93
(JLS3

BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS,

OUR 1ST A. I.

ISECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE!

BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS

THE REPRESENTATIVES QF TH T 1 RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES COOPERATING

WITH THE GOVERNMENT, AND REPORTS OF THEIR

WORK AMONG THE INDIANS

WASHINGTON, D* C., JANUARY^ 15, 1813*

WAS II I N G T O N

&quot;GOVERNMENT P R I N T I NG

1873.

BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

JOURNAL

OF THE

SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE

OF THE

BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS

WITH

THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES CO OPERATING

WITH THE GOVERNMENT, AND REPORTS OF THEIR

WORK AMONG THE INDIANS

WASHINGTON, D* C., JANUARY 15, 1873*

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1873.

LJL5

JOURNAL OF THE SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OF THE BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS

WASHINGTON, January 15, 1873.

A meeting of conference was held by the Board of Indian Commis
sioners with the representation of the missionary boards, engaged in
Indian missionary work, at the &quot;Arlington,&quot; Washington, D. C., at 10
a. m., Wednesday, January 15, 1873.

There were in attendance Commissioners Felix R.Brunot, (chairman,)
Dodge, Bishop, Campbell, Lang, Tobey, and Farwell, and T. K. Cree,
secretary of the Board of Indian Commissioners, and the following rep
resentatives of the mission boards of the churches engaged in Indian
work :

Rev. S. B. Treat, D. D., secretary American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions ; Rev. Jay L. Backus, D. D., secretary American
Baptist Home Missionary Association ; Kev. George Whipple, D. D.,
secretary American Missionary Association ; Rev. George Deshon,
Ronftm Catholic Missions ; Rev. John C. Lowrie, D. D., secretary Pres
byterian Board of Foreign Missions ; Rev. R. L. Dashiell, correspond
ing secretary Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society ; Colonel E. C.
Kemble, secretary Protestant Episcopal Indian Commission ; Rev. John
G. Brown, D. D., secretary Board Home Missions United Presbyterian
Church ; Rev. J. M. Ferris, D. D., Reformed Dutch Church Mission
Society 5 Rev. W. L. Hayden, Christian Missionary Convention; Dr.
William Nicholson, Cyrus Beetle, Benjamin Tatham, Thomas Wistar,
F. T. King, Society of Friends, (Orthodox;) Samuel M. Januey, Daniel
Foulke, Dillwyn Parrish, B. Rush Roberts, Richard T. Bentley, (Hick-
site;) Rev. John T. Sargent, secretary Massachusetts Indian Commission;
Aaron M. Powell, New York Indian Aid Society; R t Rev. William Hobart
Hare, missionary bishop of Niobrara ; Bishop Harris, Methodist Epis
copal Church; Edward P. Smith, American Missionary Association; Hon.
William Welch and Mr. King, Protestant Episcopal Indian Commission ;
Hon. C. Cole, United States Senate ; Hon. John W. Stevenson, United
States Senate; Hon. C. B. Farwell, House of Representatives ; Colonel
Phillips, member-elect to House of Representatives ; and William P.
Ross and other representatives of the civilized tribes in the Indian Ter
ritory; General O. O. Howard, United States Army, and many other
friends of the Indians.

The chairman called upon Right Rev. Bishop Whipple to open the
meeting with prayer, after which he said :

In behalf of the Board of Indian Commissioners it gives me pleas
ure to welcome you most cordially, and to say that we appreciate the
effort made by the missionary boards of all the churches in co-operating
with our endeavor to civilize and christianize the Indian wards of the
nation. Much has already been accomplished toward civilizing the In
dian race ; their condition has been much improved, and a more just ad
ministration of the laws and designs of the Government pertaining to
them has been secured by the co-operation of the missionary boards
that you represent. We invited you to meet with us as the representa-

BOARD .OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

lives of these boards that we may hear such statements as you may
have to make in regard to the progress of the work, and suggestions as
to the needs of it, to the end that we may secure greater efficiency and
insure continued progress. It is believed in thus meeting together
much good may be accomplished for the future. So much has already
been accomplished as to make it almost certain that if four years more
of the present Indian policy is pursued, there will be no question of the
same humane and just policy being adhered to so long as an Indian policy
by our Government is necessary. There has been much pressure
brought to bear upon the administration to induce a change in the In
dian policy, but public opinion has sustained it in its high aims. But
as difficulties are met with not only by the administration and the
friends of the Indians, but by the agents in the field, it is necessary
that public opinion should support them, also, in carrying out the
designs of the system. The board will not attempt to instruct the mis
sionary societies in their duties, but will ask such recommendations
from them as their experience in the work may suggest as necessary in
successfully carrying it on. There are, however, some points which we
think essential to success.

First in importance is the selecting of agents who represent you in
the field. The very best attainable men should be secured to fill these
important positions.

Second. The employes should all be married men of Christian, or, at
least, good moral character; and the agent should be held responsible
for their right doing. In some cases in which the agents you have
nominated have been Christian men, disposed to do right and to en
deavor to civilize and christianize the Indian, those about them as
subordinate officials have not been men of the same character, and the
efforts of the agents have been thwarted. The missionary societies
ought to know not only that the agent is a proper man for his position,
but that all his employes are men of good character, and they should
exercise a careful supervision of the agencies committed to them, and see
that they are perfectly conducted. I might cite many other needs of
the service, but they have, doubtless, all suggested themselves to you,
and will be brought out more fully in the reports of your own experi
ence in the work.

I will call upon the representatives in alphabetical order and will ask
them to give the result of their experience in the operations of the past
year.

Mr. WELCH. The gentlemen that have been invited to meet with the
Board, and who have listened to your statement in regard to the kind of
agents that, are necessary, would like to confer with you in regard to
the difficulties they meet with in the field. We secure an agent of the
right kind one desirous of doing his duty and the communities living
about him, interested in defrauding the people committed to his care, in
even&quot; way endeavor to thwart him, and even here such agents are
threatened with removal by men of influence if they continue to stand
between them and their illicit gains. An agent beset by these difficul
ties is present to-day. If you need strength and public opinion, will
you tell us in what direction it is needed ? Some men say and think
that the Indians have no rights that a white man must respect, any
more than the wild beasts that roam the forest. There are rings that
are trying to secure the lauds that belong to the Indians. On these
and any other points we would be glad to hear from you, and in this
way we would know what points it is best for the representatives and
agents to touch upon in their reports.

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 5

Mr. BRUNOT. The points to which you refer will, I presume, come up
in the reports of the representatives of the missionary societies, and
will thus come before the meeting for consideration, and I think it is
better to have them presented in that way.

Mr. WELCH. Some who are now present cannot remain until the
close of the meeting 1 , and points might be brought out thus early in the
meeting that would be of value to them. Your secretary, Mr. Cree, is
here and he is conversant with all the difficulties which agents and others
meet with, and he might sum up the most important for consideration
by the meeting.

Mr. BRUNOT. We have all noticed the pressure to attack Indians,
coining from all quarters, and any one who has watched the proposed
legislation of the present session of Congress, could not but observe
how many propositions there are looking to the despoiling of Indians
and asking legislation unfavorable to them. Many border people seem
to think that the Government has placed Indians upon these reserva
tions as a medium through which the whites may be furnished with
money, and in order that a better opportunity may be afforded to oppress
them and despoil them of the Government bounty. We desire that op
pression of Indians may be prevented and that wrong against them
may be punished, and we desire the assistance of the missionary
boards in carrying out these designs. The subject is one beset with
many difficulties in its details, and it is difficult to select any definite
points and say that such deserve your special effort at this moment.
We need the continued co-operation of the missionary societies and
friends of the Indians in getting a correct public opinion and prevent
ing the commission of these wrongs. I think that the better mode for
the conduct of our meeting will be to have these reports, and as the
meeting progresses, the matters which you have suggested, with the
modes by which we can best co-operate with each other in preventing
these things which should be prevented, will develop themselves. 1
therefore propose to ask, in their order, all the representatives of the
societies that they will make such reports as I have spoken of. I call
on the Key. George Whipple.

Mr. WHIPPLE. If the chairman of the board pleases, I will ask the
Rev. Mr. Smith, w r ho is the secretary of the American Missionary As
sociation, to make a few remarks in relation to the agencies under the
charge of the Americam Missionary Association.

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Chairman, I am not aware to what extent the board
desires a report, but I will state that the association has had under
its charge during the year four agencies, one in Washington Terri
tory, one in Minnesota, and two in Wisconsin. There are in all
about sixteen or seventeen thousand Indians under thejr care.

The agency at Green Bay, under Mr. Richardson, has had a year of
prosperity, to which the personal efforts of the agent, aided by friends
of the Indians, have contributed very much. The consent of the De
partment having been obtained by the agent, the Menornonee Indians
did their own lumbering last winter, and the lumber which they took
into market realized $20,000, which left to the Indians about $12,000
net after all expenses were paid. A double benefit thus accrued to the
Indians, the benefit arising from beingtherecipientsof the proceeds of the
outlay for subsistence and the encouragement to labor. A great outcry
was raised by the lumbermen of Wisconsin against this transaction,
which was officially represented through a Wisconsin Representative in
the House, and a commission, of which Mr. Turney, of the Board of
Indian Commissioners, was a member, was appointed by the Secretary

6 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

of the Interior to inquire into the matter. The report which represented
the transaction as being in every way a beneficial one, and entirely up
right, was entirely satisfactory to the Department.

Permission for the Indians to lumber was asked for again this year by
Mr. Eichardsou, but owing to the interference of parties in Wisconsin,
it was not granted. Subsequently, through the misrepresentations of
interested parties, the Department asked the association to discharge
Mr. Eichardsou and nominate another man in his place.

The agencies at Superior and Chippewa have had a prosperous year
in many respects, and their schools have gone forward with considera
ble success.

The agency in Minnesota is much more difficult, as it is a larger
field, the reservations connected with it being scattered all over the
State. There have been built at the reservations this year, one hun
dred and nine comfortable log-houses, 18 by 22 feet, with five rooms
in each house. The work was all done by the Indians, with the excep
tion of some portions which actually needed the services of skilled
carpenters. The lumber has been all sawed by the Indians, and the
engineer is a full-blood Indian.

Their crops in the spring were very fine indeed, but they have since
been all destroyed by the grasshoppers, and there is likely to be suffer
ing among them this winter. They have supported themselves by labor
during the past summer. I think there is no doubt in the minds of the
association as to the practicability of christianizing these Chippewas, or
any other Indians under their charge. It is only a question of time
and patience, of kind and fair dealing, and they think the Govern
ment ought to make considerable appropriations to forward the work.

It is a constant complaint that the new plan is costing more than the
old one. So it does for the present. I can go into Minnesota and dis
tribute their blankets to them or give them their ten dollars per year
each, and then leave them, and the cost will be much less than staying
with them and opening schools and farms. But, in the former case,
the distribution of blankets and their support would have to be con
tinued while they exist, while in the latter they will soon become self-
supporting, valuable citizens, and eventually millions of dollars will be
saved. The old plan would require a persistent and continued expend
iture, while the new plan will soon obviate the necessity for any out
lay. I have no question but that a single generation, with the children
kept in school, will crush the barbarism in Minnesota.

The CHAIRMAN. AVe would now be pleased to hear from Bishop
Whipple.

Bishop WHIPPLE. Mr. Chairman, as the agency in Minnesota is
more directly under the eye of Mr. Smith, I will not do more than make
a few remarks upon these agencies. I have been at the White Earth
agency, and with all the Indians in the northern part of Minnesota.,
and for the first time in my connection with Indian affairs have I
found an agent and his employes wholly occupied with their labor
for the Indians. It is not simply that the agent has been faithful. He
has had to grapple with the most terrible resistance. These things
should be considered. It is a matter of law. There is no law in the In
dian country. The Christian Indian is taught by his teacher that he
is not to pursue the old plan of acting under the law of instinct. His
crops may be injured and destroyed, and he is perfectly helpless, as the
Government has never provided any judicial officer to protect his rights.
One Indian may kill another in the most populous town, and no ques
tions are asked. An Indian has killed another in the streets since I

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 7

have resided there, and it was considered a matter of no consequence.
The Government leaves these Indians utterly unprotected. Cases of
murder are occurring 1 constantly, and an effort to protect these Indians
brings down great opposition. I think a great deal of credit is due to
the wife of the agent. She has taken a great interest in all, endeavor
ing to civilize and elevate the Indian women. Mrs. Smith has been
teaching these women to make soap, and their households have been en
tirely renovated 5 and, so far as I know, every effort which honest, faith
ful Christian people could make for the safety of these poor people has
been made.

The difficulties in Minnesota grew merely out of the lack of any law
whatever. The Leech Lake Indians are perhaps one of the worst bodies
of Indians, in this respect, to be found in the country. They have again
and again committed murder among their own people. For instance,
Hole-iu-the-Day was killed ; he was chief of the tribe. We have had
at least twenty such murders committed in open daylight.

Mr. WHIPPLE. Mr. Chairman, permit me to ask Mr. Welch to make
a few remarks relative to the Indians of whom we have been speaking.

Mr, WELCH. Mr. Chairman, I had an official interview with General
Sheridan in regard to the character of these Indians. He stated that
although considerable trouble was occasioned at times by the Chippe-
was, and he was compelled to punish them, he did not blame them so
much, because in nearly every case, they were aggravated by wrongs.
He felt assured that if the Government would pursue a right and just
course toward these Indians, a large proportion of the crimes could be
remedied. I think the Chippewa Indians are the worst band I have
known in Minnesota. I want to say a word, Mr. Chairman, about these
Leech Lakes. They are ordered by the government of Minnesota to
remain on the reservation. They have $4,000 a year for agricultural
purposes and purposes of tillage, and there are about two thousand of
them. They could not remain on their reservation and make a living.
It would be a question of starvation or of disobeying the Government
authorities. They roam all over Minnesota and are liable to come
in contact with the whites, who are ordered to drive them back, and if
necessary raise the militia and force them back. The agent says they
come up to the reservation and ask me to give them work. I have not a
dollar of money and cannot get it, yet there are these Indians among
us, and we are directed by the Department to keep them on the res
ervation. They cannot live on the reservation. They came to me last
summer more than a hundred of them and asked me to give them
work. If I had an appropriation I might give them work.

Mr. B.UUNOT. There appear to be two very important facts developed
by this statement. One of these facts is that it is not admitted that the
Indians have any right to make a living on the reservation by selling
.the lumber which belongs to them, for thus they may conflict with the
whites in the neighborhood ; and the other one is this: it has just been
represented that they are not to have leave to go off the reservation, for
the purpose of earning a living by labor.

Mr. TATHAM. I propose that these two facts and all other points which
are, or may be, deemed of interest in the course of the council, be
especially noted, in order that the condition of these Indians may be
brought to view at a future time. It is proper that we should hear the
truth, and I am in hopes that nothing here developed will be lost, and
that the secretary will make notes of the points as we goon.

Dr. NICHOLSON. Our body has charge of the Indians in the Central
superiutendency, which embraces all in the Indian Territory, and a few

8 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

in Kansas, numbering in all about 18,000, two-thirds of whom are rov
ing Indians, differing very much in their habits and modes of life. We
have fourteen schools three in Kansas and eleven in the Indian Terri
tory. We endeavor to teach the ordinary branches, but are particu
larly desirous of imparting moral and religious truths. Our instruction
in the schools has been, as far as possible, such as will fit the children,
when they grow up, to take their places in the community as civilized
people. W T e have endeavored to teach them that labor is not degrad
ing. Our teaching is largely by illustration, using maps, charts, pic
tures, and objects, which are familliar to the eyes of the pupils. We
try to be thoroughly practical, and in moral teaching, to illustrate it by
the lives of those who are sent to instruct them. We teach truth and
honesty. All their preconceived ideas and practices must be laid aside.
They readily receive religious instruction, and soon learn to come to
God in prayer. They accept religion as a matter of faith. We consider
this an important feature of our work. We take the boys, place them
upon farms, and teach them to work, and the result has been very sat
isfactory. The girls we place in families, and they are taught how to
work, keep house, and such things as will be of use to them when they
come to have homes of their own. Many of the agencies are at remote
localities, and the difficulties incident to this cannot be appreciated by
one not familliar with the situation. Some agencies are three hundred
miles from the railroad. Everything must be transported by ox-teams.
There are no bridges ; and with every effort on the part of the Govern
ment, at times supplies fail to reach the agents when they are most
needed ; and the Indians, needing food and blankets, become dissatisfied
and hard to manage. It is very difficult to secure employes of the right
kind, and at the more distant agencies it is almost impossible to secure
such, and an agent must take such as he can get. Most of the whites
whom the agent finds with the Indians are not such as he would wish
to employ. Interpreters are unreliable, and it is impossible to get
Christian men who speak the language of these wild southern tribes.
When commissioners go to treat with them, they cannot understand
what is said, and interpreters may put any construction they wish upon
what is proposed, and what can we say or do ? We are powerless in
their hands. Sometimes the interpreters, who are usually ignorant men,
do not fully understand the provisions of the treaties and agreements,
and do not take the trouble to know that they are correct.

Intruders upon reservations are a serious difficulty. They will
come in, and the Government, at times, must be called upon to remove
them. White Indians, or whites who have been adopted into Indian
tribes, occasion us much annoyance. They are citizens of the United
States or Indians, just as it suits their interest to be. They have great
influence with chiefs, and often decide important questions, adversely
to the interest of the Indians, if it suits themselves. Many white men
ask that the Department shall recognize their adoption by Indian tribes.

The roving habits of many of the tribes is a most serious difficulty.
We send a good agent and missionary, and they come in contact with
the main body of Indians for so short a time that their influence, so far
as civilization goes, is very slight. Of many of the tribes ninety-nine
one hundredths are away on the plains, out of reach of the agent much
of the time, and Christian influences cannot reach such tribes. They
refuse to leave their children at the schools. The only way to teach
them, we find, is to have missionaries and teachers go with them. We
have one such with Kicking Bird s band of Kiowas. He has his quar
ters with the chief, and it is easily seen how great an influence for good

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 9

his constant presence with them in their wanderings will have. He has
been able to collect many of the children in his u roving school,&quot; and we
anticipate much good from his efforts. If we get such missionaries with
all the roving bands their influence for good will be more marked than
any effort the Government has ever made. A tribe cannot go upon a
raid while the missionary is with them, and the chief is responsible for
his safety.

The increased interest of the Indian children in their schools is very
encouraging to us. The children used to run away from the schools,
and the agents had to keep their horses saddled most of the time to
hunt them up and bring them back ; but now so desirous are many of
them to attend, that when the parents object to their coming, children
will run away from home to attend. Children who go home during va
cations persuade other children to attend, and the schools are as large
as the present buildings will permit of tueir being. There are at pres
ent four hundred and twenty-live children in our schools. We have sev
eral Sabbath-schools, and the children willingly come to them ; and in
our church and house services, whether regular service or the study of
the Bible, the adults willingly participate. In our chapel service the
minister, in some cases, uses only the English language and the inter
preters translate it to the Indians. Thus religious services have a great
influence on these tribes. They are evincing more interest in the Sab
bath-schools and prayer-meetings, and the influence of them is being
felt upon all classes. Even the half-breeds, who have been usually the
hardest class to reach, are becoming awakened. In some cases when
they have yielded to temptation, they have evinced great penitence,
and resolved to try again. There is an increased attention to the sanc
tity of the marriage tie, and the agents and missionaries have given
much attention to instructing them in regard to this. Many of the
chiefs and head-men and others have been regularly married by the
agent or missionary, the ceremony being performed in the church and
being made as impressive as possible, and its origin and the law of God
and man in regard to it explained to them.

I have prepared a comparative statement showing the condition of
the Indians in 1868 as compared with 1872. It shows a marked im
provement an increase in population, products, and schools, and in
everything that goes to make up real growth and advancement in civ
ilization. A marked improvement is manifested in the raising of stock.
It is the natural transition state between roving and farming. The in
crease in the Central superiutendency in this item is tenfold.

Mr. BRUNOT. We will now hear from Mr. Janney, of the Friends,
(Hicksites.)

Mr. JANNEY said : We represent six yearly meetings of Friends,
namely, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Indiana, Ohio, and Genesee.

The Indian tribes assigned to our care by the President are those liv
ing on reservations in the State of Nebraska, designated as the North
ern superintendency. comprising six agencies, the Sautee Sioux, the
Winnebago, the Omaha, the Pawnee, the Otoe, and the Great Nemaha.

Through a communication recently received from the superintendent,
Barclay White, we are informed that the conduct of the Indians under
his care during the past year has been peaceable and orderly, no act of
violence having been committed by an Indian upon a white person in
the superintendency.

The Santee Sioux agency is situated on the Missouri River, about two
hundred miles north of Omaha, The Indians of this tribe continue
to improve in the agricultural and mechanical arts. They all wear citi-

10 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

zens dress except a few old women. All sleep on bedsteads, eat from
tables, and sit on chairs. The men work on their allotments and assist
in building their own houses. They manifest great satisfaction at the
issue of wagons, harness, plows, &c., which has been made during the
year, promising to make good use of them, as they consider it an evi
dence that the Government desires their welfare and wishes them to-
become an agricultural people.

The women of this tribe are improving; and in order to in struct them
in household duties and the care of their children, the Friends have em
ployed and sent to their aid a -woman of worth and intelligence, whose
example and teaching are exercising a salutary influence.

There are two missions at this agency, one of them supported and con
ducted by the Episcopalians, the other by the American Board; both of
them have schools, and hold meetings for divine worship in which the
services are conducted in the Dakota language. Most of the Indians
belong to one or the other of the churches, and many of them can read
and write in their vernacular language. The number of Indians at this
agency is nine hundred and sixty-five, of whom four hundred and twenty-
four are males and five hundred and forty-one females.

The Winnebago agency is situated about eighty miles north of Omaha,
and the reservation borders on the Missouri River. The improve
ment in this tribe during the past year has been very satisfactory. All the
men have adopted the dress of citizens, and most of them are willing to
work. At the commencement of the wheat harvest about two hundred
men of the tribe obtained from the agent permission to leave the reserva
tion, in order to seek for work in the neighboring harvest-fields. One of
the farmers afterward reported that these Indians worked equally as
well as white laborers, and that without their assistance sufficient la
bor could not have been obtained to secure the crops.

The annual election of chiefs by this tribe, a custom not yet adopted
elsewhere in the superintendency, is found to work well ; and is consid
ered by the superintendent and agent an important step in the right di
rection, being calculated to fit them for a higher plane of civilization.
The hereditary chiefs who were in power some years ago, evince but
little interest in the improvement of their people, and encourage theold
superstition. The Winnebagoes have recently received the patents
for their lands allotted to them in severalty. They accepted them with
many grateful expressions, having been anxiously expecting them for
two years past. More than a year ago some of them had settled on
their farms in houses which the agency carpenter and his apprentices
had assisted them to build, and within the last year thirty new houses
have been completed under contract, which have given them great sat
isfaction. They are warm and convenient, having five rooms, and are
plastered and interlined with tarred paper. Every family that goes into
one of those houses is supplied with a cooking-stove and a heating-stove,
a wagon and harness, a bedstead and four chairs. The agency carpenter
makes tables and cupboards. The new houses have been given to the
Indian families who showed most industry and desire to improve their
allotments. The appearance of the reservation has been materially
changed by being dotted over with these cottages, neatly painted with
two shades of brown or drab.

The three day-schools for the Winnebagoes are flourishing, being
taught by an efficient corps of teachers. The plans &quot;for an industrial
boarding-school, to accommodate eighty scholars, are in the hands of an
architect for completion, and the building will be erected as early in the
spring or summer as practicable. This tribe numbers one thousand four

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 11

hundred aiid forty, of whom seven hundred are males and seven hun
dred and forty females.

The Omaha reservation lies adjoining to that of the Wiunebagoes, and
the agency buildings are about seventy miles north of Omaha.
The Omahas are an orderly and peaceable people,. bearing a good char
acter among their white neighbors. The men labor in the&quot; fields, and
in favorable seasons raise good crops, a part of which they sell and ap
ply the proceeds to useful purposes. They have cut and hauled to their
saw-mill a large quantity of timber, which has been converted into lum
ber, and much of it transported to their several allotments. The agency
carpenter and his Indian apprentices have built a number of comfortable
cottages, but for want of sufficient funds the agent s earnest endeavors
in this direction have been impeded.

The tribe having accepted the provisions of a recent act of Congress
authorizing the sale of fifty thousand acres of land from their reserva
tion, arrangements are now being made to bring it into market, and we
have no doubt the proceeds will supply ample funds to build houses, to
purchase live stock and agricultural implements, and to establish an
industrial boarding-school. They have now three day-schools and one
Sabbath-school, which are well conducted, and much prized by the tribe.
The Omahas number nine hundred and sixty-nine, of whom four hun
dred and ninet3 r -soven are males and four hundred and seventy-two
females.

The Pawnee agency is about one hundred and fifteen miles west
from Omaha and a part of their reservation lies near the line of the
Union Pacific Railroad. The Pawnees have been retarded in their prog
ress towards civilization by raids made upon them by war parties of
the hostile Sioux, generally of the Brule and Ogallala bands. These
stealthy marauders, lurking near the Pawnee villages, murder and scalp
such straggling members of the tribe as they may find, and then quickly
retreat. They have sometimes been captured, but generally elude pur
suit. While there is a possibility of these raids the Pawnees are reluc
tant to abandon their villages of mud lodges, and to accept of allotments
on the prairie, which would contribute to their health and progress in
civilization. As they were about leaving for the buffalo hunt this win
ter they had eighty ponies stolen by the Sioux.

The Pawnee tribe consists of four bands, one of which, the Skeedees,
being more advanced than the others, is preparing to move out from their
village next spring and settle on small allotments of land. The chiefs
in council have accepted the provisions of the act of Congress author
izing the sale of fifty thousand acres of land from their reservation, and
measures are in progress to bring it into market. The sale of this land
will supply funds to build houses, to purchase live stock and agricultu
ral implements, and to advance them in civilization. Funds are now on
hand for the erection of an additional building to the Pawnee manual-
labor boarding-school, which will increase its capacity to nearly one
hundred pupils. There is one day-school in successful operation, and
buildings for two others will be constructed as soon as practicable.

The children now attending school are progressing well in their studies,,
and their parents evince their interest by frequently conducting them
to school and remaining to witness their exercises. A Sabbath-school
is in successful operation, and practical Christian women are at work at
the Indian villages, nursing the sick and teaching the Indian women
how to fulfill their duties as wives and mothers. This tribe numbers
two thousand four hundred and forty-seven, of whom nine hundred and
nine are males and one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight females.

12 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

The Otoe and Missouri tribe of Indians live on a reservation in tbe
southern part of Nebraska, extending over the Kansas line and lying
about seventy miles west of the Missouri River. Within the last three
years they have greatly improved in their moral and sanitary condition ;
they have opened farms and built some houses, and their children are
enjoying the advantages of a good day-school and a Sabbath-school.

More than two years ago the agent, with the concurrence of the tribe,
recommended that eighty thousand acres of their land, being about
half the reservation, should be sold and the proceeds applied to their
improvement and civilization. The superintendent approved of the
recommendation, and a bill was framed and offered in Congress for that
purpose, but the act was not passed until last session, in the mean
time a growing restlessness was manifested, and a party was formed in
favor of removal to the Indian Territory. They asked and obtained
leave from the agent and superintendent to visit the Indian Territory.
On their return from that trip the superintendent addressed them by
letter as follows :

You have been to the Indian Territory, arid your agent informs me you wish to sell al
your reservation and remove there. If you are all of that mind the way to do it is to give
your consent in writing, in open council, for the sale of the land (eighty thousand acres)
which you now have a law to sell. Express your desire in writing in open council to sell
the remainder of your reservation and remove to the Indian Territory, and if Congress and
the Great Father approve of your wishes at their great council to be held at Washington
next winter, and make a law to that effect, you can move to the Indian Territory.

This proposition being interpreted to the Indians in council they
declined to adopt the recommendation of the superintendent and refused
to accept the law of Congress authorizing the sale of eighty thousand
acres.

In a letter from Superintendent Barclay White, received last month,
he says &quot; he held a council with the tribe in the autumn when he found
they quite ignored the subject of removal and seemed to avoid any
allusion to it.&quot; He believes the tribe is far from united in the desire to
remove ; but he has informed them that whenever they express their
wishes to him, through their chiefs in open council, he will take proper
action thereon.

We feel assured that the act of Congress authorizing a sale of part of
their land for the purposes stated therein was wise and beneficent.
Although we believe their removal will not promote their welfare we
shall not interfere with their independent action, but shall use whatever
influence we have to secure for them a fair price for whatever lauds
they may conclude to sell.

The Great Nemaha agency embraces two small tribes, the lowas and
the Sacs and Foxes of Missouri, living on adjoining reservations near
the Missouri Biver, in Nebraska, and extending over the Kansas line.

The lowas have within the last three years given evidence of marked
improvement. They were formerly a drunken, idle people, now they are
temperate and industrious, evincing great interest in the education of
their children, in the furnishing of their houses, and in fencing and
cultivating their farms. They have a good school and an orphans home.
This institution has proved to be a blessing to the tribe, and is worthy
of more liberal support. This tribe numbers two hundred and twenty-
five, of whom one hundred and fourteen are males and one hundred and
eleven females.

The Sacs and Foxes are only eighty-eight in number ; they have made
less improvement than any other Indians in the superintendence, many
of them being addicted to intemperance and idleness. They have re-

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 13

quested to be removed to the Indian Territory, and arrangements for
that purpose are now in progress.

Population. The whole number of Indians in the Northern superin-
tendency is six thousand five hundred and ninety-eight, of whom two
thousand nine hundred and thirty are males and three thousand six
hundred and sixty-eight females. This shows an average increase
within the last year of one hundred and eighteen ; all the tribes, except
two, having gained in numbers.

Civilization. In our efforts to promote the civilization of the Indians
under our care we have endeavored to lead the men by gentle and just
measures to habits of industry and sobriety, encouraging them by liberal
compensation for their labor, and building houses for the most indus
trious. The allotment of land in severally to some of the tribes has
had a salutary influence by supplying additional motives for industry
and thrift. There has been a marked improvement in this respect, but
we cannot expect them to abandon suddenly the idle and uncleanly
habits of savage life.

We consider it exceedingly important that the Indian women should
be instructed in domestic duties and in the proper care of their children.
In order to effect this object we have several pious and intelligent
women now engaged in this field of missionary labor, whose services
are well received and very salutary. Our chief reliance, however, is in
the education of the children. Most of them are bright and active,
very observing and apt at learning, and their parents generally encourage
them in the attendance of school. A system of object-teaching has
been adopted in our schools which interests the children and fixes their
attention. The English language only is taught, and we consider it
very desirable that this should supersede as soon as possible their ver
nacular speech, in order that they may assimilate with white people
and become citizens.

The children attending our schools are clothed almost entirely with
materials or ready-made garments sent out by the Society of Friends.
Those attending the missionary schools at the Santee agency are clothed,
we believe, by the religious societies having them in charge. The Sab
bath-schools at the several agencies are exerting a good influence upon
the children, and on those of the adults who attend. The basis of in
struction consists of lessons from the Bible, with conversation on the
truths of Christianity adapted to the condition of the learners.

There are now in the Northern superintendency eleven day-schools
and one industrial boarding-school in successful operation, with a pros
pect of several more schools being established this year.

The six yearly meetings of Friends, which we represent, have ex
pended in the Indian service during the year $12,900.

Mr. BRUNOT. Your society feels encouraged by the work that has been
done, and is satisfied that a continuation of the same policy will in time
accomplish the purpose sought the civilization of the Indians. We
will now hear from Dr. Dashiell, of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Dr. DASHIELL said: During the past month a change in the adminis
tration of affairs in our office has taken place, and I am not prepared to
furnish such information as you wish ; but Bishop Harris is here ; he
has been connected with this work for twelve years, and he can give
all the information in regard to it. During the time I have been cor
responding secretary a good degree of success seems to have crowned
our efforts. As secretary of our society, I feel that the duty that the
Government has assigned to us is an important and sacred trust. The
nomination of agents to the Department has given me more anxiety and

14 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

care than any other subject that has come before us. We feel that the
success of this policy depends upon the character of the agents we name.
We have been embarrassed by some who ought to be in sympathy
with the policy of the President recommending to us men unfitted for
the positions. These men ought not to trouble the church with their
friends, and men in Government positions of influence ought to keep
their hands off this thing. We will disregard all outside influence, and
will endeavor to give the services of the very best men that we can
find. The general conference of our society has appointed a committee
of two bishops one in the Northwest and one on the Pacific coast.
They will thoroughly investigate the subject and will give a full report
to the next general conference. I will now ask Bishop Harris to speak
for us.

Bishop HARRIS said: It is not necessary that I should say anything
after what Dr. Dashiell has said. I have had no connection with these
agents since last May. I came that I might aid Dr. Dashiell in any way
in discharging our duty as a church to the commission and the Indians.
We cannot report in full without reports from our agents, and those we
have not We have, in Oregon and California, special committees of
ministers and laymen to take an oversight of the work in the various
agencies of our church on the Pacific coast. These committees have
made reports and recommendations that have been forwarded to the
Department. Our society has nominated men from our own denomina
tion j but in some cases, when it w r as thought advisable, have named
men connected with other churches. With one or two exceptions, the
men we have nominated have done well. We gave up one agency in
Oregon to the Catholic church, as they had many members upon it. We
did not seek for agencies, and at first none were assigned us in which
we had missions. We did not then understand that the agencies were
assigned to the denominations that had missions upon them. Some of
the agencies had two or three different missionary societies working upon
them. One agency was assigned to our church to make an opening for
an agent. He was afterward removed ; but we are glad to know that
it was not on account of dishonesty or immorality. We have sent a
good man to take his place. I have been informed that our denomina
tion is held responsible for the administration of Indian affairs in Mon
tana. It is said the superintendent of Indian affairs is not &quot; clean-handed. 1
We do not know by what influence he was appointed. He may have
been recommended by members of our denomination ; but we do not
hold ourselves responsible for the odium of his administration and the
disgrace of his official misconduct. I believe, with the exception of this
region, our agents have all been faithful to the Government. In mis
sionary work done outside of Government influence (I refer to all except
schools and the work of agents and employes) we have four or five
native ministers ordained by our church. We have spent three or four
thousand dollars annually in support of these ministers. We have a
very prosperous mission at Yakiiua agency at very little cost to us. The
agent is a minister of our church, and every one speaks well of him and
of his work. In Portland, two years ago, two Indian converts from this
mission were ordained to the ministry. They are supported in part by
our society. One is engaged at the Klamath agency, and is supported
entirely by our church. We have missionaries at two other agencies in
Oregon, where we had none when they were assigned to us. It is the design
of our church to plant a mission at each of the reservations assigned
to us. A contingent fund for Indian-mission work w r as placed at the
disposal of a committee of bishops, to be used during the year, how and

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 15

where they think best. This committee is to give special attention to
Indian evangelization. What the result will be I cannot tell. These
bishops will visit the agencies and report on their spiritual and temporal
condition. When this commission thinks that the work can be better
done by others at any agency, we are ready to relinquish it. We have
no end in view but the good of the Indians and of the service, and when
better administration of affairs at an agency can be secured by others, I
am ready to resign it to them. The civilization and Christianizatiou of
the Indians must go together. If the Government and the churches
would turn their attention to Indian evangelization, they would much
more rapidly accomplish their civilization.

Mr. BRUNOT. We will now hear from Rev. Dr. Lowrie, of the Presby :
terian board.

Dr. LOWRIE said : I am very happy to attend this conference as a
learner ; we desire to learn from the experience of others who are suc
cessfully engaged in the same work. In regard to the working of the
Indian-agency system, as connected with the Presbyterian Church, all
the agencies committed to us were assigned us without any effort on
our part to possess them, or knowledge that such a disposition of them
was proposed. At first we accepted them with reluctance, but have
since come cordially into the arrangement. In the appointment of
agents, nearly all the agencies in New Mexico were tendered to us, be
cause our church had a mission among the Navajoes. The trust was
accepted with much reluctance, because we knew many of them were
the worst set of Indians to manage on the continent; I refer more par
ticularly to the Apaches ; but we accepted the trust. Nine agencies
were tendered us. All have been supplied with the best men we could
find, and if on trial it is found any are not the best men for the position,
they are to be removed. In one or two instances changes have been
made, not on account of character, but lack of adaptation. Five out of
nine of the agents have been with tribes not upon any reservation,
wandering tribes with whom they are not able to accomplish much in
the way of education or civilization. This is particularly the case with
the Apaches and the Uintah Valley agency. In the Indian Territory
we have two missions ; the tribes are almost civilized, and the agents
have not much to do ; many of the other tribes are well advanced. The
past has been a trying year to most of our agents; one of them, Mr.
Miller, agent of the Navajoes, was killed by a party of Utes. In New
Mexico we have two agents, but there are many reasons for discourage
ment. The agents went from the highest motives, but found the In
dians wild rovers, and they find they can accomplish but little. In
regard to the support of Indian agents, a year ago I was in a minority
who said their salaries were large enough ; the agents think such a
statement rank heresy. I will explain why I think so. The salary is
$1,500 per year. On inquiry I was informed that a place of residence
was furnished and transportation to it was paid. We stated these facts
to those whom we desired to appoint, but afterward ascertained that no
transportation was allowed.* There is a great inequality in this matter
in regard to the houses for agents ; some have good houses, others none
of any kind. 1 still think $1,500, with a house and garden, as in Kan
sas, or places equally well situated, is a sufficient salary. Agents have
said it was, arid so I intended to say last year. In New Mexico our
agents find a single room, and have to pay rent for it, and in this room
in one case the agent s wife gathered the Indian children and tried to teach
them something. So uncomfortable were the quarters, and so high was the

* Transportation is allowed to the agent, but not to his family.

16 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

price of living, that the agent soon gave up the position. At another
agency there was no house, and the a gent had to leave his family two hun
dred miles away, losing the influence and example of a Christian home
to the agency. The Secretary of the Interior thinks this inequality
ought to be remedied. We find it increasingly difficult to procure good
men to fill these isolated positions. I hope the Board will take some
action on this question ; yet I still say, with all these defects, it is a
larger support than we give our missionaries among the Indians, and
if the salary is a large one, you tempt men not fitted, to apply for these
positions. When it is practicable, I think it is wise to have the agent
and missionary of the same denomination ; but when there are two or
three missions on the same agency, it cannot be done. We had a
mission for twenty years among tlie Oman as, and that agency, I think,
ought to be in our hands. In New Mexico the Tillage Indians are
peaceable; the Apaches and Navajoes are not. I do not think those
Village Indians are in charge of any denomination. We have two
teachers among them, at salaries of $600 each, which we supplement.
The Pueblo Indians have never been taught to read and write. Perhaps
out of hundreds a dozen or score may read and write. A clergyman who
endeavored to teach them w r as prevented. As regards teachers em
ployed as missionaries, or imparting religious instruction, we do not ask
any support. But, for schools separate from religious teaching, we think
the Government ought to pay for such. Our board cannot erect build
ings, and cannot get titles to lands on which to put them. We have
urged the Government to put up buildings for schools, and give the use
of them to the missionaries free, and save the board the expense of
erecting buildings. We put up a building among the Kickapoos, which
cost us rmany thousands of dollars. It was erected by permission of the
Government, but it is all lost to us now. Impress the point that the
Government ought to own and control the school-buildings. We have
spent $25,000 from the funds of our board during the past year, and
are ready to sanction any necessary expense. We have tried to have
schools in every place at which we have an agency. Among the Nez-
Perces there has been a great work of grace; a large number have been
brought to the Saviour. liev. Mr. Spaulding received a warm welcome,
and his ministry is very successful. Our church is deeply interested in
the new Indian policy. It is a great work the boards are doing, and in
placing Christian men in charge of these agencies, the Government has
done a great work. The people will stand up for any administration
that will do justice to the Indians, and try and promote their welfare.

Commissioner BRUNOT. I will now call upon Mr. Welch, of the Pipt-
estanJjJEjriscopal Church, to report.

Mr. WELCH. Eight agencies were assigned by Secretary Cox to our
church. We did not want so many, and objected to it. Secretary Cox
said it could not be changed. Devil s Lake was given to us, but as the
Catholic Church had a mission there, we gave it to them. Lake Traverse
was given to the Congregational Church, as it had a mission there. The
Shoshone agency in Wyoming, the agent asked to be appointed to ; his
son, a noble boy, had been killed by Indians, and the parents wanted to
do what they could for this people. Charges were made against him,
but the chairman of the Board investigated them, and the charges were
not sustained. The Shoshouesare a roving people, tractable and easily
managed. The lied Cloud Indians have been in our care only about
one year. They were in a bad condition when Dr. Daniels took charge
of them. He hopes soon to have them farming. One of the fiercest
warriors, Eed Dog, has, since his visit to the East, been on a peace mis-

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 1 7

sion to his wilder brothers, and Red Cloud wrote a letter counseling
peace. Whisky is the source of much evil. A gentleman wrote me
that a murder which was committed a short time ago was directly the
result of whisky. ]f we would keep whisky from the Indians, it must be
kept from the Government traders.

The report from the wilder Sioux is very favorable. The Upper Brule
a gency, under Spotted Tail, Agent Risley writes very favorably or .
Under the orders no employe or other white man is allowed on the
reservation living with an Indian woman, unless married in the regular
church manner. All those Indians will, we hope, be upon the reserva
tion by spring. These Indians made a very favorable impression when
in the East during the past summer. Spotted Tail said, when, looking
around, &quot;Why are these people so happy?&quot; and told his people they
must be Christians if they would do well. They are asking fin
ch arches and schools among them. Our church is conservative. We
accepted the trust unwillingly, but we now go into it with enthusiasm.
The last act of our church was the consecration of a bishop to go
among these people.

Farther up the Missouri is the Cheyenne River agency. It is occu
pied by wild, roving Indians. The Poncas are imposed upon by these
wilder Indians. When among these Poncas, in June, I found former
warriors now peace- makers. They have erected over a hundred houses.

The mmissionaries have established homes at the little villages which
they are forming. They were building houses when I was there, and are
building much more freely now. Some of the men who were warriors,
and were fiercest in the tight, are now settling down and becoming civ
ilized. There are others, who are very bad Indians, who come in,
and occasionally commit murder and other depredations; arid when
officers have gone out alone or in small hunting parties, one or two
of them have been killed. One was seriously wounded, lately ; but the
progress of that agency has been such as to thoroughly encourage us,
not because of any rapid change, for we suppose that it may take, per
haps, one-tenth part of the time to civilize Indians that it did to civil
ize our own race ; but we are encouraged greatly as to the final result.
We are willing to go on slowly, and I must confess that some of the
men who had been leaders in the fight, for instance Little Swan, and other
men of that character, in their conference with me seemed to be entirely
reasonable. They made no siuglepoint that was not tenable, and appeared
to talk like rational and reasonable men. The difficulties they meet with
are very great indeed. The Sioux Indians have been put on land on which
a white farmer could not live. It is an alkalic soil, incapable of irriga
tion, subject not only to the grasshoppers, but to very great droughts ;
and hence it is a very great question what can be done. Fortunately,
they are a little encouraged in consequence of the peace-commission
treaty concluded four years ago. All the Indians who settled on that
reservation are entitled to a pair of oxen and to a cow ; and after my
return, the Secretary of the Interior, after the conference with the In
dians, promised to fulfill that part of the treaty stipulations. It had
never been offered to them before, and they said that the agents never
had claimed it. The Department wrote six weeks since to obtain the
names of all the Indians on the Grand River, and all who come in under
that treaty, and they have agreed to furnish a pair of oxen and a cow
to each. That will encourage these Indians very much. They are much
gratified, and are now building houses rapidly.

The next agency below that is the Pawnee, with several agencies on the
opposite side of the river in which are the Lower Brules. There they are
2 I c

18 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

being fed, &c., but seem to be more backward in receiving education and in
improvements than those above, and less disposed to build houses.
We have just sent two noble young men as missionaries, and three
ladies experienced in that work, and they are now so occupied. One of
the ladies has been there four months, has opened a school, and has
been very successful indeed. On the opposite bank of the river with the
Lower Bruit? we have a missionary, a teacher, and two ladies. All of
them have been experienced before with the Indians lower down the
river. They will have to get hold by slow process of the Lower Brules,
who are quite intelligent, but have imbibed from their medicine-men
natural prejudices against Christianity ; but by thorough kindness, we
find no difficulty in overcoming that.

As we descend the river, coming to the Yankton reservation, the pro
gress has been very encouraging indeed. Ther &amp;gt;, four years ago, we
could not hire a man to carry a bucket of water. The Sioux were the
laborers. They came up and harvested for these people, who looked
at them entirely as beneath them. Then, no man labored. You could
see the women pack the wood on their backs, struggling along,
and now, I think, there are nearly two hundred wagons in which you
can see men and their wives riding, as you would observe the farmer and
his wife riding in our eastern sections. They are building many houses ;
they have three chapels and school-houses which are very well attended,
and Christianity, and of course civilization, have taken dee}) hold upon
them. They are, however, discouraged by reason of the nature of their
soil. They have to go to the Missouri River for all their water, not
being able to dig wells deep enough to get anything but alkali water.
They depend entirely upon the rains, there being no way of irrigating.
They may be able to have wheat, but the corn crop is very uncertain.
These Yanktons have taken hold of their work j labor is dignified
among them ; the marriage rite is being observed ; many of them are
united according to the rites of Christianity ; many chiefs have put
away all but one w r ife, and I cannot conceive of the influence of Chris
tianity being exerted more rapidly than it is there. The board have
a man there, Mr. Williams, a very excellent man, and the mission
there, also, is very successful indeed. Nearly all the chiefs are under
decided Christian influence. There is only one whom I considered a
heathen chief, and whom I dined with at the agency with Bishop Whip-
pie, other Indians being there. They all adopted the habits of civiliza
tion at the table, and behaved as other civilized men. A few of the
young men we have sent down to Nebraska College for education.
At the end of the first year the principal of that college gave them
the highest premium of any there, especially for biblical learning.
They had certificates of the highest character. When they returned,
the influence of one of them was so great, that one of the chiefs of the
tribe, feeling that it was his only hope, and the hope of his people,
has adopted civilized life, has become a Christian man, came to live
in the mission-house for awhile, and was entirely willing to begin by
sweeping, dusting, splitting wood, &c., as white people do. He is now at
the college, has been there about two mouths, and we have most excellent
&amp;lt; accounts of him. This is the first time we have had a chief who has
been willing to go away from his tribe for the purpose of being educated.
Several of the other chiefs are Christian men, and exert a powerful
influence over the others. They keep them from following their roving-
habits, from hunting and visiting their neighbors, after the annuity
goods are distributed in the fall; i ersuade them to get their crops in,
and generally benefit their condition.

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 19

Ordinarily, these Indians take a tramp up the river, and communi
cate to the principal tribes what advantages they have had from the
presentation of the annuities, those tribes in turn coming down and vis
iting- them. A large delegation came on my second visit, and they were
much delighted. One of these wild men came down, said his nephew
had been very ill indeed, and that the ladies had been extremely kind to
him ; so that he thought Christianity was &quot; good medicine, 7 and he was
going to recommend it to his people. One of the set, an extremely wild
fellow, would shake hands with none of us, but satin the corner as sullenly
as possible. He was afraid of losing caste with his people, for you
must understand that the wild Indians, the moment they adopt civilized
life, lose caste with the others, and some men, like Spotted Tail; are adroit
enough to keep up that illusion among their tribes. When Spotted
Tail was here in Washington, new suits of clothing were given to almost
all his party. When going down to visit the President, he told the
men to put on their new suits. They asked him if he was going to put
his on. He said &quot;That is no business of yours. 7 Well, these others
draped themselves like gentlemen, in black, but he went in a red blanket.
And Spotted Tail would go back and say that he did not take off his
blanket. It was to obtain an influence with the other men. You can
hardly understand that, when they get back, they lose caste.

We see everything to encourage us if we persevere if the Govern
ment can remain stable, and sus:ain us in our operations. Our
church, since we were here last, must have spent some thirty or forty
thousand dollars, and yet that is very little in comparison to what we
see ought to be done. The schools have been very successful.

The other reservation is juston the very border of the great Sioux terri
tory. It is a sin all tribe of thoroughly heathen people, and until quite lately
had been utterly neglected. We have had a missionary there for more
than a year now, and have three ladies. I have visited them this season.
The change wrought has been marvelous. Many of them dress like
civilized beings, and are manifesting a very great disposition for civili
zation. We also endeavor, through the aid of the ladies, to Christianize
and civilize the women. We not only have our schools and Sunday-
schools, but our mothers meetings, where the women are taught to cut
out and n t work. They appear to manifest great aptitude for it, and a
great desire to improve. The little accounts which are written of these
meetings, showing how pleased the women were when they first fitted a
dress for their children, and that they manifested in other ways their
delight at improvement in housekeeping, are deeply interesting. 1 will
not, however, detain you on that point.

The next mission is that of the Santee ; and as Bishop Whipple is
here, I will ask him to add a word or two, because I induced him to go
there with me last October. He saw these creatures in Minnesota,
where they were wild men, and I thought I would like to have him look
at them in their present condition, so that he could see the improvement
which had been made in them since they had left Minnesota.

Bishop WHIPPLE. Mr. Chairman, I do not desire to detain you but
a very few moments; but there are two or three matters which I am
very desirous to bring before your Board.

In the first place, I would saj- that my wildest dream of what might
be done for the Indians has been accomplished. I had never con
ceived in my heart that a work could be done for the Indians equal to
that which has been done within the last ten years, and more especially
during the last four years in which we have had the co-operation of a
Christian Government. I have taken pains to trace the history of the

20 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

breaking np of the Indian missions in the past, and I could bring the
evidence, in very many instances, of missions which have been broken
np, through the influence of parties who represented the American Gov
ernment directly or indirectly ; and I am very sorry to say that, when
I first visited these Indians of Minnesota, in two or three instances I had
individuals ask me whether the Jesus that I had told them about was
the Jesus that my white brothers spoke to when they were angry and
drunk, at the agency ; and when I urged the sanctity of Christian
marriage invariably the old chiefs told me in private, that the
penalty for violation of the seventh commandment was that the
woman s nose should be bitten off; that was the penalty of their
fathers, and all the corruption and degradation had come from men
of the white race. They very often said to me, &quot; We have never
made fire-water. We do not know how to make it. It is your white
brothers; they w r ho worship the Great Spirit; they have brought this
here. Go back and tell that story to your brothers.&quot;

In every single instance where crime has dragged this poor and
wretched people down to death and degradation, it could be at once
laid at the door of our own white race.

But there were two or three things that encouraged me. The first
was, that if this was a dying race there was but one question : Are they
to live beyond the grave 1 ? And the very fact that they were a perish
ing race was but the very reason why a Christian movement should be
made in earnest to try and bring to them the blessings of the gospel of
Christ; and another fact was this, that if they were a heathen people,
there were no such awful revelations to impart among them as there
were in heathen civilization to whom the gospel was carried by the apos
tles. There are no such records in the Indian country as you can find in
Pompeii and Herculaneum. I found that everywhere, the moment they
w ere impressed with the fact that your errand was one of mercy and

love, they gave you their respect and reverence; and they have always
been true to their plighted faith. I say now, that as far as my own con
viction goes, there is not a Christian body in the United States which

can show such fruits and rewards for Christian labor as can be shown
in the Indian missions among the people of the United States. It is
true of our own tyody, and I believe it is true of all others, and it has

.seemed to me, at times, as if God had so richly rewarded us, that we
might have the courage and bravery to endeavor to make atonement for
that awful record which we have paid for in such terrible histories of
massacre and blood.

There are two or three particular matters that I would like to bring
: before you.

The first is, it seems to me, that the moment the Government
comes in con-tact with the heathen people, our first efforts should
be to give to this movement individuality. They are the mere vassals,
the bondmen of wandering chiefs, and so long as the Government
i makes its distribution through them, the Indians must of neces
sity be in subserviency to those agents. You can have no true inde
pendence or freedom until you give that man his position as a person
in the eye of the Government, until you give him an individuality.

The second point is, we must have law. There is no use talking about
that question. Our missions will be broken up, our efforts blasted, all
our work destroyed, unless these people shall be recognized as the sub
jects of law, and law be given to them ; I am not prepared to say in
what form, but there are some very simple forms in which it might be
done. The. agent may be the stipendiary magistrate as in the Canadas.

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 21

He may have the power to administer law. Remember this, reserva
tions are not subject to the law of State governments. It is United
States property, and the Government holds it in trust for the Indians.
Some officer must be there representing the United States Government.
If the Government is not prepared to give us a United States judge, re
siding in the Indian country, it seems to me we may ask that the agent
may be clothed with the functions of a stipendiary magistrate, and that
either the chief or some worthy Indian men, shall be sworn in as
constables, or be made deputy United States marshals. As I said be
fore, the absence of law in the Indian country demoralizes the Indians;
and it gives to every white man contiguous to the reservation, the feel
ing that they are mere vermin, who can be exterminated at will; that
the Government does not regard them as worthy of consideration.

Another point with reference to the employes. The remark has been
made by one or two gentlemen, that we are attempting to undo the
wrongs of two hundred years. There is not a single body of Indians in
this country, if their history was known, whom we have not wronged. If
anyone of you will go through the records and find out how often faith has
been violated, you will be perfectly appalled, and you will wonder how
people who believe in a God, have dared to breast His anger and indigna
tion as we have done. The attempt to atone this wrong is an expensive
business ; there is no question about that. Those Indians to whom my
friend Mr. Welch referred, those Cheyenne chiefs up at that agency,
have had their relatives and kindred murdered in the Chevington mas
sacre, of which General Sherman, when he wrote the report, simply said
it would have disgraced any savage tribe in the interior of Africa,
and the testimony in regard to which was so vile, that Congress sup
pressed it. It is there in the records of the Department, and I venture
to say that your cheek will grow pale, as it never grew before, if you will
take the trouble to read it.

To show you what kindness will do after long effort, I will relate a
single instance. One of these very men who has maintained this posi
tion of hostility for months, was evidently watching the agent very
closely to see whether he was a man who spoke the truth. At last
the agent heard that that man s son was dying of pneumonia. He knew
it was the custom of these Indians to give away everything they had
whenever they lost a near friend; and this Indian gave* away his blanket,
gun, dogs, everything that he had, and scarified his body until he bled
from every pore, and then sat down at the side of his dead sou. The
agent sent him a coffin, a blanket, and a kind message, and said to the
one who carried the message, &quot;Give my message to him and tell him
how sad I am for him, and that I have sent him this coffin that lie might
bury his son. tlis white brother pities him. If he can help him he will
be glad to do so.&quot; The Indian sat silent for two hours, but at last arose
and said &quot;The white man has made my heart like a woman s. I shall
bury my dead son beside his door. lam going to live beside the agency,
and I will be the white man s friend forever.&quot; It is a simple instance to
illustrate what kindness will do. Now, as I said before, it is very expen
sive for us to attempt to atone for these wrongs: and here we meet with
a practical difficulty to this new policy. Some gentleman said, very
truly, that the head of the Government and the head of the Indians
were on the interpreter s shoulders, and I tell you, gentlemen, that I
have known many instances of transactions where both parties were
in entire ignorance, and where the whole negotiations had been car
ried on in the interest of certain traders. Now the Government wishes
us to pay at these agencies, $400 for an interpreter, and that is all. So

22 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

a Christum blacksmith and a Christian carpenter can have four or five
hitndred dollars a year. What are we to do? I know the gentleman
said, and I respect the words very much of my brother who made the
remark, that an agent ought to go with a spirit of self-sacrifice. I only
icish we could find the men. But I doubt whether you can find intelligent,
clear-headed, business men ; men who are in the depths of their heart
philanthropists; men fitted to guide a heathen people out of darkness
into civilization, unless you can guarantee at least that these men shall
have a support for themselves and their families.

But I am not prepared to say that I think it is best for us to ask the
Government to supplement these salaries and increase them. I believe
there is to be a very fierce conflict. The Indian ring are not killed.
The influences that have been heretofore dragging these men down to
death are simply in abeyance. They are merely waiting for us to lose
heart, and you will find that the whole great Indian ring will at once re
assert its force. Now. as so much must be asked for, and we must de
mand money to give these men food and clothing, and seed and cattle,
&amp;gt;it seems to me and I say it to our own religious bodies, for I have no
right to say it to others I believe, as Christian men, it is the duty of
our church to say to any man that goes there, that we will take care of
him. If the Government is willing to pay four hundred dollars for a
Christian blacksmith, and it takes a thousand dollars, I do not know
any reason why we, as Christian men, should not give the rest. My
own mind is very clear on another matter. I believe that the spiritual
side of the work for the Indians will be utterly destroyed with any re
ligious body which takes the funds for civilization and uses them in con
nection with this Christian work. They may use them for schools, or in
any way that shall be for the benefit of the Indians ; but when you take
this money and use it for the support of your ministry, I believe the In
dians will at once set these clergymen down in this category, and say :
u You come, as all other white men, to live upon our money. That is
your only idea.&quot; I think, therefore, it is wise to keep these two lines of
work entirely separate and distinct. Whatever money the Government
gives for their civilization, give it to them, and see that it is expended,
and expended faithfully ; and if we haveother work, let us, as Christian
men, give for it ourselves, because we are giving it for our love of Him
who is the friend of the helpless.

One word with .reference to the titles My friend Mr. King, of New
York, said that these men were not citizens. I do not mean to lay any
charges against the Government, but it does seem to me we have been
playing hide and-go-seek&quot; here. When it is for our convenience to
recognize these heathen men as an independent nation, when we desire
to purchase their lands, we recognize them as such and make a bar
gain with them as an independent nation ; we pledge the faith of
the Government to them as an independent people; and our Senate,
as the treaty-making power, makes a treaty ; the President ratifies
it. ; and in that treaty we specify that every Indian shall receive a
good and sufficient title to eighty acres of land when he has complied
with certain conditions. And the Supreme Court of the United States
lias recognized that the Indian has a possessory right to the soil, and a.
possessory right that must be extinguished in some way. That has
been decided several times. But right here comes the question when
is the Government to carry out this policy. The Indian is given a cer
tain certificate. I believe it is done in good faith. But the Indians are
advised, by those who are no friends to this policy, that that title is not
a good title, and the Indians have no faith in Government papers. I

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 23

have a body of Indians in Minnesota, friends of mine, who received the
thanks of the Department because they came down in a body and of
lered their services to a fort, in the time of the massacre, and saved that
northern border from desolation. The Secretary of the Interior took
pains to pay a visit to them at that time, and returned his thanks to
them. In three separate treaties there is a clause that, on account of
their signal good behavior, they shall not be removed so long as they re
main the friends of the whites. For five years all the pressure &quot;it-hat,
could be brought has been brought to compel these Indians to go; and
the agent of the Indians will tell you that that is the case now that
they are mere tenants at will, and the Government says they nuist be
removed. This is the feeling in the Indian country.

I simply call attention to these three facts: In the first place, you
must recognize individuality. A man never is a man until he has
something he can call a home. You cannot make a Christian home out
of an Indian tepe. Secondly, he must have law and protection; and,
thirdly, we are bound to carry out what we promised to give him a
title to the soil.

Mr. KiNGr. I agree with the bishop, and that is what I inquired
about how title was to be secured.

Kev. S. B. TREAT. Mr. Chairman, w r e have but one agency under
our care the one referred to by Mr. Welch. I have endeavored to
keep my eye upon it during the year, and, as far as I know, the duties
of the agent have been w r ell performed. His influence there is good,
and the condition of these Indians is exceedingly hopeful. We
have, in connection with that reservation at Lake Traverse, and with
our other stations, seven churches, five hundred and sixty communi
cants, six ordained Indians, four licensed preachers, and other helpers
that I need not mention. Our plan is to work out from the stitions,
which we occupy, among other tribes not yet reached. We have visited
the Santee agency during the year, as others have done, and I most
fully confirm the statements which have been made in regard to it.

One fact has not been brought out distinctly, or, at least, not very
distinctly, and that is, that these Indians of the Santee agency were
almost all of them, in 1862, absolute pagans. The head men were in
volved in that terrible massacre; and yet, when I was there, 1 saw
those connected with our mission, particularly the men, dressed as we
are; the women dressed like white women, except that they did not
seem to understand perfectly the fashions. They w T ere intelligent,
and I spoke to a large meeting of them. They were well fitted for
work, and everything about them seemed to be exceedingly hopeful.
We. are establishing an industrial school therefor girls and women, and
we hope that much good may be accomplished by it. Industrial in
struction is given on the reservation. Last year, the chairman will re-
member, I made a statement in regard to the Indians at Pawnee
drove. They went out as a colony from the Santee agency ; broke
loose from their tribe, and gave up all their tribal advantages. They
had not money enough, I suppose, to pay the office-fees for their titles.
They were without implements of agriculture. They had almost nothing
at all. They have received no aid from the United States Government,
and no assistance, of course, from other tribes ; and yet I have this
statement in my hand to show what they have been doing. There are
among them seventy-seven men, one hundred and three women, seventy-
six children, making in all two hundred and fifty-six. They have fifty-
eight claims the fees all paid for. They have built fifty-three log-
houses themselves, and many stables ; and, during the past year, they

24 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

have raised twenty-nine hundred bushels of corn, twenty-two hundred
bushels of potatoes, and have cut two hundred and eighty tons of hay
by themselves, without help from the United States Government, or
from the people of their tribe. This, to me, is one of the most encour
aging facts which we have had in regard to the Indians, and I will say
that I am a firm believer in their capacity for civilization. I have not
the least doubt of it. I think, on the whole, as compared with other
races, they may be expected to receive civilization as soon as others, on
an average ; but then I do beg leave to say, after having been con
nected twenty-live years with this Indian work, that the strong lever and
the long lever is the gospel of Christ. Schools are useful they are indis
pensable; but first the gospel, and let the schools come to complete
the work which the gospel undertakes.

I have been troubledfor a great many years with this matter of lawless
ness. Before the day of Bishop Wbipple among the Minnesota In
dians, I discussed the matter with our missionaries. It seemed to be
then, as it has seemed since, one of the great obstacles this perfect
lawlessness of the Indians among themselves ; and our Government, re
garding them as wards doing nothing at all to arrest these disturb
ances.

Dr. FERRIS. We have five agencies, all in Arizona. The first is that
of the Pimos and Maricopas, which contains from four to six thousand
Indians. These statistics as to population are estimated. There are no
perfectly trustworthy returns as to the number of Indians upon these
reservations. We have the Colorado River reservation, which has been
estimated at from three to five thousand Indians. There are the Mo-
have Apaches, and some two or three smaller bodies of men whose
names I cannot give without having a report of the Indian commission.
The Gamp Verde reservation has upon it somewhere from one to two
thousand Apaches, and the Gamp Grant reservation has about twelve
hundred Apaches. Gamp Apache has upon it at present about eighteen
hundred Apaches. The Pimos and Maricopas have two schools. These
schools have been organized since we were here a year ago. The at
tendance is now more regular than it was a year ago. I looked over
the record of last year, and found that the attendance ran from noth
ing to eighty. There were some two or three or four days during the
year, of regular school-days when there were no children present, either
boys or girls. Then again the attendance has been as high as eighty. The
attendance during the latter part of the year has been very much more
regular than it was at the beginning, and is becoming more and more
steady. These Pimos and Maricopas have been an agricultural and
manufacturing people ; that is, manufacturing some articles for their
own use, for some time, and they have heeu a settled people, attached
to the reservation, and attached to the lands they were cultivating.
But they are becoming unsettled and are being driven into habits some
what nomadic, for this reason. They are on the Glla River, and the
whites have settled upon the forks of the river above them, and almost
entirely cut off their supply of water, so that they are compelled to go
over to the Salt River country in order to raise their crops. When they
got there, in the Salt River country, the people there thought, u O, we
can steal the horses and cattle the Pimos may bring along with them ;
they are outside of their reservation, and we can do just as we please;&quot;
and they do steal them. Then the Pimos try to reclaim them or they
try to steal somebody else s horses to make up for what they have lost ;
and for the first time in the history of these Indians, there has been
trouble between them and the whites. They have been friends with the

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 25

whites, and have boasted that there has never been a conflict between
them and the white man in their entire history.

]S&quot;ow, if these Indians were w r hite men, if they were citizens as we
are, there could be a suit brought in the proper court to compel the
white men who have settled on the river above them, to repay to them
whatever damage they have suffered from the diversion of the water, or
to compel these white men to stop the wasting of the water ; for, as I un
derstand, they have dug an irrigating canal from the Gila River, and
run the water through their lands, and afterwards they do not care
what becomes of it, or which way the water goes; the Indians get none
of it. There is no one but the United States Government to protect
these Indians. They have been placed on that reservation by our ac
tion, and we are bound to look after them. If the bread is taken out of
their mouths, if the supply of water is cut away from them, then the
Government of the United States ought to see that they are put
somewhere else where they can cultivate the soil, and where there is a
supply of water ; or else they ought to buy out these white settlers, or
make them change their location, in order that these Indians may be
able to cultivate their lands. The Pimos and Maricopas are running
down now, day after day, under these influences. I suppose there was
not a more promising h eld among the Indians in all the United States
than in these two tribes, but it is becoming a very difficult one, simply
from the action of the whites, who show not the slighest regard for the
rights, or for the preservation of the rights, of these Indians. What
ever is necessary to be done to move the Pimos and Maricopas, either to
some location in Arizona or to the Indian Territory, they are very will
ing should be done, and they are all ready to go to the Indian Territory,
and would like to go. They wish to avoid a conflict if it is possible,
and if they could be transferred to the Indian Territory it would please
the chiefs of these tribes.

On the Colorado River agency one school has been begun recently,
but there is as yet no report of any consequence from it. The Indians
there were very indolent and very shiftless. They had been drawing
their support almost entirely from the Government, and one. of the h rst
things to be done with them was to induce them to earn their own
living. They were, I suppose, about as indolent a body of Indians as
could be found in the country, perfectly peaceful, perfectly good-na
tured, and just as lazy and indisposed to do anything for themselves as
they were peaceful. But at last, we have the report from Dr. Tonner,
the very excellent agent stationed there, that they are now at work.
An irrigating canal has been dug that supplies them with water ; and
he says that even the chiefs come to him and ask him to go off in this
direction and in that, to see what they have been doing with their own
hands. We are happy to report that the Indians of the Colorado Kiver
agency are beginning to earn their own support. The Apaches upon
Camp Verde have been chastised by the United States troops, I believe,
because they were accused of having a part in the Weckenburg stage
massacre.

General HOWARD. That was at Date Creek.

Dr. FERRIS. They have got the two together, then. The Indians
were driven from the reservation by this chastisement, but we have re
ceived letters now, within the last &quot;two weeks, stating that, they are re
turning. The agent wrote at one time that he was afraid they never
would come back. I think it is a very doubtful thing, from what I have
seen about it, whether they had any part whatsoever in that stage mas
sacre. I understood that the clothing of the woman in that stage was

26 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

foil ml in the possession of whites and Americans off in another direc
tion, and I think that was clear and distinct testimony at the time ;
and why it happens that these persons are to be chastised for that stage
massacre I cannot understand. There is no doubt, however, that they
have been guilty of a great deal of villainy, and perhaps the punish
ment which has been administered to them has been just, and may be
salutary. They have, however, been off the reservation pretty much
the whole year, and the agent has been waiting for them to return.

In regard to the Camp Grant agency, we have to report that the
agent whom we had sent out there has .been removed. He was a gen
tleman very highly recommended to us, and as far as we know is an
excellent man, and one who has maintained a consistent Christian char
acter in frontier life in Wyoming Territory, and who had experi
ence in dealing w r ith Indians ; but, as far as we can judge, he was im
prudent. Either by his orders or by the orders of a squad of soldiers
who were with him, a party of Indians were fired upon who had among
them some Indians who ought to have been arrested. That party con
sisted, to a considerable extent, of captains of these Apaches. It de-
frtroye.l the confidence of the Indians at Camp Grant in this agent.
When their confidence was gone it was necessary for him to be re
moved. We have no question but that it was perfectly right to re
move Mr. Jacobs from Camp Grant, but whether he was to blame for
the loss of confidence or for what was done, or whether the officer in
command of the squad of soldiers was to blame, we have no knowledge.
We have just sent out a new man to Camp Grant who, we hope, will do
well. He has this great advantage, that he is the friend of Lieutenant
Whitman, whom the Apaches at Camp Grant have much confidence in,
and he will take to them a letter from Lieutenant Whitman recom
mending him. This Camp Grant reservation is very unhealthy. The
Indians are dying off, and it is a place where white men say they
cannot remain unless they are soaked with whiskey to keep off fever
and ague. I expect myself that a white man cannot remain for any
length of time without using some antidote for the fever. These Apaches
at Camp Grant, we think, ought to be removed. They can be removed
to the White Mountain reservation, which is large enough to accom
modate all the Apaches in Arizona. The Camp Apache reservation
has just received an agent. We have been trying to send out a proper man.
It is a large reservation, and the intention of the Government is to gather
all the Apaches in the Territory on that location in the course of time,
so that we have been rather slow about selecting a man. We wished
to get as good a man as we could, as he was likely to have a
very large charge after a while, and I would say a little in regard to
that directly. A good man has just reached that field, and our work
there may be regarded as new, begun within the last month or two.
There have been two occurrences in connection with our part of this
work during the past year that it would be proper to notice. In the
first place, a United States commissioner has been sent out to the Ter
ritory, General Howard, accompanied by some gentlemen, and we have
to report that this commission has been attended with very happy re
sults. It has proved to be an excellent way of managing these diffi
culties that occur between the Indians and the whites. General How
ard s mission mado a fine impression upon the Apaches, as we know,
and it has made a very considerable impression upon the whites of
Arizona ; though, of course, there is a great deal of abuse heaped upon
the General s head by the papers of Arizona, because he averted an In
dian war. It is proper, I suppose, to notice here that there was every

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 27

prospect of a general Indian war in Arizona Territory. That lias been
prevented, and I suppose that there has been saved to the United States
Government by this mission, and by the Christian agents on the ground,
somewhere from five to ten millions of dollars this last year by
averting an Indian war in Arizona. There has probably been almost
enough of money saved in Arizona to meet all the Indian appropria
tions; for war there would have been very expensive. The transpor
tation is exceedingly long, and I presume if General Howard had not
gone there, and if there had not been agents of the character of the
men who were on the spot, there would have been a tierce war in that
Territory, which would have cost this Government, before it was set
tled, certainly somewhere near ten millions of dollars, and perhaps
double that. And that is an item worth regarding here to-day, as there
lias been something said about expenses. I presume the money has all
been saved, not by our denomination, but by this policy of the Gov
ernment this hist year in Arizona. The chiefs of the Apaches and some
other tribes were brought here to the East by General Howard, and that
has proved a fine matter in every respect. It has had an excellent effect
on the Indians. It has had an excellent effect upon gentlemen here in
the East. These Indians met with our board, and with some prominent
gentlemen of our church, such as we could get together at that time of the
year, it being in the very hot weather of last July. It was the only time,
however, that the Indians could be brought on, and they were perfectly free,
evidently, to say just what they pleased and just what they wanted.
With the exception of a representative of a single tribe, I think
every one of them said most emphatically, &quot; We desire schools, we
wish to have our children taught, we wish to become such people as
you are, and we wish to have peace.&quot; They were unanimous in that,
that they had a great desire for peace, and bad no more desire for con
flict and bloodshed. The effect upon gentlemen here was very excel
lent. We had these gentlemen come in our rooms in New York. Then
we had a Sabbath evening meeting in the church on the corner of
Twenty-first street and Fifth avenue which was just as full as it could
hold ; people not only occupying all the seats but standing up. More,
perhaps, might have stood in the aisles near the pulpit, but the aisles
in the rear of the church were filled with people standing up, and every
seat was occupied. A large number of gentlemen of character and in
fluence were present that night. The Indians spoke, and General How
ard made, of course, an admirable address. Now, I know that there
were many persons there who, by their political affinities, were opposed
to this policy not exactly opposed to it, but who rather questioned it.
I know there were gentlemen present in our rooms when we had a
meeting with the Indians who were strong democrats, and who, while
they would do nothing to oppose this policy, and nothing to hinder it,
at the same time questioned very much as to whether it was the right
thing to do; and the visit of the Indians to New York I know
made a good many conversions. One or two of these gentlemen
have said to me since, &quot;We are ready to do now anything that may be
necessary in order to carry out this policy of the Government.&quot; And
they have said, too, that no party could maintain its position in this
country if it discarded or broke up the present policy in regard to
the Indians. I have had that from the mouths of gentlemen who are
birthright democrats, and whom 1 suppose will remain democrats as long
as the party continues, and some of them have been leading men in their
localities in the party. The congregation in the church on Fifth avenue
we kept until about 10 o clock that hot night ; they remained after the

BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

speeches were made, and I suppose that more than one-half of those
who were there present came up and shook hands with the Indians. It
had an excellent effect. We have heard from it two or three times since
they went home, they saying that these white men, whom they under
stood were people of the best class in New York, had taken the trouble
to . remain that hot night after the long exercises, and came up to the
platform to shake hands with them. Its effect upon thelndians has not
yet been forgotten. \

Dr. Lowrie has spoken about the pay of the agents. We have had no
special difficulties, or no more difficulties than we have usually en
countered in conducting Christian work in such a world as this, and have
no reason to regard this work as one of any special difficulty. But there
have been two matters which have been somewhat troublesome to
manage. In the first place, as to the pay of the agents. Living is very
expensive in Arizona, transportation is very expensive, and our agents
all tell us that they cannot live on their salary. We hope there will be
something done, whatever may be necessary, so that the agents may
be able to draw certain stores from the United States Army stores,
at the same rate that Army officers draw them, and then there will be
no further difficulty. That, 1 think, will obviate the trouble altogether.
If the agents can draw certain specified stores from the Army depots
free of transportation, then I think the salary will be enough. It is
right also to say that we have had some trouble from the fact that the
superintendent, from the entire want of training in what we may call
Christian benevolent work, has had no sympathy with our agents. He
is an honest man as far as we know. He has bought for these agencies
all supplies that were authorized, and he has bought them with the
money that he was authorized to spend for them, and his administration
as far as we know has been perfectly honest; but he utterly fails toco-
operate with our agents in regard to education, or in regard to Christian
work ; and it was to be expected that he would fail. Well, one does not
like to complain of the President of the United States, but we asked
the President a year ago, and told him just how this thing was we
asked him to make a change, and he has not done so. If we could have
such a superintendent as the brother who is here, he w r ould be worth
his weight in gold in Arizona, and he could do an amount of good that
is almost incalculable.

Now, gentlemen, in regard to this camp Apache, I said that we had
been slow in placing an agent there. We had a capital man; a man
whose family has grown up so that they no longer need his care ; a
gentleman who, if he went out there, expected to expend more than he
received ; an excellent business man ; a man who some years ago spent
two years in Arizona, who knows something about the Territory, and
has had a great deal to do with the Indians there. When the matter
came before him and he understood who the superintendent was,
he said, &quot; I won t go ; I know that I will get no prompt co-opera
tion from him.&quot; We held on to him for some time. I urged him to go
and try it, and not to make this objection until he had actually become
involved in difficulties until there had been a lack of co-operation.
Said he, &quot;If you will make that agency independent take it out
of the superintendency I will go, but I will not go and put myself
under him. This gentleman has had absolutely no education in
regard to the benevolent w r ork that we conduct. He knows nothing
about it. An application for a teacher will lie in his desk from three to
six months before he will send it forward. He does not feel the importance
or the necessity of this work, and of prompt and earnest action, and yet in

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 2U

till other respects he is a perfectly honest and trustworthy man, and we
have not a word to say against him.

I am happy to say that the German Reformed Church at its last synod
resolved to co-operate with ns in this work, which will very much
strengthen us, and the agent whom we have sent to Camp Apache is a
member of that branch of the Reformed Church. I would like to say
that this is the first agent that we have nominated from the Reformed
Church. We have taken every agent nominated so far from other
denominations, because they seemed tons to be better men, and because
the men recommended to us had experience on the frontier and ex
perience with the Indians, and had maintained consistent characters
on the frontier.

The Arizona whites are very bitter, the most of them, against the
Indians. But there is a good deal to be said in extenuation of their feel
ing. Our Roman Catholic friends have a few churches in Arizona, but
beside those there are none. There are no Protestant churches in the
entire Territory, as I understand, and except what is done by the Roman
Catholics there is no preaching I mean except that which is done by
the Episcopal chapels at Preseott.

General HOWARD. The Methodists have a preacher at Phrenix, in the
valley.

A MEMBER. There is another. Mr. Wheeler has just gone there. We
had letters from him about a week ago announcing his arrival.

Mr. FERRIS, (resuming.) Yes; that may be so, but the state of society
is just what you may expect under these circumstances. With churches
and schools in Arizona, no doubt there will be a body of men created
who will favor this policy very decidedly, and who will bring men of
intelligence and men of character together.

I hope General Howard will be heard by this commission. As he
lias been somewhat abused, it is proper to say that we regard his
course as that of a wise man ; and we consider his services during
the last summer as of the highest importance, and I wish I was
able to write the thing up. 1 would Like to write about that splen
did act of Christian heroism that was performed by General How
ard in going unattended and putting himself right into the hands
of Cochise and his band. It was perfectly astonishing to the people
of Arizona. They did not dream there was a man on earth who
would do such a thing. At one time, I believe, while going among
these people, General Howard started off, with nobody but one Indian
boy, among men regarded as the most fierce, hostile, and implacable
of the Indians of this Territory.

General HOWARD. Yes ; and I never met from them a discourtesy.

Dr. BACKUS. Mr. President, I will be very brief in my statement,
and some points that I regard as important I may be able to intro
duce this evening if you have a conference.

We have four agencies, two in the Indian Territory, and two in Ne
vada. The agent of the Cherokees, representing eighteen thousand,
is J. B. Jones, a son of the Rev. A. Jones, a missionary, who has
grown up with them and is recognized as one of their citizens. He
is also a graduate from a northern college. The agent for the Creeks
is Professor Lyon, an educated man, of experience as a teacher and pro
fessor in a university or college ; and, whatever may be said against
these men, they are noble men and true, and we know it. They are
true to the Indians and true to their interests in every way. We have
not established denominational or mission schools either with the Cher
okees or Creeks, but we have missionaries who favor these schools and

30 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

sympathize with these agencies. I think the Clicrokees have not less
than sixty schools, which average as well as the schools through the
country forty-five years ago did. Some of the teachers are more com
petent than some teachers were through the State of New York at
that time. The Delawares, who are now adopted citizens, and
others occupying the Verdigris and Neosho Valleys, are establishing
schools and building churches. We have appointed a superintendent
and missionary there within the last few weeks, changing him from an
other place becaiivse of his experience. His duty is to encourage educa
tion, not denominational, but in these district schools, and also to preach
the Gospel. So also the Creeks have perhaps a corresponding number
of schools. They have some twelve or thirteen thousand people, and
the Cherokees some eighteen thousand. They have also ministry la
bors; and the ministry are, perhaps, more in sympathy with our
southern churches. In Nevada, we have the Walker Kiver agency,
representing six thousand Indians. Mr. C. A. Bateman is their agent.
I have known him from childhood, and I have known his parents. I
do not know as to his wisdom or practical ability to conduct such a
mission of roving people ; but, as far as I know, the Secretary of the In
terior and all are well pleased with his work, and we have had no cause
of complaint. Mr. J. W. Ingalls, who I am happy to say is present, I
ask may be heard, either now or in the evening, and that he give us a
few words for the Pi-Utes and their agency, representing perhaps about
three thousand ; they being in the eastern, and the Walker Kiver the
western part of Nevada. Mr. Ingalls has a hopeful future. He antici
pates such change and such concentrating on reservations as shall secure
cultivation of the soil, and such industry, education, and religious inter
ests in the Indians, as will greatly improve them. I think he can speak
for himself, and I think he has the sympathy of the Secretary of the
Interior in his plans and purposes.

I will add that I have by correspondence, and in various ways, sought to
secure such missionaries for the Territory as might give their protection
and sympathy to teachers, whether in their own families or their friends.
It is difficult to find teachers to go, and it is more difficult where the
Indians roam around as they do in v Nevada. We have not yet suc
ceeded in doing anything more than to try to do for these Indians there.
I would simply say that I sympathize very much with the remarks on
the point of salaries. I think the gentlemen have spoken directly on
that point, and I would say amen to what has been said.

We do not find the expenses of agencies the same, and have had the
matter before us of adding to the salary and letting the agent do mission
ary service ; but fearing it might complicate the thing, we have avoided
it. We wish to have the agents sent out as employed by the Govern
ment, and therefore we have not done anything of that kind. But in
Nevada the expense of living is much greater than even in the Indian
Territory, and our agents must leave there unless we can help them.
Mr. Jones occupies the house that our board erected for the missionary -
house. He never has moved out since. We are told that we shall be
paid rent, but we have heard nothing of it. He has occupied the house
in his agency for the Government. We do not complain of that, but it
is not providing a house for the agent. Other agents complain that
provisions are not made for them. Mr. Jones says as far as we are con
cerned he is provided for. I wish to add further, that as far as I know
not only every man in our board, but our friends through the society,
and churches, and ministry, sympathize with this mission and its work.

Mr. INGALLS. Mr. Chairman, my connection with the service began

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 31

ill August. I went to my field in Nevada, entirely a stranger in that sec
tion of the country. The headquarters are at Pioche, southeast of Salt
Lake City some three hundred miles. It is a mining settlement, and
there are but few Indians close to the headquarters. I immediately
made preparations to visit the entire agency, that I might know the
wants of the agency in making recommendations to the Department. I
found, as Dr. Backus said, that nothing had been done for these Indians
for the last three years in the way of education or civilization, save the
distribution of a few supplies. Those properly attached to the agency
number a little over three thousand. There are some eight hundred to
a thousand lying over across the Colorado, which it is the purpose of
the Government to attach to the agency, which will make it in the
neighborhood of four thousand. Some estimate as high as six thousand,
but I think the estimates of previous agents have been largely drawn on
their imagination. I did not discover as many Indians as I expected to
when I got there. I held two councils with the Indians one at Saint
George and the other at Saint Thomas. Saint George is a Mormon town
of fifteen, hundred inhabitants, and I found the Indians lying northeast
and south of that settlement. There seemed to be a very bitter feeling
existing between them and the Mormons from the fact that a portion of
them were engaged in the massacre of Mountain Meadows. My agency
comprises the three southern counties of Utah, the two southeastern
counties of Nevada, and one northwestern county of Arizona, lying
north of the Colorado River, covering a very large tract of country,
taking about twelve hundred miles to reach the different bands. At
the council held at Saint George I was very ably assisted by Major
Powell, the explorer, who, I understand, is a friend of General How
ard. He acted as my interpreter, as I did not feel safe in employing
any white man around there. I had not confidence in the manner
of the Mormons interpretation, and being an utter stranger there,
I wanted a man I could have confidence in. I therefore telegraphed
to Major Powell, and he rode night and day for two nights and one day
in order to meet me at the council. He delivered a very brief address
to the Indians, fully indorsing my recommendations to them, and very
largely assisted me while there. I held another council at Saint Thomas,
in Southeast Nevada, and at both, I will just state, the expressions made
by the Indians were to fully accede to the request of the Government as
to education and civilization, and to abandon all their former habits of
life. In fact, when I touched the matter of education and instruction in
the mechanical aits and agriculture, there seemed to be a feeling almost
of enthusiasm, and a desire to immediately have the work begun there.
But there is no reservation, and it did not seem practicable to me to in
augurate any system. In fact there could not be any systematic labor
without a reservation, and on account of the limited salary I had been
compelled to leave my family in Illinois, my home, and support my
self on what the Government allowed me there. I have presented my
report to the Department, and since I have left there General Crook, of
Arizona, has written to my deputy, urging the immediate removal of
nearly a thousand of the Indians lying over in Arizona, who are Pi-Utes,
to be attached to the agency, as it would shorten The war several months
if done. All of my Indians I found extremely degraded and destitute,
although willing to work if they could have proper incentives ; but I
found that the best lands were seized by the Mormons and the white
settlers, and they were being crowded back into the mountains. The
country is not too good or fertile in any event, the best of it, and the
system of irrigation is limited. I therefore urged the immediate setting

32 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

apart of a tract of land in Southeast Nevada, or one in Southern Utah,
the Nevada tract to be immediately provided for by an appropriation ;
and this met with the fullest indorsement of the Secretary of the Interior
and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. I am now, at the request of
the Department, waiting here to assist the committee in maturing a bill ;
and I can say this, that I have received courtesy and whole support
from the Government in my labor thus far. While in this city I have-
conferred with General Eaton and Dr. Gregory, of Illinois, now here,
to aid me in the selection of the right men as associates there in the
management of the industrial school for these Indians. Major Powell,
who has been among the Pi-Utes of Nevada and Arizona for the last
two or three years, is preparing a grammar of their language, which will
be of very great service to me in my work, and he most fully indorses
the scheme presented to the Department. I can say that I enter
upon the work with hope, and yet with fear, from the fact that I find
opposition on the part of the white settlers there, and the lack of support
on the part of the representatives of the Government. Some mem
bers of Congress, in referring to me personally after having met me,
think perhaps I am an enthusiast in my work. I can only say that had
they witnessed what I have of degradation and of destitution among
these Indians, if they had the hearts that should be possessed by men,
they would not be less earnest in presenting the needs of these people
than I am. And yet when I meet some of them, Senators or Represent
atives, in seeking to remove their opposition to any additional reserva
tion, 1 am called, perhaps, an honorable man, a worthy man, but then
they think I am an enthusiast in the work.

General HOWARD. That is a very good name.

Mr. INGALLS. But I do desire to do something more, as I remarked to
Commissioner Walker, than simply to distribute a few blankets and sup
plies, and to draw my salary from the Government. I left a very profitable
business in Illinois to enter upon this work. I was educated in Massa
chusetts to go into the ministry. I was diverted from that into mer
cantile life. But to recover my health, and that I may do what is in
the line of life-work to me, when this was presented to me I gave it an
immediate arid full consideration, have entered it, and I do hope, if God
saves my life, that a year from to-day I will have specimens of the pro
ducts of the Indians in the shape of cotton to show to you. There is a
very rich salt mine in my agency that I have seized, and I hope there
will be something more than a written report to be made to you as to
the distribution of supplies and the drawing of my salary.

Mr. HAYDEN, of Philadelphia, (representing the Christian mission
ary convention.) I notice in the report that there are two agencies
spoken of. What I have to say only has reference to one, which is
x hat of Neah. E. M. Gibson is the Indian agent at that point. My
last information from him is his third quarterly report, in which he
states that he has a school under his charge. At that time there were
some twenty pupils in regular attendance, and some others transiently
attending. He reported that he was engaged in teaching the ordinary
branches of reading, writing, and mathematics, and giving a great deal
of attention to agriculture. Last spring he had in contemplation the
planting of about thirty-five acres of potatoes and other vegetables, to
educate the Indians and to familiarize them in the arts of civilization.
He expresses the greatest confidence in the work of evangelizing the
Indians; but, as a means of doing so, he thinks they. should be first
brought under the general principles of morality, and hence there are
as yet no religious meetings held among them, attention being mainly

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 33,

directed to instructing them in the common principles of morality. He
has also sought to give greater sanctity to the marriage contract, and,
as the result of his efforts, has recently received applications from three
Indians for the solemnization of their marriage, as among the white peo
ple. He reports that his best friends and neighbors are among the In
dians ; that they indicate their entire confidence in him, and hence be
lieves in the feasibility of this method of operating among them, and
thus gaining an influence over them which will result in their Christian-
ization and civilization.
Adjourned to 7.30 p. in.

JANUARY 15, 18727.30 p. m.

The meeting met pursuant to adjournment, and, upon motion of Mr.
Welch, the Kev. George Whipple was appointed chairman and Mr..
Oree secretary. After which prayer was offered by Kev. Dr. Backus.

The CHAIRMAN. If I understand the reason for a different organi
zation of the meeting this evening from the morning meeting, it is that
the Board of Commissioners may be relieved from the responsibility of
the more general suggestions that may come before the meeting than
the Board itself can properly be called upon to consider. We are, then,
organized this evening simply as an association of the friends of the In
dian, representing the various Christian organizations with which we
are connected, and with which the Government is cooperating in this
work of the salvation of the Indians. While, then, we keep the general
objects before us, we shall be more at liberty to make individual sug
gestions that shall come as representations from the various religious
organizations of things that need to be remedied; all plans of operation
in which the commissioners may be able to render the societies more
effective co-operation ; things which we may properly ask of the Govern
ment; things which we may properly ask of the people at large. In
short, the whole subject is before us. Looking only to God for his guid
ance, we have a right this evening to consider anything that comprises
the welfare of these our wards as well as the wards of the nation. I had
designed, at an early stage of the meeting, or almost immediately, to
call upon General Howard; but as he has just arrived, it maybe proper
to give him a breathing-spell before he is called to speak ; and, if the
meeting will permit me, I will say that Bishop Whipple expects to leave
us in a few moments, and if he has a word for us, we would like to
hear it.

Bishop WHLPPLE. Mr. Chairman, I c ertaiuly did not expect to say
anything to-night ; but there are two or three thoughts which I can
throw out for the, encouragement of those who are working for the help
less ; and the first is this: There is not to be found on the face of the
earth a heathen people who offer so great an encouragement to the
work of Christian civilization. The North American Indian is the only
heathen on the face of the earth who is not an idolater; who recognizes
at once the fact that there is a Great Spirit; who believes in an unseen
spirit-world, and who has an abiding faith in spirit influence. He also
feels most keenly that he belongs to a common race. Very much of the
hostility of the Indians of to-day is the hostility of despair. It is the
terrible blow that a man who has nothing to hope for strikes toward
his enemies, conscious of past wrongs. If I had the time to-night, I
would like to tell you some of these histories. Perhaps a little incident
that happened to myself will explain. I brought a body of chiefs to
Philadelphia, some lew years ago. My friend, Mr. Welch, took these
Indians to visit the statue of William Penn. He told the Indians the
3 i o

34 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

simple story of Peim s fidelity and love, and the Indians listened
with upturned faces, as though it was a new revelation of the character
of the white man. When Mr. Welch had finished, one of the chiefs
asked, &quot; Where are these Indians?&quot; That told the whole story. I
might explain it by saying that these Indians were our friends during
the revolutionary war, and so faithful were they that Congress thanked
them for their fidelity, and promised them that they never should be re
moved. But they were removed from Ohio ; yet still, true to their plighted
faith, they fought again for us under General Harrison, and again re
ceived a pledge that they never should be removed. They were removed
again, and during our recent civil war the Government asked them to
act as scouts, and their homes were destroyed in their absence, and
very recently, under this Christian policy, they are receiving homes at
the hands of the Government. It is the history of nearly all Indian
tribes. The difficulties connected with this work I alluded to in the
remarks I made to-day. I will mention one incident brought out by the
agent of the Chippewas. He told you that two Indians were hung,
under the suspicion of having murdered an Indian woman. Some wild
Indians came to me last fall, quite a distance, to ask me some very un
pleasant questions. They said very near the place where these Indians
were supposed to have murdered a white woman one of our own wo
men, a very respectable woman, against whom no one could say a
word, who had come down to this trading-post, and was outraged &quot;by
brutal white men, and died under their hands. They complained to
their agent, but he said it was none of his business. All the white
men on the border and the Indians knew she had been murdered by
the white men. Nothing was done, said the Indians. Now, this wo
man is missing : no one has seen her. The bones which were supposed
to be hers were examined b} a physician, after the Indians were hung,
and were pronounced to be deer s bones. Now, said the Indians, why
is this ? How is it ! You hang the Indians under suspicion of commit
ting a crime, and allow your white people to go clear when they have
committed a crime,

Now, I have 110 heart to speak of Indian wrongs. I will only say
that there is a bright side to the picture ; there is a silver lining
to this cloud. The work we are conducting to-day is work for the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is work for our Heavenly Father to help
this poor, wretched race out of their darkness to the light of Chris
tian civilization. And, as I said before, I do not believe that any
Christian body has ever engaged in any work that has brought such
blessed fruits as the work connected with the Indian missions. It may
be said that these are heathen men, and very wretched men, but that is
the mission of the gospel of Christ. There is another side to the ques
tion as well. I can understand how a man could believe that this world
was governed by chance, and that might makes right, and that the
weak must always give place to the strong, and should turn his back
upon the helpless Indian ; but I cannot understand how that could be
done by any man who believes in a God, and who believes in the truth of
God s law, &quot;that whatsoever a mausoweth, that shall he reap,&quot; and that
when a Christian people sow robbery, they reap robbery, and when they
sow murder, they reap murder.

In our own experience we have found out that it was far better for
us to do this Christian work than to leave these poor people unpro
tected, for I believe that our own Sioux massacre in Minnesota was
brought about by shameless robbery, that is to say, the Indians sold
eight hundred thousand acres of their reservation, for which they never

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 35

received one solitary cent. It was absorbed in claims. They waited
two months for annuities. Mad, exasperated, and angry, they said their
children, some of them, would starve to death. A good part of these
annuity moneys had been taken bere at Washington, and used for
schemes, and I believe that since that massacre this Government has
expended more money in the Indian wars that grew out of that piece
of robbery than all the moneys that all the Christian bodies in Amer
ica have expended for missions since this continent was discovered. I
have not a question about it. And I believe that this reward that has
come to every Christian body which has attempted, in the spirit of
Christ, to carry the gospel to these poor people, is a token of the love
of our Father. And if we only have the faith to do the work, leaving
the harvest to God, we shall see this wretched people, and see those
that are now wandering in their darkness, sitting at the feet of the
Savior, &quot; clothed, and in their right mind.&quot;

General HOWARD. Gentlemen, I have listened to-day to the reports
from the different societies with much interest, and many a time I have
thought I would give a great deal if 1 could express the feelings of my
heart as well as they have done. When Bishop Whipple was giv
ing us those interesting incidents, I thought how similar (though he is
in the far Northwest) are all his observations and experiences to those
of the visitors to the extreme Southwest. The character of the Indians
seems to be about the same ; their habits the same ; the treatment that
they have received in the Southwest even worse. My first connection
with the Indians in any way was in 1856 and 1857, when sent to Florida.
I there became somewhat acquainted with the dealings of our people
with them. The cry would come from Florida, &quot; An Indian war ! &quot; when
there were precious few of the Seminoles there and but very little indi
cation of war. But the cry carried money, carried troops, carried sup
plies, into a comparatively desolate region. A great many volunteers
were raised when I was in Florida. I was attached to the Ordnance De
partment, issued arms and ammunition, and so became personally ac
quainted with nearly all the volunteer officers, and with their methods
of dealing; there was nothing which struck me, then, with more horror
than the pursuit of the women and children as a part of the operations
of that war. The idea prevails to-day in a large portion of our country
that to carry on war with any success whatever against Indian tribes
it is necessary to come upon them by surprise and to fire directly into
camps containing women and children as well as men. That massacre
of Camp Grant that horrible massacre which created a shudder, not
only throughout our country, but throughout the world, where so large
a number of women and children were slain and so many children were
carried away captives and sold into slavery, a large number of them
still being in Mexico, and nnrecovered by our Government was only an
instance that was told. Nearly every massacre had been of a similar
character. It is the way that our people have dealt with the Indians.

Now, with reference to our Army, I would like to say a word or two.
In Florida, I found the Army officers, as a general rule, friends of the
Indians. The regular officers of the Army at large were comparatively
friendly with them. I went down there without much feeling in the In
dian s favor. But afterward I became deeply interested in making
peace with them, and went out to do so. I know a great many other
officers who felt in the same way, that it was a most hopeless service,
the most thankless service they could render, to fight Indians.
Many an Army officer on the frontier who is sent to do this work is un
der orders to do it, and he has a very difficult task indeed an exceed-

36 BOARD&quot; OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS

iugly difficult and trying one. But what I refer to respecting the
method of massacring the Indians is this: Where exasperated whites
form volunteer forces, or w T here they spur on the soldiers to do the
work for them, excesses always follow. This was very much the case
with Arizona. It was reported that there was danger of a general
war ; and an appeal of horror came from there as though the people
would all be murdered by the Apaches. Well, war did exist; the
President was in great distress about it 5 the Secretary of the In
terior particularly so ; and it was difficult to tell whom to select to
send out. My Bureau was then about being closed, and Mr. Delano
sent for me. I had a long conversation with him, and he besought
me to go to this country. I went out there for the purpose of mak
ing peace, if possible, or, at any rate, to look into the condition of
affairs and make a report ; to &quot; make one more effort for peace,&quot; as
the President wrote to General Schofield. I went to the commander of
the military division, and then to the commander of the department,
before doing anything special. 1 was also directed to go to the white
inhabitants, Americans and Mexicans, and did so. I proceeded from
village to village. Wherever I could collect them together I informed
them concerning what the President desired. Now, in regard to the
term &quot;Apaches,&quot; I notice that the entire press is at fault, a wrong im
pression is existing. There are those who are called &quot;Apaches&quot; on the
border of Texas. There are those who are called Apaches in the north
eastern corner of Arizona. Now, how is it that these are all &quot;Apaches&quot;
and yet do not speak the same language, and have no relationship the
one with the other! Often it is said that General Crook is pursuing the
&quot;Apaches.&quot; How does that happen when you have made peace with
them &quot;? I wish to explain what is meant by &quot;Apaches.&quot; The answer is
that the wild Mohaves, the Tontos, the Arrivipais, the Piuals, the Sierra
Blancas, the Mimbres, the Chiricahuas, though spread over a vast sec
tion of country, have a similarity of language, and probably have at
some time been united, but the bands now are isolated &quot;by hundreds
of miles. I noticed in Dr. Ferris s report to-day that he spoke of the
Mohave Apaches, and the Mohave Reservation on the Colorado River,
between Arizona and California. Those are &quot; Mohaves,&quot; and not real
Mohave Apaches. The Indians who have escaped from these tribes,
and have intermarried with the wild Apaches, are called Mohave Apaches,
and any wild Mohave who has abandoned his tribe and gone off, is an
Apache. So that all through the northern section the wild Indians of
the reservation, many of them committing depredations, are called
Apaches or Mohave Apaches. Coining down a little farther south,
seventy or eighty miles, there is a section of country called the Tonto
Basin. It is large, surrounded by mountains. In this Tonto Basin there
is a tribe of Indians named Apaches, or &quot;Tonto Apaches.&quot; They are
sometimes called &quot; Tontos.&quot; The word tonto means &quot; fool.&quot;

The first Indians I tried to communicate with were these, and I wish
to tell you an incident that occurred. Some years ago a physician in
our service, not a Regular Army physician, but a contract one, was
stationed at Fort Reno, in the Tonto Basin. It was a fort then occu
pied. The chief and his people came into the fort. A kind of peace
was made with them. When there, this physician undertook to poison
the chief, but did not succeed. His name was Del She or Chel-She. He
gave him a dose of arsenic an overdose. The physician was exceed
ingly anxious to have if take effect ; but he threw it up. He said, when
he approached him the next day, &quot;Amigo,&quot; and as he drew near he shot
him through the body. This even did not kill him. The Indians think

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 37

he bears a charmed life, saying &quot; a ballet went through him and did
not kill him.&quot; This man has, of course, been full of treachery. He will
bring in his people and pretend to do right, and the first that is known
he is doing some mischief. I do not think we can expect much of him.
I have given you a literal case. Since then he has been habitually
treacherous ; but there is something to be said about that on his side :
These Indians, with himself, were brought into Fort McDowell. I visited
Fort McDowell soon after they left. An order was issued by the depart
ment commander in consonance with the order from the military division
and from Army headquarters, fixing the period beyond which Indians were
to be treated as incorrigible, provided they were not on the reservation.
As soon as that order was issued, almost immediately before the day
arrived on which it was to be put in execution, every one of these In
dians was gone from Fort McDowell. I found out how to account for it.
It was simply this: When I first went to the Territory, a man was
recommended to me as the best interpreter I could possibly have. I sent
this interpreter out, and had with him one of the finest young officers
we had in Arizona, with a body of soldiers, to try to communicate with
this tribe. I tried myself in other ways, by smokes and signs, and did
not succeed. It was not until long after that that I discovered the
reason of failure. It was, simply, that this interpreter himself had
killed many Apaches; that they hated him, and that they would give
no sort of sign of their presence upon his approach. One of their chiefs
told me afterward that he was a liar. When we made a peace at Camp
Grant, he said to me, &quot; What will this man do; how will he be able to
get a living? His occupation is gone as soon as peace is made.&quot; That
is the case with many interpreters. Go through that country and you
will find plenty of self constituted interpreters who do the same thing.
What; I mean is, that these interpreters deceive the Indians. This man
whom I first spoke of must have done so, because it was for the Indians
interest to remain there. They were to be fed, and treated kindly, but
they disappeared immediately upon this order being given. They went
outside to take the condition of those who were to be slain rather than
to remain in and receive the benefits of the Government.

Another case of false interpretation occurred at Camp Verdi. It was
told me again and again by witnesses whom I deem perfectly reliable,
by officers of the Army and by citizens, that the interpreters actually
told those Indians that war was to be made upon them that day, and
every one of them fled. Again, there was another order issued to take
them prisoners of war when they came in. This order was interpreted
kindly ; simply to feed them and take care of them as prisoners of war,
with a view of restraining their liberty until peace was made with other
tribes. It was not properly understood, and when executed away from
the commanding general or the Indian agent, it was often cruelly exe
cuted, as at Camp Verdi, where the Indians were placed in irons. Put
two or three Indians in irons, and no more will come in.

Instances of bad faith. There are several instances in this Territory
which show how little we keep faith. After visiting Fort McDowell, I
went to Camp Grant, and succeeded, finally, after a long trial, in mak
ing a peace between thePapagos, Pi- [Ites, Mexicans and others, and the
Apaches at that post, and in that vicinity. We had a grand council at
Camp Grant. It was one of the most trying times I ever had in my life.
The Mexicans and Americans brought up some children that had been
taken at the massacre. They brought them up very readily. I was sur
prised at it ; but I found that they had been deceived ; that they thought I
really would be able to persuade the Indians to allow them to retain the

38 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

children. They wanted to bring them and have the arrangement made. I
was entirely unable to make any such arrangement, and was obliged to
retain them ; and when I pronounced the decision to return them to the
Indians, there was great anger evinced by the Mexicans and Americans,
and it was thought that I was treacherous in the thing. After praying
and thinking over the subject next day, I decided on taking an appeal
from the district attorney, who took grounds against the children s
return to the Indians, to tbe President of the United States. Entertain
ing that appeal, I decided that these children should be placed in the
hands of the agent, and be retained at the agency-building until the
President should decide. The President did decide that they should
be returned to their tribe. It was an instance of justice which pene
trated all the Indian reservations of that region for hundreds of miles
around. Wherever I went, and wherever it was told that I actually
took those who had been captured by the whites and returned them to
the Indians, the faith and the heart of the Indians were with me. The
Mojave Apaches are those at Camp Verdi. They are quite a homo
geneous people, and can understand the Tontos. We succeeded in get
ting two hundred of the latter to come in. While at Camp Grant, one
man came in who was represented to be a bad Indian. There are bad
Indians among these people, but they are not all bad. There are really
comparatively few who are incorrigible, or those who mean to do wrong;
but tb ere are, of course, bad Indians. Well, one of these really bad Indians,
who had always been an enemy of the whites, came in to the reservation.
The agent wished to arrest him, and asked the commander of the post to do
so. The commander of the post sent an officer to make the arrest. The
officer accordingly took a detachment and went out for that purpose,
but did not succeed. He was in the sutler s store, and seeing the soldiers
coming, he rushed out and went among the Tonto Apache Indians.
The soldiers immediately levelled their pieces and tired into the crowd.
The agent having asked for this, and the whole tribe knowing it. lost
confidence in him on that account, and ever after he had to have a
guard with him. He had no wrong intention in asking this assistance
at all, although I think myself that it was exceedingly injudicious, but
he never could recover the confidence of the Indians nor his former
feeling of safety among them.

Breaking the peace. The Mexicans and Americans made peace with
the Apaches, at Camp Grant, and entered into solemn relations of peace.
Who broke it first f Because a bad Indian came on the reservation it
w T as 110 excuse for us to level our muskets into a group of innocent
people. A great many things have occurred at that Camp Grant. I
do not wonder that the Lord has cursed the place so that nobody can
live there without fever. Five Indians were brought in at one time by
a flag of truce, and when they were running across the parade-ground
they were fired on and shot. Within a mile of that post a terrible
massacre occurred. Coming in in the morning at daylight they slew
women and children, yet not a particle of resistance was made. They
were murdered in cold blood. &quot;And you speak of these things as if
there were no excuse P There are plenty of excuses. We have heard
of excuses for such things, and will hear them always. You say we do
not speak of the horrors on the other side. W r e are all acquainted with
the horrors on tbe other side ; perfectly well acquainted with them.
But go to the Indians in the right spirit ; go to them in the way in
which you are going to them now, and it will sooner or later stop these
horrid massacres. It is strange that we cannot see it ! For nearly
twelve years in Arizona we have been at war. We have spent millions

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 39

and millions of money to destroy that portion of the Apaches south of
the country I have been speaking of the Kio-Bonito, the Mimbres,
the Chiricahuas not on reservations, and all that long line of tribes of
Apaches that run down into Mexico. These are different from the
others I have been describing to you. They are really a better class of
people in many respects. I noticed in the tribes that I visited, absolutely
no evidences of uuchastity; they were quick and active; they looked
better and brighter than any of the Indians who had been around the
military posts. We have been nearly twelve years spending money to
suppress them, and yet it could not be done. I tried every means rather
than go myself into their fastnesses. I found there was no other way,
and that I must go without escort and without soldiers, if I would com
municate with them. The Indians advised me, when I had only six
white men in my party and two Indians, when we came within a hun
dred miles of the camp of Cochise, to diminish my party still further.
I diminished it to two besides myself. My party consisted of Captain
Jefferds, Captain Sladen. and myself. Captain Jefferds was a citizen
of the country in whom the Indians had confidence, and Captain Sladeri
was my aid. We went more than a hundred miles with this small
party before we reached the camp of Cochise, and by great care, by
showing signs with smokes, indicating our number, and going entirely
around his camp before we entered, we made our way in through a nar
row pass, through a deep canon ; a place where, if troops had under
taken to enter, every one of them could have been slain. In these
mountains at that point a hundred men could hold at bay ten thousand.
We came into one of the finest natural fortifications I ever saw in my
life. While there communicating with Cochise under that oak tree,
after talking with him. a few minutes, he told me a history, and it is
very much the same that the governor of Arizona has put forth to the
country in print. It was a history of the wrongs of the Apaches. He
says, &quot; We treated the white man well ; we had no trouble with him at
all; we had no war until the Bascom massacre came.&quot; This young offi
cer, Bascom, understood that Cochise s band had taken some children.
He demanded these children. Cochise said they were not in his band.
The officer disputed him and said that they were. He then took Co
chise and three other Indians prisoners. Cochise made his way out
and the others were left. Cochise went out, captured the neighboring
station-man, a white man who had been his friend, put a rope around
his neck, and in plain sight and hearing of Bascom told him that
this man would be hung unless he surrendered his friends. Bascom
hung his friends, and their bodies remained there for years. While out
in that country, a man told me he had slept under the skeletons as the
safest spot, because the Apaches would not go near that point. Co
chise had the rope around this man s neck, attached it to the pommel of
his saddle and choked the man to death. That was the beginning of
the war. From that time on these Apaches have been murdering the
people all the time, and we have been fighting them, and the people
have told me again and again that the average was about ten to one ;
that the Indians had killed ten white men where we had succeeded in killing-
one Indian. I noticed in one of the papers of Arizona that it thanked
God that so many more Indians were killed; but, notwithstanding the
counting up, the number of white men, women, and children vastly ex
ceeded them, and that is the sort of warfare that some men seem to like,
^ow, sometimes there is a little mistake about this. There are some
men (and let me speak plainly) who love to make money out of anything
human life, human blood, human morals, or, from demoralization. Up

4 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

along the coast, they control quite a large trade. The more soldiers
that go down below, the more trade they will have; and then, without
any knowledge whatever, they will send telegrams from the coast above
all over the land with reference to what is being done, and what is
wanted down below. Now, when you go into that territory, there are
a few men who want war, who can make money out of it. They have
prospects of contracts, and their interests lie in that direction. But the
vast majority of the people really are not in favor of war, but have a
theory in their minds that by war they can conquer a peace, and that
eventually they will have peace. They are in a sort of fever all the
time ; they fear the Indians will come in and massacre them ; and then
almost every family has had somebody killed from it. Those of us who
do not live in such a place must remember this : that if we were there
and under these influences w r e would feel and speak very much as they
do. I think we ought to remember that to form a proper judgment
with regard to these people. I do not say it is altogether right, but
that is the feeling through the community with regard to it. They say,
&quot; First conquer the Indians and bring them into subjection ; whip them,
and then you can make men out of them. 1 Now, a little observation of
course will show that that is not so. Go to any tribe really whipped
and you will find that tribe degraded ; the women degraded by the
white men ; drunkenness and debauchery, laziness and worthlessness
prevailing. I could name tribe after tribe of that kind, and in propor
tion as they have been in contact with a horrible class of white men
in that proportion are they degraded and demoralized. But as you go
further from it you find less of that sort of demoralization. These peo
ple say &quot; why do you wish to bring the white man in contact with us.&quot;
For mercy s sake let us bring some degree of Christian or chaste hu
manity into contact w r ith them. But is not the case hopeless? How
can they trust you after such conduct as this toward them ? That
incident of Bishop Whipple, related to-day, touched me very deepl3\
I could name to you very many such instances. It seems so easy to
touch the heart of one of these men. Now, when I started from Wash
ington I believed these Apaches to be the lowest of human beings.
When I arrived at Camp Grant I found the boys quick to learn ; they
gathered around me instantly. I would undertake to teach them Eng
lish, and they to teach me Apache. I had a little book, writing down
their words. They were kind, showed no hostility, were glad to welcome
me. I went among them in this spirit, wearing a pleasant face, with
out a pistol or any weapon but a jack-knife, and I found no difficulty.
One night, in company with some gentlemen, we went out unarmed
seven or eight miles, and sat with the chief, who regarded our visit as
a special mark of favor. Another time I met an old man, and said to
him, u You have a Father above ; I have the same Father; therefore,
we are brothers. 7 He sat and looked into my face a moment, got up
and walked across the room and gave me his hand. He was my strongest
friend afterward. He is to-day working for peace. He came to Wash
ington with me, and helped to bring others who were reluctant in the
beginning. And this is the simple truth. I saw a man who came into
Camp Grant, who was full of hatred, who was opposed to the policy of
the President of the United States, who was opposed to anything that
was respectable in the Christian faith, who w r as opposed to the Indians
per se. I saw him there. I noticed the distrust of his countenance. I
noticed the way in which he treated the interpreter. I noticed his
whole bearing; and I also noticed the reciprocity of hate from these
people. They have not learned to bless their enemies, and bless those

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 41

who curse them and despitefully use them and maltreat them. That
must come in a different way. I do not say that I might not have been
killed. I would not have blamed them particularly if they had killed
me. But what was the truth ? I staid eleven days in the camp of the
wildest Indians in Arizona, and while I was there I sent out to the
neighboring posts not to attack any parties unless they were commit
ting depredations. I was instantly published as having reversed the
order of the President of the United Sfates, and as protecting these
criminals through the country ; but if they had assaulted one of these
parties coming in, of course we would have been taken out and hung.
We knew that. Now, all the time we were there Cochise himself was
in a fever of anxiety on that subject, and kept speaking to us again and
again about it. He said to me, &quot; What will be done to the Indians
coming inf It was on that account that he was anxious, lie became
more and more attached to us, and he did not mean that anything be
longing to us should be touched or that our lives should be put in jeop
ardy. Now, a good deal has been said about citizenship.

The Papagos near Tucson. The Papagos in the vicinity of Tucson
will be aided best by citizenship. They have not education. I was very
much in favor of education preceding citizenship for the colored people
in the beginning, but I found out afterward that citizenship is the
lead-horse. It is absolutely necessary. Just as long as it was possible
to prevent the freed men from voting by burning down their school-
houses that work was done. Even in the civilized State of Maryland
twelve school-houses were burned to prevent them from learning ; but
the instant they attained citizenship that work ceased altogether.
Now, give to these Papagos in the vicinity of Tucson citizenship,
and you will be perfectly astonished to see what fine people they
will become. They can have no rights now; they have none. They
keep crowding them in all the time. Some of them tell me, \vith a
great deal of feeling, that they are gradually loosing their lands. They
ask : &quot; Cannot something be done?&quot; The agent asks for a reservation
in the vicinity of Tucson. But citizenship is better than a reservation.
If we give them citizenship it will no longer be Papago, Papago, but it
will be William Jones, John Brown, and so on, with all the rights of in
dividual men.

With reference to the Pimas on the Gila, about everything was said
by Dr. Ferris that was necessary. They have expressed a wish to go to
the Indian country. But if they remain in Arizona, give them citizen
ship also. The people love citizens in Arizona, and like to have their
votes. They get all the citizens they can. They count up nearly ten
thousand within the limits of the Territory, I believe. But they will
have more when they have these, and then, instead of being Pimas, as
I said, they will be individual men and have individual rights. A great
many will say they are not prepared for citizenship. They are prepared
for the rights and responsibilities of citizens. If you give suffrage to
them, they will be able to protect their own property, a ; nd they can be
punished for their crimes. Citizens came in a body to us as we passed
through Arizona on our way home. The Kepresentative from Arizona
was present, the superintendent of Indian affairs, the agent, and others,
and these citizens begged and plead for troops to be brought to keep
peace between the Pimas and the whites. It shows us that the feeling
of hostility does not exist toward the &quot;Apaches&quot; alone, and this in
stance was sufficient to show it, and we did recommend earnestly to
General Crook to send down a company to be in that immediate vicinity
to keep the peace. But if our Government will give them the rights of

42 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

citizenship, I think the whole difficulty will be settled, because they will
have the right to move from the Gila River, where their territory is
cramped, and can go to Salt, the Colorado, or to any other river of the
Territory, and do as other citizens do take up land where there is
laud fit for cultivation.

I recommended in Arizona a diminution of that department. Now a
great many people wonder I have sustained General Crook so often, and
have spoken to ine about it. General Crook is an excellent officer. He
is a very quiet and retiring man, and I believe only seeks to do his duty
as he is instructed, and he does it conscientiously. That is my opinion
after long association with him. And yet a great many subordinate offi
cers exceed their instructions, and are guilty of cruelties. But the trou
ble is not with General Crook. It is with the endeavor to keep peace
with the Indians, and make war upon them at the same time. It is the
want of a clear and distinct understanding of the way to deal with this
whole question. Now the agents are very few in number, and they are
hundreds of miles apart. Here is Dr. Tonner, one of the agents on the
Colorado River. Several hundred miles from him is another agent, at
Camp Verde. Several hundred miles is another, at Camp Grant. A
hundred and twenty miles is another, tip at Camp Apache. Now what
is there behind these agents ? They have a few employes, and these
employes, as a general thing, must be taken from the country ; for you
cannot get men to go from the east, and therefore you get those very
often who have been for a long time drunkards, sometimes licentious,
and guilty of other immoralities. At one station in New Mexico, a Na-
vajo station, I found that nearly every subordinate was guilty of some
of these vices, and a man who was recommended for a sub-agent was
not yet married to the mother of his children. Now what is the remedy J ?
It is not sufficient to send an agent to one of these frontier posts or sta
tions, but you must send a good Christian blacksmith, a good man for
teamster, a good man for butcher, and they must be amply efficient in
their trades, as well as good men. It may be necessary to pav more
than the Government pays in order to get a Christian blacksmith, but
the societies had better give the whole price than to have one who is
guilty of nothing but gross profanity, or some other crime. Profanity
prevails in that country, and I hardly ever found an employe at stations
or on stage-routes who was not full of it, who was not always insulting
the Almighty. Certainly, with such instrumentalities, you cannot civilize
anybody. Therefore you must plow deeper than your agents. Agents
have a hard, very hard time. In Arizona one of the agents told me, and I
believe him, that it took every cent of his pay to procure just his food.
Now what inducement is there for him to stay, but the love of his fellow-
man and the love of his Maker J ? An agent all alone, with nothing to back
him, stands in very poor circumstances to do much good. Then, again,
as to the teachers. I was glad to hear some one speak of teachers who
are willing to go along with these nomadic tribes. They are continually
changing their camps and localities, and for some time you must let them
do it. Those in New Mexico will not remain stationary. If two or three
die in a camp, they will never stay there. When they remove, the
teacher must go with them. Now, if he obtains their confidence, he can
go with them, and they will treat him with the utmost hospitality and
kindness; but if he has a nice house and they have none, there is a little
envy and talk, and it is a difficult thing to answer; but if he will go
among them, he can do a great deal in teaching under the trees through
out the ir wanderings. The boys and girls will gather around him
and drink in his instructions daily. We must go on for awhile in that way.

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 43

Of course it will be well to change this order of things, but can it
be done? Now, in order to demonstrate clearly that it can be done, all
that is needed is to pass from one reservation to another. You take the
Camp Grant reservation, which is a recent one, anil nothing of the
kind is yet undertaken. Go to Camp Apache, a little longer in opera
tion, although under an incomplete and poor system in its work; yet
up there there are ten tribes and the most of them are planting. I
visited one of the planting- grounds off ten miles with one of the Indians
who came on here. His name is Pedro. He was cultivating plenty of
as good corn as I have ever seen, and some vegetables were being raised.
He took a great interest in this, and has now procured some cattle,
a present that was made him through the Secretary of the Inte
rior. He is preserving them and they are increasing. He was very
much delighted with everything he saw in the East, and he writes me. or
dictates a letter, showing how he proposes to educate his children, and
how he is working hard to carry out our instructions; and he has asked
a little house to be built him, worth, perhaps, a hundred dollars. As
soon as he gets a house some of the other people will want one, and
little by little they will gather in the vicinity of these corn-fields, and
they will have habitations. Forty miles on I went to Miguel s planting-
grounds and there found very good crops of corn. Eighteen miles far
ther another, and there found better crops than the last place. These
chiefs, now, would be very glad indeed to have a house. They have
each asked for one, and if they once succeed and obtain one that they
like, they will remain there and the people will group about them, and,
little by little, will make their homes. There is plenty of timber in that
country. It was the knowledge that these men gained when they came
East which has helped them. Now, you may say, u they did not really
become Christians, did they ?&quot; There does not seem to be anything stand
ing in the way of their becoming Christians. There seemed to be no idol
atry. You present the simple Father to them and they love Him. Do
you say at once that they were rid of all their bad habits ? Of course
not. Miguel said to me, when he was reflecting on his journey East,
&quot; There are two ways; one is a good way, and the other is a bad way.
I want to keep on the good way, until I get to God.&quot; And I do think,
after a careful eight months inspection of these people, and after hav
ing lived with them, that they are as capable of culture as any other
people on the face of the globe. They are supposed to be the lowest
and the vilest. If they are the lowest and the vilest, we have reason to
thank God, because they are accessible, because they are docile, because
they are easily won by kindness and the spirit of love, and it is thoroughly
possible to get along with them. A great many people differ, and you will
hear speeches if you will go into that/section of the country full of tire and
hate and enumerating all the wrongs and crimes that these Apaches
have committed, and saying that you must deal with them with the
bayonet, and that only; that you must kill them or bring them into sub
jection by fire, and a great many people all over the East are convinced
that that is the case. One of our prominent scientific men, a Christian
gentleman, told me that it was the will of the Almighty that these In
dians should be wiped from the face of the earth ; and many people
whom I meet with daily in Christian circles intimate the same thing.
But it is not true. If any man could so fix it upon my mind as to make
ine believe it, my faith in God would be shaken. They are children of
a common Father, they are reached by the same methods by which men
are reached here, and if you once, and only once, can get their hearts
filled with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are safe, and if you go

44 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

among them in His name, without fear and without hate, you will sel
dom meet with even a discourtesy.

Mr. WELCH. Mr. Chairman, before we proceed to the discussion of the
four or five points which will be taken up directly, I think it is exceed
ingly important that we should hear from another stand-point. I see
General Hazeu is present. He has much information, and, for one,
I should be very glad to hear from him. I think it is important
that those doing work from the church stand-point should have an op
portunity of being brought face to face with the officers of the Army,
who are supposed to be Indian exterminators.

At the request of the Chair, General Hazen spoke as follows :
General HAZEN. Mr. Chairman, it will be very little I have to say,
but I wish to corroborate very many things that General Howard has
said, not that it needs it, but that his experience has been in many cases
my own. I have been glad to hear from his own mouth the very in
teresting account of his mission, and I know it will do a great deal of
good. And, as Mr. Welch has remarked, I wish to say one thing
with regard to the Army which I represent, being, perhaps, the
only representative besides General Howard here. I think there has
been some little misunderstanding as to the feeling of the Army toward
the Indians. There have been a great many blunders, and there has
been a sort of double management in Indian matters, which, as in
all other matters, must create confusion and do harm. But as an in
stance, coming under my immediate observation, as to the feelings of
the troops, I will say that in 1855, when I graduated at the Military
Academy, I was sent to Oregon to join the Fourth Infantry. 1 joined the
post at Fort Lane, in South Oregon. It was commanded by Captain A.
J. Smith. A few days before my arrival there had been a controversy
between a white man and an Indian about a pony. It increased into a
quarrel, whereupon the white man pulled out his pistol and shot the
Indian. His people very soon afterward shot some white men. We
had gathered in the vicinity of Fort Lane, the post to which I reported,
a large number of the Indians known as Eogue River Indians, in that
country. We were awakened one morning at the post by the continued
noise of musketry in the direction of one of these camps, known as Old
John s. We immediately hastened over there, and found the people of
Jacksonville had formed a company of men, under one Major Lupton.
and about the break of day they had attacked this camp and murdered
indiscriminately a number of Indians. The Indians not killed, the men
particularly, gathered their horses, and commenced a general massacre
of the citizens, men, women, and children, on the upper portion of
Eogue Elver, killitfg and burning everything that remained there, and
then went over toward the mouth of the river, and the.w r ar of Oregon of
1855 and 185G commenced. We gathered up all the Indians who re
mained near the post, and who had not received word in time to join this
party which had become hostile and had committed these murders. We
obtained from off the country the servants, for then there were a great
many of the servants who were Indians, and gathered them in, knowing
that the hostility was so great they would otherwise be murdered in
cold blood. We had probably a hundred half-civilized Indians that
we brought in for that purpose, and we had four or five hundred Indians
under a chief known as &quot; Old Sam.&quot; We had no sooner got these In
dians together about the post, than this same company sent in a mes
sage to Captain Smith that he must surrender them, or upon a certain
occasion they would attack their camp. There was considerable feeling
throughout thecountry. Captain Smith sent back themessage that if they

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 45

attacked these Indians, they would first have to attack and kill all the
United States troops stationed at that post. His firmness in this matter
prevented any attack. He protected these Indians while they were in
great fright, for they were continually receiving information that they
would be attacked and killed. As soon as this excitement had fairly
subsided Captain Smith was sent, with all the troops and a large num
ber of volunteers, down to the mouth of the Rogue River, to make war
on this first party which had been attacked. The war continued for six
or eight months, costing the Government many millions of dollars, ap
propriated since by Congress. I was sent, with the peaceful portion of
these Indians, up to a new reservation in Oregon. I located them there,
set them at work there, and I remained with them nearly a year. I
knew nothing of their progress until last season when I saw, through
the report of Mr. Brunot, they were still on that reservation and had
made much progress. I merely speak of this to show you that the of
ficers of the Army are not all hostile ; neither do I believe there are
many but who would be glad to carry out a peaceful policy toward the
Indians if there could be some sort of close relationship and co-opera
tion between yourselves and the Army in order to prevent massacres
and to prevent a conflict of authority and of orders. After the war I
found myself, in 1868, in charge of the Southern Indians the wild In
dians. I was sent on this duty under the auspices of the Indian peace
commission. The New York mission that preceded this present organ
ization was composed of members of Congress and others. I was told
to go to Fort Cobb and gather in all the Indians who wished to keep
out of hostility. I went there, assisted by Captain Alvord. We told
all of the Indians who wished to keep out of the war, then pending, to
come there, and that they should be protected, and there should be no
military operations against them. I was told by the highest authority
to tell them this, and also that I would stay with them, and would take
care of them, and would teach them various things, as I was instructed
to do. They told me, in a laughing way : &quot;Why, this has been told us
a half-dozen times before, and three times we have been put in a very
fair way of improving; and your Great Father has taken away his
chief, and has ceased to do the things he said he would do.&quot; Sure
enough, in about four weeks a large military command came, under mil
itary auspices, and settled itsejf in my camp, frightening a great num
ber of these people away. They did not return there until the military
expedition left that country, toward spring, and I do not think they
have all returned yet ; at least, not to my knowledge, while I was there.
So the Indians were right and I was wrong. We did not do toward
them as we said we would do. And in a great many ways, under my
own observation, other promises, made in good faith to them by those
sent among them, were not sustained. And, in that relation, I must say
it is exceedingly important that this commission should continue its
work. The great trouble has been, ever since my knowledge of Indian
matters commenced, that a set of agents to these Indians will be sent
among these people, making the promises they were told to make
by the highest authority of the land; they would commence carry
ing out this policy ; they would do what they could ; when, in the
natural course of events in our country, a new administration would
take control of things, and that new administration would not recog
nize the promises and the policy which had been advanced before. I
seethrough this commission, sinceits organization, such improvement as I
have never before seen in my lite. In fact, I have never until now seen
any progress in Indian matters. It passed along from year to year, and

46 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

was without improvement or opportunity for improvement. But I have
seen, with my own eyes and understanding, the beginning of a regular
organization and a regular plan and an actual improvement among the
Indians themselves; and I am perfectly confident, from my own ob
servation, that if this commission can be continued and can do its duty
as it has been doing it, for the next four or five years, that we may safely
believe the Indian troubles will be nearly at an end. I will only refer
to the fact that I was so impressed with the importance of enlisting the
sympathies of the good citizens of the country that, before this com
mission was organized in January, 1868, I wrote to Peter Cooper, then
the president of what was known as the Indian peace commission, to
please send some gentleman of their own society to live with me that
winter and to learn what could be learned by personal observation.
The response was quickly made, and Mr. Colyer came. The amount of
good he did I do not know. I think it was considerable. Very soon
after that time this present body was appointed, and I must say it is
doing its work well, and will certainly succeed if it only perseveres in
keeping up its own life and organization.

I, however, now come to one thing, and the only thing I came here
really to say. I found on the Washita Kiver a most peaceable and
deserving band of Indians. Soon after going to Fort Cobb they came
and wished to talk with ine. Their story, which I knew to be true,
was that they had always lived upon that river. The mountains
and the river had their own name. In 185S the Caddoes and some
other bands were sent up from Texas by the Government with the
promise that they should have a home there. They are now known as
the Wichitas. They have never been given any land at all, and live
there at present by sufferance. While the Indians who have fought us ;
who have given us a great deal of trouble, and on whom is annually ex
pended large sums of money, the Cheyennes and Apaches, and many
others, all have land. These people say &quot; this country of ours is given
away to these people who have fought you, and we, who have raised
corn, who make our own houses, who did not trouble you, who did not
go away, who, during your great war, removed to Kansas to keep out
of the way, were left on our own grounds without any reservation or
home, not knowing but what, at any time, it will be given away as you
have given away a large portion of it already.&quot; They said to me if you
can do anything for us please to do so ; and I came here to-night, as it
has been the first time 1 have had an opportunity to speak about it, to
attempt to fulfill that promise. I hope that if this society can influence
the assignment of a home to these people, which they may know is their
own, that they wilt do so.

Mr. WELCH. I would like to say a word in regard to this. There is
a railroad now just completed, passing within a very few miles of these
very Indians, and I speak with great earnestness when I say that I
hope the Christian people of the country will look after that particular
tribe of Indians. I know them to be deserving. I know that they feel
they have been greatly neglected. They can be reached with very
great ease, the railroad being built almost to their very doors.

Mr. BRUNOT. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say a word or two in
reference to the Wichitas who have been spoken of. The first annual
report of the Board of Commissioners entered at large into a statement
very much such as General Hazen has just given us. Knowing the facts
in the case, we endeavored to induce the Government to set apart a
reservation specially for these Indians.

I wish to say, in reference to a remark made by my friend Mr. Welch,

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 47

iii relation to officers of the Army, (although I know it was merely a
jocose remark,) lest it might, by any possibility, be misunderstood, that
I have seen these officers in all parts of the country during the last four
years, have met with them at many posts, and I never yet have found
an officer of rank and experience in the Army who did not express him
self in sympathy with the present policy of the President toward the
Indians. I have received from them always courtesy and co-operation.
There may be such men, but I say that among those I have met there
has not been one who has not expressed himself in sympathy with this
policy of the President, which looks to the civilization of the Indian
race, and I know not one of them who does not believe that the Indians
are capable of becoming civilized ; that they have in them the same
ability to reach civilization in due time, under proper care, as exists in
the white race. I have said this lest there might be any misunder
standing in regard to the opinions which our board have of the Army,
and in view of the efforts of interested parties opponents of the
Christian policy of the President to disturb the friendly relations which
exist.

General HOWARD. Mr. President, I wish to call the attention of the
Board of Commissioner to this point ; to ask them to do what they can
in the way of suggestion or recommendation to prevent what one officer
styled in a letter to me as &quot; the double-headed policy.&quot; There is no
double-headed policy in the President s mind, but I can give you one
instance which will indicate the thing clearly. Last summer the
Apache chiefs were here. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs promised
them, the Secretary of the Interior promised them, the President of the
United States promised them, and I promised them, the same thing. It
was this : That if they would remain on their reservation and behave
themselves, they should have the privilege of planting, the privilege of
the freedom of the reservation, and should be unmolested. These
Indians went right back, and I had hardly reached home before I
received piteous letters through the agents stating that a captain some
body had arrived on that post, not coming from this direction, but from
the other way and that he had ordered every one of them men, women,
and children into the post, and ordered that not one of them should
go a mile beyond the post, under penalty of death. They begged that
they might be relieved from that order, wanting to know how it was
that, after we made these promises, immediately they should be violated.
Now, you may ask how that was possible, or consistent with orders.
The department commander was carrying on war against what are
called the incorrigible Indians, and he wanted these people to come
into the post and to remain there close to it so that he would be sure
that none of them would afford assistance to the others, and also that
he would be able to protect them. These were doubtless his reasons,
and he was operating under indirect orders from the War Department.
You will thus notice how the one case com.es in conflict with the other.
But if we take a little pains there maj r be one single policy as indicated
and desired by our good friend, General Hazen.

Mr. WELCH. Mr. Chairman, a single word. I only desire to say that
the Army officers with whom I have been brought in contact have been
as good Indian friends as I have ever seen. I have conferred with
General Sherman for the last few years, and have been most cordially
supported by him. I can say the same of the department commanders
of the Missouri and Nebraska. They have supported me most cordially,
and those under them have put themselves out of the way to do so, and
have really, I think, felt a great deal more interest in the working of

48 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

the Indian commission than has the Christian church. And it is
very encouraging to know that we are working in perfect harmony,
while there seems to be a set of thieves and plunderers who are trying
to hiss us down at all times for the purpose of gain by the introduction
of their own policy. It is they who are trying to sap the foundation of
the work we are doing, and who start these stories of a difference be
tween the two branches.

The CHAIRMAN. The evening is passing somewhat, and there were
a number of topics suggested at different times during the day which it
was thought would require thorough discussion. 1 will mention some
of them, and perhaps during the rest of the evening we can confine our
selves mostly to the consideration of one or the other of them, inasmuch
as they have a perfectly practical bearing. We have been hearing a
great deal of the evils with which we have to contend. Our object now
is to find out how best we can meet and overcome these evils. First,
then, u How to secure proper employes. 7 Second, &quot; How to secure
missionary work at every agency.&quot; Third, &quot;The true doctrine and
the true methods to secure legislation in relation to titles to land in
severalty to the Indians. 77 u Complaints against agents when believed
to be unjust. What shall we do with regard to them ? w

Dr. LOWRIE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest a topic, and that
is, whether it would be practicable for us in this country to take a leaf
out of the hand-book of the British in India. They govern India mainly
by native soldiers, commanded by British officers of high order of
character, and distinguished men. The rank and file are native Hin
doos. I have been for months and months revolving these matters in
my own mind, with a growing conviction that a great advantage would
be gained by dispensing with the common soldiers, necessarily retain
ing, and wishing to retain, the officers on whom we must rely, and sub
stituting Indian soldiers for the rank and file. I can see certain dif
ficulties, but I think I see great benefit, and I would like very much it
that was put down as a topic if it is thought worth while. I think it
would save the Government a great expense and the Indian women a
great degree of demoralization. I think it would save many causes of
outbreak that now occur, especially on the part of intoxicated white
men as soldiers. There are certain other reasons, but I wish to indicate
a general subject-
Mr. WELCH. Mr. Chairman, I question very much if that topic should
be discussed. We had better have that which all can agree upon, and
I move that we proceed to consider the matter of lands. That is one of
the fundamental principles, and one which will bring up the question of
citizenship and all.

The CHAIRMAN. I remember there was one other topic that was dis
cussed some time during the day, and it was thought advisable to refer
to it again ; that is, the administration of law among; the Indians. It
seems to rne a very important one.

Mr. WELCH. I move that we proceed to consider that subject.
Dr. TREAT. Mr. Chairman, I do not wish that Dr. Lowrie s point
should be disposed of so easily. I think there is a possibility of the
consummation of an arrangement to be beneficial in all ways. It is in
proof that a number of Dakota Indians were used as scouts, and very
successfully used, very economically and very efficiently. That is, the
purposes for which they were used were accomplished in a very proper
and economical manner. And I have doubts whether our friends
would not be perfectly satisfied with some arrangement that could be
made. I am not sure just what the arrangement should be, but it

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 49

seems to me, and has seemed to me for some time, that the Indians
might very successfully be used as a police.

Mr. WELCH. They are so used.

Dr. TREAT. And much more extensively than they now are. They
might be used as scouts or as among the Choetaws. But in some way
it seems to me that topic merits our consideration.

The CHAIRMAN. If there is no other topic presented, perhaps we may
as well come to the consideration of the topic which Mr. Welch sug
gested ; namely, the title to be secured to the Indians to their lands in
several ty.

Mr. WELCH. Then I will open the discussion by saying it is the
question of the present day. When we first commenced this work those
who are making their gains out of the spoils of the weaker had pretty
much the whole Indian work in their possession. We have driven them
from point to point. At that time all the purchases were made under
their direct supervision ; so that in some cases we found that not over
one-tenth of the appropriations made by Government have reached the
Indians. The Indian commission commenced with the dry-goods first.
As soon as they secured an honest administration in that branch, im
mediately the same men went to the groceries and freight. One
item of freight was charged at $170,000 in one year, and the next year
the same men carried it for $30,000. Then they were driven to one
other matter, which was, applying to Congress for appropriations
to the Indians, and they would take from 50, 60, 70, to 80, and 90 per
cent, of that. That has been stopped by legislation. Now they seem
by one consent to have settled down upon the land question, and there
are powerful organizations here and in other parts of the country, that
mean to deprive the Indians of every acre of their land, claiming that
they have no more right to it than a wolf or a bear. About giving the
Indians laud in severalty, there are difficulties. When I was last in
Washington, after returning from a visit to the Indians, I found them
exceedingly anxious on that subject. I examined the question of their
titles, and saw that they were worth nothing at all. I went to the In
terior Department and asked some questions. They directed me to the
law-officer, the Assistant Attorney-General, who has charge of that de
partment, to examine the laws, and see whether there was any existing
law that would enable the President of the United States or any other
authority to give a title to the lands that the Indians held in severalty ;
whether the Government of the United States could give a title to the In
dian, that he or his family should remain in possession without the
power of alienation. That law-officer examined, and said it would re
quire legislation. There is now a disposition on the part of nearly all
that are interested in what is sometimes called land-grabbing, to show
that the Indian has nothing more than a possessory title, even to the
reservation, so that some legislation will be necessary. I do not know
of any persons who would think of it more. carefully or prepare for it
with greater propriety than the Board of Indian Commissioners. I have
been assured that the President of the United States could not give this
title that we want. It has become very clear, I think, to all minds, aud
to those who have visited the Indian reservations, especially, that they
cannot long retain their large tracts of land ; that civilization is press
ing, and this possessory title is not the kind that would enable them
to retain permanently more than they could well cultivate. When the
Indians have asked, time aud again, in council, what 1 thought on that
subject, I simply said, &quot;If this territory is yours now, that is, if the
United States has given it to you, as a reservation, I believe, after di-

50 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

viding to you in severally in this form, if you choose to make improve
ments on them, no power on earth can dispossess you.&quot; And I believe
that to-day. I believe that the Christian bodies represented here can
have power enough to give the Indians perfect titles to farms. Beyond
that I do not think we have power to go. We are always anxious to
have this subject considered by the Christian people of this laud, and
the Indians be made to realize it as soon as they can. Hunting is be
coming an uncertain means of subsistence, and we have found that a
number of wild men have been driven in for food during the last winter
and the winter before, showing that they cannot live much longer by
hunting and fishing and so on. This subject, therefore, becomes one of
the deepest interest, and I hope gentlemen who have had experience in
it will give it consideration. If we can only agree upon some basis and
are willing to band together, I have, no doubt just such legislation can
be had for it, touching farms of respectable size, as we desire ; but that
some legislation is necessary, I was assured by the law-officer of the In
terior Department, who said that the President could not give a title
to it.

About citizenship there is no question. It is admitted everywhere
that an Indian in this country has a perfect right to leave his tribe, to
.surrender his title to anything that the tribe may get, and take up a
tract of land as freely as any white man does. Dr. Treat referred to it
to-day. I am familiar with these Indians, and observed them. Those
who left the Santee agency went out without anything at all. 1 was in
the governor s office when they brought in their money in five and ten
cent pieces as they had got them, and paid it on their laud. They have
that land now, and have cultivated it to a certain extent. They left all
their roving tribal relations the moment they were allowed to become
citizens of the United States and take up land as any other. Therefore
that question is settled. If they do leave them and abandon their tribal
relations they abandon all the money due to that tribe, and it is after
ward paid to the other members. However, Congress at its last ses
sion was very liberal indeed in authorizing the Secretary of the Interior
to feed those Indians, if necessary, who had left the tribes of the Santee
Sioux and gone off and taken up farms, showing that there was a kindly
feeling toward them. Out of the large appropriations to the Sioux they
now have authority to feed these Indians, if it should become necessary,
so that as far as the citizenship is concerned that is arranged for. I do
not see how 7 the United States could w r ell make citizens of foreigners
with w r hom they have treated ; and there is one of the difficulties. If
they treat with them as a foreign power they cannot well be both a for
eign power under a treaty and citizens at the same time; but if they
are willing to abandon one there is no difficulty. That, however, is an
open question, which has never reached any judicial decision, and it
may be well, perhaps, to consider the subject. But the importance ot
their having land of their own is evident, and those of us who have had
the subject before us see that we cannot make much progress until that
is done. There is great jealousy upon the part of some of the tribes.
The Oneidas have a beautiful tract of land which they are afraid they
cannot keep. Many of them wish it divided into severalty, but no
movement can be made in that way unless the whole tribe can agree;
and there is the difficulty. It is a very serious subject, but the infiueuce
we can exert by way of agents from these tribes would influence their
opinion very much indeed, and we do not believe that they acquire the
habits of civilized life to any high degree until they do get that influ
ence. But then comes difficulty with the Indians in many cases like

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 51

those you have heard of to-day. When a death occurs, everything is
parted with. They think a white man is hard-hearted because he lives
in his house as comfortably after the death of a relative as before. But
these difficulties have been overcome generally by Christian influence,
and we have ennobled them and lifted them up. Some of us have seen
these men persecuted like the early Christians wften they dared at the
time of the death of any of their relations to retain their property and
to prevent those from taking it who came around like buzzards. But
the subject of the land question I feel is the one upon which we should
baud together ; for that is the last ditch, it is the last fight, and you and
I know something about it. You know that we have made the battle
here. We know there is to be a dreadful fight, and unless we band to
gether we will be w hipped.

Mr. HAYDEN, of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, I never made a public speech
in my life, but my experience on the frontier makes me feel that I ought
to speak. We have in New Mexico a perfect title given to all the In
dians in New Mexico of all the land they could cultivate, and we see in
New Mexico along the banks of the Rio Grande towns of Indians per
fectly isolated from the balance of the population, and who do not enter
into their political matters. They have their farms, their little bands
of cattle, and seem to be the most happy people in the country. They
never have been contaminated by contact with the Army, which has
been kept in the country, and are an exceedingly good people, and it
seems to me that it arises from the fact that they had these lauds and
that they have had something on w r hich to rest and they had been pro
tected in it. As I have been so long on the frontier, of course I enter
into the feelings of the frontier people, and I am satisfied in my own
mind that the great difficulty of managing this Indian question in re
gard to lauds is, that the Government has given them much more than
the frontier people think the} had any use for, or that they could make
any use of, and they have therefore encroached upon them and driven
them from one point to another, while if they had given them what they
could have used, and then educated them, or if you could now sell their
lands for the purpose of education, it would be much better. If they
are your wards, can you not take their property and apply it for the
purposes of elevating the Indians, making them fit for civilization?
Give them all the land they can possibly use, make a perfect title which
will never be disturbed. I do not think it will ever be destroyed by the
frontier people or by anybody else if they only had the lariid they could
use, and all they could use, and then they themselves would feel satis
fied. We could make them feel that they would always possess that
land. I am familiar with this subject in Arizona because I have been
there fourteen years and know a great deal about the Indians. But 1
wanted to call your attention to the fact that there w r ere Indians in the
United States having lands which were given them by the Spanish go
vernment the title to which has never been disturbed, and that these
Pueblo Indians, as the New Mexican people have told me, are the very
best citizens they have of the working population.

The CHAIRMAN. We are very glad, indeed, to have heard from Mr.
Hayden.

Mr. JANNEY. Mr. Chairman, this is a subject which I think is very
important to the welfare of the Indians. As I have had some connec
tion with the management of the question I think it right to express
my views. When I went out as superintendent of the Northern super-
intendency there were three of the tribes who had the privilege of re
ceiving the land in severalty. Perhaps I should say two of them at that

52 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

time. They were the Omahas, the Santees, and the Winnebagoes. ID
one of the first councils I held among them this question came up :
Whether they were willing that the Government should proceed to sur
vey this land and allot them in several ty. They were apprehensive
about it at first. I suppose their apprehension was, that if a portion
was given, to them in small farms of one hundred and sixty or one
hundred and eighty acres, the remainder would probably be jeopardized
that they might be deprived of it. I succeeded in overcoming their ob
jections, and they agreed to have their lands divided to them. By a
treaty with the Omahas they were entitled to one hundred and sixty
acres to a family, and forty acres, I think, to a single individual. The
Winnebagoes had different stipulations, I think. They could receive
but eighty acres. The survey was made, and it was a long time before
the certificates came to the Wiunebagoes. They only received them a
few months ago, after waiting, perhaps, two years, owing to delay, I sup
pose, in the Laud-Office. However, the more fully they came to under
stand the importance of it the more did they desire to receive these
patents, as they are called, or certificates. The certificates granted to
the Omahas gave them only a possessory title, to descend to their chil
dren. They could not alienate their lands; they could not convey them
to a white person. They could convey them to the Government alone.
It was thought necessary, as they are wards of the nation, that they
should not have the power to dispose of their lands to white men, be
cause, if they did so, white men would go among them on the reserva
tion ; would have a right to go there, and would corrupt them, and they
are so little capable of coping with white people in bargains that it was
believed they would lose their lands if they had the privilege of selling
them. That was my impression, and I yet say that I think the arrange
ment is a suitable one; but I think they ought to have a permanent
title. They ought to be secured in the possession of their lands. The
people of that State are very desirous to have all the Indians removed.
Their legislature is of that opinion; their governor, while 1 was there,
recommended it, and the only safety for these Indians is in the protection
of the Federal Government. I believe that their progress in civilization
and Christianity depends greatly upon their having permanent homes
and having those homes improved. That they should be assisted to
build their houses, have their lands broken and fenced, and have wells
dug to supply them with water. They will then feel as if they had
homes; and that is one of the first steps toward their civilization. My
impression is that after having received their allotment they would have
too much land. The Winnebagoes have about ninety thousand acres,
and the Omahas, of whom there are only about a thousand, have two
hundred thousand acres.

A VOICE. Very fine land, too.

Mr. JANNEY. At the last session of Congress a law was passed author
izing the survey and sale of fifty thousand acres of land, of the reserva
tion of the Omahas, to sell to the white people, the funds to be applied
to building houses, supplying live stock and agricultural implements,
and to start an industrial boarding-school. A survey has been made,
and 1 suppose about this time they are nearly ready to bring the land
into market. This will reduce their reservation to one hundred and
fifty thousand acres, and it will still be ample. Perhaps they could
spare more, and as there is so much jealousy on the part of the white
people about their having so large a reservation, I approve of their be
ing reduced to a moderate size and the proceeds applied to their benefit.

The Sautees have a possessory title only. There is not a regular res-

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 53

ervation authorized by Congress. They were merely placed there by
the President or by the Secretary of the Interior, and their titles, I
suppose, are simply possessory titles. But if it is necessary to have
further legislation in order to secure them in these lands they have had
surveyed and allotted to them, I should think it proper for this body or
for the Board of Indian Commissioners to advise the right kind of
measures, and to recommend them to Congress. This important question
should be acted upon, and wisely acted upon.

The CHAIRMAN. It is not in the province of the chairman to direct
the course of remarks on this subject, but it seems to me that we hardly
need any discussion on the importance of having the Indians coming
to secure possession of their lands. It seems to me the object of dis
cussion is, how shall we promote that? and if any gentleman present
has anything to suggest in that line, it would appear to me to be most
appropriate.

Mr. TATHAM. Mr. Chairman, this question seems to me to lie at the
foundation of your success or failure, in regard to the elevation of the
Indians. I regret to find in the report of the Indian commissioner
sentiments which, to my mind, are subversive of success. In order to
justify this country with the practice which has prevailed for a long
time, he has to go back hundreds of years, when it was supposed that
kings ruled by divine right, and that whatever they said or did was law
immutable. I hold in my hand some of his remarks to that effect, from
which he argues that the Indian has no right to the lands in this
country at all, except what he derives from the United States Govern
ment. He says that in the early history of the western world, the prin
ciple was established, as between European nations, that discovery con
fers sovereignty upon the government under whose authority the dis
covery was made, and the discoverer w T as accorded the exclusive right
to acquire the sole possession and title. He then goes on to show that
the rights of the Indian are nothing but possessory rights. Bishop
Whipple, in a very interesting speech, quoted the language, although
I do not know where from, that the land belongs to the saints, and we
were the saints. That was the common feeling then, but I believe it has
degenerated into an idea that they have no rights except what they de
rive from us. I wish to argue the rights of conquest and that kind of
thing. If there are any rights of conquest to be given to men, I cannot
find that Christians can avail themselves of that right, who call them
selves the followers of Christ, and whose title must be read in the New
Testament. We do not have to go back, I think, to those old times
when might made right. If we take the Declaration of Indepen
dence as the foundation of our Government, we find there the
broadest declaration of human rights, applicable to all men, and not
at all excluding Indians. If we take up the Constitution of the United
States we find it very much in accordance with that. Therefore, whether
we take the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, or
whether we go back to the higher law, which I think is binding upon
us as Christians, we do not find any authority to deny to a people pos
sessing the land their right to it. They have the right of possession.
They have had the right of descent from time immemorial, and who can
question such a title as that ? Who is there in this room who can claim
a right to any of the Indians land under any law! Who is there in the
United States who can do so! Not a soul. Then why is it that we
find throughout this report sentiments which seem to ignore the rights
of Indians because they made treaties with the United States. I will
.grant that, under the laws of the United States made with the Indians,

54 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

the Indian gets no title, but he had a title anterior to that of the United
States which no honest man will question ; and I hold that as men, if
we want the property of another, whether it be land or whether it be
goods, we ought to buy it, and pay for it a fair consideration, such as
they are willing to part with it for. I therefore am prepared to take
issue with this general feeling that the Indian has no right to the soil.
He has a right to the soil as much as any of us have. Here is a senti
ment which was expressed by the former Commissioner of Indian
Affairs in referring to certain Indians : u These Indians have never been
collected upon a reservation, nor brought under the immediate super
vision of any agent. So long as their country shall remain unoccu
pied and not in demand for settlement by the whites, it will be scarcely
desirable to make a change in their location. &quot; That is the history of
the whole thing.

Mr. WELCH. Tbat is a particular tribe, is it not ?

Mr. TATHAM. It is applicable to the whole of them. So &quot;long 1 as it
is not wanted for settlement they ought to be allowed to have it.&quot;

Mr. WELCH. That is an argument outside of reservation.

Mr. TATHAM. Undoubtedly. The Indians, in many cases, have ceded
portions of their territory piece-meal ; but does that destroy their right
to what is left ? Who had the right before ? When they ceded it,
when the Government of the United States made a bargain with them,
under the term of treaties, it was a bargain, an agreement. And when
they came to&quot; the Indians, and made an agreement that they were to
have so much land that was formerly the Indians , and guaranteeing
them their possession forever of the balance, we did not take away the
original right of the Indians. It added to it, if it added anything. It
added the promise of the United States and guaranteed them posses
sion. It did not take away their original right. Therefore, it seems
to me that the assumption that the Indian has no right to the land he
lives on is something that we as Christians must take issue with.

Now, I wish to make a few remarks in reference to the Stockbridge-
Indians. This tribe were formerly an intelligent and prosperous people
not a whit behind the most advanced race, possessed of good farms, well
stocked, and industrious ; but, unfortunately for them, they, much to
the advantage of the Government which acquired thereby a valuable
tract of land for white settlement removed in 1857 to their present
place of abode. The change has proved highly detrimental to their in
terests and prospects. Their new reservation is, the greater part of it,,
poor, and the soil is seriously affected by the wet seasons and frequent
ly by frost, and has never yielded them more than a meager subsist-
ance. And the Commissioner goes on to describe the miserable effect
which our paternal Government had inflicted by cheating these men and
despoiling them of their improved soil and putting them on a place where
white men would not be content to live. This constant removal and rob
bery of the Indians lies at the foundation of your want of success. I
have traced the history of the action of benevolent people for many
years ; from the time, I think, of Little Turtle, in seventeen hundred
and something. Ever since the days of William Penn I rind one simi
lar thing all the way through : that when an Indian has improved his
land, and is in a fair way of success, the cupidity and avarice of the
white man comes in, displaces him, and, by one plea and another, re
moves him. Now, I think the proper part is that we must attach them
to the soil in some way. Generations have gone before you, and, in an
honest desire to raise this people, the same feeling has actuated the
hearts of benevolent people before, and yet they have failed, and why t

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 55

Because the Indian lias not been possessed of the soil. Therefore, it
seems to me that we must take some measure to attach them to their
land and to maintain their rights. So long as the Indian, or any other
human, peaceful being is looked upon as an outlaw having no rights
which white men are bound to respect, so long as that, your efforts to
raise them will be futile. How late is it since the colored man attained
his rights ? I know I am trenching upon another subject. I have seen
the time when the colored orphan asylum in New York was burned and
gutted, and when the streets were filled with people carrying away the
spoils from that institution ; why ? Because there was no protection in
law. As I have said repeatedly, if Alexander T. Stewart s store in New
York was known to be beyond the protection of law for six hours, there
would not be a shred left in it.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman I suppose would not have the same
measures adopted to secure the Indian his rights that was pursued in
the case of the negro. Can he suggest some remedy 1 ?

Mr. TATHAM. Our friends will remember last year I took the same
ground. Some worthy interested men were afraid of political action.
We were trenching upon politics, and that was dangerous ground. It is
the only ground that we can stand on in this country. What is Con
gress ? They are the expressed will of the laud. Their &quot;acts are supreme.
And what is Congress composed of? The representatives from locali
ties all over the United States. Are they interested in this 7 Who cares
for the Indians ? None. Not a voice, unless some benevolent man rises
up to protect them. There are some benevolent people, and I hope I
am one of them. But we must increase our number. You who repre
sent your Christian denominations numbered by millions must educate
your people to this point, and in some way ask them to cast their vote
for you. When you tell these people in the Capitol that votes de
pend upon their action then they will come with cap in hand. They
never will succeed until they exercise the right to vote. What was the
colored man until he obtained that right ? 1 was one of those whom
General Howard referred to as doubtful about giving it until they were
qualified for it. They had no standing. There were none so poor to do
them reverence, but the instant they obtained a vote you saw the thing
transformed, and now even some of your members of Congress are
colored men. The negroes have nothing more to be desired in that
respect. Give the Indians the right of citizenship and the right to vote,
and the whole matter is secured. It seems to me there is no other way
than that, and therefore it seems to me we must turn our attention to
that. If the gentlemen who represent the different denominations here
will agree with that, and carry that out and enlist their people in sup
port of it, the thing can be done.

Dr. BACKUS : Mr. President, I do not propose to be lengthy, but I
should want hours to discuss this subject fully. My mind, for four
years, has been settled upon citizenship, as that to which we must
come, and I was glad to hear General Howard speak in favor of it. I
have said it in private, and have said it when and where I thought it
was proper in public. I do not believe we can stop short of it and
have peace with the Indians. But I do not know how soon we shall be
prepared to come to it. I know we took great care of the colored people
for many years, and for many years the Government thought it was
cruel to leave them to suffer ; but we have allowed colored people the
privilege of citizenship, arid I think we should now allow the Indians
the same privilege. But I could stand here an hour and name objec
tions to that course. I see serious difficulties ; but I do not see light

56 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

in any other source than citizenship, and that qualification will carry
with it homes, property, voting, government everything. I believe
the Indians will stand under that work, and do it as well as any of us,
when they are brought to it. I spent some weeks in the Cherokee
Nation. I was in the capitol, both in the upper and lower house, day
after day, when they were in session. The chairman of the upper house
asked to have a conference. I complied. He named a day, and took a
whole day in conferring with me on the interests of government, and I
was very much pleased to have him do so. He gave me much light
into their matters. They have a printed constitution ; have a printing-
press, which I helped them to get.

They print the paper ; they print their own laws 5 and, I believe, they
print for the Government whatever is needed. They conduct their
business in their upper and lower house with their first, second, and
third chiefs, under their own regulations, as well as some of our State
legislatures, in my opinion. I saw that, by dividing their land, they
could give four hundred acres to each Cherokee who breathes. I think
I made it by a calculation four hundred and four acres. That could be
given to a Cherokee or to an adopted citizen. Now, suppose they did
so. It is said that the whites would cheat them out of it. Then, why
do not you take care of two-thirds of the poor whites I Because the
other third is cheating them out of their land, as they have been
doing every day since their existence. There is a class of whites who
cheat the poor jvhites. Why do not you make wards of them, then ?
The same thing is done right over here among ourselves, and we
had better begin at home, and take care of our own poor fellows be
fore we go off and take care of the Indians, as I see it. But, again :
Suppose it is so conveyed that a man sells his laud, but cannot con
vey away that of his wife any more than we can that which belongs to
our wives. You fix that so that you hold one third of my real estate.
Well, let the Indian woman hold hers. Provide for her as I have pro
vided for my wife, and you may provide for the children if you please.
But as to the whites going in, I have studied that subject ; I have con
versed with Secretary Cox and Secretary Delano, and I say it is the
mischief of the thing that the whites go in ; I saw several cases. We
had an excellent student in the school under one of our teachers some few
years ago. She was the best pupil in the school, and, as our teacher be
lieved, possessed one of the noblest minds and hearts. But she mar
ried a loose reckless white fellow, who went in there from nobody could
find out where. The commissioner said he was well educated, had been
a scholar somewhere, had been in fine position, and belonged to a family
of accomplishment. The teacher said that could be seen in him, but
said he, he has lost it all ; he has gone into the lowest depth of degra
dation, and now he has taken my best pupil away and I cannot stop
him, and day after day I had seen this man in his white skin ride his
horse into the capitol and then ride out into some settlement of these
Indians, drinking and carousing, and that was all he did. Any rascal
can come there, marry an Indian woman and be protected, and more
peisons rush in there who would otherwise be in State s prison or at the
gallows than go anywhere else. A large proportion of their white
population has run away from justice and from the gallows. I met two
men, each named Hunt ; one was from Michigan and the other from a
town in Tennessee, I think. I said to one of them, &quot;Are you related f He
replied that they were not, and said, &quot; We never met each other until we
met down here, but one of us has married an Indian woman ; that makes
him a citizen here, and he hires me to work for him. That he has a

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 57

right to do, and we are making money hand over fist. We are cutting
off the lumber for thirty miles around here and the regulations allow it,
and that Hunt, who married the Indian woman, is a citizen and I am
his hired man.&quot; I said, &quot; Don t you take half the money f He said &quot;No,
not while I am here in the territory. I am at work for him because he
is a citizen.&quot; And I see these advantages are taken, and I would rather
a thousand times that you would let your white mechanics and white
farmers and white stock-drovers take the land and buy it, and live
there and be an example for them and show them the use of agricultural
implements and how to cultivate the land, &c., than to have the class of
population which now infests that country. I say it would be better to
give such a white population who could go there and buy the laud and
set a good example and afford protection j and I say again that the In
dians of the Cherokee Nation and I say it only for illustration are
as competent to-day to elect their governor, lieutenant-governor, sena
tors, assemblymen, and justices, as are white men. And they have
them now. They have their nine judicial districts, their nine judges,
they have their circuits ; they are well arranged, and it needs but a
slight change to organize their government into that of a State, allowing
them representation here at Washington as other States. I say to you,
.as I said to Secretary Delano, &quot; You take these prairie chickens, tie them
foot to foot by fives or tens, and they will die ; but cut them loose and
let them stand, and they will take care of themselves.&quot; And just so it
is with these Indians : tied, crippled, and fettered. It is said that they
do not want citizenship. I talked that all through witli my friend, the
chairman of the upper house. When I first proposed it he seemed
alarmed, but before I left him he was cheerful at the thought. It used
to be told us that the colored people did not want their liberty ; that it
was the worst thing you could give them. I tell you the best thing
you can give to a human being is citizenship. Let self-reliance take
possession of a person, and he will make something that he never will
reach as a ward. The land belongs to them or it does not. If it does
belong to them, give it to them ; but we give it to them as I give any
thing to my little sou. I say,&quot; That is yours, but don t you sell it, my
boy.&quot; Well, then, it is not his. The Indians are simply playing that it
is theirs, while we have everything in our power and do as we please.
If we want to go through their territory with a railroad, we go. If we
want to appropriate their property to ourselves, we say it is not theirs.
I feel assured that the time is coining when we should step forth and
recognize the rights of these Indians to citizenship and property. If
they lose their property, they are doing no more than we have done be
fore them. More than one-half of us are losing ours, but we go to work
and get more; we have to do so. If we were all wards and could fall
back on the Government to bring us food, it might be different. When
we have happened to have had a hard winter, 1 do not see anything
but a county-house for a great many whites. Still, &quot; root hog or die &quot;
is a principle j and let us put them in a position to &quot; root.&quot;

Mr. lioss. Mr. President, I had not proposed to say a word in rela
tion to any of these questions. I came here to listen and not to speak.
But, as the distinguished gentleman who has just taken his seat has
referred to the Cherokee country, I hope I shall be excused for saying
a few words in relation to the subject now under discussion. Two re
marks were made this evening that struck me very forcibly. One was
by Bishop Whipple. If I caught the idea correctly, it was this: that
most of the difficulties which occurred with the Indians spring from a
feeling of despair. That was one idea. And why does that feeling or

58 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

sentiment exist in the minds of the Indians ? Is it not, simply, sir, be
cause there has not been that entire good faith observed toward him
that ever should be observed, and because the danger is that there is
to be no such faith extended, and he is doomed to nothing but disap
pointment throughout his whole life! That is the cause of this senti
ment, and I ask this meeting, composed of gentlemen distinguished in
so many various denominations and in so many walks of life, to bear
that fact in mind, and let them, so far as their influence and their ac
tion may go, keep an eye in regard to legislation that is even now going
on at the national capital.

The next sentiment to which my attention was called, if I mistake
not, was that of the distinguished officer of the Army who visited Ari
zona. His idea was simply this : to treat the Indians as he would treat
any other men. Well, sir, I say so, too. If he is a man and endowed
as other men, if he has ears to hear, tongue to speak, and heart to feel,
treat him as a man. If we make a pledge to that man, carry it out.
If we agree to do a certain thing with him, do it. Now, sir. in regard
to the Indian Territory, a question has to-day been discussed involving
the future political condition of that Territory, and of the seventy
thousand Indians who are there to-day, and others who, in all human
probability, are to be brought there. You have within the limits of
that Indian Territory what I conceive to be the hope of the rest of the
few hundred of thousands of Indians that are left within your limits.
And I therefore think that this is a question of the gravest importance :
the manner in which the legislation of this Government shall be con
ducted respecting these Indians. I need not tell this honorable meet
ing that the most of the Indians who inhabit that Territory were taken
there from east of the Mississippi. I need not tell this meeting that
they went there under obligations which are still in existence as a part
of the plighted faith of the Government of the United States ; that
they should be protected in their rights ; that that Territory which is
ceded to them should never in any time to come, without their consent,
be embraced within the limits or jurisdiction of any State or Territory.
That pledge exists to-day. And so far as the question of title is con
cerned, I wish to state that there has recently been a decision of the
Supreme Court of the United States, growing out of a sale of six hun
dred thousand acres, located in the southeast corner of the State of
Kansas, to Mr. Joy. That case came up before the Supreme Court of
the United States in such a manner as to involve the question of the
title that these Cherokees had to that portion of their country, and the
Supreme Court decided that the Cherokee Indians obtained from the
Government of the United States a fee-simple title to that country,
and that that tract of six hundred thousand acres was embraced in the
same patent executed in 1838 by Mr. Van Buren and the Cherokee Na
tion, in which was included also the present strip of country which they
now occupy. Well, sir, it is in accordance, as I believe, with law,
common sense, and justice. If it be correct, what is the position which
the Cherokee Nation occupies to-day in relation to this diminished
reservation, which is only four million two hundred thousand acres left
of the fourteen millions of acres that they owned about the time that
the war commenced ? Why, sir, it is theirs. If they own the fee-simple
title to it, how do you propose to say to these Indians that they shall
retain only one hundred and sixty acres of it, and that they shall sell
the remainder of it? It is their own. If they have a right to one foot
of it, they have a right to it all. And beside that, the Choctaws and
Creeks and the Seminoles own their lauds in the same way. These

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 59

Indians have, in my opinion, a fee-simple title to the country that they
now occupy. It was given to them when that country was not needed ;
when it was a wilderness, and when it was the policy and the purpose
of the Government to force them from the States where they then lived.
Now, if they have a fee-simple title, have you any right to say that they
shall sell all over a hundred and sixty acres per head ? Why not, upon
the same principle, go into the States and parcel out all the large planta
tions that exist ? I think there ought to be some distinction made in
legislation in regard to Indians, between the tribes who are considered
to be civilized and those who are nomadic. They talk about Indians
indiscriminately. They draw no distinction between the Indians who
are living to-day by the sweat of their brow, cultivating the soil and
raising stock, and those who have no local habitation, and hardly a
name. There ought to be a difference in the legislation of the country ;
but still they ought to be treated as one. My friend, Mr. Backus, thinks
we have had a bad class of people coming into the Cherokee country.
We have precisely the same class of people in Washington and in the
Indian country. We have good, bad, and indifferent. I do not think
the class of white people, taken as a class, who go into the Cherokee
country, deserve the reproach to the extent they receive it from the
hands of persons who frequently speak of whites who go into that
country. I am very far from indorsing their character. But if that be
true on the one hand, and that class of people ought to be kept out of
the country, how are we to be benefited when we are made citizens, and
the whole white population is thrown among us indiscriminately f There
is an inconsistency in it, it appears to me. If these white people com
ing in among us are exerting such a bad influence, will the influence be
any better when the whole race overflows the land &amp;lt;? There is another
question of importance involved in regard to the rights of the Indians in
that country. It is the distinction which is tried to be drawn between the
rights of the soil and the sovereignty. They say Congress has the right
to legislate on questions purely political, but that it has no right to
interfere with the soil. They say, &quot; Therefore we will not regard our
pledges to you and protect you, but we will extend a territorial govern
ment and influence over you.&quot; The right of self-government of these
Indians was a part of the consideration which induced them to remove
from east of the Mississippi, and I do not see how it is practicable,
under the circumstances, for any territorial bill at present to be
passed that will affect the Indians in that Territory, and at the same
time the good faith of the Government be preserved. I know that
this is a difficult question. I know it is going to take time to work
it out, but I am clearly under the impression that the policy which
is pursued in protecting these Indians on their reservations is the
correct one. I do not know of any Indians in any of the adjoining
States who are allowed to live there in any peace, who have been
protected. Nearly all the Indians in Kansas and that section of
country have been forced away, notwithstanding some of them had
their laud assigned to them in severalty, and had become citizens of
the United States, as in the case of the Pottawatomies. They had not
been allowed to remain there, and had been forced by pressure of cir
cumstances, not by law, to leave the limits of Kansas, and are now
domiciled again in the Indian Territory, after having been made citizens
of the United States, with the declaration of law that, while therein the
Indian Territory, although they are citizens of the United States they
shall not claim or enjoy any other rights than Indians in that Terri-

60 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

tory, who are not citizens. They make them citizens, and then they
go down there under these conditions.

Now if Indians cannot live in peace on their diminished reservations
in the State of Kansas, I want to know what inducement they have to
change their political relations, and ask that they may be overwhelmed
by a white population ?

If I thought they were ready for such a change, I would say let it
come ; but believing they are not prepared, I hope it will not take
place. I hope more time will be given to these Cherokees, and to the
neighboring tribes, to develop and improve until they shall become pre
pared to enjoy the rights of citizenship. In this connection I may state
that we have had about sixty schools in operation during the past year.
We have an orphan asylum, at which we have seventy-five pupils.
We propose to add $100,000 to it out of the proceeds of the sale of our
lands. We propose out of the same fund to set aside $100,000 to es
tablish an institution for the blind and insane ; $75,000 more out of the
same source for the purpose of establishing a school, into which we shall
introduce destitute children from seven to ten years of age, Speaking
the Indian language almost exclusively, and give them a knowledge of
the English language.

And there is where the great difficulty lies between the Indians and
the whites. There are two difficulties : one is the Indian, as a general
thing, has not been brought up from early childhood to habits of in
dustry ; and the next is, we find, among these many civilized tribes,
that a large majority of the people do not understand the English lan
guage, and, of course, find it difficult to get along when thrown into
competition with the whites. Our plan is, as rapidly as possible to
teach these children the English language, and then teach them the
higher branches of education if we can, so that whenever these changes
do take place, (I know they are inevitable, but I hope they will not
occur at present,) the great mass of our people will be in a condi
tion themselves voluntarily to accept of the change in their constitution,
and not feel that it is going to be their ruin, and involve them in blood
shed, as they would feel if the thing were peremptorily pressed upon
them at present.

Dr. FERRIS. I would like to ask Brother Ross what proportion of the
Cherokees are not able to speak the English language ?

Mr. Boss. I merely make an estimate w 7 hen I say there must be two-
thirds of them who cannot speak English.

Mr. WELSH. To bring this matter to a practical point, I would merely
move that the Board of Indian Commissioners be requested to procure
such legislation as will enable the Government to give a title to farms
to Indians 5 that seems to me to be all that is necessary. Some little
legislation is needful. My motion is that the Board of Commissioners
be requested to consider the propriety of the matter, arid act upon it
if they see fit.

Mr. TATHAM. I should be glad if the representatives of the various
bodies here would say that we remonstrate against all action tending
to rob the Indians of their land, and that we will not vote for any
man, but will do all we can to prevent the return of any man, who casts
a vote in that direction.

The motion of Mr. W^elch was carried unanimously.

Mr. WELCH. As to the administration of law, there is one bill which
has just passed the Senate, providing for the appointment of five inspect
ors, who are to visit each year every Indian reservation with special
reference to seeing how far law is administered, and in what way it

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 61

can be administered. Congress sees tbe difficulty, and they are en
deavoring to remedy it.

General HOWARD. Mr. President, I think, on the subject of the law,
that the suggestions of Bishop Whipple were right to the point. I saw,
all through Arizona, that there was a necessity for some legislation be
yond anything which now exists ; that certainly there should be some
body clothed with judicial authority. A great complaint arises in
Arizona that crime is not punished. That is true. There is no pun
ishment for crime unless you bring the army and shoot right into
a whole tribe, although the depredations may have been committed
by but a few. If there were magistrates to punish the guilty it would save
the Pimas from a great deal of unmerited accusation, and it would be
the same with the Papagos. In speaking some time ago in respect to
citizenship, I had in mind especially these tribes. They need men of
judicial functions. In the different pueblos in New Mexico they have
their own methods of government. All ought to be under some law, so
that all will feel that when murders are committed the criminal may be
brought to justice and punished, be he white or be he Indian.

Mr. WELCH. I would be glad to hear whether the Board of Indian
Commissioners have that subject especially before them. The chair
man is right. He has seen the evil. It must be remedied in some way.
We find it utterly impossible in the Indian country, unless we are near
some fort, to obtain justice. People may depredate and do anything
they please ; there is no law.

The CHAIRMAN. Will Mr. Brunot give us information on that point?

Mr. BRUNOT. Our board have again and again had that question be
fore them, and in our visits to the Indians we have constantly had be
fore us evidences of the necessity of some civil laws which may be ex
tended over certain tribes. It would be utterly impracticable to extend
our civil law over all the Indian tribes without doing a vast deal of
mischief. The exercise of the plainest law over some of the wild tribes
would be simply and necessarily considered by them as an act of war.
They are not capable of understanding it in any other way, and until
they are taught better there is no wisdom in proposing to extend civil
law over such tribes. On the other hand, there are other tribes of In
dians as capable of being ruled by the civil laws of our country as our
selves, and I believe that, if these laws were extended over them, there
would be far less crime committed within these communities than in
any white community I know of relatively to the population. I may
mention one or two incidents. Take, for instance, a tribe 1 visited a few
years ago where there had been eleven murders of Indians by Indians
within a year, and yet no adequate punishment could be administered
lor the simple reason that the first attempt of the superintendent to
secure the punishment of one of these murderers was resisted by attor
neys among the whites, and the person was discharged by the court. I
found, at one place, two Indians wearing a ball and chain under the
superintendent s sentence of six mouths at Lard labor for murder.
They were very anxious, at the close of the council, to have the oppor
tunity of appealing to me against the supposed wrong being perpetrated
upon them by the superintendent, I agreed to hear them, and after the
council they came. I said, in answer to their question as to why the
superintendent was allowed to make them wear these chains and to
work, u What does he punish you for P u For killing a man.&quot; I said,
&quot; Did you kill him P They replied, &quot; Yes, we killed; him but then we
had a right to do it he killed one of our friends/ And that was all
their idea of law; yet these people were working as white men work and

62 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

among white men. They wore the clothing of civilized men, some of
them spoke English well, and were as well fitted for the possession of
citizenship as white people of a similar class in that part of the country.
That is one illustration. Perhaps another, which occurred in the same
region, would be still more striking. Three or four years ago an order
was issued that as slavery had been abolished within the limits of the
United States, the President could not permit slavery to exist among
the Indians. Consequently it became necessary that a number of per
sons of other tribes held among the Indians should be allowed to go
back to their friends. There was one man who could read and write
and had what is called a good common-school education, and was at
that time in the employ of the superintendent of Indian affairs of the
Territory. He had in his family a slave, an Indian girl, whom he re
garded as a member of his family. I believe they were greatly attached
to her, and she occupied almost the relation of one of the children.
When this order was given to him and he was required to free the girl,
he quietly said, u I will free my slave in my own Avay,&quot; and he deliber
ately w r eut home and shot her. That man could not be punished,
although the incident occurred almost in the suburb of one of the
western towns, simply because the civil law of the country could not be
exercised over the Indians. Such had been the decision of the courts.
The thing had been attempted, and it could not be done. A more strik
ing illustration than this probably would not be needed, and I presume
even these w r ere not needed to convince the gentlemen present of the
necessity of some action.

Then on the other point of the necessity of such extension of civil
law there, as shall protect the Indians against the whites, as well as
against each other, I mention a single instance. On the borders of the
Indian Territory, in a town containing a population of some hundreds,
not more than three years ago, an Indian was lying in a saloon on a
bench asleep. I believe he W 7 as not intoxicated. Several young men
entered the saloon, and one of them said, he believed he would kill that
Indian. He took out his revolver, and shot at the sleeping man as he
lay on the bench, and killed him. After the deed was done, it was
thought there might possibly be some punishment attempted. The
father of the murderer w r as the judge of the court. The judge was
immediately sought. He was aroused at midnight, was consulted
on the subject, and at once organized his court, assembled a jury, tried
the criminal, acquitted him, and the next day he w r as a free man, and
none could touch him for the crime he had committed. That, I presume,
is a sufficiently striking illustration of the difficulty of obtaining justice
for the Indians in some quarters of the border.

Now, sir, as to the remedy, our board have done what w r e could in the
way of public recommendation iti several reports ; and, in the report just
printed, we have asked or recommended that a law should be enacted
which will authorize the President of the United States, at his discre
tion, to extend the civil law by proclamation over any Indian tribe
where he should deem it proper. I know of no other plan by which
this thing can be reached without doing a degree of damage in some
quarters, not perhaps equal to, but approximating in some degree the
good it would do in others. I hope the gentlemen present will use what
ever influence they may have with the members of Congress to induce
the enactment of such a law as this which we have recommended.

The CHAIRMAN. I suppose it is drawing near the time to close the
discussion. There is one question, however, w 7 hich I would like to ask
Mr. Brunot in relation to this suggestion to Congress, and that is whether

JOURNAL OF SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 63

it is accompanied with this condition : that the President have authority
to extend the laws of the United States, or such laws as are applica
ble over the Indians, whenever they consent to it. If it does not em
brace that condition, then we run counter to the principle of our whole
treatment of the Indian nations, as a separate organized or unorganized
independent body. The whole policy of the Government has been
hitherto to treat with them, and the moment you begin to treat with
them you treat with them as outside persons, over whom we have no
other authority than those which are secured to us by treaty. And it
seems to me that any recommendation to Congress to empower the
President thus to act should be accompanied with this condition,
&quot; whenever they are prepared to receive it. 77

Mr. BRUNOT. I would state in reply, and as additional information on
the subject, that at the reservation on the west coast from which I have
taken my illustrations, the Indians have for years desired that there
should be protection to their lives by the extension over them of law
for the punishment of crimes. Nearly all the treaties provide that the
civil law of the United States may be extended over the Indians at some
time, I believe, when they shall be deemed fitted for it ; shall abandon
their tribal relations, and express the wisn to become citizens. That is
the usual provision. But, I think, that this civil law should be extended
over them^ even though they shall not be entitled to the privilege
of citizenship. I do not wish to be misunderstood. I think many of
these people are fitted for citizenship now, and should have that privi
lege. But I do not wish thai they shall wait for this protection to their
lives until the Government is ready, or the people around them are
ready to concede to them that privilege.

Mr. TATHAM. Mr. Chairman, I believe it is a well-settled principle of
law that crime committed in any jurisdiction is subject to that juris
diction. If an Englishman, for instance, were to commit a murder
here he is liable to the law here. I do not say that in the instance of
murder mentioned by Mr. Bruuot the prisoner was not amenable to
the law of the land. It was not, as I understand him, committed on a
reservation. The difficulty is that these Indians are held to be outlaws,
and to have no standing in court, and where that ruling comes from 1
cannot understand. We took some action in reference to this matter
last year, presented a memorial to Congress, and I know it had great
effect upon them. If it had been followed up Congress was ready, as I
was informed, to enact a suitable law. But nothing has been done. It
seems to me it is necessary, when we ask or recommend to Congress any
action, that we should be prepared with some provision to that end.
There is no use in making a general request ; they have no time to at
tend to it. You must first have the thing clearly arranged ; then wait
upon them and give your reasons, and I have no doubt you will succeed.

The CHAIRMAN. In other words, the gentleman thinks that it would
be expedient for the Board of Commissioners, or some person connected
with them, to prepare a bill such as they think Congress should enact
and put it into the hands of some member of Congress who will see that
it is properly presented. To pass a resolution and ask Congress -to do
something without ourselves furnishing them with an idea of what we
want done is just to do nothing.

Adjourned to meet at 11 a. m. to-morrow.

The meeting was held, pursuant to adjournment, at 11 o clock a. in.,
Thursday, January 10.

Rev. George Whipple was requested to continue as chairman, and Rev.
J. G. Brown was elected secretary.

64 BOARD OF INDIAN COMMISSIONERS.

After some discussion, tbe following resolution was adopted:
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to wait upon the
President to inform him of the substance of the reports given by the
several delegations representing the progress of the work in which we
have been engaged, and to communicate our high gratification with the
sentiments expressed by him in his letter to a Hon. Geo. H. Stuart, of
the Board of Indian Commissioners, October 20, 1872, in which, refer
ring to a rumor of a, contemplated change iu the policy, he said :

Such a thing has not been thought of. If the present policy toward the Indians can be
improved iu any way I will always be ready to receive suggestions on the subject; but if
any change is made it nrnst be on the side of the civilization and christianization of the
Indians. I do not believe our Creator ever placed the different races of men on this earth with
the view of having the stronger exert all his energies in exterminating the weaker. If any
change takes place in the Indian policy of the Government, while I hold my present office,
it will be on the humanitarian side of the question.

The following gentlemen were named as the committee: Rev. George Whipple, chair
man; Benjamin Tathain, esq., Rev. J. M. Ferris, D. D., Rev. Dr. Dashiell, and John A.
King. esq.

The committee called upon the President, and having performed the
duty assigned them, the following letter was addressed to the President
by the chairman :

WASHINGTON, D. C., January 16, 1873.
To the President of the United Stales :

A meeting of representatives of the various missionary and other organizations, co-operat
ing with the Government in the care of the Indians, %v as held at Washington, on the 15th
and 16th of January instant.

The representatives present, deeply impressed with the very gratifying reports of the suc
cessful working of the peace policy of the administration, and the very encouraging results
of their missionary labors in connection with it, unanimously

&quot; Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to wait upon the President, to inform
him of the substance of the reports given by the several delegations representing the pro
gress of the work in which we have been engaged, and to communicate our high gratifica
tion with the sentiments expressed by him in his letter to a member of the board of Indian
commissioners, October 26, 1872, in which, referring to a rumor of a contemplated change in
the policy, he said :

&quot; Such a thing has not been thought of. If the present policy toward the Indians can be
improved in any way, I will always be ready to receive suggestions on the subject, but if
any change is made, it must be on the side of the civilization and christianization of the
Indian. I do not believe our Creator ever placed the different races of men on this earth
with the view of having the stronger exert all his energies in exterminating the weaker. If
any change takes place in the Indian policy of the Government, while I hold my present
office, it will be on the humanitarian side of the question.

&quot; U. S. GRANT.&quot;

The following gentlemen were named as the committee : Rev. George Whipple, chairman ;
Benjamin Tatham, esq., Rev. J. M. Ferris, D. D , Rev. Dr. Dashiel, John A. King, esq.

The committee having waited on you in person, and collectively and individually ex
pressed to you their high appreciation of the policy referred to, their great gratification at
the success reported from all parts of the field, and their profound conviction that a few years
continuance of that policy will place it beyond the fear of hostile intervention, and insure
its ultimate triumph in the civilization of the Indians, it only remains for me, Mr. Presi
dent, to assure you of the continued and cordial co-operation of the various bodies repre
sented in the meeting, and implore for you the continued presence and blessing of Almighty
God.

Very respectfully and truly yours, &.c.,

GEORGE WHIPPLE,

Chairman of the Committee.
THOMAS K. CRKE, Secretary

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY

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