traders to sell to the Indians arms and ammunition. Such prohibitions I believe to be unwise, as the Indian has to depend upon the chase for his subsistence and that of his wife and children. Arms and ammunition are of absolute necessity; he will, therefore, if possible, and no matter at what cost, procure them. Then again it is perfectly idle to say that he will accumulate them to make war on the whites. No Indian will buy two guns; one he will and ought to have; nor will he lay up any large quantity of powder, as he has no means of keeping it. He needs one gun and a little powder, and this is his only means of subsistence. In conclusion, I will take this occasion to say that in my opinion the time has come when all the Indians throughout the country should be taken on large reservations, with fair annuities honestly paid them, and stock of cattle and sheep furnished them to raise. In this way the country needed by the whites can be relieved from their occupation, Indian wars prevented, vast expenditures to the government thereby saved, and a future, although limited, provided for these poor people. If this system is not adopted, I see nothing for them but total and speedy destruction; and if this be the policy it should be avowed openly and carried out with energy. Either destroy them at once, or do for them that which their necessities plainly require. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. O. H. BROWNING, Secretary of the Interior. LEWIS V. BOGY, Commissioner. Extract from letter of ex-Governor Edmunds, of Dakota, dated September 26, 1866, transmitting Agent Hanson's report of September 15, 1866. I also have the honor to enclose a letter from Agent Hanson, in relation to the military order prohibiting the sale of ammunition, &c., to the Indians under his charge, and beg leave to recommend that you give this matter early atten tion, as it is one of great importance to those Indians. I am clearly of the opinion that those Indians ought not to be included as among those to whom arms and ammunition are prohibited, and am fearful that it will have a tendency to complicate and embarrass their management. Your obedient servant, NEWTON EDMUNDS, Ex officio Superintendent Indian Affairs. CROW CREEK AGENCY, Dakota Territory, September 15, 1866. SIR: My attention has recently been called to military General Order No. 10, dated Headquarters Department of the Platte, Omaha, Nebraska, July 31, 1866, being, in brief, an order prohibiting traders and others selling or disposing of, in any manner, arms of all description and ammunition to Indians. It has been only a few days since I was made aware that the sale of ammunition to these Indians had been prohibited. My instructions from the superintendent, received 22d ultimo, in relation to this subject, did not include ammunition, but only mentioned "arms of all descriptions." I have now the honor to object to the enforcement of such an order within this agency. There never has been a time, to my knowledge, when the Indians of this agency have given more satisfactory evidence of friendship and complete acquiescence in the authority of the government than since I have been their agent. The sincerity of their cause has been tested by the most trying of all ordeals-actual starvation. The history of the white race scarcely furnishes a parallel instance of such a body of people enduring such an amount of misery with such forbearance. What better evidence does the government ask before it is willing to cease treating these Indians as alien enemies, and deal with them as with a people in amity with its authority? Since the formation of the new treaties have they committed any overt act of hostility? If not, is it right to treat these often abused people as enemies purely upon speculation as to their further intentions? That the order is well enough when applied to some sections of the military district, where war still exists, is apparent, but that the Indians of this agency shou'd be held responsible or made to pay any share of the penalty for the continued hostility of the Indians of the Platte, or elsewhere, is not just. The government has furnished many of these Indians with double-barrel shotguns. This spring I distributed eighteen, and the commission about as many more. These went into the hands of the Indians who have always been friendly to the government, and to now refuse to permit them to purchase ammunition for these same guns is, under existing circumstances, without any sufficient reason that I am able to observe. A large delegation of the Lower Brule, Lower Yanctonais, and Two Kettle bands called on me yesterday, and asked me to have this matter changed; I have therefore to request that the order above referred to may be so far modified as to place the sale of ammunition in this agency to Indians within my control. In this way none but reliable ones will get such, and only in such quantities as in my judgment they may need for their hunting purposes. I desire to draw your attention to one other military order, now being enforced at Forts Sully and Rice, which prohibits Indians and traders stopping in these reservations. This order I have not yet been able to see; but the Indians have counseled with me concerning it, and they complain that it does not allow them to camp within eight or ten miles of Fort Sully, and thus excludes them from the timber along the Missouri, where they have been for many years accustomed to seek shelter from the freezing winter blasts of this region. While I am of the opinion that the military forces within this agency should be as far separated as possible from the Indians, for reasons of a moral nature, if no other, I see no neces-ity, and but gross injustice, in this military order. Surely, a military reservation extending from fifteen to twenty miles along both sides of the Missouri river, embracing all the best timbered lands between Forts Sully and Rice, is large enough to spare to these Indians a wintering place, and I trust your department of the government is generous enough to accord to them this right. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. R. HANSON, United States Indian Agent. Extract of report of Governor Foulk, of January 9, 1867, transmitting monthly report of Agent Hanson of December 31, 1866, The question of supplying the friendly Sioux Indians with the small amount of ammunition necessary to procure their subsistence is also worthy of your attention. My own experience in the Indian country leads me to favor such a When they have the arms and ammunition necessary for ordinary hunting purposes, they are more contented and friendly, and are more self-sustaining. I have no doubt that the order referred to by Major Hanson prohibit course. ing the sale of arms and ammunition should be revoked or in some way modified so as to relieve friendly tribes from the danger of starvation on that account, and from the necessity of carrying their peltry to British traders to exchange for such purposes. The whole subject seems to be worthy of your early attention. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, A. J. FOULK, Governor and ex officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Hon. LEWIS V. BOGY, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Extract from monthly report of Agent Hanson of December 31, 1866 During my recent trip to Fort Sully and Fort Rice, I found the universal complaint of friendly Indians to be regarding the prohibition of the sale of ammunition Under the date of 15th September last, I wrote the Hon. Commissioner of Indian Affairs upon the subject. I have the honor to again draw attention of the Commissioner to that communication. I have advised with all the military officers within this agency from Crow creek to Fort Rice, and I have not yet found one not in favor of setting this order aside. The Indians who gather at these different points are friendly to the government and enemies to the hostile Indians, and fear them as enemies. They say they are willing to help protect the whites if they can only be permitted to purchase the means with which to do it. The Indians inimical to the government procure all the ammunition they desire from traffic with the Red river half-breeds. This the friendly Indians understand, and tell me this prohibition has driven many of their young men into the hostile camp; and again, it is now approaching the season of the year when the Indians, settled along the Missouri river, must subsist to a great extent upon such small game as cannot be successfully hunted with bows and arrows. Justice to these Indians requires that the order be immediately abrogated. I think it a very dangerous order to enforce among these Indians. At this place, Fort Sully and Fort Rice the Indians of known friendship should be permitted to purchase ammunition in small quantities, sufficient for hunting purposes. An arrangement as to the quantity and manner of purchase can easily be made between the commander of the district, with whom I have conferred upon this subject, and the agent. I trust this subject may be regarded of sufficient importance to command immediate attention. J. R. HANSON, United States Indian Agent of Upper Missouri Sioux. Extract of a letter to Colonel J. H. Leavenworth, United States Indian agent, from Winfield S. Hancock, major general commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE Missouri, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, January 17, 1867. It is not unlikely that a demand will be made before long upon the Cheyenues to redress some grievances. When that time arrives you will be notified of the fact. If They will be allowed some time to consider and talk over the matter you have any fear of the result leading to hostilities, you had better place yourself at Fort Larned or Fort Dodge, as you may think best. If you can get any evidence concerning the reported murder of the Kaw by Bent's band of Cheyennes, please furnish the same to me, as I am collecting all the evidence I can in relation to the outrages committed by that tribe. Your remark that Indians should not be allowed to visit military posts save on business is perfectly correct as a rule, and I will call attention to that matter. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WINFIELD S. HANCOCK, Major General Commanding. [From the Washington Chronicle, February 4, 1867.] Sale of arms under authority of the Indian Bureau.-Interesting correspond ence.-Opinions of Generals Grant and Sherman.—-Necessity of transferring the bureau to the War Department. The Secretary of War has addressed a communication to Representative Schenck, chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, enclosing, for the information of the committee, a copy of a letter from Major Douglass, commanding Fort Dodge, dated January 13, in relation to the issue of large numbers of arms, with ammunition, to the Kiowas and other Indians, and expressing his apprehension of Indian hostilities in consequence thereof. The anxiety of the Indians for such articles is not caused by the lack of supply, because they have plenty to last for some time, but everything tends to show that the Indians are laying in large supplies preparatory to an outbreak. Major Douglass represents the Indians to be in an unsettled condition, with much dissatisfaction on account of the unequal distribution of presents. General Grant on the 1st instant enclosed a letter from Lieutenant General Sherman to the Secretary of War. General Grant says the letter shows the urgent necessity for an immediate transfer of the Indian bureau to the War Department, and the abolition of the civil Indian agents and licensed traders. "If," he says, "the present practice is to he continued, I do not see that any course is left open to us but to withdraw our troops to the settlements, and call upon Congress to provide means and troops to carry on formidable hostilities against the Indians until all the Indians or all the whites on the great plains and be. tween the settlements on the Missouri and the Pacific slope are exterminated. The course General Sherman has pursued in this matter, in disregarding the permit of Mr. Bogy and others, is just and right. I will instruct him to enforce his order until it is countermanded by the President or yourself. I would also respectfully ask that this matter be placed before the President, and his disapproval of licensing the sale of arms to Indians be asked. We have treaties with all tribes from time to time. If the rule is to be followed that all tribes with which we have treaties and to which we pay annuities can procure such articles without stint or limit, it will not be long before the matter becomes perfectly understood by the Indians, and they avail themselves of it to equip perfectly for war. They will get arms either by making treaties themselves or through tribes who have such treaties." General Sherman's letter is dated January 21 last, and addressed to General Hancock, commanding the military division of the Missouri, in which he says: "We, the military, are held responsible for the peace of the frontier, and it is an absurdity to attempt it if Indian agents and traders can legalize and encourage so dangerous a traffic." He says he regards the paper enclosed, addressed to Mr. D. A. Batterfield, and signed by Charles Bogy, W. R. Irwin, J. H. Leavenworth, and others, as "an outrage upon our rights and supervision of the matters," and authorizes General Hancock to disregard that paper, and at once stop the practice. This paper, addressed to Mr. Butterfield, is as follows: 46 SIR: You having requested verbally to be informed in regard to your right to sell arms and ammunition to Indians, we have to state as follows: You, as an Indian trader, licensed for that purpose by the United States government, are authorized to trade or sell arms and ammunition to any Indians that are at peace with and receiving annuities from the United States government. This rule, of course, applies to any other regularly licensed trader as well as yourself." Letter of the Secretary of War, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, the official reports, papers, and other facts in relation to the causes and extent of the late massacre of United States troops by Indians at Fort Phil. Kearney. WAR DEPARtment, Washington City, February 2, 1867. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a communication of this date from General Grant, covering all official reports, papers, and other facts bearing on the subject of the late massacre of United States troops by Indians at Fort Phil. Kearney, called for by the Senate's resolution of January 30, 1867. Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. L. F. S. FOSTER, President of the Senate, EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. : HEADQUARTERS Armies of the United STATES, Washington, February 2, 1867. SIR I have the honor to return Senate resolution calling for information "which may tend to explain the origin, causes, and extent of the late massacre of United States troops by Indians at or near Fort Phil. Kearney, in Dakota Territory," and referred by you to me for report. I send herewith "all official reports, papers, and other facts" in possession of these headquarters bearing upon the subject. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, U. S. GRANT, General. Hon. E. M. STANTON, HEADQUARTErs Department of the PLATTE, GENERAL: On the 21st instant three (3) officers and ninety (90) men, cavalry and infantry, were massacred by Indians very near Fort Philip Kearney. Indians reported near three thousand, (3,000,) probable, from the complete ness of the massacre. I ordered up four (4) companies of infantry and two (2) of cavalry from Laramie. I order Colonel Carrington to Casper, headquarters of the new eighteenth; if not approved, I request the assignment of General Wessels at Reno to his brevet rank, to command district. |