ML.oNEv] MEDICINE LODGE TREATY OF 1867 183 



restraint by the gnveninient. This suggests the policy of promptly lescuiug the 

 Indiana and withdrawing them from contact with the whites, as the eleu\eut capa- 

 ble of such innnediate management as may anticipate and prevent difficulties and 

 massacre. I repeat, then, as the suggestion of my best judgment, that immediate 

 and sufficient steps be taken to assemble and finally dispose of these particular tribes 

 of Indians, viz, the Kiowa and Comanches, the Cheyeunes, and the Arapahoes, by 

 reducing them, under treaties and arrangements, to become agricultural and pastoral 

 people, located within specific districts, judiciously selected and liberally endowed, 

 to which they shall be restricted and the white men excluded from among them. 

 These numerous and warlike Indians, pressed upon all around by the Texaus, by the 

 settlers of the gold region, by the advancing peo]de of Kansas and from the Platte, 

 are already compressed into a small circle of territory, destitute of food, and itself 

 bisected athwart by a constantly marching line of emigrants. A desperate war of 

 starvation and extinction is therefore imminent and inevitable unless prompt meas- 

 ures shall prevent it {Seport, 21). 



Despite this •warning no .step.s were taken toward a remedy, and in 

 April, 1864, tlie irritation resulted in a war with the Cheyenne, speed- 

 ily involvinfj' also the Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, with 

 several bauds of the Dakota. The most memorable incident of this 

 war was the massacre of 120 friendly Cheyenne, encamped under the 

 protection of the United States flag, near Fort Lyon, on Sand creek, 

 Colorado, by Colorado militia under Colonel Chivington, on November 

 29, 1864. Hostilities ended with treaties made with the live tribes 

 chiefly concerned at the mouth of the Little Arkansas (now Wichita, 

 Kansas), in October, 1865, as already noted. Short a.s the war had 

 been, it had cost the government over $30,000,000 and an unknown 

 number of lives [Report, 23). 



From this time the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, as tribes, 

 remained quiet, according to the terms of the treaty, but it was other- 

 wise with the more northern Indians, who found themselves subjected 

 to constant aggi'essioDS in spite of all agreements. In July, 1866, a 

 war broke out with the Sioux, and in April, 1807, it spread to the 

 Cheyenne and Arapaho. Leading incidents of these campaigns were 

 the massacre of Lieutenant Colonel Fetterman's whole command at 

 Fort Phil. Kearney, December 21, 1866, and the burning of a large 

 Chej^enue village on the Pawnee fork, by General Hancock, in April, 

 1867 [Report, 23). 



At this stage of affairs Congress appointed a commission to estab- 

 lish peace with the hostile tribes, by first ascertaining their grievances 

 and then making such treaties as would remove the causes of dissatis- 

 faction and afford protection to the frontier settlements, emigrant 

 roads, and railroads by assigning to the tribes reservations where they 

 could remain undisturbed in the future. This commission consisted of 

 N. G. Taylor, president, John B. Sanborn, Samuel F. Tappan, J. B. 

 Henderson, and Generals William S. Harney, Alfred H. Terry, and 

 C. C. Augur. iSTotwithstanding open war was in progress, they found 

 no difficulty in effecting friendly meetings with the various tribes. In 

 September and October, 1867, the commission held councils with the 

 Sioux and Crows and made treaties with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, 



