8 



In consequence of the promise ilms made to Red Cloud and his 



associates, their immediate opposition to my proposed explora- 

 tions ceased. Other difficulties were successively overcome, the 

 expedition at last reached its destination, and fully accomplished 

 its purpose, notwithstanding great suffering from cold, and open 

 hostility of the Indians around us. When ahout to return, we 

 escaped a large war party of Indians in consequence of warning 

 and assistance sent by Red Cloud. This act of kindness led me 

 on my return to the Agency to make further investigations there, 

 especially in the directions indicated by the chiefs, and I soon 

 found reason to believe that their statements of mismanagement 

 and fraud were essentially true. The information I received also 

 from officers of the Army, and other trustworthy observers fa- 

 miliar with the subject, fully confirmed this, and proved, more- 

 over, that affairs at this Agency had long been in the same con- 

 dition. 



On my return to the East, my professional duties prevented me 

 for some time from fulfilling the promise made to Red Cloud ; 

 but in April last, as you will remembei - , I gave you his message, 

 showed you the sample of rations he had entrusted to me, and 

 received from you the assurance of your wish to do full justice to 

 the Indians, and correct any abuses in their management. I then 

 regarded my mission at an end. As a matter of courtesy, I 

 showed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs the same samples, and 

 told him of various things I saw at the Red Cloud Agency that 

 indicated a bad state of affairs there ; naturally supposing that 

 such information, from a disinterested observer, would be kindly 

 received, and existing wrongs be prevented in future. I regret 

 to say that the information I ventiired to offer to this official 

 was far from acceptable ; the inferior rations I exhibited were 

 plausibly explained, and the damaging facts I had observed were 

 considered of little consequence. Commissioner Smith's manner 

 of receiving this information naturally deterred me from giving 

 him many other facts of a similar nature then in my possession, 

 and I have since deemed it best to withhold them. 



