Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-07-26
TAU.
a Romance OF the FOrest-LOve of
HIS Daughter and Her Death from

A Romance OF the FOrest-Love of
HIS Daughter and Her Death from
Broken Heart.
The following account Of the celebrs.
ted Sioux Chief Spotted Tail is from ad-
vance sheets Of General Brisbin's book:
During the latter years of the war, part
OF Spotted Tails family remained for a
time at Fot Laramie, and with them
was a favorite daughter, a young girl
Just budding into ~womanhood. The fort
was then gsrrisoned 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 10 love. Her a
sion does not seem to have been reeiprc-
Gated 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 bis addresses to
her. But the infatuated girl would not
be convinced, and could not understand
why she, a princess and the daughter Of
the most powerful chief on the plains,
was not a suitable wife for theyeung SOL
der. Day after day she would dress
herself with scrupulous care and come to
the fort to see her beloved. 1t was pitir-
Bile to observe her as hour after hour she
would SIT on the doorstep of the young
oflcers quarters. waiting for him TO
come out. At otner times she would fol-
low him about the battle-ground like a
dog, seeming perfectly happy if she could
only be near him and enjoy the poo
privilege Of looking at him.
Spotted Tail, hearing of the strange
conduct of his daughter, and deeply mo.
tilted at her want Of selfrespect, hastened
to The fort, and putting her in charge of
some kind friends, babe them carry her
of into the Rocky Mountains, where a
portion OF his tribe dwelt, and ~endeavored
IN every way to make her forget her up-
fortunate love. She went away meekly
enough. but fell into a deep melancholy,
from which no efforts of friends could
arouse her. Presently she refused to
take any food, and pinned away to a mere
skeleton.
One day a courier, whose horse was
white with foam, sought the great chief
and told him that his daughter was diving
OF a broken heart and wished to see him
once more before she passed TO the hau-
Ply spirit land. Away over mountain and
stream hurried the chief, and paused not
for food or rest until he reached the bed
side of his beloved child. He found her
still alive but fast sinking, and she bid
him sit close beside her, and hold her
Heshless hands in his, while she told him
all her simple story Of love and suffering
and a broken heart. She said II shall
soon be at 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 to 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 a
from warning with them. Spare your
people, my chief; rest yet a 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 l
am now going. The pa%le-faces are his
people, and between you and them l
hope war will never come again. And
Oh, my father and my chief, when l am
dead take my poor wasted body and lay
1t on the hill beside the fort where l
learned to love - we'll" The pulseless
hand grew cold as the great chief prom
ised bis child all she asked Of him, then
the lustrous eyes glazed over, the thin
lips ceased 10 move, the smile fed from
the wasted face, and the Indian girl was
dead.
The heart broken chief bid the atten-
dants dress the body Of the princess for
burial, and on the shoulders Of stout war
riors 1t was carried to Laramie and laid
TO rest among the ~pale-faces, ole 81
whose race she had so fatally LOVED. Her
grave is still pointed out to the traveller,
and there it will long remGiu a monr.
ment of the saddest story of the plains,
Spotted Tail speaks o. his dead daughter
with atectionate remembrance, and once
IN a great cor.ncil held with the whites
az Laramie he said: Were not the hope
lessness OF Resistance and the dictates of
polcy 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"