The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-09-26
TALE OF A SAVAGE BRAVE.
RED SHIRT TELLS OF MEN AND
BABIES MURDERED.

| RED SHIRT TELLS OF MEN AM
BABIES MURDERED.
Right to XIII Women and Children IL
! War-Bad Hearts from Troubled Brains
| White Woman Captive--Wonderfui In
dian Revelation- Made to Whites.
In reply to questions put up by Post
Dispatch correspondent, Red Shirt sait
his Indians name was Ok-le-sa; that h
was Al years old and had been chief o
his tribe elev n years. When asked
about the traditions OF the Sioux he gave
brief outline of his tribes history
which was interpreted as follows: '"Th'
old men have told me that many aee'
ago the Lacotas (Sioux) lived here by
the side OF the great waters. They Tough
with other tribes who had many lodges
and great warriors, and long, long before
the white men came they were driver
toward the setting sun and made theil
homes beyond the Smoky Water (Nlis
sissippi River. How long ago this wa:
T do not know; but I know it is true, fol
the old men have told me so. After 6
while the white men came into ou1
country. They hunted buffalo and killed
antelope upon the plains. They came
into the camps of the Lacotas and slep,
in their tepees. They were well treated,
for they were welcome. By and by more
white men came, and then they came
thick. They took the Lacotas' land and
drove them from their hunting grounds.
"Then the heart Of the Lacotas got
bad, for their brains were troubled. They
thought everything would be taken from
them and their hearts were broken. They
thought no land would be left for them
to live upon, so they began to fight.
They took white mems scalps and the
white mems tepees, and scalped their
women and children. They fought for
many years, but the white men were too
strong. If an Indian got killed no Indian
came in his place; but the white men
grew thicker all the time. The Lacotas
had no hope left, so they had to quit
fighting and submit to the whites. There
will be no more wars between the white
men and the Lacotas, for the white men
are many and the Lacotas few.
Red Shirt then related how the trouble
began between the whites and his uncle,
the noted Sioux chief, Young Man
Afraid of His Horses. Hesaid that about
twenty-five years ago an emigrant train
was crossing the plains short distance
from Fort Laramie. One of their steers
became lame, and it was left behind on
the trail. In a short while Sioux
hunting party came upon the abandoned
steer and killed it. A few days after
company of soldiers from Fort Lar amie
came to the Sioux camp on the North
Platte to arrest the Indians who had
killed the steer.
The tribe refused to surrender them
but offered to pay for the steer. A long
wrangle followed, and finally the officer
in command of the troops made an
attempt to forcibly take the Indians
whom he wanted. He charged upon the
village; but he had miscalculated the
strength of the Sioux, for there were
many lodges behind hill close by which
he had not seen. The Indians fell upon
the troops on every side, and the COM
pany of thirty-two men were killed and
scalped. The great Sioux chief Conquer
ing Bear was killed in the fight, and the
interpreter, a Frenchman, was also killed.
That night the Indians had big scalp
dance, and long, bloody war followed.
Red Shirt next told some Of his personal
experiences while on the warpath, and
spoke of the men he had killed with as
much apparent satisfaction as hunter
would exhibit in relating his exploits.
His first fight with the whites was twenty
five years ago, aud this was his version
of how the trouble came about.
A band of Cheyennes attacked an emil
grant train, and after killing all the men,
carried off white woman captive. In
their wanderings over the plains they
met a party OF Sioux, to whom the woman
was sold, the chiefe, Two Face and Black
Feet, paying two horses for her. After
ward a detachment of soldiers from Fort
Laramie came upon the Sioux band and,
finding the woman in their possession,
accused them of numbering tho emlgrants
and carrying off the woman.
Two Face and Black Feet were tried
and hanged at Fort Laramie, and the
balance of the band to which they be-
longed were ordered to remove east Of
the Missouri River. They started out
under guard of two companies of SOL
diers, and got as far as the junction OF
Horse Creek and the North Platte before
any trouble occurred. Here some Of the
Indians who were in irons complained
of being tired, and that their legs were
swollen from the chatting OF the iron
bands.
They asked to be allowed to ride in
one of the wagons, but the request was
refused. Then all Of the Indians got
angry and secretly concocted a plan to
turn upon their guards at an unexpected
moment. Just as the troops were pre-
pairing to break camp on the following
morning the Indians attacked them.
Red Shirt killed the commandment of
the detachment, and this was the signal
for general assault. The soldiers were
completely taken by surprise, and five
of their number were killed in the first
charge. The others saved themselves
by jumping in the river and swimming
across. Two men We're killed in the
water as they were trying to escape.
After this fight the entire band of Sioux
went on the warpath, and it was many
months before they surrendered.
Red Shirt says he has made but one
attack upon wagon train. This occurred
at Pole Greek, in Montana, about nine