Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1879-03-19

it was the trail Of Black Kettle returning
home. Many officers in the army say
Black Kettle was a hostile Indian But
Col, Boone, who has lived with the L.
dans fifty years, told me with tears.
: | never knew a better friend Of the
white man than Black Kettle Gen.
Harvey said: 1 have worn the uniform
of the United States ffty-fve years; l
knew Black Kettle well he was as
good a friend Of the white man as |
am.' Those who knew Black Kettle
best declare his innocence those who
justify the attack believe he was hostile ;
we snail never know. Poor Black Ket.
tie and his people in the Wlschlta, and
brave Custer and his soldiers on the
Rosebud left none TO tell the tale.
From this time forward neither north
ern or southern Cheyennes have been
admirers of the white man. The north
ern CheyenDes were parties to the treaty
which Gen. Sherman and others made
in 1896. In that council the Sioux,
Cheyennes and Arraphahoes refused to
make another treaty with the United
States unless it was expressly provided
that no white man shsuld enter the
country set apart for their homes
Their bitter experience had taught them
that this was their only safety. This
treaty was made, and the required
pledged was made a part Of it. The
fsrts were all removed and the new
country guaranteed tkcm forever. l
need not tell the history Of the seizure
of the Black Hills. In 1876 these In.
dians. DESTROYS Of peace and hoping for
restitution, ceded the Black Hills to
the United States. The President and
Congress directed the Commissioners
to make provision for these Indians, to
visit the Indian Territory, and if they
were willing to accept home there,
then they were to be removed. Con-
gross refused to allow the removal of
the Sioux. The Cheyennes were relat-
ed to the Sioux by marriage, and they
were unwilling to be separated from
their relati YES and friends. The Chey-I
ennes were removed and became dissat-
isied with the change. The treaty aud
the President had promised them. il
they so desired, homes in their old
country. l do not know why they hed
from the Indian Territory. They say
that it was sickness and staryatlOn.-
They were pursued by troops. They
had had bitter experience before when
they were hunted as outlaws. Itmeant
TO them war. They accepted it and
carried it on with all the brutal horrors
of savage massacre. For whatever
plumbers are made the real sufferers are
the innocent people Of the border. The
Cheyennes were captured at last near
their old home and a country to which |
they had claim under the treaty. The |
telegraph says that these Cheyenne
captives were deprived Of food and fire
for five days in Dakota January to
force them to consent to return to the |
Indian Territory; that when fire was
offered to the women they refused and |
SAID: we will freeze to death togeth-
err They escaped from prison and fled,
were pursued, hunted down as wolves.
and these Cheyenne men, women, and
children welcomed death together. The
New York Herald reporter gives a
ghastly picture OF their slaughtered
corpses, and describes the frenzy of the
wife of the chlet, Wild Hog, who az
tempted to kill herselfand her wounded
husband. She Is described as a hideous
old beldame. In other days men called
this frenzy love of country. l de not
marvel at her frenzy-her relatives
slain, her husband wounded and dying,
she almost the only one left. Yet this
woman came of a Sioux family who have
always been our friends. In 1877 Gen
Mckenzie ordered the Ogallala Sioux to
deliver to him all hostile Indians who
came into their camp. There was a
noted desperate, Sioux Jim, who had
killed mere whites than any one OF the
hostile indians. No one dared to ar
rest him. 1t was the brother OF Wild
Hogs wife, American Horse, who killed
Sioux Jim, and brought his body TO the
General. He did it with the certainty
that for year every relative of Sioux
lin would seek his life. But then !
American Horse is only an Indian, and |
neither he nor his family have any
claims upon the gratitude of the white
man.
Ineed not 90 on. l envy no mans
head or heart who reads the last fifteen
years of Cheyenne history and does not
feel the deepest pity for this hunted,
sutlawcd people. Dark as this Chey-
euns tragedy is, it is only type of our
whole history of dealing with the red
men. said all ; no. not all. l re-
member that in 1892 President Jefer-
SON wrote to friend that he had heard
there was one man left OF the Peoras,
and Jefferson said if there is only one,
;ustice demands that his rights in their
territory shall be respected, and he shall
he paid for them a just consideration
Other great and coed men OF the
fathers have pleaded that we should
deal Justly, and many have said in their
hearts Il tremble for my country
when I remember that God is just
We have fallen on evil times-the
rulers, the people, the press, the army,
y, io.;l,o onr Indian system as a