mooned CAUSES OE THE OUTBREAK 833 



balance of powerat Pine Ridge against the government, as he later on discovered to 

 hiscost. When still later he endeavored to maintain order und suppress the ghost 

 dance, the attempt result. '.I in a most dismal failure. 



The Democratic agent was succeeded in October last by the recently removed 

 Republican agent, a gentleman totally ignorant of Indians and their peculiarities; 

 a gentleman with not a qualification in his make-up calculated to fit him for the 

 position of agent at one of the largest and most difficult agencies in the service to 

 manage; a man selected solely as a reward for political services. He might possibly 

 have been an average success asan India., agent at a small, well-regulated agency. 

 He endeavored to strengthen up matters, but the chiefs and leaders who could have 

 assisted him in so doing had been alienated by the former agent. They virtually said 

 among themselves, "We, after incurring the enmity of the bad element auioug our 

 people by sustaining the government, have been ignored and ill-treated by that 

 government, hence this is not our affair." Being ignorant of the. situation, he had 

 no one to depend on. In his first .lash with the mob clement, he discovered that the 

 Pine Ridge police, formerly the finest in the service, were lacking in discipline and 



, age, and, not being well supplieil with those necessary qualities himself, he took 



the bluff of a mob for a declaration of war, abandoned his agency, returned with 

 troops— and yon see the result. 



As for the ghost, dance, too much attention has been paid to it. It was only the 

 symptom or surface indication of deep-rooted, Ion-existing difficulty; as well treat 

 th. eruption of smallpox as the disease and ignore the constitutional disease. 



As regards disarming the Sioux, however desirable it may appear, I consider it 

 neither advisable nor practicable. I fear that it will result as the theoretical en- 

 forcement of prohibition in Kansas, Iowa, and Dakota; you will succeed in disarm- 

 ing the friendly Indians, because yon can, and yon will not so succeed with the mob 

 element, heeanse you ean not. If I were again to he an Indian agent and had my 

 choice, I would take charge of 10,000 armed Sioux in prefereni e to a like number of 



disarmed ones; and. furthermore, agree to handle that i .her. or the whole Sioux 



nation, without a white soldier. 



Respectfully, etc, V. T. McGillycudry. 



P. S.— I neglected to state that up to date there has been neither a Sioux outbreak 

 nor war. No citizen in Nebraska or Dakota has been killed, molested, or ean show 

 the scratch of a pin, and no property has been destroyed oil' the reservation. 



STATEMENT OF GENERAL MILES 



[T i the Report of the Secretary of War for 1891, Vol. 1. pp, ISS, IS4, and 149. He enumerates specific 



causes of complaint ,ii eachof theprincipal Sioux agencies, all of whic! causes may be summarized as 

 hungerand unfulfilled promises.] 



Cause of Indian dissatisfaction.— -The causes that led to the serious disturbance of 

 the p.aee in tlie, northwest last autumn and winter were so remarkable that, an 

 explanation of them is necessary in order to comprehend the seriousness ..I the situ- 

 ation. The Indians assuming the most threatening attitude of hostility were the 

 Cheyenues and Sioux. Their condition may be stated as follows: For several years 

 following their subjugation in 1S77, 1878, and 1879 the most dangerous element of 

 the Cheyenues and the Sioux were under military control. Many of them were dis- 

 armed and dismounted; their war ponies were sold and the proceeds returned to 

 them in domestic stock, farming utensils, wagons, etc. Many of the Cheyenues, 

 under the charge of military officers, were located on land in accordance with the 

 laws of Congress, but after they were turned over to civil agents and the vast herds 

 of buffalo and large game had been destroyed their supplies were insufficient, and 

 they were forced to kill cattle belonging to white people to sustain life. 



The fact that they had not received sufficient food is admitted by the agents and 

 the officers of the government who have had opportunities of knowing. The majority 

 of the Sioux were under the charge of civil agents, frequently .hanged and often 



