The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-04-22
THE INDIAN OUTBREAK.

Loss of the Troops Greater than at First
Reported-New Indian Device-HOw Gen.
Neil was Deceived.
[Leavenworth Correspondence Chicago Tribune. /
It transpires now that the revolt of
Indian prisoners at Cheyenne Agency,
I. t., was more general and determined
than at first reported in official tele-
grams. Gen. Neil informed the COM
handing officer of the Department that
the Indians, upon their surrender,
turned over their firearms to the govern
ment authorities; but his information on
this point seems to have been at fault.
The crafty redskins evidently o1twitted
the General by burying their best guns
in the sand, and handing over to the
the soldiers only their old and unser-
viceable muskets. Moreover, the Indian
rush to the sand-hills was not simply an
impulsive stampede, but rather the pre-
else execution Of a preconcerted plot to
abandon the Agency, unearth their
weapons, and go on the war-path.
For some time the Cheyennes have
suspected that the government intended
massacre of the German family, and
consequently witnessed with apprehen-
sion every attempt to identity the i'm
mediate perpetrators or ringleaders of
that crime. Whenever AN Indian was
put in irons, OF singled out from the
main body of his fellows as an object of
special supervision, mutterings of dis
content were heard from his compan-
ions. The signal for the revolt was
given when the savages saw one of their
warriors shot down for attempting to
escape from the guards, who were in the
act of putting him in irons. Three
shots in quick succession from the camp
of the hostile Cheyennes told the In
dams to break away from their captors.
The movement was simultaneous
throughout the camp. There was no
decentralization or confusion. They
were not fugitives fleeing from
real or imagined peril, for
they did not scatter here
and there over the plains; each one seek
ing to make sure of his own escape
They assembled with the least possible
delay at their chosen rendezvous, occu-
plying position and giving battle with
every advantage of location in their IA
vor. The troops, believing that the In
dams were unarmed, charged recklessly
through the deep sand; but, instead of
meeting defenseless foe, fell under the
range Of deadly rifles. Three times the
soldiers charged, and three times they
were repulsed. The official report of the
battle says the troops consisting of four
companies of the Sixth Cavalry, under
command of Gen. Neil in person-lost
six seriously and ten slightly wounded.
Private letters from the Agency say that
the loss was much greater than that. It
is known that the troops were badly
whipped, although they fought bravely
and against great Odds
A sad blunder has been committed;
but, at this time, it is difficult to fix the
responsibility where it rightly belongs.
The loss of the gallant soldiers who fell
in the charge, deplorable as it may be,
is not the worst feature of the blunder.
The Indians have gone on the war-path
again, and there is danger that all the
good results of last years campaign IN
der Gen. Miles have been lost by one
stupid blunder IN managing tho prison
erS
It is well known that Congress made
an appropriation of $500, 900 to subsist
the Indian prisoners at Fort Leaven-
worth. The appropriation was secured
by the immediate request of the Presi-
dent, who had listened to the counsels of
Gems. Sherman, Sheridan, and Pope,
and consented to a change of policy to
the extent, of transferring the hostile In
dams to the care of the military authori-
ties. After the money was appropriated,
Secretary Delano ordered the transfer of
the Indians to their respective agencies,
for military control only those
who had been identified as the murder
ers of the German family The $780,,
900 voted to feed and clothe the prison.
ers at Fort Leavenworth has been ex-
pended in the purchase of beef at the
frontier agencies, where supplies accu-
mulated during all the months of last
year that the warriors were absent on
the war-path.