The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-07-21
SPOTTED TAIL.


A Romance Of the Forest-Leve ef His
Daughter and Her Death fron .
Broken Heart.
The following account of the cele-
brated Sioux chief. Spotted Tail, Is
from advance sheets of General Bis
bins book:
During the latter years of the war.
part of Spotted Tails family remain
ed for a time at Fort Larmie, and
with them was his favorite daughter,
a young girl just budding into woman.
hood. The fort was then garrisoned
by companies of an Ohio regiment OF
volunteer cavalry. Among the OFF,
GERS of this regiment was young man
of good appearance and pleasant man
daughter fell in love. Her passion
does not seem to have been reciproca-
ted 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 infatuated
girl would not be convinced, and could
not understand why she, princess,
and the daughter of the most power
full chief on the plains, was not suit
able 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
como out. At other times she would
follow him about the parade ground
like a dog. seeming perfectly happy if
she could only be near him aud enjoy
| the poor privilege of looking at him
Spotted Tail, hearing OF the strange
conduct of his daughter and deeply
mortified at her want OF self-respect,
| FASTENED to the fort, and putting her
| in charge of some kind friends. bade
them carry her off into the Rocky
| Mountains where o portion of his
tribe dwelt and endeavored in every
way to make her forget her unfortu-
| nate love. She went away meekly
enough, but fell into deep melan-
| choly, from which no effort of friends
| could arouse her. Presently she re-
fused to take any food and pined away
to mere skeleton.
One day q courier, whose horse was
white with foam, sought the great
chief and told him that his daughter
was dying of broken heart, and wish
| ed to see him once more before she
passed to the happy spirit land. And
| 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 bid
him sit close beside her and hold her
| fleshless hands in his while she told
him all her simple story of love and
suffering and a broken heart. She
said: Il shall soon be at rest, my
father, and with those of our kindred
who have gone before. In that beau
tiiul land will wait for you, and you
will soon come to join me. dear father,
for your locks are whitened with years
| of care, you are fast growing old and
tired. You are q great chief, and
have yet many warriors, but the pale
| faces are more numerous than the
leaves of the forest, and l pray you to
cease from warning with them. Spare
your people, my chief; rest yet a lit
tie 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 l hope war will never
| COuC d6dAu 1Auus " AIy 40tACA 0uu
my chief, when I am dead take my
poor, wasted body and lay it 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 fed
from the wasted face, and the Indian
girl was dead.
The heart broken chief bid the at
tendants dress the body Of the prin-
cess for burial, and on the shoulders
OF stout warriors it was carried to
Laramie and laid to rest among the
pale faces, one OF whose race she had
SO fatally loved. Her grave is still
pointed out to the traveller, and there
il will long remain o monument Of the
saddest story of the plains. Spotted
Tail often speaks of his dead daughter
with affectionate remembrance, and
once in a great council held with the
whites at Laramie he said: Were
not the hopelessness of resistance and
the dictates of policy sufficient to re-
strain mo 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.