Chatter XIII 



THE SIOUX OUTBREAK— SITTING BULL AND WOUNDED 



KNEE 



We were made many promises, but have never heard from them since. — American 

 Horse. 



Congress has been in session several weeks and could, if it were disposed, in a lew 

 hours confirm the treaty that its commissioners have made with these Indians, and 

 appropriate the necessary funds for their fulfillment, and thereby give an earnest oi 

 eood faith or intention 'to fulfill their part of the compact, Such action in my 

 judgment is essential to restore confidence with the Indians and give peace aud 

 'protection to the settlements. — General Miles. 



Approximate cost of outbreak in one month: Forty-nine whites and others on the 

 government side, and three hundred Indians, killed; $1,200,000 expense to govern- 

 ment and individuals. 



Short Bull and the other Sioux delegates who had gone to see the 

 messiah in the fall of 1889 returned in Match, 1800. Short Bull, on 

 Rosebud reservation, at once began to preach to his people the doc- 

 trine and advent of the messiah, but desisted on being warned to stop 

 by Agent Wright, (Corny., 29.) The strange hope had taken hold of 

 the Indians however, and the infection rapidly, although quietly, spread 

 among all the wilder portion of the tribe. The first warning of trouble 

 ahead came in the shape of a letter addressed to Secretary Noble by 

 Charles L. Hyde, a citizen of Pierre, South Dakota, under date of 

 May 29, 1890, in which he stated that he had trustworthy information 

 that the Sioux, or a part of them, were secretly planning an outbreak in 

 the near future. His informant appears to have been a young half-blood 

 from Pine Ridge, who was at that time attending school in Pierre, and 

 was in correspondence with his Indian relatives at home. ( G. D-, 20.) 

 The letter was referred to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who 

 forwarded a copy of it to the agents of the several western Sioux 

 reservations, with a request for further information. They promptly 

 and unanimously replied that there was no ground tor apprehension, 

 that the Indians were peaceably disposed, and that there was no undue 

 excitement beyond that occasioned by the rumors of a messiah in the 

 west. This excitement they thought would continue to increase as 

 the predicted time drew near, and would die a natural death when the 

 prophecy failed of its fulfillment. 



All the agents are positive in the opinion that at this time, about the 

 middle of June, 1890, the Indians had no hostile intentions. McLaugh- 

 lin, the veteran agent of Standing Rock, who probably knew the Sioux 

 better than any other white man having official relations with them, 

 states that among his people there was nothing in word or action to jus- 



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