Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1879-04-03


had denied himself and wife many things
necessary for their comfort. Alas! 1t is
only q dream. His wealth has fallen into
the hands of the wards of the government.
How long, oh, then, Mighty Spirit, shall
we be robbed and murdered by these ma
rauders from a and across the great waters?
is the moaning cry of the hunted savage.
They take our lands and promise to pay for
them. Their mouths are filled with lies.
They kill our herds and refuse us food.
They send us goods and station thieves
along the road to rob us. With broken
promises and starvation staring us in the
face, they drive us forth to battle with the
elements. Is it thy will, oh, Mighty Spirit,
that we should perish from off the earth ?
Fill the hearts Of our prosecutors with pity
tor our sorrows; we are weak, oh, thou
Mighty one; we have been driven far from
the graves of our foretathers; there is no
rest for us, for the promises Of our enemies
are lies.
How long, mercitul God, how long is the
prolonged wall of a desolated community to
be heard as mile upon mile of smouldering
ruins meets the streaming eyes of the sur
vivors of a butchered settlement. Woe to
you, law makers OF the land! We ask you
tor succor and you destroy us. Look at the
blood-stained hearth-stones of our blasted
homes see the brains of our babes feckine
our door-pOsts, and you laugh at our ago
MES, and We-why, we wonder if there is a
God, as we think of our mothers, wives
and sisters, dragged through an Indian camp
and forced to submit to the beastly embraces
OF our murderers; as we think of the stakes
driven through their bodies into the ground:
the tail of a horse shaved and thrust into
the womb, and SO they are left, still living,
to writhe and rot in the burning sun, or
more merciful, a prey to the WOLVES that
linger near.
I What wonder that the wars on the from
tier are uneeasing? The Indians are depriv-
Ell OF their lands and left to the tender mer-
cies of men greedy for gain. Before the
ever-advancing tide Of white immigration
they retreat as flies the terror-stricken ami
NAL before the Implying prairie fires which
more mercifully catching its victim In it's
fierce embrace, ends at once and forever It's
troubles.
While the savage is left-if he tries to
faithfully observe his treaties-by a christian
people, to drag out a miserable existence.
or. rebeling against the injustice that has so
long marked the administrator of his affairs.
resumes his old life of marauding and muir
der, and then follows the weary hunt for a
foe who lie a cIaoplaoc n, ~ g. |
AS q result Of the invasion of the Black
Hills, another Indian war was upon us. and
marked with the savage ferocity that has
always been q part of such outbreaks, called
Tor a speedy putting down. Gen. Crook
mad been called from Arizona, where his
method OF dealing with the Indians had met
with such signal success. He was to adj
vance toward the Sioux stronghold from the
south, while a column from the east. undep
Gen. Terry, who commanded the whole.
was to operate from thai direction. Sig
companies OF the 9TH infantry, and four Of
the I'd cavalry, (ior years stationed in Mon
tana), under Gen. Gibbon, were to march
down the Yellowstone river. This column
numbered something more than 400 men.
Inc writer was a member Of it, and in this
paper merely offers his own experience as
day by day during this march by
the 9TH infantry of / 1000 miles. TO many
the every day incidents of /. soldier's life on
such a march and in such a country. NAV
orer nothing OF interest, but the wearyinr
campaign which eliminated in the destruc-
ton of Custer and his steadfast followers
and ended in the expulsion of the brave but
over-matched Sioux from their dearly-priz-