Part 28
This was the last Indian battle fought in Montana; and the “straw” which broke the Indians’ back was when Miles captured Chief Joseph. This brave soldier, who is now the commanding general of the United States army, is still on the trail of the enemy, for it was but yesterday, July 25, 1898, that, after a skirmish with the Spanish troops, General Miles successfully landed the American expedition on the island of Porto Rico. Those who surrendered with Chief Joseph numbered 413 by actual count; about 100 escaped into Canada, Chief White Bird among the number. The killed numbered twenty-six and forty-six wounded. Among the killed were Chief Looking Glass and Joseph’s brother. Miles had forty-three wounded and twenty-two killed, who are now peacefully sleeping safe from battles, pain or sorrow, in a little dell overlooked by cliffs and ancient mountain pines.
Although those mothers’ sons never had a monument to mark their beds of clay, nevertheless the high peaks of the Bear Paws, touching the sky, can be seen from hundreds of miles on all sides and are pointed out by the passer-by, saying: “There’s where lie twenty-two of American patriots.”
Most of the Indians were taken to the Indian Territory, but Joseph was taken to Washington, D. C., to give an account of his wicked ways.
Howard followed Joseph for two months and a distance of nearly two thousand miles. It cost the regular army one hundred and seventy-nine lives, and the Northwest half that many of its citizens.
When writing the above article I wrote to General Miles asking him for permission to quote his letter, or if he would kindly write me another one on the same subject. In reply, he sent me the following:
“Headquarters of the Army, “Washington, Jan. 26, 1899.
“_Mr. Robert Vaughn, Great Falls, Montana_:
“Dear Sir: I have your letter of the 9th instant. So far as I know, you are at liberty to copy the letter referred to in your letter, but I do not at present recall it and would like to know what it is, if convenient for you to give me the information.
Very truly yours, “NELSON A. MILES, “Major General Commanding.”
After finishing the Nez Perces campaign letter, I sent to General Miles a copy of it, and in reply received the following communication from Lieutenant Colonel Maus:
“Headquarters of the Army, “Washington, March 4, 1899.
“_Mr. Robert Vaughn, Great Falls, Montana_:
“My Dear Sir: Some time ago you kindly sent to General Miles an excellent article on the Nez Perces campaign, in which you quote from General Miles’ book. The article is certainly very good. The general has been too much occupied to write anything further at this time, but it is believed his book stated very clearly the main facts regarding this campaign. He says that he does not see any reason why you should not quote from his book, if you so wish.
“I am sure you are right about the service that was done by the Montana people. A number of scouts from Montana were under my charge, as I had command of both the white and Cheyenne Indian scouts in the location of the Indians after they crossed the river. By the aid of these scouts word was sent to General Miles regarding Chief Joseph’s band, as well as the direction in which they were going, etc., and in time to be of assistance to him in locating their camp, where we joined him about the commencement of the fight.
“The men of those days were a brave and hardy race, inured to all kinds of hardships, excellent shots, and made a class of fighters of which we have no equal for the kind of warfare in which they were engaged. As civilization advances this type is fast disappearing.
“I should think it would be very interesting for you to write the history of those times, in which your state is especially interested.
“With the kindest regards and the thanks of the general for your kind wishes, believe me,
“Very truly yours, “MARION P. MAUS, “Lieutenant Colonel, Inspector General.”
At the time, Joseph was looked upon as a great general, and, no doubt, if it had not been for the Benton parties and other citizens aiding Miles to locate the Indians, Joseph would have carried out his plan and escaped into Canada.
ROBERT VAUGHN. Great Falls, Montana, July 26, 1899.
AN ENGLISH TRIBUTE TO THE AMERICAN SCOUT.
The Western pioneer will appreciate the following tribute to the American scout by that gallant English soldier, General Baden-Powell, the hero of Mafeking, at one time, the chief scout and “rough rider” in the British army:
GENERAL BADEN-POWELL
Scouting as a fine art had its origin in America, when the pioneer settled first upon the shores of the new country which stretched away, away, to the westward, how far they knew not. What wonders, what dangers, what secrets were held by that unknown country by the forest primeval they likewise knew not.
They were surrounded by hostile savages, who came and went like shadows, who found their way as straight as the flight of a carrier pigeon through countless miles of trackless forest; who appeared and disappeared as quickly and completely as the elfs of the fabled fairy-lands. But the instinct of self-preservation sharpened their wits; no man sleeps soundly when danger threatens.
They learned first the secrets by which the Indian made his way from place to place, and tracked his foe for vengeance or his game for sustenance.
They quickly discovered how by training and vigilance the eye became quick, the ear alert, and the touch sensitive.
A crushed blade of grass or a weed, a broken twig, a bent bough, all these things were to the Indian as they are to Sherlock Holmes, sufficient to construct a theory as to the character and numbers of those he pursued.
[Illustration: ROBERT S. S. BADEN-POWELL, MAJOR GENERAL ENGLISH ARMY.]
From him the white man quickly learned his lore, but he could add to it something which instantly made him the superior of the red man, and that was, a higher order of intelligence and reason, and that conquered the aborigine and drove him farther and still farther from the lands of his fathers.
As time passed, some striking figures emerged from the people, as all history demonstrates men have done in all ages.
Daniel Boone crossed the Alleghanies, behind which the Indians made their first stand, thinking the white man would not cross that great breastwork thrown up by nature, and discovered Kentucky.
Then, following Boone, came Crockett, Bridger, Kit Carson and Cody, as the men who were the acknowledged leaders and chiefs of these wise men of the mountains, woods and prairies, during successive epochs.
Since these men and their kind made scouting a fine art, the great soldiers of Europe have acknowledged that they are matchless for the purposes of fighting in an enemy’s country.
RETURNING OF SITTING BULL FROM CANADA.
It was but a few months after Sitting Bull had established his camp in the Northwest Territory in the British possessions that the Canadian government requested the government of the United States to send a commission to have a council with Sitting Bull and induce him to return to the United States. Pursuant to this request, a commission was sent to Fort Walsh, N. W. T., and met Oct. 17, 1877, with General Terry at the head. Colonel Macleod, who was in command of the Canadian mounted police, with four officers and forty policemen, were present. The council was held in the quarters of the commanding officers of the police force, commencing at 2 o’clock p. m., and lasted one hour and a half. Sitting Bull desired to have the meeting take place in the open air, but it was thought judicious by the policemen in charge of the ceremony to have the council held in a convenient room, where the act of every participant could be held under strict surveillance and control. All were seated, and General Terry proceeded to state his mission. The following account of this remarkable meeting was published in the Benton Record, October 21, 1877, and was communicated by Captain J. J. Healy (now of Alaska), who was present at the council. Captain Healy describes Sitting Bull as follows:
“He is a short, thick-set man, about forty-five years of age, and weighs, probably, 175 pounds. He is undoubtedly a full-blooded Sioux Indian, and not a remarkably intelligent looking one at that. He is minus one toe, having at some time or other had his feet frozen. He does not speak and apparently does not understand a word of the English language, and his conversations with the whites are always conducted through an interpreter.”
GENERAL TERRY’S SPEECH TO THE SIOUX.
“We are sent here as commissioners of the United States, at the request of the Canadian government, to meet you (interrupted by Sitting Bull, who objected to a table in front of the speaker. The table was removed). The president has instructed us to say to you that he desires to make a lasting peace with you and your people, and that all the people of the United States may live in harmony. He wishes it for your sake as well as that of the whites, and if you will return to your country and leave your hostile life, a full pardon will be given you for any wrong you may have done in the past. You, or any man among you, shall be forgiven and permitted to enjoy all the liberties of any other Indians at the different agencies. We will not tell you what the president means by saying he will give you a full pardon. Of all the bands of Indians, yours among them, who were at war about a year ago, yours is the only one that has not come into the agency. Of those bands that have come in, not one has been punished, and every man, woman and child has been furnished food and clothing. It is true these Indians have been required to give up their arms and ammunition, which were all sold and the money applied for their benefit. We have already sent 650 cows to one of the agencies, for the use of the Indians. This has been done to get you to leave your wild life and to help you to support yourselves. The president will not consent to have you return unless you give your consent to give up your arms and horses, but he invites you to come to your and his country, give up your arms when you cross the line, thence go to any agency he may assign you to, and there give up your horses (except such as you need for use in civil life), which will be sold and the money applied to buy cows, which will support you after the game has left the country. You will also receive clothes the same as other Indians. We have come many hundred miles to bring this message. Too much blood has already been shed. It is time war should cease. You cannot return to your country and your friends unless you accept these conditions; otherwise you will be treated as enemies of the United States. Think well of these things, and when you have made up your minds we are ready to hear your reply.”
The Indians were asked if they wanted to retire and hold a council among themselves, but they said their minds were already made up and they were ready to reply.
SITTING BULL’S SPEECH TO THE UNITED STATES COMMISSION.
“For sixty-four years you have kept us and treated us bad. What have we done? Your people are the whole cause of the trouble; we could go no place but to this country. Here is where I learned to shoot, and that is why I came here. What did you come for? I did not give you the country, but you followed me and I had to leave. You took my country from me. I was born and raised with the Red River half-breeds, and wanted to come back. (Sitting Bull here shook hands with Colonel Macleod and said he would live with him.) You may think I am a fool, but you are a bigger fool than I am. This house is a medicine house. You come and tell us lies in it. We don’t like it. Don’t say two words more, but go back where you came from. I shake hands with these people (shakes hands with Colonel Macleod); so say no more. You gave that part of the country and then took it back. I want you to go home and take it easy as you go.”
[Illustration: SITTING BULL (SIOUX CHIEF).]
THE REE’S SPEECH.
“Look at me. Seven years in the country. For the last sixty-four years you have treated us bad. I don’t like you. You tell lies. I will keep peace with these people as long as I live. I shake hands with them. You come over and tell us lies. Go home, and take it easy as you go.”
SPEECH BY A YANKTON SIOUX WHO WAS IN THE MINNESOTA MASSACRE.
“I don’t wear the same clothes as you do. You come to tell us lies. You have treated us bad for sixty-four years and have been fighting us all the time. There were seven different tribes of us. You promised to take care of us when we were over there, but you did not do it. We like these people and intend to live with them. I don’t intend to kill any one.” (Shook hands with Generals Terry and Lawrence.)
SPEECH BY A SQUAW.
“You would not give me time to raise children, so I came over here to raise children and live in peace.”
(To allow a squaw to speak in council is one of the worst insults that an Indian can offer.)
CROW’S SPEECH.
After kissing all the English officers, he said: “What do you mean by coming over here and talking this way to us? We were driven out of your country and came to this one. I am afraid of God and don’t want to do anything bad. For sixty-four years you have treated us bad. These people give us plenty to eat. You can go back, and go easy. I come to this country, and my grandmother knows it, and is glad I came to live in peace and raise children.”
After the Crow had spoken, Sitting Bull sat down and said they were done. General Terry then stated that the commissioners had nothing further to say. The Indians then left, after shaking hands with the English officers.
The commission left the following day, and a few days later arrived at Fort Benton. No disappointment was expressed by the citizens of Montana that the commission did not succeed. The average citizen was glad rather than sorry that the old savage, imbued with the blood of Custer and his companions, decided to remain on British soil. To live in peace on their reservation--receiving no punishment for what they had done--board and clothes free--to help to lead them from savage life, were some of the inducements proffered for the return of these hostiles. All offers were not only scornfully rejected, but the commission was treated to studied and offensively displayed insults.
After remaining in Canada nearly three years, and finding that the Canadian government had no use for him and that his people were starving, the old fugitive chieftain now sings a different tune and is anxious to return.
On February 4, 1880, he sent a commission to the agent at Pine Ridge Agency, indicating that he and his followers wanted to make arrangements with the United States government so that they could come back and live in peace, and, as a token of friendship, he sent a pipe hatchet; in case terms could not be had, it was to be returned. But, to his disappointment, the government did not wish to make any terms with him then. His followers kept coming, however, in small parties, and in a destitute and starving condition, to Fort Peck Agency, in northern Montana, turning over their guns and what ponies they had left; the other ponies they had eaten to keep from starving. By May 1st, 1,116 of the refugees had returned.
Again Sitting Bull made an application to the government, through the war department, for permission to return, and all the property he wanted was his horse and gun. After both the Canadian and United States governments had several communications in regard to the matter, and after Sitting Bull had been in Canada five years, he was permitted to return to the United States. He stood his trial and was taken to Standing Rock agency and kept there as a kind of prisoner of war. Now, he was not looked upon as a warrior, even by his own people. But it was not long before he began to gain influence, and many of them looked upon him as a kind of high priest and dreamer. It appears that he was determined to be a leader, if not in one thing he would be in another. The next letter will show him up in his new profession, or whatever you may call it, for he was one of the prime movers in the Indian Messiah craze and the floor manager of the ghost dance, which was finally the cause of his death.
ROBERT VAUGHN. July 15, 1898.
THE INDIAN MESSIAH AND THE GHOST DANCE.
To give a true history of this phenomenal influence that had taken possession of the Indians at that time, I will here give the Indian commissioner’s report, which gives a very correct account of this remarkable occurrence, also of the establishing at various agencies of an Indian police system which has been in force since 1877 and now is a perfect success. It will be seen hereafter that this police force made the arrest of Sitting Bull at the time of his death:
“The one best thing that marked the vigorous policy and the giving place to sense for sentiment, was the appointment of Indians to take care of Indians. Some of them had long since served in the regular army, indifferently well, but it was not until 1877 that the experiment of appointing Indian policemen to guard Indians and watch ill-disposed whites was seriously considered. From the report of the United States commissioner of Indian affairs in 1880 it appears to have been a success from the very first. The practicability of employing an Indian police to maintain order upon an Indian reservation is no longer a matter of question. In less than three years the system has been put in operation at forty agencies, and the total force now numbers one hundred and sixty-two officers and six hundred and fifty-three privates. Special reports as to the character and efficiency of the service rendered by the police have recently been called for from its agents by this bureau, and those reports bear uniform testimony to the value and reliability of the police service, and to the fact that its maintenance, which was at first undertaken as an experiment, is now looked upon as a necessity.
“The discipline of the force is excellent, failure to obey an order being followed by immediate dismissal. It is made up of the best young men of the tribes, many of them being members of the native soldier organization. There are also enlisted two chiefs--White Bird and Little Big Man, the latter being a northern Indian, and having taken a prominent part with Sitting Bull in the Big Horn campaign of 1876, afterwards surrendering at the agency with Crazy Horse.
“A member of the force is on duty all night at the guard house, making the rounds of the government buildings at intervals of fifteen or thirty minutes, which precluded the possibility of government supplies being surreptitiously made away with.”
Says the Sioux agent, 1880: “The Indian police force at this agency consists of fifty members, all Indians: one captain, two lieutenants, ten sergeants and corporals, and the balance privates. The force is in charge of one of the white employes, who also acts as deputy United States marshal. There is also attached to the force one special detective and one special interpreter. The members are all armed with the Springfield and Sharp’s army carbine.
“In the autumn of 1890 we find the once famous disturber of the peace in Montana, Sitting Bull, established at Standing Rock agency on the Dakota side of the Missouri. He was now nearly sixty years of age, and had been fully half that time a formidable leader of wild red men. He lived in two little cabins in comfort and indolence, but was no longer rich in property or influence. As observed in his return from the British possessions he was still a true aborigine and superstitious as a child. Still he was dauntless in spirit, reckless of results, and fearless as a lion in the face of danger. It is something to know that this remarkable figure in the history of Montana fell not by the hands of those whom he had always counted as his enemies, but at the hands of his own people. For, gainsay it who will, as time goes forward he will grow taller, grander in the estimation of men, especially in the minds of imaginative red men, and it is very well for all, especially the Indians, to know that his following was not great in the end, and that he was slain by his own people.
“During the summer and fall of 1890 reports reaching this office from various sources showed that a growing excitement existed among the Indian tribes over the announcement of the advent of a so-called Indian Messiah or Christ, or Great Medicine Man of the North. The delusion finally became so widespread and well defined as to be generally known as the ‘Messiah Craze.’
“In June, 1890, through the war department, came the account of a ‘Cheyenne Medicine Man, Porcupine,’ who claimed to have left his reservation in November, 1889, and to have traveled by command and under divine guidance in search of the Messiah to the Shoshone agency, Salt Lake City, and the Fort Hall agency, and thence--with others who joined him at Fort Hall--to Walker River reservation, Nevada. There ‘the Christ,’ who was scarred on wrist and face, told them of his crucifixion, taught them a certain dance, counseled love and kindness for each other, and foretold that the Indian dead were to be resurrected, the youth of the good people to be renewed, the earth enlarged, etc.