Emporia's News
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Emporia News, November 27, 1868.
REPORT OF INDIAN COMMISSIONER TAYLOR
The report of Commissioner Taylor, of the Indian Bureau, for the fiscal year, has been laid before the Secretary of the Interior.
He says the number of Indians now within the boundaries of the United States, exclusive of those in Alaska, is about 300,000. He regrets that they are decreasing so rapidly from year to year, and attributes it, as well as the misery and degradation prevailing among them, mainly to intestine [?] wars, the entailment of the loathsome diseases of vicious whites, and effects of indulgence in spirituous liquors. He thinks that a large proportion of our Indian tribes show a strong disposition to emerge from their savage state, and throw aside their barbarous customs; but improvement is slow, and their civilization must be the work of time, patiently and hopefully prosecuted, with liberality on the part of the Government, and faithful and prompt fulfillment of all its obligations and promises. This work should enlist the sympathy of all levers of humanity, and invite to its practical demonstration the divine spirit of charity to a much greater extent than is now shown.
He says peace has been maintained with most of the tribes during the past year, and friendship has marked their course toward our Government and citizens, while they have faithfully endeavored to support themselves. This is said more especially of those settled on reservations. With others, there have, however, been such various difficulties that it may be said we have had an Indian war on our hands. He holds that the Cheyennes and Apaches clearly violated their treaty promises made nearly a year ago to the commission sent to treat with them. It is difficult to account for their bad behavior on any other ground than their love of plunder and revenge, under a feeling of dissatisfaction, caused, it is presumed, by the non-delivery of guns and ammunition promised them by the commissioners, but withheld because the Cheyennes had not kept the peace. He thinks the Kiowa’s and Comanche’s will be drawn into the war, and fears that the friendly portion of the tribes will suffer with the guilty. If the hostile portion will not cease their outrages, he says they should be punished severely, and their claims on the Government should be declared forfeited, by Congress.
He alludes to the difficulties in Arizona and New Mexico, and says they will continue till the Indians are put and kept on a reservation.
He congratulates himself on the close of the Indian troubles in Idaho and Dakota; alludes to the labors of the peace commissioners, of which General Sherman was head, and has no doubt they will be productive of wide beneficial results.
He details the work of the year in making and ratifying treaties with a large number of tribes, and shows that most of them have been carried out in full effect.
He strongly urges that wise, liberal treaties be made with the Indians in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington Territories, looking to their concentration on reservations, and to the payment, on our part, for the rights of which they have been despoiled.
He speaks of the recent session of the commission at Chicago, and says he dissented from the views of his colleagues as to the expediency of transferring the Indian Bureau to the War Department, and will communicate his reasons for such dissent in a separate report.
He regrets that Congress did not at its last session make better provision for the subsistence of destitute Indians, and says there has been much suffering in consequence, as well as some bloodshed, and large expenditures of money in suppressing hostilities. He says it is better to feed the Indians than fight them, and thinks there would have been but little trouble on the plains this summer had they been properly supplied in accordance with treaty stipulations. He adds that the responsibility in this regard is with Congress, not with the Department.
He says claims to the amount of about $500,000 have been presented for depredations committed by Indians in the war of 1863, and he recommends the appointment of a commission for their settlement.
He also recommends that legislation be had to protect the people of Texas against raids from Mexico.
He renews, and strongly urges, his recommendation for a change in the laws regulating trade and intercourse with the Indians, and closes by asking such legislation as will, at the proper time, bring the Indians of Alaska within the supervision of the Government.
Emporia News, November 27, 1868.
FROM THE NINETEENTH REGIMENT
The Lawrence Journal of Wednesday contains the following letter from Dr. Russell, Assistant Surgeon of the nineteenth regiment, which passed through here a few days ago, to a citizen of that city. It will be read with interest. It is dated camp on the Cow Skin, Nov. 14th.
We have had a very pleasant time on the march aside from a few days of rain and the snowstorm. That was rough, and in all my soldiering I have never seen anything worse for men and horses. We have passed through some very fine country indeed, and especially above El Dorado on the Walnut. We reached the mouth of the Little Arkansas Thursday evening, about 4 p.m., and remained there until this morning, taking in rations and a short rest. When I say that the country about Wichita, at the mouth of the Little Arkansas, is a paradise, I am not exaggerating in the least. It is ahead of anything that I have seen in any country. I sometimes feel like saying that I will make my home there. It is a military post and a company of regulars is stationed there. The soil is good, but timber is scarce. There is good grazing now in this country, and stock would do finely. Thursday, we saw the first sign of buffalo, and this afternoon the boys took in two, and we supped off them. The prairie is covered with them, and we will have no trouble in supplying the command with fresh meat. The general health of the command is good, and all going smoothly. Gov. Crawford is with us, and is universally liked, as is also Col. H. Moore, of Lawrence. We are now south of the Arkansas and beyond the line of civilization. Our destination so far as we now know, is the Beaver, where we expect to meet Gen. Sheridan, and then we will go where he says, or die in the attempt. We have seen no Indians yet, but hope to soon, as the boys are spoiling for a fight. We have the finest regiment that I ever saw go into the field.
Emporia News, December 4, 1868.
IMPORTANT INDIAN NEWS
A dispatch from a special correspondent of the Leavenworth Conservative, dated in the field, Indian Territory, November 28, 1868, gives an account of a considerable battle between the Cheyenne Indians under Black Kettle, and the Seventh Cavalry under command of General Custer, on the north fork of the Wichita [? Do they mean Washita?] River, on the day before Black Kettle’s village was captured.
One hundred and fifty Indians were killed, and the bodies left in our possession, and fifty-three taken prisoners.
An immense amount of property was captured and destroyed, consisting of fifty-one lodges, nearly 1,000 horses and mules, arrows, ammunition, horse equipments, robes, provisions, etc. Capt. Louis Hamilton was killed in the first charge. Major Elliott is missing.
One man of the Seventh was killed and fourteen wounded. The tribe is badly crippled. The Indians, including women and boys, fought with great desperation from the cover of bushes and grass, when driven out of the village. Many of the wounded effected their escape.
The victory was complete, and will be a wholesome lesson to the Cheyennes. Black Kettle, the principal Chief, was killed. Brevet Lieut. Col. Barnitz was seriously, if not mortally, wounded.
It is reported here that Col. Crawford’s regiment, the 19th Kansas, has been defeated by the Indians. It is only a war rumor.
Emporia News, December 11, 1868.
THE INDIAN WAR!
Gen. Sheridan’s Report The Work Done and To Be Done.
Major General Sheridan, commanding the Department of the Missouri, has forwarded his annual report of affairs within his command for the year 1868, to Lieut. Gen. W. T. Sherman, commanding the Military Division of the Missouri. The following is a copy of the report.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, IN THE FIELD, FT. HAYS,
November 16, 1868.
Lieut. Gen. W. T. Sherman, Commanding Military Division of the Missouri, St. Louis:
GENERAL: In reply to your letter of Oct. 1, calling for an annual report, I regret to state that I will be compelled, in consequence of my presence in the field being necessary, to make a much more incomplete report than I had desired.
I assumed the permanent command of the Department of the Missouri, March 2, 1868, relieving Brevet Major Gen. A. J. Smith, Colonel Seventh Cavalry, temporarily in command. The Department comprises the districts of New Mexico, the Indian Territory, Kansas, the Upper Arkansas, and the State of Missouri.
The District of New Mexico, commanded by Brevet Major Gen. C. W. Getty, is an old and established command. It has within its limits the Navajo nation of Indians, the Utes, and wandering bands of Apaches, together with a few bands of semi-civilized Indians. This District has been, with the exception of an occasional depredation on the part of the Apache bands, comparatively quiet. During the past year the Navajo Indians were successfully moved, under the authority of the Lieutenant General, from their temporary reservation near Fort Sumner to their permanent reservation in the northwestern portion of the Territory. The Utes have remained friendly, although more neglected by the Government than any other Indian tribe within my command. In fact, the suffering from hunger and want in some of the smaller bands has been very great. This District has been ably and economically administered by its distinguished commander.
The District of the Indian Territory is also an old District, having in it the posts of Forts Gibson and Arbuckle, and has been under the command of Brevet Major Gen. Grierson, Colonel Tenth Cavalry, since May, 1868. It had previously been commanded by Brevet Major Montgomery Bryant, Captain Sixth Infantry. This District has in it all the semi-civilized bands of Indians, the principal tribes being the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Osages. It also contains the new reservations of the Kiowa’s, Comanche’s, Arapahos, and Cheyennes, as fixed by the Treaty with the Indian Commissioner of last fall. Of these bands a portion of the Kiowa’s and Comanche’s visited Fort Cobb early last spring, the point designated for their agent to reside at, apparently for the purpose of obtaining their annuities and other supplies. The Indian Department having failed to purchase the supplies, they fell out with the agent, drove him off, destroyed the agency building, and came up to their old haunts on the Arkansas, threatening war if their demands were no complied with. No other events of importance occurred in this District during the last year. The District was fairly and economically managed by both its commanders. Troops were sent twice or three times to Cobb, on requisition of the agent, who appeared to be constantly in trouble, either through his own fault or that of his Indians most probably the latter, as they told me they did not like him, but wanted Mr. Tappan, the Indian trader at Larned, to be their agent, and that they put a halter about his neck and had him led out on the prairie, and that if they had anymore bad agents, they would hang them.
The District of Kansas has been under the control of Brevet Lieut. Col. T. C. English, Major Fifth Infantry, since the departure of Gen. Hoffman about the beginning of May, 1868. It comprises within its limits the posts of Forts Riley and Leavenworth, with one company of soldiers at the Kaw crossing of the Cottonwood, not far from Council Grove, and one company on the Republican, at the Big Bend. The District has been very well commanded.
The District of the Upper Arkansas embraces nearly all the Territory of Colorado and that portion of Kansas west of a north and south line through Fort Harker, and has been commanded by Brevet Brig. Gen. A. Sully, Lieutenant Colonel Third Infantry, since May, 1868, previous to which time it was commanded by Brevet Lieut. Col. T. C. English, Major Fifth Infantry. This District was the most difficult to manage and the most pregnant with events during the year. It had within its limits the territory of the Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowa’s, and Comanche’s, which they had agreed to give up in their treaty with the Peace Commission. The two great commercial highways to Colorado and New Mexico, and the lateral roads connecting them from Harker to Larned, and Hays to Dodge, and Wallace to Lyon, pass through the district; also the western line to frontier settlements in Kansas and the eastern line of settlements in Colorado, which, from their scattered and helpless condition, were much exposed and invited the cupidity of the savage. It is likewise the hunting ground of Sioux, northern Arapahos, and northern Cheyennes, and it was the permanent residence of the first named tribes. These Indians (the Kiowa, Comanche’s, Arapahos, and Cheyennes) were able to put into the field about 6,000 well mounted and well armed warriors, with from two to ten spare horses each.
To guard the lines of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Denver stage line, and other interests in this State, there had been established in 1867 the posts of Forts Harker, Hays, and Wallace, and the outpost of Cedar Point; and to guard the line of the Arkansas to New Mexico there were the posts of Larned, Dodge, Lyon, and Reynolds, and the outposts of Zarah and the mouth of Little Arkansas. All these posts were garrisoned during the summer by companies of the Tenth and Seventh Cavalry, Fifth and Third Infantry, and four companies of the Thirty-eighth Infantry, all very much reduced in numbers, which gave me a force of 1,200 Cavalry and about 1,400 Infantry. After distributing this force for the protection of the railroad and the different posts, and along the line of settlements, I had available for the field at the commencement of hostilities only eleven companies of Cavalry seven of the Seventh and four of the Tenth Cavalry in all about 800 men. [For particulars touching the outbreak I respectfully refer you to my report of Sept. 26, 1868, appended hereto.] With this small force for offensive operations, it was impossible to accomplish a great deal in so extensive a country. The Indian, mounted on his hardy pony and familiar with the country, was about as hard to find, so long as the grass lasted, as the Alabama of the ocean. The seven companies of the Seventh Cavalry, joined by West’s company of the same regiment, moved to Fort Dodge, while the four companies of the Tenth Cavalry moved from the Saline to the crossing of Walnut Creek, on the road from Fort Hays to Ford Dodge, and there awaited information of the direction in which the families and villages of the Indians had moved, while Brevet Col. G. A. Forsyth, with a party of fifty scouts, moved north of the railroad to Beaver Creek, to watch the direction of the trails all of which he reported as leading to the south of the Arkansas.
On the 7th of September Gen. Sully, whose command had been increased by a company of the Seventh Cavalry from Lyon, and Brevet Major Page’s company, Third Infantry, in all between five and six hundred men, crossed the Arkansas at Dodge to strike the villages of the Indians reported on the Cimarron, about forty miles distant.
On arriving at the Cimarron, it was found that the villages had moved; and the trail was followed with more or less skirmishing until the crossing of the Canadian or Middle River was reached, when the Indians made a brisk attack, but were driven off, after which the command moved north toward Fort Dodge and went into camp on Chalk Bluff Creek to await a further escort of Infantry for the wagon train. The amount of Infantry with it not being considered sufficient to guard it successfully, Capt. Hale’s company, from the Solomon; Capt. Asbury’s, from Larned; and Brevet Major Beebe’s company of the Thirty-eighth were sent. So much time was consumed in getting these companies from remote points that the rations for the expedition at Dodge and with the command were eaten up, and not much has since been accomplished by this column. The Indians lost in the series of skirmishes on this movement south of the Arkansas from seventeen to twenty-two killed, and an unknown number wounded. The troops lost two killed and one wounded.
While Gen. Sully was operating south of the Arkansas, Capt. Graham, with his company of the Tenth Cavalry, was sent out from Wallace to give as much protection as he could along the stage line to Denver. On the 15th of September he was attacked on Big Sandy Creek by about 100 Indians, defeated them, killed eleven, and wounded an unknown number. Meantime, Brevet Col. G. A. Forsyth, with his company of scouts, took the trail of a party of Indians who had committed depredations near Sheridan City, and followed it to the Orrikaree Fork of the Republican, where he was attacked by about 700 Indians, and after a very gallant fight on the 7th of September, repulsed the savages, inflicting a loss on them of thirty-five killed and many wounded. In the engagement Lieut. F. H. Beecher was killed, Forsyth twice wounded, the command living on horseflesh for eight days. The gallantry displayed by this brave little command is worthy of the highest commendation; but was only in keeping with the character of two gallant officers in command of it, Brevet Col. G. A. Forsyth and Lieut. Frederick H. Beecher. While the command was beleaguered, two scouts stole through the Indian lines and brought word to Fort Wallace of its perilous condition, and Brevet Col. H. C. Bankhead, Capt. Fifth Infantry, commanding Ft. Wallace, with the most commendable energy, started to its relief with 100 men from the post, and Brevet Lieut. Col. Carpenter’s company, then en Marche protecting the stage line to Denver, reaching Forsyth on the morning of the 25th of September.
About the same time Brevet Brig. Gen. W. H. Penrose, from Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, pursued a party of Indians who were driving off stock from the settlers, and killed four of them. While these operations were in progress, the Governor of Kansas, knowing how hard we were pressed for troops, proposed to relieve the companies I had on the eastern frontier settlements of Kansas, if arms, ammunition, and rations could be issued by the Government for 500 militia from the State. This I gladly assented to, and these conditions were carried out by direction of the Lieutenant General.
As soon as the agreement was consummated, I drew the two companies of the Seventh Cavalry at Harker, and proceeded to Larned to try to induce the Kiowa’s and Comanche’s to return to their reservation at Fort Cobb. I offered to furnish them rations to the post, and Brevet Maj. Gen. Hazen, sent by Gen. Sherman to conduct the Indians to their reservations, agreed to feed them during the winter, and issue their annuities. This proposition was accepted, but only as a decoy to get their families out of the proximity of the post and then openly to become hostile. There is no doubt in my mind of the young men having done so previously.
Previous to this interview with the Kiowa’s and before Gen. Sully moved south of the Arkansas, in order to keep a portion of the Arapahos, who were not known to be hostile, out of the war, he invited their principal chiefs to visit us at Fort Dodge. I then offered to provide for them during the winter, which proposition they accepted, but only as a cover to get their stock and families out of the reach of the troops, and when Gen. Sully moved south they were the first to attack him. I mention this circumstance to show that we exhausted every alternative to be friendly with Indians not known to be fully engaged in the strife, as we had exhausted every alternative during the summer to preserve the peace with all the tribes.
During the period embraced in the events the Lieutenant General ordered Brevet Major General C. C. Augur, Commanding Department of the Platte, to send from Fort Sedgwick to the forks of the Republican River six companies of the Twenty-seventh Infantry, and at the same time notified me that the seven companies of the Fifth Cavalry would report to me at Harker. General Bradley arrived on the Republican River on the 25th of September, in time to be of material assistance to Col. Forsyth by the approach of his command, since which time he has been operating east and west on the headwaters of the Republican; but his command being principally infantry, it cannot do much ore than cover the country. After it became fully known that the Kiowa’s and Comanche’s were engaged in hostilities, we had against us the full number of 6,000 warriors, well mounted and armed, and I deemed it necessary to say our force was too small, and orders were received to call on the Governor of Kansas for one regiment of Cavalry 1,200 strong. This regiment will soon be organized and ready for the field.
On Sept. 29 seven companies of the Fifth Cavalry arrived at Fort Harker. They were at once equipped and sent north of the railroad from here on Beaver Creek, under command of Brevet Col. W. B. Royall, Major Fifth Cavalry, but as yet have not succeeded in finding the Indians. On Oct. 12, Gen. Sully ordered Custer’s command from Chalk Bluff Creek to scour the country on Medicine Lodge Creek and the Big Bend of the Arkansas, pending the accumulation of supplies at Dodge for an expedition to the Canadian River and Wichita Mountains. Only small parties of Indians who had been depredating on the line from Harker to dodge were found, and who drew south to watch the movements of Custer. Two Indians were reported as probably killed in some small dashes made by them at sundry times, but no families or villages were found.
On Oct. 5, Gen. Bradley notified me that the trail of the Indians Col. Royall was sent after had crossed Beaver Creek in a southwesterly direction. Brevet Major General E. A. Carr, Major Fifth Cavalry, who arrived soon after the detachment of his regiment had taken the field, was ordered to join his command and take the trail reported by General Bradley with directions to Brevet Col. Bankhead, at Fort Wallace, to furnish him with Brevet Lieut. Col. Carpenter’s and Capt. Graham’s companies of the Tenth Cavalry, numbering about 120 men, as an escort. Gen. Carr, while carrying out these instructions, was with his party attacked on the 18th inst., by about 400 of these Indians on Beaver Creek, and after an engagement of six hours repulsed the Indians, killing nine and wounding an unknown number. Three of the escort were wounded.
The above gives you an account of the principal movements and principal combats since the 25th of August; but in addition there were a number of movements from posts, especially from Forts Wallace, Dodge, Lyon, and Hays, in which some Indians were killed. In all contests and skirmishes, which have taken place up to this time, about ninety-two Indians have been killed and an unknown number wounded. No villages have as yet been destroyed, and no large amount of stock captured. The above number of Indians killed, I think, can be safely relied upon as correct. The number of soldiers killed in this period has been six, and of scouts in the Government service five; of soldiers wounded, ten; and of scouts, sixteen. The number of citizens killed and officially reported is as set forth in the accompanying list of Indian outrages and murders, and will number seventy-five killed and nine wounded. In nearly all cases the most horrible and savage barbarities were perpetrated on the bodies of the victims.
The amount of stock run off in Colorado and Kansas, and from the freight trains to New Mexico and Colorado is very large in excess of five thousand head. The settlements have been driven in and ranches abandoned, making the damage done to all interested very large. In fact, unless the Indians are crushed out and made to obey the authority of the Government, there will be a total paralysis of some of the best interests of this section of country. All confidence is destroyed. The people had felt some degree of security from the assurance of the Peace Commission, and many of them have met a horrible fate in consequence. No peace, which will give confidence, can be hereafter made by paying tribute to these savage bands of cruel marauders.
I am exceedingly glad that the Peace Commission resolved at their late meeting that the Indian tribes should not be dealt with as independent nations. They are wards of the Government, and should be made to respect the laws and the lives and property of citizens. The Indian history of this country for the last 300 years shows that of all the great nations of Indians, only the remnants have been saved. The same fate awaits those now hostile, and the best way for the Government is to now make them poor by the destruction of their stock and then settle them on the land allotted to them. The motive of the Peace Commission was humane; but there was an error of judgment in making peace with those Indians last fall. They should have been punished and made to give up the plunder captured and which they now hold, and after properly submitting to the military and disgorging there plunder they could have been turned over to the civil agents. This error has given many more victims to savage ferocity.
The present system of dealing with the Indians, I think, is an error. There are too many fingers in the pie, too many ends to be sub served, and too much money to be made, and it is the interest of the nation and humanity to put an end to this inhuman farce. The Peace Commission and the Indian Department and the military and the Indians make a Abalky team.@ The public treasury is depleted and innocent people murdered in the quadrangular management in which the public treasury and the unarmed settlers are the greatest sufferers. There should be only one head in the government of Indians; now they look to the Peace Commission, then to the Indian Department, both of which are expensive institutions, without any system or adequate machinery to make good their promises. Then the Indian falls back on the military, which is the only reliable resort, in case he becomes pinched from hunger.
I respectfully recommend, in view of what I have seen since I came in command of this department, and from a long experience with Indians heretofore, that the Indian Department be transferred to the War Department, and that the Lieutenant General, as the common superior, have sole and entire charge of the Indians; that each department commander and the officers under him have the sole and entire charge of the Indians in his department. There will then be no Abalky team,@ no additional expense in salaries a just accountability in the disbursement of the Indian appropriations. The machinery necessary to support the army can, without additional expense, supply the Indians.
Our success so far in the number of Indians killed is fully as great as could be expected, and arrangements are now being made for active operations against their villages and stock. As soon as the failure of the grass and the cold weather forces the scattered bands to come together to winter in the milder latitudes south of the Arkansas, a movement of troops will then take place from Lyon, Bascon, Dodge, and Arbuckle, which I hope will be successful in gaining a permanent peace.
I have the honor to be, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant.
P. H. SHERIDAN,
Major General United States Army.
Emporia News, December 11, 1868.
In General Sheridan’s official report of the Indian battle we find the following notice of the 19th Kansas:
The Kansas regiment has just come in. They missed the trains, and had to struggle in the snowstorm, the horses suffering much in flesh, and the men living upon buffalo meat and other game for eight days. We will soon have them in good condition.
Emporia News, December 11, 1868.
SHERIDAN’S REPORT
On our outside will be found the report by General Sheridan of his Indian operations since he took command of this department. It will be read with interest. It now seems certain that the management of the Indians will be turned over to the War Department. This General Sheridan urges strongly, and Generals Grant and Sherman favor the change. These gentlemen will undoubtedly have a large say in the running of affairs in the next four years. The people will hail any change from the present manner of running the Indian Department, with delight. If we do not miss our guess, Sheridan will give us more startling news from the plains before the Peace Commissioners have time to stop him, which they are now trying to do.
Emporia News, December 11, 1868.
A squad of three month’s soldiers passed through town on Wednesday, on their way to Topeka to be discharged, their time being out.
Emporia News, December 18, 1868.
In speaking of the Indian war, Secretary Scofield says it is patent beyond dispute that it was begun by the Indians without any provocation whatever. Its object is supposed to be the abandonment of the Smoky Hill route, which are the best hunting grounds in America, and endorses Sherman’s remedy to secure peace, viz: coercion.
Emporia News, December 25, 1868.
IMPORTANT LETTER FROM GENERAL SHERIDAN
ST. LOUIS, Dec. 19. A letter from Gen. Sheridan, dated at the depot on North Canadian River, December 3rd, was received at Gen. Sherman’s headquarters today.
It gives information derived from Black Kettle’s sister, by Gen. Sheridan himself, in substance as follows.
The Indians were encamped first Black Kettle and other chiefs of the Cheyennes and a small party of Sioux, in all thirty-seven lodges eight miles down the Wichita were all the Arapahos and seventy additional lodges of Cheyennes, also the Kiowa’s, Apaches, and Comanche’s. While thus encamped three war parties were sent out; one composed of Cheyennes, Kiowa’s, and Arapahos, went in the direction of Fort Larned, and were still out. Another party was composed of Cheyennes and Arapahos, and returned, the trail of which led Gen. Custer into Black Kettle’s village. This party brought back three scalps, one of which was that of the express man killed and horribly mutilated between Dodge and Larned, just before Gen. Sheridan left the former fort. The mail he was carrying was found in Black Kettle’s camp. The other party was a mixed one and went in the direction of Fort Lyon and is still out.
About the time the first of these parties started, Black Kettle and one sub-chief from each band went to Ft. Cobb and brought back provisions given them at that fort, and while they were gone, or about the time of their return, the last war party referred to was sent out.
The women are of the opinion that they will all sue for peace at Fort Cobb as the result of the battle with Custer. They would have gone to Gen. Sheridan’s camp had not the opening at Cobb been held out to them.
Gen. Sheridan says: I shall start for Fort Scott as soon as the trains from Fort Dodge arrive. Had it not been for the misfortune of the Kansas regiment getting lost and the heavy snow, which rendered their horses, unfit for duty, we would have closed up this job before this time. As it is, I think the fight is pretty well knocked out of the Cheyennes.
The Government makes a great mistake in giving these Indians any considerable amount of food under the supposition of necessity. The whole country is covered with game, and there are more buffalo than will last the Indians for twenty years, and the turkeys are so numerous that flocks of from one to two thousand have been seen; the country is full of grouse, quails, and rabbits; herds of antelope and deer are seen everywhere, and even run through Gen. Custer’s train while on the march. The reservations laid for the Cheyennes and Arapahos are full of game and the most luxuriant grass.
Black Kettle’s sister reports three white women in the lodges below Black Kettle’s camp.
Another letter from Gen. Sheridan says the mules belonging to Clark’s train, also photographs and other articles taken from the houses robbed on the Salina and Solomon Rivers in Kansas, last fall, were found in the Indian camp.
The Indian women prisoners say that most of the depredations along the line of the Arkansas were committed by the Cheyennes and Arapahos.
Emporia News, January 1, 1869.
A compilation from the official record regarding Indian wars for the past forty years, to have been as follows. Black Hawk War, 400 lives and $5,000,000. Seminole War, 1,500 lives and $100,000,000; only 1,500 Indians being warriors. A war with the Creeks and Cherokees, about the same time, cost $1,000,000. Sioux War of 1852, 300 lives and $40,000,000. War of 1862, 1,000 lives and about $60,000,000. Cheyenne, 1867, 300 lives and about $100,000,000.
Indian trouble on Pacific slope for the last twenty years, about $300,000,000. Three campaigns against the Navahos, $30,000,000. The whole troubles in New Mexico, of which the last item forms a part, $150,000,000.
FROM THE 19TH REGIMENT
FORT DODGE, KANSAS, DECEMBER 15, 1868
EDITOR EMPORIA NEWS Sir: Thinking a few lines from the Emporia boys who are members of the 19th Kansas Cavalry would be interesting to your readers, I will endeavor to write them, and hope you will excuse all mistakes, both clerical and grammatical, as we have but few conveniences for writing here.
Our regiment left Emporia November 3rd in the midst of a severe rain storm, which drenched us freely all day and the following night; when, seeing we were gritty and hard to conquer, the enemy changed tactics and gave us a covering of snow, which was received with cheers, curses, jokes, and all the different emotions and passions found in a full regiment of soldiers. About midway between Emporia and Wichita we ran out of rations and had to depend on buying and begging till we arrived at Wichita. This in connection with bad weather caused many to desert before we arrived at the State line. Out of all who have deserted we yet have the honor of saying not a single member of Company M has deserted.
We arrived at Wichita November 12th, where we halted for one day only, loading our wagons and fitting up for the march across the plains. Everything being in order, on the morning of the 4th we crossed the Arkansas River and started in good earnest on the Indian raid; and here commences the funny part of our campaign, if there is any connected with it thus far. We started from Wichita with five days’ rations, and were out twenty-one days before we could draw again. So after deducting the five from twenty-one, we find a balance of sixteen days, which time we subsisted entirely on buffalo meat without salt, or as the boys called it, buffalo straight. Regardless of hunger and fatigue, amidst the most inclement weather, we kept pushing on, making short marches, till on the 25th of November we arrived at the Cimarron River, where, finding a portion of our command, both men and horses, unfit to proceed further, we left about one-third of the command and the remainder pushed on in their tiresome march, principally on foot, and leading, or rather dragging their now completely jaded horses. After three days longer of toiling and starving, we arrived November 25th at Gen. Sully’s camp, on the North Canadian, where we found plenty of rations and a hearty welcome from the soldiers of Gen. Sheridan’s command. A train of wagons having been sent out to meet us missed us, but found the portion of our command left behind, so in a few days they too arrived at headquarters, in a miserable condition, many of them barefooted and limping along on frozen feet. We do not like to censure a man who stands so high in the esteem of the people of Kansas as Col. S. J. Crawford does, yet we feel that we have been shamefully mistreated by someone by whom we don’t pretend to say but as the general government never mistreats anyone, some smaller fry must bear the blame. Of one thing we are certain: if the regiment had the choosing of a commander today, S. J. Crawford would not get any votes; also in time to come said S. J. will get but few votes from the 19th for any position in civil life. Our loss in horses thus far amounts to about five hundred. If we can’t kill Indians, we can kill Uncle Sam’s horses, and do it in the best of style on short notice.
Our company, M, is now on detail guarding a train which came from Camp Supply to this place. We will start on our return trip in a few days. The remainder of the regiment have gone with Gen. Sheridan out south where they expect soon to meet the foe. I presume we will join them on our return.
All the Emporia boys, I believe, are well and hearty, and ready any time for the fight; so if the ladies of Emporia do not get some fashionable chignons next spring on our return, it will not be our fault. Our young friend and officer, Lieut. J. P. Hurst, is enjoying good health, is a general favorite among his own boys, and in fact throughout the company it is believed Jim will do to tie to.
But it is growing late, and for fear of tiring your patience and thus crowding my letter out of your columns, I will close. So requesting you to send us a number of your paper if convenient, and wishing THE NEWS much success, I remain
Yours respectfully,
M. A. VICTOR, Co. M,
19th Kan. Cav.
Boston Advertiser.
Emporia News, January 22, 1869.
Additional information from the Indian country leads several Senators, who have canvassed the subject, to form the belief that the battle of Wichita [Wichita] was in all its main features a repetition of the Sand Creek massacre. It appears that Custer left his dead on the field for fifteen days till he could ride with his command to carry the news of a great victory, and on returning, the bodies of Manner, Elliot, and sixteen others were found torn by wolves and birds, and the mutilation charged to the Indians.
INTERESTING FROM GENERAL SHERIDAN
CHICAGO, Jan. 16. Gen. Sheridan informs Gen. Sherman that the destruction of the Comanche village by Col. Evans gave the final blow to the backbone of the Indian rebellion. At midnight on the 31st of December a delegation of the chief men of the Arapahos and Cheyennes, twenty-one in number, arrived at Fort Cobb, begging peace. They report the tribes in mourning for their losses, their people starving, ponies dying, dogs all eaten up, no buffalo.
Gen. Sheridan further says: We had forced them into the canyons, on the eastern edge of the staked plains, where there was no small game or buffalo. They are in a bad fix, and surrender unconditionally. I acceded to their terms, and will punish them justly. I can scarcely make error in any punishment awarded, for all have blood upon their hands.@
In the same dispatch Sheridan repels the charge of Col. Wynkoop that Black Kettle’s band were peaceable Indians. He says the band were outside of their reservation, and some of Black Kettle’s young men were out depredating when the village was captured. Much plunder from trains and from murdered couriers was found in the village, and other indubitable evidence that the band had been engaged in murders and outrages upon the whites.
