The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1868-12-30

partment of the Interior, to. be used
in subsisting these Indians, the war
that is now existing would have been
prevented. The Withholding arms
and ammunition disabling them from
procuring game for subsisting their
families, which game was becoming
more scarce every day, and the neg
lect to supply them with the absolute
n~ecessaries Of life, drove some to des-
peration.
In reply to your questions as to my
views of the remedy, to me 1t is a very
simple one Let us, when we make
pledges to those untaught savages.
who, like children judge of good faith
by performance, redeem these pledges,
never fail to fulfill our contracts, and
the cure will be complete. 1t matters
but little in which Department the
Indian Bureau be, as it exists at pres
ent. I do not know how it a be bet
tered. 1 have failed to see, so far,
how the Department of the Interior
of the Office of the Indian Bureau has
been to blame for any of u Indian
troubles /; let the sympathies OF the
people of this great country be arous-
ed for the Indian az they have ben
for the African, and, irrespective OF
| the Indian Bureaus or Congress, there
will be such a change in the radical
condition of the Indian as Will be OF
ina4eAihle beueHtSe-kia in the futuTe,
and consequently to our whole coun-
try. Your noble Commission Is TAX
ing the proper steps to secure this,
and, if you continue, success Is GER
tain. In connection I would call the
attention of your honorable body to
the fact that there has never been.
among the Indians with which / have
been connected, viz, the Cheyennes,
Arapahoes, Kiowas, Comanches and
Apaches, any missionary or instructor
whatever.
To conclude by answering your
question in regard to my knowledge
of Black Kettle, who has recently
been killed in the attack upon his vii
laee on the Washita River, / would
state that Black Kettle was ffty-six
years of age at the time of his death.
He was the son High Back Wolf,
once a powerful chief of the Cheyenne
Nation, and the particular friend of
General Harvey, who many years ago
toohaansiderable interest in the boy
Black Kec1e Upon the death OF
High Back Wolf, hs son Black Ket-
tie succeeded him, and Soon, by means
Of his administrative ability and wis
dom rather than by deeds of prowesE
in the field, became a great chieftain.
He was not only regarded as the rul-
ing spirit of his tribe, but was alho
looked upon by all the n01nndic tribe
of the Plains as a superior-one whose
werd was law, whose advice was to be
needed. His irate dignity and lofty
bearing, combined with his sagacity
and intelligence, hadSthat moral effect
which placed him in the zsition of a
potentate. The whole fofaAnfh his ma
ture was concentrated in the ON idea
OF how best to act for the good of hh
race; he knew the power of the white
man, and was aware that thence might
spring most of the evils that could be.
fall his people, and consequently the
whole Of his powers were directed to.
ward conciliating the whites, and his
utmost endeavors used to preserve
peace and friendship between his race
and their oppressors. After the In
dian war commenced in the spring OF
1864, which wal had been inangura-
ted by the infamous Chivington, Black
Kettle endeavored to restrain the Just
resentment of his young warriors, and
finally succeeded in gathering all of
his people together upon the head
waters of Smoky Hill River, far re-
moved from the settlements and high
ways, and from locality endearored
to communicate with some command
ing officer, for the purpose of sueing
for peace, and letting the whites know
that his people had never desired to
be at war. After many failures, his
messengers being invariably fired up
on when approaching a United States
post, he at last succeeded in communi-
+eating with myself, then commanding
Fort Lyon, in Colorado; Immediately
after he delivered up TO me four white
captives that he had purchased from
other Indians for that purpose, and
offered himself and his brother, White
Antelope, as hostages for the good
faith of his people, should we give
them peace. An armistice was declar-
ed for the time heing, and Black Ket-
tie, by my instructions, brought in his
lodges, his women and his children,
and located them near Fort Lyon,
with the understanding that he was
under the protection of the United
states nag; uTT EEuTJrTad- the Chiy-
lngton massacre T; at that time White
Antelope, the brother of Black K ct
tie, wse murdered, and nearly all his
relatives killed, his wife receiving ten
wounds; with folded arms, exposed
to the fire of the troops, he stood until
carried by main force off of the field
by his young men from confiding
too much in the faith of white men,
he was blamed by his people, who
came nea putting him to death as
being too good a friend to the whites;
from that time he lost caste, and fell
from the position of a sovereign to
that of a subject, but he still continu-
ed to strive for peace, and gradually
regained his former influence, until he
succeeded in bringing his young men
of of the war path, where they had
been terribly %avenging the murder Of
their women and children and finally
brought them into the treaty made in
October, 1865, at the mouth of the
Little Arkansas. After host1lities
were again created by the action of
General Hancock, Black Kettle was
once more the bearer of the olive