The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-29
THE TIoNAL ERA: WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 20, 1855


ment on the subject
81 reached the Sioux agency on the Sd of July
{ last and remained among the Sioux until the
f middle of August. The deplorable murders
at Spirit Lake and vicinity, in March last
where forty-seven psrsons-men, women, and
children were brutally massacred by a wan.
dering band of Sioux Indians and outrapes
8 of the most narrowing character were perpetra-
! { ted, had created widespread panic through
out the frontier settlements, driving many from
their homes, and demanded from the Govern.
ment prompt and decisive action.
"The fact that the murderers had passed into
, the Indian country, and were there protected
that they were annuity Indians, and were
moreover connected by marriage and blood to
/ both the upper and lower bands of Sioux, and
the conduct of the latter proved that sympathy
{ and a general inclination to palliate existed
among several of the prominent bands of these
Indians towards the murderers
Il IA long and tedious struggle here commenced
with them, during which discovered that they
'were, to great extent infected with feelings OF
disafection towards the Government and a
great Discrimination to respect either the officers
of the Government, or the propositions made by
them"
Captain Bee, who led a company of infantry in
pursuit of the Indians added to this the following
statement:
"A great check has been given to settlement
and civilization by this massacre. Settlers and
pioneers would be most unwise to risk theiI
lives and those of their families in region
which, from its facilities for hunting and fishing
and SHOULD the settlement extend) for plumber
and violence, may be termed the Indian paradise
Such was Fort Smelling and the military res
ervation at the time it was sold, and such was
the attitude of threatened hostility among the In
dams surrounding the posts north and west of it
Even at the very time of making the sale, Lieut.
Colonel Thomas was engaged, under the author
ity of the War Department, in giving an increased
garrison to Fort Ridgely, recognizing Fort Rip
ley, and establishing other posts beyond them,
all to be made dependent on Fort Smelling. 1t
is astonishing that, at that very moment, the
Secretary of War was defeating these judicious
arrangements by bringing this post and the res
ervation to sale. Ex
The committee has said that in that act the
Secretary of War acted without the authority of
law. The minority of the committee answers,
that the law gave him discretion to make such
sales, and that this discretion is not to be ques-
toned The single and conclusive answer is
that the law confers on the Secretary of War this
discretion, on certain conditions and that he has
no discretion where these conditions do not exist.
By the act of 1919 sales of military sites then
belonging to the Government, and which were
useless might be sold. The authority to sell
them under that law depended upon the two
facts-frst, that the military reservation belong
ed to the Government on the Sd of March, 1919
and, second, that in process of time it had be-
come useless and the Government did not want
it any longer. l observe, by the quotation of
that law in the report of the minority, that the
gentleman from Virginia has allowed himself to
put in italics the words, " belonging to the United
States as if the other condition, that the site had
"become useless for military purposes" was of no
consequence, though providing, as it did, that
useless posts only, and no others, should be sold.
| Mr.. FAULKNER. have underscored it sim
ply for the reason that that was the opinion of
the Attorney General, to which desired to call
attention, that it embraced only those forts then
belonging to the United States.
Mr.. PETIT. The law of 1857 principally diff
fered from the law of 1919, in allowing this power
to sell, not only military reservations that had
| then been made, but all others made since, and
| whenever they should become useless. In this
connection, it is only necessary to ask the ques-
tion was Fort Smelling, at the time of the sale,
useless, so as to enable the Secretary of War to
make sale of it? Did the legal condition exist
and if so, did that officer use legal discretion
| on the subJect2 | do not purpose here to ex-
pore at large the testimony of military officers of
the highest grade, whose almost uniform and
| whose positive opinion has been given against
the propriety of the sale of Fort Smelling. This
task has already been we'll done by my colleague
from Vermont; but content myself with con-
demning this rash and improvident act of the
| Department of War, by the opinions of the
Secretary himself At the time of the sale, he
had not himself determined on its propriety. In
| his instructions to the commissioners to make
| the SALE he says:
"You will examine Fort Smelling with refer
ence to its being retained as a military depot
| for the use of the Government"
He thus delegated the discretion to them not
having at the time determined whether it was
| nf A fho fiv,a fha
garrisoned. That it was not useless, is shown
by the further fact that that garrison was con-
| tinued, and is yet kept up; and on the 9th day
| of March, 1858, there were, according to Major
| Martin, two companies of infantry there, besides
hundreds of animals-mules, horses, and oxen
for the use of the service Even in midwinter, the
| Secretary of War had not determined that Fort
Smelling was useless, but inquired of Gen. Scott,
| who told him that he could not conveniently dis
pense with it until in autumn next and not until
the establishment of other posts. Still more {:
when the deliberations of the committee were
drawing to a close, as if still perpexed on this
subject he sent abroad a military commission to
Fort Smelling, for the purpose of examining and
| reporting upon the necessity and advantage of
maintaining Fort Smelling as a military depot
Gen. Harvey was withdrawn, by special orders,
on the 2Sth day of April last, from his march on
Utah, for the purpose of going to Fort Smelling,
and presiding over military commission to set
tie this vexed question. What the conclusions
of that board, acting at the instance of their mil
itary superior, holding in his single hand the
fortune and honor of all of them, would be, no.
body could doubt The report of this extraor-
binary military commission, sent out for the pur-
pose of finding out whether it was sensible to
retain Fort Smelling and the reservation almost
year after the Government had parted with the
ownership of it, for the reason that it was no
longer of any use, was presented to the House
by the gentleman from Virginia. The reason for
the commission is not given. | take the liberty
OF supposing that it for the purpose of salts
flying the still doubling but inquirng mind of the
Secretary of War. 1t may have been to operate
on the House on this very subject of inquiry At
least, presenting it here was meant to have that
effect. The gentleman from Virginia was so SEN
sible of the indecorum of this extraordinary pro-
ceeding on the part of the Secretary of War that
he took pains to say he thought he would not
himself have done But here his sensibility
stopped, and the country owes it to him that he
obtained this military report from the Secretary
of War, because it could only be obtained from
his Office, and asked the House the oivility OF
printing it.
thank the gentleman from Virginia for having
furnished this proof of the continued indecision
of the Secretary of War. 1t makes complete nv
argument, that up to the time of ordering this
commission in April last, he had not himself de-
cided that Fort Smelling was useless, and ready
to be abandoned. At first he directed its sale
without having determined that it could be dis
pensed with, having delegated the whole func-
ton of his official discretion on the subject to his
fellow-townsman, Mr.. Heiskell, and to Major
Eastman. He afterwards caused it to be con-
tnuously occupied as a military post, notwith-
. standing it had been sold many months before
} for the only reason the law allows, that it was