The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-09-29
Sitting Bull.

The inventive genius of the novelist
has been taxed to its utmost degree in
covering the dirty, greasy, copper-col-
ored hide of Sitting Bull with the
glamor of romance. One of these imag-
inative writers is satisfied with nothing
less than the idea that Sitting Bull is a
West Point cadet in disguise, and that
he possesses the military genius, STRAIT
egy and foresight of Napoleon or a
! Grant. Another pictures him as brave
and thoughtful son of the fOTest-a pic
turesque Logan or Metamora, who, with
| buffalo togs folded across his manly alb
! dOmen, and with melancholy mien,
! PAGES up and down his wigwam, NUT
! tering to himself, "Where is the home
of my fathers? Once upon a time my
noble ancestors trod in majesty from
New York to Omaha, and from ST. Paul
to Eads' JetGies, and to-day their
wrOnged and prosecuted sons must hunt
buffalo meat and chokecherries among
the Big Horn Mountains! Who is
there to care for Sitting Bull? Not
one. Paleface, beware ~ And a Herald
interviewer says Sitting Bull looks like
! Tilden or a European gentleman; that
be is a military master, drills his troops
! like any general of militia, and that he
| is bent upon exterminating the white
man! Much more fustian OF. the same
sort is put forth every day by all sorts of
writers, who know no more about Sit
ting Bull and his gang than they do of
! the King of DahOmey and his army of
| the Amazon.
The simple fact is that Sitting Bull is
only brave and bloody Indian chief
tain, like Little Crow, Little Priest,
HOle-in-the-Day, or any other leader of
savage cut-throats. That he is master
of military science is all CANNON,
without particle of foundation. Give
! the Indians large numerical superior
! ity and they become courageous and eff
! fective, for the warriors are all braves,
and like the Russian Cossacks, Egyp-
! tian Mamelukes, or Arabian FreebOot-
ers, are good horsemen and Independent
| fighters, who can harass a well-drilled
army and capture a caravan, but who
make no pretensions to skillful warfare.
But when the enemy is weak, by nat
ural intelligence and common. courage,
stronger Indian force will concentrate
its powers to capture and destroy the
weaker. The bravery and success of
Sitting Bull on the Little Horn was not
an exceptional case of Indian triumph
over the white man. During the In
<
instances of the prowess of the Indians
in their engagements with our volunteer
troops, can be referred to, which showed
as much and more military genius than
was displayed by Sitting Bull and his
| thousands of cut-throats. At Redwood
Falls Captain Marsh was surprised, sur
rounded, defeated, and killed, and his
company of troops almost annihilated;
at Birch Coolie and Wood Lake the In
dians fought the soldiers long and
bravely, and well-nigh successfully
Fort Ridgeley, a strong stone fortifica-
tion, was assaulted, and would, perhaps,
have been captured if it had not been for
Captain Jones and his battery of artil-
lery; while the stockade at Fort Aber-
crombie was closely besieged for many
days, and it would very likely have
fallen into their hands if reinforcements
had not reached the demoralized and
panic-stricken white men who were
holding the fort. During all these ter
rible fights between the Indians and
soldiers, no one thought of attributing
the glory to Little Crow or any other
single chief-it was glory that the In
dians, who did the fighting, divided
among themselves, for there was no sys-
tematic campaign, or regularly laid out
plan of battle. Whenever the Indians
caught the white men at disadvantage,
they proceeded to open the fight, and
they did so whether they happened to
be in bodies of two, or dozen, or
thousand. And that was Just the way
with Sitting Bull. The government
troops are floundering among the caflons
and the bad lands of the Yellowstone
and its tributaries, and, whenever they
can be attacked with comparative i'm
punity from a secret ambush, the In
dians will show themselves and fight
long and bravely. Otherwise the red
barbarians will quietly sneak away, to
await favorable opportunity for an at
tack.-S. Paul Press and Pioneer.