WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1855
135
obscurity; but authentic details have since proved that the mas- sacre was the result of a deliberately formed plan, prompted by a knowledge of the weakness of the garrison at Fort Laramie, and by the temptation to plunder a large quantity of public and private stores accumulated at or near that post. The number of Indians engaged in the affair was between fifteen hundred and two thousand men." It is very strange that numerous outrages have been committed, as we are told by the Secretary of War. Sir, what are the facts? Not a single outrage was committed upon the frontier in the vicinity of Fort Laramie but this; and how was it produced? Was it produced by the Indians? We are told by the Secretary, too, forsooth, that an ambuscade was laid for the purpose of decoying this lieutenant, and massacring him and his party. Strange it was, indeed, that he should not have discovered this ambuscade, when he, for the distance of a mile or more, had marched through the Indians, with two pieces of artillery, to arrest an Indian, without requiring the chiefs, or waiting for them, to surrender the offender. But what was the offense? The killing of a crippled ~ow. That embraces the repeated out- rages upon the people in the vicinity of Fort Laramie, and on the route to Oregon and California! Let us look into the facts. We are told by a most intelligent gentleman, General Whitfield, an Indian agent, that these Indians had committed no depredations until they were fired upon, and one of their chiefs wounded. That took place before they at- tempted to retaliate; and even then, in the first instance, they abstained from anything like retaliation, through the influence of their chiefs, until the artillery had fired upon them. Did that look like an ambuscade which was laid, or a deliberate design to massacre the party? Sir, these are facts. They are not deduc- tion. They are verified by as gallant a man as ever was in a camp of the United States-a man of intelligence and of character. What was the condition of the Indians there? Why, sir, they had been promised annuities. They were aware that the goods had arrived there. They had been there for nearly three weeks. The Indians had patiently waited. Their provisions were scarce. The agent was expected to return daily, and did soon return and possess himself of all the facts. The individual who was relied on by the War Department, made an authentic statement to the agent, which was verified by no less than seven witnesses who were on the ground, that the aggression was made by the
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