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us the appointment of teachers. But under various pretenses we were forbidden the privilege of carrying out our cherished plan, and growing weary and outraged at the delay, we united with other employes who were there under similar disappointments, in sending an agent to Washington to report our grievances and if possible have matters righted.
   As we expected, as soon as this was known to the agent, we were ordered from the reserve and took refuge in a small earth-roofed cabin in the Mormon settlement, called Zigzag, the site of which now lies in the middle of the Loup (Loo) river. Our plea to the authorities at Washington was regarded, and another agent, Maj. Lushbough, began his administration, July 1, 1862, at which time we returned to the reserve and immediately gathered a school. The difficulties attending the dismissal of Mr. DuPuy caused an order to be issued that no voter who had been an actor in them should remain in the reservation. Mr. Platt, with others was consequently dismissed from government service, and went just across the eastern line of the reserve, about a mile away, to set up an independent trading post for the Pawnees; while 1, who was not a voter, was permitted to stay as I greatly desired to continue the work, for which we had made so great a sacrifice in leaving our Iowa home.
   I remained in charge of the school till December 1864, when various considerations combined to cause me to resign and go out to work in the service of the Christian commission. I remained in this work till March of 1865, when being requested to take charge of the Soldier's Orphan's Home in Iowa, I accepted and served there till August 1866. Then I resigned and returned to Mr. Platt in Nebraska, who had occupied his trading post during my absence.
   In May 1867, I was asked to resume the charge of my school for as such I had ever claimed it to be and from that time till July 1872, I had great enjoyment in its possession, Mr. Platt still remaining at his post, which was so near as to permit him to make daily visits to the school building. Grant's peace policy had been inaugurated and the Friends had been given charge of the Indian Reservation of Nebraska. Very naturally, when they became acquainted with the work, they desired to have it all under their immediate control. I was dismissed from service and went to my home where I remained till Mr. Platt's death in September 1875. The next year I removed

from the state, but, in the Autumn of 1883, I returned to assist in organizing an Indian Industrial School at Genoa, in the building which was erected for my Pawnee school in 1865. I remained in the state nearly two years and then left to establish myself in a permanent home in Tabor, Iowa.
   In Volumn I, of the Transactions and Reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society, I find communications proving the noble descent of Mr. Henry Fontenelle, of Decatur, Nebraska. It is for me to prove that Mrs. Emily Fontenelle, his wife, sprung also from the noblesse, not however on the father's side. She was one of the two girls who were my pupils the first winter after our appointment as teachers to the Pawnees. Her mother, sister of Whiteman Chief, was a very superior woman in form, feature, bearing and intellect. The Skedee band, to which she belonged, was superior to the other three bands which formed the Pawnee tribe; its members had a higher grade of intellect, were more cleanly in their habits, and their language which was a dialect of the Pawnee, had a musical intonation, which betrayed the origin of the speaker the moment his voice was heard. When Emily was about seven years of age, her mother took her to Mrs. Mathers, the wife of the superintendent of the farms, and said this child being a twin, was favored of God and was given to her white, and she thought it proper she should be educated with white people. Neither Whiteman Chief nor his sister was as dark as the average Indian, and their finely cut features, dignity of bearing and accurate thinking, proved them far above their surroundings. As the Pawnees originally came from the south it is not improbable that they sprang from some old Aztec king. Whiteman Chief went at one time on an embassy to Washington, and on his return had much to tell his people of the greatness of La-chi-Koots (Big Knives - Americans) and of their territory. In order to give them an idea of its vastness, he said, were he to start when a very young man and travel till he was old he would not have visited half of their cities. Of the wonderful things shown him, he told of a dish brought him with a substance that moved round in it like water, but when they told him to take it, it came near falling from his hands it was so heavy, and when it was poured into a cloth sack and he looked in to see it, it was not there. That was very wonderful. Then a gun was brought, and he saw the bullet put in, pressed down, it was pointed at a tar-

get and he saw where the ball hit, but heard no sound. That was too-war-axty (miraculous) and he thought how good a thing for his people to have such guns; then, when the Sioux came, they could hide in the grass and the enemy would fall on every side wondering what had hit them. He was taken to the ocean and he essayed to look over on the other side, but he could not. He looked again and again, and there was no other side; it was so vast; it was like God. Another thing deeply impressed him. There were days when all of the people stopped their work, and dressing very nicely, they met in a large house and read and sang and talked - one man to the people and then he spoke to an invisible one. The next day each one he met looked very happy and he saw them smiling and shaking hands and looking rested, and he thought it would be good for his people to have such days. The sister had no such means of proving her powers of observation, but in her motherhood, she showed greatness. She insisted her daughter should be kept in school, and when one of the chiefs of her band and Emily's stepfather took her home, because of a slight punishment she had received, the mother brought her back, telling her she was to stay and accept punishment, if it came that she took a rod and whipped her if she offended even at home, and she was not to make an ado for any such little thing.
   But she was a woman of very sad face, always seeming to be bearing a mental burden, and when in after years I learned that Emily was a daughter of Mr. Pappan, one of the Fur Company at Bellevue, the mystery was explained, for in those days there was a high sense of chastity among the women of that people. So thoroughly had Emily learned the value of that virtue from her mother, that her grief and indignation knew no bounds when first told that her father was a white man. She flung back the charge with disdain, saying she know her mother had never proven untrue to her father - that she remembered him as an Indian and that he had died an honorable death. Emily continued in the school and went with us to Bellevue when we fled from the Sioux, and during all the years of her young womanhood, though beset by temptations and entreaties, even by those who had her in charge, to give herself to white suitors, she never trusted them but prefered one of her own race.
   Mrs. Fontenelle has long been a member of the Episcopal church, and the more intimately she is known, the more she is beloved. She

is possessed of a very amiable and affectionate spirit, but while possessed of these desirable womanly qualities, she is by no means a weak character. Like all Indians she has an intense nature and whatever emotion moves her takes deep bold of every fibre of her being. She was early religiously impressed, and the more she learned the Living Truth, the more she deplored the ignorance and vice of her people, being so deeply impressed as to refrain from food, while she silently wept over their degradation. Her sense of justice was keen. After her marriage, while on a visit to us in Iowa, in telling of the wrongs which she found the tribe to which her husband belonged, as well as her own suffered at the hands of the white men, she vehemently exclaimed, "I do sometimes think that Satan is stronger than God - if I were he, I would tramp them under my feet."
   During the same visit on inquiring into the then existing Kansas difficulties, the system of American slavery, was explained to her. She listened in silence, while the cruel tyranny of many slave-holders was depicted, and when the speaker ceased she looked up and while a black cloud of scorn swept over her face said, "It is good enough for them, if they will be a slave; I will never be a slave to any man; I would cut my throat first." She still lives, honored by her husband and beloved by the children, who are all now grown to manhood and womanhood.

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THE SIOUX INDIAN WAR OF 1890-'91.

[BY BRIGADIER GENERAL L. W. COLBY, COMMANDING THE NEBRASKA NATIONAL GUARD]

   The Indian troubles which finally terminated in what is popularly termed the "Great Sioux War of 1890-'91," apparently started with the "Ghost Dances." The drouth and consequent failure of crops were everywhere general throughout the western states and territories and especially in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Nebraska. This affected the Indians as well as the white population in this section. This misfortune, to which was added the failure on the part of the government to supply the customary rations, produced actual suffering among the Indian tribes occupying the Pine Ridge, Rosebud and other reservations in the northwest. They were in need of the necessaries of life; a long cold winter was approaching, and starvation menaced them. The word was given out by some of their prophets and medicine men that the Great Spirit would send them a Messiah to relieve them in their dire necessity. The "Ghost Dances" were but a preparatory ceremony for his coming. The excitement and enthusiasm over his expected advent spread from tribe to tribe, and extended to settlements having no special suffering or affliction. The great Sioux nation, with reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska, was especially affected by it, and the excitement which pervaded the whole nation, together with the zeal and enthusiasm, including the weird and barbarous ceremonies, so frightened and thoroughly possessed the Indian agents, store keepers, government employes and white people generally, that these actions were exaggerated and magnified into preparations for immediate war.
   The Indian races of America have been variously located and named. Originally the Irioquois (sic) and Algonquins occupied the northern part, the Choctaws, Creeks and Seminoles had possession of the south, while all of that country west of the Mississippi river and north of the Arkansas river was in possession of a powerful Indian

nation known as the La-ko-tas, or as afterwards called by the whites, Dakotas. The Chippewa Indians, one of the Algonquin tribes, called this nation Nadowessioux as a term of contempt, which was soon transformed by the whites into Sioux, by which name they are now generally known. The great Sioux chiefs, however, take pride in calling themselves Oceti Sakowin, or the nation of Seven Council Fires, referring to the time when their seven councils were but one, and they were a happy and united people.
   The Sioux nation is composed of the following seven tribes or councils: 1. The Inde-wa-kan-ton-wan, or Village of the Holy Lake; 2. The Wah-pe-ku-te, or Leaf Shooters; 3. The Wah-pe-ton-wan, or Village in the Leaves, generally called the Wahpeton Sioux; 4. The Sis-se-ton-wan, or Village in the Marsh, known as the Sisseton Sioux; 5. The I-hank-ton-wan-na, or Upper End Village, generally known as the Upper Yanktonnais; 6. The I-hank-ton-wan, or End Village, known as the Lower Yanktonnais; 7. The Te-ton-wan, or Prairie Village, known as the Teton Sioux. The first four of the above named tribes are known as the I-san-ti, or Santee. The greatest of the seven tribes is the Teton Sioux, which is also subdivided into seven great families, as follows: The Si-can-gu, Brule, or Burnt Thighs; 2. The 1-taz-ip-co, Sans Ares, or No Bows; 3. The Si-hasa-pa, or Blackfeet; 4. The Mi-nikan-ye or Those Who Plant by the Water; 5. The Oo-hen-on-pa, or Two Kettles; 6. The O-gal-lallas, or Wanderers in the Mountains; 7. The Unc-pa-pas, or Those Who Dwell by Themselves.
   The four Santee tribes originally dwelt in Minnesota and Eastern Dakota. The home of the Yanktonnais was east of the Missouri River, extending over a tract of country from Sioux City to the British Possessions; while the Tetons occupied the territory west of the Missouri river and north of the Platte River to the Rocky Mountains on the west.
   Sitting Bull belonged to the tribe, or family, of the Unc-pa-pas and was therefore an Unc-pa-pa Teton Sioux. Young-Man-Afraid-of-his-Horses is an O-gal-lal-la Teton Sioux.
   Along the first part of November, 1890, the Indians appeared to become organized for the purpose of redressing their wrongs, and serious trouble was apprehended by those most experienced in the Indian character. The settlers in Nebraska, and North and South

Dakota, and Wyoming, became alarmed at the menacing attitude and warlike preparations upon the reservations. At some places they became panic stricken, clamored for protection, sent telegrams to their own and eastern states for arms and troops. All sorts of rumors were prevalent, the most common of which was, that the Indians were starting out upon a raid to burn towns, and massacre inhabitants. At Mandan, North Dakota, resolutions were adopted, calling on the President and Secretary of War for protection. At Rushville, Nebraska, the citizen called upon the Governor of Iowa for aid and protection. The Governor of Nebraska received calls for aid, protection and arms from towns distant from each other over two hundred miles. At Bismarck, North Dakota, the citizens were much alarmed, and the destruction of the city by the warlike Sioux was so gravely considered that many families left for their former homes and friends in the east.
   The government took the matter less seriously, but orders were issued for the seven companies stationed at Cheyenne, Wyoming, to be kept in readiness for marching orders at short notice. The troops at Forts Robinson and Niobrara, in Nebraska, were placed in readiness for action as well as those at Forts Yates and Lincoln. On November 18th, four infantry companies were started from Fort Omaha for Pine Ridge Agency, General Miles considering that point as the one in greatest danger. The troops at Forts Niobrara, Robinson and McKinney were also ordered to Pine Ridge. General Ruger, with headquarters at St. Paul, did not consider that there was any serious danger. General Miles, however, expressed himself as follows:
   "Discontent has been growing among the Indians for six months. The causes are numerous. First was the total failure of their crops this year. A good many of them put in crops and worked industriously; and were greatly discouraged when they failed, as they did utterly in some districts. Then the government cut down their rations, and the Appropriation Bill was passed so late that what supplies they received came unusually late. A good many of them have been on the verge of starvation. They have seen the whites suffering, too, and in many cases abandoning their farms."
   The alarm and anxiety among settlers still continued and increased in many localities. Troops from the different stations and forts in

various sections of the Union were ordered into the vicinity of the reservations and especially of Pine Ridge. Harrison, Fort Robinson, Chadron, Hay Springs, Rushville, Gordon, and as far east as Valentine, were filled with. refugees from settlements along the line of Northern Nebraska, and the towns along the railroads in South Dakota had the same experience.
   On November 19th, the telegraph dispatches contained rumors of fighting. On the 20th, some of the newspapers had reports of all important battle with the Indians, the sole foundation of which, however, was the imaginative brain of the reporter. General Brooke immediately left Omaha for the Pine Ridge Agency, taking command in person.
   On the evening of November 23d, there was a regular Indian scare at Pine Ridge Agency, caused by a loud piercing cry from Red Cloud's camp. The Indian police were routed out of their sleep, dispatches sent to the different military camps, and the highest State of excitement prevailed for several hours.
   General Miles gave his estimate of the forces and situation at this time of both Indians and troops. He said; "The disaffected camps, scattered over several hundred miles of territory, aggregate in round numbers 6,000 warriors. The troops scattered. over this extensive territory number about 6,000, and not more than 1,500 of this number are effective mounted troops."
   In the meantime, the ghost dances were going on and increasing in enthusiasm, all the Indians were becoming more warlike and uncontrollable. Dancing was carried on at the camps on Medicine Root, Wounded Knee, White Clay and Porcupine Creeks. In many cases the dancers had their guns and arms strapped upon their persons. In some instances the Indian police attempted to interfere and restore order, but they seemed to be almost powerless. Little Wound was arrested on the day of the issuance of beef, but knives were drawn, and Thunder Bear and the police having him in charge were surrounded, and Little Wound was rescued and turned loose. All the Indians engaged in the ghost dances now came to be considered as hostiles and preparing for war. It was rumored that the Two Kettle Sioux, having a settlement on Bad River, were joining the hostiles, and that Crow Eagle and Hump Rib were preparing their hands for war.

   Numerous calls were made upon the governors of Nebraska and Dakota for arms and troops by the sheriff, other officers, and prominent persons of the counties adjacent to the reservations, representing a panic among the citizens, and the appearances of immediate danger to lives and property from an Indian outbreak.
   On November 24th, having obtained from regimental and company commanders of the Nebraska National Guard the exact number of officers and men in the military force of the state, efficient for immediate service, I reported to Governor Thayer the strength and availability of the military force under my command, which was composed of two regiments of infantry, of ten companies each, one troop of cavalry, and a battery, or company of light artillery; and in view of the possibility of the military organizations of the state being required for actual service in the suppression of the threatened Indian outbreak, I directed the commanders of the First and Second Infantry Regiments, and of the Artillery and Cavalry Companies to have their several commands in readiness for service in the field.
   On November 27th, there was an issue of beef to the Indians at Pine Ridge. The issue was made to about 2,600 Indians, and there were some ninety-three steers issued. Each animal was turned over to the beads of families, who made up a band of thirty Indians, and this was the beef rations for two weeks. The steers were all lean and in poor condition, and the scene of turning loose the frightened creatures, the shouting, and finally the slaughtering of the poor animals, tended to increase the excitement and encourage the warlike disposition of the Indians. Twelve hundred soldiers were moved in near the agency, and four guns were planted in a position to command the main avenues of approach to the agency, during the afternoon of the same day. The excitement was further increased by the report that 4,000 hostile Indians were approaching from Rosebud Agency, distant some fifty miles or more.
   Conflicting reports came from Standing Rock and Rosebud Agencies. The statement was made that Chiefs Two Strike and Short Bull, had united their bands of Rosebud Indians, and were making all preparations for war; that they had actually put on their war paint, and prepared medicine to render themselves bullet proof. Plenty Bear, a friendly Indian from Wounded Knee, brought in the report that there were 364 lodges, containing 2,000 Indians at Wounded

Knee, who were engaged in a regular war dance and were swearing vengeance upon the whites. Chief Little Wound reported to Agent Royer, that he was unable to control or pacify his band of followers. Short Bull, one of the leading ghost dancers of the Rosebud Agency, came over to the camp of the Pine Ridge Indians with the supposed intention of forming a union of the Indians of the two agencies on the Porcupine and Medicine Root Creeks. Attempts were made to arrest Short Bull, but it was soon discovered that he had left camp with Good Thunder and other prominent ghost dancers, for the Rosebud Agency.
   On November 30th, the bullet proof medicine was tested upon Chief Porcupine, at a war dance on Wolf Creek, a few miles out from Pine Ridge Agency, and as a result he was seriously wounded at the first volley, by two bullets passing through his limbs.
   New stories of the most alarming character were brought into the agency daily. Reports of preparations for war near Standing Rock; of the Rosebuds starting out on a raid on Medicine Root; of hostile bands gathering on Wounded Knee Creek, near its junction with White River; of treachery among the friendly Indians at Pine Ridge Agency; and hundreds of other statements of like character, were brought in every few hours.
   Special Agent Cooper and Agent Royer had a consultation with Two Strike, Crow Dog, Red Cloud, Big Road, and other chiefs, and sent instructions for all the bands of Rosebud Indians to come into the agency.
   On December 1st, it was reported that the hostile Indians were massing their forces between Pine Ridge and the Bad Lands, and the situation was acknowledged by all to be very critical. More regular troops were sent forward as speedily as possible, and the movements began to assume a military character.
   On December 5th, it was reported that the hostile Rosebud Indians slept upon their arms, and were constantly prepared for all attack; that they had guards, pickets and vidette posts, and also lines of signal couriers between their camp and Pine Ridge, so that every movement of the troops would be reported to their chief in a few moments. On the same day reports came of depredations committed by the hostiles upon some half-breed Indian farmers, who came in from the White Earth River, near the mouth of Porcupine Creek. The houses

and personal property upon these farms were appropriated, or destroyed, by warlike bands, moving to their camp on White River. All the settlers, whether half-breeds or Indians, were forced to either join the party, or have their property destroyed. Mr. McGaa lost a large number of horses and cattle. Mr. O'Rourke's ranch on Wounded Knee Creek was raided and much property destroyed. Mr. Stirk, William Vlandry, Mr. Cooney, Yellow Bird, Mr. Kerns, Mrs. Fisher and many others, living on the Reservation, distant from the agency from ten to thirty miles, had their ranches raided, and their property taken or destroyed.
   On December 6th, General Brooke had a conference with a number of Indian chiefs at Pine Ridge. This was brought about by Father Jule, a Roman Catholic priest. The chiefs came to the conference bearing a flag of truce, armed with Winchester rifles and observing the ceremony supposed to be attendant upon distinguished warriors and chieftains. Turning Bear, Big Turkey, High Pine, Big Bad Horse and Bull Dog led the procession, mounted upon Indian ponies. Next came the head chief, Two Strike, riding in a buggy with Father Jule; these were surrounded by a body guard of four young warriors. They were all in full Indian costume, with war paint and feathers, white bunches of eagle's plumes decorated the manes and tails of their ponies, whose backs and sides were also painted in the approved fashion.
   The result of the conference was fruitless. General Brooke was unable to arrive at any agreement in regard to the coming in of the hostile bands represented by these chiefs. After the powwow was over, the chiefs were given a feast, under the direction of the quartermaster, after which a grand squaw dance was given.
   In the evening, a conflict between Two Strike and Short Bull arose over the leadership of the united bands. Short Bull was supported by Crow Dog, Kicking Bear, High Hawke, Eagle Pine, and in fact by nearly all of the Standing Rock and Cheyenne Agency Indians. Two Strike was supported by Turning Bear, Big Turkey, High Pine, Big Bad Horse and Bull Dog,, with their followers. The valley along the edge of the Bad Lands was the scene of real war among the Indians for several hours. Rifles flashed, arrows went whizzing through the air; Indians in full war costumes, mounted on painted ponies, charged and retreated and circled around the bluffs and

across the plains. Several Indians were killed outright, and many others wounded before the contest was settled.
   This fight among themselves resulted in a separation of the hostiles who had united a few days before, and as a result Two Strike and his followers broke camp on White River for Pine Ridge, while Short Bull, Kicking Bear, and others of his band, started farther north into the Bad Lands. General Brooke immediately sent out 300 friendly Indians to join Two Strike, go back with him, and, try to bring in Short Bull and his followers. At the same time, Lieutenant Casey, with his Cheyenne scouts, and Captain Adams' Troop of the First Cavalry were started to head off Short Bull and his band, while the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Cavalry were moved hastily toward the Bad Lands.
   It was now determined that two thing were necessary to be done: First, to arrest Sitting Bull, who was supposed to be the real leader of the different Indian tribes, and to be the cause of all the discontent and trouble. Second, to disarm the Indians and thus place them in a condition that would make further depredations and acts of war and massacre impossible.
   Sitting Bull was encamped on the Grand River, about forty miles southwest from Standing Rock Agency, and it was reported that he was preparing to move to the Bad Lands, where he could only be taken with great difficulty, and it seemed necessary to act at once.
   On Saturday, December 13th, word was sent by General Miles to Major McLaughlin and Captain Fouchet that the time to act had come. Orders were given to get the Indian police ready for action, and to move on Sunday with a company of infantry and Troops "F" and "G," of the Eighth Cavalry. Accordingly this force started out for the arrest of Sitting Bull on Sunday, December 14th.
   There seemed to be a quiet understanding between the officers of the Indian and military departments that it would be impossible to bring Sitting Bull to Standing Rock alive, and even if successfully captured, it would be difficult to tell what to do with him. It is therefore believed that there was a tacit arrangement between the commanding officers and the Indian police, that the death of the famous old Medicine man was much preferred to his capture, and that the slightest attempt to rescue him should be the signal for his destruction.

   When the United States Troops arrived within about five miles from. the camp of Sitting Bull, a consultation was had and it was arranged that they should move within about three miles of the Indian camp, and take station,, so that they could be easily signaled; and the Indian police were to advance quietly to the tepees, and proceed immediately to the lodge of Sitting Bull, so timing themselves as to arrive there at daybreak. The Indian police led the way, Captain Fouchet's cavalry following the frozen trail, hauling two pieces of light artillery, in their rear, sometimes at a double quick in the bitter cold night. Colonel Drum's infantry command marched along in the darkness.
   The clusters of Indian tepees were sighted on the river bank just at daybreak, and before the Indians could realize the situation, the police had surrounded the lodge of Sitting Bull. Bull Head, Lieutenant of Police, had command. No time was given to ceremony. A warrant, or order, for the arrest of the old chief and medicine man was produced. He was hustled out of the lodge in the presence of his two sons, and hoisted upon a horse. A loud shout, or cry, said to have been given by one of his sons, was interpreted into an attempt at rescue, and the firing from the police commenced. Bull Head, the lieutenant in command of the police, without hesitating a moment, shot Sitting Bull through the breast, killing him instantly.
   An answering shot from the Winchester of one of Sitting Bull's followers, mortally wounded Bull Head. This shot was answered by a volley from the police, and the firing then became general, when Captain Fouchet's command dashed up with their carbines, and also with their light artillery, and opened fire upon the Indians. They immediately fled toward the river, but were followed only a short distance by the cavalry. Sitting Bull's two sons, the elder named Black Bird, and the younger, Crow Foot, the latter being only twelve years old, were both killed. Sitting Bull's wives and daughters were not injured, and remained in their camp after the engagement, under the charge of one of the Indian police named Gray Eagle. Captain Fouchet took charge of the body of Sitting Bull, which was not mutilated, or scalped, as reported by some, and had the same taken to Fort Yates, North Dakota, where it was decently buried in a coffin.
   Instead of causing relief and allaying apprehension, the death of Sitting Bull produced great excitement among both friendlies and

hostiles; and the white settlers, fearing the vengeance of the Sioux, fled by thousands to places of safety. Great lights and signal fires shone from the bluffs and hill tops a few miles distant from Pine Ridge, and the Bad Lands were ablaze with lights that could be seen for miles. More United States troops were ordered into the vicinity of the Agency, and every precaution was taken to prevent a general uprising of the Indians.
   General Miles, who had arrived at St. Paul from Chicago, now started for Deadwood by way of Standing Rock, and for the time being established his headquarters at Rapid City, Dakota, with four companies of soldiers. Chief Two Strike came into General Brookes' camp at Pine Ridge, bringing with him 184 lodges, aggregating about 800 Indians, and surrendered. General Carr was at the junction of the Rapid and Cheyenne Rivers, with a command of 400 soldiers in readiness to move to Pine Ridge, when required. Seven companies of the Seventeenth Infantry were sent from Fort Russell to Pine Ridge. It was estimated that there were at this time, at and near Pine Ridge Agency, 1,000 lodges, or over 5,000 fighting Indians; and that there were 250 lodges, or over 1,000 warriors, near the mouth of White Clay, Creek.
   On December 18th, a courier brought the report to General Carr that a party of fifteen men were besieged on Spring Creek, at Daily's ranch, about fifty miles distant, and Major Tupper was immediately dispatched with 100 men to the rescue. Near Smithville, some shots were exchanged with a large number of Indians, who were concealed in the brakes near a small creek.
   While the government wagons, with their escorts, were crossing Spring Creek, they were attacked by about forty Indians. One soldier was wounded, and some others narrowly escaped. A troop of cavalry commanded by Captain Wells, came to their rescue and the Indians retreated after over one hundred shots were exchanged.
   General Carr sent a troop of cavalry into the Bad Lands to watch and report any movements of the hostiles. The troops reported 70 Indian lodges in a wholly inaccessible place. The outlet for these Indians was a trail up Cottonwood Canon across the road from Rapid Creek to Wounded Knee. This outlet was immediately closed by a detachment from the Sixth Infantry.
   On December 18th, 1024 hostile Indians returned to Pine Ridge,

and rations were issued to them. On December 19th, reports came from the camp on the Cheyenne River, that there were 70 lodges, containing about 350 hostiles, between Battle and Spring Creeks; while a larger band, containing at least 300 warriors, with their wives and families, were encamped on the Cheyenne River, about twenty miles further down.
   Three heliograph stations were established under military authority; one in camp, one on the top of the high bluffs, and one following Captain Stanton's command. In the afternoon of the 20th, the report came through the heliograph lines that an engagement was on between Captain Stanton's forces and the Indians, orders were immediately given by General Carr for Lieutenant Scott, with Troop D, to go to his assistance, and other troops were immediately put in marching order. Captain Stanton had given chase to a large band of Indians with a herd of ponies heading for the Bad Lands. Shots were exchanged for some time, when the Indians turned and went into the valley of Wounded Knee creek, and Captain Stanton, fearing an ambush, withdrew his troops, and returned.
   On this same day, 500 friendly Indians left Pine Ridge to attempt to bring in the hostiles, acting under the direction of General Brooke. At Fort Yates, everything seemed to be quiet, and 39 of Sitting Bull's band sent word that they were willing to return. General Carr sent out a cavalry detachment to head off a portion of the band that was believed to be moving toward the Bad Lands.
   On December 22d, a sensation occurred at Pine Ridge by the arrest in Red Cloud's camp of a white man who pretended to be the Indian Messiah. He was dressed in Indian clothes, covered with a blanket. He admitted, however, that his name was Hopkins, and that he came there from Iowa. He claimed that he came in the interest of peace. He wanted to go to the Bad Lands and preach to the Indians there. He had some followers among the Indians, but none of the chiefs believed in him, and Red Cloud spat in his face and said, "You go home. You are no Son of God."
   On December 23d, it was reported to General Miles that the chiefs Two Strike and Kicking Bear had started for the Bad Lands to join the hostiles, and a troop of cavalry was immediately dispatched after them, who returned after a thirteen mile ineffectual chase. Another troop of cavalry exchanged shots with a small band of Indians, who

were attempting to get away, and succeeded in stopping and capturing two squaws and one papoose.
   On Christmas day, a band of eighty hostile Indians made two attacks upon a camp of Cheyenne. Scouts at the mouth of Battle Creek, the first attack resulted in a loss of one scout killed and two wounded; and two hostiles killed and several wounded. The Indians were repulsed. The second attack was made after dark, and hot firing was kept up for two hours, and a number of the Indians were killed and wounded. Kicking Bear led the attacking forces in person.
   On December 26th, the several bands of Indians, which had come in under Big Foot and Hump, started for the Bad Lands. General Carr, with several troops of cavalry, started in pursuit.
   On December 28th, the Seventh Cavalry, under command of Captain Whiteside, surrounded and captured Big Foot with his entire band of 106 warriors and about 200 women and children, who were in camp on Porcupine creek. This capture was made without resistance. They were all marched over to the former camp of the Seventh Cavalry on Wounded Knee, and comprised nearly all of the followers of Sitting Bull, who escaped after the death of their chief, on Grand River.
   Colonel Forsyth came out from the Agency to the camp on Wounded Knee, with orders from General Brooke to disarm Big Foot's band, and on the morning of December 29th, he assumed command of the two battalions of 500 men and a battery of Hotchkiss guns. At about eight o'clock in the morning, the Hotchkiss guns were mounted so as to command the Indian camp, and the troops so disposed as to surround the camp and prevent escape. The Indians were ordered to come forward from their tents and give up their arms - the squaws and children remaining behind. The warriors came forward to the place indicated, and formed in a half circle, squatting on the ground, in front of the lodge of their chief, Big Foot, who lay very sick with pneumonia. They were ordered by twenties to proceed to their tepees, obtain their arms and give them up. The first twenty returned with only two guns. Major Whiteside who was superintending this part of the work, after consulting with Colonel Forsyth, grave the order for the troops, who were all dismounted and formed in a square, about twenty-five steps away, to close in within twenty feet of the Indians. Thereupon a detachment

of cavalry, after a thorough search of the lodges, returned with only some forty-eight rifles.
   These remnants of the followers, of Sitting Bull had relied upon the words of Captain Whiteside in yielding to the military authority, but they were naturally suspicious and uneasy. They had witnessed the tragic fate of their old chief and medicine man. Many of them believed that they were to be put to death, and naturally supposed that their disarming was simply to render them defenseless; others believed that they were to be disarmed, then imprisoned and held for years in Florida, North Carolina, or Alabama as their brothers, the warlike Apaches, had been treated years before. The whole proceedings of this morning intensified their feelings, and confirmed them in their belief in regard to the terrible fate which awaited them. When the detachment returned from the search, the little band of 106 warriors, only partly armed, surrounded by 500 rifles, and covered by a battery of Hotchkiss guns, raised their plaintive death chant. Then a dusky warrior stepped forward, stooped to the ground, gathered a handful of earth, and threw it into the air. In the twinkling of in eve, the death chant was changed to a war song, and before the startled soldiers realized their danger, the Indians drew their rifles from beneath their blankets, grasped their knives and hatchets, and rushed upon the wall of rifles, for liberty or death. It was the desperate death struggle of brave men against three or four times their number, who believed that they were all to be massacred, and who determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The slaughter was terrible; rifles rang; hatchets whizzed through the air; soldiers shouted; and the savage war whoops sounded across the bluffs and echoing canons for miles. The Indians broke through the lines and ran to the tepees. The Hotchkiss guns were turned upon them, regardless of women and children, and the repeated volleys from the carbines brought them down like grain before the sickle. The camp, valley and hill-sides seemed but a sheet of flame over which the smoke rolled in clouds. Big Foot, himself, rose from his sick bed, and came to the door of his tepee only to fall dead pierced with many bullets.
   The surviving Indians now started to escape to the bluffs and canons. The Hotchkiss guns were turned upon them, and the battle became really a hunt on the part of the soldiers, the purpose being

total extermination. All order and tactics were abandoned, the object being solely to kill Indians, regardless of age or sex. The battle was ended only when not a live Indian was in sight.
   About 100 warriors and over 120 women and children were found dead on the field. Twenty-nine soldiers were killed outright and thirty-five were wounded. Captain Wallace was killed, and Lieutenant Garlington wounded, in the first volley. In the early part of the battle, the fighting was almost hand to hand. Carbines were fired and clubbed. Sabres and hatchets gleamed, and war clubs circled and whistled through the air. Many Indians and soldiers fought on the ground after being wounded. This was one of the most bloody Indian battles of recent years, and the manner in which Big Foot's heroic followers turned upon their captors, and made the terrible break for liberty, shows a degree of daring and bravery, which has rarely been equaled, and rivals anything that has occurred in the Indian wars upon this continent.
   On December 30th, the day after the battle of Wounded Knee, General Miles sent the following report to the Secretary of War:
   "Colonel Forsyth says sixty-two dead Indian men were counted on the plain where the attempt was made to disarm Big Foot's band, and where the fight began; on other parts of the ground there were eighteen more. These do not include those killed in ravines, where dead warriors were seen, but not counted. Six were brought in badly wounded and six others were with a party of twenty-three men and women, which Captain Jackson had abandoned, when attacked by one hundred and fifty Brule Indians from the Agency. This accounts for ninety-two men killed, and leaves few alive and unhurt. The women and children broke for the hills when the fight began, and comparatively few of them were hurt and few brought in; thirty-nine are here, of which number twenty-one are wounded. Had it not been for the attack by the Brules, an accurate account would have been made, but the ravines were not searched afterwards. I think this shows very little apprehension from Big Foot's band in the future. A party of forty is reported as held by the scouts at the head of Medicine Creek. These consist of all sizes, and the cavalry from Rosebud will bring them in, if it is true. These Indians under Big Foot were among the most desperate. There where thirty-eight of

the remainder of Sitting Bull's followers that joined Big Foot on the Cheyenne River, and thirty that broke away from Hump's following, when he took his band and Sitting Bull's Indians at Fort Bennett, making in all nearly one hundred and sixty warriors. Before leaving their camps on the Cheyenne river, they cut up their harness, mutilated their wagons and started South for the Bad Lands, evidently not intending to return, but to go to war. Troops were placed between them and the Bad Lands, and they never succeeded in joining the hostiles there. All their movements were intercepted, and their severe loss at the hands of the Seventh Cavalry may be a wholesome lesson to the other Sioux."
   As soon as reports of the battle were carried to military headquarters, reinforcements were hurried forward to the relief of Colonel Forsyth, but they did not arrive until his command had practically annihilated Big Foot's band. After the battle, be went into camp a few miles from the scene of the engagement.
   Great excitement was created at Pine Ridge Agency, where there were some 5,000 Indians, a large number of whom fled toward the Bad Lands, at the news of the battle. The ranches of friendly Indians outside the Agency, were besieged and sacked by hostile bands. A friendly Indian village, a few miles distant, was totally destroyed, and an out-building at the Catholic Mission school was burned. Great excitement also prevailed among settlers and Indians in Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming. Homes and farms were deserted and the towns were filled with refugees. Local militia companies were organized and officered, and provided with what ammunition could be obtained. A general war, involving not only the so-called hostiles, but the friendly Indians as well, seemed imminent.
   On January 1st, 1891, the situation might be summed up as follows: There were about 4,000 Indians encamped in the Bad Lands distant fifteen miles from Pine Ridge Agency. There were about 4,000 friendly Indians at or near the Agency. The whole number of Sioux Indians was estimated by the Indian Office as about 20,000, on the northern reservations. About 16,000 of these were considered as living in peace, and disposed to be friendly. There were now on the scene of action about 8,000 well equipped United States soldiers, consisting of the First, Second, Third, Seventh, Eighth, Twelfth, Seventeenth, Twenty-first and Twenty-second Regiments of infantry,

and the First, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth of Cavalry, Battery "A" of the First Artillery, and Battery "F" of the Fourth Artillery.
   The Adjutant General of Nebraska, by direction of the Governor, supplied fourteen independent companies, organized in places along the northwestern boundaries of the state, with Springfield breech loading rifles and ammunition, and the First Brigade of the Nebraska National Guard was placed in readiness for marching orders.
   On January 1st, details of troops were sent out from the Agency to gather and bury the Indian dead, and to bring in the wounded who had lain upon the field for nearly four days without protection or assistance. There had been a heavy snow storm, terminating in extreme cold on the third day after the battle, and many of the wounded women and children were found badly frozen, and afterwards, died from their wounds and from exposure. Some ninety warriors were found dead on the field near where the battle commenced, in a circle in front of Big Foot's tent. But most of the women and children were found killed and wounded at a distance of from a quarter to a half mile from the camp, showing that they had attempted to escape after the fight began.
   A pathetic incident of the burial detail was the finding of a four months old little Indian baby girl by the side of her dead mother who was pierced with two bullets. The child had survived all the exposure and storm, and was found to be only slightly frozen upon her head and feet, and was afterwards taken and adopted by the writer, under the Christian name of Marguerite Elizabeth, and the Indian name of Zintka Lanuni, which means "Lost Bird." She was also called by the Indians, Okicize Wanji Cinca, "Child of the Battle Field."
   On January 2nd, I received general orders to place the First Brigade of the Nebraska National Guard, under my command, in readiness to march on short notice; and pursuant thereto, the Commanders of the First and Second Regiments of Infantry, of Company A, Light Artillery, and Troop A, Cavalry, were reordered to place their commands in readiness to march for defense against Indian depredations, and were also instructed to have officers and men provided with blankets, overcoats, warm clothing and at least three days rations. On the afternoon of the same day, by order of the Governor,