Year: 1870

WASHINGTON, June Z, 1870.
/ The Secretary of the Interior, COM


missioner Parker, General Smith, and


Messrs. Colyer and Brunot, met Red
/ Cloud and the other Indian delegates
to-day, in grand council. The Indi-


ans were rigged in full finery, and


seemed impressed with the import.


ance of the council.


Secretary Cox made a long address
to the Indians on behalf of the Presi-


dent, assuring them that if they would


go back to their reservations and keep


peace, all the ratiOns and goods prom


ised them by the government would


be sent to them, and an agent sent to


them to see that they got everything.


In regard to giving them arms and


ammunition, the Secretary said that


they would not be given to them at
present, but after they have kept


themselves peaeeable on their reserva-


tiOns for time, these would be fur


nished.


After Secretary Cox's speech, Red


Cloud shook hands with those at the
table in the Council room and deliV-
cred the following oration:


" / came from where the sun sets,
you were raised on chairs; want to
sit where the sun SETS" Here the
Indian warrior sat upon the floor, In
dian fashion, and proceeded. The
Great Spirit has raised me this way,
he raised me naked, ruD no OppOsi-
ton to the Great Father who sits in
the White House. don't want to
fight. have offered my prayer to
the Great Spirit so that l might come
here safe and well. What l have to
say to you and to these men and to
my Great Father is this: Look at mel
l was raised where the sun rises and I
came from where he sets. Whose
voice was first heard in this land? 1t
was the red people, who used the bow.
The Great Father may be good and
kind, but I can't see it. / am good
and kind to the white people and
have given my lands, and have now
come from where the sun sets to see
you. The Great Father has sent his
people out there and left me nothing
but an island. Our nation is melting
away like the snow on the side Of the
hills where the sun is warm, while
your people are like the blades of
grass in spring when summer is COM
ing. / do not want to see the white
people making roads in our country.
Now that have come into my Great
Fathers land, see if have any blood
when 1 return to my home. The
white people have sprinkled blood on
the blades of grass about the line of
Fort Fetterman. Tell the Great Fa-
ther to remove that fort, then we will
be peaceful and there will be no more
trouble. I have got two mountains
in that Countrywide Black Hill and
Big Horn. / want no roads there.
There have been stakes driven in that
country and 1 want them removed.
I have told these things three times,
and now have come here to tell them
the fourth time. / have made up my
mind to talk that way. don't want
my reservation on the Missouri. Some
of the people here are from there and
know what / say. What L hear is
that my children and old men are dy-
ing off like sheep; the country don't
suit them. / was born at the forks of
the Platte; my father and mother told
me that the land belonged to me.
From the North and the West the red
nation have come into the Great Fa-
theirs house. We are the last Of the
Ogallalas. We have cone to know
the facts from our father why the
promises which have been made to US
have not been kept. I want two or
three traders that we ask for. At the
mouth of Horse Creek in 1852 there
was treaty made, and the man who
made that treaty (alluding to General
MiteheIl) who performed that service
for the government, told me the truth.
Goods which have been sent to me
have been stolen all along the road,
and only a handful would reach me to
go among my nation Look at me-
here I am poor and naked. / was not
raised with arms, / always want to be
peaeeable. The Great Spirit has raised
you to read and write and has put pa
pers before you, but he has not raised
me in that style. The men whom the
President send us, soldiers and all,
have no sense, and no heart. l know
to-day. I didn't ask that the whites
should 90 through my country killing
game, and it is the Great Fathers
fault. You are the people who should
keep peace. For the railroads you are
passing through my country, 1 have
not received even so much as brass
ring for the land they occupy / wish
YOU to tell that to my Great Father.
You whites who make al the ammu-
nitiOn, what Is the reason you don't
give it to me, are you afraid / am go
ng to war? You are great and pow
erful and / am only a handful. / do
not want it for that purpose, but to
Kill game with. I suppose must in
.ime go to farming, but can't do it
light away. "-lTa .-f -rifiath