Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-07-08
A Romance Of the FOrest-SpOtted
Tall and His Daughter.

The following account of the celebrated
Sioux chief Spotted Tail is from advance
sheets of Gen. Brisbin's book:
During the latter years of the war part
of Spotted Tails family remained for
time at Fort Laramie, and with them was
his favorite daughter, young girl just
budding into womanhood. The fort wa
then garrisoned by companies of an Ohio
regiment of volunteer cavalry. Among
the officers of this regiment was a young
man of good appearance and pleasant
manners, and with whom the chiefs
daughter fell in love- Her passion does
| not seem to have been reciprocated by the
young soldier, and he did all in his power
to convince her he could not marry her,
and, therefore, it would be wrong in him
to pay his addresses to her But the in
fatuated girl would not be convinced, and
could not understand why She princess
| and the daughter OF the most powerful
chief on the plains, was not suitable wife
for the young soldier. Day after day she
| would dress herself with scrupulous care
and come TO the fort to see her beloved. 1t
was pitiable to observe her, as hour after
| hour she would sit on the doorstep of the
young officers quarters waiting for him to
come out At other times she would follow
him about the parade ground like dog,
seeming perfectly happy if she could only
be near him and enjoy the poor privilege
of looking at him.
| Spotted Tail, hearing of the strange con-
duct of his daughter and deeply mortified
at her want Of selfrespect, fastened to the
| fort, and putting her in charge of some
| kind friends babe them carry her off into
the Rocky Mountains where portion of
4 L., Y.sl .,~l l..
way to make her forget her unfortunate
love. She went away meekly enough, but
| fell into deep melancholy, from which
no effort of friends could arouse her. Pres
entity she refused to take any food and
| pined away to a mere skeleton.
| One day courier, whose horse was
white with Dam, sought he great chief
and told him that his daughter was dying
of broken heart and wished see him
once more before she passed to the happy
spirit land. Away over mountain and
stream hurried the chief and paused not
for food or rest until he had reached the
| bedside of his beloved child He found
her still alive but fast sinking, and she babe
him sit close beside her and hold her
| fieshless hands in his while she told him
all her simple story of love and suffering
and broken heart. She said: II shall soon
be al rest, my father, and with those of
our kindred who have gone before. In
that beautiful land | will wait for you and
you will soon come 10 join me, dear father,
for your locks are whitened with years of
care, YOU are fast growing old and tired.
You are a great chief and have yet many
warriors, but the pale faces are more
numerous than the leaves of the forest, and
| pray YOU to cease from warning with
them. Spare your people, my chief; rest
| yet little while in peace, and you will
have reached the end of your journey of
| life and come TO join me in the happy
home to which | am now going. The
pale faces are His people, and between you
and them | hope war will never come
again. And, O my father and my chief,
when / am dead take my poor, wasted
| body and lay il on the hill beside the fort
where learned to love so we'll" The
pulseless hand grew cold as the great
chief promised his child all she asked of
him, then the lustrous eyes glazed over,
the thin lips ceased To move the smile fled
from the wasted face, and the Indian girl
was dead.
| The hcartbroken chief babe the attend
ants dress the body Of the princess for
| burial and on the shoulders of stout war
| riOrs II was carried 10 Laramie and laid 10
rest among the pale faces, one Of whose
race she had so fatally loved. Her grave
Is still pointed out 10 the traveller, and
| there II will long remain a monument of
the saddest story Of the plains. Spotted
| Tail often speaks Of his dead daughter
| with aflectionate remembrance, and once
| in a great council held with the whites at
| Laramie he said; Were not the hopeless
ness of resistance and the dictates of policy
sufficient TO restrain me from acts of war,
the pledge made to my dead child in her
dying hour would cause me to keep at
peace with your people"