pt. 3.
Evidence. Report of 1867 on Condition of Indian Tribes {supra ch. i.).
Appendix.
Evidence. Sen. Doc. No. 26, 1866-67.
Documents from Interior Department concerning Custer's Fight on the
Washita. Sen. Doc. No. 13, 1868-69.
762
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
Documents from War Department concerning Custer's Fight on the
Washita. Sen. Doc. No. 18, 1868-69.
My Life on the Plains. G. A. Custer. New York, 1874.
Sheridan's Troopers on the Border. De B. R. Keim. Philadelphia, 1870.
New Colorado and the Santa Fe Trail. A. A. Hayes. New York, 1880.
A Century of Dishonor. Helen Hunt Jackson. New York, 1881.
The Indian and White Man. Rev. D. W. Risher. Indianapolis, 1880.
CHAPTER XIY.
CANON DE CHELLY AND BOSQUE REDONDO.
Lieutenant Simpson's Memoir (supra cli. ix.).
Beadle's Undeveloped West (supra eh. ix.).
Report of 1867 on Condition of Indian Tribes (supra ch. i.). Appendix.
Carson's Report. MS., War Department.
Pioneer Life and Frontier Adventure. D. C. Peters. Boston, 1881.
Report of Captain Walker. Sen. Docs. 1859-60, vol. ii., p. 316.
CHAPTER XV.
FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
Papers and Correspondence from War and Interior Departments, in¬
cluding Report of Special Commissioners. Sen. Doc. No. 13, 1867.
Military Reports: Report of Sec. of War, 1867, pp. 31-61.
Dodge's Plains of the Great West (supra ch. viii.).
Absaraka, Home of the Crows. Mrs. M. I. Carrington. Philadelphia.
1869.
Absaraka, Land of Massacre. Col. H. B. Carrington. Philadelphia,
1878.
CHAPTER XVI.
PUNISHING THE PIEGANS.
Historical Sketch. Schoolcraft's Hist, and Stat. Inf. (supra), vol. v., p. 179.
Early Relations to U. S. Sen. Docs. 1858-59, vol. xviii.
Papers and Evidence from War Department. Ex. Doc. No. 269, 1869-
70, vol. xii.; also, Sen. Doc. No. 49, 1869-70.
Baker's Report. Ex. Doc. No. 197, 1869-70, vol. vii.
Papers and Correspondence from Interior Department. Ex. Doc. No.
185, 1869-70, vol. vii.
Congressional Globe, 1869-70, pt. 2, pp. 1575-1599.
Adventures of Captain Bonneville, etc. Washington Irving. New
York, 1864.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAVA BEDS.
Papers and Correspondence from War and Interior Departments, includ¬
ing Proceedings of Military Commission. Ex. Doc. No. 122,1873-74, vol. ix.
Meacham's Report. Ex. Docs. 1873-74, vol. iv., p. 442.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
7G3
Gillem's Report. Sen. Doc. No. 1, 1877 (bound with Docs, of 1876-77).
Cost of War. Ex. Doc. No. 131, 1874-75, vol. xv.
The Modocs. Stephen Powers. In Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 585.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE LITTLE BIG HORN.
Custer's Expedition to the Black Hills. Sen. Doc. No. 32, 1874-75.
Jenney's Expedition to the Black Hills. Sen. Doc. No. 51, 1875-76.
Disturbances leading to the War. Sen. Doc. No. 52,1875-76.
Invasions by Miners. Sen. Doc. No. 2, 1875 (bound with Docs, of
1874-75).
Report of Commission to Treat for Black Hills. Ex. Docs. 1875-76,
vol. iv., pt. 1, p. 686.
Report of Commission to Treat with Sitting Bull in Canada. Ex.
Docs. 1877-78, vol. viii., p. 719.
Terry's Report. Sen. Doc. No. 81, 1875-76.
Sheridan's Report. Ex. Docs. 1876-77, vol. ii., pt. 1, p. 439.
Movements of Troops. Reports of General of the Army for 1876 and
1877.
Autobiography of Sitting Bull. Harper s Weekly, July 29, 1876.
Record of Engagements with Hostile Indians, etc. Lt.-gen. P. H. Sher¬
idan. Chicago, 1882.
A Popular Life of Gen. George A. Custer. F. Whittaker. New York,
1877.
Dodge's Plains of the Great West (supra cli. viii.). Introduction.
CHAPTER XIX.
JOSEPH'S NEZ PEROES.
Origin of the War. Report Sec. of War for 1875, vol. i., pp. 124-131 ;
also, Report Sec. of Interior for 1875, vol. i., p. 762; also Report Sec. of War
for 1876, vol. i., pp. 91, 92 ; also Report Sec. of Interior for 1876, vol. i..
p. 449.
Report of Commission to Treat with Joseph. Ex. Docs. 1877-78, vol.
viii., p. 607.
Report of General Howard. Report Sec. of War, 1877, vol. i., pp. 119—
133.
Reports of Gibbon, Sturgis, and Miles. Report Sec. of War, 1877, vol. i.,
pp. 68-77.
Report of General Sherman. Report Sec. of War, 1877, vol. i., pp. 7-15.
Joseph's Statement. North American Review, vol. cxxviii., p. 412.
Howard's Reply. North American Review, vol. cxxix., p. 53.
Nez Perce Joseph, etc. Gen. O. O. Howard. Boston, 1881.
The Return of the Nez Perces. Rev. G. L. Deffenbaugh. In The
Foreign Missionary, July, 1885, p. 71.
Lindsley's Report. In Minutes of Eighth Annual Session of the Synod
of the Columbia, p. 71. Seattle, W. T,, 1884.
764
LIST OF AUTHORITIES.
CHAPTER XX.
WHITE RIVER AGENCY.
Historical Sketch. Major Powell. House Mis. Doc. No. 86, 1873-74.
Fight near Ponclia Pass. Ex. Docs. 1855-56, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 49.
Brunot's Council. Ex. Docs. 1873-74, vol. iv., pt. 1, pp. 451-481.
Ute Affairs, 1873-79. Sen. Doc. No. 29, 1879-80, vol. i.
Papers and Correspondence from Interior Department. Sen. Doc. No.
31, 1879-80, vol. i.
Report of Special Commissioners Hatch and Adams. Ex. Doc. No. 83,
1879-80, vol. xxiv.
Evidence before Committee on Indian Affairs. House Mis. Doc. No.
38, 1879-80, vol. iv.
CHAPTER XXI.
CRUELTY, PITY, AND JUSTICE.
Colyer's Report {supra cli. xii.).
Howard's Report. Ex. Docs. 1873-74, vol. iii., p. 533.
Reports from Department Commanders of Arizona and New Mexico,
accompanying Reports of Generals of the Army, 1872-84.
Reports from Agencies of New Mexico and Arizona, accompanying Re¬
ports of Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 1872-84.
Message of Governor Safford for 1875. Journal of Eighth Legislature
of Arizona.
INDEX.
Abbott, J. B., withdraws troops from Uncom-
pahgre Park, 687.
Absaroka, same as Crows, 479.
Adams, Gen. Charles, goes to Utes to release
captives, 710; brings in captives, 713; state¬
ment as to urging withdrawal of troops, 713.
714.
Ahnahaways, who are, 379.
Ahuutupuwit, Ute warrior, captures Mrs. Price,
705; surrender of, demanded, 714.
Albert, Indian boy, witnesses Mountain Meadow
massacre, 298; induced to lie about it, 319.
Alcatraz Island, Modocs sent to, 582 ; Apaches
sent to. 744. 752.
Alcedo, Antonio de, estimate of population of
California, 131.
Alder Gulch, mines of, 478.
Alexander, Colonel, ordered from Utah by Brig-
ham Young, 288, 289.
Allakaweah, who are, 379.
Allen, Lieut. J. K., death of. 352; mentioned,
354.
Allen, Agent R. A., reports starvation of Pie-
gans, 537, 538.
Almy, Lieutenant, killed, 732.
Alvord, Major, quoted, 1U5.
Always Ready. See Giannahtah.
American Horse, Sioux chief, killed, 625.
American Indian Aid Association, intercedes
for Modocs, 581.
Ames, John G., reports on Mission Indians, 149.
Amoroko, Snake chief, band of, 276.
Ankatosh, Ute chief, mentioned, 689.
Antelope, Ute warrior, aids in murder of Esk-
ridge, 703; aids in massacre, 704; surrender
of; demanded, 714.
Anthony, Major, opinion of Indians at Sand
Creek, 416, 417 ; takes command at Fort
Lyon, 418; official report of, 419; sends
Cheyennes away, 420; Cheyennes defy, 421;
advice to Chivington, 422.
Antonio Garra, Yuma chief, conspiracy of, 180.
Apache Canon, Kearny at, 49, 50; fight at, 407.
Apache Mohaves, same as Yampais, 358.
Apache Pass, flglit at, 380; resistance to Carle-
ton at. 382.
Apache Yumas, same as Hualapais, 358.
Apaches, location and origin of, 82, 245; dam-
ago by, to Mexican settlements, 159; com¬
mon opinions of, 356 ; divisions of, 357;
names of, 358; troubles of, with Mexicans,
359; troubles of, with traders and trappers,
360; massacres of, 361; scalp-bounty for,
362; meet General Kearny, 365; meet Bart-
lett's party, 366; slavery among, 367, 368,
372, 373 ; troubles with Bartlett's party,
373; try to drive out minors, 374; massacre
White's party, 377; Mexicans attack, 378;
not protected by intercourse laws, 379; hos¬
tilities of, at beginning of rebellion, 380,
381 ; Californians defeat, 382 ; operations
against, 383 ; at Bosque Redondo, 384 ;
Carleton's campaigii against, 385, 386 ; ex¬
termination theory tried on, 389, 391; effect
of extermination policy, 390 ; troubles at
Bosque Redondo, 392; failure of extermina¬
tion policy, 395; extermination policy con¬
tinued, 717, 718 ; establishment at Camp
Grant, 719, 720; massacre of, at Camp Grant,
721-725; peace policy tried, 726, 727; failure
of peace policy, 728, 729; Crook's policy in¬
augurated, 729, 730; features of Crook's pol¬
icy, 731; success of same, 732 ; removal
policy inaugurated, 733, 734; effects of re¬
movals, 735-743; hostilities in 1880-82,743-
747; Crook returns to, 747, 74S; renews his
policy, 749; renegades brought in, 750-752;
success of Crook's policy, 753, 754; causes
of trouble remaining, 754, 755.
Applegate, Jesse, appointed on Modoc commis¬
sion, 559; removed, 560.
Applegate, Oliver, appointed on Modoc com¬
mission, 559; removed, 560.
Arapahoes. See Cheyennes and Arapahoes.
Archuleta, Col. Diego, bought up by Magoffin,
50 ; conspiracy of, 61.
Arivapas, Apaches, who are, 357; location of,
358; capture Inez Gonzales, 366; come to
Camp Grant, 719, 720; Camp Grant massa¬
cre, 721-725 ; attack on, 725 ; reservation
made for, 727; sent to San Carlos, 730.
Arizona, description of southwestern part, 151,
152; established as a territory, 157,158; de¬
scription of northeastern part, 244, 245;
Apache warfare in, 356; a refuge for crim¬
inals, 362; Indian slavery in, 372, 373; over¬
run by Apaches, 380, 381; gold discoveries
in, 385; operations against Apaches in, 385,
386; put in Department of California, 391;
progress of, 392,395; press of, defends Camp
Grant massacre, 724, 725; threatens Colyer,
726 ; Crook's policjr inaugurated in, 729;
success of same, 732; removal policy tried
in, 733 ; results of removals, 734-743 ;
changes of 1882 in, 747, 748; Crook's policy
renewed,749,750; Apache renegades brought
in, 752; Geronimo's outbreak, 753; remain¬
ing sources of Apache troubles, 754, 755.
Armijo, General, commands Mexican troops in
New Mexico, 49; bought up by Magoffin, 50;
retires to Mexico, 51.
Arrow, the. See Ouray.
Arroyo Hondo, massacre at, 66-68.
Arshay, Apache chief, revolt of, 747.
Ashburton treaty, mention of. 41.
Ash Hollow, location of, 234; light at, 235; crit-*
icism of fight at, 236; light at, praised on
frontier, 433, 434.
Assinaboines, location of, 81.
Astoria, sketch of history of, 32, 33.
766
INDEX.
Athabascans, related to Navahos, Apaches, and
Umpquas, 82, 245, 246.
Atsiua, same as Arapahoes, 221.
Augur, General, succeeds General Cooke, 503;
member Board of Peace Commissioners, 716.
Babbitt, A. IV., Secretary of Utah, killed by
Indians, 239.
Babcock, Lieutenant, defeats Toutos, 730.
Backus, Major, quoted, 254, 255.
Bacon, Lieutenant, sent to cut off Nez Perces,
655.
Bacon, Special Agent, reports on California res¬
ervations, 137,138.
Baillie-Grohman, quoted, 226.
Baker, Col. E. M., sent against Piegans, 528; re¬
covers horses from Bloods, 529; report of,
530; probable facts of light, 531; criticism
of light, 532; Sheridan's orders to, 533; sup¬
ported by army officers, 534.
Bald Head. Sec Hushliushcute.
Baldwin, Lieutenant, defeats Sitting Bull, 626.
Baliran, Sutler, killed, 615; murderer of,detect¬
ed, 616.
Bannocks, who are, 275, 276.
Barnclio, Modoc warrior, takes part in murder
of commissioners, 569; tried, 580; convict¬
ed, 581; sentence of, commuted, 582.
Barstow, A. C., member of Nez Perces commis¬
sion, 646; responsibility of, 672.
Bartlett. J. R., releases slaves of Mimbrenos,
366; hostilities to, 373; leaves Copper Mines,
374.
Bateman, AVilliam, aids John D. Lee at Mount¬
ain Meadows, 295.
"Baylor's Babes," fight of, with Colorado troops,
407.
Beale, Superintendent, estimate of Indians in
California, 130,131.
Bear, the, Sioux chief. See Malito Iowa.
Bear Chief, l'iegan chief, becomes hostile, 524;
camp of, attacked, 52S.
Bear Rivers, Utes, same as Yampas, 681.
Bear Spring, treaty at, 256; light at, 263.
Beaubieu, Narcissus, murdered by Pueblos, 65.
Beckwitli, Jim, guides Colorado troops, 396; a
chief of the Crows, 479.
Belknap investigation, Custer's connection
with, 601, 602.
Bell, Lieutenant, defeats Jicarillas, 377.
Benedict, , shoots at Nez Perces Indians,
636.
Bennett, Captain, recommends native police for
Navahos, 472.
Bennett, Ute warrior, Douglas refuses to sur¬
render, 696.
Bent, Charles, Governor of New Mexico, char¬
acter of, 152; murdered by Pueblos, 62, 63;
buried at Santa Fe, 78.
Bent, George, writes letter for Cheyenne chiefs,
411; believed to be a rebel emissary, 425.
Bent's Fort, described, 52.
Benteen, Captain, sent ahead by Custer, 608;
report of, 609; besieged, 610; estimate of
number of Indians, 620; not in fault, 624;
cuts off Nez Perces herd, 657.
Benton, Thomas, calls attention to value of Ore¬
gon, 46; regrets discovery of gold in Califor¬
nia, 124, 125; mention of, 241.
Beswick, Nate, representations of, to Modocs,
559.
Bewley, Lorinda, captured by Cayuses, 96; giv¬
en to Five Crows, 99; deposition of, 113-115.
Big Bill, Pi - ode chief, at Mountain Meadow
massacre, 293.
Big Thunder, Nez Perce chief, orders Joseph
away, 631.
Bingham, Lieutenant, killed by Sioux, 491.
Birtsell, Dr. C. S., testimony of, concerning
Sand Creek, 416.
Blackfeet, location of, 81; who are, 509; tribal
organization of, 510; reputation of, 511;
cause of reputation, 512; torture of, by Flat-
heads, 513; generosity of, 514; location of,
in 1853, 515; treat with Stevens, 516; peace¬
ful relations of, 517, 51S; location in 1869,
528; neglect of, 536; sufferings of, 537 ; star¬
vation of, 53S; right of, to aid, 541; helpless¬
ness of, 542; harassed by Sioux, 593. See
also Piegans and Bloods.
Black Foot, Sioux warrior, mistreats Mrs. Ew-
banks, 428.
Blackfoot Sioux, who are, 231; treaty of 1866
with, 481; on the war-path, 500; not related
to Blackfoot nation, 510 (note)- location of,
in 1876, 591; at war, 618; make peace, 628.
Black Hills, held sacred by Indians, 585; gold
believed to exist in, 586; gold discovered,
587; invasion of, 588; Indians refuse to sell,
589, 590; Indian title to. extinguished, 628.
Black Jim, Modoc warrior, refuses to surrender,
553; meets commissioners, 567; shoots at
Meacham, 569; arraigned, 579; tried, 580;
sentenced, 581; executed, 582.
Black Kettle, Cheyenne chief, commands Chey-
ennes at Sand Creek, 408; admits hostility,
411; considered friendly, 416; escapes from
Sand Creek, 417; band of, confused with
Little Raven's Arapahoes, 418-420, 430; dis¬
play of flag by, 422; claims authority over
Dog Soldiers, 431; surprised by Custer, 440.
Black Knife, Apache chief, meets Bartlett's
party, 366.
Black Tigers, Sioux, who were, 591.
Blair, Sam, representations of, to Modocs, 559.
Blanchet, Jesuit bishop, arrives in Oregon, 93;
baptizes IVailatpu murderers, 102; treat¬
ment of Miss Bewley, 113-116.
Blood atonement, Mormon doctrine of, 284, 285,
290, 298, 313.
Bloods, who are, 509; treat with Stevens, 516;
hostilities by, 518; steal horses, 522; en¬
couraged by Hudson's Bay Company, 523;
location in 1869, 52S; surrender stolen
horses, 529. See also Blackfeet and Piegans.
Bloodv Point, light at, 192; massacre of Modocs
at, 193.
Bloody Tanks, massacre of Apaches at, 389.
Bluewater, light on. See Ash Hollow.
Blunt, General, ambushed by Cheyennes and
Arapahoes, 412,444; co-operates with Carle-
ton, 423, 424.
Board of Indian Commissioners, importance of,
15; should call for aid for destitute tribes,
53S; organization of, 716.
Bogus Charley, Modoc warrior, carries message
to commissioners, 565; accompanies Riddle
to council, 567; assaults Dr. Thomas, 569;
betrays Captain Jack, 576; witness at trial,
580; becomes chief, 583.
Bogy, Indian commissioner, did not believe in
hostile Indians, 480; ignorance of Indian
affairs, 485; explanation of Fetterman mas¬
sacre, 501, 502.
Bolen, Indian agent, murdered by Yakimas, 204;
murderers of, remain at large, 333; murder¬
ers punished, 352.
Bonito, Apache chief, returns to reservation,
752.
Bordeaux, trader, declines to accept submission
of Cheyennes and Arapahoes, 230.
Boreman, Judge, sentences John I). Lee, 319.
Bosque Redondo, Mescaleros sent to, 383, 384;
troubles at, 392; selected as a reservation
INDEX.
767
by General Carleton, 452 ; Navahos depre¬
date at, 453; Navahos sent to, 4(14; Indians
quarrel at, 405; agriculture fails at, 406;
description of, 407; suffering at, 408, 409;
Carleton's mistake, 470; decided a failure,
471; Navahos removed from, 472.
Boston Charley, Modoc warrior, at council,
507; shoots Dr. Thomas, 509; surrenders,
577; tried, 580; convicted, 581; executed,
582.
"Bostons," Indian name for Americans, 102.
Bowpiths, Sioux, same as Sans Arcs, 231.
Bozeman, Montana, settlement of, 478.
Bozeman Route, desirability of road by, 478,
479; Indians oppose road, 482; right to
road, 484, 485, 507; road abandoned, 508.
Bracito, battle at, 51.
Brady, Joseph, carries message for Ouray, 706;
opinion as to the pictures, 712.
Brannan, Samuel, Mormon bishop of California,
119; reports receipts of gold, 121.
Brewer, Dr. Charles, quoted, 290, 307-309.
Briesly, Dr., testimony concerning Camp Grant
massacre, 721, 722.
Brooks, Major, negro servant of, killed by a
Navaho, 262; demands murderer, 262, 263;
expedition of, 208.
Brouillet, Father, quoted, 93; arrives at AVai-
latpu, 99; objects to Indian testimony, 109;
statement of, 109-113; Miss Bewley's ac¬
count of, 113-115.
Brown, Capt. F. H., volunteers with Fetter-
man's party, 491; body found, 495; proba¬
ble suicide of, 490, 499.
Browne, J. Ross, quoted, 107; action of, criti¬
cised, 333; opinion of Stevens's treaties, 334.
Brules, Sioux, designation of, in sign language,
225; who are, 231; part of, in Grattan mas¬
sacre, 232; go to war, 233; defeated at Ash
Hollow, 235; submission of, 236; treaty of
1866 with, 481; remain friendly, 483, 484;
some hostile, 500; location in 1876,591; at
war, 618; make peace, 628.
Brunot, Felix, treats with Utes, 683; Ouray's
statement to, 684.
Buchanan, President, promotes General Har¬
ney, 238; quoted, 286.
Buffalo, destruction of, 2, 3, 4; belief of Indians
as to permanence of, 243; extermination of,
537, 538.
Buffalo eaters, who are, 275.
Bull Bear, Cheyenne chief, desires to treat, 408;
friendliness of, 411; in council at Denver,
412; a sub-chief to Black Kettle, 431.
Bunnell, Dr., account of Yosemite war, 133,
134; quoted, 135.
Burgwin, Captain, killed at Pueblo do Taos, 77.
Burke, Col. Martin, furnishes goods to Francis¬
co, 181; letter to Olive Oatman, 183; reports
her recovery, 184.
Burns, Captain, captures Yampais, 730.
Burnt Thighs. See Brules.
Byers, W. N., Meeker's letter to, 698, 699.
Caballo ex Pei.o, Yuma chief, massacres Gal¬
latin party, 362.
Cabanisse, Dr., negotiates with Modocs, 577.
Cache Valley Indians, who are, 277.
Cadete. See Giannahtah.
Cajuenches, same as Cuchans, 358.
Calhoun, Captain, killed at Little Big Horn,
611; a brother-in-law of General Custer, 623.
Calhoun, Governor, treats with Navahos, 257,
258; releases slaves, 368; treats with Jica-
rillas, 377.
California, conquered, 47; discovery of gold in,
118-125; early settlers of, 125-127; Indians
of, 127-129; first Indian troubles of, 129,
133-135; native population of, 130-133; res¬
ervations of, 135-137; Indian ring in, 137,
138; barbarous treatment of Indians of, 138-
142; Mission Indians of, 142-150; Indians in
northern part of, 190, 191; sends troops
against Modocs, 192; Indian titles in, 194;
Mormons incite Indians of, 281; Mormons
recalled from, 286; criminals from, in Ari¬
zona, 362; slavery in, 371; volunteers from,
in New Mexico, 382,383; Southern sympa¬
thy in, 404; pay to militia of, in Modoc war,
578.
Calispels. See Pend d'Oreilles.
Campbell, Captain, quoted, 293.
Camp Grant, establishment of Apaches at, 719,
720; massacre at, 721-723; attempted de¬
fence of, 724; evil effects of, 725, 726, 729.
Camp Yuma, location of, 158; Lorenzo Oatman,
at, 179.
Cauby, Gen. E. R. S., drives back Texans, 382,
407; relieved by Carleton, 383; fight at Val-
verde, 404; campaign against Navahos, 451;
sketch of, 550; recommends separate reser¬
vation for Modocs, 552; made a member of
Modoc commission, 560; opinion as to last
council, 565; refuses to deceive Modocs, 566;
goes to council, 567; speech at council, 568;
killed, 569 ; body recovered, 570 ; indigna¬
tion at murder of, 571.
Cannon, George Q., denies guilt of Mormons at
Mountain Meadows, 314.
Cannon, Lieutenant, testimony of, concerning
Sand Creek, 434.
Canon Alsada described, 455, 456; entered by
Colonel Miles, 458.
Canoncito Bonito described, 258.
Canon Creek, fight at, 657.
Canon de Chelly reached by troops, 256; par¬
tially explored, 257; explored, 265; expedi¬
tion against Navahos in, 454; extent of, 455;
description of, 456; cliff-houses in, 457; ex¬
plorations of, 458; Carson marches to, 461;
operations at, 462 ; misstatement concern¬
ing, 463; results of operations at, 464, 465.
Canon del Trigo, location of, 456 ; entered by
Lieutenant Simpson, 458.
Capotes, Utes, who are, 277; included in South¬
ern Utes, 681.
Captain Billy, Tabequachc chief, mentioned,
689.
Captain Jack, Modoc chief, troubles of, at Kla¬
math reservation, 545; leaves reservation,
546 ; conduct of, 549 ; attacked by Captain
Jackson, 552 ; takes no part in murder of
settlers, 553; goes to Lava Beds, 554; joined
by Hot Creek Indians, 559; message of, to
commissioners, 562; desires peace, 563; de¬
cides for war, 564; saves Judge Steele's life,
565 , meets commissioners, 567; speech at
council, 568; kills General Canby, 569; leaves
Lava Beds, 576; captured, 577; Indians call
him insane, 578; arraigned, 579; tried, 580,
581; executed, 582.
Carasco, General, attack of, on Apaches, 359
Carey, Captain, accompanies Carson at Canon
do Chelly, 461; sent through the canon, 462.
Carleton, General, quoted, 125; erects monu¬
ment at Mountain Meadows, 309; advances
to New Mexico, 382 ; operations against
Mescaleros, 383; sends Mescaleros to Bosque
Redondo, 384; protects Arizona miners. 385;
result of operations in Arizona, 386; infatu¬
ated with Bosque reservation project, 392;
instructs Carson not to make peace, 423;
decides to remove Navahos to Bosque Re¬
dondo, 452 ; operations against Navahos,
768
INDEX.
453,454; quoted, 458; mistake of, in num¬
ber of Navahos, 465; objects to interference
of Steck, 467, 408 ; comforts the Navahos,
469 ; persists in Bosque Kedondo project,
470.
Carr, Colonel, attacked by Apaches, 744.
Carrington, Col. H. B., sent to Powder River
country, 483; locates Fort Phil Kearney,
480; constructs fort, 487; neglects scouting,
489; asks for reinforcements, 490; orders
of, disobeyed, 499; removed, 500; misrepre¬
sented, 501; exonerated, 502; faults of, 503,
504.
Carson, Kit, saves Fremont's party, 191; guides
dragoons against Jicarillas. 377; accepts sur¬
render of Mescaleros, 383; commands at
Fort Canby, 454; expedition of, to Canon do
Chelly, 401; immediate results of expedi¬
tion, 402; misstatement concerning, 403;
ulterior results of expedition, 404 ; sent
against Comanches, 405; treats with Utes,
681.
Casas Grandas, what are, 54-57; no tradition of
occupancy by Navahos, 245.
Cascades, the, described, 211; massacre at, 212.
Casino, Klickitat chief, splendor of, 201, 202,
371.
Catlin, George, meets Nez Perces messengers,
30, 37.
Cayuses, location of, 80; derivation of name,
80 (not<>); religious dissensions of, 90-93;
massacre by, at Wailatpu, 93-100; punish¬
ment of, 101; treaty with, 217; treaty rati¬
fied, 355; removal of, recommended, 045.
Chan-Deisi, Apaclio chief, attacks Agent Larra-
bee, 731; killed, 732.
Chandler, Special Agent, statement concerning
Sioux treaty of 1870, 483.
Chapitone, Navalio chief, makes treaty, 257;
murdered, 258.
Chase, Samuel, appointed on Modoc commis¬
sion, 559; removed, 500.
Chato, Apache chief, raid of, 750; returns to
reservation, 752.
Cliavanaugh. See Shavano.
Cheis. See Cochise.
Cheinakane Mission, location of, 87; abandon¬
ment of, 341.
Chemeliueves, location of, 157; present state
of, 187.
Cherokees, in Confederate army, 424.
Cherry, Lieutenant, at Milk Creek, 700.
Chesterfield House, whiskey sold to Indians at,
515.
Cheyennesand Arapalioes, fraudulent estimates
of, 10; location of, 81; treaty of 1851 with,
220; early history of, 221, 222; separations
of, 222; language of, 223; designations of,
in sign language, 225; government and po¬
lice of, 227; llrst troubles with, 229, 230;
hostilities of 1850, 238, 239; Sumner's ex¬
pedition against, 239, 240; become peace¬
able, 240; treatment of, by Colorado set¬
tlers, 241, 242, 429; treaty with, 423; attack
on, at Sand Creek, 390-401; sketch of hos¬
tilities, 408 ; effect of hostilities on whites,
409, 410; admit hostilities, 411-410; proofs
of hostilities, 410, 417; not promised protec¬
tion, 417-422; instructions to punish, 423;
sympathy with rebels, 424, 425; treachery
of, 420; brutality of, 427-430; report of
Congressional committee, 430-433; misrep¬
resentations of Sand Creek affair, 433-437;
treaty of 1805 with, 437; go to war, 438;
supplies issued to, 439; defeated by Custer,
440; defended hv Wynkoop, 443; Chiving-
ton's opinion of, 444, 445; aid Sioux against
Crows, 479; aid in Fetterman massacre,
500; location of northern band in 1876, 591;
at Rawlin's Springs massacre, 595; removal
of northern band, 743; Crook's opinion of
the removal, 748.
Chickasaws, in Confederate army, 424.
Chief Joseph. See Joseph, Young.
Chihuahua, policy of, to Apaches, 359; offers
scalp-bounty, 300; results of scalp-bounty,
361-303; joins United States in fighting
Apaches, 385, 380; slaves from, sold in New
Mexico, 447.
Chimoneth, Cascade chief, hanged, 212.
Chinaman, Ute warrior, Douglas refuses to sur¬
render, 696.
Chinooks, location of, 82; sacrifice of slaves by,
372.
Chiricahuas, Apaches, who are, 357; treachery
to, 380; go to war, 381; fight Carleton, 382;
operations against, 385, 380, 391; failure of
extermination policy with, 395; refuse to
be removed, 727 ; Coyoteros take refuge
with, 735; removal of, attempted, 736, 738;
cause of attempt, 737; war results, 738; ef¬
fects of attempt, 742, 743; come to White
Mountain reservation, 743; leave reserva¬
tion, 747; raids of, 750, 751; brought in by
General Crook, 752; Geronimo's outbreak,
753.
Chivington, Col. J. M., attack on Cheyennes at
Sand Creek, 396-401; statement of number
killed, 401; early life of, 402; enters army,
403; fight at Apache Canon, 407; not fairly
tried, 417; did not promise Cheyennes pro¬
tection, 420; justification of, 422; instruc¬
tions to, 423; considers Indians allies of the
South, 425; report of .Congressional com¬
mittee on, 430-433; misrepresentation of
Sand Creek, 433-437; attacked in treaty,
437; moves to Ohio, 443; address of, in
Denver, 444, 445; returns to Colorado, 445.
Choate, Senator, opposes Oregon land donation
bill, 42.
Choctaws, in Confederate army, 424.
Chowchillas, conquered, 131.
Chuntz, Apache chief, killed, 732.
Cibicu Indians, outbreak of, 747.
Claiborne, Capt. Thomas, report of, on Bosque
Redondo, 400, 407.
Clarke, Gen. N. S., objects to Mormon influ¬
ence, 332; opposes Stevens's treaties, 332;
Indian messages to, 335; sends messengers
to Indians, 341.
Clarke, Gen. William, Indian Superintendent at
St. Louis, 30. See also Lewis and Clarke.
Clarke, M., murder of, 524. 527.
Clay, Henry, defeated by Polk, 47.
Clearwater, fight on, 049, 050.
Cliff-houses described, 58; in Canon de Chel¬
ly, 457.
Clymer, Heister, involves Custer in Belknap
investigation, 001.
Cochees. See Chiricahuas.
Cochinay, Apache chief, killed, 732.
Cochise, Apache chief, who was, 357; relation
to Mangas Colorado, 374; escape of, 380;
resists Carleton, 382; leaves Canada Ala¬
mosa, 727 ; death of, 730.
Cocopahs, description of, 155; attacked by Mo-
haves, 177.
Cceur d'Alcne Mission described, 348; treaty
at, 351.
Coeur d'Alenes, location of. 81; friendly be¬
fore 1858, 324; menace Steptoc's command,
325; attack it, 320; fight with, 328; ad¬
missions of wrong, 330; causes of discon¬
tent, 331-336; defiance of, 342; Colonel
INDEX.
769
Wright marches against, 343; defeated at
Four Lakes, 344; sue for peace, 348; coun¬
try of, 348, 351; make treaty, 351.
Cok. See Slolox.
Colley, Major, Cheyenne chiefs' letter to, 411.
Collins. Superintendent, treats with Navahos,
451.'
Colorado, early settlement of, 219, 220; discov¬
ery of gold in, 240-242; treatment of In¬
dians by settlers, 241, 242; Indian slavery
in, 371, 372; volunteers from, in New Mex¬
ico, 382, 4U4-4U7; at Sand Creek, 403; Indi¬
an troubles during the Rebellion, 408-411;
Cheyenne and Arapahoe hostilities in, 411-
410; loyal feeling in, 424, 425; cause of bit¬
terness of people to Indians, 420-430; re¬
union of old settlers, 443-445; stands by
Sand Creek, 445; desire in, for removal of
L'tes, G75-OSO; early Ute troubles in, 080,
681; San Juan excitement, 082-084; inva¬
sion of Uncoinpahgre Park. 085-087; con¬
duct of l'tes. 092, 093; conduct of whites,
094, 095; l'tes removed from, 714, 715.
Colorado River Indians, who are, 187.
Colorow, White River chief, mentioned, 690;
meets Thoruburgh, 099.
Colville mines discovered, 204; trouble near,
324.
Colwell, , settles on Lapwai reservation,
041.
Colyer, Vincent, misrepresents Lieutenant
Lease and General Sully, 531, 532; sent
to Arizona, 726; establishes Apaches, 727;
failure of plans of, 729.
Comanches, location of, 81; in Confederate
army, 424.
Concentration. See Removal and Concentra¬
tion.
Conde, General, forwards released slaves to
Mexico, 307.
Congiato. Father. Joset's letter to, 329; goes
to Indians as mediator, 341.
Connelly, Governor, treats with Navahos, 451;
calls out militia, 452.
Cook, Colonel, killed at Little Big Horn, 612;
probably survived others, 015.
Cooke, Gen. P. St. G., accompanies Magoffin,
49; commands Mormon battalion, 51; at
Ash Hollow, 234,235; quoted, 230; Carring-
ton asks reinforcements from, 480; blamed
for Fetterman massacre, 502; relieved, 503;
fault of, 504.
"Cooper's Indian" not purely mythical, 24.
Copper Mine Apaches, same as Mimbrenos, 357.
Coupes-Gorges, same as Sioux, 225.
Cowan's party attacked by Nez Perces, 655.
Cow Island, fight at, 058.
Cox. Ross, quoted, 512, 513.
Coyoteros, Apaches, threaten the Oatmans,
100; who are, 357; location of, 358; per¬
mitted to leave Bosque Redondo, 470; set¬
tled at White Mountain reservation, 719;
assist troops, 731; removal of, to San Car¬
los, 734; ellects of removal, 735, 730; re¬
turn to White Mountain reservation, 749;
good conduct of, 752.
Cradlebaugh, Judge John, gives date of Mount¬
ain Meadow massacre, 299; investigates
massacre, 312; Hamlin's story to, 319.
Cramer. Lieutenant, testimony of, concerning
Sand Creek, 434.
Cranston, Lieutenant, killed in Lava Beds, 573.
Crazy Horse, Ogullalla chief, who was, 591;
light with Reynolds, 597; controversy con¬
cerning fight, 598; fight with Crook, 004;
number of Indians supposed to bo with,
017; at Little Big Horn, 018; leaves Sitting
Bull, 025; invites Sitting Bull to join him,
620; killed, 027.
Cremony, Colonel, statement as to Apache buri¬
als, 350, 357; Apache slaves take refuge with,
300; services of, 384.
Crittenden, Lieutenant, killed at Little Big
Horn. 011.
Crook, General, opposed to Ponca removal, 21;
expedition against Sioux, 590, 598; second
expedition, 001; light with Sioux, 603. 004;
mistake as to number of Sioux hostiles,
017,018; further operations against Sioux,
625, 620; opinion of Apaches, 728; inaugu¬
rates his policy, 729, 730; features of policy,
731; success of policy, 732, 733; goes to De¬
partment of the Platte, 734; returns to Ari¬
zona, 747; opinion of Cheyenne removal,
748: restores harmony in Arizona, 749;
brings in renegades, 750-752; success of
policy, 752; Geronimo's outbreak, 753; dif¬
ficulties to be encountered, 754, 755.
Crow Creek agency, fare of Indians at, 17.
Crow Dog. Sioux chief, trial of, for murder, 10.
Crow Feather, Sioux chief, opinion of Black
Hills, 589, 590.
Crows, location of, 81; designation of, in sign
language, 225; description of. 479; harass
Gros Ventres of the North, 510; harassed
by Sioux, 593, 594; complaints of, 595, 590.
Crucifixion by Indians, case of, 178.
Cuchans. See Yumas.
Cuchillo Negro. See. Black Knife.
Cullen, Special Commissioner, attempts to en¬
force law at Fort Benton, 522.
Cummings, Governor, reception of. in Utah, 315.
Curly, Crow scout, escape ofat Little Big Horn,
012; statement of, 015.
Curly-headed Doctor, Modoc chief, band of,
546; accused of lawlessness, 549; depreda¬
tions by, 553.
Curtis, General, sends troops against Chey-
ennes, 412; instructions to Chivington, 422,
423; opinion of hostiles, 424; statement as
to eifect of fight at Sand Creek, 433, 434.
Curtis, Judge - Advocate, exculpates Captain
Jack, 553; conducts trial of Modocs, 581; re¬
ports on Barncho and Slolox, 581, 582.
Custer, Boston, killed at Little Big Horn, 612,
623.
Custer, Capt. T., killed at Little Big Horn, 612,
(523.
Custer, General, estimate of Indian population,
1; campaign of 1807, 438; surprises Black
Kettle's camp, 440; writes up Cheyenne af¬
fairs, 443: expedition to Black Hills, 587,
588; testifies in Belknap investigation, 001;
Grant's treatment of, 002; marches against
Sioux. 003; starts to Little Big Horn, 007;
fight on Little Big Horn, 008-015; arrest, of
Rain-in-the-Face, 010 ; mistake as to force
of Sioux, 017, 018; drawn into a trap, 019-
622; not in fault, 023, 024.
Cut-arms, same as Cheyennes, 225.
Dakotas. See Sioux.
Dame. Colonel, orders Mountain Meadow mas¬
sacre, 295 ; retains standing in Mormon
Church, 315.
Davidson, Lieutenant, defeated by Jicarillas,
377.
Davis, Gen. J. C., takes command against Mo¬
docs, 574; decides to execute Modocs, 578,
579.
Davis, Inspector-general, holds council with
Apaches, 390, 391.
Davis, Superintendent, reports on condition of
Navahos, 471.
770
INDEX.
Deaf mutes, communicate with Indians by
signs, 223.
Deifenbaugh, Rev. G. I.., quoted. G71.
Delano, Secretary, detinition of peace policy,
19.
Delgadito, Apache chief, treachery of, 373. 374.
Delgado, Felipe, reports on condition of Nava-
hos, 470.
Del Shay, Tonto chief, captured, 730; killed,
732.
Democratic party, favors annexation of Texas,
29; favors occupation of Oregon, 42; diver¬
sity of sentiment, in, 43.
Denver, treatment of Indians by people of, 242.
De Radio, Lieutenant, escapes at Little Rig
Horn, (ill.
De Smet, Father, fears conversion of Indians
to Protestantism, 90.
De Trobriand, General, quoted, 524; report of
Baker's light, 531, 534; opinion of i'iegan
hostility. 535.
Des Chutes, location of, 80; defeated by Cap¬
tain Lee, 100; Stevens's treaty with, 217;
treaty ratified. 355.
Dcvine, , killed by Ncz PerceS, 047.
Diablo. See F.skyinlaw.
Diggers. See Pah-Utes and California Indians.
Digues de pitij. See Tookarikas.
Disease, effect of, on Indian population, 5, (5;
among Cay uses, 102; among Navahos, 253;
among Nez Perces in Indian Territory, 004-
000, 009, 070; among Hualapais, 730.
Doane, Lieutenant, destroys I'iegan camp, 529.
Doctors. See Medicine men.
Dodge, Captain, Meeker sends for, 702; relieves
Payne's command, 700.
Dodge, General, quoted, 228, 243.
Dog Canon, fight at, 383.
Dog-eaters, same as Chcyennes, 225.
Dog Soldiers, what are, 227 ; duties of, 228;
powers of, 229; refuse to let their leader
treat, 408; not an independent band, 431;
do not accept treaty of 1805, 437; hostilities
by, 43S.
Dona Ana, massacre of Mescaleros at, 378.
Doniphan, Colonel, expedition to Chihuahua,
50,51; expedition aga'nst Xavahos, 250.
Doolittlc, Senator, bias in Chiviugton investi¬
gation, 431; investigates Indian affairs of
New Mexico, 470.
Douglas, Stephen A., views on extension of
United States boundaries, 47.
Douglas, White River chief, leader of a faction,
090; Meeker makes friend of, 091; refuses
to surrender offenders, 090; opposes Meeker,
098; proposes to accompany Meeker, 702;
war-dance at camp of, 703; takes part in
massacre, 704; takes Mrs. Meeker, 700; sur¬
render of, demanded, 714.
Dresser, Frank, escapes from Utes, 704; sepa¬
rates from women. 705 ; body found, 710.
Dresser. Henry, body of. found, 709.
Drew. Lieutenant,visited by scalp-hunters, 302;
quoted, 305.
Dudley, L. E., removes White Mountain
Apaches, 735.
Dull Knife, Cheyenne chief, camp of, de¬
stroyed. 020.
Dundy, Judge, opinion of Ponca removal, 21.
Dunn. Lieut. Clark, tight with Chcyennes, 411;
Indian account of tight., 415.
Dyer, L. S., appointed on Modoc commission,
500; opposes last council. 505; goes to coun¬
cil, 507; pursued by Hooker Jim, 509; es¬
capes, 500; witness at trial, 580.
Eaton, George, killed by Utes,710.
Ebenezer, Ute warrior, aids in murder of Esk-
ridge, 703; aids in massacre, 704; surrender
of, demanded, 714.
Edmonton House, illicit traffic at, 523.
Ellen's Man, Modoc warrior, at council, 507;
shoots Dr. Thomas. 509; killed, 580.
Ellis. Nez Perce chief, made head-chief, 031.
Embudo, light near, 70, 73.
Eskimenzin, Arivapa chief, comes to Camp
Grant, 719; conduct of band of. 720; attack
011,721-724; second attack on, 725; manu¬
factures tiswin, 753.
Eskina, Chirioaliua chief, revolt of 737; killed
733.
Eskridge, Wilmer, murdered, 703; body found.
709.
F.skyinlaw, Apache chief, refuses to remove,
730.
Evans, George M., claim to discovery of gold in
California, 118-121.
Evans, Governor, goes to treat with Chcyennes,
40.3; calls for troops, 409, 410; talk with
Cheyenne and Arapahoe chiefs. 412-410;
did not promise Cheyennes protection, 420,
432; did not wish to treat, 422.
Ewb: inks, Mrs. Luanda, captured by Chey¬
ennes, 412; deposition of, 427-429; daughter
and nephew die of injuries. 429.
Ewell, Captain, defeats Mescaleros, 378.
Ewtaws. See Utes.
Exkinova, defined, 510.
Extermination policy, not possible of accom¬
plishment, 7; failure of, in Oregon, 205-207,
217; tried in Arizona, 380, 389; effects of,
391,392; failure of, 395; continued in Ari¬
zona, 717, 718; result of, 719; at Camp
Grant, 721-724 ; evils of, 725, 729; not be¬
lieved in by General Crook, 728, 733.
Fairciiild. John, Meacliam desires to accom¬
pany commission, 505; receives valuables
of Meacliam and Dyer, 507.
Fall River Indians, same as Arapalioes, 221.
Fancher's train, described, 289; treatment of,
by Mormons, 290; reaches Mountain Mead¬
ows. 291; attacked, 292; defence of, 293,294;
entrapped, 295, 290 ; massacred, 297-299;
value of property of, 300; Brigham Young's
account of, 302; innocence of, 306, 307, 317;
survivors of, 309, 310; heirs of, should be
compensated, 311.
Faraones, same as Navahos. 358.
Fauntleroy, Colonel, fight near Poncha Pass,
6 so, 081.
"Fed Savages" described. 10, 17.
Fernandez de Taos. See Taos.
Fetterman, Lieutenant-colonel, pursues Sioux,
490; commands troops at Fort Phil Kearney
massacre, 491; crosses Lodge Trail Ridge,
492; body found, 495; probable suicide of,
490, 499; disobeyed orders, 499.
Fetterman massacre. See Fort Pliil Kearney.
Fillmore, President, quoted, 194.
Finley, , kills Nez Perce Indian, 030; In¬
dians refuse to prosecute, 039.
Finney, , settles on Lapwai reservation, 041.
Fire arrows, use of, in signalling, 220.
Fitzpatrick, Agent, quoted, 219.
Five Crows, Cayuse chief, how named by
whites. 99; ravishes Miss Bewley, 113-115.
Flatlieads, location of. 83; custom of flattening
headdisroutinued.83(note); Stevens's treaty
with, 217,510; treaty ratified, 355; treachery
by, 512; torture Blackfeet, 513.
Forney, Dr.. gives date of Mountain Meadow
massacre, 299; instructed to investigate
massacre, 3U5; first report of, 306; makes
INDEX.
771
new discoveries, 308, 307; returns survivors,
309; Albert's story to, 319.
Forsytlie, Lieutenant-colonel, defeats Apaches,
747.
Fort Benton, relations of Indians at, 514; hos¬
tilities at, 518; lawlessness at, 522-524.
Fort Bridger. burned by Mormons, 286.
Fort Buchanan, trouble with (Jhiricaliuas near,
380.
Fort Buford, attack on, 504; Sitting Bull's au¬
tobiography brought to, 591; Sitting Bull
surrenders at, 628.
Fort Canby, operations from, 453, 454; Carson's
expedition from, 461; Navahos surrender
at, 464; abandoned,465.
Fort C. F. Smith, located, 487; abandoned and
burned, 508. .
Fort Craig, action near, 404; operation from, 453.
Fort Defiance established, 258; described. 259;
soldier killed at, 261; negro boy Jim killed
at, 262, 271; preparations for war at, 263-
265; operations from, 265-272, 453.
Fort Fauntleroy, massacre of Navahos at, 448.
Fort Fillmore, taken by rebels, 404.
Fort Klamath, Modocs tried at, 579-581; exe¬
cuted at, 582.
Fort Laramie, treaty with Sioux at, 507.
Fort Larned, treachery of Indians at, 421, 422.
Fort Phil Kearney, location of, 486; orthogra¬
phy of name, 486 (note); description of, 487;
country surrounding. 488; depredations near,
489,490; massacre near, 491-500; misrepre¬
sentations concerning massacre, 501, 502;
responsibility for massacre, 503, 504; action
near, 504, 505; abandoned and burned, 508.
Fort Reno, horses driven off from, 486; General
Wessels commands at, 500.
Fort Thorne, massacre of Mescaleros at, 379.
Fort Union, location of, 404; Colorado troops
supplied at, 405.
Fort Vancouver, described, 87.
Fort Walla-Walla,described, 87; plundered, 208;
light near, 207; new fort built, 324.
Fort Wingate, Apaches surrender at. 739.
Fort Wise, treaty at, 242; treaty repudiated by
Indians, 408, 416.
Fort Yuma, location of, 158; Grinnell at, 180;
Olive Oatman arrives at, 184.
Foster, Vice-President, investigates Indian af¬
fairs in New Mexico, 470.
Foul Hand, Tookarika chief, mentioned, 276.
Four Lakes, battle at, 343, 344.
Francisco, Yuma Indian, goes to release Olive
Oatman, 181; speech to the Jlohaves, 182;
brings Olive to Fort Yuma, 183; is made a
chief, 184; killed, 187.
Fremont, John C., crosses San Juan mountains,
41; aids in conquering California, 47; at¬
tacked by Klamatlis, 191; trouble with
Cheyeunes and Arapahoes, 229; description
of Salt Lake Basin, 275.
Fresno reservation, established, 137; aban¬
doned, 138.
Fur trade, effect of, on settlement of Rocky
Mountains, 31-34.
Gadsdek Purchase, what was, 48; caused by
Southern influence, 51.
Gall, Sioux chief, flees to British America, 627.
Gallantin, John, villainy of, 362.
Gallatin, Albert, favors separate government
for Pacific slope, 47.
Gallaudet, Professor, wonderful use of facial ex¬
pression by, 223.
Gambler's Gourd. See Washikie.
Ganado Blanco, Navaho chief, leaves Bosque
Redondo, 470.
Garcia, Lieutenant - colonel, defeats Apaches,
747.
Garland, General, subdues Jicarillas, 377, 378;
protects Mescaleros, 379.
Garnett, Major, campaign against Yakimas,
352, 354.
Garrotoros. probably same as Coyotcros, 358.
Garry, Spokane chief, opinion of Stevens's trea¬
ties, 335; sketch of, 338, 341; message to
General Clarke, 342; interview with Colonel
Wright, 347; treats with Colonel Wright,
351, 352.
Gaston, Lieutenant, killed at Ingossomen Creek,
327; buried at Fort Walla-Walla, 353.
Gay, Lieutenant, ambushed by Mormons and
Indians, 313.
Gazzous, Louis, murdered by Sioux, 486.
George, Modoc warrior, taunts Captain Jack,
564.
Geronimo, Apache chief, refuses to be removed,
738; comes to White Mountain reservation,
743; raid of, 750; surrenders, 752; last out¬
break of, 753.
Gerry, Elbridge. sent to bring in Clieyennes and
Arapahoes, 408.
Giannahtah, Mescalero chief, submission of,
383,384; quoted, 467.
Gibbon, General, leads detachment against
Sioux, 60L; communicates with Terry. 604;
directions to, 607; reaches scene of Custer
massacre, 611; light with Nez Perces, 652.
Gibbs, George, quoted, 331.
Gibson, Captain, murder of, 233.
Gileiios, Apaches, who are, 357; hostilities by,
381; reservation for, 727.
Gillem, General, quoted, 559; warned by Riddle,
566; does not believe Modocs will attempt
treachery, 567.
Gilpin, Lieutenant-colonel and Governor, win¬
ters among Clieyennes and Arapahoes, 230;
expedition against Navahos, 256; recruits
troops in Colorado, 404.
Gold, discovered in California, 118-125; effect
of, on Indians, 125; discovered in Colorado,
240-242, 675; discovered in Arizona, 385;
discovered in Idaho and Montana, 477, 478;
believed to exist in Black Hills. 585, 586;
discovered in Black Hills, 587-589; search
for in Nez Perces country, 636; believed to
exist in Elk Mountains, 679.
Goldstein, Carl, killed by Utes. 709.
Good Hearts, same as Arapahoes, 221.
Gordo, Apache chief, leaves Chiricaliua reserva¬
tion, 738.
Gosi-Utes, who are, 277.
Grand Coquin, Bannock chief, mentioned, 276.
Grand Lake, assassination of commissioners at,
694.
Grand Rivers, Utes, who are, 277; included in
White Rivers, 681.
Grant, General, orders investigation of Fetter-
man massacre, 500; influence on, to pardon
Modocs. 581; commutes sentence of Barncho
and Slolox, 582; cause of feeling towards
Custer, 601; refuses to see Custer, 602; per¬
mits Custer to accompany his regiment. 603;
effect on Custer's action, 623; withdraws
Uneompahgre Park from public domain,
685; peace policy of, 716.
Grattan massacre, occasion of, 232; result of, 233.
Gray, W. H., emigrates to Oregon, 37; custodian
of funds for Whitman monument, 117 (note).
Groat American Desert, extent of, 34.
Great Basin described. 81, 275. See also Utah.
Greenhow, Robert, estimate of the West, 44. 45.
Gregg, General, gives name Apache Y'umas to
llualapais, 358.
772
INDEX.
Gregory, John, discovery of gold by, in Colora¬
do, '241.
Grierson, Colonel, drives Victorio into Mexico,
744.
Grinnell, , search for Oatman girls, 180;
sends out Francisco, 181; announces return
of Olive Oatman, 183.
Gros Ventres of the North, who are, 510; trou¬
bles with Blackfeet, 514; location of, in 1853,
515; treat with Stevens, 51(1; remain peace¬
ful. 517, 518; troubles with l'iegans, 521;
separated from Black foot nation, 522.
Gros Ventres of the South, same us Arapalioes,
221.
Grover, Governor, demands surrender of Mo-
docs, 559, 578; claims Xez Forces have no
title to Wallowa valley, 034; puts his theory
before Congress, 037.
Grummond, Lieutenant, accompanies Fetter-
man party, 491; body found, 490.
Guadalupe Hidalgo, treaty of, 47; Mission In¬
dians citizens under, 148; effect of, on Apa¬
ches, 305.
Guero, Tabequaclie chief, mentioned, 089.
Guerrier, Edmond, writes letter for Cheyenne
chiefs, 411.
Gunnison, Lieutenant, murder of, 278, 279.
Haigiit, Mormon bishop, orders Mountain
Meadow massacre, 295; elected senator, 315.
Hairy Man. See Poemaclieeah.
Hale, C. H., makes treaty with Nez Forces, 033.
Halleck, General, opinion of Apaches, 391.
Haller, Major, campaign against Yakimas, 204.
Hamlin, Jacob, Faneher's train passes house of,
291; survivors of massacre taken to house
of, 299; reports to Brigham Young, 300;
gives information to Dr. Forney, 300; testi¬
mony of. 318; deceit of, 319.
Hamockhaves. See Mohaves.
Hancock, General, expedition of. in 1807,438;
representations of Major Wynkoop concern¬
ing, 443; attempt to blame, for attack on
Fiegans, 533.
Hardie, General, quoted, 524; investigates Pie-
gan troubles, 527; instructions to, 533; opin¬
ion of Fiegan hostility, 535.
Hardscrabble, Colorado, in 1847, 219, 220.
Hare. Bishop, opinion of Indian laws, 10.
Harney, General, marches against Sioux. 234;
defeats them at Ash Hollow, 235; establish¬
es first Indian police, 230; criticism of, 230;
summoned before court-martial, 237; pro¬
moted and sent to Oregon, 238; Mormon
poetry on, 287; action of, admired on fron¬
tier, 433; member Board Peace Commis¬
sioners, 71G.
Harris, E. II., aids in releasing Indian slaves,
371.
Hasbrouck's cavalry, capture Modocs. 57G.
Haskell. Lieutenant, induces return of Apache
renegades, 743.
Hastings, Agent, report on Sioux in 1876, 598,
(119.
Hatch, Capt. John P., expedition against Nava-
hos, 205, 200.
Hatch, General, treats with Utes, 087, 688; de¬
mands surrender of liostiles, 714; operations
against Apaches, 740.
Hatch, Ira, takes part in Mountain Meadow
massacre, 298, 299.
Hawalcoes. See Hunlapais.
Hawonjetah, Minneconjou chief, death of, 24.
Hayt. E. A., favors removals, 23; treatment of
Nez Perces, 660, 663; misstatements of, ex¬
posed. 664-668; enforces removal policy in
Arizona, 738.
Ilazen, General, inspects Fort Phil Kearney
487.
Head, Agent, quoted, 371, 372.
Heintzehnan, Colonel, sends force to rescue
Oatman girls, 179; chastises Yumas, 180.
Helena, Montana, settlement of, 478.
Henderson, J. B., member Board Peace Com¬
missioners, 716.
Herrara, Sergeant, fight at Canon de Chelly,
461.
Hickland, Hudson's Bay factor, encourages
horse-stealing, 523.
Hickman, Bill, cut off from Mormon Church,
316.
Ilickorias. See Jicarillas.
Higbce, Major, commands at Mountain Meadow
massacre, 295; gives- signal for massacre,
297; robs bodies, 299.
High Back Bone, Minneconjou chief, com¬
mands at Fetterman massacre. 499.
Higher law of Mormons, 274, 295, 320.
Hines, Surgeon, sent to look for F'etterman
party, 492.
Hitchcock, General, quoted, 194, 195.
Hodt, Captain, testimony of. 448.
Hoecken, Father, Joset's letter to, 329.
Hogans, what are, 245; superstitious concern¬
ing, 246, 249.
Hokandika. See Cache Valley Indians.
Homily, love of native home, 23.
Honzinger, Dr., killed, 615; murderer detected,
616.
Hooker Jim, Modoc warrior, who was, 553;
joins Captain Jack, 554; opposes peace, 561,
563; taunts Captain Jack, 564; in council,
567; action at council, 568; pursues Dyer,
569; betrays Captain Jack. 576; witness at
trial, 589.
Hooper, William II., denies guilt of Mormons,
314; buys plundered property, 315.
Hosta, Pueblo chief, accompanies Colonel
Washington, 257.
Hot Creek Indians, who were, 546; scattered
by settlers. 559.
Hottentot Venus, case of, 14.
Hovey. Eugene, killed by Modocs, 571.
Howard, Agent, report on Sioux in 1876, 598,
617.
Howard. Gen. O. 0., commissioner to treat with
Joseph, 638 ; recommends removal, 642,
643; first opinion of case, 645; ordered to
effect removal. 646; marches against Nez
Forces, 649; fight on the Clearwater, 650;
pursues Nez Perces, 651, 652; horses of, run
off, 655; quoted. 656; present at surrender,
660; responsibility of, 672, 673; establishes
Cliiricahua reservation. 727.
Howe, Lieutenant, killed in Lava Beds, 573.
Howe, S. II., makes treaty with Nez Perces, 633.
Howland, Lieutenant, expedition against Nava-
lios, 268.
Hualapais. belong to Yuma nation, 156; go to
war, 391; attempted removal to Colorado
River, 730; assist troops, 731; starvation of,
743.
Hudson's Bay Company, possession of Astoria
by, 33; attempts to prevent emigration to
Oregon, 38; post at Wallula, 87; receives
■Whitman kindly, 87; action and motives of,
8S, 89; ransoms American prisoners, 100;
responsibility for Wailatpu massacre, 102,
108; claim against United States, 116; incite
Yakimas, 202; distrust of, in Oregon, 328,
329; action in Spokane war, 333; encourages
slavery, 370, 371; sells whiskey to Indians,
515; buys stolen horses, 522; encourages
horse-stealing, 523.
INDEX.
773
Hugus, W. B., tried for cattle-stealing, 695.
Humboldt Bay, massacre at, 141. 143.
Hum me, captain of scouts, killed, 709.
Huugate family murdered by Indians, 412. 4T*3.
Hunt, Governor, treats with Utes, 681.
Hunter state, what is, 1, 2.
Hurt. Agent, flees from Utah, 285, 286.
Hushhushcute, Nez Forces chief, at treaty coun¬
cil, 638; given time to remove cattle, 647.
Hutchins, Charles, treats with Nez Perces, 633.
Idaho, settlement and organization of, 477;
feeling against Nez Forces in, 667, 668, 672.
Ignacio, Muaclie chief, made head-chief of south¬
ern Utes, 688; does not recognize Ouray's
authority, 689.
Ilges, Major, pursues Nez Forces, 658.
Indian Bureau, should have control of Indians,
18; responsible for Apache troubles, 733,
742, 743.
Indian Commissioners. See Board of Indian
Commissioners.
Indian lands purchased by all the colonies, 8;
none in Mexican cession, 8, 133, 148, 379;
legal status of, 8; right of appropriation,
484, 485; taken without compensation. 541.
Indian police, first established by General Har¬
ney, 236; established among Navahos, 472.
Indians, number of, in the United States, 1;
legal status of, 8-14; laws governing, 9-11,
14; status of treaties with, 11; citizenship
of, 11-13, 148; no provision for naturalizing,
13; frauds on, 15-19, 133-135, 147; transfer
to War Department, 18; habits of, 23-25;
diversity of, 24, 25; civilization of, 12, 25,
26; schools for, 26; first school for in Ore¬
gon, 35; of Rocky Mountains, 81-86; effect
of gold discoveries on, 125-127; of California,
127-129, 132, 135, 143; sign language of.
223-227; of Utah, 275-277; relative standing
of Apaches, 356; slavery among. 367-373.
447, 725, 754; estimate of. at close of Re¬
bellion, 480, 481; roads through lands of,
484, 485; torture by plains tribes, 489; Bo¬
gy's statements, 502; ignorance of suffer¬
ing of, 538; helplessness of 1'iegans, 541;
neglect of Piegans, 542; expense of subdu¬
ing Modocs. 578; frontier representations of
evil-doing, 694.
Inez Gonzales, capture and release of, 366.
Ingossomen Creek, light at, 325-328.
Inmuttooyahlatlat. See Joseph.
Iron Dog, Sioux chief, escapes with band, 626;
surrenders, 627.
Iturbide, revolution of, in Mexico, 30.
Jack, White River chief, leader of a faction,
690; opposes work at agency, 691; goes to
Denver, 696, 697; Meeker appeals to. 698;
meets Thornburgh, 699; at Milk Creek, 700.
Jackson, Andrew, advises limitation of United
States boundaries, 46.
Jackson. Captain, attacks Modocs, 552, 553; ex¬
culpated by Curtis, 581.
Jackson, Helen Hunt, recommends attorneys
for mission Indians, 147, 150; reports on
mission Indians, 149; death of, 147 (note).
Jamajabs. See Mohaves.
Jane, Ute squaw, assists captives, 711.
Janos, massacre of Apaches at, 359; Mangas
Colorado taken to, 382.
Jefferson, Thomas, estimate of Indian popula¬
tion, 4; originates idea of settling Pacific
slope, 35, 36; favors separate government
for West, 46, 47.
Jeffords, Interpreter, induces return of Apache
renegades, 743.
Jemaspie, Hualapais chief, captured, 730.
Jenney, Professor, expedition to Black Hills
588.
Jerome, D. H., member of Nez Perces com¬
mission, 646; responsibility of, 672.
Jesuits, come into Oregon, 89; controversy
with Protestants, 90; meet Whitman, 93;
responsibility in Whitman massacre, 108-
116; suppressed in Spain, 144; establish
mission of San Xavier del Bac, 155; dis¬
trust of, in Oregon, 328.
Jesus Lopez, murders an Apache, 373.
Jicarillas. Apaches, who are, 357; massacre
White's party, 374, 377; part of, take refuge
with Utes, 378; drunkenness of, 379; friend¬
liness of. during rebellion, 381; fight near
Poncha Pass, 680. 681.
Jim, negro boy, murder of, 262, 271; war on
account of, 263-272.
John, Rogue River chief, hostilities by, 306;
surrenders, 216.
Johnson, , murders Apaches, 361.
Johnson, White River chief, mentioned, 600;
civilization of, 697; assaults Meeker, 698;
brother of, shot, 704; outrages Mrs. Price,
706; surrender of, demanded, 714.
Johnson, Captain, quoted, 367.
Johnson, Nephi, leads Indians at Mountain
Meadows, 293; testimony of, 318.
Johnston, Agent, quoted, 145.
Johnston, Col. A. S., commands expedition to
Utah, 287; ordered to use troops as posse
comitatus, 312.
Jones, Agent, report on Nez Perces, 664.
Jordan, Agent, report on Nez Perces, 665, 666.
Jose Rev, Chowchilla chief, mortally wound¬
ed, 133.
Jose Trinfan released from Apaches, 366.
Joseph, Old, Nez Perces chief, speech to Ore¬
gon troops, 101; aids Colonel Wright, 343;
sketch of, 630, 631; character of. 632; re¬
fuses to sell his country, 633, 634; death of,
635.
Joseph, Young, Nez Perces chief, love of na¬
tive home, 23; character of, 24; name of.
635; sketch of, 636; grief of, 637; meets
commission, 638, 639; objects to churches,
640; statement of his case, 642, 645; agrees
to leave his country, 646; opposes lighting.
647; takes command of liostiles, 648; de¬
feats Perry, 649; fights Howard, 650; re¬
treats over Lolo trail, 651; defeats Gibbon,
652; runs off Howard's horses. 655; treat¬
ment of Cowan's party, 657; fights Sturgis,
657; Miles marches against, 658; surrenders,
659; sent to Indian Territory, 660; quoted,
662; sufferings of band of, 664-666; feeling
against in Idaho, 667, 668; Price's statement
concerning, 669; band of, returned to Lap-
wai, 670, 671; statement of Howard's mo¬
tives, 672.
Joset, Father, meets Steptoe, 325; tries to pac¬
ify Indians, 326; accusations against, 328;
puts blame on Nez Perces. 329, 330; serv¬
ices of, 331; quoted, 337, 338; goes to Ind¬
ians as mediator, 341; reports Indians sub¬
dued, 348.
Juan .Jose, Mimbrenos chief, murder of, 361.
Juan Ortega, attacks Mescaleros, 379.
Juh, Apache chief, band of. 736; flees to Mex¬
ico, 738; goes to White Mountain reserva¬
tion, 743; leaves reservation, 744; leaves
renegades, 752.
Kaetexa, Apache chief, offence and punish¬
ment of, 752.
| Kalispels. See Pend d'Oreilles.
774
INDEX.
Kamiakin, Yakima chief. repudiates treaty
with Stevens, 202; leads in Cascade mas¬
sacre, '212; causes discontent among Spo-
kanes, 388; flees across the mountains, 353.
Kanarrah, Pi-ede chief, at Mountain Meadow
massacre, '293.
Kane, Colonel, negotiates with Mormons. 315.
Kaniache, Southern L'te chief, mentioned, 089;
struck hy lightning, 714.
Kanosh, Pah Vant chief, not implicated in
Mountain Meadow massacre, 30(1, 307.
Katihotes, Yakima chief, camp of, surprised,
352.
Kautz, Colonel, opposes removals, 734; inter¬
cedes for Indians, 730.
Kaws, in Union army, 425.
Kavatana, Xavaho chief, expedition against,
207, 208.
Kearny, (ten. S. IV., sent to occupy New Mex¬
ico and California, 47; conquest of New
Mexico, 49, 52; establishes provisional gov¬
ernment, 52; terrilies Cheyennes and Arapa-
hoes, 229; assumes protection of Mexicans,
250 ; meets Mimbreiios, 305 ; orthography
of name, 480 (note).
Kearny, Maj. Philip, defeats Rogue Rivers,
191; turns prisoners over to (ieneral Lane,
192; orthography of name, 480 (note).
Kelly, Hall J., eiforts to colonize Oregon, 34, 35.
Kena. Sfe Bloods.
Kendrick, Major, dealings with Navalios. 201.
Kennon, Dr. Louis, statement concerning In¬
dian slavery, 447.
Kensler Toussaint, discovers gold in Black
Hills, 587.
Kikatsa, same as Mountain Crows, 479.
Kings River farm, established, 137 ; Indians
driven from, 138.
Kiowas, location id', 81; supposed to have orig
inated sign language, 225.
Kirkham, Captain, quoted, 331.
Klumaths, divisions of, 190; sign for insanity,
224 ; slavery among, 371 ; treaty of 1804
with, 544; harass the Modocs. 545, 540; ac¬
cused of lawlessness, 549, 559,580; witness
execution of Modocs, 582.
Klickitats, location of, 80; title to Wallamet
valley, 195 ; conquests hy, 201; power of,
202; Stevens's treaty with. 217; treaty rati-
tied, 355; slavery among, 371.
Klingensmith, Philip, at Mountain Meadow
massacre. 299; reports to Brighatu Young,
300; testilies, 317.
Knapp, Agent, selects location for Modocs, 540.
Knight. Samuel, at Mountain Meadow mas¬
sacre, 297 ; testimony of, 318.
Koolsatikara, who are, 275.
Kootenais, Stevens's treaty with, 217, 510,
treaty ratilied, 355; harass the Bros Ventres
of the north, 510.
Krentpoos. Hce Captain Jack.
La Canada, fight at, 70.
La Lakes, who are. 545.
Lamanites, what are, 278.
Lame Deer, Minneconjou chief, killed. 027.
Lane, Ben. Joe, lirst governor of Oregon, 189;
marches against Rogue Rivers, 199; treats
with them, 200.
Langford, , settles on I.apwai reservation,
041.
I.apwai Mission established, 38; location of,
87.
" Laramie Loafers," who were. 484.
Lurkin. T. ()., announces d scovery of gold in
California, 121.
Larraliee, Agent, attack on, 731.
Lava Beds, described, 554; Modocs retire to,
555; troops advance into, 550; Hot Creek
Indians go to, 559; Modocs offer to take for
reservation, 503; light of April 14th in, 571;
tight of April 20th, 572-574 ; Modocs leave,
570.
Lawson, Captam, at Milk Creek, 701.
Lawyer, Nez Percds chief, Milkapsi's charge
against, 330; friendship of, 331; assurances
to, 333; Indian name of, 335; aids Colonel
Wright, 343; asks ratification of Stevens's
treaties, 354; made head-chief by Stevens,
031.
Lawyer, James, Nez Perces preacher, welcomes
exiles, 071.
Leadville. mining excitement of. 675-079.
Leal, J. W., murdered by Pueblos, 05; buried
at Santa Fe, 78.
Le Conic, Dr., meets Oatman family, 101;
robbed hy Tontos, 102.
Lee, Ben. Klliott, escapes from Taos, 65.
Leo, John I)., leads Indians at Mountain Mead¬
ows, 293; betrays enrgrants, 295, 290; takes
part in massacre,297; ravishes and murders
girl, 298 ; charges Bovernment for stolen
property, 299; reports to Brigham Young,
300; quoted, 302, 312; honored by Young,
315; captured, 310; tried, 310-319; confes¬
sions of, 319; executed, 320.
Lee, Stephen, murdered hy Pueblos, 02.
Left Hand, Arapahoe chief, band of, at Sand
Creek, 408; not connected with Little Ha¬
ven, 410; joins Black Kettle, 419; mortally
wounded, 417.
Leland, Judge, opinion as to feeling against
Nez Perces, 007.
Lennon, Cyrus, killed hy Apaches, 389.
Leschi, Nasquaila chief, eloquence of, 203 ; at¬
tacks settlements, 207.
Lewis and Clarke, expedition of, 32; sent out
by Jelfersou, 30; treatment of, by Nez
l'crces, 029.
Lindsay, Captain, expedition against Navalios,
207 ; bold charge of. 208.
Lindslcy. Rev. A. 1,., recommends Nez Perces
commission, 037; investigates feeling in
Idaho, 007.
Lilians, who are, 358.
Little Arkansas, treaty with Cheyennes at. 437.
Little Bear, Sioux chief, on invasion of Black
Hills, 590.
Little Big Horn. Custer's fight on, 007-615;
number of Indians at, 617, 618; number of
Indians not suspected, 619, 620, 623, 624.
Little Dog. Piegan chief, killed, 521.
Little Kagle, Piegan warrior, accused of mur¬
dering James Quail, 527.
Little Raven. Arapahoe chief, hostility of. 416;
surrenders to Wtnkoop, 418; sent away
from Fort Lyon. 419 ; confused with Black
Kettle's band, 430.
Little Thunder, Sioux chief, head-chief of Bru-
les, 233; defeated at Ash Hollow, 235.
Little Wolf, Cheyenne chief, opinion of Black
Hills, 589.
Llnneros. same as Lipans, 358.
Lolo trail, Nez Perces retreat to, 650; described,
051.
Lolocksalt. See Slolox.
Lone Horn, Sioux cliief, on invasion of Black
Hills, 590.
Long Beard, Snake chief, hand of, 277.
Long Sioux, who were, 591.
Looking Glass, Nez Perces chief, band of, 638;
troops sent to arrest, 649; talks to soldiers,
651; killed. 052.
Lookout Station, massacre at, 438.
INDEX.
775
I.orey, Agent, reports Cheyennes discontented,
408; goes to make treaty, 444.
Lost Cabin, probable origin of story of, 587; re¬
puted location of, G58.
Lost River, Modocs wish reservation on, 550,
551; light at, 552, 553; objections to reser¬
vation on, 501.
Louderback. . testimony of, 434.
Lougliridge. Representative, quoted, 239; erro¬
neous statement concerning Sand Creek,
434, 437.
Mackenzie, Colonel, defeats Dull Knife, 020.
Mugollin, James, services in conquest of New
Mexico, 49, 50.
Maliaos, belong to Yuma nation, 150.
Mahto Iowa, Sioux chief, connection with Grat-
tan massacre, 232; meaning of name, 232
(note); death of, 233.
Mahtotopa, character of, 24.
Muu-Afraid-of his Horses, Ggallalla chief, op¬
poses treaty of 1800, 482; withdraws from
council, 483; makes treaty, 501; chief of
Sioux police, son of. 589.
Mandans, location of. 81; supposed remnant of
Madoo's Welsh colony, St.
Mangas Colorado, Mimbrenos chief, meets
Kearny, 305; cause of hostility, 374; activ¬
ity of, 381; killed, 382.
Manuelita, Navaho chief, made head-chief, 201;
attack on, 208; cattle of, shot, 209; chief of
Navaho police, 472.
Mariano Martinez, Navaho chief, makes treaty,
257; treaty repudiated, 258.
Muricopas. location of, 152; join the Pimas,
155; attacked by Yumas, 184; defeat them,
187; aid United States against Apaches,
385, 380, 389.
Mariposa battalion, services of 133.
Marsh, Professor, charges against Red Cloud
agency, 10.
Martin, Captain, defeats Apaches, 381.
Martin, Mrs., captured by Cheyennes, 412; sur¬
rendered, 429.
Martin, trumpeter, quoted, 020.
Mason, General, put in command in Arizona,
391.
Mason, Harry, whips Nez Perces Indians, 036;
killed, 048.
Mattole Valley farm, established, 137; aban¬
doned, 138; Indians murdered at, 141.
MclSeth, Miss, labors of, among Nez I'erces, 070.
McCleave, Captain, defeats Apaches, 383.
McComas family, massacre of, 750.
McCormic.k, Representative from Arizona,
classilies Indians, 25.
McCulloch, Benjamin, treats with Mormons,
315.
McDougal, Captain, with Custer's expedition,
008; message to, 009.
McDougal, Governor, estimate of California In¬
dians, 129, 130. 132.
McDowell, General, commands Department of
California. 391.
McDufiie, Senator, opinion of plains, 34; op¬
poses occupation of Oregon, 40.
McGregor, Captain, captures Hualapais. 730.
Mclntyro, C. H., on Uucompahgre' Park inva¬
sion, 080.
McKay, Donald, leads Warm Spring Indians,
571; accompanies Captain Thomas, 572;
separated from troops, 573.
McMurdy, , aids in Mountain Meadow mas¬
sacre, 297.
McNeil, Inspector, reports on Nez Perces, 004.
Meacham, A. B., induces Captain Jack to re¬
turn to reservation, 540; urges separate res¬
ervation for Modocs, 551; on Modoc Com¬
mission. 559; opposes last council, 505; pro¬
poses deception in case of treachery, 500;
goes to council, 507; speech at counc.l. 508;
shot, 509; saved by Toby, 570; testifies, 580.
Medicine Cow, Sioux Chief, opinion of Dr. Bur¬
leigh. 15.
Medicine-men, murdered when unsuccessful in
treatment, 105-108, 540.
Medina, Governor, objects to massacre of Apa¬
ches at Janos. 359.
Meeker, Josie, opinion as to time of plot, 703;
takes refuge in milk-house, 704; captured,
705; treatment of. 700; Persune infatuated
with, 712; death of, 713; statement of treat¬
ment, 714.
Meeker, Mrs., opinion as to time of plot, 703;
takes refuge in milk house, 704; wounded,
705; taken by Douglas, 700; treatment of
Jane, 711; statement of treatment, 714.
Meeker, N. C., character of, 090; management
of Utes, 691; complains of Utes. 090; In¬
dians distrust. 097, 703; assaulted by John¬
son, 098; applies for protection, 099; corre¬
spondence with Thornburgh, 700. 702, 703;
massacre at agency, 704, 705; mutilation of,
710.
Mendocino reservation, character of, 130; cost
of, 137.
Meriwether, Governor, treats with Navahos,
201; dismisses Jimrillas. 377.
Merritt, Colonel, defeats Cheyennes. 025; ar¬
rives at Milk Creek, 700; advances to White
River, 709; captives reach camp of, 713.
Mesealeros, Apaches, who are, 357; defeated by
California troops, 378; assailed by Mexicans,
379; go to war, 381; conquered by Carleton,
383; sent to Bosque Redondo, 384; leave
same, 392, 400; quarrel with Navahos, 405;
Victono settles with, 739; renegades join
Victorio, 740.
Mesquite, described, 175, 170.
Messila Guard, attacks Mesealeros, 378; punish¬
ed by troops, 379.
Methodist missions, first in Oregon, 37; sold to
American Board, 87; none among l'iegans,
530.
Mexican Boundary Commission, bury remains
of Oatmans, 188; release Apache slaves,
300, 307 ; troubles with Mimbrenos, 373, 374.
Mexican Cession, Indian titles in. extinguished,
8, 379; extent of, 27; Indians of, made citi¬
zens. 144.
Mexicans, character of, 53, 01; lead in Pueblo
insurrection, 77, 78; wars with Apaches,
358-305; slavery among, 308-373; attack
Mesealeros. 378, 379; supposed (Psloyalty of,
404; invade our reservations. 737.
Miguel, Coyotero chief, peaceful, 719; assists
troops, 731.
Miles, Col. D. 8., commands in Navaho country,
202; arrives at Fort Defiance, 203; expedi¬
tions of, 205, 207, 208; explores Canon de
('holly. 458.
Miles, Gen. N. A., defeats Sitting Bull, 020; de¬
feats Crazy Horse, 027; marches against
Nez Perces, 058; defeats them, 059; prom¬
ises them return to Idaho, 000; Indians
claim fulfilment of promise, 009.
Milk Creek, light at, 700, 701, 700-709.
Milkapsi, Coeur d'Aleno chief, begins attack on
Steptoe, 320; message to General Clarke,
330,331; blamed by the Indians, 338; quot¬
ed, 342; humiliated, 352.
Miller, J. W., conduct of, in survey of Uto
lands. 085.
Mills, Captain, defeats American Horse, 025.
776
INDEX.
Miltimore's train, attack on, 313.
Mitnbrenos, Apaches, who are. 357; treachery
to, 301; meet Kearny, 365; meet Rartlett,
366; release of slaves of, 366, 367; troubles
with Bartlett's party, 373, 374; hostilities
by, 374, 381; refuse to be removed. 390, 391;
failure of extermination policy against, 395;
attempted removal to Tularosa, 7titi, 727;
attempted removal to Arizona, 738-740; of¬
ficial opinions of treatment of, 741, 742;
raids of, 744-747.
'•Mina maska,"defined, 510.
Minneconjous, Sioux, who are, 231; in Grattan
massacre, 232; treaty of 1866 with, 481; in
Fetterman massacre, 499; numbers and loss
of, at massacre. 500; location in 1876, 591;
at war, 618; defeated by Miles, 627; make
peace, 628.
Minnetarees, location of, 81.
Mission Indians, converted by Franciscans, 143;
citizens of Mexico, 144; stupidity of, 145;
no provision for, 146; homes taken from,
147; denied all rights, 148; no title to lands,
149; attorneys employed for. 150.
Mitchell, W. (J., loss of relatives at Mountain
Meadows, 305; meets surviving children,
309.
Mockpeahlutah. See Red Cloud.
Mottoes, locat ion of, 190; meaning of name, 191;
hostilities by, 192; massacre at Bloody
l'oint, 193; attack emigrants, 200; defeated
by Captain Walker. 201; slavery among. 371;
character of, 543; treaty of 1864 with. 544;
annoyed by Klamatlis, 545; leave reserva¬
tion, 546; conduct of, 549; desire separate
reservation. 550; misrepresented by Ode-
neal. 551; attacked by Captain Jackson, 552;
murder settlers, 553; go to I.ava Beds, 554;
troops sent against, 555; fight of January
17th, 556; conduct of whites towards, 559;
commission sent to, 560; afraid to surren¬
der, 561; causes of fear, 562, 563; Captain
Jack becomes hostile. 564; preparations for
last council, 565-567; the council, 568; mur¬
der of commissioners, 569-570; advance of
troops, 571; battle of April 26th. 572, 573;
General Davis takes command, 574; tight at
dry lake, 575; leave Lava Beds, 576; capture
of, 577; cost of war. 578; trial of, 580, 581;
execution, 582; subsequent history, 583.
Mofras, Dutlotde, estimates population Califor¬
nia, 131.
Mogollons, Apaches, who are, 357; location of,
358; mixed with Chiricahuas, 736.
Moliaves. belong to Yuma nation, 156; names
of, 157; character of, 174; tattoo Oatmau
girls. 175; famine among. 176; war with
Cocopalis, 177; crucify Cocopali woman, 178;
surrender of Olive Oatman, 181-183; attack
Maricopas, 184; present condition of, 187.
Mohuaches, or Muaches, Ftes, who are, 277; in¬
cluded in Southern Utes, 681.
Moketavcto. See Black Kettle.
Moleles. location of, 86; treaty with, ratified,
355. '
Monos. See Pah Utes.
Montana, gold discovered in. 477; settlement
of, 478; need of road to. 479; right to make
road, 484, 485, 507; road abandoned, 508;
organized, 518; lawlessness in, 521-524;
state of war in, 534, 535.
Moore, Julius, killed by Utes, 709.
Mopeah. Snake chief, band of, 277.
Moquetas, Pah Ute chief, at Mountain Meadow
massacre. 293.
Moquis. Pueblos, location of, 53; name of, 54;
consolidation of agency of, 475.
Mora, fight at, 66.
Morgan brothers, charged with cattle-stealing,
695.
Mormons, send battalion to Mexican war, 49;
winter at Pueblo. 51, 219; at Salt Lake, 81;
claim to discovery of gold, 118-121; incite
Oregon Indians, 203, 331; furnish arms to
Navahos, 266, 267; treatment of. in the East,
273; higher law of. 274, 295, 320; treatment
of Indians, 277-281; disloyalty of, 281, 282;
doctrine of polygamy, 283; reformation of,
283. 284; blood atonement, 284, 285, 290, 298,
313; lawlessness of, 286; resist United States
authorities, 287-289; treatment of Ran¬
cher's train, 282-291; attack train, 292;
murder Aden, 294; treachery of, 295, 296;
Mountain Meadow massacre, 297-299; di¬
vide property of emigrants, 299, 300; guilt
of. 300-1103; guilt exposed, 306; claim for
ransoming children, 307; survivors recov¬
ered, 309, 310; slander of survivors, 311, 314;
concealment of criminals, 312; crimes of,
313; terrors of. 314; receive Governor Cum-
mings, 315; change in position of. 316; aban¬
don Lee. 317; convict him, 318, 319; Ameri¬
can hatred of, 320-323; sell arms to Nez
Perces, 332; law concerning Indian slavery,
36!), 370; pleased with the rebellion, 404;
encourage Ute war, 710. 711.
Morrow, Major, pursues Apaches, 740.
Mountain Chief, Piegan chief, assaulted, 522;
retaliates, 524; expedition against, 528; es¬
capes. 529, 535.
Mountain Crows, who are, 479.
Mountain House, illicit traffic at, 523.
Mountain Meadows, description of, 291; massa¬
cre at, 295-300; date of massacre, 299; ap¬
pearance after massacre, 302, 307, 308; mon¬
ument erected at,309; survivors of massacre
recovered, 309, 310; heirs of victims should
be compensated, 311; becomes barren, 314;
trial of Lee, 316-319; results on American
people, 320, 323; Lee executed at, 319.
Mountain-sheep Eaters, who are. 276.
Mowry, Lieutenant, goes in search of Oatman
girls. 179.
Muckalucks, who are, 545.
Mullan, Lieutenant, opinion of Stevens's trea¬
ties, 334; urges their ratification, 354.
Mungen, Representative, criticises attack on
l'iegaus, 532.
Naciiez, Chiricahua chief, leaves reservation,
744; returns, 752.
Naked Horse. See Caballo en Pelo.
Kane', Apache chief, raid of, 744.
Nantiatish, Apache chief, revolt of, 747.
Napea, a Blackfoot divinity, 511.
Naqui naquis, Tonto chief, surrenders, 730.
Narbona, Navalio chief, killed, 257.
Nasqualias, location of, 82.
Natatotel, Tonto chief, surrenders, 730.
National Association to Promote Universal
Peace, intercedes for Modocs, 581.
Navahos, location of, 82, 244; names of, 244;
country of, 245; customs of, 246; industries
of, 249; women of. 250-253; religion of,
253. 254; government of, 254; source of
hostilities with. 255; Doniphan's expedition
against, 256; Washington's expedition, 257;
Sumner's expedition, 258; treaty of 1855,
261; murder of negro Jim, 262; light at Bear
Spring,263; duplicity of.264; Colonel Miles's
expedition, 265; Hatch's expedition, 266;
aided by Mormons, 267; operations against,
268; treaty of 1858, 271; name of. 358; slav¬
ery of, 447; attack on Fort Fauntleroy, 448;
INDEX.
777
Canby'S campaign against, 451; Carleton's
plan for, 452; operations against, 453, 454;
Carson marches against, 401-4(53; removed
to Bosque Rcdoudo, 4(i4; expense of subsist¬
ence there, 4(5(5; prefer their old country,
4t57; sulferings of, 4(58-471; returned to old
home, 471; advance of, 472-475; present
condition of, 475, 470.
Na-watk. See Left Hand.
Nesmith, Superintendent, opinion of Stevens's
treaties, 333; changes his opinion, 354, 355.
Nevada, part of Arizona ceded to, 158.
Nowby, Colonel, expedition against Navalios,
25(3.
New Mexico, conquest of, 49; people of, in 1840,
52,53; Arizona set off from, 158; descrip¬
tion of northwest part, 244, 245; losses in,
by Indians, 255, 250; Apache warfare in,
356; slavery in, 308, 309, 373; put in De¬
partment of Missouri, 391; Texan invasion
of. 381, 382, 402-407; troubles with Mimbre-
nos, 738-743.
Nez l'eree Joseph. S'e Joseph, Young.
Nez Forces, superiority of. 25; deputation visit
St. Louis, 3(5; meet missionaries, 37; offer to
protect Spalding, 100; protect Stevens, 203;
sign for, 225; not Pueblos, 245; aid Steptoe's
command, 328; blamed by Joset, 329; inno¬
cence of, 330; Mormons sell arms to, 331,
332; want Stevens's treaty ratified, 335; aid
Colonel Wright, 343, 347; treaty ratified. 355;
making of treaty, 516; friendliness of, 629;
tribal organization of, 630, 631; country of
Lower, 632; treaty of 1863, 633; Lower do
not sell country, 634, 635; growth of trouble
with, 636, 637; effort to induce removal,
638-642; removal ordered, 645, 646; prepare
to resist, 647; kill settlers, 648; defeat Per¬
ry, 649; tight Howard, (550; retreat to Mon¬
tana, 651; defeat Gibbon, 652; run off How¬
ard's horses, 655 ; treatment of women
captives, 656; light Sturgis, 657; Miles
marches against, 658; surrender, 659; sent
to Indian Territory, 660; Hayt's statement.
663; sufferings of, 664-666; feeling against
in Idaho, 667, 668; Price's statement. 669;
part return, 670; remainder return, 670; re¬
sponsibility for, 672, 673; compared with
other wrongs, 674.
"Noble red man " not wholly a myth, 24.
Nobows. See Sans Arcs.
Noekay-Delklinne, Apache Med'.cine-man, kill¬
ed, 744.
Nolgee, Apache chief, flees to Mexico, 738.
Nome Cult reservation, established, 135; whites
settle on, 136; massacre at, 138.
Nome Lackee reservation, established, 135;
cost of, 137; abandoned, 138.
Norton, A. B., reports on Navalios, 470.
Oatman Ft,at, description of, 162, 163; Oatman
family buried in, 188.
Oatman, Lorenzo, statement of, 161; attacked
by Toutos, 165; escape of, 166-171; efforts
to release his sisters, 179, 180; subsequent
history of, 184.
Oatman, Mary, taken by Tontos, 166; fright of,
171; treatment of, 173; sold to Mohavcs,
174; tattooed, 175; becomes helpless, 176;
dies. 177.
Oatman, Olive, determines not to be captured,
163; taken by Tontos, 166; carried away,
173; assailed, 172; enslaved, 173; sold to
Moliaves. 174; tattooed. 175; labor of, 176;
terrors of, 177,178; Mohaves try to prevent
release of, 181; released, 183; subsequent
history of, 184.
Oatman Royse, sketch of, 158; starts West, 159;
forebodings of, 163; meets Tontos, 164; kill¬
ed, 165.
Odeneal, F. B., succeeds Meacliam, 551; advises
placing Modocs on reservation, 552; blamed
by Colonel Wheaton, 554.
Ogaliallas, Sioux, who are, 231; police of, 227;
in (7rattan massacre, 232; treaty of 1866
with, 481; opposition to treaty, 482; efforts
to conciliate, 483; in Fetterman massacre,
500; location in 1876, 591; at war, 618;
make peace, 628.
Ogden, P. S., ransoms prisoners, 100; quoted,
105.
Olihastee. See Little Raven.
Ojo Blanco, Mescalero chief, leaves Bosque Re-'
dondo. 392.
Ojo del Oso. See Bear Spring.
Okkowish. See. Modocs.
Old Snag, Snake chief, band of, 276.
Ollacut, Nez Perce warrior, a brother of Jo¬
seph. 636; not in lirst hostilities, 648; kill¬
ed, 659.
Oncpapas. Sioux, who are, 231; treaty of 1866
with, 481; at war. 500; location in 1876 591;
at war, 618; make peace. 628.
One Eye, Cheyenne chief, killed at Sand Creek,
417.
Oohenonpa. See Two Kettles.
Ord. General, policy to Apaches, 717, 718; re¬
sults of. 719.
Oregon, first visitors to, 32, 33; Kelly's ef¬
forts to colonize, 34, 35; efforts of Benton
and Floyd, 36; the Nez Perce messengers,
36-42; first Indian school in, 35; first mis¬
sionaries, 37; early emigrants, 38; English
colonization frustrated by Whitman, 38-42;
Ashburton treaty, 41 ; boundary settled,
41-43; Greenhow's estimate of, 45; differ¬
ing views of, 46, 47; Indians of, 83, 84; ac¬
tion of Hudson's Bay Company, 88, 89; Cay-
use war, 100; Indians of, kill medicine-men,
105-108; organized as a territory, 189; In¬
dians of southern part of. 190, 191; Indian
titles in, 194; aggressions by settlers, 195,
196; behavior of Indians, 196; conduct of
volunteers, 205-297, 211; removal of Govern¬
or Palmer, 208; General Harney sent to,
238; the Stevens treaties, 333, 336; slavery
in, 370, 372; pay of militia of, in Modoc
war, 578.
Ortiz, Lieutenant, conduct at Fort Fauntlerov,
448.
Ortiz, Tomas, leads conspiracy in New Mexico,
61.
Osages. in Confederate army, 424; in Union
army, 425.
Otis. Colonel, defeats Sitting Bull, 625.
Otis, Major, investigates charges against Mo¬
docs, 549.
Otoahnacco. See Bull Bear.
Ott, Larry, kills Nez Perce Indian, 636.
Ouray, Ute chief, meaning of name, 683; on
encroachments of whites, 684; on sale of
Uncompaligre Park, 688; under pay from
government, 689; stops hostilities, 706; or¬
ders surrender of women, 711; death of, 714.
Owahi, or Owhi, Yakima chief, repudiates
treaty with Stevens, 202; causes discontent
among Spokanes, 338; comes to Colonel
Wright's camp, 352; put in irons, 353.
Owen, Agent, quoted, 342.
Pacitico, Bannock chief, band of, 276.
l'ageah, Snake cjiief, band of, 277.
l'ahsappa. See Black Hills.
I'ah-Utes, who are, 277; in Mountain Meadow
778
INDEX.
massacre, 293, 295, 293; took no captives
there, 307; captured for slaves, 309; Mor¬
mon effort to relieve, 370.
Pah Yants. said to he poisoned by Faucher's
train, 290; deny they were poisoned, 30:'!;
not at Mountain Meadow massacre, 307; poi¬
son story disproved. 317.
Pal, Piegan warrior, shoots Mr. Clarke, 527.
Pala reservation, Indian title to, 147; taken by
settlers, 149.
Palmer. Coventor, controversy with Oregon
Legislature, 208.
Painter, Sergeant, testimony as to Sand Creek,
434, 437.
Papagos, location of, 152, 153; reservation for.
1«7 ; aid United States against Apaches,
385. 380; neglect of. 743.
Paramucka. Apache chief, killed, 389.
Parknian. Francis, quoted, 27, 585, 580.
Pawnee Killer, Sioux chief, commands liost'.les,
438.
Pawnees, in Union armv, 425; Chevennes go to
attack, 439, 440.
Payne, Captain, at Milk Creek, 701; explana¬
tion of pictures, 712.
Peace Policy, delinition of. 19; not successful
as practised, 25; neglect of Xavahos under,
475, 470; tried on Modocs, 550; effect on Xez
Forces, 074; defects of, 710, 717, 743.
Pease, Lieutenant, reports on Piegan surprise,
530; misrepresented, 531, 532.
Pedro, Apache chief, refuses to remove, 730.
Felouses. location of. 80; Stevens's treaty with.
217; Steptoe marches against. 324; attack on
Steptoe, 325-327; bands of, 338; light Colo¬
nel Wright, 344; property of, destroyed, 347 ;
punishment of, 353; treaty with, ratified,
355.
Penaltishn, Apache warrior, guides General
Crook, 750.
Pend (POreilles, location of, 83; Stevens's treaty
with, 217, 510; probable origin of name, 351,
352; treaty ratitied, 355.
Penn, Captain, warns Whitman of attack, 721.
Penn, William, not only purchaser of Indian
lands, 8; quoted, 250.
Peonage, what is, 308.
Perry's cavalry, capture Modocs, 577.
Perry, Colonel, sent against Xez 1'orces, 048;
defeated, 019.
Persune, Yampa warrior, captures .Tosie Meek¬
er, 705; takes her for wife, 700; infatuation
of, 712; Utes amused at, 713; surrender of,
demanded, 714.
Petalesharro, Pawnee chief, character of, 24.
Peter. Piegan warrior, kills Mr. Clarke, 527.
"Pet Lambs," sobriquet of Colorado troops,
407.
Pfeiller, Captain, sent through Canon de Chol-
ly, 401; results of expedition, 402.
Phillips, Wendell, on Indians, 23; letter to
Sherman mentioned, 717.
Piali. White River chief, mentioned. 090.
l'i-Edes, Utes, at Mountain Meadow massacre,
293; sacrificed, 372.
Piegans. starvation of, 17, 538; orgin of, 509;
now include Rlackfoot nation, 510; religion
of, 511; reputation of, 512; location in 1853,
515; treat with Stevens, 510; remain peace¬
ful, 517; rise of troubles with, 520; depreda¬
tions by. 521; had treatment of, 522; en¬
couraged by Hudson's Bay Company, 523;
conduct of whites, 524; increase of depreda¬
tions, 527; Baker sent against, 528; result of
expedition, 529; Indian account of light, 530;
probable truth, 531; criticism of fight, 532;
result of criticism, 533; officers defend ac¬
tion, 534; opinions of officers, 535; neglect
of, 530; sufferings of, 537; right to aid, 541;
helplessness of, 542; reported depredations
by, 542 (note). See also Blackfeet and
Bloods.
Pigeon's ranclio. See Apache Canon.
Pihonsenay, Apache warrior, kills Rogers and
Spenee, 737; wounded, 738.
Pike, Lieut. Z., expedition to Red River, 29;
opinion of American desert, 34.
Pike's Peak mining excitement, 241.
Punas, location of, 152; joined by Maricopns,
155; Oatmans at village of, 100; relieve Lo¬
renzo Oatman, 108; defeat Yumas, 187; aid
United States against Apaches, 385, 380, 389.
Pinal treaty, described, 389.
Pinalenos. See Arivapas.
Pinaquaua. See Washikee.
Pindah Lickoyee, Apache name for white men,
392 (note).
Pino Alto mines, settlement at, 374; attack on,
381; Fort West established near, 384.
Piopiomoxmox, Walla-Walla chief, conduct of,
200; killed, 207.
Pitkin. Governor, Jack appeals to, 697; Meeker
appeals to, 098.
Pitone, Apache chief, refuses to remove, 736.
Pitt River Indians, hostilities by, 192; slavery
among, 371.
Pi-Utes same as Pali-Utes, 277.
l'liimbe, John, efforts for Pacific railroad, 44.
Pocatara. See White Plume.
Poemacheeah, Bannock chief, band of, 276.
Poiakly Illehn. Leschi's description of, 203.
Polk. J. K., advises occupation of Oregon, 42;
accepts compromise line, 43; causes occu¬
pation of Xew Mexico and California, 47.
Pollock, Inspector, quoted, 714.
Polotkin, Spokane chief, message to General
Clarke, 341, 342; held as prisoner, 347;
treats with Colonel Wright, 351, 352.
Polygamy. Mormon doctrine of, 283, 284.
Poncas, release of, 13; removal of, 21.
l'oncha Pass, light near, 680, 681; meaning of
name. 680 (note).
Pony Express, how conducted, 238.
Pope, General, commands Department of Mis¬
souri, 391; memorial to, 694; statement as
to Apache war, 741, 742.
Population, Indian, in United States, 1-3; in
Virginia, 4; in Kentucky, 5; in Texas and
Mexican cession, 0; present increase of, 6,
7; in CalifonYa, 130, 133.
I'oston, C. D., buries remains of Oatman family,
188.
Pottawattamies, in Confederate army, 424.
Powder River country described, 480; Indians
oppose road through, 481, 482; troops sent
to, 483; right to road, 484, 485; forts built
in, 480-488; hostilities by Indians, 489. 490;
Fetterman massacre, 491-500; no prospect¬
ors in, 502; our claim to, surrendered, 507;
abandoned, 508; Sioux title confirmed, 584,
585; Sioux refuse to sell. 589; Sioux or¬
dered out of, 590; Sioux title released, 028.
Powell, L. W., treats with Mormons, 315.
Powell, Major, attacked by Sioux, 504; defeats
them, 507.
Pratt, Captain, reforms Modocs, 583.
Price, Commissioner, recommends return of
Xez Perccs, 009.
Price, Gen. S., commands in Xew Mexico, 51;
marches against Pueblos, 70 ; conquers
them, 74-77.
Price, Mrs., at White River agency, 704; state¬
ment of, 705; treatment of, 700.
Price, Shaduck, killed by Utes, 704.
INDEX.
779
Princess Mary. See Queen Mary.
Prophecy of war by Joseph Smith, 281, 282.
Pueblo, Colorado, Mormons winter at, 51; set¬
tlement at, 81; in 1817, 219.
Pueblo de Taos described, 73; battle at. 71-77.
Pueblos, invasion of lands of, 11,12; described,
53-01; origin unknown, 51; houses of, 58;
join conspiracy, 61; begin insurrection, 62;
massacre at Fernandez tie Taos, 62-00; mas¬
sacre at Arroyo Hondo, 60-09; Price march¬
es against, 70; fight at Pueblo de Taos, 71-
77 ; beg for mercy, 77 ; subsequent good be¬
havior, 78; religious troubles, 79; object to
taxation, 79 (note); Navahos not descended
from. 215; ofZuni assist troops, 268.
Quail, James, murder of, 527.
Qualchian. Yakima warrior, excites discontent
among Spokanes, 338; hanged. 353.
Quapaws, in Confederate army, 121.
Queen Mary, Modoc squaw, carries message for
Captain Jack, 502; captured, 577.
Quelaptip, Pelotise chief, band of, 338.
Quinaielts, treaty with, ratified, 355.
Quitaniwa. See Foul Hand.
Railroad, first, to Mississippi River, 13: early
proposals for Pacific, 41 ; proposals for
Southern Pacific, 51; Cheyennes object to
Kansas Pacific, 243,103; effect of Pacific, on
West, 585; effect ill Leadville excitement,
676, 677.
Rain-in-thc-Face, Sioux warrior, said to have
killed Custer, 615; cause of hatred of Cus¬
ter. 616.
Rains, Lieutenant, killed, 019.
Rains, Major, campaign against Yakimas. 201.
Randall, Captain, attack on, 019; captures Pon¬
tes, 730.
Ravalli, Father, builds Cceur d'Alene church,
318.
Rawlins Springs, massacre at, 595.
Rawn. Captain, tries to stopNez Heroes. 051.
Red Cloud. Ogallalla chief, sketch of, 181; op-
goes to war, 183;
Sioux gather to, 184; attacks Fort Phil
Kearney, 190, 491; not in Fettermau mas¬
sacre, 500; attacks Major Powell, 501; de¬
feated, 507; makes treaty, 507, 508; willing
to sell Black Hills, 588; deposed, 020.
Red Cloud agency, fraud at, 10.
Red Horn, l'iegan chief, becoipes hostile, 524;
camp of, attacked, 528; killed, 529.
Red Sleeves. See Mangas Colorado.
Reed, Autie, killed at Little Big Horn, 612.
Removal and Concentration Policy, cause of
Indian wars, 19-22; unreasonable, 22, 23. 25;
Spokanes object to, 335, 330, 355; Apaches
object to. 390, 391; failure of. in Arizona,
395; tried with Navahos, 152, 104; evils of,
404-400 ; opposed by Dr. Stock, 107, 108;
failure of. 108-171; tried with Modocs. 545,
540,551.552; Modocs object to, 508; no rea¬
son for. 012; tried on Nez I'ercds, 040; they
go to war, 017, 048; sent to Indian Territory,
660; returned to Idaho, 670, 671; failure
with Mimbrenos, 726, 727; inaugurated in
Arizona, 733.731; failure with White Mount¬
ain Apaches, 735. 736; tried on Chiricahuas,
736-738; tried on Mimbrenos, 738-740; ofil-
cial statements of results, 711. 712; effects
of, 713.
Reno, Major, scouts on Rosebud River. 001; re¬
port of. 003, 609; tries to rea< h Custer, 609;
besieged, 610; estimate of number of lies-
tiles, 618; number of hostilcs, 620; inaction
at same time as Custer, 621; not in fault,
624.
Reservations, food at. 17; of California, 135.138,
117.149; need of better title in Indians, 112,
150 ; lessened without compensation, 538,
541.
Reuben, James, Xez Perce preacher, works
among exiles, 670.
Reynolds, Charley, detects Rain-in the-Face,
616.
Reynolds, Colonel, fight with Sioux, 597; criti¬
cism of light, 598.
Rickarees. locat'on of, 81.
Riddle, Interpreter, warns Modoc commission¬
ers, 565; warns (1 Hem, 566; goes to coun¬
cil, 567; pursued. 569 ; escapes, 570; testi¬
fies. 580.
Ridgely, , statement concerning Custer
massacre, 621.
Riley, Lieutenant, killed at Little Big Horn, 612.
River Crows, who are, 179; Gros Ventres of
the North consolidated with, 522.
Rocky Mountain Fur Company, organized, 33.
Rogers, , killed by Apaches, 737.
Rogue River Indians, description of, 190; hos¬
tilities by. 191; make peace, 192; kill Capt.
Ben Wright, 193, 211; go to war, 196, 199;
treat with General Lane, 200; massacre of,
205; fight at Big Bend, 216; go to Grande
Ronde reservation, 216; treaty with, 218;
slavery among, 371.
Roper, Miss, captured by Cheyennes, 412;
treatment of, 429.
Roseborough. Judge, legal adviser of Modocs,
549; member of Modoc Commission. 560.
Ross, John, commands Oregon volunteers with
Ben Wright, 193; commands militia in Mo¬
doc war. 562.
Ross, Representative, investigates Indian af¬
fairs in New Mexico, 470.
Russell, Green, discovers gold in Colorado, 210.
Russell, W. H.. intercedes for General Harney,
237; power of, 238.
Safford, Governor, on Indian affairs of Arizo¬
na in 1875, 732.
Saliaptins, location and divisions of. 86.
Sah-patoh, White River chief, mentioned, 690.
Sakitapix, same its 1'lackfoot nation, 509.
Saline River, outrages on. 439, 410.
Salmon River, discovery of mines on, 477; set¬
tlers on. killed, 647, 648.
Sanborn, J. B., member Board Peace Commis¬
sioners. 716.
Sand Creek, attack on Cheyennes and Arapa-
hoes at, 396-401; troops at, 103; Indians at,
408; hostilities leading to. 108-411; Indians
admit hostility, 411-116; proofs of hostility,
416; Indians not promised protection. 117-
121; attack justified, 122; desire of officers
to punish Indians, 123; feelings of loyal peo¬
ple, 121,125; why women and children were
killed, 126-129; Congressional report on,
430-133; misrepresentations of, 133-437;
used against Chivington politically, 413;
Chivington's account of, 141, 445; compared
with other massacres. 416.
Sandoval. Navaho chief, accompanies Colonel
Washington, 257; elforts at neutrality, 263;
privileged in treaty of 1858, 271.
San Francisco, full name of, 52 (wile).
San Juan country, mining excitement in, 682,
683.
San Pasqual reservation, title to, 117; taken
by settlers, 149.
Sanpitches, who are, 277.
Sans Arcs, Sioux, who are, 231; treaty of 1866
with. 181; at war, 500; locat'on in 1876, 591;
at war, 618; make peace, 628.
780
INDEX.
Santa Anna, treatment of Texans, 27, 28.
Santa Fe, trade to, 29-31; full name of, 52
(note); excitement at, during Pueblo insur¬
rection, 7(1.
Santa Rita del Cobre. home of Mimbrenos. 357;
massacre at, 351; Kearny meets Apaclies
near, 3li5; liartlett's party at, 3(10; hostili¬
ties at, 373,374.
Santees, Sioux, who are, 231.
San Xavier del Bac, cathedral of, built, 155; de¬
spoiled, 743.
Sapavanari, I'ncompahgri? chief, accompanies
surveying party, Grto; quoted, (188; mean¬
ing of name, 089~ (note); accompanies Brady,
705.
Sarap, White River chief, mentioned, 090.
Sarcillo Largo, N'avaho chief, resigns office,
201; summoned to Fort Defiance, 2(52; re¬
ports arrest of murderer, 203, 204; attacked
and defeated, 200.
Saskatchewan, meaning of, 500.
Satsika. See Blackfeet.
Saulotken. See l'olotkin.
Saverro Aredia released from Apaches, 300.
Scalp-bounty, given by .Mexican States, 300;
results of, 301, 3152; causes murder of our
Indians, 302, 303.
Scar-faced Charlie, Modoc warrior, refuses to
surrender, 553; favors war, 503; who was,
504; stands guard over Steele, 505; shoots
Lieutenant Sherwood, 570; surrenders, 577;
testilies, 580.
Schonchin John, Modoc warrior, favors war,
503; at council, 507; speech at council, 508;
assaults Meacham, 509; surrenders, 577;
arraigned, 579; tried, 580; sentenced, 581;
executed, 582.
Schonchin, Modoc chief, authority of, contested
by Captain Jack, 545.
Schoolcraft, H. lb, estimate of land needed to
support Indians, 2; estimate of population
of California, 131.
Scliurz. Secretary, gives time to settlers in Un-
compahgre Park, 087.
Scott, Agent, report on Nez Perces, 070.
Scott, General, supports General Wool, 211;
quarrels with General Harney, 230-238.
Seattle attacked by Indians, 207.
Selish. See Flatheads.
Semig, l)r., wounded in Lava Reds, 573, 574.
Seminoles, in Confederate army. 424.
Senecas, in Confederate army, 424.
Shacknasty Jim, Modoc warrior, at council,
507; pursues Riddle, 509; betrays Captain
Jack, 570; testifies, 580.
Shampoag, treaty at. 202.
Shanks, General, Joseph's argument to, 040;
quoted, 047.
Shastas, include Rogue Rivers, 190; divisions
of. 191; troubles with, 200; slavery among,
371.
Sliavano, Tabequache chief, mentioned, G89;
son of, killed, 715.
Shawawai, Yakima chief, excites discontent
among Spokanes, 338.
Shawnees, in Confederate army, 424.
Shepherd's train, attack on, 313.
Sheridan, Gen. P. H., commands at Cascades,
212; in Yakima country, 217; orders to
Colonel Baker, 533; quoted. 534.
Sherman. General, tests first gold in California,
121; commands Division of the Mississippi,
391; orders Cbeyennes to their reservation,
440; advises extermination of Sioux, 440;
treats with Navahos, 471; stops sale of arms
and ammunition, 501, 502; quoted, 530; jus¬
tifies Colonel Baker, 534; statement con¬
cerning Custer massacre, 017; opinion of
Lolo trail, 051; report of Nez Perce war,
000; member Board Peace Commissioners,
710; Phillips's letter to, 717.
Sherwood, Lieutenant, assassination of. 570.
Shirland, Captain, captures Mangas Colorado,
382.
Shis Inday, same as Apaches, 357.
Shooters, who were, 591.
Shoshokos, who are, 270.
Slioshonees, or Snakes, location and divisions
of, 83; murder emigrants, 200; sign for, 225;
bands of, 275-277; aided by Mormons, 331;
attack Nez Perces, 332.
Shumaliiccie, Cayuse warrior, enamoured of a
white girl. 99. 100.
Sibley, General, invades New Mexico, 381, 382,
403-407.
Sioangu. See Brules.
Sign language, universality of. 223; theories of,
224; tribal designations in. 225; for long
distances. 220; mirrors used in, 227.
Sihasapa. See Blaekfoot Sioux.
Sinta Gallessca. See Spotted Tail.
Sioux, location of, 81; war with Cheyennes,
221; sign for, 225; soldiers or police of, 227;
tribal divisions of, 231; massacre Grattan's
party, 232; go to war, 233; General Harney
defeats, 234, 235; submission of, 230; rise of
hostilities of 1804, 424. 425; hostilities of
1817,438; acquire Powder River country,
479; treaty of 1800 with. 481; disagreement
as to treaty, 482; repudiate treaty, 483; go
to war. 484; depredations of, 480, 487; tort¬
ure by, 489; harass Fort Phil Kearney. 490;
Fetterman massacre, 491-500; misrepresen¬
tations of massacre, 501, 502; continue hos¬
tilities. 504; defeated by Major Powell, 507;
burn forts, 508; rights of, under treaty of
1808, 584, 585; object to invasion of Black
Hills, 589, 590; divisions of, in 1870, 591;
depredations by, 593, 594; ordered to leave
Powder River country, 590; Reynolds's light
with. 590-598; expedition against, 598-001;
Crook's fight with, 003, 004; Custer massa¬
cre, 005-024; operations against, 025-027;
treaty of 1870, 028.
Sitting Bull. Sioux chief, sketch of, 591; auto¬
biography of, 592. 593; refuses to leave Pow¬
der River country, 590; expedition against,
598-001; Custer massacre, 005-024; oper¬
ations against, 025, 020; goes to British
America, 027 ; returns, 028.
Skinarwan, Yakima chief, assists troops, 352.
Skitsuish. See Cceur d'Alones.
Skloom, Yakima chief,excites discontent among
Spokanes, 338.
Slavery, women slaves of their husbands, 250;
among Apaches, 307; among Mexicans, 308;
Diggers enslaved, 309; Mormon law con¬
cerning, 370; in Oregon, 371; in Colorado,
372; evil effects of, 373; in New Mexico,
447; Camp Grant captives sold into, 725.
Slolox, Modoc warrior, aids at massacre of com¬
missioners. 509; arraigned, 580; convicted,
581; sentence commuted, 582.
Slough, Colonel, leads Colorado volunteers, 404;
joins Canby, 405.
Smellers, same as Arapahoes, 225.
Smith, E. P., opposes removal policy, 20.
Smith, George A , Mormon apostle, connection
with Mountain Meadow massacre, 294; dep¬
osition at Lee's trial, 318.
Smith, Jack, murdered at Sand Creek, 398; at¬
tacks stage-coach, 432.
Smith, Joseph, Mormon prophet, murder of,
273; war prophecy of, 281, 282; deceit of,
INDEX.
781
283; responsibility for death of, put on
Fancher train, 290.
Smith, J. Q., favors removals, 20.
Smith, J. S., at Sand Creek, 397; son of, killed,
398; testimony as to Dog Soldiers, 431; aids
in treaty, 437.
Smith, Lot, destroys United States trains, 289.
Smith, (fen. P. E., quoted, 239.
Smohallie. religion of, (540.
Snake Creek, light at, (558, 059.
Snakes. See Slioshonees.
Snyder, Mrs., suicide of, 429.
Soie, Pelouse chief, band of, 338.
Solomon's Fork, action on, 239, 240.
Sonora, policy towards Apaches, 359; pays
scalp - bounty, 300, 302; results of scalp-
bounty. 301; slaves sold into, 309, 720.
Southern Snakes. See Cache Valley Indians.
Southern Utcs, who are, 081; mistreatment of,
682; cede San Juan country, 083; lands of,
surveyed out, 085; make cession, 687; chiefs
of. 088, 089; established in Colorado, 715.
Spalding, Rev. H. H., goes to Oregon as mission¬
ary, 37; located at Lapwai, 87; controversy
with Jesuits, 90; escape of, 99, 110; quoted,
102; with Nez Perces, 110.
Spencer, Cascade chief, murder of family of,
212.
Spokanes. friendly before 1858, 324; menace
Steptoe, 325; attack him, 320; pursue him,
327; causes of hostility uncertain, 328-333;
probable cause, Stevens's treaties, 333-338;
who are, 338, 339; refuse to surrender of¬
fenders, 341, 342; Colonel Wright marches
against, 342, 343; defeated at Four Lakes,
344; property of,destroyed,347; treaty with,
351, 352.
Spotted Tail, Brule chief, murder of, 10; sur¬
renders as a hostage. 230; sketch of, 482;
Indians desert, 484; willing to sell Black
Hills, 588; made head-chief, 626.
Squaws. See Women.
Stanley, J. M., quoted, 371.
Stanley, J. Q. A., intercedes for Mission Ind¬
ians, 148,149.
Stanwood, Captain, ratifies Lieutenant Whit¬
man's actions, 721.
Steamboat Frank, Modoc warrior, aids in mas¬
sacre of commissioners, 5(59; betrays Cap¬
tain Jack, 570; witness at trial, 5a0; be¬
comes preacher. 583.
Steck, Dr. Matthew, treats with Mescaleros,
378; opposes Bosque Redondo reservation,
407; C'arleton complains of, 408; succeeded
by Felipe Delgado, 470.
Steele, Judge, legal adviser of Modocs, 549; acts
as messenger to them, 504; saved by Cap¬
tain Jack, 505.
Steptoe, Colonel, captures Gunnison murderers,
279; expedition to Fort Colville, 324; men¬
aced by Indians, 325; attacked. 320; fight
on Ingossomen Creek, 327; retreats, 328;
quoted, 333; recovery of guns abandoned
by, 353.
Stevens. Gen. I. I., first governor of Washing¬
ton Territory, 190; treaties of, repudiated,
202; protected by Nez Perces, 203; contro¬
versy with General Wool, 208; quoted, 215;
treaties of, 217, 218; trouble over treaties,
333-330; treaties favored. 354; treaties rat¬
ified, 355; among Blackfeet, 514; makes
treaties, 510; appoints head-chief of Nez
Perces, 031.
Stickney, William, member Nez Perce com¬
mission, 040; responsibility of, 072.
Stockton, Commodore, aids in conquest of Cal¬
ifornia, 47.
Stokes, William, arrests John D. Leo, 310.
Strong Hearts, a Sioux fraternity, 592.
Sturgis, General, attacks Nez Perce's, 657; Nez
Perces escape, 058.
St. Vraiu. Felix, leads volunteers against Pueb¬
los, 70; position at Pueblo do Taos, 74;
services at same, 77.
Sully, General, Blackfeet offer to aid, 518;
quoted, 523, 524; misrepresented by Colyer,
531, 532; opinion of Piegan hostility, 534,
535 <♦
Sumner, Col. E. V., quoted. 230, 237, 240; sent
against Cheyenues and Arapahoes, 239; de¬
feats them, 240.
Sun dance, what is, 010 (note).
Sunflower-seed Eaters, who are, 276.
Sun River farm, provision for, 516; a humbug,
517; abandoned, 518; buildings at, burned,
521.
Susan, Ute squaw, assists captives, 711.
Sutter, John A., connection of, with gold dis¬
covery in California, 118-121.
Sweet Root. See Pachico.
Tabby, Uintah chief, mentioned, 090.
Tabequaches, Utes, who are, 271; location of,
681; arable lands of, 083; chiefs of, 089; re¬
moved to Utah, 715.
Table Rock, treaty at, 200.
Tahza, Chiricahua chief, band of, 736; consents
to remove, 738.
Talsi-Gobbeth, Pi-ede chief, at Mountain Mead¬
ow massacre, 293.
Tamatabs. See Mohaves.
Tamsaky, Cay use warrior, murders Dr. Whit¬
man. 94; betrays the fugitives, 90; convict¬
ed and hanged. 101, 102.
Taos, settlers at, 52; massacre at, 02-00.
Tappan, Colonel, presides over Sand Creek
commission, 417; treats with Navahos. 471;
member Board Peace Commissioners, 710.
Taracones, same as Navahos, 358.
Taslmnkah-Kokepah. See Man-Afraid-of his-
Horses.
Tatankahyotankah. See Sitting Bull.
Tatkannais, who were, 591.
Tawaitu, Cayuse chief, confers with Jesuits,
93.
Taylor, Captain, killed, 327; buried at Fort
Walla-Walla, 353.
Taylor, Commissioner, conduct at Sioux treaty
of 1800, 483.
Taylor, John, Mormon President, veracity of,
283; quoted, 287.
Taylor, N. G., treats with Utes, 081; member
Board Peace Commissioners, 710.
Tejon reservation, character of, 130; cost of,
137; abandoned, 138.
Teller, H. M., intercedes for settlers in Uncom-
paligre Park, 080, 087; Meeker's letter to,
090.
Ten Eyck, Captain, sent to reinforce Fetter-
man, 492; finds bodies of command, 495;
brings them in. 490.
Terribio, Navaho chief, captured, 208.
Terry, General, Sitting Bull's message to, 590;
connection with Custer-Grant quarrel, 001;
intercedes for Custer, 003; reaches Powder
River, 004 ; instructions to Custer, 007 ;
reaches scone of massacre, 011; mistake as
to number of Sioux, 017, 618, 023; member
Board Peace Commissioners, 710.
Tetons, Sioux, who are, 231; location of, 232;
possible derivation of name, 510; location
in 1876, 591; at war, 618; make peace, 028.
Texan invasion of New Mexico, history of, 381,
382, 4U3-4U7.
782
INDEX.
Texas, American settlement of, 27; annexation
question, 28, 22; reputed value of, 44, 47.
Theller, Lieutenant, cut off at White Bird
Canon, 049.
Thomas, Captain, enters Lava Beds, 572; killed,
573.
Thomas, Rev. E., appointed on Modoc commis¬
sion, 5(10; opinion as to last council. 505;
refuses to deceive Indians, 500; goes to
council, 507; speech at council. 508; killed.
509 ; body recovered. 570 ; indignation at
murder of, 571; statement of son of, 582,
583.
Thompson, Arthur, killed by Utes, 704.
Thornburgli, Maj. T. T., investigates conduct
of Utes, 092; advances to White River, 099;
light at Milk Creek, 700; killed, 701; picture
on body of. 712.
Thunder Hawk, Sioux warrior, murder of, 10.
Tierra Blanco, Ute chief, attacks settlements,
080; defeated, 081.
Tilcoax. I'elouse chief, band of, 338; hostilities
of, 347, 348.
Tilokaikt, Cay use chief, meaning of name, 80;
in council with Jesuits, 93; mangles I)r.
Whitman's body, 90; convicted and hanged,
101, 102.
Timothy. Xez Perce chief, aids Steptoe, 328;
aids Wright. 343.
Timpanagas, who are, 277.
Tinneh. »SVp Athabascans.
Tinney, Mormon bishop, incites California In¬
dians, 281.
Tiswin. what is, 753.
Tlickitacks. »SVr Klickitats.
Toby Riddle, Modoc squaw, warned of treach¬
ery, 505; goes to council, 507; assaulted by
Blolox, 509; saves Meaeliam, 570; testilies,
580.
Tom as, Pueblo chief, brutal treatment of Gov¬
ernor Bent, 05; shot, 78.
Tontos, Apaches, location and description of.
157, 358; rob Doctor Le Conte. 102; meet
Oatman family, 104; murder them, 105. 100;
carry off Oatman girls. 171, 172; treatment
of captives, 173; sell girls to Mohaves, 174;
subsequent history of, 187; enslaved, 309;
located at Camp Verde, 730; liostiles pun¬
ished, 732; removal of, 733. 734.
Toohulhulsute, Nez Perce chief, at treaty
council, 038; removal from council, 040; re¬
sentment of, 047 ; killed. 059.
Tookarikas, who are, 275, 270,
Travis, Wes. in Ute agency cattle robbery. 095.
Triggs, Lieutenant, takes Mrs. Ewbank's depo¬
sition, 427.
Tubac. deserted, 381; reoccupied. 392.
Tucson, antiquity of, 159; effect of Apache war
on, 381; recovers its population, 392, 395.
Tularosa Valley reservation, established, 72G;
abandoned. 727.
Tule River, farm established, 137.
Tumwater, Oregon, settled, 190.
Topper, Major, defeats Apaches, 747.
Turley, Simeon, character of, 07; defence of
mill, 08; killed, 09.
Two Face, Sioux warrior, treatment of Mrs.
Etvbanks, 428; refuses to sell her to Chey-
cnlies. 429.
Two Kettles, Sioux, who are, 231; treaty of
1800 with, 481; at war, 500; location in 1.870,
591; at war, 018; make peace, 028.
Tyler, President, favors annexation of Texas, 29.
Uintairs, Utes, location of. 090.
Umatillas. Stevens's treaty with, 217; treaty
rati tied, 355; removal of, recommended, 045.
Utnpquas related to Athabascans, 82; hostilities
by, 191; slavery among, 371.
LTncommute, Uncompahgre chief, mentioned,
089.
Uncompaghre Park, title to, in Utes, 083; re¬
served by treaty, 084; cut off by surveyor,
085; settled, 080; settlers remain, 087; sold
by Utes. 088.
Uncompahgres, Utes, location of. 081; arable
land of, 083; chiefs of, 089; among liostiles,
795, 712; inlluence of peaceful portion, 714;
removed to Utah, 715.
Unkpahpalis. S<'e Onepapas.
Upsaroka. .See Crows.
Upson, Agent, treats with Blackfeet, 518.
Ure. Se>' Ouray.
Utah. Ashley in Salt Lake Basin, 33; Harney
relieved from command of expedition. 237,
238; secretary of, killed, 239; Fremont's de¬
scription, 275; Indians of, 275-277; Indian
troubles in, 278-281; reformation in, 283,
2S4; lawlessness in, 285, 280; expedition to,
287; martial law proclaimed in. 288; Ran¬
cher's train in, 289-292; Mountain Meadow
massacre, 292-300; investigation of mas¬
sacre, 305-310, 312-315; duty of Gentiles,
311; trial of John I). Lee, 310-319; execu¬
tion of Lee, 320; situation in, 322, 323; slav¬
ery in, 309, 370.
Utes, relations to Colorado settlers, 241, 242;
divisions of, 277; Jicarillas take refuge with,
378; assist United States. 405; removal of,
desired in Colorado, 075-0 4); fight near l'on-
clia Pass. 080, 081; treaty of 1808 with, 081;
objections to treaty, 082; treaty of 1872,
083; treaty not kept by United States, 084,
085; Uncompahgre Park trouble, 0Sii-088;
organization of, 089, 090; Meeker's troubles,
090. 091; charges against, 092-094; bad white
neighbors. 095; refuse to surrender offend¬
ers, 090; troubles increase, 097 ; Meeker as¬
saulted, 098; Thornburgli marches against,
099; tight at Milk Creek, 700, 701; conduct
at the agency, 702, 703; attack on agency,
704, 705; close of hostilities, 700-710; sur¬
render of captives, 711-713; the pictures,
712; councils with, 714; removal of, 715.
Valle, Alexandre, quoted, 407.
Valverde. fight at. 404.
Van Buren, Martin, opposes annexation of
Texas, 29; defeated, 47.
Van Vliet. Captain, sent to Salt Lake City, 287;
returns to army, 288.
Victor, Pond d'Oreille chief, attacked by Mil-
kapsi, 326.
Victorio, Mimbrenos chief, refuses to be re¬
moved. 739; raids of, 740; otlicial opinions
of his case, 741, 742; killed. 744.
Vincent, Coeur d'Alene chief, talks with Step-
toe. 320; recalls messengers. 328; statement
to Joset, 329; charge of insult to, 330; quot¬
ed, 337 ; band of. 341.
Virginia City, Montana, settlement of. 478.
Voorhees, Representative, criticises attack on
Piegans, 532; quoted, 535, 542.
Waba Yuma, Hualapais chief, murdered, 391.
Wagoner massacre, described. 205.
Wailatpu Mission established, 38; meaning of
name, 80; described, 80, 87 ; massacre at, 93-
100; Fort Waters established at, 101; pres¬
ent appearance of, 102.
Wailatpus, location and divisions of, 86.
Walker, Capt. Jesse, defeats Modocs, 200, 201.
Walker, Capt. J. G., quoted, 267.
Walker, Major, expedition against Navahos, 256.
INDEX.
Y83
-AA'alker, Uto chief, sacrifices at burial of, 372.
AVallammutekint Indians, who were, 631).
Walla-Walla. See Fort Walla-Walla.
Walla-Wallas, location of, 36; Stevens's treaty
with, 217; treaty ratified, 355; removal of,
recommended, 615.
Wallowa Valley described, 632; Nez Perces re¬
tain title to, 633-635; proposed for reserva¬
tion, 637 ; wishes of Nez Perces for, 631), 610;
Nez Perces ordered from, 616.
Walnut Creek, massacre at, 412, 411, 445.
War Bonnet, Arapahoe chief, in attack on Gen¬
eral Blunt, 116.
War Department, should have inspection of
agencies, 13.
Warm Springs Indians, aid against Modocs,
571; accompany Captain Thomas. 572; sep¬
arated from troops, 573; scout in Lava
Beds, 571; follow Modocs, 577.
Warner, Dr., testimony of, 467.
Warrarikas, who are, 276.
Warren, Lieutenant, attempts to enter Black
Hills, 585.
Washikee, Snake chief, sketch of. 275.
Washington, Col. J. M., expedition against Nav-
ahos, 257; treaty of, not ratified, 258.
Washington Territory organized, 139; first set¬
tlement in, 190; discovery of Colville mines,
204; rise of Spokane war, 324-328; causes
of war, 328-337, Indians of eastern part of.
338, 341; Wright's campaign, 341-354; Gar-
nett's campaign, 352; ratitication of treaties,
355; discover}'of .Salmon River mines, 477.
Watkins, Inspector, reports on Sioux, 596.
Webster, Daniel, negotiates Ashburton treaty,
41; opposes annexation of Texas, 46, 47.
Weeminuches, included in Southern Utes, 681.
Weir, Captain, attempts to reach Custer, 609.
AVeir, Lieutenant, killed by Utes, 70.).
Wells, I). H., commands Mormon forces, 289.
AVells, Fargo & Co., horses stolen from, 523.
AVessels, General, succeeds Carrington, 500;
attempts campaign. 501.
AVheat Canon. See Canon del Trigo.
AVheaton, Colonel, instructions to, 552; blames
Odeneal, 554; proceeds against Modocs, 555;
asks reinforcements, 556,
Whipple, Captain, describes Wallowa A'allev,
632; statement as to Old Joseph, 634; tells
Nez Forces they must move, 637.
AVhite Antelope, Cheyenne chief, in council,
412; quoted, 415. 416, 420, 421.
AVhite Bird, Nez Force chief, band of, 638;
joins hostites, 648; escape of, 659, 660.
AVhite Bird Canon, fight at. 648,649.
AVhite Cattle. See Ganado Blanco.
AVhite Kagles, who were. 591.
AVhite, Elijah, appoints head chief of Nez Per¬
ces, 631.
AA'hite Eyes. Apache name for Americans, 392.
White family, murdered by Jicarillas, 374-377.
AVhite Knives. See Shoshokos.
AVhite Flume, Snake chief, hand of, 276; quot¬
ed, 280.
AA'hite River agency, location of, 691; massacre
at, 703-708; appearance after massacre, 709,
710.
White Rivers, Utes, who were, 681; chiefs of,
690; Meeker's troubles with, 691, 697, 698;
behavior of, 692-694; white neighbors of.
695; refuse to surrender offenders, 696;
troops sent against. 699; attack troops. 700,
701; destroy agency, 703-705; suspend hos¬
tilities, 706; removed to Utah, 715.
AA'hite Thunder, Sioux chief, murder of, 10.
AVhite AA'olf, Arapahoe warrior, warns whites,
425.
AVhiteman, Agent, reports on Nez Forces, 665.
AVhiting. Agent, reports on Nez Perce's, 665.
AVhiting. Superintendent, recommends reserva¬
tions for Mission Indians. 147; quoted, 149.
AVhitman, Dr. M., goes to Oregon, 37; takes
first wagon, 38; rides to the States, 38, 39;
secures emigration, 41, 42; mission at AVai-
latpu, 86, 87; controversy with Jesuits, 93;
murder of, 94; accused of poisoning Ind¬
ians, 113; proposed monument to, 117 (note).
AVhitman, Lieutenant, receives Apaches at
Camp Grant, 719; reports to head-quarters,
720; action of, approved, 721; account of
massacre, 722, 723; charges against, un¬
founded, 724.
AVhitman, Silas, Nez Perce preacher, welcomes
exiles, 671.
Whittaker, Captain, criticism of Reno and Bcn-
teon, 624.
AVilbur, Father, recommends removal of Nez
Perces, 640.
AVilkes. Captain, estimate of population of Cal¬
ifornia, 131.
AA'illcox, General, opinion of A'ictorio's treat¬
ment, 741.
AVilliam, or AA'liim, Alodoc warrior, warns Toby,
565; testifies, 580.
Wilson, B. D., reports on Alission Indians, 146.
Winnebago reservation, lesson of. 150.
AVinthrop, Congressman, opposes occupation of
Oregon. 46.
Wohlpape Snakes, placed on Klamath reserva¬
tion, 544.
Women, Indian, fight at Ash Hollow, 236; treat¬
ment of, 250; among Navahos, 253, 254, 262;
treatment by Mexicans, 368-370; general¬
ly, 372, 373; fight at Sand Creek, 398; be¬
havior of, 426; fight at the AA'asliita, 440;
difference in, 465; torture by, 513; killed
in attack on Piegans, 530, 531; criticism in
Congress. .532; statements of officers, 534;
treatment at Camp Grant, 721-723.
AVomen, white, treatment by Apaches. 367: by
Mexicans, 368-370; generally, 372, 373;
treatment by plains Indians, 427, 428; by
Nez Perces, 656; by Utes, 706, 711, 713.
AA'ood. Lieutenant-colonel, opposes forcible re¬
moval of Nez Perces, 646, 672.
AA'ool, General, controversy with Stevens, 208;
supported by General Scott, 211.
AVoolsey. King S.. massacres Apaches, 389.
AATigbt, Capt.. Benjamin, defeats Modocs, 192;
massacres Modocs, 193; killed, 211; effect
of massacre in Modoc war, 561, 562, 564;
should have been punished, 582.
AATight,, Colonel, marches against Indians, 211;
light at Cascades, 212; treats with Indians,
216; sent against Spokaues and others. 342;
battle at Four Lakes, 343, 344; destroys
Indian supplies, 347; treats with Ceeur
d'Alenes, 351; treats with Spokanes, 352;
punishes l'elouses, 353; results of campaign,
354.
AVriglit, Lieutenant, killed in Lava Beds. 573.
AA'yeth, N. J., expedition of, 33; quoted, 45;
light with Blackfeet, 512.
AVynkoop. Major, estimate of killed at Sand
Creek, 401; sent to Cheyennes and Arapa¬
ll oes, 412; concedes Littlo Raven hostile,
416,418; investigates Sand Creek, 417 ; sub¬
sists Little Raven's Arapahoes, 418; no au¬
thority to treat. 421; statement as to Gov¬
ernor Evans, 422; as to Dog Soldiers, 431;
Cheyennes did not surrender to, 432; at
treaty of 1865, 437; reports of, 439.
Xicarillas. See Jicarillas.
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