438 INDIAN TRIBES OP WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 



The chief Victor said that the Flatheads had promised to live in peace with the Blackfeet, and 

 only to war when their lives were threatened, and that none of his men should steal horses 

 from either the whites or Indians ; that, since you had promised to protect them, the matter 

 should be referred to you. Here, then, is an act of bravery, nobleness, and honesty, on the 

 part of these Indians, that is but seldom, if ever, met with among any other tribe of Indians, 

 either east or west of the Rocky mountains ; and here, too, is a strong and evident example of 

 the reputed faithlessness of the Blackfoot nation. 



This last act of bad faith on the part of the Blackfeet has occurred at a most unpropitious 

 period. Since here I have told the Pend d Oreilles and Flatheads of the council to be held at 

 Fort Benton, and the promises of the Blackfeet; but here the Blackfeet, by their acts, have 

 given the lie to everything that I have told the Flatheads ; and now I fear that the Flatheads 

 will place all the promises made you by the Blackfeet in the same category that they have placed 

 those made to them and others for the last half century. They have told me that the Blackfeet 

 have made the same promises time and again, and as often have they been violated. And now 

 I would most urgently recommend to you that the absolute and great necessity of the establish 

 ment of a military post, at or near Fort Benton, be set forth before the proper department, and 

 that immediate action be taken on it. The necessity for this is becoming more and more appar 

 ent, and is being more and more felt every day. The presence of a military force only will 

 restrain the Blackfeet from their incursions and depredations on their neighbors. The council, 

 should it be held next summer, will probably do a great deal towards the settling of the feuds 

 that exist among these northern tribes ; but I fear that it alone will prove ineffectual. It, how 

 ever, with the presence of a military force, will, I think, succeed in putting an end to the enmity 

 that has existed among these tribes for centuries back. 



They have never been made aware of the power and influence of the government, save in 

 your council with them at Fort Benton ; and what they now need is to have the fear of the 

 government held over them. And a policy I should recommend would be, should they con 

 tinue to keep their pledges as faithlessly as they have before, that our military force should be 

 sent among them, put every man, woman and child to the knife, burn down their villages, and 

 thus teach the nation that since persuasion will not, force must and shall effect the ends that 

 we have in view. This will be a forcible, and, I think, salutary example to them, and will, I 

 think, be the only means of accomplishing the purposes of the government. They had better by 

 far be totally exterminated than left to prowl the mountains, murdering, plundering, and carrying 

 everything before them. 



I have also found, myself, in this valley, a Nez Perces scalp taken by the Blackfeet quite 

 recently, and but a few days have elapsed since twenty-five of them were taken at Hell Gate ; 

 and thus, I think, they will ever be through the land of the Flatheads, until they receive a 

 prompt, thorough, and severe chastisement at the hands of the government. 



Truly, your obedient servant, 



J. MULLAN, 

 Lieutenant United States Army. 



Governor I. I. STEVENS, 



In Command of N. P. Railroad Survey, Sfc. 



FORT HALL, OREGON TERRITORY, 



December 14, 1853. 



SIR : I have the honor to report, that previous to leaving the country of the Flathead Indians, 

 on the 28th of November last, I had assembled the chiefs and principal men of the tribe together, 

 when I distributed among them such presents as you left with me, and at the same time com- 



