1 6 The Book of Woodcraft 



on overturned lodges, firewood and household property, and set 

 fire to it all. 



" Several years afterward I was on the ground. Everywhere 

 scattered about in the long grass and brush, just where the 

 wolves and foxes had left them, gleamed the skulls and bones of 

 those who had been so ruthlessly slaughtered. 'How could 

 they have done it?' I asked myself, time and time again. 

 ' What maimer of men were these soldiers who deliberately shot 

 down defenseless women and innocent children? ' They had not 

 even the excuse of being drunk; nor was their commanding 

 oflicer intoxicated; nor were they excited or in any danger 

 whatever. Deliberately, coolly, with steady and deadly aim 

 they shot them down, killed the wounded, and then tried to 

 burn the bodies of their victims. But I will say no more about 

 it. Think it over, yourself, and try to find a fit name for men 

 who did this. " ("My Life as an Indian, " pp. 41-2.) 



According to G. B. Grinnell, one hundred and seventy-six 

 innocent persons were butchered on this day of shame; 

 ninety of them women, fifty-five babies, the rest chiefly 

 very old or very young men, most of the able-bodied 

 hunters being away on a hunt. No punishment of any 

 kind was given the monster who did it. 



There is no Indian massacre of whites to compare with 

 this shocking barbarity, for at least the Indian always had 

 the excuse that war had been declared, and he was acting on the 

 defensive. Of a similar character were the massacres at 

 Cos Cob, 1641; Conestoga, 1763; Gnadenwhutten, 1782; 

 Coquille River, 1854; Wounded Knee, 1890; and a himdred 

 more that could be mentioned. And no punishment was ever 

 meted out to the murderers. Why? First, because appar- 

 ently the Bureau at Washington approved; second, because 

 "An Indian has no legal status; he is merely a live and 

 particularly troublesome animal in the eye of the law. " 

 (New York Times, February 21, 1880.) (See "Century of 

 Dishonor," p. 367.) Governor Horatio Seymour says: 



