Doc #5 Commissioner of Indian Affairs Annual Report for 1877

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1 Doc #5 Commissioner of Indian Affairs Annual Report for 1877 This excerpt from the 1877 annual report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs outlines the campaign against the Lakota and Cheyenne, placing greatest emphasis on what transpired after the battle. While it provides a solid timeline for engagements and interactions between the Lakota and Cheyenne and the army, the report puts a more positive spin on the army campaign than is justifiable. Note that it depicts Crook s and Terry s march during the month of August as a strategic pursuit of the Lakota and Cheyenne rather than the fruitless and frustrating floundering that it really was. It also depicts the cooperation between Crook and Terry as smooth flowing, which it wasn t, and fails to mention that Crook s blundering took his troopers to the brink of starvation. Here, as elsewhere in the report, less than stellar performance is reconstituted to reflect favorably on the field commanders. Excerpt from Commissioner E. A. Hayt to the Secretary of the Interior, 1 November 1877, in United States, Office of Indian Affairs, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1877 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1877), pp THE SIOUX WAR. The causes which led in February, 1876, to a military campaign against that portion of the Sioux Nation, known as the non-treaty Sioux, or followers of Sitting Bull, were fully detailed in the last annual report of this office, as also the fact that after the opening of hostilities they received large accessions to their number from the agency Sioux. This report showed that such desertions were largely due to the uneasiness which the Indians had long felt on account of the infraction of

2 treaty stipulations by the white invasion of the Black Hills, seriously aggravated at the most critical period by irregular and insufficient issues of rations, necessitated by inadequate and delayed appropriations. Of this campaign a full and detailed account will of course be found in the reports of the honorable Secretary of War. It has, however, seemed to me proper to present herewith a brief outline of its principal events, in order that the records of the Indian Department may contain, at least, a summary of the most important Indian war of recent date, and one which has involved every interest of the largest tribe with which this office has to deal. The campaign was carried on for the most part in the region south of the Yellowstone, between the Big Horn and Powder Rivers, in Montana and Wyoming. It opened with an attack made upon an Indian camp on the Powder River, March 17th, 1876, by forces under General Crook, who had approached from the north by way of Forts Reno and Phil Kearney. After this attack the troops returned to Fort Fetterman, March 26th, and remained there until the last of May, when they again started out, pursuing the same route as before, and on June 17th engaged in an all-day fight with the hostiles near the head of the Rosebud, after which they went into camp, and General Crook sent for reinforcements, which arrived August 4th. About the middle of May a force of about one thousand men under General Terry left Fort Abraham Lincoln and ascended the Yellowstone to the mouth of the Rosebud. There the Seventh Cavalry, numbering 600 men, commanded by General Custer, left General Terry with orders to proceed up the Rosebud and across to the Little Big Horn. General Terry then proceeded to the mouth of the Big Horn, where he was met by a body of 450 men under General Gibbon, which

3 had marched from Fort Ellis down the Yellowstone. The combined forces ascended the Big Horn to the mouth of the Little Big Horn, which latter stream they also ascended, and arrived June 27th at a point about forty miles above its mouth. Here they found that two days previous the forces under General Custer had had an engagement on this ground with the hostiles, which had resulted in the entire destruction of five companies under General Custer s immediate command; and that by their arrival the remaining seven companies, under Major Reno, had narrowly escaped sharing the same fate. The troops then returned to the mouth of the Big Born, leaving behind 259 dead and carrying with them 53 wounded. A month later, July 20th, at the request of Lieutenant General Sheridan, the Interior Department conceded to the military the supervision of the Lower Brulé, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock agencies; and military officers were made acting agents at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies. About the same time, General Terry, who had meanwhile received reenforcements, descended the Yellowstone to the Rosebud, and ascended the Rosebud 36 miles, where, August 10th, he joined General Crook. The Indians, however, took this opportunity to escape in the direction of Tongue River. The trail was followed down the Tongue, across to the Powder River, and down the Powder to its month. At this point, on August 25th, the two forces separated, General Terry going north of the Yellowstone to prevent escape in that direction. General Crook followed the trail southeast toward the Black Hills until it became so scattered as to be indistinguishable. During this pursuit, on September 14th, General Crook s advanced column surprised and attacked a village of thirty lodges near Slim Buttes, 180 miles from the Cheyenne River agency. This was followed up by an attack on his main column by the band of Crazy Horse. The troops then came into the vicinity of the Black Hills, and soon after assisted in

4 disarming the agency Indians of Red Cloud and Spotted Tail. General Terry likewise disarmed and dismounted the Indians at Cheyenne River and Standing Rock. The main body of the hostiles under Crazy Horse went in small companies toward the Yellowstone, near the Powder River, then up the Yellowstone to the Tongue River, and down that river to a point near Suicide Creek, where a winter camp was made in the heart of the buffalo country. This constituted the headquarters of the hostiles under Crazy Horse until March, 1877, when the camp removed to the Powder River. Another portion, under Sitting Bull, took a more northerly course toward the Yellowstone and Glendive Creek. The winter camp of this chief was about two hundred miles north of the Tongue River toward the Dry Fork of the Missouri. He seems to have made frequent trips between the camps for consultation and to distribute ammunition, which he obtained by trade with the Red River half-breeds near the British boundary. On the 18th of October a large force under Sitting Bull attacked a supply-train near Glendive Creek, ran off sixty mules, and retreated across the Yellowstone in the direction of Fort Peck. This movement was anticipated by Colonel Miles, who, with troops belonging to the justcompleted cantonment at the mouth of Tongue River, started to intercept them, and came upon their camp October 21. Under a flag of truce presented by the Indians, two councils were held with Sitting Bull and other leading men, at which the latter reiterated their old desire to be independent of the United States, their indifference to any government aid in the way of supplies and annuities, and their wish to be connected with agencies only to the extent of trading in ammunition; nor would they give any pledges of good faith. The second day s council was

5 immediately followed by an engagement, in which the Indians were driven from their position and fled, closely pursued by the troops, a distance of 42 miles, until, in the vicinity of Bad Route Creek, on the other side of the Yellowstone, the main body consisting of Minneconjoux and Sans Arcs, sued for peace on the terms which five days before they had rejected unconditional surrender and delivered up five of their number as hostages, viz, Red Skirt, White Bull, Black Eagle, Sun Rise, and Foolish Thunder. During the flight Sitting Bull, with his immediate followers, succeeded in breaking away to the left, and escaped in the direction of Fort Peck. The hostages were taken to the Cheyenne River agency, and their people, estimated at from four hundred to six hundred lodges, were placed, under the direction of Bull Eagle, Small Bear, and Bull, and ordered to reach the Cheyenne River agency not later than December 2, five days being allowed them to provide a supply of buffalo-meat, and thirty to make the march. This arrangement seems to have been made in good faith by some of the leading men taking part in it; but their influence over the others was not great enough to prevent any but the immediate relatives of the hostages from again joining the hostile camp. On the 15th of November a new expedition, under General Crook, started from Fort Fetterman to again follow up Crazy Horse. On the 25th of that month a detached camp of Cheyennes was struck by a portion of his troops under General Mackenzie, on the west fork of the Powder River, which resulted in the complete destruction of the village, and the loss to the Indians of all their ponies and camp equipage. The expedition then went down the Belle Fourche, and about the 1st of January returned to the cantonment, near Old Fort Reno. On the 16th of December, five Sioux chiefs from the hostile camp on Tongue River, followed at a distance by twenty or thirty other Indians, approached the Tongue River post bearing the white flag; but while passing the camp of

6 Crow scouts the five leaders were surrounded by twelve of their old enemies and instantly killed, whereupon their companions fled. The Crows were forthwith disarmed, and twelve of their horses, with other gifts, were immediately dispatched to the friends and relatives of those who had been killed. These presents were accompanied by assurances that no white man had taken part in the outrage. The Indians, though at first inclined to doubt the genuineness of these protestations, have since expressed their full belief that the troops were in no way responsible for the affair, and report their errand to have been to return some stolen horses. After the surrender of October 27, Colonel Miles continued his operations against Sitting Bull. By sending three companies north of the Missouri and three others south, between the Muscle Shell and the Dry Fork of the Missouri, and four more to operate on the Dry Fork, he succeeded on the 18th of December in striking the hostile camp near the head of the Red Water, Sitting Bull having crossed the Missouri near Wolf Point. The Indians were driven south across the Yellowstone, and escaped with the loss of all their ponies and camp equipage. The next move was made by Colonel Miles on the camp of six hundred lodges, under Crazy Horse, in the valley of the Tongue River. They were found below Suicide or Hanging Woman s Creek, and after skirmishes on the 1st, 3d, and 7th of January, 1877, and a five-hours engagement on the 8th, were driven from their position, but, owing to worn-out army trains, could not be followed. On the 7th of May, Colonel Miles surprised and attacked a village of fifty lodges, under Lame Deer, near the mouth of the Rosebud. The village was well supplied with ponies, camp equipage, and dried meat; all of which were captured. In July following, raids were made by members of Lame Deer s band on settlers, surveying parties, and wagon trains in the

7 vicinity of the Belle Fourche and the boundary-line of Wyoming. On the 11th January, 1877, information was received from Inspector Walsh, commanding the detachment of mounted police at Cypress Hills, Canada, that one hundred and nine lodges of American Sioux had crossed the Canadian boundary near Wood Mountain, and were camped on the British side, and that they declared themselves to be desirous of peace and to have no intention of returning to the United States to carry on war. Later the number was reported to have been increased to over two hundred lodges, and they had been joined by Sitting Bull. On the 20th of June, 1877, the honorable Privy Council of Canada, with the approval of the governor-general, officially notified the United States Government of the presence of these Indians within the British Possessions, stating that owing to their destitute condition, permits for the purchase of limited quantities of ammunition had been granted them, but that their presence was a source of grave apprehension and anxiety on the part of both the Indian and white population of that part of Canada, and requesting the United States Government, without delay, to take such steps as will induce these Indians, and any others who may similarly cross the boundary-line, to return to their reserves in the United States territory. In accordance with this request a commission, consisting of General A. H. Terry and A. J. Lawrence, Esq., was appointed by the President in September last to proceed to Fort Walsh and negotiate with Sitting Bull for his peaceful return to the United States and settlement at some agency. At the council held on the 17th of October, Sitting Bull and his chiefs declined all proposals made by the commission, and announced their desire and intention always to remain within the British Possessions. After the close of the council, the Canadian authorities conferred with the Indians, warning them that after the extinction of the buffalo no help whatever beyond

8 protection could be expected from the British Government, and that a crossing of the line by any of their young men with hostile intent would be considered an act of hostility by both governments. With this full understanding the Indians adhered to their former decision, and the commission returned, and Sitting Bull and his adherents are no longer considered wards of this government. During the progress of the Sioux campaign, in the fall of 1876, small parties began to deliver themselves up at the different agencies, laying down their arms, with the declaration that they were tired of war. Other parties who surrendered in the following spring so generally represented that sentiment to be shared by the main body of hostiles that the chief Spotted Tail agreed to visit in person the hostile camp, accompanied by 250 subchiefs and headmen, and urge the return of his people to their agency and allegiance. His return in April with a following of 1,100 attested the remarkable success of his mission; and for this eminent service, which virtually ended the Sioux war, and his unswerving loyalty throughout the whole campaign, some suitable testimonial should be tendered him. In the following month most of the Cheyennes and 899 Indians under Crazy Horse surrendered at Red Cloud agency. Others found their way into the cantonment on Tongue River, and finally, in September last, Lame Deer s band of 500 gave up the contest. THE SIOUX COMMISSION. In the mouths of September and October, 1876, the various Sioux agencies were visited by a commission, appointed under act of August 15 of that year, to negotiate with the Sioux an

9 agreement to surrender that portion of the Sioux reservation which included the Black Hills and certain hunting privileges outside that reserve guaranteed by the treaty of 1868; to grant a right of way across their reserve; and to provide for the removal of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies from Northwestern Nebraska to the Missouri River. The commission was also authorized to take steps to gain the consent of the Sioux to their removal to the Indian Territory. From their report, which was published as an appendix to the last annual report of this office, it will be seen that the commission were successful in all the negotiations with which they were charged; and that the Indians made every concession that was desired by the government, although we were engaged at that very time in fighting their relatives and friends. On behalf of the United States, the agreement thus entered into provided for subsisting the Sioux on a stated ration until they should become self-supporting, for furnishing schools, and all necessary aid and instruction in agriculture and the mechanical arts, and for the allotment of lands in severalty. The agreement was ratified by Congress February 28, Representatives from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies with two of the commissioners visited the Indian Territory as a preliminary to a practical consideration of the subject of removal thither. Whether it is probable that by following up the matter on the return of the delegation, any portion of the Indians of those agencies could have been induced to adopt as a home the country which they visited, I am unable to say. Any effort in that direction was promptly forestalled by a provision in the act of February 28, by which Congress explicitly prohibited the removal of any portion of the Sioux Indians to the Indian Territory, until the same shall be authorized by an act of Congress hereafter enacted.

10 REMOVALS. REMOVAL OF RED CLOUD AND SPOTTED TAIL AGENCIES. In May last D. H. Jerome, of the Board of Indian Commissioners, Lieutenant-Colonel P. Lugenbeel, First Infantry, U.S.A., and J. H. Hammond, superintendent of Indian affairs for Dakota, were appointed a commission to select locations on the Missouri River for the new Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies. For the former, the site chosen is the junction of Yellow Medicine and Missouri Rivers, and at that point agency buildings have just been erected. For the latter, the old Ponca reserve was decided upon, where the agency dwellings, storehouses, one hundred and fifty Indian houses, and five hundred acres of cultivated fields, left vacant by the Poncas, offer special advantages for present quarters. Notwithstanding their consent given to the commission, to hereafter receive supplies on the Missouri River, the Spotted Tail and Red Cloud Indians persisted in making strenuous objection to such removal, in which they were seconded by the surrendered hostiles, who were not parties to the agreement. Their earnest desire to talk with the President in regard to the matter was finally gratified, and a delegation of twenty-three chiefs and leading men of the Sioux and Northern Arapahoes visited this city for that purpose, in the latter part of September last. The interview failed of results satisfactory to the Sioux, since by law and treaty no concession could be made by the President or the department beyond a promise to examine, next spring, the country lying along the Cheyenne and White Rivers, and to endeavor to find on them suitable locations for farming purposes.

11 The removal of fourteen thousand Sioux Indians at this season of the year, a distance of three hundred miles from their old agencies in Nebraska to their new quarters near the Missouri River, is not a pleasant matter to contemplate. Neither the present Secretary of the Interior, nor the present Commissioner of Indian Affairs is responsible for the movement, but they have carried out the law faithfully, though reluctantly. The removal is being made in accordance with the act of August 15, (Stat. 19, p. 191.) It is proper to say here, that I cannot but look on the necessity thus imposed by law on the executive branch of the government as an unfortunate one, and the consequences ought to be remedied as speedily as possible. Let us for a moment consider that the Spotted Tail agency was in 1871 on the west bank of the Missouri River, where the whites became exceedingly troublesome, and the river afforded abundant facilities for the introduction of intoxicating liquors. In 1874 the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies were removed to, what a subsequent survey proved to be, the State of Nebraska, the former agency 165 miles from Cheyenne and the latter 108 miles from Sidney, the nearest points on the Union Pacific Railroad. Here the usual ill fortune attending the removal of these Indians was again exemplified, in placing the agencies on absolutely barren ground, where there was no possibility of cultivating the soil, no hope of their being enabled to become selfsupporting, and where they have of necessity been kept in the hopeless condition of paupers. In the hope of placing these Indians upon arable land, where they might become civilized and self-supporting, the determination was hastily taken to remove them back to the Missouri River. This step was undertaken without a proper examination of other points on the reservation, where it is stated, on good authority, that a sufficient quantity of excellent wheat-lands can be found on

12 either bank of the White River running eastward into the Missouri, and where, also, there is timber sufficient in quantity and quality for all practical purposes. This, however, should be fully determined before another movement of these Indians is attempted. The Indian chiefs, in their interview with the President in September last, begged that they might not be sent to the Missouri River, as whisky-drinking, and other demoralization, would be the consequence. This was the best judgment of the best men of the tribe, but the necessity was one that the President could not control. The provisions and supplies for the ensuing winter had been placed according to law on the Missouri, and, owing to the lateness of the season, it was impossible to remove them to the old agencies. Accordingly the necessities of the case compelled the removal of these Indians in the midst of the snows and storms of early winter, which have already set in. REMOVAL OF THE NORTHERN CHEYENNES AND ARAPAHOES. These Indians for several years past have been reported as receiving rations with the Sioux, at Red Cloud agency, but as belonging with their southern brethren in the Indian Territory, whom they could not be induced to join by any persuasion or command unsupported by force. The same difference between the disposition of the two tribes has been shown during the Sioux war that was manifested in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe war of 1874 and 1875 in the Indian Territory. The whole body of the Cheyennes took prompt and active part in hostilities, while the Arapahoes, almost without exception, remained loyal to the government. After the surrender of the main portion of this tribe, the Cheyennes were suddenly seized by a desire to remove to the

13 Indian Territory. This unexpected announcement was followed by prompt action, and on the 28th of May last, 937 Cheyennes left Red Cloud agency under military escort, and after 70 days journey reported at Fort Reno, and were turned over to the Cheyenne and Arapaho agent. In accordance with their earnest request made to the President during the recent visit of the delegation in this city, permission was given the Northern Arapahoes to join the Shoshones on the Wind River reserve in Wyoming. In a formal council held last month by Agent Irwin with the Shoshones, their consent to the arrangement desired by the Arapahoes was obtained, and the removal of the latter is now in progress.