The critic., 1891-01-05
THE MASSACRE or BIe roor's BAND.
George Bird Grinncli Explains the Im-
pulse On which the Indians Acted.
From he No,o Yoyk 7rDme.

George Etrd Grtuncli Explains the im-
pulse on which the Indians Acted.
From he No,O yo,k 7rijWae.
The recent fights ON the Sioux roser-
yations in Dakota have interested
great many people, but no one seems TO
understand quite why the Indians frel
upon the troops and killed number of
them, including that brave and good olil-
Ger, my friend Captain Wallace. The
newspapers speak of IL usually rs an act
of "trcachery," of "hatred and rage" or
insanity None of these terms, in my
opinion, sufficiently explains what APP
pears to me-from my knowledge of
Indian character and from the intorma-
ton which ! have from Indians and
white men wcll-acquantcd with Sioux
perfectly simple matter.
Some weeks ago, in talking of this sup
posed Indian outbreak, ! said that the In
dians had no idea whatever of fighting,
but that blood might be shed through the
act of "somc crazy officer of the troops, or
some hot-headcd settler This Is pre-.
cisely what has taken place. The out
break, If IL can he so tcrmcd-rcally the
massacre of the Indians-was due, | be-
licVc, TO the bad judgment Of the officer
in command of the forces which captured
the Sioux. II was an act of insanity to
attempt forclbly to disarm these surrcn-
the nature and modes of thinking of the
Indian could have certainly predicted that
such an attempt would result in desperate
fighting.
This Is about what took place as near
as | can gather. The Sioux, discontcntcd
because they were starving, and longing
for something better, were dancing the
Messiah dance, and the agents got fright
enod. Troops were called for. The West
ern newspapers exaggerated the troubles,
and General Miles ordered large force of
troops to the scene of the disturbance.
When the soldiers began to arrive in
large numbers the Indians got frightened.
They did not understand very well why
the troops were coming, but supposed that
in dancing the Messiah dance they had
done something wrong, and that the
troops had come for the purpose of pun
ishing them.
A very large number of Indians were
frightened and moved away from the
agency. When they left there they of
course left the only point where they
could get food. Moreover, they started OF
in II panic, not with the idea of going any
where in particular or of going on the
warpath, but to get away from the troops,
whom they feared. They had TO have
something to eat. The result was that
they killed a lot of range cattle, burst into
the houses of other Indians, and possibly
Of some white settlers, and took whatever
provisions they could find. Anticipating
Il possibly long journey. if the troops pur-
sued them, they no doubt also took some
horses.
All the time fresh troops were coming
TO the neighborhood, and efforts were be-
ing made to surround the Indians who
had left the agency. At the same time
some intelligent Indians, who had not
shared in the general panic, and some
half-brecds were passing constantly be-
tween the agency and the troops head
quarters and the camps of the hostiles,
and were trying to persuade these last to
come back to the vicinity of the agency.
a number Of them recovered from their
panic and did come in, while Others start
cd to come in, when the attempt was
made to arrest Sitting Bull, in which tif-
teen or twenty Indians were killed. This
renewed the panic among the Indians
who had left the agency.
Again, through the efforts of friendly
Indians and scouts this panic was allayed,
and the so-callcd hostiles under Big Foot
and Two strike were persuaded to come
in. They started to do so, surrendered,
and were surrounded by troops and were
escorted by these part way to the agency.
Then, the troops o,ltnumbcring them
their arms. Now, IL must be remembered
that these Indians had been for weeks in
a state of continual fear of the troops.
They had left the agency because they
expected to be killed by the soldiers, and
had committed some depredations in the
way of killing cattle and taking horses.
When the order was given them to sur
render their arms, the panic again seized
them. They began to say to one another:
"Now We will certainly be killed. The
soldiers are going to take away our guns,
| so that they can shoot us down without
any danger to themselves" An Indian
never gives or takes quarter. For the
adult male, capture usually means death.
They felt that If they gave up their arms
all of them must die. But in this case
each one felt that il they resisted there
| was chance for him to get away. He
knew that two-thirls Of the party would
| probably be killed, but each man thought
that he might escape. Moreover, each
| one said to himself "Well if they do kill
me, will sell my life dearly. will have
some revenge" So these 100 Indian
warriors, surrounded by 500 white troops,
fired ON the latter and made burst for
freedom and few of them did get away.
Most of them were killed.
Now if the officer in command of these
troops had not been in too great hurry,
if he had been willing to handle Indians
as Indians often must be handled, he could
have got all the arms from these people
without the shedding of one drop of blood.
1t would have taken him two or three days,
but surely the time would have been well
| expended, ii II had saved 200 lives; nay, il
it had saved the life of Captain Wallace.
Indians are very much like children.
They have to be handled with great deal
| OF judgment, to be reasoned with, Coaxed,
persuaded. They have to have things ex-
| planned to them over and over again, but
n man in whom they have confidence can
usually induce them to do what is reason
able and right. II Major Whtesdes had
camped with these Indians, keeping them
well surrounded and practically under
guard, and had talked with them for two
or three days and told them why IL was
necessary for the troops to come, why they
had come, why it was important that the
Indians should be disarmed, and that they
must be disarmed If he had explained II
to them over and over again, and been
patient, yet firm with them, they would
have given up their arms and the dis
grace Of last week would have been spared
| the country.
] do not at this time wish to go into the
question of who is responsible for the
massacre that has just taken place, but
do want to put on record the fact that the
Indians firing on the troops was an act of
desperation-a question of selling their
lives as dearly as possible. They firmly
believed that they were all going TO be
killed 1t was in no sense fanatcism,
treachery or insanity. 1t was panic, il
was human nature, no matter what the
race of the men so placed. Suppose 100
white men to have been surrounded by
800 Indians, and for some reason Obliged
to surrender. Would they have been will
ing TO give up their arms? They would
have reasoned precisely as the Indians in
this case reasoned, that the Indians wanted
10 get their arms away so that they could
kill them without danger to themselves
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL.
| Canada Sets u Good Example.
The Bureau of the American Republics
has received information that the Cana
dian Minister of Finance is now occupied