Rice County, Minnesota - Chapter 30: Lodis Hen - Tpin's Visit to the Dppeit Mississippi in 1680 --Captain Jonathan Cakver Visits the, 1882

In 1680 --Captain Jonathan Cakver Visits The Treaties With Sioux Indians From 1812 To

LODIS HEN - TPIN'S VISIT TO THE DPPEIt MISSISSIPPI IN 1680 --CAPTAIN JONATHAN CAKVER VISITS THE COUNTR7 IN 1766 - THE NAMES OF THE TKIBES - TREATIES WITH SIOUX INDIANS FROM 1812 TO 1859 THEIR RESERVATIONS CIVILIZATION EFFORTS - SETTLEMENTS OF THE WHITES CONTIGUOUS TO THE RESERVATIONS.

The first authentic knowledge of the country upon the waters of the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries, was given to the world by Louis Hennej)in, a native ot France. In 1680 he visited the Falls of St. Anthony, and gave them the name of his patron saint, the name they still bear.

Hennepin found the country occupied by wild tribes of Indians, by whom he and his companions were detained as prisoners, but kindly treated, and finally released.

In 1766, this same country was again visited by a white man, this time by Jonathan Carver, a British subject, and an officer in the British army. Jonathan Carver spent some three years among different tribes of Indians in the TJiJiDer Mississippi country. He knew the Sioux or Dakota Indians as the Naudowessies, who were then occupying tlie country along the Mississippi, from Iowa to the Falls of St. Anthony, and alimg the Minnesota river, then called St. Peter's, from its source to its mouth at Mendota. To the north of these tribes the country was then occuj)ied by the Ojibwas, commonly called Chippewas, the hereditary enemies of the Sioux.

Carver found these Indian nations at war, and by his commanding influence finally succeeded in making peace between them. As a reward for his good offices in this regard, it is claimed that two chiefs of the Naudowessies, acting for their nation, at a council held with Carver, at the great cave, now in the corporate limits of St. Paul, deeded to Carver a vast tract of land on the Mississippi river, extending from the Falls of St. Anthony to the foot of Lake Pepin, on the Mississippi; thence east one hundred English miles; thence north one hundred and twenty miles; thence west to the place of beginning. But this pretended grant has been examined by our government and entirely ignored as a pure invention of parties in interest, after Carver's death, to profit by his Indian service in Minnesota.

There can be no doubt that the.se same Indians, known to Captain Carver as the Naudowessies, in 1767, were the same who inhabited the country upon the Upper Mississipjji and its tributaries when the ti-eaty of Traverse des Sioux was made, in 1851, between the United States and the Sisseton and Wapaton bands of Dakota or Sioux Indians. The name Sioux is said to have been bestowed upon these tribes by the French; and that it is a corruption of the last syllable of their more ancient name, which in the peculiar guttural of the Dakota tongue, has the sound of the last syllable of the old name NaudowessiVs, Sioux.

The tribes inhabiting the Territory of Minnesota at the date of the massacre, 1862, were the following: Medawakontons (or Village of the Sjiirit Lake); Wapatons (or Village of the Leaves); Sissetons (or Village of the Marsh); and Wai^akutas (or Leaf Shooters). All these were Sioux Indians, connected intimately with other wild bands scattered over a vast region of country, including Dakota Territory, and the country west of the Missouri, even to the base of the Eocky Mountains. Over all this vast region roamed these wild bands of Dakotas, a powerful and warlike nation, holding by their tenure the country north to the British Possessions.

The Sissetons had a hereditary chief, Ta-tauka Maziu, or Standing Buffalo; and at the date of the massacre his father, "Star Face," or the "Orphan," was yet alive, bnt superannuated, and all the duties of the chief were vested in the son. Standing Buffalo, who remained friendly to the whites and took no part in the terrible massacre on our border in 1862.

The four tribes named, the Medawakontons, Wapatons, Sissetons and Wapukutas, comprised the entire "annuity Sioux" of Minnesota; and in 18C2 these tribes numbered about six thousand and two hundred persons. All these Indians bad from time to time, from the 19th day of July, 1815, to the date of the' massacre of 1862, received presents from the Government, by virtue of various treaties of amity and friendship between us and their accredited chiefs and heads of tribes.

Soon after the close of the last war with Great Britain, on the first day of June, 1816, a treaty was concluded at St. Louis between the United States and the chiefs and warriors representing eight bands of the Sious, composing the three tribes then called the "Sioux of the Leaf," the "Sioux of the Broad Leaf," and the "Sioux who Shoot in the Pino Tops," by the terms of which these tribes confirmed to the United States all cessions or grants of lands prev-iously made by them to the British, French, or Spanish governments, within the limits of the United States or its Territories. For these cessions no annmties were paid, for the reason that they were mere confirmations of grants made by them to powers from whom we liad acquired the territory.

From the treaty of St. Louis, in 1816, to the treaty ratified by the United States Senate in 1859, these trilics had remained friendly to the whites, and had by treaty stipulations parted with all the lands to which tliey claimed title in Iowa; all on the east side of the Mississippi river, and all on the Minnesota river, in Minnesota Territory, except certain reservations. One of these reservations lay upon both sides of the Minnesota, ten miles on either side of that stream, from Hawk river on the north, and Yellow Medicine river on the south side, thence westerly to the head of Big Stone Lake and Ijake Tiaverse, a distance of about one hundred miles. Another of these reservations commenced at Little Rock river on the east, and a line running due south from opposite its mouth, and extending up the river westerly to r.ie easterly line of the first-named reservation, at

The Indians west of the Missouri, in referring to those of their nation east of the river, called them Isanties, which seems to have been applied to them from the fact that, at some remote period, they had lived at Isantamde, or "Knife Lake," one of the Mille Lacs, in Minnesota.

These Indian treaties inaugurated and contributed greatly to strengthen a custom of granting, to the pretended owners of lands occupied for purposes of hunting the wild game thereon, and living upon the natural products thereof, a consideration for the cession of their lands to the Government of the Uuited States. This custom culminated in a vast anauity fund, in the aggregate to over three million dollars, owing to these tribes, before named, in Minnesota. This annuity system was one of the causes of the massacre of 1862.

Indian Lifb. - Before the whites came in contact with the natives, they dressed in the skins o' animals which they killed for food, such as the buffalo, wolf, elk, deer, beaver, otter, as well as the small fur-bearing animals, which they trapjicd on lakes and streams. In later years, as the settlements of the white race approached their borders, they exchanged these peltries and furs for blankets, cloths, and other articles of necessity or ornament. The Sioux of the plains, those who inhabited the Coteau and beyond, and, indeed, some of the Sis^cton tribes, dress in skins to this day. Even among those who are now called "civilized," the style of costume is often unique. It is no picture of the imagination to portray to the reader a "stal- WAKT Indian" m breech-cloth and leggins, with a calico shirt, all "fluttering in the wind," and his head surmounted with a stove-pipe hat of most surprising altitude, carrying in his hand a pipe of exquisite workmanshija, on a stem not unlike a cane, sported as an ornament by some city dandy. His appearance is somewhat varied, as the seascms come and go. He may be seen in summer or in winter dressed in a heavy cloth coat of coarse fabric, often turned inside out with all his civiUzed and savage toggery, from head to foot, in the most bewildering juxtaposition. On behoHing him, the duUest imagination cannot refrain from the poetic exclamtion of Alexander Pope,

Efforts to Civilize these An-nijity Ixdian.s. - The treaty of 1858, made at Wasliington, claboratetl a sohenio for the civilization of these annuity ludiaus. A civilization fund was provided, to be taken from their annuities, and expended in iraprovomeuts on the lands of such of ihem as should abandon their tribal relations, and ;,dopt the habits and modes of life of the white race. To all sucli, lands were to be assigned in severalty, eighty acres to each head of a family. On these farms were to be erected the necessary farm-buildings, and farming implements and cattle were to be furnished them.

In addition to these favors the government oil'ered them j)ay for such labors of value as were performed, in addition to the crops they raised. Indian farmers now augmented rapidily, until the appalling outbreak in 18G2, at which time about one hundred and sixty had taken advantage of the numificent provisions of the treaty. A number of farms, some 160, had good, sung brick houses erected upon them. Among these civilised s&xagea was Little Crow, and many of these farmer-Indians belonged to his own baud.

The Indians disliked the idea of taking any portion of the general fund belonging to the tribe for the purpose of carrying out the civilization scheme- Those Indians who retained the "blanket," and hence called "blanket Indians," denounced the measure as a fraud upon then- rights. The chase was then a God-given right ; this scheme forfeited that ancient natural right, as it pointed unmistakably to the destruction of the chase.

But to the friends of Indian races, the course inaugurated seemed to be, step by step, lifting these rude children of the plains to a higher level. This scheme, however, was to a great degree thwarted by the helpless condition of the "blanket Indians" during a great portion of tLie year, and their persistent determination to remain followers of the chase, imd a desire to continue on the warpath.

When the chase fails, the "blauiet Indians" resort to their relatives, the farmers, pitch their tepees aroimd their houses, and then commence the process of eating them out of house and home. When the ruin is complete, the farmer Indians, driven by the law of self-preservation, with their wives and children, leave their homes to seek such subsistence as the uncertain fortunes of the chase may yield.

In (he absence of the family from the house and fields, thu5 deserted, tlio wandering "blanket Indians" ctmimit %rhatever destruction of fences or tenemenfs their desires or necessities may suggest. This perennial process goas on; so that in the spring wlion the disheartened farmer Indian returns tf) his desolate home, to prc)iare again for another crop, lie looks forward with no diflerent results for the coming winter.

It will be seen, from this one illustration, drawn from the actual results of the civilizing process, how hopeless was the prospect of elevating one class of r(>lated savages without at the same time protecting them from the incursions of their own relatives, against whom the class attempted to be favored, had no redress. In tliis attempt to civilize these Dakota Indians the forty years, less or more, of missionary and other eflforts have been measurably lost, and the money spent in that direction, if not wasted, sadly misapplied.

The treaty of 18.58 h..d opened for settlement a vast frontier country of the most attractive character, in the VaUey of the Minnesota, and the streams putting into the IMinnesota, on either side, such as Beaver creek. Sacred Heart, Hawk and Chippewa rivers and some other small streams, were flourishing settlements of white families. Within this ceded tract, ten miles wide, were the scattered settlements of Birch Coolie, Patterson Rapids, on the Sacred Heart, and others as far up as the tJpiJer Agency at Yellow Medicine, in Eenville county. The county of Brown adjoined the reservation, and was, at the time of which we are now writing, settled mostly by Germans. In this county was the flourishing town of New Ulm, and a thriving settlement on the Big Cottonwood and Watonwan, consisting of German and American pioneers, who had selected this lovely and fertile valley for their future homes.

Other counties, Blue Earth, Nicollet, Sibley, Meeker, McLeod, Kandiyohi, Monongalia and jNIurray, were all situated in the finest portions of the state. Some of the valleys along the streams, such as Butternut valley and others of similar character, were lovely as Wyoming and as fertile as the Gardan of Elen. These counties, with others somewhat removed from the direct attack of the Indians in the massacre, as Wright, Stearns and .Tackson, and even reaching on the north to Fort Abercrombie, thus extending from Iowa to the Valley of the Ited River of the North, were severally involved in the ccmsecjuences of the war- fare of 1862. This extended area bad at the time a population of over fifty thousand people, principally in the pursuit of agriculture; and although the settlements were in their infancy, the people were happy and contented, and as prosperous as anv similar community in any new country on the American continent, since the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers.

We have in short, traced the Dakota tribes of Minnesota from an early day, when the white man first visited and explored these then unknown regions, to the time of the massacre. We have also given a synopsis of all the most important treaties between them and the government, with an allusion to the country adjacent to the reservations, and the probable number of people residing in the portions of the state ravaged by the savages.

The Mode Of Payment Inkpaddta Massacre

Sioux Indians in Minnesota, and their relation to the white settlements on the western border of the state. It is now proposed to state in brief some of the antecedents of the massacre.

Prominent Causes

1. By the treaty of Traverse des Sioux, dated July 23, 1851, between the United States and the Sissetons and Wapatons, $275,000 were to be paid their chiefs, and a further sum of $30,000 was to be expended for their benefit in Indian improvements. By the treaty of Mendota, dated August 5, 1851, the Medawakantous and Wapakutas were to receive the sum of |200,000, to be paid to their chief, and for an improvement ftmd the further sum of $30,000. These several sums, amounting in the aggregate to .$555,000, these Indians, to whom they were payable, claim they were never paid, except, perhaps, a small portion expended in improvements on the reservations. Thej became dissatisfied, and expressed then- views in council freely with the agent of the government.

In 1857, the Indian department at Washington sent out Major Kintzing Prichctte, a man of great experience, to inquire into the cause of this disaffection towards the government. In his report of that year, made to the Indian department. Major Prichette says:

"The complaint which runs through all their councils points to the imperfect performance, ornon-ful fillment of treaty stipulations. Whether these were well or ill founded, it is not my promise tc discuss. That such a belief prevails among them, impairing their confidence and good faith in the government, cannot be questioned."

In one of these covmcils Jagmani said: "The Indians sold their lands at Traverse des Sioux. I say what we were told. For fifty years they were to be paid .$50,000 per annum. We were also promised $300,000, and tliat we have not seen."

"At the treaty of Traverse des Sioux, $275,000 were to be paid them when they came upon their reservation; they desired to know what had become of it. Every white man knows that they have been five years upon their reservation, and have yet heard nothing of it."

In this abridged form we can only refer in britf to these complaints; but the history wouid seem to lack completeness without the presentation of this feature. As the fact of the dissatisfaction existed, the government thought it worth while to appoint Judge Young to investigate the charges made against the governor, of the then Minnesota territory, then acting, ex-ojicio, as superintendent of Indian affairs for that locahty. Some short extracts from Judge Young's report are here presented :

"The governor is next charged with having paid over the greater part of the money, appropriated under the fourth article of the treaty of July 23 and August 5, 1851, to one Hugh Tyler, for payment or distribution to the 'traders' and 'halfbreeds,' contrary to the wishes and remonstrances of the Indians, and in violation of law and the stipulations contained in said treaties; and also in violation of his own solemn pledges, personally made to them, in regard to said payments.

"Of $275,000 stipulated to be paid under the first clause of the fourth article of the treaty of Traverse des Sioux, of July 21, 1851, the sum of $250,000, was deUvered over to Hugh Tyler, by .the governor, for distribution omong the 'traders' and 'half-breeds,' according to the arrangement made by the schedule of the Traders' Papn\ dated at Traverse des Sioux, July 23, 1851."

"For this large sum of money, Hngh Tylor executed two receipts to the Governor, as the attorney for the 'trailers' and 'half breeds;' the one for $210,000 on account of the 'traders,' and the other for $40,000 on account of the 'half-breeds;' the first dated at St. Paul, December 8, 1852, and the second at Mendota, December 11, 1852."

"And of the sum of .S110,000, stipulated to be paid to the Medawakantons, under the fourth article of the treaty of August 5, 1851, the sum of S70,000 was in like manner paid over to the snid Tyler, on a power of attorney executed to him by the traders and claimants, under the said treaty, on December 11, 1852. The receipts of the said Tyler to the Governor for this money, $70,000, is dated at St. Paul, December 13, 1852, makmg together the sum of .'5320,000. This has been shown to have been contrary to the wishes and remonstrances of a large majority of the Indians." And Judge Young adds: "It is also believed to be in violation of the treaty stipulations, as well as the law making the ajjpropriations under them."

These several sums of money were to be paid to these Indians in ojien council, and soon after they were on their reservations provided for them by the treaties. In these matters the rejjort shows they were not consulted at all, in open council; but on the contrary, that arbitrary divisions and distributions were made of the entire fund, and their right denied to direct the manner in which they should be appropriated. See Ads of Congress^ August 30, 1852.

The Indians claimed, also, that the third section of the act was violated, as by that section the appropriations therein referred to, should, in every instance, be paid directly to the Indians themselves, to whom it should be due, or to the tribe, or part of the tribe, per capita, " unless otherwise the imperious interest of the Indians or some treaty stipulation should require the payment to be made otherwise, under the direction of the president." This money was never so paid. The report further states that a large sum, " $55,000, was deducted by Hugh Tyler by way of discount and percentage on gross amount of payments, and that these exactions were made both from traders and half-breeds, without any previous agreement, in many instances, and in such a way, in some, as to make the impression that unless they were submitted to, no payments would be made to such claimants at all."

And, finally the report says, that fi'om the testimony it was evident that the money -nas not paid to the chiefs, either to the Sisseton, Wapaton, or Bledawakanton bands, as they in open council requested; but that they were compelled to submit to this mode of payment to the traders, otherwise no payment would be made, and the money would be returned to Washington; so that in violation of law they were compelled to comply with the Governor's terms of payment, according to Hugh Tyler's power of attorney.

The examination of this complaint, on the part of the Indians, by the Senate of the United States, resulted in exculpating the Governor of Minnesota (Governor Eamsey) from any censure, yet the Indians were not satisfied with the treatment they had received in this matter by the accredited agents of the Government.

2. Another cause of irritation among these Indians arose out of the massacre of 1857, at Spirit Lake, known as the Inkpaduta massacre. Inkpatluta was an outlaw of the Wapakuta band of Sioux Indians, and his acts in the murders at Spirit Lake were entirely disclaimed by the "annuity Sioux." He had slain Tasagi, a Wapakuta chief, and several of his relatives, some twenty years previous?, and had thereafter led a wandering and marauding life about the head waters of the Des Moines river.

Inkpaduta was connected with several of the bands of annuity Sioux Indians, and simOar relations with other bands existed among his followers. These ties extended even to the Yanktons west of the James river, and even over the Missouri. He was himself an outlaw for the murder of Tasagi and others as stated, and followed a predatory and lawless life in the neighborhood of his related tribes, for which the Sioux were themselves blamed.

The depredations of these Indians becoming insufferable, and the settlers finding themselves sufficiently strong, deprived them of their gims and drove them fi-om the neighborhood. Recovering some of their guns, or, by other accounts, digging up a few old ones which they had buried, they proceeded to the settlement of Spirit Lake and demanded food. This appears to have been given to a jjortion of the band which had first arrived, to the extent of the means of those apphed to. Soon after, Inkpaduta, with the remainder of his followers, who, in all, numbered twelve men and two boys, with some women who had hngered behind, came in and demanded food also. The settlor gave him to rmderstand that he had no more to give; whereupon Inkpadiita spoke to his eldest son to the effect that it was disgraoetul to ask these people for food which they ought to take themselves, and not to have it thrown to them like dogs. Thus assured, the son immediately shot the man, and the murder of the whole family followed. Prom theace they proceeded from house to house, until every family in the settlement, without warning of those previously slain, were all massacred, except four women, whom they bore away prisoners, and afterward violated, with circumstances of brutality so abhorrent as to find no parallel in the annals of savage barbarity, unless we excejH the m:issacre of 18G2, which occurred a few years later.

From Spirit Lake the murderers proceeded to Springfield, at the outlet of Shetek, or Pelican lake, near the head waters of the Das Moines river; where they remained encamped for some days, trading with ]\Ir. William Wood from Mankato, and his brothers. Here they succeeded in killing seventeen, including the Woods, making, in all, forty-seven persons, when the men rallied, and firing upon them, they retreated and deserted that part of the country. Of the four women taken captives b.y Inkpaduta, Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Noble were killed by tlie Indians, and Mrs. Marble and Miss Gardner were rescued by the Wapaton Sioux, under a promise of reward from the Government, and for which the three Indians who brought in these captives received each one - thousand dollars.

The Government had required of the Sioux the delivery of Inkj^aduta and his band as the condition for the payment of their annuities. This was regarded by certain of the bands as a great wrong visited upon the innocent for the crimes of the guilty. One of their speakers (Mazakuti Mani), in a council held with the Sissetons and Wapatons, August 10, 1857, at Yellow Medicine, said:

'-The soldiers have appointed me to speak for them. The men who killed the white people did not belong to us, and we did not expect to be called upon to account for the deeds of another band. We have always tried to do as our Great Father tells us. One of our young men brought in a captive woman. I wont out and brought in the other. The Koldicrs came up hero and our men assisted to kill one of Inkpaduta's sons at this place. The lower Indians did not get up the warparty for you; it was our Indians, the Wapatons and Sissetons. The soldiers here say that they were told by you that a thousand dollars would be paid for killing each of the murderers. We^ with the men who went out, want to be paid for what we have done. Three men were killed, as we know. ***** AH of us want our money very much. A man of another band has done wrong, and we are to suffer for it. Our old women and children are hungry for this. I have seen $10,000 sent here to pay for our going out. I wish our soldiers were paid for it. I suppose our Great Father has more money than this."

Major PritcViette, the special government agent, thought it necessary to answer some points made by Mazakuti Mani, and spoke, in council, as follows:

"Your Great Father has sent me to .see Superintendent C'ullen, and to say to him he was well satisfied with his conduct, because he had acted according to his instructions. Y'our Great Father had heard that some of his white children had been cruelly and brutally murdered by some of the Sioux nation. The news was sent on the wings of the lightning, fi'om the extreme north to the laud of eternal summer, throughout which his children dwell. His young men wished to make war on the whole Si mux nation, and revenge the deaths of their brethren. But your Great Father is a just father and wishes to treat all his children alike with justice. He wants no innocent man pimished for the guilty. He punishes the guilty alone. He expects that those missionaries w.ho have been here tcacling you the laws of the Groat Spirit Lad tanghtyou this. Whenever a Sioux is injured by a white man your Great Father will punish him, and expects from the chiels and warriors of the great Sioux nation that they will punish those Indians who injure the whites. He considers the Si lux as a part of his family; and as friends and brothers he expects them to do as the whites do to them. He knows that the Sioux nation is divided into bands; but he knows also how they can all baud together for common protection. He expects the nation to punish these mtirdcrers, or to deliver them up. He expects this because they are his friends. As long as these murderers remain unpunished or not delivered up, they are not acting as friends of their Great Father. It is for this reason that he has witheld the airauit^. Your Great Father will have his white children protected; and all who have told you that your Great Father is not able to punish those who injure them will find themselves bitterly mistaken. Your

Great Father desires to do good to all his cliildrcn and will do all iu his power to accomplish it; but he is firmly resolved topuuish all who do wrong."

After this, another similar council, September 1, 1857, was held with the Sissetoa and Wapaton baud of Upper Sioux at Yellow Medicine. Agent Flandrau, iu the meantime, had siicceeded in organizing a band of warriors, made up of all the "annuity" bands, under Little Crow. This oxpodition numl)ered altogether one hundred and six, besides tour half-breeds. This party went ont alter Inkpaduta on the 22d of July, 18.57, starting from Yellow Medicine.

Ou the 5th of August Major Pritehette reported to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, "That the ))arty of Indians, rejsresenting the entire Sioux nation, imder the nominal head of Little Crow, returned yesterday from the expedition in search of Inkpaduta and his bund," after an absence of thirteen days.

As this outlaw, Inkpaduta, has achieved an immortality of infamy, it may be allowable in the historian to record the names of his followers. Inkpaduta (Scarlet Point) heads the list, and the names of the eleven men are given by the wife of Tateyahe, who was killed by the party of Sioux under Little Crow, thus: Tateyahe (Shifting Wind); Makpeahoteman (Itoaring Cloud), son of Inkpaduta, killed at Yellow Medicine; Makpiopeta (Fire Cloiid), twin brother of Makpeohotoman; Tawachshawakan (His Mysterious Feather), kilkd in the late expedition; Bahata (Old Man); Kechomon (Putting on as He Walks); Huhsan (One Leg); Kahadai (Eattling), son-in-law of Inkpaduta; Fetoa-tanka (Big Face); Tatelidashiukshamani (One who Makes Crooked Wind as He Walks); Tachanchegahota (His Great Gun), and the two boys, children of Inkjiaduta, not named.

After the band had been pursued by Little Crow into Lake Chouptijatanka (Big Dry Wood), distant twenty miles iu a northwestern direction from Skunk Lake, and three of them killed outright, wounding one, taking two women and a little child prisoners, the Indians argued that they had done sufficient to merit the payment of their annuities; and on the 18th of August, 1834, Maj. Cullen telegraphed the following to the Hon. J. W. Denver, commissioner of Indian affairs :

"If the department concurs, I am of the opinion that the Sioux of the Mississippi, having done all in their power to punish or surrender Inkpaduta and bis band, their annuities may with propriety be paid, as a signal to the military movements from FcrU Hidgely and Baudall. The special agent from tlie department wait.? an answer to this dis])atch at Duuleith, and for instructions in the premises."

In this opinion Major Pritehette, in a letter of the same date, concurred, for reasons therein stated, and transmitted to the department. In this letter, among other things, the writer says:

"No encouragement was given to them that sueli a request would be granted. It is the opinion, however, of Superintendent Cullen, the late agent. Judge Flaudrau, Governor Medary, and the general intelligent sentiment, that the annuities may now witk propriety, be paid, without a violation of the spirit of the expressed determination of the department to withhold them until the murderers of Spirit Lake should be surrendered or punished. It is argued that the present friendly disposition of the Indians is manifest, and should not be endangered by subjecting them to the wants incident to their condition during the coming winter, and the consequent temptation to depredation, to which the withholding their money would leave them exposed."

"If not improper for me to exjiress an opinion, I am satisfied that, without chastising the whole Sioux nation, it is impossible to enforce the surrender of Inkpaduta and the remainder of his band." * * * "Nothing less than the entire extirpation of Inkpaduta's miu-derous outlaws will satisfy the justice and dignity of the government, and vindicate outraged humanity."

We here leave the Inkpaduta massacre, remarking only that the government paid the Indians their annuities, and ma<le no further effort to bring to condign punisliment the remnant who had escajied alive from the pur.suit of Little Crow and his soldiers. This was a great err.ir on the part of our government. The Indians construed it either as an evidence of weakness, or that tl e whites were afraid to pursue the matter furtliir, lest it might terminate in still m<jre disastrous results to the infant settlement of the state bordering upon the Indian country. The residt was, the Indians became more insolent than ever before. Little Crow and his adherents had found capital out of which to foment future ditBoulties in which the two races should become involved. And it is now believed, and subsequent circum- stances have greatly strongtbened that belief, that Little Crow, from the time the government ceased its efforts to punish Inkpaduta, began to agitate his great scheme of driving the whites from the state of Minnesota; a scheme which finally culminated in the ever-to-be- remembered massacre of August, A. D. 1862.

The antecedent exciting causes of this massacre ar« numerous. The displaced agents and traders find the cause in the erroneous action of the Government, resulting in their removal from ofBce. The statesman and the philosopher may unite in tracing the cause to improper theories as to the mode of acquiring the right to Indian lands. The former may locate the evil in our system of treaties, and the latter in our theories of government. The philanthropist may find the cause in the absence of justice which we exhibit in all our intercourse with the Indian races. The poet and the lovers of romance in human character find the true cause, as they believe, in the total absence of aU appreciation of the noble, generous, confiding traits peculiar to the native Indian. The Christian teacher fijids apologies for acts of Indian atrocities in the deficient systems of mental and moral culture. Each of these different classes are satisfied that the great massacre of August, 1862, had its origin in some way intimately connected with his favorite theory.

Let us, for a moment, look at the facts, in relation to the two races who had come into close contact with each other, and in the light of these facts, judge of the probable cause of this fearful collision. The white race, some two hundred years ago, had entered upon the material conquest of the American continent, armed with aU the appliances for its complete subjugation. On the shores of this prolific continent these new elements came in contact with a race of savages with many of the traits peculiar to a common humanity, yet, with these, exhibiting all, or nearly all, the vices of the most barbarous of savage races. The period of occupancy of this broad, fertile land was lost in the depths of a remote antiquity. The culture of the soil, if ever understood, had been long neglected by this race, and the chase was their principal mode of gaining a scanty subsistence. It had lost all that ennobled man, and was alive only to all his degradations. The white man was at once acknowledged, the Indian being judge, superior to the savage race with which he Lad come in contact.

Here, then, is the first cause, in accordance with a universal principle, in which the contliot of the two races had its origin. It was a conflict of knowledge with ignorance, of right with wrong. If this conflict were only mental, and the weapons of death had never been resorted to in a single instance, the result would have been the same. The inferior race must either recede before the superior, or sink into the common mass, and, like the raindrops falling upon the bosom of the ocean, lose all traces of distinction. This warfare takes place the world over, on the principle of mental and material progress. The presence of the superior light eclipses the inferior, and causes it to retire. Mind makes aggression upon mind, and the superior, sooner or later, overwhelms the inferior. This process may go on, with or without the conflict of physical organisms. The final result will be the same.

Again, we come to the great law of right. The white race stood uj^on this undeveloped continent ready and willing to execute the Divine injunction, to replenish the earth and subdue it. On the one side stood the white race armed with his law; on the other the savage, resisting the execution of that law. The result could not be evaded by any human device. In the case before us, the Indian ra?es were in the wrongful possession of a continent required by the superior right of the white man. This right, founded in the wisdom of God, eliminated by the ever-operative laws of progress, will contiuue to assert its dominion, with varying success, contingent on the use of means employed, until all opposition is hushed in the perfect reign of the superior aggressive principle.

With these seemingly necessary reflections, we introduce the remarks of the Sioux agent touching the antecedents of the great massacre, unparalleled in the history of the conflict of the races. The agent gives his jjecuiiar views, and they are worthy of careful consideration.

" The radical, moving cause of the outbreak is, I am satisfied, the ingrained and fixed hostility of the savage barbarian to reform and civib'zation. As in all barbarous communities, in the history of the world, the same people have, for the most part, resisted the encroachments of civilization upon their ancient customs; so it is in the case before us. Nor does it matter materially in wKat shape civilization makes its attack. Hostile, opposing forces meet in contUct, and a war of social elements is the result - civilization is aggressive, and barbarism stubbornly resistant. Sometimes, indeed, civilization has achieved a bloodless victory, l)ut generally it has been otherwise. Christianity, itself, the true basis of civilization, has, in most instances, waded to success through seas of blood. * * * Having stated thus much, I state as a settled fact in my mind, that the encroachments of Christianity, and its handmaid, civilization, upon the habits and customs of the Sioux Indians, is the cause of the late terrible Sioux outbreak. There were, it is true, many immediate inciting causes, A^'hich will be alluded to and stated hereafter, but they are subsidiary to, and developments of, or incident to, the great cause set forth. * * * But that the recent Sioux outbreak would have happened at any rate, as a result, a fair consequence of the cause here stated, I have no more doubt than I doubt that the great rebellion to overthi'ow oiur Government would have ocoui'red had Mr. Lincoln never been elected President of the United States.

" Now as to the existing or immediate causes of the outbreak: By my predecessor a new and radical system was inaugurated, practically, and, in its inauguration, he was aided by the Christian missionaries aud by the Government. The treaties of 1858 were ostensibly made to carry this new system into effect. The theory, in suljstance, \«8s to break uj) the community-system which prevailed among the Sioux; weaken and destroy their tribal relations, and individualize them, by giving them each a sej^arate home. * * * Ou the 1st day of June, A. D. 18G1, when I entered upon the duties of my oiBce, I found that the system had just been inaugurated. Some hundred families of the Annuity Sioux had become novitiates, and their relatives and friends seemed to be favfjrably disposed to the new order of things. But I also found that, against the-ie, were arrayed over five thousand "Annuity Sioux," besides at least three thousand Tanktonais, all inflamed by the most bitter, relentless, and devilish hostility.

" I saw, to some extent, the difficulty of the situation, but I determined to continue, if in my power, the civilization system. To favor it, to aid and build it ujs by every fair means, I advised, encouraged, and assisted the farmer novitiates; in short, I sustained the policy inaugurated by my predecessor, and sustained and recommended by the Government. I soon discovered that the system could not be successful without a suificient force

"During my term, and up to the time of the outbreak, about one hundred and seventy-five liad their hair cut and had adopted the habits and customs of white men.

" For a time, indeed, my hopes were strong that civilization would soon be in the ascendant. But the increase of the civilization party and their evident prosperity, only tended to exasperate the Indians of the 'ancient customs,' and to widen the breach. But while these are to be enumerated, it may be permitted me to hojDe that the radical cause will not be forgotten or overlooked ; and I am bold to exjjress this desire, because, ever since the outbreak, the public journals of the country, religious and .sjecular, have teemed with editorials by and communications from 'reliable individuals,' politicians, philanthropists, philosophers and hired 'penny-a-liners,' mostly mistaken and sometimes willfully and grossly false, giving the cause of the Indian raid."

Major Galbraith enumerates a variety of other exciting causes of the massacre, which our limit will not allow us to insert in this volume. Among otiier causes, * * that the United States was itself at war, and that Washington was taken by the negroes. * * But none of these were, in his opinion, the cause of the outbreak.

"Grievances such as have been related, and numberless others akin to them, were spoken of, recited, and chanted at their councils, dances, and feasts, to such an extent that, in their excitement, in June, 1862, a secret organization known as the ' Soldier's Lodge,' was tV)unded by the young men and soldiers of the Lower Sioux, with the object, as far as I was able to learn through spies and informers, of preventing tJie 'traders' from going to the pay-tables, as had been their custom. Since the outbreak I have become satisfied that the real object of this 'Lodge' was to adopt measures to 'clean out' all the white people at the end of the payment."

Whatever may have been the cause of the fearfvd and bloody tragedy, it is certain that the manner of the execution of the infernal deed was a deep-laid conspiracy, long cherished by Little Crow, taking form under the guise of the "Soldiers' Lodge," and matured in secret Indian councils. In all these secret movements Little Crow was the moving spirit.

Now the opportune moment seemed to have come. Only thirty soldiers were stationed at Fort Eidgely. Some thirty were all that Fort Bipley could muster, and at Fort Aberorombie one company, under Captain Van Der Hork, was all the whites could depend lapon to repel any attack in that quarter. The whole effective force for the defense of the entire frontier, from Pembina to the Iowa line, did not exceed two hundred men. The annuity money was daily esj^ected, and no troops except about one hundred men at Yellow Medicine, had been detailed, as usual, to attend the anticipated payment. Here was a glittering prize to be paraded before the minds of the excited savages. The whites were weak; they were engaged in a terrible war among themselves; their attention was now directed toward the great struggle in the South. At such a time, offering so many chances for rapine and plunder, it would be easy to unite, at least, all the annuity Indians in one common movement. Little Crow knew full well that the Indians could easily be made to believe that now was a favorable time to make a grand attack upon the Ijorder settlements. In view of all the favorable auspices now concurring, a famous Indian council was called, which was fully attended by the " Soldier.s' Lodge." Rev. S. E. Kiggs, in his late work, 1880, ("Mary and I"),, referring to the outbreak, says:

"On 4ugust 17th, the outbreak was commenced in the border whita settlements at Acton, Minnesota. That night the news was carried to the Lower Sioux Agency, and a coimcil of war was called." -* * * " Something of the kind had been meditated and talked of, and prepared for undoubtedly. Some time before this, they had formed the Toe-yo-tee-pee, or Soldiers' Lodge."

A memorable council, convened at Little Crow's village, near the Lower Agency, on Sunday night ]irevious to the attack on Fort Bidgely, and precisely two weeks before the first massacres at Acton. Little Crow was at this coimcil, and he was not wanting in ability to meet the greatne.ss of the occasion. The proceedings of this council, of course, were secret. Some of the results arrived at, however, have since come to the writer of these pages. The council matured the details of a conspiracy, which for atrocity has hitherto never found a place in recorded history, not excepting that of Cawnpore.

the infamous council. Comparing the statement of the narrative with the known occurrences of the times, that council preceded the attack on the Government stores at the Upper Agency, and was convened on Simday night; the attack on the Upper Agency took place the next day, Monday, the 4th of August; and on the same day, an attempt was made to take Fort Eidgely by strategy. Not the slightest danger was anticipated. Only thirty soldiers occupied the post at Fort Eidgely and this was deemed amply sufiieient in times of peace. But we will not longer detain the reader from the denouement of this horrible plot.

"I was looking toward the Agency and saw a large body of men coming toward the fort, and supposed them soldiers returning from the payment at Yellow Medicine. On a seccmd look, I observed they were mounted, and knowing, at this time, that they must be ludi.ans, was surprised at seeing so large a body, as they were not expected. I resolved to go into the garrison to see what it meant, having, at the time, not the least suspicicn that the Indians intended any hostile demonsttition. Wlien I arrived at the garrison, I fouLd Sergeant Jones at the entrance with a mounted howitzer, charged with shell and caaister-shot, pointed towards the Indians, who were removed but a short distance from the guard house. I inquired of the sergeant what it meant? whether any danger was apprehended? He replied indifferently, "No, but that he thought it a good rule to observe that a soldier should always be ready for any emergency."

These Indians had requested the privilege to dance in tlie inclosure surrounding the fort. On this occasion that request was refused them. But I saw that, about sixty yards west of the guard house, the Indians were making the necessary preparations lor a dance. I thought nothing of it as they had frequently done the same thing, but a little furtlier removed from the tort, under somewhat different circumstances. I considered it a singular exliibition of Indian foolishness, ami, at tlie solicitation of a few ladies, went out and wcs myself a spectator of the dance.

"When the dance was concluded, the Indians sought and obtained permission to encamp on some rising ground about a quarter of a mile west of the garrison. To this ground they soon repaired, and encamjied for the uight. The next mo-aiug, by 10 o'nlook, all li.id left tlie vicinity nf the garrisou, ilejiartiug in the iliivotiim of (lio Lower Agency. This whole matter of the daneo was so conducted as to lead moat, if not all, the residents of the garrison to believe that the Indians had paid them that visit for the purpose of dancing and obtaining provisions for a feast.

"Some things were observable that were unusual. The visitors were all warriors, niuety-six in number, all in undress, except a very few who wore calico shirts; and, iu addition to this, they all carried arms, guns and tomahawks, with ammunition pouches suspended around their shoulders. Pro- \iou3 to the dance, the war implements were deposited some two hundred yards distant, where they had left their ponies. But even this circum- .s'ance, so far as it was then known, excited nT) suspicion of danger or hostilities in the minds, of the residents of the garrison. These residents were thiity-iive men; thirty soldiers and five citizens, with a few women and children. The guard that day consisted of three soldiers; one waswalkuig leisurely to and fro in front of the guardhouse; the other two were off duty, passing aliout an'' taking their rest; and all entirely without appichension of danger from Indians or any other f .10. As the Indians left the garrison without doing any mischief, most of us .supposed that no evil was meditated by them. But there was one man who acted on the supposition that thei-e was always danger sui-rounding a garrison when visited l>y savages; that man was Sergeant Jones. From t'je time he took his position at the gun he never left it, but acted as he said he believed it best to do, that was to be always ready. He not only remained at the gun himself, but retained two other men, whom he had previously trained as assistants to work the i)iece.

'-Shortly before dark, without disclosing his intentions. Sergeant Jones said to his wife: 'I have a little business to attend to to-night; at bed-time I wish you to retire, and not to wait for me.' As he had frequently done this before, to discharge some official duty at the quartermaster's office, she thought it not singular, but did as he had requested, andretired at the usual hour. On awakening in the morning, liowever, she was surprised at finding that he was not there, and had not been in bed. In truth, this faithful soldier bad stood by his gun througliout the entire night, ready to fire, it occasion required, at any moment during that time; nor could he be pa- uaded to leave that

"Some two weeks after rids time, tliose same Indians, with others, attacked Fort l^idgejy and, after some tea days' siege, the g jrison was relieved by the arrival of soldiers under Colonel H. H Sibley. The second day after Colonel Sibley arrived, a Fi-enchman of pure or mixed blood appeared l-efore Sergeant Jones, in a very agitated manner, and intimated that he had .some disclosures to make to him; but no sooner had he made this intimation than he became extremely and violently agitated, and seemed to be in a perfect agony of n^iental perturbation. Sergeant Jones said to him, 'If you have anything to disclose, you ought, at once, to make it known.' The man repealed that he had disclosures to make, but that he did not dare to make them; and although Sergeant Jones urged him by every cousideiation in his power to tell what he knew, the man seemed to be so compl; tely under the dominion of terror, that he was unable to divulge the great secret. 'Why,' said he, 'they will kill me; they will kill my wife and children.' Saying which he turned and walked away.

"Shortly after the first interview, this man n turned to Sergeant Jones, when again the Sergeant urged him to disclcse what he knew; ami promised him that if he would do so, he would Iceep his name o. profound secret forever; that if the information which he should disclose should lead to the detection and punishment of fhegndtv the name of the informant should n. ver be made known. Being thus assured, the Frenchman soon became more calm. Hesitatmg a moment, he inquired of Sergeant Jones if he remembered that, some two weeks ago, a party of Indians came down to the fort to have a dance? Seigeant Jones replied that he did. 'Why,' sai^l the Frenchman, 'do you know that these Indians were all warriors of Little Crow, or smue of the other lower bands? Sir, these Indians had all been selected for the purpose, and came down to Fort Eidgely by the express command of Ijittle Crow and the other chiefs, to get permission to dance; and when all suspicion should be completely lulled, in the midst of the dance, to seize their weapons, kill every person in the fort, seize the big guns, open the magazine, and secure the ammunition, when they should be joined by all the remaining warriors of the lower bands. Thus armed, and increased by numbers, tliey were to pi-occed together down the valley of the Minnesota. With this force and these weapons they were assured they could drive every white man beyond the Mississippi.'

"AH this, the Frenchman informed Sergeant Jones, he had learned by being present at a council, and from conversations had with other Indians, who had told him that they had gone to the garrison for that very purpose. When he had concluded this revelation, Sergeant Jones inquired, 'Why did they not execute their purpose ? Why did they not take the fort?' The Frenchman repbed: -Because they saw, during all their dance, and then stay at the fort, that big gun constantly pointed at them.' "

Interpreter Quinn, now dead, told the narrator of the foregomg incidents that Little Crow had said, repeatedly, in their councils, that the Indians could kill all the white men in the Minnesota Valley. In this way, he said, we can get all our lands back; that the whites would again want these lands, and that they could get double annuities. Some of the councils at which these suggestions of Little Crow were made, dated, he said, as far back as the summer of 1857, immediately after the lukpaduta war.

On the 17th day of August, 1862, Little Crow, Inkpaduta, and Little Priest, the latter one of the Winnebago chiefs, attended church at the Lower Agency, and seemed to listen attentively to the ser\'ices, conducted by the Kev. J. D. Hinman. On the afternoon of that day Little Crow invited these Indians to his house, a short distance above the Agency. On the same day an Indian council was held at Rice Creek, sixteen miles above the Lower Agency, attended by the Soldiers' Lodge. Inkpaduta, it is believed, and Little Priest, with some thirteen Winnebago warriors, attended this council. Why this council was held, and what was its object, can easily be imagined. The decrees of the one held two weeks before had not been executed. The reason w hy the fort was not taken has been narrated. The other part of the same scheme, the taking of the agency at the Yellow Medicine, on the same day the fort was to have fallen, will bo alluded to in another chapter. It then became necessary for the conspirators to hold another council, to devise new plans for the execution of their nefarious designs upon the whites. The Acton tragedy, forty miles distant, had taken place but a few hours before this council was convened. On Monday, the 18th of August, these

Acton murderers were seen at the mill on Crow river, six miles from Hutchinson, with the team taken from Acton; so that these Indians did not go to the Lower Agency, but remained in th( country about Hutchinson. One of the number only returned to the Agency by the next morning after the council at Rice Creek had been held. All that followed in the bloody drama, originated at this council of Death, over which Little Crow presided, on Sunday afternoon, the 17th day of August, 1862, on the evening of the same day of the Acton murders. The general massacre of all white men was by order of this council, to commence at the Agency, on the morning of the 18th, and at as many other points, simultaneously, as could be reached by the dawn of day, radiating from that point as a center. The advantage gained by the suddenness of the attack, and the known panic that would result, was to be followed up until every settlement was massacred, Foi't Ridgely taken, both Agencies burned, New Ulm, Mankato, St. Peter, and all the towns on the river destroyed, the whole country plundered and devastated, and as many of the inhabitants as were left alive were to be driven beyond the Mississippi river. The decree of this savage council, matured on a Christian Sabbath, by Indians, who were supposed to be civilized, so immediately after attentively listening to the gospel of peace, filled the measure of the long-cherished conspiracy matured by Little Crow, until it was full of the most hopeful results to his polluted and brutal nature. "Once an Indian, always an Indian," seems in this instance to have been horribly demonstrated.