HOONEYl 



big foot's hand 865 



naked: and that he had taken thein in and fed them, and that no one 

 with a heart could do any less. 



Sumner then directed one of his officers, Captain Hennisee, to go to 

 the Indian camp with Big Foot and bring in all the Indians. That 

 officer started and returned the next day. December 21, with 333 

 Indians. This large number was a matter of surprise in view of Big 

 Foot's statement shortly before, but it is possible that iu speaking of 

 his party he intended to refer only to the warriors. They went into 

 camp as directed, turned out their ponies to graze, and were fed, and on 

 the next morning all started quietly back with the troops. As they had 

 all along appeared perfectly friendly and compliant with every order, 

 no attempt was made to disarm them. On arriving near their own vil- 

 lage, however, it became apparent that Big Foot could not control their 

 desire to go to their homes. The chief came frankly to Sumner and 

 said that he himself would go wherever wanted, but that there would 

 be trouble to force the women and children, who were cold and hungry, 

 away from their village. He protested also that they were now at 

 home, where they had been ordered by the government to stay, and 

 that none of them had done anything to justify their removal. As it 

 was evident that they would not go peaceably, Colonel Sumner de- 

 termined to bring his whole force on the next day to compel them. In 

 the meantime he sent a white man named Dunn, who had a friendly 

 acquaintance with Big Foot, to tell him that the Indians must obey the 

 order to remove. Dunn delivered the message and returned, being 

 followed later by the interpreter, with the statement that the Indians 

 had consented to go to the agency, and would start the next morning, 

 December 23. That evening, however, scouts came in with the word 

 that the Indians had left their village and were going southward. It 

 was at first thought that they intended turning off on another trail to 

 the agency, but instead of doing so they kept on in the direction of 

 Pine Ridge and the refugees in the Bad Lands, taking with them only 

 their ponies and tipi poles. 



The cause of this precipitate flight after the promise given by Big 

 Foot is somewhat uncertain. The statement of the interpreter, Felix 

 Beuoit, would make it appear that the Indians were frightened by 

 Dunn, who told them that the soldiers were coming in the morning to 

 carry them off and to shoot them if they refused to go. While this 

 doubtless had the effect of alarming them, the real cause of their flight 

 was probably the fact that just at this critical juncture Colonel Merriam 

 was ordered to move with his command up Cheyenne river to join 

 forces with Sumner in compelling their surrender. Such is the opinion 

 of General Ruger, who states officially that u Big Foot and adherents 

 who had joined him, probably becoming alarmed on the movement of 

 Colonel Merriam's command from Fort Bennett and a rumor that 

 Colonel Sumner would capture them, eluded Colonel Sumner's com- 

 mand and started for the Pine Ridge reservation." This agrees with 



