Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-11

| Chicago Record.Hers!d
! FORT WASHAKIE, Wyo.,
August 2. 1909.
| In the military cemetery. among the
graves of soldiers who have died while
on service at this post and of families Of
the employees of the Indian agency, is q
massive block of granite, rock faced, with
an inscription reading as follows:
| Washable,
1SO4-l9UO.
Chief of the Shoshones.
A wise ruler;
Always loyal to the government
And to his white brothers"
No more truthful or deserving epitaph
was ever inscribed upon tombstone. and
] Washakie was as highly respected by the
red as by the white race. He was great
chief, a man of unusual ability. sterling
character, eloquence at the council fire,
sagacity in planning campaigns and fear
less in warfare.
AT the recent sun dance at Washakie
agency in May last the entire assembly
Of Shoshones, Arapahoes and representa-
! tives of other tribes who were guests
formed procession and marched to the
cemetery, where they decorated his grave
with flowers, as many Of them had seen
the graves Of white heroes adorned on
| Decoration day.
| Washable Is said to be the only Indian
who was ever given a military funeral.
| He was buried In the soldiers cemetery
/ by order Of the War Department, the
services were attended by al the officers
and soldiers of the fort and were con-
Quoted by the post chaplain. The monu-
ment was erected by order of the Secre-
tary OF War.
Washable was authorized to select this
| reservation as reward for his loyalty
He preferred the site to all the rest of
Wyoming because of Its perfect climate
| and the abundance OF water and grass
| His ponies were always fat here and
game came here In the winter to seek
shelter. so that II was not necessary for
| lis young men to go out into the noun
| tains for meat.
| When Capt. Bonneville Wis ted the Wind
| River valley In 1893 he met youn-
| She shone chief, whom he called "a man
| of great promise" This was Washable,
who became chief of the Shoshones when
| he was nineteen years cid. He was born
in 1904. His father was a Flathead and
| h mother was daughter Ct the chief
! Of the ShCshones. He distinguished him.
self as warrior when he was mere
! boy and led several successful campaigns
against the Sioux. who were the hered-
/ itary enemies of his TT be.
Fort Founded in the Sixties.
! The fort was established here in the
sixties. It was originally known as Camp
Brown, and was intended to protect the
miners who were then swarmiing into the
territory surrounding South pass. The
chief mining camp was known as Miners
taken out Ct 1t before 1t was abandoned
And 1t is believed that there is st. much
! sold left in the suichcs.
! There was always good deal Of Indian
trouble in this part OF the country and
| a bloc dy war was fought In 80 be-
cause q half-breed Sioux killed q sergeant
at Fort d. A. Russell. He escaped to
h 8 tribe. who refused to deliver the muir
derer TO the military.
| Some years after the reservation was laid
out the comm sSiOner of Indian affairs
proposed to put the ArapahOes with Old
FIR day, their chief, on the reservat on.
Washable refused to receive them on
the ground that they were bad In
dians' and that Old Friday was "doub' e.
hearted and dc uble-tongued' and would
betray the white people the first chance
he got. The next year Old Friday justi-
fed this opin on when he swooped down
upon Miners Delight" killed eight men
and VIC unded several more. The miners
organized big .Injun hunt" attacked
the Arapahce village On Wind river and
K He'd sixteen of them. including two or
| three squaws and CHI 'ldren. The soldiers
We're compe led to interfere. the Arapa-
hoes were rounded up and marched over
| to this reservation, where Chief Wash
| kie was instructed to keep a lookout
4
and dc uble tongue and to make him keep
| the peace. There were about 500 Arapa-
! hoes at the time and the number has
ne ther Increased or decreased. But they
have lived III peace with the unwilling
/ Shoshones, and their children have been
sent to the same Industrial school In
charge of II. F. Wadsworth, who has
the reputation OF beng a very compe-
tent and consc entious agent.
c. E. Ferris is the principal of the
/ school. and has several assistants who
teach the children the rudiments of book
learning and the arts of peace-agr.cul-
ture. piacksm thing, carpenter.ng, cook
/ ing, DIR ssmaking, etc.
! The Ind ans are supposed to be CHRIS
tianized. but they ill observe the sun
] dance. under permission of the Secretary
of the Interior; provided they do not
praCt &C the oldume barbar ties that
: were connected with the ceremony When
he grass becomes green In May the war
rlors beg to come N from all the sur
rounding tribes to visit shoshoni and
| the reservat on is suddenly mutt piled
, three and four times. and when the ap-
! pointed day arr YES the warriors gather
with their families and guests and spend
several days In per eorming he sun dance
| and other ancient rites to display their
| nerve and endurance. which have deep
and barbdrous significance and do not
conform to the gospel of Christ as taught
| by Rev. John Roberts and Rev. Mr..
| Cool dge. the m ssionarias at this agency.
| Nor dc they proA,ote the conten ment or
| the civilization of these wards" of the
government, but retard it in every way.
| They exercise particularly bad inf1u-
| ence upon the young men and women
| from the several tr.oes who have been
educated at Carlisle and o her Indian
schools. One sun dance will destroy all
the good effect year Of education at one
of these INST tut ons can accomplish.
1t seems very strange that a man who
knew the Indian character and customs
so we'll as Theodore Roosevelt should
/ have reversed the order of the Secretary
of the Interior and authorized a revival
'f tfese barbarous ceremonies. even with
the conditions that they should not be
attended with any CORY and revolving
fea ures.
Convert to Christianity.
Old Washable was converted to Chris
tianity by an obscure hunter and trapper
named Jack Robinson. and became con-
need tina the best policy for his race
was to make friends with the whites
Accord ng to the traditions of the TT be,
Robinson spent the winter of 1910, when
Washable was at the height of his power
at he age O. tn rty-six, at the chief vi