A a. – Report of a visit to Red Cloud and chiefs of
the Ogallala Sioux, by Commissioner Felix R. Brunot.
SIR: In further reply to the letter of the Secretary of the Interior of the 19th instant, requesting that some of our board should visit the Ogallala Sioux under Red Cloud for the purpose therein stated, I have the honor to report that I arrived at this post on the evening of the 9th instant, and met Red Cloud and a number of the principal chiefs and braves on Monday, 12th, in council. Red Cloud did not seem disposed to select a place in the reservation for the agency, but wanted time to consider the subject and consult with those of his people who were absent. He subsequently accepted the situation – said he was in favor of doing what we desire, but that he dared not to name a place for the agency without consultation wlth all the other chiefs, and especially some of the wilder ones who were not present. He said he would go and call them together and urge them to name a place in their own country for the agency – he thought he would succeed in convincing them that it was best to do so – and whatever decision was arrived at, he would return as soon as possible and communicate it to General Smith and Agent Wham. He could not be induced to name a specific time for his return, but will return as soon as they can come together and arrive at a decision in regard to the place. He was told that in fifteen days another council would be held, when he would be expected to be present and prepared to designate a place; that if he did not come, the other chiefs would be asked to name a place.
On the morning of the 14th the other chiefs present at the council called to tell me that Red Cloud had gone to consult those who were absent, and they would wait fifteen days, and then, if he did not name the place, they would fix it themselves and go there. They said they thought White River the best place. The principal men among them were "Man-afraid-of-his-horses," "Red Dog," "American Horse," and others. My impression is that Red Cloud will return and a proper place will be selected with consent of all, or nearly all the Indians.
Red Cloud will undoubtedly prefer, and will no doubt propose, some point immediately upon the Platte River, and there are traders and half-breeds who are anxious to bring about consent to such a selection, but I do not think either the welfare of the Indians or the permanency of peace would be secured by yielding to the demand. It is impossible to keep whisky away from them if located anywhere upon the river, and unless its use, and the presence among them of the lawless class of men who provide it, can be prevented, no measures for the civilization of the Indians can be effectual. Even in the military reservation of Fort Laramie, and in spite of the efforts of General Smith and the agent to prevent the sale of whisky to them, Indians are frequently found to be intoxicated, and there is constant danger of affrays which may culminate in serious outbreak as the result.
Accompanying this is a full report of the council and conversation of the Indians by Mr. T. K. Cree, to which you are respectfully referred.
You will observe that General Smith indicated to them the design to cease issuing rations at Fort Laramie. l think the experiment might be tried as an additional inducement for an early location for the agency in their own country.
I am also of the opinion that the annuity goods now on the way should be stored at Cheyenne until further developments result from tho couucil about the 3Oth.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
FELIX R. BRUNOT,
Chairman, &c.
Hon. C. DELANO
Report of a council held at Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory, June 12, 1871.
A grand council of all the Indian chiefs now about Fort Laramie, and within reach of messengers, was held in the building known as the Theater, this day at 12 m., that they might meet Mr. Brunot, of the Board of Indian Commissioners. There were present Mr. Brunot, General John E. Smith, commandant of the post, Mr. Wham, Indian agent, the officers and ladies of the post, and the following Indian chiefs: Red Cloud, Red Dog, Sword, Long Wolf, the son of the Man-afraid-of-his horses, Quick Bear, Cold Face, Brown Bear, High Wolf, Full Wolf, Setting Bear, Red Plume, Little Cloud, Spider, Fire Thunder, Big Crow, Pretty Crow, Big Foot, Little Wound, Pumpkin Seed, Yellow Beard, Rocky Bear, Bad Wound, Bear Robe, Quick Eagle, Two Buffaloes, Corn Man, Whites Eyes, Milk spotted Horse, Red Leaf, Brave Grass, Buffalo Shed-his-hair, Red Buffalo, and many braves.
General Smith announced that Mr. Brunot would speak to the Great Spirit before the council began.
Mr. Brunot offered a prayer.
By request. of Red Cloud, Great Bear then talked with the Great Spirit, after which Red Cloud said: I wish to speak first.
Mr. BRUNOT. We will he glad to hear you.
RED CLOUD. I wish Louis Richard and Joseph Bissenet to interpret for me. (He then said:) I am Red Cloud. The Great Spirit raised both the white man and theIndian. I think He raised the Indian first. He raised me in this land and it belongs to me. The white man was raised over the great waters, and his land is over there. Since they crossed the sea, I have given them room. There are now white people all about me. I have but a small spot of land left. The Great Spirit told me to keep it. I went and told the Great Father so. Since I came back, I have nothing more to say. I told all to the Great Father. I was to tell all the Great Father said to my nation. I told them all of it. Whatever I do, my people will do the same. Whatever the Great Spirit tells me to do I will do. I have not yet done what the Great Father told me to do. God raised us Indians. We are two nations. Whatever we decide to do, we want to do together. I must ask you to wait. I am trying to live peaceably. I told the Great Father so. When I went to him I asked no annuity goods; all I asked was for my lands – the little spot I have left. If you have any goods to give, I want you to wait awhile. I will then tell you what to do with them. Between here and the railroad is much land. I have not been paid for it. I want to think of it.
General SMITH. Much that Red Cloud has said is true. He and those who were with him East last summer saw a great many white people. They are, as he knows, like the leaves of the trees, or the blades of grass on the praprairie, in number. Their game is increasing , while the game of the red man is decreasing. It is not worth while to talk of the past. The white man wants the red man to meet him in council and decide what can bo done for their good. Those who went to Washington last summer know that the Great Father has many children to see. They come from the East, and the West, and the North, and the South, and even from over tho great water to see him. The Great Father cannot see to everything himself; he must have many to assist him. The Great Father's heart is good toward the red man. The Great Father knew that the red man was abused and cheated, and so he selected good men, whose hearts are good, to come among them and see that their agents do right with them. These are good men, and do not receive any pay for coming among you. One of these men is here now. Mr. Brunot has come to see that all is good with you. You know that I have always been your friend. I told you that the Great Father, knowing that many bad white men would come in selling whisky and getting the Indians' guns and ponies, and that the longer they remained here the worse it would be getting, wanted them to go farther away to the north, where bad men would not get to them. I told you that we could not give any rations here but for a short time longer, and that I wanted you to select a place for your agency, where the goods now being brought can be sent. You told me you would see your people in council and select a place for your agency. When I was East I told the Great Father that your hearts were good and that you were now in council here to decide where your agency should be located. The Great Father's heart was glad, and he sent his messenger here to hear your words. A large quantity of supplies has been bought, and will be sent to you as soon as you decide where they shall go. There is now but a short time in which to erect the necessary buildings for your agency. You should select the place at once, so that your
squaws, and children, and people will not suffer, as I shall probably soon have orders to issue no more rations here. The messenger of the Great Father will now speak to you.
Mr. BRUNOT. You have all seen me before, and you know that I come because my heart was good toward the Indian. You know that I come here now beccause I am your friend. I have come here now for one purpose, to talk about one thing. It is the beginning of what is right between the white man and the Indian. I want all to taIk about one thing. With the Indian at Fort Laramie, and white men all along the river, we are afraid of trouble. When the Indians have anything that is good, some bad white men want to get it. They give the Indian whisky. It is bad for them. The white men have great towns in one place, far from the Indian; so we want you to have your great towns far away from the white man. I want it because the Great Father and all the friends of the Indian want it. We want you to think of this with both your hearts, and your heads. Suppose trouble should come between the white nien and the Indians; I want to tell you what will happen; we hope it will never come; but when it was here before, the Great Father put war-houses all through the Indian country. If trouble comes again, they will be put there again. We do not want this done. It is better to have one agency there now, than war-houses after a while. That is why I want you to decide now, that I may tell your Great Father that you have selected place for your agency in your own country, where bad white men can be kept away from you. Some men do not want you to go away from here; but all the friends of the Indian want you to go. If you select the place, we do not want to send any of our soldiers to your post, or into your country; but you must be the soldiers, and keep bad white men out of your country. If they get in, you must arrest them and take them to your agent, who will send them to General Smith, and he will punish there. The Indian has good sense, and knows what I say is good. I waut you to let me take your words to the Great Father with a good heart, so that he can help you. Do not say for us to wait. Last fall you told Mr. Campbell and me that when winter came yon would name the place. We told the Great Father what you said. You still wait, and we are ashamed, because you are our friends. The Great Father said, I want them to locate their agency in their own country now, so that houses may be built, and their goods and provisions given to them there. A message came over the wires saying, the goods for Red Cloud's bands are ready to send; and another message saying, where shall they be sent? The Great Father says they cannot come until the houses are ready for them in your own country. I want you to decide while I am here, and the houses will be built at once, and the goods sent there, and your friends can then send teachers, and good men who will help you.
RED CLOUD. I ate the provisions of the Great Father long before I was told to have an agency in my country. If the rations are stopped we will all go to the north and see our nation, and will then decide what we will do. All that I want is guns and ammunition, and pay for the railroad.
General SMITH. When you get to your agency, and the Great Father sees that your hearts are good, he will send you plenty of all that you wish.
RED CLOUD. I have consulted the Great Spirit, and do not want a strange man for agent. There are plenty of men who can read and write, who are married to my people, and they can take care of me and ny agency, and I can put my own young men to work.
General SMITH. Your young men cannot shoe a horse, or build a house; they must have some one to teach them. Then, all the Great Father sends costs a great deal of money, and he would not have one he did not know take care of it.
Mr. BRUNOT. If you select the place, I would like to know that it is a good one, and if you wish it, I will go with you and see it; I do not want any soldiers to go with me, but you will take care of me. I have one thing more to say. When you were in Washington, you saw that the Great Father had many great chiefs, and each chief had his own band, but they all followed the Great Father, and made him the great chief over all. Yon have one great chief who talks for you; so you have other chiefs; but if youquarrel and are jealous, all goes wrong. Your friends want you all to be friends.
RED CLOUD. General Harney came here, and said if white men came into my country I should punish them. I did so, and the trouble came from it. I am afraid it will come again. I do not punish my people as the soldiers do. I punish them very strong. I told you the place you wanted did not suit me for an agency, and I to1d the Great Father when I had selected a place I would send him word. Soon after I came back the Great Father forced the question on me, and I told him to wait until I had consulted my people. When the goods came before, there was no guns and ammunition, but I told my people to take them, and I told him when he sent me goods to give them to me here, as he had done before on the Platte, at the Old House. The Great Father said he would think of it. I am trying to do good since I came back from the Great Father. My people have done nothing wrong. I tell my people you (Mr. Brunot) are my friend. AII I have told you is good.
Mr. BRUNOT. I have heard what Red Cloud said. His people have done good, ex-
cept in one thing, for which I am sorry. He told me to tell the Great Father that before the winter was over they would select a place for the agency. I told the Great Father that Red Cloud wanted the agency by the Old House on the river, and the Great Father said it could not be placed there; all of you heard me tell Red Cloud so. The Great Father knows if you stay along the river bad white men will go among you with whisky, and trouble will come; but if you are in your own country, General Smith will stay here and keePa ny from going into your country except those who go for your good. You will protect the agency, and all of you will say this is our agency, and we must not let any but our friends go to it. I said Beaver Creek, because I saw it on the maPa nd thought it a good place; but I do not care where it is, so that it is a good place, and one the bad white men dare not go to.
RED CLOUD. Did you tell the Great Father that he should not send soldiers over the river? and will he be mad if I punish white men if they come?
Mr. BRUNOT. The Great Father wants them to be brought in and punished by the white man's laws.
General SMITH. Red Cloud will remember I told him when my soldiers did wrong to his people to point them out, and I would punish them, and when his people did wrong I would send them to him. When he locates his agency, some white men must go and take care of the provisions. It will take many wagons to carry them, and you must have your soldiers to protect them, and bring them back safely. You must have your soldiers take care of the agency and the farmer, teacher, carpenter, and blacksmith. We do not want our soldiers to do it. If anybody goes, except these the Great Father sends, you must drive them away, or bring them to me; and in the same way I will keep your young men on your side of the river, and keep bad men from going over.
RED CLOUD. Who told you I wanted to put my agency over the river?
Mr. BRUNOT. You said you would select the place over the river before the winter was over.
RED CLOUD. I do not remember to have said it. If any of my people said so, I do not know anything about it. The other council was the same way; a paper was signed by my chiefs, and I did not know anything about it. When I was in Washington I asked to have a trader appointed. I selected Colonel Bullock for it. I told you to wait until I had seen the Cheyennes and the Arapahoes, that I wanted to divide the goods with them. I want to do so again.
Mr BRUNOT. The Great Father will not send the goods until you select a place for them. I bear the Great Father's message. I come with much trouble, because I am a friend, and wish to see that done which is for your good; and I say again, if trouble come, the war houses will go into your country.
RED CLOUD. The Great Father told me he would give me the country for thirty-five years.
Mr. BRUNOT. When the paper was signed that gave the country to the white man, and your country to the Indian, there were two sides to it. If the Great Father does his part, the Indian must do his. Then all will go well, and the Indian will grow rich instead of poor. We cannot name the trader until the agency is located, but I think the Great Father will send the man the Indians want. You were allowed to come here and trade, and get food, because you were hungry; and General Smith and your friends, asked the Great Father to permit it; but now you must do your part, and select the place, and do what we think is for your good.
RED CLOUD. I have given my friends a good deal. I have only a little of my country left; and I gave the railroad to my friends, and I want to be paid for it.
Mr. BRUNOT. It is true you have not much ground, but we want you to keep what you have.
RED CLOUD. I am afraid if I open an agency some of my friends will jump over me.
Mr. BRUNOT. I know you have cause to fear it; but we will do right if you do what we wish.
RED CLOUD. When I went to the Great Father I spoke only good.
Mr. BRUNOT. It is so now, as far as it goes. We want our hearts all one in this thing, and I would like to have something to send over the wires to the Great Father. It is three years since the treaty was made, and it is time you had decided where your agency should be.
General SMITH. I want all to know that I expect, before next moon, to have orders to give no more rations here, and but little time is left in which to put up your buildings. We will meet you again, if you wish, to-morrow or the next day, to hear your answer.
RED CLOUD. If you are going to stop the rations say so, and tell the truth.
General SMITH. I do tell the truth. I exact the order. There is plenty on the way to go to the place you select, but the Great Father will not send it here.
RED CLOUD. Before the houses are built the provisions will be spoiled.
General SMITH. We want you to decide now, and the houses will be built at once. I would like to know if you want another council, and when.
RED CLOUD. This is the last time I will come here. I am going to leave now, and will come back again in the fall.
General SMITH. Very well. I want you all to remember that what I say is the truth, and after next moon no more rations will be given here to anybody; and for this reason we want you to decide now where you will have your agency. If you don't and your women and children are hungry, it is your own fault.
Mr BRUNOT. I am sorry there should be any chance of the women and children being hungry, and the Great Father, who has plenty, not feeding them. But he knows it is bad for you to remain along the river, and he has promised you ammunition and guns, but will only give them to you in your own country. It is easy for you to say, we will put our agency over beyond the Rawhide Buttes, and the goods will come. The Indians you wish can come and trade there, and good men will come for teachers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and farmers; and if after a while you do not like it you can come and tell the Great Father. I will only stay a few days, but I want to go away with a good heart, and tell the Great Father what will make his heart glad. We have talked a great deal, and I will say no more to-day, except that our hearts are good, and we are friends. If any other chiefs wish to talk, and Red Cloud desires it, we will hear them.
The council here broke uPa nd Red Cloud came forward, when the following conversation took place:
Mr. BRUNOT. Have you anything more to say?
RED CLOUD. I came a long way and cannot stay here. I have sent for the Black Twin and all the Ogallala, and we will go to our camPa nd hold a council. I am willing to go over the river, but want all the rest to agree to it.
Mr. BRUNOT. Why did you not say so in the council?
RED CLOUD. I was afraid to say so, but the rest will come to it.
Mr. BRUNOT. How soon will the others be here?
RED CLOUD. I cannot promise how soon.
Mr. BRUNOT. How soon can you see them?
RED CLOUD. I want all to go away with me, and it will be eight or ten days before all can get together.
Mr. BRUNOT. Would it not be better for all to come here?
RED CLOUD. We want to decide at our village and then come back here.
Mr. BRUNOT. Do all your chiefs agree to that, and will they all come back here?
RED CLOUD. We will come together and decide, and come here again.
Mr. BRUNOT. Won't you tell those that are here what you want to do?
RED CLOUD. I want to see the Black Twin first; he is now on his way here.
THOS. K. CREE, Clerk.
people to stop until we had the goods and the guns, and that then I would cross the river.
Report of a conversation held at General John E. Smith's headquarters the day following the council.
FORT LARAMIE, June 13,1871.
Mr. BRUNOT. How soon can you decide about the agency?
GENERAL SMITH. My friend, the earth does not go away, but the sun comes and goes, the seasons pass away, and nothing is done.
THOS. K. CREE, Secretary.
Report of an interview with the other chiefs after Red Cloud had gone.
FORT LARAMIE, June 14, 1871.
Mr. BRUNOT. I am glad to see you all, and will bear to the Great Father the message that your hearts are good, and that you will do what he wants. Red Cloud has gone to see more of his people, and I hope will be back in fifteen days, when you will hold a council ad decide where to put your station. I think you will find a good place; White River is a good one, but you will decide, and I will tell the Great Father that all is right. If you have anything to say I will be glad to hear it.
THOS. K. CREE, Secretary.
FORT LARAMIE, June 12,1871.
The following conversation occurred at General Smith's headquarters after the council, none of the Indians being present except Red Cloud:
RED CLOUD. There are twenty-nine councilmen of the Unkapapa, and twenty-six of the Ogallalas. I am here alone to-day, away from my council-men; that is why I could not name a place for my agency. We are alone, and I want to talk straight. I cannot do it myself; I must consult my council-men, and what they decide we will do. I think they will listen to me, and what I say they will do. I am going to my camp now, and I will send for the Black Twin and the Charging Shield. I will get all together. I do not hide anything from you. I tell you straight.
RED CLOUD. The Black Twin was not in. Red Dog came in with me, but traded as quickly as possible, and went away. These people are wild, like the antelope. We want them to come in and eat of the white man's food, and they will come back again. We will meet on the Cheyenne River. I will get the men of sense, and will try and decide where to put the post. My friend, take pity on me, if you would have me live long. If any goods are coming have them stop, and I see these men we will decide yes or no. All you have have told me to-day is good. I will tell it to my people; sometimes we talk three or four days. I let them talk; when they do not decide right, I tell them to talk on till they get right. The Unkapapas have nothing to do with this; they belong on the Mo. River. This is for the Ogallala. The Cheyenne and Arapahoes are like lost children, they will agree with me at any time. Some of my people are very short-sighted; I look away ahead.
Mr. BRUNOT. You want to go and select a place over the river yourself.
RED CLOUD. That is what I want. I want to go over on the other side myself, and want to tell the others so. When you asked me to cross the river last fall I told my
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Mr. BRUNOT. I told the Great Father last fall that after we gave you the goods you would go over the river, and now your goods are again brought and ready to give you as soon as you select your agency. I told the Great Father Red Cloud was the great chief and would do what he saad, and would fix the place before the winter was over. If l go back now and say that Red Cloud says wait, the Great Father will think he is not the great chief, but that there is some other great chief. I would like to know how soon he will decide.
RED CLOUD. The white man counts the days. I do not want to tell a lie. I am going out and will have a council. The difficulty last winter was, that I said if we got the guns we would go over the river; if we had the guns to give them to-day, they would go. They have been cheated so often they will not believe.
Mr. BRUNOT. This Great Father has not deceived them, and it will be bad if General Smith cannot give them any more provisions; they will blame it on Red Cloud. Mr. Campbell and myself came here because we are your friends, and we wish you to do what is for your good. Some people do not want you to go. They want to get your ponies and your robes. We do not want your lands, or anything. It makes us happy when we are trying to do you good. The Great Spirit has given us many things that he has not given to others, and we want you to select a place where good men can teach you that which makes us happy. The men are growing old, and after a while they will be gone. The game is getting scarce, and after a while it will be gone. There are bad white men, who care only to see the graves of the lndians. We are not the friends of that kind of people. We talk against them, and say the Indian will do right. I am telling you this to show you that I am your friend. Do you think you talked differently before your people this morning from what you have said to me now?
RED CLOUD. I want to go over the river; that is what I want.
Mr. BRUNOT. Many of your people want to go, and you ought to talk before them that you want to go. They are afraid to say they want to go, because they think you do not wish to go.
RED CLOUD. I think I will succeed; I am almost alone here. I want to get all my people together, and I think I will get them to cross the river, but whether I do or not, I will bring General Smith word at once, whether it is yes or no. In every council we consult the Great Spirit. I do not want to be the only chief; at the treaty in 1851, we made one great chief, and the white men killed him. Would you want me to say I am the great chief?
Mr. BRUNOT. Do you know what the chiefs who are here think of going over the river?
RED CLOUD. I think all that are here want to go. They have eaten of the white man's bread. But I want to see them that are not here. I know everything; all the bands are divided; half want to go, and half do not, and I fear trouble if I decide; trouble between my people and the whites.
Mr. BRUNOT. Do you know of a good place for the agency?
RED CLOUD. I do not. White River is a good place, but the Brules have taken it. Beaver Creek is running water, but it is like physic, it goes right through you, that is why we never camp there.
Mr. BRUNOT. What kind of a country is it above the forks of the Cheyenne?
RED CLOUD. Most places you must dig for water. The river is shallow and sandy.
Mr. BRUNOT. I hope you will fiud a good place. Are there any white men or half-breeds who do not wish you to go over the river ?
RED CLOUD. I do not know of any such. I do not listen to them. There are many Indians who like to stay about the agency, and see what is going on.
Brave Bear here came in and advised Red Cloud to name a place, and said his (Red Cloud's) sons had sent word for him to name it.
Mr. BRUNOT. How soon will I see you again.
RED CLOUD. I cannot say, I cannot name a day.
RED CLOUD. I told you before I could not say along where to put the agency; I told you yesterday I woud go to my camPa nd consult my people, and bring you the message, whether they consent to go over the river with the agency or not. I say again wait for me. The earth will not move away, it will be here for a long time, and there need be no hurry. I am trying to persuade my people all to go, and it takes time to bring them all to it.
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Mr. BRUNOT. Last Fall some of the Ogalalla chiefs wanted to go. Red Cloud said wait, and he still says the same.
RED CLOUD. It is a fact.
Mr. BRUNOT. They are all waiting for him; the Great Father is waiting for him; the summer is going away; winter will come, and there will be no house in which to put the food.
RED CLOUD. It is a fact, it takes time to build houses.
Mr. BRUNOT. If we begin soon all will be comfortable before winter.
RED CLOUD. If you build a house back of the river, how long will it be before the Great Father sends soldiers? I want to tell the Black Twin.
Mr. BRUNOT. We want to build it back where the white man cannot come; not just over the river.
RED CLOUD. (To Major Wham.) You mentioned the bend of the river.
MAJOR WHAM. I told him, before Mr. Brunot came, that I would ask the Great Father to build it in a bend of the river, and mark off a reservation, and after a while we could move it back into the country.
Mr. BRUNOT. Such a proposition ought not to have been made to them.
MAJOR WHAM. I have the authority now at my office to so locate it.
RED CLOUD. How long before there will be soldiers?
Mr. BRUNOT. I do not think there will be any as long as the Indians do well.
RED CLOUD. There are fools on both sides; after I came back from the East, white men whipped my people seven times. I want my people to understand this before I name the place.
Mr. BRUNOT. We want them to go where white people cannot go to do so.
RED CLOUD. It was not long before the soldiers came to places we had selected, and it will be so again.
Mr. BRUNOT. The Great Father wants you to go where soldiers will not come. When there was war, the soldiers went into all parts of your country. Here, Indians get drunk and fight, and soldiers have to be sent after them. We do not want it to be so, and if you locate your agency in your own country, where white men dare not go, the soldiers will bc kept out much longer.
RED CLOUD. Every place a white man goes whisky goes. You can see them here drinking night and day.
Mr. BRUNOT. Will you return the middle or the last of next moon?
RED CLOUD. I do not want to tell a lie, and will not name the day, but messengers will come in every few days.
Mr. BRUNOT. What do you think of White River?
RED CLOUD. Of course it is good, but I do not know what to do.
Mr. BRUNOT. Will you go to White River and plant corn?
RED CIOUD. I do not know anything about farming. I never came here.
Mr. BRUNOT. After you go away, we will hold a council with the other chiefs, and see what they say.
RED CLOUD. There are four other head chiefs back of me. When you were here before you gave me cloth and calico, but there were no guns nor ammunition. I told my people to take it. I told you to go back to the Great Father and tell him we must have guns and ammunition.
Mr. BRUNOT. I told you I would tell the Great Father; but that you had not been at peace long enough; and that as soon as the agency was fixed the guns wonld be sent.
RED CLOUD. They promised guns and powder and lead to Spotted Tail, on the Arkansas, and he has not got them. I do not know it but some one told me.
Mr. BRUNOT. Some guns were sent to Spotted Tail, and as soon as your agency is fixed they will be sent to your people. We want you to come back soon, before the rations are stopped. Some of your people want to talk and name a place over the river. You want all to talk one way, but we will wait till you consult your people.
RED CLOUD. Wait on me.
Mr. BRUNOT. General Smith and Major Wham will wait fifteen days, unless you can get back sooner, and if you are not back at the end of fifteen days, there will be a council for them. Does that suit you ?
RED CLOUD. It does not make much difference; call them up at any time. They will talk, their hearts are not all the same.
MAJOR WHAM. We want Red Cloud to say where the agency shall be, and be the big chief after it is fixed. Remember it is fifteen days.
Here the conversation ended. The chief, after a friendly greeting with those present, set out immediately upon his mission to the rest of the tribe, saying that he would send word every few days, and would come and inform General Smith and Major Wham as soon as his people could arrive at a decision.
FORT LARAMIE, June 13, 1871.
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RED DOG. There is nothing to say now; Red Cloud is gone out and we will wait fifteen days for him; if he comes back, all is well; if he does not, we will have a talk and send word to the Great Father what we will do.
Mr. BRUNOT. That is good.
AMERICAN HORSE. We will fix the place for our agency.
RED DOG. Where we fix the place for our agency, we want a gun and ammunition for each lodge, so that we can shoot game. We will wait for Red Cloud; you are waiting for him; if he cannot fix a place we will select one for ourselves. There are many Ogallalla and Bruls here, and more are coming. We all want to go over the river. We understand you; Red Cloud said he would be back in fifteen days; if he comes all is right; if he does not, we will choose one.
MAN AFRAID-OF-HIS-HORSE. When we are at our new agency and you come to smoke the pipe again with us, you will not say all the time go over the river.
FORT LARAMIE. June 14, 1871.